There’s No Place Like Home!

With the 3^rd trimester looming (a milestone that has since passed, YAY!) Dan and I decided to head back home for a quick visit.

Since we can't travel for Thanksgiving or Christmas, we timed our trip perfectly and were able to be home for Dad’s birthday. Happy birthday!

We really do love Columbia, but heading home and spending time with family really makes us miss Little Rock. And unfortunately, in utter non-Laura fashion, I neglected to take many pictures.

So here are the few I took. As I sit and look at them, I cant believe how big Grayson is getting! He’s really turning into a little boy!

Thanks for having us Mom & Dad! We’ll see ya in a couple months!

Snuggle tackle on Mamma

Making a birthday card for Grandpa

Lovin’ the beach

We jetted away down to the beach for Labor Day weekend a few weeks ago and as usual we had so much fun!

Grayson loves the sand and pool, but could probably pass on the surf for now. Something about the ginormous waves and their subsequent retraction scares the poor little guy to death. I’m sure he’ll grow to appreciate them someday, in his own time.

And in typical Dan fashion, he booked an incredible room in a prime location so our week was filled with lots of sandcastle building, tons of pool time, the most incredible sandwich I’ve ever had (being 6 months pregnant, full of cravings and starving might have had a tiny bit of influence…but it was A-maz-ing!), and LONG walks on the beach. Grayson and I probably walked a good mile every day, which is a

lot for a little toddler

walking next to me!

Here are some of our pics, the rest are HERE. And I have to tell y’all, living

so close to the beach is one of the best things about Columbia!!

Lions Say ROAR!!!!!

Grayson and I have a lot of fun with animal noises around our house. He knows sooo many and I just eat it up.
For over a month now, is favorite BY FAR is "ROAR!".
Here he is in action. As you can see, we both enjoy it. He cracks me up every time!

Sugar, Spice & Everything Nice

THAT’S WHAT LITTLE GIRLS ARE MADE OF!

As you might have guessed, Dan and I found out today that our Christmas miracle is a little baby GIRL!
We are so excited to finally find out, start planning, thinking of girl names, and of course for me to start buying up everything pink in Columbia, SC….so everyone might want to buy stock in PINK!

We had such a great time peeking in on her and got a pretty good giggle that our little lady is a southern belle in training. She had her little ankles crossed, sitting ever so gracefully, probably enjoying some sweet tea. That is until the ultrasound tech moved her (to measure the femur) and the tomboy in her took over and she kicked so hard it made me jump. The best part was since her leg was on the “tv screen”, Dan got to see the kick (and my subsequent jump) in HD. So maybe we’ll have a little southern belle soccer player?
Here are some images from our u/s.
Can’t wait for Christmas!

We LOVED her little hand, waving to us:

Hi-yah! Kickin' at cha:

Smishy face view:

Profile of course. So sweet.

Baby Pool Excitement

A few weeks ago we broke down and bought Grayson a little baby pool.
We’d been fighting the idea because we paid to use all our neighborhood pools this year.
In the end, we decided having a baby pool would be fun for short stints and leave the big fun to the big pool.
So off we went… And while picking out the pool, we overheard a brief conversation that made us giggle at the South Carolina temperatures. A little boy, probably 4 years old, was begging for a new pool since his had popped a few weeks back. Here’s the mother’s response: “Logan, it’s July and way too hot for baby pools now. We’ll have to wait until next year.”

Ha ha. Yes, it IS hot. Our temps are always around 100 degrees. In fact our little temperature gauge told us that the water, straight out of the faucet, was 85 degrees. Whew!
So here’s little man, enjoying his little tiger themed pool. And in true Momma form, he loves the baby pool as much as the big pool. Go figure!

Walkie Walkerson!

A little over a week ago, Grayson took 2 small steps trying to reach for his favorite choo-choo push toy. Two days later, he took 3. And the entire week he kept standing for longer and longer periods of time, without help or leaning....and yesterday he officially started walking.
So exciting!

Peek-A-Boo Balgeet!

While little Grayson spent time with his good friend Jackson yesterday, I headed off to my 17 week appointment.
Our anatomy ultrasound isn't until 21 weeks, but my doctor (who I absolutely adore!! I hope every girl has a doctor they love and trust) went ahead and tried to take a sneak peek.
Of course baby Balgeet wouldn't get into a great position, so we still have to wait 4 more weeks to confirm whether it's a Bert or a Gert. Dang!
Nonetheless, it's always fun and exciting to take a look-see and hear that heartbeat.
So here's a little preview, if you can decipher the gender, let me know! :-)

Fun Fourth with the Fam

For the 4th of July, we headed up to spend time with the entire gang of Halsteds.
It was so much fun!
The days were filled with great visiting, fantastic sightseeing, good food and all around merriment.
Not only was it fantastic seeing everyone but I wish we could have stayed longer. It’s amazing how fast that week flew by. And it’s always hard to say goodbye when we were enjoying everyone so much. The departure brought me many tears.
The only bad parts of the trip were our flights to and from. Even though we got upgraded to first class, the only perk to Dan’s endless traveling, little Grayson was not a happy camper.
He’s at the beginning stage of independence and wants to constantly be on the move. I can’t blame him for getting so upset. Maybe next time we’ll convince Scotty to beam us back and forth.
Don’t forget to check out all our pictures AND a few videos. And yes, the sweatshirts were needed. Don’t let the beautiful sunlight fool you. It was a bit chilly up there. We had a couple warmer days, but us southern folk had to bring a few winter wears.
Thanks for all the fun Halsteds.
We had a great time and need to do it again soon!