We had a great week at Ocean Isle Beach again this year! Thanks to Mom and Dad for We all enjoyed lazy days, sunshine, waves, sand, good food and the company of family for the week. Our days this year were pretty low-key with most of our time spent at the beach house when we weren’t at the beach. I wasn’t feeling very well the first couple of days, so that along with getting up and feeding Reid during the night I wasn’t really in a hurry to get up and get out of the house each day. My favorite part, as usual, is getting up in the morning with no where to go and enjoying having coffee along with baby Reid snuggles. That and watching Griffin have so much fun playing with his cousins and making frequent stops to give Reid hugs or snuggles. Griffin got up much earlier than normal (6:45 or 7 am most days) as he heard his cousins playing and didn’t want to miss out on the fun! On the weekdays Kevin had work calls in the mornings which worked out well as he had our room for work while everyone was downstairs. The water was warm this year and a couple of days we had perfect beach time at low tide when little wave pools formed. One day the kids were even able to catch fish that were in the small pools. And a fellow beach goer was stocking the pool with more of the same fish he was catching in nets. The kiddos thought it was so neat. And note: several photos throughout are taken by Amy, they are the crisp, clear, and bright ones 🙂
This year when we were packing we told Griffin he could fill up a shopping bag with toys or stuffed animals to take. His choices included mostly balls (football, soccer ball, soft baseball) and lovies so he could tell the Jack and the Beanstalk story at bedtime with Daddy and have an animal for each of the characters. This is something they do each night before bedtime!
Mom and Dad bought each of the grandkids a container for their seashell collections this year. On Friday evening they packed up their shells into their containers along with a cool star fish and sand dollar that they gave each grandkid as well. They all thought it was pretty neat!
Reid spent all of his time under the umbrella at the beach and even so got a bit of sun one day on his nose and below his eyes or above his mouth. I’m not sure how, perhaps the walk to the beach or from reflection while we were there. He was otherwise mostly content other than when he became hungry!
This week Reid definitely discovered his hands are connected to his body! Now he regularly puts them in his mouth and sucks on them or slobbers them up! Especially if he wakes up and doesn’t have his pacifier. He seems to be watching his hands a lot more and he makes cute facial expressions as he’s trying to figure out what his hands are doing.His hair is also thinning on both sides as is evident by looking at his crib sheet! Though he’s also gotten a shower and had his hair washed every day this week after we were at the beach. Deluxe treatment here! He was an absolute champ in the car on our travel days, sleeping almost the entire time other than waking to eat or being happily awake once we got back on the road after he was fed. He was also enjoying his crinkle book and kept reaching to touch it. 
On our last day at the beach Griffin and Kevin were out enjoying the low-tide wave pools. They had been out there for awhile and all of a sudden Kevin is walking up the beach carrying Griffin who was really crying. He’s typically a pretty tough kid who doesn’t cry much (other than when he’s having a fit or whining, but not typically when he gets hurt). He was crying and screaming that his leg hurt. As it turns out we think he was stung or swiped by a jelly fish. He had two or three long welts blow up on his ankle. We rinsed it off with bottled water, then rinsed it off back at the ocean with ocean water and he rested for a few minutes. But probably less than 10 minutes from when it happened he wanted to head back for more fun. We’re so thankful it wasn’t severe!
Though it’s hard to tell here, this was my view on our last day at the beach. I’m holding Reid and Kevin and Finn are down near the water building “magic giant lake”. It was so nice to watch them having some good old father and son time just playing together at the beach. 
For our dinner night this year we grilled out hamburgers and hot dogs and had a strawberry-mango salad, and a cold grain salad too. For dessert the kids enjoyed their chocolate dipped and decorated ice cream cones (our activity from earlier in the day) with their choice of ice cream inside. 
When I was changing out Reid’s newborn-3 month clothes for the 3-6 month options I discovered Griffin’s Ocean Isle Beach onesie from four years ago. It fit Reid perfectly on our trip :). 
Getting some good air here at 10 weeks old!
Mom and Dad treated all of us to a couple of deluxe breakfasts complete with pancakes, eggs, and bacon. Yummers!
One afternoon Kevin and Griffin joined the Bethune’s at the local Arcade. They had a great time and even got a sweet treat. No surprise there!
This picture makes me giggle. Reid is sleepy tired and has popped is pacifier out. Dad is working on his computer and reading articles. Just a typical day at the beach house!
For our annual dinner night out we tried out a new restaurant this year. While we were waiting for our food Griffin came over to me and said he wanted to snuggle. A couple of minutes later I realized he wasn’t really moving and sure enough he had fallen asleep! I’m not sure that has ever happened before! The beach clearly does him in as he is constantly on the go. We’ve also given up naps for the most part so he is pretty beat by the end of the day!
Amy was gracious yet again and took our family photos at the beach after family dinner night. It was SUPER windy. So much so that I had to put my hair back and even then it was flying in my face! We’re grateful that she was able to capture our family of four and some cute ones of just Reid at the beach. This was his first time getting his toes in the ocean!
And here are some of my pics and others that Andy took during our photo session, the out takes so to speak!
The kids always enjoy playing with Grandma and Grandpa at the beach. This year they were all good ages to use the surf boards too as they learned to catch a wave and ride it in.
Our road trip back was much longer than our trip down. We had more stops for various reasons but in the end it was a safe trip and for that we are thankful! Reid did well with diaper changes and feedings in the car. 
Sunday morning we slept in and played catch up at home. Kevin mowed the lawn while I did laundry and various other things. Sunday evening we headed to the Sundays on the Scioto concert series in Dublin and watched Six Appeal, an acapella group that is really great. It was fun!
Our happy baby boy continues to grow at a fast pace! He is really beginning to hold on to things with his hands and is smiling much more in response to being talked to. He has started to go longer between feedings at night, sometimes 5 or 6 hours! I’m trying to pay more attention to his feeding pattern and get somewhat of a schedule started for when I return to work in another month or so. I have started pumping to build up a supply for when I do go back to work so I typically do that in the middle of the night. I have a pretty good routine where he wakes up and I feed him, once I change him I put him propped upright and nuzzled in my curved body pillow while I pump. He falls asleep really easily and after I’m finished putting the milk in the garage freezer and cleaning the bottles I move him to his bed. Easy peasy. Though I’m still usually up about an hour by the time I do all of that and get my mind back to sleep mode. Reid is also beginning to talk a lot more with cooing and baby noises.
Those cheeks! People often remark on Reid’s chubby cheeks. He was born with them and they aren’t going anywhere! Seems as though I had a chubby face when I was a babe. Below are some photos of me with my Grandma Kirk, my sister, and my sister and cousins Missy and Rob.
This was a great week for Griffin as he attended Vacation Bible School at our church! This was the first year he was old enough to go and he was so excited! The theme was Wildwood Forest and the church was transformed into such a cool place with trees and tents and outdoorsy things everywhere! It was each day of the week from 9-noon and he had so much fun! Each day they collected donations based on a theme (breakfast, dinner, baby supplies) so when he would get home we would set aside the next days donations and talk about them. He really loved that part. My sister Amy was asked to take photos throughout the week so we benefited from her taking many great shots! And his dino-spikes hair do was for crazy hair day 🙂
And on Sunday some children that attended VBS led off the church service by singing a few songs they learned throughout the week. Griffin was so shy! Turns out he had a breakfast cookie still in his hands when he went up in front (bad Mom, I should have made sure he finished it or asked him to give it to me!). He was so self conscious of using his hands for the motions while he was holding the cookie. I was sitting in the second row and trying to tell him to put it on the stage – but he was nervous to do that as toward the end of the school year the children were told they were no longer able to play in the worship room after school since the staff had discovered food and drinks on the piano and stage area. He was worried if he put the cookie down that he or someone would step on it and make a mess :(. Despite him not doing many of the motions and having a concerned look on his face, if you ask him if he enjoyed it he says yes! And when I asked him his favorite part of the day at the end of the night his reply was being up on stage at church and singing his songs. 
Here I was trying to get a photo of both of their plain faces (no smiles) for comparison!
And here are a few others from our week. Sleepyheads, some patio water fun, Brutus always trying to insert himself for attention, Graeter’s, me trying to catch up on many previous weeks of blog posts, baseball, minions, etc.
On Saturday Mom came down and treated the girls to our annual pre-beach vacation pedicure. This was Greta’s first year joining us and we tried out a new place in Powell that was great! Thanks, Mom!
Sunday after church we headed to Jim and Pat’s for a short visit. They had their new countertops installed this week in their kitchen and bathrooms and it looks fabulous! Reid was also able to meet Uncle Brett, Aunt Missy, Aunt Cookie and cousin Pierce for the first time. 
I occasionally need to go into work for meetings and it’s becoming more difficult to take Reid with me so this week he had his first bottle, given to him by Griffin at the start! As it turns out it took Reid about 3 hours to drink 3 ounces (with several attempts throughout that time). He wasn’t overly frustrated but he wasn’t latching to the nipple of the bottle. So as I tried to feed it to him I had the revelation that I should try the brand of bottle that is the same brand as is pacifier (MAM) as the bottles I began with were what Finn used (Playtex) and were the same style as the pacifier that Reid does NOT like to use and spits out. So a quick trip to Target (which failed as they carry the MAM pacifier but not bottles) and then on to Babies are Us was in order. His next bottle he downed 2 ounces in 5 minutes! Whew, crisis averted! I was pretty stressed as I had a 4 hour work commitment the next day and I was freaking out about what I would do with Reid since I was leading and participating in a company wide meeting! 
Reid’s closet is now almost complete! Kevin did a wonderful job building the drawer unit and updating the shelves and rods. We will need to get drawer faces for the front of the drawers (the top drawer is the changing table and then will transition to a drawer once we no longer need a changing table) and add clothes to the closet and we will be done. Yay!
One day I asked Griffin to go get dressed and he returned wearing this – complete with a belt. This was his first time ever wearing a belt and he was so proud that he put it on a “fastened” it himself. 
Oatmeal raisin cookies have been a weakness of mine! And here Finn is dropping them on the cookie sheet!
And Brutus threw up a bit of stinky bile while in his crate this week and was in need of a bath, big time. He has the most unique coat – it’s so wiry and thick hair, but doesn’t retain water at all and he is dry very quickly. He is not really a fan of water very much!
Griffin loves to help dress Reid after he chooses his outfit for him. 
Brutus loves to be where we are at all times. Matter of fact if you leave him inside and not in his crate he often scratches at the doors (which has added yet more to my “to do” list of projects, now I get to repair the door frames!). He is getting to be a big boy, not just in height, but he is really filling out. His tail remains a strong weapon. Here he’s watching Grandpa, Finn, and Kevin play hockey in the driveway. 
Amy and I met at the new IKEA this week with the kiddos. It was a pretty busy place and I was able to get the bins to organize our new loft playspace. 
Friday when Kevin got home from work we decided to call my parents to see if they were up for visitors. It’s their annual hosta sale which we normally try to be there for so we quickly packed up our things (one small suitcase for the four of us!) and the dogs and headed north. We picked up pizza for ourselves (which I ordered from the incorrect location, ugh!) and then later Finn, Mom, Reid and I went to Whit’s for some frozen custard. Finn got the “dirty worm” kids sundae and I had the grasshopper (mint swirls and chocolate pieces in vanilla custard) and mom got her traditional half and half.
Sunday after church we picked blueberries at Blueberry Valley. We got about 5 and a half pounds in not too much time. I forgot to pack the baby carrier so I ended up holding Reid and not really helping pick too much, oops! But we all had a good time (other than when Finn got upset that I took his bucket without asking him and he gave me the rolled eyes look and a bit of sass). He even found a toad and picked it up. 
We are so proud of Finn for having the courage to walk from our car to the farm stand at the blueberry farm all by himself and purchase a half dozen ears of sweet corn! He and Kevin had already gotten peaches and blackberries when we decided we wanted sweet corn too. So Kevin gave him money and he had to go talk with the lady and take care of the whole transaction. He did great and was really proud of himself on the walk back to our car.
Later on Sunday evening we joined the Bethune’s and met up with the Eilerman’s for our first Sunday on the Scioto concert of this summer. We enjoyed our regular Jimmy John’s on a picnic blanket and also took our fresh blueberries to share 🙂
This weeks Brutus destruction includes Lily’s collar which he chewed through WHILE she was wearing it! Ugh, this boy! 
And we were treated to batches of cookies this week compliments of Debbie and Griffin. Chocolate chip and peanut butter batches were made on a rainy indoor kind of day! It’s kind of dangerous for me to be home with all these sweet treats, quite honestly. I’ve lost all self control!
