My Little Swimmer

I'm so proud of my big boy that I don't know what to do. This little 4 year old fella decided this summer was the year he was going to try to tackle the slide and diving board at our pool. To be able to jump off or slide, you have to be able to swim the length of the pool by yourself, which is a little bit further than 25 yards. We practiced several times but he couldn't quite make it our first few practice runs. We took a break and ate our lunch to try and regain some energy and after our little break he did it two times in a row for me. The next step was getting the lifeguard to watch him do it a third time and that would obviously be the one that counted. He was so cute and went to ask if he could take the swim test all by himself and she took him to the deeper end to start his try. Cooper and I stayed in the shallow end and watched from a distance so we could cheer him on. He made it easily across the pool, granted with a combo of freestyle, doggie paddling, and controlled drowning as we like to call it, but he was so proud of himself for what he had done. He now has a fancy white band he has to wear to the pool to let the lifeguards know he can do the slide and diving board but it has definitely made several appearances around the house and on errands as well! He was a little timid initially on the diving board but watched a few bigger kids have a turn and decided it wouldn't be too scary. Now he does them both over and over and loves every second of it.

As a mom, watching him do the swim test was just a glimpse at what it will be like to be nervous, scared, and excited for your children to try something new and hopefully do so successfully. It reminded me so much of how nervous I would get watching my brother play baseball when I was little. I wanted him to get a hit and do well so badly that it almost hurt me to watch if that makes any sense at all. Watching Carter, I knew he was nervous but he was also feeling courageous enough that he'd be just fine. I wished so much I could take the nerves away and give him the confidence he needed to do it because to know your child is stressed or anxious in any way is such a hard feeling to accept! I'm sure it's the first of many times I'll have this uncomfortable feeling for him or for another little fella down the road where I want to be able to shield them and take away the uneasiness and fear of failure in trying out for a team, or taking a test, etc. but I know that's a part of growing up that will help them learn winning and doing well aren't always easy and that you can't win every time. Now if someone could just teach me and my competitive family that we'd be good to go!

Father's Day Fun

For more selfish reasons than Jamey's actual desire to spend a day at the beach, we decided to make a day trip to Wrightsville on Saturday to see what the boys thought of the sun and sand this year. After worrying with how they would do and logistically how it would work out, it really couldn't have gone any better. They had so much fun playing, both took naps on the beach, woke up happy, and to top it all off we stopped at Dockside on our way out of town for dinner, which happens to be one of our favorite places to eat! It was an awesome day together as a family, which is something we unfortunately don't get the opportunity to do very often so it was a much needed little break for all of us!


Waiting patiently on Daddy to dig a big hole.

My little tan man...I put the same sunscreen on both of them but their coloring is as different as night and day:)



Cooper was scared to stand at the edge of the water and kept saying the waves would get him if we tried to put him down but he kept asking us to take him to the "deep end", meaning out into the water past the waves!


The many faces of Carter after a nap when you ask him to smile for the camera.



I didn't get a picture of them sleeping together but they were side by side under an umbrella and out like lights once we had them settled. When Cooper woke up, he sat up and looked around for us and asked Jamey, "Daddy, me sleep?" His face was priceless as you could tell he was a little confused but felt pretty sure he'd taken a nap and wanted to make sure it was ok to get up!





Carter is quite into Star Wars these days and has decided princesses aren't so bad after all if her name is Princess Leia.
We still have our bug-catching routine every night we can so I'm thankful the daylight will be getting shorter as our bedtimes have been getting later!
I had good intentions of taking a picture once a week or so of my profile to see the baby bump grow from week to week but thus far we've failed miserably! I'm 21 weeks and feeling good and hope that continues! If I didn't feel the baby move or see my ever expanding waistline I probably wouldn't know I was pregnant so I consider myself pretty lucky at this point. I've just in the past 2 weeks started to really be able to feel movement from the outside of my stomach and Carter is so anxious to get his turn to feel him kick! I didn't realize how cute Carter would be about this pregnancy but he loves to look at my belly and tell me how big it is and has a million questions about the baby. I was taking off my scrubs from work this morning and had indentations in my stomach from where they had been tied. As soon as he saw it he asked me if the baby had toenails because it looked like he'd been scratching my tummy! As happy as I am to be 21 weeks, it's definitely a little bittersweet because it's already going at lightning speed!

Nightly Routine

Every night for the past couple weeks, we've spent our time outside catching lightning bugs for Carter and Cooper's bug cages. They love it so much and we've had so much fun watching them enjoy themselves and helping out with the catching a little here and there too! Cooper is more of a spotter and will yell to Carter when he sees one so he can come catch it for him. We've been letting them take their cages to their rooms at bedtime so they'll have a natural nightlight for a change and that's been a big hit! One thing I've learned about lightning bugs is that they're great at playing possum and Coop has learned this too. The other morning I went to get him up and asked him if they lit up for him during the night and he told me, "No Mommy, lightning bugs nap time!" It was pretty cute and fortunately for the bugs they regain their spunk when we free them from their temporary confinement!

On the prowl with their friend Keelin

This one was just a little too high...


Sad we had to call it a night and bring our bugs in

Our neighborhood pool finally opened today during daytime hours so we took advantage this morning. I wasn't able to get too many pictures since I was also trying to keep them above water solo but the ones of Coop are cute. He's getting braver every time we go and has gone from clingy and scared to independently swimming out where he can't touch and coming back on his own, with his wings of course! He's so proud of himself and will look at me and say, "Mommy, me fish!" I don't think I'll be able to get a single picture of Carter without his goggles on this year unless there is a major bribe involved. He's definitely getting more confident and independent as well - I think the slide and diving board will be popular spots for us all too soon!

All Aboard

The boys and I made a last minute trip to the mountains this week to visit my brother and his wife and to see what all the mountains had to offer. We stayed busy from the minute we got there until we left yesterday but had so much fun doing as much as we could in such a short time!


Some of their good friends own a landscaping company so their office was our first stop so the boys could have some up close action with big diggers and huge trucks. Carter was much more into it than Cooper as usual and quickly found the horn on every truck there! Coop isn't really a fan of loud noises so the air horn Carter blew over and over was probably Coop's least favorite part! He kept telling me, "Mommy, that horn hurt mine ears" as he covered them up.

Our next stop was the lake at Grandfather to check out the trampoline and swim a little. The water was cold to say the least but the boys, all three of them, didn't seem to mind! Brian was a trooper and swam with them so Sarah and I could stay warm on the beach. I thought Cooper would be much more hesitant than he was but he went right to Brian and loved every second of it as you can see!

I love how Carter is holding on to Cooper's leg in this one!
Carter's swimming lessons have really paid off thus far. He's doing great swimming with his arms as well as his legs so he gets where he's going much quicker these days. I'm sure the life jacket helped but he wasn't intimidated at all.


Carter loved jumping off the side into the water. Cooper wasn't ever that brave, maybe next year!




Cooper wanted to come back to the beach but then stood their pouting because he wanted to go back out with the big boys!
Sweet Brian quickly came to his rescue.


I wish this was clearer because it would be so sweet! My camera just doesn't zoom quite as far as it needed to unfortunately.
Brian showing off his back flip for the boys.
Yes, Cooper will be 3 in September and still sleeps in a crib. He's perfectly happy in it and as long as he's happy so are we! Containment is a luxury to me that I know is about to end but I'll enjoy it while I can for just a little longer. Having said that, he slept in a big boy bed (air mattress on the floor) at Brian and Sarah's and was quite proud of himself for doing so. I told him to call for me on the monitor instead of getting out of bed so as soon as I thought I heard Mommy, I ran right up to greet him. I guess I was listening a little too hard because he was sound asleep so I ran down to get the camera before waking sleeping beauty. I think the paci will hopefully go when he transitions to his big boy bed soon. His front teeth are definitely begging me to get rid of it by the looks of them anyway!

Our last stop before heading home was Tweetsie Railroad. They loved it all and I think we made a good choice in going the day before Thomas rolled into town! The train stops for a little cowboy and bandit skit that Carter seemed to like. This picture is when indians jumped on the train and were running through our train car so he was a little taken aback! Coop sat like a stone in my lap the whole time but kept telling me after the skit that it was a "nice train!"

Carter and Sarah took a drive in the Tweetsie cars. Carter must've been too fast for a picture from the front!
Cooper loved these cars and was determined to steer instead of me, even if that meant bumping the rails a few times!


Carter was dying to ride the "fair wheel" as he calls it so he and Brian rode together and Cooper wants to do whatever Carter does so we hopped on too. It went much faster than I thought it would and I definitely felt my stomach drop each time around but Cooper didn't seem to mind it thankfully! I'm sure the poor little guy in my stomach had something to say about the ride!

It was fun to see the boys ride things together because last year Cooper wouldn't get near any rides that I couldn't do with him. They loved the airplane and helicopter as you can see.









Coop wasn't sure what to think of the dark tunnel the mouse train took us on!

This poor little boy cried his eyes out on the boats while his whole family stood on the outside and watched, talking the whole time about how mad he was. Take him off the d*&$ ride if he's that miserable!


When I asked Carter his favorite part of our whole trip, he said it was when he lost his flip flop on the chair lift and it rode up the lift sitting on a seat by itself! He got quite the kick out of standing there with one shoe on watching his other one ride up to greet him!

As hard as it is to get two boys to look at the camera at the same time and smile, I can't imagine what it will be like to add another to the mix! I'm really just starting to show now at 18 1/2 weeks but still feel like I look like I ate too much instead of being pregnant! I'm ready for a cute pregnant belly and to be able to wear maternity clothes because I'm at the in between point when most of my regular clothes are uncomfortable but maternity things look ridiculous.

We had so much fun on our trip and can't wait to do it again next year! Thanks Brian and Sarah for an awesome time!