Demolition Man

Is this not a great portrait picture, who needs a professional studio. What a precious, precious boy I have. I don't mean to be bragging, but I cannot help it! He is precious to me more than life! We have such fun together. His latest fun thing to do is for Ron or I to build up some blocks and for him to demolish them. His new nickname is "Demolition Man." He may be destined for engineering. I have written previously about his love for books. His favorite book is Goodnight Moon. All I have to do to get him to come to me is to start reciting the words and he comes a crawlin' This is helpful when he is about to get into something I don't want him to.

He is now nursing two times a day and drinking Organic Whole Milk the rest of the day. It is actually a relief more than sadness I feel as I wean him down. I do plan on nursing him in the morning and night for awhile longer. I enjoy these times. He is really growing up.

As far as Ron and I go for our 4th anniversary, we are going to let my mom keep him and us go spend a day at the lake together. We are going to buy some steaks, grill out, swim, and just relax! I think it will be great! Also, we recently received a financial answer to prayer. God is taking care of us.

Toddlerhood Cometh

This picture is from our outing a couple of weeks ago on July 3rd at the Park. He absolutely loves the swing! It was a fun time. He is becoming a toddler everyday more and more. He is pulling up regularly now and becoming much more sturdy with it. I am thankful that getting from a standing back to a sitting position is going well for him. A lot of times babies will pull up and not be able to get back down, but so far so good for us. He is saying more and more words. Recently he has added "baby" and "nose." He loves to point at our noses, mouths, and eyes. He can tell you where mommy's nose is as well. Exploring reaches new heights each day. I discover new places of danger to baby proof and remove from reach. We have the cabinets and drawers off limits now using bungie cords to prevent entry from small little hands. On Saturday Justice got his second hair cut making him look like such a little boy. It is darling! I will post a recent picture soon. We took him to a walk-in salon and they did a great job. There advertisements indicated that they were an all family place and the lady was indeed very experienced with working with infants. It was a trick trying to get him to allow her to trim and move his head around.

Other items of note this week...I have switched to shopping at Kroger for my groceries instead of Wal-Mart. I have discovered that by purchasing the on sale items there that it is not only comparable to Wal-Mart, but in many cases better. It also saves on gas and my sanity. I have always hated to shop at Wal-Mart and it stresses me out each time. My Kroger trips are actually fulfilling as I feel accomplished upon leaving.

Ron and I's 4th anniversary is coming up on August 3rd. Last year's anniversary I spent in labor on our sofa timing contractions. I would like this year to be a little more special. We were going to Six Flags, but changed our plans because childcare fell through and we felt like doing something else anyway. Any ideas for a fun anniversary outing? We have to be local in Auburn for child care purposes and cheap.

Banner done by YellowRose at http://www.yellowrosesgarden.com/

Happy Thursday!

Thirteen Interesting Baby Food Flavors and If Justice Likes Them:

1. Cinnamon Raison Pears with Apples-Likes
2. Macaroni & Cheese-The Kind in the Jar-yuck! the real stuff he's into
3. Strawberry Banana-I actually like this one and so does Justice
4. Carrot, Mango, and Apple-this is a Latina brand of Gerber/Beech Nutt and Justice loves it
5. Sweet Peas with Rice-he'll eat it amazingly, but not a lot at a time
6. Zucchini-Another Latina Brand, Justice can't stand!
7. Pink Guava-Just had today and it is pretty good, Justice likes!
8. Sweet Potatoes and Apples-this is Justice's favorite, it is very sweet!
9. Peaches-Can't give, he gets a bad diaper rash everytime
10. Prunes-likes and keeps him regular! along with the Plums/Apple mix
11. Apples or Sweet Potatoes with Chicken or Turkey-Justice won't eat the meat unless mixed with one or the other
12. Chicken with Vegetable Stew-Yucky, yucky, no sweet mixed in, not a good thing, Justice will grunt, tense up and push the spoon away
13. Mixed Fruit or Banana Yogurt-"Good stuffums!" as we say in our household.

I like to try new things with Justice, 11 mos. old, to expose him to lots of different tastes. Ron will often ask why sometimes I torture this poor boy with some of the flavors, but he will surprise you at what he does/doesn't like. He ate a whole jar of green beans tonight, I was very impressed! So, what do you think of the menu of items? No salt, no additional flavoring, straight up veggies, meats, and fruit! Good stuffums!

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A Late Tackle It Tuesday

Well, a day late, but here after all. This is a different sort of task for me. I absolutely cannot stand washing and folding my king size sheets for our bed. It is a great pain! The dirty sheets sat in a pile for a few weeks staring at me and finally they were washed and ended up sitting in my clothes basket in my room for a week after.
So here they were:









And here is the empty basket after they were folded and put away! Hurray! Justice wanted to get in the picture too!










Stop here to play!

New Opportunities

Happy Monday to all! The beginning of a brand new opportunity for accomplishing goals and making things happen. We had another lake weekend and are now getting back in our regular groove. I have lots of goals for myself this week. I am trying to stay disciplined with my housework and making ends in organization. I am also trying to maximize my grocery shopping budget by multiple store shopping. Last week I found my cereal on sale at one place for $2.00 a box and I am trying to find more such deals at different places this week. I also want to try more healthy foods, getting more vegetables and whole wheat into our diets. I have been working on this for awhile now and plan to continue my quest this week. So far I know I am going to get more whole grain pasta and brown rice in our meals.

As far as Justice is concerned with him nearing being one year old I am going to try to introduce more table food for him. He is getting better at chewing and really good at picking up finger foods, so I want to work on his skills. I really need to also get the latches up on our cabinet doors and drawers since he figured out how to open them last week--smart boy! Next week I also plan on subsituting one nursing session with milk as he will be 11 1/2 mos. and by 12 mos. getting down to two nursing sessions a day. I am taking these things in stride and not pressing them, but they are on my list.

Banner done by YellowRose at http://www.yellowrosesgarden.com/

Happy Thursday!

Thirteen Moments From the 4th of July Weekend:

1. On a sad note, Ron cought a summer cold/flu on Friday resulting in a not so good time for him. It just got worse and worse as the weekend progressed. He was a sad little puppy :(
2. Friday started off the weekend with a get together with some friends of ours from Ron's work. This couple has a two year old boy who is quite the mess and I was on the lookout for flying objects and dodging his feet from stepping on Justice. The food was excellent and I made another dessert creation consisting of strawberry yogurt and jello mix mixed with cool whip, fresh raspberries and blackberries, oreo pieces and crunch bits, layered in a parfat style, yummy.
3. Saturday we took Justice to the park and got video of him in the toddler swing, he loved it! He just laughs and swings his arms in delight. Have I said how much fun he is?!
4. Sunday, Ron woke up feeling the absolute pits and I was starting to have a little funny feeling in my throat. We were supposed to leave for the Lake this day. I loaded up with Vitamin C pills, popping one after the other. By later in the afternoon I was feeling decent and loaded up the car myself and left a sad, but relieved husband. He couldn't really rest with Justice and I around. He didn't leave the house the entire weekend.
5. Sunday later, arrived at the Lake. It was beautiful! The water was sparkling! I took Justice on a boat ride with my mom and stepdad. Joy came along too. Justice loves the boat! His eyes get all squinty eyed and he just relaxes and feels the breeze and zones with the roar of the motor.
6. After putting Justice to bed, I took a night swim. It was so relaxing and envigorating. The water was warm after a day in the hot sun and temperatures flirting with 100 degrees.
7. Monday started early--about 6:45. My mother's dog was barking to get back in the house and resulting in Justice waking up, not my idea of a nice start. But, we did take a peaceful mile walk and made a homecooked breakfast to begin the day.
8. The rest of Monday was all about the water. It takes me so long to get myself and Justice ready for the water. I have to get sunscreen on him which is a chore in itself--he is squirmy when he has to be held down to get something done. Don't get me started on his behavior with the nasal aspirator. But, it is worth it to get in the lake.
9. Justice enjoyed the water for about an hour or so. He was facinated by passing waverunners and pontune boats. He observed the children that another family staying at the lake were doing with great curiousity. I can just imagine him thinking, "I have got to figure out how to do those things.
10. I got some self time once Justice went down, floating around, soaking up rays and clearing my head.
11. The day ended with a boat ride and BBQ. Good family time is what holidays are all about. Appreciating the freedoms and blessings that we are given as a nation. Just before bedtime we were graced with the best fireworks I would see over the weekend from the dock.
12. On the morning of the 4th I spent calling Ron to see if he had gotten any better and could not reach him. So, I loaded back up and found that Ron had just not wanted to get up to get the phone and was still on the sick side. He was so glad that I had come back, for one thing he hadn't had a decent meal in a couple of days since I had not planned on having any food at the house since we were to be at the lake. As a family we had a nice 4th of July meal and said a prayer for the soldiers and thanked God for America. The day was finished off with fireworks. Justice didn't like the banging noises following the spectacle, but we got through it.
13. Singing --"Born on the 4th of July" --Ron's sister, Jeni had her little baby boy the day after the 4th. So, Justice has another new baby cousin, Owen. He weighed 7 lbs. 13 oz. and was 19.5 inches long. Mommy had a C-Section at 12:00 EST. Both are doing very well. We can't wait to see them. We aren't sure when that will happen. That is the perfect finale to the holiday--a new life
    
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