All Smiles

Grace is 8 weeks old today! She is growing like a weed and I think we'll be able to move her into size 1 diapers in the next 2-3 weeks. She is finally fitting into her newborn clothes well, so it shouldn't be but another month or so before she can move into her 0-3 outfits. I'll be glad when that happens since I'll have to many more outfits for her to wear and I won't have to do laundry as often, but I'll be sad to see her grow out of her first clothing size. She has fallen into a schedule on her own which is wonderful and in the last 3 days has started to spread out her feedings from 10 feedings every 2 hours to 7-8 feedings every 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Man, what will I do with all this free time? :) I am still going to try to get her out of her swing and into her cradle for at least some of her naps so eventually she will sleep in it overnight, but for now she sleeps so well in her swing, I'm ok with her staying in it for a while longer.

We have had alot of fun and time for relaxing lately. The last 2 weekends we have had no plans which has been wonderful. We've spent lots of time hanging out with Paul & Bethany and sleeping when Grace has slept...we even got to go out to dinner together and she slept the whole time. This week we finally made it back to church and it was great to get to show Grace off to her church family.

Yesterday we met our friends the Carpenters for lunch on their way through town and it was so great to see them! We try to get together quarterly at each others' places (they live in Greenville, SC) so this was a treat. Hopefully it won't be too much longer until we can get together again, but at least they got to meet Gracie.

Finally, last night we attempted to go for another walk. We tried on Friday, but after just a 1/2 mile it got too cold and we had to call it. Thankfully, it stayed above 50 degrees until 6 so we were able to walk 1 1/2 miles. I was thrilled to make it that far since I hadn't walked for exercise since her birth. It sucked that Dr. Hudson finally cleared me to walk at 6 weeks and then it got so bitter cold that it wasn't possible for another 2 weeks. The good news is she said at 8 weeks I could start to push her in her stroller, so I tried it last night. It went well, but I have a pretty bad backache today, so I may have overdone it. I think I'll let David push her for a little longer until my muscles get stronger. At least I'm making progress. :) Anyway, as I know you all come for the pictures, here are a few of us recently. I called this post "All Smiles" because of the video below - enjoy!

I was feeding her one night and David was cleaning the bedroom so the light was on and she was distracted by her daddy. So, I had him cover me completely with this blanket so it would be darker and she would focus on eating. :)Martin was up at David's other shoulder, but when I moved to get the camera, he got up. My poor girl...She had a few spots of cradle cap on her cheeks, so I put this cream that came highly recommended on them and she is apparently allergic as her whole face broke out in a rash. I feel so awful! It's healing, but in the mean time I couldn't resist these super cute faces she was making one morning for me. She is so happy and excited to see me in the morning, I always get the best smiles and grins from my precious girl.Sleeping in her swing...so cozySnuggling with Daddy - he comes and gets her every night when he gets home from work for a few minutes of snuggling.We have alot of video of Grace, but I haven't taken the time to figure out how to download it yet. This video was taken on my point and shoot, so it isn't the highest quality, but she is still so cute I had to share.

Praise God for his blessings...there are lots of good things going on in our family, and for that we are grateful! My cousin Jennifer gave birth to the newest addition to our family, Truman Wallace, today - we can't wait to meet him! AND my brother & his wife had their bid on their first house accepted and should be able to move in March!! We're so thrilled for them!!

Us Recently...

Grace is 6 weeks old today - I can't believe it! I just want to put a break down and slow time. She is already changing and growing...it's amazing.

On Saturday Dad & Linda went home after a wonderful 2 1/2 week visit. They spoiled us rotten and we already miss them. They brought their cat Casper and he didn't want to leave - it took them 20 minutes to get him in the car. He had such a great time with his cousins. :) Later that morning, we headed to Auburn to meet up with all the Bilbos for lunch and introduce Grace to all her cousins, Aunts & Uncles. Carol is the only one who had met her prior to Saturday so Deb took lots of turns snuggling our precious girl. It was so great to get to see everyone and I got some snuggles in with my not so little Grady who is just adorable too. We even drove around Auburn's campus (which I had never done) and saw Toomer's Corner all TP'd from their bowl win on Friday. It was a great day!

Grace did so great in the car and for that we couldn't be more grateful. We are big travellers and with family so far away, car rides are going to be inevitable. I'm glad that she quickly falls asleep and stays asleep while we drive. Plus, I got to practice my "pump and give her a bottle in the car" routine and that went well too. On 9+ hour car rides (like to both sets of my parents' houses) that will be an invaluable resource. That way we'll only have to stop to burp and change her making the stops less frequent and shorter...hopefully. :)

Last night we had fun playing with the webcams. Grace got to see her Grandma & Grandad (my mom & Mike) online and they got to revel in her cuteness. I am glad that all her grandparents have webcams so they can see her more often and make the distance a little more manageable.

Grace & I survived our first day at home alone yesterday now that all the company that has been with us since her birth have all gone home. Our pediatrician wanted us to wait until 8 weeks to start scheduling her, which is going to be difficult for me, but I'll do my best. Because she is so small they don't want her crying all the time as I try to adapt her to a schedule and loosing weight. So...I try not to think about the fact that the habits we are forming now by not letting her cry very often are going to be even harder to break in 2 weeks. The good news is that last night I put her in her swing and left the light on (she LOVES looking at lights!) and she soothed herself to sleep. Whew! We have done it 3 times since then and she is doing great. Hopefully this small milestone will help make the transitions in 2 weeks a little easier.

I promise pictures next time, I just haven't had a chance to load them off the camera and compress them. Soon though. :)

My Talented Husband

I just need to take a second to brag on my extremely talented husband. Just yesterday his new logo design for Growing a Greener World was announced. They are launching a new show on PBS in the spring and this logo is for their show. I am so proud of him!! Check it out at the link above on Facebook. :)

Family Update

My mom & stepdad came down for a brief-er than scheduled visit this weekend. We didn't get time to do alot of the things they wanted to do because my grandfather is not doing well. He has been fighting congestive heart failure since just before Christmas and in March got a Staph Infection in a wound that has never healed. He's 92 years old and a believer so we know where he's going and that we'll see him again, but it's still hard. They went to see him Thursday before they drove down and when mom called Saturday, he had lost the ability to feed himself. They felt it was important to return home Sunday so they could visit with him today. I know this is really hard, particularly on my mom, and we of course understood their desire to go home early. If you think of him, please pray. Pray that the Lord would free him from the pain and that he would comfort our family, particularly my grandmother, my mom and my uncle.

We did have a good day Saturday while they were here. We split up and the boys went out to Fry's & Bass Pro Shop and mom & I went up to Joann's and of course hit Kohls. It was a relaxing day and was so nice to get to visit together. I also got to show mom the baby's room and all that we've done in the house in preparation for the little one's arrival and I know she loved seeing everything for her grandbaby.

Yesterday, after they headed home, David & I lounged around together through the afternoon and then had the Drehers over for dinner. We had alot of fun with deep belly laughs, playing Wii and catching them up on episodes of the Big Bang Theory. Today we're looking forward to more of the same and lots of relaxing.

Oh, and David brought home our La-z-boy on Friday and we got it in our bedroom - it looks so nice!! We love it. I just sat in the chair and rocked and told David "this is where I am going to feed our baby." So exciting. :)

Where is my motivation? (& stuff)

I haven't been feeling great this week - I blame the allergies. I had to stop taking my allergy meds 2 weeks ago and won't be able to take it through the end of the pregnancy and beyond. Anyway, with this generally crappy feeling I haven't felt terribly motivated.

We found out on Monday that sweet Martin is a stressed out kitty. He has been having the occasional accident outside his litter box and we thought that it was all the changes we've been making for the baby (or his general sense that the baby was coming) and he was just acting out. We had also moved his litter out of our bedroom since I wasn't supposed to be breathing in the litter and this could have annoyed him. After some more research we found I could be around the litter, just not change it, after 20 weeks. We moved them back into our closet 2 weeks ago and he settled down some which just confirmed our suspicion, but then he had another accident so we decided it was best to get him checked out. The vet said that he has an inflamed bladder (which is caused by the stress) and it is painful for him to go to the bathroom. He is associating the pain with the litter box, so he isn't using the litter box when it hurts. The vet said the stress could be from his brother being a bully, the baby, the changes, all kinds of things. So, I've been spending as much time in our bedroom as I can to watch him and make sure that he gets some solo time at the food and water bowls without his brother hovering and that he gets as much attention and soothing time with momma as possible. He seems to be doing well and not sleeping as much, and he's on day 3 of an anti-inflammatory that she said should bring him some relief in 7 - 10 days...so hopefully he's making progress.

Anyway, this morning I was feeling a bit better. My friend Leigh-Ann and her daughter Lydia came over for a bit to hang out and check out the nursery and home improvement projects we've done lately and then I had lunch with my friend Elizabeth which is always so enjoyable. I love opportunities for ladies social times and 2 in one day was just lovely. :) After I got home though, I just couldn't get myself motivated. I have lots I can be doing, but apart from my daily chores and a few projects here and there, I have been less than productive this week.

David did get the bookshelf we wanted for the nursery so last night we put it together...we LOVE putting the baby's room together. :) On Sunday we ordered our La-z-boy and we can pick it up on Friday so that's exciting too. (We decided on a La-z-boy instead of a rocker or glider because they aren't that much more expensive and we'll get alot more use out of it in the long run. :) Hopefully tomorrow I'll find my motivation and get some things done.

Friday night my mom & step dad are coming into town for a brief visit. It will be great to get to visit and for them to get to feel the little one moving before he/she arrives in just over 11 weeks. I'll try to do a better job of taking pictures this visit as we venture to Fry's and Bass Pro over in Gwinnett and of course, trek it up to Red Robin in Alpharetta.

Oh and for you family who read...Grandad is improving some and they are talking about bringing him home which is great news, JP's surgery went great today and he is recovering well and finally - we found out this morning that Jennifer & JP are having a baby boy in February!! Lots of good news today!

Catching up, again

This week has been super productive and for good reason, but first let me recap the last several days.

Last weekend we had some friends in town from Alabama. Marleah & I have been friends since high school and we try to get together with her, Randy and their daughter Avi when ever we can(but not nearly as often as we should). They came up Friday night and we hung out for a while before getting ready for dinner. We grilled out, which we always enjoy, and after Avi went down, we had a great time of playing board games and Wii as well as just catching up. Saturday I made us "fancy breakfast" before we headed out to IKEA for some shopping and Taco Mac for lunch. It was a great visit!! Here are a few pictures from Friday night.

Randy & MarleahAvi -love that crazy hair!

"The little one" (as we often refer to the baby) has been moving around SO much! I can feel the baby moving all the time and I absolutely love it. Alot of times he/she is the most active right before bed and whenever I stretch my legs out to read. I think the baby likes having more space and really stretches out when my body is elongated. We started swimming again last week and I think being in the water lulls the baby to sleep. I don't feel anything when I'm in the water, but once I'm home and showered the little one is very busy. :) It's so much fun!!

This last week has been super busy for me, but also very productive. I'll be gone much of the rest of the month and I had alot of errands and things to do around the house before I can go. (Of course that didn't stop me from reading Twilight in one day, but that's ok. I'll wait to start book 2 until I'm on vacation - lol.) I'm looking forward to time with both sides of our families over the next 2 weeks. It's always wonderful to get to see our loved ones and I'll even get to meet my sweet nephew Grady on Tuesday - can't wait!

Last night we had some friends from church over and we had a great time of fellowship and hanging out (and their 2 older boys enjoyed the Wii). We are very blessed to have such a wonderful church family...nights like last night remind me of that. Today David & I went to see Harry Potter. It was really good. We waited until we could go to a matinee and save ourselves $4...it was worth it. Highly recommend it.

We'll have Internet access while we're gone so I'll see if I can't get a post up here and there as I travel. If not I'll have a slew of pictures and lots to say when we're back in August.

Busy, Busy, Busy

The last few weeks have been crazy! Lots of travel and good times with close friends, which is wonderful, but certainly makes for a busy time.

On June 3, David's folks came back through ATL after meeting Grady, our newest nephew in Colorado. It was a brief visit, but good to see them.

Saturday, June 6, the Baby's Room was having a big sale and we got our Britax car seat for a steal - woohoo! This is actually a gift from my Dad & Stepmom (thanks so much!!), but I was able to get a much better deal here than they would have been able to in WV. Saturday is also the day that I finally caught up on all my scrapbooking. 2 weeks of marathon scrapping to catch up the nearly 1 1/2 years worth of scrapbooking that I was behind. It is such a sense of accomplishment to be 100% current on the scrapbooking...now I just need to start on the baby's book!

On June 7, I headed to Clarksville, TN for several days with Lacey and the kiddos. I didn't take any pics with my camera, but took some with Lacey's. I'll need to get her to send me the pictures. Highlights of the trip (besides obviously getting to spend time with 4 of my favorite people) were:

• Watching Jake go down their inflatable water slide, he's so funny
• Trekking out to Patty's Settlement for a beautiful morning with the kids and a nice lunch at Patty's restaurant
• Lacey & I getting some girly time alone that included breakfast at Waffle house - don't judge...it was yummy!!
• Ainsley painting the wall with pink icing - long story. Lacey will post it and pictures on her blog soon

It was so nice to get out there to visit with her one last time before Ryan comes home and hopefully make that time go by quickly for her. The last few weeks are always the hardest (I say from my limited experience from when David deployed...which was all before our wedding!) so I'm glad I was able to get up there to hang out.

I got home from that trip on Thursday June 11, just before dinner, and had just enough time to do laundry and repack before leaving the next afternoon for Greenville, SC to visit with our dear friends the Carpenters. It was such a nice, relaxing visit. Somehow I once again didn't take any pictures, but that's ok. ;) Saturday morning we hit the outdoor market in downtown which was great fun and we got some yummy fruit. Then we had "the best pizza in Greenville" at Barleys Tap Room, and it was quite good as well. They boys took the kiddos home after lunch and Court & I ran around for some girly time which was great. We repaid them that night by hanging at home while the boys went out for ice cream and to work on Cory's portfolio. Sunday before we headed home we went to Red Robin for lunch and it was so tasty. Man I wish there was one closer to us! It was such a great weekend, but I was pooped after all that travelling. We were both asleep by about 9:00 Sunday night and slept clear through til morning.

This week I've just been playing catch up. I finally sat down and made a master list of everything that needs to happen before the baby comes. Thankfully, I'm not overwhelmed by this list. David's folks are going to come up for several days in Aug and will be our designated painters so that takes a huge chunk off our shoulders. For everything else I am just going to pluck away at the list. I still have 22ish weeks to go, so I feel like I still have plenty of time to get everything done if I am diligent and try to do something every day. We'll see how it goes.

I'm in debt to my blog (& another baby update)

I am so far behind on my blogging, much like my scrapbooking, but I am (knock on wood) starting to feel better so hopefully I'm on the upswing! I owe a pics from my time with my friend Marleah and her daughter, my nieces 3rd birthday, our time with Lacey & the kids at the TN aquarium, and a recap from our trip North including the Dooley Wedding. I'll work on getting those up in the next week or so as I need breaks from editing wedding pictures. ;)

Since all of those require pictures, I'll just recap on the holiday weekend since I didn't take any. This was our first weekend at home without company since March 14 - if you can believe that. It's been a long couple of months. Not to say it hasn't been enjoyable and we haven't thoroughly enjoyed our family and friends, but it's sometimes nice to by lazy, stay up late watching movies, then sleep in and stay in your PJ's all day...you know just hang out without an agenda. This weekend was wonderful, and we did get LOTS of sleep. We watched Taken, which was great and went to the theater to see Star Trek, which was also very good and definitely big screen worthy.

Sunday we had Paul, Bethany and B's sister Ali over for a BBQ to celebrate Memorial Day. We had a nice time together and Sunday headed up to the North GA Premium Outlets to check out nursery bedding. We didn't find anything, but had a good time and enjoyed lunch at Red Robin - yum!

We thoroughly enjoyed our 3 days together and it didn't pass by without lots of thoughts and prayers for our friends who serve. Through my BFF Lacey I have seen the trials, joys and pride of service to this country both for the soldiers and their families and we are so grateful for all they do for our freedoms! So thanks Ryan, Lacey, Ben and all our other friends in the service - we love you!!

As for little baby Bilbo - he/she is doing wonderful! I went to the Doctor today for my monthly checkup and got to hear the heartbeat (I won't ever get tired of hearing it!!). I also got praised for my ideal weight gain (yippee!) and baby's measurements are right on track. Overall a great appointment!

Whew!

Well, all the family has now come and gone and while we'll be traveling in the next few weeks, we'll be solo at home for a while.

First a recap. Dad & Linda left on the 30th after their 3 week stint in GA & FL. The boys, Scotty in particular has been going through withdrawal without his buddy Casper to play with. I have to say things are a little more calm without them running around all the time though. Thursday night Mom flew in for the Kitchen/Bath Industry Show and to hang out with us a bit. Friday Mom & I went into downtown for the show and walked around for a few hours checking out the new stuff. Saturday we went to Joann's and had the slowest lunch at Subway EVER. They literally made 5 sandwiches for mom & I to get them right. Ridiculous! At least I had told mom that I'd never been there before. I don't predict a return visit anytime soon.

Sunday, we headed back to the KBIS show, this time with David. We walked around for another few hours, then headed all the way up to Cumming for lunch at Red Robin. It's Mom & Mike's favorite place, so we had to take a few pictures for Mike since he couldn't be with us. Rumor from the server is they are thinking about opening a location at the Dallas Avenues - which is way closer than the 50ish miles to get to the one in Cumming from our house. ;)Monday morning I dropped mom off at the airport and since then I've been playing catch up with my to do list. Back in March David started on a partial renovation of our master bath. We put it on hold after he got the lighting working before Dad & Linda came into town. This week I've put the floor down and David put the new molding in. We still need to paint and caulk, but then everything should come together relatively smoothly. We'll just have to install the new bath fixtures, the toilet and vanities. I'll post pics when it's done.

Other than that, this week has been hot. It's the first week that we've had solid high temps for a while and the upstairs isn't cooling. Wednesday night David diagnosed that the ceiling fan is broken. I think this is the missing link (I hope anyway). We're headed to Lowe's in search of a replacement last night and with our new fan installed, hopefully we'll be in for a cooler bedroom from now on. At least we slept better last night.

So, that's about it for now. We're heading to Dayton for Mae's 3rd Birthday this afternoon and we'll get to see Lacey & the kids Sat afternoon on our way home since they'll be in Chattanooga for the weekend. We're looking forward to visiting with people that we love! ;)

Family & Fun

For the last few days I've had family in town. David had a men's retreat last weekend so on Friday on the spur of the moment, Carol decided to come down for the night with Anne. It was so nice to have some adult time with her without all the kiddos running around under foot. A rare moment for us to have fun ladies time that of course included cheap mexican and margaritas for Carol (you know I don't like tequila - yuck!) We mostly just hung out and she got lots of hours of sleep which seeing that Sunday was her birthday was a welcome gift. I was so glad to have some time with my chunk-a-munk of a niece too. "Little" Anne is 25lbs at 11 months and starting to walk some, amazing. Saturday morning we went up to Kennesaw to shop at some of the stores that she doesn't have in Dayton before she headed back home.

Saturday afternoon Dad & Linda arrived again and they will be with us until Thursday. Sunday we just relaxed most of the day and ordered pizza to top off our lazy day so no one would have to cook. Monday night we headed off to the braves game. I LOVE going to Braves games, but don't normally indulge. Thankfully, Dad treated so we could go and have a fun night at Turner Field on our single income. It was alot of fun and a mostly great game despite the loss to the Cardinals. (Note - they won tonight though so hopefully tomorrow will go in our favor too!) Plus, David got his cotton candy & I got my pretzel - the real reason that we go to the ballpark.

Today was certainly out of the ordinary. It started with a cake for a repeat client then Linda & I ran a few errands. The most unusual thing happened at 4pm this afternoon...I had the pleasure of participating via the web on my BFF Lacey's 4D ultrasound. It was so much fun! I got to find out with her, along with her hubby in Iraq and family in NC, that she is having a little girl! It was very exciting indeed. I knew she was having a girl and certainly hoped she was and couldn't be more thrilled for her. This is baby #4 for her, boy, girl, boy, and now girl!

Tonight Dad & his friend Tom from Savannah, who joined us last night as well, took in another Braves game and Linda & I watched Bride Wars. It was definitely a chick flick but very cute and David finally watched Max Payne which he said was "bleh, and they added 80% more plot to the video game." Tomorrow will be another low key day, which I am coming to enjoy. I've read 4 books in the last 2 weeks, perhaps I'll finish #5 tomorrow.

Weekend Update

On Friday we headed down to LA (lower Alabama) for a quiet weekend with David's folks. We rarely get time with just them, so we really enjoy any time we can steal away together. We didn't get in until late Friday so we just chatted a bit before calling it a night. Saturday morning we ran a few errands and decided to head down to Mobile for the afternoon. We stopped at Felix's Fish Camp for lunch - where I had yummy chicken alfredo and the rest of the family enjoyed delicious, fresh seafood.

Then we headed into downtown to the opening of Brad Robertson's Gallery. The Robertson's are family friends and Brad's younger brother Kevin is one of David's best friends from high school and was a groomsman in our wedding. Brad's art is really interesting with lots of textures and simply beautiful. Brad was still putting the finishing touches on the gallery which was amazing and I had flashbacks to helping my friend Andrea set up her gallery for her senior show...what alot of work! Anyway, we were glad to get down there to support him in his new venture - we hope he has much success! ;)

Afterwards, we headed home for a quiet evening. Momma had made David's favorite dinner, Roast & gravy. Later another high school buddy, Ben, came over to hang out for a while too and it was fun to get to visit with him a bit.

Yesterday we went to church and had lunch at the buffet at the interstate before heading home. We hit traffic around Newnan and took back roads the rest of the way. It was a beautiful ride and when we got home our new phones had arrives and we had alot of fun getting them set up. So that was our weekend - hope you had a great one too! ;)

Catching up...

Sometimes I wonder how it was possible for me to work a 40 (well 70 if we're being realistic!) hour work week and get anything else done! One thing I know for sure it I'm sleeping more. At least 8 hours a night, so that accounts for about 2 hours, but still...where does the time go?!?

This week has been kinda crazy. My dad & stepmom are driving down today for a visit and we have been undergoing construction of our master bathroom. So this week was supposed to be super productive, right?

Well it didn't start out too great. Monday my washing machine decided to conk out on me, mid load. Now if you've stayed at our house, you may think this is a blessing...(for those of you who haven't had the pleasure - it sounds like a helicopter is landing on our roof during the spin cycle!). Well the timing money wise sucks, but I must say that I am thrilled with my new washer...and thank God for Best Buy's 18 months no interest financing and the wonderful sales guy who cut us a good deal. ;0) Unfortunately delivery & installation wasn't as smooth, but we got those bumps worked out too and it's all up and running. And after 3 days that leaves me just enough time to do the 8 loads of laundry that have piled up!

This new washer is so much quieter...I can't believe I spent the last 4 years with that old piece of crap. Well, I guess I should clarify. If our set was on a slab it wouldn't have been an issue, but those original front loaders weren't designed to not shake the heck out of a house if they weren't on a concrete slab. Anywho - I'm just thrilled with the new set we have and am hoping to get a friend to diagnose the problem so we can sell them on craigslist.

Moving on to the bathroom. There is still so much to do. We had thought we'd be alot further along by now, but the flooring has been a real pain to get up and it wasn't until last night that David finally finished that portion of the job. We are thinking we'll just take some time off while Dad & Linda are here to enjoy time with them and start working again later. We can all share a bathroom, and the shower works in ours, so we'll see when it gets done. At least I was able to organize all the chaos to a minimum so it looks and feels a little more clean in our bedroom.

On a final note - I was sad to see Scott go on Idol last night. I think he sang so much better last night than he did on Tuesday, much more on pitch and just quality vocals. So here's to Danny, my other fav...lets see if he sticks around!

An Impromptu Trip

We got word last Tuesday night that my grandfather wasn't doing well. Wednesday night we found out that he had been admitted to the ICU with a slew of problems. We decided to work it out to leave Thursday night to head up there and visit but not before a few things got done, including new brakes and an oil change for the car. Before any of that though, we woke up Thursday morning to this in our yard:

Our church's youth group is doing a fund raiser where you can "Flock" someone by sending this flock of flamingos to their yard. It is always fun and I have to give props to the youth that did our yard as it had been raining for days and the grass was REALLY long and thick. ;)

Next up I had a wedding cake to make and thankfully was able to deliver it early so we could head out of town late Thursday night. I have never made a wedding cake in 1 day before and I hope to never have to do it again! It did turn out lovely though...
We decided to stop half way and stayed in Wytheville, VA at a Marriott property (for the great bed) and got some quality sleep before getting up early Friday and heading off for the other 4 hours of the trip through WV.

Friday we had a nice visit with my grandfather and we were so glad to have been able to get up there and see him. He isn't doing well, Saturday we found out he has a staph infection, he did have a heart attack, and he has pneumonia. Not good for a 91 year old man. Thankfully they have things "under control" and since we got home he has been admitted to a nursing facility where he'll spend the next 3 weeks or so while he's recovering from everything. He is less than thrilled to be there, but he's gotta do what he's gotta do to get better.

While we were in town we got to see my cousin's sweet baby, Maggie (who is just a doll and changing so much each time we see her) and the rest of my family. My dad & step mom even came up Saturday to have lunch with us and my brother & his wife who came in to town late Friday night. It was unexpected to get to see all that family, but really fun since we don't get to see them very often. That afternoon we took Maggie out for a few pictures in a dress that was Jennifer's when she was a little girl. She was recovering from being sick and the weather was dreary, but I think we got some good shots anyway.

This last one was just too funny...mmm, sweet potatoes. ;0)

We appreciate your prayers for my grandfather's recovery, for the physicians and my family as they take care of him and for my grandmother who is lonely without him at home with her. Thanks!

Visiting the Trumbos & our scrapbooking retreat

I have been so busy lately. Lots of travelling for me as well as another house project. Here's the latest on what we've been up to.

March 18th I headed up to Clarksville, TN to visit with my dear friend Lacey and her 3 kiddos. We had such a great time together. I always covet any time I can steal away with her and since I'm not working I got to spend a few extra days with them, which was great! Thursday afternoon they were predicting lots of rain, but the sun held out and we headed up to her neighborhood entrance where there were patches of flowers and got some pictures.

AinsleyReidJakeAinsley & Reid picking flowersReid giving mommy a kiss

Over the weekend, Lacey's sweet mother-in-law, Belinda, came down and took care of the kids for us while we headed to Paris Landing State Park for our scrapbooking weekend. God bless her as it was a full weekend of house showing and events for the kids and I know she worked hard! We had a great time scrapping, probably our last since Lacey is moving in the fall to NC. It was bittersweet but wonderful at the same time. We both got alot done, which was great and we had fun which is the most important part. ;)

The scrap roomMy messy scrap spaceLacey ScrapbookingThe girls, Me, Lacey, Kathy, Nicki & Kelly, our gracious hostLacey & I

It was a wonderful trip!

A Relaxing-ish Weekend

This past weekend was calm. Since we had company the previous 2 weekends we really relished in our peaceful quiet time together. Not that we don't LOVE having friends and family here, we absolutely do, but it's also nice to have quiet time too. ;0)

It technically started on Thursday night when we went over to our friends Jon & Leigh-Ann's place for dinner along with Paul & Bethany. Leigh-Ann had prepared a great meat & salad dinner (carb friendly - woohoo!) and chocolate covered strawberries for dessert - yum! We had so much fun laughing and enjoying each others company...we must do that more often.

Friday night we hung out at home. We watched some TV and went to bed early. I had to take a friend to the airport early Sat am, but David thankfully got much needed sleep, hours and hours of it. He has been working so hard lately with alot of freelance business, for which we are grateful, but has taken a toll on the amount of sleep he has been able to get at night. I would say over the last 3 weeks he's averaged much closer to the 5 hour mark and sometimes not even that each night.

Thankfully he was very well rested and ready for the UTH Scavenger hunt Sat afternoon (I did help plan that. ;) About 25 people, youth and parents from our church got together for this digital scavenger hunt and had a blast, despite the pouring down rain. While he was gone, I worked on getting my scrapbooking stuff organized and watched Fools Gold - it was pretty funny. That night I met my friend Elizabeth for dinner and it's always so nice to get to catch up with her. Plus, we had Mexican, mmmm! Saturday night & Sunday David had a good bit of work to do, but he did get everything done - yeah!

Sunday we had a great service at church and after David got his work done we even had time to sneak a cat nap before dinner. Paul & Bethany came over for dinner and it was great to get to spend some QT with them. It was a lovely weekend.

Tomorrow I head off to Lacey's for the remainder of the week and we have our scrapbooking retreat this weekend - what fun!! ;0)

Our annual Church Retreat

February 20-22, 2008 we headed up to Rome, GA for our annual church retreat. It is always alot of fun and relaxing with lots of bonding time with our church family. David & I always splurge on the nice King Size suites up at the Winshape Retreat Center where we enjoy good quality sleep so we don't come home exhausted - which is always nice. ;0)

My leg had been bothering me so I chilled most of the weekend and enjoyed lots of girly time with some of the ladies I don't know so well at church. After hanging out with them, I am looking forward to more of that in the days to come! I also got to spend alot of time chatting with Leigh-Ann (she is the wife in the couple that lived with us 2 summers ago) which was also really nice. It was great to catch up without the husbands.

David spent most of his time playing sports with the guys and youth and did the rock climbing wall on Saturday afternoon. Since I was in full gab mode at that point I didn't venture over to watch, but from what I heard everyone had a great time. Saturday night a full on game of Bunco ensued led by Leigh-Ann & Anthony...I took pictures of all the fun. Here's just a few highlights for you to enjoy from the weekend.

Family Worship TimeLydia CrabbJim, our fearless leader?...maybe

our Friend & Pastor...definitelyMy friend Elizabeth (and Jim's wife ;0) - I love this picture of her!Leigh-Ann & IDavid playing Bunco

The theme of the weekend was Faith, Hope & Love. Our speaker was Mark Taylor and he did a great job of teaching us about our relationships, both with the Lord & each other. On Saturday he gave us a chart with 5 circles similar to this one I (very roughly) recreated:

We were to categorize our relationships from people we had connected with over the last week or so into the appropriate circle. The outer circle was for strangers, and moving towards the center: acquaintances, friendship, personal & finally intimate in the center. After we had completed that portion, he posed this question: "Would the people on your chart put you into the same categories?" That was easy to answer for the most part, but there were several friends that I had to carefully examine.

Last week was particularly difficult as I struggled through this task. I have consistently been classified by my friends as giving and caring. I try to be a good friend and I carefully (probably more so than I actually should) select those I welcome into my personal circle. I have been burned alot over my lifetime by broken trust, so it takes me a while to move a friendship into a more personal realm. I hate to say it like this, but I start with small things and work my way up testing to make sure I can trust them. It can take a long time for someone to move into my "inner circle". What pains me is when someone moves out, often without my knowing, into an "outer circle". It is really hard for me to see relationships change that I long to keep. I can see the friendship slipping away and the distance growing, but I'm helpless to stop it. The coffin was closed on one such relationship last week and I had a hard time letting go. I don't begrudge someone the opportunity to move on, but it doesn't make it any less difficult when they choose to go and you have to let them.

So that was me last week. I'm still working through the hurt and disappointment, but it will pass as time goes on.

Feeling Refreshed

The last 2 days I've had "new" things to do which have left me feeling refreshed. Seeing as lately there are days when I don't even bother to shower, this is a good thing. =)

Last night I went to the evening women's Bible study at church. We've been a part of Crosspoint for a year and a half and I'm still not feeling plugged in. Now that my time isn't so absorbed by my "day job" I'm really looking forward to getting more involved. Anyway, there are 2 girls I'm pretty well bonded to in the group and all the women I'm looking forward to getting to know better so it's exciting. This week was a social week so it was really casual. We're starting a new study on Mark - which I've never studied, woohoo! All the studies at church lately have been on books, (which I don't mind, but don't love) and it's been hard to be jazzed about going. Especially since I was so busy at work in the fall and couldn't make the commitment. Now I'm in a different place, they are studying a the Word and I'm stoked.

Also, I made the commitment to start singing on the praise team in April. David has been on the sound team for over a year so since I already go with him Sunday mornings it just makes since for me to join. Elizabeth & Bethany (the 2 girls I know well from the group) are on the team and have asked me to be a part before but I was hesitant since I was so uncomfortable in my skin. Nowadays I'm feeling much more comfortable with the way I look so I'm looking forward to singing again. I haven't been on a team since we left Trinity almost 4 years ago so it's a good thing.

The other "new" thing isn't really new to me, but more of an adjustment. I finally tracked down my favorite water aerobics instructor (who used to teach my Monday night class). Apparently she announced over the holidays that she was not going to be teaching evenings anymore, but I missed it since we were out of town. Anyway, I went to her new class time today and I had such an amazing workout - I feel so refreshed! I think a few of us (other transplants from the Mon night class) have persuaded her to do a Monday morning class that's 30 min in the deep water (resistance training) and 30 min in the shallow water (high-intensity aerobic). Hopefully she'll take us up on it. She loves the water and all of us have been in her classes for well over a year and a half, so we'll see if she takes us up on it. Plus, since my knee has been hurting (probably due to my Paula Abdul workout video)...I'll pause while you regain your composure...it was great to be able to work really hard and burn alot of calories (over 1000 thank you very much!) without worrying about my knee.

And, it's now always just about me. David also got to do something new last night. He went to an AIGA event in downtown. He is trying to get plugged in with other Graphic Artists around town and AIGA events are the best way to do that. He had a great time, so hopefully there will be more opportunities for him to participate in the months to come.

A full 2 weeks

It's been about 2 weeks since I posted last...wow time flies! You would think being unemployed I wouldn't get behind on anything, but we have had a lot going on. After we finished getting all the decor (that we were going to put out anyway) up and the presents wrapped, I had a few gifts I needed to finish - that's all I can say. It's been time consuming, but joyful as I love putting some heart into the gifts we give. That in combination with my still fruitless job search (that leaves me spending an hour or 2 each day searching job sites and finding nothing), writing our Christmas letter, keeping the house clean, laundry done, etc., and catching up on EVERYTHING else that I was behind on from all the hours I was working last month leaves me wondering where I would be if I hadn't lost my job. I guess I'd be really, really tired. =)

So here's just a few highlights from the last 2 weeks:

• I got approved for my unemployment - woohoo!


• David got new lenses for his glasses due to a manufacturer defect - he needed new ones anyway so this saved us $500. God is good!


• I spent a few wonderful days in Clarksville, TN with Lacey & her family in celebration of her 30th birthday!


• We hosted the last leg of the progressive dinner for the Youth Group's Christmas party and a good time was had by all.

Last night we went to see Harry Connick Jr. live in concert, which was SO much fun!! He put on such a wonderful show. The music almost brought me to tears a few times and I was in stitches a few other moments when Harry, who is also quite funny, was telling stories or messing up in good fun. I knew it was going to be a good show when the second song he played before he even greeted the audience was (It Must Have Been Ol') Santa Claus. It was nice to get out of the house together and enjoy some holiday fun. Have I said lately how much I love my husband?

Finally, please pray for my family. My grandfather is in the hospital and he has a series of serious health issues...it looks like he may be leaving us to go home and meet Jesus sooner rather than later which is both joyous and heart wrenching. This is hard for all of us, but specifically for my grandmother who lost her brother this fall and for my grandfather himself. Please keep them in your prayers. Pray for wisdom for the Doctors who are caring for him, and for Grandad to be in as little pain as possible.

Unemployment Update

Resume updated - check.
References contacted - check.
Rough cover letter drafted - check.
Looking for jobs - well I'm looking, but so far there hasn't even been anything to apply for. We're both still feeling fine about everything though. We decided it would be best for me to go ahead and file for unemployment. I figure I've been putting in to the system since I was 14 years old (and no, not that's not a typo! =) so I might was well use it now that I need it.

What shocked me, was that I got my paycheck in the mail today with my separation notice. I couldn't believe it! I thought it would be a huge deal to get this little letter in hand that I need to file my claim with the GADOL. What a blessing that it came even though I didn't ask for it. Just another sign from the Lord that He is in control, and thank goodness for that!

So Monday, after my folks take off, I'll be heading up to Kennesaw to file for unemployment. Hopefully it will be a smooth process. That's all the news for now!

Unemployment

First, I owe a recap from my trip to Richmond, which I'll do sometime this weekend I hope, but I know there are questions on what's up here, so here's the deal.

Yup, I lost my job. Wednesday night my boss called me and told me that our office was being shut down. Today is my last day and I'm currently finishing up the last minute admin stuff and cleaning out my office. I'm surprisingly ok with it. I'm going to file for unemployment while I search for something else, though I'm not sure what that something else will be. I haven't had the time I had hoped to finish preparing to launch my photography business, so that will definitely be a high priority and I want to find something that is far less stressful than this job has been.

David is doing well with this too, though I think everyone is surprised (me included) by how at peace I am with all of this. I know the Lord has a plan and I rest in that despite the lack of understanding. I haven't shed any tears and I'm looking forward to turning in this blasted laptop and cell phone which have been permanently attached to me since Jan when I started this gig. I also take solace in the fact that Bluegreen (where I was working for the first 2 1/2 years we lived here) closed in Sept, so at least I got 2 more months than I would have had.

If you have any leads or suggestions, I'm open to it. Post a comment for me. If you know someone who needs a photographer, let me know that too...I'll be available - ha! =) I'll keep you all posted as we go through the next few months and we certainly covet your prayers.

So that's it! I'm at peace. I trust the Lord's plan. And most importantly, I am so looking forward to a stress-free holiday!

xoxo,
Red