A Weekend With Grant and Ellie!

As excited as I am to have Geoff heading home safely from Iraq, a teeny part of me is sad b/c that means that El and Grant are moving back to Texas! I've been so spoiled over the last year in being able to catch up over long weekends and such, so having them be so far away is bumming me out a bit! One bit of consolation: They're headed to Arizona for Capitan's Course in the fall and then will be back in North Carolina at Fort Bragg! :)

El and Grant came up last weekend for one last little trip before flying south... we had planned to go to the Smithsonian Kite Festival, but it was storming and rainy, so we had a nice lazy morning around the house. We headed to Tyson's and met up with Kasie and Marguerette for lunch at Olive Garden (yum!) and had a great time catching up with them!

El and I watched Twilight while Grant napped... well, we started Twilight while he napped, but the poor thing was overtired, so he was back up in action after a half hour! Later, Joe babysat while El and I had a fabulous dinner at the Melting Pot!!

It was, of course, not enough time to spend together, but it was such a nice treat to have visitors!

Gallery of Grant

El and Grant had planned a weekend of fun with some Army friends in DC... and you know I wasn't going to let her come all this way and not see them! We had a few days of jam-packed fun around town... the Pumpkin Festival at Butler's Orchard, dinner at Red Rock with the Richardson's, play time at Mountainside, a quick jaunt to Georgetown to go to Paper Source, Grant's 1st trip to IKEA (and incidentally his 1st meal of Swedish Meatballs... which he loved!), and shopping at Tyson's Corner! Whew! I'm simply too tired to go into details of our fabulous week, so I'll let the photos do the talking... they're worth 1000 words each, right!?

Happy Birthday to the GrantMonster!

Yep, the day has finally arrived... it's Grant's 1st Birthday!!



Yes, everyone knows that I'm a little nuts about this kiddo... naturally, I'm celebrating with him via blogger! ;)

Like El, its been hard to put everything into words... between Scott (who is doing very well, all things considered!) and my trip to Texas, I've had a lot on my mind and am finally processing it all!

When I got off of the plane in Austin, I wasn't sure what would be there waiting for me... I wasn't sure how El would be after the emotional day before. Much to my delight, I found Grant smiling and yammering on in his stroller and a mildly emotional Ellie! Like most situations, my initial response was to quickly engage in retail therapy! So, we headed to the outlets... tore through Ralph Lauren, Banana, and Coach before our cards maxed out! ;) El definitely got the find of the day when she spotted a teal bag at Coach... totally adorable!!

Grant fell asleep on the car ride back to "post" (which I learned is Army-language for "Fort Hood" or "Base") and she gave me the grand tour! I guess I hadn't realized how big it was, because I couldn't get over how it was just a small town! We made a yummy dinner... a bertolli meal... yes, we're both the pickiest eaters and ended up picking green stuff out of the basic pasta meal! Overall, it was such a nice day... a much needed girl's day out!!

Thursday was full of more shopping (like I said, it was a totally girl-time trip!) and a trip to the playground with Grant!! I can't believe how mobile he is... and how he just talks and talks to everyone he sees! I even fed Grant his dinner... yes, seems like a small task, but you try cramming blended meals into a baby's clenched jaw! ;) We ended the day with a dessert date at El's place... a few of her Army Girlfriends came over!

And then it all headed south... we stumbled upon Friday the 13th! What started as a little lunch in Salado ended in traffic-filled highways leading to Austin! Grant managed to completely burst the bottle... twice! It totally wasn't his fault, just kinda happened, but he ended up covered in formula and schlepping through the stores sopping wet! As we walked through the last store, I underestimated my space and sent a glass vase flying through the store! Luckily, the guy was understanding and we just scurried out of there! Finally, we were loading Grant into the car when we found El's camera... covered in formula... appearing to be most sincerely dead. I tried to chalk it up to "Spilled Milk," but the tears were coming... my time in Texas was coming to an end.

Everyone knows how it feels to be with your true friends... words can't describe the raw emotion that exists in this situation! I didn't want to leave... next time we'll let Geoff stay and have Joe come in, Sirius can entertain Grant (or vice versa), and the picture will be complete!


http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8BZMmzJw5aNx2&notag=1
http://picasaweb.google.com/Richardson.Rory/OperationCheerUpEllie

Simply Irresistable

I'll let El debut the GrantMonster's party photos, but I simply couldn't resist this gem! These two are truly the cutest pair ever!

The rest of the photos are available at: http://picasaweb.google.com/richardson.rory

Rory and Ellie's Long-Awaited Reunion (Elon Homecoming 2007)

We came... we saw... we took a nap!

Yee Haw!

Okay; so aside from my pure excitement about Grant's birth (yes, I did spend all weekend shopping for him, making him onesies and a chug mug, and oogling at the photos of him), the past week has gone fairly well.
Work was sheer hell last week as we were prepping 2 days of meetings and had a powerpoint slide for every meeting! Yes, it was a long week. Tommy left for Hawaii on Friday, so the Richardson Crew went out to dinner on Thursday. The food was quite unremarkable (not sure what I was expecting when choosing Argentinian Steak in Urbana, MD?!), but it was nice to hang out with everyone. We went to Rita's after, so clearly, I was psyched!
Camp is going well for Joe... only a few minor incidents with flashers, biters, and cryers. My favorite "crazy parent" story was the woman who called in to compain that her son had fruit snacks at camp... apparently he has soft teeth and should not be eating such crap. Um okay, we'll take care of that!
This weekend Joey and I got bluetooth headsets for our phones... I was a bit reluctant, but I actually like it a lot! And then, last night Joey help me spend the remnants of my birthday money on an iPod!! I've never had one, so I'm just sooo excited... I've been rocking out to My Chemical Romance all morning!
We also went to see Delirium on Sunday night... it wasn't Cirque du Soleil at its best (read: no crazy acts), but it was visually entertaining and had some good ideas. I loved the way they used all types of media to tell the story, but I don't think Joey liked it too much. It's making me crave Las Vegas and going to see Zumanity, KA, and O!

He's Finally Here!!!

Grant William Childs arrived at 3:35pm on June 19th, 2007 by C-section after 34 hours of labor!! He's 8lbs 6.7 oz and 21 inches long! He's here!

Still No Baby...

24 hours later and still no baby yet!! Waiting...

big, Big, BIG DAY!!!

This past weekend I was in Philly for Allison's Graduation Party and then we had Father's Day dinner at Joe's parents (photos to come later)! But today... For me, I'm just stuck at my desk all flipping day long doing work like it's any other day.

Reason #1 it's a BIG DAY... Joe's first day of camp! He's been workin his tail off all year and the fun starts today at Mountainside. I don't think either of us slept very well last night just because we have so much energy going into this. So, in honor of Joe's 1st day of camp, I'll spend all day making up a dance to his favorite camp song... I 2 I (Eye to Eye) by Powerline from A Goofy Movie! :) :)

Reason#2 it's a BIG DAY... Ellie's having her baby!! Ahhh!!!! The text came at 7:15 this morning, so I can tell this kid's an early bird! I can't wait to find out the gender and name (she hasn't found out the gender and has been way hush about names)!!! I'm jumping out of my skin waiting to hear some news!! Woo Hoo!! :) :) :) :)

Okay, I'm definitely too excited to type... it's a BIG DAY!