The dog days of summer

Lake day came just in the nick of time as we learn the true meaning of the dog days of summer. Georgia, Maddie, Eliza and I were starting to go a little stir crazy sitting in the house trying to stay out of this relentless heat, and our friend Mackenzie invited us to her beautiful lake house for the weekend. Although we packed half the nursery up with the intention of possibly staying the night, we ended up driving home after supper, but it was such a relaxing day and just what we needed. The dogs swam until they were half-dead, Miller kicked back a few well, Millers, and I sat on the shady, breezy dock with my baby, just happy to be outdoors catching up with a good friend. As an added bonus, Eliza got to break in her new swimsuit and bonnet, bought just for the occasion. I assure you that the dock was actually quite pleasant or else we wouldn't have stayed out there long with a little one in the 108(+ ??) degree heat. Eliza has pretty much only known 100 degree days in her lifetime so she thought it was downright cool out there. Welcome to Texas, baby!

Happy guy. He needed a break too - he's been working hard and late these days. That's Camp Longhorn in the background; their property is adjacent.

Maddie, a water dog if there ever was one, wears a life jacket at all times at the lake because otherwise she might drown from exhaustion (seriously). Her favorite game, when people tire of throwing balls for her, is to innocently play with found objects like water bottles on the very edge of the dock and then "accidentally" drop them in the water so that she has to go in after them.

4 foot drop. NBD. I live in constant fear that one day she will jump from somewhere way too high.

E loved this game. And she definitely loved Miss Mackenzie, who was her very first non-family visitor in the hospital 11 weeks ago. Mackenzie moved up to Fort Worth shortly after Eliza was born, so this was a fun treat for them to get reacquainted.

Baby book moment: Eliza got to take her first dip with Daddy. A small one, due to the heat and intense sun, and my paranoia about lake germs. She only went in up to her diaper but seemed to take to it! Of course she was covered head to tiny toe in sunscreen and got an extra good scrubbing that night.

Since coming out of the seemingly universal newborn fussy period, our Miss Lizzy Lou is turning out to be quite the angelic little thing; she didn't make a peep the whole time we were there and slept peacefully all the way home. She also did two six hour stretches that night so needless to say we all woke up Sunday morning feeling very refreshed. It's hard to imagine we could love her more each day, but we do - and she sure makes it easy.