Lucky Girl

I know I write about Paige a lot on here, but lets face it...shes a huge part of my life!  Anyways, it amazes me how many people love my sweet girl.  Can I tell you how lucky she we all are??  She has the sweetest teachers at her school she goes to in the mornings then in the afternoon Gerri keeps her.  Once a week my mom will keep her and during the summer my mother in law keeps her some.  She is loved on by basically three grandmas, two aunts and several other friends.  If I go a day without posting a picture of her on Facebook, I always get a message asking where Paige is.  Some from close friends and some from people that have never even met her in person (but I know them of course).

 

It amazes me how people can love someone without even meeting this in person.  I know how they feel, I am the same way with other babies!   Every night when I rock her to sleep, I tell her how special she is and how thankful we all are because of all the people in our lives that love her.

When I got home today at lunch, I saw a huge box at our back door.  It was a box full of lots and lots of clothes from our friends in Florida.  We spent the weekend with them at their farm and as a thank you for Wes cooking hash and doing some work at the farm, they sent like 30 pieces of clothes.  A few weeks ago, I sent them a couple pictures I took and a thank you note for always including us when they are visiting the farm...I guess they showed me up huh?
 
I told Wes about it and he said, people really love giving her clothes...I hope she doesn't get spoiled!  I know that will stop one day because it really is fun buying cute baby clothes, but with or without the sweet gifts people always give Paige, we are so thankful for everyone that loves my girl!   Of course it isn't just the gifts, people show her love without gifts and that love is even more special of course!! I feel guilty whenever people give Paige clothes or other gifts because we can not do the same for them (whether it is Gerri, the Carey's or Grandparents, etc).  We try to give back to them but nothing compared to what they do for us.  

Does anyone else feel guilty about this?  I'm always told that if they didn't want to give Paige things, then they wouldn't.  They do it because they love her.  Maybe one day I will stop feeling guilty...or can afford to "payback" in some way! :)

That being said, Paige is defiantly a lucky girl for all the people that truly love her! :)

Surfside Beach

Paige and I had a great time at the beach last week but we were so excited to come home to Wesley!  We usually aren't away from each other long, maybe one night once or twice a year and that is it...so a week was very long!  Ok...to the beach vacation recap!
Paige, Mimi and I left on Sunday morning and stopped in Columbia to eat at Rush's and stop by Buy Buy Baby because my pump decided to stop working on me the night before vacation...ugh!  We got back on the road and had a great trip.  I was worried about Paige traveling for 4.5+ hours because she has never been in a car longer that 2.5 hours.  She was a trooper and did great! We arrived at the condo around 5 on Sunday and we unpacked and settled into our rooms.  We are very lucky that Emily has a time share and invited us for the week.  (It was me, Paige, Mimi, Gerri, Gene, Emily, Levi, Matthew and Wyatt).
We went out to eat that night for supper and some hamburger place and then went back to the condo for a swim in the pool.  I don't know about you, but I love pools!!

MONDAY
We woke up Monday morning and the forecast wasn't looking good...monsooning all day long!  So we went down the road to the Fun Warehouse so the kids could play and have some fun.  Paige loved the slide!!

sAfter we played for a while, we went across the street to Chick-fil-A and stayed there for a while until there was a slight break in the weather to get to our cars (that was the story of our lives for three days).  After lunch, it was nap time for Paige and Matthew and when they woke up we went to eat some yummy seafood finally! It was so very good...nothing much better than crab legs!  There were also mermaids swimming in the restaurant too. I don't know who liked them more, Gene or Wyatt :)  Of course we ended the night withe swimming and the hot tub!

TUESDAY
All week, we had a lot of fun just playing in the condo...Paige loves watching those wild boys playing!

Since it was still monsooning, we went to the outlets for a little shopping!  Our main stop was going to Stride Rite for some new shoes for Paige and the boys.  I got some new tennis shoes as well.  Then we went to a few more stores and ate at Olive Garden for lunch.  Paige loved it...she ate so many beans from Mimi and Emily's soup!  After lunch, we headed back for nap time again.  Mimi, Emily and the boys went to the beach for about an hour and when Paige woke up, we just went to the pool.  We ate dinner at the house that night and went back to the pool and played at the park.                       
                                  
WEDNESDAY
Paige and I were looking forward to Wednesday! Heather and Audrey came to visit and we went to the Aquarium.  It was nice to escape for a little while.  Of course it was raining still so I didn't feel bad about not going to the beach yet.  Audrey was so cute, she loved the Aquarium so much.  Paige was a little out of it from being woken up from a nap and started to liven up towards the end.  They even got their picture taken with a Mermaid!

                

Afterwards we went to lunch at Margaritaville, being at Broadway on the Beach with Heather really brought back so many wonderful college memories...my how time as changed!  Since the sun was finally coming out, the four of us headed to the beach!!  Everyone else was already there.  We only stayed for about an hour and a half so Heather could get back to Dillon.
  


Not sure how I managed to not get ONE picture of Audrey and Paige together and the beach...huge fail!  Oh well, we had a great time!  Everyone came back to the condo and we had dinner at the house and of course pool time again and played around the house until bedtime.

 

 

 

THURSDAY
We had a big day Thursday, it was the Fourth of July!  We hurried to the beach that morning and stayed about all day.  It was perfect, it wasn't hot at all, such a nice breeze which is rare for July.  The babies played so hard with their Mimi!  I think Paige ate a pound of sand! 
  
We left so Paige could take a good nap at the house so we could stay up for fireworks.  Everyone else came back around 5.  Levi grilled steaks and we ate supper, showered and headed back to the beach for the firework show.  Paige was getting a little sleepy but she made it for the whole show.  Somehow Matthew feel asleep once they started...not sure how he did!  Poor Paige was ready to get home and had a meltdown on the way back to the condo...she sure did sleep good once she stopped though.


FRIDAY
 Another beautiful day so we were going to the beach again!  My cousin Robin came over to visit and went with us to the beach.  I didn't take any pictures with her but we were so glad she came!!  We played on the beach most of the day and then headed to the condo later that afternoon.  Since Levi wasn't there the whole week, we went out for seafood again, which I was glad to do so!
                                          
We headed back to the pool and played for a long time that night.  I wish we had a pool at our house, I even told Wes we just needed a two foot pool and I would be happy...not happening!  We played with the boys for a while and I started packing up.  Everyone was staying until Sunday, but Paige and I were leaving Saturday morning so we could spend some time with Wesley and have a day to get back to normal before Monday came along!

SATURDAY

We packed up the car and headed back to the Upstate.  I think we left at the same time that everyone else in Myrtle Beach did...ugh the traffic was HORRIBLE.  It took us three hours to go about 45 miles...like I said, horrible.  I was hoping to make it to Columbia before we stopped for lunch, but Paige was starving so I drove until we got out of traffic and we stopped at a Subway for lunch outside of Aynor.  We stretched our legs for a while and then continued our drive.  Luckily the drive was wonderful after that!  We went to Edgefield instead of home because Wes was cooking hash at our friends house.  So that cut off a little of our trip.  It should have taken about 4 hours to get there...it took us SEVEN!  Ugh!  Oh well, we made it there safely and we got to see Wesbo.  I was so excited and so was he.  We stayed there until it was time for Paige to go to sleep and she slept on the way home. 

 

SUNDAY

I was so glad that we left early, it sure was nice to spend Sunday just the three of us!  We went back to the Carey's to pick up all of Wes's stuff from cooking the hash and rode around on the Kubota for a while before heading home to do the dreaded grocery shopping, unpacking and washing clothes.  Luckily I had a super cute little helper with the clothes...

We had a great time at the beach and so thankful Emily invited us!  We cant wait to go back next year!  Maybe Wes will be able to sneak away and come a day or two next year :)
 

WILW

 

I'm Loving...that I only have a few more days until Paige and I go to the beach!! We wish Wesley was going but he has to work.  We are going with his mom (Mimi) and Emily and the boys.  Gerri and Gene will also be there all week.  I haven't had a real vacation in three years...can you believe that?  Besides taking time off at Christmas of course, but I stay home those days.  Last year I was unable to take a vacation because I had to save my days for maternity leave and the year before that I went to Texas for the transplant.  So technically that was a vacation but sorta not too.

I'm Loving...  and so very thankful that I have such a happy baby..for the most part.  I picked her up from school yesterday and she had a different teacher and she couldn't get over how happy Paige is.  She said her baby basically cried the first 8 months of her life.  I couldn't imagine!

I'm Loving... Paige's wagon.  Well, I really have a love hate relationship with it.  Paige loves riding in it and I have to admit, it is pretty cute and I cant wait to see Paige and Matthew riding in it next week at the beach condo!  You know how I said I am so thankful for such a happy baby for the most part...well if Paige sees the wagon and she cant get to it....she is not happy at all!!  This is how she had to eat last night because she saw the wagon in the dining room:

 

I'm Loving... I get to see Robin next week!  She is one of my favorite cousins and since she lives in Florence we will be close to her while we are at the beach.  So she is coming to play with us on Friday!  Cant wait to see her...its been since November.  Heather and Audrey are also coming to visit while we are there and I think we are going to the aquarium...cant wait!

I'm Loving... this weather! It has warmed up but still not as hot as it was last summer..maybe it is because I am not pregnant, but I swear it was like 100 degrees every day last year.  This year we have had a lot of rain so it has kept the temps down thank goodness!

I'm Loving... my family!  Paige and I will miss Wes/Daddy next week so much.  We hope that he finds time to come stay a night towards the end of the week.  We have made a lot of progress with Paige not crying when Wes holds her and I think a week away from him will really mess that up.  Anyways, I love those two so much and so thankful for them!