This past week we had the privilege of hosting part of Zaks family at our home for a few days. His mother, brother, and nephew were all able to come down at the same time and have a nice visit. Nat and Embry (brother and nephew) flew in at 9 on Sunday night, we picked them up and had fun talking and playing at the house that night. The next morning we all corralled in Memaws van (she was so sweet to let us borrow it so that we could all fit into one vehicle) and picked up Joyce from the airport. We enjoyed a huge breakfast from Smith Street Diner and went home to unpack and start our week together. As always, Joyce brought down too much stuff for everybody, she is constnantly going above and beyond for us. I received more amazing Chico's tops and a pair of fabulous earrings, Zaylen and Embry scored a ton of books, clothes, and toys, and the boys got some of their old yearbooks and books from their childhood. She is way too good to us!! We all had a lovely week together! We visited the zoo, went to the science center, ate at some awesome restaurants, and really enjoyed time with each other! Everyone left Friday morning, but they all got to their destinations safely and we are looking forward to seeing them next time!

I don't even have to look at a calendar to know that summer is coming to an end. I can tell by the lesson plans sitting on our coffee table, how my "honey, please do list" is practically bare, and by the flooding of back-to-school sales ads in our mailbox. This is always a part of the year that tends to have higher emotions and a mix of sadness/happiness (you know that weird feeling). While I am glad for my husband to return to work, I sure am going to miss him being home all day. And while he is ready to get back to his kids, I know he will miss being here with us during the day.

Does anyone know where June went?!? If your family is anything like mine, it flew by! While I'm sitting in the sunrise enjoying my bowl of freshly cooked deer sausage, biscuits, and gravy, I'll see if I can remember a recap...

Zachary finished work on the 17th, and isn"t due back until August 13! Having him home has been incredible, you have no idea how much laundry and deep cleaning I have tackled since having an extra set of hands around here. My mother-in-law came down for a short visit from the 16th-19th, time with her is always special. If any of you know her, you know her energy, and it's wonderful having that energy around, especially now with a baby. She helps out so much with Zaylen!! The amount of naps I took during those few days is insane. I was able to catch up on sleep, get some good cleaning done, and pack for the beach...and I did all of that alone! I usually do the chores and things with Zaylen wrapped to me so when I get to do something without an extra 15 pounds on me it feels like I'm a new person! It was very nice having her and we are looking forward to her coming back down in August with Zaks brother and nephew. After Joyce left we had one day to finish packing for a two week beach trip, talk about exhausting! Nobody warned me about the overwhelming amount of stuff you have to pack for a baby. We literally brought the entire house...and there's not an ounce of exaggeration in that. We had so much that we had to buy an over-the-car luggage carrier. Needless to say...by that Friday night I was a zombie; a worn out, tired, delusional, exhausted zombie. Oh wait, thats every day now...I forgot I'm a mom.

Saturday morning (the 21st) we packed up last minute stuff and headed off to the beautiful Carolina coast. Can I take a minute just to say how blessed we are to live in such an amazing state?! Sure, gas tax and teacher pay could be better, but we are so very fortunate to live in a free country and a state that stands out from the rest. I know I'm biased towards North Carolina, but I've been to about 6 other states...and let me tell you, Carolina beats them all. Anyways, we left a little earlier because I was expecting to stop several times with Zaylen. Would you believe we stopped once in 5.5 hours?? That baby slept and slept some more. Talk about some proud parents. We went to the Outer Banks for week one of the trip. We had beautiful weather the entire time, and had such a great time!! Zaylen really enjoyed the beach, he didn't take to the water, but he loved the wind hitting his face and the sounds of the ocean. I couldn't have asked for a better first experience for him! We had a nice relaxing time and I know the rest of the family had the same. For week two we headed down the coast to Atlantic Beach. We had to take two ferries to get there, and according to Zak that will be the last time we take a ferry for a long time. What was supposed to be a four hour trip turned into an almost eleven hour trip. Yes, eleven hours. Ferry number one was an awesome ride; it was short, easy, not choppy, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Ferry number two was a different story. We got to the dock in time for the 1 o'clock boat, but found out that the car in front of us was the last one on...so we had to wait two hours for the next one. We were kind of happy about that because it gave us time to go eat and hang out for a bit. Well the 3 o'clock ferry had some mechanical issues so we didn't leave till 4. Once again, not a big issue, we weren't in a hurry. About an hour into the ride, Zak is in the drivers seat reading his book, Zay and I are in the passengers seat napping, and at least 20 gallons of salt water decided to join us. We had the windows down to get some air and enjoy the outdoors and thought we would be protected by the huge wall we were hiding behind if any choppy waves sprang up. We were sadly mistaken. Luckily none of the electronics got any water on them, but the car was filled with water!! The floorboard still had water in it after 3 days. Talk about a mess. We wiped everything up as best we could and didn't think anything of it. Well when we tried to get off the ferry after 3 hours of being wet in the middle of the sound we kept stalling out. We were seriously both losing it at this point. After talking to Zaks dad, letting the car dry out for a bit, and then driving 35 mph for a while, the car finally got us to our destination. Needless to say, our nerves were shot, we were exhausted and ready for some sleep. 

We stayed in Atlantic Beach for two days and then decided to come home. My great-grandpa, Papa Hassie passed away on June 30. He was a handsome man who had all the love in the world to give!! Once we got home we were in Eden for a few days attending his funeral and being with family members. Papa Hassie had the sweetest services and seeing the amount of people that week really let us know the impact he had on so many peoples lives. He was the definition of a God fearing man, if every man strived to be like Papa the world would be such a beautiful loving place. 

This past week has been quite an adventure and just added on to the craziness of the past month. As you can imagine, we had our fair share of bills to catch up on, plants needed taken care of, our house was begging for a good cleaning, and life just hit us again. We celebrated the fourth with a downtown festival and grilling/fireworks at my moms house. Would you believe it if I told you Zaylen slept through all the fireworks, and then woke up as soon as I laid him in his car seat to go home?? That child certainly has a mind of his own. The Sunday after the fourth we went to Black Mountain to see some family members and hang out for the day. It was so nice getting to see uncles/aunts, and cousins that we haven't seen in a while. It was everyones first time meeting Zaylen, and even the first for some meeting Zak. Family sure is a wonderful blessing and we are so grateful to have the tight loving family that we do. Our garden has been producing more than we can consume (which is a nice thing, but zucchini bread gets a little tiring after the third or fourth loaf). At the end of the week, our friend Donny from college came down for a weekend visit. We grilled out at Victor and Annies house Friday night and we all hung out off and on the next two days. It was really nice having Donny down, he and Zak haven't seen each other in over a year, and this was his first time meeting Zaylen. It's sad how you don't see your friends as much when adult life hits you, but at the same time it's a wonderful thing to see friends pick up right where they left off. Oh and one last thing...one of my dearest friends, Anna, had her precious baby boy Friday!! Weston is such a perfect baby! Anna is a beautiful mother and I am very thankful I get the opportunity to watch her journey in motherhood. It feels like yesterday I was only a child myself, and now my friends and I are all getting married and starting our own families, wow time sure does fly by.

Well that's a little summary of our June and part of July. I'll try to write back next week. I hope you all have had an exciting summer so far and I look forward to hearing from you!





  Zaylen and Grandma reading
    

This seems to be a pretty touchy subject among mothers, I heard about it constantly as I browsed websites during my pregnancy, and I thought I was one of the lucky ones who wouldn't experience it....until now. I had read stories of mothers judging, giving unnecessary unwanted advice, and being downright rude and mean to other mothers. This isn't right and it needs to stop. We as women first should always support and lift up one another, not tear each other down. And as mothers we should know the daily struggle of wanting to do right by our children and should take that into consideration before we "help" one another.

This past week I was in a baby clothing store getting some new summer items for Zaylen. He was in his stroller enjoying a bottle and I was talking to the cashier as we were checking out. There was a lady behind us in line who popped up and asked me how old Zaylen was. As you all probably know, checking out with a baby and people talking isn't really the most attentive state you can be in. I was pulling his diaper bag (that contained my wallet) out from under the stroller, the cashier was asking me if I was a member and wanted a discount, you know how they are, all while responding to the lady behind us, "oh he's eleven weeks old." I get the diaper bag up, my wallet out, Zaylen loses his bottle and so I grabbed it and gave it back to him, again all while the cashier is asking for my email and phone number, you know the deal. Well the lady behind me notices that Zaylens bottle isn't all the way propped up and he's getting the littlest bit of air. She goes on to step beside him and starts lecturing me on "how babies can't drink in any air because it messes with their digestive systems and gives them bad gas. Their digestive systems aren't complete yet so they can't handle air like adults. You should really hold that or prop it up better so his stomach doesn't hurt from air bubbles that cause gas. From now on, (yes, this lady had the nerve to tell me from now on) you need to watch his bottles and make sure no air is getting into his system." I didn't even give her the time of day by looking at her. I mumbled "thank you" and quickly grabbed my bags and left. I was so hurt! I called my mom as soon as I was out and just cried! I mean, does not watching my baby's bottle for one minute make me this terrible mother who is incapable of taking care of her son? In that moment I felt so worthless and undeserving to be called a mother. Thankfully my mom calmed me down quickly and reminded me that there are some people who just think they know it all and will jump on any chance they get to put someone else down. Although I had calmed down, I was still upset the whole day and I have thought about it every day since.

Looking back on it I wish I would've told her, "since we are giving out free advice, why don't you touch up your roots and pluck your chin hair." No, I'm kidding, well kind of. But it brought me back to all the stories I had read about mothers putting down other mothers and it broke my heart. Maybe I could've understood the lady pointing out that his bottle had fallen? I'm still not sure how I would've taken that, but what she said to me and the tone she used was unnecessary and very much not needed.  She made me feel like I didn't deserve my son and she made me feel like I was a horrible mother, and I can assure you that will never happen again. If I get that type of advice again I will just smile and move on. My son and I are a perfect match and I will never let anyone make me feel any different about that.

Now family and friends are one thing. I have been very blessed with loving family and friends who have given me great advice for Zaylen and they had the right intentions doing it. My sister and I exchange kid advice all the time. There are some things we disagree on, but we always support each other through it. I am thankful for her advice and I know she is thankful for mine.

The point I'm trying to make is that we all have different ways of raising our children, whether it be cloth diapers and unlimited tv time or disposables and 1 hour of tv daily. We have different feeding times, nap times, toys, learning activities, ect. Does any of that really matter? We mothers are all doing the same job and we are trying to get to the same goal so instead of fighting each other and trying to be "the better mother", let's try being on the same team. When you see a mom who is frantically getting her wallet out trying to pay for a purchase and her sons bottle falls a little, just help out. Being a mother is the hardest job on the planet. On top of all the chores and taking care of our husbands, we have to raise a child. We have to make the hardest decisions and choices for a precious life and hope we made the right ones. We have to nurture and raise a sweet child to become a contributing member of society. We have to protect them with our lives, care for them during diaper explosions and sleepless nights, we get sick when they get sick, and our heart breaks every time we see a tear or hear a fuss. Wow, what an amazingly tough job. We've all been through it and we've all messed up. And if those little mess ups make us bad mothers, then please put me at the top of the list. Ladies and mothers, let's all be a little more understanding towards each other and know that each of us is trying our very best to be the parent our child needs us to be.