One Month

Four whole weeks have past since the day that Jonah was born, and it's almost impossible to put into words how in love we are with this little boy. There are times that I just look over at Jonah and smile to Keith, "he's just SO CUTE!" It's overwhelming. He certainly has been keeping us on our toes, and keeping us pretty tired since he arrived, but overall we couldn't be more thankful for our happy, sweet baby (and all the googly eyes he gives us). These past four weeks have been some of the fastest of my life, but they have been full of smiles, laughter and just a few tears. Thankfully he loves to eat, and loves to sleep... with just a little fussing in between occasionally. We're so happy that this month has been filled with friends and family, and that we've gotten to share Jonah with so many people who love us so well. In this month we've been blessed beyond belief with meals, groceries and visitors who've come with open arms to help in any way we've needed. It's beyond amazing! 

Here are some of Jonah's milestones for the month:

He's gained almost 3 pounds, and grown 2 1/2 inches 

He has lost most of the hair on the front of his head (making him look even more like an old man)

He has fallen into a fairly regular 3 hour schedule of eating, playing and then sleeping

At night, he's been giving us some longer stretches of sleep, the best being 6 consecutive hours!

He's cheeks and belly have expanded generously, but we're still waiting for some chub on his arms/legs

He calms to the sound of our voices, and falls asleep when we rub his forehead

He loves/hates the swaddle and spends most of the night trying to break out

His baby acne is starting to clear up, but he still loves to scratch his face

He has been giving us lots of smiles, and has started talking and cooing at us

He tries to fight it, but the car puts him to sleep every time. 

He has peed on pretty much everyone who has changed him (dad being the most common victim)

He loves his bouncy chair, and the swing

He took very well to a pacifier, and has already drank 2 bottles with daddy in prep for school

He's been to a couple restaurants, and slept through it every time

He and I have gotten out of the house together quite a bit, and though we try to time it perfectly... we've nursed in a couple bathrooms, cars and friends houses. He doesn't seem to mind very much

He LOVES to kick! (which I already knew from his time in the womb...)

He likes to be held and rocked, but doesn't mind when we lay him down in his crib to sleep

His eyes are getting bluer by the day

He makes lots of startled/grumpy faces in pictures, but he's such a happy boy :)

We love you Jonah!

34 Weeks

Week 34 was an extremely busy one! We started by taking off for New York for a family wedding and to spend some times with friends. I wasn't nervous at all to fly so late in my pregnancy, but apparently I should have been! We had some annoying delays on our way there that just made the day feel so much longer. I think I've mentioned this before, but I feel like I have some sort of pregnancy claustrophobia where I get super uncomfortable if I'm in a confined space... so the airplane was not my friend. I just couldn't get comfortable any way I sat and was SO relieved to get off. We had a jammed packed weekend that consisted of a lot of driving around Long Island to get to various things for the wedding. Thursday night was the rehearsal dinner, and Friday before the wedding we made a trip down to the beach. The wedding Friday night was a BLAST, so much delicious food and dancing. It was actually one of the most physically exhausting days that I've had my whole pregnancy; we were up so late and I don't think I ever stopped dancing haha. The pain in my back and feet was well worth it though! We got to see family members we hadn't seen since our own wedding, AND got to spend some time with my grandmother (who may or may not have been confused about why I was pregnant haha). Saturday morning we were all moving pretty slowly, had breakfast in the hotel and said goodbyes to some family. Then we headed to visit our good family friends the Arnones for the afternoon. We had sandwiches and spent time out on their deck... I even got to take a nap! Then it was into the city to drop our stuff off at Jakes apartment. I forgot how HOT it gets in New York, and how no one has central AC. Geez was it hot! We did some walking to find a restaurant for dinner and by the time we sat down my hands and feet were thoroughly swollen haha. After dinner we went back to Jakes to relax on the couch and got a chance to see some more friends who were around. On to Sunday, I started the day with a delicious REAL bagel and then we went to a baby shower thrown by some of our best friends! It was so dang fun, they really put on quite a party (for people who have never had babies, or have plans for babies anytime soon haha). We also got to see my brothers band play before we headed off the the airport. Like I said, jam packed trip!!

BUT the real highlight of this story was our trip back to Nashvillle... oof! We got to the airport and found out our flight was going to be delayed an hour. Bummer, but not the end of the world. We ate a real dinner and settled in. When we finally boarded our plane at 10:30pm, I was already uncomfortable but just ready to be home. We sat on the plane for an HOUR because there was a mechanical problem and they needed to replace the computer? Craziness. It took them until about midnight to realize they weren't going to be able to fix it, and we would need a new airplane. At this point though the crew was going in to overtime, and weren't going to be able to fly unless we were able to get on a plane by 12:30. Obviously that didn't happen, so we sat around the airport until they finally cancelled the flight and we had to wait in line to make new arrangements. By 2am we found out we would have a flight in the morning at 6am, but had to connect through MIAMI (New York to Nashville via Miami? Totally on the way...) so we got a hotel voucher, slept for maybe 2 hours and were back at the airport for more. Mind you... within this time frame Keith had to deal with maybe 4 or 5 emotional breakdowns? Lots of tears and exhaustion related frustrations. 36 weeks pregnant is not a good time for major travel problems... gosh it was the worst! We didn't end up making it home until Monday afternoon, we ate some food, took a nap and then headed to a midwife appointment (and she wondered why my blood pressure was high haha). We slept pretty well that night :-) and were pretty delirious the rest of the week.

So I guess in summary, my biggest pregnancy complaint for week was very swollen hands and feet. Obviously I think that traveling on an airplane, doing lots of walking and some extreme heat were the cause of that. The other thing that made me a little sad during our whole traveling catastrophe was that our little bug never got a chance to sleep. He was awake and rolling around in my tummy the whole night; I think he knew I was stressed :-/ We'll take the bad with the good though, for as awful as it was to be stranded at the airport all night, we're SO happy that we got to spend that time with family and to celebrate our soon-to-be little boy with so many people who already love him!

Theo

These are some pretty unimaginable words for me to have to write at this time, and I wasn't sure that I was going to post something about this at all. When I tried to write other posts (or do anything in general) and came across his photo though... it just left me feeling like I need to get these words off my chest, and share my feelings with others.

On Saturday, April 6th Keith and I woke up to find that our cat Theo had passed away. 

If you've ever read our blog before or know anything about us... you know about our cat. He was a huge part of our lives and a genuine member of our family. He's been with us since before we got married, and we've only ever really lived together without him for maybe 6 months. Theo came to us as a 22nd birthday present for me. We were living in Philadelphia at the time, Keith worked lots of late nights and with my graduate school schedule I was home a lot and got really lonely. I remember the day we got him so well! Keith was off, so I took the day off too and when we woke up he told me he had a surprise and we got ready for a drive out to the mall he was currently working at. We stopped at Chick-fil-A for a breakfast treat, and by then I was SO antsy and had a small hunch that this was going to involve bringing a new friend home. We drove through a strange neighborhood for awhile before stopping at a strangers house who Keith called to come out and meet us. She walked us over to the house next door and we went into their garage to peek into a box with the smallest tiniest kittens I had ever seen! They had been born under this families porch and they were looking for homes for them all. Initially they wanted us to take both of the boys, but we were only interested in getting one (a decision we later regretted when we realized how hyper Theo was going to be...) Regardless, I picked up one little guy and knew he needed to be mine. We took him home that day and he's changed our lives considerably since then.

I think it goes without saying that Theo wasn't always the easiest pet. After lots of moving around homes he was a little cranky around people he didn't know and his favorite toy in the whole world was peoples hands. He was known to attack your ankles if you talked on the phone too long and his newest dislike is if I spent too much time working at my computer (to which he would try to steal the mouse from my hand). But despite all the snakes, the mice, the BIRDS and other mayhem he brought to our home, he was ours and he loved us so much. He had lots of ways that he would show that love: special cuddles in the morning, naps on my lap under a blanket, and the excited way he would greet us and not let us out of his sight when we got home from a trip.

I think being home alone now is going to be really hard, 90% of the odd noises that we hear in our house were from him. We knew his sounds so well, like, when he came in the cat door or jumped off the counter or the little noises he made when he was stretching. I feel so frustrated because my brain is still "hearing" those things and its such a cruel trick. We have so many routines that revolved around him: 7pm is dinner time, all the blinds have to be raised at least a foot because he loved to sit in the window sills (and wreck the blinds if they weren't out of the way). I always started my morning by feeding him and having him sit in the sink with me while I got ready. Even going to the grocery store and not going down the pet food aisle, it breaks my heart. It was so easy for us to add him to our lives, but learning how to live without him has been much harder... we all had our place in this home, and there is a giant Theo sized hole here. Now we have no need for pet insurance and all those medicine droppers that we had to use when he needed antibiotics. Now all the toilet paper tubes and hair ties on the floor look less like favorite toys and more like trash we've just neglected. There are reminders of him everywhere I go, and it's absolutely laughable the things that will trigger my craziness. Let's make a quick list of some of the things that have made me cry this month: 1. a fly in our bedroom when I was trying to take a nap (because he would have loved to try and catch it) 2. having a bowl of ice cream and not having him there to beg to lick the bowl. 3. a beautiful sunny day with SO many chirping birds (he would have been out terrorizing them for sure) 4. finding his cat food prescription in my wallet when I was looking for a coupon. 5. deep cleaning our house and finding his fur just about everywhere... I could go on.

This is all so fresh, and it happened so suddenly that I just don't really know the best way to grieve. I feel ridiculous for getting upset every time I walk down the hall, or pass by his favorite chair. Part of me just expects him to be there when I get up from the couch because he knows that means it time for his nighttime snack. I don't want to forget him, but I'm ready for these memories to become happy and funny instead of how extremely sad and piercing they currently feel. I just cannot wrap my head around the idea that he's gone, that he's not just outside or away at the vet.

If anyone is interested in a brief version of the story, we're 99% positive that he was poisoned by something. Whether it was an animal he ate, or just something bad that he got into while he was outside... either way it moved quickly without any signs to us or anyway that we could have helped him. That Friday night he was acting completely normal, he ate his dinner and laid with us on the couch. Early Saturday he woke me up begging for food and I closed him out of our room, and when I got up to go to the bathroom at 6:30 I noticed that he had gone poop on the floor (which has never happened in 4 years). I got Keith up because it just didn't seem normal and that's when Keith found him, already gone. We had a very emotional morning, and it felt like everything was moving in slow motion. I refused to believe that Theo was actually gone and made Keith wrap him up in his favorite blanket so that I could see him and say my goodbyes. We eventually buried him in the backyard which was probably his favorite place on the planet, and now we have a place to visit him (whenever I can manage that without completely losing it)

In the meantime, we are living in a pet free home which feels quite sad. In an effort to look on the bright side I hope that this makes the transition of adding the baby to our home this summer a little easier. I was just a tiny bit worried about how Theo was going to react to all of the changes, and now I can wipe away any of those fears. But truly, I would gladly worry about Theo bringing in pet snakes for our son if it meant he could come back and live with us forever.

I miss him, and I think I'll miss him for quite some time. Before too long our hearts will heal and we'll be able to invite a new pet into our lives. Bear with me now, here are some of my favorite photos of Theo that I have on my computer from the past year....

Lastly I just want to say thank you to everyone who has offered kind words to us this past month and checked in to see how we're doing. Thank you to all our friends who ever came by our house while we were away to watch Theo and make sure he had plenty of food. That means more to us than you'll know and we're sure he appreciated it too. And of course, thank you to everyone who has ever hung out at our house or stayed for the weekend and had put up with the full harassment from our favorite cat, he was still learning how to be sweet and we appreciate that you didn't hold that against him haha.

Highlights 2012

Just like last year, I'm a few weeks late on posting this, but I still want to have it documented. Here are some of our favorite highlights from 2012:

Top Moments of 2012

• Finding out that we are going to be parents. Hearing our baby's heartbeat, and seeing it squirm around on the ultrasound... so so so unreal :)
• Running a half marathon together, and with my father as well.
• Seeing some incredible concerts at the Ryman (Death Cab, and Mumford)
• Starting (another) new job! Thankfully though, one that is full time with benefits.
• Watching my favorite aunts get married in Key West with great friends and family.
• Moving into a new house that is way more cozy than any of the last ones haha

Favorite New Restaurants

• Lockeland Table
• Marche 
• The Pharmacy
• Maddonna's for brunch
• Hattie B's

Favorite Albums

• Fun: Some Nights
• Mumford and Sons: Babel
• John Mayer: Born and Raised
• Dawes: Nothing is Wrong
• The Head and the Heart: Self Titled

Top Movies We Saw

• Silver Linings Playbook
• The Dark Knight Rises
• The Guilt Trip
• The Avengers
• Moonrise Kingdom
• Five Year Engagement
• The Vow

Favorite New TV Shows

• Newsroom
• Duck Dynasty

Best Trips We Took

• East coast road trip to VA, PA, NYC and DC!!!
• Baseball trips to Atlanta for opening day and Chipper's last home game
• Keywest
• Destin
• Bonnaroo
• Georgia and Florida for Christmas (and baby announcing!)

Favorite Pictures

and here's to many MANY more memories in 2013! Already off to a great start haha

A New Addition

I cannot even begin to describe how excited I am to announce to everyone that...

WERE HAVING A BABY!!

It's been a really really REALLY long wait before we were ready to tell people, and it's just such a relief to feel like everything doesn't have to be so secret anymore! (although it was pretty special to have that time for the two of us to really settle in to the news before it was broadcast to everyone)

For those who were looking for a little more information, here's the run down: November 16th I had an early birthday party with friends and woke up the next morning feeling not quite myself (crying for no reason?), Keith told me that it was because I was pregnant kind of as a joke and I denied it up and down. As the weekend went on he kept his stance and I kept mine, and I told him if he was THAT insistent, he could go buy a test. Monday November 19th we had two VERY obviously positive tests... YIKES! haha. I looked at Keith after I left the bathroom as said, "here we go!" We very quietly told two friends just to get some opinions on doctors in Nashville, but vowed not to share the news until we got to see an ultrasound and knew how far along we were, since we were definitely still in the dark about when all this might have happened. Our first midwife appointment wasn't until December 18th and that month felt like an ETERNITYYYYYY of "are we really pregnant?" and "naw, this can't be true!" We got there and she told us if we were far enough along we could hear a heartbeat, but not to get our hopes up... sure enough there it was, nice and strong, and that's when things started to get real ;-) Two days later on the 20th of December we got to have our first ultrasound, and I think it was Keith's favorite moment of all. It really is something to see a squirmy little thing moving around inside of you! We just sat there and gushed over the little legs crossing over each other, and arms covering its head. Keith asks me everyday if we can go back and see the baby again haha

Flash forward to Christmas when we got to surprise both sets of parents with baby announcement gifts! Everyone was so thrilled and it really made this one of the most memorable holidays that we've had so far!

As far as the details, I'm 13 weeks along and baby bug is the size of a lemon! Our due date is July 11th, I haven't thrown up once and I'm still not showing (unless you count those 10lbs I gained, oops)

Right now we're just trying to focus on all the fun and excitement of sharing the news of our upcoming addition. We're thinking about how fun it's going to be to see our parents become grandparents, and our brothers become uncles. We're taking just a slight break from trying to figure out all the "serious" stuff; the childcare, maternity leave and budgets... the things that keep me up at night if I let it! Right now we're just happy. When we were both at home for the holidays and people asked us "what's new" we just kind of looked at each other and laughed haha. Some days it seems like EVERYTHING is new, but deep down I know that WE are the same, and adding a baby to the mix might threaten to change things, but it certainly doesn't have to. We're still us, we still like to go out and adventure, and I can't wait to share that with our child!

Thank you all SO much for the overwhelming amount of love that you've already shared for us. We can't even describe how it feels to have such a large and amazing community of people supporting us, and we're happy to say that our baby couldn't be more blessed to have opportunities to know all of you!  Just get ready for MANY more baby updates this year!!!

When I said 2013 was going to be our year... I certainly wasn't kidding ;)

2012 Review

It's honestly hard to believe that I'm sitting down and writing one of these again... how has another year gone by so quickly?! 2012 was definitely an interesting year for us, one full of even more transitions and changes! I think that we've finally settled into the fact that we weren't meant to lead a sedentary life; we were meant to move and travel and explore... and even though it's absolutely TIRING to change houses and jobs as often as we have in our two year marriage, we're thankful for every experience we've had so far. 2013 though? This one's going to be a doozy! Before we get into that though, let's look back at 2012:

In January we rang in the new year with some close friends, and Keith's mom shared a huge pile of his adorable baby photos. I read a really inspiring book about food, made some seriously delicious oreo chip cookies and our friends Janelle and Christian came to town! We had such a blast with them that they ended up staying a few extra days haha. We went to a Preds game to cheer on our Flyers, spent lots of great time with friends and I taught lots of art. Then at long last! We found a new home! (with central heat, a dishwasher, a deck and all those other fun things our first house didn't have)

February was a cold one in Nashville but we continued to marvel at all the delicious goodies we received in our CSA box. We ran our first race together (and did really well despite the rain!) then we got to use our free tickets to see another Preds game. We tried (and liked!) brussel sprouts for the first time, and got fancied up for a Valentines Day date. I seemed to just keep getting sick all month, but we had lots of fun at our seemingly annual Super Bowl party. Lastly, we got ready to move and I shared lots of fun art lessons!

March was so busy! I didn't realize how busy it was until I just looked back at all the fun stuff we did haha. We started the month by saying goodbye to our old house and making our new house feel more like home. We saw some live music, I let my students make messes, we fixed up our deck and then enjoyed it with friends. We got to see one of our most favorite bands, Mumford and Sons and I had some major break throughs with my little artists. On the same day, we showered Jordie with pre-wedding love AND got to celebrate baby Sage's first birthday! Then our good friends in Lulu Mae  released an album! We had lots of friends come visit, and built a fire or two, took Keith's brother and friends to their first honky tonk, and my kids painted some more. At the end of the month we spontaneously went to see The Head and the Heart and Jordie had us over for a ladies wedding craft night.

April! Another super busy one, but I guess that can go without saying at this point... Keith started the month out with some drastic hair transformations, creeper. We ran our first 10K on our road to half marathon success, my students made some starry night cityscapes and then dyed hundreds of Easter eggs. Keith and I had a fun day off together, we had a great dinner date at Loveless and saw one of the bands Keith represents, and then I updated everyone on my new summer job. THEN! Keith turned 26! We celebrated by roadtripping to Atlanta with the Ezell's for Braves opening day, and having a get together with Jordie, whose birthday is the same day. Speaking of April birthdays... I wrote a post about my youngest cousin Jack turning 14, I shared some photos of our new "office", we ran our last long run before the half marathon, and we celebrated Jamie's birthday with ice cream! Last but not least, my parents came to visit for my Dad's birthday and we ran a really long way... but I'll talk more about that in May...

We were all over the place in May! What a fun month to look back on. It started with a recap of our half marathon race and my family's visit to Nashville. I still can't believe we ran 13 miles! Cross that one off the bucket list :) Keith took me to see one of my favorite high school bands, The Rocket Summer, which was a blast! I got a little behind on posts and did an instagram catch up, then I finished up the school year with my after school program. Then began the Trent and Jordie wedding madness! First was the bachelorette party, the rehearsal and finally the wedding day. Oh and somewhere in there I got my wisdom teeth out... bummer. We ended the month by leaving Nashville entirely. Our first stop was Charlottesville, VA then to Tim and Gillian's wedding in New Jersey. We got to spend some quality time with Dan and Aly in Philadelphia before heading to New York City to run around with my brother and best friends. Before heading home we also visited the Natural History Museum, and then got to DC to stay with Kate and Anna and play at the zoo. It was a crazy, hysterical, tiring, and amazingly fun trip! #richardsroadtrip2012!!

In June we did what all true Nashville music lovers do... we bummed tickets to Bonnaroo! I had low expectations, but I think you can see from the photos. We had a blast! Next up was a going away party for our friend Ives, which was very bittersweet. We had the most perfect Sunday, I attended a ladies night, wrote a Father's Day  note to my dad and said happy birthday to my big brother. We started taking hikes and then Keith left town (but not without buying me doughnuts!) Then I got to share some of the awesomeness that came out of my first session at camp! We went to a rained out Sounds game and said happy birthday to our friend Sammie... oh and then I got to walk down memory lane because MobileMe was getting ready to delete all my albums. Lastly we grilled a DELICIOUS pizza and complained about Nashville summer heat, ugh.

July was another HOT one. In the winter I always seem to forget what an awful heat trap Nashville can be, bleck! I started the month by baking (isn't that ironic?) and I posted about a ladies night and FINALLY getting to see Moonrise Kingdom. My campers made some even MORE impressive art and we got some friends together to go Honky Tonkin for McKel's birthday. Still right at the beginning of the month my uncle came to town to celebrate his birthday by touring the town and seeing Ringo Starr at the Ryman... what a night to remember! Then it was time to celebrate the fourth with possibly the hottest day of the year. I wrote about my (then) upcoming adventure as a preschool teacher, showed off some more camper artwork and we spent a whole weekend with the Bergers. At the end of the month Keith took me to see one of my all time favorite bands Death Cab for Cutie which made me SO nostalgic, and I wrote about some quaint coffee dates that I had with lady friends.

August: here's where I started my full time job and the pictures/posts will start getting a bit thin. Bear with me! My new years resolution is to get better about documenting. NO MATTER WHAT! I started the first of the month by showing off my classroom, and saying goodbye to camp. We also took a very fun tour of the Corsair Distillery with the Bergers and drove to Georgia to wish Keith's grandpa a happy 75th birthday! Our cute little wedding venue was recognized in local newspapers and I felt proud :) then we had the perfect Nashville day, complete with bike rides in our favorite park! On the eve of our anniversary I wrote some lovey dovey words to my better half and even shared some of the funnest pictures from two years prior. Last but not least! At the end of the month Keith's family came to town to celebrate his mothers (50th) birthday with a trip to the Ryman to see the B52's! We danced our butt's off, what a night!

In September I only posted 4 times, womp wompppp. But at least they were all great posts? That makes it better right? We started the month with a getaway to Destin, FL which was so AWESOME, I want to go back every month. There is something to be said about a true vacation! We also went rock climbing with the Bergers and Keith's college band played a reunion show. That's all we did? Oh wait! Keith went to GA to see Chipper's last home game with the Braves. Phew... I knew there was more ;)

October is a hard one to keep track of. I was just drowning in work and too tired to sit at my computer in the evenings so updates were few and far between. Still.. Anna came to visit, I checked in once or twice and wrote about some of the bands Keith was working with. We took weekend hiking and biking adventures and then we travelled all the way to Key West for maybe one of the most memorable vacations of our life! Kathleen and Renee got married and then we partied for 3 days haha

November... here's where things get interesting. Nothing that I posted in November actually HAPPENED in November... but let's just go with it. Here are some photos and things from October and November (that I didn't put up until December) this whole working full time thing does not do wonders for my internet time haha. I started with an update about: Halloween, dinner dates with friends, a lady day with Jamie and an extremely cold trip to Musician's Corner. Then I turned 25 with the help of lots of friends. We spent Thanksgiving in Nashville with the Negleys and had even more weekends with our best buds.

December posts all seemed to happen on Christmas Day. It's a wonder what all you can accomplish with a 2 week break from work! I posted about holiday decorations at our house, and then outtakes from our Christmas cards. I also shared photos from Christmas in Georgia and then in Florida!

Wow 2012... you were impressive! I kind of forgot about half of the awesome things that happened! I can honestly say that we have the coolest friends and family around, and I think that all the trips we took, and visitors that we had can prove that they're the best. This year was a defining one in the fact that our home and careers became much more settled. I've run out of free time, or truly... I've prioritized my time differently. The last 4 months have been more about loving and spending time with Keith and less about sitting at the computer. We have such a great life! I love going on adventures with my husband and I hope that is something that never changes.

As we're on the brink of 2013, we're bracing ourselves for our most adventurous year yet! I can't wait to share as many of those moments here as possible. Thank you so much for reading and keeping up with our lives so faithfully! Happy New Year from the Richards!!!