The Messiest Baby on the Block

When Clayton was a baby, I didn't ever give him teething biscuits. They were just too messy! Well, the following pictures should be further evidence of the fact that having two kids has really mellowed me out.

Even though Drew doesn't appear to be anywhere close to cutting a tooth, he LOVED gnawing on that teething biscuit. It was really, really, really messy, but he looked oh so cute. (Please notice that he doesn't even have on a bib. I'm getting wild and crazy, y'all!)

Then the compulsive part of me kicked in and he went straight to the sink for a bath. Old habits die hard, people.

Ah, that's better. A sweet & clean baby in footed pajamas. That's more my style. :)

Celebrating 9 Years of Wedded Bliss

Wade and I celebrated our 9th anniversary last Wednesday. I can't believe that we have been married that long! Next year will be our 10th - Whoa! What's that? We should celebrate in Hawaii? You read my mind. :)

We were so young...
This year we celebrated in a really fun way. Our sweet pals, Todd & Leah's, anniversary is only 3 days after ours. So, we decided to commemorate our anniversaries together. :) We spent a night at the Four Seasons and it was wonderful! The guys played golf on Friday, and Leah & I got pedicures and massages. It was heavenly!

On Friday night, some of our other pals, the Brewers and the Kraftsons, met us for dinner at Cool River. The food was delicious and the company was even better. We had so much fun!

On Saturday, we had breakfast and then laid by the pool for most of the afternoon. It was a wonderful way to spend our anniversary! I love Wade to pieces and look forward to many, many more years of wedded bliss.

It was a fun kid-free 24 hours with my Hubs, but it sure was great to see those little boogers when we walked in the door. :)

Drew is 8 months old!

Can you believe that our baby boy is 8 months old?!?! I sure can't. He is just at such a FUN stage!!!

* According to our bathroom scale (not an exact measurement), Baby Boy weighs 21.5 lbs. He is 28 1/2 inches long. This boy is growing like a weed! His infant carseat only goes up to 22 lbs. and 29 inches, so looks like he will be promoting to his convertible carseat very soon.

* He wears size 4 diapers and size 12-18 month clothes.

* He sleeps and eats like a champ! He downs his baby food as fast as we can shovel it in. He loves it all - no favorites that we can tell and he hasn't refused anything either. We are thrilled that he isn't picky. Maybe he'll even like my crummy cooking one day. Ha!

* He still hasn't gotten his first tooth. I don't even feel like there is one close to breaking through. That's a-okay with me. Teething is no fun!

* He seems like he will start crawling any day now! He gets up on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth all day long. I have called Wade into the room countless times just certain that he was about to take off, only to see him flop on the floor and grin at me. It's like he's thinking, "Ha ha! Fooled you again!" Little stinker...

* His happiest times of the day are right when he wakes up and bath time. When he gets really excited he grins really big and gets "happy feet". His little legs move so fast! It is the cutest thing!

* His hair seems to be getting lighter and lighter. It is still thin around the sides and the back with a fluffy patch on the top of his head.

* His main means of transportation is still rolling. He has gotten good at navigating himself to exactly where he wants to be. Maybe that's why he hasn't started crawling yet - rolling is just faster. :)

* When in the playroom with gobs of toy options, he will always go for his brother's toys over his own. He would rather chew on a lightsaber or an action figure than his rattles and baby toys. I'm watching him like a hawk and throwing away choking hazards whenever Clayton isn't looking. (Shhh... don't tell!)

* He loves to be sung to. He instantly stops fussing at the first note of a song. Clayton & I sing "You are my Sunshine" or "Jesus Loves Me" to Drew multiple times a day.

Sweet Drew,

What a precious stage you are in?!?! You are still such a good baby and truly a blessing to your Mama. I adore you in every way and love every minute that I get to spend with you. You are becoming so aware of the world around you and seem to figure out something new every day! I love the way that your tiny grins transform into a huge ear-to-ear smile with chubby cheeks on either side. I love when you laugh until your whole body shakes and you squeal with glee. I love everything about your precious little self. You make me more and more in awe of the God that created you every day.

I love you to pieces,

Mommy

Drew's Dedication & Father's Day

This Sunday we celebrated two wonderful occasions. It was Drew's Baby Dedication ceremony at church and it was Father's Day. A Baby Dedication/Family Dedication is a ceremony in which the parents promise to raise their child in a godly home and to be examples of Christ to their children. It was such a precious time for our family.

During the ceremony, our Minister to Families read the life verse that we chose for Drew and then prayed over him. The verse that we chose for Drew is Romans 12:9-12

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

Romans 12:9-12

Those verses sum up our wishes for our baby boy. As they were praying for Drew, I could feel myself getting emotional. I bet that I swallowed a hundred times trying to keep myself from going into the full-blown "ugly cry." I was just so moved by the thought that God gave us our boys and allows us the opportunity to raise them. Our ultimate goal, as their parents, is that they would one day choose to accept Christ and have a daily walk with Him. I began to think about Clayton and Drew accepting Christ one day, and my eyes filled with joyful tears.

All of our parents, grandparents, sisters, brother-in-laws, and nieces were there for Drew's dedication. It was such an honor to have our whole families there to support us. What a blessing they all are to us!

Drew in his Dedication outfit

Our Families

After church, we had lunch at our house. I wanted to make it extra special in honor of all of the fathers in our family. :) It was a Paula Deen style meal, for sure! We had ham, green bean bundles, spinach salad, fruit salad, herbed monkey bread, and chocolate cake. It was so fun to share a meal with family and celebrate our sweet boy.

What a great Father's Day/Dedication day we had! I am grateful for all of the fathers in our lives. All are wonderful men that have blessed us in ways that they will never know. I am especially grateful for the father of my children. Wade personifies the word "Daddy." He is the perfect mixture of loving, gentle, fun, firm, and stern. He loves our boys with all that he has and works so hard for our family. We love you, Daddy/Hubs!

A Fish Out of Water

Clayton has always loved the water. We put him in the pool for the first time when he was 3 months, and it has been his favorite place to be ever since. He has taken swimming lessons for the last two years and both years we felt like it was more just for fun than actually teaching him to swim. There has been lots of blowing bubbles and kicking on the side of the pool. This year, though, he really got something out of the lessons. We were very pleased with the place where we enrolled him. They worked on swimming with "quiet arms", back finning, back floating independently, taking intermittent breaths while swimming, sit diving, kneel diving, and feet first diving. He LOVED his lessons and is a little sad that it is over. The good news is that our little fish has all summer to swim his little heart out.

Working on his kneel diving with Miss Jaqueline
Swimming across the pool

He has had his eye on this snorkeling set in their little shop. He looked at it every week as soon as we got to class. I had told him that if he worked really hard, we could buy it on the last day of lessons. He was so excited that he earned his prize!
Gran & Papa D got to come to his last lesson. Clayton was thrilled to have an audience. :)

Clayton with his certificate that he completed Preschool 2 lessons.

Of course, he came straight inside to put on all of his snorkel gear. I feel a new costume coming on. Scuba Steve perhaps?

Clayton's last swim

Double Dog Dare You Not to Laugh!

Laughter is the shortest distance between two people. ~ Victor Borge

Man, I love those two!!!

Puff Daddy Gets A Walker

Before anyone calls the tabloids, this post isn't about a rap star that is now using a mobility assistance device. Just thought that I better clarify that. Ha!

Drew has discovered the greatness of Gerber Puffs. He concentrates so hard as he tries to pick them up and get them to his mouth. We usually help him a little and then watch as he gums them until the dissolve. I realize, of course, that they have almost zero nutritional value. (A serving is considered 73 puffs and only amounts to 25 calories.) But, they do encourage the pincer grasp, so that makes me feel justified in giving them to him. Plus, he looks so darn cute gnawing away at them!

We also got the walker out of the attic for Baby Drew this week. He scoots around and is totally entertained by his independence. Walkers have gotten a bad rap lately, but both of our kids have really enjoyed them. We don't use them any where near stairs and are always in the same room with Drew when he uses it. So... that's my little disclaimer. :)

What a fun stage of babyhood our Drew is in!

Fun in the Sun-day

Yesterday we took the kids to the neighborhood pool for some fun in the sun! This was our first visit of the summer to the "big water slide pool." Clayton couldn't wait to get his slide on!

Clayton's first slide of the season!

I enrolled Clayton in swimming lessons and he started last Monday. I am amazed by the progress that he has made in just one week! I am so proud of him! The biggest accomplishment is that he has learned to come up for a breath and then continue to swim. Wade stood pretty far away from the end of the water slide and Clayton was able to swim to him. I feel so much better about taking Drew & Clayton to the pool by myself knowing that Clayton is becoming such a good little swimmer.

Drew Boo loved splashing around in the water, too. He laughed and smiled a ton!

Then he chilled in a beach towel. :)

I love my water babies!

Clayton makes EVERYTHING into a costume - even an inverted baby float! He said, "Look Mama, I'm Astronaut Aquaman! Take my picture." That kid cracks me up!

Here's to many, many more summer days of fun in the sun!

Wedding Weekend of Firsts

This weekend Wade's cousin, "Baby" Jay, got married! Jay and Ashley have dated for many years and, on Saturday, finally became Mr. & Mrs. Ylda. We couldn't be happier that sweet Ashley is now an official member of the family!

Jay and Ashley are both very fun people that keep everyone laughing nonstop. They are so much fun to be around! Also, Ashley is the youngest of 5 children (4 of which are girls). So, we knew that this would be a really fun wedding. Jay & Si (Ashley's mom's name is Jay too - isn't that interesting?) did not disappoint and threw a great party!

I hadn't really thought too much about how the kids would do during the ceremony. I was so focused on getting there and packing all of our stuff to entertain/feed/contain our little monkeys. Once we got there and were seated on the third row my mind started to race. What if
Drew cries/has a blow out diaper/projectile vomits/does something else embarrassing that takes the attention off of the happy couple? It was like a wave of anxiety came over me. I was in full blown panic mode - heart racing, feeling sick to my stomach, and starting to sweat glow! So, I chickened out and decided to stand in the back of the room with Drew. He sucked on his pacifier and played with my hair the whole time. He never even made a peep! Crisis averted. :)

We got to see lots of extended family and friends that we don't get to see very often. Every single person commented on how much Drew looks like Clayton did as a baby. Wade's aunt said that Drew was just a "fluffier" version of Clayton. I thought that was both hysterical and spot on!

I love weddings and couldn't stop myself from taking tons of pictures. :)

Aren't they a stunning couple?!?!?!


I couldn't get over Ashley's dress! She was a gorgeous bride!

This is a picture of the couple that had been married the shortest amount of time (Jay & Ashley had been married for less than 3 hours) and the couple that had been married the longest amount of time (Grandmother and Granddaddy have been married for 59 years!).

Wade & his Grandmother


This was also a wedding of many, many firsts...

* It was the first wedding that Baby Drew had ever been to. He did so much better than I thought that he would! He was so good, in fact, that we ended up staying at the reception until 10:30! I was having such a good time that I totally lost track of time. Ooops!

It was the first time that there were 5 Carpenter "men" in attendance at a wedding. We just had to get a 4 generation picture with them all gussied up. Don't they all look so much alike??? They all act alike too!

* It was the first wedding that I had ever been to where there was a belly dancer at the reception. She is dancing with the bride's father, Si, who is such a funny guy. He cracks me up!

* It was the first time that Clayton had ever seen anyone dance with a sword on their head. He watched her in amazement. Can you see him in the background? He kept saying, "Whoa!"

* It was the first time that Drew had eaten wedding cake! Papaw snuck him a dab of icing when his Mama wasn't looking. There was a little evidence in the corner of his mouth, though. ;)

* It was the first time that I've seen a chandelier catch the bouquet. So funny...

* It was the first time that Wanda Shirley/"Nana" got to snuggle with Drew. She is Wade's cousin's husband's grandmother (did you get all that???), and she is always so sweet to tell me that she loves our blog. I am honored that she takes the time to read about our family!

There you have it! It was a fun wedding weekend! We are so excited for Jay & Ashley and can't wait to see what the Lord has for them in the future.

Every Baby's Favorite Toy

Why is that, even with dozens of other cute toy options available, my baby will always go for the water bottle???

Clayton was the same way. What is it about the water bottle that is so appealing? It makes cool noises, it's clear, it's lightweight, they are imitating adults...

I don't know what it is, but an empty water bottle is always the toy of choice. Strange.

Forget going to Babies 'R Us and sorting through a registry - I'm going to start bringing a case of Ozarka to baby showers. ;)

Type A All the Way

Hi All! Sorry that I haven't been very good about blogging lately. I know that I am causing all of the grandparents to go into baby picture withdrawals, and for that, I sincerely apologize. :)

To be honest, I am having trouble finding the time to do anything "extra" (meaning anything aside from eating, sleeping, breathing, feeding children, diapering, entertaining children, cleaning, laundry, etc.) these days. I have always blogged during naptime. However, I am having trouble getting both of my monkeys to nap at the same time lately.

You see, I am completely and totally a type A personality. I thrive on structure, schedules, and lists. I am a rule follower, obsessive cleaner (although my standards have decreased dramatically since Drew was born), and maybe a teensy-weensy bit of a control freak.

Having 2 kids, however, has been VERY good for me. Being a Mommy of 2 has forced me to be more laid back and less structured. Which is good, I guess. I am learning to go with the flow and not to sweat the small stuff.

So... some days Drew takes 2 naps and some days he takes 3. Some days Clayton takes a nap and some days he doesn't. That's all well and good, but it has led to much less computer time and thus much fewer blog posts.

In conclusion, a recovering type A Mama is not a very good blogger. ;)

Enough of my wordy explanation of my neuroses... onto the pictures.

In a moment of weakness, I bought Clayton some Silly String at Hobby Lobby. Seconds after opening the package, my Nikon D50 was covered in orange goo. Lesson learned.


We have been letting Clayton watch the old 1970's Superman movies. It has sparked another wave of superhero obsession. (Which is great, because if I had to pretend to be Princess Leia one more time, I think that I would have lost my mind!) He has worn his Superman shirt for the last 3 days (more evidence that I am letting go of my OCD past!). Leigh Ann - the Superman cape that you got Clayton was the best $10 you ever spent!

Yesterday as soon as we walked in the door from church, Clayton ran upstairs. Wade and I both knew that he was going to put on his Superman getup. Apparently, he wanted to surprise us, because he hid around the corner and said, "Wait for it.... wait for it...." and then jumped out to show us his outfit. Wade and I laughed so hard that we were crying! Seriously, what 4 year old says, "Wait for it.... wait for it...."?!?!?

I think that Spidey is freaking Drew out a bit. I'm sure that this will result in lots of therapy one day. Bless his heart.

Drew is doing the swimming motion that precedes crawling right now. Wade is constantly taunting me with the fact that he will be crawling soon. I'm so not ready for that...

I know that my genetic link makes me a bit biased, but isn't he a doll?!?!?

Happy Monday, y'all!