vacation

We went on another vacation. This time to Destin, FL. While the weather didn't fully cooperate with us we still had fun. On the way down we stayed with my sister in Montgomery and decided to take Jackson to see the capital.

I love this shot of Sam.

So honestly, I think my favorite part of this beach trip was Jackson playing with his cousins. We don't get to see them a ton but I think he absolutely loved having them around all the time. They did it everything together: swim, fight, take a "nice warm tubbie"(hehe nico), fall asleep watching little einsteins, had a sleepover with grandma and papa, stayed up late, and more. This is all 5 grandsons.

nursing sam

scene: I'm nursing sam on my bed, in walks jackson and sits at my feet. since sam was born we've had the rule jackson can't touch either of us while i'm feeding him.

me: hey buddy

jack: [funny face he makes while playing with sam (biting his bottom lip) reaches out to play with sams arm]

me: no touching sam while he's eating

sam: [stops eating to laugh at jackson]

jackson: [bouncing on the bed]

me: jackson no bouncing

jackson: can i bounce my shoulders?

me: no bouncing

jackson: can i bounce my feet?

me: no

jackson: can i bounce my head

me: no

jackson: can i bounce my fingers?

me: no

jackson: [begins to ever ever so slightly bounce while sitting down]

me: [trying to ignore the very very slight bouncing so we'll just be happy]

jackson: i'm bouncing mom

me: get off the bed

It may be of interest

I added two new links to my favorite links list.

Small Notebook is a blog/website i'm not sure about simplifying, organizing, and housekeeping. I found it last week and was surprised to find somebody writing so much like how I think. While this post converted me (how to make things harder and do nothing), I also liked ah-ha cleaning moments, and the no spend month. Very interesting.

Nesting Place is how I would/hopefully will decorate my house. I just like her style a lot. I've always assumed that people who had a nice house spent a lot of money doing it. She picks up a lot of stuff cheap at thrift stores and such. While I don't have time in my life now to do that. (kids are so hard to take to places like that i think.) I still really like what she offers. Check out cool, calm, and collected.

Sometimes my memory is my enemy

I remembered being miserable the first trimester with Jackson but not the 3rd. I was miserable the 3rd with sam and felt blind-sided. Why didn't I see this coming?

As is true now with feeding Sam real-ish food. I actually remembered not enjoying breastfeeding because I felt tied down and pouty that it was a job I couldn't hand off to Brent. (with Sam I've actually loved it.) I remember feeding Jackson and not thinking much of it. Maybe I was just so excited that Brent or I could do it. I'm so not enjoying feeding Sam. I guess I thought that since he opens his mouth to put EVERYTHING else in he'd just open his mouth for food. blah. so not true.

On like some where around the 10th time I fed him I gave him his own spoon. Every time he'd try to put his own spoon in his mouth I'd pop my spoonful of green beans in. It worked for a little but then he became less interested in eating his own spoon.

This is Sam after me trying to feed him for a solid 30 minutes. Notice how much we had left. I think he's grinning because he's recognized that he's won.

A survey

So to all of you moms...when do you do most of your housework? is it when the kids are in bed? is it during the day when they're watching movies/tv? normally i get as much done as i can during the day with the kids but my evenings are reserved for lounging but i'm finding i just can't get it all done. so i just wanted to ask y'all what y'all do.

6 years ago

we got engaged at Hilton Head. It was special. We took a walk Sunday night on the beach, August 1st, and he proposed.

6 years later Brent was without a wedding ring. He lost it sometime this year. If I was Robyn or Cheyenne or Siobhan I could tell a really romantic story touching your emotions making you laugh and cry, but I can't. I'm not a story-teller. I will tell you though I surprised Brent this trip with a new wedding ring that I gave him while walking on the beach Sunday night, August 1st. It was really special to me and made me all kinds of emotional like only I can get. I don't have a picture of the ring cause like I mentioned before, I didn't take any pictures.

A Barnes Beach Trip

A Barnes beach trip is very different from a Hutchison beach trip. Although I was reminded of this throughout the week at Hilton Head for different reasons none hit me so hard as when I just sat down with the intent to post and I realized I don't have a single picture. I have a couple goofy expressions of Sam laying on the floor at the condo when I thought "oh no I haven't taken any yet" but then never brought it with me to the beach. I'm sorry mom. I'm sorry to anybody who was curious as to just how gorgeous Hilton Head is. Because it is gorgeous. I'm used to Florida beaches which are lovely but different from this. My favorite part of a Hilton Head beach are the tides. I love going out at low tide when there is so much wet sand to play it. You can ride bikes on it which was shocking to me when I first saw it. Also I'm not sure if this is a coincidence or a truth but the waves seemed bigger at hi tide which I'm sure would have been fun if I hadn't been holding a sleeping baby. [ah sweet sam--the only time my children sleep in my arms is under conditions of EXTREME exhaustion but it is blissful b/c it's so rare]. Another difference was in how my family vacations vs. how the Barnes do. My family is all go go go. We all get ansy being in the condo and consider the day almost a failure if we didn't get to the beach twice. My parents come home at like 8:30am after some intense exercise, calling us all lazy for sleeping in so late. Brent's family takes it all slow. It took me a couple of days to get used to this (I was a bit of a crank--sorry fam) but after I relaxed a bit I enjoyed it tremendously. I did coax Brent and his mom to ride bikes with me that we rented for the kids to ride in which was way way fun. Maybe even my favorite part of the trip. Jackson loved playing in the sand and was tentative but willing to play in the waves. We put Sam in their bathwater-temperature-pool and he loved it too. Brent even dunked him several times although I had to look away for that part. my nerves will be the death of me. all in all it was a way fun trip and we thoroughly enjoyed it. despite the lack of pictures. oh oh if you read this much you might as well know there will be a romantic-picture-less post tomorrow (or soon).