I posted about the trip to and from NY, but not about the actual visit. So, here goes! We arrived Wednesday afternoon in Newark airport and met my Dad. Outside it was SNOWING (talk about a shock!) and we bundled up to head to the car. We headed to Panera for a quick lunch and then my Dad drove us to my childhood home in upstate New York. Here are a few pictures from the drive:
Once there I unpacked some and waited for Mom and Luke to get home.... And then they were home:
Skylar didn't sleep well Wednesday night, so we slept in Thursday. We got up eventually to get ready to hang out with my wonderful friend Nancy!! I've known Nancy since I was in Kindergarten She was my best friend growing up and I'm so glad we're still in each other's lives. I'm so blessed to have Nancy in my life. Nancy met Skylar and we talked and caught up for a while. Eventually we got down to taking photos. We tried to go outside but it was just TOO cold. We found some good light on the porch and I'm so happy with the photos I've seen thus far! I'll be posting separately with more pictures from the shoot -- so watch out for that, but there are a few in my 3 month note to Skylar.
Here's a quick picture I snapped of Nancy and Skylar:
Nancy left to make dinner for her husband and Lisamarie showed up soon after that. LM hadn't met Skylar yet either and I loved introducing her! Skylar is a little smiler and she grinned at Lisamarie (and at Nancy) so much! She loves meeting new people! Lisamarie, Skylar and I hung around the house, had dinner and ran to the grocery store for diapers and various other impulse buy items. I didn't get any pictures of LM and Skylar (sadness!), but here's one I grabbed at the end of the night:
(I adore you, Lisamarie!! I'm so glad we're friends!)
Friday was spent shopping with my Mom and Skylar for gifts for the two baby showers we were attending the next day (the main reason I was IN New York was to attend the showers). It was a fun day of shopping and looking at cute clothes and accessories. We laughed a lot! I love that the 3 of us had so much fun together. I cannot wait for the future when my daughter is a little bit more grown and the 3 of us can go on more outings!
Most nights Skylar & I used facetime with Jimmy. Skylar seemed to actually recognize Jimmy pretty well -- especially his voice. It was super cute:
Saturday dawned and Mom, Skylar and I got ready to head to Rachel's shower. After a few baby related delays and some traffic we made it to Rachel's shower! It was so great to see Rachel and celebrate her little one! I cannot wait to meet Sophie! Here's a fun picture of some of the preggo pictures of Rachel with Rob that were out on the table:
One of the activities at Rachel's shower was picking a card for Sophie for age 1-18 and writing a note for her. I thought that was such a neat idea! Mom wrote in the card for age 16 and I wrote in the one for age 3. I love how there are so many different things to do at showers! :) Mom and I had to leave before the shower was over to head to Nancy's shower.
Nancy's shower was an open house with everyone included! Girls, guys, kids! Everyone! Mom & I met some friends and family and hung out with Nancy and Jason. They aren't finding out the gender of their babe before birth, so there was much speculation about that at the shower. Here's the guess count at the end of the night (my guess was "boy"):
Hmmmm.... I'm pretty sure someone added 4 ticks on the girl side to even up the numbers. Hah..... No one really knows! Everyone has a 50/50 shot (except the college educated momma! She has a 70% chance of guessing correctly)! But we'll all know sometime in January! So exciting!
I hung out at the party for a while after it was over. I'm so thankful to Nancy's sister and brother in law for being such a gracious hosts! I loved spending a bit more time with Nancy and Jason. They are both awesome people and I cannot wait to meet their little person!
One thing I'm struck by lately is how many of my friends are having kids (or already have had kids). It's honestly super neat to be going through all of this with several friends! Nancy & Rachel are both good friends and I'm so excited to meet their little ones! Rachel's daughter should be born (hopefully) when we visit New York around Christmas time. I'll have to wait a bit longer to meet Nancy's little guy (or gal), but hopefully that will happen in the early spring! :)
The rest of my trip involved lots of people meeting Skylar. I loved sharing her with everyone at church and spending time with Lynn and Chuck (family friends that I've known since I was a kid) one evening. It always feels so great when people love on my little girl. Skylar also enjoys meeting new people and being social (hmmm, I wonder who she takes after?). On Sunday I was blessed to sing praises to God with my brother Luke as one of the worship team members. He is growing into such a wonderful young man. I'm super proud of my brother. Watching him with Skylar was a blessing as well. He's really good with her. Here are a few pictures of them together:
(Skylar was pretty enamored with Apples to Apples)
One other moment I really loved while in New York was when she was watching soccer with my dad:
Monday dawned and I worked quickly to pack up while waiting for my friend Stephanie to stop by with her three kids. After Steph and her kids arrived we hung out in the family room to catch up while the kids played with blocks and various toys. Steph's oldest, Jade, loved on Skylar quite a bit and it warmed my heart. Here are a couple photos from their interactions:
Monday afternoon Mom, Dad, Luke, Skylar and I traveled to Newark and met up with my grandfather and his friend Rita. We had dinner with them and then went back to Rita's house. My grandfather had just gotten power back and Rita's house was closer to the restaurant. Grandpa got to meet Skylar and held her. I don't have a picture of it, though! I need to get a copy of the pictures Luke took!
We headed to the airport soon after dinner and you can read the rest of the trip back to NC in this post.
It was really nice to catch up with so many people while I was in New York! I looooooved introducing so many people to my little girl! And Skylar was really good for most of the trip! It was kinda overwhelming to me to think about traveling without Jimmy, but I'm glad we were able to go and enjoy the time with family and friends! I look forward to the next trip to New York WITH Jimmy, though!
Until next time,
Emily
