for allison...

A work in progress...

nuts about notes...

My friend Julie started a business with lots of cute personalized papers and notecards. If you are interested take a look.

www.NutsAboutNotes.blogspot.com

lots of updates...

We've been having so much fun visiting family, I haven't had any time to blog. Here are some updates-oldest to newest...

we miss you daddy!

thank you auntie julia...

Thank you for the fun toys and cool socks Auntie!

i think they like each other...

i still love my nanny...

CJ still loves playing with his Nanny. I am so glad she is getting to enjoy her great-grandson. This time he wanted to be walked around, and that was hard for Nanny. But we all agreed when we are back at Christmas and he is crawling around all over the place, Nanny will be the best one to chase him. You've never seen a more agile 80 year old woman!!

happy birthday granny

My mom's birthday is today, but while we were in Tennessee we had birthday dinner. CJ was so pooped out (he hadn't slept in about 5 hours so sleep was waaaayyy overdue), but he wanted to be part of the celebration. He had fun playing with the tissue paper with Aunt Carla and watching Granny open her presents. Happy Birthday Mama!!! We love you!!!

Isn't this just sad! He was sooo tired, but so sweet...

going to baylor

CJ and I are planning our first trip to Baylor for this year's homecoming. Doesn't he just look like a Baylor man? He told me he wanted to go to Baylor when he is big enough for college and we shook on it, so no take-backs...that's where he is going no matter what daddy says. :)

traveling man

Wow did God bless us with a great little traveler. Whether it was our 10 hour car trip last month to Nanny and Granny's or two airplane trips this month, this kiddo is ready to go! We flew from Pensacola to Memphis and back for CJ's first airplane trip. He did so wonderful. The only problem was when he gets excited, he kicks, when he eats, he is excited, and on both flights, he needed to eat. Luckily both times the men in the seat next to me didn't mind his cute little feet banging on their arm. Next month me, CJ, my mom and Connor are all heading to Arizona. I hope this little man does well on that 1500 mile journey. I am choosing not to think about it because the thought of 5 days in the car with all of us is a little daunting. We'll let you know how it goes...

if i hold on long enough...

Last night CJ figured out if he kept holding onto Nanny that he wouldn't have to go to bed. And I don't know what it is, but I just LOVE him in jammies!

3 months...

Could it be that my little punkin' is already 3 months old! It is hard to imagine he is already 1/4 of a year old. It is going by way too fast.

In the last month, CJ has found his hands and loves to chew on them. After a few fists and thumbs in the eyes, he has gotten down how to get them in his mouth and keep them there. He has also found the TV. Mom doesn't let him watch it, but when he catches a glimpse, he really likes it. While we were at the Hetzels, he was mad and doing his pterodactyl yell until the TV caught his eye. He was transfixed and quiet. I quickly covered his view with a burp cloth, and he started screaming again. I lowered the burp cloth, and he started grinning at the TV. We did this a few times, with the same result each time, and lots of laughs from the family. He may wear me down eventually, but for now, I tell him, "no TV for babies." Thus, this picture on his 3 month birthday, taken by daddy. Now that he can play with the remote, all he needs is a baby MacBook and he will be all set.

Here are some other pictures I love...

"I want to play with all the animals from the ark at once. And I think the lady giraffe is the most tasty of all!" (This is CJ's first present...thanks Julz for the present and thanks Paul and Erin for the great toy recommendation.)

"Humm...let me think about that one."

CJ still HATES tummy time but he is getting better at it. Check out this action shot. Before he just buried his face in the ground, but now he is doing great at getting his head up. Connor hates when he cries, so she gets fretful when CJ is on his tummy too.

Crashed after a long day of playing.

hanging with the hetzels

Last Wednesday through Sunday we had the rare chance to spend time in Florida for more than just a weekend. It was great spending time with family, and we got to meet the newest Hetzel - Jayden Bryce Hetzel. Chris, our oldest nephew, is the father to a darling little boy. He is sooo tiny. He only weighed 5 pounds, 2 ounces when he was born, and after holding my little pork chop, he felt so fragile. CJ was never that small, but I do miss the days when he was tiny.

CJ also got to go to the beach and swimming for the first time. Unfortunately, the day we went to the beach there was a tropical storm and we didn't get to get our feet in the sand or the ocean. We ate at a restaurant by the water and by the time we left, we were literally ankle deep in water. In a few weeks we are going to Panama City, and hopefully the beach will be more fun. And hopefully CJ will like the pool a little better. Kayley, Lexi and dad had fun in the pool, but CJ wasn't convinced.

"Umm...the pool. Dad says swimming is so much fun. I'm ready to jump in."

"I'm not so sure about this anymore..."

"Maybe pretty girls will make it better...nope."

"I don't like this!"

"This is not fun dad!"

"Still not OK!"

But the best part of the time was CJ getting loved on by his family and getting to spend uninterrupted time with his daddy.

CJ liked his Aunt Josie. He is excited to see her again in a few weeks.

Uncle Buddy and Kayley are good to sunggle up with too!

The only time mom put CJ down was to hold Jayden. She loved having arms full of babies!

After this, CJ was dubbed "pants head," and Scott didn't have to do any more diaper duty.

After a long day in the pool CJ was pooped out and after a date with mama, dad was too! Aren't they cute?!?

i hate doing this...

I really do try to update the blog regularly, but alas, I have failed miserably over the last few weeks. CJ's newest desire is to be carried around all the time. He is becoming so curious and sitting still and looking at the same thing just won't do anymore. Also, he is a very light napper. He needs a comfy set of arms to fall asleep in and when you try to put him down during the day, he usually wakes up. All this has left a mama with no time to do things during the day except enjoy her little man. And with Scott in school, he has been in the field for weeks at a time, he leaves for work around 4:30 in the morning and comes home between 6:30 and 7:00 at night. So, blogging has fallen though the cracks...forgive me and enjoy the many posts below...

my newest trick

CJ finally figured out how to get his thumb in his mouth and keep it there (for the most part). For about a month, you could tell by watching him he was trying to figure it out. He has almost stopped stabbing himself in the eye with his thumb, and this weekend he started to figure out how to get his thumb in his mouth, keep it there, and tuck the other four fingers into a fist so they didn't go up his nose and in his eyes. When you think about all that goes into thumb sucking, it really is a lot to coordinate. The only time it is bad is when he is going to sleep. He is a baby who needs to suck to go to sleep, so when is is falling asleep, we give him his pacifier. But now when he is almost asleep, he tries to stick his thumb in his mouth with his nook, and it is just a disaster. It usually ends in frustrated crying and flying nooks. He'll get it all figured out eventually though.

auntie juila

CJ loves his Auntie Julia almost as much as his mama does. Julz is our really good friend from Japan, and she came to see for a few days while she was back in the states. It was so great to have her around us again. It was easy to fall back into the rhythm being together again. There are few people in this world that you can be 100% yourself around, 100% of the time, and Julz is one of those people for us. She knows us, good and bad. She started out a friend and ended up family. I even let her was my dishes and put them away in my cabinets; in fact she is the only person besides me that I completely trust with this task. She is a one-in-a-million friend and we love her and can't wait for her to get back to America so we can see her more often.

harley ride...finally

It has been so long since I had a chance to ride with Scott. When I was pregnant, I didn't ride, and since we have been in Georgia, we don't really trust Connor to babysit yet. With Julz here this weekend and nice weather, we took an hour long ride this morning. We ended up in FDR state park. And for those of you stationed overseas who watch AFN, it is really close to "the little white house." :) We plan on touring it some day since we saw it so many times on TV. It was a beautiful morning, and we couldn't help but stop and take a picture. To this day, almost every day I drive on the highway, I am struck by how beautiful all the green is. I told Scott this morning, "this is definitely not Japan." Thanks Julz!

we have another pet

When we met the people who used to live in our house, they mentioned they used to have a pet turtle in the back yard. But, when they put a new roof on the house, they thought the contractors let him out. This weekend we got quite a surprise, Mr. Turtle is back (and probably never went anywhere because our back yard it totally fenced in). Connor was at the back door with her hackels up and she was starting intently at the ground outside. I thought there must me a bug or a squirrel out there, but it was Mr. Turtle. We have had fun with his this weekend. For some reason he has been hiding for a few months, but he decided to make his presence known this weekend. He kept coming up on the patio and then would run off. We haven't decided on a name yet...still thinking on that one.

changing table time

CJ loves to hang out on his changing table. It cracks me up. We sing and play before, after and during diaper changes. It is one of my favorite times of the day to spend with him because of the adorable smiles he gives me. He is even starting to laugh a little. It isn't a full on laugh yet, but it is more of a big gasp and a big grin. I LOVE IT!

i like my papa!