2020 Summer Vacation

We usually go to Pensacola and stay with our friends for our beach trip each summer but this summer we decided we wanted to go for a whole week just our little family of four.   We love the beach but Patrick is always like "lets go to a different beach than we always go to"  So we decided to go to Port St. Joe and stayed on the Cape and it was beautiful.  We loved it so much.  Now it's a good bit longer of a drive than what we're used to.  But it's very laid back and not as crowded as the beaches we've been to in the past.

These two had the best time on the beach.  Well, until they found out there was a pool.  Then they just wanted to stay at the pool and in the words of my dad "we didn't come to the beach to sit at the pool".  So, I came up with a system where I told them we had to make a reservation at the pool and each day I would tell them what time the reservation was and then they didn't ask all day long if we could go to the pool.  It worked beautifully.

The water was so calm and clear all week and the weather was beautiful too!

There were jellyfish and sis got stung two different times but she rallied and didn't let it ruin her trip.

Matching swimsuits for life.

They really do play together so well and I loved getting to see them enjoy the week together!

We did a sheet pan shrimp boil for dinner one night and this girl ate her weight in corn on the cob.

This dark cloud threatened to ruin our afternoon but it ended up going around us and only sprinkled a minute.

 
There was this little pond by our townhouse and the kids loved getting to feed the turtles.

We tried to spend every evening on the beach watching the sunset.  It was my favorite.

I did make them wear nice clothes one evening so I could snap some pictures.

She was a big fan of her daddy swimming with her in the pool every day!

We stayed out on the beach until nearly dark the last night and it was perfect!  

They had to feed the turtles one last time before we loaded up to head home!

Matchy Matchy for the ride home.  

We had such a wonderful week together, just the four of us.  We talked a lot about how next summer we'll have a sweet baby with us.  The kids are so excited to add the baby, I hope they're still excited once the baby is here.

 

Oh Baby, Baby!

We've been keeping a little secret during quarantine.

We're so excited to add this little one in October!  I've always wanted 3 kids, it took a little convincing but Patrick finally jumped on board.  I think it helps that Barrett and AveryAnn will be a little older.  My biggest fear is this will totally disrupt their sweet relationship.  They are so sweet and really enjoy playing together.  I hope that continues.  They're really excited so hopefully that doesn't wear off too soon.

March

April

We've kept this little one to ourselves for a lot longer than planned.  I figured I better get something official on the blog so he/she isn't disappointed to know there was very little documentation of them cooking compared to their siblings.  We talk about her (AveryAnn is insistent its a baby sister and for now we're going with it) every single day, multiple times a day.  We wanted to wait to tell the kids and we didn't want to tell a bunch of people and the kids not know so we just waited to tell people until after my 12 week appointment.  Quarantine has definitely made that easier.  We've slowly been telling people as we see them.  It's been a lot of fun.  

The kids are beyond excited, Patrick and I are too.  I feel so old this time around.  I've felt worse this time too but I'm not sure how much of that is pregnancy or how much is quarantine.  I'm finally feeling better.  But overall just so thankful for this baby.  It's kind of surreal to be pregnant again.  A little scary in these uncertain times.  But it's also been really nice to just be home and rest and enjoy growing another babe.  

When I went in for my "12 week" appointment I was 11 weeks and they couldn't get the heartbeat on the doppler so I had to go over to ultrasound and they were able to get it right away.  I was a little nervous but then I was really excited because I got to see the baby again and got these pictures where you can actually tell it's a baby.  I knew the kids would be way more excited about these than the 7 week ultrasound pictures.

We had our anatomy scan on June 2nd and everything looks right on schedule.  We didn't find out the gender and it makes me even more excited!

We went to the beach for one last vacation as a family of 4 and it was perfect! Barrett snapped this sweet picture of my {huge} bump and I love it so much! I feel bad that I haven't been documenting this pregnancy weekly like I did with the other two but hopefully they won't hold it against me.   We're counting down the next 16 weeks until we get to meet this sweet baby!  We have a lot to do and I know it will be here before we know it.