Shades

Ignore my hair. Doesn't he look too cute in those sunglasses! The
first time I put them on him he took them off and played with them.
This time I think he figured out that he could look around without
hurting his eyes. And I can't forget to mention how much I love the
ergo! Our new one should be shipping soon!

Nursed and then fell asleep on mommys shoulder! Normally he has to be nursing when he falls asleep. Big stuff

Food time!

He has learned to use a spoon, big guy! Of course shoving his face
into the bowl of mashed potatoes works too.

Church!

Maddie and Auntie Em came to church today! Playing in the nursery :)

Took a 2 hour nap and stayed dry!

I have to say that I love the stage mj has reached. He is super sweet and gives the best hugs. He also pats you on the back when he hugs you and that is an awesome feeling.
Last night I was driving to auntie ems house and mj was in the back just talking away and playing with his little stuffed monkey. A few minutes later he was asleep.
I adore watching him learn an grow every day. He's waving hi and bye, standing up and letting go of things, talking like crazy (I'm in trouble when those become words!), and his fourth tooth is coming in!
I always knew I wanted to be a mother but there is no way I could have imagined the love I would have for him.

Cruising along and playing drums at the mall. Isn't maddy's hair
flower adorable? Auntie em made it!

I have such clever children. This was very much an "I love my job"
moment. I hope mj can make his teachers smile like the boy who did
this does. :)

We met auntie em, cousin maddy, ad grandpa at olive garden. MJ was a
little intense for maddy :)

Mike brought mj to school for a lunch visit! My kids had recess after
lunch so we went for a swing. He had a jacket and socks on but pulled
the socks off and fussed about the jacket. He had a blast with the
swing!

Grandpa is back from china and we went to chillis. Grandpas are the
best :)

We made chicken kabobs last Sunday. They were amazing! We are trying
to find more recipes that involve little or no meat. It's tough
without tofu and meat subs. I just want healthy meatless food.

Shopping at hyvee!

We love going to the mall to play!

We went to auntie ems after target. Can you believe there is a 3 month
gap in their ages. And maddy is older!

We went to target with auntie em and miss maddy. Here's my dare devil
little boy. He climbed up there and crawled around. I can only imagine
what people thought. He was learning!

Peek-a-boo! He loves playing this game. I love that he learned to do
it on his own, so smart!

Mama shared her fish and peas. Not so sure what to think of them. :)

Here's my big guy at target. He had decided he loves to climb in the
clothes so that he can stand up on the racks. He was helping mommy
pick out some parent/teacher conference clothes. I think we did pretty
well.

Dad had to work on a saturday so mommy and mj went to breakfast! A
nice gentleman was having his birthday brunch at LePeep and he shared
balloons! MJ had never seen balloons before. He was having a blast
with them!

I just love this. I'm praying that he's always trying to get closer to
God!

I ran out the door and forgot bottles to pump in. But there's no way
I'm letting that liquid gold go down the sink! Thank goodness I like
water and we had some bottles from a staff lunch!

We had such a great time at the UCP chilli cookoff. MJ stayed awake
and happy for most of it. Of course Dad was pushing the stroller and
diaper bag:)
We had a huge near-success today with EC. And the near part wasn't
even mjs fault! It started at church when I changed him before second
service. He wasn't very wet but he always goes more in the am so we
change him more often. He went on the potty! After church I knew we
were headed down to civic so I wanted to change him before we left.
Dry diaper and went in the potty, success! Off to civic we went. After
about an hour at the cookoff I just knew he would need changed so we
headed to the rr. Those bathrooms are not baby friendly! I couldn't
find a place to change him so we went to the stroller (the seat lays
flat and works great for changes) and I got all the diaper stuff
ready, dry again! Back to the potty we went and Little Mister went
again! What a day!! We stayed at the chilli cookoff awhile longer to
bid on a few things during the silent auction and before we found out
the results I wanted to take mj to the potty one more time. He was
still dry!! The only problem was this time there was a line! Crap, I
can't convince an 8 month-old to hold it. We waited in line for a
little while and he kept looking up at me. I was getting nervous; we
had done so well so far! The line proved to be too much of a wait and
by the time we got there he was wet. And boy was he wet! I was so
upset with the situation because he had such a good day! Since then we
have purchased another little potty. This one is meant for older
babies so he doesn't fit as well but it has a cover and is easy to
dump without looking like you are dumping a potty. I'm hoping it works
well for situaions like this.
I am so proud of my little guy!

First Communion!

This Sunday at church was communion Sunday. It was a big day for our
family. Mike and I joined the church (officially) and MJ had his first
communion! We went up to receive it and Pastor Laura asked if he would
eat it. I told her sure and he got his first bit of communion bread.
He wasn't sure what to think of it (same with all new foods) so I
showed him it was good and then I shared my juice cup and he used it
as a little bowl. I'm so thankful that I get to enjoy these moments
with my family. It is amazing that I have a husband who has faith in
our Lord and we can raise our son in the church. It's so important for
a child to see his father going to church and MJ is very fortunate. I
love my little family!
Here's to becomming members at a very welcoming church and MJ's first
communion. We can all use a little more Jesus!

I had a dream last night about diapers. In my dream, MJ had 2 major blowouts back to back. He was in a sposie of course and I kept thinking, "Why aren't you putting his cloth on?" Does this mean i'm having nightmares about sposies? Sheesh.

We love our new pacifier! It's called Natursutten. Made in Germany and
all natural rubber. It has a wider part that touches his nose so it
mimicks breastfeeding more than others. I'm hoping it will help with
nights since he wants to nurse ALL night! And can I say enough times
that I'm so happy it isn't made in china!
Great bink and we will be buying them for friends!