Unchartered Waters....

With time passing as quickly as it does, we often find ourselves in a place that we are unfamiliar with.  This month, we went to my cousin's wedding Charlotte, and like us, he and his now wife are in unchartered waters.  They have prepared themselves for this great event but nothing replaces actually experiencing marriage for yourself.  The wedding was gorgeous and lots of fun.  Cody and Mercedes are a beautiful couple...inside and out....and their wedding was proof of their love for each other, family and friends.  While in Charlotte, we were lucky to be able to see most of the Raynor-side of the family as well as some of my best friends who live in the Charlotte area.  We stayed downtown at the Hilton, which was walking distance to the Epicenter and the reception site.  Beth (Vinson) and Michael came to babysit so we could enjoy ourselves at the wedding and reception and I think they had as much fun with Drew as he seemed to have with them.  He slept through the night in the hotel which was AWESOME....especially considering we went to bed way later than normal.  We had adjoining rooms with mom and dad which made it nice for nap times, etc.  The wedding itself was held at Grace Covenant Church and the reception was at Bentleys on 27.   27=27th floor.  Amazing views!  The party was fun, the dancing was hilarious and the food was delicious.  Sunday morning, we grabbed breakfast at Panera and Drew went down for his nap.  We met up with Beth and Michael again and her parents, Tom and Karen joined us as well for lunch at Jasons Deli.  Joy was also able to meet us and it was so nice to have lunch with two of my favorite blondies!  We caught up on life as much as we could and Drew got some snuggles with everyone there.  We were even lucky enough to run into Cody, Mercedes, Beverly and Kelly at lunch, too!  The happy couple was off to St. Lucia the next morning and the rest of us were gearing up for another week of work and life.  Such a beautiful weekend and I know that Cody and Mercedes will love this new adventure in their lives.  After we left Charlotte we went to Southern Pines for the day/night.  This happened to be our 6th anniversary!  It was a beautiful day to be in Southern Pines and we took advantage of the weather and went for a nice walk downtown.  We even stopped at the park and let Drew do a little swinging....later that night, Mom and Dad handled Drew through bedtime and David and I enjoyed a nice dinner (alone) at The Bell Tree!  We wanted to all go down there but time got away from us and Drew would not have been a fun addition to that party by the time we could get there.  So David and I ate with two hands and actually talked to each other!  Amazing!  We walked back to my parents and Drew was snoozing away....perfect little date night.

This was what I saw when I walked back in the room from the wedding (on the way to the reception)....
Drew was so content!!

Other than that, we've been busy with work and watching Drew grow.  Speaking of which, our 'unchartered waters' are referring to his newfound ability to MOVE.  He isn't technically crawling yet, but he is non-stop.  On the changing table, I am constantly working on my wrestling moves to hold him on his back.  He will flip over in a nanosecond and try to climb down to his drawers......or to the end of the changing table where the lotion, etc is.  I flip him over probably 4 times in one standard diaper change.  Bless whoever has to change him that isn't use to his new trick.  AND, he was 8 months old as of yesterday.  WHAT?  Seriously though, he gets cuter and cuter everyday.  His personality is hilarious and I love that he enjoys life so much.  His new tricks are his circus act on the changing table, literally jumping into the crawling position in his crib when we walk in the room, starting to pull up on the crib, spinning on his belly to get toys, saying "Ma-ma-ma-ma" or "Ga-Ga-Ga-Ga".  A few times, I've heard "Da-Da-Da" but the "G" sound is prominent.  He is starting to talk back to you (imitate) which is hilarious because he seems to say things with such authority as though he knows exactly what he wants and can't wait for us to figure him out.  We will soon!  His two teeth on the bottom are still the only two but I swear the top two must be close because he is drooling buckets and loves chewing on tough toys. His eating his incredible.....loves to eat every meal and is still very satisfied with whatever I give him.  I mean, every vegetable or fruit I can think of/find and yogurt.  I've tried him on some chunkier foods (Stage 3) and the consistency gets him rattled, but if I include some other "normal" foods he will take it all down like a champ.  I've also let him try with some finger foods (cheerios, puffs, yogurt bites, etc) and although we spent a week cleaning up more than he ate, he is getting really good at it!  That is probably his favorite part of meal time.....so i make sure we give him that AFTER he has eaten is regular meal.  His "pinchers" are working on both hands so he can successfully feed himself finger foods regardless of which hand it is in.   I love to see his independence and have noticed a remarkable difference in two weeks of just letting him "play" with the finger foods.  One of these days before it gets cold, I'm going to let him "play" with his food outside to see how good he is at feeding himself.  If nothing else, I'll get some cute pictures.  

October will be busy for us so I'll try to keep up and post what I can....this weekend we are heading up to Chapel Hill for the UNC/VaTech game.....probably won't even go in, but will try to swing through campus, visit a friends tailgate and see a few folks before heading back to my brothers house to hang out with Grey and Cam.  The following weekend is the opening of gun season so I'll be around with Drew while David is in the woods.  I think we have a break the following weekend, then the last weekend in October, I'm leaving Drew at home with David and I am taking a group of kids to the Tour of Champions in Charlotte, then to a team building ropes course/camp out.  It is going to be a great time and I am so looking forward to it!!  In the meantime, here are some IG pics that make me smile.....