A Birthday and the Beach

Today is my beloved Vivienne May’s first birthday.

It’s hard to believe it’s been a year already. It’s funny to think about how a year ago at this time, I was in labor—just an hour or so away from meeting my baby for the first time. I didn’t even know if she was a boy or a girl and wasn’t positive about what her name would be, so I certainly didn’t know anything about who she would be. And I still have much to learn as she grows.

But today, I wish the happiest of birthdays to my sweet, loving, smart, spunky, trouble-making, adorable Vivienne. I love her so much.

I’ll talk a lot more about her and my feelings about the big birthday in her 12-month post (with pics!), which realistically probably won’t be coming for another day or two. Because in case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been quiet the last 10 days or so. Why? Because we’ve been at the beach!

We traveled down to the Outer Banks in North Carolina to spend a week at the beach with friends. Nine adults, seven children. It was a ton of fun, but also exhausting (a “vacation” with kids is not really a vacation at all, is it?!).

If you follow me on Instagram (@heatherkj), you’ve already gotten a pretty good taste of what we were up to all week. But for everyone else, here’s a quick peek:

These are only a handful of my favorites. So many more photos. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to sift through them all very soon and choose many more to share. Right now, we’re at my dad’s in Virginia (his house makes a very good pit stop between the OBX and home!) to enjoy Vivienne’s birthday before we head home tomorrow.

So, excuse me while I go snuggle my baby toddler. I’ll leave you with one more pic of the birthday girl…

She cracks me up. I love her so much!