More exciting news from the Raby’s

Last night was our very first night in our brand new home! Yes, married and closed on our house all in the same week! It has been awesome. We are so in love with it. It just feels like home. It is beautiful. It is ours. 

Moving has been awesome (can you feel my sarcasm?). We hired a moving truck for all the big stuff, which was a great help. We have four days to move, and get our old house in move-in ready condition. And neither of us can take of work, so we are doing it in the evenings, while chasing Turner. It has been…. an experience. But when it is all said and done… it will all be worth it. 

Turner’s first night in the new house was not so fun. No one ever warned me about that. Just another example of how everyone has opinions for you on how to do things you already know, but the tough stuff they stay quiet on! 

At first Turner explored with pure joy and excitement. He would peak around every corner, run from room to room, and just look so amazed. But then, he started to recognize stuff. Like the couch, or his toy box, and he genuinely looked confused. He didn’t understand why these things  were there and not at his house. 

The later it got, the worse he got. He was visibly upset. He just wanted to be held. He just wanted to go home. So of course he didn’t sleep. Although we put him to bed in his crib, it lasted a couple of hours before he was screaming bloody murder for us. He was understandably scared and confused. So we brought him to bed with us. 

It is the best feeling in the world, however, it is bittersweet. As sad as it makes me when Turner is crying in his crib, there is no better feeling than when the absolute second I touch him, he stops. He hugs on to me and instantly he is ok. There is no better feeling in the world. 

So we put him in bed with us. I never mind when he sleeps with us, even though I know it means zero sleep for me. Turner is the WORST bed hog ever. He sleeps every which way but right, but it doesn’t matter. I like it (in moderation). 

I hope he gets used to it soon. I wish I could just explain it to him. But I know there is no way to make him understand, but in time, he will.

We eloped!

So this weekend was big for us. 

We got married! 

Our first kiss as husband and wife!

So we drove 6 hours to Cincinnati, Ohio where we were married on the baseball field before the Atlanta Braves Vs. Red baseball game. If you know anything about us, you know we are huge Braves fans. So this was perfect. After a lot of thinking, we decided to elope. Several different factors played into our decision. 

1) As a lot of you know, my dad died of liver cancer a year and a half ago. So the thought of having a actual wedding without him was heartbreaking. I just didn’t want to do it without him. Although I have an incredible brother-in-law in, Will, that would happily walk me down the aisle, and I would be lucky to have him do it, it isn’t my dad. So I didn’t want a situation where I would have to walk down an aisle. It just didn’t feel right. 

After the ceremony, when we got back to the hotel room, the necklace of my dad’s ashes broke as I was taking my hair down. To me that couldn’t be more symbolic, and a special sign from my dad. That it was time I could let go of my dad, because the next most important man in my life was finally in his right place as my husband. It reminded me of when my dad was on his death bed, he turned to Andrew and asked Andrew to take care of me. Andrew promised my dad he always would. And last Friday, he made that promise official.

Selfie showing off Dad’s ashes around my neck!

2) We have very limited free weeks/weekends throughout the rest of the year, and we wanted to get married this year. Andrew travels for work, and from the third week in September all the way into the holidays, he is constantly gone. So we had little time to work with before the rush of the holiday season. 

3) Every date we threw out, someone had some prior obligation. We had originally planned for an October wedding. We started throwing around dates to family and friends… and everyone was booked up. So we knew that just wasn’t going to work. 

4) We are set to close on our new house on Tuesday. That means, we are going to put a substantial amount of money down on the house, and spend even more on all the costs associated with it. So we didn’t see the need to spend extra money on a wedding. Andrew and I aren’t really into the big ceremonial aspect of it anyway, and think it is kind of a waste. It just was not what we wanted. 

5) We felt like it. Andrew and I love each other. We want to spend our lives together and didn’t really need to go through any big ceremony to prove that or announce it to the world. And a private ceremony on a baseball field before the game was just fitting for us. Our first date was at a Braves game. We named our son Turner. Our Christmas photos were taken on the field. We celebrate every birthday/anniversary with the Braves. A wedding with them was just the perfect match. 

So wedding details. 

It was perfect. It was relaxed. It was stress free. It was special. It was just me and Andrew. We left Turner at home with my mom and sister. We got to go to a suite at the ballpark before the ceremony. Enjoyed a glass of wine, toured the park, and just talked. It was special for us. The fact that we were the only Braves fans in a sea of Reds fans (19 couples in all were wed or renewed their vows) was even more special. We were definitely a topic of conversation for everyone. 

Before going on the field, we got to see several people associated with the Braves. Brian Jordan, who played for the Braves before becoming an announcer for Fox Sports South wished us congrats, as did Braves announce Jenn Hildreth. They were equally as excited to see Braves fans taking the plunge. The word of two Braves fans who were brave enough to take the field at an opponents ballpark quickly spread and it wasn’t long before the Atlanta Braves organization caught wind of it. 

We lined up on the field after our name was called out over the entire ballpark. Braves fans in the crowd erupted in cheers. After taking our place on the field, we were lined up directly in front of the Atlanta Braves dugout with Braves Manager Fredi Gonzalez right in front of us. The look on his face was pure joy. He was so excited to see Braves fans on the field. He and the other coaches were giving us thumbs up. 

Then in the crowd, we could see a handful of our friends. The only people we told about the elopement were a few of Andrew’s friend who lived near Cincinnati. We needed two witnesses, so we invited them. The day before the ceremony, we asked my sister. We swore her to secrecy, but we needed a photographer. Although the Reds took a couple of pictures before the ceremony, mine and Andrew’s pictures got cut short due to registration, so we were fortunate to have Ruby there to get these awesome pictures. 

I don’t remember much of the ceremony. It was a whirlwind. We repeated after the minister and promised each other forever. We were shaking as we exchanged rings. it was all a blur. I remember jumping up and down because I was so dang excited. Finally, the day was here that I got to give everything I had to the most incredible man, father, friend, person, I have ever known.  Who wouldn’t be excited about that?

As we were walking off the field, the Atlanta Braves third base coach Doug Dascenzo handed us a baseball that Fredi had signed and dated. It was totally unexpected and priceless. 

Shortly after the ceremony I got a tweet from Jenn Hildreth that said to come to the dugout after the game that she had a gift from us. It turns out, the Atlanta Braves told her to get in touch with us because they wanted to give us another wedding gift. They gave us the singed official line up cards from the game. The ballgame that the Braves ended up winning! Plus, Jenn talked about Andrew and I on TV during her coverage of the game and included a clip of the wedding. How incredible is that? How many other people can say their wedding was on TV?

Saying “I do”

Although my sister had to leave right away, we got to watch the game and celebrate with a couple of friends.

 It was perfect. It may not be everyone’s ideal story, but it is our story. And we love it. 

We do plan to have a reception with family and friends in a couple of weeks. We want to celebrate with them too! All in all, it was incredible, and the most important aspect of it, we promised each other forever. And that is one promise I intend to keep.

And to those asking us what they can get us or if we are registered anywhere, we do not need anything. But if you would like to make a donation in our honor to help get this remarkable woman’s book published, we would greatly appreciate it! 

Catching up on a blog long since forgotten…

Keeping with my blog has been super difficult lately. I feel guilty about not writing more, which in turns makes me want to write even less because I am bummed, so then I don’t write, and then feel even worse and it is a vicious, vicious cycle.

It is not that I have been too busy lately. Nothing more so than average. I guess I am just in a stage to where I don’t feel like anyone wants to know about the things Turner has been up to, so I just keep it to myself.

He is officially almost 15 months. That is basically a year and half. That is out of control. He is a grown man. He is talking more and more, even though it is baby babble that pretty much only me and Andrew can understand, he is talking. He refuses to sprout anymore teeth. Should I be concerned? He has four… and no real sign of an new ones. Is that normal?

He is also in a brutal hitting stage. He just hits everyone, all the time, and thinks it is hilarious. I don’t know how to fix it either. I can’t pop him back, because on top of laughing at me, it sends him a message that hitting is ok… or at least I think it does. So he hits, and laughs about it.

The other night we also experience probably one of the worst things Turner has done to date. Out of no where, Turner viciously grinding his teeth together. He has his front four teeth, so he would just grind them and the most awful sound you have ever heard would come out. It was unbearable. I didn’t know what to do to make him stop, so in a panic I just let him bite my finger. It was better than that God-awful painful grinding! He hasn’t done it since, but without a doubt, it was the worst.

Oh, I left Turner for the first time last weekend. I spend the weekend in New Jersey visiting my best friend. In all of Turner’s life, I haven’t spent that long away from him, and if I was ever away from him, Andrew was always with me. But last weekend, I went on a weekend vacation, and left the boys behind. It was… different. When Andrew dropped me off at the airport Turner was asleep, so it made it a little easier to leave. I was ok most of the weekend, unless I saw a baby, then I would get all the feels and just want my baby back! I have to leave him for a solid week in September for a work trip to Boston. I couldn’t be any less excited about it. If I could have it my way, I wouldn’t work any of my three jobs and I would just stay at home with Turner every single day and never ever leave him.