Surprise!!

Ok, so I'm still a little bit behind on blogging. These next 2 ish posts are from February! The weekend after Valentines Day, we went to San Antonio for a former coworker's baby shower. Plus it gave us time to try to catch up with everyone we hadn't seen since we moved to Killeen. Unfortunately, we tried to fit too many people in, so we weren't able to spend a lot of time with Sarah & Dave. Well, I should say me. Chris didn't go to the baby shower on Saturday, nor did he go with me to visit my college roommate, Heather, so he got to spend quality time with them. Little did I know, it also helped my sister get things ready for an evening I was totally not expecting. They told me that we were going out to eat at the quarry at an Italian restaurant. Sarah wanted me to get home "early"(4 pmish) so we could get there and beat the crowd and possibly wander around.
Well, I didn't end up leaving Heather's til nearly 5. Sarah called and asked if I needed anything inside. When I told her no, she said they would all wait outside b/c we were running late. When I got home Chris got John and his car seat packed into Dave's car and off we went. We went to this awesome Italian restaurant, Bravo's. It was our Valentine's day/my birthday dinner. Just a side note, my birthday is on Valentines Day and we have lately decided not to eat out on Valentines Day anymore. We had a VERY low key dinner and evening, a little bit too low key for me, causing an argument. Little did I know that he was told to keep things low key.
So, we are eating dinner, and Chris keeps getting texts, and Dave keeps getting phone calls. Me, totally clueless. We talked about what we were going to do that evening. I was all excited about watching Pirates 3. We pull up to Dave & Sarah's house, and Dave makes the comment, "Oh, it looks like my parents decided to stop by." I ask Sarah, "Is that normal, that they just show up sometimes?" She kind of mumbled yeah or something. Then I see this older gentleman walking along the sidewalk. He waves, and Dave waves back. I'm thinking, "Hmm, must be one of their neighbors." Chris is pushing me very firmly towards the door. I was like, "Why are you pushing me?" Mind you, I'm still completely oblivious. Still looking forward to bathing John, putting him down and enjoying a movie. I walk in and, even though Sarah & Dave have already made it in, the house is nearly completely dark. I look and I see Steffen, Chris's battle buddy from OBC, and a girl I didn't know. I was STILL completely oblivious. Granted I couldn't figure out why Steffen was there, but I really still wasn't expecting what was coming. The lights flash on, and the room was filled with people, yelling "Surprise." Honestly, it took me about a minute to realize that they were saying, "Surprise" to me. Then, I looked around in awe, and saw all (or nearly all) my near and dear friends from San Antonio. It was really precious!
Then it all started coming together. Sarah didn't want me inside, so that she could get everything ready and decorated without me seeing. And, she wanted to go early, so that we wouldn't be there when people arrived. Chris kept getting texts from people trying to find Dave's house. Same with Dave. Chris explained to me, that he had kept my b-day low key to make that Saturday night more special. It was one of the best birthday presents I had ever received. I love people, and to be able to spend time with dear friends just hanging out and talking was so precious. Here are some pictures from that night:



Here's John enjoying his time at the restaurant. Eating the table and, yes he got a taste of some of the pasta!

The awesome cake my sis made me. Yummy chocolate!!!

Bryant showing some of his moves. Actually he was demonstrating how he could stand!!!! Hooray for Bryant!!!!

Enjoying some catching up time with Jo Addington

John enjoyed getting to stay up late playing with friends!



...And various other shots from the evening. I wish I had captured more, but I was kind of in shock most of the evening.
For more pictures from the weekend see: Valentine's Weekend

John's own room!

So, one other first that happened in the month of January, was John got his own room. We had him in our room, partially so that we wouldn't have to make a "nursery" at our old house, and partially b/c it was just easier. We had decided that we would put him in his own room when we moved to our new house. Well, it took us a while to actually move him in there, b/c we were missing one minor detail: a crib mattress!!! :o) Well, January 19th was the big day, er night! I didn't prepare myself for how hard it would be, not for him(he fell fast asleep, like he had been in his crib and his own room all along), but for me! I cried and cried off an on all night. I felt like he was all grown up, even though he was only 5 1/2 months! I think it was a realization of how but a breath life is. I ended up writing in my journal a letter to John about how I felt. Here are some excerpts from what I was feeling.

I had been encouraged even before you were born to treasure every moment, b/c before you know it they will be gone. I thought I had been doing that, but I realized on that evening, that I spent a lot of time just existing, and longing for you to get a "little" bit older so it wouldn't be so difficult (time consuming) to get things done. Putting you in your own room was very eye opening for me. I didn't want to go to bed, b/c I didn't want to see your empty cradle. All I could do was sit in the living room, looking down your hall and imagining you, tall, dark, and handsome, all grown up. I desire for you to grow up and be a man of God and accomplish great things in His kingdom, but I'm not excited about you having to grow up and not be my little boy, who needs me to hold him, & feed him, & nurture him. I guess the whole of what motherhood is, hit me tonight. I think I finally fully grasped all the love & tenderness & fear & hope & all the other emotions that come with being a mother. You are an amazing little guy, and I love watching your personality develop. You have become very social & smiling & "talking" to everyone, and our prayer is that you continue to be friendly and loving, that you would love making people smile & feel comfortable. As hard as all the changes are going to be, I can't wait to see you grow up. I'm so thankful I get to watch every minute of it.

Johnbug's 6 month b-day and other January happenings

January was a month of lots of passing around colds, resting, and catching up with some friends. But, it also was a month of firsts. John's 1st tooth popped through on January 20th. I felt it as I was putting my finger in his mouth to suck on. Won't be doing that any longer to soothe him, as itty bitty baby teeth are quite sharp! It was his bottom right front tooth (if you are looking at him). Another 1st he found his toes. He loved to look at his feet, especially with his rocket shoes on, but he actually found out he could grab them and stick them in his mouth this month. Yum, quite tasty! He also started inchworming himself backwards. He's gonna be mobile within no time! However, on January 29th, a major thing happened. It was his 6 month b-day!! We had been looking forward to this all week long, as this was the day he would get real "big boy" food: rice cereal!!!! He has been interested in food all along, but I wanted to wait until his 6 month b-day, partially b/c the Dr. recommended it, but mostly, b/c I wanted it to be a special day. John made it extra special also, b/c he decided after a 2 1/2 month hiatus to start rolling over again, and he did it over and over and over again!!!! Daddy even got to see it. I was beginning to wonder if he had forgotten how to!
When daddy came home from work, the "party" started!! Here are some pictures of the day:

John looking curiously on as we prepare his food.

The first bite!!

Anxiously awaiting more!

Awyumm

Hmm, what do I think of this!

Enjoying eating big boy food!

Umm, do I get any more?? Maybe if so much wasn't spilled on your bib, you'd have more to eat

Swing and a miss!

Mommy gets a chance

John enjoyed chewing on the spoon, a wee bit more than he enjoyed the cereal!! It was close which one he enjoyed more!

The clean up!

Happy boy on top of daddy's shoulders, after enjoying a good meal!!!

This wasn't from his 6 month b-day, but had to get a shot in here of his first tooth!











We had to upload in 3 separate segments otherwise it wouldn't upload! Also, a disclaimer, the "cereal" is really runny, b/c we used breastmilk to mix it with, so that the taste wouldn't be completely foreign to him! Not sure why I felt the need to put that in there, but there you have it. If you would like to see additional pictures from January see January.

A Day at the Park

So, since we have been back in Killeen, our usual Saturday morning ritual is to take a family walk to the "park." It's really an elementary school about a mile (give or take) away from our house, which has a HUGE fenced in playground with lots of running area for Kebap (and daddy-when Kebap doesn't return the ball), and play gyms, swings, and slides for John & me. John & Kebap love getting out of the house, and it's good exercise for us! Kebap is usually exhausted and actually walks right next to us on the way back, instead of excitedly scampering around in front of us. John, well his favorite part about the park is not the slides or the swings. His favorite part: eating woodchips. He has discovered that they are rather quite tasty, and thoroughly enjoys sitting in them, and putting them into his mouth. Kebap is always up for adventure, no matter how hard he has just run as you can see:

Random MT Pixes

Here are the six of us kids after a great time of enjoying each other.


We went on a walk on the Linear Path that was behind our old house. I used to love to play on this path growing up, particularly near the creeks and in and on the trees. It's basically a nature walk. It was fun to look around and remember all the places I frequented, and to still remember who was on my newspaper route. It was also fun to be able to show Chris.


John started trying to sit up without assistance, and a few days after Christmas he was able to:



After that, you couldn't stop him from sitting. Here he is listening to daddy play music. He actually tried to rock to the music!


Here he is trying out one of the pediatric wheelchairs at Grandma's office.

Another first for John this trip, was bathing in the big boy tub without someone in there with him. He loved it:




He was quite the little swimmer!

Something else he learned how to do:



I don't know if you can read the temperature, but it's at 10 degrees. This was pretty much the weather the whole time we were there. Yet, the boys continued to go out without much clothing, in fact Chris had to make his mark on the world, in just such weather:



Thought this was a fitting close to our trip to Montana, a beautiful sunset. We enjoyed our time immensely, and look forward to when we can go back again. Who knows when that will be!!

Sledding (Jan 2nd)

Ok, so I lied about the last post being the last one from our trip to Montana. We spent the day after New Years sledding. Chris had only been sledding once before, and of course John had never been, so we had to go! :o) The boys went to buy sleds and then we hit the hills. We went to Peet's Hill, a hill that was "off limits" to us when we were little, b/c it really was kind of dangerous. People would sled down the hill and into the street, and actually one person got killed from it. Many people got seriously injured on it. It is a huge hill, often very icy, with some serious bumps, allowing a person to catch some serious air, or as we quickly learned out cause some serious pain for our old bones! We were the only ones on the hill, which was very nice. John seemed neither excited, nor scared about sliding down a hill. He just took it all in stride.


Hanging out with Aunt Sarah while Daddy & Uncle Dave sled


1st time on a sled. Look how thrilled John is!


Hanging out with Daddy just prior to riding on the sled with him. Notice daddy has some nice facial hair going!


Aunt Sarah & I racing


Uncle Dave & Aunt Sarah sharing a sled

...and wiping out


Daddy & Mommy wiping out!

After about an hour of our butt bones getting reinjured, we decided to see if we could find a softer hill. We went to where we always did as kids, Lindley Park, but the hills didn't seem as grandiose as they did when we were little, so we checked out the hospital hills. To our surprise, there was a manmade hill. The man and his daughters who created it were there, checking it out, and they let us sled down it. The boys & Sarah enjoyed racing to see who could get the most distance after they reached the bottom of the hill, while I watched John as he napped. Then Sarah & I switched, so I was able to bring the video camera to Dave to capture some pretty fun moments, including me wiping out big time, running smack dab into a wooden pole. Unfortunately, I don't know how to transfer a VHS film to here, so you'll just have to imagine it. After that we met Grandma & Grandpa for lunch:


1st time in a highchair

Exhaustion takes over!


Then we went out to visit Patty Heumier. She let out her bird, and John found it super interesting. So did the boys. The bird started "attacking" Chris, and got him giggling like crazy.


Here daddy is being a pirate!

For more pictures of our fun day see: http://picasaweb.google.com/armyforchrist/Sledding