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Saturday was an eventful day.

My dear friend, Jean Marie, came over for most of the day to take our family/maternity

pictures.  We had such a great time.  We just chilled around the house, experimenting with

different photo ideas.  We even took a nap!  Then we headed to our local train station for

some outdoor pictures, got rained out, and headed to dinner.

After dinner, Jean went home, and then everything changed.

I went to the bathroom and noticed some spotting.  After texting with my midwife some,

and spotting a little more, we decided it would be best if we went to the hospital.  We'd much

rather be safe than sorry.

Long story-short: I was dehydrated, causing contractions, which likely caused irritation to

my cervix, which caused the spotting.  My water had not broken (praise the Lord) and Phoenix

was totally fine.  I convinced them I could drink enough water and they didn't feel the need

to give me an IV (if you know me, you know how happy that made me, and how willing I was

to CHUG water if necessary).  They gave me some meds to stop the contractions, and after

about 3 hours of being there I was free to go home!

So now, as you can imagine, I'm keeping track of my water intake and watching my caffeine

intake as well.  I absolutely do not want to go through that again.  I'm looking forward to at

least 3 more weeks with this baby inside me!!  Hopefully longer, if that's what she needs.

~

Jean has been posting pictures on her facebook photography page, and I will definitely

be sharing more on my blog when I have them!!!

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We had a great "first day of summer" this year!!

Back in May, I had mentioned to Ben that I really wanted to plan a surprise

something for Jean's birthday, but since I had time, I didn't act on it right away.

Not even 2 weeks later, Becca messages me with the exact same idea.  Fantastic!

So, we got to planning... and long story-short, we pulled it off!  We surprised Jean

with some of her best friends at the beach, went for pizza, went back to the beach,

and then got ice cream to top it all off.  It really was a great day.

I fully intended on getting a lot more pictures, but the water and conditions were

so perfect, I just had to get in.  And I don't normally get in the water.  It was great

to enjoy the (very unusually-flat) ocean with our friends.

~

Leah and I are only 2 weeks apart!  She's due with their first baby (also a girl)

15 days before I'm due with Phoenix.  It has been fun being pregnant with friends

through both of my pregnancies so far!  I can't wait to see Phoenix and their baby

grow up together.  Too fun!!

~

Thankfully, Jean asked to get a picture before we ALL went home (we really

should've gotten a group shot earlier).  I just adore these girls and had so much

fun planning this whole thing with Becca!!!  LtoR: me, Jean Marie and Becca

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On this morning, as Ben left for work, he leaned over to say goodbye and said "She's still asleep."

Right after he left, I looked at the monitor to see how she was sleeping, and I realized that what

Ben saw was actually her stuffed animals, and she was not in bed.  SO, I panned the camera over

to see her door, and it was open.  I walked out to see where she was, and she was totally passed

out on the couch.  Ben didn't even see her there when he was getting ready to leave!

We've been careful to be very quiet this past week, trying to get Georgia accustomed to sleeping

in her new bed, so I think Ben was just avoiding getting near her room at all (and this couch shares

a wall with her room).  Sweet girl!  How cute is that?  She stayed there for another hour almost.

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These flowers were given to us by my father-in-law.
I wrote about them on our family blog when I posted our Easter pictures:
I absolutely love these flowers. At our last house, we had a huge bush of them at the end of our
driveway, and I was really sad to leave that bush behind. I used these flowers in Georgia's Easter
basket last year, and I really wanted to use them again. Ben said his Dad had a couple of the bushes,
so he would get some flowers for me. Well, Jeff (his Dad) gave us an entire bush! Needless to say,
I'm very happy :)

and I wanted to share what Jeff said in a comment on the picture I captioned that with:

Although this is not the exact plant, Spirea has a special meaning to me. My Mom dug hers up from

the home she loved in PA, brought it to Florida and planted it in the house we lived at in [said town].

When they sold that home she dug it up again and it is planted behind our house. She obviously really

loved Spirea. The transplant is a Northern variety and doesn't bloom as well as yours will, but it is

Spirea and still has a special meaning. When Ben asked if he could cut some flowers off of it, it was

an easy decision. You never got to meet Bami, but she really loved Ben and she would have been so

thankful God picked you to be his wife. And she would be pinching Georgia's, and what other babies

God may bless you with, sweet cheeks! She loved the babies even more than flowers! It was an instant

and easy decision to share a little of her love of flowers, that is part of our heritage, with the girl she

never got to meet. Yet.

Sorry for the masses of words... I just thought it was sweet and wanted to share.

And then Oliver.  I laid down for a bit on this day, and all three cats joined me :)

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Last night I finally decided I needed to catch up on posting here (again), but

when I came home from our day out, the internet was down.

I called our internet service provider today, and after about 45 minutes on the

phone with them, they gave me a time for a technician to come out

tomorrow.  After the call, I went outside with Gus, took a look at the cable

for our internet, and found that it had been chewed up (likely by Gus).

I took some pictures of it to send to Ben, came inside, and the internet was

working again!  I guess all it needed was to be moved a little.  Though

we still need to get it fixed.

All that to say, I apologize for the lack of posting lately, and I really (really)

will try to be better about it now.

This picture is from Monday (and it's Friday now - yikes!) and although

I sometimes feel like pictures of the sky would be a cop-out for our

photo a day, I think it's ok to do every so often.  Seeing the golden light

out the window jolted me enough to go out there and take a picture.

So I'd say it was part of my day :)

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So I've got a story for you today.

See that crazy ant hill?  They're going crazy because Georgia stepped on their home.

She somehow only managed to get 2 ants on her and no bites.  I saw her right as she was

going to step on it and rushed over, ready to rip off her shoes and get millions of ants

off of her.  But no need!  I just brushed 2 ants off.  So thankful.

But then, I wanted to get a picture of the crazy ants going crazy, so I'm doing so, and I

suddenly hear Georgia crying.  I turn around to see her sitting in the pond.  She had walked

right into it because it didn't look like water with the algae on it and plants in it.  Thankfully

she was only about waist deep, sitting on the edge of the pond.

Naturally, I ran over and as I'm doing so, the kids yell "There's a gator in there!" so I run

faster, grab her arm and pull her out.  She was quite scared and I was right there with her.

Ben brought out a towel and we wrapped her up.  She lost one of her shoes in the water,

but Ben found it and got it out.

After I got her out of her wet clothes and diaper, she was fine again and had some reading

time in Memaw's chair by the window.  With that apple toy.  She loves that thing.

Also, I'm 10 weeks along now!

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Ok, I got behind in posting again.  I'm sorry.

On this day, I didn't take any pictures (not even with our phones).  So, I took a picture

later on of something that represents that day!  I learned about doTERRA essential oils

at a class and then received my kit that evening!  I'm very excited to do some more
research and learn more about using these oils.  Especially during pregnancy, labor &
delivery, etc.  I know they'll be very beneficial.  I just want to be sure I use them safely
and correctly. I'm just so excited about being able to take care of my family in
a natural, God-given way.

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I have been craving cheese grits from Aunt Catfish's for a couple weeks

now. Due to various reasons, I really thought I was going to die yesterday if I

didn't get some.  So, my Dad texted me and offered to take Georgia and I for

lunch the today, and we invited Jean to come along with us!

We ate lots of cheese grits, saw dolphins and birds, and enjoyed the rather brisk

air and one another's company today.  I'm so thankful for my family and friends!

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Well, the quality of these images is quite terrible (awful, horrid, embarrassing...), but my

pathetic phone was the only option I had to capture this pivotal moment in Georgia's life.

Today, Georgia received her first Publix cookie.

This may seem insignificant to anyone that didn't grow up shopping at Publix.  But please

know, this is a big deal.  A free cookie from the bakery was always the best part of the

shopping trip and made the 30 minutes (that seemed like hours) totally worth it.

Georgia thoroughly enjoyed her cookie and finished it just before we came to the checkout!

Then she proceeded to make the bagger's day just by smiling and waving at him, all in the

midst of the worst day of teething she has ever had.  Poor girl.  Praying tomorrow is better.

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I fully intended on taking this picture last night, and I forgot to do it before she went to bed.

So, I took it this morning, to sort of capture what happened last night!

We went to the grocery store, just for some bananas, while Ben was at class.  When we got back

to class to wait for Ben, I realized Georgia's night-night wasn't in the car.  Thus, we must have left it

at the store.  So I immediately looked up their number and called to see if anyone had found it. The

girl had a few people look in all the places I listed, and no one found it.  I told her I would double

check the car again, and if it wasn't there, I'd come back and take a look as well.  It wasn't in the car.

Off to the store we went again (so grateful it's only about a 3 minute drive) to try and find her night-night.

When we went in, I retraced my steps with no night-night to be found.  I walked up to the service

counter to make sure someone hadn't turned it in, and nothing.  No one had found it.  The girl said

"I hope it wasn't a favorite!" and I said "Well, actually it is, but it's one of three at least." and just then,

I looked to the left, and at the other end of the store stood a little girl, about 12 years old, swinging

Georgia's night-night around and playing with it.  I said "That girl has her blanket!" and speed-walked

to go get it.  I think the family only spoke spanish, because when I said "That's my daughter's blanket!

Thank you so much for finding it!" the girl looked at me in confusion, looked at her Mom, and

reluctantly handed me the blanket.  And her Mom just smiled.  Not a word.  It was very strange, but

I'm just thankful that Georgia's got her night-night back and all is right in the world ;)

{p.s. fresh bread is hard to resist}