Friday Favorites

This little nugget is 15 weeks old. How time flies. His giggling has started and it makes me smile so much! In the mornings Josh holds him while he eats breakfast and Graham just stares at me across the table and smiles. I feel like the most loved person in the room. My boys sure have my heart! 

I've been finding some cute stuff at Walmart lately! Check out these darling earrings and top! If you don't follow @whoawaitwalmart on instagram- go do it! They highlight cute items they have at the store- home to fashion. Ya'll know I'm picky about clothes but these are for the win! The earrings were $4 and the top was $10!

I got this top as well! 

I've been trying to carve out some "me time" lately. I think as a mom I spend so much time worrying and caring for my babies that I forget about myself! I used to love to read, play the piano, sit out by the pool, etc. So this week I made it a priority to exercise, play the piano and swim a couple laps in the evening. Now, my piano playing definitely got interrupted a lot (the whole) of the time but that's ok. Henry kept hitting the keys and saying, "All done mama". Ha! 

How do you carve out the time for yourselves? I know I need to make sure I put my marriage first too...so many hats to wear! Yikes. Date nights will need to start a regular rotation soon. 

These are my summer weakness. I just need to stop buying them. I say that I get them for a treat for Henry but let's be real. I've eaten the entire BOX in a week. Thank goodness they aren't a ton of calories but they are EMPTY calories and lots of sugar. So hard to resist. 

Super duper excited because next week we are headed to Michigan! Excited for my family to meet Graham- especially my grandparents. He's great grand baby number 10! In 3 years. Yes...that's a lot of great grands but they do have 11 grandchildren basically all a year apart, so it begins with another generation. I love Michigan in the summer because typically it's a nicer temperature than here in the south. We plan to see lots of family and cousins, visit splash pads, spend lots of time with GG and Great papa, check out Belle Isle (where my mom used to take me when I was little) and just relax in the beauty that is a Michigan summer. We are driving up..so please pray for that part. 10+ hours in the car should be interesting. We are going to try and drive most of it at night. I'll let you know how that goes. 

Here's some of my favorite pictures from last summer! 

My grandparents have the prettiest yard. It so nice to just sit on their deck and relax. Henry will love playing in their yard- maybe even in the sprinklers! 

 I was already pregnant with Graham in this picture. Unknown to me. Ha. 

One of my most precious friends and faithful blog reader. Love you, Jenn!

Meeting cousin Finely for the first time! Now little miss is ONE and has bookend cousins to protect and play with her! 

I definitely don't take moments like these for granted. Not everyone is as blessed as I am to have my grandparents still with us! 

Henry and Camryn. Two very loved babies. Can't wait to see them interact next week! I'm sure they'll teach and share a trick or two with each other. 

June!

I can't believe it is June already! I went back to work, thankfully it was only for a week. I'll feel much better about going to work in August when Graham is much bigger but my mom handled it for this week. Two boys is hard work...her poor house looks like a tornado hit it when I come to pick them up! I have to giggle about pumping at school. I had to explain (very vaguely) what I was doing in my closet twice a day. Of  course, there's a couple that have baby siblings that were quick to say they know what that is. I also loved the conversations they'd try to have with me through my closet door! One of my students also made the comment when I came back that I was "late" (meant absent on my maternity leave) a lot and that he had a lot to tell me. Oh five year olds! I guess one thought I was spending too much time pumping because she made me a watch at free time. I know you want one. So fashionable.

Before work (above) and after (below) All parties were much happier then. Ha!

Graham continues to be the sweetest baby. He's two months old! I've taken him to work with me the past three days (teacher workdays) and he's been a complete angel. Sleeping and just going with the flow. I'm so very blessed.

My sweet former student Tatum was my helper at school this week. She did AWESOME with Graham and he felt so comfortable with her. Slept on her for an hour and a half! 

Some Graham stats so I don't forget...

-has his check up at the end of the month but last time we weighed he was 12 lbs

-wearing 3-6 month clothes because he's so long

-started to coo and talk back to us

-most nights he sleeps 10-5 and then back to sleep after eating until 7am (I know..better knock on wood!)

-takes 3 naps a day (about 1.5-2 hrs each)

-drooling up a storm and blowing lots of bubbles

-loves to bounce and stand on his legs

-still nurses like a champ

-loves his lovie by his face while he sleeps just like his brother

-started to really pay attention to Henry and other people

-total social butterfly, gives out lots of smiles

-such a snuggler and mama's boy

-king of toots (seriously..such a boy!)

Henry has continued to surprise us with how gentle and loving he is with his baby brother. He loves to come hold and kiss his baby brother. Does he always have great body/spatial awareness? Ha! NO. But we are working on not stepping or using brother as a prop to stand up.

Henry is really becoming a big boy.
Some Henry highlights at 18 months are.......
-30.5 lbs (his checkup is end of month too)
-wears size 2t /3t  clothes and size 6 shoe
-started to use a fork correctly
-starting to climb things (couches and chairs being favorites)
-loves to play with his shopping cart, lawn mower, trains, tool bench and water table
-enjoys reading books (Goodnight Gorilla is a current favorite)
-loves to go to story time and see Aunt Mel and Ella Kate (mommy loves this too!)
-Has started talking so much (says car, truck, cold, hot, our names, airplane, duck, Jesus, cheese, hi, up, no, pool, cool, so many more and some short phrases like "There it is!")
-still rocking the sign language as well

I saw this posted on someone's facebook feed this week. Sums up life and outings with these two pretty accurately! Ha! But if they only saw how full our hearts are... 

That's June so far! Pumped that it's summer!!

Michigan Trip- Summer 2017

I was so blessed to be able to take a trip up to Detroit to visit with my grandparents and extended family for the week. It was so much fun to see Henry interact with his great grandparents and many different family members and cousins!

 

 

The plan was for my mom and I to drive up to MI and split the trip in half. My dad was going to drive up with us and then fly down but he surprised us by flying Henry and I up at the last minute. Got to say I didn't protest too much! Ha! So Henry had his 3rd flight in his short 7 month life! My cousin Thais picked us up from the airport and brought along Henry's brand new cousin Finley! There are 6 months between them and quite a huge difference in size! 5 lbs in comparison to Henry's 20! Ha! I loved snuggling her so very much!

 

 

 

While we were there we got to spend time with my cousins and their sweet kiddos. Henry is so blessed to have so many cousins that are close to his age. I'm sure in just a year, the interaction between them will look so different! There are 9 great grandchildren all under 3. My cousin Alyssa and I were pregnant with Camryn and Henry at the same time and it's always so fun to see the babies together.

 

 

 

The most special moments were watching my grandparents with Henry. They clearly enjoyed each other's company! I think it's so special that he has two sets of great grandparents still in his life. What a blessed little boy! They got a kick out of his jumperoo that we had brought along. He bounces all around like a little bunny in that thing.

 

 

 

 

Some more pictures of Henry moments during our trip. My grandparents have the prettiest backyard and deck. Everything just seems to grow better in Michigan. Must be the dirt.

 We enjoyed our trip up north so much. The next trip we have planned is for Labor Day- to the other side of MI to see Josh's family. Lots of summer fun ahead!