Last Day of Summer Vacation :-(

I have been meaning to write this post for 11 days now but, of course, since work started I have been crazy busy and every extra second is spent with London.
August 15th was our last day together for the summer. It totally bums me out it's over but I have to keep reminding myself that most moms work all the time and never get this much time off with their baby.
We started our day off with a morning walk. He kept peaking his little head through the stroller cover window~so cute! He actually started crying on the way home because he was so sleepy.
We played all afternoon, I let him tackle me, we sang songs, danced, watched yo gabba gabba and I squeezed the crap out of him all day!
I managed to stay strong for the past week and a half and finally last night it hit me how much I miss London.
Things I will miss...
waking up to his smiley face every morning
breakfast booty dancing to pandora
cuddling and watching nick jr.
being able to just go anywhere, anytime with no real agenda
walks, cuddles, teaching him things, having him stuck to my hip, dancing.
We move in 3 weeks and I think our new house will be a great fresh start and London will have more room to move and explore. Work has been bumming me out lately but I am hoping things will get better. For now I am going to be grateful for what I do have and enjoy every second I get with my precious little baby boy.

10 Months...Here's What's Up With London

London turned 10 months on August 5th and I am really loving this age! He is so full of curiosity, he's so silly and learning and communicating in new ways every day. I weighed him on a scale at the grocery store the other day (only use I have for the meat aisle) and he is holding strong at 21 pounds.
London is waving on demand all the time. He double waves and always waves at daddy when he goes to work. But sadly he also cries when daddy has to leave :-( He is repeating some sounds, dancing, laughing, and starting to sign for "all done" when he's done eating. Eating has actually been an issue and food hasn't really been interesting him lately. He'd much rather explore the floor and play with toys. I am so happy that London is so curious to learn but he is also a cuddler which is an added bonus. He has been napping and going to sleep with no drama which has been awesome. He is still waking up every night between 4-5 am and wanting a bottle and then goes back to sleep. This is not ideal but I am not going to stress about it because he's not eating much during the day (trust me~I try!) and may just need to eat. I am ok with it but I think when I start back to work it's going to get a bit tiresome. Hopefully, he'll start sleeping straight to 8am soon.
I am really starting to get bummed out about going back to work and leaving London. We have such a good time together cuddling, playing, eating, etc. He will be with his grandma which is great but he doesn't sleep well for her and then when I get home he's usually too cranky to enjoy. I am going to miss our time together but so grateful I get this time each summer and I will just have to make a point to make sure our time together is quality!
We are moving into a new house mid-September and we're very excited. We are still renting which we are totally fine with, especially since we am not 100% sure I want to to be in NC much longer. The place is a single family home, huge open concept, 1900 sq ft, a decent courtyard patio area and way more closet space, bedroom space, we are so excited for London to explore his new surroundings and for the dogs to have a place to hang out outside. Hopefully someone takes over our current place so we can move.
We are also in the process of planning London's first birthday party. I am thinking maybe outside at a park or at our new place (if we're in by then) My parents and a few sibs are coming so we're excited about that. It's crazy to think London will be a year in just 2 months! Where has the time gone?! What an amazing year it has been with my gorgeous little miracle.

First Flight, Bus, Ferry and 3 States :-)

London sure did have a lot of firsts all wrapped up in a weekend. I finally made it to Kary's family camp in the Adirondacks in NY after 7 years of being together. I am definitely not the camping type, mainly because I am insanely allergic to all trees, grass, mold, dust, etc. However, this trip turned out to be awesome.
We left Charlotte on Thursday morning and had a quick flight to Newark, NJ. Charlotte security didn't give me any crap and everyone was smiling and waving at London in his cute little pajamas as we walked through the line. He passed out immediately after take-off and slept about 20 minutes and then was ready to explore which included smacking the window, sliding the window blind up and down, latching and unlatching the tray table, and grabbing huge chunks of grandma Gaffney's hair, who was sitting in front of us. We were stuck in Newark for like 5 hours (layover and then delay) and by the time our flight for Vermont arrived London was passed out in my arms and we were spent (especially since we were up at 3:20am that morning to catch the first flight)
We arrived in Vermont and drove to Burlington. We hung out there for a while, had some lunch, saw some cool shops, along with lots of weirdos. It was a very safe, eclectic, weird-kinda place and I liked it.
We rode a ferry across Lake Champlain and London loved it. He was laughing and flailing and got soo pissed when he had to get back in his carseat when we docked.
We drove 45 minutes to their camp through amazing scenery. When we got to the camp, Kary gave me a tour and London, of course, went crazy exploring the place.
We had a great time while we were there. We went to Paul Smith College, Saranac Lake, Lake Placid and had good times involving campfires, margaritas, Kan Jam, rivers, shops, restaurants, etc. I will let the pictures do most of the talking.

An Explosion of Family! Good Times!

We went to PA to visit family on July 22nd and stayed until Sunday. We chose this date because my Uncle John was visiting from Wyoming for the first time in about 5 years. He is one of my favorite uncles and I really wanted to see him, his wife Debbie, and cousin Johnny. Plus, I knew that since he was around there would be a lot of family around to catch up with. Plus, it was time to show off London and introduce him to lots of family members.
We arrived at about 2:30 on Thursday and immediately jumped into my parent's pool. They had build a little resort-like awning and with the 99 degree temp it was the best place to chill after 9 hours in a car, but luckily London was sooo good on the way there and did not cry at all!
I was so happy to be able to spend time with my nephew Mason and niece Isla and it was great to see my sister's baby bump. She looks awesome!
We spent lots of time in the pool, running around the yard, eating, playing, we had campfires, London splashed in the big pool and the baby pool and we just enjoyed the precious time we had with my side of the family.
We went to a family party on Saturday and it was sooo incredibly hot. It was at my uncle's house on Lake Erie. The beach was pretty gross so we mainly spent our time on a picnic blanket on the lawn. It was so miserably hot we didn't get to enjoy family much. London was soaked in sweat, cranky, overwhelmed, and exhausted. We stayed a few hours and then escaped back to my parent's for a swim. I am going to narrate the rest of the trip with pictures.