Life is SOOO different now...

Well apparently I thought I'd have all the time in the world to be blogging, posting pictures, eating bon bons, and watching soap operas being a mom... I was wrong. My life is SO busy in SUCH a different way. I went from working 9 hour days, running errands, ironing clothes, making dinners, going out with friends to movies, cleaning the house, working out at the gym, fun vacations with Brian to now only having 1-2 hours at a time to get anything done (while Carter naps). And let's be honest, when Carter does decide to nap, the last thing I want to do is exercise or blog haha. I'd rather take a nap myself take a much needed shower, or eat a quick snack. I barely have time to check emails these days. BUT I will say with 100% certainty, I have never been happier. I love my new life.

Loving Carter is a completely new kind of love. I am head over heels in love with Brian and he is my everything. But Carter is a whole new bag of tricks. A whole new kind of love. I finally feel what my mom and dad feel for me and my sister. I finally feel what all my other mom friends feel. It's fantastic!

Carter is 5 months old today. That blows my mind. Time has completely flown by. But I can say that Brian and I have relished in every single moment. We took 187 photos of his first bites of cereal. That is crazy. We take Carter and Penny for a walk together as a family every single night. Carter sits in his bouncy seat while Brian and I eat dinner at the kitchen table every night. We feed Carter his last meal of the night in the nursery together - while one of his gives him his bottle, the other is reading a night time story. We say our prayers together then put our little man to bed. Carter and I have lots of fun during the day when it's just us, too. We go to a mommy & me playgroup with 4-8 other babies and mommies a few times a month - these are some moms that I met while doing prenatal yoga. Carter and I go to a story & song playgroup at the library once a week. We run errands all over town together (usually only having time to run one errand at a time haha). We splash around in the baby pool on our back porch. We go for a morning walk with Penny in our neighborhood. The list goes on. I am soaking up every precious moment.

Carter is doing great. He has a WONDERFUL personality. Brian can make him laugh SO hard just by making silly faces or noises. Carter doesn't cry too much and when he does it's very obvious why - "I'm hot", "I'm tired", or "Don't change my diaper" are the usual reasons. He is doing SO well with sleep training and now sleeps 8 hours solid at night. I realize this may not be as wonderful as other babies that naturally sleep 10-12 hours from the day came home from the hospital haha. But Carter has come a LONG way and to be sleeping 8 hours solid is pure Heaven on Earth!

Alright, photo time...

Lydie came to meet Carter when he was just a few weeks old :)

My parents hosted a Sip n See when Carter was one month old for all my friends and family to meet our little guy. This is a pic with my teacher friends from work :)

I'm telling you, Brian can make Carter laugh like no other!

We took Carter to Santa Rosa Beach with my family when he was just 6 weeks old

our little family of 3
his first beach experience
dinner out as a family - we took turns holding Carter throughout the meal
Carter's first dip in the pool :)
meeting Aunt Chelly
meeting Aunt Emmy :)
tummy time with William, our bff

our 3 month photo shoot
me and my little 3 month old boy :)
bffs
Mary Catherine came to meet Mr. Carter :)
playdate with Everett (2.5 weeks older) and William (12 days younger)
4 months old
Happy Father's Day!
Carter LOVES bath time!
Uncle Marcus came to meet Mr. Carter & brought him this adorable outfit!
4.5 months old
eating rice cereal for the first time & loving it!
CiCi made us this adorable outfit
5 months old

Anniversaries 0.6 and 1

We love to celebrate. Anything. Anytime. Our first anniversary we celebrated was our 6 month wedding anniversary. September 2008, Brian "kidnapped" me over the weekend and took me on a little trip. We ended up at the Ritz Carlton - same place we spent our first night after our wedding. He got us a suite with the most comfortable bed you can imagine. To top off the already wonderful surprise, he took me out to Ruth's Chris for dinner. We officially became the people we hate while dining... same side sitters. You can't help it when you're in love.

We returned to our room after dinner and there were pink rose petals sprinkled all over our bed, champagne, and chocolate dipped strawberries. It was like our honeymoon all over again. The next morning, Brian had 2 massage therapists come up to our room to give us a rub down. We just had to roll out of bed... it was glorious! I give Brian major props for putting this romantic weekend together for me :)

Then came our 1 year anniversary... It's SO hard to believe that a year has already flown by. It has been so wonderful. We feel like everyone was always telling us that the first year is the hardest and most difficult, but we must be very lucky and blessed because it was pretty good for us. We had our "tough moments" here and there, but overall it was really great. We had a lot to be celebrating just one year later.

We actually renewed our wedding vows. We went back to Peachtree Christian Church, where we were married just one year ago. The second Sunday of every January, PCC invites back every couple who has EVER been married inside their church to renew their vows. Four couples got to actually walk down the aisle, which of course I was jealous of. But the rest of us, got to sit in pews, turn to our husband/wife, hold their hands, and repeat our vows to each other out loud. And then seal it with a kiss :)

It was the sweetest thing in the world. Brian and I are going to make it a tradition to back every year to renew our vows.

On March 8, 2009, we set the table with our fine china and crystal. We ate a delicious dinner of filet, baked potatoes, and asparagus. YUM! And of course, we ate our wedding cake. It was the exact same. Delicious and perfect.

Then we watched our wedding video from start to finish. It was 3 hours long. Beautiful video, but let's just say we'll only be watching it on special occasions. And to top the night all off, we had a bottle of champagne and drank it out of our toasting flutes from the wedding. I can't believe it has already been one year. We are so lucky to have each other!!!

We went to Asheville, NC for our actual one year anniversary trip. We ate lunch at Moose Cafe (ranked #10 in the South) and then we went to the Biltmore!

We stayed at The Inn at Biltmore. Our room was gorgeous. They upgraded us to a King Suite because we were celebrating our anniversary. Gotta love those upgrades!

We ate dinner at The Bistro on the first night. The next morning we walked around the beautiful gardens. We picked a great month to go, it was The Festival of the Flowers. Then we went to The Biltmore and did an audio tour of the house. But let's be honest, we both fast forwarded through our tapes and tried to pass the slow walkers. Then we ate lunch at Stable Cafe. That afternoon we toured the winery and enjoyed a wine tasting!

Our last night at The Biltmore, we ate our "official" anniversary dinner at The Dining Room.

XOXO

Our Honeymoon in St. Lucia

So I'm trying to update everyone on the first few years of our lives together as husband and wife and so far in my first post alone, I've only covered our wedding. YIKES! And in this current post, I'll only be covering our first week of marriage. I promise the rest of our posts will cover more time in our lives. It's just hard to sum up the past few years of your life!!

So after our amazing wedding, we spent a week in St. Lucia for our honeymoon...

It was a 1.5 hour drive from the airport to our resort, so we stopped a few times to take some pictures & look at the gorgeous scenery...

When we arrived at our resort (Sandals Grande), we were greeted by our butler. Yes, that's right, our butler. Sweet precious Brian surprised me and got us our own butler for the entire week! Keisha (our butler) escorted us to our rondoval, which we had been upgraded to. Keisha popped a bottle of champagne for us to sip on as she gave us a tour of our rondoval.
We were on Cloud 9 for the rest of the trip!

Our rondoval was super swanky! We had our own private pool and hot tub in our backyard. There was an outdoor shower, a hammock to relax in, and a breakfast table. It was truly paradise!

Keisha did everything for us. She unpacked our bags, escorted us to dinners, brought us drinks on the beach, and drew bubble baths for us.

Keisha served us a special dinner in our room. She served us our favorite appetizers and entrees from all the restaurants on the resort. She lit candles and even put on a romantic CD (it was Jamaican music of course, but still so sweet).

Here we are at our reserved spot on the beach. Keisha brought us drinks and fresh fruit. I tell you it was TRULY paradise!

There were so many delicious restaurant choices on the resort. Keisha would escort us to dinner every night and when we returned to our rondoval, she always had a special surprise waiting for us... she would sprinkle roses all over the floor leading out to our hot tub (or jacuzzi in the room or on the bed, etc.)... complete with champagne, desserts, candles, and cigars. So romantic!

One night we went on the "Evening Party Cruise." There were only 15 other couples on the boat with us - it was wonderful. We were served appetizers and drinks. We were able to see the most beautiful sunset we had ever seen!

All of our bags are packed and we are NOT ready to go!

Our honeymoon in St. Lucia was nothing short of fabulous. St. Lucia was beautiful and we were truly blessed to have such a wonderful experience. We hope that we can go back to Sandals Grande for our 10-year anniversary (although I'm trying to convince Brian to make it 5-year!).

After we returned from a week in paradise, it was back to "reality" and "real life" set in. We both had to go back to work... Brian went back to Prudential and I went back to nannying Lydie. It was hard getting back into the groove of work and the real world, but being together made it all worthwhile!!

Our Very First Blog!

Well this is our first blog, so bear with us as we are learning the ropes. Let me first just catch you up to date on the past few years of our lives together as hubby and wifeski. We met while attending Samford University (in Bham, AL) and fell in love. Basically, Brian stalked me for a few weeks until I gave in haha. But we began courtship, which eventually turned into an engagement... which eventually led to a wedding on March 8, 2008 here in Atlanta. We had the most fabulous wedding-->

getting my hair & makeup did

Bob (B's dad), Brian, Phil (B's bro)

our BEAUTIFUL church where we got married - Peachtree Christian Church

Carolyn (E's mom), Ellen, Lamar (E's dad), Deborah (E's sis)

Phil, JoAnne (B's mom), Brian, Bob

we were so blessed to have all our best friends in our wedding party :)

when 2 become 1

husband & wife

outside our church

our reception was held at The Biltmore: Georgian Ballroom... Ellen's parents had their 2nd date in this very room & this is the moment in time when they fell in love with each other... it just seemed fitting that Brian & Ellen have their reception here :)

our first dance as husband & wife - "True Companion"

my dress was custom-made by Kenneth Poole Platinum... Classic Cheesecakes & Cakes created my wedding cake based on the design of my dress...

March 8, 2008 was basically the most perfect day of our lives. We were both on Cloud 9, head over heels in love with each other, and we got to share the special day with all our friends and family. The next "big event" in our lives happened the very next day... our honeymoon! (this post has gotten WAY too long, I'll make a new post with honeymoon stories & pics)

Here is a slideshow of our favorite wedding pics (turn your sound up so you can hear the music!)...

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com