More Daddy Time!

Right now, I'm sitting at the dining room table starting this blog, while the 2 videos are uploading on Vimeo. It might be a while until I can post, the first video is only at 20%. As we've previously mentioned, Abigail has been a lot more active lately and loves her Daddy time even more. Abigail is currently playing with Matt in the living room. This is nice, I'm getting a little 'alone' time, even if it is just from the other room...and I'm going to kick myself in a few minutes when I realize I should have used this time to shower.

A few minutes ago, Matt actually came in and grabbed one of our dining room chairs. Abigail is kicking and kicking and kicking on the pack-n-play so he's going to sit there an watch her. What's even funnier, I can actually HEAR her little feet going a mile a minute. When her socks rub against the pack-n-play it makes a little swooshing sound. Before this, he had her on his lap and was making her dance, which is one of the videos, but that one might not be ready until the morning. After I took the video, I could hear him chanting 'Frank the Tank'. I'm not so sure what that was about.

Well, it looks like my alone time was very short-lived. Abigail is getting fussy and the first video is only at 26%. One of us will update this blog with the video whenever it finishes. Maybe I will get a shower after all, before Biggest Loser starts, it'll just have to be a shower with Abigail. :)

EDIT: It's now 12:27am, and the first video is finally ready. The video took 2hrs to upload, then gave me an error msg and I had to start all over. The 2nd attempt took 3hrs! Hopefully, the 2nd video wont have any problems uploading while I'm far off in dreamland so I can post it as soon as I wake up.
03-31-09 from Jill Barnes on Vimeo.

A Vote for Toby is a Vote for Humanity....and Clean Carpets

Hello blog peeps. We need you help...check that...Toby needs your help to become the Bissell's Most Valuable Pet 2009 photo contest. He's already making a lot of promises on his campaign trail including a reduction of pet dander, more compromises during bath time, and friendlier relationships with both friend and foe alike. For too long Toby has stood by while the masses continue to sniff each other's butts and mark their own territories. Not this time. This is a campaign about change people, and change is something we can all believe in. So if you believe in our furry 9 year old friend the way we do, cast your vote for Mr. Toby Barnes today.

(all proceeds will go towards Toby's continued fight against fleas and backyard domination of the squirrels)

Follow the link below to cast your vote:

Special thanks to Anita for telling us about this contest! ;-)

Daddy Pics

I'm not sure if Matt mentioned it in his blog earlier today. But Abigail has finally been 'warming up' to Daddy more, so that he can soothe her and put her to sleep some too. Yesterday, this happened toward the end of brunch.

Matt got home early (4:30) tonight. I used it to my advantage to take a shower and then we ran to Publix. He changed Abigail out of her footie pajamas, and this is what happens when Daddy does the dressing.
While I showered, Matt got some Q.T. with Abigail and the XBox. When we returned home from Publix, Matt decided to get to halftime on his game so he could save it. I decided to share that photo with you all.

Early Morning with Daddy...and Weekend Recap

I originally began this post last night, but as I reached my 6th paragraph I realized how unbelievably tired I was and decided that I should just finish it in the morning. And now here I sit at my desk...an early bird to the office this morning ready to tackle the new week...and I just don't feel like finishing my lengthy blog post. Instead, I'm erasing it and going to keep this one simple, so here it goes...

I'm in a bit earlier than normal this morning thanks to Miss Abigail, whose abnormal sleep schedule over the weekend carried over into this morning. After eating around 5am, she decided that it was time to talk and play, which I woke up to. Jill was having a hard time controlling her laughing as she listened to Abby talk, and I didn't help by asking if our daughter was on crack. ;o) Knowing she was only starting, and also knowing that Jill needed a little more sleep before she attends her baby stroller boot camp, I picked up the little girl and we made our way into the bathroom. Abby proceeded to kick and talk and smile for the next 45 minutes or so until she realized it was 6am and then got tired again. Like a good Daddy, I held her and swayed until she went to sleep before taking her back to the crib. Honestly, folks, this is a new thing for me. Abigail loves her Daddy, but I've just been there for fun. Jill has been the comforter and soother up until this point. Hopefully, this is a new trend that will not only make me feel better as a daddy, but also help Jill out from time to time.

So, that's been my morning. After normally dreading my Monday mornings, this was a nice way to start the week off, so thank you, Abigail. ;-)

Beyond that, I just wanted to do a short recap on the weekend. Garrett and Danitza arrived from B'ham on Friday afternoon for their visit and finally got to meet Abby. We didn't do a whole lot, which is understandable since we have a 3 month old and also the fact that Danitza is 21 weeks pregnant herself. Add in the fact that the weather this weekend was absolutely crappy and we have enough reasons why it became more of a lazy uneventful time...but fun time with friends. We did muster in a visit to IKEA on Saturday, which is quickly becoming my favorite spot to kill time when we have no other plans. I think Jill doesn't mind, but I can't say she loves visiting the giant Swedish furniture and accessory store as often as I do. We tried to visit the Sweetwater Brewery also, but found out it was closed on Saturdays. On Sunday we grabbed some brunch over at J. Christopher's and then headed over to Stone Mountain for a little while. The temps stayed in the high 40's pretty much the entire time we were there, though, so we didn't venture up to the top this time. Jill did get her funnel cake, though.

Overall, it was a fun little weekend and now we're back to the work week here for me. This coming weekend is a big one for my photography as I'll be doing free photo mini-sessions with mostly kids at the square on Saturday. It's my first official gig as a "professional" photographer, and hopefully a great opportunity to showcase my talent to others while also picking up a few future clients. I'm stoked about it and know it will be on my mind all week, but I've got enough to tangle with her at the office to keep my mind focused on other things for now. With that said, I'm going to end this blog and actually begin my work week. Have a great week, everyone!

Matt + Chocolate = Licking Abby!

Matt + Chocolate = Licking Abby from Jill Allison on Vimeo.

Toby & Topher

Toby & Topher 03-27-09 from Jill Allison on Vimeo.

Weeekend Forecast? Rain with a side of Friends...

For those who aren't as lucky to be enjoying the dreary grayish weather that we metro Atlanta folks are dealing with right now, let me just say what a drag it is to have a Spring weekend be completely rained out. During the winter it made sense and I could deal with it since even if it was sunny outside the cold temps usually kept me inside. That's changed now that Spring has arrived. I want to be outside...whether it's shooting photos or working in the yard. Not the case this weekend. After basking in the glorious Springtime weather last weekend we will now regress back to spending time trapped inside the house as the forecast calls for rain...and more rain....and maybe even a little more rain. Yuck!

The weather not cooperating with what I want also makes it even more fun since our Birmingham friends, Garrett and Danitza, are coming to spend the weekend with us. I'm sure we'll find some things to do, but it would've been really nice if we could've enjoyed some Stone Mountain time or any other outside activity. Oh well. It's never a dull moment with Danitza around, so we should be entertained by her quite a bit. :-)

On a side not, I've been meaning to do a little refresh on the blog for a little while now, but time hasn't been easy to come by at home or at work lately. I've been slowly learning more and more about HTML and what editing I can do with our blog in particular via code. Blame it on the rain...or blame it on the more relaxed pace here at work today, but I've finally taken a little time here around lunch to throw some new elements into our blog. For the most part, it's a color refresh, but there are subtle changes to the blog title, blog posting background and the main blog background, which I created in Photoshop. The designer in me still isn't completely satisfied, but I still have my photography blog that I can work on to keep me from doing any further tweaks to this blog.

Naptime Randonmess

~No socks...that was going to be the title of this blog. I don't know what it is, but Abigail has managed to kick off her socks the last THREE nights. I've discovered this during her first night time feeding, usually between 1am and 3am, I really don't know how she does it! Last night I thought the KNEE HIGH socks were foolproof, but I'm the fool instead! She sleeps in gowns because the nighttime diaper changes are easier, but she might have to start wearing the footy pj's instead since she kicks off her blanket. Those little legs are non-stop, day and night. If anyone has suggestions, I'd love to hear them.


~During naptime today...
1. I had a lovely video chat with Jeri. She was hoping to catch Abigail awake, but we'll have to try again another day.
3a. Updated the photo shoot times for next Saturday on Marietta Moms. For those of you who don't know, Matt's offering a free photo shoot at Marietta Square next Saturday to help build his portfolio for this new venture. We already had 5 times filled, and just added 3 more!
3b. Sent out some messages to inform some people of the Ice Cream photo shoot next Sunday in LaGrange. Matt's parents are co-owners of Scoops, an ice cream shop that will be opening mid-April. Hopefully, Matt will get some cute shots of kids eating ice cream that can then become art work at Scoops.
4. Joined the Marietta Moms Walk for Autism Team. The walk will take place Sunday, May 3rd (and we'll actually be in town!). The team is also trying to raise money, so if your interested you can check out THIS LINK.
5. I TOOK A SHOWER! Now this might not seem like a very exciting task, but it is a highlight to my day. I normally wait until Matt's home, but then postpone the shower it's too late and I have to basically jump in and out beacuse Abigail gets fussy. I can sometimes put her in the boppy and shower, but I feel like I'm neglecting her during awake time. Toby just doesn't entertain her like I do. I haven't really wanted to shower during naps beacuse sometimes the naps are 30mins and sometimes they are a couple hours. Either way, today was such a succes I was even able to shave my legs.
6. I updated our calendar and forwarded it along to keep our parents updated with our schedule. Somehow we're always busy! We do love it, but it does get exhausting...and our house usually suffers the most...then the wrath of the neglected is what we hate the most.
7. Now I've been blogging.

I feel quite productive today. Now I'm going to pick up a little bit more before we spend the next few days with Garrett & Danitza. They are our friends from Birmingham and should be here between 4 & 5. Fun! Oooh...I think I hear squirming on the monitor. I guess naptime is coming to an end. :)

More Kicking

More Kicking 03-25-09 from Jill Allison on Vimeo.

Just a Springtime Afternoon

The last few weeks have been pretty brutal at work resulting in me working into the evenings at the office at least a couple times a week. During that time, we've somehow emerged from Winter and are now enjoying the first stages of Spring. Woohoo! I had a less hectic Monday today, so I made my way home earlier than normal and was greeted outside by my Jill, Abby and Toby. I couldn't resist the temptation to be outside, so I grabbed the camera and we spent a little time taking some photos. Jill took several of the pictures, which means I actually got to be on the other side of the camera for a change.

My current LOL moment...

Abigail is upstairs napping and I just heard her fart on the monitor! My daughter is so ladylike!

Abby Attacks Pooh

This weekend staying at home has been great so far. My parents (Nana & Pop) spent Friday night with us and stayed until yesterday afternoon. We made sure to grab some Gelato from a little place over in East Cobb before they left, though. Mom & Dad were interested in trying it out since they'll be opening an ice cream parlor in my hometown in a few weeks. After they headed back to LaGrange, the 3 of us made a trip to the grocery store with coupons in hand and picked up a few things before heading home. Nothing exciting = awesomeness.

So last night we were enjoying a wonderful home cooked meal and little Miss Abigail was sitting in her bouncy lounger on the dining room table while we ate. I handed Pooh Bear to her so she could have some company and was surprised to see how interactive she was with it. I've seen her sort of hold onto something before, but this time she was biting it and holding it and staring intently at it. Very cool. Here's some photos and a video I shot of the cute scene:

Abby Attacks Pooh from Abigail Barnes on Vimeo

SOLD

Well, folks. We had a few verbal counter offers this evening, but we finally came to an agreement and now have a contract on our house. On April 30th we will be closing on our Nashville townhouse.

This will thankfully relieve us of the burden of basically paying for 2 home payments, which is what we've had to do over the last few months since our move down to Atlanta. It will also now allow us to close on our home here in Marietta, thus removing the "lease to own" tag off the place we've been calling home since November. Thanks so much for everyone's continued prayers about us selling the home.

Day Trip RECAP

First off...

Here's a pic of Abigail with Matt from yesterday. We had a nice dinner with Adam, Elaine & Evie. While we have all spent St. Patrick's together before, this was the first of many alcohol oriented holidays as PARENTS. While this year did not include any Irish Car Bombs we all enjoyed ourselves at Ted's Montana Grill, finished off with an early night in to get the girls to bed.

Abigail and I started the day early (for us) on the road by 9am. We picked up Aunt Val in Newnan and headed to LaGrange. First stop, Kimberly Clark to visit Papa (Donnie - Matt's dad). Nana (Sherry - Matt's mom) could not hold back her anticipation to see Abigail, and we received numerous phone calls until we arrived at Dr. Childress's office for our second stop. Val, Abigail and I met up with "The Greats" for lunch at Zaxby's ("The Greats" - Abigail's great grandparents). Stop four was at cousin Connie's salon...where our list of stops increased. Stop five was at a clinic where Great Aunt Shirley was waiting with Great Uncle Steve for his CatScan. This is also where Val's mother-in-law works, so we got to visit Patsy too. Next was the parking lot where Great Aunt Susan was getting off work. (We had stopped by to see Ronnie at the Toyota dealership but we were unaware that he has Wednesday's off.) Then we stopped by CVS to see cousin Jason, but Abigail was sleeping in the carrier so we missed that photo op. Last stop (number EIGHT) in LaGrange was cousin's David job. Whew! You'd never know how busy we were, Abigail was so happy and social with everyone.

Nana, Val, Abigail and I then headed back to Newnan. Nana rode with us so she could get some extra time with Abigail, and Val drove Nana's car. Nana couldn't resist snapping away!

We had perfect timing arriving in Newnan the same time Uncle Justin was getting home from work. Then us girls just hung out a bit longer until it was time for us to head back home.

Once we arrived home (at 8pm) I put Abigail in her bouncer so I could make some dinner. She's really been getting her little legs up and about lately, but she's never really grabbed at them like she did in the bouncer!
Feet Finding 03-18-09 from Jill Allison on Vimeo.

Her daddy snatched her from the bouncer as soon as he got home. He couldn't wait to get his turn with Abigail! We had a quick dinner, then as she started to get fussy (bedtime!) we took a quick shower to wash off all the germs (sorry lady, I just don't know you). Now she's fast asleep in her little crib next to the bed. And it's time for us to join her in Dreamland!

AND while I was writing this blog, our TN Realtor emailed us a offer. It's official, finally an offer! It's not outrageous, low balled our price by $7500 and asking 3% closing costs to be paid. Hopefully we will be able to find a happy medium through counter-offering. We'll keep everyone updated.

Day Trip

Today Abigail and I are going to stop through Newnan, pick up Valerie and head down to LaGrange for the day. We have a full day ahead of us, making visits at both Papa and Nana's jobs so they can show off Abigail and lunch with her great-grandfathers. I'm not sure what else we'll be fitting in, it'll all just depend on Little Miss! I'll try to post some pictures when we get back this evening. :)

Happy St Patricks Day!

Just another manic Monday

We got a really early start today. After spending another nice weekend in Tampa, we left super early (4:30am!) in order to get to Atlanta for Matt to get to work. The drive down took an hour longer than usual due to bad Atlanta traffic and a cranky Abigail. So we decided to drive in the AM instead of the PM for the return trip. We made the drive in record time with Abigail, 6hrs 40mins. Matt got home a bit ago and wanted to take a snooze. I got a little nap in the car. Before I knew it the three of them were passed out on the couch, as cute as can be! Toby woke up when I was trying to get in position to snap the picture, then quickly fell back to sleep again.On another front, rumor has it, we should be receiving a contract on the Nashville townhouse this week. We had two showings over the weekend, one being returning viewers. Matt & I had planned to go up to Nashville this weekend so Matt could touch up the walls, and make sure everything looked good. But with the possible offer, we may just change our plans and stay home...we could use a slow weekend. Please say a few extra prayers for a GOOD offer, so we can finally sell it and buy our new home in Marietta.

Domenico Arrives

We're in Tampa this weekend for a very special reason. Jill's family has relatives in Italy, and one of the cousins is here in the US as a foreign exchange student this Spring semester up in Rochester, NY. Since his Spring Break is this week, he flew down this afternoon with a fellow Italian student/friend so they can spend time down here seeing Tampa and visiting with the family. Jill last saw Domenico back in 2000 when her and the rest of the Henriquez clan were on their trip to Italy. A lot has changed since then, of course, and so it's great for all of them to see him again and for me & Abigail to finally meet him.

Domenico and his friend, Carmine, flew into Tampa this afternoon and were greeted by Jill's parents and aunts & uncles...which I'm sure was a bit of a scene. From there everyone gathered back here at Wayne & Anita's for an evening of dinner and conversation. What's on the menu? Well, America's finest Italian cuisine...Pizza Hut! Ha. :-)

Anyways, it's going to be a short weekend for Jill, Abby and me. We're going to head out tomorrow morning to visit the aquarium with Marisa and the kids, which should be fun. And tomorrow afternoon/evening we're going next door for a big family get together at Steve & Joanna's. I decided to postpone the drive back to Atlanta until an early Monday morning departure, so we'll see how well that plan works. Considering how poorly Abigail dealt with our evening drive down last night, I can only hope that she'll sleep a bit more if we make the drive in the morning instead.

Okay, so it's almost midnight and I really wanted to do a morning stroll through the orange groves tomorrow before we left for the aquarium, so goodnight...sleep tight...and don't let the bed bugs bite! :-)

The Rock Obama

I watched this Monday after TIVOing it while we were in Pigeon Forge over the weekend. Dwayne Johnson, aka The Rock, hosted SNL. They really had some funny skits, I was impressed. It seemed like SNL was almost trying too hard for a while there, some of the cast members were funny but overall it wasn't that great. The current cast and writers are doing much better! Dwayne Johnson was on Jay Leno tonight and they made reference to the skit, so it reminded me how much I like it and wanted to share it with those of you who may have missed it. (Sorry it's not another video of Abigail, but I had trouble uploading another from earlier so I'll post it as soon as it's available.)

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/the-rock-obama/1056126/

Jumperoo Video

A member of Marietta Moms had a bunch of stuff she was giving away. I quickly responded to rack up some goodies for Val & Justin: Baby Bjorn, a plastic bathtub, baby boy clothes. This Jumperoo was one of the items and thought Abigail might enjoy it, hey it was free! She's still very tiny compared to the Jumperoo, but that just means she'll be able to use it longer.
Jumperoo 03-12-09 from Jill Allison on Vimeo.

No Paci Video

I took this video yesterday. If Abigail falls asleep sucking on her paci, she'll eventually spit it out when she's in a deep sleep. She's adorable when she does it because she wiggles and grunts, and I think she's waking up but she just spits the paci out and calms back down. Sometimes after she spits it out, she'll leave her mouth open and her tongue will still move as if the paci never left. Look closely to the video and you'll see her little tongue move. I know it's not as exciting as other videos we post, but I had to record this cute little thing that she does...because I know one day she'll out grow it!
No Paci 03-09-09 from Jill Allison on Vimeo.

Hep-B, Prevnar and HIB...OH MY!

Today I took Abigail back to the Pediatrician for the final three 2mo vaccinations. She reacted the same as she did 2wks ago...shock, reddish-purple face, SCREAM! TIMES THREE!!! Abigail is sporting 3 blue Peanut band-aids...Charlie Brown, Lucy, and Snoopy are astronauts. She's laying on my lap, while I type with only one hand. Enjoy the band-aid pictures, as you will see, it's already getting more difficult to get a good shot...thank God for digital!

Back from the Smokies

Well folks, it's Monday morning...anyone still trying to recover from losing that hour for Daylight Savings? The morning commute was different due to it actually being dark outside instead of me staring directly into the rising sun as I head East on I-285 to work. The traffic was abnormally light also. Guess I'm one of a few that managed to crawl out of bed at my normal time...even if I only got about 5 hours of sleep last night.

Anyways, we arrived back home last night after a nice weekend getaway to the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. On Friday, Jill, Abby, Wayne, Anita, Toby & me all crammed into the Ford Freestyle for the first of what I'm sure will be many family road trips. We began shortly after I finished work and Wayne arrived from his flight from Tampa, and jumped on the road into the middle of North Atlanta post-work heavy traffic. Naturally, there was an accident on I-85 that slowed our progress for a little while (as the 3 left lanes of northbound traffic was shut down), but it wasn't all that bad once we passed the scene.

With the traffic jam came witty & random conversations, along with that eery feeling that I had entered into National Lampoon's latest "vacation" movie (minus Clark W. Griswold) that carried over when we made our first stop in Camellia for Abby's feeding as well as the rest of us. Normally when you're on the road and already running behind schedule, the idea is to grab a quick bite to eat and keep trucking along. In an attempt to throw that idea out the window, we decided on Pizza Hut, which isn't exactly FAST FOOD. Then someone (not pointing fingers) had the clever suggestion of ordering the pizza to go, which may have in fact outsmarted those thinking Pizza Hut couldn't be treated as fast food except for the fact that it still took 20 mins for the food to be cooked. My thinking was that I had reached my own personal version of family trip Hades already and we still had plenty more miles to go, so I trekked across the parking lot to the INGLES grocery store to buy soft drinks and leaky boob pads. I got back to the car to find the hot pizza ready for me to consume, and after 2 diaper changes, we hit the road again.

Thankfully, the rest of the drive was fairly easy. We took the eastern route to Pigeon Forge, which took us over and through the Smokey Mountains and Gatlinburg making the drive a little longer with plenty of twisty, curvy roads. Honestly, had it not been dark the drive probably would've been a scenic one, especially with the remnants of the previous snow storm still visible all over the top of the mountains. We stopped briefly in a Gatlinburg hotel parking lot so Abby could eat a little, and then finished the drive to the condo in Pigeon Forge. We unpacked and crashed while Wayne & Anita headed to Ed & Dee's with Toby where they would be staying for the weekend.

The next day began with breakfast at Flapjack's, which is one of probably a thousand pancake houses on the Pigeon Forge strip, but definitely one of our favs. Some good ole southern French Toast smothered in half a tub of butter and lots of syrup hit the spot for me, and once we all finished we jumped back into the cars and headed out. Our Saturday had no concrete plans, but we wanted to make it simple with visits to the Arts & Crafts district close to Gatlinburg. I also wanted to take plenty of photos while on this trip, so we took those winding roads into the countryside and enjoyed the gorgeous Springtime weather. We made a stop at the Greenbriar State Park where we walked and took photos along the river/creek for a while. At one point I decided to run up further ahead because I had spotted a fallen tree that crossed the river/creek, and although I got a few good shots, I missed the celebrity siting as former UT Vols football coach, Phil Fulmer and his wife walked by the rest of the gang. Mrs. Fulmer commented on how cute Abigail was, which was nice. I missed it, though, and am kicking myself for not walking back and asking him and his wife for a photo with Abby. Now I'm an Auburn fan, and have looked at Coach Fulmer as an "enemy" anytime they played my Tigers, but I still respect the guy and would've loved to have a photo.

Anyways, we left the park and headed towards the Arts & Crafts district next. We always love visiting that area because the crafts are unique, the people are very gifted, and the prices for their work are usually very reasonable. We made a few stops here or there for different things from rugs to candles to pottery, and eventually ended up at the Fox & Parrot Tavern, where Ed sometimes bartends and Dee is working to organize the owner's photo gallery. We had some fish and chips, a few pints, played some darts and I even showed some of my work to Brian, the owner, in case he would be interested in showcasing some of my work at his gallery. Altogether, it was just a great relaxing time with no plans, which was perfect considering the usual plans our trips have.

When it got to be time to leave, the ladies packed into one car and headed for the Ed & Dee's house while us guys took a separate car since Wayne and I wanted to stop along the way to take photos of all of those beautiful old barns and houses in the country hills. Since I'm here blogging this, I'm sure you now know that we were not shot at by any hillbillies for "trespassin" or anything. We had a great time making multiple roadside stops and taking plenty of photos, and eventually made it back to Ed & Dee's cabin where smoked ribs and wine were going to be on the dinner menu. After a patio dinner enjoying the cool country air, Wayne drove the 3 of us back to the condo and we called it a night.

On Sunday we knew it would be a short one, and we wanted to do a little shopping so we made a stop at the Apple Barn for breakfast and then headed to the Tanger Factory Outlets. We spent a few hours and few more dollars on stuff trying to make our own economic impact. During most of that time, Abby stayed attached to my chest via the Baby Bjorn. She wore her cute little sunglasses and hence became the center attraction out of our group. I didn't have to swat away too many hands reaching out for her, and she seemed to get a kick out of her shopping day....which is probably a bad sign for me and my wallet for the future. Ha!

After shopping, we headed back to Ed & Dee's for Toby, packed up the car, and then hit the road for the return trip to Marietta. This time we took the western route of I-75, and even though it wasn't as scenic and actually a little more mileage, the overall drive was by far much quicker. We got back into town around 9'ish and so ended our weekend trip to the Smokies. As always with most trips, we had a great time, but it just ended up being way too short for my liking. But hey, we're heading down to Tampa this coming weekend for a quick trip to see Dominico and family, so I'll get a few days of blah at work before heading out on the road again. Wooohoo!!

Three Years

Matt and I are celebrating our Third Anniversary today. I cannot believe it's been three years already, but then again we are now in our third state, third house and Matt's on his third job since "I do." And now there are THREE of us! Okay, maybe I'm having a little to much fun with the threes...and technically we are a family of four, if you include Toby.

Although I'm still in Tampa and we are not physically together, there will be plenty ore anniversaries to celebrate in our future! And, for those of you wondering, when we celebrate forth and fifth anniversaries, we will still be in our third state and house...enough of that of a long while! ;)

Happy Anniversary Babe!

Back in Tampa

My mom, Abigail and I made the the trip back to Tampa again today, and we got in around 7pm. The amount of days we'll be here is still to be determined.

For those of you surprised by the news we're back in Tampa, unfortunately it's not on the best of terms. My mom's cousin was diagnosed with lung cancer last fall and she died yesterday. Since my mom was in Atlanta visiting us, we decided to drive down to be with the family. Rita Pena was only 50 and has two sons, ages 25 & 19. The entire diagnosis and treatment process had the Pena family in a nightmarish whirlwind, only to now it's reality...and are mourning the loss of their daughter, sister, wife and mother. So sad. Please keep this family in your prayers!

More Fun in the Snow Photos

With the snow already melting here at the house as the evening progresses, I figured I would share some more photos of us from earlier. We did actually take Abby outside briefly for a few snow photos, and yes she was bundled up quite a bit. We can now check "baby's first snow" off our list, woohoo!

Snow Day!!

Believe it or not, we're having a snow day here in Georgia as a winter front is moving through the southern states today. Naturally, I made sure to grab my camera and go take a few photos since this is usually a once a year event. Abby is staying inside, but she's been watching out the window alot while her furry big brother, Toby, has had some fun time outside.