28 weeks

Baby Roberson,  You are quite the jet setter!

This weekend we flew to Tampa, Florida to visit your uncle Cameron and aunt Whitney. We left late Thursday night after a long work day (and a long work WEEK for Blake) and arrived in Tampa just after midnight. We were exhausted but so happy to be on vacation with the family. Friday morning we planned to sleep in late and stroll to the beach whenever we finally dragged ourselves out of bed, but seeing that we’ve gotten used to getting up early with the puppy, we were both up by 7am. I spent the morning hours doing my schoolwork while Blake tried to continue sleeping but really just tossed and turned for an hour or so. Even if it wasn’t restful, at least I was being productive!

Cameron and Whitney both had busy schedules on Friday so we didn’t see them until the afternoon, but spent the morning having a leisurely breakfast at the condo we were renting, made a quick trip to the grocery store for weekend snacks, and got down to the beach where Mom and Dad already had chairs and an umbrella waiting for us. Blake is a beachin’ genius and had the foresight to buy a cheap cooler at the grocery store so we stocked it with drinks and snacks then he dug a hole in the sand and buried the cooler in sand to hide it under his chair and keep it cool all day long. It was the best thing especially since the beach bar was so expensive. The cooler paid for itself after just 2 sodas.

I spent most of the day reading Babywise and hoping beyond all hope that we can get Baby Brantley to sleep 12 hours a night like our friends have gotten their kids to do on this program. I guess we’ll have to just wait and see about that one. Meanwhile, Mom and Blake really loved my random “Brantley’s kicking!” updates. 🙂

That evening Cameron and Whitney drove over to stay for the night and we ate dinner at the Sunset Lounge on the property. They had a great band playing but the wait to sit outside was 2 hours so we settled at an inside table and had GREAT food.

Dinner was delicious and we went out to the Bay after dinner to take sunset photos before calling it a night and falling asleep early after our late night of traveling and long day in the sun.

The next morning, I woke up early again and got some school work done (womp! womp!) but at least I could get it done while everyone else slept and not have to spend my beach time studying and watching videos. Yuck.

For breakfast, Mom made our family’s famous sausage gravy! Then it was back out to the beach for another day in the sun. That night, we all went back to the condo to shower and go out to dinner. What we thought was going to be a nice dinner out turned out to be an outdoor hut with picnic tables under a tin roof. We may have been a little overdressed but we didn’t care. I tried my first soft shell crab (not my favorite) but everyone else seemed to love their food.

Our last full day in Tampa was Sunday so we started out the morning at Aletheia Tampa to catch up with our Aletheia friends and watch Cameron do his thing on stage. He’s been leading worship at Aletheia since his freshman year of college and continues leading at the church in Tampa now. It was wonderful to watch him lead worship again, as always, and Brantley kicked the WHOLE TIME. Apparently he likes church, too.

We got to see Cameron and Whitney’s apartment after church (which was definitely an eye opener – my little brother keeping a MUCH cleaner house than me – and helped usher in my purging program). We still had a few hours left in the day so we hung out at the beach for a little while and went to a beautiful outdoor restaurant on the water for dinner. It was such a nice night to spend with Cameron and Whitney before they had to leave to go back home and prepare for another busy week at work.

Mom and Blake also enjoyed more baby kicking episodes, and our poor waiter probably thought we were crazy when he came over to take our food orders and Blake, Mom, and Dad all had their hands on my stomach waiting to feel kicks. Sorry for the awkward moment, waiter guy.

Our vacation, while short and lacking in sleep (even with hours to sleep in, neither Blake nor I were ever able to sleep past 7am and Blake ended up with renewed back pain after sleeping on the rather soft mattress for 4 nights), we still had a great time with family, relaxing on the beach, and spending time together.

Happy 28 weeks, Baby Brantley!