more birthday pics

The Sunday before Graham's b-day we traveled up to NC to see Jamie and Amy (Graham's dad and stepmom). Unfortunatly I had forgotten my camera but Amy sent me some great pics.

Chateau Elan

This weekend Graham and i enjoyed a relaxing weekend at the Chateau Elan in GA. We headed down Late Fri. afternoon and stayed until Sun. On Sat. we visited the winery where we bought to much wine. Later that afternoon we both got a massage at the inns spa. Then later that evening we enjoyed a wonderful meal. Graham won the trip through his work so we were able to share the experience with several of his co-workers.

The front of the Inn


The Winery


Statue in front of the winery


Graham and I in front of the Inn's Christmas tree


This is a pub that was brought over from Ireland

Playing in the leaves

A couple of weeks ago Graham and I blew all the leaves in the yard into one big pile and let Reed play in them. He had tons of fun!

Graham's Birthday Weekend

Saturday night I threw Graham a birthday party at Bailey's for his 30th b-day. There were about 15 of his friends there to celebrate with him. Everybody had tons of fun, but Graham unfortunatly had a little to much fun. On Sunday Corey, Cindy, Brian, Graham, and I went to PF Changs to have lunch with Carrie since she had to go back to GA. Later that afternoon we drove up to NC to see Graham's dad and stepmom. On Monday Graham returned to work (this was his actual b-day). We went out for lunch and while he was away from his office I arranged for some of his co-workers to decorate his desk.



The best part of his birthday came Mon. evening. I planned several weeks ago for his mom to fly into G'vlle for his b-day. i picked her up from the airport that afternoon. When Graham was on his way home she called him to tell him happy birthday. As soon as he pulled in the driveway she hid behind the door and when he got to the frontdoor I greeted him saying that i knew why she hadn't sent him his b-day card yet. She then came out from behind the door saying because I wanted to deliver it in person. He was so surprised and happy!



I hope you had a wonderful birthday Graham! I Love You!!!!

Bad Surgery!

Before I tell about what happened yesterday let me tell you about a surgery that I had about 6 1/2 years ago so you will understand things a little better. Not to long after Graham and I started dating I started seeing an ENT(ear,nose,throat doctor). They gave me a hearing test and found out that my hearing was not where it should be. Of course I already knew that which was why I was there. They came to the conclusion that my hearing loss was from all the tubes I had growing up. The doctor said that there was a permanent hole in both of my eardrums and that if they patched them it would fix the problem. I agreed to the surgery after finding out that they would not have to make an incision and would be able to go right through the ear canal. After I woke up from the surgery I had something on my head which I soon discovered was a huge gauze bandage that was wrapped around my entire head. The nurse told me that they were not able to go through the ear canal because of the shape and instead had to make an incision behind the ear so they could get access to the eardrum. When I heard this I was a little upset but quickly got over it thinking that there was nothing that I could do and that the problem had been fixed and everything was going to be okay. It took me almost 1 month for my incision to stop hurting, which by the way took 9 stitches to sew back up, and I lost a lot of feeling on the right side of my head which took close to 6 months to get back. I was not able to hear as well as I thought I would and because of all the pain I had to deal with I decided not to have anything done to the left ear.

Yesterday Reed and I were running some errands. When we were on our way home the scar from the surgery started hurting so bad that I was having trouble concentrating and by the time I had gotten home the whole right side of my head was in pain. My scar has hurt numerous times before but never this bad. It has also been hurting more often than it used to. It seems that at least once a week it starts to hurt. It used to only happen a couple of times a year. I knew that this was not normal so I called the doctor and schedule an appointment. Once the doctor had examined me and I had told him about the surgery he came to the conclusion that I had something called Neuritis, which is an inflammation of the nerves. He said that there is nothing that they could do about it and they really don't know what causes it. He basically told me that this was something that I was going to have to deal with for the rest of my life. The doctors office is contacting a neurologist for me to go see. I am hoping to find out more info. from them. But for now the only thing they can do for me is give me a prescription for a drug that they usually give ceasure patients. I have not started taking it yet. I want to do a little research on it first.

On a mission!

Last Thursday I visited the bariatric clinic in downtown Greenville. I went there because a friend of mine told me this place helped her loose weight. I was a little sceptical at first but after visiting there web site and talking to the people at the clinic I know that my new weight lose plan will work. I started it Thursday and I have already lost 4 lbs. I go back to the clinic the Tues. before Thanksgiving so I will let everybody know then how much progress I have made. Every visit that I make to the clinic I receive a vitamin B-12 shot which has given me so much energy. I no longer feel exhausted by 2:00. It seems like Graham is always telling me to sit down and rest for a minute because I am always up doing something. I am also taking some medicine that was prescribe by a doctor to help suprese my appetite, but don't worry I still make sure that I eat 3 healthy meals with 2 healthy snacks in between every day. I am also drinking tones of water and I excersise for 15 min. a day on the stationary bike (I will add an extra 5 min. every week). I am so excited, for the first time in several years I am actually happy with my body. It still can be frustrating when I look in the mirror and I see how big I am, but I don't let it get me down any more because I am finally doing something about it and I know that eventually that image will change. My goal is to get down to 135 (I started at 211 which is what I weighed about 6 weeks after I had Reed).

The Greenville Zoo

Yesterday Graham and I took Reed to the zoo. The Greenville Zoo is not that big but Reed loves the animals, especially the lions.

me and Reed checking out the giraffes




Reed watching the lions


my new little friend

Santa Parade

Last night we took Reed to the Haywood Mall to welcome Santa. They did a little parade around the mall with a band, some christmas characters, and of course Santa. They also did a drawing for a chance to be the first one to sit on Santa's lap and believe it or not Reed won.

No more spiders!

Yesterday the Orkin man came out to the house and sprayed inside and out for spiders. He told me that every possible place outside where they could come into the house their was webbing. I am so glad I didn't know that before he came because I wouldn't have been able to stay in the house. The spider that I had killed on thurs. was not a black widow just a baby wolf spider. Oh well, at least know we are spider free. YEAH!!!!

spiders!!!

This morning I was relaxing and playing wii while Reed took his nap when I happened to notice a spider running across the ceiling. I was just about to kill it with a shoe when I noticed a red spot on its back. I didn't waste any time in killing the little buger! I know that black widows have spots on there abdomen, but after doing some research on the internet there are several different types of black widows. I don't know if the spider I killed was one but I am not taking any chances since we have a little one in the house. I have Orkin scheduled to come out first thing tomorrow morning. I think this will be a good thing because I have seen 3 spiders in the house over the past 2 days. I know I sound like a wimp but anybody who knows me knows I absolutly hate spiders!!!

Boo in the Zoo

Last night we took Reed to boo in the zoo at the Greenville Zoo. This was Reed second year going.

Mamma's little monkey

Homecoming weekend

Last weekend was Furman's homecoming. Fri. evening we went over to Corey and Cindy house and hung out. Then on Sat. we did some tailgating before the game. We didn't make it into the game because Reed was to tired. Then that evening Graham and I were able to enjoy a woderful dinner together while my sister watched Reed (thank you Brandy!). After dinner we headed downtown to hang out with friends. (I know this is a little late but I've been having problems with my camera)

Reed chillin in his pack-n-play


Mark, Melissa, and Will


The guys goofing off


Me and Graham

Reed's First Hair Cut

Last Thursday we took Reed to get his first hair cut. He did pretty good until the end when he would start to scream every time she would put the scissors up to his head. I was so worried that when he got his hair cut that his hair wouldn't be as curly but it is actually curlier. I know it doesn't look like he got much cut off but she took about 1 1/2 in. off.

Graham and Reed

So about a month ago I took a pic of Reed sleeping in his crib. Then the other day something made me remember that I had seen a pic of Graham sleeping in his crib when he was a baby. I pulled the pic out this morning to look at it and could not believe how much Reed still looks like Graham. The only difference is the hair. He even sleeps like his Daddy!

Graham


Reed

Update on the House

Last Thursday i received a call from our realestate agent. She preceded to tell me that she was getting out of the business because she needed a more steady income. So Friday we took our house off the market and relisted it on Mon. with our friend Dan. I am already happy with the choice we made. He was able to find out everything we needed to know about the house going into foreclosure. We found out that it is actully going up for auction next mon. and that there is no way we can get an inspector in the house before then. So we are just going to have to take our chances and hope that the bank buys the house back and puts it on the market for a good price.

Charity Event

I know I haven't told to many people about what happened last week. Last Wed. morning I was at Target getting some last min. items for our trip when I got a phone call from Maryanna. She had told me that one of our friends Shane (whom none of yall have met) had been in a motorcycle accident. Someone pulled out in front of him and he was not able to stop in time. He suffered a head injury and the doctors were not sure if he was even going to make it. By that evening he was listed in critical but stable condition. Over the next couple of days doctors put a stint in his brain to relieve the pressure. His status kept changing and he kept going on and off the ventilator. At one point everyone was told to come to the hospital to say their goodbyes. Yesterday Shane had to have emergency surgery for a blood clot that was found in his brain during an x-ray. They successfully extracted the clot. The doctors no longer have him in a medically induced comma. We are all hoping that he will be waking up in the next couple of days. As a result of all of this Shane has accumulated a lot of hospital bills. All of his friends have got together and we are holding a cookout/car wash to help him and his fiancee out. We will also be holding a raffle to give away an i-pod nano as well as some other prizes. The event will take place on Sat. in the parking lot of Northern Tool and Equipment on Woodruff Rd. starting at 9:00 am and continue until people quit showing up. If you are not doing anything on Sat. we would greatly appreciate if you could stop by and support the cause. There are not that many people that read this sight so please tell all your friends and family to join us as well. Thank You so much and please keep Shane and the rest of his family in your prayers.

Hawaii

On Thurs. morning Graham and I headed for Maui. Even though we did not get to stay very long we had so much fun. Graham won the trip through his work all expenses paid. We arrived in Maui around 3:00 p.m. thurs. On Fri. we rented a car with 2 other people so we could go sight seeing and shopping. We went to the Iao State Park which resembled a rainforest. They say that this one spot on the island gets over 400 in. of rain a year. In fact it was raining when we got there. On Sat. we met up with a whole bunch of synnex people and went snorkeling. We were taken to the spot where we were going to snorkel by a catamaran. On our voyage out there we ended up getting surrounded by about 20 dolphins that were following us. They were showing off quit a bit to because they would jump up in the air and do flips. We also had the opportunity to see some sea turtles that were probably a couple hundred lbs. Then later that evening we attended a luau where we learned about the Hawaiian culture and got to see some really neat dancing. On Sun. before we headed home me and 3 other girls decided that we wanted to get a tattoo. I ended up with the hibiscus flower, which is the state flower, on my foot. I'm not gonna lie it hurt like hell but it was worth it. Oh yeah, Graham and I got sunburned pretty bad on Sat. He feels better but mine is still hurting.

TEETHING!!!

So yesterday morning Reed decided he only needed a 30 min. nap, which was fine with me because I figured that he would just take a longer afternoon nap. Wrong! i laid him down about 1 hr. earlier for his second nap because he was so tired. After about 2 hrs he had still not gone to sleep and he was crying. This was not his usual behavior so i knew something was wrong. I went into his room only to discover that he had been chewing on the side of his crib so I figured he was probably cutting one of his bottom front teeth since he only has 2 in. I didn't see one coming in so just out of curiosity i look back further in his mouth only to find about 1/2 of a molar sticking through the gum. i gave him some medicine and rocked him for about 30 min. then laid him in his crib and he went right to sleep.

Update on House

So our first offer on the house fell through, which is fine because they were offering a ridiculous price. We had a showing last Wed. and 2 on Sat. The only complaints we have had about the house is that it is to small. We thought the same thing when we bought the house but people will begin to realize that they are not going to get anything bigger than this for the price that we are asking. We are hoping to hear something about the house that we are wanting to buy by next week.

Grocery Shopping With Mommy!

I thought you might enjoy this pic of Reed while we were at Publix yesterday. Whoever invented these buggies is a genius. Normally Reed keeps trying to stand up when he is in a regular buggy sitting in the front but in these he stays seated and is very good.

Update on the House

Last night we heard from the realtor about the offer that was put on our house. The people said that they were not going to go any higher than there second offer. So we told them that was it. We had another showing on the house as well last night so hopefully we will hear some good feedback from them.

12 month well check-up

Yesterday was Reed's one year check-up. He now weighs 29 lbs. and is 32 1/2 in. long. He is still in the 98% for height and weight. It seems like every time he gets measured for his height the dr. always asks me how tall his dad is and if there are a lot of tall people in the family. They say that typically however tall they are at 2 just double it and that is how tall they will be as an adult. Well Reed only has 3 1/2 in. to go till he hits 3 ft. so I have a feeling that he is going to be pretty tall. Reed also received two shots yesterday so he was in a pretty ill mood for the rest of the day. Thankfully he is doing much better today!

Shocker!

Yesterday Grahm and I were doing some shopping when our realtor called us. I could not believe the news she had for us. After only 3 showings on the house we got an offer. It was a pretty crummy one so we made a counter offer today. The people that made the offer are from Rhode Island and were traveling back home today. We should hear something back from them tomorrow.

Busy Saturday!

Yesterday morning started out like any normal summer Saturday. Graham cleaned out the garage and cut the grass while I cleaned the house. After everything was done Graham fed Reed his lunch and I made sure that the house was in top notch condition because we had a showing later that afternoon. Once Reed was done eating Graham placed him in the living room to play with his toys. I was in the downstairs bath when all of a sudden I heard this huge thud followed by a scream. Graham and I both ran into the living room to find Reed sitting on the floor screaming with a hug bump on his head that was red and blue. Of course me being a first time mother I freaked out and told Graham that we had to take him to the e.r. The doctor at the hospital told me it was a nasty bump but he would be ok. I have since realized that Reed has unfortunatly inherited my clumsiness.


After Reed's first er visit we headed to Furman to tail gate with some friends before the football game. We did not go to the game because it was a 7:00 game and Reed had already missed his 2nd nap. Hopefully we will be able to take him to the next home game. We also ended up with 3 showings of the house yesterday.

House For Sale!

It's official! As of Today our house is on the market. We have been so busy the past couple of weeks getting our house in top notch condition. We had a landscaper come out and he did a wonderful job on on creating some great curb apeal. I also repainted the downstairs hall, stairway, upstairs hall(which sucked because of all the doorways), and the master bath. We also did some updating to the master bath by replacing the vanity light and the fixtures. We still have a couple of other things to do which will hopefully be done by this weekend. We have already found a house that is a little over 2000 sq. ft. that has gone into foreclosure. It does need a some cosmetic work done to it but as far as we can tell the structure is in great condition. Of course before we sign any paper work we will have it inspected just to make sure. I will keep everyone updated as much as I can about the progress of selling and buying a house.

Birthday Weekend!

Fri. was Reed's b-day and boy did he have a fun filled day. That morning we took him to build a Bear.

Reed checking out the stuffing machine


Reed pushing the peddle to fill his monkey with stuffing


Reed putting a heart in his monkey


The finished product


Then later that afternoon we took him to have his one year pictures made













On Sat. Reed had such a blast at his birthday party. He was so cute in his little outfit. He had such a blast seeing everybody. He especially enjoyed eating his cake and opening his presents. I don't have the pictures from his party just yet but as soon as I get them I will post them. I just want to say Thank You to everybody that came to the party and to everyone that help me.