Goodbye Florida.

Goodbye Florida.

(loosely based on the classic children's book: Goodnight Moon)

In the sunshine land

There was a beach

And skin that's tanned

And an ocean with-

Waves rolling onto the sand

And there were bronzed lifeguards sitting in chairs

And surfers in water

And air that's hotter

And a large swimming pool

And sprinklers that drool

And a toad and a lizard and big buzzing bees

And thunderstorms with rain and lightning for all to see

Goodbye land

Goodbye sand

Goodbye waves rolling onto the sand

Goodbye ocean

And skin that's tanned

Goodbye lifeguards

Goodbye chairs

Goodbye water

Goodbye air that's hotter

Goodbye toad

Goodbye Beach Road

Goodbye pool

Goodbye sprinklers that drool

Goodbye forest fire

Goodbye lizard

Goodbye broken BOB tire

Goodbye bees

Goodbye thunderstorms with rain and lightning for all to see

Goodbye beach

Goodbye smokey air

Goodbye Floridians everywhere

As I am saying my final goodbye to Florida, I am reminiscing on our time here. There are many things that I will miss: the sand, the ocean, the constant sunshine to name a few. There are some things I'm happy to leave: the smokey air, the afternoon heat, the bugs. More than anything, I am thankful for the time we had down here to grow as a family and to learn things about ourselves that we didn't know before. It was the trip of a lifetime, but it's time to go now. And I simply CANNOT wait to get back to my beautiful state of Minnesota.

A Beach Photo Shoot!

Last night was perfection! Everything went according to plan AND everyone was in good spirits!

The plan was simple. Bang Bang Shrimp followed by a photo shoot at the beach at sunset. No matter how simple the plan, however, usually something goes awry...BUT not last night!

A few weeks ago, Jon found this restaurant called Bonefish Grille that serves Bang Bang Shrimp! These shrimp are covered in an amazing sauce, and they are so yummy! (For all you Badger readers, the special sauce reminds me of the wings at Brothers in Madison.) Anyway, we hit up Bonefish first in hopes that we could time the photo shoot with sunset...AND it worked out PERFECTLY!

I'm hoping to use some of these pictures for our Christmas card this year. Here is a little peek at how they turned out...

7 Months!

Kylie Bean is 7 months old!

Jon graciously shared Father's Day with Kylie, as it was the day she turned 7 months old! It's hard to believe that so much time has gone by since she surprised us with her early arrival in November! Time flies!

She continues to change and develop so fast. Every time we blink, she is doing something new. She is still a happy little girl. She smiles constantly...And she has the best smile! It's a full-on, open mouth smile, and her big, Barlow eyes just sparkle! She loves when we sing to her and when we laugh. She loves "playing" with her toys. Her playing is more like transferring her toys between her hands and her mouth. Speaking of her mouth, she loves putting everything and anything in it, which I do NOT like at all! (I'm still applying hand sanitizer 100 times each day. I suppose I'll have to get over that soon!) She still loves her thumb, which I guess falls in the "putting everything and anything in her mouth" category! She is also still diggin' the stroller (although it's just the umbrella stroller these days...stupid BOB) and riding in the car. She likes her freedom...I know this because she fights us when we try to cuddle with her too much. She arches and wiggles until she has completely squirmed away from us. The girl is going to have an independent streak! She likes her bouncer seat and her exersaucer. And I think the bumbo is growing on her too.

Workin' the exersaucer!
Check out the chubby legs!

She still does not like extreme temperatures, although I have figured out a trick for getting her out of the bath tub without her getting too mad. Instead of wrapping her in only one towel, I wrap her in two or three towels and then immediately put her diaper on her. This seems to keep her warmer and happier. As I said before, she does not love to cuddle...Tear. She will still cuddle when she is tired, but that is pretty much it. She doesn't like being woken up...She's like her daddy in that way.

Looking cute and innocent...

As for her milestones this month, it seems that she is mostly building on her accomplishments from last month. She is rolling all over the place...Front to back and back to front. I have to constantly keep my eye on her or she ends up across the room or under the coffee table. She is sitting in the bumbo on her own with her head held up (as opposed to slumped over), but she can't sit independently on the floor yet. She did start one new habit...She sucks on/chews on her lower lip. I'm not sure why she does this...My only thought is that maybe it feels good on her gums!?! She is eating 4 times per day at about 8:00am, 12:00pm, 4:00pm and 8:00pm. She eats about 6-8 ounces per feeding...We haven't tried solid food yet. I think we will give it a go once we get back to Rochester. She takes 2 or 3 naps each day...One in the morning from about 9:30-11:00am, one in the evening from about 2:00-4:00pm, and sometimes a little 30-45 minute cat nap in the evenings around 6:00pm. She still sleeps about 11-12 hours at night from about 8:30pm-8:00am. It's wonderful! She is almost completely in 6-9 month or 6-12 month clothing, and she is wearing size 3 diapers.

A couple of bumbo pictures...She is really starting to hold her head up well!

As far as the adventures in breastfeeding go...I'm slowly weaning myself off the pump (since I have a few months worth of frozen milk at home). I'm down to pumping 4 times per day, but I hit a little speed bump last week. I realized I am still basically pumping the same amount as I was when I was pumping 6 or 7 times per day (about 35 ounces)...I just get more at each pumping. So the new plan is to stay at 4 times per day and slowly cut down the minutes that I am pumping. I didn't realize how complicated this was going to be...We'll see how it goes!

That's it for now. Enjoy the longest day of the year! Happy summer!

Riverside Arts Market and Father's Day

Our little Barlow clan at the Riverside Arts Market!

We had a wonderful Father's Day weekend down here in sunny Florida! Our fun-filled, family weekend actually began on Friday. Jon was given the day off (YAY!) and his mom was in town for business (double YAY!). Jon and I both got to do some of our favorite things! Jon got to sleep in and I got to go for a run sans stroller! :) We had lunch at our fav, The Loop, and walked around San Marco Blvd. to peek in the shops and stare at the beautiful houses on the river! After Kriss left, Jon, Kylie and I hung out and watched, "Get Him to The Greek." It was pretty funny...We had a good laugh!

Saturday, Jon and I both went for a run. I went first while Jon stayed with Kylie and then Jon went after I returned! I LOVE that Jon is taking up running. I dream of the day when we can go for a run together! :) After we were all cleaned up, we headed out to meet the Hartzlers at the Riverside Arts Market for a little lunch and some browsing. There were lots of cute booths (clothes, art, flowers, jewelry) and some Florida-type fried food (think fish tacos, shrimp, and more). It kind of reminded me of Thursdays on First in Rochester, expect in was under a huge bridge next to a river. I recommend it for all future Jacksonville visitors! Saturday night, Jon and I watched another movie, "The Wrestler," before calling it a day.

The Barlows and Hartlzers!
That's downtown Jacksonville in the background.

Kylie hanging out with her daddy!

On Jon's first Father's Day, Kylie and I wanted to show him that we appreciate everything he does for us. That he is an amazing father and incredible husband. That we are so thankful for all the sacrifices he makes so that we can stay home every day. So Sunday was Jon's day! He slept in again...I think sleeping is on his top 3 favorite things to do list! :) Kylie and I made him breakfast in bed and gave him his super cute card after he woke. We watched Rory win the US Open and mostly just hung out and had a low key day. It was relaxing and rejuvenating. After forcing Jon on many excursions down in Florida, I think he really needed a relaxing day at home!

Kylie in her "Daddy's Princess" PJs. This is just before we gave Jon his breakfast and card!

Jon with his baby girl, card (with Kylie on it), and breakfast! (Slightly inappropriate...Sorry for posting this, Jon. I was just so proud of the breakfast!)

We hope all you wonderful dads had a perfect Father's Day!

A Whole Lot of Nothing!

The littlest pink star!

Jon, Kylie and I have not been up to whole lot lately. Mostly, Jon has been working and Kylie and I have been hanging out at the pool, beach and apartment.

Jon just finished the longest call weekend in his history as a doctor. I'm 110% sure there are millions of people who have it worse than Jon, who work longer and harder, who don't see their spouses/families for weeks, months and even years. But I have to vent for 10 seconds...Jon left the apartment at 6am on Friday morning and we didn't see him again until 11:00pm on Sunday night. Now, we have gone much longer without seeing each other before, but it seems to make it harder when there is a chance that we might possibly get to see each other and then don't actually see each other. Anyway, the weekend is over and I am done complaining. He's happy to be busy at work...He likes his job! And that's good!

Jon and Kylie taking a dip in the pool!

Kylie has been spending her time sleeping, eating, lounging on the floor, sitting in the bumbo, and playing in the exersaucer. She is still happy! I do think she is starting the teething process though. She is starting to drool A LOT, and she has been having a few more moments of fussiness. She likes when you press on her gums, and she is chewing on everything! Hopefully, she'll pop those teeth through without too much trouble, but I don't have my hopes too high!

I got this little owl rattle for Kylie because I thought it was so cute!
I think she loves it too...Look how she fell asleep holding onto it!

I have been enjoying my time by walking and running (I just signed up for another half marathon in August), reading, cooking (for real!), cleaning (a little), and hanging out with Sari, Witt and Helen by the pool or at the beach. I have had 2 new, but boring, developments in the last couple of weeks.

First, I had an unfortunate event on Sunday! I am completely dependent on my BOB (our jogging stroller) for hauling Kylie around...Sadly, it broke! I thought they were indestructible! I was running with Kylie, 2 miles from home, and one of the back wheels just stopped spinning. I was able to pry the wheel out and the entire axle was stripped...WHAT?! I have no idea how that happened. I half pushed, half carried the stroller (with Kylie in it) the 2 miles back to our house. That was quite the chore, but we made it! I was REALLY angry on Sunday, and I completely isolated myself from all people except Kylie (sorry, Sari!) for fear that I would have an angry, irrational outburst. Luckily, I was able to reach a BOB representative and they will be replacing the broken parts! YAY!

You can see how the axle is completely stripped!

And now the wheel doesn't even fit back into the hole!

Second, I have become slightly obsessed with figuring out how to save money now that I am not making any! I spent all of Saturday afternoon studying up on how to cut my grocery budget in half. I read blogs on couponing, menu planning, and collecting freebies! I made lists and I'm going to give it a go once we get back to Rochester. Supposedly it takes about 3 months to get really good at it. I guess the hardest part for a lot of people seems to be putting in the time it takes to cut coupons, check fliers and go to multiple stores. I don't think that is going to be the hardest part for me...I have time. The most difficult part for me is that this is going to actually require me to cook!!! We'll see how it goes...I'll keep you updated!

That's about it! I continue to take ridiculous amounts of pictures of The Bean, so I've posted some of the new ones!

A King Family Vacation...

We MN Barlows had another fantastic week! This time we had Kylie's Grandma King, Auntie Mia and Mia's BF Brady down for a visit. All three of them arrived by jet plane on Saturday, May 28th. After picking them up at the airport, we went out for supper at Casa Maria (a little Mexican joint on A1A) and then headed straight to the beach. (We Minnesotans don't normally get to see the ocean all that often, so we have to soak it up when we get the chance even if it's dark outside.) It was late, so we just took a little walk and then headed back to our apartment.

The next day we were hoping to go to Disney World, but that fell through so we ended up going to St. Augustine for a little day trip instead. St. Augustine is "supposedly" the oldest city in the USA. It was cute...We toured a fun historic district, went in lots of little shops and stopped by a cool, old castle! After the historic district, we just HAD to hit up the outlet mall where there were tons of deals (it was Memorial Day weekend afterall)! It was really hot outside (being that it is summer in Florida), and we needed to cool down after being out all day. We decided the best plan would be to come back to the apartment, order pizza and go for a swim! It was perfect!

Jon, Kylie and I at the Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine, FL!

Jon is in the moat!

Mia and Kylie posing in front of the oldest WOODEN school house in America...Does that mean there are older school houses made of something other than wood???

Brady and the big cannons at the castle!

A pretty church steeple in St. Augustine.

We have our own street in St. Augustine! :)

Monday, Memorial Day, we spent the day at the beach. We picked up Chick-Fil-A on the way and had a picnic lunch down there. Mia and Brady seemed to really enjoy the swimming and boogie boarding in the ocean! It was fun to watch them have such a good time. That night we decided to lay low...We grilled out and played Banana Grams. My mom is a Scrabble master, so she won the first round (although I'm still a little against the Scrabble dictionary). Mia is equally or more competitive than me and was able to pull off the win in the second round!

Mia and Brady had to leave on Tuesday evening so we met Jon for a quick lunch at The Loop, which is one of our favorites down here. Then we just hung out at the apartment until they left in the late afternoon. We were all sad to watch them go, but I think Kylie really enjoyed bonding with her Auntie Mia while she was here! Tuesday was also mine and Jon's 3 year wedding anniversary. My mom graciously babysat Kylie for us while we went out to eat at J. Alexanders. Normally, we have tried to follow the suggested yearly anniversary gifts (you know: paper, cotton, etc...) This year is supposed to be leather or glass/crystal. So we got creative and decided that getting each other iPhones would be appropriate...Leather cell phone case and a glass screen! :) See...It works!

Mia, Brady (sporting his new scrubs) and Kylie.
This is the closest Brady got to Kylie the whole weekend...I think he might be a little frightened by babies! :)

On Wednesday, my mom, Kylie and I took a random trip up to Fernandina Beach (on Amelia Island) to check out the little historic district and shops up there. I love the shops there, and now so does my mom. She found some fun, unique jewelry and a few other gifts as well! Wednesday night we took Huey for a walk along the beach. He LOVED it (although he did not want to get wet)...He acted like a puppy...Chasing people and dogs, and running really fast! It was sooooo adorable.

This is Kylie trying on my mom's new necklace! She loved it!

Thursday was another beach day. We decided to go down there earlier in the day before it got too hot. I thought it worked out really well...We were able to spend about 2.5 hours there in the morning. We walked, swam, and just relaxed! Later in the day, after we were all cleaned up, we went down to the San Marco Blvd. to check out the beautiful houses and little boutiques. Fun, fun fun!

Sadly, both my mom and Jon were leaving on Friday. Jon went to a friend's wedding in Chicago and my mom was headed back to MN. So Friday was basically a day filled with trips to the airport. My mom and I did sneak in a trip to Firehouse Subs for lunch though. It is my all-time favorite sub place! Yum...I'm going to miss it after we leave here!

Kylie and I couldn't go to Adam and Saba's wedding in Chicago, so we wished them, "Congratulations" from Florida!

It was so wonderful having my family here for a few days. I have missed them and I was sad to see them go. I feel so blessed to be able to live near so many relatives in MN, and I am starting to get ready to get back to see them again!

Kylie LOVED being showered with love and affection from her Grandma. We are all so lucky to have such a wonderful baby girl to love and spoil, and she is such a lucky girl to be so loved by so many people!

Kylie got to spend a lot of time with her grandma! I think they both loved it!
(Also, this red, white and blue romper from Kylie's Great-Grandma King was supposed to be her 4th of July outfit, but it is definitely NOT going to fit my big girl then. So she wore it for Memorial Day instead!)