Memorial Day Weekend / The Beach

For the second year in a row, we spent Memorial Day Weekend down in Seagrove Beach with our good friends from Chattanooga, the S family. (Last year's recap here.) Zach & Robbie went to high school together and became close friends when Zach & Robbie both moved back to Chattanooga after graduating from college. Zach's wife Kimberly & I became good friends once Robbie & I started dating. Kimberly & Zach had their daughter Addie 8 months after we had Jake, so Jake & Addie have grown up together since they were babies, and we already have their wedding all planned out. They also have a son Tyler who is 18 months old. We had a full & fun house!

We all got into town Thursday evening.

Jake & Addie on the bunk beds

This is what they felt like after being in the car.
Jake for 4 hours & Addie for 7 hours.

Day 1

The weather was absolutely perfect. It was hot, but not too hot. The water was clear & beautiful. There were waves, but they were not too big or rough. We headed to the beach pretty early. (And I have to give a shout out to the Zach & Robbie. Early every morning, to get a good spot, they would lug the canopy and beach chairs down to the beach. And every evening, they would lug all of our stuff back, so all us girls had to drag back were our hot, tired complaining kids. I cannot thank the guys enough for dragging all of our stuff to & from the beach everyday. Thank you thank you thank you!) We enjoyed a full day at the beach and then headed back to the house late afternoon, so we could get ready for dinner. We ate dinner in Seaside at Great Southern, which is always great. Afterwards, we had ice cream and then waited for the outdoor movie to start in the Seaside Amphitheater. Halfway through the movie (Monster's University), I noticed that pretty much everyone on our blanket was asleep or falling asleep, so we all headed back to the condo. Day 1 was a great success!

Jake LOVED the ocean

Ice cream after dinner

Daddy & Jake
Getting ready for the movie to start

Burning off energy by running around

Mommy & Jake

Jake practicing his big brother skills on Tyler

Sister & Brother - Addie & Tyler

The S Family

Our family

Day 2

We knew that we would be staying in for dinner on night 2, so we allowed ourselves to get a later start that day. We headed down to the beach late morning and stayed until sunset. Not only does the gulf coast have the most beautiful beaches in the US, but also such beautiful sunsets. It's one of my most favorite things. Day 2 also brought the boogie board. Jake has been talking about wanting a boogie board for weeks. While I was at Target, picking up stuff for our beach trip, I picked up what I thought was a boogie board. It was only $3, looked small enough for Jake and had spiderman on it, so I thought it was perfect! I surprised Jake with it the night before we left and he was so excited. Then on Day 1 we get out to the beach and Jake runs down to the waves to try out his new boogie board, and Robbie informs us that is a kickboard, not a boogie board. That is why it was so small (& cheap). Oops. So Saturday morning, Robbie got up early & went to buy Jake an actual boogie board. Jake was beyond thrilled and loved it. He said it was his favorite part of the beach. That night, we cooked out seafood. The guys managed the grill, the kids played outside & Kimberly & I watched from above on the balcony. 

Tyler & Jake playing ball

Jake with his new boogie board

First try on the boogie board

First wipe out

We were really proud of Jake
He didn't get upset or cry when he wiped out
He wanted to get back on & try again

Success!

We took a little break from the beach to swim at the pool

Playing before dinner

Day 3

On Day 3, we were back out on the beach bright & early. There were no waves that day, so Jake wasn't able to ride his boogie board (probably much to Robbie's relief, as Robbie was the one who got stuck having to help him every time.) But we all still had lots of fun. That evening, we took some family pictures and then headed into Rosemary Beach. We walked around for a little bit, and that is when the tragedy happened. Jake fell & scrapped his knees. Jake can get knocked down hard, pop up & say he's fine. But a little paper cut can completely send him over the edge and to his death bed. Jake's fall really wasn't that bad, he just can't walk in flip flops, but I keep trying to make him wear them. He was crying because he fell, but then he looked down & noticed the skin on his knees had been scrapped, so there was a little blood. Complete, full meltdown. You would have thought someone cut off his legs. For an hour, he limped along, crying & complaining. (And no, I'm not that mean of a parent, but it really wasn't that bad.) We decided to eat at Summer Kitchen (which I would not recommend, it was overpriced for just okay food), which had a 30 minute wait. During the entire wait, Jake would get calmed down, but then as soon as he saw his knees, he would get upset again. He kept saying things like "oh, my beautiful knees are ruined". Finally Rob took him to get a Popsicle, to try to get his mind off of it. It worked & Jake calmed down. But he still continued to talk about it endlessly to anyone who would listen. After dinner, on our walk back, we enjoyed fireworks from Alys Beach and then finished with ice cream. It was a perfect ending, to not only a perfect day, but a perfect little vacation (minus the tragedy of a pair of beautiful knees getting ruined). 

Picture for their future wedding video

Sweet friends

Picture taken by Addie

Our last beach vacation as a family of 3

I also want to give a huge thank you to my parents for letting us use the condo during one of the busiest weekends of the year! We made so many great memories and are so grateful for your generosity. 

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!

25 Weeks

I am 25 weeks today. Part of me is excited that we only have 15 more weeks to wait to meet our little girl. The other part of me is panicked because we only have 15 weeks to come up with a name & get some kind of nursery together for her.  I know these 15 weeks will fly by (hopefully she doesn't come 4 weeks early like her brother), so we really need to get started!

How I've been feeling: I've been feeling really good. Up until about 16 weeks, most foods made me feel nausea, but since then, it's been fine. Now I've hit the "I'm so hungry, I'd rip food from a starving child's hand & eat it" stage. I know from my last pregnancy (& life in general) to enjoy the 20's. The 20-29 weeks of pregnancy are nice. You can feel the baby move, but it doesn't hurt. You look pregnant enough that people can tell, without looking completely huge. The baby is big enough you can feel her, but not so big that it is uncomfortable. You are close enough to your due to see the end of the tunnel, with still plenty of time to get things done.

How this pregnancy has been different from Jake's: It was the events leading up to this pregnancy and the first weeks that made it so different from Jake's. With Jake, we were completely blindsided with the pregnancy. We knew we were blessed to be pregnant and we wanted a baby, but it just kind of fell in our lap, so we kind of just took it for granted.  I was also naive. Getting pregnant was the hard part, we'd done that. Now I just had to breeze through the next 40 weeks until our healthy baby came, I thought. With this pregnancy, we'd tried for 2 years. We'd had a lot of negative pregnancy tests, so when we were told we were pregnant it was a feeling of accomplishment.  With Jake, I felt like the pregnancy symptoms were very minimal. A lot of the pregnancy symptoms, I looked at as annoyances, so I tried to just ignore them. With our last miscarriage, all of sudden, one day, all the pregnancy symptoms I had been feeling were gone. So with this pregnancy, I obsessed over every little thing I thought was a pregnancy symptoms. I was thankful for every blemish, for every sore body part, for every nausea feeling. I feel like my pregnancy symptoms were stronger this pregnancy, but it may have just been that I'm 5 years older, and a lot more obsessed over each one of them. I have been so fearful over everything this pregnancy. Every time I go to the doctor, I hold my breath, terrified they will tell me something is wrong. With Jake, we didn't find out we were pregnant, until I was 8 weeks along. With this baby, I was 1 week along. With Jake, we had an ultrasound at 8 weeks, 12 weeks & 20 weeks. With this baby, we had more ultrasounds the first 12 weeks, then we did the entire time we were pregnant with Jake. So a lot of things, have been very different. But the pregnancy after that time period, has been very similar to Jake's. Thankfully, with neither pregnancies I was horribly sick. I felt more nausea this pregnancy, but it wasn't horrible.

What Jake thinks of the pregnancy: Jake is actually really excited. At age 5, he for the most parts, gets it & understands. When we were trying to get pregnant, we'd ask him would he like a baby brother or sister. He always answered no, which worried us. He didn't want a baby to touch his stuff, he didn't want their cry to hurt his ears, he didn't want their dirty diapers to stink up the house. He basically saw no point in adding a baby to the household. We didn't tell him we were actually expecting until after we were 12 weeks and knew that it was going to be a girl. Surprisingly, he was really excited. I was worried he might be disappointed it wasn't a boy, but he seems more excited that it is a girl. (I think he thinks that because it is a girl, that means she'll just play with barbies & dolls, and not touch his stuff. I hate to tell him, that if it's his, she'll probably want to touch it, even boy toys. But for now, I'll let him bask in bliss.) For some reason, the concept of a baby was not appealing to him, but the actual fact that there is a baby in my stomach is. He loves to talk about how he is going to help and be a good big brother. He seems to understand that there is a baby in my stomach and that when she is born, she'll be needy. I'm sure it will be an adjustment once she actually gets here, but for now, he seems very okay with it.

What are we going to name her?: This is the question we get asked the most. Most people know I love to monogram every article of my child's clothing, so I must have a name already picked out. Unfortunately, we do not. We have a lot of names we like, we just can't decide on which one is the one for our daughter. I'm very persuaded by people's opinions, so which name is my favorite is constantly changing. And Robbie is just as undecided. I keep hoping that I have a dream, and the baby's name in the dream will make my decision. But so far, that dream hasn't happened. It is killing me that we haven't named her yet, I just don't know how to decide. We do know that the middle name will be Elizabeth. That is my middle name, and a family name on both sides of the family. But as for a first name, we are no closer to naming her today, than we were 25 weeks ago. Here are our front runners & runner ups:
Front Runners (in alphabetical order):
Charlotte
Katherine (Kate)
Sloane
Runner Up Contenders:
Camille
Caroline
Virginia
What Jake wants to name her:
Betsy Bush

Her nursery: I just assumed that our children would be close in age, so when we were pregnant with our 2nd, I wouldn't feel the need to go all out on the nursery like we did with the first. But over 5 years have passed since I last did a nursery. So I've had 5 years to fall in love with 1,000 new & different nursery ideas. I know I want the nursery to be white, ivory & gold accents.  Do I have the entire nursery planned out in my head? Yes. Do we have 1 single thing ready for her nursery? No. Has Robbie approved the budget for this nursery? No. Will Robbie & I agree on the budget for this nursery? Probably Not. Needless to say, we've got a long way to go, and only 15 weeks to get there.  

Over the Weekend

 Last week was crazy! It seemed like we had something planned every day and every evening. Thankfully on Friday, the only thing planned were Rob & Jake to get haircuts. So after the haircuts, we met the Bush's for dinner & enjoyed dinner on the Mexican restaurant's patio. Wonderful!

Saturday morning, Jake had a baseball game. After the game, the Bush's were keeping him so Rob & I could drive over to Atlanta to attend a wedding. The wedding was not until 7:00, so we had plenty of time to get ready. We got upgraded on our room at the Ritz Carlton, so that was pretty awesome. The wedding was beautiful and I had a great time catching up with my relatives.  

25 weeks prego

 What was Jake doing while we were in Atlanta? Well, he made cookies with Mimi. (And pregnant mamma has already eaten all of the ones they sent home with us. I'm seriously the cookie monster.) Then Mimi & Granddad took him to a movie. He went to church with them Sunday morning, and then we picked him up on our way back into town. Needless to say, he had a great time! 

Mimi's little kitchen helper

Last Day of School

Jake's actual last day of school was yesterday, but today they had their end of the year musical. It was Jake's 3rd and final year at Westwood. The Westwood program has been such an answered prayer. Jake has had 3 wonderful teachers, made lots of great friends, learned a lot and Rob & I have been grateful that he has spent the last 3 years in a loving, caring, Christian environment. We love Westwood and we are going to miss it so much next year!!

Walking into the musical setup
It wasn't that loud, Mr. Dramatic

Josiah, Jake, Cody, Tanner & Miller
(Josiah, Jake, Tanner & Miller have all been in the same class since pre-3K)

Jake & Mrs. Mandy

First Day of School Picture / Last Day of School Picture

Our awesome teachers over the last 3 years
(They have to wear a white shirt at their end of the year program.
I don't just always dress Jake in a white polo on the last day of school!)

Jake is attending a summer program at a private school here in Birmingham, and then it is off to Kindergarten in the fall. Jake says he is excited about big boy school and can't wait. I've not worried too much about it. But we've come to realize that Jake is a little bit just telling us what he thinks he should say. He finally admitted that he was a little nervous about Kindergarten. He has been extra clingy to his teacher this last month, especially this last week. He has talked a lot about how much he will miss Mrs. Mandy and how much he loves her. She said he has been attached to her leg the last week and has repeatedly told her how much he loves her & is going to miss her. Mandy sent me a text yesterday and told me that Jake had told her how much he loved her & thanked her for teaching him about God. She said she was having to hold back the tears! They've talked a lot about it being okay to be a little nervous about going to Kindergarten and I feel like once we do our school tour in June, Jake will feel a little more at ease. Most of the kids in his class at Westwood will be going to a different school, but all of the kids on Jake's baseball team will go to Valley with him in the fall. So he is excited about that and will at least know a few people. Of course, now that I know he's nervous, that makes me worry. But we are just praying for it, we're praying for the teacher he will have, the kids who will be in his class, and the entire upcoming school year. In the meantime, we are going to enjoy a fun summer!