New Pictures via Shutterfly Site

Hi guys - please check out the new pictures site we've set up. It's www.thegellinmcmellons.shutterfly.com

Click on the link to the right that says "PICTURES". I'll be posting all of our pictures out there going forward. I'm going to go back and upload all the old ones as well, but it might take me a while to get caught up. :)

Virginia Grace 15

mths

My Little Cookie Monster

I may have found a solution!

It just takes too dang long to upload a picture on this blogsite - and you can only upload 4 at a time. This is part of the reason I stopped blogging, especially because so much of what I want to share is photography.
I just downloaded picasa 3, google's answer to photoorganizing on the web and, although I haven't had time to really check it out yet, so far - it seems like it's the solution to my blogging answers. It is integrated with this blogsite and should allow me to seamlessly store, upload, and share all of our pictures through the blog. I'm getting excited!! I'll check it out a little more this afternoon, after I've gotten back from my 3 meetings and gone to the gym. :)

I accept it...not a good blogger

Ok guys, I'm tired of making up excuses for myself. I just have to accept that although I TRULY wish I was one of those dedicated bloggers that habitually posts every day, week, month – heck, I’d even take it if I could commit to posting quarterly – with such passion and enthusiasm over every significant, and oftentimes not-so-significant, thing / thought, etc. that happens in their lives - I am just not that person. I simply don’t know how they do it! Now, don’t get me wrong, I really do wish I was “that person” and I carry around a great deal of guilt for not being “that person”.
I have many friends that are “that person” and I am so jealous. They print out their blogs and make scrapbooks from their posts, along with pictures and mementos, to one day pass down to their children who will pass them on to their children, etc. Think of the guilt that I carry knowing that my little V won’t have one of those fancy books! How will she know how much I have cherished every moment of watching her grow up over these past 14 months? How I’ve enjoyed watching her little personality develop – and the crazy looks she can give that just make you laugh out loud – and how much I treasured watching her take those first steps of independence? Is it all lost? You see I have these thoughts daily, about jotting something down or I’ll forget it and it will be lost forever, and how there will be no record for my Sweet Baby V. Will she think I didn’t care enough about her memories as those scrap-booking mom’s cared for their childrens’? I know that’s not true, but it’s still terrible…the guilt that I feel every time someone asks when the blog is going to be updated again. I just wish I had more time and I wish I knew how these other mothers come up with the time they have – please for Pete’s sake – SHARE YOUR SECRETS!
So…to my resolve, I have to acknowledge my shortcomings and just do the best I can with the time that I have. I may complain of this shortage of time, but what I do have that captures those irreplaceable moments, that I feared would be forgotten and lost because I didn’t blog about them, very effectively and efficiently is an awesome camera and now, thanks to my loving husband’s Valentine’s gift, a terabyte of space on which to store Virginia’s photojournalism documentary. I may not write daily, but I have over 50 gigs of photos covering just about every day of her life thus far. I just haven’t been so great about posting them. So…once I can figure out how to post or link a slew of pictures on here, I'll be posting a sample of a typical day of me following my little V around with the camera. I hope you enjoy! :)

Party Prep Day 2

Making another batch of poundcake cupcakes to freeze and still building the cupcake stand!

Party Prep!

Lunch "hour"ish... ;)

And cleaned back up again! :)

I need to do some Yoga!

It's been a while since I've sat down to catch up with everyone. Sorry for that! It's the same old story...busy busy - even when you're not technically "busy" with events, with a 10 1/2 month old you're busy nonetheless! I'm sure you other moms can certainly relate. I truly admire these moms that seem to be able to do it all and pull it off with ease. Sometimes I feel like I'm going to have a breakdown just living day-to-day with nothing extraordinary going on to drive me to the point of tears...just living! Anyway, I'm not trying to bring anyone down. I'm just in a funk lately and there are many contributing factors: the economy, Virginia's development (she's not taking the sippy cup and I find that very stressful for some reason), just Virginia in general, my job (of course that is linked to the economy, but there is an awful lot of work to be done there that just seems overwhelming at the moment), but mainly being worried about my mom, who is about to undergo major back surgery tomorrow. She's been in so much pain for years and after trying to treat the pain with steroid shots and pain pills for so long, she has finally made the difficult decision to give surgery a try. Please say a prayer for her that this is going to truly help and relieve her from all the discomfort she has endured. I'm so worried about her. Thank goodness my job is in Durham and her surgery is at Duke, otherwise I'd be even more of a wreck than I am. At least I'll be close and can visit with her frequently. It's just going to be so hard to see her like that. Anyone that knows my mom knows that she is a hard worker, a real busy bee - not one to be down and out. This recovery is not going to be easy for her and I'm scared that she'll be so frustrated that she'll try to do something strenuous before she is supposed to and will end up hurting herself. So please say another prayer that she recovers quickly! Thank you!
Anyway, I do have more happy news and pictures to share but I have to finish uploading the latest and I promise my next post will be a little more upbeat! :)

Second Bike Ride MUCH better than the First!

The weather this past weekend was absolutely beautiful and just perfect for some outdoor fun! After Virginia told me that she did not care to nap Saturday morning (she stood up for 30 minutes in her crib staring at the door waiting for me to come back and get her), I decided that maybe it was time to try another bike ride. I know, I know...if you read the blog entry from her first bike ride you'd ask yourself - why in the world would dare to take a tired baby on a bike ride? Well she wasn't "crabby" tired, she just didn't want to nap, and it was so pretty outdoors so I decided I'd take the risk and I'm so glad that I did! Wouldn't you know it that this time she just absolutely LOVED the ride? She sat in her seat with a beaming smile for the whole ride. I'm so happy she had such a good time. It was a stark contrast to the previous ride where I found myself apologizing to every person we past on the way home while she screamed as though her mother was sticking daggers in her. This time she felt so relaxed that at one point she actually fell asleep while we were going up a hill! Her head started to dip forward and I looked down at her and she was nodding off. I had to hold her head up and steer the bike with one hand...not an easy feat going up a hill and wanting to shift to a lower gear! ;) Anyway, the ride was a success and I think we'll be riding a lot more in the future. Now if we could only get daddy to go with us....he's just about done with "the great wall" project so maybe he'll have more time to do stuff with us now.
Speaking of the wall project, I'll have to take a picture and post it on the blog. I'm so proud of him and his work. It's nice to have the room opened up -everything is much more accessible now and I know we're going to enjoy the new space. He really did a fantastic job and I can't wait to show you all!

Virginia's 9 Month Photo Session

Wow - I just went through the disk to find a couple of good shots to post on the blog and I simply couldn't narrow it down to just a few! They posted in opposite order of the shoot - that's why she's down to her rumpers in the top. She was clothed when we started. :) You can click on the picture to enlarge it.

For Dad

I hope you enjoy this video!

Baby Virginia's TV Debut

We just got back from our annual beach trip hosted by my parents in the Outer Banks. We really had an enjoyable week and it is deserving of a separate post...so stay tuned for it....I just wanted to go ahead and get this out there.

While we were in the OBX, Hurricane Hanna was quickly approaching the Carolina's Coast. We wanted to go down to the beach to check out the wave action and snap a few photos. As we approached the beach entrance we saw the local news van from WRAL. I was like, please don't let them come talk to us. I hadn't showered in like 2 days and had no makeup....so, of course, they came straight to us! Who can resist the lure of Beautiful Baby V?!! So, without further adieu....here's Baby V's TV debut! http://www.wral.com/weather/video/3493037/