OB Days 3-4

I wanted to make sure to go back and get the rest of our Outer Banks pictures posted but just haven't had the time to sit down and get them all up.  But, here they are!  We really, really enjoyed hanging out with the cousins.  It's fun to have kids who are similar in ages.  Though, having 4 kids 3, 2, 1 and none together was a little nutty at times!

Logan and Abby:

All four together (and yes, this was absolutely the best picture of all of them, ha!):

Before Mike had to head back home for school, we took the kids mini golfing.  Logan hit TWO holes in one on her first mini golfing trip ever.  It was impressive.

Brody and Logan have such a special relationship.  It was such a joy to capture this secret telling moment between them while we were there!

The kids and I stayed for another day and a half after Mike left.  We enjoyed going crab watching one evening.  We all took flashlights and had the kids look for the scurrying creatures in the sand.

Brody was still not thrilled with the sand but tolerated it for a couple of pictures.

Our last day there, Lindsey and I took the older kiddos to a beautiful beach.  The waves weren't quite as violent and there was a ton of white sand for them to build in.  

I think we could have easily spent all day there if we hadn't left the babies with Jeremy.

Little model.

I loved watching Logan explore the beach in her floppy hat.

They had a small aquarium and gift shop on the pier so we took them up there for a quick peek before leaving.

And, of course, the trip wouldn't be complete without trying to get some shots of the kids together outside.  

 I'm so thankful that we were able to spend some time together.  It was fun making memories.

OB Days 1-2

We are spending the week in the Outer Banks with Mike's sister, Lindsey, and her family.  They rented a nice beach house in Kitty Hawk and we're enjoying our time together.  The house isn't right on the beach, though, there is one across the street.  The picture below is from the porch and if you squint hard enough, you can see the water on the other side of the highway.   It's really quite beautiful to sit out there.

We took the kids to the beach yesterday morning.  We found one a little ways from us that is much calmer than the one across the way.  The kids were able to play in the water and build sandcastles.  Logan was fearless and loved the sand and the water.  Brody had some texture issues with the sand and didn't want to be put down.  Though, we did set him down to snap a quick picture of the two.

This morning we went to a boardwalk and walked around.  We stopped in some of the shops and the kids had fun trying on hats.

It was so peaceful to walk and watch the water. 

Logan is enjoying all of the time with her dad while he's here.  He'll leave tomorrow afternoon so he can get home for class and then we'll follow on Friday.

 

I'm not normally big on nature photography but it was such a gorgeous morning and the splendor of creation was begging to be captured.

 

And I have to plug our Ergo here because it's been so nice to be able to walk around and not have to carry him in our arms or lug a stroller.

18 months

Brody was 18 months old on Tuesday!  It's so hard for me to believe that he's already a year and a half. His second year is going even faster than his first did.  Every day I see less baby and more boy in him.

Brody is 22lbs and 30 inches tall.  He didn't gain any weight in this 2 month stretch, but he got a little taller.  He's long and lean like his daddy.

He loves bananas!  He's very funny with the way he eats and prefers a bowl of peas to a chicken nugget and fries meal.  He also enjoys green beans, broccoli, strawberries, mac and cheese, corn, eggs, oatmeal and cheerios.  He's a fairly good eater, though, sometimes it takes putting something in front of him 3-4 times before he actually eats it.

His train set is his favorite toy set.  We have all of our toys divided into different bins and the train bin is the one that gets pulled out the most.  He could sit for hours in his room with his trains. 

He loves to stand on a stool by my window and watch the cars in the parking lot.  He stands there and points, saying, "cars, car? hi car! bye car!" over and over again.

Brody hasn't gravitated toward one book in particular, but does gravitate toward the books with little boy themes: cars, trains, dump trucks, etc.  

His favorite song is Hosanna Rock by Little Praise Party.  He'd listen to it on repeat from sun up to sun down if he could.  I've caught him on numerous occasion sitting and playing while humming or mumbling the words to himself.  

 

Brody loves to be outside and is always asking to go "ow-nide."  

He and his sister are developing a closer and friendship.  It's fun to watch them play and interact.  Today they're napping in the same room for the first time in a loooong time (she usually naps in our room) and they spent the first half hour laughing and talking to each other.  She's the first person he looks for in the morning and the last person he asks for at night.

Brody got his first haircut on the day he turned 18 months!  His new hairstyle gives him such character and makes him look so much more like a little boy.

He thinks EVERYTHING is a ball.  For a long time we wondered why he wouldn't stop throwing toys until he started saying "ball, catch!" when he threw things.  We've worked really hard to help him understand the difference and apologize to all of those who have suffered direct blows during this random phase of his.

His favorite TV show is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, though, he isn't really interested in television much.  He can watch the first couple of minutes and then catch the last song and he's happy.  We're excited that he gets to meet Mickey next month!

He enjoys wrestling with his daddy.  Don't ever crouch down in front of him unless you want to be run over in a Brody-style tackle.  All. boy.

He loves his dad.  There's not much more heartbreaking than his pleads to Mike when he has to leave for class that he take him, too.  And the sheer joy in his face when Mike gets home would brighten anyone's day.

 

He's a mama's boy, too.  At the end of the day, no matter who he has attached or associated with all day long, he wants to snuggle with me.  It's a special time for us and I'm going to enjoy it for all it's worth knowing that it doesn't last forever.

Brody cut 2 canines in the last couple of months.  They were miserable!  I finally caved and bought an amber necklace for him a little while back and it's made life so much better for him.  We see the drooling, feel the fever and watch his nose run like a faucet but don't see the tears anymore.  He's so much happier when it's on.  I feel like a witch doctor when I tell people how wonderful it is--but it really does work!

He loves the water.  I have to watch him really closely when we go to the pool because he doesn't understand his limitations.  I think we'll be getting him into some lessons in the near future.

 

Brody is talking all of the time now.  Half of what he says we don't understand, but he's got a pretty good vocabulary.  He can say about 50 words clearly.  He's putting words together to make small sentences, like, "hold me, please," "I love you," or, "I found it!"  It's fun to watch his little world grow as he finds more and more words that he's able to say and use in conversation.

We got rid of his paci when he hit 18 months.  I told him when he went to bed that night that he was a big boy and that we were done with it and have done so every time I put him down and we've had no issue.  He only asks for it once and a while when he's awake but quickly forgets when he moves on to another activity.  What a blessing to not have to fight him on this one!

 He's so fun to have around.  We love what he adds to our family and while we remember when there were only three of us, we'd never want to go back there and be without him.  

We are so thankful for 18 months with this little joy and can't wait for many more!

Haircut

We took Brody to get his first haircut this week!  I don't know if this is widely known, I probably didn't publicize it much, but when Logan was about 2 I took her for her first haircut.  I hoped to get it evened out so that it would all grow the same length.  I took her to a local kids place and they BUTCHERED her hair.  I mean, one side was significantly longer than the other, her bangs were a mess, the back was choppy--bad bad bad.  It seriously traumatized me.  I couldn't even take her to have it fixed because they would seriously have had to take her hair up so short that she would have looked like a little boy. I haven't allowed anyone to go near her hair with sharp tools since.  

Before getting B's hair done, I read about a gazillion reviews of different hair places.  The one we ended up going to was about 30 minutes away, but absolutely worth the drive.  I'll admit, I had a slight panic attack when I walked in thinking back to the botched hair job a year and a half ago, but I got over it quickly when I saw the amount of people filing in after me (we got there right when they opened and were first seated, but by the time we left there was a good 15-20 minute wait).

Brody was a little freaked out at first so I pulled out his paci (which he recently weaned from, so it was a big treat) but he didn't need that long because they had a little machine that allowed him to have an endless supply of animal crackers while he sat there.  

The lady who did his hair put me at ease and did everything I asked her to do and nothing more.  They took quite a bit of hair off and I may have shed a little tear or two when she cut his sweet little baby curls off the back of his head.  But he looks so handsome now and the cut and style fit his personality so well.