Labor Day Weekend '08

We headed down to Tampa for Labor Day weekend with Matt & Sandy and had a fun-filled time: mariachi dancers, college football, jamming with John, late-night swims & lunch at the beach...

Friday night we all went to dinner at the Columbia, one of the oldest restraunts in Tampa with authentic Spanish food and a show of mariachi dancers- those ladies can really kick up their heels! Saturday we celebrated the first full day of college football.

Georgia's ready for some football!

Saturday night we took the (unborn) babies to their first concert- John Mayer totally rocked and gave us a really great show. I know our Baby Boy likes John as much as his daddy does b/c he was really bouncing in my belly to the music! One Republic opened and was also really awesome. We had fantastic seats about 9 rows from center-stage, so we could see John's every facial movement!
John Mayer rocks out!
(Yes, that's him- the new haircut caught me offguard too!)

Sandy & I & John (- he's in the bright spot behind the blonde lady)
One Republic opened the show with a great performance.
Sunday we joined my parents at church, then the guys helped my brother Wes finish up the deck him & dad have been putting in at his house. That night we went Italian at Bella's, which my family always remembers as one of the first places we ate when we moved to Tampa in '95- it was still yummy!
By Monday Gustav had moved north and it finally stopped raining in Tampa- just in time for us to make a quick run to Clearwater beach for lunch at Frenchy's. Afterward we let Georgia play in the ocean- her favorite part! We had to literally drag her out of the water to go home. Such a water-baby!

Than it was back home to Bham- a very LONG flight for us and those sitting around us! I'll spare you the details, but it included lots of squirming (Georgia), screaming (Georgia & Larry-internally), Twizzlers (all 3 of us), and pee (on me!)...

Big Girl

Georgia loves shoes, but what girl doesn't! She loves to put our shoes on too, even Larry's stinky boat shoes that are as big as her. I couldn't resist this picture...

And she's such a big girl, in her heels and all, that why shouldn't she get a better seat to play her piano on? She commands attention, sitting on the coffee table in the center of everything! We'll indulge her, for now, since too soon there'll be a little brother to share that spotlight with!

Sarah's Tea Party

Birthday Queen Sarah Grace
Today we were invited to a Royal Tea Party in celebration of Sarah Grace Brown's 4th birthday- what fun we had! Everyone had dress-up clothes- tutu, crowns and jewels for the girls, and princely robes for the boy. The prince and princesses were served tea (apple juice) and lots of sugary treats by none other than Her Royal Highness Sarah. And as if being served by a Birthday Queen wasn't exciting enough, then we all went outside for a fun craft of making wands and little foam picture frames, and later were treated to a royal storybook reading. It was so fun and creative!

Being served tea & sweets in all our finery.

Cookies, cream puffs & petit fors - Oh My!!Thank you, Debby, Matt & Sarah Grace, for including us! We look forward to more Royal Fun to come!
Georgia shows me her princess wave!

Relaxing at the Lake

We enjoyed a fun & relaxing weekend at Smith Lake with Dave & Laura Broom. Thanks for sharing with us!

All Snoogled Up

I have a new bed mate. Yes, my husband knows, and he might be a little jealous. You see, he might want one too!

It's a pregnancy pillow, called a Snoogle, and I'm loving it! I've always been a side-sleeper, which is what's required when you're pregnant, and wasn't a problem for me in my first pregnancy. But, for whatever reason, my body refuses to listen to my mind this time. It's like I'm top-heavy (or belly-heavy) and I always end up rolling onto my back now. My OB told me this is bad. Apparently I'm suffocating my baby boy when I lay too long on my back. Not good! More specifically, my increasingly-heavy uterus presses on the major vein that supplies blood to the baby, effectively cutting off his life-line! Really not good!

So, I've been trying to make do with more pillows propped all around me when I sleep. But they keep falling off the bed, and were also crowding my husband out of the bed, so I decided to try a pregnancy pillow. It's like a long, curving body pillow and wraps under my head at one end, and between my knees and under my belly at the other end. I can wrap it behind me so I can't roll over to my back. Last night I slept the best I have in months! (Although I also stayed up WAY too late to watch the USA take gold & silver in women's gymnastics!!)

If you're pregnant and having trouble sleeping, I recommend you try it. I got mine at babies r us ($52 and worth it! You can probably find it cheaper online)...

Nightie-nite!!