To think that five years ago, Kip and I came together and promised our lives to one another.  Many of the people that follow this blog were in attendance that day.  It was a warm and blustery day that ended rather cool.  But I had a good time, and I hope that Kip did too! :)

I wanted to make this post as a retrospective on the past five years that I have spent with my husband.  A lot has happened over the years.  I didn’t link back to all previous posts I’ve made on this site, because there would have been a lot of them, so I’m just going to list the major events that have transpired as I remember them.  Please be advised: there is a lot of text here!

We spent our first week together visiting Hawaii, and had a marvelous time in the sun, sand, and sea.  We also enjoyed it from the air in a helicopter ride, that neither of us could fully enjoy due to motion sickness. Kip came home with a wounded foot after a snorkeling accident on the second day.

The next month Kip got to experience helping my family with a yard sale at my parents’ house, and was amazed at the crazies that come out at five in the morning and don’t allow you to fully set up the sale before they totally decimate the merchandise.

In June of 2005 we nearly got in a fight at Carowinds while waiting in line for the Borg.  It was quite terrifying at the time, but now, to look back on it is pretty funny.  I’m proud of my brother-in-law, who was brave enough to stand up for us when people tried to jump the line, when it wasn’t moving.

The month of July didn’t bring many exciting events, just a lot of reviews by my husband.  Things like movies, video games, and radio stations.  Not very exciting stuff.

August, however, was a pretty big month because we found out that our family would be increasing in number by 1.  We were going to be gaining a puppy that was left on Kip’s mom’s front door step.  We lost her a month later to a heart condition that was terminal.  It was a very sad thing to go through.  We then were able to adopt another dog, Punky, that we still have today, she turns five sometime this month.

Sometime in November Kip decided that he needed to reconnect with his stick figure days, and pulled out all his old drawings.  I’m not sure I approve, but they are kinda funny.  I also took up heavy-duty baking in all my free time, and created the infamous cupcake turkey army.  I still can’t believe nobody wanted to eat them.

In 2006 Kip learned how to file our taxes, which was a little stressful, but a necessary evil.  We had a winter Olympics in February, which made recording what we watched on tv interesting.  And I went on a job interview in March.

April brought around our first wedding anniversary.  We celebrated by going to the mountain house up on Roan Mountain.  We enjoyed warm fires, and year old wedding cake.  And I got the job that I interviewed for back in March.  Kip bought a new car, the Solara.

The next couple of months are pretty mundane, with Kip talking about computer stuff, and me being excited about getting the complete collection of Shelley Duvall’s Faerie Tale Theatre.  Kip then made a really long review of games and showed off his cubicle at Dassault.  And, we became Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Kip (but it wasn’t mentioned until October).

In September we celebrated Labor Day with my parents at Chimney Rock, and Kip talked some more about computer stuff.  (Have you sensed a pattern on what he talks about a lot!)

October had quite a bit going on with Kip getting excited about the upcoming release of the Nintendo Wii, I made a top 5 list of movies I would want with me if I were stranded on a desert island (in which I waxed romantic at the end), Kip created a MySpace page for some unknown reason, and we made a jack-o-lantern ghost.

The remainder of 2006 went as follows: we went to the Renaissance Fair with my parents, Kip led game time for AWANA at church one Wednesday night when there were apparently no other people available, Kip turned 25, he lost his cell phone while furniture shopping at the Hickory Furniture Mart (and later found it, Thank God), my car was broken into while I was at work and my purse with my cell phone was taken, the police called us late that night to tell us they caught the guys that did it and had my purse and cell phone in custody (again, Thank God), and Kip got a Wii for Christmas!!

2007 came in with nothing too exciting happening.  Kip talked a lot about programming stuff, and video game stuff.  I complained about mandatory work, that isn’t work, but menial labor.  Then we went to Florida for spring break to visit the newest addition to our extended family.

Our second anniversary was spent at home that year, but I got Kip the most awesome gift ever.  He was graced with his very own Kip Bobble Head.

May started with Kip complaining about filters on different programs, and me telling everybody about falling down the stairs on Easter Sunday and ruining two pairs of shoes.  The month ended with Kip warning people to watch what they say in airports.

The summer had several gaming highlights including us beating Super Paper Mario, and a 5 year old impressing Kip with his gaming skills.  I quit my job, and we bought our first house.  Kip continued blogging about LOST (which he had done several times previously on the blog).  Kip then had a crazy week in which our air conditioning went out in our new home and he got rear-ended on his way home from work.  The summer ended with us announcing our “big news” and Kip sharing quite a lot of his violent stick figure art with the world.

The year ended with Kip going on a business trip to Seattle, us finding out that we were going to have a bouncing baby girl the following spring, Kip and I both had birthdays, the carbon monoxide detector went off in the house, and we decorated for our first Christmas in our very own home.

The year 2008 began with the return of American Gladiators on tv, Kip realizing that Dane Cook is not nearly as funny as he used to be, and us taking our babymoon to Atlanta.  Kip also reviewed some games and determined that we would be traveling to see the full lunar eclipse in 2017.

March of 2008 brought Emma Leigh Robinson into the world and our lives.  She has been a true blessing to both Kip and myself.  For those of you that don’t remember, her arrival was a bit traumatic, but well worth it.  Looking back, I’m thankful that we were able to learn so much with her and help prepare ourselves for her little brother, who will be joining the family in mid-July of this year.

After Emma’s birth we posted a lot about her, and Kip did some more programming stuff.  For my first Mother’s Day, Kip bought me a brand new Honda CR-V, which I still love today.

Over the summer, Kip programed some more, there was stuff on video games and Facebook, Emma had her first beach trip (she didn’t like the water), and we went back to Florida.  The summer Olympics took place in Beijing, and USA did a pretty good job in the swimming events.  By the end of the summer, Emma had gone swimming at her Mimi’s house, and started eating “solid” foods.  It also held the life changing information that Kip’s current employer was closing the Charlotte branch in six months.  It was yet to be learned which layoff he would be included in.

The fall included a nice date night, and Emma going to the polls for her first voting experience.  We also posted quite a few videos of Emma growing, developing, and being really cute.

January 2009 brought snow, and Emma got to go sledding with her daddy.  February had Emma learning to walk, and Kip going on a mission trip to Matamoros, Mexico with our church.

March brought Kip looking for a new job since his would be ending at the end of the month, and his new use for all those business cards they gave him.  Emma also had a pretty big milestone when she turned 1.

Thankfully, Kip was hired for a new job in May, so we didn’t have to go into the unknown world of unemployment for very long.  Before he started, we took a family vacation to Myrtle Beach, and Emma had a blast in the lazy river at the resort.

During last summer, Kip got to experience the guy that sells meat out of a freezer strapped in the bed of his pick-up truck.  We also made another trip to the beach, this time with Kip’s extended family.  The summer ended with me going to the first planning meeting for my 10 year high school reunion.

In the fall and winter of 2009, Emma went trick-or-treating for the first time, and was quite the hit among the other parents and groups we passed or visited.  Kip also realized that he was getting old while I helped throw a wedding shower for my little sister.  My sister got married, and we had Christmas with my family at the beach.  We also found out that we were expecting our second child before the end of the year.

Although 2010 has barely begun, some things have happened since it began.  I was curious if anybody had any old wive’s tales that would help predict the gender of the newest Robinson, and Kip learned that teaching Emma her pronouns was going to be a challenge.  We also had more snow, and therefore more snow fun with Emma and her penguin sled.

Kip quit watching the Simpsons and found out that there is another him in the world.  A second winter Olympics started and ended since we’ve been married, and this time we did pretty well in downhill skiing and speed skating.

In the last month, we found out that the next Robinson will in fact be a little boy to be named Grayson Matthew Robinson, and Emma had her second birthday.

I can’t believe so much has happened or that the time has gone by so quickly.  I’m so thankful for all the fun times and many blessings we have had together.  I’m sure most of you found this post rather boring, but I had a lot of fun going back through all the things that have happened since we got married five years ago.  The day is almost over, so I guess I’ll go to bed since I have another busy day tomorrow, and lots more to do before our next big milestone gets here.

Many of you already know this from Facebook but I thought that I would make a post about it anyway because it is pretty big news in our family: we will be having a boy!

We went to the doctor on Thursday with Emma, Grammy, and Mimi in tow, to find out what the next little Robinson would be.  Grammy and Mimi were both fully expecting a girl, and Emma, when asked what the baby was, she responded “Gurl!”

After all the checking and measuring of the important baby stats, the technician had Kip call in the rest of the family to have the gender of the baby finally announced.  Once everyone was in the room, the Tech announced, “Well, it’s a boy.”  Her inflection showed no excitement or interest.  It sounded like she was telling us that “Well, it’s going to rain today.”  The reactions that followed though were more interesting.  Kip, according to my mother, beamed with a big goofy grin.  Mimi was so excited she teared up and exclaimed, “I know what to do with a boy!”  Grammy was all smiles, and asked me if I was ok.  (You have to understand that Kip and I really wanted another little girl, much like my sister Emily really wanted a little boy.)  I was in a state of shock and surprise for a few seconds, and then I just thought, “God is giving us a little boy, and he is healthy, moving, and going to be very precious when he gets here in less than 20 weeks.”  I was a little disappointed at first, and terrified because I figured out what to do with a baby girl with Emma, but I have no experience with little boys on an extended basis.  There are little boys in the nursery at church, but I usually let them be on their own and when they need a diaper change, I let the other worker handle that.  I am happy that we are going to have a little boy, and I am looking forward to buying him his own new wardrobe now that I know I need to have clothes for a little boy.

For those of you that have been living under a rock or don’t keep up with our lives like a stalker or super-fan, the plan as of now is to have the baby on July 19, via c-section, and name him Grayson Matthew Robinson.  No, the name isn’t a family name, it is just a name that Kip and I picked out when I was pregnant with Emma (in the event that she turned out to be a boy) and we still like it, so it will be the name of this baby.  And if you’re wondering, we are not naming him “Kip Robinson, III” because Kip says having the same name as your dad makes things too confusing. He figures maybe someday he might have a grandson named Kip. And I’m OK with that.

So, I’ve now had two visits to the doctor since I learned that I was expecting again.  I’m coming to the end of the first trimester, and I was just curious if anyone who reads out blog knows any old wives tales as to how to figure out the gender of the baby before the ultra sound.  I want to go ahead and state that I put no faith in these hypotheses, I just enjoy hearing them, and seeing how they apply to my current situation.  I will go ahead and give you a couple of statistics from the first 13 weeks.  I have had some morning sickness, but have thus far, not thrown up.  The heart beat at the ultra sound was 168 beats/minute.  Then at the second visit when you get to hear it, the heart beat was at 160 beats/minute.  (I would like to interject here that Emma’s heart beat went from 181 beats/minute to ~165 beats/minute between the first and second doctors visits respectively.)

I have heard a few crazy theories so far:

1. Since I haven’t thrown up, it must be a boy.  (This I have a hard time believing since Elysabeth had a boy when I had Emma, and she was sick the whole way through her pregnancy.  And Anna never threw up when she was pregnant with Abigail.)

2. The heart beat started low so it must be a boy.  (I had hear that heart beats between 160 and 180 beats/minute are girls, and heart beats between 140 and 160 beats/minute are boys. Again, the baby’s heart beat falls very close to the middle range that makes it hard to tell.)

3. I have heard a tale that holding the mother’s-to-be wedding ring over her belly, and seeing which way it swings will tell you what it will be, but I don’t remember all the specifics of this wives tale.

Please feel free to share the crazy and not so crazy theories and tales, I look forward to reading them all!!!

Last weekend, Kip, Emma, and I went to Laurinburg because it was time for the first planning committee meeting for my 10 year high school reunion.  I decided that since I didn’t live that far away, I might see if I could help any in the planning of this shindig.  Anyway, I went to the meeting not really knowing what all was required in the planning of a class reunion.  I found out that it is just like planning for a wedding reception, and I’ve already done that once, so maybe I can be a bit of help.  We discussed possible locations for having the party, when we would have it, what all we would do that weekend for activities, and all the not so fun logistics.  I think our next meeting might be a little more fun since we will actually be doing stuff instead of just talking about stuff.  I know that this post isn’t that exciting or entertaining, but not much is really going on with me and Emma lately to be post worthy, and I hadn’t posted in a very long time and thought I would just share on this little milestone in my life.

Some facts about my high school:

• My graduating class had 342 students

• There is only one high school in all of Scotland County

• I think I only know about 50 of those students

• There were only 3 people at the meeting and one other person on a cell phone speakerphone

That is about it, maybe something else exciting will happen soon, and make a better post than this unexciting update...

Emma is just growing and growing!  I guess that is what babies do.  To think that in just over a month she will be one year old.  My little baby won’t be a baby much longer!  I just thought that I would take a moment to update everyone on all the amazing things Emma can do now.

Watching Little Einsteins
Almost everyday since Emma was around four or five months, we would watch Little Einsteins on the Disney channel.  At the beginning of every episode, the characters on the show pat their laps to help Rocket blast off.  Today was the first time that Emma patted along with them!!  It was so exciting to see her patting along and then saying a word after they said “Blast off”!  She’s been clapping at the end of the episodes during the curtain call for about a month, but it was really exciting to see her patting with the team.

Sign Language
Kip and I have been trying to teach Emma how to communicate with us using sign language.  She is really good at “good job” which is clapping her hands.  But lately she has also picked up “all done” when she is finished eating and every now and then she’ll sign “please” when she wants you to pick her up.  (More often though she raises her arms and looks up at you when she wants to be picked up.)  She also will wave “hi” sometimes when you say hi to her.  She waves to herself for “hi” and sometimes away from herself for “bye”.  Kip also taught her how to give “high five”.  I mean, who doesn’t want a ten month old giving them five.  Next we’re going to work on “pound it” (the fist bump).

Story Time
Every night Kip reads Emma her bed time stories, and he always ends with “Good Night Moon”.  When he goes through the story and the picture is the full room view, he always points at the things that the bunny is saying good night to.  Emma has picked up that habit as well.  She always points to the red balloon first and the picture of the cow jumping over the moon second.  Then she will point at random things in the room, but it is still really cute.

Fuzz on the Floor
Emma is a pro at finding any and everything that is on the floor.  I can vacuum the living room, and within five minutes of her being back in the room she can find a single piece of fuzz that might have been missed by the vacuum.  She used to immediately stick the fuzz in her mouth, but I have been trying to teach her to bring it to me instead.  This way she learns to pick up and bring things to mommy.  It is very helpful.  We do still have to have the occational mouth check to make sure she isn’t chewing on something she should not be chewing on.

Walking?
Emma has mastered crawling and is well on her way to understanding the mechanics of walking upright.  She has actually already learned how to climb the stairs.  I found her up three steps one day when I was headed back downstairs from taking something up to her room!  Of course, we’re making sure she doesn’t get near the stairs again, they’re just too dangerous for her right now.  She can walk around all the furniture in the house and pull herself up on just about anything, including the smooth walls.  She loves to play “chase me around the house”.  We’re trying to reset her boundaries.  She likes to hold onto your hands and walk around the house.  That lets her have more freedom than being confined to the furniture and the walls, but she still isn’t motivated enough to try taking a few steps on her own.  I’m not sure if I’m ready for my baby to walk away from me yet.

Shutting Doors
Emma has also learned that the doors are a lot of fun to play with.  You can bang on them, swing them back and forth, and push them closed.  She especially likes to shut the doors on you while you are doing something in the room.  Then she realizes that she can’t play with the door anymore and gets upset.  It is really funny when she crawls around the room and goes to the laundry room door and bangs on it while saying, “dadadada”.

So those are the really big accomplishments we’ve made in the last few months.  I’m sure we’ll let everybody know how her first birthday goes.  Be sure and check out the pictures (there aren’t new ones, but the old ones are still super cute)!

Tonight Kip and I went out for our second date night since Emma was born.  We had a nice dinner at Texas Roadhouse and then went to a movie.  We saw Fireproof with Kirk Cameron.  It was really good, and I’m excited that Kip was willing to take me to see a “chick flick”.  I highly recommend seeing the movie, just keep in mind that it was made with amateur actors.  I am so thankful that we also have the most awesome baby-sitter.  Hope everyone else had a Happy Mole Day!!!

Emma has hit a very frustrating and tiring milestone, well, it really isn’t a milestone, it is just a phase I wish we could move past.  We finally started being able to sleep through the night about a month and a half ago.  We quit being the kind of parent that went upstairs at the slightest stir to quiet and comfort so that Emma would learn to self sooth and put herself back to sleep.  It was great after only like four nights of me having to get up and turn the monitor off and sit up in the living room so that Kip could continue to sleep, she quit waking up.  Then suddenly, last night at 2:30 am, Emma woke screaming.  I almost went up stairs, but refrained and she did eventually quiet only to start screaming only fifteen minutes later.  I was concerned because we had only just lowered the level of the mattress in the crib that evening, and I was afraid her pacifier had fallen out under the crib bumper.  When I did get upstairs I was unable to find the paci in the crib, so I replaced it with a new one and she did eventually calm herself down enough to go back to sleep.  In the morning I found the paci on the floor next to the crib.  I hoped that this was a one time occurrence and things would be back to normal this evening.  Well, as you can see by the time stamp of this post, and the possible incoherence of the rambling that it in fact has not gone back to normal as I had hoped.  (Thank goodness for spellchecker too.)  I’m going to check in the morning to see if Emma is finally cutting her first tooth and that is why sleeping all night and taking good naps during the day has once again become difficult for her.

She has calmed down and gone back to sleep, so I am too.
“Good night stars, good night air.  Good night noises everywhere.”

So today is an interesting day in the wonderful world of motherhood.  Both Emma and I are sick with colds.  So I’m learning very quickly that I have to put how feel on the back burner to take care of her, instead of only feeling icky myself.  What is really interesting, Emma doesn’t even act all that sick.  She is still happy when she sleeps enough, and cries when she is hungry or sleepy.  She just sneezes more, and has a runny nose.  She might feel as bad as I do, but I have no way of knowing that as she has yet to master the art of speech.  She is however really good at making lots of different sounds, to include the “mmmmmmmmmm” sound.  This could mean that she will say “Mama” first instead of “Dada”.  She is ever growing and changing.  We now let her sleep on her tummy, and she is growing like a weed.  At her last check-up she measured in at 13 pounds 11 ounces and 25 inches long.  I’ll try and keep you updated on other mommy moments.

I’d like to start this post out by wishing all you mommies out there a belated Happy Mother’s Day!  I just celebrated my very first Mother’s Day two days ago, and I’d have to say it went really well.  It has been a real blessing having Emma in our lives, and we both love her very much.  She made me a very special Mother’s Day gift (with Kip’s and my help of course).  She made a really good hand print, and had her daddy frame it so we could keep it forever.  And then Kip gave me a new Honda CR-V to replace the Ford that I had been driving since college.  True, we bought it a couple of weeks ago, but it was for Mother’s Day.  Kip also got up early and brought back breakfast from Bojangles’ this morning.

At church on Mother’s Day they always have three really pretty flower bouquets to honor the moms that regularly attend the church.  They draw three names from a bowl, and each lady got to pick her bouquet.  Each year they leave out the names of the moms who were picked the year before.  I think that is a very fair way to make sure the same ladies don’t get flowers each year.  Well, it was exciting because my name got pulled second, and you can see the pretty floral bouquet in the picture below.  So, all in all, I’ve had a really good first Mother’s Day!

PS: You can see just how much Emma has grown in the picture.  She is getting so big, and beautiful!

We’re having a baby GIRL!

Kip and I went to the doctor’s office on Tuesday and we learned that our baby is a girl.  It was exciting until they got started and we found out that Emma (that will be her name by the way) had decided to be camera shy.  It took about thirty minutes to get a decent shot of her face in the “4D” view.  I actually thought that the 2D view looked better than the 4D view.  (You can judge for yourself, but we think it looks weird.  In fact, Kip thinks the fourth dimension they are referring to must be creepiness.  Sorry, he made me put that in here.)  The technician kept shaking and poking my belly to try to get her to roll over, but somehow it gave her the hiccups.  It was actually really cute to see her with the hiccups because her whole body would spasm, but I still can’t feel it.  It is amazing just how much I love her already, just from seeing her on the monitor.  We think she is going to have my nose, chin, and (sadly) my feet.  You can see for yourself in the picture of her feet.  I had fun today getting out all of the baby girl’s clothes that we already have (from numerous yard sales over the last few months) and washing them so they will be ready for Emma’s auspicious arrival next March.

Other exciting news on the baby front
I actually felt the baby move Friday night.  She decided to finally let me know she was down there.  It feels a lot like somebody is thumping you, but from the inside out.  She is especially active in the last hour or so before I go to bed in the evenings.  She also will roll around if I wake up in the middle of the night.

And in case you haven’t noticed, the pictures link to larger versions of the sonograms.