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

Orange Beach 2018 - Travel Day

My mom, Dede, David and Davallen went with us on our first vacation to Orange Beach in August 2018. Cutler was just 6 months old, and it was his first trip to the beach! We rented a 4 bedroom at Phoenix West II. Our condo was amazing. We had a huge balcony and awesome views from everywhere in the condo. Cutler stayed in mine and Colt's room, and we set up a pack n play in the closet. Our room had a HUGE closet. Kinley and Davallen shared a room. Dede and David had a room. My mom had a room. We invited my dad, but my dad isn't going to go anywhere, unless it's the lake or on a hunting trip. Plus, I'm not sure how well he would do traveling that far either. 

Both kids traveled so good! The only times that Cutler really fussed was if he needed a diaper change. My mom rode in the very back of our car and helped give Cutler's bottles when he needed them. Me... I was up in the front pumping the milk to give him! We decided to leave a day early, on August 5th, and stopped and spent the night in Hattiesburg to break the trip up a little. 

Papa and Kinley before leaving the house. They weren't causing trouble in this video, but Papa is usually the one getting the grandkids into trouble!

Rainbow over the Mississippi River

When we got to our hotel in Hattiesburg it was late. Everyone but Cutler and I went for a swim. Our travel day wore Kinley out evidently. She layed down while they were at the pool.

Cutler was wore out too. He was still snoozing in bed the next morning at 9 am. 

We grabbed breakfast the next morning and then made the rest of the trip!

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. 

Colt Projects February - July 2018

If you know Colt, you know he always has a project going on. 

Building a rolling workbench with plugs... he doesn't like that we have a 2 car garage and didn't have room to leave his tools out and usable so he built this that he can just wheel out of the garage when he wants to do something. 

Can I add that Cutler was just a few days or weeks old when this project was going on. Haha. He doesn't like to sit still. 

New fans and new lighting on the back porch

Building picnic tables... he upgraded mine that I had growing up with a new top and seats. Then he decided to just build his own. We now have two at our house. He built one for Josh and one for his sister, Nicci. Since these pics, he's refinished our two with epoxy and they are glittery for Kinley. 

He made a couple of these for some of his plants to grow up and planted a TON of trees and other plants. He's our plant and flower guy, not me! He basically planted something everywhere he could in our backyard and lined our fences with cedars or rose bushes.  

Picture frame he built for his mom's canvas 

I'm posting this one because I am not a fan of this plant. I just don't think it's very pretty!

On top of all the planting he did himself, we also bought some larger trees that the nursery planted for us.

New stool for Kinley... my old stool wasn't quite sturdy enough to serve as Kinley's potty stool.

TV that has since been moved twice and isn't even on our back porch anymore

Backyard that now has a pool in it

He bought this off of Facebook marketplace for water noise on the porch (which was so heavy when we picked it up that his truck was almost bottomed out). He cleaned it up and painted it. When we started building the pool, he donated it to his mom. 

He also stained the concrete on the back porch, but when we got the pool, it's now covered in travertine. 

He likes to keep busy, and he is pretty handy around the house.