THE BEACH!! Sept.2014

The beach is my happy place.  I love it.  I love the warm, the sand, the water, reading books, sipping limaritas, drinking coffee, playing with the kids in the pool, walks on the beach with Kim, grilling, the awesome comfy luxurious condo, the balcony overlooking a beach, the dolphins, the hot tub.

We stayed here:

We had just arrived from our 14+ hr trip.  Quinn had already found the big whirlpool bath tub.  

Look how excited we are!

 Quinn's already exploring.

 We've already exploded all over the beautiful. peaceful bedroom.

12th floor, it was awesome, great amenities.  We stayed here in another awesome unit two years ago.  we shall return again and again.  We were there over the week of labor day and the weather was perfect- hot, sunny, only rained one morning.

Quinn loved the pool and loved making new friends with every little girl in the pool.
Q, 5 seconds after meeting someone:  "That's my new friend.  I don't need you any more."

I was so proud of her, watching her get braver and more courageous as the week went on.  She started holding on to us and by the end of the week she was swimming around in her life jacket or ring by herself and jumping into the pool to us, even getting her face wet.
Q: "I don't need you anymore, I have my ring."

 She did not like the ocean, very fearful when it came to even getting near it or even watching one of us get near it.  She would say frantically "Watch out for the ocean!  It's going to get you!  Come here now!"  And she really meant it.  However, by the end of the week I was able to hold her and walk out into the ocean and we played in the water for a few minutes.  She said: "Silly Ocean! You're trying to get me wet.  Silly Ocean! You got salt water in my mouth!"

Once we got back from the trip, when someone asked how she liked the beach she would say: "I was a little nervous about the ocean."

We went on a painfully-long-with-kids "dolphin cruise" but we did see some amazing dolphins jumping in our wake, following next to our boat.  We also went to this amazing outdoor restaurant called The Gulf.  It was gorgeous.

And this pretty much sums up the drive home:

Sawyer is ONE

Hey there little buddy,

You are now ONE.  It's crazy.  But I'm not calling you a toddler until you start walking.  So for now, You are still my little baby.  (Well, forever you will be my baby but you know what I mean.)

You are finally starting to pull up on things, although you don't stand for very long.  It's actually been a blessing to not need to retoddler-proof the house yet.  You love to give slobbery, open mouth kisses when we ask you for a kiss.  You love to sign for "more", except for now if you don't get "more" fast enough you scream a high pitched, blood curdling scream...the same scream you now use when Q takes something away for you.  It is effective.

You love to throw balls, you love to throw anything and everything. You love water- pools, baths- you adore taking baths with Q, squealing and sliding and splashing around.  You have so much fun together.  You love yogurt painting in the tub with your sis too.  You like to turn the pages in books, but lately you also like to grab and throw them, so that is making it hard to read to you.  You love the dogs and trying to grab them, but they...not so much.  You mostly like to throw food on the ground but will occasionally eat cheerios, yogurt, grapes, cheese, pears... apple sauce pouches are your favorite and you love meat.  You like to make the elephant sound and put your arm up in the air like a trunk.

You have very sensitive skin.  At the end of July you got Hand, Foot and Mouth and had blisters ALL OVER your body and now you've developed bad eczema on your back and shoulders.  Dr. Moylan says to just "lotion him 20 times a day".

You have 9 teeth, two of those are back molars that I just noticed had come in!  You are 22lbs 3oz (66%) and 30.5inches (77%).

We had a fun little birthday party for you.  Just the family and Corpus Group friends.  It was just the right size.  You were a little clingy at first with all the people, but I didn't mind a bit.  The theme was a Fall Camping party.  We had owl and fox masks, a tent set up to play in, cider, smores, a bonfire, weenie roast, chili, caramel apples, trail mix, mac and cheese, etc. 

I love you so much my son.  I pray that you will be a Godly man and walk with the Lord all the days of your life.  I pray for your future wife, that she would know the Lord and be a blessing to you.  I pray that you would have joy and truth and wisdom in your heart as you grow and learn.