A delayed 7 month post

In all the Christmas rush and holiday cheer...our little guy turned 7 months old!  What is he up to lately? Well, let me tell you!

Sitting on his own
Still trying to crawl (up on all fours and moving backwards)
Reaches for me when I go to pick him up (LOVE this one)
Gives the biggest hugs in the world!
Eating three meals a day and 4 bottles
Sitting up in the bath with sister
In absolute adoration of his sister
Two 2 hour naps a day and then sleeps from 7pm-4-5am, then back to sleep until 7:30am (hoping this is the month he drops that really, really early morning bottle)

He is truly one of the happiest babies I have ever seen.  Hoping that might have something to do with us?!?  In all our traveling, he did amazing.  Hardly a peep.  Instead we got spit bubbles and happy squeals from the back seat.

Graham will be starting Mother's Morning Out where Anna went last year.  I am a bit sad but happy about getting two days to really work on my business and then spend all my other time with my two wonderful children!

No appointment this month.  Next one at 9 months old.

Christmas Part 2

Friday, December 23 - LOAD up and drive to my parents house in Cartersville!

We arrived to the smell of Christmas.  You know that smell.  Home cooking mixed with mulling spices, wine and LOVE.  Lots of love.  My sister and her crew arrived shortly after we did and the family just kept on coming.  John's cousin, Blake and his wife and their son Barrett came and then Matt showed up after that!  The stage was set for another amazing holiday.

Graham and Barrett reviewing the toy selection.

These two are just trouble.  But just stinkin adorable.

Saturday, December 24: Christmas Eve!

My parents surprised us a couple of days before we arrived with tickets to the GA Aquarium and Dolphin Show.  The kids L.O.V.E.D it and well, us grown-ups thought it was pretty awesome.  We arrived right as it opened and basically enjoyed the large wall of fish all to ourselves.

L to R: All lined up in front of the GIANT tank, Dad's face filled with child-like wonder, Anna pointing out all the SHARKS!

After a long morning and a brief food stop courtesy of the Varsity (Whadya have whadya have?!?)...it was nap time.  We went to a beautiful Christmas Eve service and then Kristen and her family headed back to their house to get ready for Santa and we did the same at Mom and Dad's.  We were lucky that Santa had already visited Anna and Graham...but we needed for John to read, "Twas the Night Before Christmas" anyway.  You can see that next year might prove to be a bit easier.

Sunday, December 25: Merry Christmas!!


It was a wonderful Christmas Day despite the rainy weather.  This year we focused on the kids and that proved to be crazy enough!  The girls loved their giant Minnie Mouse's and stylish clothes, while the boys giggled over trucks, books and new winter caps. It was a great day.

This paper is delish!

The girls studying Anna's new Disney Princess calendar. 

Best game ever- Headbanz!

G- It's for you!

Me and my beautiful sister

Monday, December 26: A slow morning and sad good-byes.

It was a leisurely pace around the Wilkins' house with big yawns, steaming cups of coffee and Christmas twinkles in our eyes. The kids ran around the kitchen, bounding up and down the stairs and just soaked up all those last hours together.  This year the kids really played...as in, went off by themselves and played together.  Next year will be even better.  Anna was quite attached to Ryan this year and as Ryan said, "Anna likes to play "chase Ryan".

This is hysterical.  The girls eating their breakfast houses.

My amazing family!

Thanks Mom and Dad for another unforgettable family holiday.  You guys are the glue and our ROCKS.

Katie, we missed you!  Look forward to seeing you soon!

Our early Christmas.

This was the last year we could probably pull this off.  But it went off without a hitch.  Santa was able to visit our house 8 days early due to our holiday travel schedule.  We are so thankful for that big guy and his elves who we are sure spent at LEAST 2 hours putting together the kitchen for Anna.  But this face was totally worth it.

She ran right to the kitchen and squealed with delight and immediately made us breakfast.  How awesome is she?

Graham loved his wooden sea animal musical instruments.  He showed us by chewing on them with vigor.

John's parents came to visit us and brought beaucoup's of presents with them.  They did good.

Anna busy in her kitchen.

Anna also showed us that she had NO problems tearing into presents.  In fact, every day after this she woke up asking for "More presents?".

Graham LOVES his new walker and almost has the hang on it.  He can scoot around pretty good.

More coming about our trip to Atlanta!

Merry Christmas!

Poor Santa had his hands full last night with these two.  And their hands were full of his white beard.

I don't want to forget

There are so many days I say to myself...Oh!  I don't want to forget this memory!  And well, I have proven on a daily basis that I am extraordinarily forgetful.  So here is my brain dump...

The way Anna says:

• Sinkerbell (aka Tinkerbell)
• Hold You (with her arms stretched up to me)
• Bye-bye Cooper and Abbie!  (as we walk out the door to school)
• More Prayers!  (in an attempt to have me stay longer before lights out at night)
• Puh-lease!  (just a good ol' fashioned, drawn out, southern way of saying "Please")
• Sally Go-Go.  (this means turn on Cat and the Hat.  ASAP)
• When we are walking down the stairs, she says, "Bye-bye, Self!".  Meaning...keep on walkin' Mom, I got this. 
• Silly lamby.  (oh Lamby.  You are the silliest lovey she knows.  How you are so funny as an inanimate object I will never know.  But you are, very, very silly.  This is followed by a barrage of kisses only reserved for Lamby) 

Graham got his second tooth and is starting to sit longer on his own.  SLOW down buddy.  Puh-lease!!

I know I am forgetting so many things so I must get much better about writing all these wonderful things down.  I seriously never want to forget.

Half a year..

Can you believe this little guy is 6 months old?!  Half a year. 182.5 days. Amazing.

He weighed in this morning at 19lbs 12 oz (80%) and 28.5 inches long (greater than 97%), head at 17 in (i think...about 50%).  He is pretty much coming in at awesome all around.

On this glorious 6 month birthday, he cut his first tooth! Bottom left.  With each day brings that little toofy farther through his little sore gums.  Overall, he has been a trooper.  In fact, since it has popped through..his nights have been a little better.  His typical night time is a 7:30pm bed time, he will cry out around 2am (but a quick rock and pacifier, he is back to sleep in minutes) and then a bottle around 4:30am when he wakes up STARVING.  Well, according to him, he is starving.  Then back to sleep until I hear his sweet little morning coos and giggles around 7 or 7:30.

He is eating food like a champ now (after a very auspicious start).  Two meals a day...so far, apples, pears, homemade sweet potatoes, squash, carrots and fresh bananas through his little mesh feeder.  Tonight...peas.  Yikes.

He is so sweet and snuggly.  He gives hugs and "shark bites" like no body's business.  He laughs, giggles, and is basically the sweetest little guy I know.  Everyone that he meets says one thing.."That is the happiest baby I have ever seen." I'd like to think maybe we had a little bit to do with it...:)

This little man also thinks he is going to just start crawling a little earlier than his sister did.  In fact, she didn't even attempt it until around 9 months.  As you can see...he is ready to get this movin' thing going!

Plank!

So proud of himself!

The Beach.

There is not many things better than the white, soft sand between your toes and the ocean in your ear. The beach, for me, is grounding. I get back to me.  Back to John and just feel great about life.

It seems that our love of the beach has officially been passed along to our children.  And my heart leaps for joy! Anna loved playing in the sand, pointing out crabs, birds and the "lawler" (a.k.a water). I imagine it will be even better next year when her brother can join in the fun.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous during our entire trip. Mid 70's, reaching up into the 80's on some days with a cool breeze at night.

Joining us on our trip were our good friends and John's law partner, The Werners!  Sweet little baby Gabriel is just 9 1/2 weeks old and just so sweet.

This was a first time visit to 30A for them, and I hope they fell in love.  As we hope to travel back with them next year.

John getting back to his roots...

 We ventured in and out of the little shops in Seaside, stopping only to enjoy an ice cold beverage. The colors were vibrant and the laughter even louder.

 

Peeking through photo stand at Seaside.

Taken by Barbara Mead

 John and I met up with some friends (actually my former boss from both Old Navy in Huntsville and Restoration Hardware in Birmingham) for a little lunch to catch up and enjoy the new Cowgirl Kitchen right down the way from Seaside.

Anna cuddled right up to Barbara as if she had known her for years.

 The house we rented was perfect.  Three stories and plenty of room.  Although our bed was less than comfortable and Graham was up multiple times a night, it was still the beach and it still felt like home.

The boys with a little play time.

 There was a private pool at the house...and heated to boot.  It finally started working on Wednesday so we spent many hours floating the kids around.

June 2010

 One of our favorite traditions is heading down to Rosemary Beach. This is where we were married and seem to mark time in our life through photos.  The picture above was taken in June 2010.  Just a small family of three.  That little girl is now a busy two year old and a new little guy has taken her place as the baby.

The Werner's!

Our main push to hit the beach was all due to John and Joe. These two guys are partners of all partners and truly creating a business that we are all ridiculously proud of. With their first Qui Tam settled, we popped the bubbly. There looks to be a lot more of this coming in the future. You just keep your eye out for Roberts & Werner...it's going to be big.

 Our last evening on the beach.  A great time to snap pictures of the kids and capture the glowing light from the setting sun. This is our place.

 Goodnight Beach.  Until next year.

Sweet Anna. You are 2!

Anna,

You will be two years old tomorrow.  I guess we always believed people when they say your kids grow up in the blink of an eye...and we learned this weekend, that this statement is so sadly true.  You have changed our world in two short years.  You make us laugh, cry tears of happiness, and create the largest grins on both mine and your dads faces. 

Not only are you stinkin' adorable, you are smart as a whip.  Your vocabulary is growing with every day.  You are putting together two and three word sentences and "correcting" your own pronunciation daily.  <---- this one makes me sad a bit.  Just today you were saying slowly to yourself, "Blank...blanki...Mommy, want blankie!".  Until today, you would say "digi" for blanket.  Can you say "digi" for me just one more time?

We celebrated your first two years of life over the past weekend.  All your playgroup friends arrived at Monkey's Treehouse on Friday afternoon and we continued the celebration on Saturday with family.  It was amazing weekend filled with lots of love, presents, amazing weather and did I mention the LOVE?!

At Monkey Treehouse  L to R: Lucca, Brady, Sophie B., Emily, Ryan, Andrew, YOU!, and Jake

Singing Happy Birthday! 

Blowing out your candles.  Make a wish sweet girl.

Opening presents like a champ!

I hope you had a wonderful weekend.  I hope you know how much you are loved.

It seemed like yesterday you came into this world.  All 7lbs 15 oz of you.  You made a small squeek and snuggled right into my chest.  I became a new person.  I became your mom.  And I became me.