I'm back for good

Ive been thinking this first post through for some time now and how to get it just perfect before starting it up again. You who may remember, this blog was much more active, or maybe I should just say "active" instead of "more active" a few years ago because it was my outlet. I started it as a chance for me to get some creative writing out while keeping my long distance family up to date on my then semi-newlywed life. It was time I cherished and poured over to share. It got me through hard times, welcomed our first (and then a few years later second) child, closed the separation gap while my husband was away in military training, and then our subsequent move south. I made blog friends, real like minded  people with real connections through a virtual world. I loved feeling like I was contributing to the goodness in someone's day. Then, somehow it all became too much. Enter second baby, a husband gone 80% of the time, stresses of new military life, and much of that new adjusting life on my own. It was too much. So I shut it all down when I finally realized I actually lost the drive to keep it going. I lost the spark in my writing. It no longer existed as my creative account but became a boring journal of my daily living minute by minute.  No one wanted to read that. Shoot- I didn't want to read that. So, I closed shop, quit writing and refocused my heart and attention on my growing family. It's been an embarrassingly long time away from my blog or even reading in the blogging circuit for that matter. I regret now not having that account of the last two years to look back at, but I have to trust my memory to fill in the gaps that are missing from here.

So, on that note, I'm back! I make no promises to how often I can saddle up and get it written, but I can promise I'll try my best. Who am I promising anyways as I'm sure most of my readers are long gone and moved on, but I'm here. I'm here and that excites me. Every post will be different, just like every moment of my day is now. I look forward to taking this journey again. I loved it the first go round and I will learn to love it again. You can't see me, but I'm typing with a smile, so I hope you're reading with one too. Are smile emoticons allowed on blogs anymore? Is that old school? Hmm, I should go refresh myself on blog etiquette.... :)

Molly

Seven Months

You read that right. Seven months. What the what? I know. I don't understand it either. Time is flying.

Jameson is 7 months old and thinks he's 7 years I think. He is everywhere into everything. He's a boys boy with an awesome sense of humor that is blossoming. His laugh is the best sound in the world.

This seventh month has been full of awesome new things. He is a crawler. He's a pull-uper. He's hilarious and happy. And he's adventurous without fear.

What comes along with all that is… he's a faller. He's a bruiser. He's loud and he's constantly curious. That's my boy! I love every single thing about him.

He's still not sleeping through the night but I'm hoping to fix that soon. I think I'll probably have to start cry-it-out assisting soon. Maybe that will be a deployment project.

He is such a lover of life. Making him giggle is pretty much the best because I can't help but laugh along with him. He's an instant mood lifter. How could he not be with all that chunk and wide eyes.

I'm so in love with this boy.

10 Months and I'm back

Yeah, I know. Its been a while. A very long while. One day I know I will regret taking this blog hiatis when I want to remember all the little details about Jameson's first year, but somehow blogging had to take a backseat to life and everything that came with that for a few months.

I'll kick start my blogging back with a fun time that I just don't want to forget. 10 months has been a ridiculously fun month with Jameson. 10 months is good on him. Every day he looks more like his daddy, doesn't he?

Jameson at 10 months is:

• communicating in his own way- He grunts when he's hungry. He claps in his high chair when he wants more. I've started working on sign language. Yeah, no interest there yet. He moans when he's sleepy and ready to fall asleep. 
• a super fast crawler- SUPER. FAST. I have to watch him like a hawk. Turn your back for a second and he might very well be half way up the stairs in the other room. Or like again today, he could crawl into the kitchen climb up on the open dishwasher door and have started "emptying" it across the kitchen floor. Still a little surprise you aren't walking on your own yet despite loving it with help, but your crawling skills are ridiculous so I guess you're not too bothered.
• in love with most everything that his sister does- even when its directed at him in not the most gentle sweet way, he stays in awe of her. He thinks she is hilarious, which is great because she thinks that she is hilarious too so we all laugh a lot.
• quite the dancer. Any beat gets his little toosh bouncing around.

• will climb over most anything to get to his Daddy on Skype. Objects in the way, beware. You will get trampled on if you get in his way.
• a really awesome eater- This kid is a champ eater. I laugh now at the idea that last month, his pediatrician said I should be feeding him more because his weight was not off the charts like it had been. Never mind that his height is still in the high 90s percentile… Example A, he can devour 2 pieces of homemade pizza himself even after eating an entire serving of peas and carrots. So far, he's not rejected any food at all. He pretty much loves it all
• favorite foods are pizza (obviously lol), bananas, any finger foods pasta related, carrots, broccoli, cheese, and pretty much anything that we're eating. He doesn't like to eat something different than us- or maybe more accurately he demands to eat what we're eating.
• Taking a bottle has gotten easier but I don't push it that often, only when necessary. Its nice to know he does well with one now though. I'm just lazy and hope to nurse as long as possible.

• Speaking of nursing… he has 4 teeth, 2 up 2 down. Teething and nursing has become a little problem every few meals. Not so much on purpose, but just the logistics of more things in his mouth, I have started to think about how long I'll be able to nurse. Amazing what Moms are willing to go through for their kids.
• loves people. He's still very attached to me but he is a flirt and will smile at most anyone that looks at him. He's my happy boy.
• a waver. He waves all the time until I tell him to. Im pretty sure people think I'm making it up when I tell him to wave. I swear. He can do it!
• sleep is still sometimes good sometimes bad. He'll sleep through the night awesome for a few weeks, then get a cold and be back to waking once during the night for a few nights then we do it all over again. 
• Bedtime is 7pm. 6:30 seems to be his natural bedtime still but most days it is just physically impossible for me to have my stuff together enough to get both kids fed, bathed, and happy enough for me to get him down on my own. Because of that, his bedtime is very reflective of how the day is going and what kind of mood Cheyanne is in. If she's clingy, it'll be a late night for him. If she's into something, I can usually find the 10 minutes to get him down without being disturbed. Then he normally sleeps in until 6-7 when I nurse him and he sleeps again until 8-8:30am. 
• an easy kid. Seriously. Not saying all moments are easy, but rarely is he the reason that things are not going well. Life tends to take over and effects all of us which is when things get hairy. He is very much a go with the flow, active kid and I love him so much for that.

Some of my favorite photo moments from this month are:

He's just the sweetest, happy boy that we are blessed to be a part of his life. I am thankful for him every single day. 

The rainbow cake

Because I think it needs its on post! I mean, come on, its a rainbow cake!!

As I mentioned in the last post, Cheyanne's 3rd birthday was rainbow themed, everything bright colors and rainbows. It was way too cute. And, it made my little rainbow bright girl so happy which is really what its all about.

I pretty much followed some pinterest ideas I found when it came to making the cake. I bought a plain Pillsbury white cake mix and split it into 5 bowls. Using a few drops of food coloring, I colored each bowl a different color.

I poured each bowl into its own round pan and then cooked each about a quarter of the time directed on the box. Out came these pretty layers.

I iced each layer while stacking them.

I fixed the lopsidedness in the picture and got them to lay flat then iced the whole thing with white icing.

I decided not to put any decorations on the top like I had originally planned. I thought maybe there should be ONE plain white thing at the party, ha.

She loved the surprise rainbow inside.

I was a little worried how it would taste with all that food coloring in it, but it actually turned out delicious! I was shocked how moist and yummy it was. Chey didn't care how it taste, she just loved how it looked!

Cheyanne's 3rd Birthday Party

This birthday party is NOT to be confused with her birthday because according to Chey, everyday this month is her birthday. Every. Single. Day she has informed us "Today is my birthday." HA!

So, this post is just her birthday "party" because Chey's birthday lasts all month.

The Saturday before her birthday I planned a big party for her. I had all these grandios ideas of birthday fun- decorations, food, games, music, etc. You know, all those things 2-3 year olds really care about…

I knew long ago that she needed a rainbow themed birthday this year. If you follow me on Pinterest, you had to of known months ago what kind of party Chey was having. Chey loves all things rainbow these days. I figure this is probably the last year I can really get away with planning a theme that I "want" and no way could I just give her a cookie cutter party. :)

Wouldn't you know though that shortly after I sent out 16+ invites and started getting many RSVPs, the Giant bails? Well, not exactly bailed of his own free will (thank you Uncle Sam), but was told he would be flying the same week and wouldn't be home until well afterwards most likely. I think it was within 5 minutes of finding this out that I hopped on the phone and sweetly begged my parents to rearrange all their plans and come help me! Thank God for parents. I mean, really, lifesavers.

With the Giant gone days beforehand, Nana and Skipper were immediately put to work when they got here Thursday and literally didn't get a break until about the time they repacked their car the next week. I'm a slavedriver. Most of the day Friday, Mom and I cleaned and prepped food while Dad helped do a little bathroom remodeling.

Saturday came and we got partying. We all woke early and started cleaning, decorating, and setting up because people were coming at 11.

Not just a few people, but 16 children and their 15 parents. Yeah, 31 people here for a 3 year olds birthday. You ever hear of the rule, 1 kid for every year of age of the birthday kid? Yeah, I'm a rule breaker… this year.

I spread out all over the yard with a tent, tables, chairs, inside, outside, everywhere to make sure we had enough room.

We are just so blessed to have so many people that love us and are willing to give up their Saturday afternoon to come spend it with us in the heat and rainbows.

31 people… we had a chaotic blast!! Chey had a few meltdowns amongst all the fun but she had the time of her life. Evidence of 1st meltdown below. She's not a fan of all eyes on her and most definitely NOT a fan of being sung too by a choir...

 

She did however love her cake and pretty much everything else at her party. 

She jumped like a mad woman. Auntie T and Uncle Jonny struck gold with their birthday present. They rented her a jump castle for her party. Best. Present. Ever. Seriously, I'm not sure I'll ever have a party at my house again without one. 

Of course after everyone left and we had an hour before they came to pick it up, we got in on the action in the jump house. That was probably the part I loved the most. Just getting to be silly and play with Chey doesn't happen very often anymore. Nana held on to Jameson while Skipper and I jumped around with the birthday girl.

J did get a chance to play after all the big kids were gone and he loved it. 

I have no idea now why he was shirtless. At one point or another, both of my children were shirtless during the day, but I think maybe 3 is the cutoff for appropriate naked baby pictures on the blog. :)

Happy 3rd birthday sweet Cheyanne. You are my girl through and through. I'm so thrilled to see the little lady that you grow up to be and blessed to be a part of your life. I know you are going to do big things in your lifetime and have no doubt that you will make your daddy and me very proud. 

** HUGE special thank you to my dearest photographer friend Christina for taking photos at the party knowing I would be way too absent-minded to remember to do it on my own. The Giant really appreciated being able to see what he missed. If you live in Charleston, I highly recommend her as a photographer FYI. She's fantastic!