The Aquarium with Nana & Coloring in the Picture

On Sunday we had a visit from Nana who got to spend the night with us and was able hang out with us Monday. We went to one of our favorite spots with her...the Aquarium!...and boy, was it crowded! We had forgotten all about the crazy crowds that tend to gather here 'round Spring Break time...but luckily with our season pass we got to skip the line...probably a hundred feet or so...and get right in! Score! ;)

Johnathan loves touching the sting rays!
Waiting for the right moment to snag a ray!
Eli enjoyed hanging out with his Nana!
And Johnathan and Nana enjoyed walking around looking at the sights...
...like the big gator in this exhibit!

This morning while hanging out with Dada, Johnathan realized that the "picture" on Daddy's back was not colored in, haha! He went to get his markers to complete the picture, heehee!
Now that is better! All colored in!

Happy Wednesday!
*Grace*

Sweet Eli at 9 Months Old

Really this post is just for me to record Eli's 9 month stats...but you can read them too! ;)

At his 9 month check-up he weighed in at 17 lbs 11 ounces...which, looking back at Johnathan's stats is just 2 ounces shy of his 9 month weight. Eli is 27 1/4 inches tall (Johnathan was 27 1/2) and he is hitting all his developmental milestones! Yay for healthy babies! There really wasn't much to report at his visit (besides another double ear infection...probably because he is getting about 3-4 teeth right now!)...and all in all he is a very healthy boy, praise God!

At 9 months Eli is loving to crawl everywhere...and I mean everywhere! Especially he loves to crawl after Johnathan and crawl to the door where he can see BoBo...he adores his big brother and his doggy! He is starting to pull up onto things but doesn't walk around them yet. He has really started to baby babble a lot lately...and yes, chalk another one up for "Mr. Fun" because Eli said "Dada" first! Ugh! (Totally j/k...I am thrilled that he said dada first...and also thrilled because both Aaron and I heard it together!)

He is still nursing during the night, and on a good night gets up just twice...sometimes more and occasionally just once! We want for him to be able to sleep through the night soon and don't really know how to go about this besides just "refusing" to nurse him and encouraging him to just go back to sleep when he wakes up. Any advice on how to do this would be greatly appreciated. We have tried occasionally to just let him cry (after going in to let him know it is time to sleep) but we haven't stuck with anything for the long run. I am getting too tired though, and he really would benefit from sleeping more as well.

That's about it for Eli's 9 month stats. He is a healthy, happy boy!

*Grace*

Feelin' The Burn

Lately I have been inspired to get in shape. Maybe it is the spring-like weather that has come to south Texas or the realization that shorts & tank top season is just around the corner. Maybe it comes from the fact that (while out shopping recently) I have found that I am on the lower end of the clothing size spectrum but still feel "fat"...and I'm not talking about looking in the mirror and wishing I was skinnier...no...I just want to be fit...and of course losing that last 5 stubborn pounds that haven't come off since Eli's birth wouldn't be horrible either...but really, getting in shape is my goal and as long as I'm in shape I think I'll enjoy whatever shape I am.

Anyways, I had a nice little work out program set up for myself. I started it and did my work-outs for about a week plus, and I was feeling pretty good about my progress...until Aaron saw me doing my push-ups one day and started critiquing (lovingly I might add) my "form"...which was apparently all wrong. And I was so proud of myself for doing the regular push-ups too...not the "girl" ones...but I guess I had my arms too far apart and I wasn't using all the muscles that push-ups are supposed to work out. So, a few nights ago we were up around midnight talking about getting fit and we did push-ups the right way while Aaron helped me to work on my form. I had to re-learn how to do them and boy, do I feel the burn now. Ouch!

Everything is so sore...my arms, shoulders, chest, stomach...aah!!! No wonder I was feeling so good a couple weeks ago...I wasn't really working out anything...and now that I am I feel even more out of shape. It's sort of a defeating feeling, and honestly, knowing just how out of shape I am has sort of dampened the desire to get all fit and stuff...but I am going to keep pressing on because I am tired of feeling like a bag of jell-O.

Sort of relating to this post is a site that I recently discovered through my sister, Gwen. It is called The Shape of a Mother and it is full of wonderful stories of women who have found (or are finding) the beauty in their post-baby shape. I know that I have felt at times like my post-baby body is lacking...or maybe sagging would be the better word. ;) There are stretch marks and my skin just isn't as tight as it used to be in certain areas. And, even though I'm just a few pounds from my previous weight before babies my body's shape is totally different. Crazy what having a baby does to you! I once heard someone say that after you have a baby you still have all your parts...just about an inch lower than they used to be...and that is so true! (And each baby brings things further and further south).....

Do your (insert boobs here) hang low?
Do they wobble to and fro?
Can you tie them in a knot?
Can you tie them in a bow?
Can you throw them o'er your shoulder
Like a Continental Soldier?
Do your boobs hang low?

Um, after a few babies, yes, they do! ;)

Anyways, I'm off to go continue to get my body that brought beautiful babies into this world back into shape. And it's gonna hurt! Glorious pain!!! ;)

One Hot Mama!
*Grace*

An Aunt Jenna House Day

Lately whenever Johnathan wants to know the particular plans for our day he'll ask "what day is it today? A school day? A park day?" The other night as I was preparing dinner he even asked..."is it a dinner day?!"...he was so excited about getting to eat, haha! Basically he just wants to know what will be happening in his little world.

So, on Friday when we were going to be heading out to my Aunt Jennifer's, (aka Aunt Jenna) Johnathan got super excited that it was "an Aunt Jenna house day!" I do a Bible study there with my cousin Arden and her friend Mikaela each week, and it's a nice time for all of us since we usually try to do our lesson outside while Johnathan plays in the backyard.

The past two Fridays Johnathan has started out his time by "helping" to water the yard. I learned last week that this was a pretty wet endeavor and the poor little dude was sopping wet in his clothes after just a few minutes. So, this week I just let him go around helping in his little boxers...the clothes stayed dry, he stayed warmer...and I have to say that I think he was pretty cute running around sans shirt and shorts...such cute little legs and tummy!

After our lesson Friday both boys had fun on the swings. Eli really seemed to love it...especially when Johnathan pushed him...it was precious! They really are such sweet brothers and just {LOVE} playing together. I can't tell you how much I enjoy seeing that. It is so sweet, and I love that they both have a little buddy to hang out with during the day...and night too...the room sharing is going great still! ;)

Here are my sweet little buddy boys!


















*Grace*

Mama Bear at the Chick & Birds that Poop on Babies

I love Chick-Fil-A...probably my favorite fast food place of all time...so today, being the sunny day that it is, I decided that eating at the Chick would be the perfect place for lunch. They have a fun play place outside but under the shade too...double the fun!

We got there without any hitches, got our lunches and headed out to play/eat. And then it became one of those days where you feel like the mom who has all the bad luck and who people look on with pity. Something must have been in that famous Chick-Fil-A iced tea because all the kids were going crazy, Johnathan included...who doesn't really need anything to put a little crazy in him. At one point a kid several years older than Johnathan...I'm guessing about 7 or 8...was up at the top of the play set tunnel thingy and apparently he and his friends were playing a game of trying to get away from the little boy. Anyways, I was watching the whole thing, mainly to check on Johnathan and his reaction to all the chaos, and that little boy pushed Johnathan out of the way and said "get out of the way, little boy!" I know that kids do stuff like this, heck Johnathan isn't an angel by any means, but this is the first time that I've seen someone be mean to my little boy! You can bet that this mama stood up for her young and gave that kid the what for...okay, kidding, but I did tell the little rambunctious dude to not push my child followed by telling Johnathan to play nice as well for good measure. Phew. Crazy kids.

During all the commotion little Eli, who was happily gnawing away at a waffle fry got pooped on by the annoying grackles who insisted on trying to steal our lunches. It was all over his shirt and pants but he didn't care and was content so long as his mouth was full of french fry. Sweet thing.

After Johnathan had a few too many incidents of other little children running up to their mommies saying "the boy in the green shirt is being mean" we left. But not before Johnathan tried to scare off some of those pesky birds by throwing lava rocks at them in the parking lot and nearly pelting some poor woman. Yes, I was that mom with that kid apologizing and running quickly out to the car.

I think that moments like today are good though. No one is perfect. We are all (hopefully) in a process of learning how to behave in certain situations, react correctly when others don't, and it is good to stay humble. Really humble even. And, I always like having a good story to blog about, so it's all good, heehee! ;)

Happy Monday (again!)...;)
*Grace*

A Week {More or Less} in Pics

We enjoyed a beautiful week here this past week. The boys (minus daddy) have been well, the weather has been lovely and Aaron's work load has been relatively light, so we've enjoyed lots of time with Dada. Those are the best kind of weeks! We did all sorts of fun things last week...played outdoors a lot, went to the park & the beach, Johnathan got to go to school both days during the week and Mommy and Eli went shopping (I am enjoying being down to my "regular" size!), went to a birthday party, went to watch a college baseball game at the local minor league baseball stadium...got in free since Aaron was a doc, haha!...and had fun at home too. It was a good week, and so far this week is off to a good start too...and Dada is feeling better after being sick for about a week, so that's nice.

Here is our week in pics...

My Boys...in front of the "Baby Wall"...a recent project that I did which I will blog about soon.













I just had to include this one again! Love this face!
Silly boy!



Eli and I chilled up top while Daddy and Johnathan sat down close to Home Plate.
Kind of blurry...my camera can only zoom so far and stay in focus.


This kid does crazy things with his eyebrows...haha!

Making cookies with Mama!







The sprinkles are the best part of baking!

And that was our week, more or less, in pics!

*Grace*