Vacation!

We had the most amazing time last week on vacation! Thankfully, we went just before the oil from BP hit the beaches. My heart is broken for the Florida coast. I grew up enjoying so many wonderful vacations on those beaches. I'm so sad that Lorelai will probably not get to enjoy the same vacations as she grows up. This is going to effect the beaches for a long time, and that just breaks my heart!

So we arrived at the beach house around 1:00 a.m. Saturday. The trip was long and slow, and I was so thankful to see that little beach cottage! Lorelai traveled better than we ever could have hoped! She slept most of the way and never once cried or fussed. I was afraid she wouldn't sleep once we got her out of the carseat and into bed, but she went right to sleep. I am so thankful that God has blessed us with such a chill baby!

Our first day at the beach was a success. Dad and Jeremy set up Lorelai's tent for us before they headed out to find a deep sea fishing trip, and we enjoyed a nice afternoon in the sunshine. Lo slept most of the time, which was fine with us! Mom and I got to tan, chat, and enjoy the beautiful, crystal clear water! Saturday night, the five of us headed to Boon Docks for dinner. If you ever get the chance to visit this area, you've GOT to check out this place! The 2 hour wait was more than worth it!

Toward the end of dinner, Tyler called Dad to let him know that he and Abbie had landed, so he headed to the airport to pick up the rest of the crew! We were so excited that the 2 of them were finally there with us!

Oh, the fun the 7 of us had for the next four days...

Beach Bound!

We're heading out on our first big adventure as a family this afternoon. At about 1:00, Jeremy, Lorelai and I, along with my parents, will load up our vehicles and hit the road for the beach! I'm so excited to take Lorelai to one of my favorite places. I have so many memories from the Emerald Coast growing up, and I can't wait to make more memories with her this week!

Tyler and Abbie will meet us down there Saturday night, and we will get to spend a few relaxing days as a family. Of course, things always have to be interesting for this family! Last night, Jeremy and Lorelai and I all loaded up to go see Granny and Gramps, and then to go to Wal Mart for some last minute things for the beach. We were prepared to come home and load the car with most of the things we would be needing for next week, when things got interesting! The car wouldn't start! At first I just assumed it was the battery, so I didn't really think it was that big of a deal. I figured we could get it to work enough to put a new battery in it before we hit the road. So I unloaded Lorelai, and we waited inside while Jeremy tried to get the car running. No such luck! Mark came over later to help. I'm pretty sure I saw him under the car at one point...not usually a good sign.

So this morning, the guys from the Chevy place in town came and picked up the car. Lord willing, it will be fixed by the time we leave town today. If not, we have an offer from Nanny to use her Tahoe, and also an offer from Granny to use her car. As frustrating as this may be for us, we are so very thankful that this happened last night while we were in our carport, and not halfway to Florida at a restaurant. Or worse, on the side of the road! God was looking out for us, that's for sure!

I'm so incredibly excited for this time that I get to spend with my family! I have been blessed more than words could every say with a fun, supportive, godly family. I could never ever say that enough! Look out, Florida! Here we come!

May Bows

As promised, I'm posting some pictures of Lorelai in her bows! Unfortunately for me, she was ready for nap time when I decided to take these, so she wasn't exactly full of smiles. And of course, those hands were always in her mouth! But I think I got some pretty decent ones for the website:

Sleepy eyes

Always eating those fingers! I'm expecting to see some teeth before too long.

Most of these weren't edited, and it shows. But I still think they turned out fairly well. What do you think?!

There's a Model Among Us!

Lorelai has been chosen to model for Sweet As Candy Bowtique! I've ordered quite a few bows from Candy in the past, so when she told me about her model search, I very deliberately started taking pictures of Lorelai all decked out in her hair accessories! We found out a couple of weeks ago that Lo had been chosen, and I'm super pumped. This girl is probaby going to have a deep hatred for bows by the time she's 3. Oh well...right now we're really enjoying her super cute accessories.

What does it take to be a model for Candy, you might ask? Here's the jist of what we'll be doing:

1)   At the end of every month, Candy will mail out new bows to the 5 models. We'll take pictures of our girls wearing their bows, and send them in.

2)   We get to keep EVERYTHING she sends us to model!

3)   We also get a super great discount on all future orders from her website.

It's a tough job, but I guess somebody's got to do it!:) I'm so super excited to get to do this with Lorelai! So far, I've got 3 bows that I need to take her picture wearing. I'm going to try and keep myself accountable by promising at least one new bow post a month. That way I'll have one more reason to take pictures of my precious girl. So be on the look out for new pictures often! You can check out the other models here on Candy's website.

I know I have a beautiful baby, but it sure is nice to hear it from others sometimes:)

4 Month Doctor Visit

Lorelai had her 4 month checkup on May 7. I realize that was almost 2 weeks ago...don't judge me! I was excited to hear what Dr. Alexander would have to say about her growth, but I was also pretty nervous about her next round of shots. We were a little better prepared this time around. She had a little dose of Tylenol about an hour before we headed to see him, so she reacted much better this time.

Lorelai weighed in at 13 lbs, 10 oz! She's growing so fast! She got a good report on all counts. The child is 4 1/2 months old and has never been sick. What a blessing! After our short visit with the doctor, we went to the paint store to pick up Daddy and head to the clinic for shots. I still couldn't do it alone. Maybe next time.

We waited for quite a while, but thankfully Lo was just as pleasant as she always is! She actually did really well with this round. She had to take one dose by mouth, and that was pretty funny to witness. Next came the dreaded shots. Only 2 this time. The first one went in without a peep. But she did flinch just a bit and look at me like "What the heck is goin on, Mom!?" The second one was a bit more painful, but as soon as her daddy scooped her up, she was happy Lo again!

We trecked back to Granny's, where Nanny was waiting to steal her baby girl for the rest of the afternoon. My sweet girl did so well this time! I was definitely proud! We'll head to the doctor again at the beginning of July for round 3 of her shots. She's growing well, developing on time, and is extremely healthy!

Thank You, Lord, for my precious baby girl!

The Luckiest Mommy

Sunday I got to celebrate my first Mother's Day. It didn't seem real to me. I'm a mom...that just blows my mind! I've always had a desire to be a mommy. That's all I've ever wanted to do. And now God's blessed me with the absolute best job in the entire world. I get to be Lorelai's mommy!

I really enjoyed my day with Lorelai and the rest of the family. The three of us headed to church, like we do every Sunday morning. I got to teach Sunday School to my beautiful Junior High girls, and then I got to hear a wonderful sermon about Jesus's mother, Mary. For lunch, we headed to mom and dad's. Grandma Eva had spent her Mother's Day morning cooking for everybody. I sure do love having her in town! We then headed over to Mark & Claudine's to deliver one more Mother's Day present before heading home.

Lorelai and her Daddy enjoyed a short nap together while Mommy cleaned the house a bit. After she had lunch, she was all mine! I loved my time with my girl Sunday! Before church Sunday night, I made Jeremy take some pictures of me with my sweet baby girl on our first Mother's Day together. I couldn't get any of her at lunch because she was super sleepy and a bit cranky, but I think that these turned out really great.

I'm the luckiest mom in the world. No question.

Growing Up!

I haven't posted pictures of Lorelai lately, so I should probably update on how much she's growing! She's almost sitting up now. She actually got pretty close one morning this week...she was sort of propping herself up with her hands in front of her. If she could just get her balance to keep from falling to the side, she's have it down for sure! Lorelai weighs a little less than 13 pounds and is probably about 24 inches long. She's started to really like "standing up" and her little legs are getting so strong!

Lo loves to laugh and grin. She'll get so tickled and then hide her face from you. It's pretty fun to play her version of Hide-and-Seek! Yesterday when I picked her up from P-Pop and D-Dar's house, she was in such a happy mood! Everytime P-Pop would talk, she would show off all of her gums. She'll grin really big and pull her bottom lip down so you can see all of her bottom gums...it just melts my heart!

These are just a few of my favorites from yesterday's shoot with Cindy Martin. Lorelai was all smiled out by the time we actually got where we were going! Maybe we'll get to see those dimples next time:)

I just love this dress! I got it at Best Dressed Kids online. It's one of my favorites. I can't wait til it actually fits!:)

This is as close to a smile as we got yesterday! Can't keep those hands out of her mouth!

Lorelai loves being on her belly! She'll talk and laugh and play her "Hide-and-Seek" game!

This is one that I took in the front yard before church Wednesday night. I couldn't find her headband that I needed to clip this bow to, so I just clipped it in her hair, and it actually stayed! She was in such a good mood, and I was so proud of her bow, so I just had to take pictures! This is one of her bows that Candy Lineberry made. We'll be making another order VERY soon:)

She's blowing lots of bubbles lately! All of that time that her hands spend in her mouth makes for lots and lots of slobber:) I think teething is just around the corner for us. Oh what an adventure!