Saturday in Athens

It was great to be back in Athens on Saturday watching the #1 ranked Georgia Bulldogs doing battle between the hedges again. If you've never been to Sanford Stadium for a Georgia game you are missing something special. Even if you aren't a Dawg fan it is an experience that you really need to have at least once in your life. I wish I could adequately describe the atmosphere, but I'm not that talented a wordsmith. It was a great victory and great to see all the different players that were able to get into the game. Of course we are terribly upset by the injury to Jeff Owens, but we know he'll be able to rehab and come back next year to have a wonderful redshirt-senior season. And we know someone will step up on the D-line to fill that void. It was also nice to meet the newest Uga, Uga VII. He looks ready to carry on the proud tradition of his father and grandfathers.

As you can see Aiden was decked out in his UGA apparel thanks to his grandparents and great-grandmother. He had a great time hanging out during the game with Aunt Jessie and his cousins Chris and Alexander Rice.

In non-UGA related Aiden news, he has started walking over the past week. He is taking 2-3 steps at a time now. He started this new feat on Wednesday for Memaw and Papaw. He always has such a great time over there and always comes home doing something new. I can't believe he is growing up so fast!

What have you put on my head?

Aiden and Granpa ready for the game.

Aiden at Uncle Matt's bakery, Luna Baking Co., ready to walk to the condo.

Aiden taking in the sights and sounds (and probably smells)

of gameday from the balcony at the condo.

Aiden and his grandparents

Aiden and Uncle Matt

I always knew Andy is tall and I am short, but I never realized the difference until I saw this picture. I really thought I at least came up to his shoulder. No wonder people look at us funny. I'm wearing flip-flops and he's wearing tennis shoes.

Preschool

Aiden went to Open House ("Turtle Time") and orientation today for preschool. He will be going to First Baptist Newnan on Mondays and Thursdays for half days. He seemed to like Miss Tolla and Miss Frances. He was attacked by one little girl, but I think she is going to be in the Tuesday class so hopefully we won't have to worry about any retaliation. Eight months old and already having to fight the women off!

We're excited about this new step for him. It will give his daddy a chance to get a little work done on Thursdays, his granma and granpa won't have to come spend the night on Sunday nights anymore, and he will get to play with the other kids so it will work out well for everyone. Two of the other teachers actually go to our church in LaGrange so that makes the transition easier. It's nice to know that we are taking him to a place that shares our philosophies and will teach him Christian values, but pray for Mommy when she has to drop him off that first time next Thursday. http://www.fbcnewnan.org/children/preschool.htm

Andy and I must be boring dinner companions...

Tuesday night Aiden fell dead asleep at the dinner table. I guess that's what happens when you don't get your afternoon nap. You know the big boy is tired if he left food on his tray.

Aiden got a new bath seat

Aiden loves to take a bath, but that convertible infant to toddler bath thing you stick in the tub just wasn't cutting it for him anymore. He was always trying to stand up in it and he could kick all the water out in about 3 good kicks. I searched high and low for a bath seat and just couldn't find one. Mom went to a consignment sale this weekend and finally found one for him. We tried it tonight with great success. Aiden was so happy because there was room for all his bath toys and there was plenty of water to splash and kick and he didn't try to stand up once. As you can see from the pictures, Julio, one of our cats had to come check it out. Julio and Ace both liked to get in the bathtub behind Aiden's tub while he was in it (until he inevitably soaked them with a well-placed kick). I guess they are disappointed he has water in the whole tub now.

Oh, the joys of living in a small town...

I had a heavy caseload today and Andy had attempted to work from home while watching Aiden so we decided to do something easy for dinner. Some of you may know that we live in a small town called Grantville in the southwest corner of Coweta county right on the Troup county line. Well, we are just a few miles from Hogansville, a slightly larger small town. (They have a grocery store and some banks, but fewer liquor stores.) There is a new barbecue place that just opened about 10 minutes from our house. Andy thought we should check it out (we've been waiting for it to open for a while now). It's a big deal when a new restaurant opens close by so we don't have to drive all the way to Newnan or LaGrange. But the big question was-- do we want to go eat there or do we want Andy to pick up take-out? I am already out of my scrubs and into my pjs, mind you. Well, here is where I make the fatal error-- I decide to change clothes and we'll just go and check the place out. Insert doomed theme music here.

I get changed, I get Aiden changed, grab his dinner, his sippy cup, an extra diaper and his highchair cover and we're off. We get there and the place looks packed (there are at least 10 cars out front!). We park and as we are approaching the front door I see the sign that says they do not accept debit cards or credit cards. Of course not, why would they? Andy decides to drive up to the ATM while Aiden and I go in and get a seat. We are still standing in line to be seated 3 parties back when Andy walks back in with the cash. I can see at least 6 open booths from where I'm standing, but there seems to be some confusion about whether people should be sat, whether orders should be taken or whether checks should be settled. Apparently this cannot all happen at the same time.

We are finally seated and told that there are no more high chairs, but that they would bring us one just as soon as one became available. Ok, no reason to panic. I let Aiden stand next to me in the booth which is fine. However, he is a very active (& large) 8 month old so my bicep starts cramping up about 15 minutes into having it hooked around him to keep him in the booth and off the floor. About 2 minutes after that is when he pulls my huge glass of ice tea into my lap as I'm trying to push the fork and knife out of reach of his other hand. We get the mess mostly cleaned up and with no high chair in sight I decide to attempt to feed Aiden his dinner with him sitting in my lap or in the booth next to me. This goes surprisingly well considering I can't see his mouth most of the time.

They finally bring out of food which of course is not really our food. Although the woman had our ticket in her hand she apparently had not thought to match the ticket to the plates. That matter cleared up, we received our actual food. Still no high chair. Have you ever tried to eat Brunswick stew with one hand while a 27 pound 8 month old bounces on the seat next to you, screeching at the top of his lungs? Good times! I didn't dare attempt to eat my sandwich one handed so I waited for Andy to finish and let him take the wild child so I didn't end up wearing more than just my glass of tea home.

Needless to say, it was an experience-- never did get a high chair. I think Aiden had a great time though even if we didn't. Hopefully they are just working out some kinks since they are newly opened, but I think next time we'll definitely be getting it to go. At least it was decent food, at a reasonable price, close to home. Hope ya'll had a better evening!

Aiden Loves Being Outside...

And of course the next best thing to actually being outside is looking out the window. (Please ignore the claw marks from the dog.) You can see he even smushes his little face up on the window. Before we took these Aiden and Boss were actually jocking for position at the window. Boss finally gave up and went upstairs to look out the window of the bonus room which has a better view anyway. Aiden's balance is getting better and he is able to stand up unsupported for a few seconds at a time now. He will be walking before we know it.

Aiden Pictures

Aiden was finally returned safe and sound last night. He had a great time with Granma and Granpa, but I don't think they got much sleep! Here are a few pictures from the weekend. I finally got a good one of his top teeth-- I just had to wait for him to scream.

Swinging with Granpa at Nanny's house (my grandmother)

Top teeth

Brushing his teeth

Hanging out

with the boys

Busy Weekend

I am anxiously awaiting the return of my sweet, little angel. No, we didn't give him away to Gypsies. He spent the night at his granma and granpa's house. I've done everything I can think of to occupy my time after church today-- cleaned the house, done the laundry, caught up on TIVO'ed shows, called all my patients for tomorrow to let them know I'll be coming over to torture them...but now I'm out of things to do so I figured I'd sit down and type a little to keep myself from looking out the window every 5 seconds.

We had a lot going on this weekend. Andy plays Fantasy Football with a bunch of his friends every fall and they had their draft Friday night. For those of you not familiar with Fantasy Football it gets very serious. While I am a huge college football fan, I am not a huge NFL fan. I watch the games and enjoy them, but all I really want to watch are former UGA players. But when you are watching the NFL with someone playing fantasy football its better if your not cheering for a single team. If you have never watched a football game with someone with a fantasy team then you have not watched football. These people are cheering for individual players or perhaps a defense, but they are in no way cheering for a team. They could be cheering for the quarterback, but cheering against one of the receivers so they don't want the quarterback throwing to that receiver-- confusing I know. Now I do consider myself a Falcons fan by virtue of being born and raised in Atlanta. Andy is also a Falcons fan, but he was born near Cleveland so he is also a big Browns fan. However, if he happens to have the defense that is playing the Browns, then he is hoping the Browns win the game 3-0. We have DirecTv so we have to have the NFL Sunday Ticket. That means we get, you guessed it, every single game every single Sunday. You thought men were bad with the remote control under normal circumstances! On Monday mornings I know that I have watched portions of every game, but I have no idea who played who and who beat who. All I know is whether Andy's players did well and how many points his remaining players need to score on Monday night to win. I guess I'd better gear my brain up for another season or just plan to spend Sunday afternoon taking Aiden for a walk or playing in another room.

On Saturday we went to a birthday party for the little girl of a friend of Andy's. I know that I am in my 30s, but somehow I never seem to remember that until I go to an event like that for a friend's child. Then I think, when did we all get old enough to have children? Why is that? Oh well, it was a lot of fun and Aiden had a blast watching the other kids. We took him to his grandparents after the party and I know he has had fun with them. Mom and Dad always take him to see my grandmother and she could not be more excited to see a child than she is to see Aiden. After we dropped him off we went out to a romantic, kid-free dinner. Of course, there were a group of guys at the table next to us doing their fantasy draft (I'm sorry, didn't I mention the romantic dinner was at a Mexican restaurant?) and Andy spent the whole meal critiquing the draft picks. I know all you ladies are jealous of the romance level, but at least we got to spend some time together and they were making some really stupid picks so it was entertaining.

Memaw and Papaw (Andy's parents) have been at an Air Force reunion in Ohio this weekend and should be on the way back soon. We're praying for safe travel for you! See you Wednesday.

I'm sure Mom and Dad have taken some pictures of Aiden so I will post them when I get him (& the camera) back.

A Day of Celebration

Today is a big day! 10 years ago today my sister and brother-in-law, Jessie and Matt Downes, were married. Matt and Jessie are a wonderful couple and we love spending time with them. That is one of the reasons we love fall so much-- we know that we will be able to spend more time with them in Athens! Matt and Jessie have been gracious enough to allow Andy and me to stay with them during football seasons for the past several seasons. And this year Aunt Jessie has agreed to babysit Aiden during the home games. They have been working hard on remodeling their house with a little help from Matt's dad and my parents and I can't wait to see the progress they've made in a few short weeks!

Congratulations Matt and Jessie!

We love you and wish you many, many more years of happiness!

Another reason the celebrate-- Aiden is 8 months old today. He is crawling and cruising all over the place. He has 2 bottom teeth and 2 top teeth. I believe that he weighs somewhere between 26-27 pounds and is around 31-32 inches tall. Yes, he is a huge baby! But he comes by it honest. For those of you who don't know Andy, he is 6' 4". Here is a link to a scrapbook I made of Aiden from birth to 3 months for anyone interested-- http://share.shutterfly.com/action/project/8QZMmjls2cOnA/landing just click on view photo book.

Here are a couple of Aiden videos.

Boys love remote controls

Aiden loves playing with the remotes. We have his Pawpaw to partially thank for that. He told him that remotes are very important and that men have to be in charge of them and Aiden has taken that advice very seriously. Aiden has 2 top teeth that have just come in and they are very hard to catch on camera. I guess I will have to try to turn him upside down and take a picture!

Family vacation to St. Simons Island

We went on vacation with my extended family the first week of June. Aiden loved the water and the sand. He even decided to cut his first 2 teeth while we were there.

High-5ing second cousin Alexander in the pool

Cool shades

Hanging out at the beach with Daddy

Watching the tide coming in with Granma

Aiden and Boss

Aiden's First Trip to Athens

We took Aiden to Athens for the G-Day game the first week of March, but did not take him to the game because of the rainy weather. We did, however, take him to Foley Field for a double-header because his grandparents and aunt and uncles seats were under cover. Aiden was mesmerized by the game-- especially the sound of the bat hitting the ball.

Aiden at Foley Field with Aunt Jessie and Uncle Matt

Braving the blogging world

I never thought I'd see the day when I would be blogging. I've been fighting the blogging bug for quite sometime now, but after reading several from "people I used to know" I decided it was time to tell our story. I'm not promising to keep this completely updated (or that I'll even be able to find my way back to post again), but I promise to do my best, so here goes....

After being introduced in the fall of 2002 by my cousin while tailgating for Georgia football (thanks Chris and Matt!), Andy and I fell madly in love. Those of you who know me know how important it is to share this great love of the University of Georgia. Neither of us could live in "a house divided." Our love grew as we endured a long distance relationship while I "found myself" in Sarasota, FL. While I miss the beach, weather, and girlfriends I had down there I have to say I have no idea how I lived so far away from this wonderful man for so long.

Andy and I were married April 30, 2005 and live in a small town in southwest Coweta county. On December 14, 2007 God gave us the cutest baby He ever put on this earth-- Aiden Elijah. He is such an unbelievable joy! He is full of energy-- crawling and cruising all over the place and very vocal. I'll post some pictures of Aiden as he has grown up and I'll try to upload some video as well. The little angel loves our bulldog Boss and even crawls with his hands turned in like a bulldog.

Andy is the chief parole officer in LaGrange and I am doing home health physical therapy 3 days a week. God opened this door for us after Aiden was born. It works out wonderfully because my parents keep Aiden one day, Andy's parents keep Aiden one day, and Andy works from home one day. This arrangement is saving a ton of money in childcare costs and allowing me to have more Aiden time. We could not be more blessed!