Thanksgiving

I blogged most of this month about things I was thankful for. Thanksgiving weekend really brought a lot of those things together. It has been an eventful last couple of days.

Family
I hosted Thanksgiving for my family this year. We had 13 adults and 4 children over at my house. On Wednesday night, we had 11 overnight guests. The house was packed, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

My mother and stepmother met for the first time this weekend. It seemed to go very well. They were civil to each other, even friendly.

Alan with cousin Anastasia over Thanksgiving holiday

My first DNF
Thanksgiving morning, I attempted to run my first half marathon since Alan was born. It was a big FAIL. I had my first DNF, which in the running world means "did not finish." I was doing well for the first three miles. Then, sometime between mile three and four, my legs started feeling weird. It was as if I couldn't control them. I've never felt that way before. It felt like I was running like one of those people who have to walk with the crutches attached to their arms. I don't think I looked that way, but that's how it felt. I stopped to stretch and started again. I was fine for a little while, but then it started happening again. After the fourth time of this happening, I was approaching Colony Square and knew that it would be the easiest place for Rob to pick me up. So I dropped out of the race. According to my Garmin, I had run 5.40 miles when I dropped out - not even halfway! It was very disappointing to say the least.

I know I can run at least 9 miles, or at least I could two weeks ago. So why did I all of a sudden have this weird thing happen to me? I think it may be a hip injury that affected my legs, so I am going to schedule an appointment with my sports massage therapist and see if he can work it out. If that doesn't work, I might schedule an appointment with a neurologist or something to see if it's a nerve issue.

Alan's first cold
Alan started coughing this weekend. He has been congested sounding in the past, but it has escalated to a much more raspy and consistent cough. Sometimes he will cough three or so times and then draw a huge breath, almost sounding like he can't breathe very well. We've put a humidifier in his room, but it hasn't seemed to help. I will be calling the doctor for an appointment today.

Decreasing milk supply
My milk supply has been decreasing recently. It is actually quite sudden how much it has gone down. It went down when I went back to work, but I never had a problem getting enough to send with Alan to daycare. Normally the pattern is that I have a decent supply toward the beginning of the week. It gradually decreases throughout the week. Then it will go up again on the weekend when I am around Alan more.

Two weekends ago, I had a huge supply. An overabundance. In fact, it was enough that I took a night off from night pumping and was still okay. Then last weekend, things started changing. Over the weekend, I wasn't getting as much as I had before. My supply should have gone up a lot over Thanksgiving weekend, because I was around Alan and nursing him most of the weekend. I started getting the bottles ready for today, and I only had enough for two and a half bottles.

Not only is my supply dwindling, but he's eating a lot more. We decided to try a formula bottle to see how he would take it. He ate 6oz of an 8oz bottle. Then he proceeded to projectile vomit an ounce out, and then spit up another couple of ounces in his crib while sleeping. Hmm...formula didn't go over too well.

So what am I going to do? He doesn't like the formula, and I'm not making enough to satisfy him. I even got a prescription for some medicine that is supposed to increase my supply. It hasn't seemed to help so far, but we will see now that I'm back at work and pumping more rather than nursing. Talk about frustrating!

Alan's dedication
On Sunday, we went to Dunwoody Baptist Church for Alan's dedication. Norcross First UMC, where we are members, refused to do a baby dedication instead of a baptism. I firmly believe that you shouldn't get baptized until you believe in Jesus Christ and accept him as your Lord and savior. Since Alan is too young to do that, I wanted to have him dedicated to the Lord and dedicate us to raising him in a Christian family environment, to teach him the way of the Lord in hopes that he will someday accept Jesus for himself. I used to go to DBC before getting married, and they were willing to do our dedication even though we aren't members.

Us dedicating ourselves to raising Alan in a Christian home

We were supposed to have 18 people come to the dedication and lunch at our house afterwards. We ended up having only 10. Everyone cancelled at the last minute. So now I have a TON of leftovers. I suppose we will be eating spaghetti for a long time.

Family present at the dedication

Final thoughts
It was an exciting, event-packed weekend. I didn't get much sleep, which I would have liked to get when having an extra couple days off work. But I did have a lot of fun. I enjoyed being the hostess for the two big events. Now it's time to get back to the real world and a normal, routine life.

Go Pirates! Arrrggghhhh!

Today I am thankful for my education.



I started college at Mars Hill College, a small baptist college near Asheville, NC, on a full-tuition scholarship. The college was too small for my taste, so I decided to look at other options.

I had been living in North Carolina over the summer after my freshman year, and decided to stay there and gain residency. During the process of gaining residency, I went to Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College for my sophomore year.

Once I gained residency, I applied to four different schools: Western Carolina University, Appalachian State, University of North Carolina at Asheville, and East Carolina University. I was accepted into all four, but decided to travel away from the western North Carolina area and enrolled at East Carolina University.

ECU has a five year program where you can get a Bachelors and Masters degree in Accounting together. Although some of my credits didn't transfer, and I had to take classes over the summer, I still managed to graduate in five total college years with my Master's degree.

My education prepared me for taking the CPA exam. Because of the way ECU set up their program and because of my great professors, I was able to pass the exam in one sitting.

My education has also allowed me to gain great experience with big companies. I have worked for two of the Big Four accounting firms. I have had my pick of jobs anytime I wanted a change.

While often times I wish I had gone to a school with bigger sports programs and that were closer to where I currently live, I am thankful that I had the opportunity to get a good education and that I chose a field that has a lot of possible career choices.

To see what others are thankful for today, visit:

The Holiday Season Is Upon Us

In the past month, I have blogged about some of my favorite things: Pictures and Holidays. With Christmas coming up and a new baby in the family, Rob and I are planning on sending our first ever photo Christmas card. We had a great photo shoot with the whole family last Sunday and look forward to using some of those pictures for our card.

The concept of photo holiday cards immediately makes me think of the Friends episode – The One with the Creepy Holiday Card. In the show, Ross starts to panic when Mona gets an idea to send out a holiday card for the two of them, thinking that their relationship is starting to move too fast.

Perhaps the Christmas card is overdue in our case. We’ve been married now for almost three years and have never done a photo holiday card. Last year we received several of them from family and friends, and they are still decorating our refrigerator. Holiday cards are a great way to share your updated family picture with your friends and family, which is especially important with a growing, changing boy in our family now.

Shutterfly has always been our “go-to” printer for photo books and birth announcements.
• When Rob and I had our first dating anniversary before we got married, I made him a photo book that showed all the things we did during our first year together.
• For our wedding, we used Shutterfly to create our guest book. I put together a book showing each of us separately from birth to when we started dating, added the story of how we met, and included pictures of us while we were together. At the end, I had lines where guests could sign and add comments for us. It is such a great keepsake now, and I will probably pull it out to use again as a guest book for parties on our significant anniversaries (like 20th, 30th, etc).
• When Alan was born, I created our birth announcements using Shutterfly.

With a history like that, we will probably use Shutterfly again for our holiday cards. They have a wonderful selection of designs, and I know their products are great quality products. I particularly like this card because it is a 5x7, which is a normal photo size that we could put in a frame. It also allows for two pictures and has the year in the top corner.

If you didn’t get a birth announcement from us, it is probably because we don’t have your most current address. If you’re interested in getting a Christmas card from us, please send me your address!

Hole in the Ground??

Today I am thankful for pumbing and running water.



One of the great things about living in America is that we have modern plumbing.

I went to China in March of 2009, and was completely shocked at the bathrooms there.

Me at the Great Wall of China. No toilets there!

The hotel was nice and modern, but outside of that, the bathrooms consisted of a hole in the ground. I suppose it wouldn't be too bad if you only had to pee and if you were a guy. But as a girl, I was not about to try to figure out how to squat over a hole and attempt not to pee all over my pants. I held it all day until we were back in the hotel. I'm surprised I didn't get a UTI because of holding it so long.

I've also been on a mission trip with the youth choir where a hot shower was nowhere to be found. That has absolutely no appeal to me. I seriously feel sorry for people who have to live in those conditions on a regular basis.

I will go camping and sleep in a tent or on the ground if there are facilities that I can shower and use the bathroom in. Otherwise, you will not find me at a campsite.

Everyday during the winter, I love standing under the hot water of a good shower, and dread getting out into the cold air.

I am thankful for toilets. I am thankful for hot showers. I am thankful that I live in America.

To see what others are thankful for today, visit:

What Smells?

Today I am thankful for my sense of smell.



It rained last week, and as I was running shortly after the rain, I caught a whiff of some freshly cut wood. With the smell of the rain lingering in the air and the fresh wood smell, my run was so pleasant.

I was once told that how we tasted food was determine mostly (like 80%) by our sense of smell. So if you were blindfolded and given something to eat, but someone put an orange right under your nose for you to smell, whatever it was you were eating would taste like the orange. So between smell and taste, smell is the dominant sense.

My dad has lost his sense of smell completely. My husband's sense of smell is not the best. I think my sense of smell is one of my stronger senses, and most of the time, I'm thankful for it.

During my pregnancy, my sense of smell increased. I could smell things before they were close enough to see.

My favorite smells are probably strange to most people. I like the smell of a musty basement. I like the smell of skin. I like the smell of the dryer. I like the smell of leaves burning in the fall. Then there are the normal smells that almost everyone likes: baking cookies, flowers, etc.

It's so nice to be able to experience life to the fullest through our senses.

To see what others are thankful for today, visit:

Say Cheese!

Today I am thankful for pictures.



I don't have the best camera, and I'm not the best photographer, but I love pictures. I love taking them. I love getting them taken. I love hanging them around my house. I love posting them on facebook.

Today, we are taking Simon family pictures, so it seemed appropriate that I blog about pictures. We are going to Portrait Innovations to get a picture of everyone in Rob's family (parents, sister and her family, and our family). We are also going to take our family picture that I hope to use in our Christmas card this year.

Pictures capture some of life's most precious moments. They are the only thing (other than the marriage itself, of course) that is really left over after the big wedding day event. They show how much a baby grows and changes over the first year of life. They allow others to participate in your life when they are far away.

If there is one thing that I could save if my house went down in flames (other than people and dogs, of course), it would be a box of CDs with all my digital pictures on them.

Unfortunately, my husband doesn't feel the same way, and is often reluctant to have his picture taken. I have to fight sometimes to get some good pictures of us and the things we do together. He's always saying that the camera steals your soul. But when he does manage to cooperate, we get some great shots! I'm hoping today's session will have some great results.

Here are some of my favorite memories:


Steak n Shake (my favorite restaurant) after dancing during ATLX 2007


We're engaged! 2007


Wedding on Sand Key Beach in Clearwater, FL, June 2008


Hiking in Alaska during our Simon family cruise 2008


Graceland with my best friend, Lisa, during Liberty Bowl weekend 2009


One of our many Braves vs Mets games


Oregon vacation 2009


My dad and me after the Richmond marathon, where I finally ran a sub-4 hr marathon!


Maternity picture while pregnant with Alan


Rob and Alan during Alan's first college game day


First picture capturing a reactive smile from Alan


To see what others are thankful for today, visit:

Happy Trails to You

Today I am thankful for trails.

Running is made much easier when there are good trails to run.

My favorite is the Cochran Shoals river trail along the Chattahoochee River. The trail is a 5k loop, but it also has some roads at either end that can extend the run to a 10 miler. Columns Drive is a straight, flat road at one end of the river trail that goes 2.5 miles out to a light. On the other end, if you turn left out of the river trail parking lot, the road goes up a big hill a mile to a light. This is my favorite place to do my 20 mile runs. If I put a water bottle somewhere along the course, it gives you plenty of opportunities to hydrate as you pass it. It is partially on packed gravel, so your joints don't wear out too badly. It has nice houses and scenery to look at as you go, and it is marked off by the quarter mile, so you know how long you've run.


Cochran Shoals river trail

During the week, I've started running on the Big Creek Greenway after work. It is a half mile to the greenway from the office, and the greenway spans eight miles from Roswell up to Alpharetta. I run to the greenway, run half the distance I want to get, and turn around and come back. It is very well maintained and is a beautiful, peacefull trail.


Big Creek Greenway

Aside from running, I love to hike. I try to get at least three hikes in each summer. The three that I typically do are: Stone Mountain, Anna Ruby Falls, and one up in Clayton, GA. I've also gone hiking in Big Canoe with my in-laws the past two years.


Hiking in Blairsville, GA 2005


Clayton hike 2006


Clayton hike 2007


Anna Ruby Falls hike 2008


Big Canoe 2009


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