I BLOGGED

I BLOGGED.

YOU MAY COMMENT...

-GARRETT

And The Winners Are....

not Garrett and Allison Reed. Yes folks, we will not be winning any type of care taker/parent awards any time in the near future. We may win some other type of awards....like most fun, best looking, most moves in any period of time, but definitely not Parent of the Year or Pet Owner of the Month.

On Friday night buckets of snow began to fall from the sky here in Durham, and by yesterday morning we had close to 7 inches of snow. Little Em loved watching the snow fall...or maybe she just loves looking at herself in the glass.

Saturday morning began with Garrett taking the dog for a little walk while Em and I watched from the window (it was still a little cold out that early for me). As we were watching we saw Stabler run down to the little pond near our house. As you can see, the pond does appear to be frozen over...

Well, Stabler learned the hard way that the pond is in fact....not frozen over. Yes, on Garrett's watch, the dog ran into the lake. When he hit the water he went completely under and came up yelping. Luckily he was able to get himself out , so Garrett didn't have to go in after him. However, Stabler booked it back to the house where we spent a good 30 minutes drying him with a towel and blow dryer.

After that we decided we would all stay in for a little while and just watch a movie. Garrett and I were relaxing on the couch, thoroughly enjoying the movie (Paper Heart), and Emerson was walking around the coffee table. I guess we weren't watching her closely enough b/c she took a major tumble, hitting her chin first and then her forehead on the coffee table. When I picked her up she had blood running out of her mouth and giant welt and bruise on her forehead and a nice gash on her chin. She cried for about 20 minutes...until I let her lick a tootsie pop. As I stated earlier....we won't be winning any parenting awards anytime soon.

Although the morning was slightly traumatic for the dog and baby, we did get some quality family time out in the snow later in the afternoon. I am loving all of the snow. It makes our apartment complex look like a charming snowy village.

Flesh for Fanta

My husband is hands down my favorite person...EVER.

Over the years I have noticed that Garrett sees the world through some pretty unique eyes. I've often thought about how I would give just about anything to get inside his head for a few minutes (but only for a few minutes). Anyway, back in college Garrett and our great friend John Moye decided it would be fun to look up mail order Russian brides online...awful I know. Anyway, my roommates and I were in the other room as he and John were checking out the Russian brides and we were lucky enough to overhear the following conversation. Garrett: "Oh check it out, that chick only has one leg. That's cool." John: "Yeah....No, I think she has on black boots that blend into the background...there are definitely 2 legs." The fact that they were looking at mail order brides was comical in and of itself but that fact that Garrett was in to the one legged chick was my favorite.

So today, we took an impromptu trip to Richmond for the day. Garrett drives a company car, and the last time he got a new car the guy at Avis told G he was gonna "hook him up with a sweet ride." As it turns out our "sweet ride" is a Pontiac G6...I will say it is much sweeter than the Kia Spectra they initially gave us. All that to say, the G6 actually has some nice features...only one of which is FREE XM radio. So, as we on our road trip today, G found some random rock station on XM that he dubbed his new favorite station. I personally am a big 90's grunge rock fan and this was more old school Billy Idol stuff but being the amazing supportive wife I am..I allowed it to stay on for quite some time. All of the sudden "Flesh for Fanta" pops up on the screen as the title of the song and Garrett says "Flesh for Fanta...that's awesome. I love Fanta! This is my new favorite song." Turns out the song by Billy Idol, is really called Flesh for

Fantasy...not Fanta. Poor Garrett...so easily mislead, yet so awesome.

If all of that doesn't make him entertaining to live with, the random black crap that he came home from work with on his face a month or so ago, does. Who knows how long he sported this look for.....I'm sure he rocked it.

She Really Just Did That...

So, I came home from work this afternoon and I was holding Emerson as she and I were saying goodbye to our babysitter (we love you McKenzie). All of the sudden I felt extreme pain in my shoulder and I looked down to see this sweet face.....

biting the tar out of my shoulder. Of course I immediately told her no (while McKenzie and I tried not to laugh). She gave me a weird look and then proceeded to bite me....again. Wow.

Where to Begin???

Gosh, the past week or so is kind of a blur....I'm not even sure where to start. Let's see...last Thursday we headed to Charleston for a long weekend. We were going down to see our friends Michael and Amanda O'Neal before they move to Africa in a few weeks and to celebrate my birthday with our friends. We were driving to Greenville to drop Em off at my parents house on Thursday evening when we found out that one of our great friends from Young Life had passed away that day.

Although the news was shocking and devastating, it was amazing to see how the Lord revealed himself in so many ways. The fact that almost all of our friends were already in route to Charleston from all over (Costa Rica, Tennesee, etc) was amazing. Literally within hours of getting the news,we were all able to be together and to attend the memorial services as a group. I never knew I could experience such a wide variety of emotion in such a short span of time...but I did. We celebrated the life and grieved the loss of our friend, celebrated my birthday, and said goodbye to some dear friends who are headed to Africa for a few years. We feel so blessed to have such amazing friends to walk through life with. Here are a few pics from Charleston.

Garrett and John Childress cuddling

Some of my favorite ladies

Garrett enjoying one of the yummy cupcakes Margaret made for my b-day

On Monday, we went back to Greenville to pick up Em and to celebrate my birthday with my family. My family treated me to a spa day that was AMAZING! And it was so good to see precious Emerson again. Garrett and I keep saying that we feel like we dropped her off as a baby and picked her up as a little girl. She is on the verge of crawling and is pulling up on everything. Additionally, she developed an entirely new vocabulary while we were gone. She says "mama" and "dada" all the time and then speaks in some baby language the rest of the time. Garrett and I are in awe of her and are constantly amazed by how much we love her. Her little spirit is so joyful...ALL THE TIME. It really is unbelievable. Here are a few pics of our happy little girl.

And last but not least, my sister taught Emerson how to clap while we were gone. She claps all of the time and I love it. Here is a little video for your enjoyment. Amanda, enjoy the fruit of your labor!!

"No"

I think Emerson is staring to understand the meaning of the word "no." By the looks she keeps giving me, I don't think she is a big fan. What do you think??

You Have The Right....To Remain Silent

Emerson has been making sounds for a while now that sound like "mama" and "dada." Well, about a week before Christmas we stared to realize that she was intentionally saying Mama and could say it when you asked her to. She says it all the time now and yes, it makes my heart turn to mush. Mostly she says it when she wants something, food, the dog, etc. But the other morning I went to wake her up and she rolled over and looked at me and smiled and said "Mama"....there is definitely not a better way to start your day. Anyway, I have been trying to capture her saying it on camera but of course that isn't happening. Today while I was once again trying to capture her first word on video, it occurred to me that she is just taking a cue from her dad's favorite song. For those of you who don't know Garrett well (if you do, you definitely already know this), he loves Meatloaf...not the food, the singer song writer.

Most of you may best know Meatloaf for his song "I Would Do Anything for Love", but G's favorite song is, "Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself" (although "Life is a Lemon and I Want My Money Back" is a close second). The song begins by saying "hey little lady, i know there is something on your mind i've known you long enough to know the words are not that hard to find" it then goes on to say, "you say it best when you say nothing it all, and i couldn't have said it better myself," and then finally "you have the right to remain silent." So, since this song is played repeatedly in our home, I guess Em is learning from Meatloaf.

Here is a video of Em asserting her "right to remain silent."

But even better, here is a link to the video for Meatloaf's, "Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCKN7XqSQw8 It is definitely worth a look/listen. We have decided that we should have danced to this for our first dance at our wedding. It would have been more fun than the random song we let the band pick...can't really remember what it was. Dad, maybe you can pay for us to have a big party to renew our vows and we can cut a rug to Meatloaf.