Raising 'em right

Lottie attended her first Aggie football game yesterday, and our Ags beat the Gamecocks 52 to 28.

As all the Aggies leaving the stadium told us, she must be a good luck charm. We sure think so.

 

We definitely understand now why people don't bring their kids to games. Chris and I both barely saw any of the first half between getting situated, getting food for ourselves, feeding Lottie, and taking her under the stands when the sun became a little too much. The second half went better, but I really saw maybe a half hour total of the whole game. That being said, I could care less--Aggie football has always been more about the camaraderie for me than the ol' pigskin. We loved having her with us and loved sharing Aggie football with our precious child, an experience Chris and I have anticipated for years.

 

Grandma Atteberry purchased everything needed to make Aggie spirit overalls, so our sweet future Ag could represent.

 

 

They need a couple of finishing touches, but they were mostly done. The front says "Howdy" across the waist and "Gig'em" down the legs. The back says "I poop burnt orange," "2036" across the pockets, and "Whoop!" down the legs. Lottie wore them well.

Exhibiting such diehard Aggie spirit does take its toll though--2 naps were definitely necessary.

 

As for the game experience, the Gamecocks have a beautiful stadium (green arrow), and an incredible park for tailgating. It is only 3 years old. They made this gated park that is almost all gorgeous green grass and has really nice brick building restrooms (blue arrow) throughout. You pay for an assigned space that includes a parking space and a tailgating spot, so you tailgate at your car. It is really nice.

 

 

We also experienced a very confounding phenomenon for us Aggies. As soon as the 4th quarter began, Gamecock fans started leaving the stadium in steady streams until the stadium looked like this in the middle of the 4th quarter:

 

 

The stands had been 100% full. To an Aggie, this is unspeakable. We would rather stand in the sweltering heat watching our team get slaughtered than be hailed as a 2% fan when leaving early (and early to an Aggie would be leaving with 5 minutes left in a game where we are losing by 50+ points). In fact, at the end of the game, the stands looked like this:

 

 

 Note the almost completely full Aggie section (almost because we did have some Gamecocks sitting in our section) and the completely empty Gamecock section. Us Aggies didn't know how to respond other than to take pictures to share with our fellow Aggies not at the game because we knew they would not fathom this without visual evidence.

 

All in all, I really enjoy away games. It is fun to see how others do college football. And I think Lottie would consider her first Aggie football game a success--even if she was pretty pooped by the end.

 

 



We all had an incredible time and will be looking forward to bringing her again in 2 years.

Update 13-15 Weeks

I wrote this post at 16 weeks but haven't had a chance to add pictures and post it until now. Please pretend it is week 16. since that is the perspective from which it was written.

Charlotte is now over 13 pounds. She seems so big to us. She has done a ton in these 3 weeks:

• Holding her head all the way up while on her tummy
• Rolling over
• Being ticklish
• Teething
• Grabbing toys, blankets, and dresses and putting them in her mouth
• Making consonant sounds, specifically the “Mmmmm” sound. She sounds like she says Mom sometimes, which is cool even though I know she doesn’t know what she is saying.
• Standing on her legs, which she loves doing. She gets the biggest grin on her face—a sort of “Dude! Do you see what I can do???”

Some fun things we did during these 3 weeks:

• Saw fireworks on the 4^th of July
• Helped Uncle Brian and Aunt Sarah announce their pregnancy
• Enjoyed a second visit from Grandma and Grandpa
• Met Paw-Paw

We also sent Daddy to the Dominican Republic and Mommy to work. It was quite a busy 3 weeks.

**Most of the 13 and 14 weeks pictures are in the Dear Daddy posts.

13 Weeks  

First Bath by Daddy

(“You aren’t doing this the way Mommy does.” Haha. Actually, Chris did an amazing job.)

 

Ticklish

 

 

14 Weeks

Holding Our Head Up

 

Daddy’s Homecoming

 

 

Winnie & Lottie

 

 

 

Amber & Lottie

 

(Notice that Amber is holding Lottie’s leg down. Lottie kept kicking Amber in the face while playing, so Amber gently put her paw on Lottie’s leg to hold it down.)

 

 

15 Weeks

Funny Faces

 

 

 

Grabbing Daddy’s Glasses

 

In Daddy’s Hat

 

Teething

 

Standing

 

Our Beautiful Angel Goose

As I said before, I don't have time to write a bunch of posts, but I have to share a couple smile-y  baby pictures. I hope they brighten up your day like they do ours.

 

 

Please forgive this working mom

So I know I have neglected the blog lately. And trust me, it makes me sad. I enjoy posting as much as I hope y'all enjoy reading. I especially love the thought that this blog documents our life in med school and as new parents, which I am sure will amuse us 20 or so years from now. However, nothing could prepare me for being a working mother. Let me just say It Is Freaking Hard, and I am blessed to be working part time. A big shout out to all you full time working mothers because I don't know how you do it.

The first couple of weeks were ok, but then fall busy season hit. It has been crazy. After working and commuting all day, all I want to do is snuggle my baby, but there is still dinner to be made, dishes (and bottles and more bottles) to be washed, house to be cleaned, and often some more work to be done. Needless to say, the blog has been put on the back burner. Hopefully, I will get caught up soon.

 

 

Please be praying for us as we adjust to all this and try to make the best decisions for our family. It has been a very exhausting transition emotionally, physically, and mentally.

Visit with Paw-Paw Hardegree - Part II

On Saturday, we went the RJ Rockers.

After RJ Rockers, we walked next door to Cribbs Kitchen for an early dinner.

 

And what is a father-son visit without a trip to Cabela's? Chris tried to convince me that Lottie was ready for her first bow. I must admit she looks like a natural with it.

 

 

We decided to head to Charlotte on Sunday to visit the Raptor Center.

 

  

 

 

We watched the Vulture feeding, which was incredibly interesting. Vultures are very cool birds. God definitely made them unique. Fun facts:

 

- Vultures poo on their legs to keep them cool, which also kills bacteria from carrion.

- Vultures don't have feathers on their head to prevent bacteria from growing.

- By eating carrion, vultures prevent the spread of disease (their stomach acid kills bacteria). Rabies and other diseases have increased in areas like India as the population of vultures has decreased due to the drugs they give their livestock (which vultures ingest when they eat the livestock when it dies).

 

 

We followed the raptor center with the Aviation Museum. We put Lottie in a Cessna and the cockpit of a fighter jet and a commercial airplane.

 

 

They also had the plane that emergency landed on the Hudson River recently. It was so interesting. God is amazing.

 

 

Sadly, Paw-Paw had to leave Monday. We had a great visit and enjoyed all of our time together. Thank you for coming Paw-Paw!!!