4th of July

We spent the 4th picnicking at Aunt Pam's pool with Aunt Pam, Aunt Chelsea and Grandmom. Natalie had a blast, she's officially a water bug. I've got to get this kid in swim lessons. Nick wasn't so much a fan but eventually warmed up to it enough for a photo op.

7 months! And a whole lot more...

I've been terrible about updating the blog, so much has been keeping me busy I just can't seem to find the time!

Nick is 7 months old now, hard to believe we're over half way to his first birthday. It's insanity. He's still only donning two teeth, although he chews and drools like mad. He's sitting up, crawling, pulling up and just now beginning to furniture cruise. We're really starting to get a taste for his personality now too. His moods and reactions are heavily swayed by Natalie's. In Nick's eyes Natalie hung the moon, he simply adores her, and she him but she's still a proper little two-year-old. When she is "mean" to him (taking toys from him, mostly) he hangs his head and sobs. Nick is a very loving little boy, he snuggles and cuddles and loves to be close. If I've been away from him for any length of time he'll paw at my face and pull me to him for a big slobbery baby kiss! Love!

Over the past week or two the Blanton's have had a lot of awesomeness happen. Chase graduated, Natalie had summer camps, we've had play dates galore and we took the kids to the beach. The beach was loads of fun. Natalie swam in the ocean, played in the sand, got "squiggled", went to the aquarium, slept in a big girl bed, rode carnival rides, went to dinner, had a friend visit and ate doughnuts. Nick came along for the ride and was pretty much happy wherever we put him except the beach, little guy is like his momma... Sand, heat and sticky sunscreen do not make for a comfortable environment!

So here are a whole bunch of pictures from the past several weeks, in no particular order:

Kenley, Anabelle and Natalie at Marbles

Natalie and Rylan

Eden and Natalie at Marbles

Squigley's!

Natalie and Rylan at the Carnival in Carolina Beach

It's fuzzy but an important picture to me... Natalie's first night in a big girl bed!

What a man

Pure joy.

Alexa, Eden, Jeanne and me!

Natalie and Grandmom

Natalie and my Mom have a really special relationship, one I never had with either of my grandmothers so I'm very jealous.  Natalie is very fortunate to have my Mom living in our hometown... Mom wouldn't have it any other way and started looking for a new home the second she found out about my pregnancy! They've spent almost every day together since Natalie was born.  Mom was there during her delivery (Nick's too), spent many nights cuddled up with her as a newborn, is our babysitter and has only spent a handful of days away from Natalie.  As a result, they've formed a very special bond.  Mom went to the beach with Aunt Pam this past weekend and Natalie was really missing her.  While I was cooking dinner on Saturday night, Natalie was looking out the window, deep in thought, then suddenly said "my heart goes boom, boom, boom in my chest because I love Grandmom so much".

Aunt Dam

One of my oldest and dearest friends came to visit us last week. Sam and I have been very close since early childhood and even though he and his lovely bride live in Colorado, we try to see each other ad much as possible. Our friendship means so much to me that I braved altitude sickness, motion sickness and morning sickness to travel to Boulder for their wedding last year, it was a blast and I wouldn't have missed it for the world! I refer to him as "Uncle Sam" but for some reason Natalie calls him "Aunt Dam". He asked her why she thought Aunt Dam has a beard and her response was "because you're cray cray".... I'm so proud.

Sam is currently in between jobs so if anyone out there is in need of a brilliant rocket scientist then he's your man!  Although he will probably bore you to tears with all his quantum mechanics jargon!

Nicktures

Get it? Rather than pictures? I'm a comedic genius.

National Chocolate Ice Cream Day

Yes. Would this be America if there wasn't a day dedicated to the consumption of chocolate ice cream? I decided it would be un-American of us if we didn't celebrate and so for the goodness of all mankind, in honor of rich chocolate goodness, Mom, Natalie and I selflessly celebrated with ice cream. I was the only one who had chocolate though...

Cooking with Grandmom

Natalie is really into all things domestic, she especially loves cooking so Mom found a yummy lime bar recipe that was simple enough for Natalie to "cook". They had a special time together and we found out Natalie likes limes and can eat them without so much as a pucker!