Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everybody!

We are so excited to be celebrating this Halloween with Matty! We have lots planned for Friday! But tonight we had to have a dry run in the costume to make sure the headpiece would fit, and well we just needed to take some pics :) So here are a few for your viewing enjoyment!

Daddy and Matty at home...and Emmitt and Shadow desperately trying to escape. Pretty sure that is just the flash reflecting in the storm door and not the previous owner Thurman Poe...but who knows...oooooooooooooo!!!!

When I was a little girl, our favorite neighbors down the street, Mr. and Mrs. Maxfield had a witch who was put on display every Halloween. She was not nearly as cute as ours, in fact, she was quite creepy. But we embraced Henrietta. She became part of our holiday every year. This is Matty and me with Henrietta 2. Looks like Matty thinks of her what I thought of the original.

Gratuitous butt shot...but oh so cute!

All clean and ready for my close-up!

Happy Haunting!

7 Months Old!

Another month older! I can hardly believe it. And it seems like he has changed so much in the past few weeks! Hmmm, I guess I say that every month, but then it's true every month! Matty is on the move now, mastering the army crawl to a fine art. While it's not the full-on hands and knees crawl, it certainly gets him from point A to point B in a flash. Time to up the baby-proofing anty. Babies R Us here we come...again! And this previously bald beauty is also getting some serious blonde hair coming in. And I could be wrong, but it might just end up being a tad wavy like Ben's, so we'll see. I remember years ago seeing Ben's baby pictures and thinking it'd be okay with me to have a sweet blue-eyed toe-head little boy in my life one day...and here we are! :)

We changed up Matty's feeding schedule this weekend, per doctor's suggestion. So he is eating 3 meals a day now and his schedule is so much like a big boy. I'd say it's safe to say this is the schedule he'll have for many years to come (sans the morning formula bottle). It makes me realize how much life has changed in just a few short months. Those days of 'round the clock feedings are certainly a distant memory now. And I can't say I'm exactly complaining about that.

We are so excited for Matty's first Halloween on Friday! He is going to be a cuddly lion and thankfully he doesn't seem to hate wearing the costume! Although, tonight I have to do some "altering" to make the head piece fit over his 80th percentile noggin. His class is having a fun party on Friday, and I get to take off a bit early and go participate in that and I can't wait! Then an afternoon neighborhood party for a bit and of course we have to have a photo op with Brenden, Davis and Jake as well, so we'll be doing that at the MacIsaac's on Saturday. So be on the lookout for a lion on the blog sometime soon!

This past week was rather noteworthy for Ben: he completed Georgia Solar's first installation! A house in Sandy Springs is now solar powered thanks to Ben's efforts. Craig was here and they were up at dawn and not home until well after dark everyday, but despite all the exhaustion from standing on a rooftop for 4 straight days, they seemed to be having a lot of fun! We celebrated the completion Sunday night with Brandy and cubans (cigars not people) on the back deck. Job well done!

(ps check back soon for new pics :))

More Videos!

Finally! I took a moment to work with some recent videos! I hope to get more up soon but in the meantime here are two from tonight.

Just hanging out after school, and Matty had a major attack of the crazy hands! Matty says, "Who needs a basket full of toys? The best toys are the ones attached to my hands!" I love his expressions and his "quiet laughter!" He gets so excited he can't even giggle :)



Good thing he stayed in that bumbo seat. This weekend I turned my back for 30 seconds thinking he'd be safe in it. Came right back to find him on the floor, remote in hand, giant smile on his face as if to say, "Whoa, it worked!" Don't worry, the baby proofing is underway.

And here is a good shot of those 2 pearly whites. He'll be needing a toothbrush soon.

Notice the totally cute "Chicks Dig Me" shirt, courtesy of the Swanson clan. He's almost as modest as his Daddy :)

Finally Fall!

Well, we have been keeping busy, as I am sure all of you have! Fall is finally here in Georgia, and it's been just gorgeous! This is by far my favorite time of year, and we are so excited to be able to celebrate the start of the holiday season with Matty this year!

Back in early summer, Ben and I signed up to help host a fall neighborhood wine tasting party, in an effort to get better acquainted with our "new" Whitlock Manor neighbors. It was held October 4th at the house of Jim and Nancy Bodiford's down the street. Jim is the judge who is trying the Brian Nichols murder trial in Fulton County and fully admitted that he probably wouldn't have signed up for it had he known what the fall would bring, but was happy to have a night off not talking or thinking about the trial...and I complain about work? We had such a great time getting to know so many of our neighbors that we are going to help with the Christmas party as well in December! I have always wanted that friendly neighborhood feeling about where we live like I always have had in Macon on the street where I grew up. And that party felt like the beginning of that. I am very excited and look forward to getting to know everyone much better over the years!

What better way to commemorate the beginning of Fall then a trip to Highlands?! Last weekend Matty and I headed up to Mom and Dad's for some family time with them and Jen and Hudson. It was gorgeous! The leaves were were changing and bursting with fall color! Sunroof back and Highlands radio on (read easy listening that's only enjoyable on Dillard Road). It was perfect, flawed only in that Ben wasn't there with us. But hey, it's football season, we understand :) We went to our friend Jackie Hills' "Chicken Show," a funky art show that we just love to go to to start our Christmas shopping, and perhaps pick up a thing or two for ourselves. It's been a few years since I was able to go, so it was extra fun for me and I certainly got my credit card working! We enjoyed some great time together, drinking wine, eating great, retelling (and acting out) silly old stories, and sitting in front of the first Apple Mountain fire of the season!

Matty had his 6 month appointment last week and is doing just great! He is 26 1/2 inches long (25th percentile, steady, this is good!) and 17 pounds 12 ounces (50th percentile, good eater, not at all picky, that is good, too!) Ok, so his head is in the 80th percentile, he has to put all those brains somewhere! He got his latest round of shots which he hates, but he is such a trooper about them, and gets back to flashing his smile as soon as the needles are out of his little legs! Those two teeth are getting more and more visible, perhaps the pearliest pearly whites I've ever seen! We think he is getting ready to crawl any day now, because he gets up on his knees and is doing the pre-crawl rock now...very exciting stuff! And we are trying to teach him sign language now. I can't wait for the day he communicates with us!

All of Ben's hard work over the past year since he officially launched Georgia Solar Power Company is starting to really pay off. Craig comes in town next week to help Ben with his first official solar installation!! Countless late nights after work, lunch breaks and weekends spent cramming in appointments, working up estimates and proposals...and it's all starting to come together. He is getting great feedback, media recognition and contacts from all over the country from people interested in integrating alternative energy into their homes. I just want to say how very proud of him I am. It can't be easy trying to start your own business like this with a full time job, a wife and a new baby all depending on you so much. I don't know how he manages it all, but I do know we love you, Ben!!