I LOVE VACATION

I LOVE vacation!!!  In the "old days," vacation meant relaxing on the beach with my toes in the sand a good book, without a care in the world....you know the type of vacation Zac Brown Band songs makes you think of.  Man oh man, times have changed, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. Now, vacation means having a whole lot of fun with my boys while having a little bit of extra help, which means having a little bit of "me" time (a rarity these days!)  We spent the week of June 11 down on Tybee with my parents, sister and brother in law, Aunt Chris, and part of the week with Katie, my brother in law's sister.  It only rained one of the days, but the rest of the week was sunny and beautiful.  The beach was a little windy, but we still had a blast!

I was a little nervous going into vacation with my two little boys.  How would we all sleep?  Would we get any sleep?  Would Reives like playing on the beach everyday?  Would Brooks nap down on the beach or would he get fussy?  What in the world would a vacation be like with two children under two?  Would it be more stressful than fun?

Well, let's just say it was definitely more fun than stressful, we did get sleep, Brooks did nap on the beach (in his stroller and in arms), Reives LOVED playing on the beach everyday, and Trey and I even got to have a date night :)  Reives ran a fever the first two days of vacation, but he still seemed to have fun, and everyone enjoyed getting to cuddle with him since he didn't feel too great.  The sleeping arrangements were interesting...Reives and I slept in one room....Trey and Brooks slept in one room....Trey came to get me around 4 when Brooks woke up to eat.  Hey, it worked (I have yet to have a good night's sleep when sleeping with one of my infants.)  We ate out 3 different nights, and Brooks and Reives did amazing each time.  I mean one time, I think Reives stayed in his highchair for 2 hours, and Brooks just dozed in his carseat.  We ate at AJ's, StinRays, Coco's (a new place), and Trey and I went on a date to Tybee Social.  All places were fabulous, and I would highly recommend any of them!
We spent our evenings eating dinner, playing Dominoes on the porch, and walking on the beach (a couple of times.)  Nightly beach walks had to be done in shifts so someone was at the house with the boys.

I had so much fun that I was depressed last Tuesday morning when I woke up.  It seemed so quiet, and I missed eating breakfast on that lovely screened porch with everyone.  I think my boys also missed the constant attention from everyone :)

OK...so here is a recap of the vacation in photos:

 Getting ready for the beach....sand bucket!

 "I am so excited about vacation at Tybee"

 sunset at Tybee

 Good morning, everyone....aren't they handsome?

 So sweet :)

 Jumping the waves with Daddy

 Chilling on the beach...

 Diaper change time

 Thank goodness we brought the swing....Brooks napped like a champ on the porch 

 Reives watched Baby Einstein every morning while we got ready for the beach

 Ready for a day at the beach

 Brooks is feeling a little unsure about his beach hat

 Cool Dude!

 Our set up at Tybee

 By far the best hair on the beach

 Me and my boys

 Reives did not understand why he could not play bacci ball with the "big boys"

 Hanging with Aunt Laura

 Handsome

 Mama and Aunt Chris with their matching "fun, feather earrings" bought by, guess who??? MY DAD!

 More wet, slobbery kisses for "Baboo's" head

"I love my fish bathing suit!"

Thank you to Mama, Daddy, Laura, Josh, Katie, and Aunt Chris for making vacation so much fun for all of us!!!!

Sunday Mornings

Sunday mornings are crazy around here!  I usually have to wake up earlier than any other day of the week to get everyone ready and out of the door by 8:30!  My boys had matching outfits on this Sunday, and so I really wanted to get a picture of both of them before we left for church....HA!  First of all, Reives is never still. Second of all, Reives is never still.  Third of all, Reives is never still.  Fourth of all, I had my camera set to the wrong setting, so some of the pics came out blurry.  Here is how the photo shoot went.....

 "I'd rather play with my cars than sit by my brother"

 "No, I don't want to sit by him...."

 "I think I'll put my cars in the basket instead"

 "Can I go down my slide now, please?"

 At least one of them is still :)

 .....except for the legs :)

Final attempt!  

Hey....the matching outfits are cute....you get the "picture."

Shoes

In my last post, I mentioned that Reives likes to walk around in our shoes.  Here you go:

3 &21

On June 11, my sweet Brooks turned 3 months old and my sweet Reives turned 21 months!  These two boys melt my heart every single day, and I truly feel so blessed to be their mother!

Brooks:

This little guy is quite the people person!  He can be in the middle of a scream and literally break out in a huge grin if you get his attention.  It cracks me up!  He loves to interact with people, alot more than his big brother did at this age.  He does not like to miss anything and has started doing "crunches" to try and sit straight up.  He is drooling like crazy these days and is trying really hard to suck his thumb/fingers.  If only he could figure out how to keep that hand in his mouth.  He has slept through the night about 5 times now (about 8 hours) but most of the time, he sleeps from about 10-4.  I know he can sleep all night, but I kind of like when I feed him around 4 because then he will sleep until 8 in the morning!  Brooks has rolled over twice from his stomach to his back....he is strong little guy.  He does great in restaurants and usually just doses through dinner in his carseat.  He is completely off of any type of schedule right now since the last two weeks have been Vacation Bible School and then our beach vacation.  I hope to get him somewhat re-oriented to his schedule in the next two weeks :)  One thing that I love is that he has started to smile at Reives now.  It is so cute to see them "interact."  I cannot wait to see what this next month has in store :)

 Brooks smiles with his mouth wide open alot of the time :)

 Working hard to lift that chest off of the floor!

Happy 3 months old, sweet baby boy!

Reives:

Boy oh boy, do we have our hands full!  Little R is just a bundle of energy these days :)  We are having so much fun with our little man.  He makes us laugh constantly!  He has really come out of his shell this past month.  He is talking alot (but many of his words are still spoken in "Reivesese"), and he is running around everywhere and getting into everything.  He is very proud of himself since he can count to 5.....with a little help :)  He loves to help us do things, and gets really excited when we give him a task, such as "Go put this spoon in the dishwasher", or "Take Daddy his shoes."  Speaking of shoes, one of his favorite pastimes these days is to walk around in Mama and Daddy's shoes.  It is hilarious!  Reives has become much more friendly in the past few weeks and loves to wave to everyone.  He especially loves watching and interacting with other kids.  Everywhere we go, people comment on his curly hair.  Now, when we stop to talk to people in a store, he goes ahead and grabs his hair to show them since so many people talk about it.  His favorite toys right now are cars, trucks, and the 4 jungle animals that he has: a zebra, elephant, giraffe, and tiger.  He is still obsessed with his faafoo's (pacis), and asks for them all of the time.  (I try to limit their use for bedtime only.)  He has developed a fear of airplanes ever since the fighter jets flew very loudly over our house a few weeks ago.  It scared him so badly, and now he is terrified when he hears loud planes :(  He is definitely throwing his fair share of tantrums when he does not get his way, and has shown us his defiant side lately....typical behavior for an almost 2 year old who knows exactly what he wants, when he wants it.  I cannot believe that Reives is 3 months away from being 2.  I can tell that I am definitely going to be more emotional about him turning 2 than I was when he turned 1.  He is definitely not a baby anymore :(  

 Looking "cool" in Publix!

 Checking out the fish with Grammie and Grandaddy!

 Typical Reives around the house...hate this picture is blurry!

 Caught!

Happy 21 months to my sweet, little UGA fan!

Farm Day

Last Saturday, we went to "The Farm" and spent the day with Trey's parents.  It was a gorgeous, early summer day, and we all had such a blast....especially Little R.  He got to pick blueberries and eat them right off of the bush, ride around in the boat, play in the sprinkler, ride on the golf cart, eat watermelon, and spend all day outside.  What more could a little boy ask for???  Brooks also enjoyed the day since his Gigi and Mama snuggled with him all day long.  What more could a little baby ask for???

Here is a recap of the day:

 First boat ride

 Chip in action

 Chip swam around the entire pond, chasing after the boat!

 Sprinkler time!

 Gigi snuggling with Brooks

 So sleepy!

 Handsome!

 Doesn't get any better than this :)

G-Pa and Little R eating watermelon

This was a great way to close out the month of May!  Hello June and summertime!!!!

My Brooks Boy

Just a quick, little update on my sweet Brooks Boy-

He had a follow up eye appointment this week to check his cataract.  We are praising God that there has been no change in the size of the cataract.  The doctor still called it "very insignificant!"  He also had a vision test, and his vision seemed fine for what they could tell for his age....YAY!  We go back in 3 months for another follow up visit.

On another note, my little Brooks Boy slept through the night last night!  I fed him at 10:45 and he didn't wake up to eat again until 6:45!  We'll see what happens tonight.  Little R did this once and then didn't do it again for a while.  So, Brooks could just be playing a trick on us like his big brother did.  It would be nice, though, if he decides to make this a habit!

I just love His Royal Cuteness to pieces: