The Busiest Month I Can Remember

As I promised back in December, July has been a humdinger of a month.

We visited friends in Orange Beach.

But don’t think it was a totally laid back vacation…

Even if it was beautiful!

There was intense wedding planning.  Why yes! Those are AutoCAD drawings of the reception site.  Doesn’t everybody do that?! 🙂

Jeremiah wrote a song for Kendall and Watson that he and Taylor performed at the wedding.  And he also spent every tiny other free second restoring an old car with his Dad for Kendall and Watson to leave the reception in.

This one learned how to pull up and wanted to practice, with my help!, all. the. time.

Fourth of July happened, with plenty of open spaces to do fireworks.

I attended a bachelorette weekend, and had to take a baby and a babysitter along with me.

I only required one or two items for the ONE NIGHT I spent away from home.  Jay Paul REFUSES to take a bottle…did I mention it has been a hard month????

We had some sweet friends come stay for the weekend before they move across the country to do their fellowship year.

And we squeezed in a little horseback riding with them.

FINALLY!!!!!!!!  Came the long-awaited birth of Warren Elijah!  I became an Aunt for the first time, and got to spend those first few days home from the hospital with Caroline, Riley and this little bundle that I would have liked to snuggle with day and night….

But guess who came along????  I am not sure what I have done wrong, but somebody forgot to let Jay Paul know that third babies are supposed to be laid back.  This picture was taken outside at 6 am as we tried to let Mama and baby sleep.  I have spent the last seven months with only one arm because Baybus is in the other one at all times.  It’s a good thing he melts my heart into a puddle every time I look at him, otherwise, one of you may have found him on your doorstep.

My girls.  So wonderful.  So full of questions.

Jeremiah and I also celebrated our nine year wedding anniversary somewhere in the midst of all this.

So how, you may wonder, have we coped with a wedding, a baby, life with three children and the most high maintenance child on the planet.

I have been creative…

Is this child abuse?

I am so thankful for all the help I get from little Dace.  I truly could not manage without her.

Jay Paul has done a lot of sitting in the sink.  If you have a new sitter, you really should give it a try.  I wouldn’t have worn make-up for the past 3 months, without it.

Sometimes, the sink was even on!

To feed our family, I resorted to letting him gnaw on all sorts of things to relieve his teething gums.  Corn cob anyone?

Here, I am making a lasagna for the Community group that was coming over to our house, dancing to “Sexy Back”, drumming the beat with a wooden spoon and pot lid, and you can just barely see the lasagna noodle I have wrapped around Jay Paul’s arm for him to gum.  Our home is a quiet sanctuary.

I have enlisted family members for help, and don’t think the bride was spared.

Strangely enough, my greatest stress relief is spending time with my all three of my greatest stress creators and their Daddy.  We have managed to squeeze in a few peaceful family outings this past month.

Some of them, just in our yard.

Snuggling always helps.

Finally, this weekend, sweet Kendall became Mrs. Watson Downs.

And she was pretty excited about it.  (This is the car Jeremiah and his Dad finished by the skin of their teeth!)

Then, I said goodbye to Taylor who just flew to Los Angeles…where she and John David will do residency for the next six years… …

I can’t even talk about how bad my heart hurts over this one.

I did use my real camera for some shots on the wedding day and Warren. Hopefully, this next month will be a little more sane, and I can come back with details. Sorry to those of you who follow on Instagram, there wasn’t a thing new on here for you!