rain, rain, rain

We've had several days of rain over the past month in and half. I think at one point we had 11 days straight in a 2 week time period, then a 3 day break with another 5 day stretch of rain. We are waterlogged to say the least. Our bonus room flooded and we had to pull the carpet out. We have to cut out and replace some of the sheet rock that connect the crawl space to the bonus room because of mold and mildew. Yuck. Not quite what we were wanting. However, S and I are going to take this opportunity to turn that room downstairs into a new space. We're planning on staining the concrete versus throwing down new carpet. We're going to take out the drop ceiling and may do some combination of exposed and sheet rock ceiling. S is going to get his opportunity to build in some shelves (if he still wants to do that). I'm thinking about painting it some funky fresh color. Although it's the PITS right now, I can't wait to see the finished product. YAY!

Our backyard is a bog as well. We're going to have to do something about the drainage problem in the spring. Until then, W is having a grand time playing in the "wadder". I've included photos of his most recent play date with the mud pit.

october

October is my favorite month, not because my birthday happens to fall this month, but because of the crisp colors and coolness of Fall. Unfortunately, this month we haven't exactly experienced that coolness yet, BUT it is coming.

We've had a busy month. The first Saturday of the month we went over to Georgia to visit S's sister and her family. Our nephew, A, turned 3 and had a Cars party at Mickey D's. Before Old McDonald just had a farm, now according to W, he also has "chikken nuggets." Aye di mi. The following Sunday, I went to Walker county for my cousin K's baby shower. We used to be very close but had grown somewhat apart over the years just because we had very different lives. Now, we both have families, etc so we have more in common. Since my mother's and grandmother's passing, I've been feeling a little lost at times and am finding it is very important to me to maintain these familial relationships so that I don't lose that connection to my mother and grandmother.

We also took a trip down to the coast with my father this past weekend. There are pictures down below. I hadn't taken a trip with my mother or father in 4 years because my mother just wasn't physically up for it. It was bittersweet for me. I have a lot of fond memories of beach trips with my parents. In some ways, it was nice to see places I had been with her, but there was a little sadness there too. We drove down Thursday night. Then on Friday, we drove over to Fairhope to take Daddy to dialysis. While he was at the center, S, the boys and I went over to Bellinggrath Gardens. S wasn't sure about going there at first, but he eventually understood why I wanted to go there. It was the perfect place to let W out and run about. We had a nice lunch there with the Senior citizens and then headed back over Fairhope to pick up Daddy. On Saturday, we headed down to the pool and the beach. W and little G had fun in the pool, but W wasn't too sure about the ocean. W did have some fun in the sand though. On Sunday, we went back down to the beach for a little while before we had to head back north. I think that we had a pretty good trip overall.

This weekend is supposed to be one of those fantastic Autumn weekends that everyone visualizes. I've bought some beautiful cosmos and mums to set out on our front porch to welcome the season and we're planning a day at the Pumpkin patch next weekend for W. S has mentioned roasting pumpkins seeds on more than one occasion so I'm sure that I'll be doing that for him next Sunday.

View of Bellinggrath home from dock.

Another set of stairs with artisan well.

Sweet baby G

Big boy W.

Climbing the stairs

Handsome daddy.

Daddy and his boys.

Out on the dock.

Trying on our new hats.

In the pool with daddy.

Showing mama the sand.

Bucket head.

G's Baptism

Today was a day of mixed emotions, we had our youngest baptized today. As a Christian, to experience this sacrament is a wonderful thing. To know that God's love surrounds your child is such a blessing. But, in some ways it is was a little sad too, the realization that both grandmothers were not there weighed on S and I. Two years ago, we had beaming grandmothers ready to show off their sweet grandson son. This year, we had 2 beaming grandmothers smiling from Heaven. We love you, Gigi and Grandma, and we missed you both so terribly much.

Enjoy the slides from today:

Make a Smilebox slideshow

here we go again

Let's get the party started. I've let our old website lapse and have decided that this may be a better option for us. I've decided to keep our names out of the "public" for safety reasons; therefore, I'll just go by initials or aliases.

- I'm P. I'm a 34 yo who is probably be best described as going through an identity crisis. Over the summer, I lost my job and more importantly, I lost my mother and my grandmother. As a result, I'm trying to figure out who I am without them.

- I'm married to "S". He's an analytical environmentalist who is working on an environmental engineering degree. S is pretty laidback and puts up with a lot of my crap. I think he's pretty special guy for that.

- We have a 2yo "W", whom I may just dub as Zipper, because he loves to run and zips all over the place. His current obsessions are "Thomas train" and "Eye-tin Mic Keen" (aka Lighting McQueen from Cars).

- And then there's, sweet baby "g". g is 6 months old and is such a happy baby.