Baby got back....

My baby has quite the booty on him, I blame the cloth diapers. Anyway, here's his latest attempt at crawling.

Quarterback ?

Derek picked up a Dax-sized football the other day, and it has quickly become one of his favorites!! We're slowing teaching him how to play catch. Derek think he's going to be a good catcher because as soon as the ball comes towards him, he puts his hands out and catches it....we kinda roll the football right now instead of chucking it at him, but he's really getting good at catching the rolling pass.

New Flippies

We purchased Dax's first pair of flip flops (or in Arwen lingo - flippies) yesterday. I had to try them out today, and with temperatures near 90, and the sun shining it was the perfect day for a walk.


Here's roo in his new flippies



could his chubby baby legs and cankles get any cuter?



let's go on our walk mom!

Great Great Aunt Jennie

On Friday, Dax went to meet his Great Great Aunt Jennie. This is my Great Aunt on my dad's side. She really enjoyed meeting Dax, and he was pretty happy to meet her as well!

He fell asleep on the way to meet her



But once we were inside, the charm was in full swing

Cousins

We took Dax in to meet his new Cousin, Deagan. He was very intrigued by him and wasn't quite sure what to think! When Dax saw me holding Deagan for the first time, he seemed a little perplexed. It will be fun to watch these 2 grow up together, I have a feeling they will be quite the little trouble makers once they are both mobile!

Doesn't my sister look great - only about 14 hours after birth!!



Well hello little pumpkin, we're so glad you're here!



Proud new grandma!

My New Nephew!

Deagan Michael was born just after midnight, 8lbs 15oz, 20.75" long. I'm so proud of my sister Jessie, she did such an amazing job through the labor and delivery. I haven't met him yet, but here are some preview pictures that my parents were able to take.





Dax, my parents, and I spent the day at the hospital yesterday. My dad willingly took over Dax duty so I could be my sister's birth coach - Dax made me so proud yesterday! He did great, he was entertaining everyone in the waiting room and was the happiest little baby.

7 Months Old!

My little pumpkin is 7 months old today. He has grown so much since October! He fills our days with so much joy and happiness that it is hard to imagine how we ever had fulfilling lives before we were parents. His laugh and conversations continue to be my favorite sounds and bring a smile to my face every time I hear them. For those of you keeping track, he's now 27.25 inches long and a whopping 19lbs - no wonder my biceps are continually sore :)

Here's my baby, 1 day old



1 month old



2 months old



3 months old



4 months old



5 months old



6 months old



7 months old



We love you sweetie!!!

Churching it up

My freshman year of college (2004), I found a church I LOVED, Riverview. I quickly got involved with their college group, and started going to a house church with about 20 other college-aged people. We were all so different from each other, some of the people in the group I probably would have never talked to or been friends with if I wasn't in a small group with them (just being honest!), but despite all of our opposite personalities and weird quirks, we clicked and it just worked. One of the pastors and his wife (and their 5 wonderful kids), opened up their house to us each week. That group was more than just a weekly Bible study, those people who attended quickly became my home away from home - they were my family. We shared our joys, our pains, our struggles, our questions, our fears - we shared our lives with each other. We could rely on that house church to be there for us, we were so close. After that school year was over, the college group underwent some massive renovations, and our little house church broke apart. Since then, I have sought out new small groups without much success. I often think back to that house church and wish it was 2004 again so I could have that "home" back in my life.

Fast-forward to present-day. We've been really struggling with making it to church on Sundays. It seems that no matter what time the service starts, Dax is either just going down for a nap, or taking a nap. On the rare occasion that Dax is awake and we make it to church on time, we usually have to leave early because he's ready to take a nap. It's been really frustrating for Derek and I, because it's been negatively impacting our spiritual life.

Today, we all woke up and got ready to go to the 11:15 service, and surprise surprise, Dax went down for a nap at 11am. After talking for a few minutes, we decided that we should just do our own house church. We have a couple of friends that go with us so we called them up and asked if they wanted to come over and we would listen to a message online, talk about it, and pray. So, that's exactly what we did today, and it was really nice! We're really excited about this, and think it will be a great way to reach out to our friends, and a new way to stay accountable. We're going to work our way through some online messages, starting out with the "How to Kill a Church" series. Where we go from there is still to be determined, but what we do know is that God will definitely show us the way.

New Things

My sister, Jessie, loaned us the bumbo chair she picked up for her son (still waiting for him to have his birthday!), and while I don't know that it is worth $40 new, it has been quite handy to have around! Dax doesn't love the chair, but he doesn't mind being in it either!








While I have yet to capture this on film, Dax started waving yesterday. It is the CUTEST thing! He takes his fingers and closes them towards his palm and then opens them up again when we do it to him saying "bye-bye". I will get it on video and post that soon!

Favorite Toys

I don't know why we bother to spend money on fancy toys that light up, crinkle, play music, and claim to enhance your baby's IQ level, when his favorite toys are ones that are free.

Enter exhibit A, the empty paper box



It's not just a box, it's a space ship, a car, a ship, a horse, a transporter, but most importantly it makes my son squeal and laugh.



Other favorites include: my cell phone, empty water bottles, and empty plastic measuring cups.

Chow Time

Dax has been doing better with eating solid foods. So far he's had: peas, sweet potato, acorn squash, applesauce, bananas, and prunes (only because he was pretty plugged up). He gets excited when it's time to chow down. He starts banging his hands on his high chair tray and can't wait to start eating whatever is on the spoon.



He even likes to try and feed himself



But usually, by the time we're done with his snack, his face looks like this

Flashback

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about the first 48 hours after Dax was born and remembering all of the emotions that we went through in those first 2 days.

I still remember that day in the hospital like it was yesterday, sometimes I wonder if it will always be like that. If 25 years from now, I'll still be able to remember that day just as if it had happened the day before. That morning, the nurses came in to tell me that my mid-wife, Sameerah, was going to wait to start the induction around 11am. After they left, I started crying, and Derek - being the amazing husband he is - rushed to my side to see what was wrong. I finally told him that I was scared to death of the pitocin and being induced. I was so worried that it would hurt so bad that I would need an epidural, that I wouldn't be able to have an all natural birth like I had hoped. Derek took my hand and prayed with me that God would lead that birth and that He would help us through the induction and that my fears would be removed.

Shortly after, Derek and I were talking about the fact that we were going to actually become parents that day, that we would soon be seeing our little baby boy. We would finally be able to see what he looked like, and hold him in our arms. I don't remember this, but Derek does, apparently I looked up at him and was all excited, telling him "we get to meet him today!!"

I remember the labor and the pain, and I remember that it was close to 3:00pm when the contractions finally started to hurt. Derek and my mom were at my side, coaching me through it, reminding me to relax, applying hot water bottles and pressure on my back as needed. Right around 5pm it was time to push. Just after 6pm I experienced the worst pain I have ever felt in my entire life, to say that I was screaming is an understatement. At 6:18pm we finally met our little boy, Dax. I remember being so elated and happy and of course RELIEVED (mainly because I was no longer pregnant). I couldn't believe that in my arms was my son, my beautiful and perfect son. It felt so right and natural.

We left Monday evening around 9pm, in hindsight, I wish we had stayed the additional night at the hospital. Before we went home, we headed to CVS to pick up some much needed pain meds, only to find out that at 9:20pm their pharmacy (which was closing at 10pm) was no longer filling prescriptions. This brought me to tears, so over to Meijer we went. Their pharmacy was closed, but my husband asked a guy who was behind the desk if there was any chance he would fill my RX's. The guy asked Derek what they were for and he told them, and told the guy that I had just had a baby. So the worker said sure, even though they had been closed for 30+ minutes. We headed home and promptly turned the heat on, even though it wasn't cold inside. We decided to barricade ourselves in the bedroom and shut the cats out. The cats went crazy, they were pawing at the door and meowing...they wanted to meet Dax and they were not happy to be excluded. They kept pawing the door open, so at one point we had 2 laundry baskets and a suitcase shoved against the door to keep it shut.

At some point in the evening, Dax started crying, and he wouldn't stop crying. We couldn't figure out what was wrong. We tried everything, but when he continued to cry this brought me to tears (again!), because I couldn't fix what was wrong, I didn't even know what was wrong!! After about 2 hours, Derek was changing Dax's diaper, and Dax peed all over him - after that, the crying stopped. We realized that he was crying because it was painful to pee with his circumcision.

I look at my baby now and he is more than double the size he was at birth. He's grown in so many ways, but when I look down at his sweet face, I can still the first time I met him all over again.