Monday, May 24, 2010

5 years!

We celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary on May 7th! Shortly after we got married we decided we'd take a trip each year for our anniversary rather than buying each other gifts.  We also decided that we'd go to Italy for our 5th anniversary, I tried to convince James that it was a great time to take Savannah to Italy - free airfare if she sat on our laps, cheap to feed her, etc. - he wasn't buying it.  Oh well, Italy isn't going anywhere and she brings me more joy than wedges of parmesan cheese and Italian vineyards ever will.

Our wedding day...
From Brooke & James
From Brooke & James
From Brooke & James
From Brooke & James
From Brooke & James


1st Anniversary - San Franciso and Napa Valley
From Brooke & James
From Brooke & James
From Brooke & James
From Brooke & James

We visited the Jelly Belly Factory while we were in Northern California, James thought it was going to be lame and complained the entire drive there but he had so much fun!
From Brooke & James


2nd Anniversary - Charleston, SC and Savannah, GA
Every good Gator takes every opportunity to show his allegiance.
From Brooke & James

From Brooke & James

Really tired in Savannah, but we were first in line at The Lady & Sons!
From Brooke & James


3rd Anniversary - cruise to the Bahamas
From Brooke & James
From Brooke & James

If you build it, I will come.
From Brooke & James

From Brooke & James
From Brooke & James


4th Anniversary - Hilton Head, SC
From Brooke & James

From Brooke & James
From Brooke & James


5th Anniversary - we headed down to Tampa to visit our new nephew and then spent a few days in St. Petersburg.
From SGN - 11th Month

Ooh, a binky!
From SGN - 11th Month
From SGN - 11th Month


We visited the beach...
From SGN - 11th Month

Ate some eggs...
From SGN - 11th Month
From SGN - 11th Month

Took in a Rays game...
From SGN - 11th Month
From SGN - 11th Month
From SGN - 11th Month


We also ate at some yummy restaurants, swam in the hotel pool and did other fun things but we didn't get pictures of any of it.  Boo.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

And now, a word from...Daddy.

Savannah will be a year old next month which is unreal. Brooke has done a great job of keeping all our friends and family up to date with Savannah’s first year but I thought it was about time I posted something on here. How else am I going to stay in the running for Dad of the Year? Besides, Father’s Day is fast approaching and I probably need some brownie points.

Savannah’s first year has been crazy. I’m not going to lie; the first few months were tough for me. You may want to sit down for this (queue the sarcasm) but I’m not a patient person. Luckily for me (and Savannah!) she was blessed with a Mom that has a patience level of somewhere around 12 on a 1 to 10 scale. I don’t tell Brooke often enough how great she is with her but to be able to see it every day is amazing. Some of our friends said that when they saw Brooke with Savannah in the hospital she looked like she was made to be a Mom and she has proven them right a thousand times over. I don’t know how she does it but I’m pretty sure she’s incapable of losing her patience with Savannah. If Brooke had a dollar for every time she “took over” for me when Savannah was being fussy, well let’s just say Brooke wouldn’t have to work anymore which would suit her fine! So to Brooke I would like to say an infinite amount of times “thank you.” Thanks for being an understanding wife (my stubbornness probably doesn’t make me the easiest guy to put up with at times) and thanks even more for being the Mom that you are. I couldn’t do you justice with mere words.


Over the last eleven months I’ve seen Savannah grow from a little 7 pound baby into a 20ish pound little girl. There are still times when Brooke has to take over, but it’s becoming more rare. Savannah has really become a little person- she cries when she doesn’t get what she wants (I don’t know who she learned that from) and she gets mad when she runs out of food at dinner (I DO know who she learned that from). Luckily she hasn’t learned how to pout because when that day comes, I’m in trouble! She loves for me throw her in the air and catch her and she still enjoys a good ol’ fashion game of peek-a-boo. She likes to go across the street and feed the fish with me and she likes to help me water the flowers. Truth be told, I don’t know if she likes it or not but, she doesn’t get mad so I can only assume she’s cool with it. She enjoys being pushed in her swing on the back porch (thanks for helping me hang that up, Dad) and she obviously loves making a mess of things (see Tupperware photo shoot below). She’s also the sweetest person I’ve ever known. When she’s tired and buries her head into my neck I feel like the luckiest person alive. Rocking her to sleep at night is the best! You might say it rocks…okay that was bad. The way she clutches on to Brooke and I makes it easy to see that she feels safest with us which I hope never changes. Maybe best of all is her laughter which has such a pure sound to it that it would make anyone smile with her.


I’m really looking forward to the next few years and watching her grow. I can’t wait for her to start walking and talking. Of course I might be singing a different tune after I’ve spent some time chasing her around while she’s yelling “NO” but we’ll have to wait and see. I’m pretty sure she’s going to enjoy golf. She’s already watched me swing the club enough that she should be doing it on her own here shortly. I always told Brooke that when Savannah was out of the infancy stage I would be Super-Dad. Here’s to hoping that I’m half the parent for year two that Brooke was for year one. Cheers!

Saturday, May 8, 2010

10 Months

Savannah was officially 10 months old on April 27.

She crawls at lightening speed, 'cruises' around everything, has stood unassisted for a few seconds a few times, says 'da da', waves, has a tooth and is FINALLY sleeping through the night on a somewhat consistent basis.

She eats just about anything we give her, she hasn't ever turned down a food but she isn't a fan of kiwi.  She recently started eating breakfast which consists of yogurt and oatmeal or occasionally scrambled egg yolks (egg whites are highly allergenic so they aren't recommended until after the age of 1).  She can hold the bottle by herself, which she may have known how to do before but it's new to me since she doesn't usually have a bottle in my presence, and she is learning to drink from a sippy cup.

We have come to the stage where we can't leave anything on the coffee table that we don't want her to bother and we to need to rearrange our DVD player, receiver, etc. because she is very into turning knobs and pushing buttons - there have been a couple times that we've turned the TV on and been surprised at the volume.  She LOVES remote controls, especially the one that controls the fan and light.  The dog food bowls and their water bowl are constant sources of frustration because she loves to play with them. And, we've locked up most of the cabinets in the kitchen with the exception of the Tupperware.
From SGN - 11th Month

From SGN - 11th Month

From SGN - 11th Month

From SGN - 11th Month

From SGN - 11th Month

Oh well, it needed to be organized anyway!

On the Road Again

We visited Savannah's grandparents in GA a couple weeks ago, it's always nice to visit them because we just get to relax!  The only thing that is difficult about visiting them is the drive, they have a crib, highchair, bath stuff, etc. so even packing is easy.

Savannah looked so cute sitting in these chairs and her outfit that day happened to be a perfect match so we couldn't resist taking a couple hundred (literally) pictures.

From SGN - 10th Month

From SGN - 10th Month

From SGN - 10th Month

From SGN - 10th Month

From SGN - 10th Month

From SGN - 10th Month
From SGN - 10th Month

From SGN - 10th Month

Houston, we have a...

tooth, finally!

If you click on the picture and then zoom in you should be able to see it on the bottom right side.
From SGN - 10th Month


The first little pearly white poked through on April 18!

Another big 3-0

James turned 30 on April 21!  The Sunday before his birthday I planned a surprise party at our favorite Mexican restaurant, he and the guys had been playing golf and when they arrived our table wasn't ready yet.  It wasn't until we sat down that he realized everyone was there for him and it wasn't just coincidence.

From Brooke & James

From Brooke & James

From Brooke & James
From Brooke & James
From Brooke & James


The celebration continued on his actual birthday when Patrick & Andy joined us for dinner at James' current favorite restaurant and then came back to the house for more birthday cake.
From Brooke & James