Fun in the Sun on Seabrook Island, SC ~ Part One

We have been back from the beach for two weeks now, and I am FINALLY getting a chance to work on this blog post. I had to keep Fenn home from daycare for most of this week (Tues. - Fri.), so that really messed up my schedule. We took him to the doctor on Tuesday and she couldn't really see anything wrong with him other than the fact that he was running a low-grade fever. She said it might be roseola, which means he would run a fever for 3 or 4 days straight and then break out in a rash on his trunk. But that apparently wasn't it because instead, he would run a fever one day, then be fine the next, then run a fever the next day, and so on. Because he wasn't going more than 24 hours without a fever, we were afraid to send him to daycare {just in case!}. Turns out, we probably could have... but we didn't want to risk getting someone else's child sick. By Friday, I figured "what's the point in sending him now?" and just kept him home with me. Maybe the fever was related to teething.

Back to the beach trip. We were scheduled to head out on Wednesday, Sept. 17th. We were meeting our very good friends, Jim and Kama Shaw, and their son, Gabe. Gabe is 13 months older than Fenn. We had hoped to get on the road by around 10:00ish that morning. You guessed it... that DID NOT happen. I think we finally got on the road around 12:30ish. So much for an early start! Poor Fenn! We felt like we were neglecting him all morning. We put him in his activity saucer / bouncer and I guess he got tired of waiting on us! Fenn did great on the 7+ hour drive, other than starting to get a little fussy toward the end. We only had to stop a couple of times ~ once for a mid-afternoon bottle and then once more for dinner. We actually made it to Charleston in about 7 hours, but then it took another 30 - 45 minutes to get to Seabrook Island. The drive into Seabrook is amazing because you're basically driving through a gated community and there are dear everywhere... just grazing in people's yards.

We had rented some bikes, so on Thursday morning we all headed out for a bike ride. We were really excited because it was going to be Fenn's very first bike ride. I had even found a bike helmet in his size (well, sort of... it's for 12-months and up, but close enough!). As is usual for Fenn, he loved it. He loves anything related to being outside. He wasn't really quite tall enough for the bike carrier because the back of the carrier kept bumping his helmet and pushing it forward over his eyes. To resolve that problem, we put some towels underneath him to raise him up higher.

Being the safe, responsible adults that we are, Kama and I were snapping pictures while riding our bikes. But we got some cute photos! We rode around the Seabrook community for a while, looking at all the amazing homes and checking out some of the beach access areas. Then we decided it was time to head back to the condo. Well... Fenn decided it was time. We noticed he had fallen asleep in the bike carrier. We really aren't sure of how long he had been asleep. Sorry, Fenn! Bad parents!After naps and lunch, we loaded up and hit the beach for the first time. As soon as we put Fenn down on the sand, we could tell he loved it. He immediately started playing with the sand toys and crawling around all over the place. Then daddy took him down to the ocean and he loved that, too. I think if we had let him, he would have stayed there all afternoon.

Yes, I have lily white legs. I never have time to get in the sun anymore, and when I do, I just don't tan!What do you think the odds are that he ate some of that sand?We had to chase Fenn down several times because he would start crawling away and just keep on going.

I like this photo. Look at Fenn's "tracks" in the sand. That was Fenn's first day on the beach. We actually stayed out there longer than we anticipated, but Fenn was loving it so much we ended up staying until a little past his normal naptime.

To be continued in Part Two. This post is getting to be way too long.

Fun in the Sun on Seabrook Island, SC ~ Part Two

On Friday of our trip, we decided to spend the day in Charleston. I had never been to Charleston, so I was looking forward to going. Plus, Dan's cousin, Dawn, lives in Charleston and I had never met her before. So we picked her up and headed into town. Right off, I could tell I was going to love Charleston and hope to go back and spend some more time there someday. But for now, I had to settle for a partial-day tour of the Battery, Market Street, and a quick drive through some of the historic home areas. However, the highlight of the day was eating lunch at Jestine's Kitchen (click on the link to see some photos of the food). Most of us got the fried chicken, and we (of course) ordered up several desserts for the table to share. If you know me, you know I'm not going to pass up dessert! They even sent us an extra dessert that we didn't order... just because! If you go to Charleston, you'll want to check this place out. Apparently it is a favorite of Rachael Ray and some other Food Network chefs. We got there a little before noon and didn't have to wait for a table. But while we were there, a line started forming outside that wrapped around the side of the building. Thanks for a fun day, Dawn! It was great to finally meet you!That evening, we all got dressed up in our best khaki and white and tried to take some family beach photos. Our efforts were hindered by the attack of the LOVEBUGS. Yes, we apparently planned our beach trip during the two weeks that the crazy mating bugs take over the beach. They were everywhere, and they apparently love white. I'm not going to post any of those photos here because in many of them we have lovebugs on our noses, foreheads, clothes, etc. Plus, we didn't get the greatest photos that night because Fenn was tired and wouldn't look up at the camera. The first photo on my "Part One" post is from that night. But we got better photos the next night. Oh, and this photo of Dan and Fenn turned out sweet.On Saturday morning, we went for another bike ride. Here are a couple of those photos. This time, Fenn stayed awake the whole time. We even scoped out a better beach location for hanging out later that day and for taking pictures that evening. This was our last day on the beach. Once again, Fenn had a blast playing in the sand. I won't go into details... I'll just share several photos here. Throughout this post and the one for Part One, if you'll look closely at Fenn's photos (or even click on them to enlarge them), you'll notice he has sand all over his face.I like this photo, even though Fenn's eyes are closed. On our last night, we had one more photo session to try and get some great family photos to possibly use for Christmas cards. I can't post many of those here since we might use them later, but here are a few. The group picture of all of us was taken by one of two sisters who happened to be walking by and offered to take our picture. They were both obviously drunk. I think the one who used Kama's camera actually got a better photo.On Sunday morning, I took Fenn back out to the beach for a few more photos in this cute terry cloth, hooded romper I had bought months ago with the intention of using it for beach photos.That's about it for our beach vacation. Luckily, this vacation wasn't Chevy Chase Vacation... the Sequel. We had good weather and we were all well. It was very relaxing and we had a great time with our friends, the Shaws. Thanks for going with us! I know between this post and the Part One post this has turned out to be a really long post with quite a few pictures. But keep in mind that I took almost 800 pictures during the trip!

Beach Teaser

OK, it has been a crazy week since coming back from vacation. In addition to trying to get caught up (work-wise and at home), I have been having trouble with my modem... which means no internet... which means no blogging... which means I have been totally lost without my computer! Anyway, I'm online (at least for now), so I thought I would post a few "teaser" photos from our beach trip to Seabrook Island, SC. We have a service tech coming tomorrow morning, so they'll probably switch out my modem and hopefully I won't have any more problems. Stay tuned for a better post about our trip and more photos! Oh, and if you can't tell from the photos, Fenn LOVED the beach.

Fenn's Baptism

Fenn was baptized on Sunday. It was a big weekend for him, and he had lots of family here. His G-ma and G-da drove up from Alabama. His Grammy and Poppy drove up from north Georgia. And his Aunt Debbie and cousin Sydney drove over from North Carolina. We had him baptized at the 9:40 a.m. service. It might not have been the smartest move since he normally gets a bottle and goes down for a nap around 10:00. We gave him his bottle at 9:00 before heading to church and thought he might take a cat nap on the way. He didn't, of course! But even though he was sleepy, he never got fussy. He loved all the music for the first 20 minutes or so. Then it was time to get sprinkled. He was so sweet and still never got fussy, even when Micah (1 of 3 pastors at our very large church) took him and walked around the sanctuary with him. He was so cute looking at Micah. Afterward, I think he fell asleep in daddy's lap within 5 or 10 minutes of the ceremony... and he slept until church was over. After church, everyone came back to the house for a big lunch. We cheated and got ham and a couple of sides from the Honey Baked Ham store. G-ma and G-da were staying until Monday morning, but everyone else headed out shortly after lunch. Daddy had to go into work that afternoon... and the rest of us took naps! Thanks so much to everyone who came. I know it will mean a lot to Fenn someday. Next big occasion will be Fenn's first birthday. We'll have even more family here that weekend.


I'm doing this post in a hurry tonight because we're trying to get packed to go to the beach in the morning. So I'm not posting many pictures. Maybe I'll come back and post a few more. I just wanted to get this post out here before going out of town so I wouldn't be so far behind when we get back.

Fenn at Nine Months Old

This is Fenn at Nine Months. This is the ninth installment in the "12-month onesie" series. Just to sum up Fenn's 9th month of life... he now has 5 teeth (two upper central incisors, two lower central incisors, and the left lower lateral incisor), he went on his first boat ride, went swimming in a lake, started crawling, started pulling up to a stand, and has even started moving from the ottoman to the sofa or a toy while in the standing position. It has been a big month for our bean.

Fenn on the Move

Just thought I would post a few of these pictures showing Fenn's new skills: crawling and pulling up to a stand. Life sure is getting interesting around here! First, here he is crawling into the kitchen for the first time. It was bedtime and I was in the kitchen getting his bottle ready. He crawled into the kitchen, spotted the pots and pans, and made a bee-line for them. When he grabbed one of the pots, the lid shifted and made a loud BANG. I guess it startled him (and he was also really tired and sleepy), because he put his face down on the floor and started crying... almost like a little hissy fit. I was so amused by it, that I forgot to take a picture of it.
Oh... be sure to look at the slideshow I posted a few days ago... the one with various shots of Fenn eating. I added a few more pictures to the end of the slideshow. I finally had my camera ready to shoot when he did this one face he does sometimes. He'll straighten both arms, push them forward, and clinch his fists... all while making the funniest face. It makes me laugh every time he does it.

Here he is pulling himself up on the ottoman. He just started doing that on Sunday. Fenn was playing in the floor and Dan and I were in the kitchen. Next thing we knew, Fenn was standing up, leaning on the ottoman, with a great big smile on his face. He was so proud! We got him to do it again and that's when I took these pictures.

Yeah Baby! We Have a Crawler...

Could this be Dr. Evil's next "Mini Me"??? I love this photo! (For those who might not know what I'm referring to... Dr. Evil is a character in the hilarious Austin Powers movie series.)

It has been a big week for Fenn. He is offically a crawler. He started taking those first few "crawl" steps a little over a week ago, but now he has progressed to a full blown crawl. Look out world... here he comes! We had Fenn's 9-month photos taken yesterday. And THAT's when he decided to really start crawling.... just when we wanted him to sit still for some pictures. We were trying to do some naked baby photos, and he kept crawling toward Rebekah, crawling toward one of us, or crawling toward one of the light stands in the studio. That made it really hard for Rebekah to keep the photos "G-rated"! We can already tell he's going to be a handful. But it's so fun to see him learning all these new things. In addition to crawling, he's getting pretty good at pulling up to a stand. He mostly just does it when he's holding on to one of us. But it won't be long before he's pulling up on the sofa or ottoman, or in his crib.

Here's a little slide show of some photos I have taken over the last few months of Fenn while he's eating. I'm able to capture some of the cutest and funniest expressions when he's sitting in his highchair. Enjoy! Oh, and I'll be sharing a link to his 9-month photo session proofs as soon as Rebekah notifies me they're ready and up on her website.

Drop and Give Me 20!

Last week was Fenn's first full week in the Creepers room at daycare, and he is the youngest one in there at the moment. With the exception of Will (only 5 days older than Fenn), all the other kids in there are crawling and/or walking. So, over the last 4 or 5 days, we can really see a difference in Fenn's determination to start crawling. Like all babies, he started off by getting on all four's and rocking back and forth. Now, he'll push his butt up in the air... almost in a head stand position. Sometimes it looks like he's about to do push-ups and sometimes it looks like he's doing the Downward Dog yoga pose! He also will take 1 or 2 steps forward with his hands, and then I think he gets a little nervous because he'll quickly lower himself down onto his belly and do the soldier crawl. So for the time being, his 2 modes of transportation are the soldier crawl and what I lovingly refer to as the Boot Scoot (where he scoots across the floor on his booty). I can no longer put him on his play mat in the den and leave him unattended for more than a couple of minutes because he'll end up across the room! (And no, I haven't been leaving him unattended for hours at a time. But I could put him down to play and go into the next room for several minutes before having to check on him. And he would always be in pretty much the same place I left him!) So over the weekend, Dan installed the baby gate at the top of the basement stairs. And next he'll install the clear banister guard we found for the stair railings. I had already put in outlet covers a couple of weeks ago. I suppose we need to start buying all the other childproofing paraphernalia for doors, cabinets, drawers, toilets, etc. Because Fenn will be getting into EVERYTHING via crawling (and probably walking) in a matter of weeks.

Over the weekend, we had a visit from Grammy and Poppy. Fenn got lots of quality time playing with them. And as usual, we put Poppy to work on a couple of small projects around the house. He just wants to stay busy! And it wouldn't be Grammy if she didn't get in at least one visit to Home Goods while she's here. We did manage to watch a little college football on Saturday. Unfortunately, neither of our teams' games were televised. But we were able to watch the Cliff Notes versions on CSS on Sunday. War Eagle!!! and Go Dawgs!!! Both of our teams started off the season with a big win.

To finish off the weekend, Fenn and I met daddy at Chick-fil-A on Monday for lunch. (Daddy had to work on Sunday afternoon and all day Monday because of the Sept. 15th tax deadline coming up.) They were giving away free 3-piece chicken strips if you wore a team logo. So Dan wore his Georgia attire and I wore my Auburn attire. Even though Fenn couldn't eat the chicken, he still wanted to get in on the act.