7 Years

Today, Andrew and I have been married for 7 years!
It's crazy to think about it.
In those seven years we've had some great experiences.
Happy Anniversary babe!
I love you!

JOY

Here is just a short little video from Michael's 9 month photo shoot with Sarah Hawkins.

She was doing the silliest things to get him to smile.
Seeing the joy and hearing the laughter makes this Mama so happy.

e-mealz

For the past two weeks, I have been using e-mealz, and I am so happy with it.

Everyday I would ask myself what I was making for dinner, and it seemed like we were having the same thing every single week. So, Andrew has heard about this website, and told me to check it out. I did, and decided it couldn't hurt to sign up for it and just try it for a couple of weeks.

You can sign up by family size and grocery store. I signed up for the Publix family of 2 menu. It gives you 5 meals, with a complete shopping list. The menu uses items that are on sale at Publix that week, and they also give you links to coupons that you can print off line, if there are any available. The weekly menu ranges from $35-$45 for all 5 meals. So far, we have really enjoyed all of the meals. A few of them, we tweaked a little, but for the most part, we have followed the recipe. They also don't repeat the same recipes over and over. There are several months between repeats, which is nice.

It is so nice to walk into the grocery store with a detailed shopping list and I know exactly what we will be eating that week. There is no thinking required, no meal planning on my part, and it just makes my life a little easier.

A lot of people use this to save money. Yes, that is nice, but I am doing it simply to get out of the cooking rut I'm in. We are eating meals that we have never had, and experiencing lots of great new recipes.

Go check it out. They have sample menus to look at, and you can decide if this is something that might actually help your family.

I was just so happy with it, I wanted to share.

My Mother's Day Gift

I finally got my Mother's Day gift in the mail today.

I love it!
And such a true statement.

Michael's 9 Month Check-Up

Michael had his 9 month check up today.
Here are his latest stats:
Height: 29 inches 75th percentile
Weight: 22 pounds 75th percentile
Head circumstance: 17.5 inches 26th percentile.

He is right on track developmentally and doing great. I asked how to go about getting him ready for milk when he turns a year, since he is on soy formula right now. She said that we could start transitioning him over to milk based formula, and then start adding whole milk to his diet as long as he does good with the formula. So I will gradually start incorporating milk based formula with his soy and see how that goes. Hopefully he won't have any issues, and we will be able to go straight to whole milk at a year. If anyone has any Experience with this, please let me know how you did this and how it worked for you.

Walking to the Dream Week 9 & 10

Here are my totals for the last two weeks.

Week 9

Monday 2

Wednesday 3.22

Thursday 2.55

Friday 1.57

Total 9.34

Week 10

Wednesday 3.35

Thursday 4.19

Friday 3

Total 10.54

Total Walked: 19.88

Total left to walk: 448.39

I have got to do better this week.

Mother's Day

Here is the post I wrote last year on Mother's Day. I went back and read it last night and cried. Thinking back to where we were a year ago, it is amazing to see how far God has brought us.

Last year I was filled with hope.
This year I am filled with joy.
I am a mother!
I have a son!

And today, on my first mothers day, Andrew and I stood in front of our friends, family and church and dedicated Michael to the Lord. Michael is our gift from God that He has entrusted us to care for.
What an honor.
This is not something we take lightly, and we know that this is a huge responsibly.
But it's one that I'm happy to have.
It's something I've wanted for a long time.
I am a mother!

Happy Mother's Day!

Michael is 9 Months Old!

Taking pictures of a very active 9 month old, in his typical poses, was next to impossible. I know it is only going to get harder from here on out. So, you will see a few of those pictures mixed in.

Here is what Michael is up to at nine months old:

- This has been a big month for Michael, with a lot of firsts!

- He has started talking! Mostly just "Da-Da" but we are working to get him to say "Ma-Ma." It also sounds like he says "hey" but that could just be a coincidence.

- He has started crawling! It started on Friday, April 29th with just a few "steps", but by Monday, he was cruising along.

- He has also mastered pulling himself up. I think that was his main motivation to start crawling. He will crawl over to something, just so he can stand up. I think he will be walking in no time.

- We had to lower his mattress this month. He thinks it is great that he can stand up in his crib now. Every morning when we go in to get him, he is standing up and you can tell he is so proud of himself.

- He has learned how to hold his bottle. It just happened one morning while Andrew was feeding him, and ever since, I just give him the bottle, and he feeds himself. He only gets his formula in a bottle in the morning and at night, every other time, he drinks it from a sippy cup.

- He got his fourth tooth! Hopefully that will be it for a while, and we can all get a break from teething.

- He is still in size 9-12 moths clothes, and in size 3 diapers.

- He hasn't grown much this month, and he is still about 21 pounds and 29.5 inches tall.

- We went on a little vacation to Charleston, SC to see "Auntie" Fer and "Uncle" Doug. It is in Charleston where Michael first crawled. While we were there, we went to the beach one afternoon, and put Michael's toes in the ocean and he seemed to really like it. We also went to an Air Show in Beaufort, SC to see the Blue Angels. Michael loved the airplanes, and couldn't take his eyes off of them.

- His appetite has grown a little bit, and we have increased the amount of solids he eats. One jar just doesn't seem to be enough at meal time. Katie has been making all of this baby food, so we know what he is eating is healthy and not processed.

- He gets more and more fun all the time, and we just love his little personality.

Good Morning Michael

This is how Michael greets me in the mornings now.

After he learned how to crawl, he also learned how to go from laying, to sitting, to standing up. It happened all in one day! We definitly weren't ready for this. We lowered his matress and took down his mobile. Now at night, we are having to re-train him to go to bed. We had been able to just lay him in his crib awake, and he would roll over and go to sleep. Now we lay him in his crib, and he rolls over, stands up, and wants nothing to do with going to bed. It's a tough transition, but hopefully he will get back to just going to sleep. It took us about a week to "sleep train" him, so I'm thinking it will be about a week this time also.

Weekend in Charleston

This past weekend, we spent 5 days in beautiful Charleston, SC.

One of my Best Friends, Jennifer, lives down there, and graciously opened her home for the weekend. It was great to get away, and to spend time with Jennifer and Doug.
Vacationing with a baby is a lot different then when it was just the two of us. We have to always keep in mind about naps, bottles, and diapers. We had a great time though, and it was very low-key and relaxing. Here are some pictures from our weekend away.

Saturday morning we went to the Farmers Market down town.

We ate some great food, and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

Saturday afternoon, we took Michael to the beach. We didn't get in the water, but since we were so close, we had to at least go see it.
Michael really enjoyed the beach, and I think he will enjoy playing in the sand, once he gets a little older.

Momma and baby at the beach.

Daddy and Baby at the beach

Sweet feet

Our family of three

Sunday afternoon, we went to the airshow in Beaufort, SC. It was so much fun, and Michael loved watching the airplanes.

Jennifer and Doug at the airshow

Daddy and Michael waiting to see the planes.

The Blue Angles - They were so incredible

Our little family

Me, Jennifer and Michael.

Jennifer and Doug

We left Monday morning, and headed back home. We had a great time and can't wait to go back!

Thanks Jennifer and Doug for being such wonderful hosts.