Happy 3rd birthday to Princess Lucy!

First of all, let me just say, it's crazy how much you change in just one short year as a child. 

Lucy's birthday...2011

 

 Lucy's birthday...2012

 

 

Anyways, our little miracle baby turned 3 on Sept. 14 and her princess party was today.  Family gathered at their house as Lucy blew out 3 candles and opened a ton of gifts to celebrate her 3rd year of life!  What a blessing she is to our family! 

 

When we weren't eating cake or opening presents, we were occupying ourselves doing other things like...playing the drums or...

 riding in Lucy's Barbie Beetle Bug outside. :)

 

A fun time was had by all.  Happy 3rd Birthday, Lucy!  Uncle Daniel, Aunt Anna, and baby Hampton love you sooo much!!







15 months old

I haven't posted in quite some time with school starting, but I didn't want to slack on posts about our precious little growing man.  He had his 15 month appointment this last Tuesday, Sept. 4.  Since just starting school, sadly, I opted for Daniel to take him without me so I wouldn't have to miss any school so soon.  Of course, Daniel was happy to.  I'm so very thankful for such a loving and caring husband and daddy to our son.  He is always so happy to spend time with Hampton and I have no worries about what is going on when I'm not around.  I sometimes take him for granted, but try not to because I know there are many people out there that can't say the same about their significant other, unfortunately.  Anywho...as usual, Dr. Williams said he was "perfect."  Count my many blessings every. night. 

His 15 month old stats were:

weight: 24 lbs 8 oz

height:  31 inches

head: 49 1/2 cm

 

He got a book at his appointment and Daniel was thoughtful enough to send me a text when they left of how the appt. went as well as a picture of Hampton looking at his book.  :)  Made my heart smile.

 

As of now...

 

he LOVES to be outside.  Doing anything.  As long as it's outside.

he also loves to be in just a diaper.

 

 

 

 

he still loves to play peek-a-boo

he is SO silly these days, but keeps us all laughing :)

 

he truly enjoys daycare (thank you, Lord!)

 

he's not saying too much on his own, but will repeat or at least "try" to repeat anything you tell him to say.  He did say "fish" plainly at Brooke's house the other day. 

 

he is near about running and LOVES to go to the park.  He would rather run around and slide than swing

 

There are tons of other things I am sure I could think of, but my brain is shutting down for the day and I am exhausted.  Needless to say, he is your typical "all boy" 15 month old with the sweetest personality and FULL of life and joy!  I really am blessed to call him mine!  :)

We all survived...Hampton's first week of daycare

Well, on a GOOD note, Hampton has officially been in a daycare a whole week now and we all survived, yay!! On a bad note, by day 5 his immune system had kicked in and realized he was obviously playing with some unfamiliar germs that it didn't like because he already has the "daycare crud". Ugh. Not. Fun. Nothing that a little children's cold and allergy dimetapp can't kill, but still. I HATE when my baby is sick and not feeling well.  His teacher's have given me a GREAT report every day this week.  They LOVE him already and apparently the feeling is mutual because he has reached for his teachers everyday so far!!  In a nutshell, they said he has yet to cry, LOVES to eat, is SO sweet, and is BUSY. haha!!  That's definitely my sweet Hampton!  Also, the whole napping scenario was the only thing we were all concerned about.  One nap vs. two.  Sleeping on a nap mat on the FLOOR vs. his crib (for a year now).  We started out on Monday with about a 15 minute nap on his mat.  Tuesday he wouldn't lay down on his mat so they rolled a crib from down the hall and he slept 45 minutes in it.  Wednesday, he slept an hour in the crib.  Thursday, he slept 1 hour and 20 minutes on his nap mat and Friday he slept 2 hours on his nap mat!!!!!!!!!!!!  He is SO smart.  Guess he realized that all the other kids were doing it, he could to. haha!!  Either way, we're SO proud of him!!  I couldn't be happier with where he is, his teachers, and how well his first week went (besides the crud, but that's just a given).  Thank you, Lord, for your abundant blessings!!  This mommy is VERY thankful!

One of my favorite things is sneaking up to the window when I go in to pick him up.  I LOVE to see what he's doing.  It's so cute and a little funny to watch him with all the other little munchkins in there.  Although, it makes me a little sad watching him because he is so grown up looking.  I don't like that part.  Anyways, the first day I went to pick him up and this is what he was doing..."talking" non stop to the little girl across the hall.  It was hysterical.  And when he finished he never even saw me.  He just walked away.  hahaha   I about fell out.  Watch out girls...looks like we already have a little heart breaker on our hands!! ;) 

 This was Friday morning before school.  Actually, before the Waffle House with Mimi.

I tried to spend a little extra quality time with him this week before we get on our rigid every single day schedule.  The schedule where I don't go up to school anytime I want or I get to drop him off whatever time or I get to drop him off and not Daniel.  That schedule starts Tuesday and I'm NOT looking forward to it.  So, we met Mimi at the Waffle House Friday morning before heading to school.  He was just about an hour and a half tardy, but our goal is not perfect attendance at this point!! ;)

Lastly, if you live in Dothan you know that this past Monday obviously started the 40 days of rain because it has seriously rained every. single. day. this past week.  Therefore, hindering me from getting the "out by the sign" pic of Hampton at school.  BUT, God knows me well, so he gave me about a 3 minute time frame Friday morning when I dropped him off to snap a few of him with NO rain.  He already didn't feel well, bless his heart, and now I was making him stand in some bushes by some sign that he had no clue what for.  BUT, I wasn't turning down this small window of opportunity to snap the pic quickly. :)

Ahhhh...isn't he just precious?!

I love this child...seriously my whole world!  :)

 I forgot to mention how he has already shown some signs of what I know he has picked up and learning at school.  For example, they sit criss cross on the floor to watch t.v. and when I turned on our t.v. in our room Friday morning while I was finishing getting ready, he went and sat on the floor with his legs criss crossed.  Talk about melt my heart.  Wow.  I'm anxious and excited to see what all he learns from "school".  I know he will learn and grow SO much in just this first year!  We are so proud of you Hampton already!  Mommy and Daddy love you soooo much!!

Hampton's last day of summer, Girls Beach Trip, and Hampton's first day of daycare...all in one

So, this past Friday was my last official day with Hampton as a stay at home mom.  He started daycare today so I knew I wanted to make it a special day for us both.  We hung out running errands that morning and went to the mall afterwards.  We grabbed some yummy lunch from Chick fil a while we were there.  Afterwards we went to see this guy...

And ride a few of these...

I guess he thought he didn't need a nap on his last day of summer so by the time we were at Chuckee Cheese he was literally a zombie.  I know he enjoyed riding the rides, but his expressions sure wasn't showing it. Oh well.  I had fun watching him and thoroughly enjoyed my time with him (as always!).  He still brought a smile to my face.  Nap or no nap.  ;)

Later that afternoon, I left for a girls beach trip in Panama City with my besties, Alexis, Brooke, and Jenni K.  It was a well deserved and MUCH needed trip.  Of course I missed my time away from my 2 sweet boys, but there's nothing like a girls weekend getaway at the beach once in a blue moon.  To say we had a blast would be an understatement.  A lot of laughs, good food, plenty of gossip, and relaxing on the beach.  What more could a girl ask for?!  We started our night off by eating some delicious seafood at Reggae J's at Pier Park.  Then made our way down to Rum Runners.  I LOVE piano bars.  They play such fun songs and it's always a hoot people watching. 

Saturday morning it was cloudy and we were on the beach about 10 minutes before mother nature decided not to play nice.  The clouds rolled in and here came the rain.  So, we headed over to Hook D to grab some lunch.  It's a little hole in the wall place right across from pier park and on the beach.  Neat little place to grab some lunch in your swimsuit and cover up.  ;)  During lunch, the clouds parted ways and the sun was finally shining rays of light!!!  It was a beautiful sight.  Haha!  We quickly finished and headed back.  For the next 5 hours straight I looked at this...

It. was. pure. bliss.  Literally.  We soaked up all the vitamin D we could handle (which was enough for me to look like a lobster at the end of the day).  Goal accomplished.  After getting ready, we headed over to the Red Bar in Grayton Beach.  YUMMY.  That's all I can say. 

After a full course meal at Red Bar and the sun soaking up every ounce of energy we had in our bodies that day, we took it back to the condo where we all 4 piled up in a king size bed in our p.j.'s and watched the Olympics.  Ahhhhh.  Heaven again.  Full from the Red Bar, exhausted from the day, p.j.'s, no make up, King size comfy bed, Olympics on the tv.  I didn't think the trip could get any better, but it proved itself wrong.  And yep, all on a Saturday night. Ha!!  The next morning Lex and I went and ate breakfast at Another Broken Egg while Jenni and Brooke soaked up a little more r&r on the sand.  I was sad to leave, but SO excited to see my guys when I got home.  I'm already looking forward to our next Fab Four trip!!!

Last, but not least, as I had said before Hampton's first day at Evergreen Presbyterian was today. 

So precious!

Fortunately, Daniel was able to go with me to take him.  I am so thankful we were able to take him together.  :)

 I sobbed last night in bed thinking about him having to go, but this morning God granted me the peace and understanding I had prayed for. We ALL did great! We got there about 7:35 and left him about 8.

 We had probably been there 2 minutes and he was itching to get out of my arms.  I let him down and he was off and playing. :) 

By the time we left one of his teachers, Ms. Tamara, was already loving on him.  They went down the hall to get the others and he didn't even look back at Mommy and Daddy!  We were already a memory.  ;)

I thought it was so cute seeing his name above his book bag hook.  It really hit me that my little man is really growing up fast.  Although, I don't think he could be in better hands!

The morning proved not to be such an emotional disaster like I had imagined it being.  We are so incredibly blessed for him to be at Evergreen and to be so laid back and content like he is.  Both of those helped our transition to go so smoothly this morning.  Not to mention all the prayers we had from friends and family.  Even though I didn't cry, it was still hard leaving him.  I know he is in great hands though and I look forward to him learning so much and making little friends!!  Thank you Lord for your abundant Love and blessings!!   One last thing...it was raining when we dropped him off so I didn't get the picture of him standing by the Evergreen sign that I wanted.  I was so bummed, but I'm hoping it will be stopped by the time I pick him up and we can sneak one in then.  We'll see.  Not if he hasn't taken a nap all day...  ;)

13 months old

I haven't blogged in a few weeks.  July turned out to be a super busy month.  What's new??  Big boy turned 13 months on July 2 while we were enjoying our week at the beach.  I wanted to share a few things about him for memory's sake.  He continues to amaze us with each day passing.  He learns something new or does something I had no idea he even knew he could do.  He's walking really well now (almost running!).  He is your typical 13 month old little boy.  Full of life, energy, and joy.  He's very busy these days.  LOVES to play outside.  

Especially when he has this guy to play with.  :)

He keeps us busy for sure. 

A few things he is doing as of now...

he knows how to blow a kiss
he drinks out of a straw
he knows where "outside" is
he sleeps 12 hours every night
he has been taking 2 naps like clock work.  One at 9 and one at 3
he starts daycare at Evergreen Presbyterian this Monday, August 6 and naptime will be 12:30-2:30 so his nap schedule will definitely change
he eats ANYTHING and EVERYTHING.  Literally.

He continues to amaze us and bring so much love and laughter to our lives.  He is growing way too fast.  We love you Hampton sooooo much!!

Other than trying to soak up every last minute of summer, I've been working in my classroom and trying to get things ready to start the school year.  I also had jury duty for the first time this past week, unfortanately.  It was interesting, but I'm thankful I got dismissed Thursday morning.  I left quickly and didn't look back.  I was ready to spend the last 2 days of summer with my precious baby boy.  More on that my next post.  In the meantime, I am leaving for the beach in about an hour for a girls beach trip.  I'm going to miss my 2 boys the most, but excited about some well deserved r&r on the beach. 

Family Beach Vacay 2012

This past Saturday we returned from a relaxed week at Panama City Beach.  It actually turned out that Cheri and Chris (my cousins) needed a dog/house sitter for their house in PCB for 6 weeks while they were on vacation themselves.  Cheri had set up different people to stay different weeks.  It just so happened that she asked if we would want to stay the same week we were already planning our family vacation to the beach.  Perfecto!!!  It was a win-win situation for everyone.  We went down on Saturday, June 30 and came back Saturday, July 7.  We had an absolute blast!  Not to mention they live in the neighborhood directly across from Pier Park on Back Beach Rd....and have a golf cart...and 2 neighborhood pools (the biggest and best one being a block from their house).  Score...again!! :)  I won't bore you with allll the details from the week, but I will say we had a fun, yet relaxing, and WELL DESERVED week at the beach and ate our share of yummy seafood.  Just the 3 of us.  It was so nice to get away and soak up every moment and memory of fun with little man.  We went to Pier Park I think every night except one.  Hampton, well, Daniel and I too, loved watching everybody (it was slam packed every night) and just taking in all the sights, smells, and feelings that come with being at the beach. 

Hampton rode a carousel for the first time at Pier Park

We went to the beach only one day out of the whole week.  Hampton is not the biggest fan of the sand right now (not to mention neither is his OCD mommy) AND all the baggage that you have to lug with you is not cool. 

Therefore, we spent the majority  of our days here... ;)

Ahhhh...much better!! 

We headed over to the outlets in Destin on Tuesday to take a little break from all the Vitamin D we had been soaking up the last few days.  We ate at Cheeseburger in Paradise and then shopped till we dropped. 

Wednesday was July 4.  It was rainy and ugly all day until late that afternoon.  Mother nature decided to play nice and give everyone a chance to get outdoors a bit to shoot some fireworks, grill, listen to a band, or any other ritual that we Americans do on this national holiday.  We decided to take the party to the none other Pier Park for our evening of festivities.  They were having a band and fireworks on the lawn of the huge park set up beside Pier Park so we figured that sounded just as good as anything else.  After circling I think the entire parking lot 15 times for a parking space we FINALLY got lucky.  We get everything out and head over that way and it hit me.  I FORGOT my camera.  And if you know me, forgetting my camera is the biggest NO NO ever.  I never, ever forget it.  Capturing moments and memories is an all time favorite of mine.  I almost cried.  No joke.  Daniel (the sweetest hubby on this planet) even asked me if he could go get it for me b/c he KNOWS how I feel about taking pictures.  Of course, I wouldn't let him.  I just sucked it up and went on about life (all the while couldn't hardly have fun for wishing I had my dang camera the whole time).  But, I lived.  And I settled for my i phone camera.  Not my first pick obviously, but it works just the same.  Here are a few from the night...

Kisses for mommy :)

Listening to the band

Camera or no camera, we still managed to have a great time and made wonderful memories and that's all that matters.  However, I made up for not having my camera that night with the PRECIOUS pics I got of us and Hampton on the beach.  We took him Thursday and Friday night before going to eat when the sun was just setting and I could not be happier with the ones I got.  

Of course, I think I took 875 total in both nights and I honestly can't say that I could narrow it down to a few of my favs, but I will add a few of the ones I love.

Thursday night...

First off, isn't God's creation absolutely breathtaking?!? 

Love, love those chubby little hands and feet

Our perfect little angel :)

Friday night...

He spotted a helicopter ;)

LOVE this one of my boys!

I know all good things must come to an end, but I sure didn't want the week to end.  It went by WAY too quick, but we had an incredible week and I am so thankful we were able to go and spend some quality time together.  We sure are one blessed family and I thank God for that on a daily basis! 

P.S.  I totally forgot to mention Hampton officially started walking (Tues. July 3) while we were there too!! Yay Hampton!!  Mommy and Daddy are SO proud of you. Now, gotta go buy some new running shoes...