Merry Christmas! What a great time of year and a special Christmas for our family. Today we experience Rigby's first Christmas. Rigby acquired a load of loot from Santa Claus.
Stacy's sister Meghan and her husband, Sam, came in town from Albuquerque, NM. they are at University of New Mexico working on their master's degrees. It was great to see them. It was also their first time to see Rigby.
Stacy's other sister, Amanda and her husband Eric also came in from Knoxville, bringing the little terror, Connor, with them. He is almost two!
We spent many hours at the Oglesby Ranch (Stacy's parents) in East Ridge and had a great time with family.
Thursday, December 25, 2003
Thursday, November 27, 2003
Thankful
Happy Thanksgiving!
The bellies are full. Stacy and I are on a diet so we did not fully enjoy all the foods., but we had our share. We had dinner at Aunt Donna's, Stacy's aunt. We had a good time with family.
The Christmad tree is up and decorated. Mom and Bob came to Chattanooga and brought us their artificial tree with 1,200 lights. It is awesome! Live trees do not work for us. Moe and Boo (our cats) love drinking the water dry and chewing on limbs.
We have so much to be thankful for.
The bellies are full. Stacy and I are on a diet so we did not fully enjoy all the foods., but we had our share. We had dinner at Aunt Donna's, Stacy's aunt. We had a good time with family.
The Christmad tree is up and decorated. Mom and Bob came to Chattanooga and brought us their artificial tree with 1,200 lights. It is awesome! Live trees do not work for us. Moe and Boo (our cats) love drinking the water dry and chewing on limbs.
We have so much to be thankful for.
Wednesday, November 19, 2003
Travelin'
We just got back from our 1,000-mile whirlwind tour to see friends and family. We left Friday, November 14 and spent five days on the road.
Our first stop was Augusta, Ga. where Rigby met some of his cousins and is great, great uncle, Lonnie Wilder, the last brother alive of the namesake Rigby was named for. Lonnie is 85 and still goes deer hunting he told us. That was a very special day for me.
Our next stop was Charlotte, NC where Rigby met his Carolina pediatrician and one of Stacy's best friends, Christina. We had a great time with her and met her new boyfriend, who looks like "the one" for her.
We made our 45-mile trek east of Charlotte to spend the night with my grandmother in Peachland NC. My grandmother is doing well and she was very happy to meet her great grandson. Another very special time for me - for Rigby to sleep and stay in the same house I spent some of my childhood days in.
While in Peachland I met a distant relative who took me to a remote cemetery with many of my ancestors. The cemetery was in the middle of a soybean crop under a huge oak tree. I think the power and spirit of the Grays that were buried there made that tree seem larger than life. Jeremiah Gray born in 1797 is buried there - he is Rigby's great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather. How cool is that!!?
We moved on to Asheville, NC where Rigby spent some time with his Aunt Tobi and Uncle Corey. Tobi's house is awesome and we went to dinner at the Bier Garden downtown. Asheville has made some great strides in the past 10 years.
We ended out tour in White Pine, TN to see Mom and Bob (grammy and grandaddy). We had a very good visit.
Rigby is a great traveler. Good thing because we do love to travel.
Our first stop was Augusta, Ga. where Rigby met some of his cousins and is great, great uncle, Lonnie Wilder, the last brother alive of the namesake Rigby was named for. Lonnie is 85 and still goes deer hunting he told us. That was a very special day for me.
Our next stop was Charlotte, NC where Rigby met his Carolina pediatrician and one of Stacy's best friends, Christina. We had a great time with her and met her new boyfriend, who looks like "the one" for her.
We made our 45-mile trek east of Charlotte to spend the night with my grandmother in Peachland NC. My grandmother is doing well and she was very happy to meet her great grandson. Another very special time for me - for Rigby to sleep and stay in the same house I spent some of my childhood days in.
While in Peachland I met a distant relative who took me to a remote cemetery with many of my ancestors. The cemetery was in the middle of a soybean crop under a huge oak tree. I think the power and spirit of the Grays that were buried there made that tree seem larger than life. Jeremiah Gray born in 1797 is buried there - he is Rigby's great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather. How cool is that!!?
We moved on to Asheville, NC where Rigby spent some time with his Aunt Tobi and Uncle Corey. Tobi's house is awesome and we went to dinner at the Bier Garden downtown. Asheville has made some great strides in the past 10 years.
We ended out tour in White Pine, TN to see Mom and Bob (grammy and grandaddy). We had a very good visit.
Rigby is a great traveler. Good thing because we do love to travel.
Saturday, October 18, 2003
Getting Acquainted
Things are going well at the Gray household. Rigby is almost seven weeks old! Hard to believe it has already been that long since we were just welcoming him to he world.
He is doing great. He is eating, sleeping, pooping, peeing, cooing, smirking, squirming and crying. So pretty normal.
He has started somewhat of a sleep schedule. Stacy puts him to bed around 9:30 p.m. He wakes around 2 a.m. and then again around 7 a.m. It is nowhere near as bad as some of the baby stories I have heard from others.
Rigby slept with us in our bed for the first several weeks. He is now in the warm friendly confines of his own bed/crib. Fridays are sleepover night and he sleeps in our bed.
Stacy is doing well. She goes back to work on Dec. 1. She totes Rigby around town with ease now. He spends one day at his great grandparents where he hardly gets any attention.
I am doing well. I am still digging into my manager role at work and enjoying it more and more.
Halloween is almost here and Rigby will be going as a chili pepper. Pictures will posted on the website soon.
Well, that's about it! Take care . . .
He is doing great. He is eating, sleeping, pooping, peeing, cooing, smirking, squirming and crying. So pretty normal.
He has started somewhat of a sleep schedule. Stacy puts him to bed around 9:30 p.m. He wakes around 2 a.m. and then again around 7 a.m. It is nowhere near as bad as some of the baby stories I have heard from others.
Rigby slept with us in our bed for the first several weeks. He is now in the warm friendly confines of his own bed/crib. Fridays are sleepover night and he sleeps in our bed.
Stacy is doing well. She goes back to work on Dec. 1. She totes Rigby around town with ease now. He spends one day at his great grandparents where he hardly gets any attention.
I am doing well. I am still digging into my manager role at work and enjoying it more and more.
Halloween is almost here and Rigby will be going as a chili pepper. Pictures will posted on the website soon.
Well, that's about it! Take care . . .
Monday, September 01, 2003
Rigby is Born!
Stacy and I had our first son on this day . . . . Labor Day!
Stacy started having contractions early Sunday morning. We opted to stay at home for the first stage. It was rough for her, but she did a great job. Her parents came over and hung out with us for a while. We also got some good ole Formosa Chinese food.
We gave in and went to Erlanger East around 10 p.m. Stacy first was examined at one centimeter and we were told to wait in a room for an hour to see how she progressed. An hour later she was at two centimeters and we were admitted to the Larkspur Suite. Erlanger East has 16 birthing suites. Need I say that they are very roomy and first class?
Stacy went through the night contracting every 5-8 minutes. Stacy's parents and sister, Amanda, were with us the whole time.
Noon time came around and Stacy was at six centimeters time for the epidural. We were told it would be about 10 minutes, but that is an hour in doctor time.
The epidural is a great thing, but Stacy had to stay completely still through contractions while the anesthesiologist put the epidural in. How rough that must have been for her.
Stacy hit 10 centimeters around 3 p.m. and it was time to start pushing. Stacy pushed on every contraction and in various positions for three hours. We were getting no where and learned that Stacy's pelvic inlet was just not big enough for our newborn's head to fit through. A C-section was decided on.
The C-Section began around 7 p.m. and I sat near Stacy's head at the operating table. I was very nervous as this was major surgery. There must have been about 20 people with various tasks to perform in the room. Our midwife took pictures of me next to Stacy and then invited me to look at the surgery to see the baby come out.
What a sight! It was very awkward looking inside my wife's midsection. When the doctor pulled the baby out at 7:18 p.m., I yelled out, "It's a Boy!" and our lives began to change for the ultimate best!
I watched as nurses took our newborn to a table to perform various functions, cleaning, checking vital signs, etc. A couple minutes later, he was in my arms and I took him to Stacy's head for her to be a part of the moment.
I watched as the doctors sewed Stacy up on the inside and outside and then ran a film of flexible "super glue" to protect the incision.
Stacy on her bed and me with newborn in arms made our way to our new room, the Gardenia Room. This room was one of two for mothers who had C-sections. This room was bigger than the first and was tucked away from a lot of the noise and visitors.
I had taken about 80 pictures and around 10 p.m. drove home to post the news to our web site and email the masses.
The first night with our child, Rigby Wilder Gray, was a
Stacy started having contractions early Sunday morning. We opted to stay at home for the first stage. It was rough for her, but she did a great job. Her parents came over and hung out with us for a while. We also got some good ole Formosa Chinese food.
We gave in and went to Erlanger East around 10 p.m. Stacy first was examined at one centimeter and we were told to wait in a room for an hour to see how she progressed. An hour later she was at two centimeters and we were admitted to the Larkspur Suite. Erlanger East has 16 birthing suites. Need I say that they are very roomy and first class?
Stacy went through the night contracting every 5-8 minutes. Stacy's parents and sister, Amanda, were with us the whole time.
Noon time came around and Stacy was at six centimeters time for the epidural. We were told it would be about 10 minutes, but that is an hour in doctor time.
The epidural is a great thing, but Stacy had to stay completely still through contractions while the anesthesiologist put the epidural in. How rough that must have been for her.
Stacy hit 10 centimeters around 3 p.m. and it was time to start pushing. Stacy pushed on every contraction and in various positions for three hours. We were getting no where and learned that Stacy's pelvic inlet was just not big enough for our newborn's head to fit through. A C-section was decided on.
The C-Section began around 7 p.m. and I sat near Stacy's head at the operating table. I was very nervous as this was major surgery. There must have been about 20 people with various tasks to perform in the room. Our midwife took pictures of me next to Stacy and then invited me to look at the surgery to see the baby come out.
What a sight! It was very awkward looking inside my wife's midsection. When the doctor pulled the baby out at 7:18 p.m., I yelled out, "It's a Boy!" and our lives began to change for the ultimate best!
I watched as nurses took our newborn to a table to perform various functions, cleaning, checking vital signs, etc. A couple minutes later, he was in my arms and I took him to Stacy's head for her to be a part of the moment.
I watched as the doctors sewed Stacy up on the inside and outside and then ran a film of flexible "super glue" to protect the incision.
Stacy on her bed and me with newborn in arms made our way to our new room, the Gardenia Room. This room was one of two for mothers who had C-sections. This room was bigger than the first and was tucked away from a lot of the noise and visitors.
I had taken about 80 pictures and around 10 p.m. drove home to post the news to our web site and email the masses.
The first night with our child, Rigby Wilder Gray, was a
Friday, August 15, 2003
Lucky
The big event is almost here. Sept. 6 is the due date. Stacy looks as though she is smuggling a watermelon under her shirt. She looks great and has had a great pregnancy. We have been lucky that the summer has not been really hot and humid.
The nursery is complete. We have the crib ready and the furniture is in place. We recently bought and finished a toy chest - much needed since we were so fortunate to receive many gifts.
We had three baby showers and have almost everything we need. The generosity of our family, friends and coworkers has been tremendous. I cannot go on enough about how much it means to Stacy and me about how many people care about our future. Stacy spent one evening writing 53 thank-you notes for one shower! She is a champ.
Work is going well. Stacy plans to work up until the day, and she will take three months off. I plan to take off two weeks after the birth.
We have put the bathroom renovation on hold as we decided to finish up our bedroom and sitting room before the baby comes.
Oh, and our dog, Sully, is almost a year old. He is an outside dog in a 25' x 25; fence enclosure I built for him, complete with a big house! He likes to bark a lot, but I think sometimes he is just lonely, but I am not too sure about another dog. He is getting better.
It has been two years since we moved back to Chattanooga. I recently sent emails to my Xavier friends and heard back from most of them. It is scary to think I have not seen them in two years. They all seemed to be doing well. I do miss them and miss Cincinnati sometimes - it is a great city. Chattanooga is our home though, and we are very happy.
Thursday, July 17, 2003
Getting Ready
Things are going well for the Grays in Chattanooga. We are on house vacation this week!
We have been quite busy at work, getting ready for Baby Gray and still working on remodeling projects in our house.
This August marks two years since we have been back in Chattanooga. it is hard to believe it has been this long since I have seen my Cincinnati friends. I do miss them.
Stacy got another promotion on June 1. She is now Director of Corporate Marketing and Editorial Resources at UnumProvident. She works her butt off, and her efforts are really paying off.
I am still transitioning to my managerial role at UnumProvident. I will have 14 team members reporting to me. Who would have thought! I have an awesome customer service team and hope to make them proud.
Stacy is doing great carrying the little child. It is quite awesome to see him/her swimming around in her belly. She has not had many rough times with the pregnancy. Due date is Sept 6, the same day the Chattanooga Mocs beat Vanderbilt in football.
We are still holding strong and not finding out the sex of the baby. We do have some names picked out.
The nursery is almost complete. I removed a wall between our hallway bathroom and the future nursery to make the bathroom a little bigger. The nursery is a great size, 12' x 13' and the bathroom has widened by 18''.
We have a crib and all the furniture waiting to be moved in. Stacy has been staining and painting (with proper ventilation) our unfinished furniture that we bought for the room. The chest of drawers and tall chest have been stained and the rocker was painted white. We bought the crib at Babies R Us.
By the way, we are registered at Babies R Us and Target.
As for the bathroom, it has been thoroughly gutted and awaiting new white tile, white beadboard a new Kohler pedestal sink and Kohler toliet. The 50-year-old cast iron tub is staying.
Wednesday, March 12, 2003
Baby Update and Man Den
Well, Stacy is in her second trimester and is doing very well. She is eating well, working a sane amount and not feeling much sickness that usually comes with pregnancy.
We have been to the doctor twice now and our visits have been regular and normal.
Do we know the sex yet, you ask? No, we are going to wait until the baby enters the world.
Erik accepted a new position in his department at UnumProvident. The position will be Manager, Customer Service in the Voluntary Workplace Benefits organization. This is a great accomplishment as his one year anniversary for joining UnumProvident is April 1.
All is going well at the home front. We are getting ready for spring. We have been outside working in the yard already!
Inside work is going okay. I am 95% done with the downstairs den. I have some ceiling tiles I need to cut and place and finish some of the molding. But we have completed everything else. I did everything except lay the carpet and Lowes did that. I should have part ownership in the Hixson Lowes.
After completing that project, I promptly went to Best Buy and bought a new Yamaha Dolby Digital Pro Logic II receiver, Samsung DVD player and a Samsung 47'' widescreen - 2 years no interest - so I can pay it off without having to pay the man any more. Plus, Monster Cable which set me back but hell, what the hell? So that little den with the JBLs surrounds pumping is quite cool. Matrix, Lord of the Rings and others are simply awesome. PS2 is cool on widescreen.
Thursday, February 06, 2003
Baby news!
Well, we have some great news!
Lord willing, Stacy and I will be parents in 2003! Our baby due date is September 8, 2003.
We really wanted you all to know at once from us but could not run to see all of you in person.
So the adventure is beginning. We are very excited and look forward to sharing our joy with you all in the months and years ahead!
In other news, Erik was selected Wednesday to go to the UnumProvident Training and Recognition Conference at the Grand Floridian Resort at Walt Disney World, May 12-15.
About 5% of the employees are selected to go.
We had meetings in our large atrium for different departments to announce the participants. So all were announced in front of peers and and some senior management. Mickey Mouse was there to congratulate the winners, who even got Mickey ears with their names embroidered.
Lord willing, Stacy and I will be parents in 2003! Our baby due date is September 8, 2003.
We really wanted you all to know at once from us but could not run to see all of you in person.
So the adventure is beginning. We are very excited and look forward to sharing our joy with you all in the months and years ahead!
In other news, Erik was selected Wednesday to go to the UnumProvident Training and Recognition Conference at the Grand Floridian Resort at Walt Disney World, May 12-15.
About 5% of the employees are selected to go.
We had meetings in our large atrium for different departments to announce the participants. So all were announced in front of peers and and some senior management. Mickey Mouse was there to congratulate the winners, who even got Mickey ears with their names embroidered.
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