Biggest news in our lives right now is we're having a ......................................................................
......................................................GRANDDAUGHTER!!! Yay! I just knew that Baby Grant was going to be a boy, but it's a girl. Yippee!! Since I don't know anything about little boys, I'm thrilled that the first grandchild will be a girl. I know my baby skills are very rusty, and things have changed so much (or so it seems), especially in terms of baby gear and gadgets, etc. But hopefully I'll figure out how to be a good granny without too many missteps!! As of this week, Baby Grant finally has a name: Brooklyn Reese Grant. Erin is a little over 26 weeks along and, other than a little tiredness, she feels and looks great.
Erin at 26 weeks!
In September Ken's brother Bill and his wife Gale came to Birmingham to spend several days with the family. We had a couple of good visits with Ken's mom at the nursing home. She seemed to genuinely enjoy Bill and Gale's visits.
Granny with her three kiddos!!
On Saturday of that week, Ken and I took Bill and Gale to Auburn for the Auburn/LSU game. Bill is a LSU graduate, and although Gale graduated from college in Virginia, she's definitely a LSU Tiger fan through and through now!! They, of course, were decked out in LSU purple and gold, and Ken and I dressed in orange. Needless to say, I felt like a fish out of water at that game, especially dressed in Auburn orange. My one "Bammer" holdout was my Houndstooth purse. I got a few strange looks carrying that purse, of course, and after some explaining, the Aubies realized I was really a Bammer dressed incognito as an Auburn fan!! To preserve this infamous day, I'm going to post what is, by a longshot, one of the worst pictures of Ken and I that has ever been taken. Remember, I took this with my cellphone, and I'm a novice at doing self-pics with a cellphone. It's awful, and you can tell by Ken's expression that he didn't know what was happening. My hair is a fright here, but, oh, well, here goes. We're sitting in our seats before the game starts, and as you can probably tell, we are sitting on the top row -- thankfully of the lower bowl rather than the upper deck! We had plenty of room around us because, for some reason, the stadium was not full that night.
Okay. That's the last time you'll see me dressed in Auburn orange for a game.
Ken and I have gone to three Bama games so far this season: The Ole Miss game (which Ken went on the condition that we leave at halftime since it was a 8:35 p.m. kickoff), the Texas A&M game, and yesterday's cupcake game (we took my cousin David and his 12-year-old son). Ken is sitting out the Iron Bowl ("can't go to T'town three Saturdays in a row"). I may go and just tailgate or may stay home and get some stuff done. Travis and Erin are taking our tickets, I think. I'm looking for more tickets, though, if anyone has any that they're not using or want to sell. Oh, I did manage to get my Bama Christmas tree up a month or so ago. Decided that we might need a lucky charm on our side, and judging by the events of the last two Saturdays, I'm thinking it's working. LOL I guess it will stay up until sometime in January -- the actual date to come down will be determined on what post-season game Bama makes it to. Of course, I'm hoping for a trip to Miami right before my 60th birthday in January. Ken and I may go to Orlando the week of the championship game and, if I can luck out and find some affordable tickets to the BCS championship game on the 9th, we might make a quick side trip to Miami too. After all, if we're driving to Orlando, we might as well drive a couple of hours more to Miami, don't you think?
Week before last I went to Hilton Head with my Aunt Judy and Cousins Becky, Mary and Peggy. We had a blast. We spent two and a half days touring in Savannah and one day seeing the sights in Charleston. We ate all kinds of great food and even managed a couple of nights of crazy card games -- something the "Holt" family is famous for!!
This picture was taken at Tybee Island. It was a little windy that day!!!
I cannot believe Thanksgiving is almost here. I, as always, have so much to be thankful for: good health, loving family, supportive friends and more blessings than I deserve. We are having Thanksgiving here on Thursday for both my family and Ken's family. Life has changed so much in the last five or six years, especially with both Ken's mom and my dad now in the nursing home. Holidays are bittersweet -- we enjoy them immensely, but we miss the good old days when everyone was with us. Kiss your loved ones and tell them how much they mean to you. Things can change in the blink of an eye!
Love you all. I'll try to be more diligent about this blog -- especially after February when I'll officially be a grandma!! Now I've just got to come up with my "granny" name!!
Rachel
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