7 months...almost!

It's amazing how quickly babies develop. Seriously. Last month wasn't too monumental, but in the past month we've made progress. He won't be 7 months old until the 8th, but that's only two days...

Physical developments: I guess you could say he is crawling. It's more of a two crawls forward, one crawl back kind of motion, but it's still two crawls forward more than Kate ever did. Last week, I found his first tooth. I was hoping it would be delayed a little more, but it's here. Kate, the non-breastfeeding baby, didn't get her first until 10 months. Hopefully it won't be an issue. So far it hasn't been, but it's only one tiny tooth. We'll see. In the past week or so, he's also started pulling himself up. How old was Kate when she finally did that? Almost 17 months. There's no comparing these kids. They're totally different creatures.

Eating: Jack's a foodie. If you're eating, he's mad if he's not. I can no longer nurse him and eat at the same time. I hadn't been doing too much in the food department. It's not necessary and it's just a little time consuming (terrible reasoning!), but he's clearly begging for them. I've been reading more about baby-led weaning, so I'm doing more actual finger foods than purees. Still doing some purees when the situation makes it easier, but mostly finger foods. He's loving bananas. I purchased a mesh baby feeder (which is a pain to clean banana out of) that makes slippery bananas easier for Jack to actually grip and eat. He loves sweet potatoes. Last week I baked sweet potato fries and he enjoyed that thoroughly. He loves a good bread crust. He loves apples. Today we're going to have peas, I believe. He's also getting the hang of a sippy cup pretty well. He is still nursing well. So glad we've made it so far!

Sleep: We're still doing better in the sleep area, but not amazing. He still refuses to finally settle in for the night til between 10:30 and 11:30, then he usually nurses again between 1 and 2. We're usually up for the day between 8 and 9. It's still not 100%, but I think teething is part of the reason he has sort of regressed. I love that he's in his own bed, though. He's napping pretty consistently three times a day. Not super long naps, but basically at the same time each day.

Other: We don't have another doctor visit until the end of the month, so no weight updates. He's fully filling out his 9 month clothing. Won't be long until we're moving up another size, I'm sure. Another new thing he's developed is crying when I leave the room most of the time. Not a fun phase, but it's sweet. He's definitely my boy! We're so blessed to have another sweet, healthy baby.

A Kate update soon!

Eight hours of peace

Last week was a life-changer. It was monumental. I'm like a new woman.

Okay, so I may be a little dramatic, but it really was a good week. Really it started with a good weekend. We thought we were going to have to put over $600 into new brakes for Kraig's car, so my parents came out for the weekend so Dad could do the work and save us some money. Kraig was out of town with the teens for a retreat, so it was especially nice to have two extra sets of hands. Mom watched the kiddos and I got to help Dad with the brakes. I won't lie. I love working on cars. Dad taught me what to do, and I'm pretty sure I could do it again (with the purchase of an additional tool or two). It was awesome. On top of that, what we were told would be a $6oo job only cost about $75. We ended up only needing to change pads on the front brakes and only one rotor. Quite a significant difference! I didn't get to spend a ton of time with my mom, but it was still great to get to see them. They left on Sunday and took Kate with them to spend a few days in Ohio. My sister begged me to send her:) She had a blast playing with her cousins and the rest of the family. We drove halfway and picked her up on Friday afternoon. It was great to have her back.

While she was gone, however, we had a rather productive time. Since Kate was out of the house, it was the perfect time to transition Jackson to his own bed without the fear of waking up Kate. Sunday night didn't go so well, but Monday and Tuesday night Jack slept in his own bed all night. It was wonderful. Wednesday night wasn't quite as good, but he had taken a late nap when we were on the way home from church and I think that affected his sleep. She's home now, though, and he's still sleeping like a champ. It's amazing, since he'd been waking every 2-3 hours when he was still in our room. I figured that moving him to his bed would help, but it was a hard thing to do when he would probably disturb his sister. I was hesitant to send her away, but was thankful for the opportunity to reclaim my bedroom! After Kate started sleeping through the night at 6 weeks, I wasn't sure Jackson ever would. Six and a half months is still a lot better than some babies. I'm so thankful for the extra sleep. It'd been since my car accident in July since I've had a full night of sleep. No wonder I'm crazy! He's getting SO big:(

In other news, Kate got a hair cut. It's super short--one of the hazards of doing it yourself, but it's rather cute. Pictures coming soon--if I find my camera!

Valentine's Day fun

On Monday, Kate and Jack got lots of Valentine's cards in the mail. You would've thought it was Christmas if you saw how excited Kate was. She opened one and said "Ooohhh, money! Who is dis fwom?" She opened another, "OOOOh, Taco Bell! Dis from Mamaw?" She was so excited. And, yes, she got a gift card to Taco Bell in a Valentine's card. That's my kid! She walked around all day telling me who got her each of her cards. She had a total of four!

Kraig and I did most of our celebrating on Saturday night, but we did have a special evening last night. We had a special home made dinner of Texas Roadhouse style smothered chicken and rice. We don't usually do too much for Valentine's Day, but Kraig brought me a giant Toblerone in the shape of a rose (I just ate the last of my Toblerone from Christmas), a pack of Snickers ice cream bars for dessert, and season one of Parenthood. I made him a box full of encouraging notes, special memories and affirming scriptures to take to work. It has enough in it for him to open one every day when he's in the office for the rest of the year. I was pretty excited about it.

In other news, Jack slept MUCH better last night. For the first time in months, he slept for more than 2-3 hours at a time. His first stretch of sleep was 5 hours, second was 3, then I got up and he slept more. A little sleep makes such a difference! Hoping he keeps it up!

Hope you all had a fabulous Valentine's Day, too:)

I have a big announcement...

No, we're not having a baby:) I skipped church this morning.

It wasn't by choice. I thought about staying home because it's frigid outside. Cold doesn't even describe it. I decided to go, however, and showered and got the kids ready. When I went out to warm up the van, it wouldn't start. Tried again a few minutes later and it still wouldn't start. Tried to jump it with the battery jumper thing (after a few phone calls to Kraig), but the jumper thing is also apparently dead. Guess we should charge it. And get a new battery. Good fun. So bummed. Kate sobbed. She said, "I NEED to go to church. We can walk there." Heartbreaking. I love that she wants to go, though. But we're sitting at home.

I was super excited to hear Kraig's sermon this morning. We're on week 4 of our Girls and Boys series with the teens. It's based off of the Doug Fields "The Power of Sex" series. It's about sex and relationships. So far, it's been very well responded to and attendance has been great. It's such an important topic. I actually had to teach the second sermon, called "What a Girl Wants." For some reason, Kraig didn't think it was meant for him to teach:) It was originally by a girl, though, and I think having a new voice speaking to them was probably a nice change of pace. Our involvement minister is teaching the lesson boundaries next week. It's really been a great series. We're praying that it at least makes them think. And hopefully it will really help the middle school kids to not make some of the mistakes that some of the high schoolers already have. It really is possible to have healthy relationships and to still be a virgin when you get married. Anyhow, we're doing our best and praying that God will really work in their hearts.

Last night, Kraig and I actually had a date night. We very rarely go anywhere without at least one kid, but last night we left them both with our sitter. She had her hands full, but she survived four whole hours with them. And we got to enjoy our night out. We had gift cards to Olive Garden from Christmas that we were able to use, so dinner was free. Then we did a little shopping. It's nice to be able to hold hands with my husband for a change:) We had a great time!

Alright, time to be productive!

Six months old, really?!

Jack turned six months old on Wednesday. I know I've said it before (and who hasn't) but the time goes so fast. He's a crazy kid. He makes us laugh all the time. He cracks up at the mere sight of his sister. He's very close to crawling (something Kate never did). He's enjoying solid foods occasionally. He loves playing with Puffs and he's pretty good at getting them in his mouth. He loves to chew on his own feet. He loves music. We don't have an appointment for another month, but based on weighing him at home, he weighs about 18 pounds. He's super strong. We're getting ready to move him to a big kid car seat, because he's almost too long for his infant carrier. He still loves Sophie the Giraffe. Most of the time, he's too distracted to eat well if we're not in a quiet room at home or laying down. He's still nursing, though. No bottles. Very little solids. So proud that we've made it to six months! He has the best smile. We're still in love. Oh...in honor of turning six months old, Jack peed during a diaper change for the first time. Can't believe it took so long!

I can't believe it's been six months. I can't believe I weigh 42 pounds less than I did when we got pregnant with him. It's pretty crazy. I'm down 4 pant sizes.

Kate-kate's doing well. Yes, we call her that half the time. She's a big helper and she loves playing with her brother. She loves baking with mommy, so we try to do that at least once a week. This week we made homemade biscuits and chocolate chip cookies. It won't be long and she'll be doing it herself. This morning, she apparently woke up before we did. When we got up, she was downstairs in the living room, sitting on the couch, looking at a booklet full of the state quarters, watching tv. How she got it on a channel that had cartoons on it, I'll never know. Pretty crazy. Guess we should keep locking the baby gate at the top of the stairs...

In other news, the Playdate Crashers are doing another giveaway! Check it out here.

Guest blogging!

I love the Playdate Crashers. If you haven't checked them out, you should! It's a great site for parenting information, product reviews, real life stories and other fun stuff. I wrote a product review for them a while back, and today they've posted a guest blog from me. I love having the opportunity to do it. Today, I wrote an article about my struggles as a mommy. It's called "Let's Get Real." Hopefully the honesty and transparency in it will be helpful to someone else in my shoes. Here's a link to the article. Check out the rest of the site while you're at it!

If you're looking for more real, candid writing about life, check out this site: ineachcircumstance.com. It's a neat little site from a friend I've made through the blogging world. Check out her sweet, honest, Christian perspective on life. It's refreshing!

Happy Friday!

I really am happy that it's Friday. All in all, we've had a decent week. It could've been worse, especially with the water heater situation, but it wasn't. Praise the Lord. I've had a very productive week and, since we hosted life group last night, the house is clean. I'm enjoying the fact that I don't need to rush off to clean something!

I still have a lot to do, though. Kraig started his "Girls and Boys" sermon series (aka the big sex and dating series) on Sunday. It's based off a series that someone else did and the second sermon was called, "What a Girl Wants." This girl gets to teach that. I'm seriously excited about it, but I'm not ready yet. I need a couple good hours to finish writing and get it ready to present. Who has time with little kids running around? Kraig's gonna get to play with them all by himself tonight while I finish up. I can't wait. I love what I have so far, and I can't wait to see where it ends. I'm praying that it will be helpful to someone. Oh, and the original sermon manuscript, the girl that spoke said the words, "penis and vagina" multiple times. I edited that out. I didn't find it necessary. We all know the words, right? No thanks. If you will, pray that it goes well. Not sure that public speaking is my forte and it's been FOREVER since I've done anything. If it wasn't such an important topic, I wouldn't have agreed to do it. Anyhow...

In other news, I'm doing a guest blog for the Playdate Crashers again! Should post soon. I'll send a link when it's available. Happy Friday!