Atlantic Ocean

My first look at the Atlantic Ocean. It was a chilly and windy day. Emma was snuggled in her stroller sleeping when we saw it during the day.

On the pier taking in all of the surrounding sights.

We had to go back later so Emma could experience the ocean. Well, at least she will see a picture of when she "enjoyed" the sunset on the Atlantic Ocean.

We had a great time and it was fun to be able to spend time with our little family. Matt had a crazy October and this was his reward for working so hard. He is such a hard working guy and has a ton on his plate right now, but being able to take a long weekend away was just what we needed!

Downtown Charleston

One day we walked downtown in Charleston. The buildings were very cool and it definitely had the old town vibe with brick sidewalks and single lane streets.

Walking along the water edge downtown.

Matt loved the cotton fields everywhere.

Boone Hall Plantation, Charleston

We went to Charleston, SC for a couple of days during Matt's vacation. One of the places I wanted to see was this plantation. The Notebook was filmed here among other movies that I didn't know. It was beautiful!

Emma loved being outside this day and did so well to take it all in.

This is the Avenue of Oaks, an oak tree lined street leading up to the mansion on the plantation. It was much prettier than we can capture in a picture.

These trees are hundreds of years old and so amazing! This was one of the best places we got to see on this quick trip.

Random Cuteness

All dressed up for church. Isn't this the utmost in cute? She thought she was pretty cute too in the mirror. :)

Emma has started to giggle. It is the best sound in the world! This an "action" shot of the giggles.

She already adores her daddy! As soon as he walks in the room I am pretty much forgotten. It is adorable to see them interact together.

Halloween

This year I really wanted to find something "fallish" to have Emma experience. Since we now live in the south that proved to be more difficult than when we lived in Michigan. We found this random pumpkin patch to take a few pics and get a pumpkin for Matt to carve.

Doesn't Emma look super enthused to be doing this? She has the most sensitive skin and we put her next to some hay bales to get pics with the pumpkins and the poor thing was totally red by the time we got home...guess we won't be doing that one again.

Matt carved a cute Elmo pumpkin for Emma this year. Sadly enough, we only had one day with the pumpkin because it was rotten on the inside and smelled like something died inside of it and we couldn't stand it so we had to throw it out. It was such a pretty pumpkin on the outside!

Matt told me this was the lamest Halloween we have had so far- well, it isn't my favorite holiday to begin with and he LOVES the scary aspect where I do not! Emma can't appreciate the costume part yet anyways so we will for sure put her in one next year. That part of Halloween I can get on board with- cute and sweet little kid innocence of Halloween:)

Big Girl

She has become very aware of her tongue and sticks it out all of the time!

Emma is gaining weight like a champ! The pediatrician says she is one healthy little girl.

All dressed up for church! She hates texture on her clothes and it drives her crazy so the tulle on this dress just about drove her over the edge.;) But she did look darn cute!

Matt is one proud daddy! Emma loves hanging out with him and and is a ball of smiles when he is home.

Nearing the End

We wanted to get one last pic of just the two of us, but yet notice my enormous protrusion of Emma:).

Matt was wearing the last week of our countdown chain. When we got to the due date and she still wasn't making her debut Matt suggested we add some more to the chain to get to the induction date, which was already scheduled for 1 week past due. Absolutely not! Don't jinx it! Luckily, we went out to a work dinner and had Mexican food the night of her due date and I loaded up on salsa...just doing what I can to induce labor. Whatever it was, I woke up with contractions that next morning starting at 4am. Of course they were all over the place, but I felt like we were making progress!

Not a pretty sight! I was so ready to have her and more miserable with every passing day. I do not recommend driving around 900 miles to move just weeks before having a baby. We made LOTS of stops for me to get out and walk around and also check out almost every rest stop from Michigan to South Carolina. Some states take more pride in their rest stops than others:). All in all, my feet didn't turn into sausages until the 3rd day of driving but by then my belly was killing me and I just wanted to get to the end of the trip and settle in our new place.

My favorite part of being pregnant was feeling Emma move and get the hiccups at least 3 times a day...super fun, and uncomfortable at times- but very cool!