A Week Of Firsts

It's been a little chillier this week (though not really cold enough to call this winter) down here in the south. That hasn't stopped us from staying inside too much though.

Adam has decided he is going to be a standing machine. He just got the hang of crawling on his knees, but now he would rather stand than sit any day. He's pulling up and only needs one finger for stabilization. He's even tried to stand without holding on to anything. We've also seen him go from barely standing to walking back and forth while hold onto the couch. Everyday he gets quicker and I wouldn't be surprised if I look over in the near future and he's walking without assistance!

Friday night we went and celebrated our good friend Ben's 30th birthday as well as his new job. We ate delicious homemade pizza and I made tuxedo cupcakes to share with the bunch. After dinner, before they went to bed, the Williams' two sons put on a puppet show. Then we played Bang! before we left. During the game, we let Adam sit with the puppets and he was so happy with them.

Saturday afternoon, my mom, my sister, Adam, and I drove two hours north to go to my cousin's baby shower. Adam had never met hat side of the family so he came along. Apart from the long drive, we had a great time catching up. My cousin is due in March with her first little girl and the second great-grandbaby in my family. I got to talk to her brother, my other cousin for just a sec, but he will actually be leaving for Germany for three years later this month for training on an engineering job. It sounds like a really awesome opportunity for him and he will have a guaranteed job for five years when he's done. Here's a pic of Adam being too cool on the way there and another of my mom, sister, and myself.

Quick shout out to my little brother, whose birthday was on Sunday!!

Also on Sunday, I went to get Adam from his nap and found him like this -

Last night, Rusty and Adam spent special one-on-one time playing and I couldn't help but stop what I was doing to snap some pictures. They are definitely two of a kind.

This morning we tried out BabyTime at our local library. I was looking for activities with Adam where he could socialize and found out that every week they have thirty minutes of singing, rhymes, and bubbles for babies. They also have some for toddlers, preschoolers, and children after school - so if you're looking for this kind of thing, I definitely recommend looking into your public library system. Adam had a great time. It lasted about twenty minutes and then we spent about ten minutes just letting the babies talk and play. We both absolutely loved it!

Tonight, Adam had the same meal Rusty and I did for the first time! I made cheese-filled tortellini with a tomato and vegetable sauce. I chopped the tortellini pretty fine, but he had no issue at all eating it, although it did take a little longer than normal. Before now, he's had baby food and the stage we're at is pretty chunky, so if we eat something of the same consistency, I don't see why not! He's growing up too quickly - please stop!

Weight Loss Tracker Craft

I found a craft through Pinterest to help keep track to meeting your weight loss goal and I thought it was super cute. The cool thing is that you don't necessarily have to use pounds like I did. If your goal is inches, body fat %, or any other quantifiable goal.

What you will need:

Used candle jar
Oil-based Sharpie
Marbles
Printer

The Process:

I started with a candle. My favorite from this fall/winter has been Fresh Apple Butter (but that's irrelevant). Take off the label (The Better Homes ones peel right off with no residue. Once you're done with the candle and it is cooled, put it in your freezer for a couple of hours. I believe it was weeks before I decided what I wanted to do with the container, so it was way cooled down.

Once it's frozen, tip the jar over and the leftover wax/wick will slid right out. Because my jar's top was smaller than the bottom, I had to poke the frozen wax with a knife to break it in two piece.

I then just used glass cleaner to get the soot and any wax residue out to make them perfectly clean. I used the two smaller ones for this project (but will be looking for another one for the larger one.

From Hobby Lobby, I bought oil-based Sharpies. The regular Sharpies can be washed off and I wanted it to be permanently fixed onto the glass. I also bought clear marbles, but you could use anything for the inside. I found a font I liked on Microsoft Word and printed out the words in a gray ink (so that I didn't use much of our ink since it won't be used for long).

I then taped the printed words into the inside of the jar (that's why the jar needs to be clear). Sorry I don't have any pictures of this, but you literally just tape it on the inside. Then you trace over your printed paper with the Sharpie.

I used two jars - one is "Pounds To Go" and one is "Pounds Lost". I put the number of marbles of pounds I would like to lose in the "Pounds To Go" jar. I've put them in the bathroom on the counter next to the scale so that I can move the marbles each week when I weigh myself.

The Result:

It's All Adam And Kirby

This week has really all been about Adam and Kirby. Their relationship has just blossomed and they love playing (and getting in trouble) with each other. We spent a good portion of the week just playing at home and enjoying each other's company.

This weekend my parents came over and spent some time with us.They originally were only going to stay a couple of hours and get back home to cook dinner for my brother who was going to visit. However, they were still over when my brother left work, so we just invited him over too and all had dinner at our favorite BBQ restaurant.

This morning we decided to go visit Nana (my mom) at her preschool, have lunch, and list the old prom dresses online that are in their basement. These dresses are from my sisters and my proms between 8-12 years ago, so it's about time they get out of the basement, so we're hoping to sell them since they've literally only been worn once. Anyway, we spent the entire day her and got home in just enough time to cook dinner for Rusty.

I've been planning on finishing up several of my craft projects the next coming weeks... so expect some posts about that in the near future.

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

What a beautiful week it turned out to be! It has seriously rained or been cloudy for weeks. I feel like everyone in the entire state has been in a grumpy mood because of it too! Well, lucky for us the sun decided to come out this weekend and it has been between 50-60 degrees - and I love it!

Adam learned to wave last Thursday and it is one of the cutest things I've ever seen. It's like he can't believe he's doing it and just looks at his hand.

Saturday, Rusty and I attended a wedding for a friend that Rusty knows from college. The bride seriously couldn't have chosen a better dress. It fit her like a glove and the ivory was perfect with her skin tone. The reception was at The Trolley Barn - with BBQ for dinner and a hot chocolate bar. We enjoyed ourselves so much and got to see a lot of friends. Memaw watched Adam, so we didn't have to stress about him and getting home for bedtime.

We got to go to church, which we haven't been able to do for a couple of weeks. Adam wore a shirt he got for Christmas and he looked so much more like Rusty, if that's even possible. Sunday afternoon, Grandpa and Grammy came over to spend some time with Adam. For not having a morning nap, Adam was in a great mood and loved being in Grammy's lap.

Because of the fantastic weather and we had a holiday on Monday, we all went to the park. Rusty and Kirby (along with Keith and Chive) went down to the dog park portion, while Adam and I went to the toddler playground and Adam got to swing for the first time. He really didn't enjoy it much...

Today, Adam and I met a potential babysitter. Check out what we asked her and how we found her here. I really like her and think she will work out as our occasional babysitter when the grandparents can't do it (which is very few and far between). Afterwards, because we were right down the street, we visited Papa at his work and he was so loved.