Ace

   
      I can't believe that Ace is already 5 months old! Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about him getting older and more fun. It just seems like yesterday that I was crying in the middle of the night because I wanted to sleep...oh wait I still do that. Anyway, it has gotten better and he's so cute and fun to interact with. It seems like I write about Cooper a lot, mostly because he's doing a lot of fun cute stuff lately, so I wanted to dedicate a post to my youngest.

     Ace Garrett is learning a lot lately. He's always been a bright eyed alert little boy, but he's really starting to interact with everything around him and not just take it all in. He's learning to sit up, can maneuver around on his belly, roll over and over and occasionally get on all fours. We're predicting crawling by 6 months but we could be wrong. We won't be upset when that time comes. This stage of not wanting to be held but not being able to do much is a little frustrating for all involved.

     He is such a smiley baby and never meets a person that he doesn't like. It seems like he's going to be a person that wants to make others feel good no matter who they are. He just loves to smile and laugh and anyone who'll take the time to talk to him...and he smiles with his eyes. Sweet baby. I've had several people tell me that Ace is a special little baby, one being my grandma. Not that Cooper isn't sweet, but Ace just seems to have a different little personality that endears people to him. Love that we can see this already.

     He loves being on the floor, playing and rolling around. Now that he can roll around he can entertain himself more. He also likes the johnny jump up because it allows him to sit up and play and move around. He's outgrown the bouncer and carseat (as a holding place) because he twists around trying to get out and I don't trust those bouncer straps. Ace has also entered the 'put everything in my mouth' stage and loves toys he can chew on. His favorites are a turtle he got from Auntie M and an octopus from GG.

     When it comes to hanging out, Ace prefers to be outside. He loves looking at the trees and animals and is constantly reaching out trying to pet the cats. We haven't taken him riding yet, but I'm sure the time is coming soon when we'll strap him into the backpack carrier and take off. Cooper was 5 or 6 months when we did that.

     He's quite verbal... much more so than Cooper was at this age. He coos and laughs and talks to us. but the most memorable sounds he makes are his squeals and shrieks. When he gets really happy he squeals and shrieks really loud. And when he's not happy he does the same thing. Basically he knows how to get our attention. It's cute the first couple of times but then gets a little loud. Especially when Cooper is sleeping. If he starts the squealing in his room I have to rush to the other side of the house or outside until he stops. I guess he has a lot to say. He's also a pincher/grabber. He'll hug tight and pinch you with his little fingers...so aggressive. Or he'll try to chew on any part of your face he can get his mouth to.

     We think Ace looks like Dalton or Mere Mere, more fine features instead of round like Cooper. He's getting cuter and cuter the more he fills out, and he's finally getting some hair. Looks like he's going to have a big cowlick in the back, but it's better than his brother's two swirls.

     Overall we have two wonderful special little guys and I'm so glad God blessed us with brothers. My next post will be about 'the brothers.' Who knows, maybe we'll get to have more brothers....we'll see what God's plan is.

"I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works;  my soul knows it very well." Psalm 139:14

The Picture of Confidence

     We all want to be confident in ourselves in any situation, knowing that whatever the case we can still feel good about ourselves. Yesterday I got to see this in action. My 2 y/o does not lack self-confidence, that's for sure, and yesterday he demonstrated this.
   
     One of my friends has taken a job a couple of days a week and needed a babysitter for her two boys. She asked me to help out and I gladly accepted. Yesterday was the second day that we watched her two boys, who are 4 and 2. They are pretty fun and Cooper fits in really well with the rambunctious playing. He was excited to go to their house and we set off right on schedule to get to their house at 8:45.

    About 10 min into the trip, as Cooper was sipping on some milk, he started coughing, then gagged a little and threw up. After a quick eye roll I assessed the situation. If we turned back now we'd be late. Not stopping was not an option. So I quickly pulled off the road and got to work. I got Cooper out, undressed him down to his underwear and poured bottled water on his arms and legs to clean off the mess. Thankfully most of the 'stuff' was on his clothes and not the seat or car, so I wiped what I needed to and loaded him back up. I had brought extra clothes for him anyway, so I figured we could change him at their house.

    As I continued driving I felt a little embarrassed that I was about to unload my Cooper with nothing on but his sandals and underwear. Oh well! I think I've already earned a reputation of being unpredictable and able to roll with the awkward flow of things...or maybe everyone knows that you never know what circus I'm going to bring to town with my family. (Between my quirks, the crazy one and the spitter it's always a show with us.) Anyway, so my point is that aside from a brief moment of "how crazy we are going to look," it didn't phase me.

     We pulled up to their house and the two boys were waiting at the glass door for us. I got out and with a smirk on my face unloaded the kids. Cooper, not missing a beat, got out of the car and strolled up the sidewalk in his sandals and underwear, milk cup in hand. The other boys backed up a little and watched him walk in..speechless. After we got in the house their oldest boy asked why Cooper didn't have any clothes on. I calmly explained what happened (pretty sad when your child throwing up isn't a big deal) and we put Cooper's clothes on so he could play.

     Now, anytime I'm tempted to feel less than confident or sure of myself I will just imagine Cooper, the picture of confidence strolling up the sidewalk in his briefs.

"Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised." Hebrews 10:35-36

Lake Weekend with Friends

   

     A couple of weekends ago we had some friends come join us for a fun time at the lake. I was a little nervous because the previous couple of weeks had been scorchers, but God was looking out for us and the weekend that we were at the lake was so nice. I could actually take Ace to the dock without worrying about heat stroke for either of us.

 Meredith, Wyatt, Me and Cooper

    The Hyde's stayed with us at the lake and the rest of our friends visited Saturday night. We all stayed in the upstairs part of the house (which Rob referred to as the sleep cave), where the roar of the window unit can put anyone in a deep sleep. Well, almost anyone...Ace didn't cooperate that great the first night...but maybe that had something to do with the fact that I forgot his PJs and he was cold. We ended up all snuggling together (Dalt, Coop, Ace and I, not us and the Hydes).

 Ready for the boat ride

 Dalton snuck Ace in the water while I was swimming to the sand bar 

because he knew I'm a chicken about putting my babies in the lake. 

But...Ace loved it so I'm glad he did it. 

I think they have the same expression on their face

     The guys took a long boat ride on Saturday morning while we went to a baby shower. Then it was back to the lake. We hung out at the dock while the bigger kids swam and the little ones played in the pack n play. Then we retreated to the cabin for naptime and cooling off.

Ace is happy to finally be in the water where the action is

Staying cool while we swam

    That evening several families came and swam with us. Cooper decided to show off and learn a new trick. He let Dalton drop him off of the top of the dock. He really wanted to jump off himself but we wouldn't let him. We're in for a wild ride I'm afraid because he's only 2 and ready to do things that kids older than him don't even want to do. Lord, we pray for his safety!

 "Look me, Mommy!"

Splash!!!

     After swimming we hung out at the cabin and some guys played horseshoes. It was a close match. The kiddos played well together. That morning Cooper and Wyatt had taken turns riding in the truck down the hill. One would ride in the cab and the other in the back. It was pretty cute. They repeated the truck rides with the other kids that evening.

 Cooper and Ella...he saw this picture and said "my Ella"

 Jen hanging out with Ace

The after swimming Evil Kenieval hairdo

     We all had dinner and visited some more until all the kids were worn out and cranky. Slowly each family left. We were exhausted by the end of the weekend but it was so fun hanging out with all of our friends. We're so blessed that our best friends are our church friends.

 Meredith, Kelli and a load of kids

 Krew, Cooper and Ella pretending to drive away

Horseshoe competitors 

John 1:7 “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

A Whole New World

     The boys are doing so much these days that I want to share and record, but it seems that the more they do the less time I have to write. Quite the dilemma for me. I'm going to try to do a blog blitz over the next few days to try and catch up. My goal is to hit high points without being too detailed (a challenge for me).

 My sweet funny man

My intense sweetie pie

     First up: Cooper's new imagination is gearing up and taking off. It started when I encouraged him to pretend he was throwing balls in the air and catching them in his mouth. He loved that and I was surprised that he was already ready to imagine. Since then he's really started to imagine a lot more. I'll just highlight a few examples that are really cute to watch...which is what I've been doing instead of writing.

 Notice the stacking and his passenger, the chicken

Ready for checkout..looks like he's thinking through his list

Grocery store: He loves to play grocery store, which is something that I remember doing a lot when I was little. He'll get any boxes, fruit, anything that I leave on the counter and go 'beep' it across something. Then he puts it in his little metal shopping cart (thanks Amanda!) and drives it around the kitchen. One day he was really into it, taking items out of the bag and cruising with them. So I decided to do help him out. I sat several grocery items around the kitchen area and told him to go shopping with his cart. He drove around picking up the items and putting them in his cart. Then he drove it to the table where I sat up a makeshift 'beeper' register. He beeped the items and put them in a grocery bag and took them away. Now when we are in the store he'll get any items that are within reach and beep them across the handle. Love to see that imagination coming alive!

Checking out. Beep...beep

Checking Cows: As I've mentioned before we often sit on the front porch in the evenings waiting for Daddy to get home. Lately Cooper's truck has been sitting there and he gets in it and backs up around the porch. I'll ask him what he's doing and he says he's checking cows. He drives a little, gets out, looks around, swings his arm in a circle to rope them if needed and gets back in the truck. Before he drives away he always puts his seatbelt on. Safety first.

What a cool cat. I have to admit this was staged 

so I could have a picture for this paragraph

Food delivery: Now he'll randomly bring us 'food' to eat. He really likes to bring milk, eggs and juice. He hasn't learned to bring much variety, but at least those are healthy. He's also started to pretend eat things like his hamburger from his grill and little blocks as various foods.

I know what you are thinking. "Does he ever wear pants?" 

Yes...when we leave the house.

Money exchange: He likes to give money to me for things. We were playing outside one day and he was giving me money for something. When I asked him what he was paying me for he said it was for pigs. Not sure where that came from, but oh well.

Olympics: He watched a lot of olympics with me and started to do gymnastics moves around the house.  I'm not going to lie...I think he's pretty good! Now we also get into start position to race to the bathroom or bed. Maybe I have a future athlete on my hands. Speaking of imagining...as I watched the Olympics I suddenly believed that I was in shape, athletic, and could do any of the events that I watched (with the exception of water polo). Now I see where Cooper gets his big imagination!

I know these aren't very funny or exciting things to read about but they are so neat to watch in my son as he grows.

"Jesus said unto him, if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth." Mark 9:23

I Feel

       Two words strike fear into my husband's heart.."I feel." Usually they are followed by my droning on about my emotions and sad, mad, bad feelings; and then a silence when he's supposed to make all things better.
     Today was a day of 'I feels' for me. Bogged down by the daily grind, sometimes the heart takes over and I let myself wallow in self pity or self loathing. Today it was a combination. It started as self loathing and turned to self pity. It went something like this.

I feel grody and stinky because I'm constantly being spit up on.

I feel like Jabba the Hut with Medusa hair.

I feel very un-beautiful and have to take a second look in the mirror to make sure it's really me through all the frizz, spit up, blotchy skin and 'home clothes'.

I feel frustrated because Ace's spit up has gotten no better...in fact it may be worse.

I feel confused because I don't know what to do about the spit up situation.

I feel like I'm letting Coop down because I'm not doing more activities and learning games with him.

I feel like a bum because when I do have free time all I want to do is rest on the couch or take a cat nap.

I feel like I'll never catch up on the laundry (which may be a fact).

I feel like I'm not keeping up with the expectations I've set for myself as a wife and mother, not to mention expectations I've come up with from looking at Pintrest.

I feel tired all the time from not sleeping through the night and being denied caffeine.

I feel no desire to limit myself in any way when it comes to what I eat, even though I know it's time to get serious about those last 10 pounds.

I feel guilty because I haven't been able to keep up with my Bible study and reading like I want to.

I feel sad because I never do things I used to do... go riding, go to the gym, feel important.

     You get the picture. All of these I feels have resulted in low productivity, self pity and a desire to cry several times a day.

     So now that I've realized I can't do this, any of this, very well I've come to the end of myself. I can only do so much and it isn't enough. Most of the good intentions I have are just that, intentions.  As I've come to the end of myself I find myself praying even more and more for the Lord's help in all of little things in life...not just the big stuff.

    And you know what? I've heard God whispering to my spirit..."Finally! I've been here waiting for you to give up so that I can take over and work through you and change you."

     These days when I've had a case of the "I Feels," and I finally give up and give it all to God, He usually give me peace like a river and joy overflowing. The clothes piling up aren't that big of a deal; spit up is just part of being a momma; Cooper is learning new things daily even when I'm not teaching him and Dalton still tells me I'm beautiful, even though I don't feel like it.

     "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" Jeremiah 17:9 This scripture is what I have to turn to when my heart tells me how to feel. Instead I have to remember "my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus," Philippians 4:19 and "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ," Ephesians 1:3. And I count my blessings....too many to list. 

     Then I have to remember that it's not about how I feel. It's about how these guys feel. 

Do they feel loved? 
Do they feel taken care of?
Does Dalton feel appreciated? 
Do they feel peace, joy and love when they enter the house?

    If I can make sure that the answer to these things is yes, then God can and will take care of the rest. What an awesome God we serve, one who cares so much for me that He'd help me finish laundry and teach ABC's to a toddler, all with a joyful heart (and medusa hair).

"In the beginning was the Word; and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were created through Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men." John 1:1-4

    

Will Potty for Dora Treats

     We finally did it. Bit the bullet and started potty training. It all began while we were at Mom's. Cooper was excited to potty and went in the potty several times..and not just tt (tee tee?). So I decided that when we got home we'd go for it.

     And we have! No turning back now. Cooper has done pretty good considering he's a boy and he's just over 2. At first we went through a naked phase. I'd heard that letting them run around without clothes would help, and it did. He had more accidents with underwear on than in the nude. Unfortunately for us, he loves to 'show off his physique' and 'if there's an audience to be found he'll be streaking around,' so getting out of the naked phase was a bit harder. We affectionately refer to him as The Streak at home, because that is his theme song.


     The other trick we used to help us along was to offer incentive. Now most parents offer M&Ms, but Cooper isn't a big fan of those (weird, I know), so we went with Dora treats...he's a big fan of hers. He gets excited about getting a 'gaga treat' when he goes potty. He can't say Dora for some reason, so it's gaga. I've also started throwing cheerios in the bowl at times to encourage him to go...it works. He also likes going outside..big help.
     Now we've moved onto the wearing pants and underwear stage. We have some cool underwear that   helped us to move past the streaking. His favorite pair has sports balls on it, and he likes his red ones because they look like grown up underwear like Daddy. And let me just say he looks so stinking cute in his undies!

Told you. He's flexing his muscles here too.

     After getting him to go in the potty at home, which is more successful some days than others, we had to tackle other places. Living 30 min out of town doesn't help much. Usually we have to stop on our way in to tinkle...just in case. One time we didn't and it was not fun to unbuckle him and see a wet seat. Much easier to stop. The only problem with stopping on the way is that he wants to pick wear he goes..he's not content to just do it right there by the door; he wants to walk to a fence, or to the rocks, etc. We're working on that though.

     He's done pretty well at other people's houses and at church. We've had to use our extra change of clothes several times, but the other day he had zero accidents while hanging out with Mere Mere all day. Woo hoo!!

     Now that he's a big boy, he does not want to wear diapers, which is great, except that we haven't gotten to nap and nighttime dryness yet so he needs a diaper then. The first few days were ok, but then he didn't want to put on a diaper at all. Hmmm, what next? We got some pull ups so that they looked like underwear. That worked for a few days and then the other night he had quite the meltdown about his underpants.

    When he got out of the shower he put on some pj shorts because he saw Daddy put on his boxers. Everything was cool until Daddy tried to get him to put on the pull up. He was not having it. He wanted to wear his 'boxers'. He cried, we tried to reason with him. He cried, we put him outside for fear of throwing up. He cried and Daddy put some briefs on under his boxers to show Cooper that he wears underwear too (I snickered). He cried and they sat on the back porch steps stumped and tired (it was after 9:30 by this point). I asked to help and after talking to Cooper decided to take another approach. There is a dinosaur on the front of the pull up. I gave it a name ...Bob (quick thinking)... and then pretended to hear what Bob was saying (that he really wanted Cooper to put him on so he could hang out by his belly button ... weird I know but it was late). Cooper listened and then agreed. Yeahhhhh!!! He was asleep 10 minutes later.

     The next day at naptime I pulled out another Bob only to find that this dinosaur was red and not purple...maybe Cooper wouldn't mind wearing Fred. He did. I found another Bob. I wonder what happens when I run out of Bobs in this package? Oh the fun surprises of motherhood.
     We've reached a point now...about 3 weeks in...where Cooper doesn't want to go on our command and yet he doesn't have complete control/desire to go himself if he's busy doing something else. He does tell us when he has to go sometimes, so we're making progress. Guess we'll just stick to bringing extra pairs of undies and shorts for now.

     Overall I'm very proud of my guy. He's a big boy and we've only changed diapers after nap and nighttime for 3 weeks. Wow!! Love to see him growing up in this way. God is good....we may not get to sleep all night, but at least we don't have to change stinky diapers on our 2 y/o.

"Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you." Colossians 3:13

**If you are thinking TMI (too much information), remember that I might be using this to help with another little boy in a couple of years....so most of this was for my benefit.

Ariba! It's Salsa Time

    Contrary to what the title might imply, we have not been Salsa dancing lately..or ever. Unless you count the lessons I made Dalton take on the cruise ship during our honeymoon. What a great man I married. : )  No, I'm talking about a different kind of salsa...the edible kind.

     When I was at Mom and Dad's, I helped Dad make some homemade salsa. It was a little easier than I thought it would be, and since we had lots of tomatoes to use I decided to make some myself, with Dalton's help of course.

     So the other night I got out the food processor, a sharp knife, cutting board and onion goggles and started chopping. Dalton's main job was keeping the boys entertained and he did great. They love it when he plays guitar to them while they sit on our bed. : )

You thought I was joking about onion goggles didn't you?

     It was actually not as difficult as I thought it would be. We first blanched the tomatoes to make them easier to peel. Then we cored the tomatoes and processed them. Next I chopped onion, bell pepper and cilantro and jalepeno peppers and added them to the mix. Finally we added a few other seasonings and then tasted. It was pretty good but a little bland, so we added a few more peppers and more cilantro.

 Beautiful bowl of tastiness

    After it was all mixed and tasted, Dalton put it into jars and we boiled it until they sealed, 35 minutes.  Once we took the jars out to cool we waited for that great sound...the tops popping...that means you did it right. Now we have 7 jars of fresh homemade salsa!

"He provides food for those who fear him; he remembers his covenant forever." Psalm 111:5

A Feline Family

Pretty day and pretty clouds

     If you read my post about my visit to Dew, you'll remember that I mentioned Dalton brining Gus Gus to live with my parents. It was bittersweet. One the one hand Gus Gus is a sweet loving dog that is great with the kiddos. On the other hand, however, he is a big clutz menace that chewed everything in sight and prevented us from being able to leave anything of value outside. So we waved goodbye to Gus Gus as we left my parents' house and headed home to our herd of felines (or is it a pack).
   
     I have to admit that even though I was sad to lose Gus Gus, it's been really nice here at home. I've been able to leave toys out, haven't had to scoop any messes and we've gotten to take the garden fence down. Not sure Mom and Dad are having the same feelings, but hopefully he'll outgrow the puppy stage soon.

     I think the biggest plus of having no dog is that Cooper can now play with his kittens all he wants. Maybe it was a bad move on our part giving him a kitten last year instead of a dog because now he's more of a cat boy than a dog one, but what's done is done. And not only does he have one cat, but five! We have a wild momma cat that came with the place, her 2 wild kittens that we are attempting to tame and two of Little Girl's orphans. We were only supposed to keep one orphan, but Dalton didn't want to leave one alone, so we still have two.

  Cooper and his kittens. 

Notice the way they are cuddling up to him with love...not!

     Cooper is so cute with the kittens though. He loves to pick them up and carry them under one arm around their belly. They are pretty good sports, no scratches yet. Unfortunately Cooper isn't the gentlest kid and sometimes we've caught him carrying them by the tail, ear or leg, but he's learning. *In his defense, he saw his daddy carrying one by the scruff of the neck and when he tried to imitate, the ear is what he went for; guess he didn't look close enough to see which part his daddy was actually holding.

He's going in for the pet!

     He also keeps attempting to put them in the back of his truck and haul them around, but they always jump out before he gets moving. Finally I put some feed in the truck bed and that kept one in long enough for him to get rolling. He's an attentive owner..sometimes too attentive. He'll grab the kitten's head and force it into the water or food because he thinks it needs to eat or drink. Again, we're working on gentleness and he's learning.

 Boots

Dora (or Gaga in Cooper speak)

    The three of us go out and feed the cats every morning and then we usually sit by the cat bowl so that we can pet the wilder kittens. One is pretty good about it while he's eating. The other one..not so much. But it's fun to try.

The Wild Ones waiting for us to leave so that they can eat

     So, in short, we are embracing the feline in ourselves and enjoying watching the kitties playing in the backyard. And the plus to having too many cats, we don't have to worry about snakes as much. Yeah!

Just had to include a pic of this little guy : ) 

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven." Ecclesiastes 3:1