Sweet Moments

I love waking my son up in the morning.  It is one of my favorite moments.  I walk into his room and he is smiling up at me grabbing for my arms.  I hold him tight and nurse him while watching the Today Show.  Precious times...

This morning was no exception.  His little feet were cold, so after he nursed, I pulled him close inside my robe to keep him warms.  His chubby little arms held on tightly, and I kissed the top of his downy, soft little head.  He sighed and smiled contently, and then...... "squishhhh...spurrrtt...."  and a rank aroma drifted to my nose. 

Ahhh.... sweet moments with my son...

Little Stinker

Match Maker

"Matchmaker, Matchmaker, make me a match...."

How dorky am I that I just quoted a line from the musical, Fiddler on the Roof.  So, sometimes stay-at-home moms can get a little bored and like to daydream about their kiddos futures.  But, I promise, my son made his first move on his own.  We did not even initiate the match, but, my little guy decided to make a move on his little lady friend...

Kinley is obviously not really interested in anything "serious" right now.  She wants to focus on her career... you know, learning to sit up, burping, spitting up.  She does not have time to settle down right now.  I am proud of her for letting the guy make the first move.  And, Colton is being very respectful.  He simply held her hand.  I am glad that was his first move.  Although, he did try and "swap saliva" by reaching for her pacifier.  Oh, well....

BJ's response was classic, "I will whip that boy if he I find him laying on a bed with a girl before he is married!"  We gonna raise our boy right!!!  Oh, the PK's (Pastor's kids)

Feeding Fun

People always told me that when you start feeding your child solid foods that they would get the food all over themselves.....

Not the case in our family.... quick hands McGee slapped the food right out of his mommy's hands.  Not a drop on little Booger...

Seemed Like a Good Idea

There are very few times when I feel the overwhelming desire to beat my chest and shout from the tallest peak, "I AM THE GREATEST MOM IN THE WORLD".  Usually I am hanging my head, thankful that my decisions as a mom are not being documented on some reality show.  However, the last week, I have puffed up my chest in arrogance, while looking down my nose at the minions far below.  My soaring pride, however, was short lived....

A friend gave me a brilliant idea on how to help soothe my son while trying to sleep train him at night.  She told me to litter his bed with pacifiers so that he could always find one to shove into his mouth.  Eureka!!  It totally worked.  I would watch in wonder as Colton would flop around in his bed flailing his arms until they came in contact with the golden ticket... a pacifier.  Then he would draw it into his mouth and fall back asleep (after trying to insert it backwards and sideways for a couple of minutes).

If you count... yep, there are four pacifiers

Sometimes, one in your mouth is just not enough...

I was walking around puffed up for a while, dusting off my shoulders with an arrogant swagger.  Then, one night, he was really crying.  I could not understand it; he had a pacifier in his mouth... The next morning when I went to feed him, oh yeah, there was one little problem.  Somehow a pacifier had made its way into his pajamas and was stuck down his back.

Goodbye Mother of the Year...

Seemed like a good idea...?

Swagger Wagon

That's right... I have am officially a mom.  The birth of my child five months ago did not fully usher me into the realm of motherhood.  There are only a few indicators of a "true mother":
1.  Mom jeans (high waisted with a hint of elastic around the waist)
2.  Spit-up / food stains on your shirt (coffee stains do not count, as they are the honor badge of most adults and not exclusively linked to moms)
3.  Cheerios or Teddy Grahams smashed into your car carpet

These are all identifying marks, but the true test of a "real mother".......

The MiniVan

I am a proud driver/ owner of my own Swagger Wagon.  I can cruise with my windows down, rocking out to Dave Crowder, coastin through the Chick-fil-a drive thru, ordering my diet Dr. Pepper.... in my Swagger Wagon!!

pacifier patrol

The other day I looked over and saw my 5 month old nearly putting the entire pacifier into his mouth... note to self:  it is time to exchange the 1-2 month pacifiers for big boy ones!!

No big deal, right?  They cost about 5 bucks for 2 pacifiers at Buy Buy Baby.  I bundle my son up against the Arctic Blast of 2011 and stroll into my local baby store.  While perusing the abundant choices, an over zealous employee intervened and said, "Oh, you don't want to buy those pacifiers.  The nipples are contoured to cause damage to the development of and infant's teeth".

She continued to adamantly disparage the pacifiers that there was no way in a thousand Sundays that I was going to purchase them after her tirade.  What was I to do.... Say, "Well, I will take 3 anyway, and what do you have in asbestos lined diapers?  Any baby food with paint chips while you are at it?"

Needless to say, that particular sales person must of missed class the day they taught "making a sale".  I promptly went home and talked to my friend and mother in law who are in the dental profession.  They readily agreed that pacifiers do no such damage.  And in my opinion... who cares... they lose their baby teeth anyway, right?

Holiday Cards

Holiday cards are the biggest rip-off in my opinion....  They are super expensive... i picked up a card today and it was encased in this plastic sleeve, as if it were hermetically sealed and would disintegrate were air to touch it.  That piece of folded paper was $4.50.  Are you kidding me... four dollars and fifty cents?  When I only have a budget of $15 for a gift, I am not going to spend 1/3 of it on a card. 

When you have a child, all of a sudden, cards become an important way for your child to communicate with their grandparents, so you have to shell out the $5 for the card.  Brilliant new thing.... $.99 cards.  I just discovered them at Target.  Some people may say that it is tacky to give a card that only cost $.99, but I surmise that it is actually communicating something much better.  I says to the recipient, I hate spending money on something that immediately gets thrown into the garbage, but I care about you so much, that I am willing to shell out a buck anyway.

I think it is a delightful compromise.... 

Also... favorite Target find EVER....  Target has the perfect holiday card for EVERYONE!!  Check out the pic...

As if the black grandma on the cover did not give it away, you have the Ebony label just in case...

Sleeping Bootcamp

Bootcamp seems to be the new "buzz" word floating around.  There are butt bootcamps, ab bootcamps, running bootcamps.... you name it... there is a bootcamp to whip it into shape.  But what is the common factor in all the bootcamps.... someone telling you what to do.

And I totally understand why.  I would say that I am a pretty active person.  I love to stay fit and keep a healthy body, but how many times have I put on the work out clothes and never actually made it to the gym?  And how many times have I started out running and halfway through began to walk.  I have been doing the same 3 mile loop around Town Lake (Excuse me... Ladybird Lake) since I was 13 (that is twenty years!!!) and have never increased my pace or distance.  So I absolutely have no self motivation or will power when it gets too tough.

Same goes with sleep training my child.  I was giving in to every whimper, squeal, and sound.  I have to give a shout out to my Sleep Boot Camp instructors Gayle and Cat.  Instead of telling me how many reps to do, they would tell me how long to let him stay in his bed during nap time.  Instead of yelling to push me, they gave encouragement that I was a wonderful mother. 

My butt may not be rock hard (more like mushy oatmeal), but my kid is sleeping like a champ. 

10 Mommies

I adore my small group!!!  Community is one of the most important things to which we are called, and as a mom, it is vital.  I am in an incredible bible study small group.  I don't know what I would do without them.  Not only do they push me closer to Jesus, but they encourage, challenge, and love me well.

We had a girls' retreat weekend at a lakehouse this past weekend.  We laughed until we nearly peed our pants, cried, painted our nails, plucked each others' eyebrows, ate, ate, and ate.

My favorite thing, was that there were 10 mommies to take care of Colton... I barely had to lift a finger.  It was so freeing, that I even forgot I had brought him... oh, and how he LOVED the attention.

In every "gal group" there are your staple figures rounding out the cast, and our group is no exception:
1.  The Sweetheart: the precious friends who listens to your jokes and laughs even if she has heard them a ten times.
2.  The Sideshow:  you can never predict what she will do, but you know it will be hilarious.
3.  The I-Phone Addict:  she has an uncanny ability to hold a conversation of real depth while in the midst of a game, text, phone call or email.

4.  The Beautician: happens to bring her entire collections of cosmetics, nail polish, and grooming accessories.
5.  The Chef:  cooking delicious treats the entire time
6.  The Backscratcher:  she is always playing with someone's hair or scratching their backs.
7.  The Backscratchee:  never far away from the above...
8.  The Gamer:  has the ability to pull the most random games out of thin air at the drop of a hat.
9.  The Question Master:  this friend always has the amazing ability to ask the perfect question to spark deep conversation.
10.  The Tim Gunn:  trust this gal to fill you in on the latest accessory or style trend and help craft your wardrobe into a fashionista paradise.

Trust me... each of your friends falls under on of the above categories... and which one are you?

My Son is a Freak!!!

Love my son to death... but he is a frrreak!!  He is hilarious.  He decided not to take very long naps yesterday, but instead of being cranky for the rest of the day, he became freakishly hyperactive.  He is learning how to squeal and scream.  It is ridiculously awesome....