March last year, we welcomed a beautiful brown eyed brown haired little man in to our family! And we are so blessed to have him. Mark says, “He came in to this world wanting to see where he’s going and he’s continued that way his whole first year.”
Since he’s our little monster (in a cute way of course), we had a monster theme celebration.
Tada! Big monster and baby monster. These were finished around midnight the day before his birthday. The only reason I was able to stay up that late was because a neighbor came over to help me prep and keep me awake to finish them! I think they turned out rather cute.
This is Ace with his best buddy Jack. I’m not sure who took this picture but I absolutely love it! Jack’s had a couple of rough years and to see them just hanging out being good friends…Well, it warms my heart. Especially since Jack’s mom is my best friend. Bonus!
By the time my parents came up to celebrate Malachi’s birthday, he had gotten the hang of the present thing. I think he totally loved it too!
A preview of his basket picture. He had to sit up in it and rock! I’ll share a look back over Malachi tomorrow.
Here are his stats from his 12 month check up.
21 lbs 3 oz (25%)
29 inches tall (27%)
The verse is from 1 Peter 3:18, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” I used vinyl lettering to get it on there, pretty like.
And now, we have a board that will follow us wherever we go…marking heights and making memories. Mark and I have a bit of a fear though. Josiah seems to be passing up his older (more competitive) brother in height.
In February, we traveled to visit Mark’s brother and family. If you’ve read the blog for any amount of time, you would know they have eight children ages 12 to under a year. So, we had a packed fun filled few days while Mark helped his brother with some computer thingy stuff.
On the way, we stopped off where my sister E and her family lives and had lunch with them. It worked perfectly because my nephew E’s birthday was the next day. And, as usual, we were all too busy visiting and catching up to take pictures!
Back to the country. Mark’s brother and family live out on a “work in progress” farm. It’s so neat to see how much it has changed since last we came (that was quite a few years ago) and how much they plan to change and learn from it. It’s an amazing and fun place and the kids had no end to the joys of playing out in the woods and with their cousins.
Malachi and T (who is a little over a month younger that Chi) enjoyed taking toys from each other. T had just learned to crawl in anticipation of keeping up with his big ‘cuz.
The morning of our departure, Mark and B and our nephew J all got up at the crack of dawn and headed to conference with Papa on entrepreneurship. So, I gathered our crew up and headed to thrift stores. The thrift stores where B&B live are amazing and I found some great deals. But, before we left, we had to get a group shot. This is the whole crew minus J.
Miss Maggie getting help from mama.
Ah, my Destructo Duo…While getting ready one morning, they raided my shoes (which are still in disarray…but I digress). And then they came out requesting a picture…with those adorable faces, how could I refuse?
This is my friend Tracy’s son, Wyatt. He’s wearing an Alabama helmet and when I snapped the picture he was saying, “Roll Tide!” That may not matter to some but it does to Wyatt’s father since he is a Georgia alum…sorry Kevin…but we had to record this for posterity.
Our mentally unstable dog has a problem. Well, she has lots of problems. Anyone know of a good pet pyschiatrist that could help a poor dog. She needs therapy. Badly. Anyway, one of her problems is that she scratches a lot and has created a nice dry spot on her back. We decided to try the “cone of shame” to help give that spot time to heal. (I can’t take credit for the cone name…borrowed it from some friends). When we finally got it on her, she had it off in under 15 minutes (after running in to everything she could find. It worked well for Ace though…
Actually, I think the giant floor fans have encouraged her to give up scratching…she’s been less violent with it and a bit more relaxed.
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Just thought I would share what our day looked like:
We had planned a trip into the “city” to attend a free concert in which a guest Irish Fiddler would be presenting. So, we got up and as I was preparing breakfast, Liam hobbled up to me and cuddled under my arm.
He whispered that it hurt to walk. He couldn’t even walk up and down the steps without being stiff legged on one side. If you’ll recall, last year after Malachi was born we ran in to the same issue and he had an infection that settled in his hip so he had to be on “rest” for a few days. This is Liam. Rest is not easy for him. I checked out his hip to make sure there were no problems there. There weren’t but it did warrant a call to daddy to get the final opinion on whether to take him in or not. We both agreed it was a good idea to see the doctor.
Zoe and I hurriedly made lunches. I put Malachi down for a brief nap and called the doc. The appointment was for late afternoon so the kids worked on school while I finished our grocery list for the rest of the month.
We loaded up and were out the door close to 11:30 and made it just in time for the concert. I spent most of it correcting and pointing and using sign language and batting hands away from Malachi who would have been content to just listen to the music had his brothers and sister thought it would be best if they played with him instead of listening and watching.
We finished up at the concert and headed across town to Wally World…I promised the kids if good behavior ensued we would go somewhere fun before Liam’s appointment. In and out in under thirty minutes meant a trip to the playground was in order.
We played at the playground for an hour before heading out to the doctor. Dr. B didn’t notice the same things that brought us in for leg pain but she did notice something that could be causing it. Liam is flat footed and as such he has been overcorrecting make his feet turn in. I noticed the tread of shoe was worn on one side and wondered about that. He’s also pigeon toed but that will correct on it’s own. Dr. B said he needed good tennis shoes with good inserts and suggested we head to a certain store to be fitted for inserts.
Back in the car we went. We stopped off at a local sports store and picked up a good pair of running shoes and then raced across town (again) to the special shoe store before they closed. We made it (just barely) and the amazing salesman/owner worked wonders. He didn’t do inserts, however, he put him in some shoes and then put inserts in those. He informed me that the cost of inserts compared to just getting the shoes with a bit of inserts around the arch and heel was going to be about the same.
By the time we finished at the special shoe store, Mark met us and we headed to a food eating establishment and grabbed supper (since it was pushing 6). We got home, picked up and Mark took off with Ace for a grand finale of our frozen yogurt date nights brought to you by special daily deals! But, before he left, he discovered there was a nail in the tire of a car that a friend had loaned him to drive until we could find him another one (that’s a whole ‘nother story). So, Ace and Mark headed to the tire place and then to yogurt.
I bathed the six other kids (well, several of them don’t need me to bather them now) and nursed a sweet almost walker and now all is quiet.
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| This is what happens when Mom gives the kids a bath…funky hair dos. |
I’m tired ya’ll. But, there is nothing I would not do to help my babies in any way I can. Paying more for shoes than I ever would for myself (or anyone else) is one of those things we do. We make sacrifices. That’s what we do as moms and dads.
I have to surrender myself daily to God and his leading. Some days I realize that He has given me a most important job and I need to allow Him to work through me. But some days, I realize that I’m too selfish and too unsacrifical. But when I give it to Him. Give it all to Him. I receive no greater reward than to know I am walking in His light, authority and protection.
Now where’s that bed…I need to snooze.
I was right, Bryant was thrilled beyond measure! As soon as we go there and were looking for a spot someone pointed out the elephants walking down the road. They came right by us and Bryant was yelling, “Hi! Elephants!” the whole time. He talked about the elephants for days. And everyone walked home with a red nose and stickers.
Our current favorite babysitter, C, had mentioned that she was interested in learning more on how to care for a home. After some prayer and other news from C, I felt the Lord calling me to ask her if she wanted to be a mother’s helper for us. She and her parents agreed and now Tuesdays are a fun day for littles, easy school day for me, and a learning time for her. We all win. She mentioned one Tuesday that she was interested in learning how to cut boys’ hair. It just so happened that I had four boys in desparate need of a hair cut. So, we went to work!
Best part about being a Lilla Rose, Independent Consultant…playing with Zoe’s hair! Isn’t it beautiful!
