Baby #2 Has a Name...Finally!

So it's official...after A LOT of thought and discussion and contemplation...we have a name for Baby Girl #2 (and we love it).......drum roll please....

Ava Jane Herrin

Brent and I think that Ella and Ava sound so cute together & we couldn't be more excited to meet her in July! Just wanted to share! :)

Life Lately

This post is going to fall on the random side.  There's a lot to recap, but I don't know where to begin, so I'm just going to be pretty general.  Ella and I have officially been in Roswell for a month and Brent has been here for 3 weeks.  It's been SO busy in a really wonderful way.  So busy in fact, that I haven't even finished my blog post about Mother's Day b/c Brent has all the pictures on his phone and I keep forgetting to go through them and email them to myself to add to the blog.  I'll get around to it later this week (I hope)...but Mother's Day was really great!  My little family made me feel very special.

Updates: 
Work: Brent has been working with a financial planner to get the ball rolling on opening his VERY OWN Pediatric Dentistry Office close by.  We have the plans in hand, equipment selected, AND Brent has some great marketing strategies...just waiting for the bank to give us the green light.  We will know more by Wednesday.  It's so surreal!  Brent is very excited & so I am.  He will continue to work for the company he is currently at for the next few years while he gets everything started.  He actually really likes that job too, but has always dreamed of owning his own practice.  So, with lots of support and encouragement, he has decided to go for it!  We have been blessed with a really wonderful opportunity to be connected with a very successful dentist in town who has a plethora of resources that he is making available to us as Brent gets his start, so we are also really fortunate in that regard!  More on that as things develop.

Pregnancy: Since we've been here it's been so much fun and very HELPFUL to spend so much time with my family.  My mom's help with Ella has been invaluable.  I'm starting to get really sluggish with 2 months to go and chasing a toddler is really tough--having my Mom here to help couldn't be more ideal.  Plus, Ella loves spending time with her and lights up and runs to her whenever she enters the room.  I told Brent the other day that I wish Ella got so excited about us.  Ella also loves playing with her Uncle Jason too and thinks he's just so fun.  He's so busy with work and his social life that we don't get to see him too much, but when we do--Ella is thrilled!  I think it's really cool that they get to spend this time together so early on and if he stays in the Atlanta area (which I think he will) it will be great to have Uncle J so close to grow up around (and hopefully have some cousins for our girls to play with WAY on down the road)!

 So, yesterday marked 32 weeks of pregnancy.  8 more to go and I'm already starting to have episodes of contractions similar to last time.  The general rule of thumb for those of you who have not been pregnant or don't know a thing about being pregnant (which was totally me less than 2 years ago), if you have more than 6 contractions in a hour, you are suppose to go to the doctor/ER for monitoring to make sure you aren't going into preterm labor.  I was having quite a few for several hours the other night until we finally got them under control.  I'm really hoping to ward off doctor ordered bed rest by taking time to rest since I have my mom's help during the day and Brent's help at night.  SO grateful.  Yesterday I spent most of the day on the couch, laying on my side, drinking water trying to prevent going to the doctor for contractions.  My sweet husband made sure I didn't lift a finger and my Mom and Ella spent most of the afternoon at Target "shopping" so that kept Bells occupied.  Of course, Ella came home with a new bucket, book, and pair of shoes.  She was really excited-- she's definitely spoiled! My contractions were much better yesterday, so I'm hoping by taking it "easier", I won't be forced to go on bed rest this pregnancy too.  Don't know why my body tries to deliver babies at 32 weeks...I'm even on a shot right now to prevent preterm labor.  All I can say is thank goodness for HELP and cross my fingers that I don't have to go on bed rest again.

Humble Abode: As far as life in the basement, things are pretty good.  We are definitely making things work in our apartment size space.  It's fully equip with and family room, office space, a full bath, and two bedrooms.  It's cozy down here and really not too bad!  We feel grateful to have the opportunity to have a place to be until we figure everything out.  We are actually quite content with our set-up.  Of course we look forward to home ownership and our own place...but this works surprisingly well for now.  We've been having lots of fun and seeing friends, connecting with friends from the past, and enjoying everything Roswell has to offer.  It's a great community and we are loving being here.  Unfortunately, I'm going to have to start taking it a lot easier for now, but I'm excited to resume an active life after the baby comes...lots to do around town for a family of four!!

Here are some pictures from our time here so far.  We are all very happy and enjoying life!  I truly  believe that sometimes your plans don't work out so you can find the plan truly intended for you.

Checking out the scene

These ducks come right up to me!

Ella: "Duck, duck"

Happy on a Saturday morning!

First encounter with the ducks!

Ella spent the afternoon with Babies Ward
and Finley...she saw they had pacifiers and
when she got home she kept pretending she
had one by sucking on things...so I gave her
one of her old ones for the afternoon...she was
so happy!

Wildwood Springs park!

Frist Ice-cream cone!  Thanks for your help, Dad!
Yummy!!!

Serious Wiggles watching face!

Love this little girl!

Patiently waiting for my food at J. Christopher's

Posing with Nana in her pretty outfit before she
heads to Katie Deluca's wedding!  Doesn't Nana
look pretty!

Relaxing...in the pajama set my
Daddy put together

El Jinete with Auntie Erin

Mommy snuck a bow on me!

My family room set up-- chair + ba + TV =
a very happy Ella!

Preferences

Chillaxin with my morning milk and Wiggles

One of the biggest surprises of motherhood has been how early children develop preferences and opinions.  Although I taught for 5 years, I had VERY minimal experience with children under the age of 6.  By the time the time students got to my class in first or second grade, they had LOTS  of preferences and opinions, but they were all older than 5-- that wasn't too surprising.  Ella on the other hand, started having specific expectations as soon as she started eating...which we totally expected...I mean everyone prefers one food to another.  But, her preferences extend FAR beyond eating.

She is particularly picky about which DVD is suitable to watch.  I know I've mentioned this several times before, but from 12-14 months, she LOVED the Wiggles DVD, You Make Me Feel Like Dancing and loved to dance a.k.a. "dee" to it's music.  I also bought her Pop Goes the Wiggles...which she showed very little interest in at the time.  Sometime last month she started loving Pop Goes the Wiggles and would cry when I put the other Wiggles DVD on.  I'm still trying to figure out how she can tell a difference between the two.  Both feature 4 grown men dressed in costumes dancing and singing similar songs.  But believe you me, she KNOWS the difference and will start crying at the opening credits if I dare put the wrong one on.  So we are on a Pop Goes the Wiggles kick as of now.

This is the DVD of the moment...

When we moved, Pop Goes the Wiggles went missing for 2 weeks.  Somehow she kept finding the case and would walk around with it, showing it to me.  I would try to sneak on You Make Me Feel Like Dancing and she'd cry every time and throw a diva fit.  Sheesh. I thought she'd forget about it, but this went on for 2 weeks. So, we found Pop Goes the Wiggles on Saturday when we unpacked Brent's Xbox 360.  We showed it to her and she clapped and smiled.  When we put it on, she went nuts dancing.  It really looked like she had won the lottery.  I wish something as simple as a Wiggles DVD could me so happy!

So, Ella has her "jam" back and couldn't be happier.  You Make Me Feel Like Dancing is collecting dust on the shelf for now--because heaven forbid you make her watch THOSE Wiggles songs and dances.  I have a feeling Ella will always have lots of preferences and opinions as she gets older.  It's just not in her personality to sit back and let others make decisions for her!  I don't think being assertive will be challenging for her.  And have no fear, Pop Goes the Wiggles has been recovered and all is right with Ella's world...until she changes her mind next week!

First Trip to Waffle House

Ready for my food!

Every baby raised in the South has to experience Waffle House some time or another, right?  I mean, if a baby didn't that would make him or her un-Southern or something!  Well...Yesterday, Sunday, May 6th...Ella had her first Waffle House experience.  Brent and I realized that we hadn't been to waffle house in several years either...maybe as long as 5 years...could that be??  So it was a treat for us too!

They've opened a pretty nice Waffle House near my childhood home sometime in the last 10+ years since I went to college.  It was rather impressive by Waffle House standards--the host even opens the door for you!!  Ella really loved the hustle and bustle of the restaurant and enjoyed watching all the people pile in and out.  It was pretty busy with lots of  families with little kids enjoying an early Sunday morning breakfast.  Ella loves to scope out the other kids so she had a ball. She made sure to say "hi" and "bye" to everyone!

For her meal, Ella enjoyed some of my hash browns covered and part of Brent's Allstar Breakfast Combo-- eggs, waffle, and ham.  It was a delicious breakfast and reminded us just why Waffle House has always been awesome.

SO...Ella has experienced the rite of passage that all Southern girls do...dining at Waffle House.  She enjoyed it and I'm sure we'll go back again someday-- just wish it wasn't so unhealthy for you b/c it sure is tasty!

Tiger claw pose...roar...

having too much fun!

Too Delicious Not to Share...

So, we are getting into the grove of our new life.  Ella's schedule is still kind of all over the place, but overall she seems to be handling the changes pretty well.  I was really worried about this, because I have been so rigid with her schedule that I thought this move might make for meltdown central.  But I must say, she's done amazingly well except for the fact that she's cutting 3 more teeth.  I mean seriously...how many baby teeth does a person have??  Brent told me 20--20 primary teeth (I guess that's their technical term)...oh goodness we're only on 11, 12, & 13.  I digress...so now that we're in the grove of things, I've gone back to sticking to my new years resolution of cooking more!  The other night I made the chicken salad recipe below for the family and it was a huge hit.  Too delicious not to share.  You've got to try it out, it's a perfect summer dish...I found it on Southern Living's 35 Summer Salad suggestions.  I forgot to take a picture so I'll just use the one from the recipe.  Believe it or not, mine was just as pretty...it's just a really pretty chicken salad.  Bon Apetite and please enjoy the bonus picture of Bells in the Easter Bonnet Nana found in the Target Dollar Bins.  Ella loves to dress up in it for like 30 seconds...

**side note, I changed it up a little bit from the recipe.  I doubled the amount of poppy seed dressing & mayonnaise.  I mixed all the ingredients in a bowl like a chicken salad and placed them on top of a bed of Romaine.  I think either way will taste great!

CHICKEN AND STRAWBERRY SALAD
Recipe found at http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/chicken-and-strawberry-salad-10000001057285/ {linked to by southernliving.com}

{photo from myrecipes.com}

Top a mixture of mixed salad greens, strawberries and almonds with a sweet poppy seed dressing for a colorful springtime main dish salad. (Yields 6 servings)


Ingredients: 

• 1/2 cup poppy seed dressing (I doubled poppy seed dressing)
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise (I doubled mayonnaise) 
• 1 1/2 pounds chopped cooked chicken (about 3 1/2 cups)
• 2 celery ribs, sliced
• 1 pint fresh strawberries, halved 
• 1 avocado, cut into 1-inch cubes 
• 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted
• 1 (10-ounce) package mixed salad greens 
• Garnishes: avocado slices, whole strawberries 

• 
  

  1. Preparation:
  2. Whisk together dressing and mayonnaise in a large bowl; cover and chill 30 minutes.
  3. Add chopped chicken and next 5 ingredients to dressing mixture, gently tossing to coat. Serve over mixed salad greens. Garnish, if desired.
  Rae McManus, Cheneyville, Louisiana, Southern Living 
  MAY 2005
  
  

  

  Bon Apetite, My Friends!

  
  

New Blog Name

So, I've spent the morning trying to re-vamp the blog.  Much to my dismay it doesn't look like I wanted it to.  The background is showing up a muted green instead of a bright green and won't go any higher than the bottom of the header.  I'm starting to realize how un-tech savvy I might actually be.  But all the technical glitches aside, you'll notice the blog title has changed.  It's no longer Raising Ella Grace, but The Herrins from Scratch.  With the second baby's birth only 2 1/2 months away, I thought keeping the title Raising Ella Grace just wasn't fair to the new addition.  As, I thought more about it, I realized that we are seriously documenting our lives starting back from scratch...the new name needed to fit our new circumstances.

Less than a year ago we had a definite plan...Brent was buying into a thriving and successful dental practice, we were in the process of looking to buy a gorgeous home, and we were starting to get the hang of raising ONE child.  Fast forward several months and here is where we stand...

1. We are 99% sure Brent will be opening his own pediatric dentistry practice from the ground up in the Atlanta suburbs.  More to come on that...can't say too much about it for now.  He will literally be growing his patient population from scratch over the course of several years.  Like any new business, finances will be shaky at best during the start up years.  This adventure is scary, but also exciting.  **Please bring your kids to him once he sets up shop.  He really is an excellent dentist who has received some very gracious praise from the parents and the children he sees!

2.  We live in my Mom's basement with no definitive move out date.  Our down payment for our "future home" has been sitting in savings waiting to be used...but, oh wait...now that we are opening a practice, the practice loan and down payment come first.  SO... our own home will have have to wait in the interim until we come up with a creative way to own a business AND a home with limited funds...

3.  We have finally gotten the hang of parenting Miss Ella and in two short months, we'll be adding a newborn to the mix.  We can't wait to meet her, don't get me wrong, but we are going to have to start from scratch learning how to balance parenting two children under two.  That in itself will be an interesting feat...but it's also the challenge we are most excited about!

Amongst the things I mentioned above I'll be blogging about recipes I try, ways I'm learning to save money (since our budget will be tight), unique finds/re-dos from the antiquing adventures I look forward to having with Brent and my Mom, and re-caps of what we're up to as we settle back into having a more active social life again.  And of course, most importantly, what is going on with "our girls" as we already call them! SO, The Herrins from Scratch it is...eagerly awaiting our new life to unfold as we begin to tackle plan B.  Stay tuned...

First Kiss..

So apparently Ella is somewhat of a "cougar."  For those of you who don't know what a cougar is, it's an older woman that goes after a younger man!  This past weekend we met our dear friends, Laura and Kyle Smith, and their precious Baby Henry for Mexican.  Baby Henry is 4 months old...if you recall, Ella is 16 months old.  While the Dads were holding the babies so the Moms could eat, Brent told Ella to kiss Henry.  So she did.  And then she did it again while Laura and I watched.  It was really cute and sweet.  So, we decided we had to call it their first kiss.  Like I said, Ella has a almost a whole year on Henry, but we were fine with it since the Smiths would make good in-laws!  We tried to get them to re-create the kiss for the camera, but Ella got camera shy.  Go figure!

In all seriousness, it was super sweet and it makes us so happy to see that Ella was so good with Baby Henry.  Definitely gives us reassurance that she'll be a great Big Sister!  Enjoy the post-kiss pics!  We can't wait to get together with the Smiths again very soon-- we're so happy to be in the same town with them again!

Attempt at the recreation...Ella didn't go for it this time!

E: Sorry, Henry, I'm not going to give you a kiss for the camera
H: That's fine...I understand...these parents are really over-bearing with the camera.

E: Yeah, I just kissed Henry! (Proud Face)
H: What just happened here?  This girl keeps kissing me!

The Move...

Getting settled in...Ella in Nana's backyard!

When I was in middle-school we had a Sunday school lesson about faith.  My teacher explained faith in a way I've never forgotten:

"Faith...Look at the chair you are sitting in.  Did you call the company who made it and ask the CEO to come down and prove to you that it would hold you up before you sat down?  No, you just sat in it (unless there was something obviously wrong with it) and had faith that it would hold you up.  You couldn't see the person who made it or run a test to determine how strong the steal was, but you took a leap of faith that it would be strong enough to hold your weight.  That's what your faith in God should be like.  He doesn't have to prove to you how He's going to make things happen because He's made the promise that he'll hold you up.  When you put your faith in God, like you did this chair, it allows your life to progress in accordance to the plan he made to "hold you up".  Faith isn't easy, but it's what we can count on to see us through-- and hold the weight of our burdens--just like the chair"

Since December when Brent made the decision to change jobs, we've had to rely on blind faith.  With no real plan, a year old baby, and another one on the way in July, things have been stressful and trying to say the least.  We found out in March that we would have to pay $4,600 to break our lease.  We found out mid-April that Brent's new job couldn't provide us health insurance until June-- Cobra costs $1,300 a month for a family.  I was in a car accident on the day we moved.  My car is still sitting in a body repair shop in Statesboro.  Thankfully, everyone was okay.  All these things seemed to be piling up telling us this wasn't going to be easy.  Were we missing something? We didn't think so...We had done a lot of praying and discussing throughout this decision and were confident that it was the right one-- but things weren't exactly falling into place.  With mounting concerns, the only thing left to do was to let Faith hold us up.  And then, something amazing happened...everything fell into place.

My car is repairable and no one was hurt in the accident.  The air bag never deployed and the front of the car didn't smash into my stomach (the collision was head-on) and I did't hit the steering wheel, so the baby was safe.  Sure it's inconvenient not to have a car for a while, but thus far Allstate insurance has been amazing.  And we are thankful we paid the extra money to have the "Accident Forgiveness" feature as part of our insurance plan.  Very grateful.

And Now for the good stuff...we got a call last Monday after I moved (Brent was still in Savannah for one more week) saying that Brent's job could begin on Monday and that they would pay the full cost of our COBRA insurance until the company insurance could pick us up June 1st.  A few hours later, we  received another call from the property management company we leased from saying that 4 students were going to sign a lease for our house and that we would be released from the lease without owing ANY money!! The owner of the company had been really difficult to deal with, but we are extremely grateful to her that she showed us such compassion in the end. These two things had been huge financial concerns and we were super excited to learn in the span of a couple of hours that nearly $6,000 would remain in our savings to be used towards the things we were actually saving for.  God is good!

As far as the move goes, everything went as smoothly as possible (until the wreck later that night).  We packed our house over the course of 3.5 months so everything was basically ready to go.  When the movers got there they were in shock that we had done so much on our own!  Savannah Movers are really awesome and they spent 5 hours loading all of our stuff between a POD and a Big Uhaul truck...and as far as I can tell, didn't get anything mixed up.  After a long day with the movers, we showered and began to make our way to Dublin to get Ella who had spent a fun filled week with Mimi and Papa. We decided to stop for dinner in Metter, Ga...remember the slogan... "Everything's better in Metter"...I'd beg to differ...that's where the wreck occurred.  I was pulling out of a restaurant/gas station area with a giant 18-wheeler obstructing my view.  I couldn't tell the road was 2 lanes, he was stopped trying to turn in where I was leaving, I thought he was waiting on me so I went after we both sat there for what seemed like forever.  Yeah...not a good thing.  The road was 2 lanes AND there was someone in the other lane and the front of my car hit the front side of her car.  Luckily nobody was seriously injured because it could have been extremely bad.  Brent was following me in the Uhaul truck so he wasn't in the car.  The EMT checked me out and the only thing I had was a small bump on my head and of course some tears.  I tried to stay calm for the baby's sake and, I have to say, I must have done a decent job because my blood pressure was 116/ 70.  Pretty low for just having a  scary wreck.  So anyway, we paid for the girl I hit's hotel room and had Julie and Eddie come get us.  Eddie came up with a new slogan for Metter on the way home..."The city, that's sh***y"...sometimes you just have to find humor in a bad situation.  Thanks again for picking us up!

 What a relief that everyone was okay and what a terrible ending to an already long day.  My car, which I love, was hauled off to some tow yard to be assessed by Allstate the following Monday.  After the inspection last Monday, they found no engine or structural damage to my car, and it will be repairable, so yay for that.  Seeing Ella that night really hit home for me.  What if the wreck had been really terrible and something bad had of happened and I missed the chance to see her grown up?  I was counting my blessings to be okay...not only okay, but basically uninjured and felt very lucky to be safe and with my family.  Brent found out later that week from some of his patients from Metter that that intersection is extremely dangerous and a wreck occurs there almost once a day.  They are trying to petition to get a stop light put in.  I hope they do, because it's a very tricky intersection and I imagine people have died or been seriously injured there.  That might explain why the cop we so nice and even made the point to tell me he "had" to give me the ticket since I had caused a wreck, but he was just glad that we were all okay.  I feel very fortunate.

So we spent the night in Dublin.  Baby moved and kicked all night and has been ever since, so we are really grateful she's okay!  The next morning we got up and headed to Roswell to move into my Mom's basement.  My awesome brother and his awesome friends, Drew and Zack, helped Brent clear out our Uhaul and move everything in.  They must be some strong guys because they had it done in less than an hour!  We still owe my brother and his friends dinner..they wouldn't let us pay them...isn't that so sweet?  Thanks again guys!  So, everything was in by Saturday despite the wreck.

 Brent headed back to Savannah on Sunday for his last week of work.  He only had an air mattress, clothes, towels, and cleaning supplies at the house.  He spent the week working and getting the house in tip-top shape for our check-out inspection.  Which apparently went really great...way to go Brent!  I spent the week setting up our new pad and I must say, we've really made it work.  There's quite a bit of space and we feel fortunate to have something temporary as we decide what exactly our "forever" plan is-- either buy a practice or open a brand new one.  Only time will tell!

Ella LOVES spending time with her Nana and Uncle Jason and it's been great to have help with her while we get settled in.  I think it will be a big adjustment, but we're grateful that everything worked out like it has.  Brent actually started working today in Dawsonville.  He called to say the commute wasn't so bad and that he didn't mind the drive thus far.  I hope he feels the same way headed home tonight!

I think the best part of being back in the Atlanta area is that we have so many people who we care about and have reached out to us!  It feels great to be home and to know so many people again.  Of course we want to make new friends too, but it feels so good to be able to meet up with people from the past and know that they already know you and love you just the same.  Ella has been invited to music on Thursday and to a really cool indoor playground on Friday, thanks to my friend from college, Freddie!  Freddie has two little ones and is really connected with all the stay at home mom stuff in the area.  I'm just so grateful that she's including us and showing us the ropes!

Lots more to blog about but I'll stop here.  I truly feel like this journey guided by faith is leading us exactly where se are suppose to be.  We're excited and relieved that the first leg is over with and are holding on for what is to come....but not without out FAITH to hold our weight!  Wonder if my Sunday school teacher realizes I never forgot that analogy??