Big brains...

Colin had a doctors appointment.  He is 10 months, and he is 28 inches tall... 26th percentile, 19.5 pounds... 24th percentile, and his head is 42 cm... 84th percentile.  That's right folks - my boy has a big brain in that noggin' =)  And can you see his little band aid?

At least he is all smiles!  I really thought he was going to weigh more than he does - but the doctor said he was right on track.  Everything checked out perfectly!

When we got home, Colin was so busy playing in his room.  He likes to peek out over his baby gate.  And I had to get a shot of his beautiful head of hair

Other than the shot, it was a good day!  Even with that he didn't cry long. 
Colin really likes his little buddy Scout.  This stuffed animal sings songs and says phrases that are personalized.  Like the dog will say "I love you, Colin" and one of the songs spells out C. O. L. I. N.  And he says his favorite color (blue), favorite food (banana), and favorite animal (dog), which is programmed as Colins favorites.  It's really cute.

Birthday boy...

Garet's birthday was yesterday (the 24th) and we had a big celebration.... that lasted for about 2 weeks!  =)

Last weekend we headed to Charlotte.  We had a big night out!  I got Garet tickets to see OAR - one of his favorite bands.  They were playing in downtown Charlotte, so we figured we had free babysitting for the night and a free place to stay!  (Thanks mom and dad!!!!)  We were meeting one of Garet's good friends from college, and his girlfriend for dinner then the show.  I had to get some last playing time with Colin before we headed out.

Dinner was good... but it started raining.  It wasn't a downpour, but it was enough to be annoying.  So we got soaked as we jammed to Crazy Game of Poker!

We had pretty good seats.  It was a lot of fun - Garet and I used to go to concerts a lot in college.  It was nice to get away and enjoy some good, live music again.

The next day (Saturday) my parents took Garet out for lunch, gave him his birthday gifts, and cupcakes.

One of his gifts was tickets to the U.S. National Whitewater Center!  We had been wanting to go anyway, but Garet was surprised to see that the tickets were a gift!  Garet, my dad and I were sooo excited to try out everything there!  My mom was sooo excited to watch Colin while we were there!

We left soon after breakfast so we could get there early and beat the crowd.  And it worked!  We were on the first rafting trip...

It was awesome!  I had only been rafting once before, but since this was man-made, it was rapid after rapid rather than a long resting time between.  Our guide was great!  He took us on about 5 trips, and each one was different.  He asked us on a scale 1 - 10 how crazy did we want to get... I said a 7.5 because I didn't want to get thrown out... Garet said a 12, to make up for my 7.5.  Well, the next rapid we hit, Garet flipped out!  hahaha  Then the guide got my dad and G good by holding them under one of the rapids!

Next we did the mega zip line.  It was fun too - we actually went right over the whitewater rafting.  This is me and G...

We had lunch there, then did the rock climbing.  After that my mom, Colin and I headed back home and G and dad stayed to do a few more things.   This is them on a rope course... this was a text from Garet... he said "Is there something wrong with your dad's helmet?"  haha

We left the next morning.  The week was pretty uneventful.  Oh, except I fell down the stairs and thought I broke my foot.  Lovely.  I think it is just really bruised.  So, we haven't been able to do our morning walks... but we have enjoyed the pool!

Here is one of Garet and Colin with the "Beane & Son" shirt. 

And finally it was actually his birthday!  We got some pictures before church.  We went out to dinner, Garet got a cake and his favorite dinner.... sausage lasagna! 

Hope you had a great birthday Garet!!!  I love you!!!

10 months...

My sweet baby boy is 10 months old today!  He is growing so fast!  I am just amazed at what he can do!  And it is so neat to see the world through him!  We are truly blessed.  Colin is our little angel.

Here is some of what Colin has been up to:

- pulling himself up on everything and cruising along, and is super fast at crawling now

- claps and is starting to wave

- loves going on walks, and just being out and about

- just about finished eating baby food... he is over it.  I have started giving him some of what we are eating (fruits, veggies, meat...)

- loves his books.  He is now really into the touch and feel books

-  getting top teeth in

- takes two naps and sleeps from 7 pm to 5:30 am

- absolutely LOVES the water!  bath, pool, ocean... I even put some water in a pan and just keep him occupied with that!

- such a flirt!  He just laughs and shows off for everyone!

We love our little man!

Semper Fi...

It means "always faithful" and is the motto of the U.S. Marine Corps.

My brother is a Marine.  He has been deployed to Afghanistan, he left last week.

We have known for some time now that this was going to happen.  I went to Charlotte in June to see him one last time before he left.  I just haven't been able to blog about it... as you can imagine, it is emotional.

So when I was in Charlotte, we got to spend a lot of great time with Eric!  He was able to have a week off before his deployment and he got to see most of our family and friends.  My parents hosted a little party at their house.  Here is me with some of my cousins...

Also while we were there, my dad put up a swing set for Colin!  And as you know, Colin loves to swing!  So this was a major hit!

It was so great to hang out with Eric!  We had such a great time - it was very upbeat and fun.  We just enjoyed everything.  Garet was missing (he had to work... boo!) but it was good to have the rest of the family together.  Colin loved hanging out!  In fact, he showed Eric how to drive the ice cream truck!

We had a great time at the party!  My parents had BBQ, yummy!  There was corn hole (which I still haven't really ever played!)  and Aunt Kailey kept Colin happy

By the way... that's Morgan Laine Davis that Colin is sitting on =)
I think everyone had a good time!  And you can see that Colin is completely taken by his Uncle Eric!

After dinner, everyone got to hang out.  My parents have a pool table, so Eric and my dad took on Eric's best friend and his dad.  I'm pretty sure Eric and dad won =)

Once everyone left, mom, dad, me, Eric and Kailey were left hanging out.  I think we were all just enjoying every.single.moment that none of us wanted to go to bed!  In fact, we had a competition...
Mom had some gum, so Eric and I tried to see who could blow a double bubble first!

(Eric won, but that's besides the point) 

The next day, Eric and Kailey left to head back to Camp Lejeune.  Eric isn't big on taking pictures, but I warned him that we were taking a lot =)

And he, of course, was fine with that!  We had such a great visit!  And I just can't wait to give him a big hug in a few months!  Our military is amazing.  I really have no words for how proud I am of my little brother.

My little brother, who is going to be a daddy in less than 3 months!  I am so proud of you Eric!  I love you!! 

July 4th weekend...

We had a great weekend!  On Saturday, the 3rd, we drove to Wilmington for the day.  We used to live there, and still have our house that's being rented... so we drove by to make sure it looked good.  Then we drove around town, and stopped to have lunch downtown.  Wilmington is such a cute place!  It is old, and there are horse carriages, and it is right on the water.  So pretty!

When we were finished we were leaving downtown and we passed a parking lot... Garet said he thought he recognized a car... it was his old car!  The one he sold when we moved here (since he has a company car now)!  How crazy is that?!  Of all places, we drove by the car we sold! 

Oh - and there was a ticket on the front!  HA!

Then we drove to our friends house for a cookout!  Garet has been friends with these two (Elliot and Melissa) since first year of college.  I met them when we lived in Wilmington, and now that we are back, it's fun to get together!  They have a daughter that is about 7 months older than Colin.  And boy did Colin love her wagon!

The next day, on the 4th, we took it easy around the house and then that afternoon we headed to Lake Waccamaw.  We have managed to make a few friends here =)  One of them invited us to their lake house for a cookout.

When we got there they informed us that we just missed George Washington on the boat going up and down the lake!  Colin was still able to get a picture with him though...

We didn't stay too late since I didn't want to mess up Colin's bedtime.  So after Colin got in bed, Garet and I sat on the front porch... it was so nice.  Just hanging out. 

We did see some fireworks ( from the neighbors). 

It was a great weekend!

Great day...

We had such a wonderful day yesterday!  We decided to drive out to Sunset Beach!  Crazy, you might ask... on a Saturday the weekend of July 4th... well, I had my worries that it was going to be crazy busy, but I was (thankfully) proven wrong!  We woke up and ate breakfast - which we do around 7 every morning.  Then we packed a lunch and threw things in the car and headed out!

We arrived at the beach with absolutely NO traffic!  And we got a free parking spot right next to beach access.  Garet put up our tent thing, and I plopped Colin down in the sand while I organized everything else.  Colin loved the sand!  And this time he didn't even attempt to eat it!  He was having a blast!  Then we moved down to the water...

He had so much fun!  He splashed so much!  Every once in a while he would see a wave come and get a little nervous (he would reach up to me), but he did so well!  It was really cute!  Garet took him out a little deeper to let him get his whole body in the ocean (and to wash off some of the sand!)  Colin was so good and seemed to really love it! 

We put Colin in the shade for a bit and Garet let him have some water from his water bottle.  Colin drank it like normal.  haha - he didn't spill any.  It's so neat to see him growing up.

My guys.

We were worried that we wouldn't be able to stay at the beach long because Colin would get fussy around his naptime.  We brought his jogging stroller, and when his nap time rolled around we took him on a walk down the beach.  And....

success!!
He took a 45 minute nap - which is shorter than usual, but wahoo!  It will do!

It is so funny how our trip to the beach has changed.  When we lived in St. John, we would stop on our way into town, or home from town, jump in the ocean... sit on the beach... all we needed was a towel.  And now... we bring the whole house:

But I wouldn't trade it for the world!

And is it crazy to say that... I think I'm scared of the ocean?!?  Is that weird?  I guess after living where I can see through the water... going into water where you can't see your feet is a little scary to me.  I didn't want to go out past where the water was breaking.

Anyway...
we had a GREAT day!  Colin was perfect!  When we got back home we grilled out. 

 Perfect.