Happy Father's Day Daddy!

We are wishing  Daddy and my Hubby the absolute BEST Father's Day in the entire world...

because he means the whole world to us. 

The boys and I are so unbelievably blessed to have such an amazing man in our lives.

He is such a wonderful role model for our little boys, and I am so thankful they have him to look up to. 

He is my best friend, I love him SO much, and so proud of who he is, and what he does for us, all out of love.

He's the absolute best. 

Happy Father's Day Baby, I love you.

7 Months

WHAT!?

I just got used to telling people he was 6 Months old, and now he's already 7.

He is all sorts of snuggly, sweet boy right now. 

He's currently rolling over front to back, back to front. 

Able to sit up from a laying down position, we found this out when we caught him sitting up after nap time and bed time. Mommom & Avery were the first ones to see it! They said they could see the top of his head peaking over the crib when they walked into the room...only discover that he was sitting up! (He's been a little slower on the sitting up train, Doctor says it's because bigger babies take longer. Hee!)

He's still in size 3 Diapers (has been for a while now) and wearing 9 -12 month outfits.

He's taking two naps during the day right now, going to bed at 8:00pm, and waking up anywhere between 7am and 10am! 

(He's always awake around 7-8am, especially after his big brother in the room next door is screaming "MOMMY!! I NEED TO PEE PEE IN THE POTTY!!!" Then he talks and plays and falls back asleep for a while..today it's almost 11am and he's still snoozing!)

He's still eating 9 oz bottles, but we have added all sorts of baby food to his diet. He's eating two jars at dinner time, and one for breakfast and lunch. His favorites seem to be green beans, sweet potatoes, and bananas.

 Love my littlest man so stinkin' much! 

 

Lately

Lately we have...

Lowered the crib for Rhetter man. His newest trick is rolling in every direction, and he is now able to sit up from a laying down position. BIG BOY.

We love watching the boys interact with each other. They crack us up!

Rhett goes absolutely crazy when he sees his brother. His arms start flapping, and his legs start wiggling and he almost snorts he's laughing so hard! Case makes this shy little smile at him, then tickles him like crazy. 

It's so cute I can't stand it! 

Matt's work had their annual outing last weekend, and Nanny & Poppy came into town to watch the boys and give us an evening out. (Thanks again guys!)
It was so much fun!

Here's the only picture we have...

(Hate when I forget my camera! iPhone's are pretty handy though)

We had a random and fun Orange Leaf trip with Mom & Dad with Cy & Griffin the other day. We missed Avery, she was at brownie camp. (She had her first over night camping experience last night, she told her Mom the only way she could do it is if she could bring her box fan...so box fan and bag in tow, she was ready to camp! How precious is that??)

After frozen yogurt, we headed to the park so the boys could play basketball and tennis. 

Rhett, Mommom and I hung out in the shade :)

 Griffin couldn't resist some snuggle time with Rhett. :) He LOVES babies, and I love that he loves babies!

...and a Big Happy Birthday to my beautiful big sister today!
Can't wait to have our
Annual Birthday Sister Date soon!

Looking forward to all sorts of fun things this summer! 

I love me some summer.

A "Bay Ball Game!"

I just need to start out by saying, Case LOVES baseball.

It is precious.

So, when our church put up a contest for a chance to win tickets to a Lexington Legend's Baseball Game, we definitely entered! Well, come to find out they announced us the winners at church on Sunday...but we were in Ashland! Ha!

Matt was able to pick them up the day of, and we were so excited to take our boys! 

We are so thankful for the contest, such a fun unexpected family night!

Case watched the game...I mean, seriously watched the game.

If someone in front of him blocked his view, he would move so he could see again. He cheered in the right places, threw his hands up with in the air with a "Aww man! Try again!" when there was a strike out. It was hilarious, and pretty adorable to watch. 

Rhett was an angel. He just sat on my lap for about 3 hours, laughing and watching his big brother. Wide eyed watching us crazy people yelling, clapping and cheering for the game! He was just taking it all in!

I'm still not sure there is anything cuter than little boys in baseball hats...

. . .

Funniest part of the night though...Matt caught one of the soft baseballs they were throwing into the stands, handed it to Case, and Case threw it right back into the stands!!!

Everyone was like "Awww...No!!!" HA! 

Somehow, Matt caught another one, and we quickly put it into the diaper bag. Case has been playing with that one all morning. :)

After that, Case stood there with his hand out, I think he thought Daddy caught them from the actual game, so he stood ready to catch one...

(How cute are those pudgy little toes at the bottom of this picture?!)

 Last inning, trying to help win the game with their rally hats on! 

 The fireworks after the ball game were so great! They had great music playing behind the show, and the boys absolutely loved it. I was pretty nervous that Rhett would be scared to death, we were ready to get out of there quickly if he started crying and screaming...but to my surprise he just cuddled with me and watched the entire show without a peep! Case said "Fireworks! Mom! Dad! Fireworks!" He talked about them the whole ride home, saying over and over "I had fun at fireworks! Fireworks Mommy! Daddy! I had fun at fireworks!"

Such a fun Friday night with my little family. 

:)

Matt's 29th Birthday!

We had celebrated in Ashland, but Matt's actual birthday was this past Thursday.

So, I asked, and asked and asked him what he would like...

A new video game? Nah.

New shorts? Nah.

Some new UK shirts? Nah.

New Dress pants? Nah. 

Maybe a new grill. Yeah?? Nah.

The boy is difficult.

At the end of the day, we decided that our birthday gifts to each other this year would be our anniversary trip to Nashville in July. Not much fun, but very practical, and makes sense. :)

Matt had a meeting at church after work on his birthday, and apparently they surprised him with pop out streamers and all kinds of things! So sweet! Some of the guys took him out for a beer, so he had fun. :) 

Well, I couldn't just do nothing for his birthday...so the boys and I made him a little something. 

Sweet Baby Annabelle

Sunday, we went to church with Matt's Mom and Step-Dad in Ashland.  Matt had my phone in his pocket and when leaving said that he had a missed a call from (my very pregnant) friend Kara. I was freaking out saying "WHAT!! REALLY??" then he followed with a big ol' mean "Just kidding!" 

(We talked about it before heading to Ashland, that if Kara were to go into labor we would be leaving so I could be there) :)

So later, I texted Kara...and it went a little bit like this: 

Me: "My husband is so mean, 

we were leaving church in 

Ashland and he had my phone in his

pocket and told me I had missed 

calls from youI was like 

What?? What?? Then he said

"Just kidding!" ugh!!

Kara: Well don't get toooo 

excited but I've been 

having contractions all 

last night and morning. 

We are walking around a 

lot to see if we need to go to hospital

 Me: Yay!!!!! Heee!!!! How far apart are they?

Kara: 5 mins and they suck but 

I don't wanna go and get 

sent home so we are grocery 

shopping right now. It's hard to

walk though so I think

we will have a baby today or tomorrow

Me: Oh my word!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Keep walkin' Momma!!!!!!!!!!!

I was a hot mess! I was soo giddy for her! She was 40 weeks on Sunday...so I guess baby girl knew it was time to start making her way into the world! :)

I'm sure I drove her crazy with all my texts wanting updates, until I finally got one from Kevin saying "Hey Liz this is Kevin, we're getting checked in & have not got to see the nurse yet. We're getting excited about baby!" I replied with something along the lines of "Ahhhhhhhhh!!! Okay yay!! We are in the car heading home from Ashalnd! Tell her I love her! Keep us posted!"

Well, come to find out later, her labor was progressing pretty slowly. They ended up giving her an option to stay over night in the hospital, or to head back home and try again in the morning. So she opted to go home and sleep in her own bed. 

The next morning, after me driving her ABSOLUTELY crazy with texting her and calling her trying to find out what was going on - I got the news that they were in fact going back in...and that my sweet friend was in a lot of pain. 

I was itching to go to the hospital, Matt had headed out to play some golf (knowing that I might call him and make him come home) and when I head the news that she had progressing quickly, I made that call. My sweet hubby was on hole 12 at the golf course when I called him and told him I needed to go to the hospital!

It was so...I can't even think of a word to describe it. It was just so different being there in the hospital on the other side of things.  After being a Momma, and watching one of your very best friends become a Momma for the first time was just so emotional and wonderful, and amazing.

I hated seeing her work through the contractions - because I knew. I knew how bad it hurt, and I just wanted to do it for her, it was so hard being so helpless while she went through each contraction!

She was unbelievably amazing though - she was so strong!

Then, around 10:30pm they came to check her and she was 10 cm! Doctor said to give it about 30 minutes, and he would be in.We got kicked out around 11pm so she could start pushing...her Mom and I lost it when we left the room. I couldn't hold back the tears knowing that she was about to meet her daughter for the very first time so soon! 

Then around 12:45 we got the word...

Baby Annabelle was here!!!

(First picture of her we got, via iPhone!)

Annabelle Brooke Bastin
8 lbs 20.5 in long
12:22 am
May 31, 2011

Momma said she wanted a May baby, and she got one, just in time! :)

She's perfect.

Memorial Day Weekend

This past weekend has been so much fun! 

Jam packed full of birthday celebrations, rummage sales, golf, cook outs, and a brand new baby! 

Matt and Papaw's birthdays are pretty close to each other, so we always try to get together to celebrate together. Papaw turned 80 this year, and Matt will be 29 tomorrow! :)

So, we headed to Ashland to stay for a couple of nights. Saturday morning, Matt and Roger (Matt's Step-Dad) headed out early to play golf. Meanwhile, Sally (Matt's Mom) and I packed up the boys to hit the rummage sales. I LOVE rummage sales in Ashland. I seem to be especially lucky there! This time I found two gorgeous old windows, I can't wait to hang them with a book wreath or something on top of them. (I'm sure there will be pictures to come!)

Driving home from the sales, both boys fell asleep in their car seats so she took a scenic route home, and at a stop sign she said "Oh look! Roll down your window!" All you could see for what seemed like miles down the road was honey suckle. We just stopped and breathed it all in for a few minutes. It was so gorgeous - and smelled even better. 

So, after getting home (and after a few failed attempts for a nap for Case - he was way too excited to be at Nanny & Poppy's house) Nanny took him out to the side of their property to taste some honeysuckle. 

Is there anything better than honeysuckle in the summer? 

Saturday, we had burgers on the grill with some pretty yummy ice cream cake. It was so nice to be able to celebrate with everyone! 

Followed by a walk to Mamaw & Papaw's house, and baseball in the front yard. :)

Sweet Katie Dog. 

Kate & Ethel

 I love this picture! I just wish Rhett was in it! But I think Rhett was pretty comfortable in Nanny's arms...

:)

It's always great to see family, and we had such a fun weekend with everyone! 

We even got to see Matt's Step-Sisters Erica & Kelli right before we headed back home, they spent the rest of the weekend there in Ashland. I know Nanny, Poppy, Mamaw & Papaw were in heaven getting to see lots of family that weekend. :)

As we were packing up to leave...I got the call that one of my very best friends Kara was headed into the hospital with contractions! Baby Annabelle was on her way!