Fill In the Blank Friday

1.   My favorite place i've ever traveled to is Portugal. I'd love to go back and explore with Nick!

2.  Italy  is somewhere I'd love to go someday.

3.  I pass the time on a plane (or bus, or car ride or train) by  Sleeping.

4.  My three must-haves when I travel are  my pillow and blanket, camera, deodorant.

5.  My favorite travel companion is  Nick.

6.  The craziest thing that ever happened to me while traveling is  our luggage got stolen when we got off the bus in Peru.
 

7.  The most exotic food I've ever tried while traveling is  Cow heart in Peru.


8.  If I could live anywhere else, I'd live in  North Carolina probably. But I'd love to live in the Mountains. I have a bit of a restless personality so I always want to live in new places.

On Being a Stay at Home Mom

When my days were spent barefoot, drawing in the backyard dirt, making dolls out of sticks and acorns to play with in my house made of rocks and leaves, I would think, "What do I want to be when I grow up?" Carefree was I, summer breeze flowing through my jersey dress made for me, I would sweep the dirt and have conversations with myself about how I would cook my yummy berry dinner that night for my towel-wrapped dolly named Jane. Even then, I knew what I would be when that magical day came when I was grown. I wanted to be a mom.

One day, much later, less carefree and not barefoot, I saw two pink lines on one pregnancy test, and the word "pregnant", black and confirming, on another. There is no way to put into words how many thoughts can fill a person's head in that moment, or describe how meaningful that tear-stained kiss I shared with my husband that followed his weighted statement, "We're going to be parents!" was, him holding the pregnancy test and me at the same time.

There is nothing so beautiful or scary than knowing that another person is going to fill every corner of your heart.

In the same moment that a woman finds out she is pregnant, she has many decisions. Being naive and new at motherhood, I had yet to find out that every decision we made would be the wrong one in somebody's eyes from vaccinations, to feeding, to even choosing to be a stay-at-home-mom

To me, being able to stay at home is the fulfillment of many deeply hopeful prayers. 

It is not what I expected, better than I could have ever hoped for, a precious thing that I am working on "bettering".

  This is how our life is right now and the beauty of it is intoxicating. With great blessings sometimes come great sacrifices. We will find joy in the little things we have, not the least of which being one dancing, screaming, adorable little boy and his future siblings.

 "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."

1 Corinthians 10:31

Adrian's First Tooth

Adrian's first tooth finally broke through the first week in January, but it is just now big enough for me to get pictures of. He has one upper and one lower tooth (apparently not standard procedure for teeth), but what can you do :)

It is a very cute tooth in a very cute baby's mouth, as you can see!

Somewhere, over the rainbow, skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true

Happy 29th Birthday, Nick!

Happy Birthday to my darling husband! His birthday was actually Saturday, but we were celebrating all day on the actual day and and then yesterday was our usual busy Sunday. 

My man is 29! He had reminded me many times this weekend that he is actually in his thirtieth year, not his twenty-ninth. I realize this, but in my head it's still his last year in his twenties. We had a good day and at the end of it he said it was his best birthday yet! Adrian was excited to celebrate his daddy as well. I love you, precious man! I am so thankful to God for you - he really blessed my socks off when He gave me you!

We got Daddy a balloon, but Adrian thinks it's his!

Card from Gheegars

Kisses from daddy.

Nick is the best daddy in the world.

Coffee

Yummy omelets!

Birthday breakfast

Yummy!

Birthday dinner!

Our family - the three of us!

I love seeing them be silly together!

I'm happy he had a good day and happy we have so much to celebrate.

God is good!

Happy 10 Months Baby Boy!

I'm back on blogger. I tried wordpress for a few days and as it turns out - cuteness and simplicity are really important to me and wordpress is just not cute (for free anyways). So I'm happily back to what works for me.

I spent almost a full day this week going through Adrian's "old" baby clothes...organizing them by size and kind and whether they're all boy clothes or could be gender neutral.  Surprisingly, it has been a very emotional task! I had to call Nick weeping over a pair of jeans he wore his first week. Those were the cutest jeans and they don't even cover his entire little bottom anymore! It hasn't been that long since he could fit very easily into those tiny onesies and sleepers...I miss newborn Adrian! I'm very thankful that he's big and happy and growing, but that teenie-tiny stage of life just didn't last long enough for me.

I  miss those moments of first getting to know my son...what soothed him, what calmed him, how to hold him and kiss him. I miss him filling my chest, my arms curled tightly around his small-ness.

Now my arms uncurl reluctantly as he embraces the world with new energy.

Those sweet moments I miss are replaced by new ones I'll treasure even deeper. New kisses, new words, new sweet tugs on my pants legs as I fold laundry. Holding my bouncy baby ALWAYS trumps laundry :)
I still miss those little bitty days though, and this bigger bitty days - I will miss these too.

Above photos by Derek Shane

And now our little "Gheegars" (as he is very affectionately most often called) is 10 months old today! We have been so focused on what we want to do for his first birthday that we almost let today slip right by us. Adrian's personality seems to have "blossomed" a lot in the past few weeks. He is extremely self-aware, and is very aware of everyone around him as well. His biggest accomplishment is learning to sign the word "please". He has it down so well that he uses it for anything and everything - of course we think it's absolutely adorable. Also, this month he got his FIRST TOOTH! Better late than never, right? Hopefully other little teeth won't be far behind this one.

Of course, he is still as musical as ever. Often we sit in the living room, me cross-legged in front of him, tapping out a tune on our knees. He bobs his head and I can't stop laughing. Then I grab his hands and we hop around in a circle and I am laughing so hard I can't even finish the song, much less breathe.

His laugh is the best in the world.

As much as I thought he'd be walking by Christmas, he isn't in a hurry to do so apparently. He is still cruising and pulling up on everything, and he can stand alone for a few seconds at a time, but still no steps. Lately, I've been making him "walk" to his room for diaper changes, which he thinks is hilarious. It's probably not helping anything.

Also, at ten months, he is becoming more purposefully loving. Several times now, he will crawl over to me, grab my hand, and put it on his belly or neck and burst out laughing. He wants to be tickled! Obviously I always comply. I'm just amazed that he even thought of it. He also makes me kiss his fingers, which I find adorable. I love this sweet precious baby!

Happy 10 months, baby son. We love you more than anything.

The moment a child is born, the mother is also born.  She never existed before.  The woman existed, but the mother, never.  A mother is something absolutely new.  ~Rajneesh

Fill In the Blank Friday/ Joy Dare Day 13

1.   The last thing I ate was  grilled tillapia with peppers an onions and sauteed potatoes with mushrooms and onions. Nick and I are on a health kick!

2.   The last song I listened to was   the song Adrian was making up. We scream at each other in tune.

3.  Using the letters in my name I can spell    {Abigail}...big, bag, gab, gail, lag, gil

4.  If I had to dress in one color for the rest of my life I would pick   turquoise...because it's beautiful no matter the weather or season.

5.  If you were to look in my bag right now you'd find  diapers, wipes, toys, snacks, hand sanitizer, chap stick, blankets, spit cloths, wallet, phone, camera, teething pills, change of clothes, socks

6.  When I finish filling in the blanks I'm going to  get on the floor and play with Adrian.

7.  My all time favorite song to dance to is  whatever Adrian's dancing to. Which is everything.

January Joy Dare Day 13: 3 Sounds You Hear

Adrian was very loud today. Silly boy :)

Psalms 96:11-13 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it! Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the LORD, for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness.

Product Review

Hey guys, you should check out my review of the Mobi Headphonies over at this blog:

http://randomosityblog.com/2011/11/mobi-headphonies-portable-design-micro-speakers-review.html/

Non picture Joy Dare

Today I'm taking a break from the joy dare, mostly because it's 10:30 and I didn't take any appropriate pictures since I've been filling my day with snacky-snacks, diapies and lots and lots of kisses.

Today was our last day in Pittsburgh before we endure our very long drive back to North Carolina tomorrow. Despite my lack of pictures that fall into the category assigned, I have lots of joys to count today.

First was taking Adrian to the heated indoor pool at our hotel this morning, and shrieking with him while he flailed his arms in the water. His frantic-ness makes me want to be frantic in fun too.  I love those eyelashes, slick black and wet, and the slippery open-mouth kisses he planted on my mouth. He sure does love the water.

Second was how much Adrian loves his 2 1/2 year old cousin Samantha. He couldn't stop looking at her...smiling at her with that cheeky smile of his. And she was scared of him for sure.  Actually he almost ripped her face off trying to give her a kiss. She was wounded (but got over it) and I was amazed by his passion. They played very well together with the plastic kitchen and fake utensils and fake food and he gave her lots of kisses which she accepted very reluctantly.  It will be fun to watch them grow up together.

Thirdly was having girl time with my sisters. We left the guys at home with the baby boys and hit up Ross and Marshalls. I astoundingly found a lot of things for $1.50 each and my need to have clothes at ridiculously low prices was quenched. The best part was Samantha chanting "GheeGhees (Adrian) peed" up and down the isle..."GheeGhees peed...GheeGhees peed" in her sweet little toothy sing-song voice of hers. It's amazing the little things kids latch onto.

Anyways, those were the highlights of my day. Thanks for reading.

January Joy Dare Day 9

I'm really enjoying this! I know I'll be looking forward to doing this every day.

If you're just jumping in, I'm joining in with Ann Voscamp in her January Joy Dare over at her blog.

Today (January 9) is: A gift in your hand, a gift you walked by, a gift you sat with:

Also, today is my sister in law, Andrea's birthday (yay) AND my sister and brother-in-law's 2nd anniversary (yay) and Adrian's little pal, Morgan's 1st birthday (yay)! Lots to celebrate today!



January Joy Dare Day 8

January Joy Dare Day 8

Light that Caught You, A Reflection that Surprised you, A Shadow that Fell Lovely

All the same thing - but all too precious not to share.

Love my guys.

January Joy Dare Day 7

Day 7: 3 Graces from People you love

I feel like this is up for interpretation, but here you go (Adrian was such a good little traveler today for a full 12 hour car ride - so proud- and such a blessing!):

Hope you all are having a good day!