Reunited and it feels so good.

It was a quick weekend trip to Columbia, but it was so great reuniting with some best friends. :-) Quite a bit has changed since our senior year in college.  We have been a part of all each other's weddings and now we are all on the next chapter...BABIES.  Gone are the days of dancing on tables in bars. We are full blown grown ups now.

 

The weekend was filled with football, beer (O'Doul's for Katie), stories, and plenty of baby snuggles.  (Kate- we can't wait for Kennedy to arrive so we can snuggle her!!)

 

 I wish we all lived on the same street as each other.  Life would be complete. I am still planning Gretchen and Jason's big move to Charleston.  We would all be in the same state if we could make that happen! :-)

 

Here is a picture recap.

 

Love you all! Can't wait to all be reunited again next summer! 

First Friday

I had my first major experience with mommy brain the other day.... 

In planning a trip to meet up with friends for the weekend, I completely misunderstood/forgot/didn't listen to what day everyone was getting into town.

 What I processed was that everyone was meeting in Columbia, SC on Friday night.  I had everyone packed up Thursday night and was running around like a mad woman on Friday morning trying to make sure I remembered everything for a trip out of town. I even left Kenny with a big TO DO list on my way out the door to work, hoping that this would help us get out the door on time and into town sooner to meet our friends.

I came out of my mommy fog on Friday afternoon and realized the actual plans were for everyone to meet Saturday around lunch time.  How did I mix that up?!  Not really sure! At least I managed to figure out the real plans on Friday before heading out of town to a city that my husband prefers to not set foot in, unless there is a good reason too. I think he would have been a little upset to be stuck in Columbia for a night WITHOUT our friends. 

A big lesson was learned.  Two sleep deprived new mommies are not allowed to be the sole source of communication in planning the weekend.  The husbands must communicate as well and make sure that they get the actual plans sorted out!

The upside to the whole situation was that we were still in town for one more night, and it just happened to be the night of the First Friday Parade in Clemson.  This was my first time experiencing the festivities.  The parade is very similar to our homecoming parade at FSU.  It is Clemson's big kick off to football season, and man was it PACKED!

I found it particularly interesting to see that each sorority walked in the parade with their float, chanting and cheering.  It seemed like it was the entire sorority too, not just the pledge class.  Ha...this was definitely not the case at FSU, there was always a group of girls that would ride on the float, but the majority of us were more interested in hanging at a frat house or potbelly's with a nice cold beer in our hands watching the parade go by.

Tripp was the only one getting his drink on during the parade. So Kenny and I decided to head downtown after the parade for some cold ones and grub. It was great.  I always love going back to a place that I have so many fond memories of from college.  It's not Tallahassee, but I did spend quite a bit of time in Clemson during college.  It's where I met my husband, how could I not have a special place in my heart for this college and town?

Here are some pictures from the fun night!

Kenny was excited about this challenger.

Getting ready for bath time!

Happy Game day!  We are heading to Death Valley for Tripp's first game today! :-)

GO NOLES....BEAT WAKE!

2 Months!

Little man is two months old!  Where has the time gone?  Time is flying by and we seem to be falling into a routine.  I am probably going to blow it by saying this, but the little guy has been sleeping and average of 8 hours a night for the past two weeks. Pretty awesome!  We are still up at 4 AM to start our day, which is a wee bit early, but we are surviving. 

He had his 2 month appointment this past Tuesday and did great!  He has gained a little more than three pounds and has grown about three inches!  It looks like some of the tall genes from the Mayfield/Kendrick side of the family may be helping our kid out.  He is in the 34th percentile for weight and head circumference and the 64th percentile for height!  He is getting long!

With the 2 month check up came our first round of vaccines.  He definitely did not like them, but really who enjoys getting shots?  It wasn't a surprise when he started crying, but it still broke my heart as well as both nurses who were in the room.  He was the first time I have heard his hurt cry and it was hard to look at his sweet face and not cry right along with him! He calmed right down after some yummy milk and slept the rest of the afternoon and night away. :-) 

Here are two pictures to show his growth from one to two months.


One month old.

Two months old.

I didn't realize how much he has grown until I compared the two pictures!

 



Hope everyone has a great weekend!  Its a big weekend here for Tripp.  He has his first football game, 80's party (pictures of his costume are coming), and it will be his first time going to church! Love you all. 

A Tripp down to the lake.

We spent this past weekend at Lake Keowee enjoying some sun and boating for the last time this summer.  The house is rented out pretty much through Christmas, so when a weekend became available we jumped at the chance to take Tripp there.  We were joined by Kenny's dad, sister Heather, and her daughter Callie. Ken's college friend and his wife and granddaughter joined us for the day Saturday and my parents and little brother Alex came over on Sunday.  It was a wonderful weekend spent with family and friends. (We sure did miss Nana, Aunt Jennifer, and Ashelyn though!)

Tripp really seemed to enjoy the weekend as well, sleeping an entire 9 hours on Saturday night!! What?! Talk about one scared momma.  I think I woke up at least three times to check on him. The lake sure tuckered him out!

First time in a cold pool!

Precious Calliebug!

First boat ride!

Happy Birthday Papaw!

The boat ran out of gas on the way to the marina

Our attempt to create a sail to aid the swimmers!



Pawpaw and Tripp tuckered out!

Hope everyone is having a great week! We are certainly looking forward to Labor Day weekend, college football, and the season opening for dove hunting! Kenny is heading out on Saturday to dove hunt with some co-workers, this is new to us!  We will be sure to post on how it goes!

Tripp starts school on Tuesday and I go back to work! Prayers appreciated, I am sure there will be tears... on my end at least!

Lately

We are doing great over here...growing like a weed and enjoying these last few days together before I head back to work and Tripp heads over to the infant classroom.

A milestone was hit today.  2 whole hours was spent sleeping in the bouncy seat!   This is the longest amount of time he has slept during the day not being in my arms. I am excited over here!

I reached a milestone as well! I scheduled our first babysitter!  Eek!  This will be the first time that I leave the little guy.  I scheduled a hair appointment, it is in major need of TLC ( I'm rocking an unintentional ombre look), and Kenny won't be home from work in time for me to leave.  So I am leaving Tripp with a good friend for about an hour. I know what you all are thinking:  "A whole hour? That is crazy! That is too long of a time period to be away from that sweet baby!"  I have been thinking the same thing, but with maternity leave coming to an end in T-minus 12 days I have to get used to leaving him at some point. So next week it is, and I tear up just thinking about it, but I blame that on the hormones and not on being crazy. Okay, maybe it is a little bit of both, but I am trying to keep the crazy in check and be somewhat of a normal person.  I'll be sure to let you all know how it goes. 

I was finally able to sit down, order some pictures, and more birth announcements.  We had a handful of announcements made from the hospital photo session.  The super expensive package only came with enough to send out to our family.  Thankfully there are sites like shutterfly, where I can paste in photos and info, and feel super proud of the finished product.

Here is a link to the birth announcement:

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0CZOHLdqzaM3jw&cid=SFLYOCWIDGET


This evening we are heading out to a cookout at a fellow residents house.  There have been a few medical students rotating through and their last day is tomorrow, so this is a farewell party for them! 

I will leave you guys with a couple pictures of the little man.

Looking cute, and pretending to be tired. 

One Month?!

Where have 4 weeks gone? One the one hand, it definitely seems as though a month has passed since the arrival of Tripp. On the other hand, it doesn't feel as though I haven't had a full night sleep in a month.  How is that possible?  How am I not a tired, grumpy, hag by now? Walking zombie? No, I don't feel like a tired hag or walking zombie.  In fact most mornings I feel pretty dang good. 

 It is amazing how we have been able to adjust to the lack of sleep, and both Kenny and I are people who would have previously claimed an inability to function during the day on less than 8 hours of sleep.

Time really is flying by. I can't believe he is one month old! 

We went by the clinic today to get his stats:

Weight: 9 lbs. 5 oz
Height: almost 21 inches

We have officially made the move out of newborn clothes.  He lasted 2.5 seconds in that size.  We are on to 0-3 month clothes!

Milestones:  This kid likes to scoot and roll.  The rolling is on accident and a result of scooting but we have quickly realized that we can't leave him on anything off the ground.  He has rolled twice from his stomach to back.  Of course, we were not able to get video of this since we weren't expecting it to happen.  Its a fluke I know, but still it was crazy to see him do it twice!

Tripp and I have a few more weeks of hanging out together before I head back to work and he starts in the infant classroom.  Thankfully we will be together just a classroom over from each other.  This is the only way I can fathom leaving him.  Putting a wall between us for 8 hours seems hard enough! Slightly neurotic, I know. :-)

Here is what you have really been waiting for.....the pictures!

He is HERE!

Well, most of you if not all of you know that our little man is finally here!  He is also the reason that I have not even thought about updating the blog until now.  :-)  Life is definitely all about him, and I am fine with that. 

We are so excited and happy that he is finally here and we are adjusting to life as a family of four. 

Even Bandit has taken to our little guy. 

He immediately goes and checks on him whenever he makes a sound, and whines until one of us comes over to make sure he is OK.  He even goes back and forth between sleeping in bed with us, and sleeping at the foot of the bassinet (so stinkin' cute). He definitely is in love with him for now, and we are so thankful for that!

The little man is growing like a weed, and we are thinking that we hit our first growth spurt last night.  We were doing 3-4 hours between feedings at night for a while, and last night it was right back to every 2 hours if that.  It was a long night, and I was so glad when the sun rose this morning! So glad he is growing, but man it takes a toll on mom! I definitely wouldn't do it for anyone else but him. 

In the past two weeks he has gained 14oz and we have officially out grown newborn clothes! I can't believe that he has all ready been here for three weeks!  Not sure where that time has gone. 

We have been posting a lot of pictures to facebook, but here is one of the family (minus bandit) right after he was born. :-)