2/28/05: still rainy and cool… got a call from Barry’s cousin, Nick, and his girlfriend, they are flying out of Atlanta tomorrow morning and heading to Costa Rica… they asked if they could crash at our place for the night - OF COURSE!!! PatPat and I cleaned up a bit and just kinda relaxed and chilled. patpat then made a nice steak dinner (for barry - he’s been getting tired of all the beggies and salads!!). Nick and Kris got in later in the eve, very neat individuals, we’d never met before, so it was cool, wish we could have hung out longer, but everyone was tired and i think we finnally all were out somewhere around midnight… PatPat slept out on the couch and gave Nick and Kris the bedroom with JT… JT slept through the night!!!

2/27/05: rainy, wet, cool day in Atlanta… so we didn’t do much. PatPat and Kim went to gym and did another good cardio session, then kim came home and tagged team it with Barry - so then barry and kim went to waffle house, had breakfast and then went and met kenny at the gym (kim went in sauna while barry did his cardio) - we worked out shoulders with weights and then came home… kenny came with, then jumped in car with kim and we went to canton to do a drive-by of house and let kenny see it first hand!! HE LOVES IT TOO!!! Barry stayed back and plugged tire for kenny, patpat stayed home with JT and made soupbeans (pinto bean soup) for Barry. Was a lazy evening - hungout and worked on website and printed pictures and such to send off to kim’s family in florida. JT is getting to know PatPat real well - he watches her intently while she’s in the kitchen cooking.

2/26/05: Kim and PatPat left JT with Daddy and headed to the gym for a good cardio workout… patpat was sweatin, but doing darn good!!! very proud of her… we didn’t do weights with her - she’ll start those after she gets used to GOING to the gym… Came home to JT, Daddy, and Licorice all passed out cold in the bed together - be sure to check out the pictures (which i’ll try to get posted this eve). We then all showered and shaved and headed up to Canton to meet with realtor - made verbal offer official on paperwork, followed realtor to the house to drop off the paperwork and then took another walk around the house inside and out!!! (we cant get enough of it - we’re soo excited!!!) After the walk-through, we toured around canton a bit and then went on a roadtrip just north of canton and got lost in northern GA, southern TN and SC for a while… stopped and had BarBQ lunch at some famous hole-in-the-wall and then headed home for some much needed rest and relaxation. JT, was passed out for most of the trip - we’re gonna start putting stickers of places he’s been on his carrier - have carrier, will travel!!

2/25/05: ran errands and such most of the day - Kim and Barry went to gym late in the even for a good cardio session, then stopped at Starbucks and had tea/latte… our first “date” without JT in-tow… we didn’t stay long, we missed PatPat and JT!!!

2/24/05: PatPat went with mommy to drop JT off for his half-day at “school” (really it was cuz mommy wanted her to check the place out and give a nod of approval). PatPat was impressed, the “school” is pretty darn cool. Then we went to see the accountant to give him paperwork so he could prepare Barry and Kim’s taxes, we lucked out BIG TIME… we originally thought we’d be looking at owing a whole lotta money, but seems we were able to break even - YEE HAW! Well, at least on federal, state taxes are still to be determined. We then picked JT up after running a few errands and headed out to Canton and met with realtor to pick up paperwork and have another look at the house… inside!! Patpat fell in love! She’s extremely excited for us!!! We even met the current owner, she made us coffee and everything… cross all fingers and toes that everything goes okay with the house… we are hoping to close on April 4th, 2005!!!! Mommy and Daddy met up with Kenny at the gym, had a great workout (even did 4 sets of lunges!) and then decided midway through cardio that we needed to go have some Mexican… hahaha - so we swung by house, picked up patpat and JT and went out for Mexican and a margarita!!!

2/23/05: JT and Mommy picked up Gramma PatPat from the airport, it was a gorgeous day so we stopped for mexican lunch on an outside patio (patpat had to get her fix, we cant find ANY Mexican restaurants in South Florida that even come close to ONE of the 100s here in Atlanta). We then headed home, no sooner had we put her suitcase in the room and sat down we got the call from Barry… THEY VERBALLY ACCEPTED OUR OFFER ON THE HOUSE!!!! WOOHOOOOOOO!!! What does Kim do? Well, she packs PatPat and JT in the car and heads up to Canton to show PatPat the new house (driveby only… okay, so we drove by it 3x’s!!). SHE LOVED IT!!!! We then headed back to apartment, pulling in the same time as Barry and decided to celebrate - so we went out to dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse (we’ve become regulars there). Barry got to have a few beers and mommy had a pina coloda!!! yummy!

2/20/05: Had a pretty relaxed day overall - Mommy and Daddy didn’t do much of anything until they got word that Mammy and Pap would be stopping by for dinner on their way home to TN from their cruise port in FL. SO, we went on a wild cleaning spree - actually, it wasn’t that bad - we had an idea they may stop in and we had about 3hrs heads-up. Wish that could happen more often - got a nice clean place and it only took a few hours!!! hahah We had pizzas waiting for them and they got to see JT and tell us about their cruise, sounds like they had a blast!!! Uncle Cal and Aunt Vickie (who were riding with Mam and Pap) got too see the digs in Atlanta and spend some one-on-one time with JT. They all looked exhausted, yet left after their short visit for about 4more hours on the road until they got home in TN.

2/20/05: Lazy day… Mam and Pap (and Pap’s brothers and their wives) returned from their 7day cruise today. We’re just wondering and dreaming about our first house and what we’ll hear back tomorrow on the offer we put in. Gramma PatPat comes in on Wednesday for a week’s stay - Mommy may be a tad more excited than JT at this point!! JT is growing like a weed and sleeping less during the day - he doesn’t like to be held and cuddled much either, he’d much rather be by himself in swing or on the floor - free to look around, and kick and smile. He’s getting better at holding his head up and also learning to use his hands (he now reaches and touches his keys that hang from his floor toy - its funny to watch, cuz he concentrates sooo hard just to hit them and watch them move). Cant believe he’ll be 8weeks old this coming Wednesday… already. Wow, time flies….

2/19/05: We went and looked at our house again (haha - we keep calling it our house - sure hope we get it - or we’ll be very distraught). We put an official offer in on it - now we wait… should know next step before 2pm on Monday. We went to Longhorn Steakhouse to celebrate - breaking our diet, a little… but we actually were not that bad. JT got to taste some sweet potatoes on his pacifier - he’s becoming addicted to sweets already - just like his Daddy. Daddy’s been doing good, although, mommy woke the next morning to find a pez dispenser and the extra pack of pez emptied by daddy - laying off the candy is proving to be very hard for him - but he’s doing GREAT with the fight against tobacco!!!

2/18/05: ohhh nooo - JT got his first taste of a popsicle (cherry) and man was it funny, he couldn’t get his tongue to move fast enough. Then when Daddy finished it - JT cried and threw a fit, so we got another one (grape this time). He never tasted anything so good - good thing it was bath night - cuz he had a cherry and grape moustache that went above his nose and below his chin (and then he had a few licorice hairs stuck to it) - we got a few pics, i’ll get them posted soon.

2/16/05: JT’s 2nd Day at DayCare (forgot the camera again!!) - right now there are only 3 other boys in his class and two caregivers, so he gets LOTS of attention. The take photos of him and make albums and stuff - they even got a picture of him on the wall… ALL GUMS (mommy hasn’t even gotten a photo of him smiling that big yet). They really wore him out though - cuz again, he slept all afternoon AND all night and barely would wake to eat. Mommy caught up on some sleep and chores.

2/15/05: Daddy went to dentist today - yikes! Lots of work to be done, but his teeth looked and felt so good he decided to quit chewing tobacco - YEA!!!!! (he was also told to lay off the candy, which has proven to be harder to quit than the tobacco). Licorice went to vet today for a 2nd follow-up to her knee surgery - she’s now allowed to go back to full use of leg - but dr wants to see her again in 4wks, additional surgery not completely ruled out yet.

2/15/05: JT’s first day at Day Care (start of a 2wk trial - mommy forgot to bring the camera)… Daddy refused to go with and drop him off, Mommy cried… JT, well, he ws bright-eyed and bushy-tailed looking around at all the new things to see… he only went for half day 8a-2:30p. Mommy called ONLY 2x’s to check up on him (but she wanted to call more)… all the new stuff must have wore him out, cuz he slept most of the afternoon at home and still slept is normal night regime (which is now about 5-6hrs). Mommy and Daddy are now back to gym fulltime, we’ve got a schedule going, Daddy goes around 8:30pm and then mommy goes around 9:45pm (good thing gym closes at 11pm). To help Mommy get back on track - we started back to eating healthier and cutting out the crap - no more burgers and fries (another reason we had pizza last night - one last hurrah!).

2/14/05: Valentine’s Day! We agreed to spending ONLY $25 each - and the deal was also to see how creative you could get with only $25… Mommy bought two “manly” picture frames and printed out 1 photo of us together and one of JT alone for his desk at work (and then had pizza and beer waiting for daddy when he got home - since he’s not allowed either very often!!). Daddy wrote Mommy a very nice 3 page letter and broke the rules and got Mommy a day at the spa which included full body massage, manicure and pedicure - woo hoo! (but mommy eventually cancelled, knowing that money is best to be put towards the new house we’re looking at - but she’ll be sure to cash it in before next Valentine’s Day!!) JT got his first Valentine’s Day card in the mail from Gramma PatPat… Along with a little pocket change to go buy himself an ice-cream cone!!

2/12/05: We had appointment to go look at the house we like soo much - our appointment was at 4:30p, but apparently the current owner (who’s selling it cuz she’s sick and cant take care of it anymore) just had surgery and asked to cancel… good thing - cuz at that same time we found out Barry had to make a trip to Nashville to pick up supplies for a job he had to do fist thing Sunday morning. Since we were already 45min north of home, we all went of the ride (a family trip - licorice too!). We didn’t make it back to Atlanta until about 2am Sunday morning… everyone was completely wiped out!! (but Daddy still got up and made it to job site on time at 6:30am - U GO BOY!)

2/9/05: Well, we do not want to, but Mommy has to start thinking about when she’s going back to work, that means we had to start looking at day cares. We found one that seems to be a bit different than the others - we went for a tour of it and have decided to try it out next week with two half-days. I think the “trying it out” is more to ease Mommy and Daddy’s anxieties than it is for JT. Here’s the website for Foundations Day Care. It actually looked pretty good - we even asked if they had special-care options for 30year olds.

2/6/05: Today we went and looked at the inside of our favorite house - we both LOVE IT… now we are seeing what we have to do to get it, number crunching and research… ugh! JT slept through the walk-thru of the house.

2/5/05: We’ve started looking at houses pretty hard. Our lease is up here on 4/14. We’ve not decided for sure if we’re extending or not, but we did spend all day today looking at houses all around northern atlanta. Here’s our favorite house.

2/1/05: Mommy works hard to get the website updated with all the latest pictures from our first of many journeys. Since we have no family living in Georgia, we are hounded daily by our extensions to keep the website updated… [grin] We’re doing our best!!!
Mommy goes back to gym!!!!!