Summertime And The Livin' Is Easy

We just got back from a weeklong trip with the fam' at the Watercolor Resort in beautiful Santa Rosa, Florida (near Destin). We were guests in a friend's vacation home known as the "Lily Pad" and had a wonderful time riding bicycles, kayaking, playing games, relaxing on the beach/pool and laughing as much as humanly possible. From the cobblestone streets to the gorgeous sand dunes and luxurious southern style homes the atmosphere made for a magical week and the perfect family vacation.

Little Man wasn't nearly as excited about the sun, surf or sand as the rest of the family was but he did have a lot of fun eating vegetables for the first time. Feeding him made me feel like we were competing in some kind of eating contest for babies. Guess the apple doesn't "rot" far from the tree (that was for you Hay). Oh and for the record, although I am a fair-skinned person, my son naturally appears to be very tan (no, Jackie, I do not secretly put him in a tanning bed) so when you see him this week please keep the "he sure got some sun!" comments to yourself ... there are no tanlines on that boy!

Aunt Ash and Nana were determined to get Little Man sitting up on his own this week and he seems to have figured it out although he doesn't have the trunk control to pull up to that position or maintain it for longer than 5 seconds (does that even count?).

All in all it was a wonderful week and hopefully the first in a long line of family vacations, even if we can only get the whole family there for a portion of the week (Adam and Jordan had to go back early). Guess I'm headed back to my windowless office and 60 degree INDOOR weather (my office neighbor keeps it really cold).

School's Out For Summer

Whew! What a busy week! I'll just touch on some of the highlights...

Aunt Hay graduated from High School this week and we had so much fun watching Aunt Hay "officially" become an adult. Nana did a great job running the ceremony (she is HS principal) and we all had a blast seeing friends, family and loved ones.

On Tuesday Little Man had his "4 month" visit and we've been instructed to begin adding vegetables to his diet. Little Man is already taking a LOT of rice cereal twice a day (and sleeping 8 hours at night ... H-A-L-L-E-L-U-J-A-H) and will start sweet potatoes (daddy's favorite) on Saturday.

Yesterday was the last day of Little Man's Mother's Day Out Program and the official mark of summer and so we are headed to Florida for our first FULL family vacation. Woooohoooo

Wiggle Worm

So we've r-e-a-l-l-y been trying to help Little Man strengthen his back muscles through the exercises that the doctor gave us but he has really strong legs and is such a wiggle worm that we aren't making much progress. Here is this morning's attempt at tummy time.

Before....

After...

And after that...

Yes, he went OVER the boppy...don't ask me how, I have no idea.

Happy Birthday To Me

Yesterday was my 27th birthday. I am generally the type of person who prefers people not to know when my birthday is just because it is so awkward...ok, I know I have issues. My husband, on the other hand, is the exact opposite. Trav LOVES birthdays (especially his own) and would shout from the rooftop if he could; planning birthday parties for him are a lot of fun because every year he turns 5. This year he was very sneaky and took off work early to drive home, sneak in the house, steal my keys and security card so that he could get into my office, decorate it, and get back home before he was supposed to pick up Little Man. To top it off, he asked my boss's permission first (for those of you who know what a rule-follower I am sure you can fully appreciate what this meant to me). That night Travis cooked my birthday dinner at my parents house and then they watched Little Man while Trav and I went on a mini date to the gym (my choice...we never get to work out together). It was a wonderful birthday.

Learning Curve

Travis and I have been implementing some of the directed play suggested to us by the pediatrician and have been having a lot of fun with it. Some of it is so easy that it makes me feel stupid but for the most part I am amazed at how much more stimulated Little Man is by the additions. Since Little Man started rolling over when he was 3 months old, any time we put him on his tummy he rolls right onto his back, making his tummy time very short. We added wax paper to the equation (left) and suddenly his tummy time stretches as long as 20 minutes. Who thinks of this stuff?? To increase the amount of time on his tummy even more, we have been helping him spend some time on his knees either up against one of our legs or on a boppy. It is amazing to see how much the simple changes have changed his interest and interaction.

This afternoon Travis was invited to Little Man's Mother Day Out Program to do a fire presentation for the kiddos. I think the kids were really scared of him at first because all that gear is pretty intimidating but after a few minutes of questions they were all inching forward to be close to him. Little Man and I were so proud of daddy and took lots of pictures of him in his gear.

Straight On Til Morning

Tonight Aunt Hay and her classmates took us on a much needed trip to Never Neverland for their Senior Play, Peter Pan. It was Little Man's first theatrical experience and he had a blast following along for the entire 40 minutes. Because Aunt Hay's class is so small, many of them to had to play double roles and Haylo was cast as both the storyteller and a Lost Boy. All in all the play was a lot of fun with a lot of very funny moments. My favorite was when all of the "Lost Boys" (played by high school girls) screamed their warcry...I am sure you can imagine just how shrill that was...and Little Man was so shocked by the sound that he screamed and cried in return. After a short recovery period, in the hall, we were back to enjoy the remainder of the play. The whole experience was a lot of fun and it seems that our Little Man is becoming quite the Little Renaissance Man. Look how intensely he is watching the play!

We met with the developmental pediatrician this afternoon and were very discouraged by her assessment. Although Little Man has been charting as a 5-month-old as far as height and weight are concerned, developmentally he is charting like a 3-month-old (apparently the developmental milestones that our regular pediatrician is "counting" aren't consistent enough to contribute). It isn't of great concern right now because he is still so young that the delay won't have any major affects on him but the pediatrician made it pretty clear that we are not doing our part to help him develop. We left feeling pretty crummy knowing that we could have been helping our Little Man close the gap and that if we are going to help him avoid OT/ECI we are going to have to be much more intentional about our time with him.

Mother's Day 101

Today was such a special day; not only was it my first Mother's Day, it was Baby Dedication Day at our church.

The church service was wonderful and only made better by the dedication ceremony. It was special to celebrate all of the new babies born to our church in the past year (more than 15 in all) and to know that Little Man will be growing up with the babies celebrated today. Little Man slept through the ceremony but was all smiles when we stopped by Grandma Fletta's house after church.

As if the day weren't perfect already, we joined Nana, Pop, Uncle Bud, and Aunt Hay for a Mother's Day lunch with Meme and Papa. It was wonderful because Daddy and Pop made lunch and Uncle Bud handled all the clean-up! It was so nice to hang out with the family; Little Man is so blessed to be able to snuggle 5 of his grandparents in one day!

After lunch, Little Man and I took a nice long Sunday afternoon nap together on Nana and Pop's comfy couch (daddy snapped a picture just before Little Man dozed off).

Tonight I started thinking about the challenge of raising a man of God in a world that will work against me at every turn. I thought about the relatives, friends and church members who will have an impact on the man he will become and suddenly I was overwhelmed with the sense of blessing that comes from hearing men and women of God verbally commit to supporting us in the journey. I don't know if I'll get the chance to reap the fruit of the seeds sowed in my son's life, I just pray that the decisions we make will bring forth blessing.

"Remind me of this with every decision.
Generations will reap what I sow.
I can pass on a curse or a blessing to those I will never know."
Sara Groves, Generations