Atlantic Beach 2013

I am not sure how to start off this post accurately. On one hand my memory is telling me:
27 weeks pregnant + a wardrobe of wet bathing suits + 1 year olds + 3 year olds + really hot days of nonstop activity= tough...

On the other hand, the emotions accompanying these photographs are love, excitement, and nostalgia.  I love spending such fun time with our family and I am so incredibly excited to meet baby #3! We spent so much time in the Atlantic Beach/Morehead/Beaufort area when I was younger--its a neat opportunity to revisit with my own family--to eat dinner at Clawson's, get ice cream at the General Store, and play on the same beach I grew up on. Somehow the love, laughter, and excitement compensate for the rugged exhaustion and discomfort I am feeling from the pregnancy.

A little update on the kids:

 From day one, we have never doubted Jean-Margaret's vocal abilities :) Now she is telling us "thank you" and "love you" which melt me each time! We lather both kids in sunscreen and Jeanie gets her daddy's tan. (She also has her daddy's appetite for red meat!) Her teeth are popping up too quickly to count which has made her pretty uncomfortable. She is a combination of feisty independence and sweet sweet endearing love.

Jean-Margaret and Van are both water bugs.Van loves all things water. We cannot get him out of the pool, the ocean, the boat, or the tub without some pushback. One of my favorite memories from the beach is Van and Evans out in the ocean in the tube. Van's head just bobbed in and out of the tube, splashed into waves, and swam to the surface with a huge smile each time. He is becoming so helpful and shockingly capable but is still only 3 and needs lots of snuggling and reassurance.

Baby #3 is incredibly active. At most points during the day and night I either feel kicks in my rib cage, bounces on my bladder, or hiccups! Its neat to feel the baby so active and a constant reminder someone is about to crash into our world in a few short months!!

Thanks to G-Mommy and Diddy for such a fantastic beach trip.

 

 

Happy Summer!!

Topsail Beach 2013

A big thanks to the Cox-Deans fam for a wonderful and fun beach trip. I love these kiddos and their families very much. What a great time. Its hard to believe in a matter of months there will be 7 kids between the three of us! :) This beach house has witnessed quite a transformation from our first group visit back in college.

 

Happy 4th of July!!

What a lucky day. With the ones I love. Grateful for this amazing family and my best friend Sydney!

 

 

Happy Father's Day

To these awesome dads!

 

Thank you Evans for all of your hard work around here! We love you very very much and are very proud of you!! Diddy-we had so much fun beaching yesterday look forward to many upcoming  boating trips. And Pop-Pop, I like Auntie Snags's words. :)  Love Em, Van, Jeanie, Johnis, and Soph

The Boat and These Kids!

This weekend we enjoyed our first family boat ride!! We are so excited about our upcoming boating adventures. Kids + water + boat + beach = you cannot go wrong!

We spent some time wrangling Jeanie on the boat (she is feisty and independent!) and she was not a big fan of the life jacket. We could not even get her swim diaper and bathing suit on before she took off in her romper. Hello sandy bottom/belly/mouth/hair.

 One thing we have yet to master is the vacation + sleep scenario. We stayed in a hotel with a suite and after we put the kids to bed (after a LONG, FUN, HOT day outdoors AND an evening music festival with little napping). Instead of passing out as expected, they chatted until 10:00 PM.

Van kept coming to us saying: "Come listen to Jeanie talk! She is telling me something funny..." Then we'd hear him giggle and her babble even more. We'd peak into the bedroom and Jeanie's head would be popped up over her pack-n-play animatedly expressing something to Van who was lying on his belly, vertically across the bed, head-to-head with Jeanie. We couldn't help but laugh and think "oh well... at least we can all sleep in tomorrow..."

We were up with the sunrise to say the least, but that's okay when you get to wake up to a sleepy head who smells like leftover sunscreen:

and another boat ride!!

Part two of this post pertains to my first week with BOTH children in some sort of preschool/camp. A note to moms everywhere who have not yet experienced this phenomenon: The grass is not always greener!! I read a NY Times article this past week advocating for better quality childcare so that women could more comfortably adjust to working (in an office or in their job at home). After our experiences this week, I am not confident that I could have gone to an office job with the arrangements we made. My flexibility and availability were pertinent to this week of school.

Both of the kids are in highly-regarded church programs (I am very confident of their safety and extremely impressed by their nurturing, loving teachers and grateful for the ability to enroll them in school) but not a single day went smoothly for either child this week. Both are protesting big time and I ended up with both kids at home a couple days. I know it takes time to adjust, but at the moment I feel like having them at home with me is easier (easy?? remind me I said this in a few weeks).

Anyway, it has been endearing to watch Van coach Jeanie about school.

He is such a charm. The other night at dinner he asked (as usual): "MOM-how many more bites do I have to eat to get dessert?" ME: At least two bites of everything on your plate. To which he held up two fingers, bent at the knuckles and said: "Could I do two half-bites like this instead of two big bites?"

Stinker.

 

 Jeanie told me the other day after her nap: "Mommy, walk-milk-snack-book" (her favorite combo).

And she calls Barbie above "La-La."

As a little caveat, I will confess--while they have been in school, I have had a little time to cook, gone to the grocery store solo, started sewing Jeanie a dress, and got to arrange some of our yard's hydrangeas in a ginger jar.

And spend some dear time with this long lost pal...(who loves to snuggle while I nap!)

We have "the big" ultrasound next week. Here's hoping I can hang on to my intent to not discover the gender of baby #3! :)