nine months old.

We had serious struggles during this month's photo shoot.

Carly isn't a fan of sitting still.

And she is a big fan of grabbing at anything and everything.

Especially the camera.

Only three left.

(I'll be stopping at a year.)

Time flies when you're having fun.

~

Carly, at nine months old you . . .

*are an energizer bunny. Every day you go - go - go. You are a busy girl and have so much to do, so little time to do it.

*get into everything. Cupboards, drawers, closets, shelves. Nothing is safe. You are even able to push doors open when I think I've shut them tight. You have a magic touch. But your favorite things to get into? The dishwasher and the fridge. I'm currently considering getting a safety gate to block off the kitchen.

*have a slight obsession with shoes. Like mother like daughter, I suppose. Only you don't like to wear them. You love to suck and chew on them. It grosses me out. We are learning to keep our closet doors shut, because no matter where you are your internal shoe radar will lead you straight to them.

*love love love your daddy. You love to play with him and you are so excited when he gets home. When he walks into a room you grunt and squeal like "Ok, daddy, lets play!".

*are just starting to grow out of your 3-6/6 month clothes. Finally! You have a ton of 9 and 12 month clothes for the summer and I'm stressing that you won't fit in them.

*are so funny when you wake up. You never cry. You just lay in your crib and moan until I come get you, and when I open the door you whip around and pull right up in your crib with a big smile and start jabbering away. You obviously have a lot to tell me every morning.

*continue to be our expert sleeper. About 10-12 hours every night.

*continue to be our lousy eater. You seem to find other things much more important than eating. But I've found that if I time it just right it works. You can't be too tired or too hungry, but you have to be tired and hungry enough. I have started giving you real banana pieces though, and you love feeding yourself and chewing the food. Maybe you're just not a fan of baby food. I wouldn't be either.

*have so much personality. We call you a diva and your daddy says "I have no idea where she got that from." That's called sarcasm, because he seems to think you got it from me. One example is you love giving kisses . . . if you're in the mood. If not you will literally push our faces away with your hands. And sometimes when we try to snuggle you, you wave your arms like "Give me my space!". Its hilarious.

*love attention. You love when people look at you and smile at you. You smile back and make happy squawking noises. And everyone tells you how cute you are. You are such a ham.

*are so beautiful. We can't get over how much joy you bring us.

Happy nine months, Car. We are glad you joined us.

{3} here comes the sun.

The sun came out on our final day in South Carolina.

We spent the day taking long walks down the coast and playing in the waves.

A well-rested, well-fed Carly was much more interested this time around.

She was too much fun.

And way too cute.

We did learn one interesting fact about our daughter this day: she would rather eat handfuls of sand than a spoonful of green beans. I was seriously worried sand would come out in her diapers.

I love the ocean.

There is something majestic about it.

For some reason I feel the Spirit so strong there.

Something about the sand, the waves, the tide, and the beauty of it all testifies of the Creator.

~

Our final night we got ice cream cones (only I didn't get a cone) and walked along the beach at sunset. I have a hard time saying goodbye to the ocean. As much as I love it, we just don't have the opportunity to go as much as I would like. Our last visit to the beach was 4 years ago on our honeymoon. I said my goodbyes with my feet in the waves as the sun went down. I watched my handsome husband walk toward our beachfront hotel with my beautiful baby. And I didn't want our escape from reality to end.

It was a beautiful vacation.

{The end.}

sometimes taylor says it best.

Now I know why all the trees change in the Fall

I know you were on my side even when I was wrong

And I love you for giving me your eyes

For staying back and watching me shine

I didn't know if you knew, so I'm takin' this chance to say

That I had the best day with you today

The nine months I have spent as Carly's mother have been the greatest nine months of my life.

But they have also been the hardest nine months of my life.

And they have taught me how very lucky I am to be blessed with my wonderful mother/best friend/example. Motherhood is no easy thing. But my mother makes it look easy.

I am who I am because of her. I hope Carly can proudly say that about me some day.

Merci, ma mere.

Je t'aime.

{2} the day the rain came.

The following morning we woke to find the rain hadn't shown up yet. We headed down for a long walk in the waves. It was a beautiful morning on the beach. So beautiful that I didn't even take any pictures.

~

However, the rain was inevitable.

We decided to find something in Charleston to entertain us on our rainy day.

It just so happens Charleston has an aquarium.

And Chris loves aquariums.

And I've never been to an aquarium.

And Carly loves people, things that move, and bright colors.

Perfect.

~

The torrential rains began just as we parked and headed into the aquarium.

Perfect timing on our part.

Carly wasted no time making a few friends.

(please note: Carly is sucking on her thumb in every single picture taken at the aquarium. She sucks on her thumb when she is nervous. And seeing fish bigger than she is made her nervous.)

This tank was massive and had sharks and giant sea turtles in it.

Carly loved looking at all the little fish swimming around.

She tried to grab at everything in the tanks.

Not sure what to make of the jellyfish.

Be still my heart. Isn't he gorgeous?

The aquarium heavily advertised two main attractions: Penguin Planet and the White [albino] alligator. I love penguins, but Penguin Planet was really more of a Penguin Village. Or neighborhood. Not very big at all. But they were very cute and Carly liked watching them swim around.

Lets Go Pens!

The white alligator was pretty cool though.

But I'm pretty sure he was asleep because he didn't move one bit.

The display said albino alligators are so rare because alligators maintain their body heat by lying in the sun, but an albino alligator gets burned by the sun. Isn't that fascinating? Maybe its just me.

Carly seemed to enjoy the tanks with a TON of fish the most:

After the aquarium it was time for the grown-ups to find some food. This is when we had a life-changing experience: Sticky Fingers. This day was Chris's real birthday (yay!) and he wanted BBQ. We headed to a place we had heard about, called Sticky Fingers. We got the rib platter for 2, which came with 4 kinds of Memphis BBQ ribs. I tell you, I will never be the same. It was amazing. And they had the best baked beans and potato salad I've ever tasted. And I'm a potato salad connoisseur of sorts. Amazing. We may have gone back the next day for round two. Its possible.

~

That evening Chris got a short birthday nap, and Carly was being fussy, so she and I headed out in the light drizzle to get some fresh air and check out the beautiful houses on Isle of Palms. I LOVED these houses. They were a combination of Charleston Southern style and beach house. So beautiful.

My favorite. CUTEST teal shutters.

We ended our night with the Cubs and Penguins on TV in our hotel room while the rain continued to fall. It was a wonderful day. And even better? The sun was on its way.

{to be continued . . . }

{1} ahead of the storm.

The storm that flooded Nashville hit Knoxville the evening before we were set the leave. It was then headed east toward South Carolina, which happened to be our destination. I wasn't exactly thrilled that our beach vacation had a rainy forecast, and Chris and I prayed we would get a little sunshine. Luckily, prayer works.

~

We drove through the crazy storm on the way to Charleston/Isle of Palms. It was intense, so much so that we had to pull over at one point and wait for the rain to let up. But we ended up beating the storm to the coast. Upon our arrival, it was seriously overcast and had a mugginess only the South can give you, but it wasn't raining. So we headed straight to the beach.

~

Carly was tired after our journey, and had no idea what this crazy place was that her parents had taken her to. So her initial meeting of the Atlantic had mixed reviews.

Carly and daddy checking out the seagulls.

She is turning into a serious daddy's girl.

She was good until we 1) got too close to the waves, and 2) put her in the sand.

Love this. Look how she is eyeing those waves suspiciously.

Getting a little better.

After her traumatic encounter with the ocean, we decided to get some dinner. We went to a seafood place (of course!). I love seafood, but haven't eaten a lot of it since meeting Chris because it literally makes him gag. On his mission he told people he was allergic to it. But he was nice enough to let me order a seafood platter. And let me tell you, it look like the bottom of the ocean. The shrimp and crab legs were de-lish, but the oysters, I'm pretty sure, still had sand on them. They were a little much, even for a seafood lover.

~

It was a really fancy place. Even came with a balloon animal maker.

Carly just stared at him while he made the giraffe.

He said, "Wow, by the time I'm done you are going to know exactly how to make it yourself!"

She is quite the observer.

The day was a bit exhausting for her. Took her about 3 seconds to fall asleep in the car after dinner. Unfortunately for us, and fortunately for her, the rain came the next day, and she didn't have to face the Atlantic again until the day after.

{to be continued . . . }

back in business.

We successfully survived our first vacation as a family of 3.

It was a little bit fabulous.

Actually, it was a lot bit fabulous.

A baby sure throws a lot of kinks into a vacation though.

{but honestly a baby throws kinks into every aspect of life. very sweet, fun, cute kinks}

I will do several posts over the coming days telling many tales of our getaway.

Mostly because when you do one big post, the pictures get all out of order and then I go insane trying to straighten them out.

Blogger is seriously user unfriendly in that way.

Anyway . . .

~

A quick matter of business:

While I was gone, someone left a comment on my most recent post in Chinese. I've gotten comments in foreign languages before and didn't think much about it. My brother got curious and used Google translate and found the comment was full of profanity. My sister-in-law then followed the link of the comment-leaver and ended up on a less-than-wholesome site. Ugghhhh. Dear Person who left that comment on my blog, you are all that is wrong with the world and I despise you. Do not love, Erin. Since I don't want my blog to be a source of accidental smut for anyone (so sorry Kasee), I will be putting the comments on "moderated" so I can approve any comments. Please keep the comments coming, as I love them quite a bit. I will keep the moderation as up-to-date as possible. It may be a temporary change, we'll see.

~

Chris reached the big 2-7 while we were gone.

Since we were going to be away from home, we celebrated the night before we left.

When shopping for myself, I like to find bargains . . . because then you can get more {obviously}. I've tried that tactic for Chris for nearly 4 years now, and it never quite worked out. So this birthday I went quality over quantity and got him just a few nicer gifts. He was quite pleased. It only took me 4 years to figure that one out. Go me.

We got the Pens on TV!

Carly was so excited {obviously}.

Blowing out the candles.

(excuse Carly's lack of clothes. sometimes they come off and never quite get back on)

ready for the future.

Chris said he wanted a birthday treat we could both enjoy.

So I used this recipe.

But replaced the yellow cake with Betty Crocker gluten-free brownies.

And replaced the Butterfingers with Heath bar.

Let me tell you, it was amazing.

Didn't even taste gluten free.

But it will put you in a coma.

I'm not kidding.

that is all. be excited for our beach pictures. because they are seriously cute.

the wind, the rocks, the waves, and you and me.

and the baby, of course.

~

We are off to introduce Carly to the Atlantic Ocean.

Forecast calls for rain.

But it will be grand, regardless.

auf Wiedersehen.

xoxoxo.