How to climb on furniture

Step 1: use mom's legs as a stepladder



Step 2: check to see if you are going to get in trouble



Step 3: hoist one leg onto piece of furniture



Step 4: crawl away from mom as quickly as possible so she can't get you down.


-Posted using BlogPress from
my iPhone

Wordless Wednesday

Would anybody like to guess what Christopher’s favorite sleeping position is?

the post with lots of hyperlinks, then lots of pictures.

I was so glad when Heather posted this blog last week.  It was perfect timing for me, because I had/have been struggling with fear, especially with Christopher.  It started recently - mainly when the Albert Pike Campground was flooded.  I read somewhere that toddlers were ripped from their parents arms.  Just thinking about it makes me almost hyperventilate.  My parents had been thinking about getting a camper but had decided against; had they gone through with buying one, they could have been at Albert Pike when the flooding occurred.  They may have even taken Christopher with them. 

Then, just a week or so later, we lost a family friend after a five-year-long battle with breast cancer.  She has a daughter in middle school and a son in the second grade.  I didn’t cry when I hugged her husband, or her daughter, or when I viewed her body.  I cried when I saw her son, curled up in his grandfather’s lap, then later when he ran to his dad and hugged him around the legs.  I got so scared -- I wanted to do nothing more than drive straight home (2.5 hours away) and scoop up Christopher and cover him in a thousand hugs and kisses and never let him go.

I get scared when I think about what happened to precious Noah.  I couldn’t even read Megan’s blog when I found out that her unborn son had a congenital heart defect.  I read a few posts about her pregnancy, and loosely kept up with her blog after sweet Cohen was born -- and was so, so saddened when I read about his death at just 12 days old.

I know that I can’t sit around and worry all the time.  I can’t play the “what if” game for the rest of my life.  Like I said - Heather’s post came at the perfect time for me, and I was so thankful when she posted it.  =)

*****************************************

In other news…..

**Today was my LAST DAY at Walmart!  I start summer classes at Henderson in Arkadelphia one week from today.  I’m excited about moving on to the next phase in life.  I had planned on going back to get my Bachelor’s in General Studies and graduating in December… but after talking with my advisor, then my husband, we have decided that it would be best for me to pursue my Education degree.  (Those can, do, those who can’t, teach -- right?)

I spent one semester as an Early Childhood Education major.  I’d rather not dwell on that subject.  Let’s just say that (1) my GPA did not like that semester, and (2) I think I would pull my hair out if I taught elementary ed.  SOOOO, after some prayer and a few conversations with Stephen, I have decided to get my Business Technology Education degree.  I am super, super excited about this.  If you aren’t excited for me, keep  your feelings and opinions to yourself and please don’t burst my bubble.  Got it?  Good.

The downside to this is that I will not be graduating in December.  The upside is that I will be able to teach when I am done with college and not have problems finding a job or needing extra education hours.  But I know that I will be so happy that I did it and our little family will be much better off after I have my degree.  I am really looking forward to being a teacher!

**Speaking of our little family -- looks like we will be staying a family of three for quite some time.  My new best friend, ParaGard, is going to help keep Christopher an only child for the next few years. You know, just until Stephen and I both have our degrees, better jobs, and a house with more than two bedrooms.  I have mixed feelings about having more children -- I have always wanted a big family (three or four kids) but I had such problems with my pregnancy  and delivery, it’s scary for me to think about going through all of that again.  I do want Christopher to have at least one little sibling though, just not until Stephen and I are at a better spot in our lives.

**Christopher got a package in the mail yesterday!  He was already in bed when I checked the mail at 7 pm, so I figured he wouldn’t mind if I opened it for him.  Inside was the cutest little Carter’s outfit and a new pair of swimming trunks from his Uncle Jim and Aunt Cristin.  He wore the Carter’s outfit today, but I was already at work when he got up and Stephen dressed him in it, and I forgot to snap a pic this afternoon after I got off work, so I don’t have a pic of him wearing it, but I did take one yesterday after I opened the package.  It says “Property of Mommy” and I just love it!  Aunt Cristin also sent a sweet card to Christopher.  They live in Joshua, Texas, so we don’t get to see them as often as we would like to, but hopefully that won’t always be the case.  =)  (Again - back to the “Stephen-and-I-need-to-be-in-a-better-spot” to do all the wonderful things we want to do.)

Here’s the C-Monster being just a little bit dramatic yesterday when I wouldn’t let him go outside.  No idea where he gets that from… 

And here he is being super cute during bath time tonight…  

Here is what happens when I leave my laptop on the couch overnight and C-Monster finds it the next day while I’m not paying attention…

Here is what Baxter does every night after Christopher goes to bed! (Or lays down for a nap.)

And just cause they make me happy, here’s a picture of a few of my caladiums.  I think the pink ones are so pretty.  =)

I already have a special three-picture Wordless Wednesday scheduled to post tomorrow.  Would anyone like to venture a guess as to what it might be about???

Christopher - 10 Months

Christopher,

I can’t believe I’m typing this, but you are TEN months old now.  You are growing so fast!  You are actually 10 months and 10 days now; I’m a little late posting this.

You are becoming such a busy body!  You are into EVERYTHING!  You love to pull dishes out from the kitchen cabinets.  I don’t mind it because it keeps you busy while I am cleaning or cooking dinner and they are easy to put back up.  However, you also like to mess with the outlets… this I do NOT like!  We have safety plugs in all the empty ones, but there is one lamp in the living room that you can get to and you unplug it.  You keep getting in trouble for messing with it, yet I still find you there a few times a day.  You are so hard-headed and you hate it when you don’t get your way.  You get your feelings hurt when you get in touble.  You stick out your bottom lip -- it’s precious and makes me laugh and breaks my heart at the same time!  Ha!

You love to eat.  Haha!  You have tried several new “table” foods and you love everything so far.  You love cheese!  Your GrandDaddy Jim would be proud!  :)  You pretty much want whatever we’re having, even if you’ve already had dinner.  Some of the things you have on a regular basis are turkey dogs, spaghettios, string cheese, and yogurt.  You LOVE yogurt and go MMMMM after each bite!

 

You are no longer my little baby.  You are looking more and more like a toddler everyday, not to mention the fact that you actually ARE toddling around.  You walk along the furniture and take off across the living room.  You are walking really well considering you are only 10 months old!  You’re an advanced baby.  =)

**You are still wearing size 4 diapers.

**You are still wearing 12-18 month clothing. 

**You love to be outside.  I think you could spend all day outside, no matter how freaking HOT it is!

**You love your Granny and Nana and always smile really big when you see them!

**You H-A-T-E shoes.  You refuse to keep them on your feet.  Period.

**You have four cute little teeth.

**You love water.  Both to drink and to swim/bathe in. 

**You drink out of your sippy cups SO well.  I have given you your formula in your sippy cup several times and you don’t mind it ONE bit.  As soon as I buy a few more sippy cups, I’m putting away your bottles.  I have mixed feelings about this.

**You have no interest in TV.  I know this is probably a good thing, but there are times when I would like for you to watch a few minutes of TV and not be tearing apart the kitchen or living room.  But honestly, I don’t mind.  I don’t want you to be a couch potato.  =)

**You say Mama now!  You also say “I Love You,” but it comes out i-yuh-yuh.   I swear, when I put you in your high chair this afternoon to give you your lunch, you said, I-yuh-yuh-Mama!  I swear!  I love you too, sweet boy.

I lied.

I think I checked ZERO things off my to-do list today. I am obviously a big fat liar.

Stephen and I decided this morning to go to Ft Smith and do a little shopping and just get away for the day! His mom and one of her friends were there for the day too, so we met up with them and had lunch and shopped at Sams. Stephen and I signed up for a membership today. I felt like such a grown up! Ha! It's nice because we can just have a dollar taken out of Stephens paychecks to pay for our membership there. We spent forever in there just looking around.

We also went to Home Depot, Books-a-Million, Target, Kirklands, and Best Buy. We didn't leave the Fort till 8 so it was a long day and we were late getting home. I am laying in bed as I type this! I looove my iPhone. :)

Until tomorrow (maybe!) here is a picture of C at my moms house on a cute little pool she set up for him!







Off to sleep now!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Tomorrow...

I am going to post Christopher's 10 month photo and blog.

I am going to share some things that have been on my mind and my heart.

I am going to clean my house and finish the laundry. (Let's face it though, - is it ever really finished?)

I am going to take care of the stack of bills I've been ignoring all week.

I am going to spend lots of time with my precious little boy and sweet husband.

Tonight...

I am going to go to bed.

Wordless Wednesday

Some day I’ll post something other than just Christopher sleeping positions, but they’re so cute right now I just can’t post anything else!

This JUST IN!

So, Christopher has been taking steps for about 3 weeks now.  He’ll walk from one person to another  -- just a few steps at a time, before he loses his balance and falls down.  Well, I’ve been doing a lot of cleaning around the house today while C has been entertaining himself with toys in the living room. I was in the kitchen earlier and saw him moving around out of the corner of my eye… I figured he was crawling, but when I looked over at him he was just walking across the living room towards a toy in a different corner!  I got all excited and got my camera out so that if he did it again, I’d be ready.  Sure enough, a few minutes later he started walking from our entertainment center and made it all the way to Stephen’s desk before he fell!  That’s quite ways!  I thought I had caught it all on video, but I guess in the excitement of turning the camera on, I forgot to hit the record button.  =(  I caught him again a little while later, but it’s only about 1/3 of the distance he had walked before!

I’d say we OFFICIALLY have a toddler on our hands!!!

Sorry for the shaky video; I was trying to scoot backwards while holding the camera.  =)

Mmmmmm!

Christopher has been trying lots of new foods.  It’s really fun for me to  let him try new foods.  He likes everything you put in front of him!  He’s tried strawberries, grapes, tomatoes, hot dogs, string cheese, toast, gravy, scrambled eggs, spaghettios, pizza, and probably a few other things that I can’t remember.  He loves it all!  I like being able to set him in his high chair and let him feed himself while I clean up the kitchen. =) 

 

He especially loves string cheese.  Here’s a video of him feeding himself some.  We are thinking  he might be a lefty!  He feeds himself with both hands, but he favors his left. 

Baby Crawling Contest/Front Page News!

Last Saturday morning, Stephen and I got up early (7am) to go to the Farmer’s Market.  Stephen was really looking forward to getting some tomatoes, and I thought it would be a fun experience.  We loaded up Christopher (it was SO hard to wake him up when he was still sleeping peacefully) and headed downtown to where the Farmer’s Market is held.  When we got there, there was only ONE little old farmer there selling squash and zucchini -- but no tomatoes.  I think the Market must have been canceled that day because it was the same day as the Lum & Abner Festival at the park.  Stephen bought a few veggies from the sweet man at the Market, then we came back home and started getting ready to go to the Festival.  There was a Baby-Crawling contest at 10:00 and we were going to enter Christopher in it!  Poor guy -- by the time we left our house at 9:30, he had been up for two hours and was getting tired. 

When we got to the park we found my parents, Ty, and Britney, and a few minutes later Deanna showed up.  We walked around and waited for the contest to start.  My mom had to really work to keep poor C-Monster from falling asleep!

The contest started a few minutes late (of course!) but we finally got all the babies into position and OFF they went!

I’m sure Christopher thought we were crazy.  My mom, dad, brother, Britney, Deanna, and I were all crouched down at the “finish line” screaming and acting like crazy people (I was luring him with a pacifier!) and he was just looking at us like crazy.  When he got about a foot away from the finish line, he stopped and just started at us.  Finally my mom suggested that we back up some more so that we were further way from him, and when we did he crawled over the line.

This video cracks me up!  I love the way my dad is cheering Christopher on but as soon as he crosses the finish line, Dad walks away quickly like -- I need to get away from those crazy ladies! Hahaha!

It was really fun, and Christopher got SECOND place!  (But the first place baby was 15 months old and could walk, so she really shouldn’t have been in it -- walkers weren’t technically allowed! Ha!)  We spent a few more minutes looking through the vendors and at some of the old hot rods, then decided to come home. We live just about 2.5 miles from the park, and Christopher fell asleep in his carseat before we even turned down our road. 

Thursday morning, after Stephen got to work, he sent me a text telling me that our son’s picture was on the front page of The Mena Star, our weekly newspaper!  I also got a phone call from a friend telling me.  After I went in to work that night I found a paper, and there was the CUTEST picture of Christopher crawling down the carpet towards the finish line.  He had the sweetest smile on his face and looked so excited to be crawling towards all his crazy family.  So sweet!

behind.

I’ve gotten behind on blogging over the last week or so!  I’ve actually been keeping myself fairly busy.  I have recently found great pleasure in working in the yard!  I never thought I would like working in my yard, but ever since this post where I got all excited about “leafy little plants” (they’re called CALADIUMS!) I had planted, I have been doing all sorts of stuff outside.  We’ve also gone to Texarkana two Fridays in a row to take care of car stuff, went to the Lum & Abner Festival, made a mad dash trip to Poteau (to get MY IPHONE!) worked some crazy hours.  Right now C is napping so I’ve got to wrap this up and go get ready for work this afternoon -- but after today I’ve got 4 days off, so I’ll have plenty of time to make up for what I’ve missed.  (And there’s some pretty good stuff to share, too!)

For now -- here’s a few pics of some of the things I’ve been doing around my yard.

Impatiens I saved from the half-off (almost dead) section at the Garden Center.
I’ll post their “befores” later.
   

My front sidewalk - we set up solar lights, put in a garden flag (love it!) and potted the the Impatiens.  The plant on the right of the steps is a half-off pink hydrangea from the Poteau Garden Center!


Hydrangea after I potted it.  Hopefully it will start looking much better now that it’s in some Miracle Grow soil!

Digging up stupid holly bushes.  Stupid, stupid, holly bushes. 

My new welcome door mat.  =)

one year ago today…

This was me one year ago today!  Today is sweet baby Tatelyn’s first birthday and I cannot believe how quickly the year went by.  I remember being so anxious for Christopher to get here after I held this sweet baby girl.  Click here to read my post from last year.

Wordless Wednesday

Another funny Christopher sleeping position!!