Video Overload

Lovey, this is for you!  (And others too!)

If you read this blog you know that we started AR on rice cereal just a couple weeks ago.  Here are her first few "bites"! 

And here she is just a few days ago!  Wish I would have gotten this morning b/c I figured out just what those should straps on the high chair are really for.  Every time I put the spoon towards her mouth, she about dived for it!

This next video is of AR kicking in her high chair which is what she does when she gets excited!

In the late afternoon when I am getting supper ready, I usually have AR somewhere near so she won't get too fussy.  So we've gone from the bouncy seat to playing in the high chair as she can play better with toys now.  Her noises crack me up though and are so cute... except for this one noise that she likes to do when I'm driving.  It's one of those "4th grade boy noises" that comes from the back of the throat and she does it until that breath is totally gone.  That noise is only slightly less annoying that my students who use to make it!  :)

This girl absolutely L-O-V-E-S her bouncy excersaucer thingy.  She's been using it for a while but the other week it was like she just all the sudden discovered she could jump and bounce and it was so funny!  It's especially humorous to me b/c she can't smile and jump at the same time so she jumps then stops to smile and then jumps again!

This video is from the other morning when I went to get her up.  She is usually Miss Smiley when she wakes up but this morning was a bit different.  Maybe she was confused by the camera?

Lastly, I have two videos from the beach from a couple weeks ago.  This first video is a quick snip of the three cousins playing on the floor together.  Then we have a clip of what "Mimi Camp:  Beach Style" looks like.  We came back to the house and somehow Mimi had ended up with all three grandbabies by herself, but she was doing a fantastic job!  Grayson was very entertaining with his music, singing, and dancing!

And that is a view of our lives with a 4/5 month old!

Our Busy, Busy Weekend!

This past weekend was very busy for us and a ton of fun!  We started it off by hosting Supper Club for our Sunday School group at our house.  If you don't already know, our house is quite tight on space and therefore we wanted to have it in the backyard.  The weather was not looking good all week but I prayed about it and the Lord really did provide a beautiful evening for us.  We themed the evening as a tailgate and everybody brought their favorite tailgate dish.  It was all so yummy.  I failed at taking even one pic and I apologize for that!

We were offered some tickets to the Clemson/FSU game on Saturday and wanted to go.  We originally planned to take AR but William's mom offered to keep her so we did that.  We are so glad we did too... it was super hot and loud and we would have all been miserable had she come with us.  The game did cause a lot of anxiety but it was a lot of fun too.  Below are some pregame pics:

A special thanks to our friend Esther for sending her this cute bow (along with some others!) and to Aunt Katie for her Clemson shirt that may or may not be a 12M size :)

Saturday night was my first night away from AR and while it was strange at the house without her, it was nice having a little break.  I look forward to letting her stay with both sets of grandparents in the future, especially once she's not nursing anymore and things will be a little easier to up and go!

Below are just some other pics from the past week:

Found her like this and she was still just playing away!

This pic looks sideways but it isn't, the mat is just turned over and she's playing with it.

She fell asleep after nursing one day and stayed that way for just a little while

Will try to do better at posting, but life is really busy right now!

5 Months & Rice Cereal

AR is 5 months old today... that last month absolutely flew by and I'm sure it had to do with being at the beach and all, but my goodness!  Once again, no doctor appt until next month so I'll just give you the latest update based on what I see!

Stats at 5 Months:

Weight: All I know is that when our friend Russell weighed her on Sept. 10, she was right around 16lb.

What she's up to these days:

-we have started rice cereal!!  (see pics below)

-very good at reaching for things now, esp. our faces which is sooo sweet

-eats four times a day and 2 of those have solids too (she sometimes has a 5th feeding if we get up early)

-sleeps 12ish hours... once again, we really lucked out

-still not rolling over... I don't think she sees any reason to right now, but she seems close!

-she's found a couple new tones in her voice

-loooooves her exersaucer jumperoo thingy

-laughs a little, but it takes work on our part!

We are having the best time with AR and she continues to be such a blessing to us!  Below are some pics from her 2nd day of rice cereal... I have videos from the 1st day and will try to post later in the week.

I love when daddy feeds me! 

Feedings in the bumbo were rather difficult as she kept reaching for the spoon.  Now we have the high chair down from the attic, it is much easier!!

Three Years!

Today is our Three Year Anniversary and I continue to be amazed at just how blessed I am.  I know that I have one of the best husbands you could ask for and he's also one great daddy!  AR and I are so lucky to have William in our lives and I thank God for him all the time.  I can't wait to spend the rest of our years together as well as continuing this family we have started! 

Pawley's Island

This whole past week we were at Pawley's Island with William's family and had a great time.  It's so nice when the whole family is able to be together in one place and esp. nice when it's a whole week!  AR had a great time with her cousins as well as everybody else!

It was very different with a baby... having to think of what they could sleep in/on, when their next feeding was and how it would be given to them, and many other things you had to think about that never crossed our minds before!  But we enjoyed her and she was a great sport out on the beach!

The girls (and Grayson) mostly hung out on the beach and the guys did a bit of fishing.  They didn't have a ton of luck this year though.  We played some games at night... our favorite being Liver Pool, brought to us by way of Chad!  We each took one night to cook and picked up some food the other nights.  It's soooo nice when you don't have to cook!  One night we even got to go out while Mimi and Papa watched all three grandbabies!   We mainly spent the week relaxing (as much as you can with a baby ;)) and watching/singing along to Mary Poppins (Grayson's favorite movie at the moment).

A special thanks to my in laws for inviting us to the beach!!

AR snoozing in her bouncy seat at the beach... still holding on to a toy!

The girls are all cute in their bathing suits!

All three cousins playing

Her first "dip" in the salt water... wasn't a huge fan.

There's that lip!

Sarah and Andrew

Me and William

Chad and Mollie

This was where you'd find the girls during supper time

For our night to cook, we made a chicken and broccoli braid, sweet potato fries, and garlic green beans.  We have eaten the first two mentioned a few times and just tried the green beans that night... all three turned out pretty good in my opinion.  We topped it off with "Erin and Bonnie's Ice Cream of Awesomeness" which was a huge hit!  I will have to post the recipe at a later date.

Our meal

Grayson catching every last drip of our ice cream! 

The children, spouses, and grandchildren

Uncle Willie and Grayson

AR with her Uncle Andrew

Papa and Mimi with all three of their grandchildren

We needed a picture of us with the girls post pregnancy!

On the way to the beach, we were able to meet up with our friends, Hank and Sarah but I didn't think to take any pictures... you'd think I'd be a pro at that by now!!  At the end of our trip, we got to visit with our friends, Stephanie and Russell.  We also got to meet their precious baby boy, Daniel!  It was so nice catching up with them and meeting each others babies!  I wish they lived closer!!

Stephanie, Daniel, Me, and AR