Back to Atlanta I go

I was really looking forward to being in town for 11 days before vacation but I guess that wasn't in the stars. I am headed back to Atlanta on Tuesday. It is a really quick trip (leave here at 6am and return at 11:40pm) so that part is good at least. I am going for an interview for the promotion that I applied for. I think that I have told most of you about it but they are combining my group (which I started) with another group and are promoting either me or the other manager to a senior manager to be over the whole group. Wish me luck. The interview is only an hour long and is with my current boss (which is sort of weird that they are making me do it in person but oh well).

The plus side (and the reason for such a late flight) is that I am going to get to see Maddox outside of the awful hospital lighting and do a little photo session with him while I am there :-) I can't wait. I will be sure to post some pics when I get done. I feel like I am getting REALLY rust with the ole camera! My ad design for the newspaper here is almost done and I plan to put it in the paper the last Saturday of my vacation so I can hopefully get some sessions scheduled up here before I forget everything I know :-)

Maddox Glenn Abernathy

Finally some pics of the little guy! I can't believe how much he looks like Ariyana did when she was born.

He had a bit of trouble with is breathing right after birth (hence the pics of him with the little monitors on him) and then he got better but had a little relapse on Saturday but luckily the nursess in special care did an awesome job and he was able to go home last night with the rest of the fam!

This last one is Ariyana when she was born....don't you guys think they look alike?

Marathon

I equate volunteering to watch a 2.5 year old overnight to saying you will run a marathon when a mile is the furthest you have run. This is the first time since Ariyana was mobile that I have kept her quite this long and don't get me wrong, she has done amazing! But, OMG is it tiring. That child never. gets. tired. Well, that isn't entirely true because I think she cried about 10 times in the last 30 mins she was awake.

We had a great day today. I went to the hospital this morning and I visited with my little nephew Maddox. He is so cute (pics when I get back to my personal computer) and looks just like Ariyana. Then Ariyana and I headed to Erin's house to play with Ella and Emma a bit. The whole way there she just kept asking "we go to the playground with the other kids?" Yep, we will. When we got to Erin's there was an abundance of new toys for her to play with so she was in heaven but promises of the park got her back in the car. At the playground we swang, went down the slide, played happy birthday, ran around in the grass and watched some baseball practice. After that we headed back to Erin's briefly and the Carrie's for pizza...yummy. The 4 girls all played so well together. It was amazing and I enjoyed chatting with everyone. I was a little nervous just because I haven't really ever seen Ariyana around other kids but I think she did really well.

When we got home she wanted candy...jelly beans (thanks Judd :-)) but happily took two little pieces of candy (the size of m&ms) and then brushed her teeth and went straight to bed. She didn't even argue or negotiate (her favorite thing).

As for me.....I can't think of a time when I have been more tired and thirsty in my life!! HA! Craig did ask all about it though so maybe that means he will want to get on the kid bandwagon sooner rather than later :-) He loves him some Ariyana time!

As for me...it is 10:23 and I am about to hit the sack...hope I sleep well with Ariyana here.

13 Seconds

That is how much faster I ran my 5K on Saturday. Not really a great improvement but at least it is faster :-)

My birthday was a good one....started it off with the 5k and then just sort of hung out for a while, went to the local fresh food market, and took a nap and then went out for Mexican with Craig and Ali. I wouldn't say it was a super exciting time compared to birthdays past, but it was a nice relaxing time and I enjoyed just spending time with Craig :-) It seems like with all the travel we don't get to do that very much. I also had planned on going out with Ali for a bit but even after a nap I was exhausted....not sure what the deal there was considering I had at least 7, if not 8, hours of sleep all week. No reason I should have been tired. Sad.

Sunday we rode our bikes a little over 25 miles. It didn't start out well for me so I am proud of myself for doing the ride. I have a road bike now and if you have ever seen people who ride regularly they have clip in shoes. Basically this attaches you to the bike (and also make it so you have to give less effort for the same result because your foot is attached to the pedal...think cages on the pedals in spin class for those who do that). Anyway, I couldn't get the darn thing hooked in and Craig didn't have much advice (he has been using them since they were invented so it is second nature to him) so I finally gave it a try....and I was riding, yay!! Then it was time to stop....feet hooked in, NOT GOOD!! So, I got one foot out to put it on the ground but the other one was still clipped in and all in one second I was on the ground with a huge pain in my knee. Needless to say, I didn't get the other foot out in time or lean toward the foot that was out while I got the second one out and next thing I knew I was on the ground with blood on my knee. Geez, that sucks. Do you know how bad a skinned knee stings? Probably not. I am guessing that for most of you the last time you had a skinned knee you were 10 and have probably forgotten. Um, it hurts! Needless to say, I am going to practice the in and out of the clips on the grass a couple times before taking them on the road and Craig is going to loosen them up so they are easier to get in and out of. I was not a happy camper (there might have been a small temper tantrum where I said I couldn't do it and stomped back to the car with just my socks on and refused to put the shoes back on) but I did get up and bloody knee and all, I rode 25.50 miles. I am sore today :-) Spin class should be interesting tonight...debating doing a little run right before it.....

Beautiful Weekend

That is the best way to describe this past weekend! Gorgeous would be another word and strange would be a third.

First, the strange. On Saturday I got up like always on Saturday to hit up the 8am (and 9am) spin class at the gym. I got there to find out that my teacher was not there and the 9am teacher was subbing for the 8am teacher. Yuck. The 9am teacher sucks, she is boring and she has never even ridden a bike outside. WHAT? So, I only go to her class when it is after the harder class and this week I had already decided that I wasn't going to her 9am class so I could run my 3 miles. When I found out she was subbing I just walked out of the class and opted to just run instead. I figured I could talk Craig into a bike ride or could work in the garden to get the rest of the workout in. When I got home I took a little nap and while I was sleeping I noticed the blinds in our room (they aren't really blinds but that is the best word) hitting the window. I thought Chloe was playing with the string and was about to yell at her when I looked outside and realized that the wind was going crazy....seriously, it looked like a tornado. Hmmm. After I finally got up and made breakfast I went to work on the garden and the weather was just strange. High winds, then calm, cloudy then sunny, cold then warm and raining then not. Bizarre! Finally at 4pm it stopped and was sunny the rest of the day. It was almost like a tornado but without the actual twister.

Sunday it was 75, breezy and sunny...PERFECT in my book! We took our bikes to a little town south of us and rode them for 14 miles before turning around and heading back....28 miles on my bike!! Go me!! It was so gorgeous and we loved it. I almost didn't notice the fact that there were no bunnies, eggs or Easter baskets for us that day.

Garden update: Planted the raspberry plants (that I got off ebay...HA!), moved the blueberries (who have A TON of leaves, nothing like the one we got last year) to their home pots, moved another plant that needed a bigger pot, planted garlic, lettuce, dill, and basil, dug the strawberries out from under their winter mulch, started seeds for some other plants like zucchini, artichoke, spinach and broccoli, made a little barrier around the onions so the deer would walk around them and not through them and tilled up the garden. For me, this next part is the hardest....all the waiting. Waiting for stuff to bloom and for us to be able to pick it and eat it. We should get berries from both the raspberries and the blueberries I ordered from a farm and we had a ton of strawberry plants that look as though they made it through the winter. Pea plants were starting to poke through and I think that by the time I get home this weekend there will be a lot more. I should take pictures of all these little areas so you guys can get visuals (oh and because I haven't touched my camera in months....literally.....so sad!!!). I am sure you guys just love to hear about it all :-) I really find myself very jealous of the houses we drive past that have huge grassy yards! I want a bigger garden! We have a big yard but about half of it is woods so that doesn't do me much good since all veggies need sun and not shade!

Other than that, not much going on....back in South Carolina and back on the road....I will get to be the aunt to a new little boy in 2.5 weeks!!! I can't believe it is already here!!