Beach Trip 2011 & 5 Months

Family Pictures on the Beach 

The Howard's- Party of 3! 

Mack with Granna and Pop

On the way to the beach, awake most of the time, but happy. 

Mack and Daddy snoozing because of the no sleep on the way down. 

He loved waking up to so many people every day

Mack and Riley Neisler 

Boots on the Beach!!

At the Miranda Lambert concert! 

Playing in the bed with Pop

On the beach with Aunt Kenz

First dip in the ocean!

He liked it.

Beach Bums! haha

Our little family on the beach

Playing in the water with Mommy

On the beach cuddled up with Christy Whitehead

Our setup on the beach, it lasted about 10 minutes

Always hungry

Toes in the sand

Sweet baby feet

Playing in the pool

It was kind of cold but he loved it

Standing up like a big boy on the couch

Bathtime at the beach

In the sink in the laundry room

Beautiful pics of Mack on the beach

We rode the Ferris Wheel at the Wharf

Having a good time on Pops shoulders at the Wharf

Sleepy baby after a long night at the Wharf

He rolled over for the first time on this trip!

Yay! He did it

Funny passy from Uncle Thad

Our almost dinner at Tacky Jacks

Photo strip from Adventure Island--Love it!

Mack and Thad were big buddies!

We started packing and of course he was sleepy so he slept the whole time we packed. 

And on the way home, HE CRIED!!!

Our beach trip this year was much different than trips we had been on before. It’s amazing how a baby can change everything! We knew things would not be the same and we were prepared for it, but we were not sure after getting home if the trip was actually worth it.

We left for the beach on Friday July 22^nd around 6:30. We thought that if we left at night then we could give Mack and bath and get his pajamas on before we left and he would sleep on the way there. We were wrong about that! First off as we were on our way a rock hit the windshield of the Navigator and cracked the windshield. That should have been a sign of what was to come! Aunt Kenzie and Uncle Thad rode down to the beach with us and I kept telling them before we left that he would be fine, he was going to sleep the whole time since it was bedtime. Well, thankfully he didn’t cry the whole way but he was definitely awake. He may have slept about an hour all the way down there. He was just smiling and checking things out. There was so much stuff in the back seat for him to look at and Kenzie was back there with us so he was very distracted. When we got to the beach we were going to stay that night with Nana Kim at their beach house. We got to the beach house around 2:00 in the morning and they were still up waiting on us to get there. I thought for sure once we got there he would be ready to go to bed but he wasn’t. He stayed up for about another 2 hours seeing all the new people at the beach house. Needless to say we were pretty tired by the time he went to sleep around 5 AM! He slept till around 7:30 and thankfully Nana came in and got him and let Mommy go back to sleep. I woke up about 9:00 when he was getting fussy and fed him a bottle and he went back to bed with Shon. This was only the beginning of our schedule being totally off! Granna and Pop got to the beach around lunchtime on Saturday, so we went to our condo to get unpacked and settled in.  That night Mom (Granna), Kenzie, Nana Kim, and myself went to the Miranda Lambert concert at the Wharf! We had a wonderful time. Mack stayed with Shon and all the boys at the condo and he did great. Shon even got him to bed with no trouble. I was so proud and lucky to have a great husband to do that for me.

On Sunday we went to the beach and set up our tents and all of Mack’s stuff but it was just too hot for him to lay in his tent that we had bought him. Mack and I went to the pool for a little bit but we were by ourselves so it was kinda hard to manage so we went back to the room. For the rest of the day we were in and out of the room strolling around in his umbrella stroller and spending some time outside. That night we were planning on going out to eat with Nana Kim and Taylor and Mack was going to stay with Granna and Pop. So, we got ready and left Mack to go eat at Tacky Jacks. We had been waiting for about 2 hours and had finally gotten a table when Granna called and said that Mack was pitching a fit and had been crying for over an hour and I should come back. I was so upset; I was squalling when I got back. He was kind of calmed down when I got there so I got him and we went into the bedroom to lay down. I got him laid down but I was still upset. I was already ready to go home! I cried for about 2 hours and was set on going home but they talked me out of it and we stayed but I refused to leave him the next night when we were supposed to go out to eat with Granna and Pop and let Kim keep him. I was too afraid that the same thing would happen.

On Monday morning it was sunny and we had decided to stay so we went to the beach for about 30 minutes to let Mack get into the ocean at least for a minute. He loved the water and being outside but it was just too hot to stay down there for too long. We put him in the water and took pictures and went back to the room. Shon let me go to the pool for a little bit that afternoon to lay out and then he brought Mack down to swim, that was about the only time we spent outside was that day. A total of about an hour with Mack outside. J

That Monday night we just stayed in the room and ate because I did not want to leave him still. Shon and I ate Guthries and everyone else went out to eat. We would have gone out to eat but they didn’t leave to go until around 7ish and by that time Mack was ready for a bath and bed.

For the next couple days it rained most of the time. We went to Adventure Island, to the outlets, and the boys went to ride go-carts. The Wednesday night before we had to leave I was finally ok with leaving Mack so Shon and I could go eat, but I had to get him to bed before we could leave. I put him to bed and we went to eat around 9:00. We ate and then went out for about 30 minutes. We were back to the room before Mack was up and ready to eat again.  On Thursday night I got everyone to get ready early so we could all go eat and we went to The Wharf to eat and shop. We ate at Live Bait and, walked around and shopped, and we rode the Ferris wheel! Mack liked this night because he was in his stroller and he actually liked the Ferris wheel too! He fell asleep while we were still there so that was a good night; we actually got to enjoy the night.

We left to go home on Friday around lunch.  Shon and I were so ready to go. It had been fun and we had gotten some good pictures but I think if we had it to do over again we would have waited until next year to tackle the beach for the first time with a baby. Mack cried almost all the way home. He may have slept about 30 minutes the whole 6 hours we were in the car. So that made us even more ready to be home! It was definitely a trip full of memories, but we were more than happy to be home!

19 and 20 Weeks

Green bean goatee!

Green bean smile :) 

Squash fingers

Big boy in his high chair.

Give me some veggies!

Im waiting!

MMMMM Sweet Peas!

Sippy Cup----Chew Toy

Exercauser Play Time

Watching TV in the morning with his little monkey

Checking out the sippy cup for the first time with Granna

He just wants to chew on it

Carrot Face

Pool day with Lainey Bug! Mack is telling her HEY

Getting a little taste

Sweet babies in the pool

The kiddos with their Nana and Granna.
It looks like Lainey is picking his nose!

...and feeding it to him. 

Best Buds

Precious

Now it is Mack's turn to pick her nose!

Hey Lainey!!

Meeting Baby Andie...Mack had to taste her to make sure he liked her!

She is sleeping and he is playing...they are not very interested! 

She is so pretty! 

First time in the nursery at church!

Mack and Mrs. Evelyn 

Nap time with Mrs. Evelyn

Our adventures have continued with our sweet little man! We have been trying out more baby food and it is so funny to watch! So far he loves all the vegetables and hates the fruits! When you give him fruits he makes a face and shakes like I have just fed him motor oil! But when you give him vegetables he loves them! Green beans and sweet peas are his favorite right now. He likes the carrots too, I told him they needed to make a cornbread flavored baby food to go along with all these vegetables. I have tried everything to get him to eat the fruit, but he just doesn’t like them. We have tried mixing them with rice cereal, oatmeal, and the vegetables. We have put a pinch of sugar and karo syrup in there to make them not as sour but it doesn’t help. I guess he is going to be a meat and taters kinda kid! J

I let him try a sippy cup, knowing it was too early, only because of Pops secretaries at Bonds Appliance. I let him stay there with them for about 20 minutes while I ran to the school and when I came back they had him drinking water out of a styrophome cup! He actually was doing really good and was hardly spilling anything. He really liked it, every time they would take it away he would cry! So they kept saying that he needed a sippy cup. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try and I knew he wouldn’t like it or know how to use it yet but I bought him one anyway. He had no idea what to do with it. He pretty much just chews on the spout. It was worth a try and really funny to watch him with it. I think we will have to save those cups we bought for later though.

We had a pool day with Amber and Lainey, and Amber’s mom Teresa and her little brother Brandon. Amber and I have been friends since I was in the first grade and she was in the second. Our mothers taught school together at Grassy and we met there on the playground. We have always been great friends. We went to different schools but we have remained close all these years and now we have our sweet babies together! Lainey is 10 months old now and Mack is about 4 ½.  I know they will be great friends too, just like their Mommies, Their Nana and Granna, and their Uncles! J

We met Miss Andie Kathryn Kelley this week. She is so precious. Warren and Kim had her on July 12, 2011. We went to their house to visit and when we put them on the beanbag together she just laid there like a sweet little angel and Mack just wanted to eat her! It was too funny! He had her sleeve in his mouth because her arms and legs were all balled up close to her little body. She didn’t seem to mind that he tasted her. Haha

Mommy had to go to Kimberly Redmon’s wedding on Saturday July 16 and Mack spent the night with Granna. She said that he was absolutely perfect! He went to church with Granna and Pop on Sunday and stayed in the nursery for the first time. We have been to church with him a couple times but never taken him to the nursery. I was so nervous that he was going to scream the whole time. Granna said that they never called her into the nursery to come get her and that he slept the whole time. He was the only baby in there with 2 ladies so he had all the attention, which is just the way he likes it! J 

He is about 17 pounds now and he is growing like a weed! He is still drooling all the time and chewing on everything, but still no teeth! I hope we see one soon. I can tell that he is getting older and it breaks my heart and makes me happy at the same time. He is getting much better at playing by himself for about 20 minutes at a time. He loves his exercauser and he is still doing really good in his bed at night. I know that it is tough some times when we have bad days but I couldn’t ask for a better baby!