Commando Crawler

Brody's physical therapy is going very well. He is holding a sitting position most of the time and has started commando crawling.

Some pictures of Brody working hard with his physical therapist (in his pj's):

Beach Trip

Our 10 day vacation (as I love to refer to it) was a blast. We started with a trip to Columbia and 34-0 win over NC State. We visited with Mama four 4 full days. Here are pictures of Brody and Abby there:

Yes, I KNOW what this picture of Abby must communicate regarding my parenting skills. Yes, I did stick her in front of the computer to play a game online. It was a PBS.org game. Her sister and brother were napping. There was nothing else to do. And yes, I did put her in a highchair. I was being creative!

On Monday, we met Gran, Aunt Martha, Joseph and Megan at the beach. Mama drove down later in the week.

We stayed in our favorite beach house.

We spent most mornings on the beach.

We spent most afternoons shopping and eating things we cannot get at home. The girls got huge lollipops from a candy store and were so excited I had to take a picture.

We visited the Citadel and took updated pictures on the chapel steps.

We celebrated Gran's 91st birthday, while we were there. I am so grateful for her!

Our kids all loved the beach. Abby loved jumping "over" the waves. Sydney loved trying to run away from them. Brody loved eating the sand and pounding the ground with his hands to make noises. I loved being away and with all the family. Stephen loved staying up as late as possible talking under the stars.

And as previously mentioned, tropical storm Hanna provided some drama and some windy days (see below) but in the end, her bark was much worse than her bite.

We were able to finish the trip home in our comfy new car. The vacation was everything vacations are supposed to be.

Tropical Storm Hanna

TS Hanna brought rain and wind to our vacation but she also helped us get our car! Seriously, lots of people didn't show up at the Honda auction because of the hurricane threat so we were able to get a great deal on a Pilot. It's garnet. Yes, just like the Gamecocks. It matches our shutters, our living room and our kitchen decor. What's not to like about garnet and black?

We are very grateful for a car that is large enough for our family. God is always good to us to give us just what we need when we need it.

I'll post more about our beach trip later. Have lots of emails, laundry, etc. to catch up on!

Abby's First Week of Kindergarten

Abby has completed her first unit in Kindergarten. We studied the 7 days of Creation she made a Creation Book to illustrate what she learned. Sydney was a willing participant for most of it, making a book of her own.

My friend, Greta, brought up an interesting point the other day. Our girls are not going to have stories about how wonderful their kindergarten teacher was! I am hoping, however, Abby will have great memories of the activities we get to do and the things she learns. At this point, homeschooling has been a real joy!

Sitting!

Brody sat up for the first time for more than 60 seconds without falling! Woo-hoo! I still cannot leave the room because he loses his balance and bonks his head on the floor (found out the hard way) but I am so excited he's sitting. We just had to threaten physical therapy and he sat up!

Falling Into Place

Brody turned 10 months on Sunday. I have not taken his 9-month picture or his 10-month. However, my friend, Kim Deloach, a brilliant photographer, was taking pictures for promotion Sunday and sent me a couple of him.

This has been a busy season of life. Summer always is.

Brody's 9 -month visit with the pediatrician went well, but we did discover some motor skills milestones that he missed so BabyNet came out to do an evaluation of him. It was determined that he has a gross motor skills delay and needs physical therapy to catch him up. My service coordinator and I set some goals today and we'll have a PT evaluation in the next few weeks. We're hoping he will be rolling over well, sitting, crawling and pulling up to a stand soon. Oh boy am I in trouble when my little fella becomes mobile. I'm sure he'll eat some dog food before I can get to him. It's a rite of passage in the Fowler home.

We are also in the throws of school now. We started 5-year old kindergarten at home with Abby. Sydney sits in on most of it and they both love the cutting, use of glue sticks and the music. I love those things, too. Hopefully when we the curriculum gets harder we will all feel the same way about school.

We still don't have a new car but are just waiting. God has said, "No" thus far and we are trusting Him in it. He always takes care of us and as my friend reminded me, He cares more about timing than He does about the time something takes.

I am doing okay. Hitting the ground running. Trying to keep up with everything. Learning to trust God more than I desire to check things off my to-do list, which means that I am not defined by a to-do list, which means I have to be okay with some things not getting done. Whew.

Maybe I'll have some great news about a car, Brody's sitting or Abby and Sydney's spiritual growth. Even in the absence of great news to report, God is great. He just makes you want to love Him, doesn't He?

Brody's 8th Month

So I'm posting about Brody's 7th and 8th months of life the very last day he's 8 months old. I didn't include his 7th "monthly-picture-in-the-red-chair" because they were a bunch of bad action shots. He cannot sit up on his own and he won't be still long enough for me to snap a picture showing his size compared to the chair. :)Because today is my 8th month deadline I snapped some quick ones and got mostly action shots again but used the bumbo chair to keep him still this time (Thanks, Sara B).

He was trying to grab the camera at one point:)

Brody loves to "talk" - loudly. He says, "ma-ma-ma" and "da-da-da" but they do not seem to be associated with Mama or Daddy. He is cutting a generous number of teeth. He is currently working on tooth number 7. He bit Abby today when she hugged him because her arm looked like a perfectly good teething ring. She wasn't happy about it.

I am still totally smitten with my little fella. So grateful God blessed our family with him. I cannot imagine our little home without that sweet thing. Right now, he's sitting in the bumbo making loud noises banging his feet on the hardwood floor. I am so in trouble when he starts walking and crawling. He's just so busy.