Spoiled at Kentucky Lake!

At the end of July, we all took off for a week of relaxing at a lake house on Kentucky Lake.  We were meeting my family (mom, dad, Jessi, Tyler, Macy, Mya, Katy, Clint, and Grandma Harshman) and Matt's family (mom, dad, Mark) were coming with us for about 4 days.  Aunt Becky, Uncle Brad, Aunt Dianna, and Uncle Dave were going to spend a day with us as well.  How fun!  The house was full of lots of squeals, cuddles, dirty diapers, cuddles, cuteness, ooohs and ahhhs, and ridiculous amounts of cuddles - did I mention that?

We had a great time - Nash had all of his aunts and uncles and grandparents in one place.  What a lucky little guy.  We did a whole lot of nothing - eating well, grilling out, relaxing by the pool, tubing/boating on the lake, and some cornhole.  Nash's sleep habits definitely took a turn for the worst during the week though - we were up at least two hours every night with him, screaming in pain.  Poor baby.  My mom, in all of her baby wisdom, asked if we had considered reflux - and sure enough, after researching all of the symptoms of reflux...he had pretty much every one of them.  I called his doctor back in Nashville and she agreed with our assessment and called in a prescription for baby Zantac.  Sure enough, the first night he was on it - no screaming in pain.  He's been on it ever since and our household is sleeping so much better for it!

Nannie and Opa and Mark had to leave us on Wednesday, and we were sad to see them go!  We spent the rest of the week doing more of the same...it was a great time!  It's always good to get back home and get back into our routine, but we loved being able to hang out with our families for such an extended period of time.  We always miss them when we're away, and wish we were closer!

We barely remembered to take any pictures while we were there...

our Kentucky Lake house for the week

view of the lake from our dock (and daddy's boat)

Uncle Brad, Aunt Becky, Grandma Harshman, and Daddy

Mya baby and her crazy hair - love it!

Nash and the Murphy crew...he hardly got any attention while they were there!  ;)

Katy, Jessi, and Daddy fighting with water guns

the crew hanging out by the pool...

it was 100+ degrees most of the days were there

had to post this one...his hair looks so red!

Mya and Macy cooling off

Aunt Katy and Macycakes

The crew, stuffed after some super yummy pork chops

morning cuddles with Opa

bedtime snuggles with Nannie

our view of the lake from the house

What a lucky little guy!

 Jessi and her girls

Tyler being bad

Matthew setting bad examples for his son

Uncle Ty and Nash playing in the water

Swinging with Grandma Harshman

Naptime with Auntie Jessi

"Come join us!" - Macy

Triple trouble

Chilling by the pool

Jessi, wiping out

What a fun vacation!

6 months - Nash's half birthday!

Time just keeps moving so fast...here is a 6 month update! 

• Nash's 6 month checkup went well.  His new doctor is Dr. Sara Patterson and we really liked her.  Matt wasn't able to come with us because of a court date, but my mom happened to be in town so she came with me.  He weighed 15 pounds and 5 ounces and almost 26 inches long.
• We have not been able to find a baby food Nash doesn't like.  He's liked everything from sweet potatoes (one of his favorites) to peas and green beans.  We've added fruit and his favorite by a mile is bananas (see - he IS his momma's boy!), but again - nothing he does like.  I hope to find time soon to make some of our own babyfood and see how that goes.
• Nash is becoming very ambidextrous...he's so good at picking up things with either hand, switching toys from hand to hand, and being excited about his favorite toys.  His favorite toys right now are definitely balls - all kinds, especially the ones designated for Roscoe dog!
• We are still in size 2 diapers, although they may not last very much longer.   
• Nash's travel schedule has calmed down a bit lately, so he's starting to settle into more of a routine here in the apartment.  He's still waking up about once in the middle of the night, and seems quite unhappy.  He doesn't really seem hungry, but definitely not comfortable.  At this point, I still get up with him consistently because I'm not working yet and Matt is.
• Nash is officially done nursing.  He pretty much weaned himself from twice a day (about a month ago) to once early in the morning for the past couple of weeks.  I have been trying my best to pump every 3 or 4 hours, and it is just plain exhausting.  I would much rather be playing with him and hanging out than pumping, and so I started letting my routine slip.  As most know, a momma's  milk is a matter of supply and demand - and my supply went down as Nash stopped nursing and I stopped pumping.  I held out hope for a while that Nash was just on another nursing strike - but I doubt that's the case.  Kiddo is done, and thankfully is taking formula well.  He takes Similac Sensitive and seems to do pretty well with it. Parts of me are very sad that he is done nursing, it was such a great experience - but I also know that I will be going back to work eventually, so maybe it is a good thing that it has happened now.  Besides the cuddling and closeness that I miss now that I'm not nursing...the expense of NOT nursing has hit home.  HOLY GOODNESS formula is EXPENSIVE!

Again, we missed the mark with taking a picture with the lion - I promise we will get on that next month!  Enjoy the 6 month cuteness contained in the pictures to follow:

I'm six months old!

 

Napping under my beaver skin.

Macy, Nash, and Mya

These group pictures can only get harder....they're so close to being mobile!

 

What's this green stuff mom?

HI!

Congratulations Tyler and Allsion!

My cousin Tyler married his gorgeous bride Allison on July 10.  It was a gorgeous ceremony in Lexington, Tennessee and the reception was on a lake - an amazing setting.  This was our first wedding with Nash in tow - so as soon as the party was really getting started, we were headed out.  I hear they had a blast - and we had a great time celebrating with everyone while we were there.

Congrats Tyler and Allison - we're so happy for you and hope to see you more now that we'll both be living in the Nashville area!

Mr. and Mrs. Tyler Cummins!

Congratulations!

The Cummins crew!

A day on the farm...

While we were home for my class reunion, we spent an afternoon at the McMillan farm - grilling out, cranking homemade ice cream, and enjoying the sunshine and each other's company. It was so good to have all the girls together - Krista, Kelly, and Jenny were all able to be there - it was great! Below are some (ok, a lot) pictures of our fun day!

Playing in the yard with daddy

Girl talk

Playing with Grandma Kay

Ice cream crankin'

yum.

Not many things better than summer porch swingin' with good friends

It may be a few years before this works without daddy..

Just one kiss Reagan...pretty please with a cherry on top?

Sweetness overload.

Cuddles with Grandpa Joey

Umm.  Is this not the cutest ruffled butt you've ever seen?  Go Reagan!

Cuddles with Kelly

Family pic on the farm

Nash and Reagan and their mommas

My favorite girls and the newest additions!

5 months old!

Matt and I are such lucky parents - what a treat we have in Nash.  He's so much fun, not to mention adorable, we couldn't ask for anything more.  I feel extra lucky to still be home with him, and am trying to enjoy and remember all of the fun moments I'm able to share with him at home before I go back to work (still looking for a job!).  At five months, below are a few things our love bug is up to these days:

• Nash didn't have a 5 month check up, so we're not sure how much the little guy weighs - but he definitely doesn't seem to be lacking in the chunk department.
• We have officially just begun baby food veggies.  We held off until we got settled here in Nashville, but have successfully enjoyed (aka 'smeared everywhere') green beans and squash.  We're starting out slowly and hope to add fruit soon.
• Nash is reaching for everything with both hands now.  He's beginning to realize that two hands are better than one for playing with toys. 
• We have stepped up to size 2 diapers, mostly still Pampers.  No Costco close to here, and we haven't made a trip to Sam's yet - so Pampers it is. 
• Nash has had quite a month of travelling and sleeping in various places/pack n plays/cribs/cradles/rooms - so we're a bit off in the sleep department currently.  Once he goes down for the night, he sleeps well - but getting him down is a different story.  He's pretty unsettled for usually about 30 to 45 minutes, but then after that sleeps well until about 6 am.
• Nursing is starting to become a struggle - Nash is a very distracted little man and isn't very willing to sit still and nurse like his momma needs him to.  We are down to nursing about twice a day - once in the evening (when he's very sleepy) and once in the morning (when he's very sleepy).  It seems that if he's very sleepy - he's more than willing to nurse...but if he's awake and active, he's too busy to be bothered with breastfeeding.  He's also not very willing to take a bottle from his momma - so that's been interesting.  I've had to feed him a bottle from behind so he can't see my face.  Anything to get him to eat at this point, especially since I'm the only one around!  Unless of course we're out house hunting with our realtor, Leah, who feeds him if it's time - thanks Leah!  Hopefully this nursing strike will resolve itself, but my confidence is waning.  

A few pics to prove how cute he is, in case you've forgotten:

Hanging out with Aunt Becky

Caught holding hands with Arya!

Chatting it up with Nannie and Opa on move in day

Yum!  Rice cereal!

Hey mom, I think I'm gonna keep these blue eyes, ok?

Things were so crazy with the move...we failed to capture a 5 month picture with the lion!  Shame!