Pope vs. Wheeler Pregame Dinner

Even though we didn't make it to the high school football game, we did meet up with this crew for Mexican earlier. Crysie was the only Pope alum in attendance, so we "WIN" and had her completely outnumbered with all the Wildcats at the table (even if our current high school team is about 0-23? We used to be good "back in the day"!). The Grays even matched in their Gold and Blue attire. We had a blast with our ever expanding group and can't wait to do it again! GO WILDCATS! :)Ryan & Parker, Jennifer (hiding her belly in the back), Crysie & Chase (up front), Brian, Kim & Millie Kate, Kriya & Bree, Beau & Wade

Visits & Playdates

We've been blessed to have had so many great visits and playdates with friends. They say they want to meet Bree, but I know they just really want to come gawk at my hilariously messy house (to feel better about their own...) "Try not to trip on these train tracks on your way in...or those over there..."

Robin gets the MILES award coming all the way Washington, D.C. to spend some time with Cheeks. She was Finn-less this trip, so she was able to soak up all the newborn baby girl-ness before heading back to her chatterbox prodigy of a son. And you better believe I abused her open arms...

(Bree's striking her diva pose)

One day we met the Bells up at Chic-Fil-A for a lunch playdate. I'm still holding strong to the belief that Chic-Fil-A isn't REALLY fast food, so it's okay to have it a little more often.
( Wade & Jackson) (Wade & Jordan)

Wyatt & Lauren came for a day of fun at the Benichs, complete with play doh, trains, riding "bikes" and going bonkers in the basement...

Jennifer and baby boy bump came to see Miss Bree from Birmingham. She also gave Bree her first Little Black Dress. Every girl needs one in her wardrobe! And it even has some red stripes on the bottom making it the perfect Georgia Bulldog "gameday" outfit :) Stay tuned for a picture of that later...

The Kennemore clan came for a visit from Spartanburg. Good thing Beau finished the basement bedroom so they could have their own "suite" with the twins. Aven and Hudson are already 8 months and crawling everywhere!

(Caleb Everett, Aven & Hudson Kennemore)

It's been a busy few months, but we love it! You know we wouldn't have it any other way. Hotel Benich is always open (with vacancies)! We may ask you to earn your keep by holding a baby, but it's only fair :)

Happy Birthday Celie

Beau's goddaughter (and one of Bree's future BFF's), Celie Crawford, turned ONE!

She's walking all over the place (trying to keep up with her big brothers) and LOVES babies. Everytime we have Bree near her, she wants to rock and hold her. The rocking is allowed, but we're going to wait on the holding for just a little bit longer :) Bree is fortunate enough to have all of Celie's hand me down clothes, so we do need to be extra nice to her. We love you Celie!


HAPPY BIRTHDAY CELIE!!!

Fun Pictures of Bree

I've been holding out on you.

Ever since Bree came home from the hospital, I've been taking fun pictures of her. I'm always hoping to get that perfect shot for her birth announcement or those pictures to look at for years to come (the ones you look back at and say...was she really that small?). My confession...I can easily get "picture envy" when I see other family's pictures. No matter what awesome pictures I have, I always want more. I'm greedy like that. So I've tried to be good at keeping the camera close and taking as many pictures as possible.

Soooo I'm ALMOST done with announcements and thank you notes, so I figured I should post all the fun shots from the last 2 1/2 months.

These first 5 are from my friend Jennifer Kemp (Jennifer Kemp Photography). She came by for a quick visit and I begged her to take some...

The rest were taken anywhere from 1 - 6 weeks old...

(Ok, so maybe she's a little big for this basket?)

I have to blame my mom for this shot (and the booties). When she was staying with me in those first weeks, she came up with a lot of these positions and set-ups. She was helping, spotting, and "pacifier assistant" throughout...

Disclaimer: No child was injured or put in danger in the making of this picture. (Beau's hands were conveniently cropped out below her head, so yes he's an accomplice too)

Now I just need to actually do something with these, instead of just storing them on my computer. For as many pictures as I take...you'd think my walls would be covered in photos, but they are surprisingly bare!! I better get on it...

Bree is 2 months old!

Bree has hit the 2 month mark! She is such a good baby and we couldn't be more in love with this little girl. It's been a very busy month with lots of first to log in the baby book (aka: this blog).

Bree had her first road trip to the beach with my family. She was constantly spoiled and loved on by the many open arms to hold her. She spent very little time on the beach because of record breaking heat, but we can definitely call it her first beach experience.

Then we headed to Lake Oconee for a luxurious weekend at the Ritz. What a spoiled brat that her first stay in a hotel was at the Ritz?? It's all down him from there baby...She got some quality time with Aunt Nicci and her cousins, strolled around the grounds with her own personal fan and umbrella, and even lounged by the pool a little bit.

At home we've just been trying to get into any sort of routine. We continue to play musical beds around the house between Beau sleeping in his "man cave" basement, Bree napping in swings and bassinets, weak attempts at moving her to her crib, me getting desperate in the middle of the night and putting her in bed with me, etc, etc. With Wade I can honestly say I NEVER EVER put him in bed with me, partly for safety and partly because I was deathly afraid of creating horrible habits that we'd never break. So if it took me longer to rock him the middle of the night, so be it. The big difference is of course now I don't have all morning to catch up and sleep in if we have a bad night. Bree may sleep in till 9:00am, but Wade has been waking as early as 6:30 ready to start the day. So I have to just do whatever I can to get as much sleep as possible at night. During the day when Wade goes down for a nap, I am DESPERATE (and I mean desperate) to get one too. And the only way I can be certain Bree with sleep is to put her in bed with me and cuddle! She will settle into a deep sleep and I love it. It's one of my favorite parts of the day. She does this full body stretch when she's waking up that is just about the cutest thing I've ever seen!
She's eating well and consistently nursing every 3 hours during the day. At night she goes to bed late (11 or 12?) and can usually make it until 5 or 6. I'm doing my best to get to bed soon after, but it's tough. I'm trying get back into an "early to bed, early to rise" routine....

This smile just melts my heart. She has her short windows of alert and happy time and I just want to soak them up as much as possible. She's happiest on her stomach propped on a boppy (hence all the pictures), and will just smile away. Wade thinks it so funny. He'll say, "Beeee happy, she smilin!"

She has great neck control and can really hold her head up for awhile. I think the weight of her cheeks have forced her neck to be extra strong. It's like wearing ankle weights when you workout...At her 2 month doctor's appointment, she got a good report. She weighs 11 lb 6oz (~50%) and 22.5 inches long (~50%). Her head circumference only put her in the 25th percentile which is surprising, but I guess it's just those dang cheeks that throw you off :) She got her first round of shots too. They're scheduled to get 4, which I think is ridiculous. That's just too much for their little bodies all at once (in my non-professional motherly opinion). So we started with 2 and will go back next month for a few more.

Our hope and prayer is that she just keeps growing and thriving each day!!! We love you Cecelia Bree!!!

Wade's First Day of School

Wade started preschool in the 2 year olds class. He was so brave and almost excited to be back! It did help that Mason and Buie Crawford were in parking lot and literally walked him in... He walked straight in and found this train toy. Match made in heaven! Miss Kay was ready to greet him. He also had 4 other classmates from last year in his class. He's already saying, "Jack come to my house to play?"His cousin Cae just started in the 4 year old class! They were so excited to see each other at pick-up...

It's going to be GREAT year!!!

Lake Oconee Weekend

We met up with the Benich family at Lake Oconee's Reynold's Plantation for a long weekend getaway! Nicci met us with Rowan and Ellis from Charleston. And we came with all our gear, Poppa & Dede, and a babysitter!!! I was initially very worried about having such a young baby in a hotel for 3 nights (screaming all night waking up the whole floor), but Bree did great! She made it very easy. And it definitely helped to have Mandy and Erin there at different times so we weren't stuck in the hotel room all day and night.

Wade was so excited to see Nicci, Rowan & Ellis that he was giddy for 3 days straight....the constant supply of sugar may have contributed too. It was a whirlwind of lollipops, gummy bears, ice cream, smores, jelly beans....the list goes on and on.

We had so much fun in the water and sun! We jumped off trampolines into the lake...
We took REALLY fast boat rides. Wade said he wanted to go fast, but completely lost it when we hit 50mph. His cheeks were flapping in the wind. Ellis, on the other hand, LOVED the speed...
Bree showed off her BBBF (baby bikini back fat). We'll start her summer bikini diet next year...

We enjoyed a nice dinner (pictures before!) with the whole family...

We actually got a decent picture of the 4 grandkids...Wade had another "dancing with myself" experience...We toasted with each other (Wade's bottle included!) CHEERS...

We spent hours in the pool throwing the kids. Wade: "AGAIN! AGAIN! Really high!"

We relaxed on the wall overlooking the lakeWe went fishing off the dock (or as Beau put it, "fed the fish our worms")We all took turns spoiling Bree...

And just had a wonderful time together!!!

Here are more pictures of our weekend of fun...