Cell Phone Photo Dump

Here are a "few" of my favorite recent photos from my phone I thought I'd share.

Mother's Day dinner at the Noisy Oyster downtown

Such a happy boy in his bumbo

Silly girl eating her dried okra and spraying her flowers

Love these two.

This is one of my all time favorite pictures of Cheyanne. Downtown in front of the 

Charleston Customs House. 

Pretty much how I get anything done when I'm out of the house. God bless the creator of the Mayan Wrap and cute Old Navy sun hats.

My mini-me

This one is a favorite because Jameson got to meet his Giant great-grandparents. I know that he probably won't grow up remembering them but it is so special to all of us that they were able to meet him. 

What can be said here? Her imagination is through the roof these days.

These two are so in love. Chey is a daddy's girl.

Brother attack! He thinks that she is the best thing in the world.

And to top it all off, sisters and cousins. The next generation of best friends.

The cutest bubble video you'll ever see

This is the first time that Jameson has ever seen bubbles. He's a fan!

Be prepared for a long one

Has it really been almost a month since I posted last? Eek, that's embarrassing…

Let me sum up my last month in a short conversation that the Giant and I just happened to have today. In a moment of silence in our house (also known as nap time), in a rare moment, the Giant and I were lying down talking about this and that, how our lives have changed with kids, ya know, and all I could say to sum up my lack of enthusiasm was "Man, I'm just exhausted. All. The. Time." Yeah, that about sums it up. Two kids takes a lot out of ya.  I never imagined being so exhausted but being so used to it that I don't even realize it until I finally lay down.

tonight for the first time in who knows how long, I actually asked the Giant to rub my feet because I realized that the dull ache I was feeling was from being on my feet all day. Maybe I'm a wimp, but seriously, how do people with so many daggon kids do it? I have two and I feel like Momma Duggar by the end of the night, except somehow she doesn't seem half as exhausted. I'm pathetic.

Long story short, its been a long month. Technically its been a long few months, but the last month has been pretty rough. Not all bad to be rough, just lots of challenges. But, as "they" say, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger right? I don't know who "they" are, but I'm trusting "they" are right.

The terrible twos seem to have kicked in full swing around here. Cheyanne is stretching her boundaries every single day. I'm proud of her for being more self-confident and independent, but let me tell you, what comes along with independence is not all rainbows and butterflies. We've had the 2 going on 20 attitude which is new and uh, challenging. Her vocabulary is in constant reminder to use her manners. "I WANT x!" Yeah, lots of that happening. The time outs have started and are a regular. It took her a while to catch on that mommy and daddy were serious about time outs. She bucked all the way down the plank, each and every time, for a few weeks. Something seems to have clicked (for the most part) that when we threaten time out, we mean it. Usually just the threat of time out corrects her, but its not fool proof. As her preschool teacher said hitting the nail right on the head, "Cheyanne does what Cheyanne wants. She is very strong-willed." Ding ding ding. Truer words have never been spoken.

Despise those rough few weeks (that really are still on going some days), she has these precious lovable moments that I eat up. Sometimes you never know who you are getting when she wakes up in the am, either Holy-all-things-Two Cheyanne or Sweet-lovable-I-need-a-hug Cheyanne. Headspin. She has never been an overly cuddly child always needing her own space, but these last few weeks have been pretty awesome for this cuddle loving mom. She comes up to her Daddy and me and says things like "Give me a big hug!" Love it. I think this is God's way of helping our heads not to explode in frustration from those tantrum moments.  Life wouldn't be fun if it wasn't challenging, right? Oh, and did I mention that this has been the month of potty training? Yeah, challenging fun.

Besides these new behavior challenges, we've had all kinds of other challenges. Without going into too much boring detail, this month has brought a new schedule for the Giant's flying. Even though its completely temporary, we've had to adjust to a time of little flying which has been difficult for the Giant. I know that its unsual to say this, but it is completely weird having my husband home so much. Don't get me wrong, its been nice. But, this is the longest he's ever been home and frankly, its brought a lot of adjusting for us. Cheyanne loves having Daddy home every night. When he leaves in the morning for work, she always says, "Its okay, he'll be back" to which I always reply, "Yes baby of course he'll be back." Our daily morning mantra. It seems to reassure her that he's around. The down side, its temporary. I would be lying if I didn't say that I have concerns about her readjusting as soon as he starts flying again soon. She is such a daddy's girl. But, that's the life we live, so I'll do my best to adjust with her when the time comes. She's a strong girl and thankfully she is quite flexible so I think we'll be alright.

Jameson is such a good, adaptable kid, thank God. Despite recently entering the fun stage of needing Mommy within eye shot at all times, he really is an awesome little dude. Now I know the Giant will give a different story, but in my opinion, this kid is easy. Now, I don't mean he's always easy especially when he's sleepy, but he is such a joy and smiles so dang much that I don't even know how else to describe him. He is so interactive and entertaining. He loves to be involved and adores his sister. He thinks she is the funny thing alive. If he's fussing at all, I can usually just ask Chey to go entertain him and the minute he sees her, he laughs and all is fixed. His size is getting a little challenging for me. Put aside the fact that I can barely keep him clothed because he's growing so fast. I have a hard time these days holding him for super long periods of time. That sounds ridiculous right? He's not even 5 months yet. And I know I'm little but I'm no weak duckling. He is just a solid beast baby. I never never take him out without some form of wrap/carrier to carry him in. My arms about fall off if I carry him through stores on my own without support. Between his length and weight, I'm quite sure he'll be my size by age 5. Obviously I'm slightly exaggerating here, but I'm not really sure by how much. I love my big baby boy so much.

I didn't plan on writing this long of a post. If you actually made it through the whole thing, thanks for reading! You're a champ. I think I mostly wrote this so that I can remember how things are now down the road. That's what's going on around here that has kept me from blogging. I know it probably doesn't sound like much, but I promise its been a lot to handle this month. Thanks for reading this. I doubt I would have it I wasn't writing it...

4 months old (or so they say)

People seem a little astonished when they ask how old Jameson is and I say "four months." Between his size and his strength, its easy to see why it can be confusing. But, I birthed him so I'm quite sure he's only 4 months. Apparently, he just doesn't know it.

As my sister said the other day, he's a 4 month old in a twelve month body.

At his 4 month appointment, he weighed in at 17 1/2 pounds and 26 3/4 inches long, 93% in both length and weight. Just to have a comparison, here was Cheyanne at 4 months. Long story short on size alone, Jameson has 3 pounds and 4 inches on Cheyanne at this age. Ah, Wood boys.

He is also a rolling boy these days. For a while, immediately after lying him on his back, he would roll over, get stuck on his belly and cry until someone came and saved him then do the whole roll and cry thing again. That was a fun couple weeks. Thankfully, one day Big Boy swung one leg back over and has been rolling 360s every since. He is rolling all over the place now.

Jameson is a charmer and a flirt. Although he is always happier in my arms, he loves flashing his sweet smile at any face that will smile back. Tickle his chin or cheeks and you'll get a full hardy laugh. Tickle him pretty much anywhere and you'll get that good reaction. He loves to be startled which I think is fantastic. He thinks it hilarious when I surprise him or say "boo!" in his face.

He's a drooler, boy is he a drooler.  Its a sweet drool, but Lord its constant. I'm just praying that this is not the beginning of teething. He's too young, right? I'm hoping because I'm nowhere near ready for that challenge yet. I need him to stay baby just a little while longer (and my boobs just don't need that right now!). He loves his hands and has them in his mouth constantly which seems to contribute to this.

This picture cracks me up. That face.

• Asleep by 6:30pm, up to eat at 2:30am, then back down until 6 when you are wide awake. Takes a while to get you back to sleep until 7:30ish.
• Adores his sister. She cracks him up.
• His favorite is when we all go down the stairs together. He gets hysterical with laughter watching her "boom" on her bottom down the steps on her own.
• You probably could start food but I don't think we're there yet. I'm holding off an indefinite amount of time. I'll decide at some point when it seems necessary but for now, you just love momma's milk.
• First beach trip was to Isle of Palms. I'm pretty sure your pale skin never touched the sunshine thanks to Daddy and his tent making abilities.

I'm sure there is tons I'm not putting here right now, but I'll add to it as I think of more. Four months is so much fun. We love you Little Man, or "Brother" as we typically call you.

Honey, we have a roller

Long gone are the days of a stationery baby. I can barely remember the last time I laid Jameson down somewhere to return to find him in the same spot. He is a roller and a mover. Once he started, he has never stopped. One day last week, from the minute he woke up he started his rocking and rolling from side to side. Trying all day long, grunting and fussing. It was finally about an hour before his bedtime and I turned to look at him and sure enough, there he was on his belly. He's learned to do something that most babies don't do until 5-6 months. He doesn't last more than 3 seconds on his back before he flops over to his belly now. And from his belly, he can now turn and scoot himself to face any direction. He especially loves to do this when his sister is doing something entertaining and he needs to see. I showed you awhile ago how he's moving around on his back HERE.

Now, this is what I find.

As excited as I am that he has gained this new found ability to roll and move, it comes with its GIGANTIC problems. For one, when he cant get himself back over to his back, he cries. That happens a lot. So, there is a lot of going back and forth when busy doing things to put him back on his back only to have him flip back over and go through it all again ALL. DAY. LONG.

Problem two, he's a swaddled baby. The last month, I have been letting him keep one arm out when swaddled because the boy loves his fingers. That was working great for him. Well, now that he rolls, I was stressing out at night and during naps about the fact that he rolls to his belly and may not be able to support himself off of his sheet with only one arm. Terrifying.

Problem three, I have ditched the swaddle (last night) and moved on to the sleep sack which is quite the adjustment for him. Even if he wasn't rolling though, I would have had to lose the swaddle soon because he barely fits in it anymore. But not being swaddled, he's so used to being tight at night, its his cue for sleep.  But now he wakes himself up with all the arm freedom. I haven't figured that one out yet. Advice? Anyone? I still stress about him sleeping on his belly and check his face 5 times before I go to bed to make sure he's on his cheek and not face. But, since its only been one night, I'm hoping things get better with the sleep.