Notice I said “was” because now that it’s June and well into the summer I am getting around to posting about April and May!
No more apologies except to say, it happens!
Spring will probably forever bring back such happy memories for me now because it came at the perfect time to start really going and doing things with Lola!
…. Oh and trust me, she is a goer’ and a doer’!
Aunt Tara comes to visit you every chance she gets and is such a help to your mommy and daddy! We take on all the festivals with her by our side- Your very first Festival was at Piedmont Park- the Dogwood Festival!
You love just stretching out on a blanket in the shade with your paci or pushed around in your stroller!
Your Grampa Bob came to visit you this weekend and you got to meet Aunt Autumn for the first time ever and Aunt Amara for the first time since leaving the hospital!
Family Pic!
I remember when we left the festival grampa Bob asked your Aunt Tara if she wanted to ride back to our house with him so she wouldn’t have to listen to a crying baby… she assured him she wanted every minute with YOU… I then reminded him she drives 8 hours roundtrip almost every weekend to hear that “crying baby”! We got your back Lo ;) 
At two months old i still stare at her in amazement… i cant believe we made this.
“We created Life….With arms wide open, I’ll show you love, I’ll show you everything “ Pearl Jam
Lance turned 30 the same weekend and we LOVED eatting celebrating with him!
Kayla managed to pull off a surprise party for him and now we are CONFIDENT this ring is in the works….. right!?!?!?
Happy 30th old man! Did you ever think at 30 you would be living less than 2 miles from the guy you swore you would build tunnels to each others houses when you guys were 10?
Life sure is funny! 
Another day another festival! 
It’s literally crazy how my mind is trained to “look” for certain things now! Shade, wide booths, changing tables, swings and I love public rocking chairs! 
Lola’s mommy can never have to many helpers!
Lou and I’s first baby-less pic in 8 weeks! 
That was short lived… yes we stopped randomly in the grass to change her diaper… oh yes and a good stretch!
At 2 months Lola found her fist.. Literally all in ONE day she became obsessed! 
Milly decided to be in the photo shoot so we practiced our squats… 
By 2 months old I remember thinking how much “easier you had gotten” you were more alert, I caught more smiles and you seemed to know who i was… You locked eyes with me several times, especially when you would eat and just stare at me. I loved it, i finally felt like you knew i was your mama. 
Newborns are so very hard you, you dont eat or sleep so you can cater to something 24 hours a day who appears to have no idea who you….all of a sudden they see you…. They really see you, when i say it lights up your world, it lights up your world and finally you know they “know you”.
It also helps that around this time they or at least Lola started sleeping through the night! Hallelujah!
We celebrated our first Easter as a party of Three! ! She got 3 Easter baskets, new books, outfits and candy just for the hell of it! Her Gigi even got her a “Happy First Easter Bunny!” 
Lou has never in his life been interested in taking pictures, i have to bribe him to be in every one but not for a Lola pic! He loves having pictures of him and Lola together! 
I celebrated our first Easter with the girl by cooking my first ham- with a crock pot recipe i found on Pinterest! 
This was also a super special day because we interviewed a nanny we were super interested in and instantly fell in love with her and trusted her… what a relief! 
Lola turned 10 weeks old and reality was hitting hard…. I would be leaving her to return to work in 1 week! I was SO happy to be home with her but i almost forgot that life was still going on in the rest of the world- literally. Babies- or atleast my baby was pretty consuming like that. 
I was so scared to leave her- even though THANKFULLY the first few weeks she would be with my mom before the nanny started so I could adjust to being away from her without worrying about a new person watching her.
We tried to enjoy every possible second of our last week together, for some weird reason since she was born I felt like “the end” of having her was when i went back to work, I think it goes along with my weird “too good to be true theory”…. i have issues i know.
Anyway, so we went on some play dates with big kids, snuggled a lot and met daddy for a lunch date!
Never the less it finally came and I left my baby for the first time to go to work…
Lou woke up extra early to go get donuts, biscuits, orange juice and coffee for mom and I to help us through our first day!
I stayed gone 5 hours and fortunately I was so busy with seeing everyone and 2 of my kids who literally showed up at my office “ready to talk” that the time flew by!
It wasn’t so bad after all, and i had spent all that time scared to death! It helped that I knew Lola was in good hands and would you believe the whole time i was out of work there was a whole world out there that was still functioning while I was “away”!
Who knew?
Looking back I would be scared to see myself now had i not gone back to work, I literally did nothing but sleep, eat and breathe thinking, worrying, catering to and playing with Lola… Ok maybe not really the sleeping or eating part! After all any free second i got went straight to TJ and Mill since i never really got rid of that horrible feeling of guilt! …..So i think for me it’s actually good to have a bit of a “forced” balance! 
I will say though, thank Heavens for snapchat! Mom sent me snaps all day and now Charisa, Lolas nanny does too so i can get pictures of my baby girl all day long- I love it!
I forgot how much I missed my kids at the school and I went in for just a few hours a day and then came back home to her and it made being with her that much more rewarding and special!
The weekends were right back at it!
My baby girl turned 12 weeks old and started to laugh and babble sooo much that weekend!
She was also over her gas and tummy pains at this point, on an AMAZING schedule thanks to a coworker who told me about “moms on Call schedule” and all together it made this mommy’s life much easier and more predictable with consistency for Lola regardless of who was watching her or where she was!
The weather was gorgeous outside and we found a tiny Lola size park between Kayla and I’s house to have a little playdate under the trees!
Lola loves being outside!
Most Lola nights outs consist of Mexican food0 its quick and we can get in and out before she has any possible “moments” typically! Poor baby is going to grow up thinking Mexican food is as american as it gets! 
12 weeks old and we still weren’t a fan of tummy time! 
Happy 3 months Lola!
We did start to LOVE our play mat and she started reaching for her toys around this time too and controlling her hands more!
This was the first time she entertained herself long enough for me to not only put some dishes in the dishwasher but after her not screaming her head off, i checked on her, she was completely content so i managed to also get a load of laundry thrown in the wash! It was the best 15 minutes of bliss i had had with her not being held by someone or sleeping since she was born… I was in shock! 
We realized she had started wathing colors ont he TV and for some reason it shocked me to see her actually “watch” the tv. If I wasn’t a mom I would think nothing of a kid watching TV but when you have a newborn baby who knows nothing at all except to suck something up to her mouth and to hold something near her hand and suddenly she realizes the world around her!
It’s something I can’t really describe but it was an awakening for both her and me!
We loved that it started to stay light for later so we could take lola for walks at night! When we started her new schedule and would try to keep her awake between 7pm and 8pm we decided to walk her in the bjorn facing out since she was able to hold her head up now and the stroller is so soothing to her it always knocks her out!
I still cant get over how she just changes all in one day! Lou is terrible at getting out the door for work on time now! He has claimed “mornings” with her and absolutely loves beign the one to get her out of her crib every morning at 7am! He says she gives him the biggest smile when she sees his face! 
Speaking of Lou working, he has worked and worked since i was pregnant with Lola to make sure we were financially ready and to allow me to stay home with her as long as i did- I’m not sure how he does it but he stayed up nights on end to complete these “never ending” projects and still got up with me every night to feed Lola, woke her up every morning and refused to start working on his projects until after Lola was put down at night so he could spend the maximum amount of time with her.
Saint I tell ya.
The night/morning he finished this project Lola and I packed our bags and we waited for him to get home from work so we could spend Memorial Day celebrating Shu’s 7th birthday party, check on Mike and visit family.
Lola is such a trouper car rider!
I still can’t believe Shu is 7 years old…. we have been to almost every birthday party for her and the first one seems like it was just yesterday!
This year was her very special present… a new puppy. A very TINY puppy! 
To say Amber is obsessed with Lola would be the understatement of the year! She refuses to let me hold Lola when she is around! 
Shu seems to have such a sweet pond with Lola too, she wanted to take picture after picture with Lola! 
She also decided Lola should wear a party hat! It was all good until Shu decided to strap it under Lo’s neck….
Slightly saved by mommy’s finger passi!
Just as Julian started to open presents i found these two like this….
Party Foul right girls!?
Its okay it gave me plenty of time to play with this BRAND NEW BABY! I actually kept finding myself bouncing him like I do Lola… how TINY! 
Julian’s party people! 
We headed to the beach from there to join my family for the start of Tara’s birthday event’S’!
Did you hear the S in that?
If this tells you anything… Lola got SO fussy when we left the birthday party we were racing to get to ANY location for her to get ready for bed! We got to the condo about 10 minutes before it was time for her to eat and go nite nite and she had calmed down so I told Alex I REALLY wanted her to see the beach at sunset, lets be honest I really wanted to see her see the beach at sunset….
Ladies and gentleman we have found Lola’s happy place!
It just so happens to be mommy and daddy’s happy place too!
If you can imagine we ended up staying out until about 30-40 minutes after the time she would typically eat and never the less this is her face below… 
Happy as could be!
I saw a show the other day where a new grampa was asked to describe how he liked being a grampa. He described it so beautifully stating; him being a grampa was the most amazing this on earth. He said he not only got to welcome a new love into his life but he got to watch his love (his daughter) explode with happiness of her new love. He said it was the best of both worlds.
I felt this completely described my feelings with Lola at the beach, I got to watch her fall in love with something I too loved so very much and I got to witness the happiness it brought her.
Lets just say it was a pretty special moment with my girl that I will never forget. 
Lou was dying to get in on this happy baby action! 
We couldn’t get her to take her eyes off of it! 
Family Selfie! 
I have honestly never seen Alex be so agreeable with taking pictures… as if i could get any worse with it…. I now don’t feel as bad making him take more and more! 
Honestly as long as he is holding that baby girl and she is happy than he is happy and you could make him do just about anything ya want!
He even asks’ me to print them out for him now so he can take them to work…. yes he is that guy ;)
I think it’s safe to say he spoils us both Lola ;)
The next morning we got up BRIGHT and Early thanks to Lolas new schedule… ha if only you could turn her schedule off on the weekends! Anyway we ran some errands and got some things together for the beach since baby’s require A LOT!
Eventually, we hit the beach!
We have a hard enough time getting Lola to look in pics, even though she is getting a lot better about it but then we had to work with the hat and blocking her form the sun even for one minute since she isn’t old enough to wear sunscreen yet! 
Hurry Lola’s content- LAY OUT.
Taras Bday crew finally arrived!
Yes we are holding hands…
Aunt Neyney loves her some baby Lola! 
Tara decided to do her birthday dinner at the Boathouse…
and because we are the best birthday crew supporters ever we only flinshed once when they said it was a 2.5 hour wait! 
This mama did so good with embracing the “vacation” mind set and being okay with Lola being off her schedule (I’m slightly addicted to it- hey it gets me good sleep at night how can you blame me!?!) the drinks, corn hole and scenery helped too though! 
mommy and Daddy photo shoot with Lola- GO! 
I think the wait ended up being closer to three hours… We were pretty wound up by the time we sat down to eat! 
Many wishes that this 30 year old pursues her “Yes year” to the fullest and continues to follow her dream, spoil Lola and move closer to Atlanta ;) 
The next day we spent with Alex’s Mom and Mike and Tucker and Milly were thrilled to show us how good they were at swimming this year!
Lola got to ride the golf cart to go see the ducks and continues to love her rides! 
Mike had tons of extended family friends over to help out around the house, it’s so nice to see good people reaching out to help others simply for the good of it. They expect nothing in return except for Mike to get up each day and fight like hell to beat this awful cancer….
This cutie was just too much to bear! We swang most of the day and I kept catching grandpa Mike just stare at her….
I mean really have you ever seen so much sweetness?
Eventually we loaded up to get this muffin back to Atlanta – with her new toys from Uncle Billy and Aunt Angela- THNAK YOU!
Lola you are the sunshine of my days and you are growing up so very fast. I’m so fortunate and thankful to have people who have supported, embraced and shared in the happiness of our exciting and ever changing new life!
You have given me a new love for everything in life including your daddy, you have made us a family and you have made us much stronger when we didn’t know we needed to be. Seeing him see you is something i will forever cherish. You are 4 months old today (more of that to come) and although we have literally been through some of the greatest challenges' and heartbreaks of our life since you have been here it has sadly, yet happily, had absolutely nothing to do with your wonderful presence and innocent sweetness.
They say a baby changes everything and they were right…. while we fully expected and welcomed most changes others have been quite an adjustment and at times a sad realization. We so easily embraced you and every ounce of the changes that come along with you being in our life we only wished that was the extent of what people referred to when they say “a baby changes everything”.
I guess “everything” doesn’t really specify anything huh? The most important thing you will ever need to remember is to not worry about a thing, the world can be crumbling around us and your mommy and daddy will always protect and love you before and above anything else on this earth. You have our heart and it will forever be yours, so wave your flag baby girl.
In just 4 months you have given us more than you will ever know. I rocked you to sleep tonight and you fell asleeep with your head against my chest nuzzled under my chin. I so often rock you to sleep in your nursery and think about all those nights i couldn’t sleep with you in my belly, I would sneak out of our bedroom and go into your nursery holding one of your many “babies” and rock myself to sleep thinking about what life must be like with you in it.
What would it feel like to hold you, to be your mama, to dress you, to love you, to have you love me, to see your daddy with you, to see Tucker and Milly with you, to see my family and Alex’s family fall in love with your every coo and babble.
I had one single thought every single day while pregnant with you, “I couldn’t wait to have you here, I just wanted you here”. I guess i was a bit obsessive even then ;) Well not only did you make it here to us, in spite of it all, you have surpassed every possible, crazy thought in my creative little mind that I ever did dream up about my life with you in it! Trust me, all those (uncomfortable) nights in your nursery rocking myself away I dreamed big…. or so i thought.. Come to find out, I hadn’t dreamed big enough!
You are an amazing little girl and I absolutely love our story thus far…Thank you for that baby girl.
I will do my best to continue remembering and documenting all the good and happy times we have shared with you since you came into this world because that is all you have given us.
We love you to pieces little one.
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