Friday, November 23, 2012

Thankful



This year I feel especially Thankful -

Thankful that:
I serve a loving and merciful God. 
I gave birth to a beautiful, healthy baby boy and became a mama for the first time.
I have an amazing, selfless husband that gives of himself every single day to provide for us. 
I have two really wonderful step kiddos.
I have a big family who loves us.
I never have to wonder if we will have a roof, warm bed, or food on the table. 
I have a great job that I love, even despite long days.
and much, much more.

I hope everyone has a special Thanksgiving and can spend it with those you love.  We all have so much to be Thankful for!




Thursday, November 22, 2012

First Halloween

We celebrated Halloween a little early by visiting Sulphur Springs with the cousins, eating hot dogs and visiting Great Grandparents. 

First stop was Memaw and Granddad's House:

 Memaw and John Thomas

Granddad, Memaw and John Thomas

 Our Little Charlie Brown
Charlie Brown and Daddy

 Cousin Abraham made the cutest Carl Old Man from the Movie, "Up"
 and Benjamin was his trusty sidekick, Russell
 Pappy and Charlie
 Sweet Kennedy was a beautiful mermaid!

Our next stop was Pa Pa and Gran Gran's house!  We were in for a treat, she made chicken and dumplings and John Thomas LOVED them!  He couldn't shovel into his mouth fast enough!
On actual October 31, our little one was running a fever, so instead of Trick or Treating, we stayed in!  Maybe next year!

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

9 Months!

Happy 9 Months, Sweet Boy!!



 John Thomas, 

Another month has flown by!  It is hard to believe you are just 3 short months from being a ONE year old!  We are enjoying each moment with you and all the laughs and joy you bring to our lives!


Here are some of the things you have been doing this month:
  • Waving and saying "bye-bye"
  • Doing "hercules" for Papa J, which includes moving your arms up and down really fast and laughing!
  • Saying "Nana"
  • Signing Dog and All Done
  • Pulling up and standing by the furniture, and moving back and forth between the ottoman and sofa, you are not afraid to fall, you just let go and fall gracefully!
  • You are making the funniest faces, one of our favorites is your old man smile, where you pull your lips in around your gums and scrunch your face up!
  • you smack very loudly after you eat something you enjoy!
  • When you are happy and eating you kick your left foot
  • You love to wrestle in the floor with Daddy and Brother!  You also "eat" our shoulders and faces quite aggressively!
  • Anytime someone walks away or moves around the house you follow us every step.  Your teacher at school says you do the same thing to her all around your classroom!

Eating:
His favorite food is definitely bananas, but we are still introducing all kinds of new foods and to date the only thing he has turned away is cottage cheese!  He is becoming less and less interested in milk feedings and really only gets excited to nurse in the mornings and at night.  We are still doing 4-5 milk feedings per day, but he seems to be taking less and less at each one. 


Sleep:
We are still getting 10-11 hours at night!  Normal bedtime is around 8:00 and after the time change, normal wake up is between 7:00-7:30.  The time change took a toll on us, and took about a week to adjust to the new time!

 Toys: 
He likes his activity table and a few toys, but would rather just be on the move! Nothing keeps his attention for very long!

Stats:
We went in to the pediatrician for his 9 month check up and shots and his stats were, 
Head Circ: 17 3/4 - 50%
Length: 28 - 50%
Weight: 20 lbs 6.5 oz - 55%

He also had blood work completed and his labs came back that he is anemic.  Our pedi didn't seem very concerned, and they will check him again at his 12 month well visit.  Until then, we are giving him an iron supplement and I am trying to pack his diet full of iron rich foods!

Clothes:
We are still in all 9-12 month and 12 month clothes, and just recently moved up to size 4 diapers!  They are a little large, but fit better than the size 3!

As each month passes, we still cannot imagine what we did before you made our family complete!  We love you so much, little man! 
Love, Mama and Dada

Monday, November 19, 2012

Fall Festival Fun!



Every year our church hosts a huge fall festival for the community and finally this year we were able to go!  I knew in advance there wouldn't be a lot that John Thomas could do, but still wanted to take him in hopes that it can be a yearly tradition.

 Love this blue eyed boy!

We arrived really early so that we could beat the crowd and walk around, and quickly found the toddler area that had a few things John Thomas could ride!
Waiting in line with Daddy for the ponies!

 First pony ride!
Still not completely sure what is going on!

We were lucky that Papa J was in town and he went with us!  He and John Thomas enjoyed lots of people watching!
After the pony ride we found a train ride and a new friend!

Mama and John Thomas

The sweetest little girl rode in the train car with us and she was in love with John Thomas, she kept talking to him, it was very cute!

We ended up leaving after about an hour, John Thomas fell asleep before we even walked out!  So we enjoyed a funnel cake and went to the car to warm up!

I am so thankful for our church and everything they offer for kids and our community!



Friday, November 9, 2012

No words...

We have such a little ham for a son!  These pictures were all taken at dinner one night this week.  Kris and I laughed and laughed as he thoroughly enjoyed his food and dinner conversation with us! 

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

MORE Cousins!

On October 11, my brother and sister in law had a gender reveal party to reveal to the family what the sex of their new TWINS would be.  We were so anxious to find out, and Mandy planned the cutest mustache and lips party for the reveal.

This will be their second set of twins and we couldn't be happier to have more babies to love on!  Here are a few pictures of the party!
Pa Pa and John Thomas

Mandy's Cute Food Set Up

Kourt and John Thomas


Kourt and Miss Kennedy


  We all waited patiently for the time to pop the balloons, which would be filled with moustaches, lips or a combination of both.  We thought 1 boy and 1 girl!  
John Thomas' Shirt Gave our prediction!

Balloons Filled with Confetti

MUCH to our surprise, when Ken and Mandy popped the balloons - ALL mustaches!  We will be having two more BOY cousins to play with!
We couldn't be more excited for more trucks and trains!  Bring on the baby boys!

Monday, October 29, 2012

Pumpkin Patch

A few weeks ago we took a trip to a local pumpkin patch!  Our trip started out a little off because as soon as we got there we went to change John Thomas' diaper to find out he had exploded out of his onesie, pants and jacket.  It was the first cold day of fall, so the only clothes I had were short sleeves!  So we left quickly after some good laughs and got him cleaned up and came back, not leaving a lot of time to spend, but we made the most of our short time there!

 First we stopped to make a few pictures in a giant painted wooden pumpkin!
Cutie in a Pumpkin


Our two sweet boys!
 Our tickets included a hot dog, so we stopped to eat for a few minutes!
Jammin and Uncle Kris having a snack

I have SO many pictures of Koen with this same "hot dog eating" face!

Daddy and John Thomas

Mama and John Thomas
 They also give you a cup of food to feed the animals, although they warned us that they had been fed all day, so they might not be hungry.  Lucky for us, this little guy was still ready to take anything anyone would offer! John Thomas LOVES animals and just kept staring and smiling at him!

Helping Mama feed the animals
 They also had a train that you could ride around the patch, so all the boys loaded up for their ride.  I love how protective Koen is of John Thomas, he is always watching out for him and did just that the whole time they were riding.
Brothers!
I love Abe's face in this picture!  He doesn't look very sure of this ride, and Ben is taking control!
Tongue out is the best way to ride!

I love how their facial expressions are so similar here, sometimes the faces John Thomas make reminds us so much of Koen.

 Maybe next year we will have enough time to go on the hay ride!