7 Month Washington

Happy 7 months Mr. Washington! Well, let's be real. I'm way behind so technically you are a week away from 8 months. 

But for documenting sake we're going to celebrate the seven month milestone before celebrating 8 months in a similarly delayed fashion. :p

And I appreciate your willingness to just go with your mommy's complete lack of being on top of time and how fast the days are flying by. 

You are one laid back little man and rarely demand anything but please know even with all the craziness that is ongoing in this family unit, you are one loved and adored little man even if the monthly blog posts don't go up on time. 

This month was a pretty fun month with you! 

Month seven we took you to the beach, you rode the metro, met our best friends, ate homemade ice-cream, strawberries, veggie straws, macaroni and cheese, and swam in a pool.

You clap, wave, sign 'all done', give high fives, sing, and army crawl like a boss. 

You love your bed, seriously. You will fuss and lunge out of my arms to get into it as fast as you can and lay your head immediately down as if excusing me to leave the room so you can get to sleep. 

And sleep you will! You sleep 12-14 hours at night and take two 2-4 hour naps during the day. I have to wake you from your naps since you just love to sleep.

But more than sleeping you love to eat. You still nurse every four hours during the day, but in between you eat anything you can get your hands on. 

You inhale two baby food pouches at every meal and then chow down on cheerios, puffs, yogurt, grapes, and anything you can con your siblings into giving up. I've caught you with contraband fruit snacks, chicken nuggets, and oatmeal cookies.

You're in size 9-12 months clothing, size three diapers, and love banging toys on the wood floor cackling at your noise making abilities. You love being outside and swinging on the front porch swing.  

You also began teething this past month! You spent our week at the beach a little fussy and running a low grade fever and we thought you were sharing a cold that had been going around. But a few days later your two bottom teeth popped up and they only add to your adorableness. 

Washington, we are completely enamored with you. Your smile and laugh and your "talking" to us make us all melt into puddles. You have six people in this house that bend over backwards to meet your every whim. We are so grateful God made you a part of our family and we are blessed by you! We love you Washington! 

Beach Week 17

This year's beach trip could best be summed up with the word "change". 

In this household, I am the loan free spirit surrounded by males possessing strong as steel resistance to change, no matter how minute. 

They kinda even freak out if a couch has been moved in the living room.  

 So when this beach trip started to shape up very differently I was preparing myself for all kinds of flipping out from my otherwise pretty chill dudes. 

First off, our oceanfront week was placed on the endangered list as a hurricane started to flirt with the coastline and the dreaded "evacuation" word was being thrown around by officials. 

Then during our road trip there we switched up leg stretching locations, farmers market stops, and lunch break places, all of which have been the exact same three years running. 

We also somehow never got around to our traditional putt-putt or aquarium visit. 

It wasn't intentional, the week just fell into a slow, noncommittal pace. 

Mornings were slow and we took our time sipping coffee, watching pelicans catch their breakfast, timing Eggo waffles on broken toasters, and laying around with coloring books and cartoons. 

We usually were just headed out to the beach by lunch time where boys casually got lost in chasing the shoreline and digging for treasure. 

Sometime in the afternoon we'd wander back to the pool until one of the kids had a realization amidst all the fun that they may be hungry. 

So we'd go in for a laid back, everyone fends for themselves type meal, and finish off the day with hot tubs, more pool time, popsicles, big family dinners, card games, homemade ice-cream, and movies. 

In fact, this was the way each day ended up happening. It wasn't until the end of the week that we actually ventured out of the house at all, and even then we were gone for the morning and back before the day finished heating up. 

And as much as my change haters had wistfully longed for the same-old same-old, I doubt even they would have changed anything about the way the week ended up falling in place. 

They got their fill of junk food and spoiling from over indulgent aunts.  

And the adults had our fill of doing absolutely nothing, well sort of. Let's just face the facts that moms don't really go on vacation, we just keep momming but in a fun new location. 

Taking a pole around here our favorite beach week moments were soaking in the hot tub while drinking Dr. Pepper, taking each of my boys out for an early morning walk on the beach,...

...discovering Captain P. had visited again, catching crabs after dark, tie-dying shirts, toy store shopping, homemade ice cream every day, and staying up late playing card games. 

Harrison even challenged his aunts to a game of poker, pronounced "polka". We all had no idea where in the world he had learned about "polka" but soon we discovered it was none other than Looney Tunes and according to him, whoever has the biggest hand wins, literally. He made everyone hold out their hands to measure finger spreads. Best kid ever! 

Madison still preferred to keep a safe distance from the ocean, Washington was mesmerized with the waves, Jefferson continued to sing along with the song of creation to his Creator, Wils' loved his tie-dye shirt so much he has to wear it everyday, Harrison grew in his appreciation of seafood night and mastered gathering diving sticks from the pool floor. 

The beach week looked nothing like we anticipated, but it ended up being exactly what we needed. Thanks OBX 2017, it was a great change and memory filled week!

Bits

A pretty little princess, twirling barefoot through mud. 

She fusses about messy fingers while melting popsicles drips off her round baby chin. 

Her hair is always dressed in bows or running freely along with the wind. 

She giggles like the summer birds and I swear makes lightening bugs glow brighter. 

She wraps herself in pink blankets and buries under piles of baby dolls to sleep. 

A song follows her until her way is impeded by a big brother or another opposing force and then her tears melt the whole world. 

She is our Bitsy; our bossy, dancing, singing princess. 

Our bit of pink God gifted our family with and we are smitten. 

Home Sweet New Home

I'm going to do my best to tell you what this past month has been like, and about two minutes into reading this you may start skipping lines and scrolling past and I wouldn't blame you a bit. 

But since this corner of the internet serves as our treasure of memories I'm going to pick up my pen (keyboard) and write (type) so in the years to come we can remember. 

Because we need to remember the last day we lived in the old house and told the kids they could eat whatever they wanted in order to clean out the fridge and freezer. They looked at us like we were crazy for about two seconds before diving into popsicles and leftover pizza for breakfast. 

And of course we need to remember prematurely packing the kitchen and then unpacking half the boxes looking for things we still needed. Or finding Wils packing himself in boxes and boys creating forts in the stacks of furniture. 

I don't want to forget the day we went to close on our new house and how it almost didn't happen. How the county held onto one piece of paper and would't be able to produce it until the next day at the earliest but could have stretched into the next week. 

But God created my husband to have a fire in his soul for holding people to their words and he took charge, made phone calls, we prayed and trusted God, and in the end, 8 hours later, we left with the keys to our new house. 

I don't want to forget tucking each of these five awesome little people into their beds at the old house on that last night as we were all a little sad to leave and nervous to move forward, yet excited at the same time. 

I want to remember the moving crew showing up and Wils cheering them on and complimenting them on their feats of strength. I want to remember Madison curling up on her pillow watching 'Snow', (aka Frozen) while our boxes were loaded onto a moving truck.

I don't want to forget walking the empty halls and seeing the silent bedrooms that each housed thousands of memories for our family. We doubled in size inside those walls and saw babies reach milestones, first words read, lives given to Christ, and birthdays celebrated. 

I don't want to forget the first few hectic days in the new house searching for towels, can openers, and pillows. Or the incredible family that poured time they didn't have themselves into unpacking boxes, keeping hyper kids entertained, and bringing food for the masses. 

I don't want to forget Wils discovering there was a bathroom off the rec room days after we had been living there, brother-in-laws hanging shiplap, nephews playing cars, boys chasing each other through fields, a princess twirling in giggly approval of her new pink room, a husband's hard work to provide such an incredible blessing for our family, or the overwhelming moment Matt and I stood in each other's arms, in the middle of our new living room, before the throne of God, with no words, just tears of gratitude from grateful hearts. 

This month has been memory upon memory, box upon box, discovery after discovery, and blessing upon blessing. We're unpacked, started the school year, and settled into a routine of easy mornings, lunchtime on the front porch swing, and sunset walks. A whirlwind has swept up the past few months, but I treasure them all in my heart. I can't wait for years down the road, to read these words I'm writing now, see these little faces in these pictures of the grown adults I had the privilege to raise here and cherish all over again this precious, crazy, joyful adventure. 

 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

Ephesians 3:20-21