Grumpy and Gege Meet Baby Jace

We were so excited to have Grumpy and Gege (my dad and his wonderful wife, Julie) visit us here in Knoxville to meet Baby Jace! The two of them live in Upstate New York, and the distance sadly keeps us from seeing each other very often :(

 

Fortunately because of Dad's work, they were able to make a trek across the South and swing by our house for a beautiful Sunday together. I'm pretty sure Bubbaloo was in heaven :)

 

 

 

This was Jace's first time to meet his Grumpy and Gege, and they bought him the most thoughtful present: a Japanese Red Maple.

 

We went to several different nurseries to find the perfect tree.

 

 

Grumpy spent the better part of the afternoon shoveling dirt. Gege held Baby Jace. Josh grilled out for us. And me? I did absolutely nothing to contribute. Some things never change when Dad's around :)

 

 

Dad finished planting, and it was a great photo op. The tree is small and mighty and so handsome...just like Jace.

 

 

One day was definitely not enough.  We miss Grumpy and Gege so much, and Jace and I are hoping to make a trip up to see them in August.

 

 

In the meantime, it's going to be so much fun watching Baby Jace and his tree grow up together :)



Mother's Day at Mimi's

Two Sundays ago, the Morrison clan headed up to Mimi's to visit Josh's parents for Mother's Day. It's always such a good quality time with that bunch. Jace enjoys Mimi's cuddles, Papaw Jackie's jokes, and Papaw Dwight's short stories.

 

He is a lucky boy to have them in his life.

 

 

 

Jace had the pleasure of listening to hours of short stories from Papaw Dwight. They talked about farming, and pigs, and llamas, and fences. Jace even got to hear a story about the time Josh punched a monkey in the face. I never knew my husband was such a bully...

 

 

It was such a beautiful day to take some family photos:

 

 

And it was an even more beautiful day to take photos of old photos:

 

 

But most of all, it was an absolutely perfect day to spend time with a beautiful woman, wonderful mother, and loving grandmother. Mimi - Jace and I are so thankful for you. You raised such a respectful, loyal, intelligent, witty, and hard-working man.

 

 

 

The world is forever grateful to have Mothers and Grandmothers like you. We love you!

 

PS - Shout to my Momma too! She is one special and feisty lady. We love you :)



Mother's Day Present

The Friday before Mother's Day I got a text from Josh that resembled something like this:

"Hey...just a heads up...I planned a surprise Mother's Day event for you, and we are going to the pool tomorrow so don't plan anything."

 

Okay #1 - Maybe I should have bought you a dictionary for your birthday, because that's not an effing "surprise" when you tell me in advance.

Okay #2 - Awesome. I just had a baby three months ago and still have nearly 20 pounds to lose, but I would love nothing more than to get my pale fat ass in a bathing suit in front of all of my friends?????

Okay #3 - where are my diamonds?????

(Totally kidding about #3. Josh and I don't do material gifts to each other. We think it's pointless.)

 

So anyway, after a little bit of fuming and cussing and thoughts about throwing Josh's stuff into the front yard...I finally calmed down and realized that nothing could be more perfect for me, and that was really sweet of Josh to plan a day that was all about me.

 

I had mixed emotions about buying bathing suits. I dreaded buying mine. I went with the mom-skirt, and I'm not even going to explain myself. I had sooo much fun picking out Jace's though:

 

Guys, he loved it. My mom yelled at me for putting him in this. Yes...the same woman that gave me a boy haircut in fourth grade made fun of this. I'll never understand some things...

 

So anyway, back to my present...Josh gave me everything I could ever want in a day: cheap champagne, lots of laughs, and a designated driver. He knows me too well :)

 

 **sigh** I'll get my pre-baby body back someday....

 

We got to put Jace in the water for the first time, and he didn't necessarily love it.

 

 

Y'all, Jace did not exactly have the day of his dreams. After the crying, spitting up, and caking on about half a bottle of sunscreen on his head, we just decided he was better off under the umbrella. So we left him there to nap for several hours while Mom enjoyed her mimosas:

 

After about nineteen bottles of bubbles and a few mom-stumbles later, he finally woke up for some socializing:

 

We dried off, took a nap, and headed out to Pero's for a wonderful meal to end the day.

 

 

Special thanks to the hubs for keeping it simple and giving me such a wonderful, stress-free day that I'll never forget (despite all the champagne). He really knows me too well.

 

 

 

Happy Mother's Day to me :)

 

 

Asheville Show

So every year, our work puts on this huge show in Asheville, NC.  It's our biggest event. Lots of preparation, people to talk to, homes to sell, etc. Well...all that becomes a liiiiiittle bit more difficult when you have a baby that is less than three months.  Thankfully, Grammy stepped up to the plate and helped us out more than we could ever hope for.

 



 

That Tuesday, we had a sort of pre-show prep. Thankfully my boss was more than willing to work with us, so we dragged our baby around the show all day long. This poor kid has put in more hours. He even attended our company-wide meeting with very important people, and he didn't make a peep!

 

On Tuesday evening, my mom ("Grammy") showed up to watch Baby Jace while Josh and I went out to entertain our retailers. It felt like date-night for us. It was awesome (but we missed Jace)! Mom spent the next two days watching Baby Jace at the hotel for us while we both worked. He had a blast :)

 

On Friday, I got a little bit of a break and headed down to Greenville to visit the family.  We had lunch with Aunt Kara at her school.  Jace's first day of class proved to be a success!  

 

 

That night, we had an awesome dinner and got to spend some quality time with the family in Greenville.

 

On Saturday, I had to head back up to Asheville with Josh for the show, and sweet Baby Jace got to spend the day with the Wheelers. They spoiled him rotten and bought him an exersaucer. Even though he could barely reach the floor, he loooved it :)

 

 

 

Sunday was our last day of work, and Jace had the honor of attending church with the Wheelers. It was such a special day because our nephew, Sam, got baptized. I absolutely hate that I missed it. Such a touching event, but I am so happy Jace got to be there to support him. We are so proud of you, Sammy!

 

 

That evening, Grammy brought Baby Jace back up to Asheville so we could head back home.

 

I really cannot even give enough thanks to my family for working with us throughout this week. It's so wonderful to have such great help when we really need it. Jace might not know where his home is, but he knows that he is loved by so many. And at the end of the day, that's all that matters :)