5 months {Lincoln}

We have now entered the grabby phase. Lincoln is interested in anything near him and will grab a hold of anything in his reach. Usually things like my shoulder, my hair, and toys the other kids dangle in front of him. But it's not enough to just grab, most things go directly to his mouth.

If he hasn't found an object to put in his mouth, then his fingers suffice just fine. We have seen him put all five fingers in along with his pacifier!

He loves his tag blanket and will kick his arms and legs when he sees it.

The others still ask to hold him and always help get him toys and pacifiers.

We have tried out a new toy, but so far he hasn't lasted in it for more than 5 minutes. Not sure why, but he still prefers his bouncer or play mat.

Oh yeah, and another favorite for his mouth are his toes!

He is so happy 99% of the time. Even when he wakes in the middle of the night. We have had a few rough weeks of sleep with him waking up at  12 am and 4 am just to hang out for an hour. (What?!) But I think we are past that and we are back to the routine feeding at 4 am then going back to sleep. So sleeping through the night would be ideal, but this beats the alternative :)

And we have already done some sleep training to get him to go to fall asleep on his own, so maybe with time it will happen. Maybe.

And he has rolled over 3 times so far. He doesn't try very often since he seems so content laying on his back, but it's so cute when he does. Look at that face of confusion :)

The two most frequent comments we get from others are on his darker skin complexion and also on how much he looks like AJ. And true story: a lady even asked if he was mixed. 

Hilton Head

After all of the crazy house projects in June, we were ready to get a way for a while. We love vacationing in Hilton Head and have found this little secret gem to stay in. You can see how motivated even Selah was to get packed up!

The kids couldn't wait to eat breakfast out by the beach. This place is special because we love the seclusion it brings.

Here is Lincoln's first time in the ocean!

A big to-do on our list was to get some gelato. Favorite flavor of all time - espresso (with mini chocolate chips)!

Like father - like son. Makes me happy.

This babe loved the beach just as much as the others. He was happy bouncing away in the shade while we played.

Selah wasn't a fan of the beach the first few days...she cried at the crabs, the sand, the shells, the tidal pools, and even the other people walking on the beach. (Note: she has always had an irrational fear of things floating in water, so the tidal pools brought lots of issues). But she finally came around and enjoyed playing in the sand.

Ari impresses me with his frisbee skills. That kid can throw...and catch.

In this area, the tide goes way out (several football fields long) and leaves tidal pools to play in. And when the tide comes in, the water still isn't too deep for the kids to swim in.

We did have to walk through some muddy parts to be able to walk way out on the sand bars.

Besides the beach, we also enjoyed the pool. Our days pretty much went like this: breakfast, beach, pool, lunch, naps, beach, pool, dinner, beach, and pool. And we did that for 7 days.

This little man did such a great job on vacation. We have taken all of our kids on vacations at this age and it has always worked well. He was big enough to be on a predictable schedule, but still small enough to nap wherever we were and not need to be in a bed.

Here the waves were coming in and the kids were enjoying jumping over them.

I have to do a double-take on this photo of Selah because she looks so much like Evangeline!

The kids enjoyed a morning walk before heading out to the beach.

The wild life is amazing and you could always spot a bird looking for its next meal. And not to mention the crabs. They were everywhere!

Oh and it wouldn't be much of a morning walk without visiting the "island".

What a fun climbing tree!

Our favorite restaurant here is the Skullcreek Boathouse. It was so sunny I don't think any of us could open our eyes :)

But this place has fun outdoor activities for kids while you wait for a seat (large jenga blocks, large lego blocks, and bean bag toss. We didn't have a wait at lunch so we played a little afterwards until we were dripping with sweat (and ready to go!)

Another place the kids always ask to go to is the Salty Dog Cafe. I miss the fresh seafood already!

AJ took the big kids up to the top of the lighthouse. The camera didn't work well so all the pictures turned out too bright and you can't see the background :-/

We walked around Harbor Town for a bit and even got some ice cream.

We made another trip to get gelato with my grandma.

And thanks to my mom, AJ and I were able to take a sunset walk on the beach after the other kids went to bed.

The kids really enjoyed having access to the beach and pool anytime of day. But sometimes we felt like a walking circus hauling all of our stuff and four kids out there. 

But once we made camp, it was totally worth it.

We were not ready for our vacation to be over, but at some point we had to get back home to reality.

We picnicked at the pool before driving home.

The kids did a fantastic job of being in the van for that long. And it didn't take long before they started talking about how they missed the beach already.