Camping At The Wood's

funny man

2012-02-12T20:59:00.003-06:00

Lofton has been extra funny lately, so I wanted to jot a few things down about him before I forgot. He knows how to make people laugh, but I think he's usually funny just to make himself laugh. He cracks himself up all day long. Since his bathroom was under construction, Lofton took baths in our bathtub for about a month. He LOVED the glass doors on it. He thought it was hilarious to smash his face against the glass.

Since it's been freezing here lately, we've spent a lot of time at home and inside-this is Lofton's reading fort. Elliott's not allowed to go in, but I am (if I can fit--which is getting harder and harder.)

Anytime I'm getting dressed, Lofton comes into our closet and finds these leopard print shoes and wears them around the house.

It worries Elliott, but I think it's really funny. And precious. I'll be a little worried if he's still doing it when he's 7.

In the past few weeks, we've had to give Lofton several spankings for throwing things and hitting...it's getting better, but now every time he knows he does something he's not supposed to, he'll turn around really quickly and ask, "spankin?" Some days that's funny and some days it's not.

He's also been saying, "come on!" in a really sarcastic voice when we tell him he can't do something. Again, some days it's really funny, and some days it's not. I don't know where he gets some of these things...

Other updates:

I go in for my 31 week appointment on Tuesday--the beginning of the every 2 week appointments. I can't believe we are already this close. YIKES. We did finish the boys bathroom upstairs (pictures coming) so it feels like the upstairs is back to normal and Adler's nursery is slowly coming together. Updated belly picture coming soon if I can remember to take one.

I finished my first 3 hours of grad school on Saturday! I have two weeks until I start my next class and I'm very thankful for a little break! I miss my Saturdays with my boys :)

rough week (although I know there could be rougher ones)

2012-02-02T22:23:00.001-06:00

Last week was kind of a rough week for our little household of 3 (and 1/3 I guess--I don't know how to count Adler right now) We were all sick the week before last, and then we all got better, and then Elliott went to Chicago and got sick again, brought it back, and we all got even more sick. Last Thursday night at Elliott's basketball game, Lofton was extra cuddly and STILL (which NEVER happens--especially at basketball games) and he was crying off and on as I was putting him into bed and he had a little fever around 101. After a quick trip to the doctor on Friday morning, we were on our way to Publix to get some medicine for Lofton's first ear infection and an antibiotic for Elliott's sinus infection. My OBGYN just kept telling me to take over the counter meds, so I didn't get any of the good stuff. Anyhow, we're all doing much better this week, and after a few nights of good sleep, I think we've finally kicked the crud and I'm praying it stays away for a while. Lofton's ear infection didn't slow him down at all once he had medicine--not going to lie, I was kind of hoping for a day of sleep and rest since we hadn't gotten a lot of sleep that entire week, but Lofton's energy level was pretty much at it's usual high.

I was actually kind of nervous that Lofton wasn't feeling good last Thursday night because we were making cookies and between both of us eating the cookie dough, the cookies never happened...

How could I resist this sweet face several spoonfuls of cookie dough ~~especially when I was eating huge spoonfuls myself~~?

I had class all day on Satuday, and around 2ish, Elliott sent me a text warning me that Lofton would have a black eye by the time I got home at 5ish. He had a fight with a chair and the chair won (this was taken the morning after.)

Elliott and my dad have been working on our bathroom upstairs on the weekends, and last weekend they were able to lay the tile and grout, cut and put up beadboard, and cut the chair rail. We are so close to getting the toilet out of Adler's room!

And since my little man seems back to his normal self, we went to Syd and Micah's house yesterday for a fun finger paint party! Our church pretty much has all little boys and 1 girl, so play dates are chaotic and wild.

Hope everyone else is staying healthy and enjoying beautiful weather wherever you are! It was 68 here today--on February 2nd!! I think I might be the only one around that is slightly sad that winter seemed to pass us by this year :)

Elliott and his mini me

2012-01-26T10:37:00.000-06:00

Lofton had his donuts with dad day at school this morning, and thankfully Elliott got home from Chicago last night just in time to go!! He was determined not to miss it since he had to be in San Antonio during Lofton's Christmas program.

Both of them are a little sleepy and congested--poor guys.

My parents and Shane came and ate lunch with us yesterday, and Shane brought Lofton a couple of balloons from some work thing. Lofton is obsessed with "Hane's balloons" and has carried them around behind them for the past day. He wanted to take a picture with his balloons this morning.

And here's a quick belly bump picture of Adler going on 28 weeks! I have mixed feelings about the 3rd trimester...I'm excited to be 11 weeks from meeting this guy, but I'm also slightly terrified.

construction zone

2012-01-17T22:15:00.000-06:00

We've had several cold, dreary, rainy/snowy days around here, and with that usually comes colds, coughs, and snotty noses. So we've been trying to stay inside and find things to do around here so that we don't get even more sick. We've been doing some painting...which I was able to finish this morning while Lofton was at preschool, so it looks a little different now,

And yes, that is a toilet sitting in Adler's future room--you'll see why when you scroll down

While working on Adler's room and rearranging Lofton's big boy room, we also decided to redo the boys' bathroom. I feel like our upstairs is a construction zone right now. I need to take pictures of Lofton's big boy room--those will come later. Maybe when we finish one of the ongoing projects...

And Lofton has been doing a lot of this-he's very into coloring, drawing, and painting right now--so much fun!

He takes his painting very serious :)

We had a sweet blessing for Adler at church on Sunday--it's so overwhelming to be "showered," don't you think? I am always amazed at the generosity of the people around us. It still feels slightly surreal to me that we're having another baby--but seeing how this is the last week of my 2nd trimester, I guess we better start facing reality...holy smokes.

snow day!

2012-01-12T21:35:00.003-06:00

Today was the first snow of 2012! I don't think I will ever tire of watching snow fall--it's just so pretty, and it's one of the things in life that makes God seem so powerful to me. It was sleeting when I picked Lofton up from preschool, so after he took his nap at home (because he hasn't taken a nap at school since the first week of September,) it was snowing like crazy when he woke up. He was beyond excited to watch it from his window. This was right in the middle of his explaining, "IT'S SNOWING, MOMMA!"

I think he looks 5 in this picture instead of 2. Not sure how to feel about that. Well, I do know, and it makes me feel sad. Where did my baby go?

Seeing the world through the eyes of a two year old gives me such a new perspective on life. So thankful that I have this little man to teach me how to see life through innocent eyes.

25 weeks, big boy bed update and other odds & ends

2012-01-06T14:05:00.001-06:00

I had my 24 week appointment Friday (even though I'm pushing 26 weeks-my doctor was out until this past Wednesday for the holidays) and I now have the horrid glucose test behind me. Everything is measuring perfectly with little Adler and I am so thankful to be able to type those words. I'm having a lot more rounding pain with Adler than I ever did with Lofton, so the chance to prop my feet up is very appreciated. Due to the holidays, I was certain the nurse was going to tell me I'd already gained around 20 pounds, but so far I've 9. I feel like I've gained 29. Guess winter time will do that to a pregnant body.

25 week bump (slightly bigger than the 20 week bump from the last picture we took--where did those weeks go?!?!?) And these pictures don't really do the bump justice-I was laughing too hard at Lofton trying to be in every picture with me.

He's gone from never looking at the camera to wanting to be in every picture taken--he is hilarious right now.

The big boy bed transition has been going MUCH better than I anticipated. I don't know why I made such a big deal of it in my heart & head, but I did, and I'm glad it's not nearly as bad as I made it out to be. We've had a couple of nights where we've had to put Lofton (and scold him in the process) back into his bed at least 15 times (our child is fiercely strong willed--feel free to join us in praying that this next one will be slightly more compliant), but once he goes to sleep, he stays in his bed until the next morning and usually wakes us up singing the Veggie Tales theme song until we go and get him. Might be a different story next week, but until then, all is going well in that department.

We're currently working on getting Adler's nursery set up and painted, and by we, I mean Elliott is upstairs painting while I'm on the couch watching football and blogging. I thought I wouldn't be as excited to decorate another boy nursery, but I was wrong. I'm giddy about it all over again. Etsy and Pinterest will do that to a girl.

Yesterday was my first day of class for my Masters in Education! I keep telling myself that if I don't do it now (and while my babies are still young) I might never do it, and I would love to eventually teach when my kids are in school and wrapped up in their own activities and not so dependent on momma. I'll be taking classes on Saturday, and it's not every single Saturday of the month. I'll have 6 hours completed by April 14th--perfect timing since Adler should be here around the 23rd of April :)

Four Christmases

2011-12-28T22:51:00.000-06:00

Since I last posted on December 15th, we've had four Christmases AND my parents moved to Tennessee! December has been a crazy, fun, hectic month, and I can't believe that today is the 28th. I'm not mentally or emotionally prepared for 2012. I'll let the pictures explain our Christmases (**warning-major picture overload below)

We celebrated with Elliott's mom's side of the family on the 18th. That seems like forever ago!

Handing out presents to everyone. This was one of his favorite things to do at each Christmas :)

Opening his bell from Mimi

On Christmas Eve eve, we went to Opryland to see the Christmas lights, and it was so much fun! I love being able to experience Christmas through the eyes of a 2 year old-it makes it so much better!

LOVE this picture even thought it's a little blurry. Thankfully Lofton is getting out of his major mommy phase and entering into a fierce need/love for Elliott. I'm happy to hand the torch over for awhile.

Thankful for Elliott's long arms so we don't have to ask people to take our picture

In awe, and a little chilly

On Christmas Eve, we went to my parents house in McEwen, Tennessee!! That's right--they are officially MOVED!! We were so excited and thankful to drive an hour instead of the day long plane ride + 2 hour car ride to Texico.

Opening his present from B-paw and Grammy--a giant stuffed horse that they hid in the stables!

I might have forgotten to pack regular shoes for Lofton the day we went out there...we literally pulled him out of his bed at 8:45 and put him in the car, and shoes were the one thing I forgot to put in his bag.

Riding four wheelers in the pasture to check out the cows! They all made it safely on their overnight journey from New Mexico to Tennessee!

handing out presents to Grammy

Shane got Lofton a bowling set, and Lofton is crazy about it. He uses his body to knock the pins over.

Bowling with Grammy

Our house on Christmas Eve waiting for Santa to come!

Lofton's favorite thing from Santa was his vacuum cleaner. He is obsessed. No idea where he gets his love for cleaning.

His current favorite show to watch is Veggie Tales (thank goodness it finally trumped Mickey Mouse) so he got 2 Veggie Tale DVD's for Christmas. He has been singing the theme song non.stop.

We went to Elliott's parents the afternoon of Christmas Day to celebrate...

My handsome hubby.

My future sister-in-law, Kaitlynn!! SO fun to celebrate Christmas with her this year! I can't imagine having another Christmas without her!

Elliott's dad surprised his mom with a Burberry purse. She's going to kill me for putting this on here, but it was too priceless not to share!

I think Kaitlynn and I were just as excited as Karen :)

Lofton got a JEEP from Bob-ooo and Nonni, and he was so proud!

He also got an awesome new hat.

We told him to sit on the hood and model his jeep and this is what he did. Silly boy.

Lofton has been asking for Percy to add to his Thomas train set for a while now, and Kaitlynn and Burton got him one for Christmas. He was so excited!

And I got new boots. Spoiled? Yes. Excited. Very.

Lofton is sleeping in his big boy bed tonight for the first night (he's been taking naps in it for the past few days) so I snuck up to his room last night and took a picture of him in his crib one last time. He is finally asleep after 2.5 hours of being up there, and we only had to take away his lambie, his Thomas pillow, his bunny blanket, his stuffed puppers, his puppy pillow, and his paci to get him to stay in his bed. Then he finally curled up in a ball and fell asleep. We'll see how the rest of the night goes....parenting is not for the faint of heart.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas with their loved ones. We are so blessed to be surrounded by so many family and friends, and I am so thankful that Heaven will be like the holidays everyday--surrounded by those we love celebrating our Lord.

OH the cuteness

2011-12-15T19:45:00.000-06:00

Lofton had his school Christmas program today, and it was the cutest thing in the world. I know all parents think that when their child is up on stage, but man--it was cute.

Can you tell that we are both a little tired? Lofton always pulls some kind of shenanigan when Elliott is out of town, and last night he decided to have a dance/singing party in his crib from 1am to 4am. Needless to say, I skipped the shower this morning and did my best to have him to his program by 9. Silly child.

I think this video does a good job of summing up what a 2 year old Christmas program looks like...singing, random dancing, and a mixture of crying. Thanks so much to Kaitlynn and Heather for coming today and taking video and pictures so I could hide in the back and enjoy the show! You guys are the BEST!

party time!!

2011-12-13T20:43:00.000-06:00

Lofton had his first Christmas party today! It was so fun to get to see him with all of the little friends he talks about throughout the week.

Because I think 2 year old's aren't hyper enough-especially my own, I made these reindeer snacks for his class (I was in charge of the "sweet" snack--I'm sure some of the parents would have preferred strawberries or apples, but where's the fun in that??)

While I made the reindeer last night, I caught Lofton doing this. If it's pourable, he finds a way to pour it.

On Sunday, we went to the Dickens of a Christmas festival in downtown Franklin after church, and Lofton got to ride a pony for the first time! These pictures are from my phone so they're not the best, but it's all I had at the moment.

He did so good, and he did NOT want to leave the ponies when his time was up. Every time we go out to my parents farm, he wants to know where the "neighs" are. Too bad they won't be bringing any neighs--but he loves cows just as much as horses :)

Speaking of my parents, they are officially moved into their new home in McEwen, TN!! They are still living among boxes, and they'll be making a few trips back to New Mexico to get our cows, but they closed on the 9th! We are so excited to have them here!

Chris, Katie, and Anna came over last week, so naturally we took pictures of Anna and Lofton together. He was very gentle with her--good signs for baby brother!

How precious is this??

So far, I've loved being pregnant in the winter. With Lofton, I was pregnant through the hottest months on earth, so this cold weather is amazing. The ONLY downside of being pregnant in winter is not working out much...with Lofton, I went to the Y most days (since we still had a membership) and then when I got enormous, I went walking pretty much everyday. Let's just say that without that Y membership and the cold weather making it pretty much impossible to stay outside longer than 5-10 minutes, my will power and self control around ANY kind of food lately has been lacking. I feel like I could eat all.day.long and still be hungry. Thankfully big, flowy, non-clingy sweaters are in style this winter :) I'll try to take a 22 or 23 week picture soon. No promises. Especially if I keep eating the nutter butters that made up those reindeer pictured above :)

Gingerbread houses!

2011-12-07T22:26:00.000-06:00

Lofton and I made our first gingerbread house ever today! I felt like he was better at it than I was, but as soon as we left our little playdate, I immediately wanted to go and buy more to keep making gingerbread houses! Definitely something I plan to do with my boys each holiday season!

Look at the concentration on his face! I was so impressed at how well he did with it!

Can you tell he had a bit too much sugar? He ate a bunch of our decorations :)

Lacy and Gray watching the chaos

Brooke and Hudson with their finished product!

This is random, but last week we went to Lipscomb's Lighting of the Green that Amy Grant hosts every year, and Lofton literally clapped 95% of the time we were there. He LOVED it. Could he be any more excited? I don't think so.

Want to know what Lofton's new sidekick will be named? (amazing gift courtesy Katie Mosley.)

Little dude #2 will be....

Adler Bennett Wood.

I've loved the name Adler since the first time I heard it, and Elliott has always liked the name Bennett, which is a family name on his dad's side of the family, so we thought we would just put them together and viola! Adler it will be--we thought we might wait a little bit longer to decide, but Lofton thinks his little brother's name is baby Jesus, so we're trying to differentiate between the two...it's a hard time of year to learn a lot about baby boys for Lofton :)

let's hear it for a boy!

2011-11-29T22:39:00.000-06:00

If I thought I was outnumbered before today, then I better put my big girl britches on since we'll be having another boy in April! We are so excited about another boy, and more than anything, so thankful for a healthy little baby growing in my tummy.

Here's his little profile :)

And a face shot,

This was a face shot of Lofton at his 20 week ultrasound (below).

I can't wait for Lofton to have a little brother to play with--he needs someone to play the drums with him and push his trucks and trains around.

Here's a 20 week shot of the belly!

We're completely undecided on a name--I was certain that we were having a girl since this pregnancy has been so different than Lofton, so we are trying to find a name that we like for this little guy. Thank you for all the prayers that were sent up on our behalf today--we could most definitely feel them :)

oh Christmas Tree, oh Christmas Tree!

2011-11-27T23:00:00.000-06:00

We spent the ~~majority~~ entirety of our Thanksgiving day in pajamas and sweatpants. 1.) because we had no place to be = GLORIOUS! and 2.) my belly has officially popped. Putting regular sized clothes on right now is becoming a task, and I feel like I'm at that stage once again where I look like a hooker (because of my upper body growing faster than my belly) with a beer belly (because although I've "popped," clothing that isn't skin-tight doesn't completely show my belly) And if you know me, I'm not a fan of skin-tight clothing. Unless jeggings count.Maybe I just don't like skin-tight clothing above my ribs...

So, on Thanksgiving Day, we stayed home, put up our tree and other decorations, and watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Lofton is obsessed with our tree--and all day Thursday he walked around the house saying, "help daddy." Precious little soul.

Lofton got a haircut last week...can you tell?? He would NOT sit still for the lady, so she just had to keep going shorter and shorter on his bangs. Fitting that he looks a little bit like Lloyd Christmas just in time for Christmas? I think so. Good thing it grows fast, and at least we won't have to go back for a while! The lady felt so bad about how short it was that she gave me a discount. If he didn't look 100% like Elliott before, he looks JUST like his daddy now (and I'm not implying that Elliott looks like Lloyd Christmas.)

This is the place Lofton kept choosing to watch the parade from...

Helping put the ornaments on the tree! His favorites so far have been his little truck and the marshmallow ornaments my mom has given us over the past several years.

The final product! I think I'm going to talk Elliott in to putting the tree up on November 1st next year. I wish it was appropriate to leave a tree in your house all year long. Lofton has learned Jingle Bells and Oh Christmas Tree and has been singing them nonstop for the past week or so. It is pure bliss to hear his little voice constantly singing songs. Other songs he sings are "Twinkle, Twinkle," "God is so Good," and "If You're Happy and You Know It." He also sings a little bit of "Holy, Holy, Holy," but it comes out "Hoagie, Hoagie, Hoagie."

Because I've yet to post a picture of my belly, here's one from week 18 (I'll be 20 weeks tomorrow.) Can you tell I'm still tired? I keep waiting for the 2nd trimester to fully hit, but it's still not shown up. I've still been pretty sick, and I can't seem to get enough sleep.

I finally convinced Elliott to read the Hunger Game Series and I don't think I've had a conversation longer than 20 minutes with him since Friday--he can't put it down! I'm so excited for the movie to come out in March.

feels like home

2011-11-23T21:04:00.000-06:00

Elliott and I flew home on Thursday so that we (I) could help my mom & dad pack up some things, say goodbye to the house my parents have lived in since I was in 2nd grade, AND drive a new-to-us minivan back from New Mexico...so this would be the last picture I take in the house (as my parents house.) It was weird and sad, but my cousin, Mikayla, and her husband, Justin, are moving into the house, so I will see it again. Still seems a little weird that my parents are actually moving!!

On Saturday and Sunday, we drove our new mini-van back to Nashville..that's right! I said mini-van...my grandmother was selling it, we needed a 2nd car since we've been a one car family for over a year now, so we took her up on her offer and are now the proud owners of a minivan. I will say that I've always said I will NEVER drive a minivan, but I had to go back on my word when I realized we could have a 2nd car without a car payment. And I will say that I'm actually loving it! It also has a DVD player in it, so road trips with Lofton just got 10 times easier! So go ahead and make your jokes and comments--but you'll be wishing you had our minivan when you take your next 10 + hour road trip :)

*****

In other news, I don't think I've blogged about how 2 of my best friends in Nashville are pregnant right now with me! So much fun to have friends that are going through this with us--and to have them right here in Nashville! Aubrey (on the left) is due March 19th with a baby boy, Carter, and Emily is due May 6th--just 3 weeks after me. None of it planned, but we're so excited to have babies so close to each other!

Our Thanksgiving holiday started today when Elliott got home from a meeting at 1:45 and announced he was finished for the week! I LOVE hearing that kind of announcement! Most of our Thanksgiving will be spent right here in our house just hanging out, eating food, and decorating for Christmas.

We find out on Tuesday morning if Lofton will have a baby brother or a baby sister--I'm still in shock that we're already at 20 weeks! I can't believe we're already halfway through this pregnancy. It's freaking me out a little bit. Prayers for a healthy baby would be greatly appreciated! Any thoughts on whether this little bean is a boy or girl??

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Back on the charts!!

2011-11-09T15:06:00.000-06:00

Lofton had his 2 year check-up today, and this is what it looks like to be BACK ON THE CHARTS in the weight category!!

For the past year, Lofton has been in the negatives (-3) in the weight percentile, but today, he moved to the 3rd percentile!! In between appointments, I try not to think about how little he is eating/gaining, simply because he's the most active child I've ever known. But when the day approaches that I have to set him on that scale at the doctor's office, I feel like we are on the Biggest Loser. I get anxious every.single.time. Want to know what the 3rd percentile is on little guys his age? A big, whopping 23 pounds. He has kids an entire year younger than him outweighing him by 8-10 pounds.

For height, he's in the 33%, and his head is 17%--I'm not ever too worried about those, but the weight makes me nervous!

I'm so thankful today (and everyday) for a healthy little guy. Since his checkup was clear, we don't have to go back to the doctor for Lofton (Lord willing) until November 2012.

*****

Baby #2, I hope you don't feel neglected one day if/when you read this blog. So sorry I forget to talk about you 80% of the time. But on baby bean news, I had my 16 week appointment on November 1st, and heard it's precious little heartbeat loud and clear. We will have a sonogram on November 29th to find out the gender and make sure this little one is healthy.

I finally broke down and ordered some maternity jeans and leggings last week. The jeans I have right now are fine, but by the end of the day, my stomach is ready for some elastic!

Lofton's campsite

2011-11-07T22:28:00.000-06:00

We had a "campout" theme birthday party for Lofton this year, and it was SO much fun! I think Elliott and I had more fun putting everything together than we do on either of our own birthdays. It's fun to be a kid again sometimes :)

The campsite (these were taken before the chaos began...it looked much different afterwards)

The "fire" pit

Lofton kept trying to blow it out all evening...

...and I guess he convinced Leighton to help him

S'mores for everyone!

This little boy loves Emily Fridrichsen. I'm hoping she has a little boy :)

checking out his baby doll from Torti, Kyle, and Lei Lei

watching everyone leave the party

Lofton is a huge fan of the birthday song--this was his reaction to everyone singing to him!

Thanks to everyone who came over and helped us celebrate Lofton's birthday--we had so much fun!

TWO!!!

2011-11-03T21:38:00.000-05:00

Today is Lofton's 2nd birthday. If I thought the first year went by fast, then this past year has gone by in milliseconds. Lofty Bear, you have changed our life for the better, and I can not imagine a world without you in it!

Yesterday, Lofton helped me make cupcakes to take to his class at preschool today. He LOVES "helping" me in the kitchen (aka, playing in the sink and getting to eat whatever it is I'm cooking.)

The outcome of our cupcake making:

I think they were a hit at school, but what child doesn't like chocolate, Reeses pieces, and Oreos?

This morning after the little dude woke up :) Lofton-getting you out of bed in the mornings is one of my favorite things in the world. You are always bright eyed and bushy tailed as your Grammy would say!

I still can't believe you are two! When I see these pictures of you walking down the stairs looking like such a big boy, I can't help but think about the tiny little swaddled burrito we brought home two years ago, not having any idea what we were supposed to do with you!

We got Lofton a bike for his birthday, and he has a love/hate relationship with it right now. He gets frustrated with it because he can't figure it out right away, and he doesn't want us to help him with it, so we're taking one day at a time. He loves our bikes, and he is mesmerized by any bike we see at the park, so I know he will get it eventually, it's just going to take a few months (or years) before he gets it.

We're having a little celebration on Saturday, so I'll have more pictures to share once that happens.

Some of Lofton's favorite things in life right now at 2 years old:

lemonade

mac & cheese

Chick-fil-A

Lei Lei, Micah (Nicah), and Avery (Avie)

preschool (especially his teachers, Michele and Ashley)

Mickey Mouse

books. His favorite right now is Brown Bear, Brown Bear and an Imagination Library book about Trains

counting. The highest he's gotten so far is 14

the zoo (especially with Nicah or Avie)

playing outside

swinging

singing--Twinkle Twinkle, Jesus Loves Me, the Clean Up song, Happy Birthday are a few of his favorites

Lofton, we are so excited to see what this next year brings. I didn't think I would be as emotional about 2 as I was about 1, but I was wrong. It's almost harder than it was when you turned one, just because I know you are going to change so much more over this next year, and I know you are going to grow up even more with a little sibling coming in April. Thank you for all the joy you have brought us over the past two years, baby boy! We love you to the moon!

All things Fall (and a few random updates)

2011-10-30T21:42:00.000-05:00

Elliott took Lofton to his first Titans football game last week, and they had a blast! We knew it could either go really well, or very badly, but he did great, so we took him again this week!

Go, Titans, GO!! (note: I am not the biggest Titans fan, but it's always fun to go to the games and experience the atmosphere. I'm aware that they aren't very good, but my husband is not.)

The best family pic we could get today...

This one was before last week's game. I went to see Wicked with my mother-in-law and future sis-in-law, Kaitlynn and had some girl time :)

Last weekend while my parents were in town, my dad put up a new light fixture in our kitchen, and it makes the entire kitchen look SO much better.

Before:

and after:

Every time I walk through the kitchen, I get so excited about that old light fixture being gone.

I have this little decoration on our table-it's a collection of leaves and pine cones from the places we have lived in Nashville (apartment in Franklin, townhouse in Nashville, and now our house) and the yellow aspen leaves are from Taos, New Mexico. I thought it would be a cool way of incorporating all of the places we have lived over the years. I need some from Abilene, but Abilene doesn't really have trees...

If you're still reading, here's the other random updates going on around here:

-We felt baby #2 move for the first time on Saturday night. So wonderful to feel that little baby moving around inside of me! It's one of my favorite parts of being pregnant.

-Tuesday is our 16 week appointment, and I'll schedule our appointment for the big 20 week sonogram and gender appointment

-I have an interview for grad school at Trevecca Nazarene University on Tuesday. If all goes as planned, then I will start classes for my Masters in Education in January!

-Lofton turns TWO on Thursday. Still not really wanting to think about my baby being two, but then he throws a tantrum like a true 2 year old, and I pray that year #2 goes by quickly :) Just kidding. But seriously, the tantrums are out of control. I'm currently reading Dr. Dobson's "Strong Willed Child," and it seems to be helping me a little bit. That, along with many, many prayers for patience. It would also help if those 2 year molars would make their appearance.

I'm doing a horrible job of taking belly pictures this time around, but honestly, my stomach just started looking semi-pregnant in the past few days, but I'll put a belly picture up as soon as we get around to taking one.

down on the farm

2011-10-25T12:27:00.000-05:00

We went out to a family friend's farm last weekend and had so much fun with a bunch of my family. My grandmother is in town, and so was my aunt Teresa, so it was a perfect night for a Fall picnic.

Lofton and Lei Lei were really excited to see the horses...

Until the horse started coming directly at them

Playing with tractors and eating giant marshmallows. Doesn't get much better than that.

We tried to get a picture of Lofton & Lei Lei together, but it was a lost cause.

This is Lofton's most recent cheesy face...

And speaking of farms, my mom and dad just put an offer down on a farm in McEwen, TN (about an hour from Nashville!!) If all goes as planned, they should close on December 1st and be here in time for Christmas! HALLELUJAH!! This is just a little glimpse of the entire thing. It's got ponds, springs, barns, pasture--it's amazing!

We are all really, really excited, but I think these two are the most excited of all!! Lofton can not wait for B-paw to bring his cows to Tennessee!!

Please be praying for my parents as they begin to make this huge move. It's been something we've been talking about and praying about for several months, but now that its actually happening, it's kind of crazy to think about them moving everything across the country from New Mexico.

Sneak peek of Halloween!

2011-10-18T16:01:00.000-05:00

I get excited for Lofton's Halloween costume every year. I have to hold myself back from purchasing multiple costumes (costume change, anyone?) The thought of having TWO babies to dress next Halloween makes me giddy! Just hope #2 likes dressing up as much as Lofton!

If you're lucky, he'll be knocking on your door in a couple of weeks saying, "tick teet!" while going from door to door in his wagon.

The Lord Bless You and Keep You

2011-10-14T14:43:00.000-05:00

In honor of ACU's homecoming this weekend (which I wish we were at so bad so that we could see everyone), I thought I'd post this little video of Lofton singing The Lord Bless You and Keep You :) We've been singing this to him since he was born, and he's started singing it with us the past month or so. Sorry it's dark--it was right before we put him in bed, so the lights were already turned out. He's just recently started singing the "amens" with us and it's the cutest thing in the entire world. Enjoy!

this is what you get

2011-10-13T15:07:00.001-05:00

when your almost two year old refuses to look at the camera about 98% of the time.

picking out his "Spookley's" at the pumpkin patch. I would post more, but how many pictures do you really want to see of the back of Lofton's head? He calls them Spookley's because my parents got him a book called "The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin" back in August, and we've literally read it hundreds of times since then. He's even got me calling them Spookley's. It's a great book, but it's fairly long for a kid's book. Especially when we read it four times in a row. But enough about that.

This is the newest facial expression--scowl face. He's not really sad, I promise. He thinks the scowl face is hilarious. I'm not really a big fan of it.

Lofton's favorite part of the pumpkin patch was the hayride and getting to drink his Caprisun. He call's them "Pat Snacks" because the only other place he's had them is at my aunt Pat's house. Silly boy.

Tuesday of this week was picture day at preschool! I'm not getting my hopes up very high of a great school picture, but I took a couple of him before we left. He was way too interested in his train to cooperate.

Preschool has been going really well and he LOVES his teachers. He asks for Miss Ashley (Ashie) and Miss Michele (Shell Shell) at least 10 times a day. He's also started talking about some of his classmates, so that's been kind of fun!

The crazy kid has woken up at 5:30 the past two days. FIVE THIRTY. He normally sleeps until 7:30 or 8, and last week I had to wake him up for school. Of course, Elliott has been out of town this week, so 5:30 makes for a very long day for this 13 week pregnant momma. No caffeine + no husband + 5:30am is not a pretty site. Praying that my normal 10-11 hour sleeper comes back soon!

girl weekend in Austin!

2011-10-06T20:47:00.000-05:00

This past weekend I flew to Austin to see my college buddies, and it was SO much fun. We've tried to get everyone together at least once a year since we graduated (almost 5 years ago...which is craziness) and this time, we celebrated Shaylee and Taryn's soon-to-be baby girls. It was so weird decorating with pink instead of blue! Baby girl Webb (they aren't telling the name) and Camdyn Grace Cawyer will be the cutest baby girls in the entire world! How could they not be beautiful when their mommas look like this?

Elena is having another baby boy in December, and I was so happy to see her pregnant little belly and make sure Lincoln heard my voice before he makes his appearance on Christmas Day!

Bana-thanks for letting me kick Chris out of your bed and be your roommate all weekend!

I was finally able to meet Max--Bethany's adorable 5 month old baby boy. I wasn't able to go to his shower in March because we were in the middle of closing on our house, so this was the first time I got to kiss his precious cheeks!

Every time we get together, it feels like we don't live in 6 different places--it feels like we are back in Abilene, but with babies and husbands :) Thankfully, Elliott kept Lofton with him, Chris kept Sam, and Cody was able to watch Max for the majority of the weekend so that we could just hang out and celebrate Shay and Taryn. The hardest part about leaving is that we never know when we'll be back together again, but that's the beauty of email, texts, and facebook. So thankful for technology so it can keep us close even when we live in 4 different states!

as most of you know...

2011-10-05T16:07:00.000-05:00

Baby #2 is due April 23rd, 2012!!

I had my 12 week appointment yesterday morning, and heard the precious little heartbeat beating like crazy. That might be the coolest, sweetest, noise on this earth. I've been sick--throwing up at least once a day, if not more, so Lofton starting preschool last month was a very big gift from God. Hopefully the 2nd trimester will mean more energy and less throwing up. Lord willing. Lofton really has no clue what is going on...occasionally he will lift up my shirt and say, "where baby?" He has always been very gentle and friendly with other babies, so I'm praying that he will be the same towards this little one. We're excited that he will be 2 1/2 when this baby is born so that they can be close to one another as they grow up. I'm hoping that I can have him potty trained by the time April rolls around, because 2 sets of cloth diapers sounds horrendous. Don't hold me to that, though. He will be getting a big boy bed in the next month or so, and oddly enough, I'm getting excited about that transition. I hope that he will be excited, too...

Thanks for everyone's comments, calls, and prayers for this little one...I know it will be a crazy adventure, but God has it all in control, so I'm trying not to worry too much about any of the future with two kids, one income, and a bunch of unknowns :)

the zoo!

2011-09-28T22:27:00.000-05:00

We made a quick 48 hour trip to Memphis a few weekends ago to see Elliott's brother, Burton (or Tony, as Lofton calls him.) Burton is in med school in Memphis, so we took advantage of his current hometown and stayed in the Peabody Hotel, ate some delicious food, and went to the Memphis Zoo. It was so much fun, and we are so excited that Kaitlynn will be there with Tony starting next June so that we can make frequent trips to Memphis! (never thought I'd say that, but the town of Memphis is quite charming...) All of these pictures are from Kaitlynn--Kaitlynn, thank you so much for always documenting our fun!

The polar bear was our favorite, followed closely by the hippos, the gorillas, the grizzlies, and the panda bear. If you ever have the chance to go to the Memphis zoo, it is phenomenal.

Checking out the hippos-I had never seen a hippo before, and I was amazed. Lofton was more amazed by the wa-wa (water.)

I have so much more to blog about, but I'm going to bed. More to come soon!

addicted

2011-09-21T22:05:00.000-05:00

I've always been the kind of person that becomes addicted to one particular thing for about 3 months at a time....and then I switch it up and become addicted to something new for another 3 months. This usually occurs in food, for example, when I was in the 7th grade, I ate a corn dog and cottage cheese pretty much every single night for about 3 months. My dad told me I was going to turn into a corn dog (lightheartedly--he wasn't being mean,) so I changed to cheese sticks. I went through a bagel phase for about 2 years. Right now my current obsession is marshmallows. I ate an entire bag last week and even snuck some in to the Titans game last Sunday.

I say all of this because Lofton has inherited my addiction to food. He eats macaroni at least once a day. He eats grapes like they are going out of business, and I really think we have kept the All-Natural Cheetos on the shelves in our local publix for the past 1.5 years. I realize that this "routine" addiction is pretty common in toddlers, so I'm beginning to wonder what that says about me...his current obsession is kiwi, and he wants to put the entire thing in his mouth at one time.

Lofton also goes through phases with his toys where he only wants to play with certain toys for weeks at a time. I know this is normal, too, and I think it's hilarious. This month's toy is his double decker bus that Elliott's parents brought home from London in July. He took it for "red" day last week at preschool and used it for show and tell.

He's also really into his Elmo computer, but only when it's sitting on his table.

I know it's a random post, but since our child looks 99.9% like his dad and usually acts like him, too, I get really excited when I discover things we have in common :)

Trains!

2011-09-12T21:11:00.000-05:00

Lofton is slightly obsessed with trains right now, and Cheekwood has a wonderful exhibit that we've been wanting to take him to all summer, but it's been so hot that we never had the opportunity. This past Saturday, the weather was gorgeous, so we met uncle Hane and spent the morning at Cheekwood!

We were all pretty impressed--but my favorite part was Lofton running all over the place yelling, "TRAIN!! TRAIN!!" Each one was new to him every single time.

In the midst of yelling, "TRAIN!"

Loving the morning with uncle Hane :)

Leave it to our child...

2011-09-06T20:56:00.000-05:00

Today was Lofton's first day of preschool, and he got sent home with this at 2 this afternoon...

I got a call from the preschool at 10am to let me know that he had fallen and had a gash right by his eye, and that they had to call since blood was involved. I honestly felt a little relieved (only because that's typical of Lofton) and I had thought they were calling me to tell me that my child was throwing such a violent tantrum that he was throwing up or something to that regard.

Other than the gash, the day went fabulous! I couldn't get him to stand still before we left, so a sippy cup picture will have to do.

It was 57 degrees for the high today, so he's wearing pants and closed toe shoes for the first time in months!

Happy and exhausted camper on the way home--he survived the day without his paci, so he was able to have it as soon as he got in the car. The eye gash/wound is semi visible--don't worry--he's had worse. And yes, his pants are a couple of inches short--so glad that Courtney was able to go to the consignment sale for us while we were out of town last week! Longer pants are definitely needed :)

We are so thankful for this rain and cooler weather! We were playing outside in sweatshirts tonight which can only mean one thing--it's FALL!!

New Mexico!

2011-09-02T22:04:00.000-05:00

We went to New Mexico last week (Thurs-Tues) to see my family, and we had so much fun. It's hard to just go for a few days, but it's always nice to get back to our beds! Lofton was so happy to see his bed--he's getting too big for the pack-n-play, and by getting too big, I mean he's able to crawl out of it. Not really ready for that, but at least he hasn't tried escaping from his crib just yet.

While we were there, Lofton helped shell peas...

played in the water and the swing

(don't be fooled by the big boy undies-I just didn't pack a lot of swim diapers and my mom happened to have this pair from when Kyle and Shane were little)

He also got to play with Braid who is the funniest little girl ever. Look at how curly her hair is!

And, we all got to meet my cousin Mikayla's baby girl, Jaycee, for the first time!

Elena--here's proof that we flew through Austin :) I feel like Lofton looks 5 years old in this picture with his backpack and lemonade.

and we were lucky enough to have a seat for Lofton on each flight except for one, so he was buckled in like a big boy! Well, a big boy with his paci...we're working on phasing that blasted thing out of our house since preschool starts next week and it's strongly suggested that he not have it...

We're looking forward to a weekend of downtime and Elliott being off from work on Monday! AND it's supposedly going to be in the 60's and 70's next week! HALLELUJAH!!

much needed

2011-08-24T22:00:00.000-05:00

I took this directly from Laurianne's blog. I thought it was too good not to share:

"All my babies are gone now. I say this not in sorrow but in disbelief. I
take great satisfaction in what I have today: three almost-adults, two
taller than I am, one closing in fast. Three people who read the same books
I do and have learned not to be afraid of disagreeing with me in their
opinion of them, who sometimes tell vulgar jokes that make me laugh until I
choke and cry, who need razor blades and shower gel and privacy, who want to
keep their doors closed more than I like. Who, miraculously, go to the
bathroom, zip up their jackets and move food from plate to mouth all by
themselves. Like the trick soap I bought for the bathroom with a rubber
ducky at its center, the baby is buried deep within each, barely discernible
except through the unreliable haze of the past.

Everything in all the books I once pored over is finished for me now.
Penelope Leach., T. Berry Brazelton., Dr. Spock. The ones on sibling rivalry
and sleeping through the night and early-childhood education, have all grown
obsolete. Along with Goodnight Moon and Where the Wild Things Are, they are
battered, spotted, well used. But I suspect that if you flipped the pages
dust would rise like memories.

What those books taught me, finally, and what the women on the playground
taught me, and the well-meaning relations --what they taught me, was that
they couldn't really teach me very much at all.

Raising children is presented at first as a true-false test, then becomes
multiple choice, until finally, far along, you realize that it is an endless
essay. No one knows anything. One child responds well to positive
reinforcement, another can be managed only with a stern voice and a timeout.
One child is toilet trained at 3, his sibling at 2.

When my first child was born, parents were told to put baby to bed on his
belly so that he would not choke on his own spit-up. By the time my last
arrived, babies were put down on their backs because of research on sudden
infant death syndrome. To a new parent this ever-shifting certainty is
terrifying, and then soothing. Eventually you must learn to trust yourself.
Eventually the research will follow.

I remember 15 years ago poring over one of Dr. Brazelton's wonderful books
on child development, in which he describes three different sorts of
infants: average, quiet, and active. I was looking for a sub-quiet codicil
for an 18-month old who did not walk. Was there something wrong with his fat
little legs? Was there something wrong with his tiny little mind? Was he
developmentally delayed, physically challenged? Was I insane? Last year he
went to China . Next year he goes to college. He can talk just fine. He can
walk, too.

Every part of raising children is humbling, too.

Believe me, mistakes were made. They have all been enshrined in the,
"Remember-When- Mom-Did" Hall of Fame. The outbursts, the temper tantrums,
the bad language, mine, not theirs. The times the baby fell off the bed. The
times I arrived late for preschool pickup. The nightmare sleepover. The
horrible summer camp. The day when the youngest came barreling out of the
classroom with a 98 on her geography test, and I responded, "What did you
get wrong?". (She insisted I include that.) The time I ordered food at the
McDonald's drive-through speaker and then drove away without picking it up
from the window. (They all insisted I include that.) I did not allow them to
watch the Simpsons for the first two seasons. What was I thinking?

But the biggest mistake I made is the one that most of us make while doing
this. I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now
that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture
of the three of them, sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the
swing set on a summer day, ages 6, 4 and 1. And I wish I could remember what
we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked
when they slept that night.

I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner,
bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the
getting it done a little less.

Even today I'm not sure what worked and what didn't, what was me and what
was simply life. When they were very small, I suppose I thought someday they
would become who they were because of what I'd done. Now I suspect they
simply grew into their true selves because they demanded in a thousand ways
that I back off and let them be. The books said to be relaxed and I was
often tense, matter-of-fact and I was sometimes over the top. And look how
it all turned out. I wound up with the three people I like best in the
world, who have done more than anyone to excavate my essential humanity.
That's what the books never told me. I was bound and determined to learn
from the experts. It just took me a while to figure out who the experts
were."

-Anna Quindlen, Newsweek Columnist and Author

I can't tell you the number of books I felt like I needed to read before Lofton was born--and I can't count the number of times I think to myself on a daily basis, "is this normal?" For instance, Lofton eats macaroni and cheese for pretty much every meal, simply because it's one of the only things I know he will gooble down. When we put him in bed around 8pm, he rolls around and talks to himself for about an hour or hour and a half before he finally falls asleep. And he's borderline OCD about the way he pours his water. None of that is normal, or at least not normal enough for What to Expect During the Toddler Years to include in their giant book. Or Babycenter or Parents magazine for that matter. It's nice to be reminded from time to time that mac & cheese for the entire second year of his life will probably not keep him from graduating high school :) but until he graduates from high school and he says precious little things like, "oh, momma" when I do something silly, or sings Twinkle Twinkle with me at night before I put him in his bed, I'll keep cherishing every single second I have with this silly little boy. (that's a piece of blueberry muffin on his chin, by the way--not a new mole that has sprouted.)

We're taking off for New Mexico tomorrow to see my parents--I'm so excited and feel like I've been counting down the days for forever now. We haven't seen them since April, and that's far too long!

soaking it up

2011-08-21T20:40:00.001-05:00

We've been trying to soak up the sun lately, because I know there will come a day where we'll look wearily out the window and wish it wasn't 40 degrees outside...so today, we went to get ice cream and then went to the park for a couple of hours after Lofton woke up from his nap.

Taking Lofton to the park is a full blown workout. It's almost impossible to keep up with him.

When it comes to slides, Lofton is fearless. He will go down any slide, no matter how long, high, or swirly it is, and he is so proud of himself when he gets to the bottom. I wish I had a video of him clapping and saying, "HOORAY!!"

He's also very into trains-he had to take a break to watch the "choo-choo" go by.

Then we came home, cooled off in the pool, while eating peanut butter crackers.

Aside from going to the park, we've been trying to go to the pool as much as possibly, the library for reading hour, and the zoo, because Lofton starts preschool the week after Labor Day! He'll go on Tuesday-Thursday, so he'll be with me the majority of the week, but we're still trying to squeeze as much summer into our days as possible right now.

Last week, we celebrated Heather's 28th birthday! So much fun to hang out with these girls and let the guys take care of the babies.

Caity (she's the one in the blue skirt/stripped shirt) has created a website, and it just went live TODAY! She's one of the most creative people I've ever known--go check out her site and her giveaway she's having--you won't be disappointed!

little of this, little of that

2011-08-13T22:09:00.000-05:00

A week ago today we celebrated this baby girl's first birthday! Can't believe Avery is ONE!

She had a swim party--in case that wasn't obvious...

Lofton decided to flirt with the birthday girl's cousin, Brooklyn, by the Caprisun cooler

and he was a little bummed because I didn't pack any of his swim stuff...he finally borrowed a swim diaper of Avie's and got in the pool. Not me though--I hung out with these ladies while the guys swam :)

Elliott's friend, Keith, got married tonight, so Lofton stayed with uncle Shane while I went to the wedding and then skipped out on the reception. Elliott is still at the reception--poor guy, he hates weddings and this one started at 1:30pm for him today. I'm watching football and sitting in my pajamas-I'm a little over weddings right now. We did take a quick picture when Elliott came to switch cars with me and grab his guitar.

Elliott was out of town Monday-Thursday of this week, so I took advantage of some girl time and went and saw the Help with my future sister-in-law, Kaitlynn, on opening night (which was Tuesday.) It is one of the best movies I've ever seen. I loved the book, and the movie is just as good as the book. If you haven't seen it, grab a box of kleenex and go ASAP.

loving my job

2011-08-08T22:58:00.000-05:00

Sometimes when people ask me what I do, I still hesitate before saying, "I'm just being a mom right now!" Almost like saying it out loud with jinx me or something. I LOVE spending my days with this kid. He is a full time job and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

He's really into his stuffed animals these days...

This was him frantically searching for his beloved pappy (pacifier)

Elliott's parents went to London last week and brought Lofton some "wellies" from England. He loves them and calls them his fogs (frogs). He's also obsessed with the water hose.

And this was today at the pool-I feel like Lofton looks 4 years old in this picture :( He was simultaneously giving me his cheesy face and showing me where his belly button is. Pat-you have made our summer by letting us come and swim at your pool! When we turn onto your road, Lofton starts yelling, "Pat's pool!!"

This is what I've been working on tonight--I'm adding color to our house little by little. I've painted the living room, and now I'm working on the kitchen.

Before

We'll call this in between because it's not the final product. There is still more to be painted...I hate that light fixture above the table--it has got to go.

Off to bed--more to come soon!

21 months of Lofty Bear

2011-08-03T22:30:00.000-05:00

We don't have very much going on in life right now, and quite honestly, I am loving every second of this down time. Elliott has been in Nashville for two solid weeks, and that is something that hasn't happened since...September 21st of last year--makes for one very happy wife and little boy :)

When Elliott is home, he usually gives Lo his bath--I hate that this picture is kind of fuzzy, but it pretty much sums up Lofton's attitude about bath time.

Today was Leighton's 2nd birthday party--I still can't believe she's 2, but Courtney threw her the cutest little "Pancake and Pajama Party" and it was a huge hit!

I feel like Lofton was thinking, "does my momma really know she put chocolate milk in that cup?"

cutest little girl in the entire world. We love our Lei Lei.

Since it's been so miserably hot outside, we've been trying to find things to do inside--and it makes me wonder what in the world we are going to do when it's wintertime. But this child can crack himself up and keep himself entertained so well. Very thankful for that.

...thankful even when he gets himself into predicaments like this...he thought it was really funny until he realized he couldn't get himself out, and then he started saying "uck, uck, uck" and it took me 20 minutes and several rounds of singing Itsy Bitsy Spider to keep him calm and unscrew the doors from the grill. He hasn't attempted it since...

something he has started doing recently is dragging blankets all over the house. random, but fun for him I suppose.

Some new things that have happened over the past month:

sleeping in in the morning--you've started sleeping until 8:30 or even 9 some mornings. We're going to have to change that when preschool starts in September (even though it will only be on Tuesday/Thursday)
repeating pretty much any name or word that you hear either of us say. Some of your favorite phrases are "Pat's pool", "I'm sorry" "daddy on phone"
you love to sing and you pick up on tunes really well. When you're looking for something around the house, you will sing, "oh wheeerreee is my _______," usually looking for Lambie, pappy (pacifier) or momma. I heard you downstairs looking for me today while singing and it was the cutest thing ever-I don't think I'll ever get tired of hearing your little singing voice.
you are loving your books more than ever, specifically Clifford, Pajama Time, The Foot Book, The Nose Book, The Tooth Book, and your 1,2,3 book.
When you build your blocks, you count to 10 really well. You get really excited about 8, 9, and 10 and usually screech these at the top of your lungs.

I know there's so much more I'm missing, but that's the stuff that's popping to the front of my mind right now--it's all happening so quickly that it's hard for me to remember it all!

And finally, today is my momma's 49th birthday!! Happy birthday to the best mom in the world--I hope you felt loved on your special day! We love you!

so very far behind...

2011-07-18T21:51:00.000-05:00

I'm so many posts behind I'm not even going to try and make them all up. I still haven't even uploaded half of my Europe pictures because we are in desperate need of an external hard drive. Any suggestions on a good one we should buy?

I'll start from 4th of July, because that's the most recent thing I can think of. 4th of July is my 2nd favorite behind Christmas. It feels like the epitome of summertime, especially when we get to spend it with this view.

Lofton thought Pat's flowers needed a little bit more water...

Last week, we went with several friends to Seagrove, FL, and it was a blast. A hot blast, but still so much fun! This is what I did 95% of the time we were there--Lofton stayed the week at Elliott's parents (Bob-oo and Nonni) so I read as many books as humanly possible. It was perfect.

Our date night while we were childless for a week :)

And here's a few pictures of our little dude--he is changing SO much these days, and I can't keep up with how many new words and phrases he's saying--this stage is so much fun! He's really into "choo choos" right now

He helped me make a cake today, and he was so excited to stand up on the step stool like a big boy. It was almost as good as licking the beaters :) This is his cheese face extraordinaire--and I think he looks more like me than Elliott in this picture! Doesn't happen often...and this "Locally Grown" shirt he has on is a 3-6 month shirt, but I just can't bear to put it away in an outgrown box.

I think that pretty much sums up our July--I can not believe tomorrow is July 19th. This summer is going by too fast!

birthday weekend extravaganza

2011-07-03T21:43:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was my 26th birthday, and today was this little guys 20 month birthday.

So we celebrated with some gifts (I've been wanting a Dison vacuum cleaner since we got married--I have been vacuuming everything in sight since yesterday morning.)

and we celebrated by spending some time at the pool

and we went to downtown Franklin for a little bit yesterday. I saw these adorable bookends at Lulu's a few months ago, and was waiting for some birthday money to buy them, so I was beyond excited when they said they had one set left! Yippee! Aren't they the cutest things in the world?

and because I can't get enough of this little guys laugh, I'll let you hear it, too :)

Happy 4th of July!

2011-06-26T22:23:00.000-05:00

Is it really June 26th already? That seems impossible.

Since we spend the majority of our time outside playing in the water, throwing balls, chasing fireflies, and picking up sticks, it seems like the days should go by slower, but it's just the opposite. I don't want my little boy to be 20 months old next week :( Our little friend, Micah Clayton, turned one on Friday and he had a little backyard party to celebrate. He might be 7 months younger than Lofton, but he weighs a good four pounds more...Lo--we have got to get some meat on your bones, little dude.

Lofton doing what he does best with water...pouring.

Lo and I went to the flea market Saturday afternoon and found these little beauties for $2 each. I love finding old books, and I love they way they look on bookshelves.

While I was in Paris, I bought this canvas art for El and had it framed at the flea market. I'm slightly obsessed with the art/frames that the Nashville flea market has to offer. Call me crazy, but they've got such great stuff!

This is extremely beside the point of everything above, but I have a weird question for any moms reading this blog--for the past several months, Lofton has been waiting until we put him in his bed for naptime/bedtime to poop. So our routine is to put him in his bed, he hangs out in his crib for about 15-20 minutes, throws his lambie, bunny, and puppy dog pillow out (never crying while doing any of this--usually talking, laughing, and/or squealing) and then we finally go back up to his room and 8 out of 10 times, his diaper is dirty. Does anyone else have a kid that does this? If so, how have you handled it? Part of me thinks that if he can hold it/control it until he gets in bed, it might be time to start potty training, but the other part of me thinks it's coincidental. That may be too much info for some of you, but I'm so tired of poopy diapers keeping my kid from falling asleep.

can you even believe it?

2011-06-21T22:32:00.001-05:00

We saw the entire Royal family last week in London. To say I was excited is a huge understatement.

It was really unbelievable that we were able to see the Trooping of the Colour--crazy that our tour guide was able to get us right up to the barracks, that we didn't have anything else planned at that time, and we were able to get our entire group there before the parade began.

Yep, that's the Queen.

And Harry, Kate, Camilla (in her dadgum big hat that kept me from getting a better picture of HRH Princess Catherine) and Edward.

The reason I even knew about possibly being a chaperone on this trip? My wonderful mother-in-law is the Women's campus minister at David Lipscomb High School and told me about it.

There's plenty more to tell about London/Canterbury/Dover/Paris, and I'll write more later, but until then, I'll leave you with a picture of what I looked like the first morning in Paris--I woke up at 4:15am with bug bites on my eye and lip, and one of the precious girls snipped as we were walking through Paris. Can you tell I had some Benadryl in my system? Thankfully this is the zoomed in version.

distance makes the heart grow fonder...

2011-06-08T22:19:00.000-05:00

...but I don't know how much fonder I could grow of this precious baby face...

how could anyone refuse that face of a powdered donut?

and how am I going to be away from those 2 boys for over a week?

2011-06-06T23:17:00.000-05:00

Oh how wonderful it is to be home! For a few days, that is--I leave Thursday for London and Paris as a chaperone for a group of girls from Lipscomb High...
Am I excited?
Yes-very much so.

Am I prepared.
No--not one teeny tiny bit.

Why? Because I keep thinking my bags will pack themselves, someone else will go to the bank and exchange currency for me, and laundry from the beach last week will do itself. For instance, instead of doing laundry and getting things ready to go today, I mowed the yard during Lofton's naptime and then took him to the pool when he woke up because I was sweating to death. Then we went to buy a new mattress for our guest room because my grandma is flying to Nashville tomorrow so she can watch Lofton while Elliott works :) If anyone has any tips on packing for London/Paris, please let me know!

Hilton Head was SO much fun this year--it's weird to think that Lofton was just 7 months old when we went last year. This year was much more active...we poured, and we poured, and we poured some more--this kid could pour water from one contraption to the for hours.

Elliott had to work a couple of days while we were there, so Burton, Elliott's brother, stepped in to help Lofton make a few sandcastles.

This is just a handful of the pictures we have--Burton's fiance, Kaitlynn, is an awesome photographer, and I stole her 500 + pictures from the week

Lofton loved the water and sand--I think he would have slept by the ocean if we would have let him.

I was so grateful to spend the week getting to know Kaitlynn better--I have liked her since the day I met her, but being in the same house for 5 days straight gave me a new insight into my future sister-in-law, and I could not be more excited for her to become Kaitlynn Wood next June!

summertime

2011-05-25T23:12:00.000-05:00

We are LOVING summertime around these parts. It's usually too hot and muggy outside by this time in May, but this year has been a little on the cool side, so we have spent most waking moments outside. When this boy is outside, he is one extremely happy little guy. This is his cheesy face.

Two things I'm not crazy about right now: cicadas and tornadoes. The cicadas have overstayed their welcome and there is currently one stuck in the air vent in my house and it's squealing like crazy making me crazy. With the tornadoes, it never fails that Elliott is out of town when we are under a tornado warning/watch. It is one of the scariest feelings to be woken up to a tornado siren at 3am, run upstairs to grab a sleeping baby out of his crib, and rush downstairs to the basement. I don't want to go to bed because I am 95% sure that I'll be awaken by a siren in a few hours. The past 3 siren runs have been done without Elliott.

I took Lofton swimming yesterday in this contraption that I found at a consignment sale...

He wasn't too sure of the suit, but he loved the water.

We'll be at the beach next week, and I have a feeling he's going to be in his version of Heaven with all of the water :) Can't wait to wake up to this every morning...it's what I think Heaven is going to look like.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Lofton at this age. It embodies everything that he loves in life right now: watermelon (which he has all over his chest), chick-fil-a cups (this one has sweet tea in it and he couldn't get enough), being outside, and squatting when he takes a drink of a cup. This age is so much fun-I wish I could bottle him up at this age and keep him at 19 months forever-minus the 4 teeth he has busting through his gums.

Praying for all of the people in Oklahoma and Missouri that are dealing with the aftermath of the most recent tornadoes...I know that the whole May 21st end of the world scam was downright insane and ridiculous since we all know that Jesus says He'll be coming back like a thief in the night, but it does seem like the world is starting to fall apart one region at a time...

Lofton's room before/after

2011-05-14T22:05:00.002-05:00

When we first moved in, I wanted to get Lofton's room together as quickly as possible so that it would feel like "home" to him. Not much is different other than the layout of his room...
Before

After

I'm in need of motivation to start painting the rest of this house...any suggestions on where I could find that?

We have swarms of cicadas at our house covering every inch of our yard, trees, and Lofton's toys outside. I've gotten used to them, but I can not get used to seeing spiders this big in my garage...this picture doesn't do it justice, but it was massive.

I had nightmares about spiders that night.

some house stuff

2011-05-10T23:06:00.000-05:00

This was my Mother's Day gift...

...from these sweet boys...

After being in our house for over a month, we are finally starting to feel settled. I still haven't painted anything other than Lofton's room, but here are a few before and after pictures with furniture and a few things on the walls:

Dining room (aka Lofton's playroom because we don't have dining room furniture)

Master bedroom

Living room before

and after

Kitchen before

and kitchen after

We still have a lot to do and a lot of walls to paint, but it feels like home!

If you made it to the end of this, then you get to see pictures of this precious boy :) It was 90 degrees and humid today, so we spent most of our day outside playing with water

eating popsicles is serious business.

being a momma

2011-05-09T22:20:00.000-05:00

It's still very surreal to me that I'm a mom-when Mother's day comes around, I still feel more like a daughter than a mom--maybe it will become more real when Lofton stops refusing to actually say the word, "momma" :) I'm fairly certain he won't say it on command because he thinks he's being funny...

All that aside , I'm so grateful to be a momma to this little boy.

It's the best job in the entire world--I know it includes going several days without taking a shower, lugging 50 pound bags of sand out of Lowes and into a sandbox, searching for pacifiers in the middle of the night, constant loads of laundry, etc., etc., but the pros of being a mom are so incredibly worth it.

Getting a giant bear hug when pulling this little guy out of his crib each morning is enough to melt my heart and make me forget that it's been a few days since I've had a shower or a complete meal. There are multiple times a day that I find myself wondering how we are so blessed to have a happy, healthy baby when so many people in the world would do anything to have a baby-or have their baby healthy.

For Mother's Day, Brandon preached on the story of Hannah and Samuel--a couple in our church, Brooke and Jonathan, prayed and prayed for their son Hudson, and this is their story:

The Akins from Ethos Church on Vimeo.

Regardless of whether you're a mom with a brand new baby, a soon-to-be mom with a baby growing in your belly, or an empty nester mom, I hope you consider yourself blessed to know the goodness of our God.

Or maybe you aren't a mom yet or have no plans to ever be a mom, either way, you know (or knew) the blessing of a mom, so I hope you celebrated her yesterday.

If you have a mom, there is nowhere you are likely to go where a prayer has not already been. ~Robert Brault

I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life. ~Abraham Lincoln

thankful

2011-05-04T23:17:00.000-05:00

Today I am thankful for good friends...

a happy and healthy baby boy...

clear skies so we could be outside all day today (even if it meant wearing rain boots :))

And a husband who is flying home early tomorrow morning so we can all be together for the weekend :)

Let us come before him with thanksgiving

and extol him with music and song.

For the Lord is the great God,

the great King above all gods.

Psalms 95:2-3

1.5

2011-05-03T22:28:00.000-05:00

I am so thankful to get to hang out with this kid every day. I know every mom feels this way, but I think we have the cutest little boy in the world.

This is the "cheesy" face Lofton has started making when I ask him to say cheese.

I can't believe he's 18 months old. It's going by too fast :(

I mean, look at him, he's tall enough to open doors. I have to lock all doors leading to outside as soon as I close them.

Lo, some of the things you are doing at 18 months are:

sleeping like crazy. you usually fall asleep around 9 after hanging out in your crib for an hour, and lately, you've been sleeping until 9am. keep that up.
you like to take a nap around 1 every day. If I'm not paying attention, I'll find you looking for your lambie and heading upstairs on your own. you usually sleep 2-3 hours. you can keep that up, too.
you're eating a little bit better. some days are good, some days are not.
you love fruit. not the best source of calories for a skinny dude like you, but at least it's healthy.
you're favorite place to be is outside. you'd stay out there all day long if we let you.
you don't really have a favorite toy, but you are extremely territorial with you lambie. no one takes lambie without a fight.
you're obsessed with water, or wa-wa, as you call it.
right now, you have your first chigger bites...6 chigger bites all around your hairline on your neck.
I think you have 13 teeth. I'm loosing count.
you can say pretty much every animal sound with the exception of a pig. for some reason, you think a pig says neigh.
your favorite thing to say right now is "oh wow, wow, wow" about everything. other words you can say fairly well: juice, ball, eat, night night, bye bye, hi, choo choo, car, dog, outside, door, no, light, mickey, hot dog, slide, and swing. you talk a lot, but you're the only one that can understand the majority of it :)

We had Chick-fil-a today to celebrate the occasion...we had big plans to go to the zoo, but once again, it was raining all.day.long. I'm ready for that rain to start going WEST--we don't need anymore. If I hear one more tornado siren, I think I'm going to scream.

Anyone else in shock that it's already MAY? Where has this year gone??

this week's obsession (of Lofton's)

2011-04-26T20:52:00.000-05:00

Lofton has always been obsessed with cups--cups to drink from, and even better, cups that he can pour. Lately, he wants to drink whatever I have in my cup, and then blow bubbles, and he thinks it's hilarious. My mom caught him on video last week--sorry for my crazy self.

Hippity, Hoppity 2011

2011-04-24T21:45:00.000-05:00

Happy Easter!! Hopefully each of you has had a good weekend with family and/or friends--we've had so much fun this weekend with family in Texas and New Mexico. I always feel rejuvenated when I come home, and I think it's because everything is so easy going and slow paced, which is exactly how our week here has been. Elliott flew into Lubbock on Wednesday night and got here early Thursday morning, and has been here to celebrate Easter with us! I was so glad he was able to come.

Opening Lofton's Easter basket (before church--and no, I'm not wearing a bump-it, that's just sleep hair.)

...and after church. Thank goodness for makeup and coffee.

Hunting a few empty eggs. My child does not need sugar in any form or fashion. He has enough God-given energy.

Hunting again after nap time.

And playing peek-a-boo with Grammy.

We missed our church family at Ethos, but it was so good to be home at my parents church, hear my dad preach, and see a lot of familiar faces. Lofton and I are flying solo to Nashville tomorrow, and you better believe I've got a backpack leash for my child :)

whole new world

2011-04-22T10:19:00.000-05:00

Since we've moved into our house, Lofton has spent 75% of his time outside. The other 25% has been spent in his bed sleeping, and in our basement dodging tornadoes.

The previous owners left this fort/swing-set, and Lofton is in love with it!

Exploring every square inch of the yard...

We are in New Mexico right now with my parents, and Lofton's been outside every waking moment with the cows-we might have to bring one back with us :)

A small favor, por favor?

2011-04-18T16:41:00.002-05:00

So as of March 15th, I'm not longer working in the music industry--huge blessing to be finished with that job--and long story short, last week I applied to be an examiner for Examiner.com for local high schools, and I'll be writing articles to post on Examiner.com.

My first article is up and I need your help! If you have a chance (and the time), please click here and become a subscriber to my articles so that I can start building my audience. Feel free to post and/or comment if you ever want to, because I'd love to hear from any of you!

I'm so thankful to use Examiner.com as an outlet to write and make a small amount of income--and I need your help to make it work!

Moved in!

2011-04-11T23:01:00.000-05:00

Here are a few pictures of our last couple of weeks....

good-bye, townhouse!! (these pictures were taken while the carpet cleaners were upstairs, and while they were cleaning the stairs, Metro Water Services decided that 9am on the 31st would be a perfect time to shut off our water. Awesome.)

This picture will probably only be impressive to Chris and Katie--this was in the midst of Elliott changing the light bulbs in the stair well at 11pm the night before our renters moved in. We lived without the light for a year, but decided to figure out how to change the stupid thing since others were moving in.

And we kept it level with a basket, a mixing bowl, and random books we could find that were still left at the townhouse. I kept this concoction in place with my body weight, so I was very happy the ladder didn't come crashing down.

Sorry that was random, but I had to document the fun of moving out of the townhouse so that we could start working on the new house. Lofton's room before:

Lofton's room after (well-with paint--it looks different now that furniture is in there) His is the only room I have painted, so I will post more pictures of the house soon!

First morning in the house!

When Lofton wakes up in the morning, the first word out of his mouth is "outside?" That's what we hear from his monitor each day :)

Making some mud pies

A view of our yard!! Much, MUCH better than our previous yard situation.

Patiently waiting to go outside...he looks like such a little boy in this picture!

And flexing our Batman muscles :) Lofton got a haircut in the bathtub tonight. We hadn't realized how long his hair had gotten until after we took this picture.

I think he likes it!

2011-04-05T22:56:00.000-05:00

I took Lofton over to our new house first thing on Friday morning, April 1st, to let him run around in the house and yard--I put him in his window seat and asked him if he liked the view and this is the face I got. Precious little soul.

Elliott left for New Orleans the morning after we closed on our house, so we're not really moved in yet. I guess I shouldn't say really--we're not moved in at all. He comes home in the morning, so hopefully we'll be sleeping there by this weekend :) unless more tornadoes decide to make their way through Nashville-or unless our mattress doesn't dry out (it was in a trailer which leaked when the storm/tornadoes came through yesterday) Oh well-we are safe and healthy and that is all that matters right now!

bittersweet goodbye

2011-03-29T22:42:00.000-05:00

Tonight is our last night in our townhouse!! We are FINALLY closing on our new house on Thursday morning, and our renters move in on Friday, so tomorrow is moving day!

Lofty Bear, I told you tonight as I put you in your bed that this would be the last night you slept in this house--I know you have no idea what that means, but I want you to be able to read about your 1 year, 4 months, and 3 weeks here in this little townhouse one day when/if you want to. You spent a lot of time sleeping in your nursery, and we also spent a lot of time rocking in that rocking chair. I'll still rock you at our new house :)

This is where you came home to on November 5th at two days old.

We had some late nights,

and some really early mornings,

but then, when you were little, you'd take a good early morning nap on our bed. Now you take good afternoon naps in your crib, but I can't take pictures of you while you are sleeping anymore because I'm terrified of you waking up. I was too dumb and sleep deprived to know better when you were teeny tiny.

We have walked around this neighborhood too many times to count--both with you inside my tummy
and out. Since you love dogs, we have been on numerous dog hunts, and you've memorized which houses have dogs that might come out to see you.

We'll go walking in our new neighborhood-don't you worry.

You had your first and second Christmas in this house.

You helped us plant flowers last spring,

and we spent some time playing in your little pool last summer

For the past few weeks, you've been slightly obsessed with your little table...

You've also seen a lot of snow in your little lifetime-this is the view from the front door.

You learned how to crawl here,

how to pull up on things (you spent hours and hours in this toy corner,)

you learned how to walk here,

You spent a lot of time snuggling with daddy on the couch...

and we built a few forts...

Since you are into everything, we had to do a few rounds of baby proofing,

Your absolute favorite thing to do in this house is take baths--here's the last one you'll ever take at this house baby boy! (disclaimer...the video is of Lofton in the bathtub so cover your eyes if you need to.)

Get your moving pants on, little dude--the next couple of weeks are going to be a little crazy, but in the end, we are going to have a yard to play in!!

how long can I get by

2011-03-15T22:06:00.000-05:00

Every time we "spring forward," I find myself saying "well, it's really only 9:45," when it's 10:45 and I'm debating on whether or not I should go to bed. How long can I get by with saying that? I think I do it for about 2 weeks until I realize I'm just torturing myself.

I feel like Lofton has caught on to it, too--after standing in his bed tonight for over an hour, I felt like he was saying "well mom, it's really only 7:15."

Anyways--that was random-here's what we have been up to lately. We went to Chicago this weekend for our anniversary and it was so much fun. We've both been before, but never together, so we decided to take Monday off from work, and we left late Friday night after helping get Lofton to bed and Bob-o and Nonni's house.

This is what Elliott picked out for Lofton in Chicago, and couldn't wait to put them on him when we got home....

Lofton was so excited about them, and with his Bum Genius diaper on, they actually fit! Ha-well, fit around the waist, that is. But he's in style with his shorts down to his shins I suppose. Funny little guy.

These next two pictures are the only pictures we took in Chicago-we forgot our camera and just had our phones, so we took several pictures like this, and I had to teach Elliott how not to have a double chin while wearing a scarf/taking a self portrait from an iPhone. He obviously wasn't listening...

Sometimes I am very impressed with pictures I take from my phone--and this is one of them (not because of my picture taking skills, but because it's from a phone as opposed to an actual camera.) This was from the Lincoln Park Zoo. Their zoo was incredible, AND it was FREE. Without a pass to the Nashville zoo, it costs $14 per person. This zoo was free and they even had rhinos. And kangaroos. And a polar bear. The Nashville zoo should take a few notes.

On house news, we aren't closing tomorrow. Our close date has been pushed back to the 24th due to the appraisal being reconsidered. It's very irritating and annoying, but at least we have until the 31st until our renters move in. I'm itching for a yard since the forecast is in the 70's for the next several days!!

That's all I've got for now--I've got a few things to do since it's really only 9:00 :)

compliments of consigning and girl scout cookies

2011-03-06T22:20:00.000-06:00

Rainboots and a grocery cart-what more could a boy ask for? (besides tons of new clothes for Spring and Summer--but those are mainly for me. He could care less.)

AND-on top of rainboots and a grocery cart, Lo got to eat his very first Girl Scout cookie. He was in Heaven.

couldn't resist

2011-03-01T17:22:00.000-06:00

I know several of you have seen this picture of facebook, but I'm going to post it here so when I print this blog into a book I will have included this sweetness.

I love everything about this picture. The hair in his eyes, his big puppy paw hands grasping the cup, the banana chunk hanging on the side, his pencil shirt.

After every giant gulp (this kid takes his lemonade seriously) he lets out a bit OHHH yum!!

and then goes back in for another gulp

Chick-fil-a is one of the only fast food places Lofton will eat. At first, I found this annoying, but I've come to appreciate it. More Chick-fil-a for me AND they know how to do kids meals! Other restaurants should take a cue. Fruit cup? check. plastic place mats to stick to the table? check. small cups? check. good highchairs that my wiggly child won't slip out of? check.

Hope you guys are enjoying this ~~tornado~~ spring weather, (and chidrens consignment season if you live in the Nashville area)!!

this pretty much sums up our day

2011-02-22T20:36:00.000-06:00

Teething bites.

A lot of Lofton

2011-02-16T21:59:00.000-06:00

I feel like Lofton has become a little boy over night. I haven't been taking as many pictures of him lately because they are mainly just a blur when I try-he is moving too much for me to get a picture of him sitting still. But here's a few of my favorite action shots :) I love this age right now. It's so much fun--however, I am NOT looking forward to the toddler bed transition--our doctor warned us that that might be coming soon, but I am dreading it. Lofton loves his crib, but he also loves to climb. And jump. He hasn't climbed out yet, but I have a feeling we aren't far from waking up to a massive thud of him falling to the floor. So I might not be loving this stage for too much longer....

I love how his eyebrows have to go up when he takes a drink from his cup, so I documented that little trait.

See what I mean by little boy? No trace of babyness at all.

Lofton giving Leighton instructions. It's usually the other way around.

Lofton is 100% boy. The only things I have found that scare him are the giraffes at the zoo, and decorative puff balls that Courtney hung on their ceiling for Leighton's 1st birthday. He loves, loves, LOVES the vacuum cleaner--so much so that I can't really vacuum when he's in the room because he wants to be touching it. Or chasing it. He also had his first run in with the stair case this week. The staircase won--but it only scuffed up his nose a bit. We now have a gate at the top and the bottom of the staircase. Crazy kid.

Lofton got a new wagon from B-paw and Grammy this week. He's in love.

Helping B-Paw put it together....

It's been beautiful here this week, so we've been putting the wagon to use--and we'll definitely be putting it to use when we finally have a yard and a driveway and neighborhood to explore!

kissable cheeks

2011-02-09T19:57:00.000-06:00

I forgot to document Lofty's 15 month old stats, but since our little guy has almost hit the 20 pound mark, his little cheeks are getting a little fluffier :) and by almost 20 pound mark, I mean 19 lbs, 7 oz!! woohoo!! Go Lofty, go! (next few pictures compliments of Kaitlynn Passon--babysitter, photographer, student teacher extraordinaire)

Sometimes I don't like putting him in this t-shirt because it makes him look 3 instead of 15 months old. But it's too Valentines-y not to wear.

Precious little boy and his daddy's guitar.

When we haven't been working, traveling, or snowed in, we've been running around trying to get paperwork finished to close on this house in March! The thought of having a yard when springtime arrives makes.me.giddy-I will even rake 20 bags of leaves in the fall just as long as we have a yard!

Currently, we are snowed in because of this...the poor car in the street was sliding backwards down the hill while I was taking this picture.

Happy snow day (again!)

Valentines Day

2011-02-04T19:43:00.000-06:00

I know a lot of people aren't crazy about Valentines Day, but I am. Maybe because I'm married and have a romantic husband, but I loved it before he came into my life.

When we were young, my mom would wake us up on Valentines and have one of those shiny helium heart-shaped balloons for each of us. Remember that, mom? I bought one for Lofton the other day-it was deflated by the time we got home from Publix. Publix is about 3/4 of a mile from our house. I'll have to think of something else that he can't demolish in 5 seconds :)

In high school, me and my friend, Megan, would order flowers for each other to be delivered to the front desk so that when people walked through the halls after each period, they would see a bouquet of flowers To: Cherry or To: Megan, From: your secret admirer. Everyone else thought we had a special someone thoughtfully sending each other flowers, but little did they know that we had it rigged. I guess it's what you make it.

Don't get me wrong-I'm not a huge fan of all the sappy, cheesy cupid arrow shooting stuff--but I think its fun to celebrate a day of love. So--having said that--you should use one of these links below to create your special someone something for Valentines day. I LOVE Shutterfly. And I'm not just saying that because of this Valentines Day promotions. They helped me make my favorite gifts this Christmas-AND they reward you when you create things with them. Doesn't get much better than that.

create cards and stationary by clicking on this link: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/valentines-day-cards-and-stationery

Personalize gifts by clicking http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-gifts

OR, you can even create a photo mug http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-gifts/photo-mugs

Chaos...and other things.

2011-02-02T21:27:00.001-06:00

I had to take a picture of these two cuties hanging out on the couch today--because they are cute and because they look identical. I think they were watching the Backyardigans :)

15 months old for us has been the stage of figuring out and frustration all at the same time. For example, Lofton knows how to steer this push toy all over the house, but when he comes to a small opening (like between the 2 couches) and he can't make it fit through, he gets so frustrated--But then 30 seconds later, he figured out that he could lie underneath it to spin the rollers....anyone else in this stage?

Because it's been so winter-y outside lately (except for the two 60 degree days we had last weekend that gave my sinus's a heyday) we have been hanging out in the house a lot. Which is why our house looks like this:

Can't see the chaos?

look closer:

We've even had this fort on our dining room table for about 5 days--even this morning when the realtor came by to have us sign some stuff. I feel like having a 15 month old has been therapeutic on my OCD self. Cherry before baby would NOT have let someone into my house looking like this. There's even a laundry basket behind the table. Awesome.

Emily, the layout mat works perfect in the fort by the way :)

Compliments of Daddy being home...

2011-01-28T14:26:00.000-06:00

...because Mom doesn't do cool stuff like this, or even think of doing stuff like this.

Micah, Lofton's 7 month old buddy, had been using this mobile for the past few months, and when I brought it home, Elliott decided to add a propeller to Lofton's car.

Maybe this is why Lofton roams around our house when Elliott is out of town saying, "dad-DEE!, DAD-DEE!!" Sometimes moms just aren't as fun. Or inventive.

kissing Mickey

2011-01-26T00:00:00.046-06:00

This clip starts off extremely random--I can't figure out how to crop the video (mainly to crop out my mom voice and weird commentary)...but Lofton was kissing his Mickey Mouse the other day and I had my camera out to document his sweetness. 15 months is such a fun age!

Last weekend, I had a weak moment and bought Taylor Swift's newest CD--it was in the clearance bin at Starbucks, so I couldn't walk away without it--and I discovered this song this morning. If you've heard it and I'm behind the times, sorry. If you haven't, grab a tissue.

snow day #4 of the year?

2011-01-10T16:04:00.000-06:00

It has been snowing a LOT this year--and I am loving every second of it! If it's going to be cold outside, it might as well be snowing, right??

We went outside after lunch and played in the snow and built a snowman. Lofton kept pointing at the snowman and saying "dad-DEE!" And of course, any time he was handed a snowball, he wanted to eat it.

Trying his best to help roll the base of the snowman! He was very determined to help his daddy.

Being in the snow=boogers in your nose.

Mr. Snowman! Can you tell it was getting really close to Lofton's naptime? This was around 1pm--he started his nap at 1:30 and he's still sleeping, which is the reason I'm blogging! I can get more done in 3 hours of napping than I used to accomplish in 3 days.

Our lens got a little foggy in the midst of playing in the snow.

Could he get any cuter? I don't think so. That just made me think of Joey on Friends--could I be wearing any more clothes?? Ashley-that was for you if your are reading this.

Happy Snow Day!!

January so far...

2011-01-08T22:51:00.000-06:00

...well, these first two are actually December 31st--when my cousin, Bailey, got married. But for the most part, this post is about January :)

all of my first cousins, their spouses, and babies--Elliott, Lofton, Todd, and Ellie are in the picture below, but when you're tall, you get cut off. Oops. There should be 2 more babies by March--Boothe and Nina (both bridesmaids) are due in February. The ENTIRE family on my dad's side (60 of us) were here for the wedding--it was chaos.

the fam

Lofton, his great-grandma (my dad's mom) and Snoopy.

I know this next picture is random, but I had to document how still Lofton was standing to watch "Mittee" or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He has become addicted to Mickey Mouse over the past month.

Lei Lei and "Dofton" has she refers to him, after church last Sunday. Lofton loves to follow Leighton around and invade her personal space, and Leighton loves to yell "no no no Dofton" over and over again.

One day last week was semi-warm and in the '50's, so we went outside and went on a dog search. Lofton is obsessed with doggies right now, and when I ask him if he wants to go outside, he starts saying "doggie" repeatedly. After we saw a few doggies on our walk, Lofton found this stick, and it has become his new favorite toy. Forget the multitude of toys he got for Christmas--this stick is apparently much more entertaining. He looks like such a big boy in this picture. I think it's his shoes...or the sweatshirt.

Lofton has been eating SO much better over the past few weeks, and his new favorite food is watermelon.

My husband's back in town from being in San Antonio all week, I got a new side table for my kitchen from one of my favorite stores (PD's), and football is on TV--my idea of a perfect Saturday night.

smacked in the face

2011-01-06T21:43:00.000-06:00

Last Sunday, I actually woke up before Lofton woke me up (he slept in until 9--I was saying big prayers of thanks), and Elliott had to be at church early to play with the worship band, so I had some time on my hands. My immediate thoughts were to shower (since this happens about 3 times a week...at the most,) make the bed, clean up a few things in our room, etc., and then I saw our Jesus Calling book lying on Elliott's bedside table. I thought since I had time, I'd sit down and actually read it, as opposed to skimming over it while feeding Lofton his breakfast and doing about 12 things at one time.

Anyhow--this is what January 2nd had to say:
Relax in my healing presence. As you spend time with Me, your thoughts tend to jump ahead to today's plans and problems. Bring your mind back to Me for refreshment and renewal. Let the Light of My Presence soak into you, as you focus your thoughts on Me. Thus I equip you to face whatever the day brings. This sacrifice of time pleases Me and strengthens you. Do not skimp on our time together. Resist the clamor of tasks waiting to be done. You have chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from you.

The verse that goes along with the passage is Luke 10:39-41, and reads:
She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what He said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself?? Tell her to help me!" "Martha, Martha," Jesus replied, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

As I laid the book down on our desk, I couldn't help but think if Martha had felt slapped in the face, too, when Jesus told her that. After reading that, I decided that one of my resolutions this year is to sit down--actually sit down--and share time with the Lord. Not just when it's convenient, or when all of the day's tasks are finally (maybe) checked off the list. Isn't it crazy how the Spirit works? I'm so grateful He led me to that book last Sunday morning. I needed a slap in the face.

Time to Rent

2011-01-05T15:12:00.000-06:00

We've decided instead of selling our townhouse, we are going to rent it out! I don't really want to move (or leave this house) but the time has come to look for a yard for Lofton. And an office for Elliott since we both work from home.

So...if you live in the Nashville area and are interested in a cozy, 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bathroom townhouse in a good neighborhood (Crieve Hall/Nippers Corner) let us know! We have much more info, as well as additional photos if you want to see more.

Sad to see it go, but excited for what is to come!

quick recap

2010-12-30T22:35:00.001-06:00

January 2010

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

and September again because I couldn't pick between these two...

October

November

December

I wasn't too keen on getting tons of advice while I was pregnant, so if you are pregnant and reading this and don't want any advice, just ignore the next thing I write--If you are about to have a baby, the BEST thing we bought was a good camera. (well, the woombie was extremely helpful, but it was $30--I'm talking about larger purchases....although, I would have paid good money for the woombie on the nights that we reswaddled Lofton about 12 times) Anyways, Elliott and I both had great digital cameras before Lofton was born, but we bought a Canon Rebel in May of 2009, and it has documented all of Lofton's existence thus far, and I am so very, VERY thankful Elliott thought to get it.

Having said that, I bawled my eyes out going through this last year in pictures. I can't believe tomorrow is the last day of 2010. I can't believe I have a 14 month old. I can't believe Lofton will turn TWO in 2011, and that year starts the day after tomorrow. Oh, 2010, you have been a crazy, CRAZY year, but a good one. I am hopeful that 2011 will be slightly more restful, but we'll see if that happens :)

Christmas 2010

2010-12-27T16:10:00.000-06:00

Christmas with a one year old is FUN! Lofton got a dancing Mickey Mouse from his Bob-o and Nonni (Elliott's parents) and he is in LOVE, and I seriously think that he thinks Mickey is alive. He'll go over to him and pat him and give him a hug, and then try to talk to him. It's hilarious.

I know you are asking yourself why Lofton is wearing his superman shirt again--I don't really know, but it seemed like the right thing to put him in since he wore it at his B-paw and Grammy's (my parents) for Christmas.

Elliott got an Apple TV for Christmas--we've been catching up on Modern Family every night, and it's AWESOME! Now I know why everyone loves it so much!

Lofton and his toothbrush--he got several in his stocking so we can start (regularly) working on brushing his 8 teeth.

We went over to Kyle and Courtney's for a little while on Christmas day to eat lunch and hang out with them and Uncle Shane...could these two little stinkers be any cuter??

and then on the snowy ride home, someone got a little sleepy, so he took a 3 hour nap when we got back to the house. Merry Christmas to ME!!

I was so excited we had a white Christmas this year-it was perfect!

The next several pictures are from Elliott's family Christmas on Christmas Eve--we also had a Festivus for the Rest of Us. It's from a Seinfeld episode, and Elliott decided to introduce it to his family this year. Elliott had to explain it to his great Aunt Gerry. She thought it was from a show called "Pyscho" and then Nana, Elliot's grandmother, corrected her and told her it was from a show called "Steinfeld."

It involves holding an aluminum pole and airing your grievances.

Kaitlynn (Burton's girlfriend) made Lofton this amazing snowflake and we hung it over his bed. She is one of the craftiest people I know. She's tied with Caity Shinnick. He is infatuated.

Sorry-that was the longest post ever. There's more to come--my cousin, Bailey, is getting married on New Year's Eve, so my dad's entire family will be in Nashville this weekend. I'm so excited!!!

Hope everyone had a safe and Merry Christmas!

It's fitting...

2010-12-23T22:06:00.001-06:00

...that we would have Lofton's picture (and ours) with Santa taken in an airport this year...

When we were flying from San Antonio to Dallas to Lubbock the week before last, Southwest Airlines had a promotion--if you take a picture with Santa, they'd knock $20 off your next flight.

Our thought process:

1.) Lofton hasn't had his picture taken with Santa yet because we haven't been home long enough to think about it

2.) We'll be buying another flight for Elliott to fly back to San Antonio the first week of January, so why not get $20 off?

So our child took his Santa picture in a chocolate milk stained shirt while in San Antonio, TX for the first time in his life. Oh well--better than nothing at all, right?? He wasn't scared of Santa at all--he was extremely intrigued with his beard, though.

Because we have been traveling like crazy people and have had things to do each night of the week, Lofton has rarely gone to bed before 9:30. I keep hoping that will mean that he sleeps later in the morning, but he's up like clockwork at 7am each morning. Any tricks on how to make a baby sleep longer when they go to bed later?

This is random--but Lofton got his first pairs of shoes this week! I know he's been walking for about a month, but socks had been fine until it became freezing cold in Nashville, so we went to Stride Rite last weekend and got new shoes!

Showing off the shoes (and Lambie.)

Stinkerpot-and Lambie.

Little dude wasn't feeling too great when he woke up this morning, but he looked super cool in his new pajamas from Luke and Heather. And once again, he has his Lambie. We don't go very many places without Lambie lately.

Hope each of you are staying healthy and enjoying the holidays with your loved ones! Merry Christmas Eve Eve.

Yook, Yights!

2010-12-16T16:26:00.000-06:00

Lofton LOVES the Christmas tree. He also loves the "yights" that are on the tree, and all over the house. Sorry about the paparazzi swarming our child while Elliott took this video.

A Super New Mexico Christmas!

2010-12-12T23:24:00.000-06:00

We've been in New Mexico celebrating Christmas with my family for the past few days, and these little kiddos have had FUN. We've had fun, too. Hibernating in this house is always good for the soul.

Lofton wore his party attire. This was after he slipped in the bathroom and bit a hole in his tongue.

Reading with B-paw...

Reading more books from B-paw and Grammy

My personal favorite toy of the day (Leighton got a Jesse cowgirl doll)

One of the multiple things I miss about being home...the wide open sky. I love you, Nashville, but you can't compete with this sunset.

Don't worry--I have plenty more pictures where these came from, and if we are able to fly into snowy Nashville tomorrow, I'll put more up. We'll be flying home with two snotty nosed teething babies tomorrow night, so any prayers that we actually make it to our own beds would be GREATLY appreciated!

crazy or festive?

2010-12-05T22:52:00.000-06:00

Here's our little guy again with his car-he just can't get enough of that thing.

Doesn't he look so old?? Ugh--bittersweetness. He got his second haircut this weekend, and then Elliott and I trimmed more tonight while he was in the bathtub. He's working on tooth #7 and #8, too--PERFECT timing for another plane ride, right?

After Shelbi left the brilliant comment about putting the Christmas tree up on a table, guess what we did today? Yep-it's up on a couple of boxes, just out of Lofton's little reach. There are no ornaments on the bottom, because he zeroed in on those as soon as he woke up from his nap, so everything went way up, but it's still standing, and he hasn't swallowed any of it :) He is a little present snatcher, though, so I'll have to watch the gifts--better than him swallowing an ornament. Hello big tree--or big to us--it's kind of Charlie Brown-ish.

One of my favorite parts about Christmas is the ornaments--I inherited a love of Christmas ornaments from my momma. Here's a collection of my favorites--they are smore snowmen (and women!)

How cute are those?? We have a few more, but they were too high for me to get a picture.

And since we don't have a mantle, our bookcase has to work for the stockings...

I'm working on switching Lofton's birthday lights out for a Christmas themed strand-we'll see if that happens...hope everyone had a wonderful weekend--I was happy to have both of my boys here with me ALL weekend long!!

2010-12-02T23:16:00.000-06:00

This is the view I've gotten of Lofton over the past two weeks. I think it's safe to safe that separation anxiety has set in full force...he's pretty much stuck to my leg 90% of the day. I have a love/hate relationship with this phase...I love it because I know this is one of the only times in our lives that he will want to be right next to me. I hate it because I can't get anything done with him bear-hugging my leg all day long. Thankfully he's easily distracted, so when I leave him with someone or take him to the nursery at church, all we do is distract him and I run out of the door before he can see me leaving. I'm fairly positive he has inherited his daddy's ADD.

My mom has been making onesies with ties on them for Lofton and I love them! They are perfect for every day, church, special occasions (he has a Thanksgiving and Christmas tie) and they are super comfortable, so Lofton has been wearing them nonstop. He was practicing what a sheep says yesterday. I think he thinks its fun to open his mouth as wide as possible.

Since it's gotten colder outside, we've been spending a lot of our time inside. I'm excited for the holidays, but I miss being outside. I'm thankful for the countless toys Lofton got for his birthday, because they have kept him extremely entertained over the past month. His favorite toy is the car uncle Hane got for him. It's the first toy he goes to in the morning, and we have to pull him off of it when it's bath time at night. Money well spent, uncle Hane.

We're not putting up our big Christmas tree this year simply because Lofton would either kill himself by a.) climbing on it b.) eating it or c.) eating the ornaments. Monday night, he took a bite out of one of Courtney's ornaments, and tonight he broke one of Caity's ornaments. We have a couple of little trees around the house, but I'm missing my big one. I keep telling myself we're just saving ourselves a trip to the emergency room :)

Elliott comes home from Denver tomorrow, then we are off to Texas for a couple of days next week, and then HOME to New Mexico for Christmas with my family next weekend!! I'm not super excited about getting on another plane, but I am excited to see the Coggins in Austin, and my family in New Mexico!

Walker Tennessee Ranger

2010-11-30T22:06:00.000-06:00

We officially have a walker! Elliott and I were both a little shocked at how gradual the walking process was for Lofton--he was a fast crawler overnight, but with walking, it's been a gradual process since September 24th (when he took his first steps.)

He has been walking a lot around the house for the past couple of weeks, but while we were in Colorado, I guess he decided he'd start walking in public, too. This video is from the Denver airport last Saturday-ignore my commentary.

Anyone else in denial that tomorrow is December 1st? Holy cow this year has flown by!

A snowy Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T21:56:00.000-06:00

We're in Breckenridge, CO for the Thanksgiving holiday and it has been wonderful to be surrounded by God's beautiful creation. Elliott went snowboarding yesterday, but Lofton and I emerged from the cabin for the first time today to do a little bit of sledding.

(all photos from Kaitlynn Passon :))

We took Lofton in shortly after this picture--he really was having fun, it was just really close to naptime.

Half of our family here has caught the stomach bug that me, Elliott, and Lofton all had last week, so we're hoping that clears out before we get on the plane to fly back to Nashville...

Hope each of you has had a Happy Thanksgiving!!

the past 2 weeks

2010-11-19T16:08:00.000-06:00

These pictures pretty much sum up our lives over the past two weeks:

Don't feel too sorry for him--he's a drama.king.

Thanks to everyone for their advice from the last post-I know it's very normal for kids' appetites to decrease once they hit the one year mark--it just stresses me out when he will not eat anything-but that has gotten better! Thank you for the prayers--we can feel them :)

My biggest annoyance with the whole thing is that he loved certain foods up until November 5th. He loved macaroni, squash, chicken spaghetti, muffins, bananas, sandwiches, avocados, yogurt...the list could keep going for a while, but when I try to give them (or put those foods on his tray) now? He puts them in his mouth, and then reaches in his mouth and pulls it out, like he's never tasted it before. I read the other day that it takes about 15 tries for kids to like something new--so I'm just going to keep putting it on his plate until he gets the idea. Baby steps people. So what you see on his face, body, and bib above is a lot of those things mentioned above. Spaghetti (hence the orange hue of an Ommpa Lompa), banana, and yogurt.

Today has been better--tomorrow's a toss up--but isn't that what having a toddler is all about? We don't usually deal with the same things 2 days in a row :)

a few things I have learned over the past few months

2010-11-14T20:57:00.000-06:00

This is a running list--but earlier today, I was thinking about all of the random things I have learned over the past few months and wanted to jot a few of them down. Here goes....

Old magazines are great to use to keep boots standing straight up. Just roll one up and slip it in the boot.

My carpet will never be the same after leaving Elliott and Lofton alone at home for an entire week.

My coffee thermos, unlike Lofton's sippy cups, is not spill proof. I learned this this morning at church when I tossed it into my purse, took Lofton to the nursery, finally sit down to worship, and my bible, wallet, etc. is dripping in coffee. I'm just used to tossing his sippy cups in my purse.

American Airlines will give your seat away if you are not there 20 minutes before the flight leaves the gate. Even if you have checked your luggage AND have your boarding passes AND you were waiting until the last minute to show up so that your child could sleep as long as possible.

Sometimes American Airlines gate agents deserve a massive poopy diaper in their boarding pass receptical bin.

Because of the AA situation above, a trip home from B-paw and Grammy's takes three rounds of Benadryl, a normal flight day would take 2.

Not all seats on planes have barf bags in the little seat pocket in front of them. Make sure to check even if you don't feel sick throughout the majority of the flight. Food poisoning can strike at any moment.

It will be a very long time before I eat a Five Guys little cheeseburger again. Maybe never.

Christmas Village (here in Nashville) is a wonderful concept, but it made me want to smoke a cigarette. IF I go back, I will not take a stroller.

The end.

the biggest gainer

2010-11-11T22:13:00.000-06:00

Last week, we took Lofton in for his year appointment. Long story short--he's long and he's lean. (55% height and -3% in weight) The kid was eating well before Friday. As in, 3 meals a day, 3 bottles a day, and a snack in the afternoon around 4ish. I never really had to force feed him anything .

At the doctor's orders, we took away his bottles, and the doctor assured us he would just start eating more at his meals and not even notice the bottles being gone. Good news-he doesn't really even notice the bottles being gone. Bad news-he won't hardly eat ANYTHING. We have to go back in to the Dr. in 6 weeks to have a weigh in for our little dude, and at this rate, he's not gaining anything. I feel like we are on an episode of a show that could easily be called the biggest gainer.

The most frustrating thing is that he will throw the food, drop the food, rub it on his face, his hair (as shown below) but he will not eat.the.food. Well, he'll eat a few bites, and we'll give him a few spoonfuls, but after that, it's controlled chaos. Any suggestions on what I can get him to eat?? Any one else out there been through this? I'm open to anything!!

whew.

2010-11-10T22:24:00.000-06:00

This is going to be a pretty packed post. Say that 3 times fast and hopefully it will make you laugh. Courtney Steele, this blog update is for you.

I just got home from another work jaunt to NYC-super quick this time (left yesterday morning and came back this evening--just in time for house church,) and speaking of house church, me and Heather have a group of the best girls in the world. I leave every Wednesday night feeling like the Holy Spirit has taught me something new.

I also came home from house church to a spotless house, thanks to my wonderful husband. He knows that clutter and mess drives me mad, so he spent the evening cleaning the kitchen, cleaning up toys, unpacking my bag, AND doing laundry. Yup, he's wonderful.

Another person who is wonderful? My sister-in-law, Courtney. She kept Lofton all day today, starting at 8am, and took him and Leighton on an outing to the zoo in the wagon. I was sad to miss an afternoon at the zoo, but extremely thankful for Lofton's aunt who is not only willing to keep him for an entire day, but entertain him as well. Courtney, you are a lifesaver.

We had Lofton's 1st birthday party on Saturday, and it was SO much fun. I felt like it was really chaotic, but that's to be expected when a kid is full of sugar, short on naps, and has tons of presents in front of him, right?

I know you are all here to see pictures, so here's a bunch to keep you all satisfied :)

Lofton got a car from Uncle Hane for his birthday-he LOVES it.

The theme of the party was the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar--I made the lights above to go along with the theme--I did not make the cake or cupcakes. Brooke O'Dell made the yummy cake and cupcakes and went above and beyond what I asked her to do!

Lofton's little smash cupcake. He just took the 1 off and sucked on it.

Mesmerized by his cake--he couldn't take his eyes off of it!

....again, couldn't take his eyes from the cake.

All done!

Leighton Belle digging in.

Avery digging into her bottle :)

A giant alligator from Bob-o and Nonni. It's currently sleeping in his crib with him.

His very first build-a-bear made especially for him by his cousin, Caroline!

Clapping for all of his gifts--he was loving it!

His George-in-a-Box from Uncle Burton who couldn't be there since he was in Kenya...we missed you, Uncle Tony!!

A little help from Emerette and Leighton.

New books from Nana.

Waylon and Bennett came by to celebrate! So good to see them!

Two of my favorite people in the world-Syd and Micah.

Uncle Tony might have been in Kenya, but in true Kaitlynn fashion, she brought the best gift ever! The bouncy cow!!

one more family shot

The reason behind all of these pictures AND Lofton's amazing one year pictures-our buddy, Katie!

a couple of shots from his one year shoot--she's incredible!!

Okay, I'm stopping there--hopefully that's enough to hold you guys over a few more days until I can get more posted! Thanks to everyone who came and celebrated Lofty's first birthday with us--and thanks to everyone for helping us make it through year 1--we are blessed beyond believe.

one

2010-11-03T22:43:00.001-05:00

Our little one year old! Can't believe it's actually here-I think in my mind you will always be stuck at 6 or 7 months old. And you will always be my little bitty boy. For your birthday, we ate the things you like to eat. We had chocolate chip pancakes and bananas for breakfast. After your nap, we went to Cracker Barrel for macaroni and cheese, applesauce, chicken, and green beans. We'll party on Saturday.

You are so much fun to have around. We can't imagine life without you. I've always known I wanted to be a mommy, but I never imagined getting to be a mommy to a precious baby boy and getting to hang out with you every day. I'm so grateful that God has entrusted you to us while we are on this earth. Our pray is that we raise you to know the Lord and teach others about His love. So far you are really good at loving others. I hope you never lose that.

I hate that this picture is blurry-but it captures your inability to sit still. I put a Veggies Tales DVD (a gift from your Great Grammy Cherry) in today, thinking you would sit (or stand) still long enough to enjoy it. You smiled and chuckled when Larry came on playing his tuba, but that was the only attention that DVD received. On to something new every.5.seconds. I feel like we both have to eat about 6 meals per day just to have enough energy to move as much as we do.

You did, however, sit still long enough to look over your 1st birthday card that came in the mail! Thanks to Will and Caity for the precious card for Lofton-he loved it!!

Oh little dude, we are so proud of you--I think you know how proud we are, because you clap for yourself after pretty much ANYTHING you do. And you clap so much that it's keeping you from taking more than 7-10 steps at a time. You get really excited that you're walking, start clapping like a crazy person, and knock yourself over. When we ask what a cow says and you answer, "muuuuuuu," you think it's the coolest thing in the world, and of course, start clapping like crazy.

Just for memories sake, I'm going to make a few lists.

Your favorite things right now:

bananas

natural cheetos

blueberry muffins

lambie

books. you LOVE books. this makes me very happy.

bathtime

wrestling with your daddy and growling the entire time

white grape juice

anything yellow

doggies

opening cabinets

clapping

shaking your head no

You're not-so-favorite things:

raspberries

mashed potatoes

diaper changes

drinking milk out of a sippy cup (a daily battle)

sitting still/being rocked

being in your carseat longer than 30 minutes at a time

clothing

Words:

dadda

momma

doggie

moo

bath

dat (that)

So long, babyhood, hello toddler-land...ready or not, here we come!