Forgive me Bloggers... It's been over a month since my the last post. Wow, I'm so behind. Tons has happened since then..

We are officially moved in to our first home. Still hasn't really sunk in yet. We did make our first mortgage payment so that's helping to make it more real. We are about 80% unpacked. There are still boxes in the spare room that need to get unpacked, but you know that saying.. Out of sight, out of mind. Maybe in the next couple of weeks we will get to them. No rush..

We love it here! We are so very blessed! The house "fits" our family, if that makes sense. Been comfortable here since day one. L loves playing in the backyard and running around on the deck. Sunny days have been hit and miss here, so we haven't been out much. Bummer!

There's been other happenings that have taken me away from blogging.. Family injuries and sicknesses have been the biggest. Just in the last 3 months L has had 4 urgent care visits and 3 pedi visits. Things are starting to calm down sickness wise, thank goodness!

Can't believe that this year is almost half over. The time is just flying by. Can't wait for Christmas in our new home!

Easter Sunday

The day started like any other day around our house. The only difference was we were dressed and out of the house before 8am. Phew! We made it to church on time. Usually we don't have to leave til close to 9:30, but the Refuge did and outreach and started service early.

L looked so CUTE in his outfit. He had tons of fun at the Easter egg hunt. He didn't get the whole concept of find and egg put in the basket, repeat.. Still was fun to watch. One egg was near a flower and it took him a few tries to grab it. After falling in the dirt he managed to retrieve it. I'm bummed we didn't bring the camera or the flip. Oh well.

After L went down for a nap I went to C's parent house to help with dinner. A dinner party of 11 ish turned to a party of 4 and a child. We ended up making ham, scalloped potatoes, fruit salad, roasted veggies and rolls. Not too shabby.

Since it turned out to be a really nice day we took L outside for a mini photo shoot. He LOVES to run around outside. Doesn't really care for the grass, but had a great time running around after the basketball.

Look at what the bunny left for me!!!!!!!!

Why we've been so busy lately

I have been neglecting this blog... For good reason.

We're buying our first house!! We are so excited and so blessed. If everything goes smoothly and there aren't any major problems we should be closing by May 7th, but hope to close on April 28th.

Oh my gosh!! We are gonna be homeowners!! Can't wait to raise our son in our home!! This house just pretty much dropped into our laps. The family needs to sell the home. Our realtor is also theirs. It wasn't even placed on the market until we had a chance to have a look at it.

The home inspection, pest inspection and appraisal were all completed at the start of this week and we are now just waiting to hear how they went.

We so feel that this is the Lord working. Every door (and window) have been thrown open for us!!

Guess we'd better start packing!!!!!!

One year ago ....

This time last year, I was very pregnant and started feeling a little off. Back ache and just plain icky. Took a warm bath, but I didn't give me any relief. By 10pm, I was having, what I thought was contractions. Went online and found a site that will allow you time them (wow, it was awesome). By a little before midnight they were coming about every 3 minutes and lasting a good 45+ seconds each.

Decided I should wake my husband up (had worked a double and was SO tired) so we could head to the hospital. I'd asked so many people "How will I know I'm in labor"? Ummm, you know!! I couldn't walk and have a contractions at the same time.. Was miserable in the less than 5 minute car ride to the hospital.

So thankfully that we did the pre admit because there was NO WAY that I'd wanna stand there and sign papers. Told the front desk that I thought I was in labor. Sent to L&D. Was in this small, and I mean small room. Got hooked up to a monitor and just layed on the bed for what seemed like hours. Time gonna stands still when you're in labor. You aren't really sure about the time. Only bummer, was that there was another woman in the room with me and I was kinda nervous to be too loud with the contractions. Yeah, not really needing to be modest or thoughtful of others during that time LOL!! The poor lady got sent home and I got the room to myself. YES!! My water ended up breaking in that room and was also given my first dose of a pain med.

Was told that I was in fact in labor and about 4 centimeters. Around 2ish (I think) we moved to a real room (where I would stay for the next couple of days) Around 3am I was 6 centimeters and wanted an epidural. Epidural juice is from God, I tell ya! It made the labor process less painful and much more enjoyable for me. Thankfully my epi took really well and I pretty much felt nothing.

My sister came to the hospital after I had my epi. C's mom came around 6am. My Dr. checked me around 7 and I was progressing nicely. Checked again around 11... Was stuck at 8 centimeters and was given pitocin. Thankfully my epi was still working GREAT!

Our sweet baby boy was born at 2:04 Thursday afternoon, after about 25 minutes of pushing. He was 7 pounds and 11 ounces of perfectness. We waited SO long to finally hold him in our arms. He truly is our special gift from God. He's been an absolute JOY in our lives. He's such a good and happy baby!! We cherish each and every moment... They grow up too fast!

Monkey

There's so much to do still for the birthday party next Saturday! I could seriously go crazy if I didn't have my handy dandy notebook to jot stuff down on. Thankfully C has 3 weeks of vacation coming up so he'll be home to help me out.

Still haven't decided on all the decorations. Only thing I've got so far is stuffed monkeys and streamers. Our local party shop just got in a new monkey line and the owner told me it's CUTE. I've got a budget to stick to so I hope it's not that cute that I would feel the urge to splurge.... Unless, it's for the decor of course, or plates, or cups lol.

We're planning a taco bar. It's not L's favorite food, but it does feed lots. Already have about 20 adults and 7 kiddos coming. Wow!! All because they love our little blessing as much as we do!!

I on the search for the Runt's banana candies. Too late to order anywhere online so I hope I can find some. Have a few places to check out. The plan is to use them as a topper for the cupcakes instead of doing the monkey cupcakes with vanilla wafers. If there's no banana candy to be found, I'll most likely be slaving away making monkey cupcakes.

L's cake is going to be homemade and so cute if it turns out!!

There is SO much left to do still, to buy, to make... I can do it in a week, right?!!!

Walking is on the horizon

L's getting braver at the whole "letting go and walking" thing. About 80% of the time when he's pulled up on furniture or his toys, he'll let go and walk a few steps. It's the funniest thing! He almost looks like a robot. NOT fluid in his steps AT ALL! Guess he'll get there, one day.

His record of 5 has been pushed to the side. It's the new and improved number 7 (yay) He also loves just to stand alone.

Most of the time when he's done walking he just flops onto his belly. Must be used to all the belly flops since he crawled like a worm for over 4 months LOL!! My belly would sure hurt by the end of the day. Thank goodness that the whole spit up phase is about over with. Wonder if we should pack up the burp cloths??.... Nah, don't wanna jinx myself.

While walking (and after) he has the widest, proudest smile on his face. Such a big boy. One day soon, my almost one year old will be a walking machine. I'll saver the crawling until then.

Always tomorrow...

It's just after 9pm on Weds night. Baby's in bed and my sweetie is still at work. House is quiet.. if it were able to talk I'm sure it would be complaining about some things that need straightened up, but ya know what.... I don't care. There's more important things!

That's why there's always tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll put the laundry away, tomorrow I'll clean the refrigerator, tomorrow I'll mop... Today, I'm just going to saver every little bit I get with my little family.

One day L will be too busy to listen to his Momma read him a book, snuggle or just talk.

For now, my little one has my undivided attention and I'm A-OK with that.

My heart is feeling all nostalgic. I don't know if it's because his birthday is right around the corner or just the simple fact that he does something new almost ever hour he's awake, which brings the fact that he's growing up(too fast) to the fore front of my thoughts.

Lord, Please don't ever let me be "too busy".....

Slow down time

I can't believe that in 18 very short days, my little baby, will be a one year old. I'm not sure I can take it! I'm already getting teary eyed thinking that he will be a toddler so very soon! With each passing day, I see him spreading his wings a little bit more... He is so brave and loves to be independent and do things himself.

He can say "Mama", "Dada", tries to say "Ball", Boo", "Uh Oh", "Bye Bye". It's so cute. He's a little chatter box.

He's able to sign "More", "Please" and "All Done"... Just not always when you want him to and it's always on his terms.

Finally after almost 4.5 months of crawling like a worm, he's mastered the real crawl. So cute! He's little feet never touch the ground.. so he face plants it every once in awhile.

Loves to cruise along the furniture and is awfully fast.

Is bravely taking steps.... His record is 5. I'm gonna have a walker very soon! Eekkkss!

Loves to eat. Would live off of Cheerios if he would. His favorites are: Chicken, ground beef, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, mango, carrots, chicken nuggets to name a few. He's got an aversion to fresh fruit. So it's difficult to get him to eat them.

Is a definite water baby. He could spend HOURS in the bathtub, splishing and splashing. You can't go away dry after giving him a bath, you just can't

Book!!! Loves them!! Still tries to eat them, but can sit for good amounts of time to listen.

I think he has hit a growth spurt. Seems like he's taller.

I just LOVE every little thing about my Monkey!!

So little time

Well, skipped church today as I wasn't feeling up to it. Another reason was that I didn't want the little guy to miss his morning nap and thus send his schedule down a spiral. He does well, usually, but I didn't want to chance it since my Honey works tonight.

Still feeling kinda icky, but Momma doesn't get a day off. Oh well! This is my life for the next 18+ years and I wouldn't change it in the least!

Have a few to-dos for next week. Wonder if they will be accomplished or not. I'd love to be able to check them off.

-Make a master cleaning list (daily, weekly and monthly)
- Print out and organize my recipes. There's tons of new ones I wanna try
- Deep clean the fridge
- Take family photos if the weather cooperates
- Organize little guy's toys. I think he's got too many!

That's some of my things on my list. We shall see what gets done or not. With my Honey working 5 days a week again, it makes it difficult to get things done. Thus the cleaning schedule.

Usually by the time that the little guy's in bed, my mind is fried and all I wanna do is watch mindless tv or go to sleep. I lead an exciting life lol!

My Morning

I have this love/hate relationship with can openers. I know, I find it pretty weird also. For the life of me, I can't keep from breaking them. Maybe I've got super woman powers that I'm unable to rein in when it comes to the daintiest of the said can opener.

Doesn't matter the price of the can opener. Could be $2.00 or $20.00, I'm gonna break the thing, very soon!! In the just the last 2 months alone, we've had to replace the can opener 3 times. Doesn't that seem excessive??!!

Today was the day. I was getting things in the crock pot for chili. That's tons of cans to open... pinto beans, kidney beans, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, chili beans. Wasn't even able to get one can open before it fell apart, literally. I was turning the handle and it became extremely loose and fell off... along with all the shiny, medal parts that make it turn. Ugh, why am I so destructive?!!

Had to make a quick dash to Walmart and thankfully it was quiet and not busy. We ended up going for an electric can opener this time. So far so good. I was able to open 7 cans and it STILL works. It's a miracle... HAHAHA

The chili was really yummy!!

Been slacking, but for good reason

Ok, I know I said that I would be more attentive to the blog, but live just gets busy and my plate gets full. There's only so much to time in the day when I'm nursing, feeding solids, getting Logan ready for naps, bath and doing bedtime. Can't even count the times that he gets into something he shouldn't!

The good thing is... I'm here, posting now. Phew! It will be short, maybe, but sweet!

Over the weekend we went up to Bandon and Coos Bay, Or. Chris' parent's went with us. We went to the Wildlife Park on Saturday. Logan thoroughly enjoyed himself. He just kept pointing at all the animals. It was so awesome to see such wonder on his face! Had lunch at Dairy Queen... Must remember what made Chris and Dad laugh over and over during our trip... Later that evening we went to the mall (wasn't much to be had), had dinner at Captain's Choice and then Logan played in the pool with Chris and his parents.

Logan did really well considering he only napped for about an hour that afternoon. He ended up going to bed a bit later than normal (8:30) and slept til 5:30, which is much earlier than normal. Can't complain too much though since he slept in his pack n play and he very rarely sleeps in it. It's 99% in the crib for naps and night sleep.

We had breakfast at the hotel. Logan had waffle and sausage for the first time. Oh and some raspberry yogurt. Bet you can't guess what his favorite was?!!... After breakfast Logan took a 45min nap and then we got in the car to try to find a coffee place called "Java The Hut". We go to a local coffee place, daily, called Java Hut. Too bad we never found it. Bummer! We ended up going to the Human Bean. Told them what was in my drink and the Barista attempted to recreate, but it wasn't even close... to my uber yummy haystacker!!

Stopped in Bandon on our way home. It was so nice and sunny! So glad we didn't listen to the weather report. It said there was a 60% chance of rain.. Only sprinkled on us once, the night before. Bandon is such a pretty, little coastal town! We walked around old town. First stop was a candy store, of course. I bought some sea foam candy and Chris picked salt water taffy. Our favs! Spent about an hour or 2 there.

Had lunch in Gold Beach at a place down at the dock, by the name of the Port Hole! Yummy food and awesome fellowship! So glad we decided to chance the rain and go anyway. Awesome memories were made....

Photo editing... A journey

I have primarily used Flickr as my sole place for editing. I use it as a hosting site so it just seemed easier to do it all there.

Well, I decided I should try to start using my PSE. I follow a blog of lady who posts about her family life. Her photos are awesome and her kiddos are the cutest... Not as cute as my son that is! She had a few PSE tutorials on her blog so I went ahead and followed her instructions and I was able to boost my color, convert to black and white and also a brown toned black and white. I could totally follow her directions... Why couldn't I do more.

Then I got lazy (sort of) and decided I would give downloading actions ONE MORE TRY. I usually get frustrated with them since I'm not very hip when it comes to the computer. Hope I'm not alone. I found a video tutorial and was able to upload both sets of the Pioneer Woman actions... and I'm loving them!! Why, oh why did I wait so long to do that.

Can I blame it on having a busy life or maybe that I have a very active baby. Nope, I think it was just pure laziness on my part (sort of). I'm just glad I was able to try one more time.

See it's good to never give up! Keep trying, keep trying, keep trying.. Sung to the tune of "Keep Swimming" from "Finding Nemo"! Since I have these new fun actions to try out, I've been using my camera lots more. Oh and I also figured out how to resize my photos for blogger so that way they'd be bigger! I'm so movin' up in the world!!

Here's one of me just snapping photos in the car over the weekend. I wasn't the driver at the time, of course. Haha!

Fun in the sun

All this week we've had rare sunny days! It's so nice to have a break from all the rain. We're gonna get used to this sun and then, BAM, back comes the rain. Let me clarify, it's sunny, but yet only in the high 50's-low 60's. So it's warm sunshine, but I'll still take it over the rain. The wind accompanies it sometimes, but we're used to the wind.

Yesterday we decided to venture to the park. It was the first real park experience for Logan. We asked Mema to go with us. Thought she would enjoy seeing his reactions to everything there. When we got there, it was a bit chilly and a tad windy. Didn't let that stop us from having FUN! Eventually the wind went away and the it was really warm out. Felt really good to get some vitamin D!!

Logan was really distracted at the park. There was so much to look at. He loved watching the other children do their thing! He loved the swing and went down the slide a few times with Daddy. There were these little wooden tunnels that he loved crawling thru, but he would get a little distracted it them because he would try to stand up in them. It was pretty cute!

My sister and niece showed up at the park, which was a pleasant surprise. Logan loved seeing them! He's face totally lit up when he saw A! we didn't visit and play together long... had to get going.

*I* can't wait to go back to the park!!!

8 years ago...

8 years ago, at this time, I was getting ready to marry my best friend! I can remember that day like it was yesterday. All of our family and friend's helped us celebrate our special day! I'm so very blessed that God gave me Chris. We've been through so much... good and bad, but I wouldn't change it at all. A few things we've been through... It's so awesome to see the way the Lord's been working in our marriage. Praying that He continues to be the head of our marriage and household.

1. New job

2. Moved to a new town

3. Moved back home

4. Miscarriage

5. Trouble TTC

6. Had our first child

Our wedding night was spent at Whaleshead. We love that place and have gone back a few times since then. The remainder of our honeymoon was spent in Vegas. Fun, fun. Even though neither one of us are big drinkers, we enjoyed our time there. Lots of sightseeing and walking around the casinos.

This was on our wedding day

Today is Chris' Friday and I'm so ready for some family time! There's something even more exciting coming our way.... He's got 2 weeks vacation, starting the 17th! Our anniversary is the 18th and my birthday's the 19th. Can't even remember when he didn't have to work on either of those days.

The only thing we have planned during vacation is a trip to a zoo with Memaw and Poppop. The remainder of vacation will be filled with relaxation!!

The not so lovely rain is back. This storm is supposed to be here through the weekend. Joy! NOT! I hate not being able to go on walks. Logan and I enjoy it so much in the evenings. Monday was the last walk we went on.


Here Logan is all bundled up and ready to go

The house is so quiet tonight and I like it! My baby's in bed and my husband's at work. I truly do enjoy all the going ons during the day, but I also enjoy my quiet time, all by myself. Since becoming a mother, I've noticed that my wants and needs get tossed to the back burner (which I'm fine with) so the time to myself is quite needed!



Logan can jabber all day long! Usually it's lots of "Dada", "Baba" and "Uhuh"... Today is was all about one word.. MAMA!! I was so happy that he's started to use the "M" sound! Before today he's only said "Mama" a handful of times. Usually it's all about "Dada". It pretty much melted my heart even though he may not actually comprehend what he's saying, doesn't make it any less special.



Before Chris went to work he was trying to teach Logan to toss/roll the ball back to him. He did a few times and LOVED it! Before bedtime we were rolling the ball back and forth to each other. Logan giggled so much! Thought it was the funniest thing. I love to hear him giggle like that. He's a happy baby, but he doesn't always belly laugh like that. It was a rolling laughter, with a few snorts thrown in. Makes me smile just thinking about it!



Logan has TONS of toys, but he loves to play with the gate. He'll stand up and sit down... over and over and over!

Fun at the beach

I'm so glad that we've had a break in the rain. The suns been shining the last few days, but it's still only in the 50's. It's pretty chilly, but we can't let that stop us from doing outdoorsy type things or we would be stuck in the house forever!

The other day we went to visit a family friend and decided when we were done to go on a short drive instead of heading straight home. At some point I mentioned that the sky looked awfully pretty and maybe we should go by the house get the camera, coats and head to the beach. Chris thought that was a great idea!

We were thankful that the wind wasn't blowing. It would have made a time there much shorter since it was already a bit chilly... Man did Logan enjoy himself!

There was another little boy down there with his Daddy and Logan about gave himself whip lash when the little boy walked out of his sight (hope he wasn't trying to get some pointers on walking). Eventually the little boy left and Logan was interested in the beach again!

It's so funny that we live literally, like a 2 minute drive from the beach and this was only his second visit. I feel like we are depriving him from witnessing God's awesome creation! I love the beach and hope to instill that in my son.

Logan thoroughly enjoyed himself. He wanted to crawl so bad...



Walking with Daddy and snuggling with Momma

Cooking/baking to try in 2011

I am not a great cook, by any means. I've never made pie dough from scratch and I think all great cooks can do that, among many other things! I can cook and bake fairly well though... No complaints from the people who eat my food, yet.

So here's a list of some things I want to try this year, in no particular order:

1. English muffins
2. Cinnamon rolls
3. Chili Verde
4. Salsa
5. Shortbread
6. Caramel popcorn
7. Chicken and dumplings
8. Eggnog truffles
9. Pizza dough
10. Samoas
11. Risotto
12. Cheesecake

I know it's not a very ambitious list, but I gotta take baby steps. See how I only choose 12... One for each month of this year. I feel good about accomplishing that! Hmmmm.... Wonder what will be made this month??!!!!

So, I'm thinking my blog posts may only be about my little guy, for the most part anyway. He's so easy to talk about or in this case, write about! Can't believe that he's almost 10 months old. We'll be planning a first birthday party before we know it.

Memaw and Poppop bought this for Logan as a Christmas gift. He absolutely LOVES it! He didn't really get it at first, which is pretty understandable. Eventually, he would push it around while on his knees. Just the other night he figured out that he could actually push it AND walk at the same time. Genius, I tell ya!!

Doesn't he just have the cutest face you've ever seen??!!!!

New Year Resolution

Well, Hello Blog! My have I missed you. I really do need to get better about posting entries. Thus, the title of this one... and I'm already 2 days behind. I am gonna try to post often. We shall see though, with a 10 month old crawling and cruising around that may make it a little bit more difficult, but I will try!

My husband and I were blessed with a baby boy, March 11th, 2010. He truly is a joy in our lives and we LOVE him so much. He is such fun and continues to amaze me, each and every day. There is always something new and exciting that he is doing (oh, I can document those things here).

That's good for a step back into blogging post. Now, I'm off to catch some zzzzz's!