July 2020

While our beach trips were the highlights of July, we had a lot of excitement at home as our gardens started producing beautiful harvests! Each morning the kids and I would go out early (I can't stand the heat much after 9am) to water and pick veggies and flowers. Jacob asked me if he could have a pair of snow bibs that were made of jean (overalls) like a farmer!

Lydia eats her cherry tomatoes almost faster than we can pick them! The orange ones are her favorites! We've also been enjoyed zucchini, Cherokee purple tomatoes, sandwich tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, green peppers, green beans, zinnias, sunflowers, and gladiolas.  

The kids love making deliveries to Meme's house while she's at work. Jacob says he wishes he could open his own produce stand!

We also enjoyed some unexpected 4th of July festivities. Due to Covid and the fact that we'd just arrived home from Pawley's Island at 2am the morning of the 4th, we hadn't planned to go anywhere or do anything special for the holiday. However, as dark approached we started hearing fireworks and ended up seeing a pretty incredible show from our yard! 

We've also continued to get ready for our new baby. Mama Dot, Aunt Sarah, and Holly sent me this beautiful set that also includes a matching pink robe for me! Its all so soft and I can't wait to put it on her. Lydia has a doll (used to be mine) that is supposed to be the actual size of a newborn, so we tried the outfit on her for fun! It was a perfect fit!

We've also been continuing to complete projects around the house. We found a desk for upstairs on FB marketplace, as well as a dresser for the playroom and a boppy cover. We also ordered Lydia's newborn photo for the frame above our bed. We've been cleaning out, organizing, and purging pretty much every room in the house. It feels good to get rid of clutter, especially since I know we won't be doing any projects once the baby is here!

Edisto Island 2020

We left for our annual Edisto Beach vacation a week after returning from Pawley's Island. At 31 weeks pregnant, the Pawley's trip took a lot out of me physically and I wasn't totally sure I'd be able to travel again so soon. It took a couple of days of staying in bed and icing to get the swelling under control with my feet and legs, but it finally improved. As always, my mom was a tremendous help by going to the grocery for us, making us dinner, and washing & drying all our laundry from Pawley's. I was able to just refold and repack for Edisto pretty quickly. By the time the following weekend rolled around I was feeling better and thankfully the drive to Edisto is over an hour shorter and a more direct route, which makes for an easier trip. We stayed in a different house this year, but still stayed oceanfront, which made a huge difference for me as far as not having to walk and haul beach items. I only had minor swelling and felt much better overall during this trip. However, I'm really glad that next summer I won't be in my third trimester during either beach vacation!

As we've done in past years, we took an evening outing to Botany Bay during our time at Edisto. We walked out to the undisturbed beach to check out the beautiful shells, "dinosaur trees," and to take some fun pictures. 

  

Ryan and I have due dates that are almost exactly two weeks apart! Its so fun to think about adding another little girl and little boy to the cousin crew!

                   

We spent the majority of the week playing on the beach. We headed out each morning around 9am and stayed until early afternoon. The kids had so much fun jumping waves, swimming, riding boogie boards, digging holes, collecting shells, and eating lots of beach snacks! Jacob and Lydia loved helping Violet in the water and it made me even more excited to see them with their new sister. The age difference between Jacob and Violet will be almost the same as the difference between Lydia and Baby Sister.

32 Weeks Pregnant with Baby Baden #3!

Due to Covid precautions, no crowds were allowed to watch the Turtle Patrol dig up hatched nests. However, we did find Mama Turtle tracks outside our house one morning!

Its hard to believe that next year there will be another little Baden in this picture! We enjoyed our last vacation as a family of four!