ROCKTOBER!

We had our 3rd annual Lowrance Pumpkin carving contest on Saturday and man was the competition fierce. Matt smoked us some pork which was mighty tasty and he had several people in the kitchen "helping".

The Woody boys are the original "babies" of the crew and look how big they are!!! I just can't get over them. Caleb even has a girlfriend.

This is Davis, Ben and Jennifer's baby boy, and possible suiter for BellaRose.

Those over there are the 3 judges, and they took this pretty seriously. Worth carved our pumkin into Rainy, with her tennis ball and all. Mousee, the Woody's chocolate lab, wanted that ball. We came home the 2nd place losers, I mean winners.

Ben Young was declared the winner, with his B.Y. original and he went home with the awesome prize of the turkey statue. There was a major upset, however, when the pumpkins were lit at night, when we all discovered that Woody had the far superior pumpkin. Too bad the Young's had already gone home with the prize.





BellaRose had a blast the 3rd annual pumpkin carving contest as well, although it was her 1st. She was sporting a pretty rocking outfit as well. As the temp. dropped the layers started coming on. She has offically rolled over. I have pictures of that coming soon. I have already posted way too many pictures, so you can see those later. She is also swaddle free!!! Yes we broke the habit. It was rough, but now she has slept through the night the past several nights, and she is taking naps, all swaddle free. She is also eating like a champ. She loves her sweet potatoes!

As most of you know I LOVE cell phones. I can't help it, when I see someone with a new phone I have to look at it and find out all about it. It is just who. I. am. On Friday I discovered that my new in two was up with Verizon so I got myself a new cell phone. This is the RAZR 2 and it is AWESOME! It is chocolate brown, need I say more?

while she slumbers.....

...I am able to post. We are again trying to wean from the swaddle. I had given up trying to un-swaddle her so we are trying again. One of my friends from the reunion gave us some great advice about how to break free from the swaddle. She says that it takes 3 days to break a habit. We are preparing ourselves for three days of un-fun! I went and got her a sleep sak, but it is not washed yet, so I just laid her down this morning with nothing and she cried for and hour and a half, loud. I took Shanna's advice and put my ipod on with the earphones and cleaned and baked away. I even caught myself dancing. Not so bad. Well anyway, BellaRose screamed the whole morning nap. I finally got her out of her crib and we had some cereal (girl loves her cereal, she attacks the spoon, we even tried sweet potatoes and she loves it!). I laid her back in her crib so I could shower and go meet Worth for lunch. She of course screamed her head off the whole time. When I got out of the shower I heard silence. I thought that she might be playing with a toy, but no, she was fast asleep. The door is open, the shades are up, the music was playing and my baby is fast asleep! I guess she was so exhausted from screaming all morning. Oh poor sweet little baby.

As I mentioned BellaRose is really getting into eating. We have moved her to nursing every 4 hours and having 2 meals that she eats with a spoon. I think that this is really going well. I decided it was time for a high chair. So this is SweetieBaby in her new high chair from Grandma. Pretty snazzy! I want her to get used to eating at a table, so there you go. You can see how red her eyes are in these pictures from all the crying she did this morning.

you can call me Domenica....

Where do I even begin about this weekend!! We had a blast. It was SO MUCH fun. I can't get over it. Worth and I find ourselves just laughing about the weekend. We will think about what someone said and what someone did and just giggle too ourselves (can't you see Worth giggling). I have to tell you this blog was pretty famous. Travis, Erin's husaband, said our blog was "trendy". Kyle Orr came up to Worth when I was not around him and said that she knew him from our blog! Other people kept commenting about seeing pictures from the blog, this just makes me smile and laugh right now thinking about the blog and the things people were saying. I have to tell you this is a good ice breaker. There were so many priceless moments from the night. Worth and I were one of the first people to get there and one of the last to leave. Rebecca said she was proud of us! I had to steal pictures from Rebecca b/c she was all over taking pictures and silly me did not bring the camera. The picture below is when we first got there at 7:45, we are all fresh faced, anticitpating what the night will hold. Well the night held some major fun, I can tell you that! We were there until 1:15 in the morning, and if you know us, that is a LATE night! I name this post "you can call me Domenica", because I had to say that a lot because everyone was asking if they should call me Sunday because of the blog and that is what Worth calls me. All my friends from high school knew me as Domenica and that is what they should call me. It would sound weird if they called me Sunday! All in all we had so much fun, and most importantly Worth had so much fun. He loved meeting all my friends and their spouses. BellaRose might not have had so much fun on her trip to Atlanta though. We ended up leaving Atlanta at 5 in the morning seeing as BellaRose did not want to sleep and with her lack of sleep I did not sleep. Oh it was a rough one, but Worth was a super hero and drove us home!

I would like to wish my oldest Nephew Christian a very Happy 8th Birthday (where did these last 8 years fly to)!!!!! So much is going on today. BellaRose is 5 months today and .......... ...........today is my birthday too!!!

10 years......what?

The Grant family will be going to Atlanta for my 10 year high school reunion from Lovett. I can't believe 10 years have gone by so quickly. There are times when I still feel like I am in college, but goodness that was 5 years ago. This reminds me of a song, "Time keeps slipping, slipping away". I have no idea who sings it, but it is a song you would hear in the dentist office. Lets see what have I done in the past 10 years (sort of like "What did I do on my summer vacation"), what can I go back and tell everyone what I have been up too..... well I graduated college in 4 years (a fete most people did not think that I would do, and I took a semester off), learned how to snowboard, taught snowboarding, been knocked out from snowboarding, lived in a horrible dorm, lived in 3 wonderful houses with wonderful roommates and 1 apartment, got Atticus, waited way too many tables for not enough tips, cried my heart out, laughed so hard my cheeks hurt, saw many many weddings, met amazing people all along the way, been to Costa Rica 4 times, Italy once, driven "out west" 2 times, owned 3 cars, lived in 3 towns, settled in the place I love with the man I love, got wonderful in-laws, became the aunt to 7 neices and nephews, a friend to many, read 1000's of books, learned how to text message, became and insurance saleswoman, saw the pink panty march, and the biggest thing that I have ever done in my whole life was get pregnant and have a baby, sweet BellaRose. I am sure that my fellow classmates have done bigger and better things, seen more places, have exciting jobs, but I gotta tell you this life of mine "ain't" so bad. My adventures have been outstanding. I am proud of my life, proud of my family, proud of my friends-past and present. I am excited to see everyone and see where these past 10 years have taken them.

A little fall color for you. This is what I look at everyday when I leave my house and come home. Again, don't you just love fall!

Here Worth is getting ready for the skateparks in ATL on his home turf in Asheville. He defies gravity doesn't he? Our friend Nigel did not have as successful of day as his broken wrist and concussion can atest to, oops!

IT'S HERE, IT'S HERE, FINALLY IT'S HERE

Fall is here! These mountains that surround us and hug us like and old friend make me want to write "I wish you were here" postcards. Fall as come to the this glorious place and it makes me want to rejoice. This is my FAVORITE time of year. Fall holds so much joy and wonder for me. Its when the horses start to get sassy, so glad to shake the heat of summer. It is when I want to run out and make a apple pie, when I want to buy every pumpkin I see. It is the start of the holiday season! It is when I am so happy that I love the color orange b/c everything is golden and orange right now, the leaves, my appliances, pumpkins, pumpkin pie, my living room in a peachy sort of way. Fall makes me want to make soup, and have hot chocolate. It is time for trick or treaters, and making comfort food, and red wine. It is time to pick apples, and to seek out all the fall colors and to not blink, because when you do the leaves will be a totally different color. It is when we rake up big leaf piles and then ruin them when we jump in them and roll around. Fall is time to get out the sweaters, and start the fires, and wear UGGS, and melt marshmellows, and open the windows and crawl under a big down comforter, and cozy up. It is when we get to show BellaRose all the magic of fall and the season. Fall brings relief to people from the heat, from air conditioning, from the weight of humidity. Oh how I love fall. I got married in the fall, rushing out of that chapel with my new husband in hand, running over freshly fallen leaves, love in the air! And of course we can't forget birthdays in Rocktober. What could be better. Where ever you are enjoy this weather, embrace the crisp air and the winds that rustle the leaves high above because there is no better time of year.

a visit

We had a visit from Will yesterday. I babysat him while Annie went to the dentist's office. The first three pictures sums it up. It was so funny! Will was pretty much a blur with BellaRose watching in awe at this older boy.

Sidenote- that blur in this picture is Will!

Then Will got his football and was trying to show BellaRose how good he was at throwing it.

He was so good that he hit BellaRose on the head with it, thus causing this face so nap time was in order.

Presently my precious sweet child is screaming her beautiful head off right now in her room. We are working on one hour and twelve minutes of this. She also did this in the middle of the night for close to an hour. 'Why is she so upset" you ask me, well my dear reader we are weaning from the swaddle. Yes we swaddle! We have loved it, it has worked, but now it is not so we are stopping. We sadly came to this conclusion at 1 and 2 in the morning. Finally resulting in a reswaddle and feeding. We decided that the middle of the night was not the proper time to wean her from this. You see she falls asleep so fast being swaddled, but then kicks out of it and gets upset. So we are at a loss. What do we do? My only solution is for her to learn to go to sleep on her own. She is not happy about this. This is very hard listening to her scream. It makes me antsy, and I start to wonder around the house, I swiffer, and see some bread so I make toast, then I see the swiffer that I left so I go back to that and forget about the toast. Yes you see how this is going, endless projects left undone as my baby is in her crib becoming undone. I hear silence, what a sweet noise, but then my heart crashes to the floor as the sobs start once again. I know she will not remember this by this afternoon or even by tomorrow, but right now it is the hardest thing we have done all day!

One hour twenty minutes.

One hour twenty eight minutes, a long period of silence. I dare not walk by her room because the floor cracks and this will surely wake her from her restless slumber. I guess I am confined to the back rooms without by book. Whatever it takes!

oh.my.word!

so i thought i would do a little bit of comparing. you know see who this baby really looks like. most people say me, i don't see it. some people say worth i see it a little, especially in her expressions.

here we have some pictures of Worth and me when we were younger. look at that wild man swinging from a vine, and look at sweet little Sunday being all girly with her untied bow. Let me just make this little point, those ARE my real curls. Why, now, do i have stick straight hair I wonder to myself. what in the world will B-Rose be like, will she swing from vines, ride horses, or do something that Worth and I have never thought about. the options are endless.

now all i am going to do with these two images is just let you look at them and see where BellaRose gets a very cute feature of hers. this is my dad when he was a little boy, and of course this is our Sweetie baby. when i saw the picture of my dad on my sister's fridge all i could say was "OH.MY.WORD, that is where she got her......." you fill in the blank!

I love you Dad :)

i really just wanted an excuse to play with our new scanner. pretty cool. you better watch out we might be showing some more blasts from the past now!

Sullivan Clarke Rich

A couple of post ago I told you of our friends Morgan and Christina. Christina was pregnant with Sullivan and he had a congenital heart defect. Sullivan was born on September 22nd in Asheville at Mission Hospital. Morgan and Chrisitina along with their son Porter had the great joy of bringing Sullivan home with them. They knew his time would be limited, but they were so joyful to have their baby son home with him for however long. Sullivan died on Sunday September 30th. Nothing but love surrounded this baby. Worth and I had the great pleasure of meeting Sullivan last week. The overriding emotion I felt while I was there with him was that he seemed so peaceful. He was home, with his family where he belonged and not in some cold hospital. I know that he felt the love of his father, mother, and brother. We will be going to a memorial service to honor Sullivan's life on Saturday. Many of you have asked what you could do. Morgan and Christina have asked that we bring new stuffed animals and blankets to be given to the children and babies in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) who face the "tremendous journey of life with a heart condition in Sullivan's memory". If you would like to send something with us to the memorial please let me know.
So I ask you to go to your husband and tell him you love him, and kiss your baby, tell your friend how much you care for them, pet your dog, and scratch your cat, tell your parents "thank you" for the love that they shower on you that runs so deep and so strong. Life is so fragile and so precious and we will never have enough time to tell people how much we care for them. Do it now, and do it often. I love you dear friends. I am honored to call you that!

bottom line

BellaRose rode a horse the other day. This is Ben, the horse, not brother Ben. Sweetie Baby and I had a wonderful day at the barn last week. I hope to be able to continue to ride. It is the workout that I have been looking for. I love it, and have missed it desperately. I have not ridden a horse in over a year, sort of like riding a bike, but it is a horse, you never forget.

We went to Greenville on Saturday for the day. We had a rough night the night before with not a lot of sleep, but we made the journey, and had a blast. It was fun hanging out with the family. We finally got a cousins picture with all the cousins. What a cute group of kids huh? Like I mentioned we did not get a whole lot of sleep the night before so B-Rose was cranky to say the least. It is hard not to compare her to other babies. It is also hard when my family sees her, and she is being really fussy. I feel like they don't get to see the real baby. I want to defend her and tell them how wonderful she is, but we have a fussy baby. We admit it, she is fussy. We know. She has been fed, her diaper changed, she gets enough milk, she does not need water, the list could go on and on. This is just who she is. Our girl likes routine, and when we take her out of that routine she gets fussy. But you know what the bottom line is she is healthy. Some people would do anything to hear their baby cry instead of being sick. So for this we are very fortunate to have our fussy baby.

Ane here are some bang pictures. I like them more and more. It took a little while to get used to them. Worth has even said (finally) that he liked them. I am still working with them and figuring out the way I like them best, but they seem to be well received by others. So here you go, bangs!

In other exciting news Rocco can ride his his bike without training wheels. This is freedom for a 4 year old. The world is his, well at least the neighborhood is his. He could NOT wait to show Poppy (my dad) how he can ride without the training wheels. This reminds me of when I taught myself how to ride without training wheels many years ago for Father's day. I practiced and practiced and finally got. I was ready to show my dad. I got a little full of myself and thought I could conquer our steep road in Atlanta and fly down it. Well I am sure you can see where this is going. I busted and busted hard. Happy Fathers Day, right ;).

SPECIAL FIND ALERT!

I have found the jeans. yes it is true. These are the ones. I love them!!!! They have a side zipper, no pockets in the front, pockets in the back, and not slit pockets, but real pockets. They are awesome. I dream about putting them on, I get sad when I have to take them off. Is it weird if I sleep in them? They are James Jeans, and they are fabulous! Oh yeah, a little side note for you, this is not my belly. Oh how I wish it were, but I repeat this IS NOT MY BELLY. I am sure you were wondering.