9 Months!

Our little stud. Nine months old.

We had his 9 month doctor's appointment and he is still a little guy weighing in at only 15lbs 6oz. The doctor isn't concerned at all with his weight as he's such a solid strong boy. My biceps don't mind having a light boy either, maybe a little muscle tone would be nice, but nope it's fine with me. :)

Likes:

• Playing with his stacking cups, as shown in the pictures in this post
• Bath time! This kid practically hyperventilates when I start filling the tub and especially when I place him in it, so stinkin cute
• Playing piano, again, he lights up when his little hands get to smack those keys
• A good game of peek-a-boo, daddy style
• Using those vocal chords, yep, he's more chatty these days, still a quiet boy but he can get those squeals going, love it
• Being free to crawl and stand, I love his little independence
• Car rides, for this I'm verrry thankful...even our trip to Destin (6 hours away) he did wonderfully
• Saying "hey"...we're almost convinced this may be his first word :)

Dislikes:

• Signing, or more so he dislikes mama attempting to get him to sign, haha, I've given up but it's still kinda funny trying to get him to sign "all done"
• Being laid down on his back for diaper changes, yep he's still not liking these, we just distract him as much as we can

Here's some other shots. Laughing at daddy...

Busy stacking cups...

Standing and about to plop down...

Don't worry, Rob was just out of frame to catch him if/when he starts getting a little daring like this.

He's such a wonderful boy and we are so thankful to be his parents. Happy 9 months to our sweet, handsome, curious, funny, studious Finn.

Love you always.

(see below for day 4 of embrace the camera)

Embrace The Camera - Day 4

Day 4 calls for a creative photo.

I pulled in Rob for help with this one and asked him what I could do. He's got such a creative mind I figured he'd have something. He thought up that we could use our newly acquired batman mask...and I thought hey we could shoot the camera through the mask and put me and Finn on the other side. Well, we didn't have much time and this is all we got...

He got this batman mask from a McDonald's happy meal and it's really been making it's rounds around our house. I've worn it a few times while feeding or playing with Finn to give him some laughs and then other times Rob will walk into the room brushing his teeth with it randomly on, lol. It's so awesome. How funny would it be if they actually sold these "frames" for glasses? Hah!

Lol, I love how Finn is looking at his daddy in that pic. And could you tell Rob's painted on shirt? Lol, how could you miss my awesome "photoshop" job? Rob jokingly asked that I cover up his bare chest...I haven't used the good ole paint program on the computer since like middle school. That brought back memories. Pretty good looking job though, right? ;) 

ANYWAY...here's the pic that I dubbed for the embrace the camera challenge...blurry and taken with my phone but it's me and Finn hanging out in one of his favorite peek-a-boo spots.

I'm so happy for the weekend to almost be here. Excited about Finn getting dedicated at our church on Saturday and I believe Sunday we don't have anything planned at all which sounds love-a-ly.

Everyone else enjoying the fall? Any mask wearers in your family? There's something so fun about it, I want to wear that thing all the time. That and a cape.

Embrace The Camera - Day 3

Day three's challenge? Capture a picture of you in an every day moment. (if missed my original post about the purpose of embrace the camera, see day 1)

After getting home from work and getting my snuggles in with little one and Rob, then comes feeding time. I first nurse Finn for a little bit then it's highchair time. In this chair there's been lots of discoveries, laughs, bodily function noises, squeals, and yes some whiney moments with him trying to break out. For a bit I was kind of trying to get Finn to sign for "more" and "all done". Whenever I do the signs, he tends to laugh, lol. And when I try to lift his arms to do "all done" he just pulls his arms down with all his might. No interest in signing whatsoever and I'm okay with that.

So this is our everyday moment. Picture taken by me, which is why I'm holding the spoon awkwardly with my wrong hand. :)

And although this doesn't happen every day, here's another shot from our day. We had another monthly appointment for Finn. And when we left that appointment, the words from the doctor telling us we have a perfectly healthy baby boy filled me with such gratitude. Don't ever want to take that for granted.

He was quite fascinated by that crinkley paper. I'm thinkin he's gonna like Christmas with all the crinkliest and shiniest paper we can find.

<3

Embrace The Camera - Day 2

For day two of embrace the camera challenge, it calls for a pic of making a memory with a loved one. This one is from the other week. Sometimes after work I'll go walk around our backyard with Finn while Jack runs around like a maniac (he gets a lil excited when someone is out there with him). I like to ask little one about his day and look at our flourishing plants and maybe pull a weed or two. During one of these quick outings I managed to capture Finn leaning in for a kiss.

Although it doesn't happen too often, it melts my heart when he gives in. Sometimes he opens his mouth, sometimes he'll lean in and just give me his forehead to kiss. Baby kisses are absolutely the best, I gotta say.

Thankful I was able to capture this. Small memories, but sweet ones.

Embrace The Camera - Day 1

After reading my daily dose of Under The Sycamore, today's post was a challenge to simply embrace the camera. Encouraging moms and ladies to get in more pictures with their kids or loved ones. I can tend to be the one behind the camera but I do think I make a point to hand it over to Rob when he's there. If not, I have to rely on stretching my arm out like stretch armstrong. 

Day one's theme is smiles. So after many, and I mean maaaaany, attempts tonight to get this boy to focus on my camera lens and away from his stacking cups that he's obsessed with lately, I got this shot of us two. 

I think one day he'll appreciate having these pics of him with his parents and not just 1.2 billion pictures of himself crawling around. Cause what can I say, I can take a few of those. And I know I already do appreciate these pics, but I know I'll cherish them so much more when he's older.

Happy new week, everyone. It's felt like a sluggish start for me but I'm hoping it'll get better. And a very happy birthday to my most favorite brother in the whole world. ;)

Teething Pains = Dress Up Time, Right?

About a month and a half ago, Finn was in the middle of cutting his first tooth. One night the three of us were all home together and Finn wasn't his typical playful self. Poor thing. So along with other teething remedies we tried all we could to distract him. We played on the floor trying to get him to play with his toys but he just wasn't having it. I had Finn's little wooden brush at one point and was letting him touch the bristles, it then turned to Rob giving Finn a side part with it, and then it turned into me saying let's dress him up and take some photos. Parent of the year, right? :) 

To go along with the hair part, I found a checkered shirt, a sweater vest (oh yeah!) and some high water pants. If only he let us keep Rob's glasses on him. Our poor teething boy. What is with the appeal of dressing up baby boys as old men? I love it. And although the coloring/contrast of these photos bother the heck out of me, this cutie still looks cute. 

These high-water pants kill me...lol.

Then I switched back to automatic on my camera cause I realized the white balance I was using was making everything pink and I'm still not happy with the coloring below too. Oh well, still learning over here!

His little tooth didn't break through until 8 days later but thankfully he wasn't seeming to be in pain after this night. I'll never forget the weekend of my birthday in July where he had teething pains like no other and Rob and I ended up sleeping on the floor next to his crib. It was literally the night after we got back from Destin. I was just so thankful his teeth held off until after vacation. It was a long night, but thankfully nothing like that has happened since. He's back to his happy but studious manor.

For teething, we typically use the baby orajel naturals and homeopathic teething tablets. But I've been told about those amber teething beads which I'm thinking I will probably invest in. I've heard from some that it didn't do anything, but I've heard from others it can work wonders. And although he hasn't been too fussy about it, we've only got 2 teeth so far. Plennnnty to go.

Love our sweet boy, thanks for putting up with mama's crazy ideas!

If Pinterest Was Around When I Got Married

With Pinterest's DIY appeal, I can only imagine what I would've done differently for our wedding. I possibly would have crafted myself into a dark crazy state, lol. I can just imagine the anxiety of all the projects I would set myself up for. Would it of maybe been prettier? Sure (even though I still think it was beautiful) Would it had been more personalized? Yes, yes. Would I have turned into a nutter? Lol, oh yes, a complete nutter.

I know myself, and I know I can get carried away and completely get lost in the details and ultimately lose focus. It's something I have to battle in myself from time to time. I can get some major tunnel vision. So when thinking about the cute stuff done with weddings now-a-days, it made me think back to our day and our little "details".

So let me go back to 2006. The year Rob and I got married. Outside and on the beach on a beautiful crisp day in November.

I was 21 and not really overly into decorating yet. The only thing I was stuck on for our wedding was it had to have hanging string lights in the reception. It was the only thing that was a must. It just had. to. happen. It's comical to me how passionately I felt about this...but honestly I think I'd still do it just the same.

But when it came to the center pieces? Simple vases with some water and floating candles in it on a mirror. We had a framed picture of us for people to sign. Little bamboo-looking frames with our guests names on them.

If you know me, you know I don't drink...which always makes me chuckle when I see this shot of my name next to an empty beer bottle.

Simple, simple, simple. But even back then it didn't feel simple. The whole experience of planning our wedding felt so overwhelming. I remember I couldn't wait for the day to just be there (to marry Rob of course) but then also to chuck my wedding planning notebook in the corner of the room.

So in the end, what advice would I give myself if I were getting married next year or so? I would say, keep it simple (simple is my personality anyway) stick to just a few DIY creations that I would have to have. Breathe and remember what's important.

It truly was an amazing and beautiful day that I'll always be thankful for.

Not sure if any bride-to-be's can relate, but goodness I can only imagine the pressure you could feel with SO many amazingly cute inspiring ideas out there. How do you control it? Was there something that you had to have like my string lights?

Man, if only I could go back in time and whisper the words "mason jars" in my ear... :)

(photos by Divine Light Photography)