BREAKING NEWS

This is my baby sleeping....


This is my baby sleeping.... NOT in my house!

That's right. Lily Ann is spending her first night away from us tonight. **insert tears**

Her Grandma and Granddaddy watched her today while we went to Chattanooga for some touristy fun. I thought we would be back late so I decided (to quote my mother) 'make her dreams come true' by letting Lily stay the night with them. She has waited anxiously for this moment so even though we got back to town around 7, I am letting her stay.

We had dinner with the Rookie and Sara tonight and are about to go to sleep. So far, I've made it through the day/night without tears. Lucas is much more upbeat (either that or trying to keep me from a break down) and is charting this as a milestone of Lily's growth. :(

I miss my daughter!

To make matters worse, they are dog sitting Rafa. So I don't have my little puppy to distract me.

Rafa sleeping at Grandma and Granddaddy's house

I miss you, Lily and Rafa!

P.S. Thank you, Grandma and Granddaddy, for keeping me updated with photos. It helps..... a little.

Team Rookie

If you have been reading for a while, you may remember Team Ashley from last year's marathon. Unfortunately, Team Ashley was disbanded this year because I'm freaking 8 months pregnant and not running any marathon! But our good friend, THE ROOKIE (see him there on the left), decided he would step in and run this year's marathon. Well, to be honest, he has taken this whole running thing very seriously. He trains hard and is actually quite good. He is one of those people I refer to as 'real runners', whereas I am just a 'fake runner'.

So this year, Lucas and I bundled up and hit the road to do a bit of marathon spectating and cheering. I have to tell you: marathon spectating isn't easy. But I think back to my experience from last year and realize it is much easier than putting one foot in front of the other for 26.2 miles. Yes, I prefer to drive.

At the start and Mile 2, Lucas decided to share some inspiration with the runners:
A lot of runners complimented us on the sign but we had a few negative remarks. I don't think they would have been encouraging me to run so much if they would have seen the belly I was hiding behind my sign.

Well, The Rookie enjoyed it and that is all that matters. Here is his smiling face at Mile 2:

Since the "Hurry Up" sign got such rave reviews, Lucas took out his next masterpiece at Mile 6:

Now I think this is absolutely hilarious! Almost There! Only 20 more miles to go! Haha! The traffic guard and most of the runners were laughing along with us.... only a few sarcastic remarks. Oh, well! You can't please everyone! And let me tell you: a good laugh and keeping the spirits up does wonders in the midst of 26 miles. I think we were doing good and spreading cheer..... for the most part.

We got the little rascal out for Mile 15.
He stayed bundled up with his daddy and waited for The Rookie.
I did my part....
And The Rookie's girlfriend and her friend were out to cheer him on at this spot...

Can you tell they are big New Kids on the Block fans?

He was still all smiles at this point! Go Rookie!
We caught up with The Rookie again in our neighborhood at mile 19.

We had an especially encouraging sign at this spot between mile 21 and 22 ~ which will go unpublicized. Funny... I don't remember him smiling at that one. Haha!

Then it was time to load up and meet him at the finish line...


Wow! Can you see that time?
3 hours, 52 minutes. I have to tell you.... this is like an hour and a half faster than me. Told you he was a 'real runner'.


Not sure if he was covering tears or the painful look in his face here....

But the look of agony quickly turned to a smile once he saw us all there to tell him how proud we are of him and what a great job he did! He really did do awesome! I am totally in awe.

Some lovin' from the GF

We love you, Rookie!
Great job!

I used to be an All Star

Some times I reminisce about the good ole' days of youth softball. I gave it up when I was about 12 for tennis ~ which I love and still play and it payed for my college, so I guess that was the right decision ~ but the team spirit and ponytails and victory meals and All Star games are hard to beat.

I tried to rekindle my old softball flame recently with a trip to the batting cages. It was so much fun! I think maybe after the baby comes I'll look for an adult softball league to join. Or.... I might have my hands full with a newborn. But it is nice to dream about putting on a jersey and hitting the field again!

Pictures of me, Lucas, and The Rookie

Happy Birthday, Rookie!

Great Party!

Thirsy Thursday

Yes, every Thursday home game our local baseball team has Thirsty Thursdays - $2 beer - to draw people to the games. The Rookie's girlfriend (Yay! The Rookie has a girlfriend. I can tell you it has been a long time since he has had one of those. I mean a long time.) gets free tickets from work and another guy in our group gets some tickets, too. So that means free entry (I like anything free) and cheap beer. You really can't beat that, folks!

Last night had to be one of the most epic Thirsty Thursday that I've ever been to. Unfortunately, Lucas was on his way back from a business trip so missed all the action, but there were about 12 of us there to enjoy everything local baseball has to offer..... which may or may not have included some woman telling us we were good looking kids, too bad we were going to hell. Wow. We told her we'd see her next Thursday. Haha! A legendary night at the ballpark, indeed.

On a side note, our persistence paid off and we finally got #10 to give Tammy a ball....
After the game, she got his autograph....
.... and his number. Work it, girl!

My Wednesday Nights...

(Yes, Lucas is wearing a motorcycle helmet. No Lucas does not now - nor will he ever - own or drive a motorcycle.)

Every week, our tight group of friends goes to eat Mexican on Wednesday nights. We have coined these our "family dinners", with Lucas and I and our rambunctious 'sons'. Kyle (bottom right) is the problem child and always misses out. But he is leaving us soon for a job in Boston, so he decided he would return to the family for the last few weeks.

This week we all watched Lucas play soccer after work (where he scored a goal - Go Lucas!) then headed over to the restaurant. Over dinner - we discuss work, life, and of course - girls. There are serious moments and there are hilarious moments. We are there to support (or harass) each other through them all. But nothing leaves the table. Everything discussed stays 'within the family'.

I love having these boys around. They are so much fun and truly good friends! Kyle, we are going to miss you!

Another One Bites the Dust

(a symbolic 'pouring out' picture as two of my boys - Rookie and O.B. (top right) - are entering 'relationships')

Go Fetch!

We had a great weekend (despite the 6 hours of yard work Saturday morning) and I wanted to tell you all about it on Monday - but that pesky thing called work got in the way. I've been really busy and haven't blogged since Friday (Note: I'm going to ignore the 1100+ unread blog posts in my reader).

And I don't have much time now - I'm off to play tennis for the third night in a row and Wednesdays are Mexican nights with friends! But I wanted to share some cute pictures of our little Rafa from this weekend.

We went to watch our friend - The Rookie (he has been wanting a tag since forever ago and I keep telling him he'll get one but never pull though... today is your lucky day, BC) - play tennis. We took Rafa along to watch...

He was being a good boy and cheering The Rookie on!After we watched a while, we took Rafa over to the ballfields to play fetch.
Rafa loves getting off his leash and running all over the place. Crazy dog!!
Problem is - he doesn't always bring the ball back....

He had a lot of fun but was definitely ready for some rest and relaxation afterward...

What a life!