My Eight to Five

Have you ever seen somebody so excited to
find their belly button?

Last August I took a position as a nanny for a sweet 3 month old. His name was Lawson and he had my heart immediately. We have had an amazing 11 months together. I have enjoyed every moment of it, even the crying during naps, the stinky diapers, the spit out food - all of it! As my time with him is coming to an end, I had the chance to make some more special moments with him.

Last Friday Taylor came to work with me. We spent the morning as usual, just playing and hanging
out. Lawson was a little shy at first but very quickly fell in love with Taylor (can you blame him?) They hung out together until nap time. After Lawson's nap, I got him dressed and we headed out! We took Lawson to lunch at Cracker Barrel. This is one of his favorite places. Nothing like grilled chicken and carrots smothered in butter. Yummy! After lunch we went to Build a Bear. Lawson built a puppy dog, who we named Brave, as you can probably guess why. Once we had Brave in tow we headed to Barnes & Noble to pick out a book...or two! We of course couldn't go back home until we stopped at the cupcake shop, Twist, and had a bite!

Lawon's new best friend!

He wouldn't hold still for a picture, he didn't want anybody taking that puppy dog away!

With sweet Lawson after Build a Bear

Once we got back to the house it was almost nap time, so we played some more and then laid down. That afternoon we headed to Orange Beach with Lawson and his parents. They invited Taylor & I down to their condo for the weekend as a thank you for my time with Lawson. We all went to dinner that night. It was so funny seeing Lawson's face as he tried to figure out why we were all there together. He is used to seeing his dad and I at the same time and sometimes even his mom and I, butnever all three of us together, especially for a long period of time. Saturday we all had breakfast and headed to the beach. Lawson & I hung out under the umbrella like smart cookies. We went and put our toes in the water for a little while as well. The rain was coming our way so we headed to have lunch at the original Tacky Jacks. We had great timing because as we were seated the rain just started pouring and did not stop for a while. After the rain passed we went back to the condo and then headed back to Mobile.

Like I said - Best friends

Keeping cool and in the shade

It was so wonderful spending that extra time with Lawson. I have eight days left with him. I cannot believe after all this time of seeing him five days a week, I won't be seeing him at all. It is heartbreaking, but very bittersweet. He will be enrolled in a school so he will be learning so much, and I'm headed back to Texas so there are good sides to this. I have been very blessed to be his nanny and I cannot wait to watch him grow up, even from 3 states over.

Happy 4th Y'all

This year for the 4th of July, Taylor & I traveled to Arkadelphia, Arkansas and spent the long weekend with his dad & step mom, along with the many people we visited.

Taylor & I loaded up a U-Haul trailer on Tuesday night with the help of our friends Ryan & Ashley. I was able to get off work early on Wednesday so we were on the road by 3:30! Because the Equinox was pulling a trailer it was a longer trip than usual, but we made it by midnight. We of course stayed up until 2:30 in the morning catching up. We always forget that we have many more days to catch up, but it is a tradition at this point.

Sweet Robert David

Thursday was the 4th and they had made plans for us to get to go out on a boat with their friend Mike. But we had all day to fill so we did one of my favorite things - went to see a newborn baby! We went and met Robert David, Amy's son. He was just precious. Of course I had to fight with Tim over baby time, but I got a lot of snuggling in.

That night we went to Lake DeGray and had dinner on Mike's house boat. Then we went out on his boat and rode around the lake. We made a quick stop at the Lodge to see Taylor's cousins, Katy, Hollis & Drew. I am so blessed to have gained these new cousins. After visiting for a little while we went and parked in the middle of the lake and watched the firework show the lake put on. The show was awesome! Best one I've seen in a while!

My husband sure can pull off the "wind blown" look

My wonderful cousins, Katy & Hollis

Friday we spent the afternoon at a Field Station with a professor (Dr. Engman) that Taylor took two study abroads with in college. It was beautiful. Taylor was able to talk to some students who were about to take off for Peru (a trip Taylor went on). He answered some questions they had about grad school in marine science and then we had lunch with them. That night we went and spent the evening with our good friend, Jill McMillian at her lake house. It was just gorgeous! We had pizza and we hung out on the porch for most of the evening. Once the mosquitos came out we went inside and chatted late into the night.

Concentration men....concentration

Saturday started early on the golf course. We headed over to Fordyce to meet up with Poppy, Chuck &
Drew. Taylor & Tim played with them and I rode with Poppy. I love riding in the cart with Poppy. He has a story for each hole on that golf course, sometimes even two! In the picture to the left, you will see one of my favorite parts about riding while they play - I love to watch how 4-6 men can all be within 20 feet of each other and not say a word. Imagine trying to get women to do that...never going to happen. Haha! They played 9 holes and then we had lunch.

Ahhhhhh!!!! He is so cute & the perfect snuggler!

After lunch I left to go and play with our precious second cousin Reece. He of course took a little nap on my shoulder. I'm convinced it is his favorite spot to sleep. I also got to chat with Betty & Cindy, a favorite past time of mine. That night we met up with Luke, Christy, Spencer and his friend to see Despicable Me 2. It was so good! I laughed A LOT! And of course cried a bit as well. We grabbed smoothies afterward and headed home.

Sunday morning we got up and watched some Dexter, then dropped some things off at Tim's office to keep for us while we move. We had some lunch and hit the road. As always we had a blast! It was nice to get home and catch up on all that sleep, but I wouldn't trade it for anything!