Muffins and Birthdays and Baby Showers

Oh my!

One of the things I wanted to be able to do while being a stay-at-home mom was help my other mom friends when they needed it.  And I got to do just that this past week.  Alyssa spent the day with Beck and me because her school does a staggered schedule the first full week of school-meaning she only goes on certain days so that her skill levels can be assessed.  She stayed with us on Wednesday and we had a muffin-palooza!  We made 4 batches of muffins for the teachers at our church's Christian academy.  

 Alyssa is quite the baker.  If she did not need supervision with the oven, she really could have done the whole thing on her own.  Which was good because Beck was having one of those "please hold me every second" kind of days.

 Scooping the muffin batter into the cups, with less spills than I make

 doing a little stirring dance :)

On to the birthdays...

This Saturday was Eli's 3rd birthday.  We had a blast celebrating with him at his Spongebob (or "pun-bob" as Eli likes to say) birthday party.

 Throwing diving sticks for the big boys to fetch

 Beck, Jeff, and Eli showing us his age

 And just in case you didn't know, he's 3!

 my little family 

 busting into some gifts

 Beck and Eli's grammy

And finally the baby shower...

My best friend Carolyn is expecting a baby girl, Grace, in November.  She and her husband moved for his new job, but she too will be staying home so we plan to do lots of visiting.  We had her baby shower on Sunday.  

 She is just a pretty pregnant lady!

 Grace's nursery is Pooh-themed so we following suit for her cake

 my decorating skills...or lack thereof

and that's what we've been up to!

bwe-3 months

Beck is....

sitting in his Bumbo seat

enjoying tummy time

talking to himself in mirrors

sucking on his fingers

sticking his tongue out

playing with tags

enjoying the view from both a horizontal and a vertical position

making spit bubbles

did I mention that he likes to make spit bubbles

ggrrroooowwwwwiiiiiinnnnnnngggggggg...he is in 6 month pj's, some 6 month clothes that don't stretch, and 3-6 month clothes for everything else.  26 inches and 14-15 pounds.

trying to hold his bottle as he downs 5-6 ounces every 3-4 hours from a medium flow bottle nipple

rubbing his eyes when he is sleepy

balding on the sides, but still so cute.

Oh yes...the most important...SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!!  From about 8:30 to 7:00 or 7:30.  It is such a blessed thing.

A good book

Last night I finished a good book.  I know it is a good book because I have been anxious as I approached the end.  When I finish a good book, I always have mixed emotions.  I usually read stuff that has a happy ending, whether it be a novel or a book about adoption, so of course I feel happy and fulfilled.  But then I immediately begin to mourn.  What will I read now?  Will the next book make me feel this good?  Do I try a new genre?  I usually end up going to bed a little grumpy for a few nights, mocking the next book that I finally chose to begin.  You'll never be as good as that last book I read so don't even try.  However, in my life I can count on one hand the number of "bad" books I have read.

Anyhoo, tonight I must choose a new book.  Hopefully a good book.  Maybe even great.

By the way, the good book I just finished was The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels-A Love Story by Ree Drummond.  Loved it.

Facebook

I did it.

I joined Facebook.  I have been resisting for a long time.  I was very concerned about getting addicted to it.  I hear it's like a drug.  It's a gateway drug.  Next thing you know, I will be getting a smart phone and adding a media package to my cell phone plan...

Anyhoo, I just decided that I was tired of not knowing what is going on with my friends and now that I stay at home with the Beckster, I feel like it is my outlet.  I can "talk" to other adults without having to leave my house.  I can watch my friends' babies grow up even though I can't run over to their house.  I can connect with people that I only get to see once a year or even less than that.

We will see how it goes.  I may have to give myself a time limit each day.  

The Beach

So the beach went much better than I expected.  We didn't see the actual beach a whole lot (in fact, 2 of the 6 days there we didn't even make it out of our room because it was so hot), but we still relaxed, ate a lot, and had lots of family time with our family of 3 and my extended family.

 Ready for the beach in a giant, floppy, sun-blocking hat

 Napping with Daddy (by the way, Beck loved the couch in our unit.  He would stare and converse with it for several minutes at a time.  I mean who wouldn't love lots of white anchors on a grand background of blue)

 Waking up with cousin Oliver.  Oliver joined us for a couple of afternoon naps while his mommy and sister went outside.

Walking on the beach.  This usually turned into a nap which was continued poolside under an umbrella.

And to think...next year we will be chasing him and trying to keep him from eating sand and drinking ocean water. {sigh}