We are on the Move!

I started this post a few months ago and never finished it. Time just got away from me and now I feel like I am so far behind on updates. So much has happened that I might just have to do a post with all pictures to summarize our time but none the less I need to start with the move. So I will start with the original post.

Yep that is right we are in the process of saying goodbye to Fairhope/Mobile area. It is very bittersweet for us. Not only to we absolutely love where we live this place is where our family began. It was the first place Chad and I lived together, it is where we added our dog Baxter, and the place where our children were born. So you ask why are we moving...well Chad got a big promotion so that means we are getting transferred. Words cannot express how proud I am of him. He has worked so hard to do his best at his job and then also do his best to be at home and be a great dad and husband. All the hard work he has done has really paid off and it gives not only him more opportunity it gives our family more opportunity as well. And we thank him for it! We knew our days here would not be forever but I would be lying if I didn't say were are a little sad to be leaving now. I know our children may not remember everything about this place so I wanted to put together a little list of things we will miss about where we live now.

1) We will miss our many trips to the beach during the summer because it really is so close

2) We will miss morning walks by the bay especially in the spring and fall with these views

3) We will miss breakfast at the Grand in Point Clear on Sunday

4) We will miss our summer days at the Lakewood pool

5) We will miss dinner with this view

6) We will miss not really needing a winter coat

7) I will miss driving across the bay every morning. Even though I was heading to work there is something about the peacefulness of the water in the morning that helps me to relax after rushing out the door to get the kids to day care on time.

8) We will miss the friendships we have made here. For us that is the Parks, the Denniston's (our nieghbors), the Howards, the McMilans, the Pharrs, the Middletons. For James that is Nick, Gianni, Hayden, Cameron, Emmie, Anna Kate (those are his school friends), Gordon, Hudson and Stella, Rush and Madeline, Atkins and Autry.

However our move to the "big city" brings us new things to do and new memories to make. We are excited to now be here in our new home in Peachtree City, Georgia. We are enjoying seeing our family more often and I am enjoying my time at home with the boys. Some days are better than others but all in all we are happy with our new life.

No More Swaddle

If I have any readers still out there you are probably thinking WOW 4 posts in one week. If you aren't thinking it I sure am. I am not sure what has gotten into me but apparently I am on a roll. ha!

Anyway, Luke has successfully slept unswaddled the past 2 nights. Yippee! Some of you may be thinking..."isn't he 7 months old, and they were still swaddling him??" Yes we were. It took us forever to stop swaddling James too. It is one of those things that when they are sleeping well you do not want to break the routine. For Luke though it was more like "he is not sleeping well so let's give it a try" plus he had out grown the swaddle 5 lbs ago :). And just like that he did fine. This morning I even noticed when I was watching him on the video monitor he was waking up but still wanted to sleep he found his paci in his crib and put it in his mouth. Tear. Just another sign he is growing up before my eyes. I just want to stop time NOW.

Before we know it Luke will be crawling...which by the way Chad is encouraging and I am still trying to figure out why :)

The Last Beach trip of the Summer...

One weekend in September James and I took a little one day trip to Grayton Beach to stay in the Pink House with my aunts and cousins. It was the perfect day to be at the beach and it was the first day we stayed on the beach ALL day with James. He LOVED it. He made sand castle after sand castle with Aunt Ann.  He played with a few baby dolls that we failed to mention to Dad. Fortunately we brought our own movies and the girls were ok with Mickey Mouse over Cinderella. It also was a good little overnighter James and I made together. It was also the first night James and I slept in the same bed together. Not a good idea and will not happen again anytime soon. 1) because he kicks and basically doesn't stop moving in his sleep and 2)because the bed did not have bed rails I worried all night he may roll off. It did however give us the opportunity to spend some time together just the 2 of us. Luke stayed at home with Dad and had equally as much fun watching football :)

James making sure he stays on top of his tan. Note the princess' in the castle :)

Having a ball riding in the orange truck with his cousins (our transportation from the house to the beach)

Don't you want one of these??

It was our last beach trip of the summer. I have to admit I shed a tear as we were pulling away especially since James finally loves the beach as much as I do. Until next summer!

Luke meets the Highchair

During month 5 Luke got a little confused initially about the purpose of the highchair...he soon learned it was for eating not sleeping.

Luke Month 6 and 7

I have become the worse blogger. And I feel as though all of memories of my sweet children at this age are slipping away because I can't find time to jot them down. I am going to try to play a little catch up this week. This is going to sound repetitive but how is my sweet baby boy 7 months old already?? I think I have been absent from the blog because I do not want to admit his age.

Stats:
6 months: 21 lbs 12 oz, 28 in
7 months: 23 lbs 6 oz

- 6 month dr appt - took the shots like a champ! the last got him a little bit. But he did great! And he even chuckled for the dr. Dr. Rux asked if we had a nickname for him and suggested it should be "Lunchbox". He is a chunky baby but he is thick and super strong. These days my arms get a work out carrying him around.
- During the 6 month we introduced vegetables and we haven't found one he doesn't like. From what I can tell green beans, carrots, and squash are his favorites.
- At 7 months he has rice cereal and fruit for breakfast and a vegetable and fruit for dinner. His other meals are his bottles, which he REALLY loves.
- He can spot a bottle from across the room and get the biggest smile on his face.
- He is grabbing for EVERYTHING and I have noticed big brother starting to get a little annoyed with him from time to time.
- Around 6 1/2 months he sat in a restaurant high chair for the first time and loved it
- 6 1/2 months we moved him to the big car seat rear facing. His weight put him over the limit for the infant carrier. We moved James at 10 months
- Just before his 7 month birthday he cut his first tooth. Bottom middle left. He is currently working on the right one. And this little boy does not like cutting teeth. His temperament is still great during the day but he has a hard time sleeping at night. I thought a little Tylenol would do the trick but I haven't seen great results just yet.
- He is still the sweetest, happiest, and lovable little baby. He can sit for long periods of time watching his brother run circles around him and he is perfectly content.
- He still loves for anyone to break out in song and he really doesn't care which song you sing as long as you are singing.
- At 7 months he is predominantly in 12 mo. clothes
- He babbles and screams and blows bubbles with his mouth. He generally wakes up making all kinds of little sounds that I love listening to through the monitor (that is as long as it is not at 3am).
- He loves grabbing at your face and gets extra excited if he grabs a big chunk of hair

I have included some pics from the past couple of months

 Watching cartoons early in the morning

 Luke loves sitting up!

 Sitting in the highchair at Restaurant first time

 See what happens when Luke sits next to James in the shopping cart...trying to snatch James' cookie

 Luke 6 month picture

 Can you see my new teeth??

 Luke 7 month picture

 Look at my lovable legs :) 

Luke 4 and 5 months

So since I have neglected the blog this summer I also missed Luke's 4 month summary and Luke's 5 month summary and since we are approaching 6 months in just a couple of weeks I thought I would combine months 4 and 5.

Stats:

4 months - 17lb 15 oz and 27 1/2 in long. 95th percentile in both

5 months - 19lb 6 oz and 27 1/2 in long

 - Strangers seem to comment on how "fat" he is. Yes I realize he is big, real big. But I think it makes it easier to snuggle with him and I catch myself often just squeezing his chunky legs. I love every fat roll on his body :)

New things:

(combining 4 and 5 months)  

•  Started using the exersaucer and loving it at 4 months. At 5 months he can pull the taller hanging toys down to make the lights and music come on.
• Reaches for everything. Loves to grab onto hair and not let go
• Loves looking at himself in the mirror. I realize he doesn't recognize that it is him but he loves it.
• Started to sit up for short periods of time. Once he loses his balance it is over and he face plants
• If I am holding him and he gives someone a big gummy grin he then buries his face in my arm as if he is bashful. It is the cutest
• He has started moving around in the crib. Lay him down vertically and we sometimes find him laying horizontally or his head on the opposite end of the bed facing different direction. Keep in mind he is still swaddled arms and all
• He loves for ANYONE to sing to him. Like seriously loves for you to sing. His favorites at the moment are Patty Cake, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, and Rolling in the Deep by Adele. Yes I realize the last one is not really a children song but he laughs every time.
• James stills completely adores and loves him but over the last month the feeling is most definitely mutual. Luke constantly watches him and laughs at him often even when James is not trying to make Luke laugh.
• At 4 months he got in the pool for the first time. He is still indifferent but doesn't seem to mind it too much.
• It is amazing how much hair he has grown from 4 months to 5 months. You may be able to tell from "chair" pictures.
• He is still the sweetest and happiest baby I know. He has definitely stolen all of our hearts and I could not be more proud of our precious baby boys.

Not sure Luke loved having these toys cover his eyes but James thought it was funny

Trying to figure out what is going on here??

His future girlfriend Presley

Luke's 4 Month Picture

By far my favorite picture thus far of James and Luke (as you can tell I added it to the blog header)

Luke loves to join story time in James room

Luke's 5 Month Picture

This smile gets me every time! Luckily he gives them often :)

Summer in Pictures

Obviously it has been awhile since the last "real" post. I guess you could say I have taken a blog hiatus. Apparently, working a full time job, raising 2 young boys, having a crazy summer has left no time for the blog. I thought I could do it but I can't. I have managed to take some pictures throughout the summer so I will briefly summarize our summer as imagine I do not have much time at the moment for a long post :) I had planned on having several posts for some of the events below but decided to consolidate.



Trying to stay out of the heat by going to the pool often

 

For those that may remember I posted earlier in May that James was traumatized going under water when he went to the pool for the first time this summer...he is over it.

Our 2nd annual fireworks show in our driveway

Celebrating our 5 year anniversary in Rosemary Beach without children :)

We left our hang up clothes at home leaving us to have to purchase outfits to wear to dinner thus we "borrowed" these bikes from the condo we rented instead of renting cruiser bikes. The seats on the bikes left our rears very sore that we didn't notice our legs being sore from so much exercise. Ha!

James doing a little exercise to keep up (iphone photo)

Chad got on a bike kick after our beach trip so James got a big boy bike! The Huffy Rock It.

His first fall. Maybe I am terrible for taking a photo but it was pretty funny. He obviously was not hurt.

Chad managed to find his bike that has been in storage for 8 plus years at a friend's parents' house. Ha!

Love this picture of Chad and Luke after dinner one night.

Luke loving his brother's shades

James and gobbles

Beach!

Our wonderful sitters!!

Great friends celebrating Erin and Connie's wedding. Somehow we left out Connie.