Home Sweet Home

We are finally moved into our new house, and we're trying our best to get settled in. There's not much time to settle, though, with trying to keep up with three children all day! It's been fun not knowing how to find anything around the house--which box did I pack that in? Where are the bowls? Where are the fingernail clippers??? Jeremy and I are loving our new house, and Jeremy is loving his new 15 minute (max) commute even more. As we sort through our boxes and start unpacking things and putting them away here, we have realized that the new house does in fact have significantly more space than our old house, which is super! I've been having a grand old time picking out several "small" items that were missing when we moved in (toilet paper holders, a light fixture, etc.) and making the house really feel like "our new house." Jeremy probably wishes I would stop spending money though!

Sarah, the babies, and I are having lots of fun exploring Acworth, too. We've been to Wal-Mart once and Target several times. SuperTarget, along with lots of other stores and way more yummy restaurants, is literally 3 minutes away, so I am probably going to have to work really, really hard to limit my trips there or else I will go broke and then have a heart attack from eating too much grease. I realized that Target has a buggy big enough for all three children and even some groceries, too, and that has perhaps been one of the most exciting things I've realized lately ;-) We've been to three different playgrounds and Sarah is trying to decide which one is her favorite. Today we found one with a spot in the shade, and we took a picnic blanket and spread out on the grass and had a nice little lunch time, babies and all. Too bad they slept the whole time and didn't really get to enjoy it!

I think we'll like living here and I am hopeful that Sarah especially will make lots of new friends in the neighborhood. We seem to have moved onto the "kid street" and there are LOTS of kids who play outside a lot just outside of our house, so I think she will have a great time. Maybe Jeremy and I will even make some new friends as well! We will surely miss living in Bethlehem and near all of our other friends and family, though! That's definitely going to be the hardest part of this move! We miss you already and come visit us soon!

Double Trouble=Double Blessings

Our twins are 2 weeks old today! Daniel Briggs Gulley and Lauren Elizabeth Gulley were born on August 31, 2010, and we are having SO much fun getting to know their little personalities. At two weeks, it is amazing to see how different they already are from each other. For example, Daniel is quite mellow and enjoys being left alone sometimes, while Lauren wishes NEVER to be alone or out of someone's arms. Lauren loves her paci, while Daniel usually can't stand it. The one thing they do seem to have in common is that they both have their days and nights confused :-) This makes for long, sleepless nights for Jeremy and me, but on the flip side, the daytime is pretty mellow if they happen to be sleeping at the same time (although that hasn't been happening too much this week). We are grateful to our huge family for being so helpful with sending food, holding babies, shuttling Sarah back and forth to daycare, and sharing in the sleepless nights. We couldn't do it without you!

Enjoy the pictures. I'll post more later, but we're about to have a busy busy end-of-the-week. Our house closings are on Thursday followed by moving day on Friday and then finishing up getting the last things out of our "old" house on Saturday. Then the unpacking process will begin at the new house, although I foresee that project taking months and months to complete :-)

All My Bags Are Packed, I'm Ready to Go...

Well, sort of...our hospital bags are packed, and we're as ready as I guess we'll ever be to go have these babies! The bags are in the car, the car seats are in the car, the nursery is all set up (for now, anyway), and we are playing the waiting game. My blood pressure was getting a little higher than the doctors wanted to see it, so as of last week I have been home resting and waiting. It's quite a different lifestyle from working full time, especially since Sarah has been going to school. In fact, as of today, I think I could get used to this pace :-) When I went to the doctor last week, they did a routine ultrasound and discovered that Baby Lauren decided to flip around and she is no longer head-down, so at this point, they are recommending a C-section just to be on the safe side, unless she changes her mind and turns around again. We went ahead and scheduled the C-section for next Tuesday, August 31st! I can't believe it's just over a week away!!! I have tried and tried to coax the babies to go ahead and be born now, but it looks at this point like we will be going all the way to the 31st :-) I will be 38 1/2 weeks at that point, so it's still just a little before my due date, but I'm sure they will be plump and healthy by that point!

Two weeks after the babies are born, we're moving. Great timing, right? After a long, grueling summer of trying to sell our house and having no "bites," we suddenly got an offer one day! What an answer to prayer! We are closing on this house sometime between now and September 16th. We also have an offer on a "new" house (after a LONG weekend of stressful home searching- the house we picked was the LAST of about 30 that we looked at), and we'll close on that one on September 16th. So the bags at home are somewhat packed as well. Well, there is still a long way to go, but I think we've made outstanding progress and will be in great shape for moving out in just a few weeks! It's very strange to spend weeks and weeks in your house surrounded by boxes, and boxes, and boxes.....but I know packing now is the smart choice and that once next week gets here, our minds will be elsewhere!

Oh, by the way, Jeremy started a new job two weeks ago. We can't do anything simply, can we? He started his job as "Assistant Professor of Physics" at Kennesaw State University and has been commuting 1+ hours each way at odd hours of the day to avoid Atlanta morning and evening traffic (hence the move to Acworth). So far he seems to enjoy his new job and is so excited about getting his research program going. He's teaching one class this semester, which doesn't sound like much, but it pretty much takes up most of his time at this point. Hopefully once that gets settled into a routine, he will have more time to focus on his research. He's also planning to go to Colorado at the end of September to present at a conference. Thanks to Mimi, who is planning to come stay the week with us here while Jeremy is gone, I think we might survive the week while he is out of town!

My goal this week, besides relaxing and enjoying what I feel like is my last week of "me time" forever, is spending some quality one on one time with Sarah and making sure she knows how special she is to all of us and that she will be a great big sister and that more importantly, she is already a great daughter :-) As much as I'd like to be glued to the couch at all hours of the day, and as hard as it is lately to get up and down off of the floor, I've still tried to do what I can with Sarah and make sure she is enjoying the rest of her summer and getting lots of "mommy time." We've spent a lot of time at the pool, and we are all so excited that Sarah finally wants to swim all by herself (with her floaties)! She has been nothing less than terrified of being let go of in the water ALL SUMMER, until one day this past weekend Nana was able to sneakily let go and Sarah actually realized she enjoyed it! Yay Sarah! This will make going swimming with three children a bit easier (I didn't say easy!) next summer, I assume. Enjoy the assortment of pictures below--it's been awhile since the last update!















Look at me! I can swim all by myself!















Painting a masterpiece for her new bedroom




















Sarah "performing" for her last day of dance/gymnastics at The Little Gym















Is that a big belly or what???















Sarah and her new best friend (ie. cousin) Elizabeth















Mary Evelyn's wedding was so much fun!




















Preparing for her debut as "The Flower Girl"




















Sarah with her quadruplets- I hope she doesn't think I'm having 4 babies!




















At Mary Evelyn's bridal luncheon, reading her new flower girl book




















Getting ready to watch the fireworks on the 4th of July!















Mommy tried out taking black and white pictures :-)

Happy 3rd Birthday Sarah!

Our baby girl turned three years old on Sunday, and it's very hard to believe how grown up she has gotten! She got to share her birthday this year with Father's Day, which was kind of neat. We celebrated her birthday mostly on Saturday with a party at The Little Gym where she does gymnastics and dance. Everyone had a great time!

This summer is flying by so fast! It's been really great to spend many, many lazy days at home with Sarah. I try to relax but she does still keep me pretty busy! Some of the things Sarah most enjoys these days are...
*pretending to get married- for some reason, probably thanks to several disney movies, she associates going down steps holding someone's hand with getting married, so that's what we do anytime we're near steps. She says, "Come on mommy, let's get married!"
*practicing for Mary Evelyn's wedding- Aunt Mary recently gave her some petals and a flower basket to start practicing, and it has been a big hit at our house
*having picnics in the playroom with mommy and/or daddy and fixing lots of plates for us
*playing wrestling and tackle games
*playing in the swimming pool and talking about (not going near) the sprinkler. She says she'll put her face in when she "gets a little bigger."
*reminding us that she is little and that she wants to be a little baby. I think she's getting a little concerned that she is no longer our baby since we are having two more babies, and she wants to make sure we know she's still our baby, too :-)
*eating junk food- popsicles, potato chips, lollipops, you name it, but only for "bassert (dessert)
*going on "pacation" (vacation)

Some things Sarah does NOT enjoy these days are...
*being told she is a "big girl"
*getting water in her face
*eating vegetables
*sleeping all night. She has developed many new "fears" in the middle of the night; most recently she is afraid of the ceiling fan (which has never been turned on in her room that I can remember). She wants me to take "that big flashlight" out of her room. Sorry, Sarah, we are trying to sell our house and people like ceiling fans in bedrooms!

Enjoy the photos and video from Sarah's birthday party!

Williamsburg Vacation 2010

This week we've been in Williamsburg, VA with Jeremy's parents (Mimi and PawPaw), Uncle Joseph, and Aunt Alecia. It has been sooooo much fun! I think this has been perhaps my favorite vacation to take with Sarah, simply because she is at such a fun age! She has loved every minute of the trip and can be entertained by almost anything :-) I do think her favorite part of the week was the swimming pool. I have had the best time this week just making Sarah happy and spending so much quality time with her one on one. It's hard to believe that in about 2 months I will be a mother of three! Eeeck! Enjoy the slideshows of our trip :-)