Fairhope Park

Fairhope just updated their park this summer and it is amazing! I could not wait to take Beau there because I know how much he loves to play outside. One afternoon after work we met my brother there and it was a blast. Beau loved going up and down the slide and swinging. Matt loved playing with him and Beau loved all the attention he got from his Uncle Brown. 

Mobile Flea Market

On Sunday my dad wanted to go to the Mobile Flea Market after church to talke to a man about making furniture for our new hunting camp. This man has a business in Huntsville and makes the most beautiful stuff out of real wood. It is hard to find furniture made out of real wood these days. So we got in the truck and headed there in the afternoon. The weather was scortching hot and very sunny. Beau was drinking apple juice like crazy before getting there and after we got back in the car. He loved seeing all the people and really enjoyed being outside. On our way home Beau had an explosive diaper and it no kidding went EVERYWHERE! It came out of his diaper, all over the car seat, on his hands, on my clothes and it was horrible. I think he had too much apple juice, lesson leared. Well luckily we were close to our welding shop in Mobile so dad quickly pulled in. We get Beau out and put him in the sink in the shop. Nothing seemed to bother him. He was happy as can be. I am normally very prepared for anything that could happen like I always bring an extra set of clothes, diapers, wipes, food, milk, etc. but of course on this day I did not bring any of that. My mom had to make Beau a diaper out of the industrial paper towels because we had nothing to change him into and no diapers. Looking back this was so funny but at the time we were panicking! 

P.S we did buy a bunch of furniture from the guys so at least we had a successful trip!

Daphne

Daphne is where home is. My parents have lived in the same house for 25 years and where the majority of our family lives. My parents live there, my brother, Jon's brother and wife and my cousins. I am so thankful that God has brought us down south to be with all of them. We will of course miss Jon's parents in Huntsville but they will be coming to visit a lot. 

Beau and I arrived in Daphne that saturday afternoon and moved in my parents house. Of course my mom had a huge dinner waiting on us which is one of my favorite things about going home. They always make things so special for our visits. Beau was thrilled to get out of the car and excited to see them. We spent the evening relaxing and catching up. Sunday was spent organizing our clothes, going to the store, putting all of Beau's toys away and getting ready for the big week ahead. Beau started school for the first time ever at the Eastern Shore Montessori school in Daphne and I started my new job. 

Walking in on his first day.

Such a big boy!

Beau has always gone to an inhome daycare so this was a huge change for him. He was going to be in an actual school so we were nervous about how he was going to do. We had to send a buch of diapers, wipes, change of clothes, nap mat and sippy cup with him. We did not have a nap mat so mom and I had to go to Target to find him one. It was mid-August so of course Target and Walmart was all picked over so we had to get him one of those plastic mats and mom made him a cover really quick that eveing. We were scrambling. Beau's first day of school was great! The teachers said he was very smart, sweet, played very well with other kids, ate a bunch of food, nevre cried, slept on his mat for 2 hours like a bit boy and loved the play ground. We were all so relieved to know that he was in such good hands and really enjoyed school! What a relief!!

My first day at Austal was great. I had orientation for 2 days from 6:30am until 4pm both days so I was really busy. Wednesday was my first real day in the office and I loved my coworkers from day one. I had my own office in the Executive Area on the 3rd floor so I was pumped and ready to get started! God sure has blessed our family and we are forever thankful for that. 

Jon was up in Huntsville working and looking for work down here. Our house is on the market with little activity so we are hoping things pick up pretty soon. 

Here are some pictures from our first days at home:

Eating a snack after school

Playing with Uncle Brown (my brother)

Waiting for mom's macaroni to cook

Playing in his toy closet

We are loving it here!

Finally Back Home

July was coming to an end and I got a spactacualar phone call one friday afternoon while I was off work. A recruiter from Austal, down in Mobile called to ask me if I would be interested in a job in their security department. I quickly said yes and we talked for a few minutes. He invited me down to Mobile for an interview the following Friday. Jon and I have been trying to find jobs down in the Mobile area for years now so we could be closer to a large portion of our family so this was really exciting. We spent the next few hours figuring out our schedules for the upcoming week and making plans to leave Beau with Jons parents so we could make the trip down south a quick one. Fast forward to the following Friday, I did great in my interview and that afternoon I was offered a job. We were moving to Mobile!

We had 2 weeks to figure out our plans so we put our house up for sale, tell all of our friends, I put in my 2 week notice and make plans to live apart for a while. The weekend in between the 2 weeks we went down to Daphne to search for a school for Beau. Our biggest obstacle was Jon's job. We decided to have me and Beau go down to Daphne first while Jon stayed up in Huntsville while our house sold. Beau and I were going to live with my parents and hope that our house sold quickly. We were taking a chance and were all in. 

Those next 2 weeks were crazy and stressful. We found a Montessor school for Beau to go to which happens to be right outside of my parents neighborhood so it could not be any more perfect. We packed up half of our house and piled the boxes in the garge for storage. We had to go through everything we owned to see what we were going to take or leave behind. It was still summer weather so we left all of our winter clothes .We had to pack up everything Beau was going to need which was practically everything he owned besides furniture. We spent after work and most of the nights packing and sorting our stuff. We managed to find some time to relax and be together knowing that we were going to live apart for  who knows how long. We were scared but very excited at the same time. I had not lived in my parents house in about 10 years so living with them was going to be interesting. Jon did not want to be away from us, escpecially Beau for any longer than he had to so we decided we would see him every other week, if possible. Our plan was to leave Huntsville on Saturday, August 16th and that was a pretty emotional weekend, to say the least. We told our friends goodbye which was tough. Telling my good friend Courtney and her baby Presley was the hardest. She and I were pregnant together and had our baby's 3 months apart. She and I walked the neighborhood every chance we got. We leaned on each other for moral support, complained about not getting enough sleep, cried together because we were hormonally off balance, shared exciting "firsts" that our babies were doing at the time, gripped about pumping, laughed about the funny things as first moms did and over all just were best friends. I cherrished those walks and miss them all the time.

 Huntsville was a great place to live but deep down I really missed home. I was so excited that I was moving home and about to be able to share my life with my family. This was a dream come true!

Well back to that Saturday that we left. Im telling you it was tough. Jon's parents came over to see us off. I don't think I could have packed another thing in my car. I could not see out the back windown and Beau was stuffed in his seat with no room to wave his arms. We pulled out the drive way with tears in our eye but with happy hearts, knowing that life was about to change forever. 

Summer 2014

I have really slacked on my blog posts this summer so last night I played catch up. My main goal with the blog is to make it into a book starting with my pregnancy and go through Beau's 1st birthday so technically this is my first post of Beau's second book. 

The first thought that comes to mind is that time is really flying by! Beau is growing and changing on a daily basis which makes him a toddler now. Our little baby boy is walking, babbling, understanding, running and smart as a whip! This summer was jammed packed with all kinds of fun things and some big changes at the end. 

The end of May was Beau's big 1st birthday which was a huge success! The week after Beau's party he started walking! We were all extatic with this big milestone but not really ready for the full energy that comes with it. Beau took his first steps at the lakehouse and then gradually worked up to walking full time over the next few weeks. By July 4th he was walking with no more crawling. He is a big talker and babbles all the time. He can say momma, dada, thank you, and sounds out other words pretty well. He points at everything he sees and still loves to be outside. His big molars in the back of his mouth have been coming in so he has gotten pretty cranky. I'm sure those big teeth hurt! He loves to clap his hands and wave bye-bye. He does not get fussy unless he is hungry or tired which is nice. He takes a 2-3 hour nap in the middle of the day and will sleep 12 hours at night, normally 6:30-6:30. He is a huge eater and eats everything that we do, except for spicy food. He is the sweetest boy we know! 

June was filled with swimming in our neighborhood pool, evening walks with friends(Courtney and Presley), over night slumber party's at the Reynolds (PopPop&Nana), Friday night dinner outings, indoor playground trips and relaxing in our big backyard. We would frequently go to Church of the Highlands on Sunday mornings which we all loved! We did not do much traveling this summer because we were all busy working and we planned a family beach trip in the fall. July turned out to be the same as June, busy! 

August came around it brought some big changes.