GJR 7 Months Old

Grayson James,

You were officially 7 months old at 7:47 this morning! Or was it 7:48? {You and Leah's time of birth are a minute apart and I'm beginning to confuse them.}

Time is flying too quickly for comfort. I thought 6 months was a huge month of firsts. But I think you have it beat.

This past month you have:
CRAWLED, for REAL crawled! We're talking up on all fours, professional crawler here!
STOOD UP. Yes you read that right. You're STANDING. As soon as you could crawl up to things you were pulling up on things and therefore standing. In your brilliant mind crawling=standing and they went hand in hand. I get your point though. What's the point in crawling up to things if you can't pull up on them?

GOT YOUR FIRST TOOTH! Your first little tooth popped up this month! This is BIGNESS. Your second tooth followed closely behind popping up a couple of weeks later. You now have two matching and adorable bottom teeth!
SIGNED! You signed "more" for the first time! I've also seen you do "milk" and I'm pretty sure "all done". My brilliant boy!
CRUISED!! For some reason you think you're older than you actually are. You've begun cruising here and there which blew everyone's mind that saw you. You were going back and forth from the couch to the recliner from daddy to Kay Kay. We couldn't believe our eyes! You do know you're a baby right????? Not 9 or 10 months, SEVEN MONTHS. Just so we're clear...
DRANK FROM A CUP! You FINALLY drink something other than milk from the tap! You for real are drinking juice {1/3 100% juice to 2/3 water} from a sippy cup! You only take sips here and there and completely prefer mama's milk though. I'm okay with that. :)
ATE REAL FOOD! You're not feeling the whole baby food thing, but you are finally eating here and there!

FIRST CART RIDE! You're sitting up well enough to officially sit in the shopping carts like a big boy!

FIRST 'BIG BOY' CAR SEAT! You have graduated from your infant carrier to a real big boy car seat. You're okay with it so far. I hope so anyway because you're in that sucker for a few more years!

I think that's all...boy has it been a month or what?!

You're quite the character. Very serious at times but very laid back and even silly at home. Your stranger anxiety is full-fledged is seems and your separation anxiety has made alone time for mommy and daddy pretty impossible.

You'll eat a bite of oatmeal or sweet potatoes here and there, but it MUST be heated up. You even prefer your fruit to be warmed. You have a very picky palatte. You really prefer 'real' food over anything. We're not really following the "Food before one is just for fun." but you seem to think it's a good idea. We let you eat when you want to eat. But we don't have "meals" for you. I'm your meals 100%. But we are letting you explore different foods, textures, and flavors.

You've rarely slept in your crib recently. You fall asleep in daddy's arms in our bed and sometimes I can get you in your crib for a few hours, but you seem to be spending most of your time in our bed. We're okay with that. I will feel better when we're in our new bed and not our dangerous platform bed though.

You don't take a paci or have a blankie, you don't really have any "favorite" toys, but you really enjoy chewing on Joshua's Nerf bullets. I think those are probably your favorite thing in the house. Either that or you just accept them as a teething toy because they're so readily available?

You've been really sick the past month. :( You were sick around Christmas Eve and it lasted a couple of weeks. It started to get better and I think you were sniffle and cough free for a week maybe a little more. But it has hit again with vengeance. Yucky, yucky sniffles, and the most terrible cough! It's not fun. :( Especially since you LOATHE having your nose wiped. Even though I try and only use Boogie Wipes {oh my gosh those things are an awesomely amazing gift from the gods!} or a tissue with lotion I still think it hurts your little raw red nose. {As I type these I'm contemplating a doctors visit in the morning...}

Well little one that's the past month in a nutshell! What big month it as been! I can only imagine what things this next month will bring. Hopefully a healthy snot and cough free baby! But let's slow down on the "firsts". You're my last you know and it's just going by too fast for me. :(

All my love Grayson James! Happy 7 months baby boy! xo ♥

I've got to of course share a couple of shots from your ADORABLE 6 month photo session! ^_^ {By the amazing Dimples & Curls Photography.}

This is going to blow your mind...

I want 6 kids.

That blows people's minds for some reason.

Actually, if I could REALLY have it my way it would be 8.

I think kids are fan-freaking-tastic and that if you're lucky enough to be blessed with children you should accept those blessings.

However, I will never have 8 kids or 6 or even 5 for that matter. And I'm okay with that. But in a perfect world, I would be thinking of 4 more names for the 4 more children I wished for.

Unfortunately it's not a perfect world. And I'm so far from perfect I can't even see it on the horizon. {No matter how hard I squint my eyes.} I'm so far from perfect I would need a hubble telescope to see it and even then I probably couldn't make it out.

But that's neither here nor there.

We're already busting at the seams in our 1700 square foot home with our 4 kids. I can't imagine stuffing in 2 more.

This is where I begin to feel selfish and untrusting of my faith. We already have enough mouths to feed! Have you no trust that your Father God will provide? We can barely afford to put clothes on their backs as it is! Do they need brand new clothes and shoes all of the time?

But on the other hand I worry if there were more children that they would be jipped. How could I spread myself that thin and be a good mom to all of them? Wouldn't at least one be left out in the bunch?

I go back and forth often.

But when it comes down to it? I'm happy where we are.

I am completely satisfied and content with only having 4 children. I thought we were "done" after Leah. But I still had a longing that I knew would nag me forever, even when she was a little baby the thought of her being my last killed me. This time? That nagging is gone. While I look at Grayson's milestones with bittersweet sadness, it certainly doesn't kill me.

I look forward to the step after the baby years. I look forward to giving my time to the kid's schools more. I want to volunteer and be an active school mom. Will I miss the baby years? DUH! But one day I will have grandbabys to love on.

I'm happy with where we are. We're meant to be a family of 6. I've got two angel babies from miscarriages so one day we'll be a family of 8 and I WIILL have 6 babies. :)

Menu Monday

Ooo! Look! A new "theme"!

I've done "Moaning Monday" and "Musical Monday", now I bring you "Menu Monday"!

I won't promise to do this every Monday, but I will do it here and there. I have a lot of friends on Facebook as for recipes to meals I'm cooking, so this will put many all in one place for the week.

This weeks Menu looks like this:

Shepards Pie
Nothing special, I make mine like this:
1 lb. ground beef, 1 can of beef gravy, 1 can of corn {drained}, 6 servings of mashed potatoes, 2-4 cups of cheese. {Depending on cheesy preference.} Just brown your ground beef and drain, stir in gravy and put in bottom of dish, spread corn over meat, spread potatoes over corn, sprinkle cheese over potatoes. Bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes.

Cheese Ravioli & Garlic Bread

Beef Stroganoff
A crock pot meal made from stew meat, golden mushroom soup, cream cheese, and a few other ingredients, served over egg noodles.
Click {HERE} for recipe.

"Priest" Chicken
Another crock pot meal, this is made with chicken, cream cheese, and Italian dressing seasoning.
Click {HERE} for recipe.

Taco Bake
This is a yummy layered casserole made with taco meat, sour cream, cheese, and the fun part? DORITOES!
Click {HERE} for recipe.

French Dip Crescents w/ Au Jus
These looked SO yummy. Super quick and easy too. In a nutshell it's roast beef and cheese rolled up into crescent rolls.
Click {HERE} for recipe.

All meals will be served with a veggies of some sort. I'm not sure what we'll be eating which day, but this is the menu wrap up.

What is your family eating this week?

Bohemian Baby Couture Custom Cloth Diaper REVIEW and GIVEAWAY!

With the yeast monster and all Grayson was out of cloth diapers for a couple of months almost which meant no review. So this post has been a LONG time coming.

Back at the end of October I was given the AMAZING opportunity to review a custom cloth diaper from the awesome Bohemian Baby Couture. Tiffany is a work at home mom out of Arizona and the creative master behind BBC. This mama stays BUSY making diaper after diaper! With the quality and cuteness factor it's easy to see why she's so busy! Bohemian Baby Couture has honestly the best selection in prints and patterns I've ever seen. She makes one size pocket diapers, one size all-in-two's, sized diapers, and even matching appliqued shirts to match! She embroiders names, and can applique just about anything you can think of onto the diapers too. She's pretty dang fabulous and her dipes speak for themselves.

When I opened my package I literally squealed in delight at my diaper! It was a Jack Skellington diaper for Pete's Sake! It doesn't get cooler than that. I was blown away at the quality of this WAHM diaper! I expected something more "homemade"'ish. You know, with flaws that create "character". There was not a flaw to be seen. The stitching was as good as any big company diaper I've purchased.

{Seriously, look how cute this diaper is!!}

One thing I love about Tiff's diapers are their versatility when it comes to size. The one size diaper can fit a newborn through potty training. It has 3 rows of sizing snaps making for 4 rises, from 14" all the way to an 18" rise. More than any other diaper I've come across. This thing goes from tiny to huge without hardly any bulk and is surprisingly trim for a pocket diaper. Every pocket diaper comes with cotton print outer, hidden PUL, stay-dry inner layer(white-minky, colors-Panne or velvet) and 1 microfiber insert.

One of my favorite things about Bohemian Baby Couture diapers are the double gussets. These gussets can HOLD and hold they have! I've had no leaks, even with pretty explosive situations if you know what I mean...Grayson was even able to go overnight without any leaks which is pretty impressive. {I did add an insert to the one that comes with the diaper.}

The minky lining is stupid soft. Like, CRAZY soft and I can't help but think Grayson prefers it over the other fleece and suedecloth diapers we own.


The pocket is easy to stuff, and more importantly makes for easy insert removal, keeping your hand out of the mess.


I honestly cannot say enough good things about this diaper!

He likes it!! ^_^

So now, of course, the BEST part?! SOMEONE GETS TO WIN a one size pocket diaper in a boy, girl, or gender neutral print!!!

Woo-hoo!!

First, head over to Bohemian Baby Couture's Facebook page, "Like" the page and leave a comment thanking Tiffany for the giveaway! Come back here and tell me which BBC product or print is your favorite. Then fill out the Rafflecopter form below. :)

I will chose a lucky winner Sunday, February 5th and will announce the winner that evening! GOOD LUCK! ^_^

a Rafflecopter giveaway

My Fave Pic Today

I love this pic of Hailey and her baby brother. It's one of my faves I've uploaded this week!





Love the pic bling? Jess over at IROCKSOWHAT has tons of these amazing designs and they're FREE!!  I downloaded the ones I used in this pic HERE. {Check them out! ^_^}

A Story By Joshua

My kid's a comedic genius. I laughed until I cried when I read this. This is only a rough draft, he's got a much longer version complete with details.

Gah, I love him...and his crooked smile...

Such a Big Boy!

Grayson has gone from scooting, lunging, worming, and everything he could do to get around, to actual CRAWLING! Check it out!




Not only that, but my sweet baby is now beginning to sip water from a sippy cup!




(I love how you can hear Leah cheering him on in both videos!)

He's growing WAY too fast. :(

Upcoming Giveaway!

So way back in October I was given an amazing opportunity to do a review and giveaway by an AWESOME WAHM. It was for a custom cloth diaper and I was really, really stoked to have the opportunity. Unfortunately, it was at the exact time that Grayson's rash popped up. :/ I didn't want to put his infected bum in a new diaper just to have to disinfect it later on. Soon he was out of cloth all together while we did all we could to clear him up.

Well, FINALLY my little boy's bum is rash free and I am MORE THAN HAPPY to announce that I will be posting the review and details on the giveaway in the next few days! So make sure to check back!

If you want to check out some of the SUPER cute diapers from the sponsor in the meantime, hightail it on over to Bohemian Baby Couture and give Tiffany a quick thanks!

Yeast Monster Update

Grayson has been back in cloth for a week now! He's still in disposables at night and as needed for ointment use but it's mostly CD's.

I will tell you what that rash was a BEAST. It's still not 100% gone. We've won the war but there's still a battle. It's sooo much better though! My treatment worked for the most part!

Since there is still lingering rash, we are using only our BG's and adding a little bleach to each wash. I'm using less and less bleach each time and do far so good!

Right now it's mostly just a poo issue. He will be FINE then he poops and it pops back up. We go back and forth between nystatin cream, nystatin powder, and Butt Paste and it's done well clearing it up. The awesome thing about the powder is that I can use the cloth and it treats both him and the dipe! if I use creme or paste I use disposables or I put a wipe between his bum and the cd.

I'm hopeful that the rash will clear and be gone for good soon.

A Journey Through 2011

We started 2011 off with Ringling Brother and Barnum and Bailey! It was Leah and my nephew Milo's first circus and they were mesmerized. Somehow even among the craziness Leah slept through about 15 minutes of the show, but other than the little snooze her eyes stayed glued to the 3 ring stage. We took a train and it was all of the kids first train ride! Leah started potting training and wearing big girl panties during the day. January was a big month of firsts! I was also unfortunately SUPER sick during January, which meant a blog that was lacking in every sense.

February rolled around and we found out that baby #4 would be a little BROTHER! We kept it a secret all day and announced it at a Texas Roadhouse dinner with cupcakes. Everyone bit into the cupcakes to find a blue M&M. Soon after I celebrated my 26th birthday with great friends and family at my FAVE restaurant. At the end of February Leah was OFFICIALLY potty trained! NO MORE DIAPERS! {Until June anyway...}

March 9th Hailey turned 6 years old! Instead of the traditional birthday party she chose to have her hair and nails done and go shopping. Such a girls girl! March was stressful. {My mom was found unresponsive and suffered two strokes that month.} I posted in March often about my love affair with food. I was OBSESSED with food. 

With April came my first delivery of cloth dipes! I was SO excited. It was crazy how I would play with them, organize them, over and over, I loved them and couldn't wait to use them. My mom celebrated her birthday as well as my niece and we all ate at Hailey's fave Nakato's. Since Hailey's birthday dinner was a bust due to mom's medical emergency, Hailey got to celebrate her birthday with her Mamaw and cousin! We celebrated a great Easter together as a family, but on the downside I was diagnosed with gestational diabeetus and said goodbye to sugary foods and carbs for the next several months.

May was HAWT. Summer hit with vengence and this pregnant mama was NOT loving it. I was pretty miserable in May. My love affair with Pinterest began this month. I found Pinterest, signed up, and 3,500+ pins later, I'm STILL head over heels. I celebrated my 9th Mother's Day, finished up my first quilt, and pined for sweets. May also marked the last few weeks of school! {I know the pic says last day, but I was wrong...oops!}

My last month of pregnancy, June, was probably the SLOOOWEST month of my life! I honestly mostly spent June laying around being pregnant and awesome. And miserable. Don't forget miserable. But obviously it was my favorite month of all 2011. I met my baby boy! And what an amazing little boy he has turned out to be! I lay awake all Wednesday night of the 29th, and most of the morning of the 30th, getting minimal sleep, I was too excited! At 7:30 surgery began, and Grayson came into this world at 7:47am, forever changing our family!

July was spent falling in love with G! We were all smitten. We couldn't keep him to ourselves forever though, so we had a "Meet the Baby" party when he was 2 weeks old. My cloth diapering journey truly began, my camera was put back to work full-time as I soaked up G's newborness, he had his newborn session with the amazing Dimples and Curls Photography, and I kept it easy, healing from surgery. We spent the month going back and forth to the hospital to see my brother in law, Tom. The last day we saw him was July 30th, Grayson was one month old. We said goodbye to Tom that day never imagining it would be our last farewell. He passed early morning July 31st. The hardest day of 2011.

August was spent remembering Tom. First at his small memorial service here in NC, and then in PA for a celebration of his life. It wasn't all sad though, we celebrated Joshua's 9th birthday! There was also the first day of school for Joshua and Hailey, so there was back-to-school shopping and preparations.

Before we knew it, it was September! September brought Leah's 3rd birthday, and VERY FIRST day of preschool! It also brought lots of firsts for G as he turned 3 months old by months end.

October FINALLY began to bring cooler temps and my fave season of all, FALL! I baked and cooked a ton in October, making lots of yummy food and sharing my recipes along the way. I got a wild hair and chopped my bangs, and did a little mini session with G as he hit 4 months old. We ended October with Grayson's first Halloween, trick-or-treating, with a gangster, angel, monkey, and dragon. :)

With November came Grayson's first Thanskgiving and lots of big achievements for our littlest man! I did a mini session for Hailey and was able to capture some beautiful shots of my gorgeous girl. Ye old blog got a new look too this month, and I tried spending the month being thankful for something each and every day. Will it be terribly awful if I mention the premiere of Breaking Dawn Part I? Yes? Okay, then I won't mention it...best of all though, we traveled to PA to celebrate Thanksgiving with the Renwicks. It was delish. Sad to spend our first holiday without Tom, but nice having our family be together.

The final month brought us a 6 month old! {How is that possible?!} December is becoming one of my favorite months. Getting our tree, decorating for Christmas, spending the holiday break with my kids, and of course Christmas is becoming more and more magical. We introduced an elf that the children named Thomas who brough hi-jinx all month. We celebrated Grayson's first Christmas, Mel's birthday, and of course New Year's Eve all with those we love most. The year ended with an amazing month for sure. Oh and last but not least, I got my iphone, which I LOVE! ^_^