Happy Halloween!!!

So today was one of my most favorite holidays, Halloween. Of course there is also Christmas, Thanksgiving, can't forget fourth of July. Okay, so I love them all, but Halloween just makes me feel like a kid. This year was Hunter's first and I was so very excited. I have to make a confession though. We didn't actually trick or treat, and I sort of wish we had of. However, it was cold and we did dress him up with cousin Will & take their pictures. We had the family over for hotdogs, chilli, cold beer, and cupcakes. It was an all around good time!

My little treat was the SWEETEST cow I have ever seen. He was so loving his costume the other day when we tried it on. Tonight, he was like, "what is this ridiculous thing on my body?!" So we took it off and came inside but it was a good time to be thankful for all the treats we have! Here's some pictures to round out the post!

Hunter adores his Big Daddy!

My sister in law Becky, brother in law Billy & a very angry Captain America! (Will)

Family Halloween picture :) Oh, they are my world!

My treat!

Me, Nana & William

Ever seen a baby cow with a paci?

So not caring about this costume thing!

Hunter my Cow baby!

:)

Nana & her boys

Letter to Hunter- 6 Months

Dear Baby-love,

Can we just talk about cute you are little man? On an everyday basis you just melt this Momma's heart. How did we get so lucky? I love your belly laughs and your baby mohawk. I absolutely cannot get over how your chunky feet wont stay in socks and how you constantly wave. 6 months, you rock.

You are so funny! Sometimes you see I am in a mood, and you wait till you catch my eye and your whole face lights up. How can I be sad, or mad at you when you smile like that? That's right, I can't. You are having a blast with this half a year thing. Sitting up makes you such a proud little boy, and you could do that for ages. Put you on your belly or back and you are okay for awhile, maybe you'll turn over a time or two, but then it's game over. You want to stand! How independent you are my tiny love. Too bad you can't yet, but I have a feeling I will wake up one morning and you will be on the move. I both cannot wait for, and dread that day. I will not lie. I like putting you down in one place and coming back or turning the corner to find you still there. I am not excited about baby gates and cabinet locks, but that day is coming.

You love so many things. One of your favorites is our food. I have slowly started giving you bigger pieces of our food. Green beans, and banana and sometimes strawberry. We also bought you a mesh teether and we put frozen mango in that for you. Officially your favorite snack, ever! Soon you'll be begging for more and I will feel obliged. You are too durn cute to turn down. Another big change. Your mouth! & I don't mean teeth. You just squeal and squeal. When we are out people just get the biggest kick out of your antics. It's too cute for us to ask you to hush! I may never make you for that matter! Plus, we are secretly working on Mama. Sssh. Don't tell Daddy.

Anyways, tomorrow is your first Halloween. You my sweet boy, are going to wow the crowds in your cow costume. But hey, that's no different than any other day right? Keep on growing and changing and I will keep on loving every minute of it. You are, to say it again, our biggest joy. Love you, from here to the moon and back.

-Momma

Pumpkin Patch

So if we are driving to a pumpkin patch this Fall, we are driving to THE pumpkin patch. Around here that is Burts. Totally worth the drive in my opinion. You have a couple options on the way up, either the scenic route or not and we of course took option one an stopped a couple times along the way for pictures and for fun. Hunter slept the whole way up and gave us time to hand hold and talk sweet to one another, or argue over which way is the correct way. Same thing right? Anyways, it was a beautiful Fall day and we had a blast in the end.

First off, I got to dress Hunter in the sweetest little outfit ever. He was an absolute angel, and he was all smiles. He was delighted by the pumpkins, and was such a ham for the pictures. Brock and I tried a pumpkin roll for the first time, and I had my first hot apple cider of the season (Yum! and why have I never combined pumpkin and cream cheese before?!) and last but not least some BBQ nachos that  could have done without but Brock devoured! Hunter of course got to pick a punkin' as cute as he was, and I got all that I needed and we were good to go! Next year we will try hayrides, petting zoos, and picnics, but this year we were just happy to be together and show Hunter something new! 

Fridays Letters

Dear Brock Hayden, you are snoring on the couch right across from me. As soon as this post is written, the snuggling is on! You were so sweet with Hunter tonight, you deserve breakfast in bed in the morning. Maybe you will get it ;) Dear Bible Study Friends, how sweet and fun you all are! I truly enjoyed just watching our babies play and run wild and squeal and learn new things! You warm my heart, you really do! Dear Apple Festival, prepare yourself for my arrival. Oh, how I have awaited the day I could amble through your rows of apples, and down the racks of apple butter and pepper jelly. I can hear a fried apple pie calling my name! Dear Man of my Dreams, thank you for running all my errands for me, and doing your Honey-Do list without complaint. I only ask because your big strong muscles can do things I can't! Plus, it was fun doing all of these house chores together. You are the best room mate ever!


What are YOUR favorite apple recipes?

The Great Purge

It started Sunday night. I think. In reality, I guess you would say it started three years ago when the Mr. and I started setting up house. In those three years we moved twice. Things got left unpacked. Then we moved into our house. Whew! We were blessed with a huge garage. Do you want to know what a hug garage gives you an excuse to do? Hoard. That's right. And then there were the walk in closets. Boy, oh boy! Room for my lovely stuff, and my stuff from college and from highschool, and the sweater I borrowed from my Sis and never returned, and endless shoe boxes. Have I mentioned the spare room? Well that's my office of course. Until yesterday I wasn't even able to WALK IN THERE! That's right. All my decor, party supplies, craft supplies, photography props, hand me downs from well meaning family members, left over paint cans and brushes was just piling up in that room, eying me every time I walked by it. Well Brock and I decided the other day we meant business with this house. We started room by room. I had this theory to start in a space and as we cleaned make piles of stuff that was either trash, or goodwill, or went to other spaces. At the end of that space we would move those piles where they went. A trash bag or its respective room. It was one of those situations where our relatively tidy space looked like a tornado hit it before we went to bed. Stuff was everywhere! Tonight as we pile up the EIGHT bags of trash (old letters, old papers, random junk that no one wants!) and the TEN bags/boxes of things to take to Goodwill I finally am at peace! I am so proud to have parted with things that I have had trouble parting with in the past as well as get some things done I have been meaning to do. We washed and put away a thousand bottle/pump parts, and I have my office in somewhat of an order. At least I can go in there and work! I am actually here now, blogging away! It was a hassle, but so worth it. The house feels lighter and so do I!! Yay for changes!

Bottle mania! Don't you just love how cute a Boon drying rack is on a counter? && excuse the lack of grout on that back splash! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My sweet little office! Thanks to Little Baby Garvin blog for the chalkboard inspiration!

{Friday's Letter's}...On saturday

Dear Brock, thank you for bowling with me and the fam', and being so cool about me taking my baby sis out to get our nails done. You are the love of my life! Dear Week, way to go being so crazy I couldn't post Friday. You have been hectic enough at this point. Please allow me this next week to rest. Yeah, right. Dear New Bedding & Pretty Curtains, you light up my life. Literally. So white and airy that the whole room feels new and brighter. Also, you make nap time super sweet for me and Hunter loves you also! (picture to follow!) Dear Lover Boy, sorry about your fishing pole breaking as you reeled in your big one tonight. However, you did get to go hang out with Chris and have "man time" which I know you desperately need dealing with me and all my messes. I hope YOU rest up this week because next week I am feeling a fall photo shoot with Bug, and maybe some apple pickin' followed by an applesauce making extravaganza!

Woohoo! I love fall ya'll! Have I said that already?

Us at our BIG family photo session! I could kiss those cheeks forever!

The best durn comforter I have ever purchased! It calls to us all day long to come nap! Hunter partakes more than I do, little brat ;)

Friday's Letters

Dear Sugar, thank you for bringing me medicine in bed this morning and kissing me bye. You are the best friend/boy roommate I have ever or will ever live with. Also, thank you for being adventurous enough to eat anything I make, at least once. Which is really all I can ask for. Prepare yourself for chocolate pumpkin cupcakes tonight. Dear Bug, you made my whole entire day today in your cow costume. Has there ever been a cuter baby than you? Mommy thinks not. Cannot wait for Halloween. Mostly to show you off, but maybe a part of me wants to steal most of your candy! (Hey, for reals, you can't eat it anyways. :) Dear Bangs, not sure how I like you yet, most days I pin you up but I will try my best to reconcile my feelings for you and get on with my life. Dear Brock Hayden, you light up my life. I know you aren't looking forward to a weekend full of my photography shenanigans but I love you that you love me enough to stick it out. How did I get so lucky?


I saw this on another blog and I love it, and will continue doing it every friday. A little "letter" to whoever or whatever I choose, or speaks to me. Brock, will get two. Cause he is sweet like that. She & her husband write these back and forth and it's super sweet. Actually I have done a lot of blogging today and run across a bunch of neat things. Here is something else I found...

The Story:

Dear Ann Landers,

Last weekend, we celebrated my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. This morning they left on a long-awaited trip to Hawaii. They were as excited as if it were their honeymoon! When my parents married, they had only enough money for a three-day trip 50 miles from home. They made a pact then that each time they made love, they would put a dollar in a special metal box and save it for a honeymoon in Hawaii for their 50th anniversary. Dad was a policeman, and Mom was a schoolteacher. They lived in a modest house and did all their own repairs. Raising five children was a challenge, and sometimes, money was short. But no matter what emergency came up , Dad would not let mom take any money out of the “Hawaii account.” As the amount grew, they put it in a savings account and then bought CDs.

My parents were always very much in love. I can remember Dad coming home and telling Mom, “I have a dollar in my pocket.” She would smile at him and reply, “I know just how to spend it.” When each of us children married, Mom and Dad gave us a small metal box and told us their secret, which we found enchanting. All five of us are now saving for our dream honeymoons. Mom and Dad never told us how much money they managed to save, but it must have been considerable because when they cashed in those CDs, they had enough for airfare to Hawaii, plus hotel accommodations for 10 days and plenty of spending money. Before they boarded the plane, Dad winked and said, “Tonight we are starting an account for Cancun. That should only take 25 years!”

Ann, I thought you’d enjoy this story about 50 great years of intimacy in marriage!

From a loving daughter in Abilene, Texas


So I emailed that to Brock, and he asked me if I could break a $20. Guess he is on board! Love that man! I have literally had friends tell me they schedule this kind of thing and I so don't want it to be like that for us (if it works for you, so be it!) If it brings some extra romance into things, then I say bring it on. Cant have to much of that with a little one rolling around!

The Truth

Let's be real. I've been at this "Mom" thing for almost 6 months. now. Little man will be the big 6 months in 13 days. Holy mess. He has been in our lives for half a year and it has flown by, and it has taken me the whole six months to realize something. Motherhood is nothing like what you think, or anyone else explains it will be. Nothing. Let me elaborate.

When I got pregnant I was so very excited. I was ready that night to go buy books, and toys, and clothes. The 14 weeks we had to wait to find out that he was a he just crawled by. I wanted to go shopping! I wanted to stock his closet with everything a baby would need.

All this made me have these ideas. Ideas of a natural childbirth. Low lighting, no medicines, leaving the baby with me as long as possible. Water birth and breathing techniques.  He would successfully breastfeed for at least 6 months, and hopefully up to a year. Then of course we would take him home and put him in his pristine nursery. Completely stocked, and ready for our little one. He would sleep peacefully in his crib every night, while we got 8 hours of sleep (okay, so maybe I didn't actually believe that one...but in a perfect world...). He would fit snugly in all his clothes, and be a happy, warm, well rounded baby. All milestones would be hit when the ought to be. We would go out on shopping adventures, and he would calmly watch me shop. I would shower every morning, and have time to not only do my hair, but also my makeup and put together outfits from my pre pregnancy closet.

Well let me tell you guys something. It is nothing like that. I had an emergency c-section at 41 weeks pregnant. He did nurse, but had an awful latch due to tongue tie and had to be clipped at two weeks old. I had overactive let down and he was drowning every time. We were lucky to make it to 4 months. I can never find where I put the box of wipes, and sometimes the diapers. Hunter does not sleep through the night every night. Our big accomplishment is that he sleeps in his bed every night, and most nights puts himself to sleep. He is always running out of clothes that fit, and most always is puking on something, leaving me doing constant laundry. He does (thankfully) hit milestones when he should. Thank goodness for something I don't have to worry about. As for shopping, and showering and relaxing, none of that happens like you think. I am not able to get ready every morning and sometimes I can't find a single thing to wear or a single tube of lipstick.

But you know what, I love it. I love every single hectic moment. I have learned that you do the best for yourself and your baby, and you breathe through it. Hunter fell and bumped his head the other day. I almost had a heart attack. I am rocking my screaming baby boy, and thinking to myself "how am I ever going to deal with the BIG bumps and bruises?" Seriously, I mean I do everything I can to be supermom and it almost never comes together. I know there will be times when I miss him when he falls and he will get hurt. Times when I forget to pack a sandwich in his lunch or make him late to ball practice.And all of that is okay! I know in my heart we will all be just fine. I just keep looking forward, pray every day and give him and his Daddy 200%. It all works itself out in the end.

I cannot be a perfect mom, but I can give them every little piece of me and love them unconditionally. I think we are off to a pretty good start!

So far...

So far... by jessica-watkins featuring plaid shirts