Thanksgiving Break 2016

This past week we had the week off for Thanksgiving break. On Friday after work TOmmy, Emma, Cooper and I drove up to my parents house in Litchfield. This year we were going to be going back and forth between Litchfield and Isle of Palms where Tommy's family (Blackwell side of the family) would be staying. Since we spent last Thanksgiving with Tommy's family as well we wanted to be able to see my "extended" family this year even if it wasn't for Thanksgiving dinner so we traveled between the two.

We got in late Friday night to my parents house and spent time there until Sunday lunchtime. Everyone in my family was at my parents by late Saturday night. Claire, mom, dad, and nana got in Friday as well. The Willis got in mid day Saturday and James got in Saturday night. We went out to dinner at Marshview landing Saturday which was great! We tried to go over Labor Day but the wait was too long. It's your typical seafood basket type of restaurant. We had a great time!

Then we headed to Isle of Palms on Sunday at lunchtime (during nap time). We had family photos with a photographer booked for Sunday afternoon on the beach and at sunset in the marsh area. Marsha is a wonderful cook and spoiled us rotten with her fabulous food the whole week in Charleston. Monday I went to the outlets with Aunt Ginny and Ashley (Tommy's family from Houston) while Tommy stayed home with Emma and got some work done. Tuesday the boys golfed and the ladies went out to brunch. Emma was not in the greatest of moods that morning (after waking up at 5am SCREAMING) and took a 2.5 hour nap (momma took a nap too. I was tired from that early wake up call as well) and come to find out she had a TOOTH. Now all her fussiness and lack of eating/sleeping finally made sense. Boy teething hits like a brick wall and our sweet happy baby was not so happy (and also wouldn't go to anyone but mom. Again one tired momma). Wednesday we just relaxed in the morning.

We stayed in Charleston til Wednesday at lunchtime when we headed back to Litchfield. Everyone we go to the beach with was in town by Wednesday and my parents hosted a taco bar dinner (Balfours, Abernathy's, Stribos', my family, and Mark Phillip). We were spread all throughout the house to eat. It was great to see everyone! Many of them hadn't met Emma yet so I was glad we could bring her back for everyone to meet. After dinner, Neal Abernathy got a bonfire going on the beach. I hadn't seen Whitney and Andrew since Ben's wedding last October!

Thanksgiving morning we all take a nice long walk on the beach with the dogs then go back to my parents house for pumpkin pancakes and bacon for breakfast. (The Trader Joe's pumpkin pancakes are the BEST) We relaxed the rest of the morning at my parents before we set out again at naptime to head back to Charleston for Thanksgiving Dinner.

We had quite the feast for Thanksgiving. My favorite is always the dressing! We put the two tables together so we could all be sitting at the same table for dinner. Emma wasn't exactly in the best mood so I scarfed my food down and walked around with her while everyone finished eating. The boys fried up two turkeys that Uncle Floyd had brought from Houston. They were yummy! We all were pretty tired after such a big meal that we started fading pretty fast!

Friday morning Floyd, Tommy, Emma, the two dogs, and myself went for a nice long walk on the beach. Emma was out of sorts so I was glad I was going to get her two naps in her bed that day. The whole family minus myself, Emma and Floyd went out for lunch at Shem Creek. I didn't want to mess with naptime so I stayed back and started the Gilmore Girls new Netflix Original series (LOVE). At 2pm, Marsha/Courtney/Floyd's cousin Lynn and her whole family came over to the house. They too were getting family photos done on the beach and gathered at our house to visit for a bit before they went to the beach. We stayed and said our hellos and once they left for pictures we hit the road back to my parents for the weekend.

Friday night my parents and Nana stayed back at the house with the babies sleeping so that Bonnie, Brett, Tommy and I could go out to dinner (Thank you!). We went to Quigley's which is a pub like restaurant that my mom recommended. We had a few drinks and just hung out. Was nice to have a more relaxed meal without any upset babies. We came home and played bananagrams with my parents, nana, and Mark before hitting the hay.

Saturday we started the day with a nice long walk on the beach followed by shopping at the Hammock shops (the boys were watching football) and then the Stribos' made chili for everyone to eat during halftime of the UGA game. More football was watched and time spent soaking up the last little bit of beach time before the week was over. Saturday night we had a leftover night to try and clean out the fridge followed by another bonfire with everyone by the beach. Our crowd had dwindled a bit as James, Claire, Ben, Emily, and Tyler all left before we got back on Friday. Mark left Saturday morning.

We had a great week spent with both our families. I always look forward to the week of Thanksgiving at the beach. It's my favorite place to unwind and enjoy quality family time. It always goes by way too quickly. Even with a teething baby and early wake ups I couldn't have asked for a better week. Counting down the days until Christmas break where I get to get two weeks with Emma. Family is so important and we took advantage of every minute we had with each of our families this week. Oh how I love the holiday season!

Now BRING ON CHRISTMAS!

Weekend Recap (Sick and Football edition)

This past week Tommy was away in Chicago for work and blow me down Emma ends up sick for the first time. She started getting a cough on Tuesday night and by Wednesday it was getting worse. I kept her home Thursday hoping some good sleep and mom would make her feel better but she just seemed to be getting worse. Friday she had a low grade fever and was very fussy so I took her to the pediatrician and sure enough she had a double ear infection (poor girl has it coming from both sides of the family. Both Tommy and I had terrible ears as kids and both got tubes). So we quarantined and started on amoxicillin. 

Saturday, Tommy and I had made plans with a bunch of our friends to ride a bus to Athens to go to the UGA vs. Auburn game and I wasn't sure if we should still go or not with how she was feeling but she seemed fine Saturday morning so my parents graciously still offered to keep her for the day and night so we could go. She was pretty good for them minus the 5-7pm witching hour (which is pretty typical with non-sick Emma these days).

Saturday we had a great time with our friends tailgating at Fiji and riding the bus for Caroline's birthday. We had great tickets to the game as well. It was a great day to be a Georgia Bulldog. Not a great day to be an Auburn Tiger. Tommy and I enjoyed the day together with our friends. 

 I got up early and went to pick Emma up from my parents. Well by Sunday mid-morning Emma was a mess once I had gotten her home. I think her ears must have been really hurting her because she just cried and cried and didn't want to sleep. She took all her naps on me that day. I called the nurse line at the pediatrician and they said to give her baby ibuprofen to help with the pain and if she wasn't better by Monday to come back in. I stayed on Monday with her because I just didn't feel right sending her to daycare with how pitiful she was on Sunday. Monday she seemed to be feeling MUCH better and took two great naps (in her crib!). The mornings are still rough because she is SO congested from overnight but she is eating well and had a good day Tuesday at daycare. There is nothing worse than seeing your child sick and not being able to make it better. She is on the up and up and I'm hoping she's fully recovered by the time we get to the beach Friday night. Her teachers at school said that 6 of the babies had ear infections this past week so it was definitely something going around. Poor things!

We also had her 6 month well-visit yesterday afternoon and she was in great spirits by then. She passed her vision screening with perfection. And I've updated her stats on her six month update HERE.