5 on Friday

One. Enough said. I am just as ready as the next person for crisp cool weather, pumpkin spice lattes, boots, sweaters and all the fall things BUT.... it is still nearly 90 degrees here every day. You gotta love Fall in the south right?!

Two. I'm in LOVE with my new coffee table book Whiskey in a Teacup by Reese Witherspoon. It is a gorgeous book with so many fun tributes to southern ways. I love love love it! My favorite chapters are: Hot Rollers, Red Lipstick and Steel Magnolias and If it's Not Moving, Monogram It. This is such a cute book!  

Three. Due to the aftermath of Hurricane Florence public schools here are out another week. This will make week 4 of no school! It is just so sad all of the devastation the hurricane caused for so many people. This has been a good reminder to myself about the importance of helping others. It has been really neat to see our community truly rally together to help each other out. Our world needs a little less division and a lot more love. It's sad that sometimes it takes a disaster to all come together! 

Four. My child is drooling SO much... fellow mamas, do you think she is starting to teeth? When you soak all of your clothes you resort to a diaper and a bow.. right?! 

Five. Fall TV is here! What are you all watching? My DVR is set to record The Good Doctor, Grey's Anatomy, This is Us and Manifest. Am I missing anything that I need to see?

Have a wonderful Friday friends! 

Anna Claire l 5 Months

Anna Claire is 5 months old today! Not a lot has changed since last month as far as her eating, sleeping, and that kind of thing so instead of repeating everything from her 4 month post I'll just recap some of the things that are new for our little bug! 

-This month she figured out she could put her feet in her mouth and it might be the cutest thing I've ever seen.

-Anna Claire wants to grab, hold and put anything and everything in her mouth. If she locks eyes on an object she is going to let you know she wants it. I think she is starting to teeth because she drools constantly and loves to chew pretty much anything. She has lots of teething toys and she loves them all. 

- She is also starting to lunge and try to grab our food so I am SO excited to start solids next month! Right now she is still exclusively breastfed but I can't wait to see her start trying some other foods!! I am ordering her highchair this week.

- She used to rock church services sleeping through most of it but this month she is much more active and too distracted to sleep which results in lots of adorable squeals that seem to echo in church SO .. after two or three Sundays of having to leave the service we decided to try church nursery and she rocked it! I just knew I would be paged back to come get her but she was an angel! 

- Anna Claire has so many nicknames- most frequently being called boom shock. I have no idea where this came from but it has just stuck between me and her daddy. We love our little boom shock! 

-She loves her exersaucer, playing on her tummy time back (especially in the mornings) even though she gets very little tummy time because she will just instantly roll right over! She LOVES being held and bounced and loves holding our fingers. 

- This month she visited my college town and powered through her first hurricane! 

What I'm Reading

I'm always looking for book recommendations and have about a million books on my "to read" list. Here are some of my more recent reads and what I thought about them in case you are looking for a book to add to your own "to read" list!

Would I read it again? Yes

Recap and my thoughts: I thought this book was really funny and addicting. A thriller about a young woman seeking money and the perfect lifestyle and another woman who seems to have it all. Their lives cross in the craziest way and hidden secrets are revealed. I'll just say .. you never know what someone else is going through! I loved this book and the twist at the end.

Would I read it again? Yes!

Recap and my thoughts: A historical fiction novel set in Cuba in the 1950's. This is not the normal type of book I gravitate towards but I loved it so much. I learned a lot about Cuban political history with this book. The whole time I couldn't wait to find out how the main character's love story would play out. This is a great book! 

Would I read it again? YES! In fact, I think I'm going to. 

Recap and my thoughts: Jen Hatmaker is hilarious and often had me laughing out loud. She lays it all out and reminds us of Jesus' grace and how that relates to our everyday struggles as a wife, mom, church member and just a normal person living in this crazy world. I really enjoyed this book!

Would I read it again? Yes!

Recap and my thoughts: A book about young love and hard choices for an immigrant family. I really enjoyed this book and found myself rooting for each of the characters. I would read this again in a heartbeat. 

Would I read it again? Yes

Recap and my thoughts: This is the second book in her Peachtree Bluff series. A southern fiction book that touches on sisterhood and family. I love all of her books and this one was no different! I'm already counting down until book three is released! If you like southern fiction then you need to look up her other books! 

Would I read it again? No

Recap and my thoughts: A self help book if you will where Rachel Hollis tells her stories to motivate you to live your best life. I guess I'm glad I read this to see what all the hype was about but this was honestly not my favorite. I had to force myself to finish it. I felt like she talked about herself a lotttttt and at the risk of sounding rude, I just didn't care. This book was advertised in the Christian section but I found that she missed so many opportunities to point people to Jesus. Instead she had a very "me" attitude. Not my favorite and I would not recommend. 

Would I read it again? Yes, but I wouldn't plow through it. Instead I would just leave it on my bedside table or in Anna Claire's nursery to read a chapter here and there. 

Recap and my thoughts: A collection of essays about all things motherhood. There are a lot of really beautiful thoughts that made me think YES YES and YES.. that is exactly how I feel. It's a sweet book and would make a great gift to a new mommy! 

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That was a lot. It's been way too long since I've done a post like this. I'll have to work on that. Maybe monthly would be better -- Note to self! Also, I wanted to mention that I check out as many books as I can from the library. Buying books can get expensive y'all! Of course there are some books I order off Amazon if my library doesn't carry them but if I can read it for free then why not?! It seems like my generation has completely forgotten libraries exist so I just wanted to throw that out there... Happy reading friends! (: 

Weekending

I guess this is a weekend recap.. or maybe just a recap. I honestly cannot even keep my days straight right now. We are on week THREE of being out of school for hurricane Florence. It has been such a whirlwind since we realized the hurricane was something that needed to be taken serious and our town was put on a mandatory evacuation. I'll just play catch up real quick... we evacuated to my hometown to ride out the storm. It was super nice to enjoy time with my family but all the while it was really weird and nerve racking watching the news and seeing what was going on back home. Once the hurricane passed they did not lift the evacuation right away and even if they had SO many roads were closed because of flooding I don't know if we could have made it back. After 6 days of being gone we were able to head home. We are SO thankful that we came home to a house with very minimal damage. Many of the neighborhoods just miles from our house and in all of the surrounding areas are STILL flooded. It is absolutely devastating! So, with roads being closed [so many sinkholes, so much flooding, so much devastation] we are on week three of no school. I have to admit that I am enjoying the extra days home with Anna Claire but my heart breaks for all that have been affected! 

Moving on to this weekend.. Friday night we made homemade pizza and rented the movie Life of the Party. It was funny and nice to have a calm night at home. With an almost 5 month old that is really all our Fridays consist of and I am A-Okay with it! On Saturday I snuck out for a few hours to go to the beach with some girl friends. You have to love Fall in the south- 86 degree beach days! That night Justin went to watch a football game with friends so Anna Claire and I ventured out to do a little shopping. Justin surprised me by coming home early which completely made my night and we watched another movie.. so rare for us. This time we rented Blockers which is hilarious! 

Sunday was spent at church, cleaning and decorating for fall. I would be remiss if I didn't share this hilarious story... Our church hosted a thank you lunch for the service workers in our community that have been working countless hours in the wake of Hurricane Florence. Anna Claire was being a doll sitting in my lap while we finished up eating when I felt her tooting. I didn't think anything about it until I went to pick her up. Y'all.... my child had blown out her diaper and it had leaked THROUGH her diaper, THROUGH her adorable brand new monogrammed outfit and ONTO my dress. It was literally all the way up her back almost to her hair. I don't even know how that happened, but it did. I had the pleasure of walking past everyone in the fellowship hall with baby poop all over my dress. I can't make this stuff up. What do you do? It was honestly hilarious. My husband followed me to the nursery to change her and got a nice little video that we can hold over her head when she brings her first boyfriend home ;) .. I kid. A Sunday well spent! 

Anna Claire l 4 Months

Y'all.. it has been c.r.a.z.y around here. So crazy that I have actually had this post typed up for two weeks and just never pressed publish. Two weeks..... so now I actually have a 4 1/2 month old. But better late than never right?! Also, I've had several people reach out and ask- we were under mandatory evacuation orders for hurricane Florence so we did evacuate and we are safe and sound in my home town. There is no telling when we will make it back home but atleast we are all safe! 

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I can't believe I have a four month old! This is about the time that I found out I was expecting last summer. So much has changed in a year! This may have been my favorite month. Anna Claire is developing her own personality and growing and changing everyday. It is so much fun to watch! There is nothing I love more than being her mommy! 

Weight 

Weighing in at 13 pounds 12 ounces and 25 inches long! She is in 3-6 month clothes and about to transition from size one to size two diapers.

Sleep

She is still an excellent sleeper. She sleeps 7:30-6:40 and is up once in the middle of the night to nurse. She is napping about four times a day anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and a half each time. She's still in the pack 'n play by our bed- our choice! I love having her there and it makes nighttime nursing so much easier. She naps in the crib like a champ at her nana's house while we are at work!

Eating 

Not much has changed in this area. Anna Claire still eats every three hours except at night when she will go longer. She is taking two bottles while I'm at work and adjusted to that well. I'm pumping while I'm away from her which I do not love but think is so worth it. 

Milestones 

This month Anna Claire rolled over for the first time (tummy to back), has started reaching and grabbing for objects and puts EVERYTHING in her mouth. She is drooling up a storm which could be a sign teething will be starting soon. She attended her first birthday party, traveled to my hometown again and attended her first baby shower! 

Likes/Dislikes 

Anna Claire loves being talked to and smiled at, walking around and looking in mirrors, watching golf with her daddy and putting things in her mouth. She likes sitting in her jumper even though she isn't actually jumping yet. She also loves to try to spin her suction cup wonder wheel toy! 

She does not like being tired. 

It has been such a fun month with our baby girl!