It had increasingly become a matter of personal embarrassment to John that his wife, despite having lived in North Carolina for ten years, had never been to the Outer Banks. (To be clear, he had also never been to the Outer Banks in these ten years, but since he had visited several times as a teenager, he felt that absolved him somehow.) Admittedly, I was also feeling increasingly chagrined, and so when our Michigan plans changed (due to two family pregnancies whoo!), we all jumped at the chance to experience the Outer Banks together.

Here are a few favorite pics, if you’d like to see!

We were accompanied by the East Coast Thomases, including John’s parents and his sister, our brother-in-law, and their daughter, who is a few months older than June. For weeks in advance June talked about how much she was looking forward to sleeping in the same room as Maisie, and I don’t think the experience disappointed – there were many heart-meltingly sweet convos overhead on the monitor! :)

Being a little behind in the planning game because of our late-breaking change in plans, John searched the whole Outer Banks for rental properties. We landed in Corolla, the second most Northern town on the beach (this is the house we stayed in). It ended up being a perfect fit for us – beautiful, quiet, and historic!

Our house was a one-minute walk from the beach and next to some sort of protected area, which made it feel extra serene. We spent plenty of time at the beach – including one full morning – but it was wonderful to be so close so we could pop back and forth throughout the day, which we did frequently. Our favorite time to go was after naps and before dinner, when it was a little cooler and the sun wasn’t so strong! We did bring our pop-up canopy to help shade us on days we were out for a few hours.

As you can see, the beach was basically empty, and the sand was gloriously soft!

As you can also see, Shep’s preferred beach activity was napping – he was not the ocean’s biggest fan :)

Though Corolla was farther up the Outer Banks than some more well-known destinations, there was plenty to do aside from the beach! We played mini golf, visited a farm stand, and made several trips to Whalehead, a historic home and park that includes the Currituck Beach Lighthouse.

Both kiddos hiked up all 220 lighthouse steps with nary a peep of complaint, though the wind at the top was a little much for June!

Though we opted not to do a wild horse tour (we have been spoiled from seeing them on Shackleford Banks and Cumberland Island!), Joe, John, and I snuck away one naptime to the Corolla Adventure Park. No pictures of that, but trust that it was REALLY fun!

I am a well-known scouter of charm wherever I go, and historic Corolla Village did not disappoint. Don’t miss The Shack for coffee in the morning and drinks in the afternoon (photo from Our State above!) and Corolla Village BBQ for dinner!

Other food favorites: bagels at Lighthouse Deli, acai bowls at Island Smoothie, and Italian at La Dolce Vita. We also, of course, got Duck Donuts from the original location – yum!

On our last night, we ordered pizza from Wave and ice cream from the shop next door, then took in the sunset from the Duck boardwalk – the perfect way to cap off an evening!

Of course, as much as we enjoyed finally experiencing the Outer Banks for the first time (together), the best part of the trip was the stuff that could have happened anywhere, but was made more wonderful by the picturesque setting: cousin giggles, leisurely naps spent reading, memories made being chased off the beach by a crazy windstorm (!), a pastel sunrise, plowing through a well-stocked game closet, and cobbled-together meals around the table.

Wishing you some of all of those things wherever your summer adventures take you! And if you have more OBX questions, I’m happy to answer them :)

So apparently in this season of life, a one-week vacation necessitates a two-week blogging hiatus. Our trip to Corolla with John’s family was so wonderful, though, and I can’t wait to share it with you soon – hopefully before we jet off to Maine in a few weeks with my family, and the cycle starts all over again, ha! Thanks for hanging in here while life happens, friends!

Speaking of life – last year this month we were preparing to meet our son, and this year we’ll celebrate his first birthday. I am the luckiest.

On my calendar this month:
— Celebrating the birthdays of my two favorite guys: John and John Shepherd!
— Celebrating the birthday of America with our town’s kiddo parade (decorated bikes and all!)
— That other great American holiday: Cow Appreciation Day!
— My book swap party!!

What I’m loving right now:
— We received The Circus Ship as a gift recently, and it was an instant favorite with the whole family! (More of my favorite picture books here!)
— As someone who prioritized paying off her student loans as quickly as possible, I was fascinated by this episode of the Freakonomics podcast. Highly, highly recommend a listen!
— Peaches! Time to trot out my annual exhortation that you make this recipe. We’ll be enjoying it on the Fourth.

What I read in June:
— Finished all 1000+ pages of Pillars of the Earth. It lived up to the hype – it’s just an unabashedly great story that moves along at a rollicking pace, with tons of twists and turns over several decades. Can’t wait to dig into the sequel, though I think I’ll give myself a little breather before I do!
— I’m about halfway through Sabbath as Resistance, recommended to me by one of our pastors. It’s a little anti-capitalism for my tastes and has me feeling like I’m back in college with its density, but I’ve already applied some of its wisdom to my yearlong experiment, so I’ll keep plowing through.

Revisiting my June goals:
Finally book our camping trip! (Done! We’re headed to Lake James!)
Cull and sort remaining iPhone photos – 2011, 2010, 2009
Download and sort Facebook photos (Done!)
Plan my book swap party (Done! So excited for this!)
Sign up for the MS Ride (Eeeeeek! I did it!! A few of you have asked for my fundraising page – it’s here, if you’d like to see! I’d be very honored by your donation.)
Create a standing desk upstairs
Define Sabbath for our family (Working definition complete! Excited to try things out this month!)

July goals:
— Edit June in June, Volume 4!
— Have a friend date with my new neighborhood friend Casey
— Wrap up ALL remaining photo organization
— Give feedback for our church website
— Choose a standing lamp for behind one chair
— Buy a new pot for our mantel pothos plant

Keeping things simple for this second month in a row of travel! I’d love to hear: How do you usually celebrate the Fourth?

Affiliate links are used in this post!

I’ve shared before some of my Dad’s parenting one-liner gems. His oft-repeated phrases formed the background of my character development, and I am so grateful for that! Paul David Tripp writes that “parenting is about the willingness to live a life of long-term, intentional repetition,” and my Dad was more than willing.

As I became a parent, I fully expected to pick up the mantel of his favorite phrases and impart his wisdom to a new generation – and I have. What I didn’t expect was that these phrases would still be growing and changing me, years and years after I first heard them, years after you’d expect I might have wrung every drop of goodness from them.

One in particular I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. My Dad would often admonish us, “if you’re going to give, give graciously.” In childhood, this meant that it wasn’t enough to simply shove a coloring book across the table at my sister if I begrudgingly agreed to relinquish it; no, I was supposed to politely (graciously) place it in her hands, ideally with a smile. Our parents were not often satisfied with the bare minimum, and they definitely weren’t satisfied until our hearts were in the right place.

These days, I am the parent, and as the parent, many requests are made of me by a certain little girl. Another pancake? One more book? Can we go outside to draw with chalk? Can we go upstairs? Can you play with me? Can you draw with me? Can you carry me??? Sometimes there’s a clear yes or no to these kinds of requests, and that’s that.

But often, it’s up to me. A year or so ago, I found myself often frustrated, saying yes but only begrudgingly. Feeling over a barrel, I’d huff out an acquiescence before tossing the pancake onto the plate or the chalk into her hand with a harrumph. June usually seemed indifferent to my attitude, but I immediately felt the sting of it. Not only did I feel like my child was getting something over on me (never a pleasant feeling), but I realized I was robbing myself of one of the best parts of parenthood: delighting my child by giving her good gifts. And for what? Usually, the no was simply reflexive and not rooted in any particular reasoning beyond my own agenda.

Thinking back to my Dad’s phrase, I retrained myself to pause for a beat when faced with a request. Was there a real reason to say no? I’d say a gentle but firm no and stick to it. No good reason to say no? I’d say a wholehearted yes, and fully enjoy the glee that followed. I let my yes be yes and my no be no.

And now I get the gift of saying with a smile, yes, let’s have another pancake.

Thanks, Dad. Happy Father’s Day to you and to all the wonderful dads out there. xoxo

Back at it! We’ll continue with the Q&A format in the next post in this series, but today I wanted to cover gear: what we reused, what we had to buy, and my best recommendations for equipping your family for a second child!

First up: what we reused for baby number two. Answer: almost everything! We used the same infant car seat and base, carrier, high chair, bumbo, activity mat, and the exact same burp cloths. The Rays again lent us their Puj tub for the first few months.

One of our biggest questions was whether we’d need a double stroller, and for our family, the answer has been a definite no. (June was 2.5 when Shep arrived, for reference.) We used our same stroller, adding a glider board for June. She doesn’t use it that much, though, preferring to use her scooter or just run! :)

We also reused our Rock and Play (which has since been recalled, but wasn’t at the time Shep was sleeping in it). Shep moved from the R&P to the Lotus Bassinet after a few months, which we also used and loved with June.

And of course, we’ve trotted out the same toys, books, spoons/cups/containers and more that we collected the first time around. We’re still using the same diaper bag, and I’m still using the same nursing cover.

Onto what we bought for baby number 2! A number of the items were duplicates of ones we already had, and a few were brand new…

We bought or were gifted a few special items, including a soft quilt, a silky swaddle (will be his blanket when he gets older!), a Jellycat of his own, and a scrunchy book (he LOVES this toy!).

We purchased a number of items for his nursery, including a crib. We technically could have gotten by without buying a second crib, because Shep hadn’t yet moved to his room when June moved to her big girl bed, but June’s crib was already a hand-me-down and getting a little rickety. John’s parents surprised us with Shep’s crib, making the decision easy!

We bought duplicates of a few beloved items, including another Amcrest camera and white noise machine (we got this portable one to use at school). We also again stocked up on Water Wipes, Up & Up diapers, these swaddles, and Kiinde bags.

Other new items this time around included this sound-only monitor, travel black-out curtains (genius!), a convertible car seat, and a Magic Merlin suit.

A note about that last one: when June began to roll and we needed to transition her out of the SwaddleMe swaddles, I was expecting it to be terrible but it was totally fine: she just flipped onto her stomach and was happy as a clam. Shep, on the other hand, had the ability to roll, but seemed to forget about that ability when he was in the bassinet and stuck on his back – so he would just wail and flail. I took to the internet in desperation, and landed on the Magic Merlin suit. It is THE most ridiculous-looking contraption (baby sumo suit!) and ridiculously expensive (borrow it if you can!), but it was exactly what we needed to smooth the transition.

The Merlin suit is safe to wear when babies can roll, since their arms are out, but since it’s padded, it stifles the startle reflex and gives them the feeling of compression they’re looking for. We only used this suit for about a month (you’re supposed to discontinue use once they’re consistently rolling over in it), but it was so helpful for that brief period!

Finally, we did buy a few items of clothing to fill in the gaps here and there, but, as with June, the lion’s share of Shep’s wardrobe was on loan from my older sister, who has a baby boy almost exactly two years older than Shep. Between our two kids, Kate’s generous loans have literally saved us thousands of dollars, and I am so grateful!!

Any more gear questions? I’m happy to answer! Or, anyone else out there who used the Merlin and giggled every time their child was zipped into it? :)

Previously:
Transitioning from 1 to 2 Kiddos, Part One