Archive Page 2

24
May

back at it

By Matt 0 Comments
Categories: Sam, random and house

Well this is my first post from Christiana, TN in my new office. It has definitely been a busy past week. Long story short, last Friday we closed on our house and Saturday we proceeded to pack it up and move it in. Any move is usually a stressful and chaotic endeavor and this was our first move with a baby, so it was a new experience. We have been somewhat nomadic in our time being married, this will be the 4th place in less than 2 years that we’ve called home, and 5th if you count the month we lived with Heather’s grandparents in ‘05 while we waited for our townhouse to finish being built. I can sincerely say now that I AM DONE moving for a loooooooooong time. It feels good to have a place where we know we’re going to be for a long time, and it’s fun to think about everything that we’re going to get to experience here with Sam and whoever else might come along (nothing is being planned yet Mom, don’t get too excited). Here is a pic from the day we closed..

I am a little disappointed with myself because I hardly took any pictures during our move, but I guess I was distracted by everything going on. Now that we’ve settled in a bit I’m going to make an effort to get back into the habit of taking pictures and posting more regularly. It took most of this week, but I think that we are nearing the point of being totally unpacked and everything is generally where it should be. I still have a few things to do like properly install the mailbox outside. It’s in the ground right now but not sturdily. I get to cement the hole this weekend and also plant some more grass seed. I feel like a real home-owner now. I felt like one at the townhouse, but here I actually have to take care of the yard and the other outside stuff.

Greta came home today from Heather’s grandparents house, sporting her new haircut. She spent the first hour of so inspecting the various areas of the house and getting used to it all. It will be good when Graham comes back next week, we’ll be a whole family again.

 

Today we also got Sam’s photo gallery link from the photographer we used in Kingston Springs, her name is Mandy Johnson. We’re really happy with the results. You can check out the slideshow by clicking on the “Just 4 You Proofing” link and entering “mosley” into the password field. I will have more to post tomorrow with more pictures, I promise. Here are some pics of the little man from the past couple of days to hold you over until I take more. Sometimes he gets this look on his face that he just needs to think for a minute about what is going on. During these times, his pacifier is of no interest to him.

17
May

For Emily

By Matt 0 Comments
Categories: Sam, random, video and house

Howdy there. I was doing great for a while there posting everyday but i’ve missed a few lately, sorry about that. It’s been good and busy around here. We got a call from our real estate agent on Monday and we had a walk-through at the house yesterday afternoon. Everything looked good for the most part, a few little things here and there to clean up and fix, but we’re officially closing on the house tomorrow morning at 9am. We’re going to be so glad to have this done and over with. It’s sort of the last step in us getting settled into things over the past few months. First it was the sale of the townhouse, then the move into the apartment followed shortly after (3 days later, to be exact) by Sam’s birth and now the move into the house, all in the past 2 months. So needless to say we’re ready to work on some roots. This week has been pretty busy getting everything ready to move, but I think we’re looking good. Hopefully by Saturday night I will be posting from my new office in Christiana.

Emily posted a comment asking for some more video, and it was my pleasure to provide it. Here is a little movie of some various Fclips over the past couple of days. Hope you enjoy, talk to you later.

13
May

First Mother’s Day and a Ton of Pictures

By Matt 0 Comments
Categories: Sam, random, Nana and Papa and house

We had a great weekend. Nana and Papa came into town on Friday and we spent most of our time with them. The weather was beautiful so we took the opportunity to get out of the apartment a lot over the past 2 days. Yesterday we got up and met my parents at Cracker Barrel for some breakfast and from there we headed out to Opry Mills for a while. On the way there Sam had a major blow-out, probably his most impressive so far. We had to change all of his clothes and throw away the onesie that he had on, there was no saving that one. Here are some pictures of the event. Don’t worry, I’m not pulling a Brittney Spears and driving with him on my lap.

At Opry Mills my dad and I split off from the girls and Sam so we could do some shopping for Mother’s Day. I got Heather a bracelet with an aquamarine stone on it, which is Sam’s birthstone. I’m always a little nervous picking out jewelry for her, but she says she loves it, so I’ll take that as a job well-done. After a while Sam started to get tired of the mall scene, so we left and got him some lunch in the Jeep before we headed over to the Caney River Fish Camp for a little lunch for ourselves.

After that we were all pretty tuckered out so we decided to part ways for a little while and take naps before we met back up later in the afternoon. We came home and did our best to rest for a little while, it’s not quite as easy as it used to be for some reason. My parents came back over and we took them out to the house so they could see the progress. Unfortunately there wasn’t much progress that Heather and I noticed from the last time we were out there earlier in the week, so I’m trying to be optimistic about it. We supposed to close on Thursday of this week, so they have a lot of work to do before then. They’ve been telling us for a while that we might close early, so I’ll be pretty disappointed if we end up closing late instead. We’ll see. We’re very ready to get this move over with and get settled.

Today I got up at 6 and headed to church to play for the 3 Sunday morning services, and my parents, Heather and Sam all came to the 11 o’clock service. After church we went to Panera to get some lunch before my parents headed off back to Knoxville.

After they left we tried to take a nap again but again found it difficult. It’s not necessarily that Sam keeps us awake, it’s just that we’re not good at utilizing the time when he’s asleep to sleep a little bit ourselves. We usually get distracted by talking or cleaning or something and by the time we’re done Sam is waking back up and ready to socialize. It was a really pretty day today so we decided to take Sam to the park for the first time. It was awesome. He was awake the whole time and seemed to really enjoy being outside. We took tons of pictures and video and I want to make that a regular thing. It was relaxing.

 

It started to get a little chilly after a while so we packed everything up and headed over to Camino Real for some dinner. Camino was the restaurant we were at when Heather went into labor, so it was a fitting place to spend our first Mother’s Day together. It seems like we eat out all of the time, and I guess we sort of do, but we figure that we won’t always be able to and once we move out to Christiana it will be a lot harder to make it out as often. Plus we didn’t really bring much to cook with to the apartment, knowing that we’d only be here for a little while. So it will be nice to get back into the routine of picking out recipes and cooking dinner every night again. Tomorrow starts another week, and hopefully it will be a good one that ends with us closing on our new home, I will keep you “posted”. Good night!

11
May

Kingston Sprung

By Matt 0 Comments
Categories: Sam, random and house

Today was Sam’s first scheduled photo shoot. It was supposed to be his infant session, but we didn’t book it soon enough so he’s a little bigger than we would have liked. We could have just waited until his 3 month shoot but we say that you can’t have too many pictures, so what the heck. We found a photographer out of Kingston Springs that who’s work we were impressed with so we made the drive out there today. Her name is Mandy Johnson and we had a lot of fun with her. Sam wasn’t completely into it, so we had to get creative in finding ways to capture him in his moments of happiness. I’ll post more about the pics when we get them back.

On the way back we detoured through Franklin to pick up the Jeep from the shop and found out that the repair was much cheaper than I thought it was going to be, so that made my day. While in Franklin we could see and hear a storm in the direction of Murfreesboro and sure enough just as we left we drove into a huge rainstorm and it’s been raining hard here ever since.

We got back just in time to straighten up the apartment in time for Papa (my dad) to come over with some tasty BBQ. A couple hours later my mom, Nana, arrived from Knoxville with Graham.

For those who don’t know, Heather and I have 2 dogs, Graham and Greta, but they were forced to go live with different relatives while we’re in the apartment, but soon they’ll be reunited. Graham has met Sam a few times and has shown alot of interest in him. It almost seems like he was immediately drawn to him and wants to be right next to Sam all the time.

 

Tomorrow we will take Nana and Papa out to the house so they can see the progress and then who knows. The day is ours, so I’ll report back tomorrow night with our crazy Saturday stories. In the meantime, sleep well.

09
May

Who Is Jacob?

By Matt 0 Comments
Categories: Sam and random

Did anyone watch Lost tonight? It was a good one. But who is Jacob? Every time you think you’re about to get a question about that show answered, another 4 pop up. Anyway, on to the events of the day. There isn’t really too much to report from today, outside of it being Wednesday and going over to the Foutches to watch American Idol and Lost. Tonight was a little bit different, us guys left the Foutches after American Idol and went over to join Chris at the McMurtry house to watch Lost. Anna comes to the Foutches on Wednesdays while Chris stays home with Grace, so we thought we could go hang with him and give the girls some gossip time. Poor Sam had to stay with Mama though, so hopefully later he will tell me all the juicy stuff. Tomorrow my parents, Nana and Papa, are coming to town so hopefully I’ll have more exciting stuff to report over the weekend.

08
May

Over The River and Through the Woods

By Matt 0 Comments
Categories: Sam and random

Today started out for me with a service planning meeting at church. I’ve started to go on Tuesday mornings to meet with some of the staff and a few others to offer ideas on how to improve our Sunday morning services creatively. I really have enjoyed being a part of the New Vision ministry, playing music and doing graphic stuff for the sermon series’, and I’m excited about taking another step in helping them mold the services a little bit more. While I was gone Heather and Sam got up and went to Franklin to hang out with Gigi, G-Daddy, Lori, Kathleen, Kellie and Madison. They’ve been spending a lot of time in Franklin lately, and I know her Grandparents are loving it. I was supposed to go to a meeting at the Mad Dancer office this afternoon but we got bogged down with some projects so I stayed here and worked on those instead. After I finished what I needed to I went to Franklin and met up with everyone there. G-Daddy offered to take us to the little Mexican restaurant in Nolensville, so we gladly accepted. As we were walking in Heather’s Aunt Andrea and Uncle Larry pulled up, so they joined us for dinner. After we ate Heather and Andrea walked down the street to a little children’s clothing shop called Anna’s Attic, where she proceeded to buy another outfit for the boy that I am not a fan of. We have this on-going discussion about how long babies can get away with wearing unisex clothing. Well, let me rephrase that, clothing that is meant for boys, but that I see as being unisex. A little boys collar does not need frilly lacy junk on it, and his pants don’t need to look like either a) a skirt or b) MC Hammer pants with light blue checkers on them. I’m just sayin’. I’m all for him having some nice outfits, even “dressy” outfits, they are necessary. But there is a line there that we are still working to define. The outfit he came home from the hospital in (see earlier posts) is nice, I like that one. It’s distinctly boyish enough for me. But I’m not having his first pictures taken in a white gown with a puffy-tailed bunny on it, I’m sorry. I don’t care how many females tell me that it’s “sooo cute!”. He’s going to look awesome in his Titans jersey though, I’ll tell you that! Here are some pics from the day. Talk to you tomorrow.

 

ps - I am being sliiiiightly sarcastic with the whole clothes rant. We all know that if Mama wants his pictures taken in that outfit, then it is going to happen.

07
May

Monday Sunny Monday

By Matt 0 Comments
Categories: Sam and random

I drove to Franklin this morning for a production meeting at the Mad Dancer offices, and it was a beautiful day to get out of the house. Mid-70s and not a cloud in the sky. I’m starting to drive Heather’s car a lot more so that when I’m gone she can have the Jeep in case she needs to take Sam anywhere. Her car has a sunroof though, so days like this make it fun to drive. While I was gone Lori, Kathleen and Sarah Gharib came over to visit. After I got home I did some work and Heather and I decided to try and go out for a date tonight, so we called Leah (Heather’s sister) and had her come over to baby-sit while we got some Don Pablos. It was nice, we’re trying to make an effort to go out once a week or so just the two of us so we can talk and have a little us time. It’s not easy at all, Heather called Leah at least 3 times during dinner to check on random stuff. It sounds cliche and predictable, but we really do find it hard to leave him and when we’re out it seems like all we talk about it him. Heather almost broke down at the table tonight when a couple came in with what looked to be a brand-new baby boy and sat right behind us. She couldn’t stop looking at him and I was waiting for the water-works. She did good though and held it together. I mentioned this in another post, but when she cries I am worthless. I almost become desperate in trying anything I can do to make her feel better. I know it’s probably suffocating sometimes and sometimes it is something that just doesn’t need to be made better, but I can’t help but try. I love my lady. It’s amazing though how having a child will make you aware of the little things you do. I’ve never really thought of being any other way with my wife, but now that I am responsible for teaching a child how to act and react to things, I can’t help but question the way I react to things myself. Is it bad that I’m so vulnerable to my wife’s emotions? Will that make me a push-over dad? Where is the balance between being caring and being weak? It’s all very intimidating, but it’s nothing I didn’t expect either. I’m thankful for the parents that I had, and I only hope I can show the same kind of love and understanding that my parents showed me, while they fostered in me a deep sense of respect.

Anyway, this post went serious quickly, eh? We noticed the night before last that Sam had scratched his nose, so we looked at his fingernails yesterday morning but didn’t think they were toooo long, so we decided not to try and cut them yet. But then today he went and dug himself on the other side of this nose, so I think tomorrow we’re going to try and trim his nails. Tomorrow will be another Franklin day for a meeting, but I’m sure Heather and Sam will have lots of good stuff to report when I get back. Talk to you then.

06
May

Weekendo De Mayo

By Matt 0 Comments
Categories: Sam, random, Mimi and Grandy and house

This weekend was a good one. Mimi was in town and most of the day yesterday and today was spent with her and the rest of the Waggoner family. Yesterday Heather, Sam and Mimi all got up and went to Franklin to be with Heather’s Grandparents. I wanted to go but needed to do some work on a pressing deadline, so I let them go without me and did my best to knock out my work while they were gone. From what it sounds like, they had a good time without me.


G-Daddy and Michael playing Skip-Bo


Elise getting in some Sambo time


Michael, Aunt Pam and Mimi being entertained


Greta, secretly plotting something. What exactly, we’re not sure yet.

After they came back we went out to the house to show Mimi, and we are starting to think that we will be good to close on our contract date, which is May 17th. They keep telling us it might be early, but there is a lot left to do before it’s ready, so we’re not too optimistic. It’s less than 2 weeks away regardless, so we can handle it. From there we took Mimi to Miller’s Grocery, and for those who have never been, I urge you to make the trip to Christiana, TN ASAP. It’s so good. They had a live bluegrass band playing, and it was a lot of fun. Sam just chilled out and was overall unimpressed, but one day he will appreciate it for what it is. He hasn’t had his life changed by the squash cassarole yet, so I don’t blame him for his lack of enthusiasm.

 

Today was another busy day. I played at church this morning, and while I love doing it, it always wipes me out. Playing for 3 services in a row is more tiring than you would think, but it’s great to be involved with what the church is doing. Heather, Sam and Mimi came to the 9:30 service, then went out to Franklin, where I met up with them after the 11:00 service. We go to Heather’s Grandparents house every Sunday for lunch. After that we came home and the rest of the day was pretty relaxed. We ate some dinner and I finished up some work while Heather got Sam fed and put him down for bed. That leads us to here, me typing on the computer, Heather sleeping beside me, and Sam asleep in his room. Not a bad way to end a good weekend, if I do say so myself.

04
May

friday

By Matt 0 Comments
Categories: Sam and random

Sam got to meet my fellow Mad Dancers today. We got up this morning and headed to Franklin to pick up my check and to introduce Sam to my co-workers. It was stormy here today so when we got back after lunch it was perfect weather for Sam and Mama to take a nap. Mimi also came to town tonight and is staying for the weekend, so we’ve been hanging out with her all night. I love watching people react with Sam. It’s neat to know that something you created is surrounded by so much love. It gives me a sense of peace in knowing he will always be cared for in some way. I didn’t take any pictures today, and that’s no good. I need to get into the habit of capturing something everyday, no matter what is going on. Tomorrow we’re going to see Gigi and G-Daddy and to check up on the house again so Mimi can see it. I’m going to have to create some sort of index of all our family nick-names so you, and me for that matter, can keep them straight.

Mimi = Heather’s Mom
Grandy = Heather’s Step-dad

Nana = My Mom
Papa = My Dad

Gigi = Heather’s Grandmother
G-Daddy= Heather’s Grandfather

These are all well and good until Sam randomly starts calling my mom LaLa or something like that. Ultimately he will call the shots on nick-names, but we can at least try and steer him in a direction. Here is a picture from a couple of days ago. I’ll do better tomorrow about documenting the day with pics. I’m learning.

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03
May

thursday

By Matt 0 Comments
Categories: Sam and video

Today, much like yesterday, was a pretty uneventful day. Heather and Sam had nowhere to go today, so it was the 3 of us here all day, me working and the 2 of them doing odd-jobs in the living room. In an effort to avert the stir-crazies we went to Chili’s to get some dinner and then to Office Depot where I bought a fire wire card for my PC. I’m very pumped about this because I can now import video from the camcorder we bought ourselves for Christmas. I’ve taken a ton of video, but I compiled a little movie below of some of the high-points over the past month. It was my first time using Adobe Premiere and editing video, so it might be a little chunky, but I’m really excited about the opportunity to get better at it and do some cool stuff with video. The music is sappy, but hey, I’ll be the first to tell you that I’m a sappy guy and I have no problem with that. It’s hard for Heather and I to not get emotional watching this stuff, not believing that over 5 weeks has passed since the first part of this video. He’s already outgrowing his newborn size clothes, and that’s just not supposed to happen yet. It’s important to remind ourselves that there is so much great stuff to come, and to not get caught up in the fact that it’s moving so fast. It’s great to look back on the past, and having movies and pictures is great, but I don’t want to mourn it so much that I overlook the little things that are happening right now.

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