New Things and New Adventures

We love our new dishwasher! The generous wedding gifts we received made it possible for us to get our new, beloved dishwasher :).









Garrett is becoming quite a handful. He's cruising and crawling all over the place. He's now more confident taking steps (holding on to furniture) and lowering himself to the ground. Brendan sometimes calls him the all-terrain baby. He keeps us on our toes.


We recently got Garrett a big boy chair-- a front facing car seat. He loves it. It's so cute when he puts his arms on the armrests, like he's just chillin'. He seems small again, in the car seat.






Over the last month, Garrett has gained a real love for books and storytime. I'm really tickled by how happy and excited he gets, when you sit down to read him a book. He's learning to turn the pages. He has a somewhat limited attention span, understandably, but you can really see his wheels turning when you read to him. I wouldn't be surprised if one day, out of the blue, he will say a whole sentence.

Garrett's new favorite thing to do is point. His points have many meanings: I like it; what's that; I want it; hello; I see you; etc.

We been on a couple hikes recently, Hanging Rock and Pilot Mountain lowers. Garrett enjoys riding in his backpack and seeing new things. We switch off, but Brendan does the majority of carrying. It's a workout!

Vacation!

We vacationed in Florida--courtesy of my mom, Kim, and my stepdad, Stu. We spent two nights in Orlando and three nights in Ft. Lauderdale. We had a great time, but no one had more fun than Garrett! He loved the adventure and watching all the interesting people. One of his favorite things to do is wave, at everyone and at anything that generally pleases him, like ceiling fans. He has the adorable open and close hand wave and what Brendan likes to call the vote-for-me wave, open hand, arm extended in an arch motion--very adorable. Garrett's a charmer, what can we say.










We went to the Kennedy Space Center, which fascinating and surprisingly very family oriented. It's hard to describe how impressive it all was; let's just say it's hard to fathom that there are people that smart.











We also went to Pompano Beach in Ft. Lauderdale. It's a pretty beach. Garrett had a good time, except for the wave that got him in the face. He was really interested in the sea shells Daddy found for him.







We took an airboat ride in the Everglades. We saw three alligators! One alligator swam right up to the edge of the boat, where I was sitting! It was sorchin' hot.









We went to many tasty restaurants, including Joe's Crab Shack, which Garrett loved. We ate at a intimate French restaurant, and then went and saw Ratatouille--very cute. We highly recommend it.










Garrett has reached a new plateau. He's more animated and active. He's all over the place. He can pull up and is learning to cruise. Garrett jabbers all the time, and is becoming very communicative. One of his favorite new games is the gravity game-- dropping things for fun.









We had a great time on our first family vacation! Garrett was a real trooper.

Graduation Day!

Yay for Graduation Day! Yes, I made it! No more class, no more homework. I now have my college degree, and I am a mom, and I looked good on grad day! I don't know about my hair, though-- oh well. Four long years are over. The North Carolina School of the Arts graduations are unique. There are no cap and gowns, and the sight of large beach balls and silly string flying through the graduating class, on stage are common. It's not boring, that's for sure. Who likes boring graduations anyway?










The composer Danny Elfman was the key speaker and honorary degree receipent. He was an awesome speaker, very inspirational. His message included: life is a journey, and all your experinces are valuable. That's the truth. I wouldn't be who I am today without all of my life experiences that led up to this moment, and I like who I am today.









It was great to have my parents and my sisters there. My parents enabled me to attend school and supported me throughout my experience. It was also great to see some of my best buddies there-- the punks who graduated last year.

I wouldn't have been able to finish my last year without the love and support of Brendan (and lil' Bean, too).

I AM DONE! Boy does it feel nice.

And they lived happily ever after...

We're married! I graduated! Can you believe it? I don't know if I can, but I did it, we did it. The wedding was gorgeous and fun and went by entirely too fast. We had an amazing time! It was great looking around and seeing all our friends and family enjoying themselves. There were many faces of loved ones we missed, but we were blessed to have so many special people in our lives with us on our important day.

Garrett stole the show-- no surprise there. He had perfect timing, as usual, and waved during our vows to him. He is so cute and sweet; it's ridiculous! We were very impressed at what a charming trooper he was during the wedding. On a side note, Garrett has said his first words! He can say mama, hi, dada, uh-oh. During his bath yesterday, I think he said quack-quack at his rubber ducky-- so cute!

Husband and wife! We still get used to our impressive new titles, but married life feels great. We are going to Florida at the end of the month--all three of us! We're excited to take Garrett to the beach. Vacation will be awesome. We also plan to take Garrett camping soon (car campin', of course).