Sweet Caroline

Little Colls, You brighten your daddy’s and my world more and more every day.   You really are the absolute best thing in our lives and we are so thankful that God chose us to be your parents.   It’s hard to believe it has been SIX months since you entered this world, you haven’t stopped smiling since.   I say a prayer of thanks every day as you are such a content, happy little babe.   Your smiles and giggles bring tremendous joy to our hearts.   Thank you for being YOU and thank you for making this whole transition into the world of parenthood go so smoothly for us.   We love you to the MOON and back. You continue to grow, thrive, explore and change every day.   We went for your 6 month check up this morning and you definitely crawled all around the table…even if it is a low crawl/army crawl/scoot you are MOVING for sure.   Most of the time you move backwards, but not today little boog!   If I ever take the time to figure out how...

No worries, this isn’t some emotional, life changing post.   What I’m really here to talk about is the beginning of GAMECOCK FOOTBALL!!!   I LOVE football.   ALWAYS have, always will.   I LOVE my GAMECOCKS.   ALWAYS have, always will.   HOWEVER, I also LOVE summer.   So for me, as much as I love football it also signifies the ending of the summer which makes me sad.   Although I am a full time working woman (so it really doesn’t matter the season, it’s not like I have a summer break!) I still             L-O-V-E summer time.   And there’s really no way around it, once football starts; our Saturdays are devoted to the pigskin.   Which I do love…it just means no more lake days, beach days, pool days, etc.   Which I don’t love.   So…there you see?   This is why I have MIXED EMOTIONS.   This year Carolina kicks off on a THURSDAY night against VANDY, so in a wa...

1        1. Last weekend was great.   We didn’t have many big plans and in fact stayed home and did NOTHING on Friday night…to be honest; I was sick and didn’t feel like going anywhere.   I had a baby shower and birthday party to attend, but otherwise we spent a lot of time playing with Collins, doing dinner with friends, going to the pool, lounging around the house, organizing, and attending a new church.   I’m sad we aren’t going to be going to our old church anymore, which we JUST joined in January (gosh, that seems like yesterday) but I just know we won’t make the drive downtown to go to church and it makes sense for us to find a new church home in our new community.   My first memory of making friends was at church and I want Collins to have the same experience.   It was only our first visit, but we LOVED the pastor and already know a lot of people who attend there.   Hopefully it will be our new church home. 2 ...

Things are finally starting to settle down and our new home is finally actually starting to feel like “home.”   We still have a lot to do around the house, but we need a break.   The rest of our projects can be weekend only projects…there’s just not enough time at night during the week, we would rather focus our time and energy on watching our sweet little girl grow!   Remember my weight loss plan? Well, just go ahead and chalk that one up…UGH!   I’ve probably worked out a total of FIVE times since giving birth…but when I started my big plan…I had no clue what all was about to come.   I am still eating like I am pregnant…food is totally my weakness.   I’m a few pounds below what I started before I got pregnant, but now the real work begins!!   Now that the chaos has calmed and we are getting into a routine, I finally see workouts in my future.   We’ve just been staying up way too late working on the house for me to get my lazy, un-discipli...

It's still so surreal to me that the technology is already here to READ a BOOK without actually, you knowing...having the actual book. I know it's not new...but it took me a while to cave, I like books. The real things. I like to keep them for my bookcase. Kind of a like a little trophy to me...I love to read and love to go back and skim old books to refresh. However...once little one came along and I discovered (with the help of my new I-phone...another "I finally joined this generation purchase") how to READ on my PHONE thru either i-books or my kindle app, I haven't looked back. It is SO,SO much easier to read on my phone when nursing and when I was partaking in middle of the night feedings, THIS is what kept me sane. Now, I just read on my phone all the time...my phone is with me pretty much 24/7, so I have been FLYING thru books. Have to wait 10 minutes before court...it's cool, I'll read. Have to go to the bathroom...it's cool, I'l...

Although I feel like I have had NO free time lately...I have been able to squeeze in some fun every once in a while. Which is, of course, VERY important. We have been SO very busy with the house lately, every once in a while I just have to STOP (or I will never do it) and enjoy myself.  The weekend of July 14 was a BIG weekend for us to do house stuff.  Mikey had been gone to bankers school all the prior week and was just getting home...I had a to- do list a mile long!  However, we did have a wedding to attend that Saturday night which was a very nice (and needed) break from the chaos.  My best friend's little sister got married, so it was a good night to hang out and catch up with Chapin folks:-)  PS: can we talk about my hair in the above two pictures?  The first one was close to the end of the night and I had tucked it behind my ear by then (my hair girl would be so mad!)...but I got SO many compliments on it...wanna know WHY?? BECAUSE I DIDN...