Sneak Peek at Drew's One Year Session

 Our precious boy is almost ONE!  How can that be?!?  We had his one year old portrait session done a bit early and couldn't be happier with our pictures!  Drew is such a precious blessing, and this pictures capture him perfectly at this age!

It is really starting to sink in that my baby boy will be one in just a few short weeks! I have been feeling so nostalgic and emotional about this big milestone. I am thrilled to death with how he has grown and changed over the last year, but my heart aches a little that he isn't that tiny little newborn that he was just 11 months ago. It's the strangest happy/sad feeling...

Holding up one finger like such a big ONE year old!

Well that escalated quickly!  Haha!

Those two, tiny, little, pearly white teeth!  So stinkin' cute!

He curled up in this same wooden bowl as a newborn!  Now he can barely sit on it!  

He's grown so much!  Love our big, strong boy!

Cutest little Santa!

Some Guys Have All the Luck...

What is up with little boys having mile-long eyelashes?

Meanwhile I am spending a fortune on mascara to plump up the measly little lashes that I have. ;)

Drew is 11 months old!

Oh, no - say it isn't so?!?! My baby boy will celebrate his first birthday in just one short month! Time flies by crazy fast during this first year, doesn't it?

11 months is a fun age full of new discoveries every day. Right now Drew:

* Wears 18 month clothes and size 4 diapers. He also has a grand total of 5 teeth now - two on top and three on the bottom.

* Prefers finger foods to jars of baby food. I am trying hard to keep him on baby food as long as I can, but he would much rather chow down on regular food. Last night he ate a full jar of sweet potatoes & turkey baby food, a large helping of cut up green beans, and a full container of pears (cut up really small). Our boy loves him some texture!

* Wakes up happy every morning. He has a big ol' smile on his face as soon as I open the door. I'm not a morning person at all, but I sure do love starting my day with that precious grin. :)


* Drew is so, so, so busy right now. He is a wild man! He crawls around and explores his world nonstop. He recently moved up to the "Babies C" nursery at church. When I picked him up on that first Sunday in his new room, one of his sweet teachers said, "My heavens, Drew sure is an inquisitive little thing isn't he?!?!" I agreed that inquisitive is a good adjective to describe him right now. I can just see the little wheels turning as he figures out new things.

* Drew spends the vast majority of his awake times furniture cruising around the house. He will even let go of whatever he is holding onto and stand alone for a few seconds here and there. I still think that walking will be a couple of months away, but I am okay with that. I can still technically call him a "baby" for now. Once he takes his first steps, though, he'll officially be a toddler. :(

(For the record, Wade totally disagrees with that logic and had the audacity to tell me that Drew "isn't a baby anymore" last night. When he saw my eyes well up with tears, I think that he was wishing that he could have a do-over on that one. Ha!)


* Drew gets so excited when we walk into the bathroom for bathtime. A huge grin comes over his face as soon as I open the door. I'm not sure if it is the actual bath that makes him so giddy or the fact that he gets to look at himself in the huge bathroom mirror. Either way, it's funny to watch.

* When Drew is really tired, he stinks his bottom in the air and puts the top of his head on the floor. It looks like he is about to do a forward roll. I have no idea why he does that, but it is hysterical. I laugh every time. ;)


* Drew still doesn't say any real words besides, "Da da." I have noticed, however, that he is much more "chatty" when Clayton isn't around. I had always heard that the second child doesn't talk as much because their sibling is always talking for them. So far, that is definitely true for our family.

* My favorite part of this age is that Drew is starting to learn to do little "tricks." He will figure out something that we are teaching him and he smiles so big at the praise that we give him. It is truly a joy to watch him when him beam with pride. He can wave, shake his head "no", make a kissing noise with his lips, and fake cough. Too funny...

Apparently he can play the piano, too. :)


* He still loves to snuggle with his Mama before bedtime. Oh, how I treasure those times with him...


My Precious Drew,

I absolutely love watching your little personality develop each and every day. You are so much fun to watch! You are still pretty laid back and easy going most of the time. However, I have seen a hint of a temper come out a couple of times this month. Where on earth did you get that from?!?! Certainly not from your Mama...

I am thankful for you each and every day. I have so enjoyed your infancy and babyhood, but I am also looking forward with great anticipation to the future. I wonder every day about what you will be like at 1 year old, and 2, and 3, and so on. I day dream about how you will look, what you will sound like, your personality and mannerisms, etc. I am thrilled to death that I will get to be with you every step of the way.

I love you to pieces,
Mommy

A Little Note

Dear Handy Manny,

Could you please have some sort of "don't try this at home" disclaimer on your show. It sure would be beneficial to certain 4 year olds who take their Handy Manny hammer and "fix" whatever wood they can find.

Thank you,
Our Kitchen Cabinets

The First Day of School - Take 2

Today was Clayton's second day of preschool. I decided to go ahead and do all of the things that I had planned for the first day of school - just because. :)

He took his teachers a little present with a note on them. (Yes, I know that is super cheesy. But, remember people, I did forget Meet the Teacher and almost missed the first day of school. I have a lot of ground to make up.)

I found these food markers in the baking section at Walmart. I thought they were perfect for little notes on his sandwich. Cute, right?

(Did I mention that I sent a PB&J sandwich on the first day and there are 2 little girls in his class that are deathly allergic to peanuts? I would have known that if we had been at Meet the Teacher. I think that officially takes me out of the running for Mother of the Year. Ha!

I made Clayton his favorite breakfast - pancakes. I made them in the shape of the letters in his name.

He said that the "C" and the "L" tasted the best.


He had another good day. Before we left the classroom, however, he kissed many of his friends on the lips. Ummm, hi.... Swine Flu!!! So, we got to have a little chat about how kisses on the lips are reserved only for our family. Hopefully, he will learn before cold and flu season gets into full swing. Bless his heart.

A Very Merry Un-birthday To You!

This weekend we had absolutely nothing on our social calendar. Which would be completely shocking, except that it's not. We're just not that cool. ;)

So, we decided to make our own weekend fun. I realized that Sunday was Clayton's half birthday, so I talked it up and made it into a big deal. Which Clayton was totally on board with, of course. We took him to Main Event on Saturday. We played arcade games and let Clayton bowl for the very first time in his 4 1/2 years on this earth. I just knew that he would enjoy it, since he loves to bowl on the Wii.

Well, even with the bumpers, he had trouble getting more than a couple of pins down at a time. He decided that it wasn't fun since he couldn't get a strike every time that it was his turn. (Dang that competitive Carpenter spirit!) So, halfway through, he declared, "Mommy, I'm bored."

Y'all, it took everything in me not to chastise his little ungrateful self after the small fortune we spent on renting the lane for an hour. Instead, I channeled my inner Donna Reed and said, "Darling, you can't win every game. What's important is that we're all together." Or something of that nature...

By Sunday evening, I had officially created a half-birthday monster. There was a lot of, "Mommy, since it's my half birthday can I eat dinner in the living room?" and "I sure hope that I get an Army guy costume for my half birthday." At which point, I was beginning to think that a half birthday celebration was a huge error in parenting judgement.

But, I'd already bought a tiny cake at Walmart, and, by golly, he was going to eat it. So, we lit a candle and sang, "Happy Half Birthday Dear Clayton..." He thought that the trick candle was great fun and seemed to understand when I explained that you don't get gifts for your half birthday. :)

Arcade games

He had to play some Skee Ball in honor of his Aunt Leigh Ann

Drew just ate a Mum-Mum and chilled in the stroller

Check out that granny ball stance. Ha!

The (Half) Birthday Boy

He blew with all his might...

then cracked up when it re-lit itself.

It's a good thing that birthdays only come once (er, uh, twice) a year!

Caught with His Hand in the Cookie Dog Bone Jar

My mischievous little monkey figured out how to open the dog bone jar and helped himself to a little treat. :)

"What's the big deal, Mommy?!?"

"Don't make eye contact, and maybe she won't take it away..."

"Or maybe just look cute..."

"Where was this last week when I was teething???"

What am I going to do with this one?!?!

Supermom is a Myth

Thank you all so much for the sweet/funny comments about me botching the first day of school. I actually can laugh a little at it now. I really learned a lot from that experience, even though it was painful at the time.

I almost didn't even post that entry. I was just going to wait and post the pictures on Tuesday and pretend like that really was the first day of school. Then no one would have ever known that I made such a big blunder. And when I make this blog into a book (using blurb.com), Clayton would never realize that his mother goofed up his first day of preschool in 2009. But... then I thought about it and I decided to own up to my mistake. I am a real person. I make mistakes every. single. day. I don't want to come across as someone who's life is always sunshine and roses.

Because it's not.

I am figuring out motherhood everyday, just like every other mom. I love my kids to pieces and work my hiney off to give them a great childhood, just like every other mom. I struggle with discipline and dividing my time between my children, just like every other mom. My goal is not to be seen as a perfect mother. My goal is to grow children who love the Lord. No more, no less. And I know full well that I make mistakes constantly in my quest to point my children towards Christ. The good news is that God's grace covers all of those errors and, at times, He even uses those imperfections to teach me.

I learned through this experience that the term "supermom" is a big, fat myth. We're all just doing the best we can and shouldn't judge each other (good or bad) for how we do things. I have been guilty of doing that myself. I'll read about moms who make their own baby food and think to myself, "Wow, that's amazing. That person is a really great mom." How ridiculous is that?!?! To be honest, making my own baby food just isn't that big of a priority to me. If you feel strongly about homemade baby food, then, by all means, go for it. It's just that I'm going to stick to good ole Gerber. And that doesn't make me any less of a mother.

So, please don't ever let my blog make you feel bad about yourself. That's what I really want to say. I try to plan fun activities with my kids because I learned long ago that being a stay at home mom can get very monotonous (for the mother & the children) if you spend all day, every day at home. And I share ideas and "boredom busters" with all of you in hopes that they will help other moms out. None of those are ideas that I came up with all by myself. They are just things that I have researched online, read in magazines, and figured out from friends. For every "supermom" type of thing that I do, there are about 10 mistakes that I make. No one is perfect, least of all me.

Sorry that was a little heavy. I just had to get that off of my chest. I couldn't stand the thought that my blog made other people feel like they were less of a mother than I am. We're all just doing the best we can, right?

Y'all have a good weekend! Light hearted posts coming soon... :)

Meet the Teacher / First Day of School

Y'all, I had a bad "mommy moment" this morning. I mean really bad - heart palpitations, hyperventilating, tears, the whole nine yards. Not good at all...

I mentioned on my blog post from Tuesday that today (Thursday) was going to be Meet the Teacher Day at Clayton's preschool. I woke up early this morning to shower and make myself look presentable before the kids got up. They both woke up at 8:00 and I feed them and got them dressed by 8:30. I knew that we needed to leave the house by 8:40, so I thought that we were right on schedule. I remembered that I was supposed to fill out an extra piece of paperwork to turn in at Meet the Teacher. I reached for the informational packet that we had gotten about a month ago. It had his teachers' names, classroom info, and beginning of school dates.

My eyes skimmed over the dates, only to realize that TODAY was the FIRST Day of School! We totally missed Meet the Teacher on Tuesday. I, of course, did what any other sane mother would do and completely, and totally panicked. I started saying (softly and then progressively louder), "Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! I'm such a moron!"

Wade looked up at me and could tell that something was very wrong. I said (with tears in my eyes), "We missed Meet the Teacher and today is the First Day of School!" He was his usual level-headed self and said, "Okay, well what do you need me to do?" We tag teamed packing Clayton's lunch, getting his back pack ready, and snapping a few pictures. We were out the door by 8:43!

I was so upset that I had goofed up! I had big plans for the first day of school. I wanted to have one last hoorah last day of summer tomorrow - swimming, eating somewhere with a playland, etc. I wanted to make him a special back to school breakfast. I wanted to get his teachers a little present to start the year off right. And... I blew it! I mean, really, what kind of mother forgets the first day of school! :(

On the way to school, I said, "Clayton, I'm so sorry that Mommy messed up and we missed meet the teacher! Please forgive me." He just shrugged his shoulders and said, "It's okay Mommy, I'll just meet them today." Way to put it in perspective, son. :)

So, we got to school right on time and met his teachers. I apologized to them for missing Meet the Teacher. They were sweet to tell me that I "only missed a boring meeting." I'm hoping that they weren't secretly thinking, "This mom is a total flake!" Although, I wouldn't blame them one bit. Ha!

Clayton is in the Lion class this year. Two of the little boys that he was friends with last year are back in his same class, so that will be fun. I know that it will be a great year filled with tons of fun and lots of growth. It's hard to believe that this is my sweet boy's last year of preschool! Next year he'll be in (I can hardly type it...) kindergarten! I'm so glad that I have a whole year to prepare for that. :)

Clayton was sooo excited about his camo backpack! He is really into "army guys" right now.

Mr. Too Cool for School



With Ms. D

With Ms. P

At his "desk"

So, now I am sitting here still beating myself up about being such a goof. I seriously can't believe that I did this! I used to be so organized and had it together... What happened to me?!?! I'm sure that I'll look back and laugh at this one day, right? It's just another "I love Lucy" moment to add to the list.

I wasn't prepared for Clayton to be gone from 9-2 today, but I sure am enjoying spending some 1 on 1 time with my Gerber baby.

That pesky top tooth cut through on Tuesday, so he his back to his sweet self.

Happy Meet the Teacher First Day of School! ;)