Gotta Brag

As much as I was not enjoying my hubby being gone on all his trips recently, I have got to say, in the time he has been here, he has well made up for his absence! He has been Mr. Handyman and super productive. He's been putting me to shame that's for sure!

He's been on a cleaning frenzy and I can't say I completely mind. Our house was in desperate need of it, and anyone who knws me knows I'm not so into the cleaning. I will do it, but it takes me awhile to motivate myself to start. And once I do one thing I usually need a good long break before moving to the next, not too helpful for a big cleaning!

Not only has he been cleaning, but he's also been getting to work on projects around the house as we strive to make our home look better and better. He hung quite a few pictures around the house. He also painted our adirondack chairs, which he also put together by the way. He fixed our porch where some boards had rotted...tore up the old one and put new ones down. He hung blinds in the window over our sink, and man they needed it! The light in there would blind you! And he also built a booster-step for Rowan's stairs to the bed. Gold star for all your hard work, baby!

I'm sure there are tons of other things he's done that I haven't even noticed! He's truly the best husband/Daddy us girls could have asked for. And as you can see he plays a huge part in keeping our household running smoothly. I love you, Chase. And I want you to know I greatly appreciate all you do for me and Augusta...and even Rowan. Thanks again, baby!

Happy Fourth of July

It's my first Fourth!!

Just popping in to say thank you to everyone who has fought for our country and our freedoms both past and present. (Including both my grandfathers) And Happy Birthday to America! 236 years young! :)

We celebrated with cookouts with both of our families. First was lunch at Chase's great grandfather's with his immediate and extended families! So great to see everyone and celebrate with them.

For dinner we went out to my parents and ate and visited with them and my brother. (Both my sissies were gone!) But Augusta still had a blast.

We opted not to go to the fireworks this year over fear of how Augusta would react...it's past her bedtime, loud noises, etc. Plus she was work out from all the day's festivities. Hopefully we'll add that to our day next year! (Along with trying homemade ice cream, which is a fourth celebration staple for us!) Hope everyone had a great holiday!

Love Them! :)

And Another Month Flies By...

Love this gummy grin!

Yet another month has passed since precious Augusta Kate entered our lives...I cannot believe its been seven months. They seriously have flown if the post title didn't give that away! I could not imagine my life without this little miracle! And as time flies, my little baby is sure changing. Its starting to become true what people say, the blink and you'll miss it, that is. Because as each month passess by, there are just more and more changes occuring in my sweet little girl. And pretty soon she'll be my big little girl...but not to soon, thank goodness!

Beautiful baby

Okay, so last month I said I hoped there would be more to report on the movement front. And there is, just not much. She can now manuever to pretty much any place she wants to, in the form of a wannabe crawl and turning her body. If she wants to go backwards, she scoots. But forward is still hard for her. So hard in fact, that she will break out into full-on tears over the fact that she is not able to move the way she wants. She has gotten better about this in the past few days though, espcecially since she realized she can sit herself back up when she is in the crawl position. She now does this all the time, and it has even become part of her moving. To me, it looks like she wants to walk, because she straightens her legs like she's going to stand, and then its like she can't figure out how to get her top half up! Her other big trick this month is that she is now pulling up on things! She does great with anything that is not over her head...she is able to straighten those legs out easy-breezy then stands herself up with little effort. She tries to pull up on things that are above her head, like the coffee table, but has had limited success with that. If you give her minor assistance she does it no problem...but partially I'm scared of her hitting her head, so there are many times she does it without assistance.

Here is her crawl face...guess it's my fault she's not moving yet bc who wouldn't pick this sweetie up!

Mommy found you!

She's still such a happy baby. And her little personality is only flourishing. She steals the spotlight wherever she is, and completely lights up a room with her presence. She is just "talk, talk, talking" as I always say. She now says, "mama", "baba", "nana", and "hey". (These have been added to "dada") And I'm not saying she's using these consistently as words, except for "hey" and that's because I believe she is mimicking us. My parents are convinced she said, "dig, dig" about a week ago. Her favorite song is "Heigh Ho" from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (Thank you Aunt Lys...insert eye roll) and we call it the "dig, digs" because that is the part of the song we sing and that she loves. But I'm not so sure about that... it just sounded like a babble to me, but that is the speech therapist in me coming out as opposed to the mommy I'm sure.

Showing my belly!

She is also eating so much more! She has now added some mixed fruits and veggies to her list. She even had some meats...not that she liked them too much. Things like pear and pineapple; banana with mixed berries, and chicken noodle. She has also tried more "big people" foods like watermelon, raspberries, canteloupe, breads and crackers (only licks), and avocado. She's also tried to Gerber puffs and yogurt...but I don't think she's ready for the textures quite yet...

This month Augusta is not liking...the HEAT!! It has been so hot in Mississippi and this poor baby has Eczema. It's not a bad case, but she does get small dry patches. They don't get peely or anything, you can just tell they are more dry and a little pink. And the heat makes them flair up. My poor hot natured girl. (She takes after her daddy in this!) She also does not like avocado at all. The first time she ate it, she had just eaten some banana and the texture gagged her. She threw up everything she had eaten from a little gag! Poor girl! (Guess she's like her mom in this...another weirdy about textures.) She also doesn't like not being mobile. She wants to go so badly! Hopefully soon! And she also doesn't like people eating while she is not.

This month she is loving a lot of the same things. Except we added her pacie back into the mix, for falling asleep purposes only, and she does love it. She chews all over the whole thing, not just sucking on it. She is also loving little things, like tearing up paper. (I let her destroy my magazines once I get through with them.) She finds the littlest things interesting, and they can hold her attention at least for a little bit...things like ribbon and her spoons...she loves to wave them around and throw them! She still loves her swing, swimming in her pool, and her walker. She also LOVES Rowan. She wants to get him so badly...and he's the best puppy. So calm and good natured. He mostly leaves her alone, but every now and then he gives her kisses. And when Augusta does get him, he is sweet and simply lays there. (I don't let her get him much, just becuse she is WILD and he is so scaredy...ha!) She is also loving her mommy and daddy more...I have seen some separation anxiety, and there have been times when she wants us over anyone else or cries when we get out of sight. It warms my heart being a favorite person, but I'm interested to see how things are when we head back to work in a month...hopefully it'll be a smooth transition! She also enjoys other little people like her cousin, Maddie, Cullen, and her church buddy, Graham.

Sharing and exploring with Maddie

So that was Augusta's sixth month in a nutshell...hopefully seven will not go as quickly! Can you please just stay this little just for a bit longer, Augusta Kate? Please??

Playing dress-up already

Girl time!

Thankful Thursday

Haven't done this type of post in awhile, but feel like its appropriate. As I do thank God for all my blessings, I find it good to be publicly accountable for them. And it's been awhile, so why not say thank you aloud for all the world to hear.

Thank you Lord for all the blessings both big and small that you've placed in my life. Thank you for my health and the health of my family. Thank you for the people you've placed in my life, for letting them be positive, Godly influences in my daily walk. And thank you for the loving environment you've given me to raise my little girl in.

Thank you for answering a long-Standing prayer request involving some friends. Thank you for an attentive and loving husband who has allowed me extra time to sleep these past two days! (You know how much I need that.) Also thank you for his servant spirit and work ethic...it motivates me to be better and keeps me going.

Thank you for my job and the move that it's going to involve next year. Thank you for the summer break that goes along with it and the time that I'm getting to spend with sweet Augusta.

Thank you for parents and in laws who willingly pitch in to help with and care for Augusta. Thank you for my sister who goes out of her way to help me with Augusta and keep my house in order.

And finally, as always, thank you for loving me, as flawed as I am. Thank you for never losing faith in me, even when my faith in you, and your plan, may not be at its strongest. Thank you for your forgiveness. And for being our saving grace. And always placing the words/message our hearts need to hear in our paths. I love you.

Girl Time

Who would wanna leave this little sweetie??

So this week makes the fourth time in a little over a month that Chase has left us to go out of town. Most of the leaving has been work related, aside from going deep sea fishing for AJ's bachelor trip. But we really miss Daddy while he's gone. Especially Augusta who I think gets tired of looking at me all the live-long-day! Ha!

At least this time while he's away Aunt Lys is staying with us. Great for me because I get some help with Augusta, and Alyssa is also like OCD about cleaning so she's always wanting to do something, which is totally fine with me since I'm usually holding a baby or wanting to be lazy! She even tackled the mountain of clothes that had overtaken my guest bed and bathed Rowan. Love my sissy!!

Swimming on Wednesday with Mommy & Aunt Lys

Wednesday I cooked a roast for my mom and sister and we watched Dallas...the new Dallas that is. Love it, quickly becoming one of my favorite shows with all it's twists! Check it out if you haven't!

Playing at Whitney's house

Thursday Augusta and I went to eat at Whitney's house. She made a tatertot casserole that was really yummy. Then we just visited with the girls. This see to be turning into a weekly dinner tradition, which is fine with me. It makes sure that I get my girl time, which is not always so easy to come by in the mommyhood!

Also Chase's team won their game today which guaranteed they wouldn't be home till late Saturday at the earliest...but they could still hold out till Sunday. Selfishly I want him home, but I know how much the winning means to him. Especially since he's coaching the team alone...We hope he comes home with a trophy! And if they don't give trophies at the state games, we hope he wins the tourney anyway!! We miss him, but still want him to do his best! We love Daddy!

Hanging out at my Gammie and Pappy's House

Friday we came out to Gammie and Pappy's...she's trying to clean up her house and not be such a hoarder anymore (I use that term lovingly) so we gladly volunteered to help! After some organizing and rearranging we ordered BBQ for dinner. And mom and Aunt Lys made a chocolate pound cake that they were very proud of! Side note--Chase's team also won their game today so they are undefeated and staying till Sunday. Go district 2! (PS everytime I say their team name I think about the Hunger Games)

Waiting for Mims to pick us up for the shower...Augusta's new favorite pose!

Saturday, Aunt Lys went in to work, so Augusta and I had a day to ourselves.
We went to Belk to get a gift for one of Chase's cousins that is getting married. They had a shower today, so Augusta and I went with Mrs. Shelia to that. It was great to see all the family, but the shower was a cookout and it was super hot! On another note, Chase's team won their game and are going into the championship undefeated! Yay!

Sunday brought church and then lunch with the family. After visiting with Chase's parents for awhile we went and visited mine. Unfortunately, Chase's team lost in the championship, but we're still so proud they made it as far as they did. We are also so glad that Chase is home! Hopefully he won't be gone for that long any time soon!! Asmuch as we enjoy our girl time, we need our Daddy here to make our family feel complete! Love him!

Happy Father's Day!

My Fave Daddy-Daughter Pic

We have a lot to celebrate today, with so many amazing fathers in our lives! Our families are blessed with some very different types of fathers, but they are all outstanding and all share a complete love and devotion to both the Lord and their families. Augusta could not have better examples of how a Godly man acts and I am so thankful for that.

And as much fun as celebrating Daddies is, we also got to celebrate sweet Augusta. It was baby dedication at church today. We invited our families and pledged to raise Augusta in Christ's love and following his example. They had a slide show of the babies being celebrated, which was adorable.

After church we had lunch at Chase's parents' house and both his grandmothers came to eat. Then it was off to the grocery and home so we could cookout for our dads that night. We made steaks, cheesy bacon potatoes (on the grill), asparagus, and salad. Our dads both loved the meal. And I think they especially loved spending time with their kids! Hope all the dads out there had a great day!

Father's Day gifts I crafted from ideas on Pinterest! (Love that site!!)

Daddy and Augusta enjoing each other on Father's Day

Busy Birmingham Weekend

This past weekend we traveled to Birmingham, Alabama for the wedding of some friends. Not only did we want to celebrate with them, but Chase was part of the wedding party, so we just had to be there! It took us around 3 hours to get there, and again, Augusta was a trooper. (I think she's getting used to the traveling thing) We only had to stop once for a diaper change and let her out of her seat for a minute...I think she'll be so much happy when she's able to sit upright in a seat instead of reclining, but I guess we have a little longer to wait before we test that theory.

Once there, we checked into the Tutwiler Hotel. It's downtown and supposed to be a restored building. And it was really beautiful. It was also valet parking only, like most places downtown, which is both a blessing and a curse. Love it because it's so easy on you the traveler, but hate it because sometimes you just want to be quick and it's not always quick for you. Guess that's a lesson in patience for me!

Anyway, Friday was the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner...the dinner was at the Garden's Cafe in the botanical gardens. It was super pretty and I wished we would of had more time to look around the gardens. Augusta did so well, I have to brag on her. She stayed up waaaay past her bedtime and hardly fussed. (Just wanted one of us to stand with her) Such a sweet girl!

Augusta and me back in the room after the rehersal dinner

Saturday was AJ and Lydia's wedding day! First off we went to find me some shoes to go with the dress my sis let me borrow because I have lost one of my black shoes and have no clue what happened to it...shoe fairy anyone? But that's another story. After finding shoes and getting lunch, Chase left me and Augusta at the hotel to get ready while he took wedding photos. Chase's parents (Mims and Paul-Paul to Augusta) came and picked us up in their way through bc the actual wedding was 30 miles outside of Birmingham in a town called Springville. The venue was Matthew's Manor, it specializes in weddings and has many different sites. AJ and Lydia had their wedding and reception in Grace Hall.

Mr. and Mrs. AJ Freeman eating their wedding cake

The wedding was beautiful. And the reception was as well. The food was good, dancing was fun, the DJ was on top of his game, decorations were tasteful...it was just gorgeous. I also loved all the personalized goodies they had, including matchbooks, Hershey's kisses, and cups. Again Augusta held it together...she was a big girl up until we got in the car to head back to the hotel. But there were only a few tears before she gave it up to sleep...in her defense it was past her bedtime again...

Goodies from the wedding

Chase and me at the wedding

Sunday we woke up and had a family shopping day! Yay!! I love shopping, for anything and everything, but especially for clothes. And I think Augusta is going to follow in Mommy's footsteps...she loves looking around at everything. She was so excited, babbling, laughing, and giggling the whole time we looked around. And even though it ended up being a rainy day, we still hit plenty of stores at the outlet mall (including my favorite--Gap) and Target! (My other favorite!) Needless to say, I was a happy girl!

After shopping we headed out. We only had to stop once for Augusta to eat and stretch, and she slept the majority of the trip which was great. It's so nice when their naps line up like that! :) Only downside of the trip was how exhausted we were afterward. The tired feeling rolled over into Monday where we were all super lazy! (All that tiredness could have had something to do with the rainy/stormy weather Sunday and Monday as well, but who knows.) We are just now getting back into the swing of things, but it was still a great little getaway!

Augusta and Daddy at the Outlet Mall

See how excited she was to shop!!