Summertime!

I know summer is officially over for all intents and purposes on Labor Day weekend but with Sophia starting camp this week and preschool in 2 weeks it just seems like it's wrapped up.  I can summarize the summer in several words:  fast, fun, at times overwhelming and draining.  Quite honestly since I started back to work the word drowning is how I feel at times.  I have never been busier with work and at times feel like between work and taking care of the kids/ finding time to play with them and enjoy them and having family time with Trey there's just no time for anything else some weeks.  I keep telling Trey with how busy I've been traveling and working nonstop it feels like it's always Friday.  More on that later.

But all in all, as I said this summer has been amazing and flew by as they all do- way too fast!  While work has been a beast it's been fun at times too.  The timing of me returning to work coincided with a lot of my client's annual summer conferences and where does one go on a conference in the summer but the beach (can't complain when they invite me to work at the beach ;) !  My first work trip back at the end of June I didn't want to leave Will behind at just 3.5 months old so we loaded up the family and everyone came in tote down to Perdido Key, AL.  It's a great little beach town on the border of AL and FL and it was nice to have a work/play trip.  While I had to work more than I hoped it was still nice to have my family there to spend late afternoons at the beach and enjoy the local restaurants.  I can definitely see the allure for families to vacation there and Trey and I both agreed it'd be a good spot to return to.  Can't beat the Gulf water and sand either...

Being silly with mommy on our road trip

Then not even a week later we packed up the kids and the car again and headed to Wilmington for 4th of July!  It was Will's first trip to Wilmington and he did great.  Sophia attempted to attack the puppies with her aggressive loving every time she saw them but had such a great time and bonded with Mimi on the trip.  We all enjoyed taking the boat out and enjoying the beach at Duneridge... helped that Bill and Barbara reserved the cabana by the pool so we could bring Sophia's pack and play every day for her to nap.  It was a nice bonus that we got to stick around that Sunday to celebrate the twins' 1st birthday party!  We had a great time watching the fireworks from Mimi and Dadaw's new place on the intercoastal.  Can't beat that view!

this view would never get old!

pure livin'  This kid knows how to relax. (here on shell island)

Loving her some Mimi time!

Go 'merica!

meeting Uncle Cameron

4th of July is not complete around our house without our annual flag cake

early morning Wal-mart run on 4th of July for our cake supplies

daddy can't wait to take his little girl fishing!

meeting Aunt Julie and Uncle George and getting his first intro to Capt'n Bills

We packed up Sunday after the party and headed to Columbia for my work appointment Monday morning (no rest for the weary).  I have to say... it was nice having my family come along for my first overnight trips and nice we could swing a family trip in en route.

Next up in July my baby boy was 4 months old!!!  I really should've posted this one last month because it is hard to remember all details even 2 weeks later but I was happy to get a good report at his 4 month check up.  He was still a teeny tiny little nugget at only 12 lbs 3 oz.  He was in the 2nd percentile for weight but at least his thrush was gone, his jaundice cleared and his doctor said he was gaining and growing just fine in proportion to how teeny tiny he was at birth so not to worry.  That's all I needed to hear.

His doctor also said he could sleep through the night but I was hesitant to push him for a few more weeks since he was so tiny and always seemed to cry of starvation in the night.  But back to the drowning this summer bit... I really don't now how Trey and I survived July because it seemed like Will woke up about 3 times a night for 3 weeks in a row.  You can guess who had to help him since even though Trey would try to attempt a futile pacifier plug, baby Will just wanted la leche.  I thought some days I was going to die.  It was just so exhausting never sleeping more than 2-2.5 hours straight in the night and then waking up and working a solid day (while also taking breaks to pump or feed Will).  Then as I said, my travel schedule picked up so also throwing that into the mix and just feeling like I was always running around I think made me feel a little crazy the past month.

Anyway, a migraine or two in the past week was a tell tale sign that things needed to change (didn't help that our nanny just doesn't seem to be getting the hang of taking care of 2 kids which has compounded my daily stress levels but that's a story for another day).  All this brings us to the best news ever.... Drum roll please!!!!  We finally decided to put Will in his crib around 4 months and the past week we've been sleep training him and he's really getting it! (knock on wood).  Not saying the little guy doesn't whimper in the night but we can usually just go in there give him his pacifier and he's good until at least 6:30.  Given we hadn't had a consecutive 4 hours of sleep in weeks, him sleeping from about 8/8:30 until 6:30 or 7 has been AMAZING!  Both Trey and I feel like new people which has been great since work hasn't slowed down much.

Will's first night in his crib (we learned giving him a sleep sack worked much better!)

Other than trips and work, we also had a good time on the weekends this summer spending lazy days by the pool, doing dinner dates with friends, enjoying festivals the city has to offer (We had a great time at the Piedmont Ice Cream Festival and afterward let Sophia run around in the fountains at Centennial Park... she was a little timid so I took one for the team - secretly I was dying to jump in anyway since it was around 100 degrees!  Seriously- this has been a hot summer!!!)

All in all, it's been a great summer filled with laughs, family and good times.  I've loved watching Sophia learn more and more by the day and be super sweet with her brother or her "bubba" as she calls him.  She loves him to death at times but I catch glimpses of the two of them giggling at each other and makes my heart melt.  I know they'll be best buddies soon enough.  I'll have to post more on that later.

she loves watching Super Why with Will

So, while it's always sad to see summer go I know fall will bring with it many more fun memories for our party of 4.  Can't wait to see how Sophia finishes the week with her first Camp and how she'll do in the 2s preschool class in 2 weeks.

I'm also loving the phase Will is entering into now because he's the cutest little smiliest thing ever.  I know I'll blink and he'll be in Sophia's shoes starting school in no time.

 More on Will @ 5 months and Sophia's Camp at First Baptist next time...