Our first trip as a family of 4

I get serious cabin fever, so being stuck at home all day with a toddler and newborn is very hard for me.  Paul was in a wedding on June 15th in Pawley's Island, and my dad said we could go stay at the beach house the week prior if we wanted, because it wasn't rented.  This sounded like the perfect opportunity to get out of the house for a while!  Although I knew I wouldn't be doing too much relaxing on the beach, it is still much nicer to be inside with an ocean view.  Something about the beach just instantly makes me happy.  So, first up we did some light packing.

The baby is back there too I promise...

I thought it was bad packing for one child...holy moly. After we took all day quickly got the car packed, we headed to my favorite place on earth, Charleston.  You better believe I was able to check off a southern mommy dream come true off my list; my babies in adorable matching outfits!

Tell me this isn't the most precious picture ever??  My heart melts every time I look at it!

LOVE!

We made it by to see my grandmother, because she had not had a chance to meet Miss Katelyn yet.  Although our trip was short lived, because after dragging Brady to look at granite and driving what seems like forever (why does it take so long to get anywhere in Charleston??), he was very tired and quickly deteriorating.

But, let me just tell you about the FIRST time we attempted to look at granite and see my grandmother.  We finally left the house about 4:00pm, because I thought it would be easier to go in the afternoon after nap, etc. WRONG.  Forget about just normal Charleston traffic, we waited in a huge line of traffic to get over the connector to Mt. Pleasant just to discover that it was completely blocked off by fire trucks and police officers due to a wreck.  So, we turn around and attempt to go through Sullivan's Island.  Well, so did EVERYONE else who couldn't get across the bridge in rush hour traffic.  Well, on our way through Sullivan's Brady starts throwing up in the car.  So, we pull over on the side of the road.  I take him out of his car seat, and he seems ok, so I load him back in.  However, Brady thought we were pulling over to let him drive the car, so he starts screaming.  We keep going on our journey listening to him scream the whole way.  Thank goodness I decided to feed Katelyn before we left, so she slept like an angel the whole time.  We finally make the executive decision to turn around, because by this point the granite place would be closed, and it would take us 2 hours to get to James Island.  On our way back to the house Brady throws up AGAIN. So, we pull over in front of someone's house on Sullivan's Island and let  Brady finish throwing up.  I walk him a little ways down the road just to be sure he was ok.  Well, then he spots a golf cart.  So, he starts chanting "golf cart, golf cart", and another tantrum begins.  We take all his clothes off and load him back in the car to listen to him scream the whole way home.  I have never been so happy to get back to the house and out of that car!  Needless to say, the next day we decided to run our errands in the morning, and it was a much more pleasant ride.

Yes, this pretty much sums up his mood...

At the house, we spent some time just lounging.  Brady liked to sit in this window and pretend it was his "car". (Do you see a theme here?  He's still obsessed with cars.)

I had my first glass of vino since Labor Day weekend last year!  It was delicious! I figured what better place to indulge than at the beach.

In the morning, Paul would get up with Brady and go get us breakfast.  We ate Bagel Nation every day we were there, because it is just THAT good.

Sausage, egg, and cheese egglewich deluxe.  So yummy!

And, of course there was a lot of golf cart driving.  This boy was in heaven.

Trying on daddy's boots.  He loves to put on everyone's shoes!

 I really wanted to take Katelyn out to the beach at least for a little while.  I chose the absolute hottest day we were there which wasn't too smart.  There was absolutely no breeze, and we lasted for maybe 5 minutes before I had to take her in.  Poor Paul spent probably 30 minutes setting up all of the gear for a whole 20 minutes of beach time.  Brady was even too hot to stay out there.

1st trip to the beach!

He really didn't like getting in the water too much (must get that from me).

Playing in the sand was much better.

 After a morning at the beach, they took some good naps!

 Brady was too funny.  At home, he always has to tell his dog, "night dog" before he goes to bed.  He found this broken 3 legged toy dog at the beach house, and every night before bed he would tell him, "night dog".  And, before we would leave the house he would tell him, "bye dog".  He has also started saying, "bye y'all!" which is hilarious.

Cat naps on mommy are the best.

 Wild Dunes just opened a new pool this year, and it is fabulous.  It is like a giant kiddy pool.  It is a zero entry, so Brady had so much fun playing in it.  It was much easier to go there than to the beach. Coco met us at the pool one day to play!

She is a trooper to tag along wherever we go!

Our cool dude.

 Friday my dad came down and took Brady back to Columbia with him, and we made our way to Pawley's for Chris and Amanda's wedding.  Paul's parents were nice enough to come take care of Katelyn, so I could go to the wedding and reception for a little while.  I had enough time to watch the ceremony, eat some food, chat with friends, drink a glass of wine, and dance with my husband a couple of times before we got the call that Katelyn really wanted her mommy.  That's ok, because mommy really wanted her Katelyn by then too :).

My bestie, Jennifer!

I will lose this weight...(I hope!)

With one of my favorite couples, Jennifer and Davis.

The gorgeous bride and me.

The happy couple! 

Our final stop on our trip was to see Paul's grandmother in Manning, SC who also had not met Katelyn yet.

Katelyn and cousin Kristen who was also Brady's nanny when I first went back to work.  We love her!

Katelyn and her "Ma-ma"

KVD 1 month old

Katelyn is 1 month old today!  She has already grown so much!  She is such a good, happy baby.  She still sleeps a lot, but has a few wakeful periods, usually for a little bit mid morning and again early evening.  For the most part, she is a happy baby and does not fuss too much.  Her one fussy period is usually in the early evening.  She is a pretty good sleeper at night.  She USUALLY goes down for the night between 11-12 and wakes up once typically around 3 or 4, then anywhere from 5:30-8 just depending on when she woke up before.  We have had a couple nights of walking around the house, but for the most part she goes down pretty easily.  The longest she has slept for is probably 4.5 hours or so, but that is WAY better than what I could say for Brady at a month old, so for that I am grateful!  We moved her from the moses basket in our room to her crib this week, and she is doing great. 

She wears size 1 diapers and size 3 month clothes.  She is already starting to out grow some outfits.  The girl likes to eat!  We are mostly exclusively nursing, although she has had a couple of bottles of pumped breast milk.  If she is awake she wants to nurse every two hours.  If she is sleeping, I wake her up every 3 hours during the day to eat.  She is fighting her first little bout of acne, poor thing!  Hopefully that will clear up soon.  She LOVES her bath, like mother, like daughter.

I am trying to get her to take the paci to help with her fussy times.  She likes it as long as you hold it in her mouth, but if you let go she spits it out.  She may be like her brother and not every really take to it.  She likes her bouncy seat, but you have to keep it moving for her!  She has started to really focus on my face when I'm talking to her.

She is everything I could have dreamed of and more. 

The Big Brother

I can't believe my tiny 5.5 pound baby is now a BIG brother.  He has taken the transition very well for the most part.  He has his moments where he really wants momma to himself, but can you blame him? For the first year and a half of his life he has been the only child.  It is hard learning to share momma and daddy.  He loves his sister very much though.  He is always talking about the "bay-be".  When he wakes up in the morning he comes in the room to find his baby.  He likes to give his baby hugs and kisses.  He does tell me to put her "night night" which is pretty funny, because he knows that means he gets all my attention to himself.

I have been doing my best to give him as much attention as possible.  It is good that she sleeps a lot during the day, because I am able to devote a lot of my time to Brady still.  I don't quite trust him to leave him alone in the room with her when she is in her swing, but luckily she likes to nap in her crib.  I put her in there a lot for "safe keeping".  Thank goodness for video monitors, because I can put her to bed in her crib and go play in the back yard with Brady.

No worries though, this boy is still getting tons of attention and plenty of play time.  Paul has been so helpful to take him swimming and to the park most afternoons to give me a little time with just the baby.  We also tagged along a couple of times just to get out of the house.  Here is what our little wild man has been up to since he became a big brother!

Holding his baby sister on the hammock at the lake.

Eating a little lunch with his hat and sunglasses on.

Playing in his pool by the lake.

Holding hands with his dog in the back seat.

Little naked drummer boy

Driving around the back yard

Super daddy!

Jumping in the pool!

He LOVES the water.

I love that sweet face!

Kick, kick, kick!

Daddy throwing him in the air!

Swinging with Daddy and Uncle Dustin

Taking his dog for a ride

But, he's still the baby... :)

We love this little boy so much.  He keeps us on our toes and cracks us up.  He is very enthusiastic about things, and I just love it.  If you ask him if he wants to do something, he usually responds with a very enthusiastic, "Yea!"  We have been asking him before we leave to go somewhere if we can take the baby, and he always says, "Yea!"  He does also like the "no" word.  Sometimes if you ask him something he doesn't want to do, he will just throw out a quick, "no".  But, if he really opposes, he will say "nooooo".

He is talking up a storm now, and he really understands everything we say.  I know I am biased, but he is so smart.  You have to be careful about what you say around him, because he listens to everything and will mock you.

He loves to Facetime people on the iPhone and play with the "pa-pad" (iPad).  Whenever we call Paul's dad (Papa) the whole time he asks for "Nanna, Nanna, Nanna".  Then, when we call Nanna, he chants "Papa, Papa, Papa".  I guess he knows they are a pair :).

He is still obsessed with cars, and this can sometimes cause us some problems.  Ever since his grandparents starting spoiling him and letting him "drive" their cars (i.e. sit in the front seat and pretend he's driving) he doesn't think he needs to ride in his car seat.  He will throw a fit, but he is getting better and recovering from spoiled grandparent syndrome since he's been back at home with us.

Katelyn is so lucky to have such a great big brother.  I pray they will be the best of friends and have a special relationship like the one I share with my brother.

Meeting the family

It is hard to believe Katelyn is already 2 weeks old.  In the past two weeks she has been lucky enough to meet lots of her family.  She is definitely one loved little girl just as her brother is one loved little boy.

The first time I held her in my arms.  Such a special moment I will cherish forever!

Coco (my mom) at the hospital.

This is absolutely one of my favorite pictures of all time.  The first time Brady met his little sister.  He was already very smitten with her.

Katelyn and her Waldo (my dad) or "Walwo" as Brady calls him.

You are certainly daddy's little girl already.

Gigi (my maternal grand mother) came to visit in the hospital too!

Uncle Rut!

Papa's (Paul's dad) first time holding her.

While she is not blood related, we certainly consider her family, Aunt Jenn!

We went over to Gigi and Geno's house so he could meet you for the first time! (Big brother also got in a ride on the golf cart.)

My TWO absolutely precious, perfect children.

Cousin Walt holding Katelyn on her first trip to Nanna and Papa's house.

Nanna (Paul's mom) and Katelyn. 

Doting grand parents.

Aunt Paige, cousin Henry, and Nanna

Big cousin, Emmie!

And last but not least, Uncle Dustin who again came all the way from San Francisco to meet you.  Brady had a blast playing with him too.

Somehow my step mom must have dodged the camera, and I am sorry we don't have a picture with her, but she was certainly there the moment you were born!  We are so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends who care so much about us and our children.  These are photos we will cherish forever, and I know Katelyn will enjoy looking at them when she is older.  Thanks for all the love and support as welcomed this sweet girl into our family.  I can't imagine life without her!