First Road Trip!

First bath!

Not a fan of bath time

First nail clipping! Aunt Darcy is a pro!

Cousin Emma

The 3 Cousins

Claire and Owen

Owen and I headed down to Macon this week to spend time with the cousins and Aunt Darcy. The floors in Owen's room were being refinished so we needed to get out of the house for a few days. We made good use of Darcy's expertise and put her to work clipping Owen's nails and bathing him! Claire was a big help. The good news is that I think Claire has forgiven us for naming Owen something other than Clifford. Emma loved her new baby cousin and his hair. It was a nice visit and Owen handled the hour ride like a champ.

Owen James Bradley

Here I am, world!

November 17, 2009, 1:24 pm

20 1/4 inches long

7.97 lbs

Holding Daddy's hand

First Family Portrait

Chris and the baby monkey

Aunt Darcy holding Owen

Pat, Amy, and Owen

Coming home!

Napping with Baba

Little Owen Bradley arrived November 17, 2009. The day before started like any other- I got up to go to work. By 8:30 I was feeling pretty steady Braxton-Hicks contractions. They weren't painful but I did start writing down the times down just to keep track of them. I called the doctor at 10. She suggested I go home and lay down for a while. Around 2:30, I started wondering if my water broke. It wasn't a big flood like I was expecting, just a trickle. It progressively got worse so I called the doctor back. She asked me to come in for a check. We went straight to the labor and delivery room and were told that it was time to have a baby. I wasn't in active labor so they gave me a mild dose of pitocin to get things started. By morning, I hadn't made much progress so they bumped it up. I started really moving and was ready to go by 10:30. I started pushing at 12:45 and by 1:24 we had a little baby that looked more like Yoda than a human. Luckily that was only temporary! He is so sweet. We are really enjoying figuring out what all of his coos and cries mean. He is gaining weight and is healthy. Who could ask for anything more?

Big Belly Shots

Profile- 37 weeks

Wiped out Claire and the Belly

Sweet Emma- either trying to give a hug away or steal the camera.

Last weekend was the Chomp and Stomp, one of our favorite festivals in Atlanta. Darcy, Jeremy, and the girls came up from Macon to join in the festivities. Here are few shots of Big Momma and her belly- 3 weeks before the due date.

Showered!

My co-workers threw a baby shower for us last week. It was so sweet of them to think about us! The Universal Joint, one of my favorite hang outs in Oakhurst, was the backdrop to a great evening.

Asheville- October Winter Wonderland?!?

Chris and I headed to Asheville last weekend for a final getaway before "Baby Bradley" gets here. We had a great time exploring Asheville. We stayed at the Haywood Park Hotel, which is smack dab in the center of town. We had lots of memorable meals- 2 standouts for dinner were Table and The Market Place. Both used locally sourced ingredients and had amazingly fresh choices. For breakfast, we hit the Early Girl Cafe and Tupelo Honey Cafe. Both were awesome and just what we were looking for.

On Saturday, Chris and I got up and headed to the Blue Ridge Parkway to check out the leaves and do a couple of (small) hikes. We were in for a big surprise when we got to the top and had a small blizzard on our hands. It was beautiful- but I wish I was better prepared for it. Life above 6000 feet is tough! Asheville was a whole 20 degrees warmer!

We went to the Biltmore on Sunday. It was a beautiful day to explore an amazing house and all the grounds. The whole trip was a great way to spend a weekend.

Just in case you were wondering, we found the Bat Cave.

The Biltmore

One of our hikes

Brrrrrr.

It's hard to capture how hard the wind was blowing. It was bone chilling.

Clearly at a lower elevation! We probably were about 3-4 days early for peak leaf color.

The snow is creeping across the mountain

Looking Glass Falls in Pisgah National Forest

I couldn't tie my sweatshirt around my waist!

Chris in front of Mr. Beaver's hut

Fall Fun

Getting bigger!

My class

Tiger!

Chris holding Emma so she could feel the rain

Sisters!

My parents, Aunt Vicki, Uncle Frank and Aunt Cheryl, and Darcy and her family all came into Atlanta a few weeks ago for my baby shower. It was so great seeing everyone and I'm thankful that everyone made the trip to see us! Mom and Dad got to come by the school and see the kids. After that, they headed over to The Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club and got to see the top 30 pros swing it out. The course is next to our school so we are very active in "golf week." Our kids take golf as a class so they really enjoy the excitement!