Nigh-Noh Dada

Beckett LOVES time with his Dada.  As much as he loves snuggling up with Momma to read a book, he really loves to play rough with Dada.  Right now he has two favorite games he likes to play.... "nigh noh dada" and "fwhy B."  Translation: "night night dada" and "fly Beckett."  Basically he loves for Guy to pretend he is sleeping and then he gets to wake him up and get tackled.  And, of course, he loves to get on Guy's feet and fly through the air.  Pretty cute!

Swimming Fun

This summer we have spent quite a bit of time swimming.  It's about the only activity you can do outside in the middle of this awful heat!  

At the beginning of the summer, Beckett would sometimes be hesitant about getting in.  We purchased a puddle jumper (best invention ever) for him and in no time at all he gained so much confidence and quickly became a little fishy!

He thinks it's hysterical to get big mouthfuls of water.  Yuck. 

Hayden is definitely a fish!  They've gone swimming a couple of times together and it's too cute.

I'm sure he will be "helping" her to apply sunscreen on her back in a year or two, ha!

Beckett has swam a ton with the Stoners and Renters...

B likes to hold Haddie's hand :).

And this one pretty much cracks me up... 

A Little PINK With Our Beloved Blue!

Well, our little family of three will soon be FOUR!  

I am actually 20 weeks right now, but we announced it right around 16 weeks.  These pictures were taken at 15 weeks.  I am super fortunate to not only have  a wonderful best friend, but one who is a sonographer and kindly scanned me to confirm that we were definitely having a GIRL!  

Cori was also able to confirm that the umbilical cord looked perfect.  This was an enormous relief because hopefully that means she doesn't have her brother's kidney condition!  

Without further ado, meet Reese at 15 weeks:

Let me just tell you a little about her... 

At our last doctor's appointment she was measuring a week ahead.  She is healthy and looks great!  She does not seem to sleep.  Ever.  She CONSTANTLY kicks  (I felt them at 14 weeks) - I do not go an hour without feeling her squirm around.  This is the complete opposite of her brother, who would go a couple of days without much movement.

She also causes her momma to be pretty much starving all the time.  I eat WAY WAY more than I ever did with Beckett.  And, yes, the scale is depicting that.  

I went to the Doctor again yesterday for my 20 week appointment.  This is an important one because the sonographer does all of the measurements and looks carefully at the anatomy to make sure all is well.  (We found out about the Single Umbilical Artery at 20 weeks with Beckett).

And... little girl is very healthy and perfect!  NO issues with the kidneys were found!

At 20 weeks her heart rate was 143 and she is weighing in at 13 ounces.  

Beckett is SO excited about Baby Reese.  He talks about her all the time.  He is obsessed with babies right now - if they are sad (crying), going nigh noh, or going bye bye, he will tell us all about it.

He's also pretty interested in her baby toys :).

Woo-Woos

One thing Beckett has always loved is firetrucks.  He calls them "woo-woos."  He has firetruck toys, a ride on firetruck, pj's.... you get the picture.  We also live in an area where a lot of fire trucks pass by our street, so we hear them every day.  EVERY DAY.  Ha!
Anyway, sometimes it's nice to remember the little things.  Here are a few woo woo photos.

B at the Park

This summer we have spent a lot of time at the park.  One day we just had the best time - I was so thankful I had randomly brought my camera.  

Beach Black and Whites

Ok, so it's not exactly traditional to convert beach photos to black and white, but I actually love some of these more this way.   Not much to say, really - just some pictures.

Florida Vacation

I have grown up vacationing in the same beach spot for more than half my life.  It's the anti-tourist vacation - remote and nothing to do but play on the beach, read books, and go on long walks.  I'll take it!  
Let me also add that said remote beach location is not just a hop skip and jump away.  It's not even easy to fly to, as it still involves several hours of driving.   Since beach house life requires so much STUFF (towels, sheets, water toys, a few food basics, etc.), it just makes sense to drive.  And drive we did!  All 16 hours (each way) with my 2 parents, Guy, myself, and BECKETT.  oh my!  
Beckett was actually perfect.  More than perfect - he hardly slept and never threw one fit or complaint.  There was a bit of moaning at 3:30 am when he was trying to sleep and couldn't, but we weren't opposed to a little late night showing of the Cars movie to fix that.  (Desperate times and all that....)
Anyhow, after we arrived we were dying to see B on the beach.  Here were his first few steps...

Of course, he had been to the beach two other times - but it had been a whole year so he didn't remember.  At first he was a little timid and wasn't quite sure what to make of the sand moving beneath his feet.  But with each passing minute and then day, he would warm up and get more and more comfortable.  

He quickly learned that sand digging is a great past time.  So is chasing momma with the sand and getting her all dirty!  We all had the best time playing with him - he was at a great age for a beach trip too.  Still cautious and wouldn't go in the water without us right there, but could play and entertain himself on his own a bit too.  Sometimes he liked to play little games where he would run out into the ocean and run back, trying to not let the water get him.  Most of the time he fell and we ended up having to quickly grab him so that he wasn't consumed by a wave...ha!

These pictures make him look like such a big boy...

Of course, we did more than just play on the beach.  Each day we would usually go to a restaurant for one of our meals - mmmmm fresh seafood!  Oh, but I haven't mentioned that I was actually pregnant!  Yep, 10 weeks!!  So not much seafood for me, but that was ok.  One night I insisted that baby and I needed s'mores so we made a big campfire on the beach and I devoured three :).  I made up for my limited seafood.

 

I also insisted on a mini photo session with my boy.  It lasted all of 4 minutes, but that was alright.  

We had three glorious days of perfect weather and tons of beach time.  Unfortunately after that came the storms.  For 2 days we pretty much stayed in the house and just watched the rain come down.  I read 3 books (which was kinda heaven) and stuck to my regular pregnancy napping schedule.  

When we did get back on the beach, it was just for short periods of time before we were hit with rain again.  But, we made the best of it!!  

One of Beckett's funny quirks is that he is OBSESSED with pushing/pulling things around.  Even when he first learned to crawl he always had a book in each hand to scoot around.  When we brought out this boogie board he was in heaven.   He finally had something to drag around!  

It quickly became a game to pull B and try to pull Dada on the board.  

And, as you can see, by the end of the week he was so comfortable with the water and was a true beach baby.  

It's funny how different my family beach vacations are now.  I think about how much fun and full of JOY we were making these memories with Beckett and my parents.  I'm sure there's way more eloquent ways of saying it, but being a parent is just awesome.  Really, really awesome.

We love you, buddy.