We have been so busy lately, new baby, new school year, planning a move, traveling. It's hard to know where to begin. Life was quiet & calm until Autumn was about 3 weeks old.
We stayed close to home, enjoyed visits from family & friends, snuggled with all of our babies and just relished the transition from a family of 7 to a family of 8. She has been an angel of a baby. When she hit 3 weeks we decided to spend a week with Daddy in AL. A week turned into almost 2 weeks. It was cramped (in his little apartment) but we had so much fun just being so close to him & visiting with friends while he was at work. We can't wait to get back full time. On our looong drive down I told him I couldn't wait to wake up & see the ocean.
This is what I had in mind...
This is the view from his apartment with the Mobile Bay in the background. That is a Yacht Club behind the trees.
This is what I got...
We stayed at this fabulous condo in Orange Beach for our first weekend there, it was so much fun, the kids had a blast. I could go on & on about it but I won't. It was beautiful and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
We played at the playground, went to the beach & the bay, looked for houses, went shopping, & showed off our newest addition. She was a trooper through the whole trip.
Then back home for 2 days before we were off again to visit Nina & Papa. This trip held a few unplanned pleasures. The original plan was to arrive on Thursday, visit with my sister & her kids, get my haircut that evening (my first time away from Autumn), on Friday we were supposed to leave the boys & Katy with my Mom for the day & head to Atlanta to meet friends at the American Girl Store and Bistro, Friday was also my Mom's birthday so we were going to celebrate her birthday with the family on Saturday. Anyway, our friends came down with a stomach bug and couldn't make it to the AG store. We were so bummed about not getting to see them. I thought about taking the girls anyway but since it was my Mom's birthday & my sister invited my 3 oldest to a not-going-back-to-school picnic with her homeschool group I thought it would be fun to spend the day with my Mom & the younger 3 kiddos. We had so much fun. It was a nice mother-daughter bonding day. We went to a local coffee shop for Cappuccinos & then to a local corn maze. This wasn't quite what we had expected. It was so hot, way overpriced, the kids were too young to really enjoy the maze, it was during a school day so the hayrides & extra stuff were not running, we got lost in the maze, we finally made our way out, got cold drinks & headed over to the little kids play area & petting farm.
This was the fun part, Mom & I relaxed & visited in the shade while the littles played on the playground & ran through the hay maze (more their speed). We also stopped at a local deli for lunch. My older bunch had a blast with their cousins & it turned out to be a great day all around. Well, except for our friends at home sick. The next day was fun when my sister & her family came over to my parents to help celebrate Mom's birthday. Christina, Dad, & I cooked dinner while we all visited & the kids had a great time.
Then home for a few days, we were able to sneak in a play date with some local friends at the playground before we were on our way back to AL to visit Daddy for a long weekend.
It has been a whirlwind few weeks. We are finally back home, trying to declutter a bit before major packing starts next week (I think). We think we have found a place but have been sluggish in finalizing the details. If that gets settled then we should be in line to move in between Nov 1st and the 15th. So we are back to the grind with Autumn in tow, she is growing and changing by the second. Her siblings are just ga-ga over her, so are her Momma & Daddy.
She is such a joy & at almost 8 weeks old it's hard to believe she hasn't always been here.
Abby is Mommy 2, she is my extra set of hands, she & Erin are the reason Katy is so spoiled & Autumn is well on her way. I couldn't ask for better kids.
Seth is the PROUDEST big brother!
Notice the look of fear on Autumn's face as Katy (2yr) swoops in for a hug & kiss.
