Hurricane Florence

What a weekend.  Hurricane Florence came our way but didn't do nearly the amount of damage that happened at the coast of North Carolina.  I'm just so sorry for those folks and hope the rebuilding process can start soon.  

We took most of the furniture off our porch on Friday afternoon after we got home from work.  

And put it inside.  We had run out of room in our garages so we just stuck it in the breakfast area.  

Molly Anne is way into forts these days.  Kevin started building them with her a few weeks ago and she's been obsessed.  This may be her most creative one to date haha!

We never mind a weekend at home because we aren't home during the week.  Molly Anne loves playing with all of her toys and doing random activities at home.  I used the @busytoddler instagram account to come up with two activities that she loved!  

First, use these stickers and draw a few apples and have her outline it in stickers.  

The other one is write her name in big letters then I did five post-its with each letter on it and hid them all over the first floor of our house.  She had to find the letters and put them on the letter on the banner.  Molly Anne already knows all of her letters but this was still a fun activity for her!

This boy was precious to be with!

Saturday night we went next door for dinner and to hang out.  

I went home and put them to bed and this was us leaving haha! 

We played cards against humanity and had way too much fun.  Oh and I beat Drew in ping pong so there's that. 

Sunday morning Molly Anne and I checked on the drainage system we had installed under the house on Friday.  It was dry under there so that meant it was working.  We have been having issues with groundwater and needed to get it drained to one location and pumped out so that's what we had done just in time before the storm.  

We also cleared the catch basins in front of our house so the rainwater could flow faster and easier.  

And we did a lot of this.  It was a really nice weekend together!

My brain really isn't thinking straight this morning.  Molly Anne's school is closed again today so she is at Becky's with Grady.  Becky is amazinggggg.  She kept her for me on Friday too so I could work.  Chat soon friends. 

Seven on Friday

ONE:
I hope everyone is out of Hurricane Florence's path as much as possible.  We are hunkering down here in Charlotte and expect a lot of rain.  My brother and his family evacuated to Savannah and may go further south today depending on what the storm does.  Molly Anne's school is closed today like most are in the Charlotte area.  Stay safe!

TWO: 
The most beautiful sunflower field near our house.  We missed the peak but we still loved getting to see it Tuesday after school!

THREE:
Molly Anne got her hair cut after school on Wednesday and she was so good!  All the girls in there just gawked over her haha!  She definitely hammed it up talking to them about everything under the sun.  I think it really got them when she unprompted said, "Thank you Ms. Christina, I love it and I'll see you next time"  as we left!  They all in unison said, "awwwwwwww!"   

FOUR:
My favorite iced coffee combo right now!  I'm not a huge coffee drinker but I'll have this a couple times a week!

FIVE:
A necessary girl's night with my besties! Good for the soul!

SIX:
Last week when I asked Molly Anne what she wanted to be for Halloween, she told me a Ghost.  I had no idea where this even came from.  Since when had she even heard of a ghost?  Well fast forward a couple of days and Kevin told me they had been reading a Halloween book and it had a ghost in it and that's where she got the idea.  I let it be.  Then a few days later I asked her again what she wanted to be for Halloween and she still said a ghost!  Ahh!  So I ordered this since she's obsessed with tutus and dresses.  It came in on Wednesday and she lost her mind she loves it so much!  It's 20% off right now with code HEYFALL until Sunday




SEVEN:
We've been working on being strong and tough by going into her classroom each morning and not flipping out about me leaving her there.  This transition to her new school went very smoothly for the first two weeks but now we have a little separation issue that we are working on.  Real life.  

Halloween Class Treats and Teacher Gifts

Too early for Fall and Halloween treats?!  I'm a crazy person and like to do these things EARLY!  Here are the treats I made for Molly Anne's teachers and classmates!

Teachers - I got them soap from Bath and Body works and these cute pumpkins from the Target dollar aisle - crazy!  I'm going to give them these treats on September 21st, the day before the first day of Fall (which is that Saturday)!

Children's treats - I tried to steer away from too many scary things! 

This is what's in their little cups and it's all from Dollar Tree or Target!  Cup, stickers, blank little book so they can use that for their stickers and stamp, a play-pack, glow stick and spider rings!

I also got little things for Grady's friends at Ms. Becky's which I'll share at some point!  They're from Target too, nothing fancy!

Can't believe it'll be October in a few weeks!

Grady is Four Months

Grady was 4 months on Sunday!  Here's what he's been up to!

1.  He is 17 pounds 3 ounces, wearing a size 2 diaper and size 3 at night.  Mostly wearing 9 month clothes.  He isn't a small dude!  He goes to the doctor on Friday so I'll find out his real digits then!  

2.  He is sooo smiley and happy!  He started at Ms. Becky's full time a few weeks ago and is doing well there.  Ms. Becky says he doesn't like to be put down or have her out of his sight.  I think I know where that came from haha!  That would be from me holding him 24/7 for his first 4 months of life!  We like to laugh about what I created.  He will get used to his new normal!

3.  He has been cooing, smiling and giggling this month a ton.  I think maybe his reflux is getting better?  He still gets that medicine along with a probiotic and gas drops every morning.  #highmaintenance :)



4.  He's still in physical therapy to get him moving more due to torticollis.  Hard to move that much weight yall!  He rolled over for the first time last night - tummy to back over his left shoulder.  I was so proud because we've been working really hard on this every day!  

He may be getting a band for his head in the next couple of weeks.  We'll know more later this week.  Minor in the grand scheme.  

5.  This month we went to Pawleys Island and he went on his first boat ride with his Uncle Clay!  I hope this was the first of many boat rides for these two together!



6.  He started eating bananas on Sunday and we did three days of those.  Today starts a veggie.  I need to review my old posts about feeding Molly Anne so I can be sure I'm doing it right ha!  He loved those bananas though!

7.  We start the bedtime routine about 6:15/6:30pm.  Bath, bottle, bed.  He's in the bed by 7pm.  He sleeps through the night until about 6:30/7am.  He started sleeping through the night a few days after his 3 month birthday.  He's had a couple of nights where he hasn't but that was possibly due to sleeping in a laundry room in Pawleys. ;) He slept through the night the first night in there but not the second.  Then the night we got home, since I had fed him in order to not wake the whole house at my brother's, I had to feed him again (only 1/2 bottle this time).  The third night, he woke but I didn't feed him.  Then he was back to normal and sleeping again.  

8.  Since he started sleeping, he has been so much happier during the days.  He plays a ton with those play mats where he can swat at the toys and grab onto them.  Not much else to play with at this point right?!   He isn't taking a paci very much.  I only sort of tried to get him to take one because I don't want him addicted to all of that, nor am I playing paci pong.  But honestly, he really doesn't care about it anyway.    

9.  This boy is the most hot-natured child I've ever met!  Also since he has grown so much so fast, I've basically quit buying clothes because he only wears them once and then he doesn't fit in them.  When he levels out, I may get him something other than a plain ole onesie!  At the rate we are going, he'll be a size 5T next summer!  

10.  Of course wonder-woman couldn't be left out of the pictures!  She always likes to help me pick out what he will wear and put his lion in his chair for his monthly pictures!  A look back at her 4 month update!

She is the sweetest big sister and I LOVE how she talks to him!  She gets this high pitched mama voice.  It's precious!  

Our Weekend

Little late on the weekend recap but here it goes!  

Friday started with these two...

And ended next door at the pool.  These two girls have had the best time swimming together this summer!  

When Mr. Drew brings home the big ice cream cones!  

Late night on our porch!  Good times!

The next morning was soccer and four of Molly Anne's friends are also playing at the same time this year - Gigi, Mary Scott, Emme and Levi!   I feel like she looks so grown up with her low pony!  

She played well and had fun with her new Coach.  Coach Eric!

Soccer Stars!

This boy watched from the sidelines haha!  But here he is back at home.  He's gotten so big in this bouncer! 

For dinner Saturday night we went over to the club with Kevin's parents and niece!

Grady loves his Nana!

Kevin's parents with their grandchildren!

So sweet!

Our family of 4!

On Sunday, Grady turned 4 months so we gave him some bananas and he loved them!  I used my ole trusty trick of putting the banana through the garlic press.  Works every time to create the perfect "mush" that babies can eat!  I started feeding Molly Anne at 4 months and it worked for us.  She has always been a good eater with no allergies but who knows if it was related to starting early!?!  Her pediatrician studied in New Zealand and is the one who encouraged us to start at this point with MA.  Grady has been getting 8 ounces four times a day.  I don't know that he can really take any more milk haha!  We let Molly Anne give him his first bite and she thought that was really cool!  So we'll be doing food with Grady at dinner every night now!

Mills is still very much into Molly Anne but I think Grady is growing on him!  Look at Grady checking him out!

We watched the Panthers game and grilled some filets to end the weekend!  No our TV isn't off-centered.  The mount that holds it up there allows it to be pulled down lower and twist.  Very cool! 


Hope everyone is having a good week!  I bought wayyyyy too much yesterday on the sale but I know Molly Anne and I will wear it!  It's still going on through tomorrow night!