The 4th!

July 4th of Years Past

The picture above is the one I posted of us last year on the 4th of July. Last year, as a family of two, we dressed alike in red, white, and blue (yes we know how cool we are) and went to see the Greenville Symphony Orchestra play in accompaniment to an awesome fireworks display. Things have definitely changed since then.  This year, we went to visit Garrett's family at their beach house on Fripp Island.  We were so excited to spend time with family, eat good food, play cards, and watch fireworks.  To our surprise, we weren't able to do several of these things because we learned quickly that overnight trips with a 7 week old aren't as easy as we previously thought! 

It was not the travel part that was so difficult....it was being in a new house with lots of new people that proved to be the biggest challenge for little Emerson.  At home Emerson will sleep for 1 and 1/2 hours every 3 hours, our first day at Fripp, she stayed awake for 12 hours straight!!!! Talk about a cranky baby.  She was so interested in her new surroundings that she would not take a nap.  So, instead of watching an awesome live fireworks display with our wonderful family, G and I watched some awesome fireworks on TV while trying to get our little one to go to bed. Everyday we experience the reality that what we want to do and what is best for Emerson are often conflicting.  However, to say that we are in love with Emerson would be an understatement, so we don't seem to mind missing out on things like fireworks.  Plus, Em may be old enough to enjoy the 4th next year (or she may scream b/c of the fireworks, we will see).

Regardless, Emerson got to spend some invaluable time with Garrett's family.  Her grandparents, great grandparents, aunt, and cousin were thrilled to get to snuggle our little lady.....I'm sure they were glad to see us too.  It seems that G and I were so preoccupied with Emerson's difficulty adjusting to her surroundings that we only took 5 pictures.....maybe next time Emerson has a first 4th of July we'll remember the pictures.

Emerson's Great Grandmom feeding her lunch!

(I know, she looks way to young to be a GREAT Grandmom)

Garrett singing a little Meatloaf to Emerson...

it really has a calming effect :)

Me, Emerson, and Aunt Susan on the beach!

(this is right before the live firework show that we had to skip)