Happy 10th Birthday Graham!

Dear Graham,

Happy 10th Birthday! Your brother, Daddy and I had such a fun time surprising you this morning by yelling "Happy Birthday" as loud as we could to wake you up :). We loved singing you the Happy Birthday song while you were still in bed and I know you enjoyed it too. The smile on your face said it all :). We wanted you to feel how loved you are from the moment you woke up this morning. 

From the moment you were born, you forever changed our lives. We became Momma and Daddy for the first time! You have blessed our lives with so much joy and sunshine that sometimes our hearts can not contain all the emotion.

My Daddy, Papa Ralph. He has since passed on but still watches over you.

You were such a fun happy baby! You made us smile every.single.day. I sometimes can not get over how much your little brother Griffin looks just like you! He will grow up to be as handsome as you are. :)

Your smile is always contagious and we love to hear your hilarious jokes and stories that you bring home from school!

We are so thankful that you have such a loving and giving spirit. Momma does not know someday's what I would do with out you! When your little brothers are just too much you always lend a helping hand by either holding a cranky Griffin for me or playing a fun game with Grady.

You love to learn and have so many grown up interest! I love to hang out with you because we like to so many of the same things. We love to go to the movies, museums, and book stores together. You are a mini-me :). You struggle in school some but you just try soo hard to over-come you difficulties that you inspire me to try harder myself!

Graham, we love you more than words can describe! We are so blessed and so thankful that we get to be your parents!

Happy 10th birthday big kid!!

Love, 

Momma and Daddy

What I'm Loving Wednesday!

This week I'm joining up with Jaime for What I'm Loving Wednesday!



This week I'm loving that this little guy finally fell asleep!

I'm loving that tomorrow is Graham's 10th Birthday!! I can not believe that my baby is going to be double digits :).

I'm loving that I had the urge to make chocolate chip cookies to celebrate!

I'm embarrassed to tell you how much of this cookie dough I ate...

Graham snuck in my picture :)

I'm loving that as soon as he goes to sleep tonight I can get to wrapping!

I'm loving that I got a big box today from Amazon that had this in it!

I'm a dork. :) I like clean teeth. My poor downstairs bathroom is covered in minty smelling water from Graham practicing using it.

What are you loving??

I Can't Hardly Wait

Until Summer is here! Or, at least Spring. It's soo close that I can feel it. I can smell it in the air these days and it's just teasing us right now. I'm ready for the days where we can wear shorts every day, sleep in just a tad bit late because there is no school to rush off too, and we're lounging in the pool every day.

I'm ready to replace all of these coats with swim bags

and mittens and hats with swim goggles and water toys.

I'm ready to get these guys out for long walks in the neighborhood

I'm ready for the days that we spend playing and working in the yard, seeing movies in the middle of the day, and fun weeks spent at summer camp, vacation bible school, and swimming lessons. 

I'm ready for maybe a little trip to the coast and up to Dallas to see my Momma. 

Ya'll, I'm ready!

On My Mind

Aren't blogs just the greatest places to brain dump! :)

I have all of these things rolling around in my head lately. Maybe this will let me have a bit of peace so I can stop obsessing and over-analyzing things.

• Graham's birthday is this coming Thursday! I can not believe that I will have a 10 year old!! Must remember to do a birthday post....

• Grady's preschool just called me because he's asking to use the restroom a lot. I think he might be a little "backed up". Poor thing. Should I go and pick him up early if they are calling me? They said he's ok though. Hmmmm....

• Back to Graham's party, the house and yard are NOT ready for company to come over and see. We're having his party here at our house. Bobby and I are in a dilemma as to how we both get done what we need to get done to have everything ready. Do we hire a sitter to watch the boys so I can get the house ready (cause ya'll there is NO way to clean a house with my 3 boys around) or do we hire someone to come and do the yard while Bobby watches the kids and I do the house.  Like Bobby said, either way we are paying someone money... (For the record Bobby gets home super late and it's already dark. He can only do it on the weekend)  

• Do you RSVP right away when you get an invite or do you wait awhile and then do it? I included my email address also for people who are more comfortable not cold calling parents that they've never met before but I still haven't heard back from people. I'm stressing because I really need to start working on how much food we'll need.

• Can you tell that I've been spending the bulk of my time worrying about Graham's birthday party? :) You will, undoubtedly, be hearing me talk about Graham's birthday and my stressing several more times in the near future. 

• One of my best friends just lost a very close family member in a horrible way. I'm so sad for her and her entire family right now. I can't stop thinking about it. I am watching her youngest for her this week and next. She's about  a year and a half old and just as cute as a button! Great for my friend so she can focus on her grief and helping her family out with funeral plans and good (financially) for me too!

• Griffin has been a crazy grump all morning. This is usually not like him. I must remember to check for a tooth later today! (I couldn't wait. I just checked and no tooth)

• Graham told me this weekend that some other boys at school were mean to him and told him to "shut up". I'm sure that there was more to their conversation that I would not have like to hear. He said that he told them that if they keep it up he was going to tell the teacher. He said that the situation didn't really bother him but it's REALLY bugging me. Grrr. Are we already at that age of bullying and hurt feelings? I hate this.

• My dog Crash got out for the second time in like 3 days. I'm soo put out by this. This topic might just deserve its own post.

Anything on your mind that you'd like to get off your chest?

Google Cracks Me Up

I was just checking my stats ('cause I'm nosy like that :) and I am rolling on my kitchen floor laughing so hard right now because someone just checked out my blog when they did a Google search for :

"16 and pregnant cheer leading outfit big pregnant belly"


What the what???

Bwhahahahahaha!!!

This is me...



NOT :)

Oh wait, maybe they were confused and looking for this picture of me...



Wrong again Google... Try once more.



Tee-hee. I just couldn't resist! :)

Funnily enough any of these would have better suited that search result instead of my little blog!!

Google's algorithm needs to go back to the drawing table!

No telling now what will show up having done this post. :)

Griffin Is 5 Months Old!

My baby is already 5 months old! How did this happen??

I swear the last time I looked at him he looked like this...

By the way, this is THE very first picture of our baby Griffin! 

The other day I ordered the cutest little outfit for him off an etsy site. I have been dying to find him some of those super cute baby leg warmers. I know, its already so hot here but I just couldn't resist! He just had to wear it today!

Ha! I wasn't sure what kind of mood Mr. Griffin would be in this morning so I decided to grab a quick picture of the outfit before it went on. :) I think the leg warmers will still look super cute with with short sleeved onsies this spring. 

"Look at my new trick!"

He doesn't stay like this for long but he does get excited to try! Do ya'll just love that little bald spot in the back of his head? Momma loves it :).

Griffin you are 5 months old now! (well actually a couple of days ago because your Momma is a slacker!)

You:

• are wearing mostly 9 month clothes. I don't think that you weigh all that much (maybe 19 pounds if I had to guess) but you are really long!
• are eating off a spoon! We started you out on rice cereal once a day and you liked it. We then tried you out on oatmeal cereal and you LOVE it. Thanks Beth Ann ! You are now eating it twice a day. I'd like to go just another couple of weeks before we start the fruits and veggies.
•  are still in size 2 diapers in some brands. If I get a different brand I'll need to go up to size 3!
•  are sleeping much better now. You still wake up at least once (sometimes much more) during the night and need your Paci replaced but you don't cry at all when I leave the room. I'm soo proud of you for this!
• hate naps. This is our daily battle. Sometimes you just get exhausted and finally give in (like once a week) and take a HUGE nap. I wished this happened every day. You'd be soo much happier!
• go to sleep most nights by 6:30 pm and are awake by 5:30 am. This seems so early but when both of your older brothers are already up and getting ready for school you are ready to join the fun too!

Griffin, you are such a blessing in Momma and Daddy's life. We can't imagine a time that you were not here with us! I can not wait to see how much you've changed and grown by this time next month! Will you have a tooth (your brothers did!), will you be trying to sit up all on your own, will you be scooting more around the floor? I can't wait to find out!

And just for grins because I just now realized that you can't see Griffin's sweet face in any of the pictures, here is one more!

"Hi Everyone!"

Man Your Stations!

So I was looking around the other day at all the "stations" that Griffin has. Wow. We have a ton!

Did you have "stations" for your kids? :)

Our "stations" are the places that we can put Griffin down for him to rest, play, hang out while we do what needs to get done around here. As much as I would love to sit and cuddle him or lay down on the floor next to him and play, we have to have clean dishes and clean clothes too. :)

This used to be Grady's swing. I love the memories that I have from both boys using it. I will be really really sad when it's time to give it up :(. Griffin is not using it very much anymore. I know that it will be only another couple of months and he'll be sitting up on his own and he for sure won't be using it then. Right now he will occasionally sleep in it. But not very often.

Oh the beloved Nap Nanny! This "station" is one of our favorites! Griffin loves to chill in this in the early morning hours. We almost always all end up getting up at the same time (ugh 5:30 am is just not normal...). While I'm getting Graham ready for school, Griffin loves to chill in this and watch t.v. with the boys. I know, I know, my baby shouldn't be watching t.v. already but like I said before, things have to get done around here somehow... 

Oddly enough, both my older boys love this too! I often catch Grady resting in it and sometimes even Graham! If you can imagine an almost 10 year old curled up in it... it's hilarious! I need to try and snap a super secret picture of him doing in :).

This jumpy also used to be Grady's! I love that we found some great study stuff years ago and that we are able to re-use so much stuff! This is one of the newer things we've pulled out for Griffin. He love it but has to be in the mood for it. A full tummy and a good nap or a good nights sleep is required for him to enjoy it. If he's not in a good mood then he will cry like a wounded cat until you come and get him out! I'm really excited at how quick he has mastered it though. We still have it on the lowest setting but he's already jumping in it like a pro!

Griffin also really enjoys his play mat. When he first used it he only liked it for a few minutes at a time. He would only bat at the little dangling animals but now his hand/eye coordination has really improved and he can grab them and hang on! The bottom of it has a cute little piano kick place that plays musical notes when kicked. It changes around for use during  tummy time and then again for when he's an older toddler. I love how many uses it has!

This bouncy seat will probably be one of the first "stations" to go. It used to be Grady's also and has see some better days. Right now it's used to hold toys or for when I get into the shower and need to move Griffin into the bathroom with me.

This highchair just made it down out of the attic last week! It used to be Grady's but has held up incredibly! Now that Griffin is eating cereal twice a day I needed someplace better to feed him (other than his bouncy seat which is where I was previously feeding him). I love this because it has little wheels on it and Griffin is more than happy now if I wheel him around the kitchen to watch me unload the dishwasher! 

Just yesterday I went and purchased this "station". This weekend we will be going to a birthday party for an older relation at a church. Bobby won't be able to make it and I know that I'll be chasing Grady hither and yon all day. If I have one of these I think that it will make my job soo much easier! I can't wait to try this out!  I also figure if there are evenings where Griffin is just really cranky I can carry him around in this while I get dinner ready for the other boys. 

Do you/did you have this many stations for your little one?