Rawr.

Just in case you were wondering who the cutest dinosaur was this Halloween... look no further.

Drool and all.  Next year I'll share my chocolate with you, baby boy.

Dear Jude :: 7 months

Guess who is 7 months old?  You'll never believe it.

 You are {still} SO much fun and on the move!!  You so badly want to crawl and climb on things, and you are close!  One of these days you're just going to take off!

You are SO goofy and love getting a laugh out of whoever is around.  You have gotten more snuggly as you get older {which mama loves!} and give kisses regularly.  You also have started to give "high fives", but sometimes you are shy about your new skills.

You are now taking a solid two naps a day.  You can stay awake 3-4 hours at a time now {although you get kinda crank when we get close to that 4 hour mark}. You eat 4 times a day, and still have one feeding at night.  After your 6 month pediatrician appointment, we realized you may not be gaining as much weight as you need to be (only gained 3 pounds between 2 and 6 months!).  So now you get at least two 8 oz. bottles a day of breastmilk mixed with formula, and nurse the rest.  You still love your solids and have started drinking from a sippy cup from time to time.  You do best with the ones with a straw.

Monkey face?

You love sitting {which you do great now!} and playing with your stacking cups or your play toolbench.  You still love going for walks and playing with Daddy and Macy.  You love standing and bouncing like crazy.  You sure are a bouncing baby boy!  

 

Mamaw and Papaw have been staying with us this month until they buy a house.  And last week Aunt Krista and Uncle Ben visited!  They were so excited to see how big you've gotten!

Love you more than anything, little mister!

Love, Mama

Twenty-seven.

Twenty-six is going to be hard to top.  My twenty-sixth year was one of the best of my life.  

It started with me finding out shortly after I turned 26 that we were going to be having a sweet baby boy.

 

We spent the rest of the year dreaming of our sweet boy, picking out his name, decorating his nursery, and praising God for this precious gift!  

Then, on March 28, my world changed more than I ever could have imagined as I met this little guy. 

Pure love.

The past 7 months have been a whirlwind.  Somewhere along the way that little baby turned into this sweet boy.

And now it is my job and hearts desire to be his mommy and raise him to glorify the Lord!  

My boys.

So, as you can see, twenty-six was pretty great.  But, as of yesterday, I have logged twenty-seven years in the books of life.  I can't wait to see what memories will be created in the next twelve months.

Happy Birthday to me!

Recovering... and on the move!

We've been sick over here.

And tired.

My poor sweet boy caught a horrible cold about a week ago.  Complete with a snot crusted face, coughing attacks in the middle of the night, and horrible horrible sleep.  Oh, did I mention, we hardly slept?  I have never been so tired.  Even as a newborn, Jude slept better than when he was sick. 

Little sicky... hanging out in our PJ's.

And then Jordan and I caught it.  But now we are all recovering and trying to get back to life as usual. 

While this sickness left me feeling like I was hit by a bus, it sure didn't slow Jude down.  This boy is bound and determined to crawl.

How did I get out here?

 Diaper changes have become more challenging, as this boy does NOT want to be on his back, but rather on his belly moving moving moving!  Right now he ends up going backwards frequently and often resorts to rolling toward his destination. 

I give him until Thanksgiving to perfect it.  Which means it is time to babyproof!

Pin-spiration

Are all of you on Pinterest?  I sure hope so!  As if I didn't need another website to steal my time away, Pinterest is one of my favorites.  It is great for inspiration, but also for categorizing things like ideas for home, recipes, gift ideas, and more!

Today I'm doing a "Pinterest Dump" of sorts of some of my favorite little quotes I've pinned and found encouraging and inspirational.  Enjoy!

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On that note... enjoy this beautiful Wednesday!

Indian Summer

What do you do when it is 80 degrees in October in Michigan?

You spend time with your favorite boys and breathe in some fresh air.

{and wear jeans in the 80 degree heat because you haven't shaved your legs... since it isn't summer anymore yaknow?}

I LOVE that we love so close to so many awesome trails.  Saturday night we took off and hit Kent Trails near Millennium Park.  I so look forward to someday taking that trail to the Zoo with Jude.

Then, on Sunday, Jordan and I had a little family picnic {and by picnic, I mean we drank some yummy earl gray} in our backyard and enjoyed making more memories with our little man.

What a blessed life!  We will have to remember these days come February and we are snowed in. :-)

Big boy things.

Apparently, when you turn 6 months old, you get to do even more big boy things.

Like swing at the playground.

I don't know when he got so big.  I swear we just came home from the hospital yesterday.

A Confession: The green-eyed monster.

Confession time.

Lately I've been battling the green-eyed-monster.  You know the one.

 

I know you all have read this.  Brother Bear gets a new bike (and many other things if I remember) for his birthday, and Sister Bear can't quite handle it.  Yes, I'm talking about envy... jealousy.  It is a basic lesson in children's books, but I think this is very prevalent in our world today... but unfortunately we don't often talk about it.  We are bombarded every day with images in front of us of things that we need.  Or just things that we think we deserve.  Things that are better than what we have.

It is easy to get caught up in discontentment.  We start complaining about what we have.  We become ungrateful.  We make impulsive decisions.  And we aren't satisfied.  

{Or maybe it's just me?}

So, I am battling this like Sister Bear.  Only for me, it isn't a bike.  Lately, I caught myself having house envy... big time.  I've been struggling with this and praying about it for the past few months.  There are many things about my home that I would change and I flat out do not like.  I'm not going to list them here, because that would totally defeat the purpose of this post.  But I have had a hard time dealing with the fact that I feel stuck in a house that I feel we can't grow into.  It is very possible we will have 2-3 kids in this house.  Why is this such a touchy subject for me?

It's a destructive mindset.  And it is one that I must stop in its tracks.  I think envy is a sneaky little sly way for the enemy to get into our mind.  We start to become ungrateful and stop thanking the Lord for what we've been given.  This isn't about a bigger or better house.  Yes, our house is small.  Yes, having 3 kids in it would be crowded.  But it isn't anything that hasn't been done before.  And we probably will move someday.  But this envy thing.  This is about the state of my heart.

I am saying this because I don't like myself when I am in the habit of complaining and being discontent.  I don't like my heart and my mind, and I know the Lord doesn't either.  He asks me to refuse the world and to have my mind be renewed in Him.  Dwelling on uplifting things.  Building people up.  Being grateful.

There are greater things at stake here.  In this verse in Hebrews, it is clear that the Lord is saying that all we need is him... we can be content with the rest.  Money buys things... things that are just temporary.  And money in and of itself isn't bad, but the love of it and envy of those who have it... well, you cannot love God and money both {matt 6:24}.

There are better things to focus my energy on.  Like all of the fun, creative, things I am going to do with my boy in this house.  And the ways we have been blessed with this house.  Like the awesome trail that leads to the park by my house.  And the fact that this is a house that we can afford on one income.  We've been blessed in that way {even though we totally did not have a family on the brain when we bought it}.

And now that I am a stay-at-home-mama, I'm going to have to keep that Hebrews verse close to my heart.  Money won't be as available.  I will need to reign in my impulsiveness and practice patience and contentment.  Thanking God for what we've been given. 

Because we have a good great incredible life.  And an awesome little house I can't wait to create more memories in.

Our house in 2007 when we first bought it.

We are blessed!!