Family Portraits

My sister took some family portraits for us while we were at my parents' house as well. We didn't have any "good" pictures of the whole family - or at least not since I lost my baby weight. She did a great job. I want to print and frame all of them!!! Thanks, Bamie - we love you and your skills :) The quilt is a family heirloom made by my great, great grandmother (I think - mom, correct me if I'm wrong)! Not exactly something we picnic on - ever :) But it took fantastic pictures and then was carefully put back  in it's place! 

And an out take, just for kicks :) AKA: Real life!

7 Month Pictures

My sister took Miles's 7 month pictures while we were at my parents' house for Christmas. They turned out so well! I love all of them :) Here are some of the best!

This was his dedication outfit. I made it. It was getting small, but I wanted a picture of him sitting up in it! Love this. 

Look at those eyelashes!!!

I love this boy! He has changed my life, and I am thankful :)

8 Months Old

Dear Miles, 
I'm writing this, and you're about 8.5 months old, so I'm having to think back to what you were up to last month! It was a busy month because it was full of our Christmas holidays, and boy did we have fun! We celebrated your first Christmas in Madison, AL at our home. Santa came to see you and brought you some fun toys and some stuff you needed too - like a sippy cup and toothbrush! We love how interactive you are becoming. You're really starting to show your personality. You like to be busy right there beside your big brother, and you're rolling over from all sides and starting to crawl no, so you try to keep up as much as possible. He is getting used to having you there playing with you. He doesn't really share toys with you yet, but he's learning to share his space with you - that's a start! He does make sure that you have some of your toys to play with though. He knows which ones are yours and which ones are his. 

Here's your 8 month picture: 

Here's you and your dog. You were not interested in having your picture taken. You're much too busy for that kind of nonsense these days :)

Here's a picture of you and your brother (29 mos) with your favorite person - DADDY!

You guys are really starting to play now that you are crawling some. He's figuring out that you're not boring because you've started moving around and playing with things along with him. You guys are going to be good friends! 

Here are some of the things we did this month: 

• You enjoyed your very first Christmas morning!!!

• We went to Auburn & Waverly for the Family Christmases.

• We went to see the lights at Calloway Gardens. You loved it, but you fell asleep in mommy's arms before it was over! 

• You got sick while we were in Auburn, so we had to go to the dr. there on New Year's Eve. You had RSV so we rung in the new year at Nana and Papa J's house with a quiet evening of rest and relaxation. 

• Aunt Bamie took your 6  7 month pictures, and they are fantastic. Here are some of my favorites! 

I'm posting more in a later post!

Here are some things you are doing now: 

• You lost a little weight while you were sick...you were 18lbs. 3oz. last time they checked...and 28.5 inches long!
• You nurse about 4 times a day.
• You have 3 teeth! 

• You sleep about 9 hours every night, then nurse (around 4), then sleep another 3 or so...
• You take two naps a day. Morning nap is usually about an hour and a half and afternoon nap is usually 2-3 hours. 
• You still like to chew your thumb, and EVERYTHING ELSE! 

• You can now roll from your back to stomach.
• You are crawling, and you are wanting to pull up on things - you lift one arm in the air to let  me know you want up. 

• You talk some, but most of the time you're listening to what's going on around you! 
• You think your grandmama's little dog, Bella, is the FUNNIEST THING! She's just your size. 

• You ABSOLUTELY LOOOOOVE your brother, and you will smash yourself up next to him any chance you get. You try to always be where he is now that you are starting to crawl.

• You try to hold your sippy cup, but you don't tilt it back yet. 

Here is your typical schedule...

4:00am - Nurse then back to sleep
7:00am - Wake up / Nurse / Breakfast Babyfood (fruit or oatmeal) then Play
8:45 - 9am - Naptime

11:00am - Nurse then Play
11:30 - Lunch Babyfood (veggie) when brother eats then play
1:00 pm - Nurse & Naptime
4:00-5pm - Mealtime (Nurse & Fruit or Veggie) then Waketime
7:30pm - Bathtime (on bath nights) / Nurse / Bed
REPEAT...

We are having a pretty laid back month next month, so I'm excited to get you back home and into a good routine. You thrive on routine, and so do I! You are growing up so fast. I can't believe your first year is 2/3 of the way over.

Love,
Mommy

PS. This is what your brother did when he was 8 months old. 

If You Can't Say Something Nice...Resolve Not To

You know the old saying - "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." Well, I'm taking it on as my New Years online resolution. You see, I've gotten into the bad habit of airing my emotions over the phone or online - to the world - rather than taking them to God. For some reason, I feel like if I air my frustrated and (for lack of a better word) icky feelings about my day/kids/self/health/situation on my blog or facebook then I should feel better - especially if lots of people encourage me through comments - right?!?! Wrong. I'm here to tell you that it does not make you feel better to make your facebook status relate to the world that you are having a bad day or to call your mom/husband and cry that they are not there to help. So here it is: my New Years resolution is to take all of my icky feelings to the Lord first - he sees - he cares - he wants to hear - and he's in control, so he can help. Does that mean you won't ever hear of any difficulties in my life again? Probably not. I like transparency. My goal is to stop crying out to the world while I am in the middle of something rather than crying out to my God. The key is for me to go to him first!

So this morning when my 8 month old who is of course on a fantastic schedule as every 8 month old should be  totally and completely unpredictable in the mornings screamed bloody murder for 2.5 hours despite everything that I could possibly think of...I had LOTS of icky feelings....LOTS. So I put him in his crib (after checking him thoroughly), got in the shower, and WEPT before the Lord. WEPT. When was the last time you wept before the Lord? It feels pretty good. I must confess that I would normally call my mom or husband weeping or get on facebook and rashly type out something to make people feel sorry for me. It may seem like that is what I'm currently doing, but I'm not. The situation is over, and I'm here to tell you that after I had fallen on my face before my God, I had an overwhelming sense of peace. Praise his Name! I love my God, and I love that he cares enough to fill me with peace during a time that I had none. Thank you Lord, I'll be back soon :) Do you have icky feelings you need to take to God? As my mom always tells me: "He can handle it."

"Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall."  Psalm 55:22 "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."  Matthew 11:28-30

7 Months Old

Dear Miles, 
Well, the ENT said you didn't need tubes. You must have just had a really bad ear infection that wouldn't go away. He said you were good to go, and your ears have been all good this past month. Hurray!!! Then, you got a cough - it woke you up almost every morning and made you spit up much more than usual, but that's clearing up too. Maybe your next month will be all healthy. Enough about that. We've had a fun month, and you have become such a little clown! You LOVE to laugh :) You are super ticklish too! You are becoming more involved because you can really sit up well now and you're really reaching and grabbing for things. Carter is having to learn how to share with you. You are also eating lots more now! You want to eat when we eat - you've definitely figured that system out! 

Here are your 7 month pictures:

You're such a little ham!

Here's you and your dog under the Christmas tree!

Here's a picture of you and your brother - he's 28 months old. You guys did so well with Santa.

He's having a hard time learning to share with you, but he likes to help you out. He likes to try to give you YOUR toys (not his), and he likes to feed you. You guys are starting to play together some...I love it!

Here are some of the things we did this month: 

• We took you on your first bike ride. I wouldn't say you really liked it quite yet, but it was a good first experience!

• We went to Lake Wedowee to celebrate Thanksgiving with family.

• We also went to the Farm in Wedowee to celebrate Thanksgiving some more. 

• We went went to the tree farm and picked out our Christmas tree. 

• We decorated our Christmas tree. 

• Grandmama and Nana came to visit to help me get the rest of the house decorated and all my shopping done. They took great care of you boys for me! 
• We went to a Christmas Parade - you sad in my lap on the back of Daddy's truck. 

• We went to go see Santa! You sat on his lap and held TIGHT to his beard. I think you were checking to see if it was real :)

Here are some things you are doing now: 

• You weigh 18lbs. 8oz. (50th) and 28 inches long (90th)!
• You nurse about 5 times a day.
• You have 2 teeth! 

• You are eating milk, baby food, oatmeal, teething cookies, puffs, etc... 

• You sleep about 10 hours every night. You still love to go to sleep at night.
• You take two naps a day. Morning nap is usually about an hour and afternoon nap is usually 2-3 hours. 
• You still like to chew your thumb like a fish hook. Grandmama found this picture of Granddaddy when he was little - I guess it's hereditary. 

• You can sit up on your own! 
• You roll from your stomach to your back.
• You can transition from sitting to your hands and knees. You're going to be crawling soon.

• You love to reach for things. You make a huge effort to get to things that are out of reach. You will fall on your face to get to something! 
• You love to laugh. You're really ticklish.
• You still like your bouncer, but you're getting more independent and want to be down on the floor with your brother playing.
• You try to hold your bottle. 
• You like to pound on things with your fists - your high chair, the floor, people who are holding you :)

Here is your typical schedule...this is getting to be more and more routine - yay for routine :)

6:30am - Wake up and Nurse
7:00am - Breakfast Babyfood (fruit or oatmeal) then Play
8:45 - 9am - Naptime

10:00am - Nurse then Play
11:30 - Lunch Babyfood (veggie) when brother eats then play
1:00 pm - Nurse & Naptime 
4:00-5pm - Mealtime (Nurse & Fruit or Veggie) then Waketime 
7:30pm - Bathtime (on bath nights) / Nurse / Bed
REPEAT...

I'm so excited about watching you on your first Christmas morning...you're going to love all that wrapping paper!!!

Love,
Mommy

PS. This is what your brother did when he was 7 months old. 

Merry Christmas!

I really have no idea if I'll have any time to post many stories or pictures during this Christmas season - it's pretty full. I need to post Miles's 7th month post - yes, he's 7 months already, but I'm not sure when I'll be getting to that. All of that to say, I wanted to blog and tell all of you who read this blog that I hope you have a very Merry Christmas!!! May God's gift of salvation through the life, death and resurrection of his precious baby boy, Jesus bring you true joy throughout this season and into the new year! 

Also, a little spoiler picture from Santa's village, and the FIRST picture we've ever been able to get of Carter and Santa together! I'm not sure Carter knows exactly who Santa is...I think he thinks he's the clown from Jesus's birthday party, and he asked him for...cookies :) I love 2 year olds! I'll post more when I have time (it might be January)!