Project 52: THIRTEEN

In a week, we'll head down to the hill country for Easter. I was just afraid the bluebonnets would be past their prime by then. So when my dear friend Brianne called, asking if I wanted to take bluebonnet pics with her and her daughter, I accepted! We invited a couple more new mommies to come, too.

Wednesday morning was a little crazy trying to all get our kids fed, dressed, and out the door, but we did it! The weather was perfectly overcast, and the pictures turned out great! I hope this can be an annual thing with my friends.

And who doesn't love a shirtless overall picture?

Well, on babies...not on grown-ups like this:

photo credit

birthday week!

This week has been so much fun! I have been busily surrounded by friends, and we've done fun things all week. I'm sure I'll need a month to recover. As much as I thrive on lots of activity, I have also come to enjoy being at home. Garrett has been a trooper, but I know he probably needs some rest, too.

So, in pictures, here are the highlights from this week:

1. Breakfast with my boys at Cafe Brazil

 2. Arboretum with sweet friends

 3. Sharing birthday cake at Tuesday Night Dinner

 4. My new teapot!

 5. Bluebonnet pictures at 8am!

 6. Visiting the zoo with my cousins

 7. Garrett's constant grin at the zoo

 8. Tara!

 9. Jessica!

 10. Eric taking a day off to come to the zoo with us

I'd say this was a pretty great birthday! To see more, check out the facebook album.

Friday evening in pictures

Project 52: TWELVE

I have three groups to which I am accountable. Some may say this is overkill, but for me, each of these groups serves a different purpose in my life. Please don't read this as, "Look at me! I'm SO wonderful because I have all of this and I'm being accountable! Woohoo!" Instead, my *intention* here is to share that I NEED these people in my life to encourage me. It's completely selfish. :)

The Sassy Seven - These are my friends from college. We have struggled through so much together. We have shared joys, pain, elation, sadness, giggles, and hurt feelings. We will always be best friends. We *try* to get together once a year. The Texas girls try to get together whenever possible. Three of us live in the same area, and we always should do a better job of seeing each other. This year, we have brought back our "update emails." So, for sure, once a month, I know what is going on with these girls.

My Girls - Every Wednesday night before our respective small groups, I meet with five other girls to share what is going on in our lives, confess to each other, and pray for each other. We have known each other for over six years when we all met in the Singles' group at our church. This group is where I feel very comfortable sharing my struggles, as they go to the Lord on my behalf each week. Intentionally we meet together, coming from work and going straight to small groups. We carve out time because this is a priority.

My Married Girlfriends - There are four of us in this group. We "meet" in a conference call on Friday mornings at 5:30am (eek!). Talk about intentional! Whew. That is early, especially since three of us are new moms (and those middle-of-the-night feedings at the beginning didn't exactly line up with the call most of the time). This group is my Scripture study group. We have a book we work through every day during the week, and on Fridays, we get together and talk about it. We also share something good from our lives and a prayer request we have for others and for ourselves. We share about our marriages, our kids, and trying to figure out who WE are in the midst of life.

I hope each of these groups is okay with me sharing about them... I don't think I said anything too incriminating!

These girls make me want to be a better friend, wife, mother, and person. These girls make me want to ask questions, study Scripture, and stay with it. These girls help me think about my sins and faults and make me want to do something about it.

It's hard to confess. It's hard to show faults. It's hard to read Scripture and listen and wait. It's hard to wake up early. There's so much going on that it's hard to sit and think and pray.

But I try to do it anyway.

And these girls help me.

Sundays are hard.

The last Sunday that we took Garrett to church went horribly.

(Keep in mind he was sick one week, and quarantined the next week for good measure.)

We didn't have a plan for his naps.

We didn't have a plan for his meals.

(Me? Not have a plan? What was I thinking?)

This is how that Sunday evening looked at our house:

He was wearing one sock,

sitting on the counter (um, we NEVER feed him here!),

eating sweet potato (his favorite) out of his bib.

He just wanted to go to bed. He had missed two of his three naps that day, 

which resulted in a very cranky little boy.

Today, I knew we needed a plan. 

How was G going to get some sleep during the day?

How were we going to feed him around the times of day I always feed him?

How were Eric and I going to still fulfill our responsibilities at church (Eric counts the congregation and I sing on the worship team)?

We decided to use our amazing church nursery.

He slept for 30 minutes (that he slept at all in this new place was shocking to me)!

The lovely ladies fed him his bottle and his lunch (even though we forgot to give them a bib...hopefully Spray and Wash will work...).

Eric and I were able to count and sing.

He did great!

I was a total wreck. 

I cried and had to "take a moment" during class.

I was not expecting to be emotional, and it totally caught me off guard. 

I had better start preparing myself now for when he goes off to kindergarten.

It's video time!

Guess who is crawling:

Guess who is talking more:

Guess who has his first tooth?!

I totally forgot to include that HUGE milestone in his 6 month write-up. About a week before his half-birthday, Garrett woke up twice in the night screaming! I couldn't settle him down at all. I finally nursed him and that helped. I thought he was having trouble sleeping because we were out late for small group the night before. A few days later, I let him chew on my hand like I sometimes do, and I felt a very sharp tooth! It had already come through the gums. I'm guessing it came in during the night of screaming.

I was hoping we would have a little more time before the teeth came in, but, alas, no.

Guess who is delirious at night:

...and then turns into a vampire at the end.

Project 52: ELEVEN

It's Spring Break.

For my whole life (except for living abroad), I have had a Spring Break.

Well, I don't this year.

After I got over myself (ahem, Monday was a particularly difficult day),

I decided to do spring-time things.

Spring cleaning, tackle my to-do list, trim the hedges outside...

...and see my sister!

We have spent many Spring Breaks together,

but it just wasn't seeming to happen this time.

We were both sad.

So, we did something about it.

Last night, Jenny (Aunt Poopie) and Mike met up with Eric, Garrett, and me.

Auntie Anne got to join us last minute as well!

The plans were made that day to meet half way for dinner.

With a little one, this was really hard.

Bedtime was shot. Sleeping in the car didn't exactly go as smoothly as I had hoped.

He still woke up at 6 this morning (the paci held him off til 7, thankfully).

But it was worth it.

We had a great time at a very random, understaffed restaurant. :)

Garrett did very well.

I really enjoyed seeing my sister.

...and G is sleeping SO well for his first nap today (go figure!).

Yay.

project 52: TEN

Parenting is hard. I think being intentional means chilling out a little bit...a lesson I'm always trying to learn.

the reason I bought a DSLR camera...

Embrace the Camera

G-man has good ol' RSV (aka, a cold). So I'm "Embracing" with my little guy and the breathing machine. He does really well with it. Poor thing.

6 month update

STATS:

• Length - 28 1/2 inches (still off the charts)
• Weight - 18 1/2 pounds (70%ile)
• Head Circumference - 17 1/2 inches (70%ile)
• You wear 9-12 month onesies, tops, and sleepers (which you can find in the TODDLER section of the store...seriously?), and 6-9 month pants.

EATING:

• You nurse 5 times a day. We dropped the late night feed this month, and you have done very well with it. With the addition of solids, I think we'll move to 4 nursing sessions 4 hours apart soon.
• You LOVE food. After switching to oatmeal as your main grain, you have added the following: banana, sweet potato, avocado, butternut squash, pears, and green beans. 
• You eat three meals a day.
• You are doing well with keeping your hands on your tray while Daddy or I feed you. We're working on no spitting during dinner...
• You grimaced at avocado at first because we were at a restaurant and ran out of sweet potato...I guess I'd grimace, too, if I were expecting sweet potato and got avocado. But you love it now.
• You liked green beans at lunch the first day you tried them, but hated them at dinner! Daddy was able to get you to eat them. :) You like them again, though.
• The spit up is almost non-existent! (I never thought that day would come!) I no longer have to carry a burp cloth with me at all times.
• You no longer have "growth spurt" days. You were just hungry. I guess you were ready for solids after all.

PLAYING:

• You play independently for 20-25 minutes once a day (I'm working on getting you to do it twice...) in your pack and play. I try to keep the toys rotated so you don't get bored. I am so impressed by how you can concentrate on playing for so long by yourself! Plus, it lets me get some things done around the house. :)
• After you nurse, you want to read! The books are by the glider in your room and you always reach for them instead of trying to burp. 
• If there is a book around, you will get to it over any of your toys...even the light-up ball!
• You finally became comfortable with our library play group...meaning you didn't spit up every minute.

SLEEPING:

• Your bedtime needs to be 7pm for you to get the most sleep possible. You'll go 11 1/2 hours at night, usually. 
• Tuesdays and Wednesdays are really difficult, as we have dinner group and small group, respectively. No matter when you go to bed, you wake up around 6:45. So, if we get home late and put you to bed, the next day you are more fussy and don't nap as well. 
• You still take 3 naps a day, and soon, I think you'll move down to 2 longer naps. Your naps increase in length as the day goes on. Your first nap is just over an hour, your second nap is 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours, and your third nap is almost always 2+ hours. 
• I need to do a better job having you nap in your pack and play occasionally. You do really well in your room.

Max and Garrett, together again!

NEW MILESTONES:

• You crawl. Well, you do "the worm." You'll get up on all fours, lunge forward, and repeat to get to what you want (namely, the computer when we're skyping with family). UPDATE: as of last night, you moved your right leg forward and your left arm forward. How do you know to do this? (Video to come soon...)
• You eat 3 meals a day and are adventurous in trying whatever we shove in your mouth. 
• You say the following consonants regularly: "mamama," "dadada," "bababa." I don't know if you're associating "mama" and "dada" correctly, but you do seem to say "mama" when you are hungry or just wake up. Who knows?
• SICKNESS (not a milestone, but didn't fit in another category): You have had the snots and the coughs a lot this month. Today, the doctor diagnosed you with RSV. The breathing treatment at the doctor's office worked so well, and we will continue them at home (thanks to your good friend, Brylee, for letting us use her machine!). I'm glad to finally have the right medicine to make you feel better. The humidifier just wasn't cutting it.

Sweet Garrett, we love you very much. We love getting to see your personality develop. You are already pushing some of the boundaries! You are so much fun, and we thank you for being such a good sleeper. We look forward to the time change to see if you will sleep past 7:00, though! Precious boy, keep growing!

Love, Mamama and Dadada

Project 52: NINE

I'll be honest, as much as I love being outdoors (I really do),

it's hard to get out there!

I have to make sure I pack everything, lug everything, and remember the boys!

But it's worth it.

Fresh air and sunshine do a body good.

I loved the family time we had last weekend at the park.

And this week, my cousin Jessica came over with Max and we went on a walk.

I may or may not have gotten lost in my neighborhood...

I guess I need to get out more.

I really have no excuses - this weather is GORGEOUS!

...and summer will be brutal, I'm sure.

Oh, and mailpeople are really nice:

Embrace the Camera

I'm Embracing the Camera today at the park with my son. Eric and I took a family outing this weekend, and I just love this pic! He did well with his sunglasses. :) He didn't so much like the slide or the swing, though...too soon, I think.

For more Embracing, click: