Welcome, Sweet Baby James!

Anyone who keeeps up with my blog regularly (hi Matt!) knows how much I adore my "niece", Gianna. I've written many posts about her, this being the first, but she's the daughter of one of my best friends, Erica. I know this sounds nuts but she's honestly the first baby I have ever been around. I'd never even held a newborn until her! At any rate, this post is not about Gia. This post is about her new baby brother, JAMES!

Erica got pregnant by surprise just a few months after Gia was born. So, while she and her husband, Austin, are very nervous to have two babies, they're naturally also ecstatic. James Austin Larkin was born a little bit ago at 3:31pm and I'm so excited, you'd think he was my kid - hence this immediate blog post. :P I'm just so thrilled for Erica and Austin and their now TWO precious children. God has blessed them with such a sweet life and his provision over them has been incredible. Erica is honestly like family to me so these two kids mean as much to me as my other nieces and nephew. I'm such a lucky lady to have the amount of love and joy in my life that I do! I'm so indirectly blessed by Erica's kids and I can't wait to watch them grow up.

I really thank god for intense miracles and I just had to note this day as James has come into the world. The best part is that I get to meet him in just three weeks when I head home for Labor Day. I can't wait! Welcome to the world, baby James:

4th of July and Phish

I went home to Atlanta this past weekend to see Phish and it was awesome. When Brant had originally told me they were playing over 4th of July, I thought there was no way we'd get tickets. Not only did we get tickets, but a group of 15 of us did! This was a few months ago so Brant and I had been counting down up to the very day of the show. :) What a fun day we had, too!

We started at Fado to watch the world cup (which was awesome!) and then he took me to lunch at Fatt Matt's which I'd never been to before. We split a rack of ribs but I swear, I could've eaten the whole thing. SO GOOD:

Afterward, we went for beers at Park Tavern and then it was finally time to meet the crew for the show. It was so fun being a tourist in my own city for the day! :) Not to mention, I miss Brant so much and it was just priceless seeing Phish together again after all this time:

I've never seen Phish play so amazing, ever. They blew my mind and I'm SO glad I was able to go. We went on the 3rd and, after seeing the setlist on the 4th, I'm psyched because our show was far better. I swear, those guys are an instrumental inspiration, seriously. I could watch them play for hours.

The rest of the weekend was awesome, too. Brant brought me home on Sunday morning and I headed straight out to see Tally and Dave briefly and to visit with Erica and Gianna. Erica and I had some adult time, hehe, at her pool while Gia had lunch and then we went back to play with her. She's growing like a weed and her sweet personality is shining through so much already! She's obsessed with books and "reading" right now. She literally went over to the bookshelf and got out several to show us:

She's darling. I loved visiting with them and the time is always just too short. :( Afterward, we had a cookout at home and I just loved spending the rest of the weekend with mom, dad, and Allison. Grace stopped by to show us Israel photos and it was just so nice to get that visit in, too. Overall, it was a perfect weekend home and I can't wait to go back in September. :) 

Gia's First Steps!

I'm so excited because I just got a text from Erica telling me that Gianna has taken her first official steps! They are all down in Florida right now, combining a business trip of Austin's with visiting friends, and it just so happened that Erica and Austin were together when it happened. I'm really so happy for them because Austin has been working so hard lately and I know it's a gift to him to experience that alongside Erica. She said Gia was whining because she was tired and just decided to stand up and walk over to her. I love it!

I took this photo of Gia back at Christmas when she had first started pulling herself up onto her feet:

I feel like this look sorta says just you wait til I'm walking for real, haha! Her first birthday is next weekend so this is super exciting. :) I just love that sweet girl and wish I could be there to see all this, too.  

Easter Gia

It's time for another round of smiles brought to you by sweet Gianna! When Erica sends me photos, I often think they can't ever be topped. There's Gia at Valentine's Day and then my very favorite of her in the pumpkin shirt at Halloween, but I definitely haven't smiled as big as I did when I saw her at Easter:

I mean, that child is just ridiculous. Look at that face! Those two little bottom teeth just kill me. She's totally her mother's daughter too because I guarantee she's thinking I can't wait for candy! which is most likely what Erica was thinking while they waited in line for this. I just had to share this sweet photo and hope it brightens your day as it did mine. :)

Introducing Gianna...

Let me just say that I am beyond blessed with the friends I have in my life. Not only is my sister one of the closest people to me, but I have the most amazing girlfriends too that are honestly like precious jewels in the crown of life. One of them, Erica, had her first child, Gianna Marie, back in May of this year. I couldn't resist posting a photo of her while she was pregnant, this time last year:

Isn't she beautiful? :) Anyway, Erica is my first very close friend to have a baby and it's been so much fun for me to be a part of. I was actually fortunate enough to meet sweet Gianna, or Gia as we call her, two weeks after she was born! I went down to GA for Ami's wedding (another precious friend of mine!) the weekend of May 22nd and I was lucky enough to spend an entire afternoon with Erica, her husband Austin and sweet Gia. It will always be one of my favorite memories:

Anyway, as the year has gone on, I've had to deal with being a thousand miles away and watching Gia grow in photos. She's already been on a plane a couple of times, she's had her first Halloween, her first tooth is coming in...I mean, she's already growing like a weed! Ok, I just have to brag on her and post a couple of my favorite photos of her so far:

I mean, how cute is she?!? I just want to squeeze her. I write all of this today because, as of this morning, she is officially starting to crawl! I swear, I get so excited about every Gia update, you'd think she was my kid. I had to dedicate a post to this sweet little girl because, even though she doesn't know it, she's brought a smile to me on some of my toughest days. So, I had to 'celebrate' her a bit this morning and share exactly why she is so dear to my heart. :) Happy Wednesday!