Blue Heaven

Gabriel took his first trip to Chapel Hill yesterday for the first football game of the season against McNeese State. We stopped in Burlington on the way to hit the Carter's Outlet for some fall clothes and got to Franklin Street around 2:30. Gabriel got his first game-day tattoo at the Shrunken Head (Cynthia's FAVORITE store---saw your old buddy there, she was just as cute as ever, ha ha)! We did a little shopping then headed over to our new tailgate site, which is WAY far away from the stadium, near the outdoor theatre. For those of you who have been to one of our tailgates before, the previous location was steps away from the stadium, right in the middle of all the action. Needless to say, I miss it :( Our spot is being turned into a parking deck...

Gabriel was an absolute angel all day, especially considering it was over 90 degrees. He was amazed by all the people in the stadium and just kept looking around and taking it ALL in. There was a weather delay in the 2nd quarter due to lightning, and it looked like it was going to let loose with rain at any minute, so we left. Thank goodness, we made it back to our car just as it began to pour! They eventually did finish the game and the Heels one, but barely...All in all, it was a great trip to my alma mater. I tell you, going back there with a kid kind of made me feel old :)

Tomorrow is Labor Day, so Gaby and I have the day off. Cedric has to work of course, it is usually a big day for them. We are having lunch at my Grandma's, then if the weather is nice, I am going to let Gaby swim in his little pool, it might be the last time this summer. I am hoping for a very relaxing day, let's see if the little one cooperates!

Tired!

After my first week back at work, I have only this word to describe how we ALL feel around here-- me, Gaby, Cedric and I think even Rocky. Things just run much more smoothly at home when I am here to coordinate things. Having to get bottles packed for the next day, lunches made, and clothes laid out is just a pain in the butt! I am not going to even mention laundry, I am working on that one as we speak :) I already had big respect for all the mamas out there, but let me tell you, I have WAY respect for working MAMAS!

But at least we have made it through the first week, I hope that it gets easier as time goes on. Gabriel has not slept good this week, I think probably just due to all the big changes, so of course that means noone has slept good! Hopefully tonight will be different.

We have done some fun things this week. Cedric and I went to the Panthers game last night and had a blast. We stopped at a little corner bar downtown and had a drink walking on the way to the game. It was fun to be out just the two of us, but I did miss my little man a little bit! The game was great. Our seats were high up but pretty near midfield and the Panthers played awesome, especially my main squeeze Julius Peppers! Gaby spent the night with his grandparents and I think I had the best night's sleep I have had in months. I guess just not having to be "on call" at night. It was awesome, thank you mom and dad!!! Today we had lunch with all the Sigmons out at the campground and then got to visit with Carol, Parker, Peyton and Sammy down at Grandma Dot's. Gosh, I really had forgot just how fast the weekends go.

Tomorrow is the first day of school for kiddies at my school, I am sure it will be a WILD day! Here are some new pics:

I Am Off....

to see the Panthers play the Redskins and to have a date night with my hubby....I am so excited (and I just can't hide it!)......

School Days

Gabriel did great today at daycare, and I did pretty good too...I teared up a little when I left the house this morning, but I pulled it together :) I called once to check on him and he was having fun and playing outside. Right now, he is the only infant there, so he has the teacher all to himself. Mom said when she got there he was playing, but when he saw her, he grinned and started crawling to her. I had a SUPER long day at work, because we had our "Meet the Teacher" night from 4-6...I have got everything ready for tomorrow, Gabriel is asleep, and once Ceddy gets home in a few minutes, I think I am headed to bed too...We have our opening staff meeting tomorrow from 9-1 (yuck!) but we do get to leave at 1:00 since we were there so late tonight......I am ready for the weekend already!!!

Is anyone else starting to tire of the Olympics???? I was VERY much into it last week, but now I am just ready for some good TV to come on. Could it have something to do with the fact that my boyfriend Michael Phelps is finished swimming???? Yeah, that could be it...

I Survived!

Just wanted to let you all know that I did indeed survive my first day back at work...It wasn't THAT bad, but boy was I glad to see Gabriel and Cedric sitting on the front porch waiting for me when I got home this afternoon! Tomorrow is Gabriel's first day, let's hope I can survive it too :)

Tomorrow's the Big Day

Back to work tomorrow! I have my school bag out and packed, man, I haven't carried it for almost 8 months. Tomorrow I will be busy just unpacking my room and getting things set up..If I am VERY productive, I may get to start working on a schedule of when I will see my little speech-language kiddos. The first day of school for kids is Monday, so we have a few days to get ready for them! Cedric is off tomorrow, so Gaby's first day of school will be Wednesday. We went by today to drop off diapers, wipes, etc. and just to let him hang out in the room. He really seems to love it and his teacher seems very nice! Gosh, my baby is going to school! I can't believe it has been 7 months since he was born, he has changed SO much!

I know it is only Monday, but I am already ready for the weekend and I do have something fun to look forward to. Dad got some Panthers/Redskins tickets for Saturday night and gave them to us, I am SOOOO excited! I already pulled my Julius Peppers jersey out to wear (I didn't get to wear it last year, it was too tight because of my belly)....Mom and Dad are going to babysit, so Cedric and I will have a fun date night at the Panthers game. Thanks Dad!!!!

Our Last Week

Well, this was my last week at home with my sweet baby. I am having a hard time dealing with the fact that I will be leaving him next week for 7+ hours each day. I have spent pretty much 99.9% of his life so far with him and it is just tough. I don't want to miss anything. I know it will all be ok in the end and I do feel good about the preschool he will be attending. But I still don't want to leave him :( I go back to work on Tuesday. Cedric is off Tuesday, so Gabriel's first day of school will be Wednesday. Please think about me in the upcoming week, I need postive thoughts coming my way!

* Bam Update--Bam won his first two matches and then lost the third. The rules for greco-roman don't seem fair to me, and I got mad watching. If the score is tied at the end of a period, the person who scored the last point wins the period. The order you go is determined by a coin flip or in the case of the Olympics, a ball pulled. It just doesn't seem fair to me! This is how Bam lost. Then, since the person that beat him got beat, he didn't even get to compete for a chance to win the bronze. Overall, it just sucked! But we are so proud of him for making the Olympics!!!

*Monday, we took Gaby to downtown Mooresville to walk around...Not alot going on down there anymore. But, lucky for us, the Deluxe icecream place was open, so we stopped in for cones. Gaby had his first taste of Deluxe icecream and he LOVED it of course! He got mad when it was all gone.

*Tuesday, we had an Open House at his new school. Mom and dad went with Ceddy and me. Hopefully we impressed upon these people that there are many people who care about Gaby and they better take darn good care of him!

* Yesterday we hung out with mom and Pete. We went for a walk at our church and took Gaby and Rocky...Gaby wanted to hold the leash!

*Today, I am getting my hair done, then mom and I are going to take Gaby somewhere since it is our last day together--I know I sound pitiful about this and I am!!!

*This weekend, I am going to wash my car and try to relax (yeah right) and enjoy my last few days of freedom.

Pulling Up!!!!

Ok, here is my first attempt at uploading a video to the blog...It is Gabriel showing off his newest skill, pulling up!!! He did it for the first time Friday night, and we finally got him to do it for the camera last night. He is so funny, any time you pull out the video or regular camera, he stares at it and won't do anything!

BAM!!!

I wanted to let everyone know...Cedric's long-time friend Dremiel Byers (aka Bam)is wrestling in the Olympics, 120 kg division...He is from Kings Mountain, NC and grew up with Cedric. This is when we think it should be on:

The preliminaries are shown online only, at nbcolympics.com

This should be 8/13 Wednesday night from 9:30 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. and then from 4 a.m. to 7:45 a.m. that Thursday morning. The medal rounds are supposed to be on TV Thursday morning, on MSNBC sometime from 5 am to 10 am . If we find out any more information, I will post it on the blog.

GO BAM GO!!!!!

By the way, Michael Phelps is my new boyfriend. I know his face is not all that cute, but who cares??

7 Months

I forgot to put this...Gaby is 7 months old today, my how time flies with a baby!!!!!

SICK :(

Well, Gaby and I have had a yucky weekend....he has had a cold all week long, and it seems to have gotten worse this weekend. He is snotty and was running a fever this afternoon...Tylenol has helped but he is still very unhappy..all he wants to do is be held, which is not like him at all..We spent all day Saturday and today at home, sleeping on and off and doing nothing. I wanted to go to church today, since we have missed the last few weeks, but it was not in the cards. We also had to miss my cousin Maria's voice recital this afternoon :(

My stomach started hurting while we were at the beach, but then got better. This past week, it got much worse...I thought it was my ulcer acting up again (i had one in college)...went to the doctor on Friday and got the diagnosis of acid reflux...I guess like mother, like son (Gaby has this too, for those who have not heard that story!)...started some meds yesterday and my tummy is feeling some better today. We have been watching the Olympics NON-STOP since they began Friday night. I love the Olympics!!!! I have watched crazy stuff like rowing, handball, and now we are watching synchronized diving, I didn't even know that was a sport...and I LOVE Michael Phelps! Cedric has been trying to find out when Bam will be wrestling, we think it is either Tuesday or Wednesday. I am getting ready to prowl on the Internet and see if I can figure out a definite date/time. There was another article on him in Friday's Charlotte Observer.

This is my last week off :( I am starting it off with a lot of fun tomorrow morning, a trip to the dentist at 8:00 a.m for a cleaning and two fillings...tons of fun! I plan to spend the rest of the week just spending time with my baby boy, hopefully he will feel better tomorrow. We have an Open House Tuesday night at Gaby's school.

I have started looking for Halloween costumes for Gaby....I have a few cute ideas in mind and am seeing what is out there as far as baby costumes go. I figure this will be the only year I get to pick it out, next year he will probably tell me what he wants to be. We are planning a little Halloween get-together over at my mom and dad's for Halloween night...we plan on trick or treating early and then going over there for snacks, hot cider, a campfire, and best of all, SMORES!!!! Anyone who is interested is invited, the more the merrier!

Alright, back to the Olympics, it is time for gymnastics!!!

Packing It All In

I may only have 2 more weeks left until I go back to work, but man, I am filling those weeks up with all kinds of good stuff (and not so good stuff too, like a dentist appt)...We have been on the move lately! Gabriel did great at his doctor's appt. last week on Tuesday. He now weighs over 18 pounds!!! Friday, mom and I visited the daycare he was supposed to attend when school starts back up, and to make a long story short, we were just not happy with it. After visiting several other places, we have got him in somewhere else, and I really have a good feeling about this place. When I left the first place, I was in tears. I am taking Cedric by tomorrow and I hope he likes it too. That night, we had dinner out with Aunt Janie, then hit Target to do a little shopping...we got Gaby some new toys. He can sit up now on his own and loves to sit on the floor or in his pack n play and play with his toys. It is great, he can really entertain himself and I can get a little more done around the house, which works out quite nicely for both of us.

Sunday, Gabriel and I headed to Statesville to have lunch with my long-time friends, Susan and Andy. They were on their way home back from camping in the mountains. It was great to see them, I really miss hanging out with them when we all lived in Chapel Hill and Durham. Susan is an SLP like me and we have been friends since the summer after our sophomore year in college. We were both NC Teaching Fellows and we both had to go to this place called Turtle Island in the mountains for a weeklong summer retreat. We have been friends ever since and had lots and lots of memorable times together!!!! Sunday night, we went over to visit with Zach and Nicole and ended up doing pizza for dinner. We hung out on their front porch, which is so relaxing with the two big swings and rocking chairs. Their house is beautiful and soon they will have the fun of transforming one of the bedrooms into a nursery (they are expecting in February)!!!!! Today, Cedric and I just hung out around the house, and decided instead of a real dinner, we wanted milkshakes! I had peach cobbler and he had caramel cheesecake and they were great! Not that healthy, but delicious!

Wednesday, I am meeting my friend Maryellen for lunch...I don't think we have seen each other since last spring break (before I was even pregnant)....I haven't got to meet her daughter Sophie, and she has not met Gabriel. We are WAY overdue for lunch and some good conversation. I worked with her for three years before I moved back home and let me tell you, I have not worked with anyone as fun as her since! Thursday, mom, Gaby, and I will be hanging out with Pete, I am sure we will come up with something fun to do!!! Saturday we will be watching the Panthers first pre-season game and Sunday, we will be going to my cousin Maria's voice recital. Did I tell ya we are keeping busy or what?????