It’s very strange to look back at the pictures I took during the first two weeks of August. We were just going along doing our normal daily activities and then BAM…we had a baby way earlier than we were expecting. Looking back at these pictures, we had no idea how quickly life was about to change. We thought we had several more weeks of life with 2 kids, but in reality, we didn’t. These were our last couple of weeks of “normal life”, and we had no idea at all. Pretty surreal!
We started off the month with a bang (literally…haha). Brooklyn has a bad habit of running without looking where she’s going, and on August 1st, it ended with a goose egg on her forehead. She ran straight into the tall speaker by the TV…ouch. It was amazing how fast it swelled up—it only took a matter of minutes. But, it was equally amazing how much better it looked the next morning. The swelling had gone down completely, and it was just a bruise at that point. Our bodies are pretty amazing! Thankfully, she was fine after shedding a few tears. I know that hurt!
Most people that know me well know that I LOVE shopping at Publix. You just can’t beat their customer service. But lately it’s seemed like their BOGO deals and coupons haven’t been as great as they used to be. So, in August I decided to try shopping at Kroger for groceries instead. Brooklyn loved their kid-sized shopping carts! It was interesting the first time I let her push her own cart. I think she ran into me several times and almost ran into other people too. We worked on her “cart etiquette” though and by the end of it, she was navigating pretty well! She even unloaded all the groceries from her cart onto the belt for me when it was time to check out :)
Savannah wanted to push her own cart too, but I wasn’t brave enough for that ;) We’ll try it eventually I’m sure!
One of the downsides of living farther away from church is that there’s a greater likelihood of Brooklyn falling asleep on the way if she didn’t get a nap that afternoon. Her head resting on my Bible was cracking me up! Waking her up after a short nap in the car = not so funny ;)
August 3rd – Brooklyn finished this coloring sheet at home that she started in Bible class. I was so impressed! This was the first time she’d finished a coloring sheet and stayed in the lines so well.
We made a quick trip down to Trussville on August 3rd and spent the night at Paw and Rae Rae’s house. Then, Travis and I got up really early the next morning to drive over to the Atlanta area to look at some minivans. I had been searching the Internet for the last several weeks looking for good deals, and we’d narrowed our search down to several near Atlanta that we wanted to go see. Thankfully, the first place we went was the winner! This van was at Toyota of McDonough (south of Atlanta), and it was the one we were most interested in anyway. They had just gotten it in earlier in the week and didn’t even have it washed and vacuumed yet, but we were able to test drive it anyway. It needed a few minor repairs (including a recall on one of the sliding doors), so we weren’t able to drive it back that day. But, it was still exciting to finally buy one after weeks of looking around!
Glad to finally have a vehicle that would fit our whole family!
Painting on the balcony is always a fun and messy time!
The girls went through a phase in August where they loved playing with laundry baskets. They enjoyed pretending that one of them was a baby and the basket was their crib :)
August 8th – our last morning of swimming at the pool for the summer! (I had anticipated us swimming even in September, but that obviously didn’t work out). We loved going to the pool and practicing what we learned at swim lessons!
Brooklyn also enjoyed making tents out of as many blankets and pillows as she could find…
Peekaboo!
On August 9th, we met my friend Laura and her boys at Hastings Park in Huntsville to play and eat a picnic lunch. We had a fun morning! I love that little park because it’s fenced in and has plenty of space to run and play. There’s almost never anyone else there, so we usually have the place to ourselves!
It took Charlie a little while to warm up to Brooklyn, but they eventually played together by the end of the morning. Savannah mostly sat on the quilt and ate food with us the whole time…haha
On August 11th, we headed to the library to check out some new books and play for a little while. Brooklyn really enjoys building with Magna Tiles, so I’m thinking that will make a good Christmas present for her this year :)
I love these two!
It’s hard to catch a big smile from Savannah on camera, but somehow I managed to that day!
She is pretty different from Brooklyn in that she does not seem to enjoy physical touch as much as Brooklyn does. Brooklyn loves to be tickled/massaged and enjoys cuddling on the couch. Savannah is just not the same in that regard, but she does enjoy sitting in my lap and reading together at least :)
Our van was delivered on August 11th–a mere 5 days before Abigail was born…haha. When the dealership volunteered to have someone drive it to our apartment since we couldn’t take it home that day, I’m not sure they realized how far away Madison was from McDonough. They were probably kicking themselves! :)
The girls enjoyed checking out the inside since they hadn’t seen it yet :)
I love catching sweet moments like this on camera :)
Brooklyn declared that she was going to make her bed for the first time ever on August 15th, and I think she did a pretty good job! :)
Quotes and Notes from Early August:Â
- Savannah has recently figured out how to open and close doors. Opens up a whole new world of excitement! :)
- When Savannah counts, she will say, “One…two…ONE!”
- Brooklyn has started calling me “Mom” instead of “Mommy” (which I’m not a huge fan of…it makes her sound too grown up!). When I asked her why she’d started calling me Mom, she replied, “I just thought it sounded like a good nickname for you.”
- While looking at the tilapia on her plate at suppertime, Brooklyn asked, “Are we eating a little bit of cat?” (a.k.a. cat-FISH…haha!)
- Savannah says “Ah melcome, Mommy” for “You’re welcome, Mommy.”
- On August 7th, Brooklyn prayed, “Thank you for our baby. Please help us pick a name for her. In Jesus name, Amen.” Haha…if only we’d known that we had 9 days until that baby would arrive!
- 8/11/17 – Brooklyn asked me, “When I marry Nathan, will I have a baby in my tummy?” If that’s what you both decide you want. “I’ve already decided! Then we will both have babies in our tummies. (talking about me and her). I’ve got an idea! We can name them Luke and Barrett!”
We had no idea what was in store for us for the last half of the month…blessings, trials, and a lot of lessons learned!
