DesChamps Mountain Weekend

My parents rented a mountain house in Cashiers the weekend of October 17th for all of us to go for the weekend!  It was finally a BEAUTIFUL Fall weekend and the perfect setting for a weekend in the mountains.  We actually stayed in the same house 3 years ago, just before I was pregnant with Champs!  We thought we were go into Clemson for the Homecoming game vs. Boston College, but with it being a 7pm gametime, we decided it would be best to stay in the mountains and watch it on TV.  I'm so glad we did - was so much more relaxing!!  It was such a great weekend with our family watching football, eating good food, exploring Cashiers and showing Champs the mountains for the first time!!

This was Thursday night when we got into town!

Che and Poppy gave Champs this Charlie Brown Great Pumpkin book that plays little sayings for each character and you're supposed to follow along using the book and then matching which button to press.  Well Champs had us all belly laughing because he thought Charlie Brown saying "Good Grief" was the funniest thing he had ever heard.  I think he thought it was a bad word or something haha.  I bet that little finger pressed it 100 times and he laughed just as hard EVERY time!!

That night we had a sitter keep Champs and the 4 of us went to dinner at The Orchard in Cashiers.  It was delicious and so much fun.  Will and Ashley didn't get there until Friday afternoon so that's why it was just the 4 of us.  Champs was so sweet and excited to meet his sitter.  As soon as she walked in he walked up to her and introduced himself.  He told her his name was Marion DesChamps Burley - LOL!!! We love that he can say his whole name but we need to work on when it's appropriate to use and not! :)

 Saturday morning started off chilly!  Champs loved playing with his trucks on this porch all weekend. 

Mama, Daddy and I went into town with Champs to the Farmers Market and to a park in town.  Barrett stayed at the house working and then met us for lunch. The Farmers Market had these tractors that Champs was obsessed with getting on!!

This park was right in town and so cute.  Champs loved it!

We went to Cornucopia for lunch and sat outside on their patio.  It felt so nice!

So after we got back from lunch it was beyond time for Champs to go down for his nap.  He was definitely overly tired and therefore we had a hard time getting him to go to sleep.  He kept trying to climb out of his pack-n-play over and over.  Well one time it didn't go so well and he landed right on his head/face and was seriously hurt!!  Poor baby had a HUGE goose egg right away.  We thought that was all until after the nap (that he did go down for after we kept him up for just a bit after the fall) we realized he also had a swollen black eye.  Poor thing - it made us so sad.  But of course hoped it would teach him to quit climbing out of his bed!!

 Happy Hour time and waiting on Will & Ashley to get there!

On Saturday, we setup the tailgating TV outside on the deck and watched football games out there during the day!  It was great being outside in the mountains and watching football. 

Champs loved this little "Christmas tree farm" that was at the house.  He played hide n seek with Poppy and Will in it for a while.  He thought he was doing so good hiding!

What a fun weekend in the mountains!  Wonder if Baby Boy will get to go next year?!

KK turns 60!

Sandra, my mother-in-law, better known as "KK" turned 60 on Wed, Oct 14th!  We invited Ronnie and her to come over to Columbia so we could take them out to dinner.  The best part is that we asked Chase to drive from Atlanta for the night so he could surprise her and join us for dinner.  The moment when she saw Chase at our house was priceless.  She was one happy Mama to have all her boys under one roof to celebrate her big day!!

KK is 60 and looking fabulous!

KK and her boys!

All of us before going to dinner.

Bday dessert at Cola's!

We continued the celebrations this past weekend in Florence.  Barrett and Champs headed to Florence on Friday afternoon to spend all weekend with KK & Boo and I joined them Saturday night after my big work event I had on Saturday afternoon.  We asked Barrett's aunts EE and Nickie to come as well as cousins Livie and Mac.  We had dinner at the house and birthday cake for dessert!  We also let Champs have a cupcake with KK before he went to sleep! :)

Happy Happy Birthday to Sandra! She's the glue of this family and always a happy, encouraging and kind person!  We are all so very lucky to have her!!

Champs had a ball being in Florence at their house over the weekend.  I wish I had pics of all they did, but I was working!! :(  He has been talking about wanting to go to KK's house for weeks now, so I"m so happy he got to spend time there!

#SCSTRONG

I think this has been the longest I've gone without posting on my blog since I started it in March of 2014.  Though it's partly been because I've been really busy at work and life, it's also because I knew I needed to write about the incredibly horrendous flood that hit our great state and mostly our city, and this blog is not typically a place I write about such serious things.  But, given it has affected our city so greatly, I want to document here.

On Sunday, October 4th we experienced a historic flood, it's been called a thousand year flood in that there won't be another one as detrimental in 1000 years (or something along those lines....).  It was said to be one of the most prolific rainfall events in modern US History with over 15 inches of rain falling during a 12 hour period.  On the morning of the flood, I woke up about 6:00am to a friend from out of town texting several of us here in Columbia asking if we were okay because she heard things were really bad here.  I had totally slept through it all night so quickly got up and looked around my house.  I was alone at home with Champs because Barrett was in Clemson with my brother for the Notre Dame game.  Everything looked okay on our main floor, but when I glanced down to our finished basement I realized that our wall to wall seagrass flooring was totally soaked with standing water.  I walked down there and tried to start picking up Champs' little chair, toys and other blankets, pillows, etc that were on the floor.  It was just a couple of inches deep, but it was still pouring rain outside so I feared that the water was going to keep rising in the house.  I called my cousin who lives in Lake Katharine and didn't get her at first.  When I heard from her 30 or so minutes later she explained that a tree had fallen on her roof over her daughters bedroom but more so that her husband like so many others in town was out in his boat rescuing neighbors by boat to their front doors or in some cases second floors because the water was that high into their homes!  I couldn't even process what I was hearing - a boat going across what was just hours ago a regular street?!  I wasn't seeing anything like that at my house so couldn't really comprehend it.  I did call Barrett just after 7:00 to tell him what was going on here and that he and my brother need to get on the road immediately to get back here.

Over the next couple of hours I sat in our sunroom with Champs glued to WIS news watching the most horrific images and videos of houses and businesses/stores ALL OVER our town, just a few minutes away from us.  I was getting more and more anxious waiting for Barrett and Will to get home and they finally did about 10am  

The week after the flood consisted of the most heartbreaking stories of people being rescued from their attics and roofs holding on to their children and not being able to look back to think of all they were leaving inside.  The amount of friends, acquaintances, church friends, school friends and strangers who were forced to leave their houses in this way is unfathomable!  What happened in the weeks following the flood was also unfathomable and amazing.  People in this city came together like I could never have imagined - helping friends and helping strangers to move furniture and belongings to the street, clean up their homes, provide them food, clothes and everything else you need when you've lost everything.  I know the relief efforts will continue for months and maybe years.  I pray that everyone will get back in their homes and rebuild their lives.  I pray that all businesses that are now closed and undergone total demo will again be thriving.  I pray that Columbia and SC will only stronger for having undergone this.  I think it has humbled us all and made us have that reality check moment on what is truly most important in life.

Our damages here were so mild compared to so many here.  We had to take up all the flooring and lost some things in our guest room/den, but all of our furniture is fine and we will have new flooring down in the next week.  My mom was a SAINT and came over to our house that week and helped Barrett clean up everything that was in our downstairs room and storage rooms and throw out all that couldn't be salvaged.  She didn't want me around all the Clorox and potential mold that so quickly comes when things are exposed to that much rain water since I'm pregnant.  They had to also go through all on our back porch because it was all soaked too.  She also made Champs' what is to be new big boy room into a temporary playroom since his play area for the most part is downstairs which was going to be out of commission for at least a few weeks.  So while they worked all day for 3 days straight Champs and I headed to Bishopville to get out of the way.

Here are some of the images from our area from the flood.  I know there are similar images for many many other areas in our state.

#scstrong definitely has a whole new meaning and I'm proud to be a part of it!  Please continue to think of everyone in our state and our city as we try to support those who have lost so much and get back to normal, or at least the new normal.

Lately.....

Some highlights from lately...

- Champs' teacher seemed to think he was ready for potty training.  He had been going in the potty at school some and definitely showing some interest and going in potty at home too.  I wasn't so sure he was totally ready, but told her I'd give it a shot last weekend since it was pretty much the only weekend all Fall that we'd be home with no plans.

He did okay for the weekend - definitley went in the potty a bunch of times - with a bunch of accidents in between.  He had Mickey Mouse and Superman/Batman underwear and was pretty into them.  I'd say it was Sunday night when we kind of hit a wall and he suddenly did NOT want to go in the potty anymore.  My gut is that he's not ready.  He's really so young for potty training - especially for a boy - so I put it to rest for now and will re-visit in a few months or so.  There is the factor of new baby coming in January, so need to either be done with it before then, or it's probably not happening until Spring! :)  Here are some pics from potty training attempt #1 weekend :)

I am so sick of the weather we've been having around here.  It rained for a week straight and now record numbers are expected for the next 3 days.  I've been promising Champs we were going to the Pumpkin Patch for 2 weeks now and we can't get there because it's so rainy!  Barrett and I took him to Trader Joe's so he could at least get a pumpkin.  He picked out one pumpkin for our steps and 2 little ones - that he then wanted to nap with:)

Champs has been a GREAT sleeping run where he's sleeping until at least 7am everyday and many days even closer to 7:30/7:45.  Makes a huge difference from the 5:45-6:15 range!  It's all a cycle effect - sleeping great  leads to much better days at school b/c he's not extra tired!  He has had a great last few weeks with no sad tears in the afternoons! Makes me a happy Mama!

To celebrate, we get cookies and milk!

And mow the driveway in the nude!

See this happy boy I get to see at school pickup!  My favorite part of the day is him spotting me when I pick him up!

We have our biggest game of the season this weekend and the weather is NOT cooperating!!  Clemson is hosting ESPN College Gameday and playing #6 Notre Dame.  I was not planning on going and have been very sad about it - but the weather is making it a little easier to miss! Barrett is still heading up with my brother and his wife, but Champs and I will be nice and cozy watching at home (well I'll be watching, he'll be sleeping)!

Solid Orange Friday today, but my subject is not into my picture session!

Champs has been VERY into his Daddy recently!  I tried to tell him he was my best buddy recently and he told me "No Mommy, Daddy is my best buddy!!"  So I talked it through and we decided that though Daddy is his best buddy, I am his best girl.  :)

He is very into gender and talking about "him" and "her" - "boy" and "girl".  He loves to tell me which people are in the grocery store and everywhere else.  There have been a few incidents where I am unsure if the one he's saying is correct, so I just smile..... :)

Baby Boy #2 will be here in 4 months or less!  It's hard to believe.  It seemed like we had forever when I found out I was expecting in May and now it's starting to seem closer.  I am getting excited thinking about snuggling with a little baby again, but nervous at the same time about balancing life with 2 children.  And of course I worry about my sweet boy and how he will handle not being the only child anymore.

Operation Move Champs to Big Boy Room is still underway but has been in a bit of a lull.  We need to get his bed put together so we can finish setting up the room.  I'll post some pics when we make some more progress.  Then, I'll be able to move him and start getting things squared away for a new baby in the nursery.  I'm not going to do much to the nursery, but am going to at least recover our glider in there that is beyond dirty!

Have a great weekend everyone and stay dry - as if that's possible!!

Visit from baby Harrison!

We had the treat last week of my cousin Catherine and her baby, Harrison, come and stay with us for a couple of nights.  She and I were hosts of a baby shower on Saturday morning, so we decided she should come in town that Friday and spend the night.  Long story short, her dad was actually here in Columbia having some tests done at Providence last week, so she ended up coming on Thursday!  It was great b/c Clemson played Thurs night so the two of us and our friend Kelly got to watch the game together.  Barrett was actually at the game in Louisville!

It was so great to get in some snuggles with her sweet, precious, chunky-monkey baby!  He is about 3 1/2 months old, so still totally cuddly!!  I got some practice time in with having 2 while Cat went and visited with her dad on Thursday.  Let's just say, it's BUSY!! :)

Here's my selfie shot with Harrison.  Isn't he precious!?!  I love this face he makes.

On Friday afternoon, we had some more friends/cousins come over to play.  Here are pics of the cousins - Bollin (3), Julia (2), Champs (2) and Harrison (3 months)!  Love them so!

Come back to see us in Columbia again soon, Harrison!