WILW

Another Wednesday, some more Wednesday Loves :)

Today I'm LOVING...

that in 2 days Brent, Rowen, and I will be heading to West Virginia to see my grandparents! We are leaving early Friday morning and staying till sometime on Monday. We haven't seen them in a while so it will be a lot of fun to hang out with them for a few days. They were here back in April when Rowen was 6 months old. Boy has he changed a lot since then!! 

Can't wait for Rowen to see them. 

Either Friday afternoon or Saturday morning my granny is going to take me to the monogramming store in town so that I can get some shirts made for Rowen. I bought some long sleeve t-shirts and have picked out the appliques I want to get put on his shirts. Their monogramming shop does a really good job and I just can't wait to get these shirts made!! Here are the 4 shirts that the lady @ the shop is going to make me( I have already e-mailed her the designs ). 

There are going to be a few changes in some of the colors but other than that, these are the shirts!

I'm Loving...

Row's little blonde rooster tail. haha. He has a little patch of hair on the top of his head that sticks up and we call it a rooster tail. I bet a lot of babies have this when their hair is growing out. And I am loving how blonde his hair is! It is so sweet looking. I can't imagine him with any other color hair!

While we are on Row...I'm LOVING...

his snuggles and pat pats he gives Brent and I! He is already showing love towards us and I just eat.it.up!! He is also very curious about everything around the house right now and I just love watching him explore and crawl around everywhere. Don't get me wrong, I would love to be able to sit on the couch for 10 minutes & relax while he is playing but that just doesn't happen. He is a mover! But I love watching him discover new things. 

He is exploring the cable box and Brent's Xbox remotes in the top picture. He is not allowed to play with either but he can look :) The other pictures are of him playing and just being the sweet, precious Rowen that he is!

My sweet baby and me!

I'm LOVING...

that God had blessed the 3 of us with healthy bodies. We are all very healthy and rarely ever get sick. It's something that I never want to take for granted. With the passing of 2 very young adults( one of which I knew, one I didn't but have friends who did ) in the last month whose bodies got sick and unfortunately never got better, I want to always remember our blessing of health. 

I'm LOVING...

this sweet baby's smile :)

We hope everyone has loved a thing or 2 today! 

A little boy and his...

Fire Truck! My mom bought Rowen a ride on fire truck and a furry rocking horse this past weekend at a sale and he loves them! I can't believe he is big enough to use ride on toys! He of course doesn't know how to move his feet to make them move yet but he certainly does love being pushed around on the fire truck.

His eyes got really big when he saw the new toys at my parent's house last night. He sat on that truck for a good 10 minutes smiling and checking it out. It makes sounds and plays a song. Row is a big fan of anything that plays tunes right now. He always bops up and down while listening too which is very cute. We took the truck back to our house and left the horse @ Nana and Pops' house. Rowen played with that truck for at least 30 minutes today! When I showed him that the seat lifted up and down and that he could put toys under the seat, he continued to keep himself occupied for a while with the new discovery :)

Ride little horsey...

The horse talks and sings a song and yes, its mouth moves while it does all of that. It's a cute little horsey. 

On a different note, Rowen has pretty much mastered eating puffs. He only gags on one if it gets stuck to the inside of his mouth. That happens maybe once every other time he eats them. I have this huge fear of him choking on little finger foods so I have been hesitant to give him any. I DID however give him little carrot cubes that were cooked very very well last week and he did fine. I guess he is still figuring out how to chew or mash with his gums. It's a process! I have found that he does better if I put a puff or a little piece of food in my hand one at a time rather than putting a few out on his tray. I put a few carrot cubes on his tray and he just mashed them up in his hand but when I put one cube in my hand he picked it up with his fingers and ate it. I'm definitely not going to make that a habit or he will never eat off of his tray but it worked for the time being. 

Puffs

A few more random photos that I have to share...

@ lunch yesterday

There's nothing like a sleeping baby :) and nothing like snuggles from that sweet baby!!

Rowen is 10 months old today!

I say this with the start of every new month...I can't believe Rowen is 10 months old! Time is just flying by. One thing time is not doing is slowing down. I can't believe he is 2 months away from being one. 

He has the look of " I'm 10 months old?..Really?" 

I have been thinking about what kind of personality he has developed and I would say he is outgoing, adventurous, and loving. Outgoing because he is not afraid of people. He gives big smiles and has started to wave( which is the cutest thing ever! ) If someone other than Brent or myself starts talking to him, he usually gives a big smile and will start to talk back. He "shares" his toys. And by "shares" I mean he will hand you a toy and then want you to hand it back :) I can already see him as being a good sharer and helper when he gets a little older. Adventurous because he wants to explore the whole house...really explore every room! He tries to pull up on everything...the couch, the dining room chairs, his bouncy seat, his bed rails( while in bed), etc...etc...And he CAN pull up on all of these! He likes when we go around the house and I tell him about different things in each of our rooms. He also loves and I mean loves being outside and going for jogs or walks. He is very intrigued by leaves on trees, birds, and dogs! There are quite a few dogs in the neighborhood and we usually run into a few on our walks and he loves looking at them. He definitely loves nature. And loving because he loves all over Brent and I. He hugs us and gives us sweet pats. He even gives smooches. 

I love his smile and his cute little teeth...all 6 of them :) His facial expressions are so funny and he adds new ones every week. His coordination has really improved this past month. He can easily do different things at the same time with both hands.For example: earlier today he was playing with a puzzle piece with one hand while banging a block against another block with the other hand. He loves to make noise. He uses his pincer grasp all the time. It's cute to see those 2 tiny fingers picking things up. He really uses that grasp when picking up puffs. 

He still takes two naps...one morning and one afternoon. And sleeps about an hour during each one. I was reading that at this age, morning naps can start to fade and that he might not need that nap soon. For my sake and a little "me" time, I hope he continues to take his morning naps for a while longer. It a nice time for me to relax and have a few cups of coffee! Rowen really enjoys listening to music while he plays and in the car. He bops along to the tune and usually giggles while he does it. We have a few kid cd's that he really likes listening to. 

Rowen is a good mimic-er! I love making a face and watching him trying to mimic it. He also is good at mimicing sounds. If you screech, he will screech. If you make an "oooooo" sounds, he will try to make that same sound. With mimicing comes listening and he a great listener. There is a train that runs by our neighborhood and when it blows its horn, he stops what he is doing and starts babbling and looking outside. I can only imagine what he is thinking! If the cats are making noise in another room he will all of a sudden turn in that direction and look at me and look towards the room then look at me then the room. I'm really working on just having conversations with him throughout the day and talking to him like he can understand what I'm saying. Oh, when I sing songs to him, he has a tune behind his babble like he is trying to sing back to me :)

He is such a joy to be around and makes us laugh every single day. We love his sweet personality and the love he already has for us. We love his big blue eyes and his wispy blonde hair that is actually getting thicker by the week. He has the sweetest smile and the cutest laugh. We couldn't imagine life without our sweet 10 month old!!

Success!

It's true...I do! I love them. I look forward to them for weeks in advance. My love for these sales started last Fall when I was pregnant with Rowen. My mom and I hit up a few and I instantly became addicted. If you have children and you don't shop at consignment sales, you are really missing out. There are a ton of consignment sales in Nashville. Some are good & some not so good. You just have to know which ones to hit up. Today I went to Otter Creek's sale and it is one of the best in the city! I will definitely go to this sale every year...well at least the next 3-4 years :) The volunteers got to shop before anyone else this morning at 10am. There were about 200 volunteers that would be showing up this morning so I knew that I better show up a bit early to get a good spot in line. I arrived a whole hour early and there were already about 50 ladies in line! Yea! So I hopped in line, met the nice lady in front of me, and we chatted for the next hour. I would occasionally look at the line behind us and it kept growing and growing and growing! I was so glad that I got there when I did b/c I had a really good spot in line. I would say there were about 100-120 people behind me :0

I bee lined straight for the 12 month clothes and I was by myself in that aisle for a good 7-8 minutes. I had my eye on about 8 items that I had seen when I worked the sorting shift earlier in the week and I ended up finding all of them on the very last rack I looked through. I got super excited!! I could have e-a-s-i-l-y spent $300-$400...not just on clothes. There is SO SO much stuff at this sale it is ridiculous. Oh, but I didn't spend close to that and wasn't going to anyways :) Enough of the talking and on to the pictures of the cuteness! 

These were 2 of my favorite long sleeve tees that I found. The one on the left is of course perfect for football time which is happening...now! And the one on the right is a Baby Boden and I just love that brand. They have really cute t-shirts. There were 5 or 6 others but I just settled for one. 

 I am a HUGE lover of smocked and appliqued jon jons and longalls. So I really was ecstatic when I found these!! Blue checked smocked snowman longall on the left, navy lightweight corduroy longall with an airplane applique in the middle, and on the right, one of my favorite finds...a light brown corduroy longall with smocked ducks and light blue buttons :)

 Some more favorites! I'll be honest all the items that I bought are favorites. haha. The longall on the left and in the middle is the same but the square in the middle is reversible! 2 outfits in one. That was one of the items that I saw earlier in the week and was so glad when I found it in the overstuffed racks. 

I really was hoping to find a plain longall so that I could get it monogrammed and wouldn't you know it, I found one! It's a Strasburg blue and brown check beautiful longall and it was only $10. I am probably going to do a round monogram like this one but with dark brown stitching.

Can't forget the pj's. He already has quite a few pairs but for the price, I couldn't pass these up. I also got 3 or 4 long sleeve onesies. I looked at all the toys after sorting all the clothes...I had stuffed about 50 clothing items into my bag....whoopsie! I had no idea I had that many. The toy section was a bit overwhelming but I did find a really cute animal bowling set. I didn't get it for the bowling aspect( for now )but for the cute fuzzy animal pins that I knew Rowen would just love. It's already a hit!

Checking out the piggy's nose. They are super cute plus they rattle & jingle. 

There are a few other really good ones coming up but my mom and I will be looking for just a few pairs of heavy weight casual pants and a sweater or 2. We have everything else from previous sales that we went to a few weeks ago. When I first heard that I would be having a boy I immediately thought "ohhhhh....I won't get to buy cute clothes". Boy was I wrong!! I love all these cute boy clothes that I buy for Rowen! I love dressing my baby :)

~Rachel~

Middle of the week loves...

I'm linking up with Jaime today to share my Wednesday Loves.

this sweet, smart, happy baby of mine! He brightens every day with his smile and makes me laugh constantly at his silly faces and makes my heart melt with his sweet hugs and snuggles. 

When I went in to get him up from his afternoon nap, he greeted me with a wave! He is so smart :) Love that he is constantly learning.

wakey wakey :)

just how much energy he has! He is so full of life and I love watching him play. He loves his junperoo and today I think he loved it more than ever. Watch this video to see what I mean!

that Rowen's 1st birthday is approaching. I have already planned everything! It's in my head and on paper. All I'm going to say is it's going to be a cute party and I'm pretty excited. I'm definitely not wishing it to come quickly...my baby is growing up too fast! I would share all the details with you but that's definitely NOT going to happen...sorry!! haha. You will just have to wait for the party. I WILL however share his party hat and outfit. Both are from Etsy. 

There are a few color changes on the hat and with Rowen's name of course and an "R" on the longall if I include his first initial. I haven't decided if I like it plain better. 

I hope y'all are loving great things this week too!

We missed our little buddy!

Brent and I had a great time in Florida but we were super excited to come home and be with Rowen. He will be 10 months on Friday...can't believe it. My cousin, Angie, and I have already been talking about our babies 1st birthdays coming up. :0 Rowen  is definitely acting like a 10 (almost)month old. He is crawling everywhere. There is never a dull moment around here and never a time when I can just sit down for 5 minutes...except when he is napping! He is pulling up on everything too. The other day I was filling up his duck bathtub and I had sat him on the floor on a bath towel. After the tub was full, I turned around to pick him up and he wasn't on the floor! Nope, he had pulled himself up on the side of the tub and was peeking over into the tub at the water! He now pulls himself up on the side of the tub everytime when are in the bathroom now. 

He loooooves bathtime!

He loves when I read to him and we read quite a bit of books during the day! He also loves to look at books by himself. He can turn the pages and enjoys opening the book, turning the pages, closing the book, and repeating. He will literally look through 1 book for 5 or so minutes before doing something else. Rowen is going to need a lot more bookshelves with all this reading he is doing :) He has discovered shoe laces and thinks they are funny! Brent sometimes leaves his running shoes near the front door and Rowen will play with those laces for a long time. He gets so tickled when he shakes the laces. It's quite funny!!

This morning Row headed to work with Brent b/c I worked a shift at the Otter Creek consignment sale. I get to shop early on Thursday morning and I am super excited. This sale is HUGE! There are so many cute clothes, hundreds of toys and books, and lots of other things like rocking horses and toy chests. Oh and there is this super cute table and chairs perfect for Rowen's size! I am going to really have to think about what I want to buy him on the way there on TR morning! 

Exploring Daddy's office

A little Sarasota vacay- part 3

Wednesday after breakfast we packed up our beach bags and drove over to Lido Key Beach for the day. We pretty much had the beach to ourselves and we all liked it that way! There were a few other people there but we all had our own space and plenty of it. We took chairs and just sat in the sand and relaxed and chatted for a while. I noticed little flocks of seagulls started gathering near us and were all staring at a little boy about 20 yards away from us. He was about 6 and was holding a huge hotdog. What I'm about to say was probably one of the funniest things that I have seen in a long time. The little boy was standing up on his towel and was about to take a bite out of his hotdog when out of nowhere a seagull swooped down and stole that hotdog including the bun right out of his little hand. I died laughing and so did Brent, Heidi, and Justin. That seagull downed that dog in a matter of seconds and that little boy was MAD! He was screaming at the bird and kicking sand at the other birds that had run over hoping to grab another hotdog from one of the others. I was still laughing. He then proceeded to pick up a huge rock that I was assuming he was going to try to launch at the thief and I started to get concerned for the bird. I looked over at the lifeguard to make sure she was watching him and she was. He deciding against the rock and just started yelling at the birds again. His mom gave him another hotdog so it was all good in the end. 

We had fun feeding the birds chips. I got these guys on video feeding the birds at the same time.

Well what happened to the little boy actually happened to me but with a chip not a hotdog. It once again was hilarious. This was way before we decided to feed them our chips...I was standing up and had just pulled a chip out of the bag when a seagull swooped down and grabbed that chip right out of my hand. He came so close to me that his wing grazed the side of my head! Those silly birds. 

We ventured into the ocean which was so warm. It was really nice! We swam out to the sandbar and discovered that the sandbar was filled with tons of seashells. All sorts of shells. We spent a little time collecting them. Some we picked up even had crabs and mollusks in them. Here are just a few of the shells Brent and I collected:

We headed over to St. Armands Circle( about a football field away from the beach )to grab some lunch. We stopped in at the Daiquiri Deck and we ordered nachos. Justin and Heidi ordered chorizo nachos and we ordered shrimp ones. Justin ordered 1/2 dozen of oysters on the half shell. I kind of grimaced when he ordered those b/c they always look so gross. Well I made the mistake of telling him I had never had one and he said I just had to try one...ugh! Alright, I was up for it. 

It was disgusting! I didn't go with the swallow route but the cracker route. So Justin put it on a cracker for me and I added a little hot sauce and started chewing. It was slimy and squishy and just not tasty. So, I'm not a raw oyster fan but at least I have tried one! After lunch the boys wanted some goggles so they could really go seashell diving so we stopped in at good ole Alvins Island and we got goggles. We stayed at the beach for another hour to 2 hours and then headed back to the house. We hung out in the pool before dinner. We had our leftover fish, chicken, and pasta salad for dinner and after that it was dessert and movie time. We watched Bridesmaids which Brent and I hadn't seen before and it was pretty hilarious! Thursday afternoon the Prine's dropped us off at the airport and Brent and I got home around 3pm. We had such a fun time with Justin and Heidi!!  We were both excited to see Rowen and he was so glad to see us. We definitely had a great 4 day vacation with our friends but were ready to come home to our little man! 

A little Sarasota vacay- part 2

One thing that I loved about this vacation was sleeping in!! Since Rowen gets up around 7am, there is no sleeping in here at the Easley house. I slept till 10:00am-10:30am every morning and it felt so nice. I haven't felt that well rested in months. On Tuesday morning when we all got up, we hit the Dunkin Donuts.

It just makes a good morning a GREAT morning :)

After Dunkin we headed to a fish market to buy some fresh fish for dinner that evening. We checked out one and they didn't have a type of fish that Justin was looking for so we went down the street a ways to Walt's Fish Market. It was a restaurant and a market and it had a nice selection! 



Brent and I got jumbo shrimp and red snapper. Heidi and Justin got amberjack and wahoo. I wanted to try something new and I had never had red snapper! 


They had a huge case of fish, shrimp, crab, etc...

After Walt's, we headed to the grocery store to grab some groceries for the next few days. When we got back to the house, it was around 2pm so we ate lunch and hung out at the pool for a few hours. Brent's uncle has a private pool so we just had to walk out the back door. Before dinner, we headed over to St. Armands Circle. It's a really cool spot filled with restaurants and specialty shops.

See, it's really a circle!

One of the shops...Fanta Sea

 Brent and I really liked the Florida Olive Oil shop and the Stadium Gallery. Florida Olive Oil had probably 50 different flavors of olive oil. We like cooking with olive oil so we had fun in that shop. Check it out here. And Stadium Gallery was just plain cool! It was filled with football and baseball and some basketball stadium prints. It made me wish Brent had a man cave so that we could have bought some of the prints. World Series, National Championships, Super Bowls, you name a game and the owner probably had a print of it. He even had games from decades ago. He is the one who actually takes the pictures so along with many of the prints, he includes the ticket to the game. You have to check out the  shop here! Oh, Justin even found himself and his dad in one of the Alabama football prints! haha. After walking around, we found a new beach that we were going to go to the next day. Lido Key beach. It was huge and looked like there wouldn't be a crowd. It was a really pretty beach. There are so many different types of beaches in the state. This beach was probably the best beach I have ever been to in Florida. 

That's all of us at the top with a channel behind us at St. Armands Circle. It was right beside Lido Key beach. And Brent, Justin and Heidi on the beach at the bottom.

We had some late dinners on this trip! But none of us minded. We got back to the house around 8:30ish and grilled our fish and made mac and cheese, green beans, and ranch potatoes for sides. It was delicious. 

The red snapper was good and so was the shrimp. After dinner we watched a movie and ate dessert. Then we hit the hay b/c it was around 1:00am!! Part 3 to follow...

 

Lido Key on Dwellable