Florence to Rome

Well, it's pretty ironic that my last blog entry was from our Rome trip in May. Because this Saturday we are moving to Rome! Matt is starting a new job with Advance Rehab. He will be the director of the Cedartown clinic. We are excited about moving to Rome for a lot of great reasons: location, professional opportunity, family, friends and Rome is just a great town. However, as we start our last week in Florence, my heart is so heavy and scared. We've spent the last 5 years building our lives in S.C.; getting married, Matt's first job, my great job, our first home, our first dog and of course our first child. Living so far from our family has strengthened our marriage and our family unit. I'm so thankful for all the lessons we've learned on our own. I'm so thankful for our church where Matt and I have had the opportunity to grow spiritually as a couple. We've made so many wonderful friends, had some great adventures and have so many magical memories that we are taking with us.

Some of my favorite S.C. memories:
1. Walking on the beach with Matt the night of our wedding...holding hands, taking a leap on love
2. Canoeing in Cheraw State Park for our birthday a few years ago...it was a beautiful day!
3. Eating hot dogs @ Jack's Cosmic Dogs in Mt. Pleasant...just sitting on the porch and talking
4. Looking at the stars from our hammock in the backyard
5. Walking in our neighborhood, walking with Brady and now Reed AND Brady

And even though I'm a born and bread Georgia Peach, I'd like to think a part of me will always been "Going to Carolina" in my mind...our first home.

May Trip to Rome

At the beginning of May we all took a trip to Rome, GA to visit Ashley, Kevin & Taylor. Ashley was my college roommate. Taylor is 2 years old and has personality to spare! She calls Reed "Baby Reed." She was really good with Reed and really enjoyed all his toys.

Reed and Matt goofing around

Matt had just given Reed a "raspberry"

Caymen, Brady, Taylor, Becky & Reed

Ashley's mom, Teri, stopped by to meet Reed. Taylor is "winking" in the picture

We had a party on Saturday night with our friends and babies.
Lilly and Reed got to meet for the first time! Lilly is 3 months younger than Reed.

Ashley, Allison, April & Becky (I fell left out b/c my name doesn't begin with an "A")
It was so great to see everyone!

Brady had a little too much fun at the party. He disappeared under the deck and um...reappeared as a brown dog. We just let him stay down there and be a dirty dog...it was hilarious. He kept trying to get back on the deck with us. He was probably eating worms or something disgusting! BOYS!

Here's the "after" picture. Matt had to wash him twice in a cooler outside.
"You play, you pay" That's what we tell Brady.

And finally, we couldn't leave the state of GA without Grandma and Aunt Sara seeing Reed.

Rolling Over!

Yea! A few weeks ago Reed started rolling over.
Here are some action shots..

Almost there...

Boom...on the tummy!

Sitting up (with help) playing with the farm toy.

Grandma's Visit in April

Grandma came to visit Reed in April. (Let's face it...Matt and I are content in knowing that we are now just Reed's mommy & daddy)

"Grandma, your fingers taste good!"

Grandma loves to give Reed a bath. Here he is in the "big boy" bathtub. He looks like he's saying: "Um...a little privacy, please!" He's doing well in his little bathtub seat...won't be long and he'll be slashing in the whole tub and playing with the toys.

All clean!

Brady, before long, Reed's going to be chasing you and trying to ride you -- LOOK OUT!

Aunt Sara's Visit

My sister, Sara, came to visit us in late April. She arrived just after Reed got out of the tub. Brady was extra excited to see Aunt Sara, too!

Sara showed Reed another way to play with his toys. Why reach when you can just kick?!?

"Thank you for my jammin' new style, Aunt Sara!" That's "Blue" in the picture with Reed. He likes to hold Blue while I change his diaper. Even in the middle of the night, if he starts to cry while I'm changing him, Blue will calm him down :)

Thanks for coming to see us Sara...come back soon!

Bathtime

Ever since Reed was born, we've been bathing him in Matt's bathroom (which now is really Reed's bathroom) on the counter, in his baby bathtub. Well, towards the end of April, Reed started kicking so much and flailing so much that is started becoming dangerous (and quite messy). So this is Reed's last bath in his baby bath tub. So cute and squeaky clean :-)

Reed really needs a bath to wash his hair.

Hippity Hoppity -- Easter Time

Reed is starting to discover Brady. They have pretty much ignored each other up to this point. But now Reed likes to grab Brady's fur. Luckily he hasn't pulled it yet. Brady still thinks he's the center of attention though.

April brought some pleasant weather and we finally got to introdue Reed to the hammock. Matt and I bought our hammock to celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary. I LOVE to lay in the hammock and daydream or look at the stars. One of the many nice things about living in S.C. is that it's hammock weather almost all year long!

When Reed smiled for this carseat shot, I just had to get a look back at his first picture in his carseat. Boy, he's growing so fast. A few days old to 4 months old--look how he's grown!

Reed's first Easter. I know it may seem silly to make a big deal about a holiday for a 4 month old, but as most of you know, I LOVE holidays. And I intend to make a big deal out of them all for Reed - especially the first ones :0) Here we all are, ready for church: clean, dressed and smiling (well, almost everyone is smiling!)


Reed's first Easter basket. I debated on what to get him for a while...then finally settled on diapers, shoes, clothes and a toy. Maybe next year he can have some chocolate. And he'll be old enough for an egg hunt. In the mean time, he looked so cute in his Easter clothes!

Easter Picture

Happy Easter on Sunday! I wanted to snap a cute picture of Reed in his bunny ears.
If you have kids or pets...you know it takes a million shots to get a couple good pictures.
Here are the best bunny shots followed by the outtakes...

He's my funny bunny :)

Harrison's Baby Dedication

The last weekend in March, we attended a baby dedication for our friends Brandie and Nick's son, Harrison. Harrison is 3 months older than Reed. Brandie and I are looking forward to our boys playing together as they grow older. This was Reed's first experience in a church service and also "dressing up" for church. His behavior was okay for church -- I had to exit as we sang the first hymn. As far as his dress up clothes...I think he looked so cute, if I do say so myself!

Brandie and Mr. Harrison

Matt & Reed
(Those are Matt's baby shoes Reed is wearing...isn't that neat?!?
Joyce did such a great job saving them for Reed all these years.
I wonder if I can make them last another 30 years?!?

Not sure what happened here...he was probably mad that he didn't get to
sample any of the delicious desserts ;-P

Brandie and Becky
(with our boys)

Reed fell asleep before we were leaving, woke up as we were walking out the door of the church and then this is what happened when I laid him down in the van to change is diaper...out again.

Late March

"In like a lion, out like a lamb" -- We've been enjoying some of the nice spring weather (minus all the yucky pollen!) We took Reed for his first picnic a couple of weeks ago. He slept through the whole thing. Matt and I had a nice date. We've always really enjoyed picnics. In fact when we were dating, that was one of our favorite things to do together. Matt would make the best picnic food.

Matt and I enjoyed each other...Reed enjoyed sleeping...Brady enjoyed the nature: squirrels, birds and other dogs. All together, fun for everyone :)

The weekend of March 21st was the McLeod Sports Medicine Fun Run/5 K Run. Our friends, Ann and Daniel came into town for the event. Daniel used to work with Matt and now they live in Atlanta. More importantly, they brought Jasper, their dog. Jasper is Brady's favorite friend. Seriously, all the pictures you see on our blog and Facebook, when Brady's looking at the camera, it's because we've just said "Jasper." It's like saying "cheese" before snapping a picture of Brady!

For anyone who's been worried about Brady's "adjustment" to Reed's arrival...not to worry...he's still a prince, too. That's right, the dog sleeps in our bed and the child sleeps in his own crib. This is how Brady was sleeping one morning recently...right on Matt's pillow. Yes, he's rotten...I know.





And lastly, by the end of March, Reed had decided that his fingers worked much better than a pacifier. I can't say I'm disappointed...it really makes things easy. And it's so cute to hear on the baby monitor in the middle of the night. If Reed gets a little fussy, I'll just lay there and wait. Eventually, I hear him find his fingers and hear the sweet sound of him sucking away, soothing himself. It's so darn cute!