As a follow-up from sharing Ryan's and my goals to do 5 fun things over the next couple of months, we were both able to cross off one thing on our lists a couple of weeks ago. Ryan drove down to Louisville for a music fest with Greg and was able to meet up with one of his College of Charleston boys. He's been wanting to go to one and I'm so happy the weekend worked out. From what I hear the boys had a blast; lots of music and not alot of sleep. They left on Friday morning and got back Sunday night. Ryan was exhausted and his feet were killing him from standing in his flip flops the whole weekend.
That same weekend I went to the Italian Festival with Michelle and Maeve. We made a mini-day of it and went to the mall and outlets, then finished with lunch at the festival. It was blazing hot so we just did a quick loop, but got to try a bunch of things and I was happy I went. Maeve really didn't want to sleep that whole morning while we were running around so she was pretty wiped by the time we got to festival. However she still wouldn't fall asleep until later in the afternoon. She was a sweaty mess!
One bonus of Ryan being away for the weekend was that I got to eat the cannoli I took home all by myself. Obviously you can see that I couldn't help myself from digging in before taking a picture. I put it in the fridge until I was ready to eat and have to say it tasted even more delicious served very chilled with a glass of milk.
Ryan had a couple people in town for meetings and thought it might be a good opportunity to get Maeve back in the office to see people. Here she is next to the giant Labatt bear that greets you as you walk into the bar... yes, there is a full fledged bar in his office. I even tried the new low calorie beer, Labatt 52. I was always a fan of the low carb, Labatt Select, so would definitely recommend, but I recognize that I'm biased.
On the 20th we wrapped up with work and hopped in the car to head down to Baltimore. The Wallace Family vacation had officially begun. Saturday we headed down the rest of the way to Bethany Beach, Delaware for a week of family, fun, and the sun. We had three houses to spread out the 13 adults and 9 children, which worked out perfectly. Ryan, Maeve, and I had a pretty relaxing time. We really didn't try the beach due to the heat and Maeve's need to eat sand, but we were there for alittle bit. She took 2 solid naps (1 1/2 - 2 hours each) a day so between eating and napping, we had short breaks which we usually went to the pool or for a walk. Ryan was able to play tennis almost everyday and I swam some laps in their lap pool and we both played alittle golf. I have a ton of pictures on my camera so will have to add those separately. These are only pictures from my phone.
Maeve enjoying the swings and some pictures of her in the back of the car right after we left the beach. She got soaked with some waves and had sand EVERYWHERE. I felt bad using wipes, but she had sand in every crevice. She thought it was so interesting to sit naked in back of truck and just watch all of the people walking on by. I couldn't get her to move from her spot to put a diaper on for about 15 minutes.
One night Ryan and I got to grab dinner and we went to this great spot, Off the Hook. It was right on the way from our place to the beach. We sat outside and the food was amazing! I had slow roasted pork dumplings for an appetizer and soft shell crab for entree. I haven't had crab yet this year and it was perfectly cooked. Ryan's food was equally as good, but no pictures of his. He had fried oysters and ahi tuna. It was a great night.
We made it back to Buffalo on Saturday morning. We got on the road early and made it back by 2pm. I really can't complain about Maeve in the car. Michelle sat in the back seat with her and helped keep her busy with toys, bottles, and snacks as needed. There were no screaming bouts and she slept about half the time.
So back to reality for us. Laundry is done and I got grocery shopping out of the way. Maeve was pretty excited to be back her house with all of her toys. She is a full fledged walker these days. She started taking a couple steps here or there in late June/early July. Maybe 4-5 steps at a time by mid-July. Once we were on vacation, she was walking everywhere. She climbs the stairs now as well and is truly fully mobile. She's exploring and getting into drawers so I've been slowly rearranging things in the kitchen and now closing the bathroom doors and she's very interested in the toilet. She's morphing into this adorable person with a funny personality. She loves to scrunch up her nose and laugh. Ryan can usually get her going the most with tickles or peek a boo. She's been an eating machine as well. She's now eating lunches at school. Her favorite appears to be grilled cheese so we certainly have that in common. Breakfast usually includes some version of toast or english muffin with blueberries, raspberries, bananas or yogurt. I typically feed her first and cook for Ryan and I after she goes to bed so she's not eating exactly what we eat yet (more so on the weekends), but she like anything with chicken. She had some pizza last weekend and ate that up as well.
We've hit August, which the next three months are usually my favorite time of the year. Warm days, cool nights and some more vacation time and seeing our girl turn 1!
