To the beach and back!

Austin eating his seafood!

Hanging at the water with Daddy!

My boys hanging out in the tent.

Am I cool or what?!?!

He loves the beach!

I have come to the conclusion that life with two isn't terribly different than life with one. Now that we have a bit of schedule it just means that Jason and I each have a child most of the time instead of being able to tag team the one. Don't get me wrong, life definitely has it's challenges, but I really think that the transition from zero to one was much harder than one to two! :)

With that being said, we decided to head to Myrtle Beach with my parents and sister (and meet up with my brother) for a few days this past weekend. I completely forgot how much junk you need to bring along when you have a baby! Gone are the days of packing just clothes for Austin! We toted along our pack-n-play, the stroller, the diaper bag, diapers, wipes, burp clothes, blankets, tons of clothes (because there is a good possibility of spit/diaper issues), baby soap, etc. I felt like I was packing for a week, yet we were only there for 2 and a half days!

All in all, we had a great trip though. Upon getting there on Friday, we went straight to the beach. Carter was miserable in the tent that we brought along, but enjoyed hanging out by the pool. We put his toes in though, and you would have thought we were trying to kill him! He let out the largest scream we have heard from him and then was fine as soon as we pulled his toes out. Needless to say, we don't plan on putting any part of him in a pool again for awhile! Austin had tons of fun splashing in the waves and digging in the sand, and has become quite the swimmer too! That night we went to a great seafood buffet, and Austin ate his body weight in crab legs, calamari, and shrimp! After that, we all went miniature golfing at the hokiest place ever, but had a blast doing it!

Saturday we spent the day hanging out at the beach and pool area. My brother, Kurt, came out for the day which was a really great treat. Our hotel had a really neat area that you could wade out to, which Austin named "Crab Island". We ended up crabbing out there using only sand buckets and sticks! Believe it or not, we got 6 crabs and ate them that night (along with some cod and shrimp) for dinner. Austin also got 2 hermit crabs that he named Lightening Bolt and Sonic. So far, they are surviving!

Sunday we got up, had breakfast and left. Thank goodness too, because I ended up coming down with mastitis and needing to have my doctor call a prescription in to the CVS down there. It was not the way I wanted to end the trip, but what can you do?!?!

Above are some pictures of the trip for you all to enjoy!

P.S. Went to the doctor today, and my little bruiser is now 10 lbs. 14 oz!!! I am raising another little chunker!!!

And Baby makes 4...

I would be lying if I didn't say that the past 2 weeks weren't a bit of a blur. No matter how prepared you are, nothing can prepare you for the way a new baby can rock your world. However, unlike with Austin's birth, this time my mind and body were in sync with one another, and the arrival of Carter was as smooth as one could imagine!

Carter David Hoffman was born on August 22 at 11:07 AM. He weighed 7 lbs. 7 oz. and was 19 inches long. The c-section was SO easy (in fact I joked with Jason in recovery that I was ready for number 3), and it was wonderful just walking in to the hospital, having the spinal and 20 minutes later having a baby! The hospital staff was amazing, my room was huge (the walk-in shower was larger than my one at home!), and even the food was good. To say that the experience was the best it could be almost feels like an understatement.

On top of all of that, Carter is the most laid back, sweet little boy I could ever imagine! He is a very alert little boy, but only cries when he is hungry. Unlike Austin, he never had his days and nights mixed up (praise the Lord!), but I think I am so much calmer this time around as well, that getting up with him doesn't bother me one bit. He has already scheduled himself (as I let my babies create their own schedule), and right now that means getting up about 2 times a night. It really doesn't get any better that that! In fact, most days I don't have any coffee and I think I have only napped 3 times since being home!

As for Austin, he is the BEST big brother! He constantly wants to hold Carter, talk to him, "play" with him, etc. He really has transitioned well and seems to be thoroughly enjoying his new role as the big brother. He also started preschool last week, and soccer the week before, so I think that having him more scheduled is helping as well!

That's pretty much it from our end. I was blessed to have my Mom with us all last week, and my Dad came down this past weekend. Now my in-laws are coming until Friday, so we will continue to have help (which has been fairly necessary since I haven't been cleared to drive yet). We have been keeping busy running errands, and yesterday drove out to the North Carolina Zoo! Overall, life has been great these past two weeks, and if you are in the area, feel free to stop on by!