mommy's day

my first mother's day - see me with my chunky monkey standing behind my first mother's day gift - a 12 ft. long picnic table built by my dear hubby. how am I gonna top that on father's day? we had some family over for a spaghetti picnic. the weather was gorgeous. nothing like eating on china outdoors - makes the food taste so much better.

he decided to start moving a little. he liked it.

this is one of will's funny grins - just love it.

life is beautiful

a few nights ago, lee and i watched Life is Beautiful. we didn't know much about it before watching it. i don't want to spoil it if you want to watch it yourself. what a movie

it's interesting because we watched half of it one night and the last half the next night. it was like watching two different movies. i laughed the first night. the second night i could not stop crying. i almost could not finish the movie i was that upset. i came so close to walking out of the room. i don't think i've ever cried so hard in my life.

this movie made me realize how good i have it and how spoiled i am. it is a reminder of the evil of the holocaust and a great picture of sacrifice and love. get your kleenex for the last half.

mmm...books

Will loves to "read".

Apparently, he likes to eat books too.

those teeth are sharp.

my little ham

these are my favorite will pictures to date.
we had fun outside today in our front yard.
i love the way he smiles for the camera in the last shot - he's my little ham.

My Hair is Freakin' Short!

Nathan, Jr.

last night i had a dream that i gave birth to another son. i was so confused. i was trying to do the math thinking, but will is only 9 months and 3 weeks old! how did this happen?
he looked just like will. we named him nathan.
on sunday, lee and i watched Raising Arizona, and the baby's name in that movie is nathan, jr. i also just met a neighbor yesterday and her husband's name is nathan. hahaha. so funny how your brain puts together dreams.
i just can't imagine having two babies 9 months and 3 weeks apart!!! i guess it's possible.

braided bread

i made bread this week - YUM! my mom got this recipe from a friend and taught me how to do it. we grew up eating this homemade bread on special occasions. i used to help punch the dough once it had risen and i would braid the bread for mom. when i got married i started making it on my own. love it - this recipe does not use a bread machine. just a big spoon and some muscle.

will has a mouth

will has a mouth.

he enjoys putting things in his mouth.

confessions of a mommy - part I

i know i post a lot of smiley will and smiley mommy pictures on this blog, and we do smile a lot, but i want to be real about the other side of motherhood. dun dun dun.

one thing i hate about motherhood - i can't sleep whenever i want to.

this is so huge for me. even though will is sleeping through the night and takes two naps a day, i still struggle with this. it never fails, if i am really sleepy one afternoon, i will lie down right after i put him down for his nap - that will be the day it takes him 20 minutes to go to sleep. can you tell i'm a little bitter? i love my sleep!!!
he is one of those babies who hates to sleep. we went through some major sleep training at four months old (i realize we probably waited too late, but that's water under the bridge now). and now at nine months old, it is VERY rare that i put him down and he does not cry at least a little bit.
anyway, all that to say - being a mom, i can no longer sleep like i used to. i'm subconsciously listening for him, and when i do occasionally hear him cry in the night or early morning, i cringe.

motherhood makes you realize how selfish you are.

Oswald keepin things real

"When God speaks, many of us are like people in a fog, and we give no answer...

Be ready for the sudden surprise visits of God. A ready person never needs to get ready - he is ready. Think of the time we waste trying to get ready once God has called!"

Oswald Chambers - my utmost for his highest

in full bloom

aren't our azaleas awesome??? i wish they stayed this way longer.

last weekend was great, but we did have a few unpleasant events.

lee and i wanted to go out on a lunch date to my favorite mexican restaurant - Sabroso! this place has the BEST salsa of any mexican restaurant i've been to. and i've been to quite a few in the upstate and around atlanta. they also have great refried beans! woodruff road - sabroso - go there.

so, we begin the drive to the restaurant and right as we get out of my parent's driveway, lee notices that the breaks are out! so we turn around and make it back to the house, spilling break fluid everywhere. we did get to go out to lunch by taking my mom's car, but lee spent most of the rest of the weekend fixing the car so we could drive back to atlanta on sunday.

while driving back to atlanta - we witness a car fire on 85. lee says he saw the actual explosion. the car fire is in the right lane and we pass it as flames are blowing towards our car. i think all people were out of the car. i know i can be dramatic sometimes, but this was scary for the second it took me to pass. lee says he couldn't, but i could feel the heat.

easter weekend wasn't all smiles and happiness, but that's life. now i'm craving some sabroso salsa.

i'm watching "you've got mail" while catching up on some ironing. i miss AIM so much! the first form of texting - i don't text, never have, but i could probably become addicted quickly.

ahh, this movie is also reminding me of my dream to open a children's bookstore one day.

Cheerio

this video was taken on will's nine month birthday. isn't he cute scooting the cheerios around? i just recently thought to let him practice picking them up. as you can see, he doesn't quite have his "pincer grasp" yet. i am happy to report that earlier this week he did pick one up himself and put it in his mouth! this is the first time he has ever fed himself - i'm so proud - :0)

Easter 2009

We had a great time in SC. On Good Friday, the weather was a little rough - lots of rain and stormy. A tornado actually went through ben's backyard that day! check out his blog - i just added it to my blog list.
but, as you can see, most of Easter weekend, the weather was absolutely gorgeous, and we even had a happy boy most of the time!

get ready for lots of pics!

my camera is fixed!!! i have been without my camera for 3 months now. my mother in law was nice enough to let me borrow hers for a little while so i got a few pics of will's 7th and 8th month. but, now i am so excited that i have mine back!!! and canon fixed it for free!

i was going to throw it away and then i thought, no, i'll at least try and sell it on craigslist. a very kind soul saw my posting and sent me an email saying that canon should repair it. YES! thank you, thank you!

get ready for lots of pics! here's one of will today. he loves his blue dog.

the will update - 9 months

on tuesday, will turned 9 months old! unfortunately i don't have any pictures, but i do have a video i will upload later. (we saw snowflakes on tuesday - crazy! and today it's supposed to be 70 degrees!)
i took will to the doctor today for his checkup and he now weighs 21 1/2 lbs. he is fairly tall at 29 3/4". he has a big head - 18 1/4".

just to give you an idea this is what he was at 6 months:
he weighs 19 lbs. 14 oz. (82%) (he was 93% at 4 months)
he is 27 inches tall (64%)
head circumference is 17.25 (47%)

he pretty much switched percentiles on the height and weight. pretty soon, he won't be my chunky monkey anymore - sadness!

he is working on his fourth tooth! he has his front two bottom teeth and is working on his dracula teeth up top.

yep, he's a talker

happy after my nap, mommy

tiniest of baby booms

when i was pregnant with will i kept noticing so many pregnant people! and so many magazine headlines talked about all these celebrities having babies. it seemed to be the cool thing to do - have a baby!
i remember telling my mom one day - it seems like everyone is having a baby right now! she said i was just extra sensitive to it because i was about to have one myself.
but, check this out. i just read this in World magazine.
"It's the tiniest of baby booms. This is not an earthquake; it's a slight tremor."
"Fertility researcher S. Philip Morgan of Duke University on the record number of births in the United States during 2007. There were more than 4.3 million births, 40 percent of which were out of wedlock."
i wonder what 2009's stats will be. with the economy not looking so stable, i wonder how people will react. will they think a having a child will fill a void in their lives and help things? will they take birth control more seriously? will they even be able to set aside money for birth control? will they abstain? will they give the marriage relationship a chance?
what do you think?

Spidey

here's your random picture for the day. will was two months old in this picture. he was dancing to shakira's "hips don't lie". HA! oh my gosh, that was almost 7 months ago.

i just made $7.00 from craigslist! woo-hoo!

will can turn himself around in a sitting position now. still no crawling.

the classic "mad will" face

this is one of the many faces of will. he's cute even when he's mad.

i've come to love this face (only in very small doses, you understand - and if he's not hurt, of course).

he's not so into the swing as you can probably see. i think i'd be a little nervous on this swing too.

a time of mourning

i am mourning the loss of my favorite magazine - domino.
march 2009 will be there last issue.
i don't even have a subscription, but i'm really sad about this. it was such an inspiring, fun, happy magazine. and not very expensive.
the first one i ever bought was on my honeymoon. i guess that's another reason why it's special to me. haha.

domino - i hope you re-emerge when the economy gets better!

but, until then, there is the book - see picture!

he's a soprano - eek

he can't crawl, but he can do this

when i was seven weeks pregnant they did an ultrasound - will was the size of a grain of rice and we could see his heart beating on the computer screen.

i don't know what you believe, but i think everyone should at least know about the following so that you can act if you feel led -

there is the potential for a new bill to pass that would require doctors to perform abortions even if that goes against their religious beliefs. of course this would affect nurses involved in the procedures and pharmacists who would be required to give morning after pills. my brother is an OB and my dad is a hospital pharmacist so this is hitting close to home.
right now those in the medical profession are protected from this because of the Conscience Clause.

"The Conscience Clause was implemented by former President George W. Bush to give physicians and nurses the choice to act according to their conscience — to not participate in abortion procedures if it conflicts with their personal convictions." http://beheardproject.com/

this is from an email from my dad -

"If you see fit to add your name to a petition against this, please call 1-877-989-2255. You will talk to a real person at the ACLJ (American Center for Law and Justice). Just tell them that you would like to add your name to the petition that is concerning the conscious clause and that you are against what the president is trying to accomplish. They will ask you a few questions and probably ask for some money but contributing is not a requirement. The open period for public comment is 30 days and that time ends in about a week. So, if you are going to do anything, do it quickly.

Also, I have not looked into this, but there is a website called beheardproject.com for ages 15-30 to speak out against this also. So, if you qualify and feel led, you might want to express yourself on this website.

All of the above info is being gathered by the ACLJ, which has offices in Washington and Europe, and it is a bonafide link for any of us to support the sanctity of life among other issues. You can research the ACLJ at ACLJ.com."

President Obama - where are you leading us?

Food for thought - I once heard someone say that if God condones the immoral behavior of the USA then He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.

I don't think God apologizes for anything.

steady diet of giggles

so, yesterday was a rainy day (and a day when will decided he didn't want to take full naps), so i resorted to baby einstein videos. while looking through my small collection of baby dvds and vhs, i realized something horrible.

i accidentally bought a barney tape!

what had happened was i had picked up a sesame street Kids Favorite Songs video at the thrift store for 50 cents along with Baby Shakespeare (which is pretty cool). turns out there was never any Kids Favorite Songs - it was Barney Safety!

okay, so i know a lot of kids out there love barney the dinosaur and i know he's really nice and all - but, i have always vowed that i would never let my children watch Barney - because I don't want to watch Barney.

let's face it - he's just too nice. a little creepy.

check this out -

studies conducted by Yale researchers Dorothy and Jerome Singer have confirmed that episodes actually contain a great deal of age-appropriate educational material, calling the program a "model of what preschool television should be."^[1]

One specific criticism is that

"his shows do not assist children in learning to deal with negative feelings and emotions. As one commentator puts it, the real danger from Barney is denial: the refusal to recognize the existence of unpleasant realities. For along with his steady diet of giggles and unconditional love, Barney offers our children a one-dimensional world where everyone must be happy and everything must be resolved right away."[

I agree with that last criticism. anybody want a free Barney Safety tape?

10 oz. and the letter q

will just had 3 T. of rice, some squash and a few spoonfuls of applesauce for dinner. plus 5 1/2 oz of milk. i put him to bed 30 minutes later and he cries and won't stop - this is unusual these days. so i go give him 2 1/2 more oz of milk. acts like he wants more. put him down thinking surely that was enough. he continues to cry very hard for awhile so i go back in there with 2 more oz. and some babyorajel. he downs the milk, is not crazy about the orajel, but finally begins to calm down. so after 10 oz of milk and his dinner he is finally asleep. surely he will sleep through the night tonight - we've had a few rough nights this week because of a new tooth.

on a different note. maybe you elementary school teachers can help me out with this one. does the lower case q not have a tail in handwriting anymore? is it just a circle with a straight line now, like a backwards p?

more than enough

What if you’re right?
And he was just another nice guy
What if you’re right?
What if it’s true?
They say the cross will only make a fool of you
And what if it’s true?

What if he takes his place in history
With all the prophets and the kings
Who taught us love and came in peace
But then the story ends
What then?

But what if you’re wrong?
What if there’s more?
What if there’s hope you never dreamed of hoping for?
What if you jump?
And just close your eyes?
What if the arms that catch you, catch you by surprise?
What if He’s more than enough?
What if it’s love?

song by nichole nordeman

ode to will

thank you, my will
you are a gift from God
you encourage me in so many ways
you've gotten me into reading again
you make me take walks in the park
you make me remember that it is important to eat my fruits and veggies
you make me listen to classical music because i heard it was good for you
you remind me how vital sleep is to every human's mood
you make me realize what bad posture i have when i see you sit up so nice and straight
you make me live on a routine
thank you my little love bug

ps. i still can't believe you have blue eyes

my little sweetheart - 8 months old!

coupon mom

i've recently rediscovered my love for coupons. i have a coupon organizer but sometimes i get really lazy and don't always file them right or just don't bother looking in there and forget about them. but, i caught a little bit of doctor phil - i think it was on monday - and they had a lady on there talking about how she cuts her grocery bill in half by using coupons. so, i was reminded of the power of coupons and now i'm on a mission - to see how low i can get our grocery bill and still live well.

the lady they had on there was frugalcouponmom. i went to her website and found out about The Coupon Clippers. has anyone else heard about this or tried it? i am so curious. i think i will try it next week before i go shopping. you think i'm a dork don't you? well, wait until you hear just how dorky/nerdy i've become about grocery shopping. you would be too, if you had to buy diapers and baby food and you and your husband were unemployed for several months.

a few months ago, i had just gotten back into making my weekly menus and doing my shopping list from that. let me tell you - this may sound crazy at first and so not fun, but it is so worth it! before i would always be thinking throughout the day - okay, what are we gonna have for dinner? what am i gonna do? but, now with the menu, half the work is already done. and i don't end up throwing a lot of food away that i forgot to use. that's just throwing away cash, my friends!!!

first, i look at my kroger ad and circle the things i need that are on sale. i plan my meals according to what i have and what's on sale for the most part. i make my grocery list in categories - produce first - dairy last. i pull out all of my coupons i'm going to use and put it with my grocery list. then i head for the store.

are you laughing now?

it seems highly anal, but i am so easily distracted, esp. in a store and this helps me tremendously. saves a lot of time too, and when you have an infant, time is PRECIOUS!

ready for the really nerdy part?

i now am putting together a spreadsheet of what grocery items i purchase most often and the best deals i can get them for per ounce or lb. or whatever. muhahahaha. does anybody else do this who is reading this? i would love to know - you would be my hero.

i hope this has not scared you, but rather inspired you to save money on your grocery bill. think of what you could do with the extra cash! not to mention, you are being more environmentally friendly, efficient, and a better steward of the money God has given you. yes, God gave you that paycheck, now be smart with it. :0)

go ye therefore and clip coupons!

teether keys

i did go out and buy another set of teether keys for will. i found that he still does not like to play with them if there are three on the ring, but if i take one off, the keys entertain him for quite some time.

Oh, Oh The Sweetest Thing

This is Wild Will before his afternoon nap.

the idiot box

i'm trying to be better about being aware of what's going on in the world. it's easy to block everything out being a stay at home mom. to be honest, the news media gets on my nerves after awhile - i have trust issues with them. but, because of that sometimes i block it all out and then i am totally ignorant and that's not so good either. so, i try to get a little dose of the today show during the week, and then lee and i got a subscription to World magazine for Christmas so i've been trying to read that. i also enjoy listening to sean hannity on the radio if i happen to be in the car at the right time. and to balance it all out sometimes i'll catch the hot topics on The View. haha - although they get annoying and talk about sex too much. i enjoy reading World the most.

all that to say, while reading World last week i came across something. On January 17 in a speech at the Madhavrao Scindia Memorial, the Dalai Lama is quoted as saying, "I love President George W. Bush." and later, "it is difficult to deal with terrorism through nonviolence."

i just never expected that.

something else that interested me - from the Hindu national newspaper online -

"Happy people spend a lot of time socialising, going to church and reading newspapers — but they don’t spend a lot of time watching television, a new study finds. That’s what unhappy people do.

Although people who describe themselves as happy enjoy watching TV, it turns out to be the single activity they engage in less often than unhappy people, said John Robinson, a professor of sociology at the University of Maryland and the author of the study, which appeared in the journal Social Indicators Research."

i admit, i used to watch a ton of tv. then, i got married, we didn't have cable, so it was a little less tempting. and then last spring our antennae broke, then i had a baby and didn't have time to watch tv for awhile. i started watching movies. then we were able to get a picture again on a few stations and the commercials about drove me crazy.

i'm rambling, but i agree with this study - strangely, the tv is terribly addictive and at the same time unsatisfying.

God reminded me of this the other day - "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." Matthew 5:6 NIV

Or as the New American Standard puts it - ""Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied."

favorite toys

the toys that will loves the most surprises me. they are toys that i would have never picked out for him. i'm glad that other people did, because he absolutely loves his toys. i wanted to post a few examples.




lee's sister picked this dragonfly up at a yard sale. i guess ever since he's been about five months old, this toy will entertain him for at least 20 minutes and sometimes longer. he'll touch it and chew on it. i guess it's easy for him to hold onto and it tastes good. ha.

to the left, you'll see will with his precious moments doll. a good friend gave me a diaper cake as a baby present and this was the topper. it says a bedtime prayer when you push it's belly. he's starting to be less fascinated with this one, but a few months ago whenever he would hear that doll praying it would totally make his day. he would turn to it and wait until the prayer was over and then he would talk to it and touch it's face. he's so polite! haha. now, he kind of smiles and grabs it by its stocking cap, bangs it on the floor and tries to bite it. this means he still really likes it.

another one of his absolute favorites is his teether keys. which i cannot locate as of last week!!! they're probably on the floor in kroger or lying in a parking lot somewhere. i am seriously going to look for some more at the store. they can't be that expensive.

will's new pjs

i bought will these pajamas last week. when i got home, i noticed that little green message on the hanger.

Glow in the Dark!

he hasn't worn them yet, but it will be pretty interesting and probably very comical to see his reaction. he's always been fascinated with light and is constantly touching any kind of image whether it be on a picture book we're reading or a pattern on his blanket or the printed cars on his boppy or whatever. can't wait until he wears them for the first time, and i can't believe i bought those! hahaha

life means so much

"the value of any object is determined by the price someone is willing to pay for it. the highest price has been paid for your soul and mine, which makes us the most valuable things in the universe. life means something. everyday is a gift. gratefulness should define our moments."

chris rice

i've been going through all of our cds this week. trying to organize and begin the baby-proofing project. which means i have to move the cd tower.

will and i enjoyed jewel's "pieces of you" on tuesday. (isn't painters and morning song great???) he was okay until i started singing "amen" and tried to hit the really high notes at the end. in high school i would practice my vocals and warm up with that song before i had to sing a solo at church. anyway, sometimes will is not really into shreaky high pitched sounds - and also blenders and mixers going full speed.

i ran across my chris rice cd - i bought it a few years ago - it's his short term memories album. my spirit drank it up! i've forgotten about so many things the past few months. thankfully, God is shining through the darkness. He's good at that. and i'm feeling more normal these days.

david and will talk

will and i had fun visiting marcia and david last friday! marcia, don't kill me for posting this - i think it's too cute.