Yesterday

Yesterday we went to visit Grandmama and Pops.  On the way we made a stop in Murfreesboro to pick up a whole car load of free moving boxes.  It should be enough to pack our entire house!  I found someone on Craigslist that had just moved themselves and wanted to get rid of all the boxes they had unpacked.  

We had lunch with Grandmama & Pops and did quite a bit of playing cards and toys.

Everyone napped on the way home, except for Daddy.  He did the driving.  So we were rested up and ready to catch lightening bugs.

And what better way to end the night than with a little chocolate milk before bedtime!

I've got LOTS of blog posts to catch up on from the beach.  I've been sorting through our pictures and getting them ready, so there will be several catch up beach posts in the days to come.

9 months old

Bailee turned 9 months old at the beach this past week.  I can't think of a better place for a 9 month birthday!  She had a very fun week.  She loved going down to the beach and would kick and smile and squeal as soon as we would start to walk her down to the water.  It made her nervous the first couple of times that she stuck her feet in, but after that she enjoyed the water and especially loved having her feet in the sand.

Today she went for her 9 month check-up.  She weighed 18 pounds 3 ounces and 28.2 inches long.  She got a clean bill of health and the go ahead to eat a few soft foods like bread, yogurt, shredded cheese, things of that sort.  But the big news from today is that she is crawling.  Not full blown crawling but the first steps.  A slow, forward half crawl/half drag.  I've got a feeling it's going to evolve very quickly.

Hobbies at 9 months:  clapping, squealing, shaking toys, chewing, throwing her sippy cup, pulling hair (mostly Brynn's), laughing, jumping, being carried around by Mommy, high fiving, rolling, waving

There's really nothing we've found that she doesn't like to eat.

She likes to play peek-a-boo, she wants to do whatever her brother and sister are doing, and she likes to play games with her Daddy - where she reaches out for him, then turns away, grabs me and laughs.  She is very curious, some may call it nosey.  She takes 3 to 4 catnaps during the day and then sleeps about 11 hours at night.  She is an expert clapper and as of the last couple days can push up from laying to sitting on her own.

And here's just a few of the pictures her Nana took of Bailee enjoying the beach.  A little beach bum in the making at just 9 months old!

Father's Day 2014

Today I had an awesome special day.  The day started with breakfast from Hardee's!  I recieved this special card from the little ones.

It has all the kids' handprints cut out to match the hands down part.  It also came with bunches of hugs and kisses.

I spent part of the day doing fatherly things such as mowing, weed wacking, and helping unpack from our Gulf Shores trip.  Bailee even sat with me and watched baseball.

Here are Father"s Day selfies with the kids.

Brynn has had this shirt for a while now.  She tells us it says I Love My Daddy.  Today it said I Love My Daddy Father's Day.  I asked her what it said 50 times just to hear it again!!  It melted my heart each time.

I had help grilling hamburgers and hotdogs with my two grill master juniors.

We got silly before bed and played jewelry. We even got horns like goats thanks to Mommy.

A great Father's Day ended with night time stories.  Good Night Moon is an old favorite.  They know the majority of it and like to finish the sentences.

I have had the best day with the best family today, HANDS DOWN!

Just a typical Thursday at the beach

Today we spent the entire day playing at the beach.  We dug holes, took walks, wrote in the sand, watched dolphins, built sand castles and found some shells and crabs.  Some pictures from the day, in no particular order:

Brynn and Nana

Jay about to get taken out by a wave

More playing with P-Pa

Nap time

Snack time

Low tide

Shadow selfie 

And our motto for the week

Firsts

Bailee's had several "firsts" this week.  She's seen the ocean for the first time.

I think she loves it.  She does lots of kicking and squealing when I carry her down the beach.  Her Dad has stuck her feet in the water a couple of times and that she did NOT like.

Her P-Pa fed her Popsicle for the first time.

And then she got some from her brother and sister too.

And she started eating things that require chewing, like puffs and yogurt melts.  She's getting really good at picking them up and feeding herself!

On The Road Beach 2014

We woke up a little before 4 this morning to head to Ft. Morgan, AL.  We are sharing a beach house with P-Pa, Nana, Pa Lyle and Granny.  The plan was to wake up the kids to potty and then hit the road.  It will hopefully give us a few hours of driving time before the breakfast stop.  Here is what we look like at 5:30.

Driver

Navigator/Blogger/DJ

Big Brooks

Brynn Brynn

Sweet Bailee Mae

So far the plan is coming together!

The final stretch

It has been a very stressful couple of weeks around here. It feels like we have looked at hundreds of houses.  We never could come to terms with the first house we offered on.  However, we found one really close to where we live now.  It is in a neighborhood and meets our needs and wants.  It isn't on as big of a lot as others, but it makes up for it in other ways.  It is a very nice house with plenty of upgrades and bedrooms!!!!  We have the home inspection on it tomorrow.  Here is a picture of it.

Summer Day

Summer days are filled with excitement. Yesterday, Parker visited for a few hours. He helped us with car races.

Even Bailee got in the spirit.

There was water to play in.

Brynn was so tired afterwards!

When it was grilling time, Bailee wanted to hang out on the deck.

Brooks grilled grapes and they were good.

Nothing like hanging out on a summer day!

Exceptionally handsome

He's always handsome but he's exceptionally handsome just after a haircut!

Here's the conversation when Brooks came home:

Brynn:  Oh Brooks, your hair looks so nice (while touching it).

Brooks:  Thank you, honey.

Then they had lunch. Ha!

3 Year Checkup

We spent this morning at Dr. Mehrotra's office.  It was time for a three year well visit check for Brooks and Brynn.  First they got their blood pressure, pulse, weight, height and vision checked.  Then they got to put on these "doctor pajamas" while we waited for Dr. M.  They were both very good listeners, with the exception of Brynn not wanting to open her mouth.  Though she decided to cooperate when Dr. M mentioned he might know where they could go find some suckers.

Bailee went with us too.  While all of the check up stuff was going on she was having the time of her life destroying the exam table paper.

B&B had very good checkups today.  We found out that Brooks has an astigmatism in his right eye.  It is so minor right now it doesn't even require a visit to the eye doctor but eventually it probably will get worse.  Sorry, Brooks.  You can probably thank your Mom and Nana for that one. 

Fun facts about Brooks:

His first ever visit to Dr. M he weighed 5lb 8oz.  Today he weighed 29lb.

His first ever visit to Dr. M he was 19 inches long.  Today he was 35.7 inches.

He loves to play soccer, baseball, golf, blocks, play in sand and water, run, jump, and whack things with sticks.

He likes to eat salad, cauliflower with ranch, tuna and crackers, peanut butter, steak, chicken, chips, carrots, BBQ, pancakes, sausage and mustard, milk, and 'lemon water'.

He likes making people laugh.  He really likes to make Bailee laugh and she pretty much thinks everything he does is hilarious.

Fun facts about Brynn:

Her first ever visit to Dr. M she weighed 5lb 6oz.  Today she weighed 33lb.

Her first ever visit to Dr. M she was 19in long.  Today she was 35.7in.

She loves jewelry, going shopping, playing in sand and water, playing blocks, looking at books, playing board games, coloring, running and she likes to play with Bailee and try to help her play with her toys.

She LOVES to eat chocolate, eggs, cheese and fruit.  She also likes chips, pancakes, veggie sticks and hummus, buttered toast, cookies, icing, cauliflower, potatoes, ice cream and black beans.

She pretty much likes doing anything where she is in 'charge' (aka telling the rest of us what to do).

Three years old already.  How can that be?  I guess time really does fly when you are having fun!!