I just lost my freedom

Sometimes when I'm getting ready or wanting to get something done really quick with out JT hanging from my hip, I will put him in his room in front of his toy basket and he will playfully pull each toy out one by and one, examine and chew on em a little. It would keep him busy for at least 30 mins. Well today that ended, because my little guy is crawling! AUGH! The worst part is I thought crawling would bring more freedom for me because it meant he could get from one toy to another that was across the room with out me. Well of course I didn't think that he could also get to the electrical outlets, cords, floor fans, pens, tv stand with DVD's and DVD player, trash cans.....of course everything he's not suppose to touch, he's heading right for now that he has figured out that he can launch himself where he wants to go. The reason I say launch is because he's not really crawling per say....um no it's more of the butterfly swim stroke but on carpet rather than in the pool. He just can't figure out his arms, so he'll go from a position on his tummy, work like crazy pushing off his big toes to get up on those chubby knees, be up on all fours with his hands out a little in front of him, push with his legs and then launch himself forward back onto his stomach. Looks like the butterfly stroke, well kind of, but it sure is cute and it gets him were he wants to be, which is to all the places he's not suppose to be :-).

He's still crazy about walking and loves it when I'll just hold his little hands and help him walk all over the house all day, so I think that will soon follow. But for now I need to start crawl-proofing this house.

I'll try and get some video of it the next few days and post it...so adorable.

The heat is on

Dang, it's hot here! I just checked the weather too and it looks like it's not going to stop, that this isn't just some sort of freak heat wave, we are if full blown summer.

The bright side? Our pool is already 79 degrees and considering it doesn't get full sun for more than 4 hours a day AND it's a 9 footer (deep that is), that's amazing the temp is already this high. JT doesn't mind if it's a little cooler, but mommy freezes for the first 10 mins when it's less that 78 degrees. That will make our Thursday Open Swim days a lot more fun. That's right, Thursday is open swim at the Kinley's. The past 2 summers a few of my friends that were stay at home moms would come over and swim with their babies while I was at work, well this year I actually get to be apart of that. So under the advice of a friend who had swim days at her house, I decided to designate one day a week this entire summer to staying home and opening up my pool to anyone who wanted a dip! So thus Thursday Open Swim was born. Just in case you haven't been told about it and you live in Ft Worth, every Thursday from 11 am to 3 pm at the Kinley Casa. Be sure to bring a bathing suit, towel and lunch (if your hungry). The A/C will be running inside in case you get over heated!!

More pics, cause that's the real reason y'all check this blog!!!


Getting it all on camera.....Grandma Sandy thought it would be cute to give JT a dolly, but my boy was only interested in trying gouge the eyes out!! Daddy wasn't impressed with this pic :-)
His little blue chair. He LOVED this thing, would stand in front of it and talk to it for hours. My friend Tara lent us some toys while we were in Wyoming.
Stompin around the house in my cowboy boots!
reading the paper with Papa Mike...he does it his way and I do it mine!!
Hee haw! Riding the horsey at Uncle Steve and Aunt Kate's house

Humane or In-humane?

Our dog, Copper, is going to be 11 this August. We have had him for just about that long and today I am wondering just how long is a good run with a dog?

There's a good reason I am questioning this. You see Travis and I have been trying to get our jungle of a backyard tamed for the past few months by clearing out a lot of weeds and extra trees that we keep popping up. Apparently our backyard is extremely fertile ground and EVERYTHING wants to live in it. Ok, so yesterday it was about 99 degrees here and I decided to get up and out back early to clear out the bed behind the pool so I could get the flowers we bought at Home Depot in the ground. I dug up weeds, pulled a few baby trees, yanked out the newest Oleander bush that was trying to come up and then tilled it with the claw/hoe thingy (not much of a gardener, can ya tell?) before the sun got too hot. Then last night after JT went to bed Travis and I worked into the dark laying the landscape fabric and getting some of the bigger perennials into the ground. I then laid out the Zinnia's in the exact spot where I was going to put them and then decided I would plant them 1st thing in the morning. Well I got up this morning to feed JT at about 5:30 and then decided to just go take a peek at the perennials to see if they took to the ground OK. Well when I walked out back I was shocked to find that EVERY SINGLE FLOWER, planted or not, had been trampled......that freakin dog stays outside at night and likes to run up and down the back fence (which is where the flower bed is) barking at any thing and every thing. I want to just KILL him!! I was seriously think....hmm, it's been about 10 or so years, maybe going to doggy heaven today wouldn't be so bad. I would miss him, but he is just a dog.

Ok, so I won't actually go through with it, but as I sit out back drinking my coffee and staring at the flowers I have to resuscitate, it just makes me angry.

On a lighter note, I am also noticing how much the birds love our backyard too. We have several large trees with tall red tip bushes and they seem to be over run with birds. I have to admit that they are pretty...I think they're blue jays?....but if anyone knows me they know that birds are not my thing. One pooped on my head my senior year of high school and I have had a hatred for all our feathered friends ever since. They just plain freak me out.

Switching gears....JT and I got back from our 2nd trip up to Wyoming about 10 days ago. I do have to brag a little...he is such a awesome little flier. The boy just smiles the whole time and keeps the flight attendants on their feet so they can get another peek at those baby blues and that big toothless grin!

What did we do while visiting?? Well it started with the 2nd night we were there....my mom got married! I am now apart of the 50% of Americans that apart of a blended family. I do have to say that since I'm pushing 30 and have been married for almost 9 years now, I don't really consider him (Rob) as my step-dad, he's my mom's husband. That being said, Rob is a really great guy. Super nice and just what the Lord ordered for my mom. I'm thankful he came along and looking forward to getting to know him better. JT really likes him too. After the wedding shin dig, we got to wake up Friday, May 2nd to a blizzard!! I hate Wyoming in May, it ALWAYS does that. Needless to say, we were trapped in doors for the first few days, which always sucks. I had to have Travis's mom get JT some warmer clothes because all we own for his current size is summer clothes....hello it's May, not the dead of winter! We hung out with grandma's and grandpa's, aunts and uncles, cousins, friends. It was a lot of fun and seemed like JT and I were on the go non-stop. It's really hard to be dragging a baby all over Casper, especially when they are little and you have a nap schedule to work around. The #1 reason we came to Wyoming during May was to see my nieces and nephews track day, but of course the weather didn't cooperate so I only got to see about 15 mins of it before they cancelled it for the day. I did however get to see all of Trent's blue ribbons and watch Katie run across the finish line for 1st place in the 100 meter dash. I guess it was worth the plane tickets to see those 2 glorious moments, just wish it could have been more.

Well need to start reviving the trampled plants and praying that God give me patience with Copper today...right now I just feel like beating him!

Have a good one!
The new family....Rob is a nice addition!!

In my new dud's that Grandma Sandy got me....keepin warm

So excited about the new red wagon Grandma Sandy bought me...I LOVE IT!!
Flying back home to see my daddy.....I'm such a pro!

The new hood

I just found a HILARIOUS on line show all about Motherhood. I've only been able to watch Season 1 Episode 1, but I laughed so hard. It's about the same caliber as The Office (which is where I found the link) but is geared toward the glory days of being a mom.....

Watch it!

http://www.inthemotherhood.com/

By the way...as my friend Brenda kindly reminded me this morning, I know that I haven't updated our blog in a while, which I will do promptly when I return on Sunday. That's right I'm retreating again and I couldn't have picked a better time.....JT is teething! Good Luck, Daddy!! :-)

A few for the road....

Our 1st official swim on Wed......what fun!!
Splashing......
He looks like a toddler in this picture....so grown up and yet only 7 months old

A little boy and his pool

Yesterday was such a great day! It was Saturday, the weather was beautiful and we spent most of the day outside. I needed a day like yesterday.

JT has discovered the swimming pool....dun dun da.......and now it's on like donkey kong. He's now at the age where he knows what he wants and is starting to throw a fit for it....OH JOY!! We will let Copper out in the mornings and he'll start kicking his legs and reaching his arms for the back door because he wants to go outside. And when I don't go, he starts that whinny cry. Then when we put him in his walker he'll go to the back door, stare out the door and fuss. The boy just loves it outside!!

Today we had some friends over with their little boy, Benjamin, who is 2 weeks younger than JT. We decided to dip the boy's feet in the pool just to see what they would do. JT LOVED IT!! He as bending over trying to get his hands in too. Of course he was ticked when I took him out. We had a storm here last week and the rain cooled the pool temperature off to 70 degrees...burrrr. I know for those of you up north, 70 is pretty warm, considering the lakes don't get that warm even in August, but here that's just a bit chilly. Anyway, the cool water didn't even phase him, he was all over it. I guess we'll be swimming sooner that I thought.

Here some more pictures......


Out back in his walker watching daddy net the leaves
Trying to grab the camera and excited about it too (I just love this face!)
Trying so hard to make it up the slight incline so he can check out the pool

JT and Benjamin testing the waters.....so cute!

Daddy's boot camp

Last weekend I went on a Women's Retreat with some friends and left little JT and daddy home alone for 2 days and 2 nights. When I came home on Sunday I was expecting a look of relief on Travis's face and total joy from JT to see his mommy. Whatever! Those boys not only survived....they thrived!! Travis said he had a ton of fun, JT was like "hey, mom" when I came in and Travis got JT to sleep through the night while I was gone!! What!? Of course my 1st question was, "did you just let him cry?" but I guess he didn't wake up once on Friday night and Saturday night he kind of grunted around 3 am, but when Travis didn't go running in there, he just went back to sleep. Hmmm....guess mommy was the issue not JT. None the less, I'm totally enjoying getting 8 hours of sleep now, it's soooo nice.

At the retreat we watched a Beth Moore Conference..."Loving Well". If you have never seen Beth Moore I HIGHLY recommend it if given the chance or maybe reading one of her books. She has such a gift for relating to women through hilarious stories and her love for the Lord is so inspiring. This is the 2nd time I have seen her and she was even better than the 1st.

Here's some more pics......I think he is the most adorable little baby in the world!



Sitting out back while mommy cleans the pool. He's starting to scoot a little now, so hanging out back by the pool is going to be a challenge
My shirt does not lie!! I don't like to lay in the bouncy seat anymore, I like to sit up and try to launch myself.....such a boy!
LOVES LOVES LOVES my friend Bekah's baby swing, so we got him one for our house. Now just waiting for Saturday so daddy can hang it up.
Not the best picture of JT's little friend Sammy, but I thought it was a cute pic of JT. My friend Bekah lives in the cultural district of Ft Worth, where the houses are old and have HUGE front porches.....JT and I love going to Bekah's....it's like a mini-retreat for us!!
Splashing in the bath tub.....that boy can soak a bathroom floor in no time.

Wow!

That's it...WOW!! We were recently struck by the croup virus here and let me tell ya IT SUCKS!! Poor little guy, he was sick sick sick. But finally after 10 days we are doing good, now it's a struggle to get him back on his going to sleep schedule with out the help of mommy. It's hard not to spoil them when they are sick, but I think next time I'll think twice about it because getting him back has been really hard on him and twice as hard on me.

Well JT is finally 6 months old, or some days I guess I would say..wow is he already 6 months? Just depends. I was going through some clothes in his drawer that he has out grown and kind of got emotional thinking about when he was first born and how he'll never be that little again. He also has been weaning himself away from hugs and cuddles. He's just on the move. Did I mention before that he has been walking since he was about 4 1/2 months? Of course not on his own, but all you have to do is hold the little guys hands and we are off! Now that's all he wants to do and my back is killing me. Getting him to sit down in front of a toy after walking around for a bit is a chore. He stiffens up his back and legs and refuses to sit down. Smart little bugger! He also has master going up one step. For those of you that haven't been to our house we have a sunken in living room that you step down into about 4 inches and he has already learned to lift that chubby little leg up to go into the kitchen or down the hallway...so cute!

Well here's some more pictures. Have a good week!