Summer Catch-Up in the Fall

With just days left before we welcomed baby brother, I thought a little catch up was in order- so I sat down and started this post… EIGHT weeks later, I finally finished it up… AFTER brother arrived! :)

This summer was totally different than most summers for us. We’ve not done a whole lot of “playing” this year and there’s even been a few times when I’ve felt bad for AB, who will probably remember this summer as the one that we cleaned all the drawers and cabinets in our house. We only made it to the beach once (for the 4th of July) (our “beach time” this year totaled two hours- and I’m not joking)… This is the first year ever that we made it an ENTIRE summer with only buying sunscreen ONE time. (We’re usually buying it every two weeks)!

We’ve gotten a lot done and have enjoyed just being together, getting ready to welcome our newest edition, though. And hopefully next summer we’ll make up for the lack of vitamin D we had this year.  :)

A few highlights from June & July-

- We really have been nesting and cleaning out. AB has been such a big helper. Her favorite was cleaning the pantry – we took every single thing off our shelves and cabinets and cleaned it all…

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- My cousin, Stephanie, who was due with her first baby within a week of me, flew in for a week in June. Mom, the girls and I were so excited to pick her up at the airport. We celebrated her arrival with dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and then settled in for what we deemed “Pregnancy Camp” – we laughed our heads off at how we were chewing heart burn tablets every two hours, resting our ice cream on our bellies and falling asleep on the couch every afternoon. Stephanie and I have been through every big life event together and to get to be pregnant together with our last and first child has been the sweetest. AB cracked us up when she told us she had pants like mine and Tettie’s – she pulled her yoga pants up like a maternity panel. Ha. On Friday of that week, we headed for Georgia to have Steph’s baby shower. It was slightly crazy considering we were 8 weeks from our due date, but we both did really good on the trip, except for our swollen cankles. :)

The baby shower theme was “Oh the Places you will go” –

When mom, aunt Kay and I were trying to think of a “direction” to go with the shower, mom suggested some sort of travel theme, because Stephanie & Henry have literally been around the world and back together. It was the perfect  idea and we decorated with all different kinds of “travel” things. The shower was Saturday morning and we did a biscuit bar for brunch.

Steph got lots of nice things for baby Hank and all the little girls loved helping her open them.

It was such a sweet morning celebrating a little boy who’s already loved so much. And to spend it with so many of my favorite girls was icing on the cake…

That afternoon, Steph and I hit up the outlets for a little shopping. We had planned to meet our moms, Aunt Kay and the other cousins later that evening for dinner. What I didn’t know is that the girls had planned a little surprise dinner/shower for me, complete with cupcakes and party favors. So sweet.

They all got baby brother such cute things and it made me really excited to get home and get started on his room!

It was a whirlwind weekend, but as always lots of fun and never long enough.

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- AB & Mamie loved tagging along to my dr visits this summer. They even got to see baby brother on a sonogram one time.

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- The girls and I met Kelsey & Taylor one morning for breakfast… and later Kels surprised us with GiGi’s – she was appalled when I’d told her we’d never tried it, so she made it happen. I’ve since been back three times and I’m kind of wishing Kels hadn’t introduced us to such yumminess. (Especially when operation loose this baby weight begins!) :)

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- We got some practice in with our nephew/cousin Parker. AB was always first in line to hold him when Adam & Lauren visit.

 

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- The girls started sharing a room and Mamie got moved up to a big girl bed!

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- We had a little playdate with Allie at her new house! We’re so excited that the Mizell’s have moved back and now we’re only 30 minutes away instead of 2 hours!

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- We had the week at Blue Run. We didn’t spend the nights this year, we just went back and forth (I was two weeks from my due date and I needed my own bed) :)  It was such a great weekend though – and I fell back in love with the river. For the past couple of years, we’ve had terrible weather during the week we’re there and there have been snake encounters on every trip. I was just about ready to write off Blue Run, but this year I remembered why we all love it so much.

AB is a fish and she would literally be in the water ALL DAY LONG while we were there.

Mamie did so great this trip, too. She wore her puddle jumper and had the best time “fwimming.”

We had AB’s friend Emma and her mom down for the day and the girls had the best time.

It was a great time at the river this year and we can’t wait to go back!

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- The girls had their well checks with our pediatrician. AB had to get one shot before Kindergarten. It was rough holding her down and I was sure glad my mom was with us that day!

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- We got baby brother’s room ready. FINALLY!!! I’ll have to do a post about it later. I’ve never really gone with a “theme” in any of our nurseries/rooms and Tucker’s was no different. It’s decorated around our favorite “boy” things, which are also the things that pretty much make up who DW is and hopefully what Tucker will love and be, too. Dumptrucks, cows and gators…

I didn’t wash and hang baby clothes until the weekend before he was born, and that night, I must have gone and looked in his closet a dozen times. I’d just stand there and shake my head – I still couldn’t believe we had BLUE hanging in one of our closets again. So much joy!

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- On the last Friday before Tucker was born, Mom & I wanted to do something fun with the girls, but it had to be close to home, since I was a week away from my due date. We decided to take them to the museum and butterfly rainforest at UF.

There were butterflies everywhere you looked and the girls loved when they’d land on or near us.

It was such a fun morning and the girls can’t wait to visit the museum again.

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That’s pretty much it from pictures on my phone. :)  Now maybe I will be able to stay a little more up to date! I love having this place to look back over the years and remember what our days were like then. It all goes by so fast and I know I’ll be especially thankful when my kids are all grown up that I took the time to write down some of what they’re up to.

~amw~