Sweet Home Alabama . . .

After being at Jane's for a few nights we headed to Alabama to visit Keith's mom. I'm so glad we did because the following week she got strep throat and wasn't able to come to Georgia for Liam's birthday party -- had we not gone to visit her she wouldn't have been able to see Liam at all this trip! She of course was thrilled the second we got there and couldn't wait to get her hands on him. And I'm so thankful for Skype because Liam immediately recognized her and was comfortable around her right away. We Skype with Grandma on a daily basis and he gets so excited to see her, so it was awesome for them to be together in person!

Liam playing in Grandma's furniture!

Friday night we put Liam to bed and then went out to eat Mexican with our friends Landon and Casey (the same ones who came to visit us in the NL last May). It was awesome to be out and eat real Mexican food, which is impossible to find in the Netherlands. I pretty much devoured cheese dip, fajitas, and a delicious margarita!

The following day we were able to go to lunch with Keith's aunts and his cousin's family. Big Bob Gibson's is something I always crave when we go to Alabama, so it was a "must-have" this visit -- the best BBQ potatoes in the South!

Date Night!

That night Keith wanted to take me on a real date night -- and I regret saying that it's our first night out alone since Liam was born. Shameful, I know. It had been so long that we almost forgot how to act on a date night! We didn't have to push a stroller, or plan our meal time, or try to get home before bedtime, and we'd forgotten what that felt like! We left Liam with Grandma and headed out to Huntsville to do some shopping and dinner at Bridge Street. We were able to clothes shop and -- GASP -- go in a dressing room! It's a luxury I no longer take for granted! We then ate a delicious dinner at Connor's Steakhouse [sidenote: I notice I'm talking a lot about food here, but it's hard not to get excited about familiar foods when we visit the States!].

The next day we had a LONG drive back to Georgia with a cranky baby and got to spend the next two weeks with Pop Pop and Gram Gram!

More to come in the next post, all about Liam's first birthday party!

~Jessi