Jacob Jonathan Hardin

Jacob Jonathan "Jake" Hardin was born on Wednesday, September 2 at 9:12 p.m. He weighed 7 lbs, 2 oz and measured 19.5 inches long. He surprised us by being five days early, weighing 7 lbs, 2 oz (instead of 8 or 9 lbs!) and sporting a head full of honey blonde-brown hair. He is already the light and the love of our lives. 

During his first "weigh in" at only a few minutes old.

All dressed up and ready to leave the hospital in his outfit from his Grandma JuJu. He is not a fan of clothing or diaper changes!

A Dozen Years....

A dozen years have passed since...

I lost my grandma and the future namesake of Gerald & Joan.

I moved to Oxford, Mississippi and into a condo next door to Jonathan Hardin.

Life fell apart and then truly began for me.

I'm not sure how it's possible to lose and gain so much at the very same time, but that happened in August 2003. I never imagined what life would look like a dozen years later, but if I could have picked a story line, this one most definitely would have exceeded my wildest dreams.

For many years, I dreaded this day because it was the most difficult one of my life. After twelve years, I choose to remember it as the start of my new life, one that included my next door neighbor and soon-to-become best friend, husband and father of my child.

As my grandma was ever the optimist, I think she'd want me to remember it that way. 

Not the best photo (sorry, Lauren), but this is the last airport photo I have of my grandma, my sister and me. It was taken by my mom in August 2001 at the arrival gate of LAX, one week before I started my senior year in high school. Little did we know it would be the last time she'd ever be able to meet us at the gate (a family tradition since my mom left home in 1974) or the airport. Almost two years to the day, I flew to LA for the first time since 9/11 to say goodbye to her. 

One Month To Go...

Only 31 days until Labor Day....

I'm going to state the obvious and say time flies when you're preparing for a baby. I'm sure it has something to do with extra weight and extreme temperatures, but it definitely takes longer to accomplish things these days!

Despite my sluggishness, the nursery is almost finished, we have completed one childbirth class and we are halfway through the other one, and we are steadily checking items off our to-do list. I feel fairly certain he won't come before his due date (I think he's going to take after his mom in this department), but even if he did, we have the necessities all lined up and ready to go -- car seat, clothes, pack n play, crib...only diapers are missing. We want to cloth diaper, but we can't decide if we should start out that way or if we should transition from disposable to cloth after six weeks. Ah, decisions...So many decisions.

This week I'm sharing photos of my adorable husband with his siblings. He was the world's best big brother, and he's going to be such an amazing dad. 

P.S. Happy (early) 30th Birthday, Julie (and Gerald too)!

The Pie Girl

Wasn't Jonathan's grandmother Sadie the cutest pie girl in the world? She was only seventeen when she married Jonathan's grandfather and started working in Memphis. Serving pie was one of the few jobs she was allowed to do, and she fit the bill perfectly! Who wouldn't want a slice of  pie from her cart? I love the photos of her posing with her coworkers. They are too fun.

If you know Sadie, you'll agree that she hasn't changed a bit -- she looks exactly the same and she still works just as hard as she did at seventeen!