Cold Turkey

To me, Sonic is only open from 2-4.  And possibly for lunch.  And maybe on the way home from the post office...or it just so happens to be open at 8 am when I'm thirsty.

Either way, I was frequenting Sonic a LOT.  One day I even had the girl in the drive-thru ask me if I had been there earlier that day.  Ummm....maybe. And it always was a Route 44 - do they even have other sizes?

But for awhile now, I've been thinking I need to quit drinking soda because let's face it.  Not good for your body or your waistline.  While pregnant, I craved Diet Coke like none other and thought I should indulge myself.  So I did.

Now I have a 6 month old and plenty of weight to lose.  I need to start somewhere.

Since I'm blogging about it, I'm making you my accountability partner.  I started on August 1 and haven't had a soda since (but I might have chugged a lot on July 31).  It's 16 days in and I promised myself a whole month...I'm doing much better than I thought I would be.  It's not to say that I won't ever drink one again - I just think it's time to find healthier options.

Once I master this, I'm thinking about tackling sweets.  You might not want to be around for that one.

Splash Night

Saturday nights are always more fun with friends around. Add some bathing suits, a kiddie pool and a cute boy making faces at you through the door - and life is good.

This is that cute boy - sliding his tongue up and down my glass door. 

Friends.  Adorable friends.

Feeding Time

Her new "hobby" is feeding her brother.

He loves it.

And she gets most of it in his mouth.

Half Birthday

On August 2, Jace turned 6 months!  We were at the beach, so we had to wait a few extra days to do the obligatory month pictures.

Mom, I just fell into a basket...

We went to the pediatrician today and J weighs 18 lbs, 26.5 inches. He isn't putting much weight on his legs and that worried me...but apparently he just has a "content" personality and doesn't feel the need to do much yet.  He is more like a 4 month old in this regard - happy, content, not doing much. Maybe later on he'll kick it into gear and roll over or something.  If the dr isn't worried, neither am I. It's hard not to compare my kids at 6 months - but it just shows how wonderfully different they are.

While eating or anytime he needs a paci and can't find one, he sucks his thumb.  Pretty cute now, going to be a pain to break later.

This kid will let me kiss on him 24/7.  I LOVE IT!! He is too squishy to not kiss.

Jace is eating anything and everything I feed him, still nurses a couple times a day but is definitely sleeping through the night.  He is getting better at his exersaucer and loves to kick his legs.

I've got high hopes for this next month.  Maybe at least sitting up on his own...well, if he feels like it. 

Fun in the Sun

We had the amazing privilege of spending a whole week at Topsail Island, NC with Justin's family.  7 days of sunshine, eating, sand, ocean, eating, seashells, crabbing, eating, cousins and eating.

To my Oklahoma friends - these are rain clouds.  They do exist...even though with this drought it might be up for discussion.

Haylie could spend all day in the water...and pretty much did.

Crouching baby, hidden paci.

Hard at work.

Water time with Daddy.

We like to coordinate our swim wear.

Wanting to be out in the ocean.

Making sand angels with his feet.

We had an amazing time.  I kept my expectations low with bringing a 6 month old...and they were exceeded! Jace did well.  He had an adjustment sleeping period, but then would take two long naps a day so we could have some beach time.  We didn't make Haylie nap and she did well with few melt downs. The guys got to have a full day of fishing and the girls got to go shopping.  We enjoyed quality time with aunts, uncles and cousins.  We watched the Olympics every night (up wayy too late - dang east coast time) and celebrated birthdays and cousin Victoria's baby.  We look forward to this trip every year and were so glad to be able to go.  This was a great year since Haylie LOVED being in the ocean and didn't mind the sand like last year.  Even Jace had fun in the sand.  

This was probably the best year yet.  Love this family tradition!

Flying with kids

We have been super busy these last few weeks.  Justin went on a work-cation to San Diego and I was home by myself with the two kids for the week.  He got home Friday evening and we turn around and leave for the beach for a week Saturday morning.  So finally, we are back, rested, tanned (well, Haylie is - the rest of us are still pasty and freckled) and ready to get back into the swing of things.

Because the trip was a first for my baby boy on a plane and Haylie was just flat out excited for her airplane rides, I must document the event by itself.  It was that good.

What is about to happen?!

We started out rocky by having a wet blow out with Jace and trying to feed him on the plane.  Don't recommend either.

 Not long after take off, this was my view. Love.

 The two flights going to NC were great.  Haylie was an angel and Jace slept both times.  Whew.

But the plane ride back....

Tears, poopy diapers, screaming fits, nursing on the plane, spankings, wrestling to sleep.

You name it, we dealt with it.

 
But we finally got it all together and had a pretty good time.

She's telling Bear a play by play of what she sees

A rare snuggle nap with my baby girl

Let's just say - we survived.  I don't plan on flying with a baby again if I can help it.  They are just too unpredictable.

A little fish

These last two weeks Haylie got to enjoy swim lessons with Alyx & Carlie.  She had a blast!! She would come home and tell me about jumping in the pool, kicking her legs or floating on her back.  She definitely can't swim by herself yet (probably could with floaties...or maybe not), but she is well on her way and has some skills that are pretty important when in the water.  I'm so grateful to these girls for teaching my daughter life-saving techniques!

Haylie swimming between A & C.

So proud of my exhausted baby girl!!

Doesn't take long for her to take off her wet shirt.  Hooray for swim lessons!!!