Summertime...

This past weekend we went back to West Palm Beach to attend a baby shower and visit with my family. We attended a coed shower for our good friends the "Awesome Abneys". They had a shower at their favorite place in Palm City, Wine Styles. It was perfect and perfect for them. Kyle and Harmony are such fun loving, wonderful people and it was great to celebrate the upcoming birth of Winnie/Parker (Winnie if it's a girl and Parker if it's a boy). I also got a chance to catch up with some of my sorority sisters who I love and miss more than they'll ever know! They are such amazing women - mothers, lawyers, doctors, wives, and all around amazing women. Josh loves their husbands as well, which makes it so much fun for both of us. Colton made an appearance at the beginning but then left with Grammy and Grampy to head to Vero.

My grandparents recently moved from Toccoa, GA to Vero Beach and so far, they seem to love it. They moved north when I was 13 and have been gone ever since. They loved living in the mountains and the relaxed life up there but I think we can all agree that they have missed a lot while they were gone. They have made it for all the major occasions - graduations, weddings, funerals, but I haven't spent a holiday with them since they left 17 years ago and that breaks my heart...but, they're here now! I am so glad Colton is getting a chance to know his great grandparents on both sides of the family. I had my great-grandma around until I was in high school and I have so many fond memories of her - most of which included pork rinds, cornbread and Milwaukee's Best. She was such a firecracker! Anyway, we spent the rest of the afternoon with them, Aunt Kathy and Roger, and my cousin Kelly and then returned back to my parents to grill and relax with mom, dad and Kelly.

Sunday was a lot of fun. We started with breakfast at Red's where they know my mom and dad by name (scary!!) and Aunt Sandy, Darrell and my cousin Lexi stopped in to eat and visit. After we spent the day relaxing in the sun and Colton got to play in his new floatie. Funny story there, I got Colton all situated and started to put him in his floatie. Josh and I stood there holding Colton trying to figure out if it was just made for bigger babies or something until he finally pointed out that I hadn't inflated the raft part of it... Thank goodness I hadn't let go! Crazy toys these days (or maybe momma should have read the directions)! Of course Darby, being a lab, just LOVES the water and we could NOT keep him out. He would jump and run and jump and run and then relax on the step and if we weren't there to throw the float he would just swim laps around the pool. He is still sleeping off all his hard work.

Here are some photos from the weekend...and up next is 4th of July, Si Como No Inn for Brad's 30th and Atlanta with the Doehne's!!

WPB Visit

Father's Day Weekend

This past weekend we celebrated Josh’s first Father’s Day. My parents came into town on Friday night. Josh and I had plans to go with some friends to Ginnie Springs for the day to celebrate our friend Kristin’s birthday. They offered to watch our friend Katie and Brad’s baby as well so all the parents could go and have a little sun and fun. James was born 3 weeks after Colton so they are very close in age. Now for most people it’s no big deal to watch two babies, however, for my parents it’s a new experience. I’m an only child so they never really had to handle two children before…yikes! They did great though and I think they really enjoyed it. Thankfully James is a super chilled out baby who loves to smile :) They were on opposite schedules for napping and eating so it worked out pretty well.

While mom and dad were home with the kids the adults went to play at the springs. It’s about 15 minutes to the springs from our house and it’s such a beautiful part of natural Florida. The water is a bit chilly (and a little dark for my taste) but it’s so much fun to tube down the river. We had a BLAST and thoroughly enjoyed acting like the carefree college kids we used to be.

On Sunday mom and I made a huge breakfast for the dads which included thick sliced bacon of course. Josh and dad opened their cards and Josh enjoyed the book of Daddy and Me photos that I made for him. His gift was actually a surprise on Friday. Colton and I had his truck detailed while he was at work, something he hasn’t been able to find time to do lately. Back to Sunday, my dad being the man that he is couldn’t take it any longer and went out back to finish the drainage system he started installing the day before :) Josh being the man that he is couldn’t stand by so he was out there with him in the yard digging things up and sweating like crazy in the 100 degree heat. After my parents left we just relaxed and had a lazy Sunday. Josh and Colton spent much of the day just hanging out on the floor in Colton’s playland. According to Josh, it was the perfect day.

The next two months are going to be a bit crazy. We’ve got travel plans almost every weekend and lots of fun stuff in store. More posts to come soon!

Hope this finds everyone doing well and enjoying your summer! Stay cool out there!

Love,
Jenny

Misc 6 Month Fun

Ginnie Springs

Big Boy is Getting Bigger!

Today was Colton’s 6 month check-up. He’s actually almost 7 months now, which his so hard to believe. He was almost 20 lbs (75th percentile), 28 ¼” long (90th percentile) and 85th percentile for head circumference. Such a big boy! He’s wearing mostly 9 month and 12 month clothes at this point and when I have to carry him in his car seat it’s about all I can do to lift him up. We’re getting ready to switch over to a convertible seat in at least one car which will mean no more of that heavy lifting, phew.

Our big boy is reaching lots of milestones. He sits up very well on his own and will stand holding onto furniture. He will stand up on his own if you hold his hands and is also taking a few steps backward (although not forward yet). He holds his own bottle and is working on drinking water from a sippy cup. He sleeps very well at night…most of the time! Things he doesn’t like – rolling over and taking naps, ha! He is such an active little boy. I think we are seriously going to have our hands full when he gets mobile. When we sit him down on his changing table he immediately lunges forward to grab items from the container I keep diapers and supplies in, he also grabs at the blinds. We’re teaching him “no, no” when he does this but it’s very apparent we don’t understand the word yet :)

As far as talking and sounds go he has a favorite expression now – “uh da” and on occasion he will say “da da.” He loves to babble and we call it dolphin talk when he does his high-pitched squeal. The best ever was one morning at 5:15 a.m. when we could hear him in there practicing his “uh da” – he eventually went back to sleep, thank goodness.

Alright, more to come in another post on Father’s Day weekend!!

(P.S. The photos are previews from a shoot we did with our friend Wendy. It was 100+ degrees outside and Colton was such a trooper. I love how you can totally see his personality in these. He has such expressive eyebrows and is such a little boy... all rough and tough. I'll post the rest soon)