Vacation 2 and Birthday

Well, it was a wonderful vacation, just not near long enough, and now we are home, catching up on some much needed rest. Isn't it funny that we go on vacation to rest and break from work and end up coming home needing a catch-up day of rest before going back? As I write, Libby is even still sleeping, at 10 o'clock! And it's 2 days after we got back!

We had a great time in Charleston! Below are a few pics from our trip.

Classic, by the pineapple fountain/wading pool. I got one picture of Libby smiling, then another with Matt smiling, but somehow I couldn't get one of them smiling together. :)

It was a hot day, so we got a lemon Italian ice. Libby loved it!

"You've got to be a real man to wear one of these things." :) Thanks, Matt, for carrying her all over Charleston!

They built a new bridge to the Isle of Palms. It is a cool bridge, here is a pic of it.

The harbor line. Couldn't get many of the houses in the picture, but the palms came out well.

I got a few pictures of the awesome old houses on the harbor. Here are a couple. (Notice the storm moving in in the background. We made it back to our car just as the rain started in.

On our last night there, we ate at a neat restaurant on Folly Beach, then walked on the pier. It was too dark to get better pictures on the pier, but here is Libby on a bench. 7 months old! You can see a video of her at the restaurant at the bottom of this post.

So here is the awesome condo that we got!

Guest room, where Libby slept on a fortified queen bed/castle.

Master bedroom

After Charleston, we went to our church's parent-teen ministry youth retreat. We are loving being on the Admin team! Matt heads up games, etc. He was the "fun director". During the tribal war games, the blue team got him and creamed his face with their color.

After the games, some of the boys got Craig and through him into a huge mud puddle! Poor Craig, had to ride back in the trunk of a car. :)

Our last day of vacation (the day we travelled to Advance) was my brithday! I got the most wonderful gift! Matt got me a new digital camera, and a nice one at that! It's a Nikon D40. I can't wait to get started in my new hobby. And to help me do that, he also got me a feild guide book on the D40. I've already read the intro and Quick Start and can't wait for the camera to come in so I can get started! This blog will hopefully benefit from that gift with more and better quality pictures!

Here is a video of Libby at the restaurant, Blu. Thankfully, we ate at three pretty noisy places (Hymen's, Poe's and Blu). She does great at restaurants! She sits in the high chair and plays with toys and eats her food. The only problem is that she is noisy even when she is happy! As you can see in the video (only a small glimpse) she likes to scream when she's playing and is starting to get a bit violent with her toys, slamming them into the table, her hand, other toys. It's pretty funny to watch!

That's it for now, Libby is awake! Hopefully later today I'll be able to post on Libby's 7 month achievements and update. She's getting close to crawling!

Vacation 1

We started off our vacation at my grandparents cabin in North Carolina. My family was there for the week so we stopped in for the weekend. It rained briefly and afterwards was a beautiful rainbow! The picture doesn't do it justice.

After the cabin we headed to Charleston. We've been looking for an affodable place to stay (prefferably on the beach) for the last month, but on Friday I came across a place that was still open and was able to get if at an affordable price. It's not on the beach, but it's just a few miles away. The place if beautiful! We are so thankful to have gotten it. I haven't taken pictures of it yet, but I'll put them up when I do.

We've had beautiful weather so far. Sunny and breezy and nice. Here are some pictures on the beach!

I've quicly found out that vacation doesn't mean the same thing anymore. It no longer means doing whatever we want, whenever we want. We now have loads of stuff to pack up. We have to plan around naps and feedings. We have to make sure we have some shade and entertainment for our little one. It means something totally different. We love it, but it's just not the same. Here we are set up on the beach. It takes two trips to and from the truck to load and unload everything.

Matt and Libby hitting the waves. The water is the perfect temperature!

Libby has done well so far. She had a rough first day (travelling form the cabin to Charleston), but the first day on the beach she did great! She took a 2 or 3 our nap in her little shade pool yesterday. The longer she sleeps, the happier she is, so that was great!

Matt and I enjoying the sun.

Libby being a goof for the camera.

We went to Hymen's (our favorite seafood joint in Charleston) and Libby did well. Thankfully it was a bit noisy and her screaming and playing wasn't too disruptive. She does well sitting in a high chair as long as we're feeding her or she has some toys to play with.
She also likes interacting with strangers and trying to get them to smile at her. :)

Here we are waiting for a seat. I love Libby's new dress!

Below is a video of Libby playing on the beach. I got her some new toys at the Cedar Springs consignment sale and she loves her Noah's Ark figurines. She also loves the camera. The video shows her response to the camera being pulled out.

Here she is playing with her toys. Sorry about the angle, we didn't realize for video you have to keep it straight. If anyone knows how to turn video, please let me know!

Vacation!

We're on vacation this week. I don't know if I'll be able to blog pics while we're here, but if not then you can expect a bunch when we get back!

Misc recent pics

Here are some recent pics of Libby. She got a bath robe and booties at one of her showers, here is the first time she's actually worn it, after a nice relaxing bath. She looked pretty cute in them.

For those of you who don't know Libby too well, she's never really been the cuddly type. Ever since she could hold her head up (under a month), she's been trying to push away and look around. Well, she's recently started cuddling and I hope this trend continues because I love cuddly babies! Here she is cuddling with Daddy at Uncle Scott and Aunt Ashy's house.

We hung out with two of our friends recently. Here are a couple of pics with Gavin and Lucy.

Libby was checking Gavin out, real close-like. :)

I love Gavin's face in this pic! I think Libby was tired, she looks like she's ready for a nap in this one. Lucy wasn't having a good time. :( Maybe she wanted a nap, too. We had fun, thanks for hanging out Allyson and Sarah!

Kisses!

Libby has learned her first "trick". She learned how to give kisses! Of course, like everything, she did it first with Daddy. The funny thing is, we didn't even try to teach her this. I think she just gets so many kisses throughout the day, she decided she'd start giving some back. We didn't even prompt her to give her friend Lucy a kiss, she just plopped one right on her nose. I think she will be so sweet if/when she is a big sister. And now, she even knows the word, "kisses", I mean, she can't say it, but she knows what it means. Here is a video of her giving me a kiss, I finally got it on video.

And here is a video of her giving Lucy a kiss. :) She loves her friends!

Eating baby food, 4th of July, NC Cabin

I think I mentioned in the last post that Libby was eating baby food now, so I thought I'd post a couple pictures of her eating. She does great with rice cereal and opens her mouth wide! She likes pears and did great with carrots. Wasn't so sure about bananas. She makes some funny faces when she eats!

We went with Scott and Ashley to my grandparents cabin in North Carolina for the 4th. We are SOOOO thankful for the opportunities we have to use this cabin as it is beautiful and right on the water with boats to use!

We went out on the pontoon to watch the fireworks and snapped a few pics.

Libby crashed out for the first part. She woke up but was content to lay there during the fireworks. However, wanting her to enjoy everything I do, I got her up to see the fireworks. She enjoyed them for a few minutes, then had a breakdown. I should have just let her go back to sleep. Oh well!

Libby's first 4th of July.

Libby loves the water! She likes to sit in her tube and lounge, or kick her legs and talk to herself. Here she is sitting on the beach at the cabin. She liked the sand and was fascinated when the waves from boats came crashing up to her.

She hung out with Daddy on the pier after a little swim. Here are her wrinkly feet. :)

Sitting on the pier.

6 Months!

I can't believe my girl is 6 months old! It's going way too fast and it's sad! I already miss my little newborn and I can't even remember her being that small!

Her 6 month check up went well. She is average in size. 50th Percentile head, 50th percentile weight and 60th percentile in height. She is 15 pounds, 10 ounces and 26 inches tall. She's still on the petite side for a Hedger baby!

She sits up on her own now and is eating some baby food. She does great with rice cereal and just finished her first jar of carrots today (she started it on Sunday or Monday).

She's anxious to be walking, I think she will probably skip crawling. She walked up and down the hallway in our house today holding on to my hands. She moves her feet great! I'm afraid for when she does get mobile on her own! I'll be chasing her down ALL DAY!

Here are a few pics.

Here she has her first pig tails! I didn't think it was actually possible, but they looked so cute! I think they make her look so much older!

I think she looks like a little piglet in the picture below! :)



So I was putting our clothes away and had finished in our room. So Libby was helping me push the basket into her room (walking behind). Then she decided it would be more fun to be the engineer so she hopped in the basket and directed me. :)

We've been hanging out at the splashpad ( a fun, free waterpark-type place for kids in Knoxville) a couple of times. Libby loves the water! When we go swimming, she loves to lounge in her tube (I unfortunately don't have any pictures of that). And at the splashpad, she loves to hold her hand out and feel the water. Here are a few pics of us hanging out in the sun.

My little munchkin sitting up on the blanket.

I didn't get any pictures when we were in Florida of my Libby with my Aunt and Uncle and cousins whose house we stayed at. They were up visiting this week, so I didn't miss the opportunity to catch up on a few pics with them.

Here she is with Aunt Donna.

And here she is with "uncle" Stephen, Johnny and Joey (left to right).

So that about catches me up picture-wise. I haven't been doing great taking pictures. I still need to get some 6 month pictures of her!

Florida road trip

Libby went on her first long road trip this past weekend. We just got back last night. We went to visit my Nana and Papa (Libby's Great Nana and Papa), to visit a good friend of mine, Angela and her adorable twin girls and to look at a car to buy. We were successful on all accounts and even got a few hours of beach time in. We travelled down with my Mom and Dad and stayed with my Uncle John, Aunt Donna and her three sons. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of Libby with them. :(

Here she is smelling Grammy's flowers before we left.

Here she is for the first time at a rest stop in Georgia. Very happy to be out of her seat!

Libby and her Great Nana

Libby and Great Papa

Libby and her Mum-mum? Or Grammy? Not sure what she'll call her yet.

At the beach with Poppy!

Libby and Mommy at the beach!

In her tube at the pool.

Grammy, Mommy and Libby in the pool.

We rented a cabana. She was supposed to take a nap, but who wants a nap when there's so much new stuff to see?

No, she's not laying out :) But she did decide it was finally time for a nap, about 10 minutes before we needed to leave.

Here is a video of her first time in a big pool. The water was the perfect temperature. She was more interested in looking at the water than looking at me. Oh well. Enjoy!