20 Months

Crawford-- you are such a joy! Every day I wake up and just can't wait to see your happy face! You love playing and you are on the go at all times. When you snuggle with us at night before bedtime it just melts my heart and we just can't get enough of you! Below are some highlights from this past month:

 You always walk me to my car when I am going back to work and you wave and blow kisses!

You love the gas pump that goes with your cozy coupe and when we ask you to go pump some gas you know exactly what to do!

turned a boring oil change to a fun adventure in the parking lot!

Playing with daddy!

Aunt Alexis and Aunt Jenny came to visit and we went downtown to the farmers market.

You caught a foul ball and the Drive baseball game and  you tried to throw it back and got a good laugh out of the crowd when you launched in on the top of the dugout

You love love downtown. We take you on walks and you love playing in all the fountains. This was your first time at the "splash pad" type falls and you had a ball putting your foot over the spickets and we would laugh when it would get you in the face. You kept running back for more.

We went to visit Aunt Brittany and Hailey in Chalotte. We spent the day at Birkdale and played in the splash pad, took a walk, and got yogurt. I can't wait for you to chase your little girlfriend around!
You are trying to give her a kiss in this picture!

You are at the age where you love love putting on our shoes. You will try for 10 minutes to get them on and then you start cruising all over the house in them.

We often take you to the different parks around Greenville and you run around like a wild animal. You will fly down the slides and chase the big kids and you always have a ball!

 We took you for your first dental visit and it went much better than we expected! You sat in my lap and laid your little head back while she polished up your teeth. You got a toy at the end and you had so much fun playing in the waiting room that you didn't want to leave!

20 Month Stats:
Weight- 25.5 pounds
Height - 33 inches
Diapers- Size 4
Clothing -- size 24 months and 18-24 months (though these are getting too short!)
Shoes- size 6

• Sleep- You had an interesting month of sleep. You went through a 2 week phase of waking up at 4 am almost every other night and then would come in our bed and sleep till 8 am. If you didn't wake up in the middle of the night it seems like you were up by 7 am which is early for you. We usually have you to sleep by 9 pm and you don't protest bedtime just waking up for some odd reason. We think it has passed! You don't like naps much and we can usually only get you to sleep for about an hour so definitely some sleep habit changes for our normally great sleeper!
• Eating-- well you are a very inconsistent eater. Some days you will eat anything we put in front of you (even salad!) other days you will eat some fruit and a piece of bread. You like all fruit and your slice of bread, pizza, and chicken and other than that you are very hit and miss.
• You love outside and will run to the door multiple times a day trying to get out (when we were visiting Brittany you opened her garage door, got down the stairs, and ran to the backyard and she lives on a lake so we went sprinting when we figured out that you got out!)
• You say a few new words- juice, ice, duck, yes (essss) and your very favorite word a tie between nooo and nana
• You are obsessed with nana (could it be that she gives you cookies, ice cream, and milkshakes on a daily basis?!)  You wake up asking for her and anytime I ask you who we are going to see you say "nanaaaa" Of course nana goes with "bom-paw" and you absoultely love him and how much times he spends loving on you!
• You discovered how to you the sprayer on the hose and love going outside to play with the hose.
• You have gotten to play in several bounce houses of all different sizes and you are obsessed  you can climb to the top of the big ones and fly down the slides
• You still grab our finger and want to take us everywhere to show us what you want
• You know the difference between all sorts of animals--sea animals and the normal farm animals and most animal sounds.
• You had your second hair cut this past month
• You are obseeeeessed with Mickey and literally zone everything else out when it is on. We can't wait to take you back to Disney!

You start mother's morning out next month and I can't wait to watch you make friends and continue to make us laugh with all the new words you say and the adorable things you do! We love being your parents and we are so thankful for all the happiness and joy you brings to our lives.

Hilton Head 2012

 We had some time off around the 4th of July and thought it would be nice to get away to the beach for a few days. We really had NO idea how Crawford would do. I was imagining him taking off once we got to the beach and running the length of the coast never stopping for a minute. Well he did SO much better than I could have ever imagined. He absolutely looooved the beach. He loved the sand, the water, playing with is buckets, sinking in the sand and really wanted nothing to do with the pool. We stayed at the Omni hotel in Palmetto Dunes. Cathleen was down there with some friends and spent some time with us too.

 He liked the pool enough to jump in off the edge and be thrown up in the air and then he wanted to run in cirlces around the pool

 He loved his buckets and sand and would sit there for an hour at time just playing.

I had to attempt to get some cute beach pictures of him early in the morning but chasing a busy toddler trying to get him to look at us for pictures didn't happen.

 It was so so hot but we would just keep reapplying sunscreen to C and he would usually last 2 hours at time before needing a nap.

 We worked on dunking him and teaching how to kick his feet and float...obviously didn't accomplish too much but it was fun to try to work with him on his water skills

 He kept wanting to go farther and farther out in the water with Brad.

We found a restaurant in HH that neither of us had ever eaten at and ended up loving it and wanting it every day. It was the Black Marlin and it was right on the water--they had the most amazing boiled shrimp and it was a loud great place to take C.

 This is what happens when we try to take family photos....C wants down

 This is when C discovered that quick sand exists. His feet kept sinking and he didn't know what to do --it was hilarious to watch

 Taking a break in his beach chair

 This is how he spent most of his time at the beach.

Craw- we can't wait to experience many more beach vacays with you! You were such a delight and we know you will just love the beach!

18-19 months

 I always wanted to make sure I was documenting Crawford's life and of course here is has been 2 months without me updating. He is such a hoot and we constantly are laughing at him. He loves to run, run, and get into trouble. He has more energy and desire to explore than anything right now. He doesn't like sitting still (being in a high chair, stroller etc) He spent a week of June at Christ Episcopal summer camp while Brad's parents were away. I had to get used to packing lunch, outfit changes and it made me sooo grateful for all the the Redds do for us on a daily basis. His first day he went right in and didn't even bat an eye when I left. I got a call around 2:00 and of course I was so nervous about what could be wrong. They told me that Crawford had been bit by another kid. Obviously kids at this age don't really know what they are doing but it will go down as a great first memory of his first day at school.

Here he is with the other kids in his class stroller around campus. They always told me he did great and just always wanted to be busy playing. He had to sleep on a nap mat which of course I thought would be a nightmare but I walked in one day and there he was peaceful as could be on his nap  mat.

 Thank goodness he likes pouches again (since it's the only way we can get him to eat any veggies)

Brad has really loved watching C take to the golf clubs. I am sure he will have him outside next spring really attempting to teach him his favorite sport.

It's so cute to see your child with a bunch of other kids his age and to know that he is learning the very beginnings of socializing. I think he had a ball every day. Whenever I would pick him up he didn't want to leave.

He lovvvves being outside. He tries to get out first thing in the morning. He would much rather play in the front yard but that usually results in him running all the way up the street. We have tried to get him used to bringing his toys out back and playing in the backyard.

18-19 month Stats

• Weight- 25.8 pounds (25%)
• Height- 32 inches (75%)
• You say - mama, dada, nana, bom-pa (grandpa), yes, no, hot, dog, ice
• You now can really answer us if we say "you wanna go night night?" you will shake your head no or respond with no. It's hilarious. That is why we taught you to say yes but you can't use it quite as well as no
• You want to take our hand and bring us all over the house all.day.long
• You are such a help when we ask you to throw something in the trash, bring us a diaper, help us unload the dishwasher or the washing machine you are such a great help. You know exactly what to do.
• You love to play chase and always want someone to chase you ...when you find us or see us you laugh anad then turn and go the other way
• You are so sweet and will randomly come up to us and give us kisses.
• You are so outgoing and wave to everyone when we get places and then usually blow them kisses.
• You had your first dental visit  at 19 months. You had a little build up on your teeth that we didn't like and Dr. Jones suggested we take you to a dentist and with the quick spin of the polishing toothbrush your teeth looked great again. You did wonderful at the dentist. You kinda whined at first and then started giggling when they brushed your teeth
• You know lots of animal sounds (chicken, horse, sheep, snake, cow, cat, dog, lion, tiger, pig, duck, frog)
• You are still quite the picky eater. I can't even really say what you will always eat on a consistent basis other than fruit and plain bread
• Nana spoils you rotten and gives you lots of ice cream (you go straight to the freezer in the morning and say "ice" --and then you ask for nana all day long ---guess that's what nana's are for
• You still sleep wonderfully from about 8:30-9 - 7:30-8:30
• You wear a size 4 diaper
• You wear 18-24 month clothing and 24 month- 2t sleepers
• You are still attached to your fingers and blankies and can't go anywhere without both

I get sad when I don't see you enough or if you aren't awake before I leave for work. I constantly want to come in take a peek because I just can't get enough of you. You make us both so happy and we are sooo very proud of the happy, healthy little boy that you are. We always laugh because we can't even take you to the grocery store because you are just soo busy and can't sit  still but soon enough you will want nothing to do with us so for now we cherish the time we spend with you cuddling on the couch and running around chasing you. I can't believe you are one step closer to 2. You have gotten to enjoy a beach trip this month and we just can't wait to take you on so many more adventures in the years to come. You head back to one more week of camp next week and I will miss not seeing you all.day.long!

4th of July

The Bramhalls invited us over for the 4th and I attempted to make the cliche flag cake. It truthfully turned out better than I expected. The 3 kids had a ball chasing each other around. It was so so hot this day. Camille cut some watermelon and the kids went to town. I have never seen Craw eat watermelon so fast. He was a mess but he loved every second of it.

 We let them run around and play outside until we had to go back inside because it was just too hot.

We ate a lot of delish 4th food--grilled chicken, potato salad, baked beans, and fun 4th desserts.

When it got dark Chris and his neighbors headed out to shoot off gobbles of fireworks. We weren't sure how C would do. Poor little guy was shaking the whole time--he was definitely scared and we didn't last too long. It was a fun evening and just how I remember July 4th growing up...lots of good food, friends, and fireworks in the cul-de-sac with neighbors--we hope for many more fun times in the years to come.

Boston--girl's trip

 We were excited to get the day started. We headed to our hotel, the Colenade. We headed up to the rooftop pool before heading out for happy hour at Sonsie.

 We had a great sushi dinner at Red Lantern before heading to Harvard Square to meet up with some of Alexis's boyfriend's brother's friends. (wow a mouthful). They showed us around Boston and we laughed a good bit at people telling us we had southern accents.

 We woke up Friday and headed out to the duck tour of Boston. They usually let the children drive the boat but somehow Jenny took the captain's seat and look how excited she was!

After our tour we got ready for lunch on Newbury Street at Cafeteria. Then Matt (Alexis' boy) picked us up and took us out to Cambridge to see Harvard. I was waiting for these big welcome gates that said "Welcome to Harvard." Apparently that doesn't exist. So we saw their lucky charm and took some pictures and walked around cambridge for a bit.

Got ready for dinner round 2. We met up with Matt and Tom (who we met in Miami at Alison's bach weekend) and they took us to the liberty hotel for dinner at Scampo.

We woke up early Saturday to head out to Glosta (Gloucester -about 45 min from Boston) --where Matt lives. We got boat ready and took his boat out to check out the greasy pole fest. An italian tradition where italians try to walk this greased up pole about 10 feet in the air and try to grab a flag at the end of the pole. It was a hoot. We were supposed to get lobsters but Matt forgot to put the traps out so no lobsters while in Glosta : (

We stayed out on the water mingling with some of Matt's family before heading in and getting ready for Captain Carlos--the local beachy hangout spot.

The girls and I took a getaway up to Boston. We loved the city and had a great time touring around and hitting all the hot spots we had read about!

Cinco de Mayo

Brittany and David had us up for Cinco de Mayo weekend. We started the trip off with a charity 5K in their neighborhood. It was a tough one and I tried my  best to keep up with David and Alexis and finished at 26:30 (which is much faster than my normal pace) -so thanks to them for being so motivating. Britt ran with the stroller and did amazing. We all felt so good getting a workout in.

We could't wait to get out on the water. David took us for nice cruise on the lake and the boys and Alexis wakeboarded.

Pardon Crawford's pink lifejacket. He had an absolute ball on the water. Last year the vest swallowed him and he was pretty content but this year he LOVED it. He wanted to walk around, drive, the boat, and was in awe of the wakeboarders.

Hailey even joined of for a bit and was an angel on the boat.

We decided to warm up in the hot tub after the boat ride since it's still a bit cool out on the water.

It was soo great being with Britt and Alexis and we always have such a great time at Britt's house!

I love that we now have our own kids to bring on the boat.

I mean Craw just had a ball at the Dixons, boats, hot tubs, dogs, swings...he was in heaven

 We all got cleaned up and ready for the Dixon's Cinco de Mayo party. Everyone brought over sides to share and it was a great party.

 I mean I would die if that was my backyard---it's just beautiful up there!

I guess I forgot to post this. We had a great weekend with the Dixons and hope we can enjoy many more fun lake getaways at their house. Thanks for having us!