Sweet Summertime

Since I've been horrible about blogging lately, I'm gonna give you a quick run down of our summer in pictures. This summer went by way too quickly....and also crawled in a way since I was huge and pregnant and sick and had a super good attitude. 

I tried to enjoy the moments I felt good, and not too feel guilty during the moments I had to lay down and stay out of the action. 

 Enjoying a morning walk on the cooler days. How sweet are they all snuggled up?

We spent a lot of time in the back yard playing with water. I had big plans to use our neighborhood pool but we didn't make it there as often as I would have liked. Getting three kids to the pool and supervising them all by myself just felt a little daunting so most days we just stayed home.

Grilling and eating outside. One of the best parts about summer.

Mark and I also celebrated our 8th anniversary this summer. EIGHT years??? How is that possible? And that's just the time we've been married....we dated 4-5 years before that. We have almost reached the point where we have been together longer than we have been apart.

Again, celebrating pregnant and with three kids is about as glamorous as you would expect....but we did enjoy a night out just the two of us and hope to take a trip maybe in a year or two for another anniversary. Life with little ones is restricting sometimes, but also so rewarding.

We left the littles at home, and Mark, Lucy and I drove to Virginia for my cousin's wedding. It was such a nice getaway and we enjoyed the time with our oldest for a change. Lucy had a blast getting all the attention for the weekend. We enjoyed exploring Virginia and spending time with family.

Mark and I celebrated our 30th birthday! Just another excuse to get a cookie cake....

Lots of days of playing indoors when it was too hot, and enjoying each other with no school and no agenda.

July 4th was spent with friends and family in Peachtree City. Thank goodness it was a nice, cool, breezy day because we spent a lot of time outside at the parade and watching fireworks.

The girls enjoyed mommy's craving for chocolate milkshakes...and lots of popsicles outside.

At the end of the summer, right before baby, we MOVED. Because you know, adding a 4th child to your bunch isn't a big enough change. You need to change your address too. Not just your address, but school districts and cities too. And pack a bunch of boxes. And then unpack them. Its super fun, you should try it the next time you have a baby.

We got moved in thanks to fabulous family and friends who packed, unpacked, brought meals, entertained the girls, and help me get my house livable. We still have a lot to do....don't look in our garage please. But the essentials are done and we are enjoying living in Peachtree City. We have wanted to move here for a long time and while this wasn't the best timing in the world, the opportunity presented itself and we felt like it was the best move for our family. We are in an awesome school district, a nice, quiet neighborhood, and while the house is old and smaller than what we have, it has suited our needs just fine. I'm all about simplifying anyway.

Lucy and I enjoyed a date night out, shopping and eating. I love spending one on one time with her. She just comes a live with personality.

Happy Summer!

Hilton Head Part 2

More pictures from our fabulous trip to Hilton Head!

Loaded up in the van ready to go.....we left around bedtime so the girls would sleep all most of the trip. It didn't quite work out like we planned. Stella fussed for a while and Annie stayed awake (although quiet) almost the entire time. Eventually everyone fell asleep and it was peaceful. My kids have never been great car sleepers. They like their beds.

One of the first nights there I took Lucy and Annie to walk on the beach....it is SO beautiful at sunset!

Our mornings were spent on the beach, followed by a swim in the pool, then lunch, then naps, then more swimming in the pool. The girls loved the ocean and I'm surprised at how much swimming they actually did in it. Lucy and Mark would ride the waves over and over. Stella stayed in the sand by me most of the time, and Annie went back and forth doing both.

You can tell she had zero fun.

Sweet baby just played and played in the sand. She was so content with a shovel and an occasional bucket full of water to dump everywhere.

Eventually they hijacked our chairs.

So glad my girls love the beach as much as I do. I'm not sure what I would do if they hated it.

Don't judge me for the floaties. This thing was amazing in the baby pool so that I could sit by the side and rest. Remember I'm hugely pregnant on this beach trip. Resting is in. Wrangling children in the pool is not.

So thankful for our little family trip to the beach before baby comes!

Catch up

Lots of new posts!! Some of these I posted a few days ago but they have been updated so be sure to check them all out!

Lucy's Graduation


Spring in a Nutshell (kind of it's own catch up post as it's really long!!)


Easter


I can't promise that I will be better about blogging. Not that anyone really cares. But this pregnancy has been SO hard on me (I think I say that everytime) and in just a few short months (eeeeeek!) my time will be occupied with FOUR little ones. I know, I know, there are moms of 8 who homeschool and work from home and blog every day and blah blah blah. But I am not those moms.

But I will try to do better.

A Change in Seasons

We hit a big milestone this month. Our oldest started kindergarten.

It's kind of a big deal. Not only was this her first day of kindergarten, but also her first day of school EVER. Lucy did preschool at home with me so this was her first classroom/school experience. She really wasn't all that excited to start school. She wanted to stay home and continue to do school with me. While I have LOVED homeschooling her and watching her learn and grow at home, Mark and I both decided to try out kindergarten this year to see how it goes. There is a chance we will bring her back home again next year for 1st grade but for this year we have committed to sending her to school. It's at a church nearby and it's only a half day program for 4 days a week, which I think is a great transition for her (and me!) since she isn't used to being away from home all day every day.

 Showing me her book bag she is so proud of

She has done exceedingly well. Especially since she didn't want to go. There were NO tears on the first day. She found her spot at her table, started working on what the teacher had out for her and told me bye. Like, no biggie, I got this mom. The second day she asked me if I would just drop her off in carpool line and not walk her in. Every morning she pops right of bed and says she's excited to go to school. I'm so glad she loves going!

Someone else was not very happy when we started pulling out of the parking lot and she realized Lucy wasn't coming with us.

While I definitely miss Lucy in the mornings, it has been nice to get some one on one time with the little ones. Annie was really whiny and clingy the first week Lucy was gone, I could tell she was bored and was missing Lucy. But since then she has really gotten into a little routine of her own and is enjoying all the extra time with me.

Meanwhile, this little stinker somehow turned 11 months old without me noticing!

Stella's little personality has exploded this month. She is crawling all over the place, getting into everything, dancing, grunting/growling instead of signing or talking, trashing entire playrooms by herself, and still manages to have all of us wrapped around her chubby little finger.

At 11 months, she still takes two LONG naps a day. Makes me wonder if she will ever go down to one nap. She is breastfeeding 3 times a day (I just cut down one feeding in preparation for weaning her completely), is wearing 12 month clothes, and loves to eat.

She is very laid back in the sense that if you sit her with a box of toys she is very content for a long time. On the other hand, she can certainly get into trouble if no one is watching. She isn't as active and mischievous as Annie, but definitely more so than Lucy was at this age. She's a good blend of the two of them, leaning more towards Lucy's personality and behavior. I frequently find her in the dog bowl or with strange things in her mouth, but so far she's much more mild than the Crazy Middle One.

Getting into trouble in the pantry 

She has 6 teeth right now, but eats as if she has a mouthful. She LOVES LOVES her sisters and I seriously love watching her play with them.

 11 month picture

Since Lucy is the family referee, Annie and Stella have had to learn to play with each other while Lucy is at school. The first few days they just sort of looked at each other like, "so who's gonna be the boss here??"

While Annie is older and can be bossy, I have no doubt that Stella can hold her own. She is a little toughie and may even be the class bully. We'll see. 

I can't wait to see these two blossom and grow, both separately and in their relationship together.

This has definitely been a season of change for us. New house, new small group, Mark's schedule changing/increasing, Lucy starting school, and now having another little one who is mobile and active.

I don't love change. Ok.....I really really dislike change. I like consistency, predictability, and......pretty much all things boring. But the recent changes in our little family have really brought about a lot of growth and blessing, and I am so thankful for being stretched and changed.

Now that we are settling in....I'm certain more change is just around the corner.

Mobile at 10 months

Miss Stella is 10 months old!

As you can see, she is trying to crawl off the chair.

That's right. My lazy, fat, sedentary baby is crawling. 

It happened out of nowhere really. I just thought, well, she's just going to be one of those babies who never crawls and doesn't walk until she's 18 months....and that's just peachy with me because I have two very active, mobile children already and it will be nice to have one that will just sit still.

HA! That was a lovely thought I had there in my head.

Stella must have telepathy and decided to prove me wrong. Apparently I don't have enough work cut out for me so she decided to start scooting while Mark was out of town for work. Scooting pretty fast too, I might add. Then we move into the new house and BAM she's crawling. 

Despite her horrible timing on deciding to become mobile, Stella continues to be such a joy in our family. Life with three certainly has it's challenges, but how empty our family would be without Stella. She fills my heart to the brim with joy. She is a mama's girl to the CORE. She wants only me if I am within her sight/sound/smell range. And I am more than happy to oblige and pick her up whenever she wants. 

At 10 months, Stella still has some rolls but is certainly thinning out from her new found mobility. She wears size 12 month clothes and size 4 diapers. She nurses 4 times a day and is pretty much done with baby food. She eats whatever we are eating now with some modifications. She LOVES avocado, sweet potatoes, and any meat (weird). She is also a fan of my applesauce oatmeal muffins.

Laid back, happy, and go with the flow is how Stella rolls. She does like to get in on the action now that she can move, but she also likes to sit back and watch her sisters (and mama) act crazy. She makes the funniest "worried" looks sometimes while she watches us. I'm worried too Stella....

She has her two bottom teeth and four top teeth breaking through at the same time. She has Lucy's dark brown eyes and that little vein in between them. Her hair (well....let's be honest it's not hair) is dark and I think may even be darker than Lucy's. She got pretty tan while we were at the beach despite slathering her in SPF 50 so I think she will have my skin.

She is a LOVE and you just can't help but squeeze her or kiss her 57 times a day. She is soft and squishy and everything a baby should be. I just love her to pieces.

When she turns one I'm going to have a mental break down.