Hilton Head

We spent last week in Hilton Head with Dustin's family and had the best time with our crew. We didn't make it to a beach last summer, so this was really the first time our boys have been to the beach since Finn was 2.5 and Ryder was 1. Basically, it felt brand new to them. I would never really classify "beach with 3 young kids" as a vacation- more of a trip. Or an away game as we like to call it. You're essentially doing everything you usually do at home, only on less sleep in a different house. Thankfully, schools were still in session so it was not crowded at all. Our crew is too young for "real school" and our nieces and nephews attend a classical-hybrid model school and wrapped up their year. Nonetheless- it was so much fun! The boys loved playing with their "tuzzins" (cousins). They loved looking for crabs and fish, feeding and then running from the birds and digging all. day. long. Neither of them feared the ocean which is equally exciting and terrifying. Jude rocked his morning beach naps. All in all, it was a great week.

 Jude basically looked like this every morning from 9-10:30am.

 I love everything about this picture. Baby cheeks and lips. Curly hair. Dimple knuckles. Wrist rolls.

 Our first morning there was Mother's Day. All the moms in the house went out (in uniform) for a kid-free breakfast while the dads were in charge.

 This kid. He talked the whole way there about wanting to "fly a kite on the beach". He's never even seen a kite before except on Curious George. Opa brought a kite and he woke up every morning asking to fly it.

 When you're the baby cousins and your parents don't want you to eat all the sand.

 This kid loved the wind in the face, watching the birds and basically watching everything that everyone else was doing. He didn't so much love the cold water on his toes.

 It's like mentally he sentenced himself to a week of hard labor having to dig the whole beach.

 "mommy, take my picture on this rock."

 A little beach golf.

 About 30 min after being out on the beach, this one would come up to eat all of the snacks.

 And then he crawled into the wagon and looked like a tiny baby all over again.

 We were so thankful for great weather all week even though the forecast was 60-80% chance of storms every day. The one morning it was lightly raining, we took the big boys to play putt putt while Jude napped at the house.

 Ryder's smile is one of my absolute favorite things about him right now.

 More baby jail when the big cousins are swimming.

 Our fam of five went into Harbour Town one evening for dinner and to see the boats and lighthouse. Dustin and I used to come on day trip dates in high school and do the same thing.

 All of the digging finally got to him and he slept for an hour like this.

Seven Months

Seven Months! You have now made it over the curve of your first year and are closer to turning one than being born. Baby Jude, you are so much fun. You are always smiling, rolling, wiggling, flapping your arms, pulling your toes and want so badly to move with your brothers. You are still pretty obsessed with them. Ryder makes you belly laugh in a way that only he can and Finn is your number one big helper. When you're on your belly, you still pull your arms and legs off the ground in your "skydiver" position as we call it. Ryder did the exact same thing. I've had to pull out the old pop n play (play pen) to keep you from rolling your way all around the house. You still love jumping in your jumper and you especially love when your brothers push it like a tire swing before I catch them and tell them to stop. You bathe with the big boys now in our big bath tub and this will continue until you're at least teenagers because I think it's the cutest thing ever.

You are still such the little dream baby. You go with the flow and take more than your fair share of car seat and stroller naps when we're on the go. If you don't get a nap in the morning, you still don't seem to mind. You nap like a champ in the afternoon and thankfully so do your brothers.

You love to eat! You get three 6oz bottles/day and an 8oz bottle at bedtime. You love purees at breakfast and dinner and lunch on days when it's actually convenient for me to sit down and feed it to you. You started eating baby yogurt this month and love it.

As of this post, you're about 7.5 months and you just got your very first tooth last night! I knew it had to be happening soon, but it just popped through and you're still happy as can be. This is how Finn's teeth came. Ryder's were another story. I hope this is setting up our next two years to go really well in this area.

We won't be back at the doctor's office for a check up until 9 months, but I would assume you're around 18lbs. My arms get tired after holding you for extended periods of time and you are just a big ball of squish and I love every bit of it. You're in 9 mo. clothing and size 4 diapers, except I'm trying to finish my last pack of size 3's.

We just love you to pieces, sweet baby Jude and it's a blessing to see you grow!