A Grand Weekend

Jack & Sam had another grand weekend; this one courtesy of Grandmommy & Grandaddy Garrett. We started the weekend with dinner on the square in Clarkesville, where the grandparents met us. We then made the short walk down to Pitts Park for Friday Night Flix. I think I timing was perfect. Jack had about 20 minutes to run wild and play on the overcrowded playground equipment with his best buddy Andrew before 'Up' started.

I fed Sam just as the movie got underway and then he snoozed with his Grandmommy. I wasn't really sure how Jack would do sitting still especially with slides, swings and all sorts of fun things to climb lingering in the background. He surprised me for sure. He sat in Josh's lap for almost the entire movie. When the music heightened or intensified, he was on the edge of his seat. The last half hour he would stand up every 5 or 10 minutes and say, "I be playing." As if to indicate that we could stay and watch the movie, but he would be on the playground playing. Of course, we reminded him we were watching the movie and we could come back and play later when it wasn't so dark. Overall, we absolutely enjoyed our movie in the park and are looking forward to the next one...although I don't know if there is enough actual football in 'The Blind Side' to keep him interested.

After a yummy breakfast at Stoney's Saturday morning, we went home to prepare to celebrate the fourth birthday of two of our favorite little girls, Bree & Blythe. Jack loved the mermaid/ocean theme and really enjoyed himself in the pool at the Aquatics center. It took him a while to warm up, but he was soon kicking and swimming around unassisted (unless you count his life jacket). We might have a fish on our hands.

Back home

We are back from the beach and had such a wonderful trip. There is so much to share, but I will most likely recall it in bits and pieces and share a lot of photos. We returned home to very chilly temperatures and a basement that is practically complete. Since we have been waiting so long, Josh & I were eager to get some furniture (that had been sitting wrapped up) into its proper place. Before that, some cleaning had to be done. We got one room sort of in place Saturday night and another Sunday night. There is still much to be done, but I'm sort of seeing a light and thinking we may actually enjoy a football game or two down there soon.

The beach was so much fun; and the weather was fabulous. I had my doubts about whether we would be able to set foot in the ocean or the pool outback, but we couldn't have asked for better weather. It was overcast a couple of days, which translates to longer beach time with little ones. We rented a house with some great friends, the Shaws and Yorks and our boys had a grand time swimming, running, jumping, singing and just being boys! When Jack and Andrew weren't plunging into the pool they were in the shadow of the "big boys" Tate & Brit. I took so many pictures, which I will eventually upload, but there is still so much catching up to do they will have to wait. So, here are just a few to wet your appetite!

Trains, Planes & Inflatable Slides

Saturday afternoon Jack and I joined several friends and their sons at the Family Fun Fest hosted by the local United Way. I must admit I expected to leave having forked out at least $20 for food, games and whatever else they dangled in front of Jack. I left having only spent $6 and with a child who had a blast. This was a first-time event and it was so well planned and executed. Tickets, games and rides were very affordable. They didn't gouge us on the necessities either...food was a steal. Jack had a grand time with Gus, Mack, Brit, Tate & Andrew. These boys were full speed the entire time...well, except for little Mack who just grinned at all the excitement!

I hope the event raised a good bit of money and the organizers will do it again. It was fantastic. Jack loved all the inflatables (although an older boy had to help him climb to the top of the big slide). He was a big fan of the train ride and the helicopter too. There are many more pictures in our August album, which is rapidly expanding.

After church on Sunday, we headed to Athens for a shower for my sister. It was great getting to see my grandparents and catch up with cousins. One of my cousins, Jenna, was a sweetie to entertain Jack. He even talked her into reading him a book. I think we have a great babysitter in training here!

Ouch!

On Friday I had all four of my wisdom teeth removed (well, most of all four...apparently there is still a piece of one hiding out very close to my facial nerves. Joy, joy!) Despite what I expected, the process has not been so horrible. Josh took me and Jack to meet my parents in Commerce Thursday night since my surgery was scheduled in Athens. Then, Friday morning my mom and I headed to the oral surgeon. She took Jack to the park and entertained him while I disappeared from the earth for about an hour.

Maybe some of you have been under general anesthesia before, but this was my first time. It's so weird to have lost an hour of your life and be totally unaware of what took place during that time. But, there were plenty of reminders about what had taken place...the swelling, discomfort, yucky guaze, unrecognizable and feelingless lips. My mom took us home, where I retreated to bed for some rest. Josh checked on me during his short lunch break on Friday. Mom headed home after he returned from work for good. I spent most of my time resting in bed, getting fresh ice packs, eating jell-o, pudding and avoiding straws. Jack kept wanting to get in bed with me. He did a couple of times, but was usually quickly carted off by my caregivers. Between the pain medicine and the anti-nausea meds, I spent most of Friday & Saturday asleep. In fact, Josh got a picture to prove it.

I managed to get a shower on Saturday, but soon after was back in the bed. Later that afternoon we joined some friends at the MOPS Hail & Farewell cookout, which celebrates the work and commitment of the outgoing Steering Team members and welcomes the new ST members. It was certainly good to see everyone, but all the talking, smiling and socializing certainly wore me out. I was glad to get home and get in bed.

Sunday was a similar story. Josh had to be at church early for a skit rehearsal, but I managed to get Jack ready and us both to church by 9. In fact, getting him dressed was the first diaper I had changed since Thursday night. After Sunday School, I was starting to feel the effects of being off my pain medicine. We left church a bit early so I could get home and get some relief.

I'm really grateful for the wonderful help I've had in my recovery. I certainly wouldn't have been able to bounce back this quickly without excellent help. Big thanks to my mom who did our chaufeuring and kept Jack occupied most of Friday. Enormous thanks to Josh who made sure I was worry free all weekend. You are the best!

Just Another Saturday

Just got Jack down for a nap and thought I'd get in a quick post. We've had a busy couple of days. Saturday morning we headed down to Athens for a few hours. We started by dropping Jack off at my mom & dad's house, then we headed downtown to meet the Forets for lunch. Ryan & Elise live in Greenwood, where Ryan is finishing his final year of residency. He & Josh worked together for a year there. They both went to LSU and are actually headed back to the bayou and closer to family when Ryan begins his practice in a few months. They decided to spend the weekend in Athens to celebrate Elise's birthday and take in part of the UGA/LSU baseball series. They invited us to join them.

We had a yummy lunch at East West Bistro downtown before heading to the game. With the temperature hovering around 72, it was a gorgeous day for baseball. It was warm, but not uncomfortable...we'll save that for football season. It started off shaky with the second batter jacking a homerun, but the dawgs answered with 4 runs of their own in the bottom of the first. We had to scoot a little early to make it back for a birthday party, but felt confident in the dawgs 6-2 lead. They ended up winning 10-8 (so we missed some drama), but unfortunately it was the only win of the 3-game series for the dawgs. Here's to hoping they bounce back against Arkansas this coming weekend.

After picking up Jack, we headed back towards home to join Andrew's first birthday celebration. The weather was beautiful back home too. Everyone was enjoying the afternoon out on the newly expanded deck at the York's house. Andrew enjoyed seeing his gifts, but I think eating his cake was his favorite part! We all enjoyed it too!

After we left the party we headed home, where my little sister, Emily, was waiting on us. She had agreed to drive up to watch Jack for us while we headed to the Rotary Club's Casino Night fundraiser. We had a great time. Josh got an education in Craps from Spencer Carr, while his wife Nancy & I tried our hands at Black Jack. Thanks to a very kind dealer, I had quadrupled my money by the end of the night. Josh was pleased to have doubled his and may be a little braver next time we go to Vegas. We were feeling pretty good about ourselves until we spotted folks with gobs of tickets (representing tens of thousands...about 20 times what we had). So, I'm guessing there was an even nicer black jack dealer out there. Anyway, the whole thing is fake money and all for charity. Despite spending most of the night at separate tables, Josh and I had a great time.

The night finally wrapped up with me, Josh & Emily all watching the UNC/Nova game. Exhausted, we all headed to bed. So, it was basically just another Saturday around here. What about you?

Say you are here to stay

Dear Spring,
Thank you for your loveliness. Your beautiful sunshine and cool breeze are what make you so fun to be around. I have enjoyed your presence the last 4 days. Hopefully my carrying on is not making some of my friends curse me. May I make a small request of you, Spring? Please tell me you are here to stay. Your pal, Old Man Winter, has given us quite the cold shoulder (okay, that pun was intended) and without an inch of snow to show for it! I know his routine. He lets you make your way in to our hearts and then pushes his way back in front for another week or two. Please don't let him bully his way back...even for a day. Please, sweet Spring, stand your ground. In return, we promise to keep enjoying you daily!

Here's proof:

Aren't these two cute?

Asleep?

It's 7:45 p.m. as I begin this entry, and Jack is already in bed (actually has been for about 20 minutes!) And, I think he's asleep. He was a little grumpy this afternoon, so I decided early to bed tonight! Maybe it's all the fun from this weekend. Friday night we had the opportunity to meet my parents in Commerce for dinner. My little sister joined us too. It was a lot of fun to catch up and about a 20-30 minute drive for everyone. Jack enjoyed seeing his grandma & grandpa and of course Auntie Em! They also brought the prints from my photo session....one of which was this beautiful piece (this was hung on Sunday afternoon.)

We spent a good part of Saturday at home. Josh had some rounding to do, so Jack & I did our typical morning routine. After lunch, we went to Lowe's to price a few items and ended up finding an instant home improvement project. Later that evening, we headed to the York's for dinner. Jack had such a good time playing with Andrew and his toys! These two are so fun to watch. Jack really loved watching James & Josh juggle, and we all enjoyed watching Andrew taking a few steps here and there. That kid is going to be walking in no time...he's eager and has no fear. Our little guy on the other hand is still content to crawl as fast as the wind. He did get up behind Andrew's push car and go for a quick stroll. Andrea got it on video and it was hilarious. He kept running into things and eventually toppled over it head first! Don't worry, he was fine. I think our laughter helped stifle his tears!

After church on Sunday, Josh began to tackle the mini-home improvement project to only to find we had purchased the wrong size...or had we? Anyway, after a quick trip back to Lowe's, he was back at work only to find that this was definitely the wrong size and the first one was going to have to work. So, after his second trip to Lowe's (third in 24 hours), we had the project finished. So, now we have enclosed blinds on the back door. I've been letting Jack scurry around without his shoes the last couple of days hoping that will help him in his cruising. Thanks to the bare feet he has rediscovered the joy of his tasty toes! Silly boy!

Where's Rhianna when I need her?

She so kindly offers space under her umbrella. So, where is she when I need her? Yesterday, Andrea and I went to Buford to pick up a baby shower gift and run some errands. Somewhere between Babies R Us and Michael's the rain began to fall and the winds were right with it. I hesitated before getting out my trusty gold Northeast Georgian gift umbrella, but decided it could hold up long enough for me to get to the back of the vehicle to get my monster umbrella. No sooner had I stuck it out the window and opened it, had old goldy turned inside out and was preparing to carry me away like Mary Poppins! A quick dash to the back and I retrieved my monster HMC umbrella (wouldn't you know...also a gift). I now confidently strolled over to the back seat to get Jack out of the car. Well, if you couldn't tell from this picture, my monster umbrella was also no match for these fierce winds! Gripping our little ones tight, Andrea and I bolted into Michaels laughing all the way!

Since my umbrella found a new home yesterday, I had to take a picture (in case, no one believed its destruction). Anyway, by the time we left the store 15 minutes later the mini wind/rain storm had died down and we could safely walk to the car. What a funny sight I must have been though on the way in, dragging my broken umbrella behind me!

This photo also made my Project 365 album. I've read about this on a couple of different blogs and sites. Basically, you take a picture every day for a full year. I think you are supposed to then scrap the pictures in a pretty book, but let's be real honest...I have yet to scrap Jack's birth, am I really going to find time to do this either? So, in a compromise I started a Project 365 album on my Picasa page. I'll post the photos there.

So, taking a picture every day? How hard could this be? I've taken like a million pictures since Jack was born. Seriously, my friends tease that he's the most photographed child ever. But, I've already missed Jan. 3, 4 & 5th! In my defense, I didn't really decide to do it until like Monday, but still! Anyway, I'll keep a link to the album on my sidebar. Who knows? Maybe I'll find someone or something besides Jack to photograph!

This & That

Last week was incredibly busy around here. So, hopefully this week will be a little more relaxed. On Tuesday, I had a meeting at the hospital. On Josh's afternoon off we had the car brakes replaced and ran a few errands (including a house call :) Then, I finalized the Wednesday Whirl (an email newsletter that goes out to our MOPS moms b/f each meeting). Wednesday brought the hospital golf tournament. My great friend Andrea was kind enough to watch Jack for a few hours while I helped set-up and get golfers registered. After they teed off, I picked Jack up and brought him back to the course for the conclusion. We raced to church for Wednesday night supper and then set-up the tables for our first MOPS meeting.

Here's Jack in between crawls. Yep, he's crawling. He's been doing an army crawl for several weeks now, but a week or so ago he figured out how to keep his belly up (although he still doesn't do it most of the time). So, needless to say he's keeping the floors clean with his shirts.

On Thursday morning, we decorated for our MOPS meeting and then I had to take care of some hospital ads before picking Jack up from Early Steps. We headed over to Andrea & Andrew's, where we all piled in the truck and headed to Buford for a trip to Babies R Us. It was hectic, but an incredibly fun trip to break up the craziness of the week. We also managed to squeeze in a stop at Chick-fil-A and Ann Taylor Loft. After returning home, I dropped Jack off with Josh and headed back to our church to have a prayer meeting about MOPS. Then, I zipped back home to feed Jack before heading to BUNCO...another fun time! We laughed and carried on a bit too much I think! After returning home, I started on my breakfast items for the MOPS meeting and also put together my nametag, which I should have made weeks ago!

Friday morning was our MOPS meeting and everything went off without a hitch. We had a great turnout and everyone seemed to be excited to be reunited with one another after busy summers. We even finished on time! The Steering Team celebrated afterwards at Zanzo's. Joni agreed to take Jack home with her while I went to the newspaper to see about a special section on the hospital that will run in October. Joni is such a wonderful friend as well. After picking Jack up we fueled up the truck and went home to do a load of laundry before our road trip to Rome.

Yes, we left town! After an exhausting week, we packed up the truck and went to visit friends and family. Josh's buddy invited him to camp out at the lake. Jack and I slept at Josh's parents house, which was much more comfortable. We met Josh and his friends out at the lake on Saturday for lunch. Josh had smoked a bunch of ribs and we all enjoyed a wonderful feast. (They were even better the second time around - when we ate leftovers last night.) Jack mostly napped at the lake. Before long we had to pack up and head home so Josh could catch a nap before the late UGA game...he had to work on Sunday. He napped a little on the way home...unfortunately Jack did not. Anyway, we were glad to be home and enjoyed watching the game with our feet up. I almost dozed off a couple of times. I hope everyone stayed up to watch. If you did, you got to see TK make a great catch towards the end of the game. I wish he could have stumbled into the endzone. We were so proud for that Habersham County boy! Now, we have a week to prepare for a dangerous Alabama team. Apparantly a blackout is planned and GameDay will be in Athens. What a day it will be!

Making New Friends

Now completely enthralled with the world around him, Jack is making new friends each day. Hands down his favorites are other children. He laughs and is so entertained by kids that sing to him, dance for him, make funny faces or sounds. Our friends, Tim & Joni have a 4-year-old named Drew. Jack is so entertained by Drew, and Drew pretty much enjoys Jack too. So, it's a win-win! Here's a picture of them at a birthday party earlier this week.


Since there is a Wednesday Night supper hiatus at church during the summer months, most of us ladies decided we should all meet up occasionally on Wednesday nights to keep from having to cook! What a great idea, right? Well, this week several of us met up for Japanese...yum! As you can tell Jack was again entertained by the other kids. Here's Drew & Tate giving him a show.


It's so hard to believe that we have now lived in our new community for a year! So much has happened in that short time. Josh and I are so blessed to have found a community, a church family and great friends in our new area. It's so neat to think about how God placed us here. With me staying home with Jack I thought it would be difficult making new friends, but we've been blessed with a fabulous Sunday School class, and I've been blessed to meet many other great ladies through the MOPS ministry. This week at our church softball game, we snapped this photo. There are two other recent first-time moms in my Sunday School at church. Both with boys! Isn't it neat how God works? Here is me, Jack, Andrea & Andrew and Amy & Hudson.

Playdates

This week has been a busy and exciting week. Jack is still earnestly working to figure out his cup and tried cereal puffs yesterday. He liked them for the most part, but had a little trouble when one scratched his throat a little. It looks like he is miserable in this photo, but he wasn't unhappy the whole time, I promise.

We also had a couple of get togethers that turned into sort of playdates. On Wednesday evening we had the Yorks over for dinner. They have a two-month old named Andrew. It was neat to watch the two discovering each other. Jack did a lot more looking with his hands and Andrew was more content to observe with his eyes only. Hopefully, Jack didn't scare him off and they will come back! I managed to get a few great shots of the duo while Jack was trying to grab Andrew's face.

On Thursday, Jack and I drove to Braselton for lunch to meet an old friend of mine from high school, Rebecca. She has a two-month old as well, but hers is a little girl! Evelyn Grace is very cute and was very well-behaved. We had fun catching up and ended up talking mostly about babies and motherhood...go figure! Anyway, I totally forgot to take pictures so we definitely have to do it again soon. We kept joking that this was their first date! Ha, ha! (Sarah, don't tell Mallory!)

The Wheels on the Bike Go Round & Round

What a week it has been. Jack is such a funny boy. We are especially enjoying listening to all the new noises he is making these days. He loves to grunt and is beginning to make squealing type noises that almost sound like giggles. The funniest thing is when he makes these when we are not doing anything to provoke him! Another fun discovery has been himself...he is still enjoying watching himself in the mirror. It usually makes him laugh.

Warm temperatures this week allowed us to take frequent walks around the neighborhood. On Thursday, we even met Andrea, Andrew & Abigail (some friends from church) at the park for a walk around the track. Later we lunched on the square in Clarkesville. We have truly been enjoying the spring weather.

On Saturday afternoon we traveled to Athens to take in the annual Twilight Criterium bike races in downtown. The rain held off which was nice. Josh and I always attended the bike races in college and have tried to make it back as often as possible since then. It is a really fun event. Jack watched the bikes going by in the beginning, but as the night wore on and he grew tired, he was a little less interested in the bikes, noise and hoopla and more interested in finding a quiet place to rest his head. I got a real kick out of watching the kids take their lap. It made me think about what Jack will look like once he's riding his very own bike. We took in the event in the company of Stacie, Grandma Jan & Grandpa Blake.