Orange Beach 2018 - Day 4, August 9th

On our last full day at the beach, we went on a dolphin cruise. Colt, Kinley, Davallen, my mom and I went. Dede and David stayed at the condo with Cutler. Afterwards, we had lots of play time at the beach. Then we had some hide and seek fun in the condo before bed. We woke up and made the drive home the next morning. We did the whole trip in the one day on the way home. That last hour or so we had to stop LOTS. I think Kinley had to potty every few minutes and was mainly just tired of being in the car. She was newly potty trained so we HAD to stop. It was a great first vacation with both kids and we're glad that family got to go with us! Also, after the trip, Kinley kept talking about her beach house... she would talk about it like we owned a beach house! 

A few videos of our dolphin cruise

At the dock, where we got on the boat, there were a ton of jellyfish.

Last day at the beach

Sweet, sweet boy... he has grown so much since this pic!

Orange Beach 2018 - Day 1, August 6th

We got Orange Beach around 2 pm on August 6th, right around check in time. We checked in and checked out our condo before going to grab some lunch down the street at the Gulf. We couldn't miss out on beach time our first day. After we got back from lunch, we headed down to the beach for a bit. Kinley loved it. She especially loved the seashells and using her "Elsa powers" to push the waves.  Cutler just soaked everything in! Vacations with kids may not be super relaxing, but they are so fun and so worth it! I love seeing things through their eyes.

Here's a video of Kinley and her reaction when we first got to our room and took her out on the balcony. When we first got there she kept saying that the "dolphins were getting away."

Matching babes before heading to the beach for the first time

This was my mom's second time to go to a beach other than Galveston. Her first was when she went to Mexico with us the year after we got married. 

We loved Orange Beach... obviously since we picked it as our summer vacation spot again in 2019!   For us, the beach is comparable to the beaches in the Destin area that we'd been to but it's a shorter drive, which with kids is a big deal! Those last two hours with kids the age of ours could be big deal!

Sweet boys first time in the ocean!

A few pics of our home away from home for the week

Cutler at 6 months old

Cutler turned 6 months old, a whole 1/2 year, in August while we were on vacation so I took these before we left, just a couple days early. He was a big boy full of even bigger smiles! 

We didn't have his 6 month checkup until August 23rd so these stats were a little after his 6 month birthday. At his appointment, he weighed 18 lbs. 12 oz. (67%). He was 2 ft. 4 in. tall (90%). HIs head was 45.1 cm. or 17.75 in. (88%).  I think he was 18 lb. 6 oz. at home when I weighed him closer to August 7th. 

He was wearing some 6-9 month clothes and also some 12 month shirts and onesies. He was wearing a size 2 in his little blue Sperrys but a size 3 in his Nikes.

He got his first two teeth that month, both on the bottom. 

We moved him to his bigger carseat around the last week of August. He was still rear facing. We just moved him out of his infant one.

He slept in a onesie and his zipadee zip. He always slept on his side. Every night he would usually sleep about 4 hours before he woke up and I went in there. Right before we went on vacation he slept for 6.5 hours before waking and another night 8 hours before waking. Both times, he went right back to bed. On August 15th, he started waking every 2 hours again, but on the next day I felt his two bottom teeth so it made sense. I wrote down that on August 28th, he slept "through the night" for the first time. He slept from 11pm - 6am and then after I fed him and rocked him, he went back to bed. We had family pictures the next morning at 8:30 so I actually had to wake him to go. He slept good again the next couple nights. One of those nights, he actually slept from 7:30 or 8pm  until 4am. It was short lived though because then he started waking pretty consistently every 3-4 hours again! That's ok though. I was still happy because Kinley didn't reach the "through the night" milestone until 11 months old! It's all about perspective!

He loved blankets and rags. 

Speaking of vacations, we went on his first one and it was a trip to Orange Beach, Alabama. He did awesome on the car ride! He only fussed a little and when he did fuss, it was always because he had pooped and needed a new diaper. 

He was so happy and smiley. He was always smiling when he was awake! He had a little bald spot on the back of his head. He had and still has the little red mark or stork's bite on the back of his head. He also had and still has the little vein, I think they call it a sugar bug, beside his eye. 

He was breastfeeding still. Every once in a while I would give him 1 formula bottle for the day while at the gym and he took it. This was purely because of my laziness and not wanting to pump. 

He quickly went to eating two meals of baby food a day. By September 1st, we were at three times a day. We upped him to stage 2 baby food and he would quickly empty the containers. He wasn't the biggest fan of green baby food. 

He loved and still loves his sister. She would always make him giggle. He also liked going in her room. In the mornings if Kinley woke up before he did, she would always go in his room and stand by his crib and say "Good morning sweet boy." It was the cutest in her little voice! That month while bathing together, she also discovered that brother had a "booty tail." She looked down at him and said, "Brother, has a booty tail." I just didn't say anything. It was so funny though! She hasn't really mentioned it since. 

He was sitting a little bit on his own around August 14th before he would fall over. 

He liked the side of his eye rubbed to soothe him when I would rock him. 

He rubbed and still rubs his little eyes when he's tired. 

He was always so good while out at the store. I never had to soothe him or bring out backup bottles from the diaper bag. I always ran out of backups and things to console his sister. I know I make it sound like Kinley was a harder baby...and it's because she was!

I love these pics of him and his big smile!

Both my babies at 6 months old. You can't really tell by the picture, but he had over 2 lbs. on her at this age. She had him beat on sitting up though becaus ehe wasn't quite sitting completely until later that month. I think he was a little more top heavy than her!

Evidently these were taken the same day as the pics above. They were cute so I had to include them too.