Some News to Share....

Can you tell someone is excited about becoming a big sister?

We are so grateful and excited to share that we are expecting a baby in September 2009. We thank God for this gift and for allowing us the joy of another child. We had our first ultrasound a few weeks ago and got to see the heartbeat. Our sweet doctor gave Holly the picture and the first thing Holly did was kiss it.

We are planning to move back to Altlanta around the end of May and Allen will begin his orientation mid-June. I am getting more and more excited about moving back, even though it will be so hard to leave Nashville. But it will be great to be around old friends and be involved in our old church again. And I had a great doctor there who delivered Holly so we will most likely go back to her.

Well, blog-friends, I'm so glad I've gotten to share this news with you. It has been so hard to write on here and not talk about it because it has been on my mind so much, so I'm glad it is out in the open now. Hope you all are doing well. And thank you for supporting Team Joe P. I think the event was a big success.

Thank You, Rally Foundation

You may already know about this sweet foundation that raises money for childhood cancer research (I have a link to them on the side of our blog). A couple of their athletes biked across the country this summer in honor of Joseph. And all of their fundraising efforts go specifically to childhood cancer research.

I just found out that they are doing a "race in place" (biking) fundraiser this weekend in Nashville and they have a "Team Joe P."! I just got an email and I was so touched that they would have a team in Joe P.'s honor. So, I wanted to let you all know about it. You can visit the team's webpages to check on their progress and even donate if you like.

http://www.active.com/donate/raceinplace/tygunter (from this page you can link to his team members)

I know many of you have run races in Joseph's honor (St. Jude Marathon this past fall was one) and I cannot tell you how much that means to us. Thank you!

And thanks so much for all your work, Rally Foundation. Go Team Joe P.!!

And the Winner is....

All the numbers were in the hat...

Holly picked #5, Christi from Decatur, GA. Congratulations! Please contact me (agpeabody@gmail.com) so you can order your 50 free monogrammed notecards.

Thanks to everyone who played along with the giveaway. This was so fun for me; I'll have to do another one again soon.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

--Gillian

A Giveaway!

48 hour giveaway!!!

**FYI: Swee Pea Designs notecards, luggage tags, and bookmarks are buy one, get a duplicate set free! This offer ends February 15th.

This is a really amazing deal. My sister is giving away 50 free beautiful notecards to a lucky winner. It would make a great gift for a friend or a great gift for yourself. :) All of the stationery, luggage tags, jewelry and notepads are adorable. I have some personalized flat notecards and love them! They are not only pretty but great quality.


Here's how to enter the drawing:

Go to http://ltootle.paperconcierge.com/

Pick out your favorite product on the website. Come back and leave a comment mentioning your favorite.

You will then be entered to win one of the shown note card sets:

50 personalized notecards... a $76.00 value!!!

Are these not gorgeous? Holly will draw a name out of a hat and I will post the winner on Friday afternoon. Happy browsing!

Returning

After a lot of discussions, thoughts and prayer about my job situation, we've decided to return to Atlanta and finish my residency at Emory. This has been a difficult decision for many obvious reasons, but having finally made it, we are relieved and excited to be moving forward. I have spoken with my program director there, who has been unbelievably supportive and helpful throughout the past year, and told her that we were ready to come back. So we're still working out all the details, but it looks like we'll be moving back sometime in the May/June range. We are so thankful to the Emory program who have been so flexible and understanding with everything.


So we're coming back. And we're excited to see all of our friends there. We are apprehensive about moving back to all the memories and places associated with Joseph. And I'm anxious about returning to work at the hospital where he was diagnosed and had the first surgery. So there are some things to be praying for if you think of it.


We are so thankful for our friends and family who have supported us throughout this year and especially in the months after Joseph's death. We feel so blessed to have so many around us encouraging and helping us. We're excited for the future for the first time in a long time and are ready to get going.

Happy Birthday Holly Bear

Three years ago today we were blessed with a beautiful baby girl, Holly Taaffe Peabody. She was 9 pounds 12 oz and 20.5 inches long. She was a sweet baby who rarely cried and was content most of the time to listen and watch her big brother run circles around the house. We are so thankful for our little Holly bear. She continue to be such a sweet, caring, bright and fun little girl who brings so much joy and happiness to our lives. Below are some pictures scanned into the computer (which explains why they are a little slanted) from Holly's "first" birthday. And yes, that is my real belly.

This year for Holly's birthday we had a princess party. The first thing she said to me when she woke me up was, "Thank you for decorating my house." She was so excited to see streamers and balloons in the kitchen in preparation for her party. She really enjoyed the festivities and we are so grateful to everyone who came to make it a special day for her. I have observed that most children actually do not enjoy their own parties very much when they are little (mine included). I don't know if it is overstimulation or just being overwhelmed at all the noise and people, but I have to say Holly seemed to enjoy every minute and seemed very at ease with all the attention. Here are some pictures from her big princess day:

Ariel and Cinderalla love each other.

We made handprint princess and king t-shirts.

Thanks to artist Aunt Jennifer all the t-shirts turned out beautifully.

Princess Annie

I found this cake online and decided to try it. I'm so glad it didn't fall!

Big three year old blowing out her candles. Happy Birthday Holly! We love you so much.