Thing 3 is 6 months old!

Happy 1/2 Birthday to our perfect little man!!!

You bring so much joy everywhere we go
 and to everyone you meet!

Height/Weight: His 6 month appointment isn't until next week, so I will update this then!

Routine: James has a pretty good routine! It is nice for planning things, because I know about when he will be hungry or sleeping. However he is getting pickier when we get way off schedule now! He is still spending the mornings with Mandi while I take Jenna to school then he goes to see one of his grandmas while I go to the gym. Now that he is eating he is getting bathes everyday :)

Sleeping: James goes to bed after big sister reads and prays with him at 8:30 each night. Then we wake up on weekdays at 7pm and weekends however long he will let me sleep till ;) He naps around 10pm and 5pm for an hour or 2.

Eating/Feeding: James has milk about every 3 hours still and he is eating solids once a day. So far he had 4 days on bananas and has moved on to sweet potatoes. Next Jenna picked apples then peas :)

Sizes: James is wearing 6/9 month in most clothing, is still in size 3 diapers, and will wear just about any hat ;)

Milestones: My miser man is learning so fast!

He had learned to crawl!

He can sit up on his own

He made friends :)

He went down his 1st slide

and on his 1st outdoor swing

He loves water! He is not picky how he gets to it lol! He loves to bathe in the bathtub and sink, and likes to take showers :)

He is teething... and chewing on everything!! I bought him a a teething "toy" that you can put ice or food into it. He will give me like 30 mins to get stuff done when I put frozen bananas in it :)

And he will even argue with me lol ;)

This last 6 months have been so much more than I had dreamed of when we were trying to concive! I am so excited that in less than 30 days my baby daddy will be here to enjoy our sons smile with me!

Until then we will just send him daily selfies ;)

Baby's 1st Food!

Bananas!

 Mike and I actually put a lot of thought and discussion into how we wanted to start food for James. 

• We decided we didn't want to start until 6 months (which I really can't believe he will be this week), because starting food too soon can cause food allergies and digestive problems. 
• We also decided we wanted to do foods that he can eat with nothing done to them (such as bananas, avocado, and other soft foods), so that he is getting pure healthy food! 
• We skipped the baby cereal stage, mostly because at this point James is on a strict gluten free diet while he is nursing, and we don't see a need for him to have the starch in his diet. 
• We want him to have the same food for 4 days at a time to check for allergies before introducing something new.

 We settled on banana honestly because James is in love with Curious George, and I thought it would be cute lol. Also because they are colorless and yummy, so a good way to introduce the newness to baby and his digestive system!

Anyways... yesterday was the big day!

 Mike had the extra day off (seeing it was Presidents Day for him),

 so he was able to Skype the whole thing! James loves talking to daddy :)

 Also, because it was grandma Sue and Auntie Mandi's day off 

so they could be apart of the exciting 1/2 Birthday party :)

 His 1st bite he wasn't sure...

But then he wanted me to go faster!!

Everyone, especially big sister, couldn't help but laugh every bite he took!

And even Grandma got to feed him! 

She was way more fun than me lol 

When he was all done he told daddy about it :)

Got some cuddles with mommy!

Showed daddy and grandma how good his crawling is getting!

 Then he played with Grandma on the floor :)

He kept his spoon the rest of the night, and was it a great mood :)

Needless to say it was a wonderful way to spend our Sunday! 

We got to talk to daddy until we fell asleep which was so great that he could be apart of it!

 And so far James hasn't had any bad reaction to food, so he will get bannas again for the next 3 days then will get to try something new :)

Happily Ever After... on social media

This morning while cuddling my baby, and sipping my coffee I quietly scrolled through my Facebook app. Coming across once again a post about hatred for people who post excessive pictures of their kids, their good pregnancies, and their happy marriages. Because I'm a grown-up, and have the ability to scroll past the things I don't want to read I generally don't respond to these judgmental rants. However this being the third similar in a row I decided that I would like to respond with a different point of view. 

First I guess I should explain what I see social media as... It's a way that I can read the thoughts and feelings of people that I've met throughout my life that I probably wouldn't talk to on a daily basis. If I'm following you or friends with you on social media I care to some degree about what you have to say. Most of my friends are parents, and post many pictures of their kids which I love. I also have friends who are not parents and they post pictures of their animal which I like less, but I like you so post all your crazy cat pics. I do not personally own a small business, but I have multiple friends who do. Do I want everything they're selling? Probably not, but I care about them. So post away all of the things that you want me to buy, and I will scroll pass them when I'm not interested. Then there are the sports, religious, and political posters who all bring great points of view. Some which I agree with some which I don't, but that just keeps things interesting!

People post what's important to them at the time, and if you don't like what is important to the people that you're following don't complain just stop following them... it's kind of an easy fix.

When other girls were dreaming about being Rock-stars, ballerinas, and, astronauts I was dreaming about being a wife and a mommy. It's all I ever wanted to be, so now that I am a wife and a mommy I'm kind of love getting live my dream come true. 

Is every day sunshine and rainbows? Absolutely not, but there are people who don't have amazing husband who are supporting their family, and there are people who can't have babies let alone 3 perfectly healthy ones.  

Why would I complain about the things that I do have to all of social media 

when I can talk about the things that I love instead?

Yes I could post that I haven't slept through the night in the last week, because my baby son has been sick while my husband is out of the country, my eight-year-old is going through a "16-year-old attitude" stage,  and I haven't seen my stepson in two weeks... or I can talk about the fact that my family has been there every second of the way, I have multiple girlfriends who I can call on at any time of day,  I have a roof over my head, and I am very happy 90% of most days!

Both my husband and I came from a very unhealthy relationships, so we really don't argue about small stuff. When we do have complications in our relationship I have people I go to that want to see my marriage succeed who talk me through it! 

It's not going to happen where I badmouth my spouse. Not because I'm trying to fake some sort of happiness, but I would rather lift him up when he does good things to take care of me.

 I know what being in a bad relationship feels like, and I am not in one. 

I personally think that children are adorable and I love my friend's posts of kids, and I love the post pictures of my kids! It's the only way that some of my family members see my kids. If you don't like pictures of kids I would suggest maybe not following me...

Do my kids drive me absolutely crazy? Every Single Day! But Kade has taught me more about the way that I can love than any other human alive. Jenna changed me in such a deep way that I am closer to God and closer to the person I'm supposed to be, because I am her mom. And I prayed for James for years! Excuse me if when they throw temper tantrum I don't feel like complaining is the priority of my social media pages. 

I guess what I'm saying is I'm happily ever after living on social media, and you probably won't ever see me complain about things I think are trivial. Even on a bad day I like to look at the good, sometimes ask for prayer, and post about the best things in my life to remind me of the good and hopefully make someone else smile in the process. I will continue to post pictures of date nights, flowers, and my loving husband. As well as selfies with my great kids and the fun in life, because that's who I am! 

So please continue to post about the things that are important to you, 

I will post about things that are important to me,

 and we can all stop complaining when we don't like what's our news feed! 

I will now get off my soapbox to go live this life 

I don't have to pretend to love!