Firsts

What began with a rough start, turned out to be the most joyful, meaningful, rewarding and challenging year of my life. When I say challenging, I mean challenging in a good way. The Lord challenges me each day to be patient. Although I know that I am very fortunate to be staying home with Jack, my patience can sometimes give out. I react to situations the wrong way and then feel bad about it later (giving my husband an ear full of the "I'm a bad mom because" speech). The Lord also challenges me to put my Husband first, as His word says. Jason comes home from work, and with frayed patience, I can be snappy and inconsiderate of his long day as well. I am also challenged to be intentional with our time. Some days it is much easier just to let Jack roam around the house and destroy things ;). I am barely scratching the surface of all the challenges, but I say all of this to say that I am thankful the Lord uses relationships to make us more like himself. In most every situation, He shows me that I can't do this wife/parenting thing alone. I need His guidance and wisdom with every breath. OK, enough about me, lets hear about the cutest baby in the whole wide world and see some pictures!


Jack was just 10 days old in this picture. I still remember all of the emotions I had when getting these pictures made. I was still in "I can't believe that I have a baby" mode.




Now, I very aware that I have a baby and I am so thankful for him. He has my heart. I love him so much it is just plain silly. We just celebrated his first birthday. When people say "time flys" they are not kidding. This year flew by!

This is the morning of his birthday. Jason and I are singing Happy Birthday to him!


Getting his birthday pancakes!


lunch at chic-fi-la and first ice cream


A couple of days after his first birthay we took him to get his first hair cut and get his sweet baby mullet cut off



Picture with daddy after his haircut


Then we celebrating his birthday with a party!











And now we are back to our usual routine of trying to open doors and walk on walls....

describing jack....

tall.
charming smile.
7 teeth.
frequent falls.
baby mullet.
LOVES food.
size 4 (diaper and shoe).
18-24 months clothes.
trying to walk.
not scared.
dislikes nursery.
cheerios.
said goodbye to pureed foods.
waves bye bye.
says mama and dada
hilarious laugh.
dances.
throws stuff. (this can be good and bad ;)
getting dressed stinks.
loves to thrown himself back when you take him away from danger.
speed crawls to dad every day after work.
tries to climb out of the bath tub.
started whole milk. (once a day)
two bottles. (morning and night)
bounces in his high chair.
happy baby.

Jack will be a year old on August 2ND. Next month I am going to post what this first year has been like. The highs and lows. I just finished reading The Pioneer Woman's Love story "black heels to tractor wheels." It was a great book and I highly recommend it. At the end of the book, she describes the "baby blues" or "postpartum depression" in such a hilarious, yet truthful way. It took me back 11 months to what it was like when I first had Jack in my house, with no help from nurses. Let's just say that reality set in and it wasn't pretty. Thankful to the Lord, we have come oh so far, and he is my little mushy pie.

I am also going to begin sharing things about my life after becoming a christian my second year of college. I hope to be able to articulate my rebellion while being pursued by our Heavenly Father. My inspiration comes from an old journal of mine that I had written in, in 2006. It is full of written prayers. After dusting if off and looking back through it, I was in awe of God's pursuit for His people. He was with me, even while I was running way.

Coming up...

I am going to start this blog off by telling everyone why I blog. Well, there are a few different reasons. One, is for memories sake. If someone asks me on Monday what I did that past weekend, I will usually reply "what did I do this past weekend??" and it will take me a couple of minutes to remember. Well, if that happens on Monday, you can imagine if someone asked me any later than that. The weekend is just getting hazier. So, I was told that you can get your blog turned into a book. Sounded fun to me! Then, maybe, my kids and grandkids and so forth can read the memories when we are no longer here to share in the joy with them. Second, is for our out-of-town friends and family to get a glimpse of what we are doing. And most importantly, to tell all how our sweet Jesus is sovereign over it all and how we strive to bring glory to his name as we walk in His story.

Now, I can tell you what's coming up! There is a lot of party planning going on! Jason turns 30 on July 21. Jack turns 1 on August 2nd and my ten year high school reunion is at the end of September. I am involved in planning all of these parties. Though I have a PR degree and event planning experience, I somehow manage to to stress myself out anyway. Here is a glimpse of what I have done so far....

Jack's birthday banner


A shirt to match!


I love the colors navy and chartruese together. Those were the colors that I used in our wedding and it looks like Jack's party is heading in that direction as well. We shall see!

I have some things up my sleeve for Jason's 30th too. I can't post them yet. He reads this. As far the high school reunion goes, I know that some people could care less about theirs, but I am looking forward to mine. High school was not a bad experience for me. I mean ofcourse if I could go back in time and do some things over I most certainly would. But, I suppose those were the things that were molding me and and teaching me. Plus, what do most teenagers think about? Themselves. But, I do wish my heart would have been less selfish and that I would have cared for others more. With that being said, I can't wait to see the people that I grew up with for 18 years. We will have so many stories to share about the last 10 years and how our lives have changed so dramatically.

Nashville

May has been a busy month. Parents in town, Wedding, Beach, and we ended it with a trip to Nashville to see Jason's brother and sister-in-law. They are expecting their first child in November. They will not be finding out the sex, so we can't wait to meet this baby and shower it with blue or pink!

On Saturday morning, we went to the botanical gardens where they had this amazing train station set up for children (my pictures will not do it justice.)

Hey Thomas!



Jason and Jack took a stroll around the neighborhood in not a red wagon, but a green garden wagon!




Last, we ended it with a trip to Devlin Farms for a picnic. Devin Farms is a beautiful farm with organic fruits and vegtables. It is just south of Nashville. I didn't get to take many pictures because this is where the dreaded double ear infection reared its ugly head. Look at this face....

So now we are on antibiotics and keeping it real in our diaper all day long.

With the exception of a little playtime with Daddy when the fever is down.

first beach trip

On my 28th birthday, we packed up our curious crawler and headed to the beach. Jack loved it! We had such a great time and we were so thankful for a little getaway and some relaxation. Well, as much relaxation as you can have with a 9 1/2 month old. Here are some pics from Jack's first beach trip....












Does anyone know of a potion I can give this kid to stop growing?? He will be a year old in two months! :(

Good Reads

Like most women, I love a good book! I was thrilled when some girls in my life group at church decided to create a book club. I mean, who doesn't love discussing a good book? I decided to make a list of some of the books I have read lately so that I can remember. Also, if anybody who may read this blog wants a list of some good reads here you go. Side note- some of them have adult content/language and viewer discretion is advised ;).

The Help - Kathryn Stockett

Water For Elephants - Sara Gruen

The Glass Castle - Jeannette Walls

The Art of Racing in the Rain - Garth Stein

Sarah's Key - Tatiana de Rosnay

The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

Suggestions of good books are always welcome!

I am about to start reading another book that has not been published. It was written by my great grandfather who was blind. He tuned pianos and owned a little country store. I was told that he tuned Jerry Lee Lewis's piano (claim to fame). He could never get robbed, not just because he had a shotgun right beside him, but because he could tell the difference between the bills that you handed him. His family were poor farmers, and he was hand picked by Martha Berry (founder of Berry College in Rome, Ga.) to get a great education at the Georgia School for the Blind. I can't wait to read about his life and learn a little about my heritage at the same time.

Practice makes Perfect

For our two year anniversary, Jason bought me four photography classes at The Birmingham School of Photography. I have to say that this was a dream come true. I first fell in love with photography when I went to Thailand for two months in 2005. I wanted so badly to capture every detail of the culture around me so that I could remember it forever. Well six years later, I have this professional camera and know nothing about it. So, I have been so thankful for this class and thankful for my husband who listens to me when I go on and on about all of the different goals I have for myself. I am usually pretty good with the composition of a picture (which really has to do with taste). However, when it comes to lighting and manual mode (programming everything yourself) I am clueless. Today, we went to the botanical gardens and practiced a few things I have been learning...


How to freeze stuff...








How to make stuff look like it was painted...





How to take a picture with a large depth of field and maintain good lighting...


And here are some pics of that cute kid of mine...



He learned how to clap this week!



We love him.




I have a long way to go, but atleast I am learning something about all of those buttons on my camera.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you fabulous moms out there!