Wednesday, December 31, 2008
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009
Monday, December 29, 2008
Running Shadow
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Happy Birthday Lil Sista
It's hard to believe.... And yet, I'm so happy for her and where things are in her life right now. She is loving the tide at the University of Alabama and I've really seen her making decisions in a new way, now that she's sorta on her own. She's very smart and very beautiful and has a bright future and destiny ahead. She is great with my little guy and they both really have a connection. It could be the fact that they have the same nose?! Could be?!! She is a fantastic Aunt! My sister is wonderful and I miss her when she's away at school. Happy 19 years and many, many, many more!!!
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Merry Christmas Eve!
We love Christmas Eve, because it's part of the whole Christmas tradition. When we were young, we got to open one of our "small" gifts on Christmas Eve and that was always fun. A foretaste of the next morning I guess. But my favorite memories of Christmas Eve are going to church, singing Christmas songs, being a part of the Christmas story being told at church (dressing up and sitting up in front), going to the Smith's big Christmas Eve party for years and years, and then our family time... we would sit or even lay down near the tree with all of the light off in the room except the tree... we would sit and talk about what we had done that year, what we were looking forward to in the next year, what we were grateful for, etc... It was very nice.
Now, as a Mom, I spend Christmas Eve at my in laws house which means we usually miss our church service. But it's great to get to see them and have our Christmas with one whole side of our large family. Family is Christmas tradition in the best way!
We celebrate Jesus birth, Family, and count our blessings tonight!
Merry Christmas Eve 2008!!!
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
2008 Top Baby Names
The top 100 names for 2008 are in! Big news this year: Aidan is at the top of the list for boys for the second year in a row, while Isabella skyrockets to #1 for the first time ever.
Top 10 Girl Names of 2008
1. Isabella
2. Ava
3. Emily
4. Elizabeth
5. Abigail
6. Madison
7. Emma
8. Addison
9. Madeline
10. Olivia
Top 10 Boy Names of 2008
1. Aidan
2. Jayden
3. Jacob
4. Michael
5. Ethan
6. Caden
7. James
8. Caleb
9. Andrew
10. Matthew
More from Parents.com
Friday, December 19, 2008
Happy 16 Month Birthday
Highlights from Month 15:
-learning to run
-falling and running into things
-a lot more of mom saying, "slow down" "sit down" "calm down" "don't run" "hold still"
-first nose bleed (the day before Thanksgiving - due to running into a table)
-family photos from the Christmas card
-first pair of brown dress shoes, size 7 (hard sole)
-speaking MORE and more ...over 40 words now
-loves ELMO and POOH ("ea-mo" or "mo-mo" and "pooh" & "tig")
-blows on hot food and feeds himself with a spoon
-new love for 'the dog movie' (Lady and the Tramp) LOVES IT
-ring around the legs game... this is when Mama or Dada are trying to cook dinner or wash their hands and the toddler grabs one leg and spins around and between your legs
-bending in half to "stand on his head" - we're not sure why?!
-working on counting but will only say "two"
-working on colors but will only say "blue" but can point to others
-working on letters but only have "S" "P" "O"and "G" right now
-stacking blocks instead of only knocking them down, ok not really instead of, but in addition to
-15 mo shots, wt. 28# 6& 1/2oz, ht. 34"
-18-24 mo clothes, still size 4 diapers
-when we say, "in Jesus name", he says "Amen"
-Saturday, Dec. 13: Got his first molar (his upper left side) and discovered the mall escalator and loved going up
-requests tea and often says "tea" when he sees his juice cup (that's Mom's fault, I love tea!)
-Dec. 17: Said, "I love you" while we were all driving and I started to cry
-started saying "Mama" and "Mommy"
For the longest time he's called me "Da" or "Nulk" (his word for milk) and now, at last, I am Mama!!! = )
OTHER THINGS WE WANT TO REMEMBER:
-waking up and kissing Daddy on your own w/o being told
-the 1,2,3 run across the room at Daddy game
-the new squirrel feeder
-saying bath and requesting to have a bath first thing when you wake up
-still nursing
-the 1st blue sucker from the bank and the mess you made enjoying it
-your 2nd Thanksgiving with your grandparents and three Great-Grandmothers and lots of family...you riding in the power wheels jeep with Chandler, you saw horses and cows and Nanny's big German Shepherd. You loved "playing" football with the guys around Gran Gran's pool. And you enjoyed seeing Taylor's new puppy and playing with Jarrett's basket ball goal and indoor slide.
-your love of finding a good stick continues
-constantly learning and talking and taking things in
-Mama & Dada are looking forward to new DVD's and new books for you next week... we only have about a dozen books and they are all memorized!!
You are very joyful and such a blessing to our lives!!!
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
I love Christmas
And I love it!!
I love looking at random Christmas decorations that no one really needs but sometimes you just HAVE TO buy. I love little tiny ornaments. Every year I get out our ornament box with great anticipation. It's like a gift in and of itself, because nearly every single ornament has meaning to me. Each one reminds me of the year we got it, the person who gave it to us, or brings back a family memory that I have not thought about since the Christmas of the year prior. My mother collected an angel ornament for me every year of my life until I got married and then our first married Christmas, she gave me all of my angels to start my tree. I'm thinking of doing something like that for my son... only with Trains maybe?!! It was really neat and I love that she passed them down for me to enjoy in a new way. I love that time of decorating the tree and listening to Christmas music. I LOVE CHRISTMAS MUSIC! I listen to it any time of the year. I DO NOT have the "only after Thanksgiving" rule. I love it. It's joyful... cool harmony... warm... and many of the songs are about Jesus. What's not to love? Especially the oldies like Ella and Frank!! Mmmm. Back in the day I recorded my own Christmas CD (kind of an 'at home' deal) but it was fun. We still have the songs on our ipod and it's sorta flattering to hear myself in our random Christmas playlist just mixed in with all of the other singers. I love the element of surprise so the whole gift giving thing is FUN for me. I don't stress over what to buy like some of my extended family members do. I love looking and planning and finding out what will really make the recipient light up! I was never the "look for our gifts under Mom's bed" kind of kid. I wanted to wait until Christmas morning. It was always HUGE at our house. My parents went all out. And it was always worth the wait! I love the smell of hot cider in my aunts house. She always put a few slices of orange in the pot and a few sticks of Cinnamon. It's funny how smells are connected to memories. I love hot chocolate too, but there is just a deep warmth that comes from enjoying apple cider with family and friends. (For great apple cider, buy Simply Apple apple juice and heat it on the stove with some Cinnamon. It's excellent and there is no need to add any sugar. Try it!) And we used to do a live nativity scene in my aunts front yard with all of my cousins. I think I was usually an angel. We also went Christmas caroling and it was amazingly fun and very memorable. People don't do that as much. We've become more independent of our neighbors these days... more isolated, I guess. I love stockings too... My husband didn't really have a big tradition with stockings, but I did. It was usually just filled with "little" gifts, but it was more of fact that it was tradition. My stocking at home had a puppy dog on it, and at my Grandmothers house my stocking was hand made and adorned with a blonde angel. We did stockings at my other Grandmothers house until my Great-Grand Mother passed and then we sorta just stopped doing that part. I love to watch the parade! I love getting and sending Christmas cards with a picture every year!!! This year I hung a red rope over the top of our bay window where the tree stands and I clip the cards to the rope with clothes pins. When I was little, our church choir did a live concert with an orchestra called the Singing Christmas Tree. They would literally make a giant Christmas tree of risers and the choir would fill in every row and sing a wonderful show. There were also narrations of the Biblical Christmas Story. And the huge tree light up in sink with the movement of the music. We saw that every year until I was about 7 or 8 and then they started allowing our children's choir to sing on the sides. It was exciting. I have also performed for the tree lighting on the Marietta Square, down town Powder Springs, and the televised tree lighting show which I believe was on Thanksgiving day at Lenex Mall. My Dad does not always enjoy decorating for Christmas, but he is the BEST as surprises... he calls it the "fake and go". He would buy jewelry for my mother and wrap it in a huge box with towels so that she would never guess what was really in the box. One year he huge a diamond necklace on the tree (it mixed in with all of the ornaments and lights) and when she opened her gift it lead her on the hunt all over the house and then eventually back to the tree. She gazed at the tree for a while before she spotted it and then she completely FREAKED OUT. I love those memories. I want to make great family traditions with my family of three. It's hard to in a way because we travel so much over almost all holidays. We are blessed with 3 grandmothers who are alive and well and still host BIG family get together. I guess attending big meals and parties IS our tradition ever since we got married. Christmas should be even more fun for our son this year... he was only 4 & 1/2 months old last year and really enjoyed the tissue paper then the gifts. He'll be 16 months old and lovin' it all!!! He's getting an ELMO and a slide and all kinds of things that will truly make him light up!
How we love to give good gifts to our children. How much more will our heavenly Father give us the Holy Spirit, as a gift, if we ask Him.
Merry Christmas to come... Many Blessings!
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Friday, November 28, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving
I stayed up the night before making two huge green bean casseroles for the two meals we were attending. I ended up not feeling well and not sleeping well the night before, but all in all, it was a great holiday.
My husband's grandmother lives on a farm. Our little guy got to see a cow, a horse, a dog, and ride on a Power Wheels Jeep with another 2nd cousin buddy who is about to turn three. Then we went to my Mom's family get together just to say hello in passing (but not to eat again). Our little guy was most interested in playing football with the big boys! And he got to swing and try some home made pumpkin pie! He loved the pie!! Last, we went to a big family dinner on my Dad's side of the family. My Grandmother has 4 kids, 9 grand kids, and now has 4 great-grand babies and counting. We enjoyed seeing everyone. One of the cousins brought their new chocolate lab puppy and out little guy really enjoyed seeing him. They also had a pool table, which meant he got to play with a new kind of ball and they had a little in door slide! After eating WAY TOO MUCH through out the day... and seeing just about everyone who loves him... he was ready to come on home. We were all sleepy and it was not even 7pm yet. We watched some semi-cheesy, "B" Christmas movie, on ABC Family and then went to bed.
It really was a great day!!!
I have a post from last year's Thanksgiving that was crazy... Happy Thanksgiving ...because my little guy was a newborn and I did not have my act together. Read it when you have time. = )
I'll close this post with a list of
the things I'm very thankful for:
-that Jesus loves me and pursues me
-my husband and my sweet 15 month old son
-my family (as in my real family)
-my church family, alpha family, and mom's playgroup family
-the new found hope God has so faithfully renewed
-extra family time around the holidays
-being a mom
-great deals
-my 1st year of business
-God's faithfulness and constant provision
Sunday, November 23, 2008
My New Blog
Thursday, November 20, 2008
boys against block towers
my husband built the tall tower inside the gatemust knock down block tower
Victory!
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Happy 15 Month Birthday!!
sweet love
Month 14 Highlights:
-can point to all of Noah's animals correctly
-learning so much more from reading (a lot) with us
-you got taller
-2nd time in the Fall Costume Parade
-more discipline issues... testing and learning
-saying "no" a lot
-putting words together.... "no, take it out" "I get that" "I got car, vroom-vroom" "thank you" "that please" (said: "dat peas") "no that"
-size 18 mo clothes / size 6 & 1/2 shoes / still size 4 diapers
-the best toys are not toys: coat hanger, paint stick, plastic hanger, hair brush, cans of food, boxes, sticks, Daddy's big shoe, paint brush, mom's cell phone, and more
-first time on antibiotics (ear infection), sick this month off and on -- but all better now!!
-stayed home a lot more
-played on the back porch for the first time, hung light with Daddy, & read books with Mama on the little sofa
-no new teeth this month... still just 8
-Still nursing - Eating well most of the time: loves crackers (kak kak's), now eats cheese, still eats almost anything green but does not like things that are orange, loves spaghetti sauce, still likes Yo Baby and we've started drinking it thru a straw, loves an apple, but not cut up.... still loves black olives and cheerios!
-Entertainment News: introduced Winnie the Pooh & he likes it, got a new ELMO DVD from KK and he LOVES it... brings me the DVD box and kisses it and begs "peas, peas" to watch it 18x
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
My Pregnancy Journal
You are 15 month old tomorrow!
Here's a look back...
I'm also posting My Pregnancy Journal from BabyZone.com in honor of our friends who just had their baby girl tonight http://thegladieuxs.blogspot.com/ So click on the link and read my journal and see my baby belly over a year ago!
Let me know what you think...
Saturday, November 15, 2008
My odd week Update
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Hope... posted by YOU
1.) Good Mom, Bad Mom, Good Mom...
posted Oct. 8 by: It's A Wonderful Wyatt Life
2.) HE KNOWS HER NAME - KAIRA
posted Nov.3 by: OUT OF DEEP WATERS
3.) Onward to Becoming - Part 3
posted Oct. 28 by: Becoming Me
4.) 2 months=)
posted Oct. 19 by: letters to catherine
5.) Transformation.....
posted Oct 1. by: Life at K -Homes!
These are worth the time to blog around and check out!!
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Hope... Even
when the world seems uncertain.
when life is moving and you feel you don't have control.
(i shot this photo at Berry Patch Farms)
No matter who our next president is... No matter what is going on with the economy... No matter how stressed you have felt this past week...
Jesus Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords!
He is the one in our drivers seat and he is fully in control.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Hope, from a dear friend
Lamentations 3 21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: 22 Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24 I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." 25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; 26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
Psalm 34 17 The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. 18 The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
2 Corinthians 4 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
15 All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
You are such a special creation. God has blessed you with so many gifts that you have used for Him and that He will continue to use through you. I know that this season of being a mom is tough. It is a constant shaping of ourselves and a constant opportunity to serve. Be encouraged! He has loved you with an everlasting love!!! In Christ, Kelly
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
A Hope Post
This one is from Pastor Mark Nysewander (the auther of No More Spectators, Spiritual DNA, and several other titles).
What is something in your personal life you hope will be different a year
from now?
Pastor Mark’s message this week about hope was taken from I Cor. 15: 20-28. In this massage,Paul gives us a picture of hope – a hope for the present as well as a hope for the future. No other religion has this kind of hope. How does hope (or the lack thereof) affect how we live? This passage is not the easiest chapter in the Bible to understand;so read through it, and then discuss these three statements about our hope.
1. We hope in a God of ever-increasing transformation.God is taking what we see now and in waves of transformation is making something new.Some people are hoping in escape–looking at creation and its problems and wanting to get away from it. However, God is not finished with this creation. Jesus’ resurrection from the dead is testimony that God wants to bring heaven and earth together.Are you hoping for escape, or are you believing in transformation? How do your beliefs affect your actions, your marriage, your family, etc.? God wants us to believe Him for more.
2. We hope in a God of ever-increasing breakthrough. In v. 22-24,we see a series of resurrections.First is the resurrection of Jesus. Next is the resurrection of believers when Jesus returns.Then, there is the resurrection of the earth at the end of this age. Many Christians want to rely on themselves (through education, technology, etc.) for change in their own lives and in their communities.What do you rely on for change in your life? Are you depending on your education,accomplishments, or other people?
3. We hope in a God of ever-increasing partnership.God still wants people to have authority over creation.Some Christians want to let God do everything because they believe we’re not worthy to be involved (fatalism).But, God wants us to partner with Him. We must partner with God for our families, our church, our community, etc.This partnership gives us incredible hope! Do you see this kind of partnership in other religions? Why does God want to partner with us – why does He even bother? We have a God who deeply loves us – there is none like our God!
If you click the title of this post it will take you to an audio podcast of the sermon.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Happy 14 Month Birthday
Month 13 Highlights:
-26.3lbs, 33", size 6&1/2 shoe (fully walking now & running!!)
-Lots of reading... The Going to Bed Book, Things That Go, ELMO, Noah's Crew Came Two By Two
-Lots of watching ELMO (we also watch Baby Einstein, Let's Make Music, & Winny the Pooh)
-Shots (yuck!!)
-More words and more communication
Cookie= Cook Cracker=Kak Kak Cow=Cah & Moo Owl=ahwl
and more... "all done", "up", "out"... Juice="Joo"...
(these are just the new words he's added this month to the ones he already had like "this", "that", "dog", "cat", "sock"...etc...)
-Loves learning about animals
-Good eater, kinda on a green food kick, still nursing
-Pumpkin Patch (it was fun to see you walk & point)
-Shakes head for "no" & "yes" (says "no" now too)
-Pretends to talk on Mama's phone
-Knows the points of his face and other body names
(eyes, nose, ears, mouth, tongue, fingers, toes, belly button, hair)
-Dances on cue w/ some new moves, including knee bending
-Stays in the nursery some/more now than than he had in the past & does well
-Very sweet personality... shares, thoughtful, compassionate, still does sign for "please"
-His favorite time of the day is seeing "Daa" at the door coming home from work
-LOVES to brush his teeth and LOVES the toothbrush from Grandma!!
-Loves bath time
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
Bonus Quirks
1.) Twirling my hair and often touching it to my lips.
2.) I strongly dislike feet. I don't really like my own and I don't want anyone elses' to touch me. I do not like to pick up dirty socks. If one drops from the pile, I'll use something else (a shirt or a towel) to pick it up with and tuck it into the pile. Especially if the dirty socks are moist... it kind of makes me want to throw up in my mouth a little bit.
3.) I almost always consolidate trash after eating or while cooking. If I'm at Chick-fil-A, I'll end up stuffing all napkins, sauce containers, straw wrappers, and any other trash into the bag that my sandwich came in. In middle school I would use the milk carton to stuff all of my trash into. My aunt remembers everyone waiting on me at Miss Winners because I had to carefully fold the hand wipe back the way it was before I used it and return it to it's pouch before throwing it away. I also do this with gum wrappers. I don't like things that won't fold, like my granola bar wrappers, so I am forced to tie them in a knot. I do this folding and stuffing without thinking about it. Clean up - Clean up.
4.) Cans... I'd like to post about Cans. (you know, food cans) My father writes the price he paid for that can, on the can, with a marker. He will use that price to bargain shop the same item once he uses it. My husband, on the other hand, washes every can before use. He fully believes that rats have run across the tops of all cans in a warehouse somewhere. He made me adopt the washing technique... a.k.a. his OCD quirk. But we have clean can lids!
Please read my original Quirk post below this one and Please leave a comment about which one is the quirkiest quirk.
Please read the folks I tagged who have also posted funny and odd quirks. (If you were not tagged and want to blog this, let me know and I'll link to you too.) Happy blogging!
Thursday, October 2, 2008
My 6 Quirks
1.) I'm very odd about germs and I do things in certain ways to avoid germs. The quirk gets even more odd because I'm not consistent... it's more of an issues w/ public germs or other people's germs. I guess I"m Ok w/ my own?!! (See past blog post: Clean and Dirty
Is is just me?)
2.) Going natural. Ever since the day I saw two lines on the pregnancy test, I sought ways to be healthy and natural. I avoided toxins, ate well, and even changed the way I cleaned the house. I had a natural (non-medicated) labor with God's help! Now that I have him -- I try to be all organic with him and choose wisely. The quirk is a quirk even more, because it's only about certain things. I still allow myself to eat at Chick-fil-A!! (See past blog post: Be a Healthy Mom
What to Inspect When You're Expecting)
3.) My house plants have a personalities (yea, I know) and they have to be in certain places and can't be moved around because they like the amount of sun they receive where they are!!
4.) I like to be outside, especially when my son wants to play, but I don't like grass to touch my skin. Itchy!!
5.) I do not like turtlenecks and will not wear them. In fact I have an intense dislike for anything to touch my neck or to feel tight around my neck. I can't breath. But please don't use this information against me!
6.) I love hand-sanitizer, Neosporin, and eating breakfast cereal as often as possible.
Passing it on... Chip was already tagged... I tag
1.)Writefully So POSTED Quirks!!
2.)Zambia Mom
3.)Chronicles of a New Mom (who may not do this right away because she just had #2 - check out newborn photos)
4.)Wyatt Mom of 3 (who may not do this right away because she just had baby #3 - check out newborn photos)
5.)I should be doing laundry POSTED Quirks!!
6.)Mother to Many, Tammy POSTED Quirks!!
Link to me and Be sure to leave a comment when you stop by!
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
Happy 13 Month Birthday!
Happy 13 Month Birthday little guy!!!
We love you SO much!
Highlights from Month 12:
- Walking well (trying to run)
- Able to stand up w/o pulling up
- Your birthday party (parties)
- More communication
- Wanting to read books all of the time (and points things out)
- Going to see your aunt at UA and going to your 1st College Game
- Interacting with family and being the life the get together's
- Another tooth (3rd top tooth)
- Obsession with our ELMO movie (Elmo; The Great Outdoors)
- Dancing (on cue)
- 26 lbs / size 5-51/2 shoes
- Knows eyes, nose, ears, mouth, tongue, toes
- 1st time to the North GA State Fair
Highlights from Month 11:
- Talking and communication increased
- Learning to Walk
- Walking
- 31 " tall / size 12 month clothes
- Learning GOOD/SWEET and NOT SWEET (and sorta testing it out)
- Love for our ELMO movie (Elmo; The Great Outdoors)
- Watches TV: ELMO, Super Why, Word World, Backyardigans, Mickey Mouse Club House, Sesame Street, and I hate to admit it... but, Telletubbies too
- Learning to dance and loving music even MORE