Henry, Harper, and the girls

This past weekend was such a treat. Bryan enjoyed a weekend away with his friends in Asheville while Harper and I stayed home and got to play with my sweet friend Stephanie and her little one, Henry. To make a great thing even better, Aunt Vieve came too. Jill (who literally lives down the street...yep, I'm one lucky girl), Stephanie, Genevieve and I were roommates in college and despite living hundreds of miles away we've somehow managed to find a little time every year since for a reunion. It always goes by too fast, but it's so special just to be with each other, all in the same room, now with two little ones and a third on the way! Stephanie is seven months pregnant and a saint for traveling from Texas with her pregnant self and a toddler to see us. Genevieve added Charlotte to her travel plans on her way back to DC from three weeks of work away. I'm beyond thankful for such amazing friends. We had a birthday celebration, went to the pumpkin patch, sat in my front yard and drank wine, played at the park, made pancakes, walked, talked, and just soaked up each other's presence. Here are few pictures from our time together.

Table set to celebrate Steph and Bryan's birthday

On our way to the pumpkin patch...notice Harper's super pouty lip. Sometimes we just can't get the car out of the driveway fast enough!

Hall Family Farm

Sweet Henry

Aunt Vieve

Saturday morning pancakes...a college tradition

A few firsts

There have been lots of firsts in Harper's little life over the past couple months. A few favorites: meeting Ma-maw (one of his two great grandparents), his first time in the pool, and his first road race. Although he might not look super happy in the pool pictures, this boy loves water and I loved introducing him to a place where I hope we get to spend a lot of time next summer. And Bryan broke his 5K PR knowing his favorite son was waiting for him at the finish line. We're proud of you, Dad!

Mobile at last

My sweet friend Diana Cherry made us this mobile. It's one of the most thoughtful and beautiful gifts I've ever received. Harper LOVES it. When I make it spin around he gets so excited and kicks his little legs so fast.

I told her she should sell these on Etsy. Right?

Test post

Testing out blogging from my iPhone.

Good Life

As you can see, I'm having a little trouble finding my identity in the blogging world. I've probably changed my template at least fifteen times since I started this blog last year, and I've agonized over which fonts to use a little too much. So, back to the basics. This new momma doesn't have the time or real passion for making blogging a legitimate hobby, but I've decided to try this as our go-to place for sharing what's going on in our daily lives...which pretty much means what's going on with our little man, Harper.

Harper. Harper John Stanton entered our lives on July 9th. He's amazing. There really are no words. I'm not going to go back and recount the last eleven weeks...you can imagine: long days, short nights, lots of poop, lots of spit-up, lots of laundry, troubleshooting cries, figuring out our routine, transitioning to parenthood, remembering that we also have a dog, traveling to see family, family coming to see us, loving this boy, playing with him, watching him grow, and getting to see more and more smiles everyday.

Good Life. Most everyone has heard the song by OneRepublic. I hadn't heard it until a few weeks ago when my brother's new sister-in-law used it as one of the background songs for his rehearsal dinner slideshow. I guess I've been a little disconnected from the outside world. I don't really get all the lyrics, but the song's chorus resonated with me while watching pictures of Jonathan and Jessica from childhood to the present flash across the screen. It was just a little snapshot of life, but it made me so happy...happy for them and happy in general. Even though life can be hard, God is so good and what I'm living day in and day out really is the good life, the life I've been given to live. To be a constant reminder to myself and since I'm simply going to be recounting bits and pieces of my everyday here, I couldn't think of anything more fitting to title this blog.

Here's a two month picture of Harper to start us off...many more to come : )

How cute is he?

Top 10

The top 10 things we're going to miss about Boston...

The Charles River

Danehy Park (Berkeley's play yard, a 50-acre park 100 yards from our door)
Living in a walking city
The friends I've made at Beaver Country Day School
Hi-Rise Bakery (our go-to lunch spot with visitors)
Diversity
Harvard Square
Verna's (best doughnuts you've every had in your life)
Fresh Pond
The history

Together Bryan and I came up with this list. I'm definitely going to miss other things such as the amount of time Bryan and I had for just us this year in our little apartment on Garden Court, our milk man from Crescent Ride Dairy, the availability of fun day trips across New England, and more. Fortunately we're returning to a longer list of things that we've missed from Charlotte and the South. Overall, it's been a great year, Boston! We'll look back with fond memories such as these...

4 Garden Court

Fenway

Portland Lobster Company, Portland, Maine

Martha's Vineyard

Our favorite running path along the Charles

White Mountains in the fall

My favorite picture of Berkeley from this year

Portsmouth Brewery, Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Harvard Square

Quincy Market, downtown Boston

Good ol' Sam Adams (Bryan visited the brewery twice...once by himself on his birthday)

The Charles this spring

Once again, as you can see, the blog is officially nameless. If you have any suggestions please feel free to leave a comment or email namethestantonsblog@gmail.com. Thanks!

Nursery Inspiration

I'm now counting down the days until I can truly "nest". All the blog posts and pregnancy updates I've read lately pertaining to me finally entering my 8th month say things like...

You're probably "nesting" and having fun getting ready for your baby

Go ahead and start assembling any baby gear...cribs, bassinets, and strollers are notoriously tricky to put together, especially when you're sleep deprived, so get started now

You don't need to pack your bag yet, but start making a list of items to bring to the hospital

These things, especially the creation of a hospital bag list, seem so far away considering all we have to do in the next few weeks. Between finishing my job teaching, writing comments and finishing grades, getting a loan approved, packing to move, actually driving 18 hours back to Charlotte, closing on a house, and moving in...getting to actually "nest" feels light like years away.

Unfortunately, all I've been able to do is think about what is to come and dream up what I want to do for Baby Stanton's room. Even though our parents are currently housing all our gifts from showers, we've gotten a few things in the mail--some wall art and registry items---and I have some handsome clothes thanks to Stephanie Van Kirk that I pull out every now and then to get me excited for his arrival.

My newest thing is looking for inspiration for the nursery. And, I'm all about chalk-board paint. I'm thinking about painting a whole wall with it! Here are some fun images that get me excited.

Images 1 & 2 via Home-Dzine and Janice Anderssen, 3 via vtwonen via Domino, 4 via ohdeedoh, 5 via decor pad, 6 via design-59

Oh, and as you can see, the blog is officially nameless. My brain hasn't been functioning to its creative capacity lately, and since we're no longer going to be living in Boston, it's time for a change. If you have any suggestions please feel free to leave a comment or email namethestantonsblog@gmail.com. Thanks!