BWE-7 months

7 months...it makes me a little sad to write this post.  You are over halfway through your first year of life and that means you are growing up, becoming more independent, and becoming less dependent on me.   *sigh*

7 months old on Christmas Eve and snuggling with cousin ClaraRose

In the last few weeks we have seen more obvious evidence of your growth.  You now have two teeth, which made 3 days of Christmas with all of the different family members very interesting and whiny.  Yesterday was especially rough as tooth #2 was really causing you a lot of pain.  I mean A LOT.  Last night you slept 11 hours and you are a brand new person today.  Praise the Lord, and I really mean that.  I am praying more earnestly now for peaceful sleep at night and during naps than I was praying this time last year for you to be with us.  While we are on my least favorite topic, I will confess that we (because I am bringing Dah in on this too) have majorly failed you in the sleep department.  We let 7 months pass without letting you learn to put yourself to sleep.  And doing it now is really rough with being away from home to visit, having teeth come in, and losing a nap.  But we had to do something because we were losing our minds.  I do seen signs of hope:  that full night of sleep last night and putting yourself to sleep with no tears just a little bit ago are very encouraging for this Mama.

Right now your schedule looks something like this:
At 7:00 or 7:30 you rise and shine (with a big ole grin that never gets old).
You have some pears or applesauce with your cereal and play!
Around 9:00 or 9:30 you have a bottle and then you nap around 10:00 or 10:30 for an hour and a half (but we are praying you will do 2 hours occasionally).
And when you wake up, it is lunch time, play, bottle, play a little more and then another nap, and we proceed like that until bedtime.  If it is not too cold, you take a walk with me in the afternoon, which you love.  Right after supper, you have a bath, which you also love.  We love that you do not mind water on your face and you love for us to float you on your back.

your most favorite gift of all: tissue paper

You are sitting up fairly well, but when you get tired, you just lay over and roll to either your stomach or back.  You are not showing any obvious signs of crawling yet, but I'm in no hurry for this one.  You usually just roll until you find what you want.  If you get stuck, you yell for me and I come sit you back up again.  You tend to play very well by yourself when it is just you and Mama.  When Dah is around, it is a totally different story.  You LOVE your Dah.  You cry and whine for him.  You need him to be touching you at all times if he is home.  But, he cannot make you smile and laugh like I can (so there, Dah).  You still love your puffs and you got some yogurt melts for Christmas which you seem to enjoy.  You really want to commandeer the eating utensils and have become quite stubborn at mealtimes about not opening your mouth.  You also love rice rusks and we love 'em too because you can hold them on your own.  You can drink from a sippy cup, but you also just love to fling them back and forth.  At Christmas, you had sweet potatoes and green beans from Mama's plate and we are planning to start giving you more veggie likes that.  Today you worked really hard to pick up the puffs on your own.  You haven't quite mastered getting them from your closed fist to your mouth, but you'll figure it out.

Mama and Beck on Christmas morning

You are a good-sized fella.  You don't look huge, but you are solid and my body can feel it every night when I crawl into bed.  I figure you are definitely at the 20 pound mark now, and you have stayed a size ahead in your clothing since birth.  You love to jabber and pull your socks off, especially in the car.    When you have tossed all of your toys out of your reach and both socks are off, you "dah-dah-dah-dah" and "lah-lah-lah-lah" and "tah-tah-tah-tah" until we reach our destination.

Daddy and Beck on Christmas morning

I am still falling more and more in love with you every day and I think it is safe to say that Daddy is too.  We love watching you grow and learn, but we are growing and learning so much to.  We know that your little eyes are watching us all of the time.  Sometimes knowing you are watching my response to a situation literally makes me stop in tracks and rethink my next move.  What a teacher you are without even knowing it!

Children are a gift from the LORD; they are a reward from him. ~ Psalm 127:3

Tooth, the park, and sippy cups

What do all of these things have in common?  They were all firsts that Beck has experienced in the last week!

 His first tooth has popped to the surface.  See that tiny little white dot?  It looks more impressive in person.  It definitely explains some crazy mood swings that we have been experiencing.

 We made our first trip to the big park in town.  I must say that I had a pretty fun time going up and down all of the stairs and ramps.  Beck loved the swing, as you can tell by his wide-mouthed grin.

We have tried to give Beck a sippy cup on and off just to see what he thought about it.  He usually pushes the tip around in his mouth because he knows it is not his bottle.  More recently he has become more independent, trying to take command of spoons and bottles.  On Tuesday night at my parents' house, I fixed him a tiny bit of water and I turned to see this happening at the dinner table.

Our boy is growing up and although I am sad to lose my baby, I have to confess that all of these firsts are pretty exciting.

Lights.....and donuts

I love Meghan's tradition of having donuts and looking at Christmas lights.  Last night, our family of 3 plus my sister headed over to Hollywild.  I had read about it online and had visions of Beck being enchanted with the lights and sweet animals reaching to eat from his tiny hand.  Let's just say, I was not disappointed.  

*Apologies for the picture quality.  I'm not that great normally and certainly not in a moving vehicle.

 Noah's ark

 Loving the lights even as we waited our turn to enter

 Enchanted with lights ~ check!

 Have I mentioned that Beck loves his Daddy??  Please don't leave hateful comments about my baby riding on the console while Jeff drove soooooooo slowly.  It was the only way to avoid a total meltdown from Beck. :(

 a whale...Bekah and Jeff tried to throw crackers in his mouth

 It's the rare owl-zebra.  He only comes out at Christmastime.

 Bekah feeding some goats

 Sweet animals reaching to eat from his tiny hand ~ check

 The fam

 Bekah worked really hard for me to get this picture...what a trooper

 B & B

 Checking out the baby goat

 Nativity on the way out....I was very impressed with this.  There were shepherds with sheep, wise men, and painted pictures of different scenes in the life of Jesus.

We came home a different way....a way that just happened to go by a Krispy Kreme!!!!  And we just happened to have a voucher for a free dozen glazed donuts!!!!   And the donuts were hot!!!!!   (See how the post title works now.)

And Beck completely crashed on the way home.  I cannot wait to do this again next year. :)

Christmas Ornament Fun!

After 6 weeks of being this side of the womb, I finally got to meet Grace!!!  My best and oldest friend Carolyn had Grace at the end of October and we have been trying to find a time to go see her and her little family in Raleigh.  We finally did it last weekend and had a blast.  Even the trips there and back were fabulous as Beck slept for the majority of both of them.  

I brought a little crafty ornament for us to create to commemorate our kiddos' first Christmas.  We painted their feet, Beck's right one and Grace's left one, in blue and pink, and pressed them onto a silver ball ornament.  Let's just say I am glad I bought a 4-pack of ornaments because it definitely took us that many tries to get a good imprint of Beck's foot.  Grace's was a little easier to get, since she was completely relaxed through the whole thing.  

 Beck's turn first!

 working hard to get the perfect foot imprint

 Geez, mom, get it done already!

 Grace's turn!

 Taking their first nap together...Paul was at work and Jeff and Carolyn both got calls from Mother Nature right before we left for the outlet mall so I took one for the team and held both sleeping babies. :)

Sweetest thing in the world!

We can't wait to see our friends again in January!

One Day at a Time

I've just added a new blog to my blog list, "One Day at a Time".   This is a friend of mine from college.  While still in the womb, she and her husband learned that their son, Jude, was diagnosed with a Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia.  I'm still learning what this is, but Jude on this side of the womb now and has many hurtles facing him, including surgeries.  Please take a moment to pray for Jude, his parents Rose and Brian, and his older sister, Annabelle.  

Memory Ornament

Last December, I mentioned that we had a memory ornament and I said I would blog about it later.  Well, a year later, here it is!

                                     

Jeff and I started this while we were still dating.  Side note:  We pretty much knew after dating a month that we were going to get married.  Each year at Christmas we put something special inside of a glass ball ornament, something that reminded us of a big event for the year or just something that needed to be remembered.  I used a paint pen to put an E and some dots on it for added fun. :)

It is so fun to pull it out every year, moving the ornament around to spot each memory and talking about why we put that particular object inside.

 Last year, with some help from a pack of alphabet silly bands, we put the letter "A" in the ornament to represent adoption.  In January of this year, just after Christmas, we finalized our home study and began to wait and pray.  In April, we got an email and in May our prayers were answered.

So this year a "B" and a "W" silly band went into the ornament for our sweet Beck William who will be 7 months old on Christmas Eve.  The ornament is filling up and I have no idea what we will do when it reaches capacity.  Maybe we will just move it around, naming each object and reminiscing.

Christmas gifts

As we were approaching this wonderful time of year, Jeff and I had some serious, sit-down, face-to-face conversations about Christmas and how we want it to be celebrated with our child(ren-in the future).  We are all about setting a precedent, being really thoughtful about what we are doing now even before Beck really knows what's going on, because we know that if we start something now, it will be easier for us to continue doing it later.  Not to say we won't change things, but we wanted the big ideas to be in place.  So here comes big idea numero uno.

For Christmas, our child(ren) will receive:

Something they want

Something they need

Something to eat

Something to read

Growing up, I remember this little rhyme coming from my dad.  He is a man of very few words so it stuck with me.  I don't know if he just let it tumble out one day while we were greedily telling everything we wanted from Santa or if it was something he did as a child, but I remembered it and filed it away for later. Well, later is here and we are putting it to practice.  I must admit that I fudged a little on the "something" singular for certain categories and turned it into "some things".  

Want-a Learn & Groove Musical Table

Need-socks (several pairs-moving on up to the 6-12 month size)

Eat-yogurt melts 

Read-major splurge!!!  2 books for bedtime, 1 about a truck that has super cute noises that I hope Beck will mimic, 1 about books ("Is it for emailing?"), 1 about colors, and 1 about adoption.  Let's face it, this Mama needs some new books to read!

We had two big reasons for going with this approach to gifts. (1) It keeps up on a budget and it let's our kids know up front what/how much they can request.  (2) Our hope in doing this is that gifts will not overtake the true reason we celebrate Christmas.  They are a fun part, but not the reason we celebrate this amazing event.

BWE-6 months (a tad late)

So you were totally 6 months old on Thanksgiving Day, but you didn't go to the doctor until yesterday so technically I had to wait until today to do this post.

Well, where to start....your favorites.  Right now you are loving this bug toy that someone gave us as a hand-me-down.  I know that it will keep you entertained for a very long time when I pull it out and I happen to enjoy playing with it while you just hit it and chew on the legs.

You also love your two trucks.  You enjoy smacking them off of your Bumbo tray ....repeatedly.

You LOVE puffs!  I mean LOVE.  You have only had the sweet potato flavor, and they have become a lifesaver for me.  They usually make you happy while I have to do things, things which involve both of my hands (meaning I cannot hold you constantly, like you want me to).  I can pop a puff in your mouth and actually go to the bathroom by myself.  I can also get dinner made while feeding you puffs.  God bless the person who thought of puffs...they are right up there with the post-it notes person.

Speaking of favorites....Daddy is your favorite right now.  You cry huge crocodile tears when he leaves the room.  When you see him, you flap your arms up and down repeatedly, signaling to him that you want him to hold you.  When I leave the room, you are delighted because you are usually in Daddy's arms.  I'm dealing with it in my own way.  Just remember that I am the one who takes care of you day and night, I am the one with sore arms and shoulders from holding and bouncing you, I am the one with spit-up in her hair, I am the one you consoles you with puffs right after shots.  Oh well.

You also love the Christmas tree.  You don't really grab for ornaments, but you like to pet it.  You even have a tiny one in your room.  The first thing we do in the morning is turn lights on for both Christmas trees.  Then we have to stand there for several minutes while you stare and pet.  The funny thing is that you don't even notice the trees when the lights are off.

One cool thing we have all noticed is that you are really starting to know who people are.  You have always been a smiley little guy, smiling at any and everyone.  But more recently you have started to actually have different responses/facial expressions for different folks, even greeting some of them in your own special language.  You know the difference between Mama and Dada.  You know Mimi since she spends most Monday afternoons with you and she takes you for walks.  You know Poppie because you like to relax with him and Pumpkin in the big chair.  You know Gigi because she always is so sweet to you and Nub-Nub lets you take his hat off and chew on the bill.  You know UC because he always says, "Who loves ya, boy?"  and AC because she will hit the floor to play with you in a skinny minute.  You know B because she always calls you "nugget" and Aunt Liz and you nuzzle up in each other necks when you see each other.  Great-Grandma and you like to touch foreheads and take rides in her wheelchair and you love to pet Great-Grandpa's head.  Uncle Jon is more comfortable holding you now, and Aunt Meredith is a pro when it comes to playing and keeping you happy.  You even know Mr. Bill and Mrs. Anne at church!  Mr. Bill gives you a tootsie roll when Mama is around.  You hold it until we get to Sunday School and then she eats it.  Mrs. Anne calls you "Beck-Beck" and you love it when you get to stay in the nursery with her.  You are learning lots of other friends too!

You can sit up for a pretty good amount of time on your own, but Mama usually puts the Boppy pillow behind you so that you can relax and take breaks whenever you need to.

You love solid food.  You are still taking 5 5-6 ounce bottles a day.  With your first bottle you have some rice cereal and fruit, and with your fourth bottle, you have a veggie.  So far you have had bananas, apples, peaches, green beans, peas, sweet potatoes, carrots, and squash.  You have also had some real green beans (which you loved) and real sweet potato (which you ate, but weren't thrilled with because of the texture).

You are very grabby when it comes to anything that Mama and Dada are holding: your bottle, a cell phone, a cup of drink, etc.  We have to be very careful because you are quick and sneaky.

Sleep has been interesting lately.  Lots of waking up in the middle of the night, but you always go right back to sleep.  We think it may be due to some little teeth trying to poke through your gums.  We can see the outline of them and we are expecting them to pop through any day.

We  are really excited to celebrate the Christmas season for the first time with you.  Mama has made all kinds of plans, but we are working hard to keep the focus on Jesus.  We are going to be reading parts of the Christmas story in the Bible each night as well as doing this cool story/advent thing Mimi gave us.  We have a couple of fun activities thrown in there too.

 playing with my truck

 Grabbing Daddy's spoon

 My favorite toy...I love his expression...and 2nd chin

 playing with AC and Aunt Meredith on Thanksgiving

 bumping noggins with Great-Grandma

 sitting up and petting the tree

 Snuggling with Poppie

 with Dada

 with Mama

 Reading a book

Who?? me??

I think that is it for now.  We love you more and more every day, and I even though I screw up every day, God is really doing a work in me on what it means to be a parent and become completely selfless.  Last night was pretty rough on me, and I felt completely worthless going to God in prayer last night because I knew I had messed up.  Thankfully, He directed me (rather quickly) in what I needed to be doing and praise God that His mercies are new everyday.  Mama and Dada love you to pieces and I truly have almost no recollection of what life was like before you, but I look forward to every single day (good and bad) of life with you.