cece and cole

are engaged!

it was a d.r.e.a.m. taking their engagement photos. it was an hour and a half long adrenaline rush that left me smiling all night. thanks guys!

pardon the all the kissy - kissy. i couldn't stop them. they are engaged, after all.

about that hole...

i don't read long, narrative blogs, so i really don't expect anyone to want to read this. but before i lose you, let me just ask you ~ does your smoke detector work? are you sure?

last week, just after returning from a family reunion in GA for the day, i smelled something burning. after convincing bryan that it really wasn't plastic melting in the dishwasher i ran to the front window to confirm what i thought i saw - flames. big ones. pouring out from underneath our home.

almost robotically i told bryan that i was getting the boys, and for him to call 911 and get out too. just then we look down to see smoke coming from the heat vent. i've never seen bryan move so fast! i pulled the boys from their beds and ran to our neighbors house. i'm sure seeing me, barely hanging on to my pj-clad boys at 10 pm was the last thing they expected. or hearing the words "our house is on fire!". tyler was out in no time with his extinguisher, and he and bryan tackled the fire until the firemen arrived. stacey so graciously played with my boys while i just sat, wide-eyed and faint. (thank you, thank you!).

the fire was finally put out after the firemen busted a 2 ft hole in the brick of the exterior of the house, as well as the interior wall and (sniff) hardwood floor. it seems the motor of the ventilation fan in our crawlspace malfunctioned. it is pretty funny to think that the whole week we had been discussing how to control moisture under our house. i had the fleeting thought somewhere in the midst of it all "well, it's on fire now!". it became even "funnier" when i saw the firemen blasting their hose under it. heh..... heh.

but i am nothing but grateful. thank you lord for not letting this happen while we were sleeping! did i mention that our smoke detector wasn't working?

it is now. all three of them!

trick and treats

i guess you could say this passed week was filled with both trick and treat?

this lil' fireman may be inspecting a lil' hole......

but it's a $16,000+ hole!

thank you usaa insurance. we love you, and wish everyone could use you.

the story on the hole to come. until then, the treat of the week~

not so terrible

pictures taken in july.

i laughed at his doctor's appointment the other day while looking at his 2 year milestones chart.

"showing signs of independence and defiance"

check.

but it could have also said "tender heart", "contagious smile", and "keeps parents in stitches by the funny things he says and does". check, check, check.

the other day he had to be disciplined for hurting his brother.

when bryan took him to his room down the hall, sam followed.

bryan yelled for me,

"hey babe, can you come get sam please?".

i then hear charlie....

"hey babe, come get char-ie peas?"

ten

the calendar is trying to tell me that he's ten months old.

i don't like calendars.

but him...

good grief.

him........

i like him.

a lot.

all seventeen pounds four ounces of him.

so much so that though he his still killing us at night, waking one to three times, i'm over it. i've decided that he's just not going to be this little baby that likes to snuggle with his mama much longer. with that perspective, and the fact that we've tried all the sleep strategies multiple times only to get less sleep than before ~ i've decided to just take it as it comes rather than battle it.

at least that's how i feel today. bryan may tell you it's because he let me sleep in this morning.

but could you argue with a face like this?

i think he's telling me in that picture, "ya know you want to eat me with a spoon, mom". i can already hear him saying that in his eighteen-year-old voice too.

he likes to say all kinds of other things too, like "ma ma", "da da", "ba ba" (bye-bye), as well as any other noise we or his brother come up with. he and charlie can get us laughing 'til we cry by copying each other until they themselves are laughing.

he loves his brother, and gets so excited when we say "charlie?".

and his brother loves him, often asking me, "pay sam peas mom?" (can i play with sam please mom?). of course i'd love if it wasn't true that sam often takes a beating. though i guess it comes with the territory of having boys 19 months apart.

he scoots at lightning speed, cruises furniture, and takes steps with our hands.

he has 4 teeth (cut at 8 months - at the same time!).

he is always on the move. changing his diaper is like a game of twister, only potentially messier. the same can be said for feeding him. except the potentially part.

he loves to snuggle and be held though, if only for brief moments.

he is a mama's boy, and i'm ok with that (at least until he's thirty, right?). ok, i'm more than ok with it. i love it.

most people feel that he and charlie look nothing alike.

i disagree.

but even if he wasn't so dern cute, he'd still have me wrapped around his chubby little finger.

labor day

good friends.......tasty food (in case you ever wonder how long it takes to cook a 5.5 lb. boston butt, at 225 degrees, in the oven - 9 hours!).....fun times.

he sleeps!

happyhappyjoyjoypraisethelordhallelujah........

this little guy slept all through the night for the first time (aside from a few random nights when he was an infant) last night.

happy happy joy joy.......

there is so much more to say about him ~ like popping 4 new teeth and copying all kinds of fun mouth noises and "da da da da da..." and scooting near the speed of light and pulling up on everything and being the most smiley, happy, endearing baby i know......

but all i can think about right now is he sleeps!!


maybe now i will do a better job of recording the next 9 months of his life.

rain

we love our backyard.
so do mosquitoes.
but today they were hiding.
so we took advantage.

reminiscing

pictures taken in june, romping around after a bath.

new boots

come on cuz', quit worrying about your pants and join the fun!

Thanks for the boots GG. We obviously like them (rain or shine, indoors or out...he rarely takes them off)!