4th with friends

We were so happy to have our friends from Raleigh visit for July 4th weekend. We loved having the Wrights stay with us and showing them around Charlotte, plus seeing the kids play together was just too cute. It made me so sad when they had to go home; I almost wanted to strap myself in the backseat and go with them. Don't get me wrong though -- we love Charlotte! It's been a great change. We love the city and we are making new friends and memories, but it still makes me sad being here sometimes because we left behind some incredible friends in Raleigh. Kindred spirit type friends (Anne of Green Gables reference for you there).

Living in Raleigh was the first time we had to make friends on our own (without any connections), and I just have to brag again -- our Raleigh friends are amazing! It was also where our two babies were born -- we became a family there in our small cozy apartment. It will always have a special place in my heart. Luckily, we are only 2 1/2 hours way from Raleigh so we can still visit our friends without having to travel too far.

So, here are the pictures of our weekend with the Wrights....

 this is such a paparazzi picture 

we watched fireworks right outside our porch

only it started super late (after a baseball game)

holding a slug

love that cheese face

ER visit

Little Miss Amelia had her first ER visit a few weeks ago....

We went to Costco one afternoon, just me and the kids. We got all of our grocery shopping done and ate lunch there.

On the way home, the kids were laughing and content in the back. No crying from either kid.

I pulled into our garage. Got out of the car and went to get the kids out of their car seats.

I opened the back seat door, and that's when I saw it. Amelia turning blue. She had her mouth open trying to breath, but couldn't. I got her out of her car seat as quickly as possible. She was still blue. I started screaming/crying for her to breathe. Scariest moment of my life. I ran to the passenger seat to grab my phone out of the diaper bag to call 911 when she took a breath and color came back to her face.

She looked a bit dazed, but was clearly breathing normally again so I didn't call 911 (looking back, I probably should have called any way just to be on the safe side). I called Logan immediately though. No answer. I called my mom next and bawled to her about what had happened. I think I scared her too. Sorry, mom. I decided right then to take her to the ER just to make sure she was okay (even though by then she was smiling and back to her normal self) and to find out what the heck happened.  

Strapping Amelia back into her car seat and driving her to the hospital was probably just as scary as the incident. I was scared it was going to happen again. Luckily, the hospital was 5 minutes away from us. Hudson was also a big helper and kept telling me that she was okay the whole car ride.

Side note: We had only been in Charlotte for a month, so I didn't even have a pediatrician office to call before hand.

We got to the children's hospital around 4pm. I walked up to the counter with the two kids and explained what happened. They called us back into a room and the nurses got Amelia hooked up to monitor her breathing. We waited and waited. Two kids in the ER room by myself (with Amelia strapped to machines too) was hard, but the nurses kept coming in and out to give Hudson toys and snacks.

We saw the ER doctor (finally) around 6:30pm. Thankfully, Logan was on his way from work to meet us. The doctor listened to me tell what happened, and decided to do a bunch of tests to rule out anything that may have caused the episode. He ordered a chest x-ray and EKG right away. The ER doctor also told us they wanted Amelia to stay overnight for monitoring and a EEG test (testing for seizures) in the morning.

Amelia was acting fine at this point. She was smiling and laughing - being her normal self. I was really surprised they wanted her to stay overnight, but I didn't question it. The doctor wanted to be positive it wasn't anything serious.

So, I stayed the night with Amelia. I didn't get any good sleep with the machines beeping, and then at 2AM Amelia kicked something off her foot which made the machine do this sort of loud, panic noise. It woke me up in a panic. Luckily, the nurses came in right away so it didn't wake Amelia up. She slept soundly the whole night.

She had a EEG test in the morning to check for seizure activity, but that came back normal as did ALL of the other tests they did. The doctor ruled the episode a breath-holding spell. Read about it here. I think she must have gotten startled by something (probably something her brother did) and held her breath until she turned blue. Such a crazy, scary experience -- but we are so glad Amelia is healthy! I am crossing my fingers that we don't have any more ER trips in the future.

In the ER waiting to see the doctor..

Video: Amelia in the ER Room (at least brother was keeping her happy)

EEG testing the next morning (poor thing had about 30 different wires on her head - getting her to sit still was hard work)

leaving the children's hospital - so happy

Charlotte living

We moved into our new place mid-May and we love it! It's nice to have a little more room and have a two-car garage. I love the extra space. My favorite thing? The location! We live in uptown Charlotte. Very close to everything! Logan can walk to his office or ride the free trolley (less than a mile away). It's so convenient and awesome. When we were first looking at places, I did not want to live in the city. I wanted to get a place with a yard and in a nice community. Logan convinced me otherwise, and I'm so glad he did. It's going to be fun to have this "city life" experience while the kiddos are young. It's been surprisingly very easy to make the adjustment. Someone asked me recently which do I prefer Raleigh or Charlotte. I love both places, but I think we prefer Charlotte. There's just so much to do here! If Charlotte just had our Raleigh friends (we miss them SO much) and a temple, then it would be perfect.

We walk just about everywhere - museums, libraries, splash pads, playgrounds, lunch with daddy, grocery shopping, dry cleaning, etc. The only thing we really need our car for is Costco, Target, the mall, and church (about 20 minutes away). Hudson was so sad one Sunday when we had to get in the car for church. He threw a fit and screamed, "me want to walk!!!" We are also making new friends with neighbors and at church. Our church congregation is a lot smaller than the one in Raleigh (for my LDS friends - it's a fairly new ward, about 5 years old). It also means that we already have church callings right off the bat, Logan is in the Elders Quorum presidency and I'm on the RS Activities Committee. Fun stuff.

We really love it here. It's been so fun getting to know the city. Logan is also really enjoying his job. Yep, I think it is safe to say, we will be here for awhile.

Below are some pictures to give you a glimpse of what Charlotte living for us looks like:

living room area

fireplace area decorated

Hudson's room

Romare Bearden Park - this view is a 10 minute walk from our house

Hudson loves playing in the water area

He also loves pretending to be a lion on the giant rocks.

This place is called "The Green" - we meet up with Logan for lunch here sometimes. 

I pack our lunches and the kids play in the water fountains. 

Shakespeare in the Park (at The Green)

This is another cool spot. 

It's a church playground right in the city that we like to come to. 

This is Hudson after most of our days walking around the city. 

Imaginon (children's library) is also really neat. We go here often. 

Hudson likes to put on a puppet show for me every time we go to the library. 

I bought a blow up kiddie pool for the kids. They love it. 

We also love going to Discovery Place (children's museum) in Uptown. 

They had an art exhibit called Van Gogh Alive that we went to. 

at Romare Bearden getting some sun 

Here's Hud and his new friend, Charlie. 

They are just lounging, getting dry after playing in the water. 

summer days wear Hudson out

walking into the city

This picture melts my heart. He is getting so big and independent! 

We are having so much fun this summer. I can't imagine what we will do once the weather gets colder in the fall/winter since we walk everywhere. I guess that is what the museums and libraries are for. So, did I convince anyone to come visit yet? We would love visitors!  

Graduated

Logan graduated beginning of May. We are so proud of him! He worked so hard to get into the Master of Science Analytics program at NC State and completed it in a short (but intense) 10 months. The program is amazing; this year it had a 100% employment rate after graduation (most students averaged 13 job interviews and 3 offers). Logan was lucky to have a few competitive job offers that we considered, but ultimately we decided to move to Charlotte so he could work for a consulting firm. It was a good choice! He is enjoying his job and the city is great too (more about that later in another post).

Here are a few pictures from graduation day. Big thanks to his family for joining us!

Logan's practicum group. 

He worked with this group on a big data project for United Airlines. They did a great job and went to Chicago to present their project to the company. 

Logan's mom and Amelia were there too, but grammy volunteered to change an explosive diaper (bless her). 

I love my little family!

 one of my favorites from the day - daddy with his (little) biggest fans

Logan left right after graduation to run a Tough Mudder in Texas with a good friend from his mission. It was his graduation present. He had a blast. I don't know how you can call being covered in mud and getting electrocuted a blast, but that's what he did and loved it. (Thank you for the pictures, Allison!)

John and Logan about to run the race

My little sister, Amanda, also graduated (the day before our big move to Charlotte). She graduated from VCU with her bachelor's in Exercise Science. It's been a month now from graduation, and she has already found herself a job as a rehab specialist. I am so proud of her! The kids and I were able to drive up to Richmond, VA to be there for her special graduation day. (We left Logan to clean and pack up our moving truck. He did a great job - thanks Log!) 

Blurry, but I love this picture of Hud with his Aunt Mans