It's the Little Things...

that make it feel like he is growing up way too fast!

I always knew one day he would hold his own bottle. There have even been days when I wanted him to hold his own bottle. But when he actually reached up and took it from Daddy, I just wasn't expecting it to happen today, and I definitely didn't expect me to be so sad about it.

It is a strange feeling to watch your child reach these little milestones.

In the same instant you are insanely proud of your child, and yet so sad to see them take a little step toward not needing you as much as they did the day before.

Like I said, It's the little things...

Walking to the Dream - Week 7 & 8

Instead of posting this weekly, I'm going to post two weeks at once.

Week 6 totals:

Sunday: 2.14

Monday: 2.05

Friday: 2.79

Total: 6.98

Week 7 totals:

Sunday: 2.74

Monday: 2.95

Tuesday: 2.23
Wednesday: 2.10
Thursday: 4.66

Friday: 2.24

Saturday: 3.46

Total: 20.38

Total Left to Walk: 468.27

Michael's First Easter

Happy Easter!

With Poppa, Maggie and Mimi after church.

Michael wasn't too happy after church.

With Daddy after we got home from church.

He was much happier after a bottle and a quick nap.

With Momma

Happy Baby!

With his Easter Basket that Poppa and Mimi got him.

His Easter Story Book

With Papa this afternoon

With Grandma this afternoon.

In Christ Alone

In Christ Alone

In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm

What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless Babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save

'Til on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live, I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again

And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From a life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny

No power of hell, no scheme of man
Could ever pluck me from His hand
'Til He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I stand

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcpLZgCwcEE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Glorious Day

I saw Casting Crowns sing this song in concert a couple of weeks ago, and just fell in love with it.
I thought it was appropriate, as we enter into Easter weekend.

Here are the lyrics, and at the bottom is a music video.

Glorious Day

One day when Heaven was filled with His praises
One day when sin was as black as could be
Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin
Dwelt among men, my example is He
Word became flesh and the light shined among us
His glory revealed

Living, He loved me
Dying, He saved me
Buried, He carried my sins far away
Rising, He justified freely forever
One day He’s coming
Oh glorious day, oh glorious day

One day they led Him up Calvary’s mountain
One day they nailed Him to die on a tree
Suffering anguish, despised and rejected
Bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He
Hands that healed nations, stretched out on a tree
And took the nails for me

One day the grave could conceal Him no longer
One day the stone rolled away from the door
Then He arose, over death He had conquered
Now He’s ascended, my Lord evermore
Death could not hold Him, the grave could not keep Him
From rising again

One day the trumpet will sound for His coming
One day the skies with His glories will shine
Wonderful day, my Beloved One, bringing
My Savior, Jesus, is mine



I hope you have a blessed Easter, and let's remember exactly what we are celebrating.

500th POST!!!

Can you believe it? 500 posts!

What on earth could I have said in 500 posts over the last 3 years?

It is amazing how much has happened in the past 3 years.

I've blogged about so many life changing events and

not so life changing events:

-Job Changes for both Andrew and myself

- Our desire to become parents

- Infertility and loss

- Adoption

- Lots of vacations

- Lots of recipes

- Projects around the house

- Crafts...lots and lots of crafts

- Books and Movies

- My vegetable garden

-Friends

-Family

-Holidays

-Food

But my most favorite thing in the world to blog about?

My Precious Son Michael!

I would like to do a giveaway in honor of my 500th post, but I just don't know what to give away. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I would also like to hear from all of you that read my blog. I know I have a bunch of readers from all over, but I don't ever get any comments. So Please, in honor of my 500th post, leave me a comment to let me know who is reading. If you are reading this on facebook, please hop over to my blog and leave me a comment there.

Thanks! And I am looking forward to writing the next 500 posts!

Finger Food Favorites!

Just wanted to share some of Michael's favorite finger foods. He is getting the hang of picking up the item, and it actually making it to his mouth. Before, he would just grab the item with a fist, and then as he brought it to his mouth, it would never actually make it in. The dogs liked it a lot better before, cause most everything ended up on the floor. Their new favorite place to hang out was under the high chair.

Michael's first favorite is Veggie Straws. My sister had been buying these for a long time, and I have had them, but just never bought them for myself. Well, in March, at Leilani's birthday party, she had a big bowl of these, and we decided to see if Michael liked them. HE LOVED THEM!! He couldn't get enough of them. They are great because he can hold them in his fist, and feed himself. Even before he had mastered feeding himself, these were easy to do. They melt pretty fast, so I wasn't concerned about him choking on them. They are just as good for him as any other "children's snack food," if not better. There are no preservatives, no trans fat, cholesterol free and are made from real potato, tomato and spinach. And Mommy and Daddy love them too!

Here he is, reaching up for a veggie straw

Getting it to his mouth

Yummy!

Gerber Puffs are another favorite.

These are a little harder to pick up, since they are so small. But they come in great flavors, and we have found ourselves snacking on them when we are feeding Michael. They melt super fast, so again, no choking hazard, and have 2 grams whole grains per serving. They are formulated with Vitablocks nutrient blend for snacks - iron for healthy cognitive development; zinc, a major building block of a healthy immune system; and vitamin E, a powerful antioxidant.

And I think these go on the all-time favorite list for anyone who has children:

Cheerios.

Michael seems to like them just fine, but Andrew gives him puffs instead. He doesn't like cheerios, and doesn't think Michael should have to eat something that tastes like "cardboard." Silly Daddy!

Women Of Joy!

This past weekend was Women of Joy. I look forward to this weekend every year. It was a little bittersweet for me this year though. This would be the first time leaving Michael overnight. Andrew had the weekend off, so it worked out great. I knew Michael was in great hands with Andrew, but I was still nervous about leaving him. We left Thursday afternoon, which was new this year. Usually we leave Friday afternoon, but it was great getting there a day early, and having time on Friday to do some stuff, rather than having to rush around. We stayed in huge cabins again this year. Our cabin slept 20 people, and the other cabin slept 10. This year, there were a bunch of girls going that all went to youth group together 10-15 years ago. It was so great to see everyone again.

Here are the "adults" that were in our cabin.

And here are all the "kids."

Most of us are married and have children, but to our moms,

we are still just a bunch of teenagers.And this is the women who planned the entire weekend! She does a great job planning everything, and without her, this weekend wouldn't even happen. Thanks Mom!! As far as the conference goes, it was OK. Not the best one I've ever been to. Here is the link, if you would like to see who the speakers were for the weekend. I most enjoyed Liz Curtis Higgs. She was funny, but had some great stuff to say. Casting Crowns did a concert Saturday night and it was very good. But by Saturday, I was really missing Michael, and I was ready to be home.

The weekend was a great time of fellowship, and just spending time with girls, was a blessing. We laughed so hard, and laughter is good for the soul.

Walking to The Dream - Week 6

Here are my totals for the week:

Sunday: 1.86

Monday: 1.79

Thursday: 1.33

Friday: 2.75

Saturday: 3.63

Total: 11.36

Total Left: 495.63

8 Months Old

How is it that Michael is closer to being a 1 year old, than being a newborn? The months have just flown by! Here is what Michael is up to at 8 months old:

- He is getting so big. He is now in size 9-12 month clothes, but still in size 3 diapers.

- He is about 21 lbs and 29.5 inches tall.

- He doesn't say any words yet, just a lot of babbling. Andrew is convinced that he says "Da-da" but really it is just baby talk.

- He hasn't crawled yet, but he is getting really close. He is able to get up on his hands and knees, but then he isn't sure what to do from there, and just lays down on his belly.

- He loves to stand up and hold on to things, like the ottoman, the window ledge, the side of the pack and play. He hasn't pulled up yet, but he tries all the time.

- He is mastering the "pincher grasp" with his thumb and pointer finger. He loves puffs, and is getting really good at getting them in his mouth. We usually have to hand them to him though.

- He loves food! He eats three meals of solids a day, and 3-4 bottles. The only thing he doesn't like are peas. But when mixed with other veggies, he east them. Pretty soon we will be starting him on table food.

- He still does great with his sippy cup. But he refuses to hold his bottle. I guess he knows that Mama will hold it for him.

- He is starting to get more hair, but it still is very sparse. I'm still not sure what his hair is going to end up like.

- He has three teeth now, and the fourth one will be breaking though any day now.

- He loves to laugh, and is super ticklish.

- He has learned how to give "high-five" and to wave.

- He loves going for walks and being outside. And now that the weather has warmed up and will hopefully stay warm, we will be spending a lot more time outside on a daily basis.

- He takes a 45 minute nap in the morning and then a 2-2.5 hour nap in the afternoon.

- He goes to bed at 7:30 every night and wakes up at about 6:00. I give him a bottle, and then he goes back to sleep for another 2 hours. He is a great sleeper, except for when he is teething, then he is up 1 or 2 times a night.

- He has the best personality. Laid back and very "go-with-the-flow.

- He is our joy and delight and I thank God everyday for this little boy!

More Baby Food

Last week I made a ton of baby food, and it has been great having it in the freezer. When it is time for Michael to eat, I just grab a few "cubes" out of the freezer, put them in the microwave, and in about 15 seconds, Michael has a meal. Here is what I made: Green Beans Carrots Apples Pears Peaches Prunes The easiest to make are the ones you can find in the frozen food section in the grocery store. I was able to get the Green Beans, Carrots, and peaches that way. Then you just throw them in the steamer, let them cook, then puree, portion out and freeze. Really easy. I started taking pictures while I was making all of the food, but then decided I was making too much to take that many pictures. So, here are pictures of the green beans and carrots. If I make anything super interesting, I will take some more pictures. The most time consuming to make were the apples. I had to peel, chop, steam, puree, and portion out. If I had an apple peeler, it would have make this a lot easier. Maybe next time I make apples, I will borrow an apple peeler from someone. That would save a ton of time. Michael is getting the the point where he is almost ready to eat table food, so I'm not sure how much more baby food I will need to make.

Weekend Fun

This past weekend, the weather warmed back up, and Michael and I enjoyed some wonderful time outside. Saturday afternoon, Michael and I met up with Erin and her family at the park. She is letting me borrow her jogging stroller, so she brought it to me, and we enjoyed spending a couple hours at the park. I didn't get any pictures of her little boy Caleb, cause he was non-stop running around. He is 5 and such a cutie. Michael loved the swings again, and at one point, even fell asleep while swinging.

The weather was absolutely wonderful on Sunday afternoon, so I took Michael outside to play. I think he really enjoyed being outside.

The sun was a little bright, so I gave him my sunglasses. He thought it was the funniest thing.

After about 30 minutes in the sun, we had to move to the shade. It was getting pretty hot.

Michael is on the verge of figuring out how to crawl. He gets to about this point, and then isn't sure what to do next.

Then he usually ends up on his belly and wiggles around.

At one point, I think he got a little tired, cause he just laid down, and seemed to really enjoy being still and quiet.

On a side note, Check out the belly on him!

After some time playing, I decided to try out our new jogging stroller.

(I was playing around with my photo shop app with this picture)

It was great, and so much better than the other stroller. Michael seemed to enjoy it too. He slept the second half of our walk. Our other stroller works good for walking around the mall, or any flat surface. But for walking around the neighborhood, there are surprisingly a lot of bumps, and different things on the side of the road to maneuver around.

We had a great weekend and I'm so excited that spring weather is here to stay, and we can spend a lot more time outside.