18 weeks and many thoughts..

I don't even know where to begin. The last 2.5 weeks have been amazing! I logged off of work on the 25th of July and haven't checked email since. It's been two years since I've had a vacation where I haven't worked for some part of the vacay. I now have an assistant who has been a huge blessing to me at work. It was so nice to know that someone was there covering for me while I was gone. It took me a matter of hours to completely disengage and I loved just being with my family and not feeling the need to check my email.

The boys and I left and headed to Georgia to see my best friend, Carm. We have been best friends since I was 15 and it has been so amazing to experience life together.  Our children are close in age and we continue to make some amazing memories whenever we get together. I love it because we can just enjoy hanging out in yoga pants chatting at the table or couch for hours.  We did a lot of fun activities with the kids and discovered a plance called Menchies that we all fell in love with! I have a lot of people that I would consider good friends where I live now and i'm so thankful for each of them, but I've always called Carm my person. She has been there for me through so many things in my life and with her I don't have to explain anything because she was there.... I feel like i'm at home when i'm with her and love that her and her husband love our children as Chad and I love theirs. It's just such a blessing. I was so excited to ask her and her husband to be our baby's godparents. They said yes and are so excited!

After staying with Carm for a week the boys and I headed to Atlanta to pick up Chad who flew in to meet us. We spent three days in the ATL exploring the aquarium, museums, and lego land.  Not to mention some really good resteraunts. I think one of my favorite memories was after our long days we would get cleaned up and lay in our hotel beds and stay up late watching the olympics with the kids. I loved watching them with the covers pulled up and their little eyes peeking out taking it all in. We had many laughs and great conversations over the Olympics.

After Atlanta we headed up to South Carolina for a week. We spent a few days at my cousin's home. She and her husband have three kids and their oldest son is 10.  The boys haven't stopped talking about him since we were in SC last year and couldn't wait to throw the football with him again. We were also able to see my aunt and uncle and Grams.  My aunt had us all over one night for an amazing meal. She made calzones that had spinach, shredded chicken, and cheeses inside, a taco lasgnana, two different bruchettas, potatoes with bacon and cheeses, a summer salsa that had corn, cucumber, tomatoes, apple cider vinegar, and a few more ingreadients I can't remember. Chad and I wore floored by the spread and to top it off Grams made an amazing peach and pecan cake. I'll be honest in that Chad nor I normally like either but the cake melted in my mouth! That night Chad and I laid in bed and I asked him what his favorite dish was to which he replied "all of it"..

We left my cousin's and headed to Charleston and Isle of Palms..two of our favorite places in SC.  There we spent time on the ocean, walking the market, enjoyed gelato, and was able to have dinner with my other cousin who lives there and is expecting her first in November. We made sure to stop at the Savannah Candy Company which is the boys favorite candy shop and Chad and I enjoy their truffles as well. :)  The two weeks flew and before I knew it we were heading back home. We got home Wednesday evening and have enjoyed the last four days at home. I have to say that I'm having a hard time today knowing that I return to work tomorrow. I think letting myself fulling disengage from work allowed me to let go of work and all the craziness and just relish in soaking up every moment fully. I haven't slept as good as I did while I was gone in forever and can't say that i'm excited to open my email tomorrow to what I estimate to be anywhere from 800-1000 emails. And I wish I was joking about the number of emails but i'm not. I've been praying all day that God would calm my nerves and give me peace as I return tomorrow and help me not to feel overwhelmed.  The exciting thing is that the next time I take a vacation it will be maternity leave.

Tomorrow is my next doctor appt and i'm excited to see how the baby is doing. We should find out in the next couple of weeks what we are having. I am sure that it's a boy but Chad thinks it's a girl. Either way I pray for a healthy baby. I took many pictures while we were gone and will be sure to post them soon. Blessings!