Mother's Day 2009

It's Mother's Day and I'm feeling so thankful for my sweet baby boy. My heart is with those women today who want to be Mama's and are having trouble becoming one, or who are mama's but who have lost their babies or who's babies are sick. Also, my heart is very much with those Mama's who don't have their Mama's anymore. I have no idea what it is like to be one of them, but can imagine how painful a day like today might be. Thank you, God, for blessing me with Nathan. I pray that I will be as good of a Mama to him as mine has been to me!

Jason came home on Friday and since he was having to leave this morning, we decided to celebrate Mother's Day last night. I know it's kinda crazy, but we haven't had a REAL date since Nathan was born. It's hard for us, because Jason's usually only home on the weekends, and so we like to spend the weekends all together so he can spend as much time as possible with Nathan. But, we were long overdue for a date night. Also, alot of people have been getting onto me lately for not having let Nathan spend the night off yet. But, I haven't had a reason to let him (and it's hard to imagine waking up without him there), so it hasn't been an option.

So, last night I packed up his little bag and took him over to my parents' house. Okay, you have to understand that Mama and Daddy live literally two houses away from us. It's not like they live across town or anything, but you would have thought so. I kissed him and kissed him and hugged him and loved him like I was going to be away for the whole weekend. I honestly almost cried as we pulled out of the driveway. I know, I'm a little attached...

We had a little disagreement about where to go for dinner. We knew we wanted Mexican and since I'd already conceded on the movie (I wanted to see 17 again, he wanted to see Wolverine - stupid, but naked Hugh Jackman? Oooooooookaaaaaaay, if you insist.....) so I felt like he should eat where I wanted to eat, right? I love El Ranchero, but the salsa is too chunky for his taste (enter me rolling my eyes and breathing out deeply), and he wanted La Parilla, but it's a little pricey and not very tasty (enter him rolling his eyes and breathing out deeply). So, I offered La Fiesta because I have a discount card, but we were already on the other side of town so we decided to go to Fiesta Grill which is owned by La Fiesta. It was so nice to be out together by ourselves. My husband is not one to talk alot while he's eating - which drives me nutty - but, he did manage to tell me how pretty I look in my purple dress. haha.

Of course, when we got in the car, my sister had sent me a text message that said, "Hey Mommy and Daddy! I've had my bath and my bottle and now I'm going to sleep. I love you!" That almost made me cry again....but, i sucked it up so I could see Hugh Jackman naked. Oh, the sacrifice.

And the movie was O-kay. I guess I need to know more about the x men movies. I kept asking questions and was a little confused, but just so you girls know - Hugh definitely deserved Sexiest Man of the year. I wonder if I could talk Jason into making his arms look like that...

When we left, I called Mom and Dad's of course. She said that he'd fallen asleep a little early, so they'd gotten him up to be sure he would sleep well all night and now he wasn't going back to sleep. She said he'd been in his pack-n-play just talking to himself like, "where am I at? Where are my parents? Why is it dark outside and I'm still here?" So, we decided to go ahead and pick him up. :) yay! I don't think any of us were ready for that. Maybe when he's 1.

This morning, we got up and Jason left, and then he called. He said that he was just giving me a warning - so I'd be decent - that his Dad was coming to give us something. I was like, "????What??? Why???" But, Jason said he didn't know. Awwww...... Mr. Mark walked up with 2 cards that Jason had bought for me and had left in his truck. One was from Nathan! :) How sweet! The one from Jason was especially sweet because we have a little inside joke that we are Team Dewberry. (He would die if he knew I was telling this), but we even have team huddles. I like to text him sometimes and say things like, "Nathan and I just voted you MVP. It was unanimous." haha. So, inside the card that he got for me, he wrote "keep up the good work. Love you, Jason." Oh me. Y'all probably think that's so stupid, but it makes my heart swell and puts a smile on my face. I just love him so much! As long as he remembers that I'M team Captain. :)

26

Really? Am I that old? I certainly don't feel it. I catch myself all the time feeling like I'm fresh out of High School. But, I'm exactly where I hoped I would be at 26. I have a sweet little house, a husband that loves me and a precious child all of my own. Life is good!

With wedding plans in full swing (only 16 days away!), I almost forgot all about my birthday! One of my clients last week asked me what I was doing for the weekend and I said, "Well, we have another shower for Rebecca on Sunday........Oh! And it's my birthday!" haha. There was a time when I would have been anxiously anticipating that day for several weeks beforehand. Much like my youngest sister Christy, who makes sure we all have her birthday circled on our calendars and will start reminding us of her September birthday here in a few weeks. :)

Mine was actually on Saturday (the 2nd). Jason was home and busily putting my new beautiful screen door on the front of our house.

You can really tell you're getting old when you start asking for gifts like that! I just want to be able to sit in my living room with the door open and not have insects sneaking in at the same time. It's so pretty! I'm so blessed to have a husband that is so handy! We had the best dinner ever at my parents' house - steak, twice baked potatoes, salad and rebecca made me the best carrot cake in the world. Homemade! Delish!! It was so nice to do something so low-key and nice. I'm so lucky to have such a great family! Here's a picture of me with my sisters at my birthday party. We all wore Maxi dresses! haha. Great minds think alike! :)

We don't have many new updates. Nathan's cruising around on everything he can pull up on. I swear, he's gotten so big so fast! He's such a flirt. That little toothless grin will mealt your heart every time! Everywhere we go he makes new friends. I could not be more proud. He's just the best thing that's ever happened to us and we feel so blessed to have him be our's.

I can't wait to see how the next few months go. It blows my mind that he's already 8 months old. Before we know it, we'll be playing baseball and swimming in the swimming pool. I just can't wait to watch him grow up! :)

playing catch-up

It's been so long since I've blogged that I really don't know where to start. About a month ago, Jason and I were sitting with Nathan on our front porch. We've been anticipating a tooth now for about 3 months as it seems every week like he is having the symptoms, I slid my finger inside his mouth as we were sitting there and lo and behold - there was a tooth! Just the edge of one, enough to see a little glimmer of white. :) I remember then thinking "I need to blog about this!" haha. Within a couple of days the other bottom one had made it's grand apperance and that's as far as we've gotten on the creating teeth front.

He actually did really well with teething. Like I've said, we were anticipating one because he has been drooling constantly, and chewing on everything. But, other than that we didn't have much notice that the first one was coming. Now, I'm not sure if it was because I knew that the first one was in and the next one felt like it might be on it's way out, too, that I became a little paranoid about it or if it's really because he seemed more upset with the second one, but it did give us a little more of a fit. He was just really fussy and didn't have much of an appetite, just not himself until after it was in. I'll have to get a picture of his pearly whites to post for y'all!

We went to see Dr. Jackson for our 6 month check-up which went really well. I'm getting better and better about the shots. It's so hard to see my little man being so happy and sweet and then not understanding why he's being hurt. :( I hate that part of the visit more than anything! Everything checked out perfectly. He has been in the 90-95 percentile on his height and weight, but has just recently dropped into like the 65th. Dr. J said that it's probably because we're doing more solids and less bottle and that some babies just bloom earlier rather than later and that's probably nathan's case. I'm not worried about it. He has a huge appetite, so as long as he's eating well, that's fine with me! Of course, his head size is still off the charts. haha. In fact, Dr. Jackson said, "Now, you may start being able to sit him up by himself for a few minutes at a time." And I was like, "Oh, we've already been doing that..." He looked at me like, "Really?" So, I positioned Nathan on the table and showed him and he said, "I mean, that's really remarkable seeing as his head's so big. He must have really great core strength to be able to balance it so well." HA! I don't take offense. I mean, that's just another reason that I'm glad I had a c-section.

We also dealt with our first sick virus since I've been on my blogging hiatus. It started one weekend while Jason was here (thank goodness!). We had given Nathan his morning bottle, which he seemed to take well and then we sat him him his walker like we always do. Just a few minutes later, Jason looked at him and said, "I think he's choking!" So, we rushed over to him and just as we got there, he spewed - i mean, speeeeewwwweeeeedd - all over the place. My first thought was that he'd just had an air bubble and that he was probably fine so we went on about our business. Then, that night at dinner he threw up again and I noticed that he'd not had much of an appetite. What a little trooper, though, because he'd still play and act normal. Not puny at all. That's what kept throwing me off was he seemed completely fine! There was a night in there where Jason and I felt like for sure he had a fever, so after checking it - it was 100 - we kept him on tylenol, motrin and snuggled him all night. What a great excuse for a snuggle! :)

It's a good thing that he got to feeling better when he did because Mason came up to spend the week with us. His mom brought him to us on the 2nd and then we had him until Easter. It was so much fun! My mom and I took he and Nathan to the World of Coke on Monday since she was out for Spring Break. I'd forgotten my camera :( so I didn't get a lot of great shots - but we had a blast. I can't believe this weather has been so crazy, though! Here it is Spring Break and we were freezing! Luckily, it warmed up just enough for us to go to the Panama City Beach for Easter weekend. We stayed at the condo that my parents' share with several other people. We are so blessed to have a place to go to that's so nice and comfortable (and not on the strip). Jason, Daddy and my Uncle Billy went fishing Friday and Saturday and so Mom, Christy and I just stayed back and played with the boys. I'm so thankful for them being so willing to help me out with everything. I don't know how I would have done it without them. I'll post beach pictures soon.

Oh yeah, Nathan's started crawling! It's the cutest thing in the whole world. He started by doing the worm. Like a little inch-worm all over the floor. Now, he's gotten it down a little better. But, man can he get it! He's all over the place!

I'm having to be super careful about my floors these days. A couple of days ago, I was busy doing something and noticed that he'd crawled just out of my sight to the other side of the sofa. He was being mighty quiet and still, so I peeked around to see what he was doing and he'd pulled a hair ball from under the sofa and was trying to figure out what it was so he could put it in his mouth. GROSS! Just yesterday, he crawled into the laundry room and found his way over to our metal rolling cart thing that we keep our detergent and all (that's too high for him to get, too), but he pulled himself up to his knees and then reached up to the next shelf and pulled himself up to standing! :) YAY! He's getting so big. It makes me happy and sad at the same time.

The sweetest thing ever is that he's started giving kisses. Like full on slobber all over your cheek, kisses. I can tell that's what they are because it only happens when I've been kissing on him and then it's like he says, "Okay, now it's my turn!" He'll turn around and grab my face and just plant one on me. I mean, it's the most precious thing you've ever seen. Sometimes, it takes off all the makeup I've just put on, but I don't care. Nothing is better than a little baby slobber to make a mom look complete. I'll come back later and update with a few pictures of everything. I think I even have a video of him crawling. Right now, my butt needs to get back in bed since it's only 6a.m. and I'm awake for some reason. :)

Okay, I promised I'd come back to do this, so here they are...

....that's me giving Daddy kisses for getting dressed up, taking us to the beach on our way out of town, and not fussing (too much) about doing it. :)

This is our fairytale

So, I just wanted to post real quickly to let y'all know that my sister just started a blog! Yay!! She follows mine pretty closely and is always quick to point out how long it's been since my last posting, so now I can give it right back to her! haha. Please go visit her site thisisourfairytale . I have a feeling that she's a really good writer and might become a better blogger than me. eek!

On a side note, I helped her set her's up last night. I remember when I started mine not long ago, it seemed like there were tons of options for names of your blog. However, when I was trying options for her's they were all - i mean all - already taken! That means there must be tons and tons of bloggers out there. I hope I get to "meet" more of you! :)

I'm also excited to announce that my sweet friend, Becky, just had her little girl. I'm excited to see how life at the Gore residence goes as they already have a little boy like us. So, it will be interesting for me to watch them and imagine what my life might be like if we have another one. (Not anytime soon, i promise!) You can read all about sweet Marley Ann here.

Well, today is my day off and yes, I got up at 6:45, because little pumpkin had started talking to himself and I knew that soon it would turn from sweet babble to "Feed. Me. NOW!" So, we are going to play a little this morning, and after his morning nap go to the grocery store to buy stuff to make a cheesecake for my dad's 50th birthday party!! (it's a surprise, so don't tell him!) Then, we may stop by my grandparents' house for a little bit. I hope this is a warm and fun day for you, too!

Has anyone seen my baby?

I was just wondering if you've seen my baby. He seems to have gone missing! And who is this big boy that is living in my house?

My cousin just recently had a baby girl so we went to visit her yesterday. She is right at 9 lbs. which is what N was when he was born, but she is so tiny! She's so light and little and sweet. She slept the whole time (I forgot my camera....), and was a little angel. Then, I looked over and my big hoss of a son was sitting there weighing in at almost 20 pounds, sitting up by himself, smiling at everybody and it hit me! He's not a baby baby anymore. He's a big boy!

Y'all he is the sweetest child. I know every mother says that about their children, but mine really is. He's just so dang cute! One day recently, he was fussing for no apparent reason, so I started patting my hand over his mouth like an indian and he thought it was funny. Now, all I have to do is pat my hand over his mouth and he starts humming. I have yet to get it on camera, but I will and I'll post it as soon as I do. Y'all should see him in his walker. The first couple of times I put him in it, he acted like, "Umm....okay. Mom, are you sure about this?" Then, he got to where he thought it was fun because being in it moved him. He wasn't sure how he was moving or how to get to where he wanted to go, but he was liking it! NOW, he's obsessed. If I go to put him in it, his little feet are already moving then I set him down and Zoom! He's off. Gosh, it's hilarious! And this is nice, because I can finally start getting stuff done. I definitely don't leave him in there for too long, but I can actually put a load of laundry in without having to hold him at the same time! Thank the heavens!!

He's started sitting up by himself. Or, sitting unassisted, I should say. He can't pull himself to a sitting position yet, but he'll stay for awhile if I set him up like that. And he's getting up on his hands and knees. Not moving, or rocking, but propping up on them and then looking around like, "Oh no! What do I do next?" Bellyflop. Last week, I was putting him in his carseat and he was fussing while I was buckling him in. It sounded something like, "wha, wha, wha....da, da, da." And I said, "WHAT? DID YOU SAY DA DA? DA DA DA DA DA DA?" Poor little guy will never say those words again. He looked at me with huge eyes like, "I dont' know what just happened, but that made her act a little crazy, so I'm definitely not saying that again!" haha. Oh well....

Finally, we had a short little play date with our friend Joel. He was born just a couple of weeks after Nathan and we haven't seen them since the babies were very little. So, we stopped by to let them play. I can't believe how big they both have gotten! We love our friend, Joel, and hope that we'll be able to get together again! Here are some pictures that I took of the new friends. Don't they look like little old men?

Valentine's Day, er.....a few days late.

I've been meaning to publish this post, but keep forgetting to. How was your Valentine's Day? I really love these Hallmark holidays because a) it gives me and opportunity to be loved on and b) it gives me a great conversation piece with my clients while I'm doing their hair. It's so funny to me to hear the plans that people make.

So, Jason was home! (And has been every weekend for a month or so - yippee!!) We decided not to go out since it was on Saturday we knew that there would be really long waits and if you know my husband at all, you'll know that he is not a very patient person. So, we decided to grill out steaks instead. His absolute favorite cake in the whole world is homemade strawberry, so I used Paula Dean's recipe and whipped up a sweet cake for my sweet Valentine.

Here's the recipe, if you are interested:

Simply Delicious Strawberry Cake
Makes 1 (9-inch) cake
1 (18.25-ounce) box white cake mix
1 (3-ounce) box strawberry flavored instant gelatin
1 (10-ounce) package frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed and pureed
4 large eggs
1/2cup vegetable oil
1/4cup water
Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe follows)
Garnish: sliced fresh strawberries
Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease 2 round 9-inch cake pans.
In a large bowl, combine cake mix and gelatin. Add pureed strawberries, eggs, oil, and water; beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Pour into prepared pans, and bake for 20 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks. Spread Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting in between layers and on top and sides of cake. Garnish with sliced fresh strawberries, if desired.
Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
Makes about 4 cups
1/4cup butter, softened
1 (8-ounce) package cream sheese,m softened
1 (10-ounce) package frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed and pureed
1/2teaspoon strawberry extract
7 cups confectioners' sugar
In a large bowl, beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Beat in 1/4 cup strawberry puree, reserving remaining for another use. Beat in extract. Gradually add confectioners' sugar, beating until smooth.
Note: For pinker frosting, add 2 to 3 drops of red food coloring to frosting.

Yep, people, that's 7 cups of confectioners' sugar. It was delish!
Here's a picture of my little helper:
We are on a tight budget these days, so I knew that I shouldn't expect a bouquet of flowers, but I did mention to him that I do love it when he gives me flowers (especially because he always includes a sweet card with them that I can keep forever.) But, he was quick to remind me of how expensive flowers are right now and how we have so many other things that we need to spend that money on. :( Sneaky, fella...I call them the economy-friendly bouquet. The card was so sweet and those flowers have lasted me almost the whole week! He did good.

Tiiiiiiime???? Where arrrrrrrrrrre you?

I know I haven't posted in forever. I've just been so busy that I haven't had a chance to sit. I promise I'll be better about it.

So, Mason was here ALL last week. Susan and Howard brought him here on Saturday the 31st and then Jason and I took him to meet his mom on the 8th. That's a really long time. We had so much fun, though! You can really see him and Nathan starting to bond.

Sunday morning, I got up early with the boys and decided to make everyone a big country breakfast. I even made pancakes! I just knew Mason would be extra excited when I told him I was making pancakes, but instead all he said was, "nah...I'm not hungry." He's such a picky eater! We even invited Mr. Mark over to come over to have breakfast with us. I must say, it was yummy!

So, after we were finished, I was cleaning up a little and realized that everyone had disappeared into our bedroom. I went back there to find them and there was the sweetest thing I've ever seen. Daddy playing with his boys. I just had to get my camera and grab a couple of pics.

God, I love those boys so much. It's amazing to me to see how much our family has grown. When I met Jason little Mason was almost 2. I had just moved into my grandparents' basement and Jason was living with his Dad. Now, we have our precious little house our big almost 5 year-old, Mason, and now our sweet Nathan. I swear, I didn't know life could be this good! I am very, very blessed...