The Journey of Parenthood…

Visit to Atlanta: Part I

Zach had been promising Ryan a visit for a LONG time (he’s a legit lawyer now living in south Florida!) so I decided to go on a girl’s trip the weekend that he was having a guy’s trip. After all the paci weaning I needed a break. Plus we hadn’t been out of town since DECEMBER so I had the travel itch…bad. I love any chance I can to go back up to Lawrenceville and visit my hometown. It’s a great opportunity to catch up with old friends and I try to see anyone who wants to see me when I go up that way 🙂

I left Friday morning and drove through Atlanta to return the chair we bought from Crate and Barrel. I looked pretty funny carrying a chair into Lenox Mall on my own since the thing was almost bigger than I am…I so wanted to ask a stranger to take a picture of me but I thought that might be kinda strange.

I always get that warm “I’m home” feeling when I get off the Sugarloaf Exit!

My first stop was to see Stephanie Emerine and her brand new baby, Christian. I hadn’t held a baby that new in a looooong time. He was beyond precious and she is the most natural mother EVER. He was like a week old and she was walking around while nursing him. I never did that and I nursed Kye for 10 months. I was SO impressed with how amazing she was. You can just tell she was meant to be a mother ya know?

It was even more fun because I got to see two bonus friends!!! Katie, who just gave birth to her baby girl yesterday, and Stephanie, who has a sweet little girl who is around 6 months old. I hadn’t seen Stephanie since the summer after high school and I have ALWAYS loved her. She’s so bubbly and fun! Katie and I have seen each other a couple times but haven’t gotten to really catch up so I just enjoyed the afternoon with these great girls!

When I look at this picture alllll I can think is that I wish it was possible to keep my body RIGHT NOW and still get to have a baby that little and precious haha. Not possible huh? Look at his little eyes opened for me 🙂

 We had to play pass-the-baby!

 You cannot even TELL that she’s in her THIRD trimester!

 Great group shot

(I’m wearing the revival necklace. revival bracelet, and soiree studs)

 Don’t you just LOVE the shirt, my mom needs one because she’s a “Proud Grandma” too!!!

It was SO great getting to spend quality time with some old friends. I loved sitting around the table, snacking on the yummy food, passing the baby around, sharing advice, and laughing at all the stories mommy hood brings to your life. The time seemed to fly by and before I knew it I had to leave! At least I got to take this adorable announcement with me that Stephanie put together (How in the WORLD did this new mommy find the time to do all this? Again – I’m impressed!)

On my way to meet Danielle for dinner I got the chance to pass by my high school, Central Gwinnett. It’s CRAZY to see all the changes they have made since I graduated (okay…it’s been 8 years so I guess it makes sense that it would change right???). It doesn’t even look like the same school!!!

If this castle ever leaves then I seriously won’t even recognize the place!

I met up with Danielle at O’Charley’s at the Mall of GA. I wish we had an O’Charley’s down here…I really do love it! But even more I wish I had DANIELLE down here. It’s something about spending time with her – it rejuvenates me and helps me stay connected with who I am. Does that even make sense??? We never run out of things to talk about and I even went with her to run a few errands after dinner (and we ran into our good friend Taylor – small world!). It was kinda sad for me to only get to see her for a couple hours. I’ve never come up to the Atlanta area for a visit and NOT stayed with Danielle. She’s a married woman now and living with her parents so I didn’t want to impose but I’m crossing my fingers that she’ll get moved in her new house SOON so I can stay for a visit when we come up for some weddings in the coming months 🙂

Once I left Danielle I headed to Kelly’s! I met Kelly through blogging and bunked up with her for the weekend. She and her hubby, Jeff, were SO sweet to have me and I loved getting to spend time with them, their precious dog, and adorable daughter. I also loved when people asked me where I was staying that I got to answer by saying “with someone I met on the internet” haha. Isn’t it awesome how blogging can translate over to real life???

Saturday morning I met up with Dad in downtown Lawrenceville. I wished I had longer so I could run up to his house but I had a jammed packed weekend, plus we’ll be visiting him again later this month 🙂 It was SO sweet of him to make the drive down for breakfast and it was fun for me to treat him for the first time EVER!!! We ate at Little Barn. I know that’s a classic Lawrenceville place to eat, but it was actually my first time eating there. I can see why it’s famous though 🙂 We enjoyed a couple hours together just talking and catching up. It’s always nice to visit with people one-on-one. Zach and Kye are my favorite travel partners, but there is something wonderful about quality time one-on-one with people too, ya know?

Kelly met up with me at Little Barn and I rode with her and Rhyan over to BabiesRUs to help pick out a video monitor and some fun things for little Mack who will be here soon 🙂 I had a busy day planned that afternoon and I’ll be blogging about it up next!

Emily Parker
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