Vanderbilt Homecoming

We went to my reunion at Vanderbilt and had a blast! I got to catch up with old friends and see Michael play! Hallie had great fun at her first Vanderbilt game!

Update

It's been a while and I am happy to report we are getting very settled in Jacksonville. I started my new job in July working as environmental attorney for the City. Hallie started "school" in August and it is going pretty well. The teacher has already filled out 2 "accident reports." The first one was because Hallie feel down and bumped her head. I thought the bump was due to her falling out of the golf cart at mom's house the day before but the teacher said no it was a new bruise. Hallie is not the most graceful walker and does not look before she walks. I am hoping this gets better with time... The second report was from last week when a little boy in her class bit her. Luckily he did not break the skin and I am glad Hallie wasn't the one doing the biting! Reed's work is going well too and it is so nice having him around more! We are having fun and I have some new photos that I will try to put up soon!

Dancing Baby

Hallie loves to dance! Here's a video of her at the Jag's scrimmage game last Friday night!

Happy Baptism (and Birthday) Hallie

Hallie turned one this past weekend and she was baptized along with her cousin Lawson. Reed's parents came in town and Reed's sister, Ashley,her husband Mark and kids - Cooper Bentley and McLaren celebrated with us as well. Ashley and Mark are Hallie's godparents. Hallie is at such a fun age! I will try to post her birthday video online!

July (and June) News

I have been delinquent in my postings but I have a good excuse - we've been moving! We sold our house in Richmond and closed in Jacksonville at the end end of June. I am sure I am not alone in that I hate moving. I loved the fact we were moving but the act itself is just no fun. We closed in Jacksonville just in time to have three days to pack up our house. It was tough with Hallie but Reed did a lot of it and we ended up having more time because our movers pushed us back couple of days! I drove the 8 hour drive back in my car with Hallie, which was actually a much more enjoyable ride than I imagined. The worst part was trying to go to the bathroom and not set down my wriggling almost one year old! (I didn't have the foresight to keep out a stroller.) Reed stayed back and oversaw the movers who didn't finish until much later than anticipated - 2 AM - and slept on the floor in a sleeping bag he managed to find in our junk since it was too late get a hotel! Anyhow, three days later our stuff showed up and with my mom to watch Hallie for me we reclaimed all of our belongings! Luckily moving in was quicker and easier than moving out. I have some pictures I will download soon now that I have a computer set back up.

Another first - Hallie has cut 2 teeth!

I almost forgot - Hallie has finally gotten 2 teeth on the bottom! She was extremely needy and fussy while we were visiting Reed's family and wouldn't you know it she was teething!

Visit to NY

Hallie and I flew out to NY to visit my friend Angela and her two babies Corinne (2) and Claire (6 weeks), while her husband flew to Richmond to go rock climbing with Reed. Here's a picture of the three kids that I took when we ventured out to a cute little town near Angela's house for lunch!

House Hunting in Jacksonville

We have been down in Florida house hunting and we put an offer on a house and got it! We will be driving back down to Jacksonville this weekend for the home inspection and plan to close mid-June. Now we just need a buyer for our Richmond house.......

Over the last month Hallie has been on the move. She started crawling and her latest trick is to stand up on everything! We went to Ft Walton and Hallie got to swim in GramB's and Gramp's pool, she hung out with Gramps on the porch, and Zeke went for a ride with Reed in the sea kayak. While in Jacksonville Hallie went to the beach with her cousin Thomas!

Getting the house ready to sell!

We have been busy preparing the house to get it on the market. It is in MLS and now we hope and pray we get a buyer!

Hallie is 8 months old in these pictures and we are in our front yard playing, taking a break from cleaning and organizing the house. Hallie is not quite crawling yet but rather rolls to the things she wants to explore - stereo wires, plugs, lamp cords!

Happy Easter!

Hallie and her mommy

Hallie has definitely changed from a colicky baby to such a happy baby. She is developing her little personality and I am truly enjoying my time with her!

I tried to replicate a photo that mom took of me when I was about Hallie's age. What do you think?

Moving Back to Florida!

It is official - we are moving back to Florida! We have decided that we want to be near family and Reed has a great opportunity to work with his family business! We are thrilled! We are working out the details so I will post more soon!

I can sit up by myself!

Hallie is now sitting up by herself...sorta. She has a tendancy to get tired and topple over but she can sit by herself if she really wants to! In these pictures she is wearing an outfit that was mine (and maybe Ashley's too). Thanks mom! Mom saves just about anything that she thinks we might need and now that I have a little girl I am glad she saved all of my clothes!

New York Trip!

Our trip to New York was a success! We arrived Friday and other than not napping the day went pretty well. Of course they put me on the wrong side of the plane and decided to move me right when I started to nurse Hallie. She screamed when I took her food away and but calmed down after I got her resituated and she finished eating. Once in the city and having put my exhausted baby down to sleep with the babysitter, we all went out to dinner at Tao - yum! Mom and dad went back early so that Ashley and I could stay out a little while longer with Martin. What can I say - Ashley and I are such party animals! Saturday was lots of fun too - mom hired a driver to take us around and shop! I felt like a rock star in the Hummer with black tinted windows and it did make it much more enjoyable with the babies. Saturday night we went to see Young Frankenstein, which was pretty funny. Hallie and I flew out Sunday without a hitch! Hallie can't wait to go back to the big City again!

Getting ready for travel with Hallie.....

Well, Hallie and I are getting ready for our NY trip. It is much more complicated getting out of town with a baby! I have actually traveled with Hallie a few times but I have had Reed there to help me! So, in the midst of packing up me and Hallie and all of her bottles, food, spoons, diapers, burp cloths and 5,000 changes of clothes (because she will inevitably explode through whatever I have her in at the airport tomorrow - ask Reed about how she loves to pee on me in the airport too), I almost forgot to arrange to take Zeke to the kennel! I just called and made him a reservation and packed up his food for the weekend. Poor dog he takes a back seat now that we have the baby. Luckily, he's such a good dog! Anyhow, I think we are set ...I just have to get there now........

Hallie - 5 months

Here's Hallie getting ready to go with me for a jog. It was really cold a couple of weeks ago and this is a "star" bunting that she got from her GranB (Reed's mom) for Christmas to keep her warm. She looked so cozy I had to take her picture. Hallie continues to grow so fast and has found her voice and loves to scream in delight!

Hallie and I will travel to NY this weekend to meet up with my family. Little Martin lives in NY now. Mikey is flying in for the night from Vanderbilt. Dad, mom, Ashley and Lawson will fly in as well. We are traveling without Reed because he is out west for work/pleasure (skiing in Park City). Ashley and mom are in NY for market and the rest of us are just tagging along for a show and some good eats! I will post more when we return!

Santa Baby!

I tried to take some photos of Hallie in her Santa hat over Christmas and thought this one turned out cute!

By the way, we have our webcam set up so that we can do live video conferences! If any of our friends out there have webcams let us know so we can link up!

Go Jacksonville Jaguars!!

Hallie received a Jaguar "Roar" cheerleading outfit from her DiDi (my mom) and she cheered them on to victory this past Sunday with her Daddy!

Garcia Christmas Picture

Mom wanted to take a family photo over Christmas so here we all are. It took some patience but Mom's friend Linda was able to get a good shot! Back row- Michael, Mom, Reed, James, Martin
Next row- Dad and Thomas
Front row- Me and Hallie, Ashley and Lawson and my grandmother, Grammi.
We had a nice time in Jacksonville visting my family! The boys got to hunt and the ladies shopped! Hallie loved playing with her cousins too!