I Really Do Feed Him!

Elliott can eat. A lot. Although he weighed in the 10th percentile at his 9 month well visit (maybe they did it incorrectly?), he seems to be able to put away food in record amounts. I think he must have inherited my appetite and Erik's metabolism!

Camryn's Book Club

This past Sunday was a very special day for my friend, Christina, who is expecting her first baby at the beginning of October. A couple other friends and I threw her a children's books-themed shower. It was a really fun theme and baby Camryn's library is now stocked with great books....and I think her closet is pretty well stocked now, too!

The mommy-to-be is ready to eat! All of the food was inspired by books.

I loved creating this cake! We're excited to meet little Camryn and know that Ed and Christina are going to be amazing parents!

He Makes Me Smile

I know I've posted a lot about Elliott lately, but he's doing so many new things right now! Along with crawling, trying to pull up, throwing kisses, jabbering (with what sounds like real words every now and then), he's also clapping a lot lately. This video is from a couple weeks ago but it still makes me smile...and sometimes you need that on a Monday!

Peek-A-Boo!

This is how Elliott entertained himself (and the rest of us) on the drive home last week.

Dinner Out!

On our last evening of vacation Mom volunteered to watch all the kids so that we could take Dad out to dinner.

We had a fun evening together even though the storms blew in again at the end of it. When we were leaving the restaurant I asked Erik if he'd go get the car for all of us - it was parked really far away and it was raining pretty heavily. He asked Dad for the keys and started taking off his shirt. That embarrassed me a little, but it was raining so I didn't think much of it....until he started loosening his belt and unbuttoning his shorts! I was laughing at him and telling him to stop when I realized he had his running shorts on underneath his clothes - although the rest of the people standing around didn't know that! We heard one lady saying, "I can't believe this! Can you believe what he's doing?" Another man said, "yeah, I like South Carolina!" and his friend said, "you need to eat something, boy!"

Long story short, we all had a great laugh and got home without getting drenched. Thanks Erik!!

Last Day at the Beach

The kids loved playing at the beach so we tried to get as much time in as possible on our last day...

...but the weather had different plans. A crazy thunderstorm rolled in just before 2pm. We tried to wait it out but finally decided we needed to head back to the house and call it a day. I love these next two pictures of my boys running down to the water.

The Amazing Race

One of the recent Lloyd family vacation traditions is our own version of the Amazing Race. In the past Erik has helped plan the course but this year he got to participate and I'm happy to report that Team Allsop won!

Stop #2 - the fire station. It looks like Erik could come in handy if I ever really do leave the oven on like I'm famous for thinking I've done!

Stop #4 - park overlook at the marsh. Here we learned what a Hammock is...do you know?

Final stop - the beach! We met up with our team member, Grace, who had completed a scavenger hunt at the house to find all the necessary items for us to build a volcano.

We had a great time - thanks Mom and Dad for our t-shirts and for planning a fun game!

Day 2 at the Beach

The best thing about vacation is that you can do whatever you want whenever you want, and for me that would be sitting on the beach and enjoying the sunshine and waves as long as possible each day. This care-free vacation philosophy has changed for me and Erik a little since we now have two little guys that require attention, but thankfully they both enjoyed being at the beach.

Like I've already mentioned, Elliott was a fan of the sand. He also liked the shovels...I think mostly because they allowed him to eat more sand quickly before we stopped him!

Adeline also liked the shovels, but she actually used them the way they were meant to be used.

This isn't a great picture, but Erik and Malachi had a great time playing catch in the ocean.

Again, Elliott eating something he shouldn't be. This time it's a stick. Maybe I need to feed him more?

*BELIEVE*

God's Will. God's Way. In God's Time.

Yesterday I decided that I would post pictures from Kiawah every day this week. I had every intention of picking my favorites from each day and posting them in order, but today my timing had to change a little.

On our last morning Megan decided she wanted to get up early and watch the sunrise on the beach. I felt like I should go along even though the thought of getting up at the crack of dawn on my last day of vacation was definitely less than appealing to me. One of the main reasons I decided to go was that I wanted to be awake enough to pray for our friend Sydney, a fourteen year old girl in our youth group.

At 7:30 that morning Sydney had her fourth brain surgery to remove a mass that was located in the center of her brain. There were many complications that could result from this surgery, including total blindness (a previous surgery had already left her blind in one eye), seizures, strokes, personality changes, and others I can't remember. In spite of all this, Syd had the most amazing outlook and faith. She and her family continued to praise God and believe in his healing power.

Sydney got through her surgery last Friday and the doctors were confident that the entire mass was successfully removed. Over the weekend she did not wake up as quickly as the medical professionals had hoped and went through other tests. On Sunday she woke up enough to tell her mom she loved her.

This morning her mom, Michelle, posted this on Facebook: "SYDNEY IS DANCING WITH JESUS!! She had a stroke this morning in her brain stem. She is considered brain dead. They are doing protocol testing right now. *BELIEVE*"

While sitting on the beach last Friday morning we prayed for Sydney and her family. Her family's motto is *BELIEVE* God's Will. God's Way. In God's Time. I can't believe that Sydney is no longer here with us. I knew death was a possibility, but I never expected it to be a real possibility. Although I don't understand why things have to happen the way they do, I am in awe of a God who understands it all and will even put up with us questioning him as we deal with life.

We love you, Sydney, and are so thankful to be your friends. The faith you demonstrated, the testimony you shared and the legacy you have left are incredible and we are so proud of you. Your friends' lives will never be the same and your loud and crazy spirit will most definitely be missed!

Ahhh, Kiawah!

Just because I'm missing vacation I think I'll post pictures from Kiawah every day this week.

Elliott wasn't a huge fan of his beach tent. We didn't bother taking it back after the first day!

He did, however, like the water and the sand. He may have liked the sand a little too much...
Malachi LOVED the ocean! He played as long as possible every day.

My second favorite thing about Kiawah (after the beach, of course) - bike rides!
Malachi is getting pretty good on a bike. He should be ready to lose the training wheels any day now!

9 Months

Elliott's hit the 9 months mark! He got to spend the day yesterday touring (shopping) around Charleston with the girls and was a great little guy, smiling and flirting all day long. He's crawling all over the place these days and has pulled up to standing a few times. Being around Adeline and the other big kids this week has taught him some new tricks! He has two teeth on the bottom, two on the top and two more ready to pop through on the top. He prefers table food now and will eat just about anything we allow him to have. He is LOVING the beach, especially playing in the water and eating a handful of sand as often as he can get away with it. Lots more vacation pictures will be coming soon!