the world expanded by one, and my heart is busting at the seams

 slow down little feet...

... at least give me time to change my polish

my Sweetest niece turns five years old today.

will she ever know how she changed the world?

the not so wee three

This precious girl's second birthday has come and we celebrated with pink cupcakes.

This is how she chose to eat hers.

No hands!

 This one, oh my. She packed her new dance outfit so she could put it on and show me. She twirled and leaped and sat and told me all about starting ballet and tap and the different shoes and colors of leotards for each. Your first ballet shoes are, after all, something to be proud of.

And this charmer, he will snuggle still in your lap for a story or a whisper, but not for long.

gathering

My three-year-old neighbor brought these flowers to me yesterday.

He picked them from his butterfly garden. He said he wanted to brighten my day.

It worked.

WE HAVE BLUE EYES

Have I ever told you, dear Internet, about the day this sweet girl was born?

My brother called me around 1 a.m. to tell me they were at the hospital. I was five hours away, and it was sleeting… so it was decided I ought not leave and drive five hours in the middle of the night on icy roads. So I waited as patiently as I could, pacing with excitement, taking a shower and packing my bag, calling my Mom for updates… Finally, 6 a.m. rolled around, the hour I would leave. About five minutes before I was to walk out the door, my Mom called… she was standing outside the delivery room… the baby was close, so close… then she said, It's here! We can hear it crying, it's here, it's here!

I completely broke down. I could hear my Dad laughing with joy… a few moments later my brother poked his head out to announce, "We got ourselves a little girl." I will never forget that moment. In one instant I was overwhelmed with total joy, and completely devastated that I wasn't there.

I was a mess. I thought for sure I was going to feel a huge weight of regret for the rest of my life that I was not standing in that waiting room the moment my first niece was born. I wanted to BE there, I wanted to see my brother's face as he became a father…

Five hours later I was holding the sweetest little baby I had ever known. I was an aunt. The feelings of regret I was so sure I would carry forevah seemed silly… here she was, just hours old, and I was getting to hold her, and hug my brother, and sit by Andrea with complete gratefulness for what she'd made me a part of.

I think about that early morning now and laugh at how emotional and dramatic I was. Can you hear me? ForEVER, I'm going to regret it foreeeevvveeeer.

Oh, my sweetest niece, I'm glad we both like polka dot jammies. You make me smile foreeeeevveeer.

PRIDENESS

This little girl makes me proud to be an American, and so proud to be her Aunt.

{Thanks for the video, Andrea.}

YOINK

Oh my! Oh my! I can't help myself.
...walks away singing Quack Quack Quack Quack Cock-a-doodle-do...

HOW BIG IS REIDY?

SOOO BIG!





Happy Birthday Precious Girl!
I love you from here to the sun!

WEDNESDAY'S CHILD

Welcome to the world Penelope Claire Taylor

PLAYING WITH A PTERODACTYL

I got to spend one last weekend in Florida with the Robertsons before they move back to Texas. (Yay for Texas!) It was a nice, low-key weekend enjoying the Florida sunshine and one rosy-cheeked little girl.

I am amazed at how much Reid has grown and changed since we last played a month ago. She still sounds like a pterodactyl when she hollers, just like she did when she was a newborn. But it's a very happy pterodactyl. One excited by shiny things and squeaks and rattles. And very very ticklish. If you've never heard a pterodactyl giggle, you should go find you one and squeeze her little legs until she squinches her eyes closed and bursts into a laughing fit.

Then go play dress up with her.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HENRY

Henry Lewis Brewer

The world will never be the same.

DO THE MONSTER MASH

A FEW OF MY FAVORITE HALLOWEINERS!








This is my friend Staci. She made this scccaaaarrry Spider Dip to bring to work today.

And I just couldn't resist posting this picture of the cousins!

SMITTEN

I love this picture of Reid and her Dad. Casey has been head-over-heels in love with his little girl since the moment she was born. Believe me, I was there. I had the privilege of being there during the precious first hours when Casey became a father. And during those hours my heart was filled with so much happiness because I saw what kind of Dad my precious niece was lucky enough to have and I knew that she will be spoiled rotten, not with material things, but with love.


I am so thankful that God gave my sister the perfect partner, and that he made Casey the Dad of one of the most important people in the world to me.

A LITTLE GOES A LONG WAY

This grin makes my soul want to eat cotton candy.
Reid Noel
4 weeeks

THIS IS KIND OF BLOWING MY MIND

This picture of Reid and her mom is now among my all time favorite pictures, among the ones that I will always remember and will recall as that picture. My beautiful sister holding her week-old first born, her daughter, my precious niece, another child who has caused me surprise at my own capacity for love.

It's funny how quickly I forget what it's like to meet a newborn; how easy it is to think that all newborns are pretty much the same - they sleep, eat and poop and that's about it. Thinking back to my first experience as an aunt when Aubrey was born, and when I met Pete and now Reid, their uniqueness is immediately apparent; the difference in the way they move their tiny mouth or the sound of their cry. They are each captivating in their own way. God's miracles - before we were even conceived, he knew what would be special about each one of us, he knew the plan for our life and set it in motion. Maybe Reidy's little bird cry will turn into a beautiful singing voice, or her affinity for Pugs will draw her to a life in Chinese Pug Rescue.

Maybe Pete's height foretells aspirations of caring for giraffes, or his sense of humor (yes, believe me, he has one at the age of 4.5 months) will give him the ability to try and fail a million times without giving up before he discovers the cure for disease.


Maybe Aubrey's command of language will lead her to study monkey communication, or her imagination will stretch boundaries into new ideas that change the world as we know it.


Maybe I'm just biased and have great expectations for these children who will carry on my lineage. But one thing is true, God has great plans for us and a new life just starting its journey is a beautiful reminder.

REID NOEL ROBERTSON

She's Here! Reidy is HERE!

She is even more beautiful than we could have imagined. And Renee' and Casey have fallen into parenthood as naturally as a caterpillar turns into a butterfly. Plus they've fallen pretty hard for their little girl. It's easy to see why. She is bright and shiny and has a lovely disposition.

She sounds like a little bird when she fusses - kind of loud, but a pretty sweet sound nonetheless. ;)

Look at her goofing around already. She said, "Hey AuntGi, this is my impression of a burrito. Take a picture!"



Doug the Pug gladly took on his role of Guardian and Protector. He caught on pretty quick that this little girl is something special and that they will be best friends soon. Plus, he knows who is making those dirty diapers, and he wants to be sure she sticks around for a while.



I'll trust Doug to tell Reid daily stories about how fun their AuntGi is and how she'll give you treats without you even asking.

Little do they know, I'd give her the moon and stars.

Reidy, I love you from here to the Sun.

WILL SHE BE LOUD?

Today I leave for Florida to be with Renee' and Casey for the birth of their little girl, Reid! She will be here by next Wednesday, if not sooner.

I am really excited that my Mom and I will get to spend a few days with Renee' before she has the baby. And I am soooo thankful that, so far, things have worked out perfectly for us being there when she goes into the hospital and can be with them through the labor and delivery.

Although I am exploding with love for my niece already and I can't wait to see her sweet face, I am mostly glad I can be there for my sister. It seems like usually, when a baby is born the attention the mother enjoyed for nine months is pretty much immediately shifted to the beautiful new baby in the World, and rightly so. I mean, we've waited with much anticipation to meet this miracle, this absolute gift from God.

But I'm really feeling glad that I will be in Florida in time to sit with my sister through her labor, and hold her hand as others hold her newborn daughter, and be near as her heart experiences motherhood for the first time.

Because we are sisters, and if I couldn't be near her heart for this occasion, my heart would break.

It's only a matter of days now until we meet this precious little girl and discover if she has dark hair and blue eyes? Does she have Casey's nose or Renee's mouth? Is green her best color; no blue I think. :)

And then it won't be long until we'll know... if she's loud.

TODAY'S SPECIAL

The Monday Blue Plate Special is oven fried chicken, corn on the cob, baked beans, sweet Hawaiian bread and tea for $6.99.

Okay. Do you see the size of that piece of chicken, that half of a chicken? Tonight's real adventure was not the recipes, it was me...wrestling with two chicken halves...with their chicken parts still connected by bones and bloody tendons...tendons which allow wings to still work and move in a flap-like manner when manipulated just right, even if accidentally. Heaven help me!

I do not do well with animal bones. And I especially do not do well with food that still resembles its live state. So I gave myself MAJOR props for handling two chicken halves and successfully dismembering them without any prior knowledge of or preparation for how to do this. The process was not without some squeals and gags and a few instances of reflexively chucking the stubborn fleshy meat away from myself when a wing flapped or a bone protruded alarmingly. But I did it. Hoorah. I will either a) be calling my good friend Rhett to give me a lesson in tearing apart chickens (not because he's violent but because he's an experienced chef), b) get a big electric food saw (surely one exists, right?), or c) never again buy such large pieces of bone-in animal.

The end product was tasty. But I will probably dream of being chased around a barnyard by wingless chickens who want to relieve me of my burdensome arms.

In other news, this weekend we celebrated her 2nd Birthday with Zoe Brewer and her posse. Zoe was not sure why all those people were singing.



And here are gratuitous pics of the doggies tonight as I was blogging. True to form, Sadie was chillin'...



and Scoopie was all up in my biz.

IT'S A BROTHER! IT'S A BROTHER!

Pete Allen Silverthorne was born Saturday! We have a nephew!

Although we have not met him yet, Aaron and I love him very much already! We will go this weekend to hold Pete for hours! We can hardly wait!

SCRAMBLED EGGS

Really, does it get any more precious than this?




And here's a photo from my fun weekend in Dallas. I went to celebrate St. Patrick's Day and Megan's birthday with these lovely ladies a few weekends ago.