No place like home

You know how much I love Charleston, right?  Refer here if you ever had any doubt! 

I got the chance to spend the day exploring my favorite cobblestone streets when my sister and two nephews came down for the weekend.  Considering they came to visit in May, i'm a little late on posting but who's counting?!  While the Dads played golf out on Kiawah Island (SO boring) I could think of no better place to take the boys than Waterfront Park.  A true Charleston gem - waterfront swings dangling from wooden arbors, cruise ships, sailboats, tool-arounds and the like all whizzing by, play-friendly water fountains and also the kinds that we just admire, grassy fields, pebble walkways draped with old oak trees, and the glistening Charleston Harbor.  Perfection! 

Man, I love this place!

of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother. - lin yutang

yesterday i....

- scored some serious snuggle time with my pillow and tucker while hubby took care of sully.  sleeping in 'til 9am... delightful

- woke to the smell of bacon (and a feast of other foods)

- got big morning hugs from my favorite little guy in the whole world

- also got 4 sweet cards and 2 thoughtful texts

- soaked up glorious sunshine and cool breezes all day

- was visited by my stepson

- did glitter crafts with the boys on the back porch after breakfast

- savored 2 solo hours at home with my coffee

- went flower shopping

- did a little landscaping

- strolled to the neighborhood pond with hubby, sully, and the fishing pole at dusk

- enjoyed lots of laughing

- even more "i love you's"

- and, for dinner, pigged out on my favorite burger in the world: five guys!

life is good. 

happy mother's day to all!

hippity hoppity easter's on its way

i dyed easter eggs with sully yesterday.  7 cups with 7 colors all lined in a row and he wanted to dip every egg in every color.  even though all 10 eggs came out in varying shades of puke green with cracks galore, it was the most fun i've ever had decorating easter eggs.  oh the love...

we're heading back to my family home tomorrow.  to celebrate easter.  to celebrate john's birthday.  to hunt easter eggs.  to eat and eat and eat and eat - wagon wheel, cookouts, easter lunch.  mmmmmmm.  i've left a note for the easter bunny so sully is sure to get all of his easter surprises.  it should be a fantastic weekend.  pictures to come.....

happy easter.

a whirlwind of days

so many many things to blog about since my last post, only a week and a half ago. last friday, the family packed up and headed for a midnight trip - literally - back to my hometown of lancaster. 

saturday morning came early with a mere 4-1/2 hours of sleep under our belts.  but we made the short trek out to buford, south carolina to cheer my  nephew on at his basketball game.  that's him, way down there... number 15.  we got to spend some good quality time with my sister, brother in law, dad, and my nephew brooks, who was also celebrating his first birthday.  mom stayed home to get the house prepped for the birthday party that afternoon.  riley's team won and it was so awesome to be a part of that. 

john and i also had a pretty good "lol" moment.  as we were walking out of the rec. center, john was complaining that he smelled baby "puke".  i reminded him that the birthday boy had spit up during the game and maybe it was on his shirt.  as we got closer to the car, i began to smell it.  and soon enough we were overpowered.  near gagging, trying to convince john to ditch his shirt and making what i'm sure was a spectacle, we hear this guy from across the parking lot yell, "it's the turkey farm down the road."  now if only blogspot could verbalize the accent.  this guy, who john and i had chuckled at all morning for having his whole family (including the wife) decked out in camo, was the most country feller i've ever heard speak.  it sounded a little more like, "eeets da turrrrkey form down tha rooooad".  we laughed not only at his accent but that he probably hopped in his mud flapped, oversized tires, ford truck and said "stupid city people.  never smelled turkey shit before!"

after a little shopping around town with my sister and some golf for the guys, the entire family came over to celebrate with a birthday party for 2 very special boys - sully (2) and brooks (1).  here are some highlights....

sully's homemade birthday cake... (elmo was courtesy of this gal)

brooks had an adorable dr. seuss cake, made by a local lady in lancaster

sporting his new "2" shirt, specially made by this gal

and checking out his balloons

sully decided that he wanted his cake for dinner.  and on birthdays, we get what we want -



this is what i like to call "drunk on cake"...

sully and mommy

brooks was not a happy camper.  i'm sure he's praying to the toy gods that he never sees this hat again.

so while he was getting squared away, we sang "happy birthday" to sully

and then brooks was ready for his cake.  testing the waters -

getting more into it -

definitely got the hang of it -

the boys had a "few" presents to open.  more like a mound!

and then it was time to crash from all the fun!

with sunday being sully's actual birthday, we decided to take him to the columbia zoo on the way back to charleston - he has been obsessed with "phants" (elephants) lately.  it was a gorgeous, 70 degree, january sunday - that's south carolina for you.  i'm sad to say i don't really have any pictures to post from our excursion because sully was somewhat of a pickle.  it took us two hours of walking around to discover the secret - fish and m&m's.  so next time we go to the zoo, we know to start with that!  ;)

after a quick visit to the hospital to see john's granny, we headed back home as the sun was setting.  sully crashed and i made a quick dash to redbox so john and i could watch "the town" which we've been dying to see.  didn't disappoint!  during the movie, i managed to whip out a batch of birthday cookies for sully to take to daycare on monday and we were all snoring by 10:30.

tuesday brought another trip to lancaster, as my dad checked into the hospital for a triple bypass.  you expect hospital waiting rooms to be exhausting, in the boring kind of way - we had our moments of worry, don't get me wrong - but with 12 members of my family all crammed together it was mostly laughs and good memories.  dad came through his surgery beautifully, ignoring the big scar down the middle of his chest.  i'm sure i will blog about this experience at a later date, but for now he is well and recovering in the hospital until early next week.

by the time i got back to charleston on wednesday, just in time for sully's two-year checkup, i felt like i had been pummeled by one of the zoo lions.  but it took nothing more than a running hug from sully, after 36 hours of worry and wait, to cure me.

a year in review

and what a year it has been.  2010 started off with a bang as we celebrated sully's first birthday and the birth of my nephew, brooks - all in the same weekend!  february brought the first "real" snow charleston has seen in 10 years which worked to sabotage the night of a much anticipated valentine's date with my husband. with february also came the decision to build a house and the start of a grueling construction process.  the next few months were filled with sully's first steps, planning and more planning for mine and john's summer wedding, design decisions for the house, mom's long awaited retirement, the visit of two special friends and their little boy in april, 3 bridal showers, the return of a friend who had been living in france for 8 years, a revelation that my love for photography should be invested in, resulting in the purchase of a bad-mama-jama camera (thanks john!), and a hiatus from blogging for about 3 months (sorry, sorry).  then summer arrived and on june 5th, the stress of all that wedding planning proved its worth as john and i made this thing official and said "i do" at a charming old barn in the pasture land of fort mill, south carolina with 180 of our closest friends and family.  it was bliss.  i'm embarassed to say, though, that i only just visited the social security office today to legally become mrs. courtney ackerman greider.  oops!  less than one month after our nuptuals, construction on the house was done-zo and we closed.  falling in line on the very last day that we could qualify for the $8,000 tax credit - that john just mailed out this morning.  i know.... what is wrong with us?  at the crack of dawn on july 17th, movers showed up at the little apartment that was sully's first home and hauled all of our belongings out to summerville in the sweet neighborhood where everyone waves and sunny days seem just a little bit sunnier.  trying to fill a house over double the size of what we had before was no easy (or cheap) task.  in fact, it was pretty exhausting, but in the past few months we have turned that empty dream house into a home.  there might be worse things to complain about than having too much space.  ;)  july breezed into august which breezed into september where i celebrated my 29th birthday.  i find myself sometimes pushing against the days that lead me into the year that i turn thirty.  i like 29.  just old enough to be considered mature, but not too old to still act young.  you know?  september also brought the fantastic news that my bf, carissa, was pregnant.  which, of course, gave me the baby itch.  but we won't tell john.  shhhhhh!  and in october, the birth of another nephew jackson (to john's sister) made that itch even stronger.  and no, i won't be ending this post by saying that i'm pregnant. in the future, yes.  or hopefully.  but for now, just hopefully.  later that same month gamecock fans across the state went berzerk as we watched our team beat the number 1 team in the country, alabama.  a victorious season for a team that's long overdue.  coming off of that victory, was yet another victory - i found a new daycare for sully.  it was one of the best decisions i have made, to date and he couldn't be more content.  but with the sweet, comes the sour.  days before thanksgiving my sister was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer.  as i type she is at her second chemo treatment with her newly bald head.  the big "c" may have brought on its share of undesirables but they are no match for her humorous and heroic attitude.  holidays in our family have been filled with just as much laughter and joy as all those past.  and maybe a few extra bald heads in show of support.  the christmas season came and went with a new collection of absurd and hilarious stories to add to the pot.  and today i prepare as three boys - my two stepsons and 18 year old brother-in-law - will be coming to visit and celebrate the new year this weekend.  i call it "the landing of the hurricanes."  but there could be no better way to end a year full of such change and new beginnings than to celebrate with the ones i love.  i pray for peace for the families of those who have passed on in 2010 and send light and love to the lives that came in 2010 and are soon to come in 2011.  i send warm wishes to those who don't have the luxury of being with their families this season.  and raise a glass of bubbly to 2011 and all that it shall bring.  HAPPY NEW YEAR!

giving thanks

... my family.  New family and old.  For the years of laughter and warm memories and all the possibilities to come...

pumpkin time

This past weekend Paige, our Mom, and I loaded up the boys and headed out to McLeod's Pumpkin Patch in McBee, SC.  Although the weather was almost unbearably hot, I did manage to snap some great pictures of the boys (and maybe I squeezed in time for some of their famous peach enchiladas w/ a whopping dollop of ice cream)....



Sully



Sully

Brooks, Riley, & Sully

baby Brooks

Riley, Brooks, & Paige

Me and Sully

Riley & Brooks

Riley and Sully

taking time

I was waiting outside one of my favorite Charleston spots (Kickin Chicken) for a to-go lunch order on Tuesday. Thinking. People watching. I looove to people watch. And coming down the sidewalk I spotted a group of 3: Mom, Son (3ish), and Grandmother (i'm assuming). Mom was sprinting to get inside while Granny and baby boy were strolling a good 20 feet back - they were hand holding and laughing. And Mom was missing it! Granted, I don't know the circumstances. Maybe this wasn't even her son. Maybe Granny rarely gets to see baby boy so Mom was giving them space. Maybe baby boy was mad at Mom and didn't want to hold her hand. Maybe Mom had explosive diarrhea. I don't know. My eyes can only interpret what they saw... and that was a Mom who was not present in a beautiful moment with her Son and Mother.

It made me sad. Not really sad for the boy because he looked content. It made me sad for Sully; and for me (if that makes any sense)… sad for all the moments where that may have been me – rushing and not pausing to enjoy hidden moments that may never come again. Although Sully and I have many, MANY great moments together, I know there are times that I miss out and don't even realize. Like when I opt to surf the internet while John takes him for a stroll outside or when I coerce him to play with his toys so I can catch up on Young & the Restless.

And it’s not just with Sully. There are so many things happening in my life that I speed through and don’t appreciate until they’re over. I have this strange tendency to enjoy events more in theory than when they actually occur because I allow stress to dominate my other emotions. It can be one of the great obstructions from life’s pleasures and one that I frequently combat. Case in point - the day I was fitted for my wedding gown. I should have been GLOWING. Instead I was hurried and flustered because it was a “hectic” day. I had to make a conscious effort to stop and savor that moment. Indulge in the fact that the wedding dress I had been waiting months for was lying in the back of my car and it was just as beautiful as I had anticipated.

Sitting there in the Kickin Chicken parking lot, I resolved myself to get caught up in the little moments with Sully (and with everything for that matter). As fate would have it, I got a lesson all too soon. Sully had a seizure (his first) 4 hours after my lunch revelation. Seizures are not a part of my vocabulary. No one in my family has ever had one, I have never had one, and don’t have any friends that have them. So when the daycare called to tell me, unthinkable images began to sprout through my mind. Fortunately (I guess you could say), the doctor said it was due to a fast spike in his fever brought on by pneumonia and a double ear infection which apparently is common. Regardless of how serious or not, that was enough of a jolt for me. Like a sign from God. It feels so cliché saying it but I will anyway – we are not promised any amount of days on this earth and right now, starting today, I want to make sure that whether its 20 days or 20,000, I live them the best that I possibly can. That I max out as much caring and sharing, fun and laughter as I possibly can so that Sully’s life can be full of great days and one day he we can look back and think "what a wonderful life".

wifey

that's right! on the perfect day of june 5th, i choked back (happy) tears as my dad escorted me down an aisle of fresh grass to the oh-so-handsome groom standing at the other end. there, overlooking breathtaking hillsides of pasture in the heat of a southern afternoon, we said "i do" and shared a night of dining and dancing with our friends and family in a beautifully restored 1940's barn.

i'll say it again - perfect!

it's incredible to me how one day, one afternoon even, gave me so much more than just a husband that i adore. it added a new meaning to my life. a security i've never completely known. it offered me the clarity of appreciating the friends and family who truly, deeeeeply love us - those who will be there to celebrate in life's joyous moments and on whom we can lean in the harder ones. beyond invaluable.

i am blessed. we are blessed.

love

me and my boys


me and my beautiful sister


and a happy birthday celebration for my nephew

7 candles

Happy Birthday to my sweet, smart, comedic little nephew. 7 years has gone so fast.

firsts and seconds

Sully had a big weekend of firsts (and seconds)...

He has transformed himself from a completely immobile baby to a little boy who locks his legs and stands when I go to pull him into a sitting position. Power legs! You can tell that he thinks it's just the coolest thing ever - he knows he's doing something big. He started doing this last week but I just captured the first pictures this weekend.




On Sunday he rolled over for the first time, completely on his own - he did it 4 times. Sadly I don't have a picture of this moment but I took these cute ones of him (lifting his head like a big boy) with John.


Also on Sunday, he got the opportunity to eat his first food - sweet potatoes (yum!). I think he was a little confused about what to do with his tongue and whether or not he should swallow the unknown substance being shoved in his mouth, but all in all I would say those 5/6 bites went pretty well.


After the stress of learning new things, we decided it was time to take a break so we headed to the pool (Sully's 2nd time in the pool water). He enjoyed it more the second time around and didn't seem too embarassed that mommy had on the same swimsuit as a little neighbor girl, also in the pool. Looks like it's time to go shopping. He was really getting into it until a big nasty storm blew in and blew us right on home.



After all that action, what baby wouldn't be pooped?