One of Those Days

Small Town Family Fun

4 GENERATIONS!

Great-Grandma: Mary Jean Alsbury (87)

Grandpa: Sonny Alsbury (59)

Mother: Charli Alsbury Harbin (29)

Son: Hollis Grant Harbin (1 month)

On Sunday, May 16, we went left Austin and went to Smithville to visit my Grandma Alsbury and Aunt Donna. First we stopped at the nursing home where my Grandma lives now. She was excited to meet Hollis and proudly introduced him to all of her friends there. We met up with my Uncle Jim and second-cousin Katie a little later that day at a benefit BBQ/auction for the Smithville Volunteer Fire Dept. (Did you know that one full firemen's suit cost about $3000!) This was a day of many "firsts":


1- First time I've been in the middle of a 4-generation photo!
2- First grandparent (mine or Craig's) to meet Hollis
3- Hollis' (and Craig's) first trip to Smithville
4- Craig's first time to meet Grandma Alsbury and Aunt Donna
5- Craig's first time to see and hear a real live auctioneer


I am so bummed I forgot to take my camera into the Smithville Rec Center. The entire gym was packed wall to wall with pretty much the ENTIRE community and folks from some of the other nearby towns. It felt good to be back in a small town for a few hours! Although my hometown isn't quite as small, it had the same feel. :) We had a wonderful time and were so glad to see my Grandma and introduce her to her newest great-grandson! It was a great way to wrap up an awesome weekend. :)

Britain-Kennedy Wedding 5/15/10

Rehearsal dinner at the yummy Hill's Cafe!



The Wedding Party at Creekside Pavilion

Our first "fancy" family photo!

The Bride and Groom's First dance

Our first dance since Hollis was born.

Hollis' first wedding. Check out that cute suit!

May 14 was not only the day Hollis turned 1 month old, it was our first family road trip! We went to Austin, TX (Driftwood actually) to see my friend from college get married at the beautiful Creekside Pavilion. Friday was cold and rainy, but cleared up in time for Rehearsal Dinner at Hill's Cafe. That place has the best chicken friend steak! Saturday the weather was PERFECT! Hollis, my mom, and I went to Kyle to get my hair done with the other bridesmaids. Then I went ahead to the wedding site and my mom, dad, Craig, and Hollis came up later. The wedding march suddenly stopped playing right in the middle of Becca's entrance- the poor DJ looked frantic trying to figure out what was going on. Being the trooper that she is, Becca just smiled and kept going. The weater was PERFECT (I felt the need to repeat it because it was that awesome) for an outdoor wedding. It was a short, sweet ceremony followed by a fajita bar dinner and reception. Hollis cried a little during the ceremony (being outdoors I was one of the few people who could even hear it though), "ate" his dinner around 6:45pm, got a new diaper, then SLEPT through the entire reception. He was picked up and held by my parents, my friend Katie (from college) and Becca (the bride), and it didn't phase him one bit. Loud bass- no problem. Flashing lights- no problem. We got to the hotel around 11:30 and he still slept in his car seat for about an hour more. He was so easy!

Becca & Kye: We had SOOO much fun at your wedding!!! Congrats y'all! :)

One Month Old!

Today, May 14, our baby Hollis is ONE MONTH OLD! :) He's growing and learning and melting my heart all the time. I still can't get over how much I love him! He is so close to smiling already! Hollis will grin, but they are so quick that they are easy to miss. We have a fun weekend ahead, so I should have lots of stories and new pictures to post soon. :)

My First Mother's Day

My first Mother's Day was pretty low key. Craig gave me exactly what I wanted- he did all the laundry (about 5 giant loads of it) and changed all of Hollis' diapers for the day. :) He also did dishes, took out the trash, and watched Hollis while I went to H-E-B by myself. Ahh, the joys of grocery shopping. I used to hate going to the store, but when it's one of the few things that gets me out of the house lately, it was much more fun than it used to be. We ate Pei Wei take-out for dinner with Craig's mom.

Some other recent changes:

• Hollis has grown out of some of my favorite Newborn onesies- including "Future MVP", "Mommy's Little Rookie", and "Dog Gone Cute".


• After 3 weeks and 3 days, his umbilical cord finally fell off Saturday night (May 8).


• He grew out of the newborn diapers and now wears size 1. They are a tad big, but they don't hug his little legs so tight like the others did.


• He spends some time each morning and each evening awake and alert. Sometimes just looking all around at anything he can focus on, sometimes exploring the new noises he's learning how to make.


• Some days he's the best eater- gets into a good rhythm throughout the day/night of nursing about every 2.5-3 hours. Other days he's completely unpredictable- 1 hour, then an hour and a half, then 45 minutes later hungry again. Grr! Frustrating. But I'm trying to be patient.


• If we put him on his tummy he does this "superman" thing... He lifts his head and his feet at the same time, then once he can't hold it anymore he kind of collapses back down.

His favorite place to nap still seems to be sprawled out on my chest. :) He is such a sweetheart and makes me feel so blessed. I love my little man!

Discovering his Voice

The new thing Hollis has started doing lately is making more little sounds when he's laying in his bassinet awake. Little squeeks, coos, and the cutest sigh after a sneeze are just too cute. I've got to try to capture that on video somehow- it melts my heart how cute it is! He also has discovered how to cry very loudly... more like extremely loudly! It nearly rattles the windows from time to time. Luckily it is usually cured by feeding him. He's a no-nonsense kind of guy. Keep him fed and keep that diaper dry and he's good to go. :)

On a side note- his umbilical cord is still hanging by a thread... I figured it would have fallen off in a week, but we are going on 3 weeks and 1 day with it still there. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe Saturday.

I'm hoping the late night feedings start getting further apart... I have tried to keep him full and happy during the day, especially in the evenings, in an effort to fill that belly for longer stretches of sleep at night. So far, it is not working.

He sounds like he's asleep- I have to wrap this up and get a nap in before he eats again.

Exhausted, but loving life more than ever. xoxo