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.

Rice cereal!

we started rice cereal yesterday!!! i was a little nervous about it, but she did wonderful. she did not have a lot of it, but we are just getting started. we are excited about this newest adventure. there will just be a lot of pictures this post. i just could not pick a couple because they are all so cute. i am going horseback riding today and i am so excited. it has been over a year since i have been on a horse. i am sure i will be pretty sore but i am so looking forward to the workout. i hope to have pictures for you next time and possible tell you about my jeans (the mail lady just dropped the off) that i ordered! lots coming so stay tuned.

5th annual girls beach trip

BellaRose went on her 1st girl's beach trip and it was a success. i was afraid that sweet girl would be more like birth control for the ladies but she did fabulous (except at night, and just for me, but that is another story). we have been going on the beach trip for 5 years. it all started when, rachel (top right) was getting married and we all lived together on Maney Ln. we thought that we would send rachel off for her marriage with one last girls beach trip. since we have all gotten married one summer at a time and now we are starting to have babies. we have moved away, gotten jobs, quit jobs, moved back, had disappointments, and many many joys and through it all stayed very tight. I am so thankful for these wonderful women. the trip was amazing, and relaxing, and we may have learned a few dance moves from "so you think you can dance". we did miss becky, because of her morning sickness could not come, and next year we will trade in one baby (sweetie baby) for another (becky's) . there could be the potential for some pregnancies which would be so exciting. it is amazing where God takes us in our life, but your friendships remain so rooted and strong. these are some amazing women here and i hope that you get the chance to meet them. your life will be so much richer for it. of course we said the whole time we would take a group picture and never did so you will have to piece together the pictures. what good friends!

B-Rose had her 4month doctors appointment yesterday. she had to get some more shots and it went very smoothly. they seem to be over before they even start. She is weighing in at a whoping 12.12 1/5 pounds and standing in at 25 inches tall. Dr. Ericco says that she is doing wonderfully and to stay the course. he never tells us what percentile she is in, but from the charts we have here she is right smack in the middle. what an outstanding baby!!

wanted~ the perfect wide leg jean. i have tried on many. from sevens, joes, j-brand to old navy etc. i have not found them yet, but i will, oh i will. i will continie to seek and to search and most importantly not to settle. i am about to order these to the right. i will let you know and they may appear in the "special finds" category! i do this search for you the reader ; ). this is purely unselfish of me!

back in the saddle again

BellaRose is 4 months old on Saturday. do you think that it is too early for her to start riding? even if it is just the dog? i mean look at this picture. how cute is that? of course rainy could care less that there is a baby and a saddle on her back, she just wants that tennis ball.

we went to greenville, s.c. on monday to see cameron for his 6th birthday. we missed the actual b-day b/c we were at the beach. isn't it so much fun when your birthday goes on for days and days. it was so wonderful seeing my sisters and my mom. they all fawned over B-Rose, as they should :). taylor, my niece was there as well, but i forgot to get a picture with all of them. rocco was on a playdate so we did not get to see him. worth of course went to the skatepark there. good times were had by all! no subject was left unspoken about.

in areas, "i should have known better", i got bangs. i thought i could look like jennifer garner. who does not want to look like that? i thought my hair is close to hers, i can do that cut! i usually take pictures of penelope cruz in to the hair dresser and want her hair. i also usually get laughed at too. well i got bangs, serious bangs, not the long bangs that can still go behind the ears, but bangs like hers (point thumb to right now), but shorter. i have said more then once "what have i done". like when we brought sweetie baby home and she would not stop crying and we had not slept in days "what have we done" sort of thing. only 2 people have seen it. my sister-in-law likes it, the girl at the boutique liked it, but the verdict is out with me. i should have learned my lesson when i was 12 and annie and i spent countless hours trying to pin back our bangs! oh well, they are here and i have to make them my own!!! oh man what was i thinking?

one year ago....

.....we were rocked. one year ago this week we found out that i was pregnant with our beautiful precious child. my how time flies. in the midst of being pregnant, i thought it was taking forever! i wanted those final days of pregnancy and waiting to be over, and now they are and our baby is almost 4 months old. my how time flies. like i have said before, it is like nothing i have ever experienced. i was not fully prepared for how much i would love this child. my heart sometimes wants to explode with love for her. i am going on my final beach trip of the summer next week and i thought i was going to

be able to leave BellaRose with worth. i can't do it. not because worth is not able, oh he is, but I just can't do it. it is not possible. a year ago i had no idea!

4 men and a baby......and a lady

wow!!! what an amazing trip we just went on to the Outer Banks. it was so relaxing, the weather was perfect, the food was awesome, and the fellowship fabulous. usually when i am on vacation i am ready to get home. you see i am a homebody by nature. i always have been, always will be. i like being surrounded by things that i know. this trip was different. i could have stayed for a lot longer. life just seems simpler on the beach. of course the mountains aren't so bad themselves. brother ben, noah, chris, worth, BellaRose and myself were there. ashlee came for a couple of days (she owns a Chick-fil-a in raleigh go visit) and then it was just me and the men. i think that BellaRose already has them wrapped around her little finger. there was much surfing, fishing, skateboarding, and beach cruising to be had. i know that there are a whole lot of pictures, but we took a whole so we had to share. the bottom 2 pictures are from ashlee's lake house. it was a wonderful way to end the trip. BellaRose even got in the water. she is doing so well. she is talking so much and grapping her feet. it is amazing to watch her grow and go through all these changes. worth would like to add a few words......

So yeah, I'll blog it up 'cause I know all these moms want to hear about surfing and stuff. So there we were, the waves were what, 10 or 12 feet or so? NOT. But we had a lot of fun. It's cool to look back to the beach and see command post central set up there and know your wife and daughter are there. Of course they don't care if you just got a good wave or not. . . .probably weren't even looking but it's still a cool thought to a dad. We could have used that monster truck (GRAVE DIGGER!!!! 2000 tons of car crushing madness, you know the one)to carry all that crap to the beach I know that. Our friends are the greatest and helped us carry it all. And that skatepark, 'yall know you want to hear how the park tour is going. . . well I'll tell 'ya. I felt like a punk. That place was steeper, deeper, and tighter than I thought when I saw pictures and said I wanted to go there. But Ben, Chris, and Noah all went AND skated and I think they had fun too. Remember kids, always wear a helmet. Wakeboarding??? There is a sport I'll never master but ole Michael Lawson sure has. That's about all I have to say about that. Is there any shrimp left on the outer banks or did we eat ALL of it?