Birthdays and Beach Houses

So the Woodard Family (David's cousin) celebrates a lot of birthdays in the month of September.  Five, to be exact.  So we had a birthday lunch at the Beach House last Sunday.  It was a good time, as usual, but nap time tends to get in the way of the parties for Drew.  We left near his nap time and let him sleep on the road while we drove up to another Beach House in Ocean Isle Beach for the 1/2 the week.  My brother, Carly, Grey & Cam spent a week at the beach and we decided to crash their party for a few days.  It was great fun as well, except for the sleeping part.  Drew was up half the night on our first two nights.  No clue what was going on, but thankfully it only lasted those two nights.  We are now back on a normal sleeping schedule and this mama is THANKFUL.  My mom was also at the beach so she got to spend some quality time with all her grandsons....playing on the beach, at the pool, at the gym, through meals, diaper changes, nap times and more.  Dad came into town Tuesday night so he and Matt could play golf on Wednesday.  He had a short but fun visit as well.  We (Fort's and Sassy and Papa) all left Wednesday night and some of Matt and Carly's coworkers came into town with their two sons.  David and I fell right back into a routine and Drew didn't skip a beat getting back on a schedule.  Friday night, Mckenzies Mill was playing at The Boathouse, so we took Drew to have a sleepover at Granny Soo Soo's in Myrtle Beach while we enjoyed an easy dinner at Indo and a "late night" at the bar.  1:00am is super late but thankfully Drew let us sleep until 7:30am the next morning.  McKenzies Mill rocked it as usual and it was nice to catch up with Justin, Ryan and their sweet mama, Sherilyn.  Shane, Paul and Darryl were playing with them and its always a pleasure seeing them and watching them play.  These boys sure do love what they do.  Saturday, we hung out around Soo Soo's house and the Martin family joined us for breakfast.  Liza and Margaret are so great with Drew and just adore him.  Drew suffered his first bruise from Margaret (total accident with a wooden puzzle)....he got upset which upset her.  So sweet.  He napped like a champ after breakfast so I had time to run to Target to stock up on stuff.  After his nap, David and I (we drove separately, thank goodness) both wanted to make a stop on the way home.  David got Drew and did Bass Pro and I was alone (!) and did the outlets.  So nice!  I got home in time for David to go hunting and Drew and I hung out the rest of the evening.  Sunday we worked around the house, got groceries bought and visited with Granny (on her way back to Whiteville), Bop & July.  Here we are in another week.....time flies for real.  This weekend we are heading to Charlotte to watch my precious cousin Cody marry his beautiful fiancé Mercedes.  I also get to see Beth and Joy!  Weeeeee!!

Happy 7 Months Drew!

It is hard to believe but Drew is 7 months old today!  I can't believe we have been parents that long....i still don't think I know what I'm doing.  BUT, Drew is growing and thriving and making our lives absolutely wonderful so I guess we are doing just fine.  At 7 months, Drew weighs about 20 pounds.  He has two teeth and his hair is starting to come back in.  He is sitting up like a champ and can get to his belly and to whatever toy he wants in less than .5 seconds.  He isn't crawling, but he manages to slide or wiggle his way to something close.  He LOVES his johnny jumper and often does it when he isn't IN the thing.  He often "jumps" up and down on your lap and tries to grab items behind your head.  He doesn't' like it if you take a toy away from him....but he is easily distracted.  He is a wiggle worm on the changing table and has logged many minutes on his belly trying to grab his lotion/cottonballs/butt paste while I'm fumbling with dirty diapers, clean diapers or his clothes.  I've successfully put on several diapers with his butt facing me.  He had a breakthrough in sleeping this past week....he's always been a good sleeper but would still wake up around 5am and cry out/want his paci, etc.  We obliged until that one morning when we realized we were being played left and right.  He can get his own paci in the crib and does it on a regular basis.  He just wanted to hang with us before the sun came up and the meltdown that ensued when I tried to walk out of the room was the kick in the butt I needed.  The next night, we checked the monitor when he woke up and seeing that he was fine, let him fuss himself back to sleep.  We've been rocking 12 hours straight since then and it feels great.  (I'm knocking on every piece of wood in our house right now since I just typed that).  Seriously though, he's the man-baby and we are lucky.  He is still eating great....pretty much every fruit and vegetable as long as it is fairly smooth.  If it has any texture he isn't used to, he makes the funniest face and sort of gags on whatever it is.  He'll get it eventually.  He LOVES bath time, pools and the beach.  At the beach, he tends to get sand EVERYWHERE....in pools and baths he splashes until he is pruney.  He has shown a little bit of fear recently....and makes the cutest face when he is about to start crying.  A few naps that he woke up from and someone else went to get him (my parents, etc), he would make that face and start crying and reach for me.  Melt.Me.  But I can't help but laugh.....its the sweetest, most kissable face i've ever seen.  Speaking of a kissable face.....

Over the past month, we have gone to Nashville, stayed at the beach house, visited the Freeman cousins at the beach, visited the Weavers, visited with Jason and Jax, gone to Southern Pines (and Vito's) for a dentist appointment, visited with the Cameron family (in Southern Pines and the beach), hung out with Edyie, Morgan, Melissa, Louie, Janice and the rest of the gym crowd, had family dinner at the beach house with Granny Soo Soo, the Martin's and the Woodards, visited the Mill Pond in Whiteville, sat with Granny Sledge and tried to crawl around her bed, hung out with Sassy and Papa in Southern Pines and Little River, got a quick visit from Dolores, Beverly, Steve & Kelly on their way back to Clinton, hung out with Bekah and Shane, watched NC State Football with Whitney, Kelly, Jenna, Cleve, Bradley and Amber....we missed Gus but he was coaching his own football game that night. We have also gone to the doctor 3 times because of an aggravating ear.....bottom line, I think one ear might have been a little infected (so we got some medicine) but pulling his ears really might be an 'I'm tired' thing.  We'll see.  All in all, its been a great month for everyone.  We look forward to all of Drew's tricks that he has in store for us this next month!!