A little bit of this and that

I've been a blogging fool this week, huh!?! Being away for a week has given me lots to post about :)
First, I need to tell you about James and Judy -
This is our crab Judy (hard to see her - she blends in with the sand but she's in the lower left hand corner). On the last morning of our beach trip James and I, baggy in hand, headed to the beach to collect some sand, shells, and ocean water to take home to remember our trip to the beach. The last thing I did was scoop the bag down in to the water then zipped it up and headed back home. About halfway home I realized I had inadvertently caught a sand crab! I know I should have taken it back and he/she probably isn't going to live very long but she's ours now. I asked James what we should name him/her and he decided on Judy. This comes from an ABC sing along book we listen to all the time that uses alliteration for each letter of the alphabet and sings a silly song. For J they use the tune Frere Jacques and sing a song about James and Judy Jumping rope - so now we really have James and Judy in our home :)
Secondly, those of you that know me really well know that I was not DYING to have a little girl the third time around. I love my boys and was totally content with all boys, but now that we have her - HOW DID WE LIVE WITHOUT CUTENESS LIKE THIS:
And this - LOVE the little collared shirt with sweet sleeves!And are you checking out these socks!!! They have pink with green polk a dot ribbon sewn on them and have a little G monogrammed in pink on the side!!! Oh.my.goodness - how have I lived without this stuff? :)

And how have my boys lived without a sisser?

She makes everything so much more fun! (How lucky is she to have her big brother fly her around the house in the walker! too much fun!!!)
Third, people comment all the time about my babies beautiful blue eyes and it's crazy because while they all have blue eyes, they are all a little bit different shade - I think this little boys may be the lightest of them all - wow! what a precious boy! As my friend Laura Gail always says "why are you so cute!?!"
And lastly, as if everyone doesn't already know James is Jeremy's mini me - check out this pic -
Ok, I think that's all the blogging I've got in me for a while - well, maybe one more :)

Gracie's 9 month pics

My dear friend Anne-Michelle (also known as Aunt Miche to all the babies - pronounced Meesh) is becoming quite the little photographer. As part of her "training" she has so graciously taken all of Gracie's milestone pics - and quite well I might add :) There are so many good ones I could never pic my favorite but here are a few (or 10 or so) that I absolutely love - my sweet blue eyed baby girl!

The Beach 2010

This past week we were blessed by being able to spend an entire week at the beach with Jeremy's mom and husband (Nanna and Papa Rich). This is the first time we've taken a full weeks vacation in several years and it was much needed. It was also very nice to be able to stay with family and have extra hands to help with the babies, not to mention Jeremy's mom is an amazing cook and we ate like kings the entire trip! This was the longest amount of time the kids have got to spend with them and they are in love! Between Nanna cooking them treats anytime they asked and Papa Rich playing and swimming with them (they also got them hooked on watching Monster Truck racing - what boy wouldn't love that!) they have asked to see them every day since we returned. Gracie also was quite smitten and loved sitting in Papa Rich's rocking chair with him while drinking her bottles. Family truly is a blessing.
I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I should have but it's getting harder and harder to have the camera ready with each additional child :) Here are a few of the favorites that I took - I need to get the rest from Nanna and Papa Rich and I'll post them.
Daddy and his boys - we only took about 20 pics to try and get everyone smiling and looking my way -
Precious - John-Mark and Daddy - I have a similar pic of James like this walking down our drive with Jeremy - another framer :)
John-Mark wasn't too crazy about the ocean at first - he would run away as the water came in to shore but it only took one trip out with daddy and he was loving it - both he and James loved "riding" the waves in.

Running down the beach with Daddy - I love the skip in James' step - he was haaapppyyy!

Loving the sand. Jeremy was a little surprised they enjoyed the sand so much but considering how much they love to dig in the dirt and rocks at our house I knew they would love it.Focused

One day Jeremy was able to go out fishing with a buddy so Nanna had Gracie for the morning and the boys and I spent some time at the local Gulf World. I've never been to Sea World but they say this is similar only about a quarter of the size - but it was perfect for us. We got to touch the snakes and birds and see a sea lion show and dolphin show and touch the sting rays. The boys loved it!

The Sea lion practically came up and sat in our laps. He did a trick where he sneezed on us! The boys thought it was hysterical to be sneezed on by a Sea Lion - I wasn't as impressed :)I did a terrible job at getting pics of sisser because we usually went out swimming and such while she was napping - but she was with us too :)

I didnt' get any pics of the boys swimming in the pool which I'm so sad about. We did get some good video I may try and put up. But, let me just say - my boys are fish!! They both were jumping in and swimming without any assistance the entire time. At first James wanted his life jacket and Jeremy was pretty stern with him - all I know is that when I left to go shopping James wasn't too happy and when I returned he was jumping in and swimming across the short sides of the pool! And he's fast! He puts his head under water and starts kicking those legs and he's off!
John-Mark on the other hand showed no fear or hesitation at all. He is a master water treader. He hasn't figured out how to get his body laid out so he just keeps his eyes and noes out of the water and just kicks and doggy paddles until he gets where he wants to go. It was really quite hysterical because he rarely got anxious - he just kept on kicking. Great way to wear yourself out!

On the way home we were able to stop off and visit with my grandma - she had never met Gracie so it was special to be able to stop in and see her. She is the reason my boys are singing Jesus Loves Me today - she shared Christ with me and led me in the sinners pray when I was 13! Generations will know Jesus because of her!
We all had a great trip and can't wait to do it again!!!

I almost forgot to post our family beach picture - As you can see the one with Gracie looking at the camera and smiling the boys are not - but she looked so sweet I had to post this pic!

Sweet Conversations

These boys may be the sweetest brothers EVER!! Of course they have their moments with each other but most of the time they play really well together and they are really starting to count on each other.
Case in point, when John-Mark wakes up the first thing out of his mouth is "milk mommy?". Yesterday we had just returned from the beach so we didn't have any milk in the house which brought John-Mark to an absolute break down. I left the kitchen to go get Gracie and when I returned he had his face buried in James' shoulder and James was hugging and patting him saying "it's ok, it's going to be ok" - I wasn't able to drop the baby and grab the camera in time but honestly, is there anything sweeter.
Here's the conversation that went on this morning before church -
James: That's a cute shirt John-Mark
John-Mark: Do you like it (saying this as he pulls at one of the sleeves)
James: Yea, I like it a lot
As I've stated in the past James really just loves his friends - here's what he told us on the way to church - "I like church mommy. I like to color and get cookies and see my friends. I love my friends. I give them hugs:)"

UAB - GO BLAZERSSSSS!!!

Last weekend Jeremy had a UAB Baseball alumni reunion and it was lots of fun for the whole family. The boys LOVED being able to go out on to the baseball field with daddy and having so many people to play catch with! Saturday we spent the day at the UAB vs Troy game tailgating and enjoying all the festivities.

Happy Girl!!

The boys checking out Blaze

Then after a long day of football fun we hit the road and headed to the beach for a week's vacation!!! YAY!! Here's how we started our trip - lots more pics to come!

Be Encouraged!

Some days this mommy gig is hard and you question everything you know, do, think and you pray for the 10,000x for more patience (maybe it's just me:)) Yesterday I was reading and I was totally encouraged by these two statements:
1 - I am wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14), and
2 - I have been specifically designed to match what my child needs in a mom
I think about #1 often in relation to my children and how perfectly the Lord "knit them in my womb" but I seem to forget that He did the same for me. If He so carefully designed my babies why would he take any less care when he created me and knowing who I would be mother to one day and give me everything I need to meet their needs.
This totally encouraged me and hope it does you as well. Even though there are hard days when I feel like I've done everything wrong and lost my patience too much and didn't hug and kiss enough I am so thankful that God knows my heart and has given me everything I need to raise these blessings he has trusted me with.

Sisser is 10 months!!

This is a big milestone - now that she's the big 10 months I no longer have to call ahead at the gym to make sure they have a spot for her! woo hoo! Now we can go whenever I feel like it and not worry. (On a personal note another milestone has been met - yesterday I FINALLY took every bit of maternity clothing out of my closet!!! I've literally been in maternity clothes for over 3 years - I've finally lost some of that baby('s) weight and no more going to stretch tummy pants for comfort :) I didn't get rid of them yet, just stored them under the bed for now and even though my closet is a bit bare right now it makes me happy to see regular size clothes hanging in it again!)
So, what's up with sisser (which is what she is called by everyone 90% of the time now!). As I said in my last post she is finally moving all around the house and keeping me on my toes with sweeping and vacuuming. She puts EVERYTHING in her mouth! Which leads to what's next, she LOVES to eat. She still only has her two bottom teeth so I'm hestitant about giving her any finger foods but she devours her Puffs and baby food. She takes 3- 6 oz bottles a day at 7am, 11am, and around 4pm. She usually eats babyfood a couple of times a day then has "dinner" around 6pm and down for bed at 7 and sleeps until 7am or later. She is such a treat to go get in the morning. Still never makes a peep - just plays in her bed until we come and get her and then all smiles and clapping when we open the door.
We're going to the beach soon and on our last road trip she did NOT do very well sleeping away from her bed so we've been putting her down in her pack n play to get her used to it and she's doing pretty good. It takes her a little longer to put herself to sleep but she's still sleeping through the night and waking up happy - I PRAY this continues at the beach or we'll all be miserable!
She is babbling a lot but mostly says "dada" and "baba" - not much mama yet which is funny because both boys' first word was "mama" and even though she is a mama's girl to the fullest right now she still loves to say "dada" all the time.
She's also starting to try and pull herself up on things but hasn't figured out how to "walk" along the furniture yet. She continues to be our happy, smiley girl with such a sweet disposition. She loves to laugh and especially laugh at her brothers. She and John-Mark appear to have a pretty unique relationship and are able to crack each other up - especially during evening prayers - she loves to pull on him or kick him and he likes to tickle her so I have to try and keep them seperated!
Here's my little crew watching a little Mickey's Club House - looks like Gracie needs a chair soon too!

John-Mark thought Gracie needed a hair cut - she had already sat through a trim and by the time I got the camera she was making her get away! (these are plastic play scissors)

All I can think when I see this picture is "Rhinestone Cowboy"! I bought a new pair of boots in my attempt to be more fashion forward and John-Mark is a fan :)

BROTHERS :)

Jeremy took this picture to prove to me that John-Mark needs a hair cut (which I have trimmed a bit since this was taken)
I wish I was a great photographer because this was the sweetest moment - the boys were sitting so close together eating thier afternoon snack so I snagged a picture because it just melted my heart -

All about baby girl!

I feel like I post about the boys a lot more than I do Gracie and I think it's just because they are more active and are always doing something new and "post worthy". But this post is just full of pics of my baby girl - just because she is always post worthy :)
Next week she will be 10 months! Can you believe it - she's almost 1! This is the first time I've had a baby turn 1 and not be extremely pregnant and I'm realizing just how little 1 really is - if that makes any sense! When you add a new baby to your family every year it makes the others seem so big compared to the tinyness (I know that's not a word) of a new baby - but 1 is still a baby too! However, she is getting more independent every day and I realize I won't have a baby much longer!

Finally big enough to ride on one of the boys favorite riding toys - and she's loving it! I just have to watch out and make sure the boys don't try to push her around the house - they're a little faster than she's ready for :)Here's my army crawler in action - still no knees - just pulling all the wayStopping for a quick pic for mommy before she's off again!Got herself under the table somehow and locked in by the chairsWith Gracie's new mode of mobility she has little sores on her toes from where she drags them behind her. Those of you that know me well know that I don't do shoes until my babies are walking but I decided to put her in some little robeez to help keep her from getting so many sores! How cute are these!I have to give a shout out to my friend Jennifer Latham (I would link her blog here but I don't know how to do that :)) - she let me borrow the super cute shoes - along with about 85% of the cute clothes Gracie wears! We're lucky the Latham girls dress so cute:)

I know I said this post was all about Gracie but one little pic of James before I go. Any time I pull the camera out he wants me to take a picture of him as well - which of course I do! Talk about not a baby anymore!!