What We're Doing

James' favorite activity these days.



His little musical activity table. We don't have too many blinking, singing, talking, electric toys around here.



1. Because we don't have a playroom- although major changes have taken place in James room to be more activity friendly.
2. Because I get more granola every passing day. Trying to find a balance with gadgets and plain old wood blocks will be interesting over the next few years.



He also loves rolling balls back and forth with us. I only have video of that...

Also loves Throwing balls and army calling after them.



This new independent play is weird for me. I'm always keeping a Birdseye view but don't need to be right next to him all the time. This means the dishwasher actually got fully unloaded in one attempt today.

I should have would have could have written a Thanksgiving post that was hosting dinner never got around to it. Plus I needed a little attitude check as I was not feeling very thankful over the past few days.

Good news, attitude was checked, And I am truly grateful and thankful for all that our family has. Especially each other!


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Growing Pains

So I didn't realize that babies first haircut would traumatize me. Technically it wasn't his first trim, I'd been trimming the baby wisps around his ears for a few months.

His hair trimming needs had quickly outgrown my abilities. So hair cut, no big deal, right? Wrong!

He actually loved the whole process.



Sitting on my lap getting lots of oohs and ahhs from the salon.



He laughed the whole time.



And the stylist was great, patient and gentle.



It was the after effect of him looking so grown up that hurts my heart. Where's my baby with the fine baby wisps I would sweep over his forehead.



Josh insisted the shorter we went, the fewer times we would have to get it cut- there's my accountant husband for ya!



We won't be getting another cut for a while!



Silly me to thing the sting of the haircut was the saddest thing I would encounter this month.

We dropped the crib last night, and my heart is still in my throat.


In the pull the bandaid off real fast/ shorter the trim the fewer haircuts mentality we dropped it all the way.

I of course begged Josh to redo it and bring it a notch or two higher. I wonder how much longer it will sting every time I lay him down?

I didn't know experiencing the side effects of him growing up would hurt. They joy in him singing, laughing, learning and growing far outweighs the sadness I feel saying goodbye to my sweet baby boy.

On another note, does anyone have tips on how to jimmy rig the crib skirt to work with the mattered on the lowest setting? I also realized last night as I was taking it off that his PBK crib skirt cost more than our king size beds's did!

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Finding Joy

I don't want to jinx myself, because just when I gleefully thought I was caught up on laundry last week, James woke up from his morning nap and proceeded to puke his breakfast up all over me, my glider and his bedroom.  This resulted in lots of laundry, lots of cleaning, lots of snuggles, a trip to the store for pedalyte (why didn't I have some on hand?), putting eggs back on the high allergy list and off our menu, and just throwing our whole day week off course.  So is the life of a mother.

So I really don't want to jinx myself by being excited that our Holiday Cards are already ordered (pictures taken, design picked out, wording selected, click here for final payment - ordered), groceries are bought for thanksgiving and dare I say a load or two of laundry away from being "caught up."

I'm learning to be a little more low key and just get things done.  So instead of trying 150 different holiday card layouts with different pictures, we picked one and went with it.  For our holiday party this year, we are sending an online invite vs paper. And having a smaller crowd for Thanksgiving this year.  It's just nice to check things off the list!

So glad to be getting things done, and with a joyful attitude.  The theme for the mothers ministry that I am involved with is Joy in the Journey, and it's taken a few months, but I am finally finding it.  While I haven't found time for devotions everyday, our speaker a few weeks ago suggested just leaving the bible on the kitchen counter and grabbing a verse here and there.  I can't tell you what a HUGE difference this has made in my life. I was starving for scripture.  James and I pray together every morning at breakfast.  We love praying for daddy, our friends and God's guidance through the day.  Am I joyful every moment of every day? No, but things are certainly better constantly reminding myself we are in the Lord's capable hands.

Now I still have a pretty long to-do list and only the few hours of naptime to get them done!  Highlights of the list include getting our tables and chairs for thanksgiving, ordering some very overdue baby gifts for friends and family, chopping lots of vegetables and figuring out how to post on friends blogs from my new iphone - that has been an epic failure- anyone know how to do it?  I write comments and nothing every shows on the other blogs - boo!

One thing I figured today is Google+ photo albums and Picasa Web are now the same thing, I think?  Been having the darndest time uploading pictures for the blog here.  And some actually disappeared from a previous post-crazy times.

Speaking of which-here are some out takes from our family photo shoot.  Hope this brings some joy to the beginning of the holiday season!

Love this little boy, and he loves his little doggie.

 Always laughing!

 Maiming Molly - hope she is able to keep all her body parts throughout his childhood-we are working on soft hands!

 Everyone is telling me he looks like me more and more, I finally see it here - he inherited my oh so serious frown.

 I love my family so so much!

We're Still Here

Since I last left you, we've celebrated Halloween



Welcomed a new buddy into this world. My best friend had kiddo # 3 on 11/3 and he's a cutie!

I've been sick.

James eats a lot! Splitting lunch with him means I'm loosing weight.



We voted (my record is 0-6 for voting for a wining presidential candidate). Maybe 2016 will be my year.



James turned 9 months old and got his first hair cut- he laughed the whole time. I'm traumatized that my baby looks like a little boy now. Both 8 and 9 month posts are in drafts and coming soon.

My drive it till it dies SUV finally died - well the door handle fell off. So we decided not to recessitate.

I'm a minivan momma, no announcement (haven't been that MIA), just hoping to need extra seats in the future.


My minivan crew:


We still haven't 'baby proofed' but will be this weekend.



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