SLOW DOWN...

Why is time passing by so quickly?

It seems like just yesterday I was holding my newborn little boy.

Now he looks like this..

And today he did this...

(sorry for the commentary... I just happened to have this on me and caught him the first time... gotta cheer the little man on)

I cried a little.

Love,

The overly emotional mama of this big boy

Colorado here we come

Jeff decided Porter has had a free ride long enough and made him start pulling his weight around here... Mowing is serious business!

Our nightly routine consists of dinner, bathtime, family playtime, and bed. This was right after his bath. I love this kid more than anything in the world.

Porter is officially into EVERYTHING! I decided that babyproofing isn't really worth it since we're only really going to be in the house for another 2 weeks (after our trip). So everything is becoming a NO TOUCH. I'm sure Porter is thinking to himself, "well if you don't want me to touch it then you should make it impossible for me to". Oh well. Two more weeks!

My parents came over for dinner Tuesday night and I'm not sure what my dad was doing, but Porter wasn't real sure of it. This kid has the craziest expressions.

And he really loves beer cans. He crushed it!

Daddy and P-man during family playtime!

Oh and another big milestone down. Last night Porter decided to stand up all by himself. My baby is getting so big!

We are leaving tonight for Colorado. Say a little prayer for us! I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Love, Erika

HE'S MOBILE!!!!

Finally he figured it out. We're only doing the army crawl... but at least he got it! It only takes us persuading him by putting our phones out for him to get them. Good to know. Enjoy the video! (I hope it works)

Happy Wednesday to you all!

P.S. We have a contract on our house. Yay! Tentative close date is June 17. Say a little prayer everything works out! We're so happy.

Easter and mobility...

I thought I would start with a few random happenings!

Porter's first Mac'n'Cheese experience... he loved it! As evident by the fact that he tipped his bowl up!

Trying to talk Scout into coming close enough for him to grab on... Scout doesn't want anything to do with it!

So I was trying to get a picture of his crazy bedhead... but then he made this expression and I couldn't resist... what a goofy kid we have.

My baby's standing up :(

(He can't stand up on his own yet, but if you put him there, he'll stay up for a good long while)

Easter service was wonderful on Sunday. We tried out a new church in Aledo called The Summit. It is a fellowship of a church in Fort Worth Jeff and I attended for a while before we moved out this way. The verdict... we liked it and will definitely be trying it again. It is small, held in an old gymnastics gym, with a nursery that only has a handful of kids in it... which I'm happy about. Porter did wonderful in the nursery. At one point during the service I heard this horrible screaming and thought it was him, so I quietly walked out of the sanctuary and down the hall. I peeked into the doorway to see him looking at this little girl like "what's wrong with you... this is fun... stop crying".

His first Easter basket

He likes the eggs!

For some reason this is the face he made in all but 1 picture... and my eyes are closed. Oh well!

And I really thought today he was going to get it! I really thought today he was going to crawl. He was so close... so many times! I know most parents don't get that excited about their kid crawling and try to postpone it as much as possible. But me... man I'm ready. I even trailed some snacks for him. Funny thing is... he got all the snacks, even if he didn't crawl. (Kid will not miss any food!)

His "it wasn't me I swear" face

Almost got it!
In an attempt to get better about blogging I am going to (try) to do a couple of short blogs a week instead of one big post once a month. We'll see if it works.

In other news... an early congratulations to Mr. Jason Black and his future Mrs.! We're excited for the wedding this weekend! Wishing you many years of happiness and health! May God bless your marriage in every way possible. We love you both!

7 MONTHS OLD!

Happy 7 month birthday to my sweet little man! Daddy and I are so blessed to have you and cherish every moment with you. You fill our lives with laughter and a joy we never knew possible. Thank you for being such a wonderful baby!

7 months old!

Mommy and me

I love my Daddy!

We have just been busy, busy, busy. Our house is on the market. Our new house plans are completed. Keeping this house clean is a chore in itself. So if you know anyone that is looking to move out this way... keep our house in mind!

Helping Mommy do laundry

Porter is learning new things, eating new foods, working on picking up snacks and feeding himself, working on crawling. I keep telling him that if he would just keep his hands on the ground he would have it. Instead, he gets his legs going and sticks his arms straight out to the side. He is so close though and I can't believe how fast crawling snuck up on me. Time to baby proof! He now has 2 teeth! Yay. And the boy is a non-stop talker. He loves to hear his voice and he loves for Jeff and I to hear it as well! He has been making the raspberry noises, which I think is adorable. Problem is... he makes that noise when he is eating and it sure does make for a messy meal time!

Oatmeal with apples and cinnamon... one of my favorites!

I love to feed myself!

Ready to EAT MOM!

Bathtime!

Jeff and I had our 2 year anniversary yesterday and it was wonderful. I am such a lucky woman to have such a giving and loving husband. He provides such a wonderful life for Porter and I and for that I am eternally grateful. The last 2 years have been amazing and I am looking forward to so many more! Love you honey!

Our first picture

Some cute pictures... just for you guys!

I like reading

My own personal hide-out

Mommas boy... and I love it!

Just chillin!

Daddy bought me this cool car swing!

HI!

And finally... a verse from my new favorite song.

"This is the stuff that drives me crazy, this is the stuff that's been getting to me lately. In the middle of my little mess I forget how big I'm blessed. This is the stuff"

Easter is upon us. God sent His only son to die for us. To save us from our sin, so that we can spend our lives praising Him. Instead we get caught up in things that are so un-important we lose sight of what He did for us. So this weekend try and remember how BIG you are blessed!

Love you all!

February already...

I cannot believe it is already mid-February. January just flew right by us... and I mean FLEW BY! We had so much going on and things are changing rapidly around here.

First... I am so excited to say that our house is almost ready to be put on the market. We are hoping to have it up for sale next week, so please pray for a speedy sale. We met with an architect last Monday and talked about what we want and what we don't want... what we need to have and what we don't need to have. He sent us a starting point... and we are already realizing that this is more difficult than we were hoping it would be. There are a few things that Jeff and I really want... and I mean REALLY want and at this point I'm just praying we can incorporate all the things we want without pushing our boundaries too much.

Second... I want to talk about this insane weather! 14 with a wind chill of -6!!!!!!!!! Really... it was 80 degrees on Saturday. I love Texas... but I really despise the weather sometimes. We took Porter out for his first snow pictures... not sure how he felt about it... but after the layers we had on him... I'm sure he was just happy that it was cold! What's funny is this, we're home every day and it never bothers us... but the fact that we couldn't go anywhere... is what drove me crazy. All I wanted to do was go to the grocery store. Not because I needed anything... just because I knew I couldn't get out. I'm glad all that craziness has passed. We took Porter for his first park visit today and he loved it. He was able to sit in the swing and we put in on one of the "horse" rockers and took a few pictures of it. Jeff helped him slide down the slide and then we decided to let him play in the dirt. It took all of 2 seconds for him to pick up and handful of dirt and mulch and go straight for the mouth. I think I was able to deflect most of it... but I figure it won't kill him if he eats a little dirt. He's going to sooner or later... right? I think we're going to make the park a weekly occurrence!

PLAYING WITH THE CHIMES

Third... and the reason for our little blog... Porter is such an amazing baby. I know I've said this before, but we are so blessed with such an angel for a baby. Don't get me wrong... he has his moments... but 99.9% of the time, he is just perfect. We've hit a lot of baby milestones in the last few weeks so let's get started. I'm going to start with Christmas and work up to now.

We had such a great first Christmas with Porter. Of course he had no clue what was happening, but Jeff and I really enjoyed opening all of his presents for him and watching his eyes go back and forth, trying to figure out which one to play with first. He received a laundry list of toys, clothes, and books and he loves all of his new stuff. Right now one of our most useful toys is his jumper. He will hang out in that thing for about 30 minutes at a time (as long as he is in the same room as me) and jump and play the entire time. It is wonderful! He also got this cute zebra (that is bigger than him) to play on. He likes to ride on its back and chew on its ears. He got a "Sophie the Giraffe" and I was amazed at how quickly he learned to pick it up and hold it and put it in his mouth. We are so blessed with such an amazing family that gave us so many fun gifts. But most importantly we were able to spend time with all of our family members during the most wonderful time of the year.

MID-JUMP

January has brought Porter a lot of new things to do. He started eating "big boy" foods the second week of January... and let me say this... I never doubted it for a moment... but that kid LOVES food! Any way he can get it... he loves it. We started off with rice and oatmeal and he definitely preferred oatmeal. I've heard that most babies take a little time to warm up to eating off a spoon... well our little man was trying to "help" us feed him his 2nd time to eat off a spoon. I don't think he's ever going to find a food he doesn't like.

NOT SURE ABOUT THIS MOM

We've been working on sitting up by himself and he's doing pretty well. If I get him in the right position he can sit up unassisted for about 20-30 seconds. It just depends on the level of excitement over the toy in front of him and the day. Sometimes he does really well... and sometimes... not so much. When he is lying down he tries so hard to sit up... it’s so cute to watch him and he gets so irritated that he can't do it. I feel kind of sorry for him when he is working that hard and not able to get it. I just keep telling him to keep trying and he'll get there. He's also decided that he doesn't need mommy's help standing up anymore... well at least when he's standing up next to the bathtub. Last week I was trying to get the bath started and I let him stand up next to the tub and he just grabbed on to the side and hung out! I was shocked! And he was so proud... he had this huge grin on his face the entire time. I keep trying to tell him he is supposed to sit up, crawl, stand up, and then walk... but I don't know if he is listening. I'm beginning to think he has a mind all of his own... not sure who he inherited that from.

I'VE ALMOST GOT IT!!!!

WHAT A BIG BOY

We had his 4 month appointment a few Fridays ago and it went really well... until the shots. Dr. Jones actually used the term "huge". He was in the 95% for both height and weight. He weighed in at 18 pounds and 26 1/2 inches long. (I'm still waiting for that leveling out period) We talked with the doc about starting on fruits and veggies and he said we were good to go and we could even start him on some proteins if we wanted. I can't tell you how helpful it has been to be able to feed him real food. I am making all of his food at home and I really enjoy it. So far we have tried... chicken, turkey, sweet potatoes, carrots, butternut squash, peas, peaches, pears, bananas, and apples. He wasn't too sure about the bananas and carrots at first, but he likes them now... and he LOVES LOVES LOVES sweet potatoes, butternut squash, and apples. And he's definitely not a fan of peaches... takes after his Momma on that one! He didn't mind peas too much, but we're still working on the green veggies. I think his apprehension with them is the color. He always checks out what is on the spoon before he takes his first bite and I just laugh. I mean really... like he has a choice in the matter. He really likes chicken... but not turkey, which I find interesting. I don't think they are all that different, especially when they are just boiled in water. But he's definitely partial to chicken.

CARROTS AND SWEET POTATOES...YUM YUM

We've also finally made the transition to the big boy crib! YAY!!! And it only took 2 nights. We transferred him 3 Sundays ago and he did okay for about 2 hours and then woke and didn't want to go back down. So we brought his bassinet in from our room and he went right back to sleep. Monday night same thing. Tuesday slept in his crib all night... and hasn’t looked back. He sleeps in there everynight! I am so proud of him and how good of a sleeper he is. I think Jeff and I are actually sleeping less now. It was nice to have him right next to me because if he started coughing or waking up in the middle of the night I could just lean over and check him. Now... I have to get up and go to his room and make sure he's okay or get him to fall back to sleep. By the time I get back in bed it takes me a while to get back to sleep. I try not to get up when he makes noises... only when he has a little coughing fit or starts to wake up. We just have a loud sleeper... and those little noises that he makes all night long wake me up. But oddly enough... they didn't when he was in the room with us. Oh well... I'm sure it will get easier... but for now we'll just go to bed a little earlier every night to try and compensate.

Last Saturday we took Porter to the Stockshow and Rodeo for the first time. He had a blast. I don't think he's ever been so alert and interested in what was going on, at least in the Stockshow. He fell asleep for the better part of the actual rodeo... but when he was awake... boy oh boy! He didn't know what do with himself!

Happy Valentines Day everybody! Porter and I had a mini photo shoot to get Daddy's present ready! I think it turned out pretty good... considering we were using a self-timer on the camera!

Here are some extra random pictures of the last couple of months... just for you guys!

And finally... because I think it is hilarious... We decided Porter needed to start early... He was pretty excited.

Thanks for keeping up with us. Have a wonderful week! All our love.

Jeff, Erika, and Porter