Our Weekend

We had a fun, relaxing weekend. Friday night we didn't do much. Just hung around the house and relaxed. Josh made a yummy dinner of crab cakes, pesto stuffed chiken, and baked sweet potato. I know, I am one lucky gal! On Saturday we got up, grabbed some lunch on the way, and headed to the Hog baseball game. It was Shaw's first of many to go to and he loved it! We lasted until the 6th inning. It was about 45 degrees and we were ready to get him and ourselves back in the warmth! After that, we did a little vehicle shopping for myself. Hopefully, we will be getting a new ride in the next couple of weeks :). Today, we sadly didn't make it to church. Shaw woke up at about 7 and then took a short morning nap. His sleeping/feeding schedule and the services we have been to aren't really working out just yet. We are still trying to find a church up here that we feel like "fits" us. We are praying that God will put us in a church family that will help us grow spiritually, and that we belong in. After his morning nap, we decided to go grab lunch and go grocery shopping. It was so beautiful outside that we made a last minute choice to go back home, put the fridge and freezer items up, grab the pups, and go to one of the many nature trails around the local lake. It was such a pretty day and we all enjoyed the fresh air. We ended the day with some yummy Andy's! It was a great weekend!

Big Boy!

A hottie and a cutie :) So in love with these two!

If he wasn't doing this he was standing in my lap smiling and "talking" to all the people around us.

 Enjoying the sunshine!

Ollie and Livi had a great time!

Look at all the trees mom!

:)

 Can't beat Arkansas!

One tired pup!

Yummmmmm

 Mom, can I PLEASE have some ice cream?

I Love You So...

"I Love you as brilliant as each sparkling star, and as way out as space, I love you that far...

 I love you as gigantic as a great lion's roar, and as deep as the ocean, I love you much more.

From my head to my toes I was feeling inside a devotion for you so deep and so wide.

And now it's enormous and wonderfully real and hard to describe how much I feel!

 I love you as awesome as a thundery sky, and as soaring as mountains, I love you that high.

I love you as silly as a puppy dog's kiss, and as quite as midnight, I love you like this.

I love you as steady as the earth rounds the sun, though some days of life are the farthest from fun.

You're my sweetie, my dear, my smile and laughter.

 You're my playmate for always and my joy ever after.

 I love you near or far. I love you high or low.

My love is with you wherever you may go.

I love you sick or able.

You're always you to me, the one I love forevermore. Undeniably.

I can't imagine life before you came along...

me there singing senseless, no meaning to my song.

Call it meant to be

or simply blessed fate,



you fill my heart with love...

and for that I celebrate!

I love you... how much? SO much...how much is so?

WAY, way more than you know..."

Marianne Richmond

The Two O's

Yup, Mr. Oliver and Miss Olivia. Our two furry friends, both Westies. We got Oliver when he was 6 weeks old, and he was our first baby. Let me tell you, he prepared us for our first real baby. He was defiant to say the least. He was hard to train but the sweetest, most loving dog ever. Miss Olivia came into our lives the week after Christmas. We were contacted by one of my sister's coworkers who has connections at a Shelter in south Arkansas. They had found her wondering the streets and think she was a puppy mill dog. We tell her all the time we wish she could tell us her story. She is loving, yet a little strange at times (can you blame her?). Where Oliver really has nothing to do with Shaw, she LOVES him. He is her baby. We had to prepare Oliver for another baby entering the house by bringing Shaw's hospital blankets home for him to cuddle with. To be honest, we were a little worried how he would take to another baby in the house. Olivia on the other hand, pranced right into our house and just took him in as her own. Shaw is obsessed with both of them. Whenever he gets a chance he lays on them, "pets" them, and pulls their hair. They are members of our family and we love them dearly.

We love being a family of five :)

Oliver, Boogin, Booge



 

 Olivia, Girl, Martha (haha we joke that Martha was her name before)

She loves her Shaw baby

 Sweet doggies

Big Boy Food

The Magic Baby Bullet. Highly Recommend This.

Like I stated in my 6 month post, I started Shaw on pureed foods about 3 weeks sooner than I had intended to. Ya know, I was going to go directly by the books. Exclusively breast feed until 6 months on the dot then start solids. Well, the poor boy watched our every move at the dinner table, reached for our utensils, and stared at our mouth as we were chewing. It was sad to say the least. So after talking to several mommies, I took a leap of faith and started him early. Good thing because that boy knew exactly what to do and has loved food since we started. Before I got pregnant, and I had made the decision that the best thing for our family (and for my sanity) was to make all my baby food. My OCD self needed to know exactly what my baby was going to be eating. So far, I have LOVED it and so has he! To make it even bettter, my mother-in-law surprised me with the Baby Bullet and it has been awesome!! So easy and convenient! We started out with just avocado puree, avocado mixed with milk. We did that for about two weeks and then I introduced sweet potato puree! Today was our first day to start foods two times a day. So far, so good! We have no tried avocado, sweet potato, banana, and green peas. He has loved all of them! Hopefully, we will have a diverse eater and we pray we run into no allergies.

First time for avocado...not so sure about it!

 Not so bad, mom!

num num

I'll just feed myself, mom.

food! food! food!

Happy, full baby and happy momma!

This is what he first thought of green peas and bananas. Hilarious. But then, he gobbled them down!



First Christmas

Our little man's first Christmas, our first Christmas as a family of four, and our first Christmas away from family. It was a Christmas full of firsts and it was crazy busy to say the least. Since we moved four hours away from home a few weeks before Christmas, we knew that it was going to be hectic and enjoyable all at the same time. When Josh and I got married, we made the decision then that we would spend the first part of Christmas morning with just our little family. The first two years were spent with just us and our dog, but we knew by establishing this alone time together, would eventually be very special when we had a family of our own. Well, since we had to travel home, we still had our own family time together but this year it was on Christmas eve morning. The night before and that morning we started traditions that will last for many years to come. I am a sticker for traditions, and it was so awesome to watch all the little things my parents did with my siblings and myself be established in my own little family. Daddy read two books before bedtime, one about Jesus' birth and the other about Santa Clause. We will suround Shaw and his future siblings with the fact that Christmas is the celebration of our Savior's birth, but we will also have fun with the idea of Old Saint Nicholas. I made cookies earlier on Christmas Eve eve and we put them out with a glass of milk for "Santa" to eat and drink. Side Note: The Santa dish and cup are from Shaw's Ganna. It matches all of my Christmas dishes, and she gave it us as a present when we had our gender reveal party. Something I will charish forever. After the reading was over, we put little man to sleep and daddy did his Santa duties. The next morning, we opened his Santa gifts, as well our gifts to each other. After we finished opening gifts, it was a mad dash to get ready, in the car, and drive home. Did I mention that we went home for over a week and both our vehicles were PACKED DOWN?! The next few days were full of Josh's family, my dad's family, and my mom's family. That week we had SO many things to do including about 4 Dr.'s appointments and some much needed time with family. At the end of the week, my brother and his family got to join us from Ohio. We love spending time with them and soak in every minute possible. We celebrated my brother's birthday and New Years together. We also received a new addition to our family that week. Miss Olivia, our female Westie, came to live with us :) Christmas was one of the many firsts that I was so excited to spend with our precious man and it did not disappoint. Actually, it was perfect!

Disclaimer: Blogger has been giving me fits since yesterday and these pictures are WAY out of order!

Cousin Easton and Shaw opening their gifts at the Phifer "Christmas morning", which was really the Friday after Christmas. Yes, my son is naked. He gets super hot super fast. So, we spend a lot of time in a his diaper and nothing else.

Opening gifts with momma

Bathie time with the cousins. So much fun to watch. I am sure there will be more of this to come. Until couins Rae Rae doesn't get TOO old.

My beautiful sister and niece Raeleigh (aka Rae Rae, sis, Shaw's favorite).

Two of my absolute favorite people. My momma and Nanna. Aren't they so pretty?!

Pops and Ganna got daddy and Shaw matching Carhartt hats. Yes, we can say red neck :)

Bubba opening his stocking.

Our Christmas morning

All of Little Man's gifts from Santa and all our stockings.

Yes, I am spoiled.

Chillin' at Mimi's house with daddy before all the festivities begin.

Love my boys.

5 out of 9 Great Grandchildren on my dad's side of the family. Mont Momma and Daddy Buck's (my grandparents) pride and joy. Not pictured: Raeleigh, Easton, Linley, and Coy. Now there are two more on the way :) Our family is growing by leaps and bounds, literally!

Sweet cousin love.

Shaw and Allie on Christmas day after church

These next four pictures are leading up to Christmas week. I wanted to include them for my memory's sake.

The town we live in has one of the fire trucks drive around to all the neighborhoods with Santa on the back. They play loud Christmas music and hand out candy. 

My two boys

Getting ready to leave for my work Christmas party. (Josh will die when he sees these pictures. His New Years resolution was to lose 30 lbs. and he is about 20 lbs down from these pictures and you can tell a huge difference! So proud of him!)

Annual family Christmas picture in front of the tree.

Books daddy read Christmas Eve eve

Santa's cookies and milk

Melt.My.Heart

Hello mommy!

So excited that Santa is coming in the morning!

Firetruck. First ride on toy.

We had a busy, joyful time at home with all our family celebrating Christmas. It is exactly what I needed after living away from home for about three weeks.