Family Play Day

I am a big believer in the motto that "A family that plays together, stays together!" So that's what we do!

 

 

We also went and explored the Kid's Marble Museum in Raleigh. Don't be confused... this is not your typical museum. Instead this is like a GIANT play place for kids of all ages. The best part was they had a baby section that was away from the rambunctious older kids. We got to take off our shoes and play on the mats with Blake. He loved exploring the mirrors, fish, toys, and tumbling mats. So much fun! I have a feeling we will visit this place many times in the future.

 

 

By the way, Blake's T-shirt said "My mom is cooler than your mom." We thought it was pretty appropriate to wear it to the playground and kids museum. Haha!!



Family Compliment

A fellow co-worker stopped me in the hall today and told me how much she enjoyed seeing our family pictures that are shared on Facebook. She smiled and said, "I can just feel the love that your family has".

WOW! What a huge compliment to my little family. Love is something that we know that we have, but it means so much to us that other people can see it so clearly too. It makes me feel so great to know that of all things for us to portray, people see love and happiness when they see us.

Of course Ryan and I joked about it and said that we hope we can live up to that statement. :) Family is most important and we LOVE our little family!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!! Our little family has so much to be grateful for! This weekend we were grateful for the simple fact that we were able to be together. Ryan only has about a month and a half left in Louisiana and we are STILL counting down the days. Luckily he was able to fly to NC to spend Thanksgiving with us.

Just like last time, we packed as much as we possibly could into 3 days. Haha. We will share some more of our fun over the next couple of posts. But for right now, we are just grateful.

Ryan has the tradition of playing football on Thanksgiving. Talk about pressure...I went out and purchased a football just for the occasion. I even ran possible plays in mind just in case I had to participate in this tradition. Thank goodness that some guys here in the WF Ward also have the same tradition. Ryan meet up with them on Thanksgiving morning and played a full on game with the other guys. Whew... the tradition continues!!! He had a great time!

We also had the traditional Thanksgiving meals with my family. It is always great to see family members that we don't normally get to see. And of course we ate a ton. Blake also got to eat some Thanksgiving treats. He loved the sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, and green beans. Yum! I am pretty sure that the grandparents slipped him some more goodies too... :)

I know we live in a very crazy world. There can be lots of awful things that we see, but there can also be a lot of good. And we have so much good to be thankful for! Counting our blessings!

Blake's 9 Month Check-Up

We finally had Blake's 9 month check -up! And it was a great appointment because he didn't have to have any shots this time! YAYYYYYY!!!

Warning: There will be lots of bragging below...don't read if you are sensitive to super proud parents. :)

He is now 20 pounds and 29 inches long. He is somewhere in the 60th Percentiles for his growth. Good news! Dr. Jenna says that he will for sure be a big boy. Haha.

He also has hit all of his age developmental skills and more! Dr. Jenna also said that he was well advanced and smart for his age. Why thank you very much!!! What parent doesn't love to hear that?! Should I start getting college applications ready?! Too soon?! Haha. Just kidding.

During this month of thanks, I just can't help but think how lucky our family has been with health, especially Blake. Babies can get sick very often, and so far (knock on wood) Blake has had only one little cold. We are VERY grateful for his health! We are also thankful everyday for what a wonderful little boy he is. He has brought so much joy and happiness to our lives. We can't wait to see him grow into such a great kid. But not grow too fast....I still have a little bit of baby left in him to enjoy. :)

Painting and Patience

You know that theory (I think its a theory. If it's not then it really should be) - that the closer in time that you get to something, the longer it takes. It's true!

Our family has been apart for 4 months now (with 1 visit) and we still have about 2 months left until Ryan officially joins us in NC. To put it nicely, I'm over it!!! Yes, I am sounding like a mad Army wife at the moment. I guess I am just tired of waiting. Ryan has always done a great job with long distance. He knows how to keep himself busy and make things right mentally in order to get through it. Me on the other hand tends to get 'homesick' easily and miss my other half every second of the day.

Luckily we get a visit in about 2 weeks for Thanksgiving, another visit for Christmas, and then 2 weeks after that we can say goodbye to long distance!!! Until then, I am working about every weekend on our house - getting it painted and decorated. Ryan is currently re-painting the decorating I did in the Louisiana house as he is getting ready to move out. Did I mention how much Ryan hates to paint?! Haha!

I know that being a long distance family has probably had more downs than ups for us, but the important part is knowing that we are going to make it! We are almost done AND we are for sure stronger for it. I think at this point we are all just excited about that time in January in which we are simply together. 

Blake - 9 Months

It is a month of gratitude - and we are grateful for this little 9 month old guy...

 

Here is what Blake has been up to recently!

 

• He chews on EVERYTHING. We are talking cell phones, bottles, toys, and keys.
• He has tried to eat dog food. That's normal right?
• He is pulling up on everything and standing. He even bounces while standing. Kind of dancing?
• The dogs are his favorite. He will chase them around the whole house.
• He has 5 teeth! 2 bottom and 3 top.
• He got sick for the first time this month. Glad that is over with!
• We now have to get new car seats to fit his growing little self. The new one has cup holders!
• Sleep...let's just say we have some good nights and some bad nights. Work in progress. Still.
• He LOVES eating Puffs. Every flavor.
• He is obsessed with doors, particularly the refrigerator door and the dishwasher door.
• He has started to notice when people leave...and he doesn't like that very much.
• He is one tough cookie! If he falls while trying to stand he will just get up and try again. Like a champ!
• The one thing that always calms him down if he gets upset is listening to the Army bear that Ryan gave him. It has Ryan's voice recorded on it. So cute!

 

That's about it this month. We have a doctors appointment on the 12th, so we will have the growth stats then! :)

 

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!!! This year was very special for our family because it was Blake's first Halloween. He was a little monkey!!!! Isn't he cute?!?!?!

 

 

 

Since he is only 8 (9 months in 2 days), we just went Trick-or-Treating to some family houses. To be honest, I just thought that we would all just get a few good laughs out of his costume and that would be it. However, we were surprised with treats!! They had baby puffs ready for his "treat". What an awesome surprise. He sure is one REALLY loved little boy monkey.

 

For a little while I think he was confused at why he was in weird clothing. He was so awesome though, because he didnt mess with his hat at all!! Made my job easy!

 

He really loved his little treats. I'm pretty sure we had record breaking Puff intake! HAHA!

 

And of course he charmed everyone with his sweet little self. He is seriously the best little boy. We have been told many times that we are blessed, and I couldn't agree more!

 

His little costume even had a little tail. We learned quickly that it was a great way to keep him from getting into things that he wasn't supposed to. HAHA! Thanks GDaddy!! :)

 

 

As parents, this was a neat day for Ryan and I. It was the first time that we got to really celebrate a holiday for Blake! It's a whole new perspective when you see the magic through your child's eyes. Just makes us really happy. We can't wait until Christmas now!!!! Happy Halloween!!!!