Sunday pics

So here in the northern suburbs of Atlanta....it's storming. So this is going to be a short and sweet post because I've got some other little projects to cover tonight as well.

Update...Kim's mom definitely has a kidney stone but she's at home doped up on pain meds. I think she is going to have to pass it with out the benefit of a "busty the kidney stone" thingy so say a prayer. Also, my mom is going to have her knee surgery re-done. The guy that did it this January did a hatchet job and never really offered her any relief other than saying it would just get better so the Grandmothers are a little under the weather right now.

AKR (Adam, Kim, Reese) went to the Canton Olive Garden tonight and it reaffirmed my dislike of chain Italian food other than Carrabba's. Nothing really compares to Ipillito's in my opinion but Carrabba's absolutely wears out the Olive....the place is set up like a Shoney's on the inside....anyway. The chow was ok and it satisfied the craving but we'll head to our standbys next time.

Reese did awesome during dinner and while Mommy and Daddy shopped in Target. We headed back to the homestead and now little bit is on the jungle mat grabbing everything she can. The weekend has been a good one and I'm ready for the next one.

Three pics are from this afternoon and the other one is a regular weekday morning...Reese chills while Mommy and Daddy get ready.

Why is her hair wet?

It finally happened to Kim....

Every time something goofy happens during a diaper change, it happens to me. Never Kim....until this morning. Saturday morning started slow and easy. Reese ate while she was essentially asleep for the early morning feeding....she never woke up completely during the diaper change, the feeding, and the burping. I'm telling you, the girl sleeps good.

She napped in our bed until around 8:45-9:00 and then I needed to get motivated so I could meet Mom and Dad mid-morning. While all of this preparation for me to ride my bike to the office in order to attend said meeting with the folks, Kim was feeding and burping the 9 o'clock chow fest. At the end of the feeding Reese commenced to eating her hand which is the norm here lately and quietly began to drop a deuce. (Number 2, poo poo, caca)

A quiet poop is a rarity. Not that Reese tears the curtains off the walls but she makes a notable "growl" thus the term making a "growler" has stuck as well. (we have tons of them folks....) With Reese in stealth growler mode, Kim laid Reese on the couch to change what she thought was a wet diaper and then to her surprise....BROWN. Remember, we're on the couch. So, Kim did the obligatory growler timeout.

See, Reese is alot like a dog when she poops. Its almost like if you're watching her or waiting on her....she stalls a little. But, if you tie things back up loosely and sort of wait a bit, go back to the wreckage and VOILA....she's done. So Kim did that and went back. Well....Reesie needed to pee a little and with diaper open, Reese turned into a miniature bubbling brook. Kim then moves Reese from the couch and takes her into our Dining room/baby everything room and put her on the changing station for the pack'n'play. Kim walks off for a moment and then comes back ready to try this again. Open the diapy and the spring fed waters of Reesie-pie were still flowing (2nd diaper ruined) we decide at that point we should probably rinse her off a little since she's probably got a little pee pee on her and so Kim brings her to the sink where I have the spray nozzle ready for a wash down. Kim "stands" her in the sink and then I notice it......

"Why is her hair wet?", I ask.

Kim collapsed in laughter/fear and we quickly determined that the little squirt had to pee pretty badly and if you don't catch it with an open diaper...it will run all over the place.

Needless to say she got a bath this morning and I am semi vindicated because to this point, I have been the only one to burn three diapers in the span of 10 minutes.

Reese in her little Polo outfit....hoity toity huh?

And in this pic...she's eating the rug.









In other happenings, we had a small cookout with Kim's parents today, we had cake for Nicole's 22nd birthday, and after dinner Kim's dad had to take Nan to the hospital for what appears to be Kidney stones. ugh. The latest update seems to indicate that stones are indeed the culprit for the pain and nausea that came on pretty suddenly so keep a prayer for Kim's mom.

Sunday Summary...

It has been a good weekend. We didn't knock half of a "To Do List" off the charts...we didn't take a special trip anywhere...we didn't do anything all that spectacular...we just hung out with our little girl and loved her. We just want to be with her all the time and even putting her to bed this evening was a little bitter sweet. Kim and I have been trying to make sure that we do everything so that Reese is sleeping well and one of those things is finally putting her to bed in the evenings rather than letting her swing or sleep in the bouncy seat. I don't like it. I like her being right here with us but I guess Daddy needs to get beyond it and just know that she's right upstairs.

Mommy is taking it just as hard but she's also seeing the end of maternity leave and that is weighing VERY heavily on her mind of late. I can only imagine her sadness and anticipation by being away from Reese and whether she's had "enough" time off or not doesn't matter.....she's dreading two weeks from Monday and I don't blame her. I probably wasn't the ideal husband a couple times this weekend but I love her immeasurably and I can't begin to explain the way I feel about her since Reese was born. It's very true that you see your wife in an entirely new light after the birth of a child and Kim is not only my partner but she gave me Reese....I love you sweetie. Everything will be ok.

Ok...back to the summary....I mowed, sprayed for weeds, Kim cleaned inside, we washed clothes, went to Babies R Us, ate out, went to the tile store, Reese threw a fit, Reese threw a fit all the way home, she got a bath and we all went to bed. That was Saturday.

Sunday....we slept in, Kim cooked breakfast, she went grocery shopping, I rode my bike, got a flat, walked home, Papa and Grandma came to visit, we ate Mellow Mushroom and I gave MYSELF a shot. Holy Sh*t that hurt. (I'm finally starting my Enbrel for psoriasis versus the devil drug Soriatane). I guess this is notable for me because I want to remember when I took the first shot and can gauge the success or lack thereof.

Anyway...Monday comes too quickly.

We've had alot going on...

Since I landed Friday afternoon and made it to the house, we've been on go all weekend.

Friday afternoon started with a dose of Holiday traffic from hell. I literally stayed in stop and go junk from Camp Creek Parkway (basically the airport) up through 575 coming to the house. I was about three more miles from a mild breakdown. I get home, hug Mommy, hug baby. Mommy leaves to take the borrowed pack and play back to Scott and Michelle....I play with Reese, feed her, change the diapy then get on the road to see my Cousin's graduation in Dalton.









Elizabeth graduated from Sonoraville High on Friday night and will be heading down to Tifton this fall and hopefully back to Athens to graduate from UGA in a few short years. Kim and I are so proud of her and she's likely living a dream of my own if she ends up going to UGA. Good luck E-whiz. It's unbelievable that you've grown up so quickly. Life has gotten in the way of me spending more time with you while you've been growing up but it certainly doesn't mean it has to stay that way. Be safe and make good decisions and you'll be fine.

Saturday....we celebrated another graduate. Kim's cousin, Nicole, graduated from the aforementioned University of Georgia in four short years to become a teacher. We went to the party to celebrate this accomplishment and as usual....Kim's family gathers big and parties big. Though not the size and intensity of Lance and Celeste's wedding party and the Christmas throw down from Five months ago, but a good gathering nonetheless. This is another one that just escaped us....Nicole is done with college! It just seems weird to look at her and think of her working a job and being all grown up. We're proud of you Nicole and wish you all the best that life has. Good luck finding a teaching job. We know you'll do awesome with your kids.


































Since its nearly impossible to caption this many pics and keep it in line...follow along from left to right and work down - Four generations of Kim's family girls....Grams, Nan, Kim, and Reese. And Grandpa got in the action too. Nancy, Karen, Nadine and her niece. Kim, Nicole, Lance, Celeste. Ash and Ryan. Me and Nicole (rare pic of me on the blog). Norma and Reese. Keefy. Goller men talking it over...Marty, Grandpa, and Charlie. Neleh, NICOLAS, and Kaylie (probably spelled that wrong...sorry).

Reese did well with the crowd but it seems like we're moving because we bring so much stuff with us....that'll make a good post later on so I'll save the details.

Sunday, we did it again. We had a surprise graduation party for Raquelle as she is graduating from High school as well. So is Brandon and Kevin but we sort of did that at Christmas. I mean the whole family is graduating from something this year, huh? Hey...we're proud of all of you. Work hard, dream big, and you'll achieve more than you ever thought you could.

Kim and I visited with my parents before the surprise party so we've been in Calhoun most of the day. Once the party started, we ate some burgers, folks played with Reesie-pie, the Gollers started a game of Canasta, and Kim and I hiked back to the Stock.......guess what, we're pooped. My girls are sleeping right now and I'm getting ready to follow them. Reese is swinging away grunting occasionally and Kim has passed out on the couch. This weekend was fun but man was it busy....I think we'll sleep in on Monday!! I'll say goodnight with some sweet pics of Reese...Enjoy Memorial Day!

Big weekend....big post.

So we had a reasonably large weekend at the Hall household....tons to talk about...lots of pics too. Kim and I both had alot that we wanted to accomplish because believe it or not...our productivity since March 27th on the weekends has been questionable at best. And with good reason of course...Reesie Pie takes up alot of time, but we love every second. Anyway... I've been adamant that it was time to start addressing this huge bed in our front yard that has been empty since our arrival but it serves a purpose (its pretty steep there and cutting grass would be a pain) so over the past couple weekends I've been adding in Daylilies and then we plan to add something that will be visible in the winter time down the center - you can see in the pics that there is an empty spot down the middle so we're going to find something to put there.


Another part of our yard that bothers us is the lack of anything in the woods in our backyard. In my opinion, we have an awesome backyard...its shady starting around 2pm so Hosta are perfect for the woods. Now....I admit that we need to work on the "yard" part because as nice as it is for sitting on the deck... grass is incredibly hard to grow in shade that starts around 2pm. An additional issue that we've had up until recently was the fact that two dogs were peeing on everything that stood higher than three inches. When Rocky was alive, he would pee on something and then Baxter just couldn't have it that he hadn't peed there too so everything had double the pee. And as luck would have it - Dog pee will kill anything and everything so EVERY PLANT that we have planted in the back has died because of Rocky and Baxter. Yeah! Anyone want a plant killing Beagle? By planting anything we're tempting fate or wasting money. One of the two.

Once an awesome display of Shade gardening done in by PEE.








So completing the outside tasks meant we could come inside. When we moved here we knew what we were getting in to with a house that was around 20 years old so you have these little issues that need rectifying...like the back door knob. You needed two hands to lock and unlock the handle because something was dorked up inside the thing. (not anymore) Like the upstairs shower that needed a new handheld spray head because Reese is graduating to baths up there instead of in the sink...she'll still be in the little tub but we're prepping for big girl baths and the shower head needed replacing...also...the tub sprayed at you for some reason when you turned the shower on...So we fixed that too. Put up some shelves in Reese's room, Kim cleaned up and down, I mean we killed it this weekend. Yeah for us!

Reese put up with everything reasonably well and while she's been feeling pretty good, but she has been doing this little choky thing lately. Saturday she was laying on the mat for her little gym and she was just chilling then all of the sudden she stiffened up and starting hacking. I pick her up, pat her back and she's still choking. Her little eyes started watering so now I'm scared to death. Basically, it seems like too much slobber and she'll lock down between a cough, yawn, burp and this little choking thing happens. We've probably had this happen about 5 times since her birth and she ends up being fine but it will absolutely scare the hell out of you when it happens.

Well....that's a long enough post for now. I travel this week so Kim will take the helm later in the week for posts and I might cover some stuff from the road. Love to all....say a prayer for little Reesie Pie!