Weekends of Family Fun

Going back to work in April was not that fun, but I did have a lot to look forward to and that helped. We had visitors of the very best kind the next few weekends....Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins! 

My mom and Dody visited to celebrate Dody’s birthday. Sorry everyone, but Dody is Finn’s absolute favorite person ever! 

 Then May started with a weekend visit from the Smiths and the Gaults. Sooooo much cousin fun! I say it all the time, but I am just so extremely glad that my boys will have cousins who are so close in age! How much fun are they going to have?!? Or better yet, how much trouble are they going to get into? :) 

Owen really loved Henbo! And he was taking his role of big-cousin VERY seriously as you can see. No smiling for him! :) 

 Sweet Aunt Rebecca. Baby Sadie was getting ready to make her debut in a few months. 

 Love this red hair. 

 The whole crew!

The next weekend, C.C. and Fuzzy came and helped me take the boys to the pediatrician. Henry had his 2 month visit/shots and Finn had his 18 month visit/shots. I know it sounds like it was a barrel of laughs, but let me tell you, that appointment was NOT FUN. Thank goodness Cleo and Billy were there! Believe it or not, it took all three of us....there was a whole lot of holding, bouncing, chasing, wrangling, consoling, rinsing of dropped pacifiers, and changing of diapers that took place. Not to mention actually discussing the boys’ health with the doctor! Ha! Anyway, they were life-savers and then we had a nice rest of the weekend just visiting and relaxing. Well, Henbo didn’t have the greatest reaction to the shots and cried for several hours Friday night (heart-breaking!!!) but besides that we were good. 

I just can't get enough of this outfit. Henry is really rockin' it, don't you think?

Living close enough to family that weekend trips are doable is SUCH an awesome blessing. And having room for everyone to stay is also a major plus! :) 

The Blur That Was My Maternity Leave

I took 6 weeks off after Henry was born, but instead it sort of felt like 6 days. While it was going on it seemed really exhausting being here with both of the boys but in retrospect, I wish it could have passed much more slowly. Stay at home moms get a big high-five from me. Post-partum hormones PLUS no sleep PLUS a wild 18 month old PLUS a sweet little baby who needs you 24 hours a day PLUS nursing problems EQUALS....well, YIKES! Re-reading what I just typed, it sounds like a lot of complaining, but really it was hard. Good hard. I am really blessed hard. I wouldn’t trade it for the world hard. You get it. 

Hiiiiii Henbo

First bath at home! Not. Excited. 

Better now

#1 Nanny!

We really partied hard for St. Patty's Day this year. We stayed up all night and everything!

We got a new double stroller and Finn was thrilled. He made Nana push him around the house! But she was a very willing participant, don't worry. :) 

Easter fell in the middle of my time off and we had a great time celebrating at our house. Thank goodness for Nana! She helped the Easter Bunny get the boys baskets taken care of so that I didn’t have to do a thing! Finn had fun hunting eggs and our lunch was phenomenal. I love Easter because it's such a celebration of what Christ did for us. He could have saved us with just one drop of his blood, but he gave it all. He is RISEN! 

A car ride! Thanks G.G.!

Disappointed that there's no candy in this one!

Thanks for my "Myrtle" shirt Aunt Tiff!

Edible Easter grass....love it. 

Dody and I made home-made biscuits. They were, of course, delish. 

After Easter lunch, we loaded up 2 cars and headed to Augusta to spend some time with Matt. My list of “stuff to take to Augusta” was literally several pages long. You would not believe how full each of our cars was. We barely had room to take the kids. We really enjoyed all being together there in the evenings when Matt got home from work. Eating dinner as a family on the weeknights is something I’m sure a lot of people take for granted! 

We loved our big back yard in Augusta. 

Future dog trainer to the stars.

Henbo did a lot of observing while Finn played outside. 

These shoes. Toooo cute. 

We even made it up to Rock Hill for Grandmother to meet the newest Carpenter. She was enamored of course. 

One word sums it up: BLESSED!