C'mon Irene!

Well, we will never forget our first family vacation, that's for sure. After spending 5 days at the beach, we were forced to evacuate the Outer Banks ahead of Hurricane Irene, which was aiming right for the coast. We were really bummed to have to cut our vacation short but better to be safe than sorry. So we packed up the Jeep (somehow everything fit much better on the way down than the way back up), took one more quick trip to the beach, and we were off- or at least we were after sitting in 5 miles of evacuation traffic to get over the bridge.

But before Miss Irene kicked us out, we managed to spend an afternoon walking around Manteo, got my favorite- Kill Devil's frozen custard, spent 3 great days on the beach, inhaled some delicious Duck Donuts, hit up the outlets for a little shopping, and went through half a bushel of crabs (discovering, in the process, that my brother's girlfriend, Caity, is allergic to crabs- thank goodness for Benadryl!). Despite our hasty, premature exit, it was still a good vacation and hey, at least we weren't at work!

Enjoying an early morning belly rub with Daddy

Loving her dinner at the Rundown Cafe

Looking out at our beautiful view of the ocean

"Alright Mama, enough with the pictures."

OBX 2011

We arrived in the Outer Banks on Saturday for our very first family vacation, and it couldn't have come soon enough! Ryan has been working long hours with the opening of the Mark Center, and life just seems to get more and more hectic. It's so nice to hang out at the beach for a week with no schedule, no work (mostly. . . boo, I know), and visits from friends and family. My dad, stepmom and sister were wrapping up their week-long vacation as we arrived, so they stayed an extra night with us. Then my brother and his girlfriend came down and stayed a night, and my mom is on her way down for a night as I type. While Josh and Caity were here, we asked them to take some family pictures of us on the beach. Here are a few of my favorites.

Big News!

We've been keeping the secret since July and just got the all-clear yesterday to finally be able to say. . . Olivia is going to have a cousin!! Ryan's brother and sister-in-law are having a baby, and we could not be more excited for them (I actually squealed when they told us)! This baby has been 10 years in the making and is already so loved. They will find out in October if it's a boy or a girl. Olivia obviously would prefer for the baby to be a girl so she has a tea party guest. :) I am so thrilled that she will have a cousin (boy or girl, doesn't matter!) so close to her own age. I am looking forward to the memories she'll make at all of our family get togethers and the friend she will have for the rest of her life!

So Many Updates

Where to start, where to start. . .? It's been a bit since I've posted (sorry, it sort of got away from me for a while). We've had all sorts of developments lately. Olivia is crawling all over the place now, so we've officially had to babyproof the house. That means all the outlets are covered, cabinet locks are installed, heavy metal coat rack is now in the guest room, shelves are bracketed to the walls and the tv is now mounted on the wall. Phew! See why I haven't had time to blog recently?! haha



Aside from the crawling, Olivia is now able to stand (if you put her in the standing position) and she can pull herself up onto her knees (what our therapist calls "tall kneel"). After several assessments, it was determined that Olivia needed physical therapy twice a month to help her build her gross motor skills. Her hip and ankle joints are all uncommonly loose- hence her crazy flexibility- so they said learning to stand for her would be like trying to learn to stand on a moving surface, not easy, so she just needs a little help and more practice than your average baby.

Olivia also now has 2 new teeth for a total of 4! She's great at cheesing for the camera to show off her pearly whites, see?



We also recently attended Ben's first birthday party and had a great time! I can't believe the kiddos are all turning one already. . .what's crazier is Olivia is up next!!