five on friday

Another week of linking up with the good life blog, a. liz adventures, carolina charm, and hello happiness for Five on Friday.

[ONE]
cold weather

Is anybody else absolutely sick of winter?! I know in July I'm going to be complaining about the heat, but seriously. I can't handle much more of this. I think the few days of having temperatures in the 60s seriously convinced me that winter was over. So three days of ice and snow just infuriates me. I've given up wearing my winter coat in some sort of subconcious protest, so now I'm just extra cold becuase the thin layer of long sleeves just isn't cutting it...

SPRING!!! I WANT YOU!!!

[TWO]
baby hair

It's totally time to get Reuben's hair cut. He's got a really weird thing going on now. He's still got 90% of the hair he was born with and it's now between 3-5 inches long. The other 10% fell out from him rubbing his head back and forth against stuff so in the very middle of his head he's got hair that's grown in and is only like an inch long. It turns it into a super weird looking mullet type thing. So he needs a hair cut... but I just can't let go of these sweet baby curls.

[THREE]
new car seat

Reuben got his big boy car seat delivered this week! I can't wait to get him settled in it. We decided on the Diono Radian RXT.

We haven't gotten him in it yet, that'll be a this weekend thing. I got a little sappy in the car Tuesday on the way to Louisville, thinking this was his last trip in his infant seat. It's what we brought him home in! A lot of memories and mama hormones going on there...

[FOUR]

louisville

We took a >24 hour trip to Louisville Tuesday for Clint to do an interview for a cool opportunity and I loved it! It's such a cool city! We stayed at the Galt House hotel right on the river and ate at a casual dining place on the other side of the river in Indiana. It was just gorgeous and seemed to have a really neat vibe. I'd love to go back for a longer visit!

[FIVE]

collect*

Back in October, I was looking for a way to store a photo of Reuben from each day in one, easy to see and access place. I did a little digging around on google and found collect. I've used it every single day since and I've fallen in love. I love seeing the photos displayed on the calendar. It reminds me every day at 6:05 to take a picture, so if I haven't already, I can make sure to snap a picture of little man doing something cute before bed. I'm so thankful for it because day-by-day I can't see much change, but if I look back to when I got it, I realize just how much of a little boy he is becoming!

So there ya have it! What's on your mind today?

*Collect has zero idea who I am. I just genuinely love the app and want everyone to know about it!

our sorta-kinda beach trip

So our beach trip turned out to be a spend-45-mintues-at-the-beach kinda trip. But it was perfect.

Reuben got to play in the grass while we packed up the car before we left. He honestly hasn't had much exposure to it yet because he was too little to take outside during the spring and it was too blazing hot for me to want to hang out outside this summer. He was really unsure about it.

We didn't officially get on the road until around 7:00PM. And quickly discovered traveling at night is not ideal with Reuben. I'd heard all these wonderful stories of babies sleeping the whole way and never making a peep... not him. He was angry he was in his carseat and not asleep. I mean, it wasn't horrible, he only cried for about an hour combined, but it wasn't ideal.

We got there around 2:30 and got him tucked into his pack n play. I'd never actually put him to sleep in one, but he loved it so I did too.

We spent about 2 hours the first day trying to fix breakfast. We'd brought pancakes, sausage, and eggs because it's such a quick breakfast for us at home. The condo only had two small stainless steel pans. We'd never cooked on one before and we burned about 4 pancakes to a crisp before figuring it out. Even then our timing was completely off. It was a mess. But we ate! VICTORY!

Then we got in our bathing suits and went down to the pool. It had a fun little place for babies to play in fountains, a big pool, and a lazy river.

Awesome.

I just wish the water hadn't been 33 degrees so that we could've enjoyed more of it.

I was sure the second I sat Reuben down in the water he'd freak out, but he loved it! He rode around on my lap in the lazy river and had such a good time.

After a late lunch, we headed over to the beach. Reuben was pretty indifferent to it all, but we had fun watching him!

Dinner was at a place called TackyJacks and all the seating was bar level, so they had one of those highchairs that attaches to the table. Genius. And so, so cool!

After Reuben went to sleep, we stayed up playing too many games of Clue. We're a wild bunch, you guys. And by the way, I won a game! woo hoo!

Day two was way too cold to do anything in the water, so Whitney and I decided to go to the Tanger Outlets.

Duh.

Problem: Only had one car. Austin had to work and the last thing Clint wanted to do was tag along with us. So we decided to all go eat at Lamberts: House of the Throwed Roll (YUM!) and Clint would drop us off while he went to see Gravity by himself. Great idea... until you walk around for 3 hours with a baby in an Ergo (didn't bring the stroller), shopping bags, and a really heavy diaper bag. And Whitney is 25 weeks pregnant so she was no better off. It was rough, y'all.

Total first world problems.

 Reuben took a great nap in the ergo though. Look at those lips. I'm in love.

The day ended with another yummy dinner and more Clue.

Our last morning, we ate up some leftovers, packed up, and headed out to the beach for an obligatory family beach picture since we completely forgot the first day.

I have no idea how we went 4 whole days without getting any pictures of the 5 1/2 of us. Reuben literally thinks Austin is the funniest person on the planet. He smiles and laughs at him so much! He and Whitney are so, SO good with Reu. I can't wait for their baby girl to be here in February!

The drive home started off wonderfully! Got on the road around 2:00 and Reuben blissfully fell asleep for a few naps.

Then the sun went down.

And the tears started.

About an hour from home, I was desperate for relief, so I broke out some Baby Einstein and Baby First TV. Baby boy was so angry he was watching it, but it stopped the screaming so I consider it a win.

Overall it was a wonderfully weekend getaway! I can't wait for next year when Reuben's got his little girlfriend, baby girl Rion, to play with.

Yay for more babies!

V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N

We're at Orange Beach, AL for the weekend.
 
HALLELUJAH!

This mama needs a break!

Well, Reuben's with us. So it's not a mama-break, but it's a real-world break which is just as nice.

Can't wait to come back and tell y'all all about it!

In the meantime, look at the chunka love in his beach garb.

That was 4 long months ago. Can't wait to see it actually fit him now!

Hasta la vista, baby!

the Lord gives. the Lord takes away. Part 2.

Make sure you read part one before reading this.



So, the Lord had given us a baby.

And then the Lord took that baby away to be with Him.

I had been meditating in the fact that no matter what, the Lord was to be praised, but seriously? Why couldn't he have just given us that precious babe and never taken it away? Why did he have to bring that scripture up to me over and over and over again? It was like rubbing salt in a wound. Every time I thought of it, I'd instantly be angry that I had to know the side of praising the Lord even when He took something away. Let's be real. It's easy to praise the Lord when He's given us something! When he's taken that something away? It gets a lot harder.

The days following the miscarriage I cried. A LOT. Like an ugly, ugly cry. I'd never felt pain/hurt/sorrow like I did in those days. I was mad at God. SO mad. It wasn't fair. And I felt broken. Why couldn't my body carry a baby? And I felt so, so, so alone. Every where I looked was a reminder of the baby that wasn't going to be coming home with us in December.

But you know what?

Through all of it, God was good. More than good. He was great.

I'm honestly having a hard time putting into words how well He took care of us and how much he blessed us through the following days, but I want to share some moments so that He gets the glory and so that I'll never forget. Some of them are huge and some of them are so small you'll probably laugh that I even consider them a God thing. But every single one was proof of God not leaving us and was loving us so, so well...

- On Sunday, before we knew for sure what was happening, we jokingly said if we lost the baby, we'd tack on a trip to Disney World before our cruise because "You can't be sad at the happiest place on Earth." When we got off the phone with the nurse on Monday afternoon, Clint said, "Looks like we're heading to Disney." We had no money for that. Like zero. But we needed to get away. To put our minds somewhere else after the 48 hours of torture they'd already endured. Well, between Monday afternoon and Tuesday night before we'd gone to bed, we'd gotten a little over $500 out of no where. We hadn't asked anybody for a single penny, but between friends and family feeling prompted by God, we'd gotten close to $225 and then opened an envelope from our bank that had a $300 check from "overages on our escrow." I asked my dad if that happened a lot and he said no and we've never seen a check like it since that night. The money we'd gotten covered our gas, hotel room, tickets, and food in the park PERFECTLY. None left over, but nothing uncovered.

- Our friends went above and beyond taking care of us. We let our small group know what was going on Sunday and they jumped into action. Our friends Micha and Hunter came over with lunch, watched a movie with us, and prayed over us before they left. Our other friends Cara and Jason dropped off a surprise on our doorstep of goodies for our trip. We had constant texts telling us they were praying for us and encouragement for the long road ahead. God has surrounded us with the best friends we could ever ask for.

- A guy who works in our student ministry as a volunteer worked for Gaylord at the time and told us earlier in the year that he'd hook us up with a room at Gaylord Palms and a car to and from our cruise ship for only $100. We gladly took him up on the offer! So fast forward to Friday. We're exhausted by 6:00 pm because neither of us had been sleeping well so we decided to peace out of Magic Kingdom and go to our room and try and get sleep before our cruise. When we got to our room, we found out it wasn't an average room. He'd gotten us a suite that was bigger than our first apartment! It was gigantic. and perfect. and exactly the surprise we needed to lift our spirits.

- Sitting in our massive suite, our moods still started to droop. Night times were just so hard. Clint was getting ready for bed in the bathroom and I was sitting in the living room, trying not to cry when I heard a knock on the door. I opened it and It was a tray full of goodies with a note from JB. Not only were there goodies, they were my FAVORITE goodies! It was Dr. Pepper, Diet Coke, chocolate chip cookies with milk, Peanut M&MS, and a few bags of potato chips. There was no way they knew those were all of my favorite guilty pleasures. It was a God thing. He knew I needed that little ray of sun in that moment.

- We booked our cruise in March 2011 and had it paid off 4-5 months before any of this ever happened. It was not a coincidence that it was 6 days after our miscarriage. The Lord knew we were going to need to get away and had provided it, before we ever knew it was a need.

Those are just the moments that happened the week after. There've been countless more. Like the fact God put me in a small group of staff wives where 4 out of the other 6 had experienced pregnancy loss. Or the time two dear friends prayed over me, at two different times, saying they felt like the Lord was going to give us another child soon, while I was already pregnant with Reuben and had no idea!

My relationship with Clint and with God changed completely on April 22, 2012. I know, love, and trust Clint in a deeper way than before. We grew up a lot. We were forced to be honest with each other. We saw sides of each other we'd never seen before, even after being best friends since middle school. And I know, love, and trust God more now than I ever have. I had to rely on him. He was my only hope. My only constant in a crazy storm. The only one who had any answers and who could provide comfort that passed all understanding.

Yes, we have a sweet child here on Earth with us now. And pray that we'll have more and more. But there will always be a special place in my heart for that baby. I long for the day I get to meet them in heaven. Until then, my prayer is that their life, no matter how short it was, will count. That what I learned from it will be able to help other women going through the same thing. You are NOT alone.

I would never, ever, ever, ever, ever ask to be put through that. Like, EVER. But.

God is good, all the time. All the time, God. Is. Good.

Weekend in ATL 2.0

We spent a whole weekend in Atlanta for our 1st anniversary last year and loved it so when Clint won a ton of tickets off of our friend's blog we were pumped! It was doubly exciting because some of our best friends moved down there for Emory law school so we had people to share the fun with! Plus it was Reuben's first time to the zoo and aquarium, both of which I LOVE.

The trip down there was pretty easy. We stopped halfway in Chattanooga to visit where Clint proposed three years ago. It's always fun to visit, but it was extra fun to bring Reuben with us!

We visited World of Coke, Zoo Atlanta, and the Georgia Aquarium. It was a blast!

There was a lot of this going on. He was such a trooper!

Super cheesey family picture that put us in a drawing for an African safari... OK! haha

Another family picture in front of allllll the pretty reef fish.

The way babies fall asleep cracks me up almost every time. The pacifier was hanging on by the tippy tip top of it and his head was thrown completely back. and he was OUT.

Intermingled was a whole lot of quality time with Ryan and Katie. They happened to be in town when Reuben was born so they'd met him in the hospital and spent a few hours with him last month, but this was the first good chunk of time he'd spent with them and he looooved it!

He got super fussy one night on the way home and we had to stop by Kroger for Clint to get some medicine (he got a really funky cold!) so Ryan said he'd walk around with him. Totally calmed him down and even got a smile out of him!

And clearly, he loves hanging out with his aunt Katie.

I can't wait for some Freeman babies :)

It was such a fun, laid-back, and relaxing weekend! Atlanta is quickly becoming a favorite spot of ours!

Weekend in ATL

We spent our anniversary weekend celebrating in Atlanta. We crammed just about as much as we could into 60 hours and I loved every single minute of it!

First stop?

World of Coke! It was so much fun. Totally cheesy, but in the best way possible. There's a room with tons of Coke products from around the world for you to try. Some of them were tasty. Others made me want to throw up. One particularly bad one was from somewhere in Africa. It was minty! MINTY! Like carbonated mouthwash. It took everything in me not to spit it out. Needless to say, I was a happy camper when I saw a whole section dedicated to Coke in all its different forms in America, including Diet Coke!

(Speaking of Diet Coke, I really am doing a pretty good job of drinking more water. I'm down to about a can a day, which is really not that horrible. WOO HOO!)

That night we had dinner with some of our good friends that moved down there for law school. So good catching up with them!

Second stop?

CNN Center! Pretty cool... we probably wouldn't have gone if it hadn't been included on our CityPass, but it was a nice way to spend an hour. Plus, it was cool to see that place empty, because the only time I've ever been in there is at Passion with 25,000 other people!

Third (and arguably, best) stop?

THE AQUARIUM!!!! We got to go on a behind the scenes tour, which totally made my day. I'm a gigantic dork and legitimately teared up when I saw this big guy swim by. I've been wanting to go see the whale shark since the aquarium opened in high school, so being like 10 feet away from him with no glass was mind blowing. Gave me chills. It's a top-notch aquarium. If you're ever in Atlanta with a free day, you should totally go!

Last stop?

The zoo! This came in a close second as far as best attractions go. Panda bears have been on my list of animals I want to see (right above a great white shark... seriously), so seeing this little guy made my heart all warm and fuzzy. When we got there, he was eating bamboo back in the corner and then got up and walked around all cute. I want like 10 of them as pets.

Clint almost got in a fight with this big man.

Clint tapped on the glass and he swung his arm around and banged the glass right back and gave him a look like, "If I could just get to you, I'd break your arm off." And apparently that wasn't the first time he'd done that. He got so mad when he saw the vet that did some work on him once that he hit the glass so hard it cracked all the way up. He's got some serious anger issues.

We wrapped up the weekend at home by eating our cake topper. It still tasted as good as it still looks!


How have you guys spent your anniversaries? Anybody else have a list of animals they want to see in real life, or am I the only one?