Monday, January 30, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Happy Birthday Lana!
I met Lana in junior high. She was the new girl at our school and we became fast friends. Although we weren't familiar with each other, the Lord had already intertwined our lives in the later elementary years through select softball and piano lessons. Little did I know how much he would continue to bless me through her friendship in years to come.
In some ways we are so similar and in some ways we couldn't be more different, but from high school to roomates in college, sorority sisters and beyond college, the Lord has woven our hearts together in a friendship that has truly blessed me.
It would not be uncommon in our high school days for us to be somewhere and for boys to approach us and tell Lana how beautiful she was. I remember on one occasion her and I were at a mall and an older boy came up to us and asked if he could take his picture and walk around with her because she was sooo beautiful. (Of course think of how beautiful my little freshman- in-high school self felt at that moment ;) )
But it's true, she is beautiful but what everyone else who truly knows her sees is her beautiful heart too. The name Lana means "light" and she embodies this word in my mind. She has the most beautiful and tender heart towards the Lord and her inner (and outer) beauty light up any room she is in.
Happy Birthday to my sweet friend, Lana Arnold!
In some ways we are so similar and in some ways we couldn't be more different, but from high school to roomates in college, sorority sisters and beyond college, the Lord has woven our hearts together in a friendship that has truly blessed me.
But it's true, she is beautiful but what everyone else who truly knows her sees is her beautiful heart too. The name Lana means "light" and she embodies this word in my mind. She has the most beautiful and tender heart towards the Lord and her inner (and outer) beauty light up any room she is in.
Happy Birthday to my sweet friend, Lana Arnold!
Monday, January 23, 2012
Saturday, January 21, 2012
PLAYGROUP BRUNCH
Each Monday I meet with 5 other girls and their babies that are just about Larkin's age. This weekend we decided to have a brunch and include our husbands. We had such a fun time and the food was sooo yummy. We took turns dads and moms watching the kids while the others ate.
One of the dad's asked what a playgroup consisted of... This is pretty much it (at this age at least)... Sitting around watching and talking while the babies play and cry.
So fun and so thankful the Lord has blessed us with some new friends and families in the same life stage!
One of the dad's asked what a playgroup consisted of... This is pretty much it (at this age at least)... Sitting around watching and talking while the babies play and cry.
The boys love to watch Sophia. Not sure if it's how cute she is or how she is already crawling, but they all love to watch her. Larkin typically does too but he got a little distracted here.
Dads and Babies:
Getting a little crazy...
Larkin wasn't too happy.
Moms and Babies
So fun and so thankful the Lord has blessed us with some new friends and families in the same life stage!
Friday, January 20, 2012
EATING OUT
Dear Larkin,
Dining out has a whole new meaning these days. Gone are the evenings of uninterrupted eating where handing you Sophie would buy us a good half hour to finish our meals. The past two weeks our dining experience has consisted of sitting down, several loud screams (yours of course), reaching frantically for forks, knives and full glasses followed by more screams when they can't be reached, a few stares and even an occasional annoyed comment from nearby diners who like to eat their meals in quiet and have perhaps forgotten what it is like to raise children, and then a shuffling of chairs as daddy and I take turns scarfing down our food alone while the other totes you around the restaurant in search of distractions.
I realize that dining with children changes EVERYTHING, but it has been quite impossible, or should I say, not worth it recently to take you out to dinner and I am hoping this is a little phase you are going through and eventually we can resume eating out in a more doable, albeit more crazy, atmosphere. I will say that last night I took you to a dessert tasting with mommy and some other women and, although we had to leave early for your bedtime, while we were there you did much better!
And while I am bragging on you I musn't forget to tell you how proud I was of you this past week at BSF when I left lecture to nurse you. You, my little man who is accustomed to noise makers and soft sheets and refuses to sleep in carseats or on mommy's lap, were out cold on a bare plastic mattress in a brightly lit room with 15 other screaming babies when I walked up the nursery this past Wednesday. It was almost comical as I yelled over the other babies to the nursery worker asking where you were and she pointed to your little body - face up, out cold (she said you only slept for 10 minutes, but with those conditions, I am beyond impressed!)
You are precious, my little boy. Sometimes I wonder if you really get how much I love you or if I'm doing a good job showing that to you in the way you understand it. So many times at the end of the day, you are just so excited daddy's home (which I treasure watching) and he is so fun, I wonder if I must be a bore all day and if I am showing you in the right ways how much you are loved. So....I will just keep taking care of you and loving you the best I know how and pray for patience in the moments that are exhausting, and the days that have more crying than smiles, trusting that God is making mommy a better mommy for you and a better tool for Him to use.
I love you so very much,
Mommy
Dining out has a whole new meaning these days. Gone are the evenings of uninterrupted eating where handing you Sophie would buy us a good half hour to finish our meals. The past two weeks our dining experience has consisted of sitting down, several loud screams (yours of course), reaching frantically for forks, knives and full glasses followed by more screams when they can't be reached, a few stares and even an occasional annoyed comment from nearby diners who like to eat their meals in quiet and have perhaps forgotten what it is like to raise children, and then a shuffling of chairs as daddy and I take turns scarfing down our food alone while the other totes you around the restaurant in search of distractions.
I realize that dining with children changes EVERYTHING, but it has been quite impossible, or should I say, not worth it recently to take you out to dinner and I am hoping this is a little phase you are going through and eventually we can resume eating out in a more doable, albeit more crazy, atmosphere. I will say that last night I took you to a dessert tasting with mommy and some other women and, although we had to leave early for your bedtime, while we were there you did much better!
And while I am bragging on you I musn't forget to tell you how proud I was of you this past week at BSF when I left lecture to nurse you. You, my little man who is accustomed to noise makers and soft sheets and refuses to sleep in carseats or on mommy's lap, were out cold on a bare plastic mattress in a brightly lit room with 15 other screaming babies when I walked up the nursery this past Wednesday. It was almost comical as I yelled over the other babies to the nursery worker asking where you were and she pointed to your little body - face up, out cold (she said you only slept for 10 minutes, but with those conditions, I am beyond impressed!)
You are precious, my little boy. Sometimes I wonder if you really get how much I love you or if I'm doing a good job showing that to you in the way you understand it. So many times at the end of the day, you are just so excited daddy's home (which I treasure watching) and he is so fun, I wonder if I must be a bore all day and if I am showing you in the right ways how much you are loved. So....I will just keep taking care of you and loving you the best I know how and pray for patience in the moments that are exhausting, and the days that have more crying than smiles, trusting that God is making mommy a better mommy for you and a better tool for Him to use.
I love you so very much,
Mommy
Monday, January 9, 2012
Playgroup Update
Two and a half months later they are all a little bigger ...
and let's hope this isn't a glimpse of Larkin's personality developing!!!!
Friday, January 6, 2012
Happy 6 Months, Larkin!
I can hardly believe it's been half of a year since we were here...
But here we are six months later and my how you've grown!
This month was a busy one as we celebrated your first Christmas and went on your first trip.
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| Christmas 2011 |
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| On your first trip: Colorado |
EATING: One of the big changes of month 6 is introducing solids! You don't really seem to like any of it and we've tried it all- rice cereal, oatmeal cereal, peas, squash, bananas, apples, etc. Out of them all you seemed to like the apples the best, but you usually spit the food back out at me and push away the spoon. We will keep trying each day because my breastfeeding days are numbered.
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| "Peas again?"
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I also held off dropping the dream feed until we got back from the trip, but we are currently weaning you off of that giving you less each night. These past few nights I've held you extra long. You are so cuddly during this feeding and as happy as I will be to drop it, last night I realized just how much I will miss that cuddle time.
BATHTIME: You still like your baths although there have been a few times when you seem to get scared in the bathtub - so there were a few tears this month.
SITTING: You are still not sitting up and we practice every day with our boppy and bumbo but to no avail. However you still love to roll over from front to back and we often find you in what daddy calls the "skydiving position" on your belly with your hands and feet up and kicking.
SLEEPING: As far as sleeping goes, this month we were a little off due to traveling, but you've gotten right back on schedule. I find that if I put you to bed later than 7:30 it takes you longer to get to sleep and you will cry, but if we hit the sweet spot from 7-7:30 and you have a full belly you are asleep pretty quickly.
You are still taking 3 naps. The first after an hour of being awake and the others have an hour and a half wake time in between. Since you are pretty much hitting each of these perfectly I'm not going to try to scale back the naps yet. We will wait until you seem less tired.
TOYS: You still love your mobile and you've enjoyed your exersaucer and jumper more this month too. Your little body is still a bit wobbly in them and your toes are almost reaching the bottom of the exersaucer, but you can go a good 10-15 minutes without getting upset.
YOUR SMILES: You are still such a smiley and good baby. Everywhere I go people comment on what a good natured baby you are and I'm so thankful that you have such a happy little temperament. This month given us a few belly laughs which totally make my day.
However, when you are tired you do get fussy and since most of the pictures I've posted of you are of you smiling, for accurate documentation purposes I feel I need to show a few pics of how cute you are when you are sad too. Typically it starts out with a pouty lip and a few eye rubs...
And then we digress...
These pics remind me of the song "Mama said there'd be days like this"
I think even sad you are adorable, but.... in genenral you are a happy, sweet little boy who we love dearly - REGARDLESS of your mood!
HAPPY SIX MONTHS LARKIN!
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Colorado 2011 !!!
This past week we went to Colorado with our good friends the Simmons and Rives. It was our first trip with Larkin. I'm glad that we were brave and ventured out to travel with him at this age (although I know people do it all the time), but I will say it is much more exhausting traveling with a child than I would have imagined. Jordan drove up with the boys so they could transport all of our baggage and the girls and kids flew.
Having the guys drive 12 hours to bring our luggage up was so wonderful of them, but I think it was after the second delay at the airport on the way home as strangers stared on at us in pity (or annoyance) that my perspective changed a bit. Larkin was practicing his new sqwaking screams and had just had an accident that ruined his onesie (thank the Lord for the change of clothes I stashed in my bag) and Lucy Kate and Owen were playing keep away from mommy. That's when we finally decided the girls ended up with the worse end of the deal. In fact I had one stranger tell me this as they asked what in the world we were doing traveling all together with three little ones.
Back to the trip though, we stayed in Mindy's dad's cabin in Buena Vista. It was GORGEOUS with a majestic view overlooking snow capped mountains. Mindy's dad and his wife, Corinne were so hospitable that it felt like we were in a resort. We were cooked delicious meals and every time we turned around there was some kind of new chocolate snack for us to munch on.
There were so many wonderful things on the trip. Some of the highs of the trip for me were spending time with Jordan and Larkin away from home and responsibilities, trying (ultimately unsuccessfully) to put together a 1,000 piece puzzle with the group, eating at a yummy pizza place called EddyLine's, long walks, talking and reading by the fire, feeding the deer outside the cabin, playing "suckotash" (spelling?) and laughing until my tummy was sore the last night and in some sort of sick and twisted way, spending that last day of travel with Marina, Mindy and their two kids. (This was by far the most difficult part of the trip, but I am so thankful they were there with me and we all did it together).
Larkin did remarkably well overall. He more tired perhaps because of travel and the elevation, and on the drive from the airport to the cabin that first night there were a few tears shed when he screamed for almost 2 hours straight (the tears were mine).
Still, this trip reminded me how thankful I am for good friends and how the Lord has blessed us with some of the best over the past few years.
Having the guys drive 12 hours to bring our luggage up was so wonderful of them, but I think it was after the second delay at the airport on the way home as strangers stared on at us in pity (or annoyance) that my perspective changed a bit. Larkin was practicing his new sqwaking screams and had just had an accident that ruined his onesie (thank the Lord for the change of clothes I stashed in my bag) and Lucy Kate and Owen were playing keep away from mommy. That's when we finally decided the girls ended up with the worse end of the deal. In fact I had one stranger tell me this as they asked what in the world we were doing traveling all together with three little ones.
Back to the trip though, we stayed in Mindy's dad's cabin in Buena Vista. It was GORGEOUS with a majestic view overlooking snow capped mountains. Mindy's dad and his wife, Corinne were so hospitable that it felt like we were in a resort. We were cooked delicious meals and every time we turned around there was some kind of new chocolate snack for us to munch on.
There were so many wonderful things on the trip. Some of the highs of the trip for me were spending time with Jordan and Larkin away from home and responsibilities, trying (ultimately unsuccessfully) to put together a 1,000 piece puzzle with the group, eating at a yummy pizza place called EddyLine's, long walks, talking and reading by the fire, feeding the deer outside the cabin, playing "suckotash" (spelling?) and laughing until my tummy was sore the last night and in some sort of sick and twisted way, spending that last day of travel with Marina, Mindy and their two kids. (This was by far the most difficult part of the trip, but I am so thankful they were there with me and we all did it together).
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| Lounging Around |
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| "The" Puzzle |
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| The Rives |
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| The Simmons |
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| The Brazeals |
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| Sitting by the Fire |
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| Our little mountain man |
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| The Girls and Lark |
Larkin did remarkably well overall. He more tired perhaps because of travel and the elevation, and on the drive from the airport to the cabin that first night there were a few tears shed when he screamed for almost 2 hours straight (the tears were mine).
Still, this trip reminded me how thankful I am for good friends and how the Lord has blessed us with some of the best over the past few years.
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