Our Anniversary Trip to Memphis!

As I mentioned briefly in my last post with all Kaiya's 4 month photos (which I LOVE), John and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary this month. Many years ago (and by "many" I mean 7) John and I decided that we would not exchange gifts on our anniversaries, but would make an effort to travel, see new places, and spend some time together outside the framework of normal life, when and if finances allowed. Over the years we've been to a number of places, some near and some far. We did Smithfield, VA for our 1st wedding anniversary, Charlottesville, VA for our 4th "dating" anniversary, Costa Rica for our 2nd anniversary and a few day trips during the "leaner" years. This year John was attending a training in Mississippi (that may have been the first time I've ever had to actually spell that out) and since my handsome brother in law and his beautiful wife live in Memphis, a stones throw away from where John was attending his training, we decided to make a little trip out of it and they were gracious enough to take us in.

I had never flown with Kaiya before, and I had definitely never flown with her alone, but I was up for the challenge. Or, at least I thought I was. Our first flight was to depart at 6:30am. I thought I had given us plenty of time to get there, park and get through security. Turns out that in the DC area there manages to be both traffic and tons of people in the security line before 6am. I missed our first flight. Delta was super nice about it and they did their best to get us connected but instead of arriving at 11am as initially planned we didn't arrive until 2pm. If I'm honest though, it could have been way worse and I'm grateful that we arrived safe and that Kaiya continues to be a rockstar traveler.

This girl looks so cute at 7am in the morning!

Just chillin' on the airport floor

When we landed in Memphis we were greeted by John and Bo, who swept us hungry travelers to Central BBQ for some real Memphis BBQ. One word: reallyfreakinggood! It's a personal goal of mine to try all our country's many types of BBQ and while my favorite remains Eastern North Carolina BBQ, Memphis BBQ comes in a close second.

I don't want Sophie Mommy, I want that pulled pork sandwich!

I need to stop here and say that Bo and Leah are fantastic hosts. Not only is their super-cute new home uber comfy, but they knew exactly how to keep John and me entertained: give me coffee in the morning, keep us fed (and with access to the local brew) and show us all your city's "crunchiest"spots. Bo and Leah hit all those criterium and more.

They took us to see Beale St.

I love love LOVE John's expression here. It makes me giggle :)

The Orpheum Theater!

They took us to the Memphis farmers market (which was AWESOME btw) where I bought soap nuts and some long-awaited dryer balls! :

We saw Memphis' pyramid (soon to be a HUGE Bass Pro Shop!):

Lunched at a "hipster" sandwich shop:

Enjoyed a lovely anniversary dinner while Uncle Bo and Aunt Leah babysat:

Did a drive by of Graceland (because you can't go to Memphis and not see Graceland):

And above all else, enjoyed spending time with two of our favorite people while they got to love on sweet Kaiya:

We are so grateful for the time we had with Bo and Leah in their new city of Memphis and are sincerely looking forward to our next visit there. Next time we're hitting up that zoo ;)

Oh! And be sure to check out Kaiya's updated travel map on the side bar! Not too bad for being just over 4 months old ;)

Kaiya's 4 Month Photos

I was a little late to the show on milestone photos with Kaiya. I had costed them out when I bought her newborn package, but they were kinda crazy expensive and I put it out of my mind. Then, as I receded from my postpartum haze, I realized that she was growing WAY too fast for me not to want to document it! I did some research, and by the grace of God stumbled onto Melissa's sweet little blog. I loved her style, her down-to-earth tone and she was willing to work with me in putting together a package to cover a number of milestones in Kaiya's growth within my budget. She was everything I was hoping for and so so much more. Please visit her talented self HERE :)

This month was John and my 3 year anniversary, so what place could have been more fitting for Kaiya's 4 month photo shoot than our wedding site?!? We love Jefferson Patterson Park, it's so pretty and is unique in that it has a little beach, plus lots of green fields and wooded areas. John and I wore the same outfits we did during our maternity shoot because I thought it would make for a cute comparison. But enough of my dialog, I want to show you the pictures!

Here are a few of my favorites!

Before and After :)

Daddy and his little girl

Giving her serious face here

I love this one as it shows her endless curiosity:)

Coopa!

I had to include one with her little tooth popping through <3

I LOVE her little expression here!

Kaiya - 4 Months!

Month 3 has been my favorite month so far, and here we are moving into month 4! The super tiny newborn stage is precious and awe inspiring in it's own way, but I just LOVE this post-newborn stage.

This month Kaiya has just blossomed into a real little person. She is quick to smile, has the most precious little laugh and will just talk talk talk all day long. She's also started to chunk up big time, giving her the cutest little chunk thighs, arms and cheeks. Her nanny is constantly in amazement at how much she eats (and mommy is trying like crazy to keep up!).

This smile makes mommy's heart melt :)

This month she's learned to roll from stomach to back (weirdly, she learned back to front first), how to grasp toys and bring them to her mouth, and that kicking her legs makes her bouncy chair bounce. She LOVES to look in the mirror, and if you put her on her stomach for tummy time (which she's also learned to like) she'll shimmy forward, which I can only assume is the precursor to crawling. She's also continuing to lose all the pretty hair she had when she was born, which makes both mommy and daddy sad. Oh! And did I mention her incredible ability to stay seated for an impressive amount of time??

Kaiya is the queen of sleeping at night (usually 11-12 hours) but she is terrible at napping, much to the nanny's chagrin. I have a theory that it's light related, so my mission this month is to get blackout shades for her nursery.

sleeping beauty

She's also ready to be standing and bouncing and loves to be sat up so despite my reluctance to collect baby "stuff" I had to bite the bullet and hit up Craigslist to get her a jumperoo. Definitely one of our best purchases yet, she LOVES it!

"bouncy, bouncy, bouncy!"

Her new favorite thing to do when sitting up? Leaning over and putting her foot in her mouth.

But the foot isn't all that special, she puts EVERYTHING in her mouth right now. Probably because she's already getting her first tooth!!!

Can you see the little tooth?? Bottom right hand side.

When she's not growing teeth and chewing on everything, she's:

Taking walks with mommy...

Visting wineries with friends...

Napping in style...

Hanging with Aunt Els...

And practicing her modeling pose. I think she's got it down.

Kaiya's growing SO fast, but it's an absolute wonder to watch and I wouldn't take back a second of it. I can't wait to see what month 4 has in store!

Kaiya's Travels North!

I'm leading with this picture because it doesn't really apply anywhere but I just LOVE both expressions:)

It’s taken me a little while to get this post up here. The last week of my maternity was a whirlwind and my first week back to work was filled with nothing but work (obviously) and then Kaiya cuddles as soon as I got home. I’m learning that there will be a lot of little things that will be happily ignored in my attempt at a work-life balance. The dishes will probably suffer during the week, as well as the laundry, leisure reading and, most likely, these larger posts. All things that will just have to wait for the weekendJ

Back to our travels north though! This trip was…well, a trip!

We traveled north for the super special occasion of my brother’s high school graduation! I honestly cannot believe my little brother is old enough to graduate from high school. I have a hard time believing he’s old enough to BE in high school.

I left the house when Nathan (aka “Buddy” or, now that he’s older, “Bud”) was only 4 years old. I remember my favorite part of the family phone calls while I was in Venezuela  were with him. My favorite one of all times went like this:

Me: “Hey Buddy! How are you?”
Nathan: “Good. You speak Spanish now?”
Me: “I’m learning, yeah.”
Nathan: “Cool. Can you count to a million?”
Me: “Probably, but that would take a while.”
Nathan: “Oh. Can you say lion?”
Me: “Sure, it’s ‘leon’.”
Nathan: “’Leon.’ Cool! MOOOOM! Here.” (Passes off phone.)

I always loved how cute it was that counting to a million in Spanish and knowing how to say lion in Spanish were equally as impressive to his little 4 year old mind. And now here he is the same age I was when we had that conversation. Mind. Blown.

I am so incredibly proud of him. He may be a brat of a teenager today, like every other 18 year old boy, but he’s showing little hints of becoming the decent, responsible, standup man I know he’ll shortly be. Come August he’ll be attending SUNY Pottsdam participating in ROTC with dreams of someday becoming a pilot. Just awesome.

You know what else was awesome? His graduation party! It was so so so awesome to see so many family members that I hadn’t seen in so very long! It was yet another perfect opportunity to introduce sweet Kaiya to more members of her crazy large family.

The Line of "Atwell" Ladies (missing Delaney, Courtenay, Xela, Liana, Siana and Kaiya)

Perhaps my favorite part of the party was getting to see my 95 year old Uncle Henry. This guy is no joke. I take that back, he’s FULL of jokes! He’s also spilling over with history and a memory that’s quick to recall every detail. I adore watching him and Aunt Bev together.

Uncle Henry "poking" the camera :)

 Back when I was younger, parties with my family would go well into the night and get pretty roudy. I have fond memories of watching the adults get a little kooky (and drunk). Now I’M the kooky adult! When all the cousins, aunt’s and uncles were headed off to bed, John, Britt, Cassie, Nathan and I were just getting started.

Nathan and his friends had a little light saber fight in the yard:

Britt, John and I explored the Worcester Inn (long rumored to be haunted) and then headed to the Worcester cemetery to see if we could scare ourselves further. (We could).

All in all, a great night!

The next day was Nathan’s graduation ceremony. He looks so handsome in that green gownJ

Luckily, while home for Nathan's graduation, I was able to connect with my good friend Amy from high school. She's one of my oldest friends, and we have that type of friendship that is easy, relaxed, and picks up right where it left off. I adore her. She brought her beautiful daughter Eden, and her and Kaiya became instant friends:)

From the festivities in Worcester we headed south. Our first stop was in little ol' NYC to visit our friend Alan and his fiance Emily. We've missed Alan since he relocated to New York but we're holding out hopes that Alan and Emily will return to the DC area in a few years.

Doesn't Alan look like such a natural?!

We met Alan and Emily at a little restaurant in Chelsea for some cheese and a beer. Our visit was short, but sweet, and far too soon we were having to get on the road again. Our final destination was one of my three happy places on earth: Shelter Island. 

For those of you who don’t know, John and I met on Shelter Island back in the summer of 2004. (Has it seriously been almost 10 years since we met?!) Timeline seem wrong there? That’s because we didn’t like each other until 2006. We spent two years with a strong dislike for each other. Just long enough for him to turn 18 ;)

Nonetheless, Shelter Island will always be a special place for us with lots of great memories, beautiful scenery, and a family of people we love dearly.

Our first day on Shelter Island we actually traveled “off island” to Greenport. For those of you who don’t know, to get on and/or off Shelter Island you have to take a ferry. Kaiya slept through the whole experience:

While in Greenport we ate lunch at the Blue Canoe, a little restaurant opened by the same people John and I worked for while living on Shelter Island. Lunch was tasty and the weather was sunny and perfect. 

After lunch we headed over to the Greenport Harbor Brewery, an addition that joined the north fork after John and I moved away. The tasting room itself wasn’t all that special (apparently they have plans to move to a nicer location) but the beer was yummy. We did a little tasting of their 5 beers but I passed on the IPA’s, not a fan.

Dinner that night was a yummy spread of dumplings, deliciously prepared by Drew and his girlfriend Ariana. I was nothing less than super impressed, and I definitely ate more than my share of themJ

The second day on Shelter Island was actually Alan and Katherine’s 24^th wedding anniversary!! There are few couples in my life that I enjoy watching together more than Alan and Katherine. After 24 years together, they still flirt like teenagers, and their love story is one of happenstance, patience, and devotion and the result is a family of seven and a household so full of laughter, love and life that you can’t help but want to wrap yourself in it. John and I (and now Kaiya) treasure our time with the Garrisons.

Anniversary day consisted of a lovely walk/jog to Wade’s beach, followed by a nice little BBQ with the fam and ended with a viewing of Four Seasons. A perfect day.

Wade's Beach. I used to run here 3-4 times a week.

Our last day on the island started with a little walk to Fidi’s only to discover that our favorite little sandwich place had been replaced by Smidt’s, a Southampton native grocery/deli. I can’t complain, since the sandwiches were still good, but my heart saddened a little with the change.

The highlight of our day was definitely our date at the Shelter Island yacht club. Alan kindly invited us to dine on the patio while Kaiya stayed with the Garrison kids. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t freaking out half the time I was away, but I sucked it up and downed half a bottle of wine like an adult. The scenery was just perfect and John and I conversed hypothetically about what it would be like to live the kind of life that included giant sailboats, yacht club memberships and houses on Shelter Island. Then we hoped in our Ford and drove back to our baby. I have to admit though, nothing about our reality felt any less awesome than the hypothetical one.

Way too quickly, the time to leave creeped up on us and we had to load up the car and say our goodbye’s. Next time we see the Garrison’s Kirby will have packed on another couple of pounds in beer, Drew will be a real college student, Olivia will be finishing up her senior year in high school, Will will have started working his first real job, and Lily will be embarking on the dreaded teenage years. The only constants will be that Katherine will still be feeding the dog with a spoon and Alan will still be a boob man. I take comfort in the things that never change J

Lily and Kaiya

Will and Kaiya