Hilton Head

Where has October gone??? It has flown by, and I'm thinking that must be in part because we got to spend a week of it at THE BEACH! It's actually our favorite month (do you all have favorite months?), and we got to spend a week of it at one of our favorite places: Hilton Head Island, SC. We were very blessed to be able to spend the week with Philip's parents, his sister and her husband, and their three kiddos. Hilton Head holds a very special place in our hearts, as it's the site of our engagement! It was actually just over five years prior to this trip that Philip and I got engaged on the beach (well, it was supposed to be the beach, but it was storming, so the proposal happened inside, overlooking the beach...another story for another time).

At the time when the planning for this trip to Hilton Head was happening, Wade absolutely despised riding in the car. As in, you would have thought we were torturing the poor child the entire time. Blood-curdling was often times an appropriate description (both for the sounds he was making and the ones I subsequently wanted to make!) Hence, this photo taken on an airplane. For those of you who are counting, that's two plane trips for the Wadster already!


Isn't that whale float awesome? My favorite part is the tail which conveniently offers some sun protection for my little guy (I'm an SPF fanatic.) Cousin Kate happily floats about on the left.

Taking his meal out on the balcony. Wade actually made great strides in accepting solid food as a form of nourishment during our trip! Hooray! Unfortunately he caught a cold near the end and then refused to eat any solid food for the next week.


We were so thrilled we got to see our dear friends, the Iversons! They were so gracious to stop in (actually, they had to drive WAY out of their way to find us!) and visit us at our hotel on their way back home to Florida. I failed to get a picture of the beautiful mama Iverson or the littlest one, precious Lily! Shame on me. Here's Jonathan and big sister Annie. Wish you all could see her do her "pretty face" pose; it's awesome.

There's that whale again!

I just think this is the sweetest picture ever! Look how carefully cousin Ben is helping Wade manuever in the clothes hamper:

Wade and Abby entertain themselves with another storage bin.

These bins are actually great for containing babies, haven't you heard? It's what we do all the time at our house.

PopPop and Ben.

We loved being with all the cousins (and their parents and grandparents :) While it was certainly a different trip than that one where we got engaged, it was still a great time. Our little guy continues to struggle with sleeping well (I think a lot of it is that he just likes quality time with mama, aka nursing), and this is particularly pronounced when we travel. I will be the first to admit that when my baby wakes up throughout the night, I am not the most fun person to be around...I have a lot to learn still with this whole parenting thing...I'm learning that I'm definitely a "control" person (we'll say "person" instead of "freak" which just sounds a bit harsh, yes?) and little babies aren't very easy to control!! God is using this little dude to show me some ugly things about myself, but thankfully (thankfully!) he's promised not to leave me in such a yucky place. I'm thankful he's after changing me for the better because he wants me to look more like Jesus, not the controlling, sinful mama I am inclined to be!

Phew, this started out as a light post about the beach, but there you have it. I have to keep these things honest, so you all don't just think we sit around and smile for pictures all the time!

oh, and I was kidding about containing babies in storage bins. We don't do that. (not that it isn't tempting...)

Next up for October: Philip's White Coat Ceremony and Wade's Baptism!