August

August was a busy month for us and honestly I did an awful job at writing during the month. So this will be picture heavy as I try to catch up on what we've done! Above is such a sweet picture of Brooks! I was surprised he even let me take it, he's in that 'don't take a picture of me mama' phase. This was our first week back at church! It was great and Brooks did great with his mask.

Carson- this little stinker- started pulling up and standing WAAAYYY earlier than my heart was prepared for! He is 6.5 months here and it's just hurting my heart, he's growing so fast!

This is a Joanna Gaines recipe- brownie, peanut butter, chocolate frosting. WOW! They were so rich but so delicious. Thanks to my bestie Tara for letting me pawn of half the pan to you!

Carson is such a monkey to nurse, diaper and dress. It's a full on wrestling match most times. But when I nurse him he always hikes his foot as high as he can and rests it on my shoulder. Oh it's so funny and oh soooo sweet!

Dan smoked a brisket one weekend and my brother gave me the idea to pickle some red onions to go on the sliders- they were good. I asked Brooks to show me the brisket for a picture and this is what he did??

Brooks has been doing AMAZING in swim lessons and I'm so proud of him. If you recall the first 2 lessons were full on tears and tantrums but now he really enjoys it. You guys, he even jumps in the pool now! WHAT?! Although he can't always get him to recreate what he does at like our HOA swimming pool, I know we'll get there. He swims around in water where he can touch and puts his face in the water which is huge for him! Carson is always such a good spectator.

Then we went to Florida! Dan's brother was going to get married, well then covid happened and plans changed but we still decided to keep our flights and go visit family anyways. Dan and I felt good about going so we went! Traveling with kids is always an adventure but they did really well. Brooks is at the age where movies on a plane are so cool so he was very content and easy on the flight. Plus he doesn't get A LOT of screen time so him having full reign for shows and movies was exciting to him. Then Dan and I tag-team Carson. On both flights he slept less than I'd hope but he did well. Coming home he was restless and whiny after having a bad night of sleep beforehand so we just played pass the baby and did whatever we could to keep him happy.

 

We stayed in an AirBnb with 2 of Dan's aunts and 2 cousins and we had the best time seeing family! We had a pool outback that we took full advantage of too. Our first full day in Florida all the girls when to Universal Studios to go see Harry Potter world while Dan and Phill watched the kids. It was such a fun day! It took some planning to make it happen with me still nursing Carson and all. I took a cooler of frozen breastmilk on our flight with us for Dan to thaw and use during the day. Then I brought a manual hand pump and cover so I could just pump and dump in the park. I was afraid I would be SUPER uncomfortable, but I pumped twice at the park then once later at the house when we got back. Successful day away from a nursing baby!

Dan sent me this picture of this emu looking bird he saw out back

Anyways, Universal Studios was so fun! We hit most of the big rides that were open and spent a good amount of time in HP world. It was hot and humid, we all wore masks and were bathed in hand sanitizer before and after every ride. It was a very safe environment, good job universal! We drank lots of frozen butterbeer, I drank the most and it became a running joke ha! I don't regret it and I wish I had more! HP World was so cool and surreal to see!

This Decepticon thought he was funny and after our photo decided to scare us. I promptly freaked out and almost bolted over the chainlink fence. Good thing no one got a video of that! I was high-tailing it out of there haha!

We spent all day there and had so many laughs and fun times. It was awesome!

I brought some donuts back for my boys in the morning, Brooks was pretty jazzed for his fruit loop donut.

This day was SeaWorld! We wanted to do seaworld because he thought Brooks would really enjoy Sesame Street land and spoiler alert: he did! It was way more than the seaworld I remember. Yes it had all the fun animal experiences but the roller coasters were incredible! Plus the lines were short or nonexistent so we got to ride multiple times.

We did all the rides we could, saw all the animals we could and watched the orca show. We did as much as we could before the park shutdown due to storms and lightning. We were feeling pretty done by then anyways. Brooks had a blast with Bryce and Sydney going on all the rides, well most of the rides. We found out he doesn't actually like roller coasters but the smaller rides were ok haha. Carson was a dream baby too! Just happy to be there. He loved watching the whales and was watching them and happy kicking his legs the whole time. We kept a stroller fan on him, but even though it was still HOT he was still so happy. He'd just fall asleep in the stroller when he was sleepy, he'd nurse where ever when he was hungry. I don't think he cried at all while we were there? Brooks, was obviously worn out.

We spent our evenings swimming in the pool out back and having a great time talking and catching up with family. The next day we drove out the gulf side towards Tampa and went to a beautiful beach called Siesta Key. White soft sandy beaches, clear warm blue water- ahh it was heaven! I'll admit beaches are a little tricky with babies, especially mines who thinks sand is a food group! But Dan and I made it work. It was mostly just a bit hard to get him to nap in our arms with so much going on but he eventually gave in. It was a good and tiring day and I think we all got sunburned. Brooks wasn't too keen on the water (this was pre swim successes) but loved the sand!

Sunday we spent relaxing at Jenny's house, having church, letting the cousins play and just having a great time. Carson was a great driver in this car and Brooks was in heaven with his cousins.

Dan's aunts and cousin left on Sunday which ended up being a blessing because Carson lost ALL CHILL that night. As I wrote in his 7 month blog, I fed him maybe one tablespoon of chili and it WRECKED his stomach that night. He was up crying, screaming, inconsolable. I was worried because it was so out of character for him. We only got him to sleep from 11pm-3am and I was up with him the rest of the time. I'm so glad no one else was int he house that we were keeping up, I would have felt so bad! After a rough night of sleep we had early morning flights. Carson was a little less well behaved but still did ok and we made it! It was such a fun trip but exhausting too, it felt nice to be home!

My baby is 7 months?!

Love my boys!

Brooks drinking the watermelon juice and lemon blueberry rolls

One crazy packed full fruit snack and this cute baby pulling all the books off the shelf

Chocolate pecan pie and Brooks put these ears on Carson and he doesn't look too happy!

I found Carson sucking on a rock and Brooks playing with kinetic sand and trucks.

A lot of our summer has to be spent playing with water because it's just SO HOT outside. Out HOA pool opened late and has new restrictions so we can't just go when we feel like. We got as often as we can but also utilize out backyard pool and sprinkler frequently.

Sylvia made Brooks this cars mask and hew loves it!

We soaked up the last days of summer and after so much hot weather I'm itching for cooler numbers. We did as much as we could this summer and had a lot of fun. Dan and I celebrated 8 years of marriage very low key, corona style haha. But we've had a lot of good memories just being together. I love my boys and can't wait for cool weather and all the holidays! Bring on Pumpkin all the things!