St. Helena Island

We were not planning on taking a big vacation this year because of my pending maternity leave, but we got an invitation we couldn't refuse to join the McWhorter clan in St. Helena Island.  We had a wonderful relaxing time and the kids had a BLAST.

We couldn't leave until Sunday because I took my mom to the Kenny Chesney/Zac Brown concert Saturday night.  That was something 6 months pregnant.  Love my mama, but wouldn't sign up for that again.  A Dome full of drunk rednecks... crazy!  Baby girl danced the night away though in all the loud music and vibrations.

We arrived at the beach Sunday afternoon after our most eventful road trip to date.  Jason managed to find every last back road between Buford and Beaufort, and Hardin got car sick during the second hour.  It made for a touch and go, very stinky, remainder of the ride.  Fortunately he was just fine after getting sick and didn't miss a beat the rest of the week.

The house we stayed in was great, and had a nice big porch that wrapped all the way around.  If the kids ran that loop once they ran it 1000 time.  We brought Hardin's bike and he also leveled poor Lillian on the first day there.

Other than eating, we went to the beach and waterfront park.  The kids played "family" and Spider man and iPads and everything else they could think of.  The littles liked the sand and Cawley loved the waves.  He was so fun to watch out there.  Hardin seriously couldn't love those two cousins of his an ounce more, and we are lucky the feeling is mutual.

Hardin slept with Cawley all week in a double bed without rails or guards and did great.  He'll be happy to tell you what a big boy that makes him.  We think they fell asleep holding hands the first night.

We came back Friday after dropping Mimi off at the Savannah airport.  It was nice to have all weekend to decompress and get ready for the week.  Jason also had a "coaches meeting" early Saturday.  He and Hardin are getting very excited for the impending soccer season.

That's about it for the past few weeks, it's been fun!

Oh, one sad note.  I packed one smocked fish Jon Jon for the beach to take pictures in.  I knew the chance of him wearing a "baby thang" were slim to none, but I thought I had enough Skittles packed to bribe him for a few minutes at least.  No such luck.  He damn near had a panic attack when I tried to get him in it.  I'm not giving up all hope yet, but I'm positive his sweet baby boy clothes days are coming to an end soon.  I'm far from okay with it.

Poor buddy, this is what it looks like when I forget his allergy medicine for 3 days.  Those sad eyes.

(yes, Jason's been working out like crazy and looks awesome... those abs!)

Summer Fun Continues

We are trucking along and enjoying our summer as much as possible.  Hardin is such a trip right now and we spend quite a bit of time trying to figure out what he's doing and more importantly, why. 

We've also noticed how much Hardin is missing his friends at school.  He's constantly asking us to go to Gigi's house so he can play with her neighbors, go to Cawley and Lillian's house, etc.  Yesterday he told me very assertively Mommy, my daddy NEEDS to take me to the baseball park so I can play baseball with the big kids.  He was so serious.  And it took mama less than 24 hours to find a little team sport for him to play this fall.  He starts soccer the first weekend of September and Jason will be assistant coaching.  We are all very excited. 

We had a fun weekend with Cat and the kids while the boys played golf.  Now we're counting down the days until our week at the beach together!  

Where to begin?

I've been sleeping instead of blogging, and we've been so busy during the days I'm not sure where to begin...

We'll start with the most exciting news, our baby on the way is a GIRL!  Every bit of my intuition the past few months was telling me it was a girl, but I still can hardly believe it.  Up until this pregnancy started I just knew we'd have two boys.  Needless to say my mind (and debit card... shhh) have been going a little crazy, in a good way, with the news.

Hardin's been keeping himself quite busy, too.  He's still in swim lessons three times a week and aside from his pure HATE for floating on his back, he's doing well.  As soon as she flips him over he starts yelling GET ME OUTTA HERE!  And that's a lot better than the previous week's tear tantrums.  The actual swimming part is fantastic.  So good that his instructor asked us to keep him after a few days next week to use as an example for other kids.

Two weekends ago Cawley & Co. came up for the day, and Hardin went to spend the night with them so Jason and I could attend a concert on lake Lanier.  That night Cathy casual asked him if he wanted to sleep in the pack-n-play or with Cawley in his big boy bed.  She said he immediately said Cawley's bed and started walking up stairs ready to go right then.  He did great through the night.  We decided to run with it and he's been in his big boy bed here ever since.  That went so well I joked that Cawley could potty train him too.  No such luck, even with C and Lillian going he wanted nothing to do with it.  He told Cat he was too busy.  

I went to pick him up the next morning and we went down to the Grant Park farmer's market, the play ground and the zoo.  The littles were cracking us up with their maps.  They were so sweet and lovie, too.  I think it was because they were exhausted but it was still cute.

Last weekend Mary Ellen came up with Liddie and Brady.  We went to the neighborhood pool Saturday and the Buford splash garden Sunday.  The kids had an absolute blast running around together and both Liddie and Hardin pitched tearful fits when it was time for them to go home.  I couldn't blame him, I felt the same way about Mary Ellen leaving.

The last big event was July 4th.  We'd heard this was a big deal in our neighborhood but I think we both underestimated it a bit.  We received an itinerary the week before and had a good laugh at the decorated golf cart parade and the regatta, a paddle board race in the lake.  A lot of things were rained out but we went down for the kid games, parade, BBQ and fire works.  Hardin was all about decorating the golf cart, but when we drove around he in the parade he kept asking hey, where's the parade? where's the parade?  It was every bit as ridiculous as we thought it would be, and that was fun.

Oh, one more thing.  Hardin had his first real shiner.  He was carrying a golf club at Gigi's house and tripped walking.  He hit his head on the side of a table and had a good black eye for a week.  After the swelling went down it wasn't too bad, but he looked rough for a couple of days.  Shockingly, he barley cried.  He stood right up and told my mom he was tough and fine and shook it off (we literally shake like crazy to shake off little falls).

Melt My Heart

For the most part, our days are full of T-Shirts and work-out shorts.  Hardin wants to wear whatever daddy is wearing.  If only I could get Jason in a Jon-Jon...  It's sweet, really. 

But every now and again I have an excuse to dress him like a proper southern tot.  My cousin's south Georgia afternoon church wedding was the perfect occasion.  I may have squealed a little when I got him dressed.  I know these days are very limited so I try and soak up every little traditional minute. 

The wedding was lovely until the very end when I opened the lady's room door and startled my sweet 85 year old grandmother.  She lost her footing and fell very hard and hit her head.  I just about lost it.  Fortunately, my cousin getting married and his brother are both EMTs and they had their bags out in no time checking her vitals and everything else.  Still, we don't mess around with falls in this family so we took her to urgent care who sent her to the emergency room for a CT scan.  She's still mad at all of us for keeping her up until 1 in the morning, but she was discharged with a clear head and some pain meds for her banged up arm. 

Today we are also remembering my sweet daddy who passed away five years ago today.  It feels like yesterday and a life time ago.  Hardin and I looked through a big album of his pictures tonight and he giggled every time I tried to explain that I was the tiny girl.  He may not be with us the way I wish he were, but having his little namesake around sure does keep him present every day.  That kid has a LOT of his grandfather in him...  the good, the silly and the strong.