May 19th...Our Favorite Day.

May 19, 2009 was Garrett and I's favorite day since our wedding day. Almost exactly one year ago (to the minute), Emerson Grace Reed entered the world. I still can't wrap my mind how amazing that day was for us. I would relive that day a million times if I could. But alas, I cannot. So we will just celebrate like crazy every year instead. We have celebrated so much this week, that G and I are both freakishly exhausted. So, I'm gonna sum up E's birthday week in pictures. However, as soon as I get more than a free 5 minutes, I will add some words. If you don't enjoy obscene amounts of pictures and the occasional video...you may want to end your journey through this post now. Otherwise...enjoy!

We had a party for E at my parents house this past Saturday. It was so much fun to have our closest friends and family there to celebrate our little munchkins life. I was pleasantly surprised at how well Emerson did with the crowd. She definitely LOVED the attention.

We didn't have pony rides but there were a few wagon rides.

Emerson just smiled and clapped the whole time...the new Radio Flyer is a hit.

There was lots of socializing (mostly with boys)....

E chatting it up with Liam.

And sitting in the grass...

while Dylan watched.

And cute boys running around... (if you have ever visited this site before, you know that the handsome young man in this picture is Emmy's future husband, Harrison).

And this is another one of her bestest male friends, Bryson. He really liked climbing the stairs. His mom, Kristin (aka my maid of honor), is 38 weeks pregnant...so she just let him climb the stone stairs. No worries, he's really good at climbing.

More chatting with friends...

Dylan eating some cake with his wonderful mom, Alexis.

Lindsay, my best friend from childhood. We have been friends since we were E's age (ok, that's a stretch, but since the 4th grade for real).

Kristin and Bryson...

Bryson is the best eater I know.

Mary Beth and Charley enjoying some cake (sorry the giant sunflower blocked out your face MB...I wish we could see your face too...I love it).

The Brantley's (we will be seeing y'all this weekend when we head to the Murrell's Inlet forvacay...yay!!!!)

The beautiful cake made my sisters mother in-law, Gayle. She is amazing!

G bringing E her first birthday cake. There was lots of singing in the background too.

Yumm...cake.

For some reason my mom bought Garrett a bunch of mustaches. The boys thought it would be fun to wear them. It was creepy. Joe's is real (yours isn't that creepy Joe).

Nina thought it would be fun to wear one of the mustaches as eyebrows. I think it's a good look for her. Nina, you'd be beautiful even if you had a giant third eyebrow.

Garrett tried to make Em wear a mustache...she said "Heck no, it's my birthday."

So to make up for being a bully, Garrett took her to the pool aka her new favorite place.

She said, "Thanks dad."

After all the weekend fun, we headed back to the Dirty D to celebrate E's birthday together as a family of 4 (I'm counting the baby growing inside me, not Stabler). So, we all busted into Em's room this morning to wake her up singing Happy Birthday. I can't wait to torture my kids with this every year.

Emerson's Grandmom Reed gave her this awesome plate for her birthday. So, I made her eat every single meal and snack off of it today. I think she loved it as much as I did.

And, we let her feast on this little creation from Kroger tonight. It was yummy.

Instead of blowing out the candle, she tried to grab it...dad saved the day.

I guess she liked it?

Stabler really wanted in on the cake action.

Emerson is so selfless and obliged him.

Well, after all that we are pooped. So we are headed to the South Carolina coast for the weekend to watch one of my best friends from high school get married (yay Kristy and Kirk!), and for some well needed vacay time with the Brantleys. We planned this trip months ago and I had no way of knowing how well timed it would be.

Yay for Emerson being 1 and yay for a much needed vacation!

A Little Bit of This and A Little Bit of That

Due to the insanity that is the month of May, my blogging may be limited over for the next little while, but I'll do my best. I really don't even know where to begin. Hmmmm.... The month began with a little trip the upstate. A few days at Garrett's parents house and few days at my parents house. I also managed to get some professional pictures made of Emerson during this time. If you want to see a little preview you can go to my facebook page. If you don't have facebook or we aren't friends on facebook, then I guess you'll just have to wait. Anyway, the few I've seen turned out really well...I can't wait to see the rest.

My 1st mothers day was great, and very low key (which I appreciated immensely). I had a quick trip to Atlanta at the beginning of this week for a training meeting, and then we are headed back to Greenville tomorrow to celebrate Emmy's first birthday with our family and a few friends. I can't believe she is gonna be 1 a week from today...unbelievable.

Then next week, Garrett's brother, Cullen, and his wife, Amber, are moving back to the states after living in South Korea for the past 2 and half years....we are so excited we can hardly stand it! Then we head are heading to the beach the weekend after that to go to one of my best friends from high school's wedding and to spend a few days with the Brantleys for a little vacay. Then we head back to Durham to have our big ultrasound to make sure baby Reed #2 is healthy and to see if little E is getting a sister or a brother!

And last but definitely not least, on May 31st (also known as Memorial Day to you people that actually get this day off of work), we begin a huge new product launch at work, so that means lots of work for us. However, in the midst of all the chaos this month, we have managed to have a little fun too. Here's the proof.

We make E wear this hat, a lot (what could be more fun than that). Cullen and Amber sent it to us over Christmas. Apparently it is the "it" look for kids in South Korea.

She'll wear it for hours...it's great (for us).

One of my great friends from college, Wendy, lives right down the street from us. So, E and her little girl have been playing in the baby pool. Emerson could not love this thing more.

E's on the DL (not the down low, the disabled list)

I've only got a second so I'm gonna sum up the past week or so real quick. We've had some big leadership changes at G's store, so that means more work for both of us. So we never made it to a baseball game and definitely have not enjoyed any beach music. We have however been interviewing new babysitters because McKenzie is leaving us for the summer...boo. It's also looking like I am going to be going back to work pretty full-time over the summer...I can't lie, it makes me a little sad.

Anyway, before life took a turn for the crazy (don't you hate it when it does that), G was taking E to play Frisbee golf every afternoon so I could take a nap. She was his caddy...it was cute. Real cute. She seriously holds his Frisbee's for him the whole time.

Em has also been sporting some super cool sunglasses. Ok, so I put them on her and she takes them right off...it's still cute.

She's also really into digging in her toy baskets and pulling everything out one at a time but at an extremely rapid pace.

Sometimes when she gets to the bottom she falls into the basket and her feet flail around in the air. It's awesome.

Then when things get stuck in the basket (in this case her cash register) and she can't get them out, she makes this face. It's even awesomer.

Sadly, little E burnt the tar out of her fingers by touching a light bulb the other day. One of our new babysitters was here when it happened and we didn't notice it until the next day. I'm sure we looked like great parents taking our kid to the pediatrician with a burnt hand swearing we had no idea what had happened (we didn't talk to the babysitter until after the visit to discover what really happened). It is really sad b/c all of the skin on two of her fingers is peeling off and blistering. I feel so bad for her. We have antibiotic burn cream for her and I tried to put band aids on her fingers. She pulled them off within a few minutes.

No worries, she's still her joyful self. We really love this kid.

We Might Just Have a Life....Maybe

I realize that I have not posted in a while now, but I'm thinking it may be due the fact that we are starting to get a life...maybe. We have been in Durham (no traveling for work or pleasure), for 13 straight days now. And if you take out my 3 day work trip right after Easter, we have been here for 3 weeks straight...which I am pretty sure is a record. I cannot tell a lie, I kind of love it. The more time we spend here the more we realize how much we love this area. The only stinky part is that it is really starting to feel like home. I often find myself thinking, "if we can't live in Greenville, I would love to stay here." With my luck, we'll get moved next week.

Anyway, in our 3 weeks here, we have been enjoying all RDU has to offer: yummy food (lots of yummy food), a bazillion parks, a gajillion farmer's markets, 20 different natural food stores (local and chain), and an infinite amount of shopping centers. This week, I also hope to hit up a Durham Bulls baseball game and possibly go check out the summer beach music concert series at North Hills in Raleigh....I'll let you know if we make it happen. Additionally, we have started making some friends...exciting I know. When we first moved to Durham, we genuinely believed we would only be here for 4 months so we kind of held back on getting too settled or involved in much. So, after almost 8 months, we are abandoning that approach.

Additionally, in a fun little way I feel like little E and I are enjoying the blessing of Garrett's obedience in getting baptized. While we were waiting for G to get baptized on Easter Sunday (the baptisms were held outside after the service), a mom of a little girl in Emerson's nursery class struck up a conversation with us. It was so good to be able to just chat with someone in a similar season of life. Anyway, I ran into her again at church this past Sunday and she invited Em and I over for a little play group at her house today. It was so fun to get to meet and spend time with other women and their kids.

So there you have it folks, we've been busy...but the fun kind of busy. And last but not least, little baby Emerson turned 11 months old today. Here are some pictures from her 11th month of life. It has been a good one.

loving some blueberries...oh this child is pure joy

just being real cute

enjoying some froyo at our favorite local yogurt place (appropriately named "Local Yogurt")

just practicing walking...

driving around Harris Teeter (you can get your cart license at 10 months...he, he)

pulling everything out of the laundry hamper...i love it when she does that

eating pizza at our new fave pizza place, Cinelli's

(ok, E didn't actually eat pizza, just some of the toppings.)

It's Raining Pollen

The title of this post has nothing to do with the actual post. However, it is true. I have never seen a "pollen event" like this in my whole life. It's hard to see outside b/c there is so much pollen in the air. I hope we all survive the plague.

Anyway, the past week has been kind of nuts so I am gonna try to sum it up pretty quickly. We took an at home gender test (yes they actually make these now). It says we are having a BOY. It is allegedly 82% accurate. We will see. I would love another girl (sorry little baby, if you are a boy I still love you), but G of course wants a boy (he will still love you if you are a girl). Only time will tell. Regardless the test was kind of fun.

We were spending lots of time until the great pollen plague of 2010. During this time Garrett taught Emerson how to eat dirt and sticks. I love him.

We spent Easter in Durham, just the three of us. I thought about it, and I think this is the first big holiday that we have spent together just as our little family. However, the day before Easter, we did head over to Winston-Salem to see some of my cousins, their kids, and my Aunt and Uncle. We had a GREAT time. It was so good to see my family. And to meet the newest addition to our family, Kellen. My cousin and his wife welcomed her to their family on January 18th (which also happens to be my birthday). It was so fun to meet her and to see their 3 year old, Maddox. They live in the Tampa area so we don't get to see them nearly often enough. Also, Emerson got to dye Easter eggs with her cousins...that was fun too.

Emerson mostly liked licking the eggs.

And she really LOVED the hammock swing. We need to get one!

We spent Easter morning at our church here in Durham, The Summit. It was wonderful to celebrate the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. As a family we are constantly overwhelmed by his love for us. It was a beautiful morning. Part of the teaching was on baptism. J.D. (the pastor) talked a lot about what baptism looked like in the Bible and that how biblically, people would get baptized immediately after coming to faith in Jesus to show their new identification with Christ.

I was baptized when I was younger after coming to faith. Garrett was also baptized when he was younger but it was before he really came to faith in Jesus. All that to say, he has been wanting to get baptized again for a long time. He kept thinking he would do it back at our church at home so our family could be there, etc, etc. On Easter Sunday, The Summit was doing baptisms after the service, and half way through the service Garrett decided that it was time to just do it. Although we wanted our family and old small group from Greenville there, we both decided that in the end it really isn't about any of those things. So, G got baptized on Easter. It was beautiful and Emerson and I enjoyed every second of it! I can't think of a better way to spend Easter Sunday.

I love you Garrett, and I love the way you love the Lord.