Happy Retirement Dad T....

Well its here...Dad T's last day of work. We wish him lots of relaxation and fun in his new found freedom.

And Happy Birthday Susan Miller....you don't look a day over 17.

Olivia's new favorite thing is standing on EVERYTHING, and once she is up and "stable" she throws her hands above her head like a gymnast and yells "TA-DA"...its adorable.

Mom and Dad Worden are looking at Honda Odyssey today...can you imagine them in a mini-van...I am having a hard time. But its cute, they are so excited about their grandchildren that they need to change cars to make it easier to tote them around.

Can I vent for a second....it took me almost 90 minutes to get to work today, what usually takes me 22. On top of that, I had to pee (not very lady-like, I know, but I am pregnant, some of that goes out the window), and THEN, when I pull onto campus it starts pouring, so I basically have to park in the CarMax parking lot, for those of you not familiar with the area, that is FAR away from my building, run inside, in heels and now I look like a drowned rat. Great start to the day huh? Oh yeah, and the "big accident' that caused the super long back up on 288.....no clue, all I saw was a tractor trailer truck pulled over that appeared it had gone into the median...but no other cars were involved. Good Gracious.

And that Duggar family...are you kidding me? 18 Children? 10 Boys and 8 Girls? All with names starting with J? Good God.

And I must confess, our TIVO is overworked, most nights there is at least an hour where its recording two channels and we have to watch a third upstairs...I know I have a problem...

Home Sweet Home

We are home and thankful to be able to rest and relax for an entire day before the work week starts again....what a long, exhausting week. Olivia is thrilled to be home, back with her toys, and back with Riley...she missed him very much.

Brad is off for a nice long ride to clear his head and reduce his stress and I am home sorting through coupons...thrilling isn't it?

Hope everyone has a great week!!! I can't wait for Friday!

GG Turner is now at peace...

We have some sad news to report...Grandma/Great Grandma Turner passed away on Tuesday morning. While its very sad and we will all miss her dearly, we know she was ready to let go and was at peace with her decision. We traveled down to Bassett on Tuesday after we heard the sad news and spent the week with the Turner Family. It was nice to have so much quality family time, but of course we wish the circumstances would have been a little different. Our thoughts and prayers are with Brad's Dad and his Aunt as they deal with the loss of their mother.

On a positive note, Olivia entertained everyone, including all the guests at the "visitation" for those of you northerners that don't know what that is, its the Calling Hours or the Wake. She was hilarious, running around, dancing and singing. She had a blast playing with her cousins Leah and Ellie all week and fell madly in love with their "doggie" Baxter.

I had a quick/emergency visit to Dr. Davis on Monday morning, I had been cramping for a few days and they wanted to see me right away. Everything is A-Okay. Dr. Davis found the baby's heartbeat right away and said not to worry. Of course that is easier said than done considering it only got worse and didn't end up going away until Thursday...but oh well, I can feel the baby kicking so I know its alive and well.

We are looking forward to a quiet Sunday, lots of football and maybe some Taco Soup...

For all you voters...

Emerson Barrett seems to be the front runner right now, but I wanted to ask your opinions...if you recall Olivia's name is Olivia Merritt...would it bother you that your children's middle names rhymed? I can't seem to get over it...so that is one reason why Emerson Barrett hasn't been in the top two for us...

Also, another one to add to the list is: Delaney Emerson....what do you think?

QT for the Girls...& Riley

Brad hopped a plane this morning for a long weekend in "Syracuse" NY. He is a groomsmen in Dan Hicks Wedding. He was looking forward to some male bonding time, along with golf and a whole lot of bourbon. Olivia and I have a very exciting girls weekend planned. We have a date on Friday Night with each other, plan to catch a good Nursery Rhyme show, and then hit the hay early. Saturday will be another Little Gym trip and then on Sunday we have a play date scheduled with April and Anna Tillar. I am hoping we will be able to squeeze in some time at the Children's Museum as well, Liv will love it.

I had a Dr.'s Appointment yesterday, so far so good. Baby Hippo has a strong little heartbeat and is kicking around in there. No weight gain and BP is great. My Dr. is always hilarious at the end of the day, she is always telling me some random story about some crazy patient. Yesterday it was a crazy patient wanted to have a home birth, I couldn't stop laughing at Dr. Davis, she was going off, furious and irate with this woman. She said she quietly asked "Do you wear a seat belt?", the crazy patient said "Yes", and Dr. Davis asked her "Why?", and crazy patient responded "Just in case"...and Dr. Davis just said "I see....." and if you could have only seen her facial expressions, hilarious. The appointment before she was going off about one of her non-pregnant patients bringing her boyfriend in for her "Annual Exam"...he told Dr. Davis he wanted to see what was going on "down there", Dr. Davis told him he was free to check it out at home in his free time, but that an Annual Exam was not "show and tell time". She cracks me up.

Brad's Grandma Turner is holding her own, stable for now. Last weekend we took a quick unexpected trip down to Bassett after we got a disturbing update Saturday morning. She had been rushed to the ER after having trouble breathing at the Nursing Home. We figured that Olivia would help in cheering Dad T up and would bring some joy to the house. Dad T has had a rough few weeks, so we knew he needed some lovin. Grandma T is still in CCU and will likely be there for a while longer, but it looks like the fluid in her lungs is clearly up a little bit. Please send her your thoughts and prayers.

Now on to exciting news....Dad T will be retiring next week. We are all looking forward to the freedom retirement will give him and hope that means we will get to spend more time with him. Now its just Mom T that needs to make the leap...hopefully in the New Year...

Little Gym Star...our Little Birdie

Olivia has found her calling, being a Gym Star....the Little Gym that is. Last weekend was her first class of the Fall Semester, her Dada had to take her while her Momma showered her friends with love, but this weekend it was a family affair, the whole crew, minus Riley piled into the School Bus we call a Yukon XL and headed to The Little Gym. Mind you, its raining cats and dogs out there, but nothing was keeping Olivia away from her Little Gym class....
Brad said last weekend she was by far the most outgoing child there...shocker, wonder where she gets that from? We are just excited she enjoys it, she was a little nervous at her trial class and we weren't sure she would warm up and enjoy herself, but throw those fears out the window, she is a social butterfly. This week was no different...

She loves chasing the bubbles, loves the "uneven bars", and loves just jumping around like a crazy baby. She has had some trouble with the balance beam, she can't seem to get her chubby legs around right infront of her to put them down in a straight line, she has to swing them out around her body to get them infront of her, that lend well to the beam. Oh yeah, and she thinks the Log Roll is for the dirty birds.

Rob and Gretchen Ragsdale are in town for the Richmond NASCAR Race, its great to see the newlyweds, Olivia is pumped to have other people to entertain and screech at.

Singing in the Rain....

Everyone is preparing for the big winds and big rain of Miss Hanna....Brad is sulking because the rain likely means his Mountain Bike Race will be cancelled on Sunday. Leigh is throwing a mini party about it, but Brad just informed her that there is another race he could "participate" in next weekend, actually scratch that, its 3 races in one day...Leigh can hardly wait.



The kids all started school here on Tuesday. Leigh was driving Olivia to her 12 month picture retakes and she saw a family putting their little one on the bus, the Dad was snapping pictures as fast as he could, the Mom was waving and the little boy turned around to wave one last time before stepping on the bus....Leigh had tears streaming down her face. So cute....and so sad all at the same time, in 4 short years it will be Olivia's turn to get on the bus and head to school for the first time....



Olivia is still stuck on this screeching thing, we are hoping its a short phase, because frankly its not very ladylike and its LOUD.



Brad suited up last night for the Redskins first game...Leigh hit the hay around 8:00pm, shortly after putting Olivia to sleep. That is the key to a good nights sleep in this house, the hours before the husband and the dog come to bed. When they jump in bed, Leigh is likely to get a hoof in the face, and is likely to hear Brad chopping logs.