Meeting Jackson Shepard

One of my high school best friends and college roommate, Melissa (Brothers) Shepard, gave birth to her first son May 21st. She and her husband, Trevor, live in Santa Monica, CA, so when she told me they were going to be flying to Atlanta in July, Kenneth and I made plans to be there so that we could meet sweet baby Jackson William. We drove up early Friday morning and stayed with Craig and Jenn for the weekend. It was a nice little getaway as we were in the final stages of buying a house, which turned out to be much more stressful than we thought it would be, but I will save that for another post.

We met Melissa, Trevor, and Jackson at a neat restaurant in Decatur called the Brick Store on Saturday night. Several other high school friends came along, and we ended up having a great night, even though I was worried about how long Michael would last before having a meltdown --- he did great! It was so nice to see old friends and meet their children. We also chatted about our upcoming ten year reunion, which will be in October - craziness!

Anyway, on to the photos!

It is really difficult to get a picture of these two being still...

We met one of Kenneth's law school buddies, Justin, who lives in Atlanta, and his wife, for lunch on Saturday. Justin and Kenneth were twins - I got a big laugh out of this!
Craig must have missed the memo to wear your soccer cleats and shin guards to the napping party...
Michael, me, and baby Jackson!
I love Michael's face in this one!

Don't we look pretty good as a family of four?

Kenneth must be pinching sweet Jackson in this one...

Michael even got to hold Jackson!

This is Charlie, one of my good high school friends. He is in the Army and has served several tours overseas. I heart him. This was right before he was leaving for the night, so I had to take advantage of the photo op, even though this looks like a family photo!
Melissa took this and then posted it on FaceBook. Her caption read, "Don't scare the little one Laura!" I promise, Massi was smiling at me while I was making this crazy face.

Massi belongs to Lizzie, who is sitting next to me holding Jackson.

Massi and me...

Self-portrait...

This is Massi with Phil, another good friend from high school.

This picture is classic --- I can't stop laughing when I look at it! Melissa took it, and I stole it from her FaceBook album because I love it so much.

-- Class of 2000 girls with our sons --

Michael (23 months) & me, Massi (5 months) & Lizzie, Jackson (2 months) & Melissa

Michael saw Jackson's carrier and wanted to try it out for old time's sake...

After dinner, we walked to a local yogurt place called the Yogurt Tap.

Michael enjoyed my dark chocolate with chocolate chips and strawberries...

-- What was left of our dinner group at the Yogurt Tap --

Phillip, Jackson, Amanda (Phillip's girlfriend), Melissa, Trevor, me, Michael (he was tired), and Kenneth

Max spends time throughout the day playing with some of his toys in this playpen so that Jenn can leave him in the room without worrying about what he might get into. Michael loved getting in it and playing with all of Max's toys. It was so funny. He would get in and spend at least 10 minutes at a time completely entertained!

A little Sunday morning playtime with Harrison before we got back on the road to drive back south to Orlando...

A quick message to my praying readers...Melissa's dad, Bobby, is in the hospital undergoing dialysis for kidney failure. He just underwent a successful heart transplant earlier in the summer after living at Emory in Atlanta for several months. This was one of the main reasons Melissa, Trevor and Jackson flew into Atlanta and not to Palm Coast, FL, which is where they normally go to see her parents in the summer. Please keep him and the entire Brothers/Shepard family in your prayers when you think about it. Much thanks!