...There's no place that I'd rather be...
Two hearts...One dream...Wouldn't trade it for anything...
I ask the Lord every night for just another day in paradise...
Ok, so I am a little tardy with this post, but I have been sooooooo busy! Time has flown this past year and I can't believe it...Jonah is one! We had a Barnyard Bash birthday party for him and he had a blast! He really, really liked his cake! :) He is getting so big! And he's such a little character. He is working on his 14th tooth and has been walking since September. He is expanding his vocabulary every day...the thing that blows my mind is how he can recognize and say things in the correct context. He can identify and say 'dog, frog, duck, outside, cat' and of all things, the child can say 'spongebob'. I'm not kidding. lol He can also say 'what's that?', 'oh look!', he waves his little hand up and down and says 'no, no, no!', waves and says 'bye bye bye' and when he sees something new (like the bubbles Brent was blowing tonight), he says 'oh wow! wow!'. He growls when he sees a bear or a lion and he can make his trucks vroooooom on the floor when he plays with them. We've been working on sign language; he knows the sign for 'more', 'all done', and 'mama' and ''daddy'...he has signed back 'more' and ' daddy'. Seriously, is there a smarter kid out there?? ;) Love this little boy so much, I can't even remember what life was like before him. ♥
Jonah was fussing because he wanted my lemon. I tried to tell him he wouldn't like it.... :)
He is 10 months old now and has taken a few steps, but realizes crawling is faster so he's not a fan of walking yet. Can't believe how big he's getting!!
We're having so much fun & being a Mama is everything I dreamed it would be! ♥
We went to Kentucky a few weeks ago and Jonah got to meet his Pappaw, Mammaw Janice, and his Great Grandmother (Brent's Dad and his Dad's Mom) for the first time. We had such a great time! Jonah went on his first fishing trip with his Daddy and Pappaw. He liked hanging on to the pole and he kept fussing to get down in the grass. Well, finally I gave in and put his feet in the grass and he kicked at it for a minute....then he looked up at me, smiled that cute little crooked smile, then smooshed his foot down in the mud and giggled. Boys will be boys! ♥
We were able to go to one of my brother's triathalons a few weeks ago in Ponte Vedra. It started at the crack of dawn so we had to get up reaaaaaaally early. The triathalon was swimming for 1/4 mile, then biking for 13 miles, then running for 3 miles. At first when Josh told me he was going to do a triathalon in the ocean, I was worried about sharks eating him, so I suggested to stay somewhere in the middle of all the swimmers....but then when I saw the hundreds of people hauling it towards the water to swim, I'd guess a shark would be like "What the @#*!" and would get out of dodge.
Then of course I worried about him crashing on his bike and breaking his neck or getting hit by a car. Not to mention while he is running, what if he collapses with fatigue?? If he collapses with fatigue, we won't know it because we can't see him the entire time he's running....Geez, I'm just his sister and I worry this much; how'm I gonna be with Jonah when he gets bigger? I'm in for a long road ahead I think. lol So anyway, Josh didn't get eaten by a shark, or break his neck, or keel over while running; he did really great and we're so proud of him!! My brother is one of the coolest dudes I know and he's one of my best buds. He's about to graduate with his Masters Degree from FSU in Meteorology. He's a smart little bugger. We're all hoping that his job search doesn't take him too far away from us, but my hope and prayer is that he finds happiness wherever he goes.
Jonah didn't really know what was going on, but he was SO GOOD and he was having a blast cheering on his Uncle Josh!! We were there for several hours and he didn't fuss once. So often when I look at Jonah, I am reminded of my brother when he was little...and I think it's the coolest thing. Jonah has another great role model to look up to; and I know Josh will teach Jonah lots of cool things! He's practically Bill Nye the Science Guy!! lol :) I am really blessed to have such a great brother, and I'm so excited to see what the future holds for him. I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that he's going to achieve great things. ♥
We took Jonah swimming for the first time a couple weeks ago and boy did he love it!! We got him a little float, but he was more interested in splashing the water and slapping me in the face because he was so excited....he was flapping his arms like a goose flying south for the winter. lol His Bampy was so excited to play with him in the pool and they had such a great time turning into prunes together! :)
Jonah reminded me so much of his Uncle Josh when he was little! Josh used to love the pool, too. Josh still loves to swim and he actually competes in triathalons now....but that's another blog, for another day. Anyway, here's some pictures from Jonah's first swim. Enjoy!
Brace yourselves. It's official: Jonah is mobile. He started crawling last week and there's no stopping him! He's been pulling up in his crib for some time now, so he's practicing his exercises to start walking soon I'm afraid. In some ways it's nice that he's able to move around because he's been a little more independant and he plays by himself in the floor for a little longer....but gone are the days of me plopping him in the floor and going to grab the laundry real quick. Especially since he is pulling up now, he tries to pull up on everything, and my coffee table is the most non kid friendly table on earth I think. I think I'm going to invent something like a hamster ball.....for babies. :) Nobody steal my idea, I call dibs. I have much more to tell, but I will have to post on a different day.....since it's almost Midnight and 5:30 comes early; especially if J-man needs a snack at 2AM. lol More to come, stay tuned....but here's a few pictures & video. xoxo ♥
P.S. When you hear the video, you'll need to scroll down to the bottom of my blog's page to pause the music....
I want to eat those cheeks!!!!!!!!!!
This one has nothing to do with crawling, but it's just really, really cute.... hehe
We started Jonah on solid food a few weeks ago and I think we've created a monster. He's like a little billy goat; eating everything in his path! Here's a few pictures of his first taste of "real food" (which happened to look like fish food flakes....num, num) and he L-O-V-E-D it! His first bite was like uh....what's this crap....second bite....he pushed it around in his mouth a while....and his third bite was like BRING IT. lol
There's gotta be just a little bit more in here......
Y'all know this look. Think: An hour after Thanksgiving dinner, and you wish you had your stretchy pants.
This picture is from yesterday (4/18) when we gave him a banana in his little food pouch. He gnawed on it until it was gone. He had bananas in his hair, his armpits, his ears, and his eyelashes. That was a yummy nanner! :) Look at those baby blues, would ya??? He's the most handsome kid I've ever seen.
Sheesh, I missed blogging in March and I have a lot to update this month! Jonah is now 5 months old and growing too fast! Let's rewind for a moment so I can catch you up because a lot has happened....
At Jonah's 4 month well baby Dr's visit he was right at 17lbs! Dr. Sami was asking the standard questions with his back to us: Does he follow you with his eyes? Does he turn towards sounds? Can he push up with his arms if he's on his tummy? He didn't actually finish the last question because he was saying it as he was turning towards us, and he was like WHOA! HE CAN SIT UP! lol Jonah has been trying since he was about 3 1/2 months old to sit up and he finally mastered it at 4 months!
We started solid foods at 4 1/2 months, but that's a whole blog on it's own. The other big event in little man's world is that he's teething! He's getting one tooth on top and one tooth on the bottom. He loves his sitter Mrs. Tonia. We are thrilled to have found her! She keeps 3 other little girls, and she has 3 daughters. Brent calls it Jonah's Harem. lol Even Tonia's hubby Jim is lovey with my little guy. It's because Jonah's so darn cute, I know!! Anyway, here's a video of Jonah and his personal cheerleader, Sami, Tonia's daughter. This was St. Patrick's Day...
Here's my little lucky charm! We are so in love with this little turkey! He brings so much joy to our lives! That's about it for March updates! We took Jonah to some fun events during March. For starters, his Uncle Josh took him to his first Bluegrass Festival! Jonah was so good! We were there for about 5 hours! We had a nice time and can't wait to hang out with Uncle Josh again soon! Jonah went to his first birthday party. It was a 70's theme amd Jonah was a little rockstar! He definitely had some groupies! hehe
This is long. Writing is my therapy. Stay with me. A wise man once said "Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. But today is a gift; that's why it's called the present". Ok, so it was the old turtle from Kung Fu Panda, but I thought it was quite profound. So I've been doing a lot of thinking lately; I usually do this time of year. Valentine's Day has never been a big deal to me...mainly just another day to sucker people into spending more money than they have to 'buy' someone's love and affection. No thanks. But Brent and I would generally acknowledge the day with something like dinner or rent a movie...certainly nothing extravagant. Anyway, most of you that read my blogs know that in 2004 I had a cousin murdered on Valentine's Day. From that point on, I didn't even want to see a red heart on any day of the year...let alone celebrate a day that brought such sadness to my family. It was definitely a "Why, God?" moment. I've had a few moments like that since then....the other events that happened (as most of you know) was when I had my miscarriage. Then another miscarriage. Why, God? Why? Why would you allow this to happen? Are you punishing me? Two of my babies! I wanted to kiss them and sing them to sleep and see them smile back at me and I wanted to teach them about you....I don't understand! Then, bitterness set in. I actually told God to LEAVE ME ALONE. I tried and tried to avoid Him, I really did. I went through the motions and went to church like a good girl and every week the sermon was exactly for me, but I was so mad at God I wasn't ready to talk to Him yet. But He kept on bugging me relentlessly! I'll never forget the moment that He got my attention. We were driving to meet our friends Chuck and Evetta in Orlando and that's when I noticed writing in the sky. WRITING IN THE SKY!! Guess what it said? It said: GOD + U = :) Are you kidding me? Am I seeing things? (There were plenty of others that saw it too, I wasn't hallucinating. lol) OK,OK!! I'll speak to you again.....and I reluctantly prayed for God to help me lose the bitterness in my life and for him to help me leave my problems at his feet..... I eventually lowered some of the walls around my heart, but I was very nervous with my trust. Fast forward through the holidays of 2007. New Year's Eve. Today, 12/31/07, I should be in the hospital having my first child. BLAMO! Here comes the resentment creeping up again....it's a demon that preys me.
Then something amazing happened on one of my most dreaded days of the year, Valentine's Day: we conceived our son. February 14, 2008, four years after Jer was killed, God sent us an angel on the same day He called one home. We'd been praying for a child for so long, was this really it? And what is God up to, with this "coincidental" date? You've peaked my interest, Lord. When it was time for the ultrasound to check for a heartbeat, I could have thrown up on demand. I just knew this pregnancy was doomed from the start, since that was my track record. But when we got there, our minds were blown away when we learned that we were having twins! TWINS! I'd lost two babies, now I'm having two babies! 8 weeks later, we found out that we'd lost one of our babies, yet again. I was numb and my mind was swirling....what now? What about the other baby? Are they OK?? And that is when I realized I needed God more than I thought. In the Bible, Jonah was in the belly of the great fish when he finally figured out that he better look UP or else. Jonah 2:2 ..In my distress I called to the Lord, and He answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry. Like Jonah, I was engulfed in despair and I was hosting an awesome pity party! How stubborn are we that it takes something bad to get us to turn to God? It was at that moment I remembered something my pastor said: "You can get bitter or you can get better. The choice is yours." I was so tired of carrying the burden and I decided to get better. Besides, I knew He wasn't going to leave me alone no matter how often I asked. I am His and the Bible tells me that He's going to finish what He's started (Phillippians 1:6). And how could I even think of asking God to protect my child after being so nasty to Him and being so angry at Him? Well I'm happy to tell you that my God is a God of second chances. I asked the Lord to forgive me for my doubt and anger and to fill me up with His love and grace. It was instantaneous! I felt such peace and when I saw Baby A on that monitor - thriving and wiggling - I felt such joy and happiness; something I'd not felt in a long time. It was at that moment I started counting blessings rather than my losses and the first blessing I started counting was that little peanut growing inside of me. Now don't get me wrong, I'm by no means saying that I never struggle; but what I am saying is that I try my best to shift my focus on the blessings in life rather than the heartache. Some may call this sugar-coating but I call it letting go and letting God. So this is February 14th, I am going to cash in on some of that grace that the Lord promised me and I am going to focus on the blessings. What could I possibly find "positive" about my cousin's death? I miss him and he should still be here...but he isn't! It was then that I remembered where he was! Jeremy is in heaven! He's up there with my three little souls that we never got to meet (and I bet he's making them laugh...he was such a goofball!). I smile through tears as I think about them. All of a sudden, the idea of celebrating a day to recognize "love" didn't sound so unappealing. It was God's unconditional LOVE for us that sent Jesus to die for our sins and save us if we ask Him - and because of this love, I will see my loved ones again. It was LOVE that God had in mind when He kept trying and testing me; it's just what I needed to come back to Him. It is God's LOVE that has mended my scarred, broken heart. It was LOVE between me and Brent that created our son. Love. It feels so good to have love, hope and peace in my heart. When my brother suggested the name "Jonah" for our son, I immediately loved it. Something real cool about the name is that it is Hebrew for dove....and the dove is the symbol for peace. Every time my little Jonah smiles at me I'm reminded of all of the LOVE and peace that the Lord has provided. His grace really is sufficient for me!
Wake up. Change baby's diaper. Feed baby. Burp baby. Play. Sing. Laugh. Be amazed. Rock-a-bye to sleep. Rinse; repeat. I wish this didn't have to come to an end!! I am trying to cherish every moment because I have to go back to work in 2 weeks. My heart is sick over it. I know we'll both be fine....I just dread the thought of it. Anyway, I think I'm doing pretty dang good as a Mama. Lord knows I love the job; despite the being puked, peed and crapped on. Just when I think I've seen Jonah's biggest diaper masterpiece, he trumps and I'm in awe and the amout of poo that comes out of something so small. Seriously, I had crap on my elbow the other day. My elbow. Do you know how difficult it is to remove doo-doo covered clothing without getting it on you? I don't think it's possible. If you're a parent reading this, don't scoff, you've had poop on you at some point. If you're not a parent [yet] and you're reading this...be ready. You'll find skid marks when you least expect it. Something I've noticed about Jonah and apparently this is a "thing" with some kids...every time he gets in his jumperoo he poops. We've dubbed it the Pooperoo. Strange. But hey, I guess it gets things going. I just continually do the sniff test while he's playing in his jumperoo. Oh geez, and I'm sorry to continue on with the bum tales....but Jonah has first chair in playing the booty trumpet! He's also discovered - or perhaps I should say he has decided - that farting is funny. He is an 11 week old male, and he already thinks farting is humerous. At least he's not high-fiving his father. He's a typical boy and I'm very OK with that. And he is crazy about his daddy. I'm very OK with that, too. He tries so hard to copy Brent! When Brent talks to him, he just grins and coos like crazy! Brent has been making Jonah laugh by sticking out his tongue...and now Jonah is starting to stick out his tongue! It is so funny to watch him try to figure out how to do it! I swear he's the cutest baby I've ever seen. : )
I think that I've pretty much figured out Jonah's schedule. I know better than to be awake now, that's for sure. My alarm clock doesn't have a snooze button....it just keeps going until the boobs show up. Luckily, I type fast....so I'll hit the sack in a few minutes when I finish updating the world on my world. Ok, a few things in my world right now: I have lost 43lbs since Jonah was born. I started back on my Weight Watchers and I'm lovin' it! I've still got about 20 to lose (I think my total gain was 57lbs from pregnancy, and I had gained about 10 or so during 2007). I'm happy to say I'm on the wagon at the moment and things are going well. My secret? Cheat. I cheat every Monday night. Not too prophetical, huh? lol Another thing that I am just soooooo impressed with myself over is my cooking. I think I'm a distant cousin to Martha or something. Last weekend I tried "once a month cooking". I made 18 meals (4 servings - so enough for seconds if we want it) for $180. Dinner's in the freezer! Here's what we got: Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole, Chicken Fried Rice, Garbanzo, Tomato, & Carrot Casserole, Asian Honey Pork Chops, BBQ Shredded Chicken, Mexi-corn Lasagna, Shepherd's Pie, Creamy Chicken Rotini, and Fajita Macaroni. And by the way, all of them are WW friendly! I hope they taste as good as they did when I made them! It was like Golden Corral at my house on Saturday! I did learn a few things though, for next time. First, I won't do it while Jonah is home. I'll do it on a Friday when I can take him to day care. I kept having to stop and nurse him and then I felt like I ignored him because he was in his swing/bouncy/pack n play all day long. Mommy guilt kicked in, I won't do that again. Second, I'll be wearing good shoes next time. I cooked barefoot all day long....and my everything hurt. Third, keep it simple, stupid. Some of the recipes I made were incredible! But they were a little too complicated to do for OAMC. I'll make things that are around 10 ingredients or less next time. The trick to OAMC is shopping the sales ads and not taking the "convenient" route (ie: fresh veggies, not frozen) so it definitely is time consuming, but shoot, I did pretty good if I say so myself! Basically we got 18 meals for $10 each and technically with the serving sizes, if we don't overindulge with a second helping, we'll have lunch for the next day, too. I can't wait to try the food! I'll let you know how they turn out!
One more thing, then it's bedtime for bonzo....Please take a moment and check out this website: http://www.gigglestogracephotography.com/ Jonah is the first thing that pops up (baby in the basket with rings on his toes) and it's got my little man on there under "New Beginnings". My big man is on there, too. There's a couple pics of us on the "Belly Laughs" section. My mom has declared that Jonah is already a model. Well, if that's so, then this can be his first 'gig'. lol Anyway, it's my friend Mandy's site and she's AMAZABLE (to quote my nephew Lincoln) at taking pictures!!
So, that's my world at the moment. I'm still on cloud 9 and over the moon in love with my little family. Brent and I had our 8th anniversary on the 22nd, and this year will be 10 years since he asked me to be his girl. He still makes my heart skip a beat when he smiles at me and he can still make me almost pee in my pants laughing. I think those are good signs. :) Life's good. No, life's great....and I'm lovin' every minute of it! xoxo
Who needs a star in Hollywood when you can have one in the sky?? Jonah is such a little super star, he now has a real star in the sky named after him. Jonah got a toy lion for Christmas that came with the ability to register it and name a star in the sky. We decided that Kingston was a good name for the lion. So we logged on to the website and named Kingston, then we got to select where in the sky Jonah's star would be. We chose the constellation Ursa Major (also known as the "Great Bear"); you probably know this constellation as the Big Dipper. His star is named Jonah Sebastian and for all you star gazers out there, the location in the sky is: 9h 24m 52.48s 44 13'31.97' (whatever the heck all that means! lol) I can locate the Big Dipper and that's why we picked the constellation Ursa Major. I can't wait until he gets older and we can point out to him where his star is in the sky. Jonah loves his new buddy Kingston....and we all knew that he was a shining star since November....so today we just sealed the deal. <3
Ok, so I am a little tardy with this post, but I have been sooooooo busy! Time has flown this past year and I can't believe it...Jonah is one! We had a Barnyard Bash birthday party for him and he had a blast! He really, really liked his cake! :) He is getting so big! And he's such a little character. He is working on his 14th tooth and has been walking since September. He is expanding his vocabulary every day...the thing that blows my mind is how he can recognize and say things in the correct context. He can identify and say 'dog, frog, duck, outside, cat' and of all things, the child can say 'spongebob'. I'm not kidding. lol He can also say 'what's that?', 'oh look!', he waves his little hand up and down and says 'no, no, no!', waves and says 'bye bye bye' and when he sees something new (like the bubbles Brent was blowing tonight), he says 'oh wow! wow!'. He growls when he sees a bear or a lion and he can make his trucks vroooooom on the floor when he plays with them. We've been working on sign language; he knows the sign for 'more', 'all done', and 'mama' and ''daddy'...he has signed back 'more' and ' daddy'. Seriously, is there a smarter kid out there?? ;) Love this little boy so much, I can't even remember what life was like before him. ♥
Jonah didn't really know what was going on, but he was SO GOOD and he was having a blast cheering on his Uncle Josh!! 
Y'all know this look. Think: An hour after Thanksgiving dinner, and you wish you had your stretchy pants.
