These past few weeks have been interesting to say the least. I've started several different blog posts only to delete them because it wasn't coming out the way it used to. For whatever reasons I've had "issues" getting my words together lately and this past week I've just come to the conclusion that I am officially suffering from what's best known as "Mommy Brain." That's right. I have bad case. I was fortunate to not have the first stage of this disease: "Pregnancy Brain" but I think the combination of sleeping in 2 hour increments as well as being deprived of adult conversation on a regular basis has adversely affected my vocabulary. But I've definitely decided the best cure are regular blog posts and not just all about Gabbie. Even though I'm sure there are enough of our Opp Knockers who wouldn't mind that is our only topic, I am determined to not allow this to become all about Gabbie.


I will start by doing a quick update on our life over the past few weeks!
We've been SOO fortunate to have so many friends and family come visit us, bring us dinner, and just make sure we're surviving. Our first week was a lot of fun. Really - it was. Brent and I were by ourselves for the entire week just figuring it out. The second week, my mom came in and stayed with us treating us like royalty. She did our laundry, cleaned our house - everything. It was incredible.
Since then, my sister and her family have come for visits and so have our best friends - the Moncriefs. Brent's parents stopped in on their way to the airport for an overnight visit as well as his sister and her family for a 24 hour trip.
Bottom line: we have come to realize we are so extremely blessed to have so many wonderful friends and family who have cared enough about us and our newest addition to come visit us and love on us and shower us with MORE Than enough gifts and treats.
I am still amazed at the outpouring of gifts by our neighbors, friends and family.

Gabbie is growing more and more every day! It truly is amazing. She will be 7 weeks old this upcoming Saturday which is unbelievable to me. I just am shocked to think it's gone by so quickly. She's doing some great milestones already like holding up her head when she's on her tummy and actually this past week, she rolled from her tummy onto her back for the first time. I know people won't believe me, but thankfully my best friend, Brittany was there to witness the whole thing. It was incredible. This week I decided to break out the camera and catch the acrobats on video - check it out:

Everyone keeps asking if I am enjoying staying at home and the answer is a big fat YES. I love it. I do have to go back to work on December 7th and I am not in countdown mode or anything - I am just relishing every single second I have with Gabbie between now and then.

I've also been working on establishing my cake business. If you've been an Opp Knocker for a while, you know that I started doing cakes right after we moved to Nashville way back when. Well I realized I really enjoy it and people ask all the time for cakes, so I unofficially started a business: A Cake Boutique. I'm working on my website right now and hope to have it up and running in the next few weeks.

We have some exciting things coming up including a trip to North Carolina for my grandfather's 80th birthday. This will be a fun road trip - a whopping 8 hours for us! I'm sure my little roadie will be fine. Then in November we're heading to every southerner's favorite beach: Panama City. No, not for a big family reunion but to cheer on our favorite Ironman as he competes in his second race. This will be Gabbie's first Ironman, but I'm sure her BFF Ada will show her the ropes! (remember we went to Louisville last year with Ada who was just a few months old at that time)

Gabbie and I have one road trip under our belt already as we traveled home last week for a ROARING good time 1st birthday for our buddy Owen. She did really well in the car and we had a great time at Mammaw and Pappaw's house.

Other than that, we're thoroughly enjoying this AMAZING fall weather. Thanks again to everyone for checking in on us, coming to visit and sending us amazing food and gifts!

Now, for your viewing pleasure, here are a few pictures from the past 2 weeks:

I usually let her swing for a few minutes before going down for a nap, but today was the first time she's ever fallen asleep in it. One minute I can hear her smacking on her fingers and hand, the next it's complete silence. I look over at her and she's SOUND asleep. I love how she falls asleep with her hands up in the air.

I was trying to sit her up to take a picture of this cute outfit and send it to the person who gave it to me. You can tell by the look on her face that she's really happy about the situation...3 seconds later she was crying. But hey - she's still my cute little cupcake!

She LOVES lying on her tummy. In fact I had her lying on her side in her crib for her nap. When I went to wake up her she was completely on her tummy sound asleep. (No worries all you people out there who are about to tell me that's not a safe way for her to sleep. I know this. Believe me after I got over the cuteness of it, I was a little panicked about the fact she was on her tummy.)

Fiona is always very concerned about Gabbie. She's really good about not licking her face or hands - I know it may not look like it in this picture, but she's not even touching Gabbie - just checking her out for me.

I love her feet. They change so much every week I keep trying to remember to take pictures to remember them every day. Aren't they sweet?? Hopefully I'll have this picture to show her when she's in her twenties and her feet aren't so cute anymore after years of stomped toes in basketball, or dragging her foot as a pitcher, or wearing high heels WAY too much :)

And some pics from the Chattanooga trip:

My mom - she gets a little excited to hold Gabbie if you can't tell...

Sorry, Jen. Not a great shot of you, but I LOVE this face on Gabbie. She's yawning but it looks like she's in shock over something Jennifer said. I love it!

Gabbie looks so big in this picture compared to Brittany...