Catching Moments: {32/52}:

*"Practice Makes Perfect..."

Charli exclaimed on our family golf outing.

Charli thoroughly enjoys watching Golf Tournaments and she has had an interest in Golf for sometime seeings how she has grown up seeing it played. Her daddy golfs, her mommy golfs {sometimes}, her Nana & Papa golf, and so many other of her family members golf. She had a blast getting to go out and actually swing some clubs for the very first time!  

*Stud...

What daddy & big sis do, Crew has to do. So Crew got to take some swings as well! He enjoyed running around the greens and trying to pick up or kick daddy's ball before daddy's shot! haha!  

Crew Benjamin: 2 Year Update:

Happy Second Birthday Son!

I still can't believe it

In the blink of an eye

How much you are growing

And how fast it's gone by

You're the sweetest of sweets

And the terrors of two

But we wouldn't trade a day

Because you're our Crew

So, Today is your day

We celebrate you

Oh baby boy

We can't believe you are two!

We cannot believe how fast the years have gone by and that we are celebrating our Crew Benjamin being two years old. Not a day goes by that I don't lie awake remembering the day you were Born and how the next five days were the scariest days of our lives. As we have approached your birthday I have found myself re-playing so many things from that very day in my head, the most vivid one being when the NICU Doctor looked us straight into the eyes and told us you would not have made it another day had you not gone into the NICU. As I type this with tears in my eyes, I could not imagine a single day without you in our lives baby boy. You have whole heartedly completed our family and we will be forever grateful for the outstanding care we received at MUSC and how healthy of a little boy you are and have been since that day! 

You have a spirit like no other little man. You are as strong willed as they come, you are fearless, reckless, silly, happy, loving, a snuggler, you love fiercely {maybe a little too fiercely... aka, you tend to bite when you are happy & excited}, and you have a temper that has truly started to show itself recently {hello terrible twos...}. You are all boy and you give this momma so much anxiety because of it. You have learned so much recently and your vocabulary has truly blossomed. I love watching your imagination at work and when you play with your cars and trains. You love lining them up in a row and moving them along in a single line. We couldn't be more proud of everything you have accomplished and everything we know you are going to accomplish in this world! 

We love you so much Crew Benjamin!

Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

 Crew's Stats:
*Weight: 35lbs
*Height: 36inches {official check-up is in a couple weeks}
*Diaper Size: Size 6
*Clothes: Anywhere between 24month to 3T
*Teeth: 16 teeth & currently cutting molars
*Sleep: Bedtime is at 7PM and he wakes anywhere between 7:30 to 8:30am; Afternoon Nap is around 1PM and he wakes around 4:30PM
*Food: Anything & Everything! He is our veggie eater though. Some of his favorites include: Peas, Corn, Broccoli, Avocado, Beans, Hummus, Apples, Grapes, Fruit Snacks, Pickles
*Words: I have definitely lost count with words {which is a good sign!}! He says something new every single day! He puts multiple words together and says some sentences.
*Social: Crew plays so well in the nursery at church and absolutely loves it, he loves playing with big sis and I love watching them play together and use their imagination. Although it usually only last a few minutes and ends in yelling, screaming, hitting, and wrestling... aye aye aye... Crew is super loud and always the life of the party when we are out. He is truly a little dude!
*Other: Crew is our little snuggler and is not a morning person {like his momma}, his favorite things are the water, dirt, climbing, trying to hurt himself, being destructive, wrestling, yelling NO, running, and doing anything and everything daddy is doing... His absolute favorite thing is "working" with tools with daddy and trying to climb as high up on the ladder with daddy {ummm no}. He is a true handful. Though our hands might be full with this little one, you should see how full our hearts are. We couldn't love him and his sister more if we tried!

It's his Birthday, he will cry if he wants to...

And for fun... A look back...

Newborn

One

Two

 Happy Birthday Bubba!

Daddy, Mommy, & Char Char love you

Our Home Tour: A New Blog Series:

Coming to You Soon...

When purchasing our very First Home a lot of careful thought and deliberation went into every aspect and detail {just like anyone purchasing a home}; Location & Specific Neighborhood, Size of Home, Lot Size, Driveway Length {yes people, you can thank my husband for that one}, School District, Bones of the Home, and Home being a Fixer Upper or "Dated" as we like to call it. 

We toyed with the idea of purchasing a brand new home and actually even building a house. We spoke with a builder, checked out land at the beach, and were very serious about going in that direction. The idea of moving into something already to our standards and everything we wanted in a home sounded luxurious. Though the idea of building sounded amazing we both knew we would eventually be bored, because you see, between my love for Interior Design and Decorating & Steven's love for building and doing handyman work we ultimately knew we wanted our blood, sweat, tears, and hands to get dirty in the process. So for us, our dream home was something "Dated" {still move-in ready}, something livable but no upgrades had been done, and we could go room by room and upgrade as we went. Well folks, our dream became a reality and we feel we hit the jackpot because that is exactly what we found, in the exact neighborhood we always wanted to be in!

We have been in our home for almost eight months and we have a good idea of everything we want to do now. We knew we did not want to rush into any renovating after moving in since Steven would be gone a lot and I wanted to live in the house for a little bit to get a good idea of what I wanted. Well,
now that we have a game plan in place, let the renovating commence!  

This new series will take you room by room as we start and finish projects around our house. It will show the transformation as well as give you a tour inside our home!
We just recently finished our very first project and I can't wait to share it with you! 

I am sure this will be a long series as there is quite a bit of work we want to do {big and small}, but if you are along for the ride, then wipe off your feet, and come inside!

Stay Tuned... 

Crew's Second Birthday Invitation:

Good Morning & Happy Monday Friends! 

 I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend and is ready for a good week ahead! 

For us, another week of Summer means another Birthday Week Celebration! This time for the baby {and then Nana's Big 60th next week... So many Summer Birthday Babes in our family and we love it!}.

I am kicking off Crew's Birthday Week by sharing his oh so perfect invitation that fits our boy more than you know. It was designed by... Yep, you guessed it, my best friend {seriously what would I do without her by my side!}. When I showed Crew his invitation he screamed with delight saying
"YAY, YAY, YAY... BOAT, BOAT, BOAT... MY PAAAA-TY... TANKS MAMA"

{oh sweet baby jesus did my heart explode!}. 

I have planned a Summer Sail for his Second Birthday and everything that I am doing for his big day screams his personality. He is boat obsessed and I couldn't be happier with how happy he is seeing it all come together! I still can't believe in less than a week our baby boy will be a big two year old. I'm not really sure how it all happened so quickly but it has and we are looking forward to celebrating our Crew Benjamin all week long and cannot wait for 

Bubba's Big Boat Birthday Bash this weekend! haha!

Let Bubba's Birthday Week commence! 

Catching Moments: {31/52}:

*Crew's Got Tricks...

{Sorry, not sorry... had to post 2}

Crew's Bike obsession is still going strong and Daddy couldn't be happier, especially now that Crew has started practicing his own tricks... Youngest BMXer ever maybe?! It might make daddy proud but this Momma has all the anxiety... {I'm going to go pour a glass of wine now}! 

*Catching Charli during quiet time...

Or at least trying to... I love peeking in on Charli in her room during Crew's nap time and her quiet time to see what her little imagination is up to. I can always count on her dressed up in something and playing... Here she was playing with all of her Princess Barbies while wearing her fairy wings & Tiara {duh}. Of course I tried to snap a quick picture of her playing... Nope, not today mom. hahaha! 

Our Kiawah Vacay: A 31st Birthday Getaway:

Happy Friday and Hello Weekend! 

As a lot of you know I celebrated my Birthday this past weekend! Woooo... The big 3-1. {sarcasm}. Thank you to everyone who called, texted, or messaged me to wish me a Happy Birthday! I was feeling the love from all over the world and it truly warmed my heart! 

 I seriously still can't believe I am in my thirties. Though like I said last year, being Thirty {now thirty one} is something I would much rather be and would take over being in my twenties any day of the week. Life truly gets more amazing each and every year and I feel so incredibly blessed!

Steven couldn't take any time off work so we were limited as to what we could do if anything for my birthday this year {which really wasn't a big deal at all, I would have been just as happy staying home}. But he always, always makes everything so special for me and after talking with some of our very good friends from Charleston we decided to meet them at their house in Kiawah Island again. 

Kiawah was one of our favorite spots while we lived in Charleston and it was Crew's very first Vacation two years ago. So it was a no brainer that we would head up there for a quick weekend getaway! Our friends have two little girls around the same ages so it is always a good time letting the kids run around and play while we can indulge in cheese and wine. Priorities.

We woke up Saturday and I was serenaded by my family as they all climbed into bed with me and sang happy birthday! Steven surprised me with some amazing gifts first thing in the morning that Charli ripped open before I could even open my eyes {mom life}, but seeing how excited she was for me made it all worth it! The guys made breakfast and after getting everything ready we headed out on the beach cruisers for what was going to be an amazing birthday beach day!! 

Or so we thought...

We got to the beach, set up, kids lathered, and headed to the water with the boogie boards. The guys were pulling the kids through the waves and Sarah and I were standing there. Not five minutes go by, Steven and Crew just feet in front of me, Steven gets stung by a stingray. At the moment of feeling the immense amount of pain his immediate reaction was to yank Crew by his floaty straight out of the water as he was yelling. Nobody knew what to do. We had strangers come help as we waited for Beach Patrol to arrive...

It was seriously the scariest most craziest thing that could have happened but we were all so thankful it did not happen to Crew or any of the children for that matter. Steven had three Beach Patrol trucks tending to him as the pain worsened and all he was saying to me was "I'm so sorry I ruined your birthday". I on the other hand do not do well with blood and was already not feeling well so I was just trying not to puke and pass out. We took the kids to the tide pools {as we were clearly not entering the ocean again... and as Steven says he will NEVER go in the ocean again} while Steven was being monitored. 

After a very crazy stressful morning at the beach and naps for the kids and Steven we relaxed by the pool at the house for the afternoon. 

This is where a miracle happened... Charli put her head under the water and liked it AND swam while doing it!! 

This is a huge step for us as she will sit screaming and crying for an hour because she wants to wear her floaty because "I know if I don't wear my floaty my face will go under the water and I will drown" {seriously she is so logical}. She was swimming by the end of last Summer so well and has a huge fear now so this was a huge step for us! We are so incredibly proud of her!! 

That evening Sarah and I  headed out for girl time and birthday cocktails at The Sanctuary and the Concert on the Lawn! 

We ended 31 with the most amazing filet dinner cooked by my injured husband who was still in so much pain and could barely walk and a yummy cake that Crew was scared of! 

 Thank you again for all the Birthday love and for another amazing annual Kiawah Vacay Uri and Sarah! Can't wait until next year! ;)

Catching Moments: {30/52}:

*Little Girls...

Her imagination & wonder are so beautiful. 

One of her favorite things to do is to dress up in her princess dresses, put on her fairy wings, flower crown, princess tiara, & twirl, fly, sing, and dance to her Princess Sophia Music Box!

*Rocking them goggles...

Crew wore goggles for the first time on my birthday because big sis was and I could not stop laughing!