Happily Exhausted

Well we survived the great road trip of 2010. Since we used just about every spare minute that we had on the trip, here are the highlights of Jake's first trip to Georgia:

Jake met his Great Grandaddy...

and Mawmaw Brenda who took such great care of him!

He was loved on my his cousin Avery...

and Bailey (as well as Brice and Alex who aren't pictured and lots of aunts, uncles, and more cousins)

I met up with my best friend from kindergarden to 4th grade for lunch. Neither one of us had changed a bit and it was fun to reminisce!

And then we visited the Mauney side of the family and got 4 generations together

We stayed at Uncle Bob and Aunt Karen's for a couple of nights

and hung out with our cousin Katie

We even left the kiddo home with them one night while we went on an actual date! We saw David Copperfield at the FOX Theater and then had dinner at a brewery

Where we were joined by my best friend Elizabeth... pretty much the only person who is ever allowed to crash our dates!

We visited some family landmarks including Grandaddy's "Shack"...

And the church Josh's great grandfather built

And then met up with Josh's mom, grandmother, and brother Sam in Alabama... such a happy and fun reunion!

We also had a stop at Uncle Josh and Aunt Angie's house on the way to and from Georgia, which were short but sweet.

So needless to say, we had a great time but are still recovering.

Our car survived and even hit the 200,000 mile mark on the way home! Little Jake is 11 weeks old and has now visited (or at least driven through) 10 states: Illinois, Iowa, New York, New Jersey, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama. The poor little guy took a couple of days to recoop but was such a champ on the road!

I would love to say that things are going to calm down from here on out, but it looks like our summer is as packed as ever! In June, Josh is heading to Brazil for a mission trip and Jake and I will head to Florida to visit Gramma, Uncle Mike, Aunt Mindy, and cousin Adam. We're expecting a visit from our cousins Hillary and Brian at the end of the month, have a trip scheduled to Colorado in July, and are considering a visit to Charlotte in August if we can work it out. Not to mention that I would love to squeeze in a visit to Ohio, too, as they're the last stop on Jake's family tour 2010. Needless to say, we're in the process of car shopping to make all of this happen!

As for now though, I'm off to bed as I enjoy my very last week of maternity leave. Looks like I better get it while I can!

Happy Birthday to...

Dad Mauney!

Okay, okay, so I’m two days late on this! But to my defense, we’ve spent a total of 16 hours in a car in the past two days so I think that’s a pretty good excuse. Plus, we were in the car for that long in order to come visit the birthday boy, so I think I’ll be forgiven. Not to mention the fact that we're not celebrating until tomorrow and, well, I already posted that I wouldn’t be posting while on vacation, so basically this post alone makes me an overachiever. So really, everyone should be impressed.

But anyway, I couldn’t let too much time go by without wishing my father-in-law a very happy birthday! Since day one, this man has welcomed me into the family and treated me like his very own daughter and there is nothing more that I could ask for. He and Josh are like two peas in a pod when they’re together and to watch them interact is something quite special. And now with little Jake, well, let’s just say that his grandson has completely captivated his heart and hopefully Jake won’t take advantage! I’m sure he’ll figure it out one day and realize that he can get away with anything when Grandpa is around. Dad, you are a blessing to our family and we are so glad we get to celebrate with you again this year! I know this past year will be hard to top (thanks in small part to your amazing son and daughter-in-law of course! Haha!) but if it’s even half as good as this last one, I think you’ll be in pretty good shape.

Have a very happy birthday! We love you!

Back to the Homeland

We'll be on a bit of a blogging hiatus this week as we head on down to the deep south with stops in Kentucky, Georgia, and Alabama. We don't have time for a stop in my beloved state of Tennessee this time around, but I will make sure to shout "Go Vols!" as we pass through Big Orange Country. I'm sure I'll have plenty to blog about when we get back... until then, have a great week!

Thank you, Gramma

Dear Gramma,

Thank you for helping Mommy take care of me while Daddy was away in New Orleans. It was so very nice to have you here and I loved spending time and playing with you. I am so happy that you got to see my new smiles and giggles while you were here. Hopefully we will be together again soon. I love you so very much and miss you lots.

Love,

Jake

To Be A Mother...

It's my very first mother's day (I love how I gained a holiday!) and so I thought I would share a few of the insights from my first seven weeks of mommyhood... I'm sure all moms can relate to:

• Running around like a madwoman when the baby is sleeping, only to find that the baby never sleeps long enough to get what you wanted to get done!
• Having so many thoughts in your brain that they don't stay in there... on the way to the kitchen I will stop and start about 8 new projects
• Learning that the body can miraculously run on very little sleep
• Becoming very unfazed by poop. It goes from "Ew it's on my hand!" to not noticing that it's on your hand until a few hours later.
• Realizing that showering is completely overrated. As is attempting to go out in public in an outfit that does not have spit-up on it
• Remembering that you haven't eaten or peed all day and it's now dinnertime
• Feeling like you've packed for a weekend trip when leaving the house
• Discovering that you don't remember half of the words to the nursery rhymes you grew up with, so you make them up instead

The list could go on and on and I'm sure I'll do future posts with more discoveries. Most importantly though, my favorite discovery is finding out how much you can love a little person from the start... it's a love that's unexplainable and it makes me appreciate my own mother so much more!

Jacob, thanks for making me a mommy... it's the best "job" I've ever had.

And to all of the moms in my life, thank you for all that you are to me. You are all wonderful, beautiful, strong women who I adore. I would fill this post with pictures if I posted all of you, so here are just the three closest ones in my life. To the rest of you, you know who you are... have a HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Now this mama is going to go take a nap! That's the best gift ever!

And It Only Took Me Eleven Months

I can "build a human" (which is what I always told my husband I was doing while pregnant) in only nine months, but yet it took me almost a year to finally finish the "family wall" in our house. I've wanted to do this since we moved in last June and although I started this project in February, I just completed it yesterday! The upside is that I was able to just go ahead and include pictures of Jake along with our wedding and pregnancy pictures since I put it off so long! I have a feeling it will stay just like this for awhile, but there's room for it to grow in the event that we add more kiddos to the family in the future.

Our foyer is officially complete (although there's discussion of eventually putting an upright piano underneath the newly decorated wall). Here's the finished project. I think it turned out beautifully and I'm glad I didn't put it off any longer!

{And if you're wondering, the weird object at the bottom of the photo is Minnie's tail... she snuck in there without me noticing. I think she wants a post about her soon! Or maybe she's upset that there are no puppy pictures included. Poor neglected puppy dogs!}

We Have Smiles!

We have smiles all the time these days along with an occassional giggle.

Oh how I love them!