Handmade Soap !!

A good friend of mine makes soap!!

She brought some over as a house warming gift when Jon

and I bought our house... It's a wonderful thing when someone

can take a talent or crafty way about themself and turn it into

their own business venture. It's important we support them as friends.

Her page on etsy is great!!

check it out at http://www.luxuryfalls.etsy.com/

Num num num...

Funny stuff !!

Apparently some babies have trouble with this eating thing....

not our baby !! (go figure)

The only reason he made a mess was because he can't go longer then

a split second without putting his fingers back in his mouth to chew on!

Growing by leaps and bounds!!

Every single day this baby is changing...He is growing in leaps and bounds!!

He discovered his fingers VERY early on and has since decided their purpose must be for his

continuous chewing enjoyment...We swaddle him at nights and when he wakes up the first thing

he does is wiggle out one hand so he can chomp on those fingers! Ofcourse at about a month old he began losing his adorable hair; curl and all... The patchy hair was classic! Some parts auburn, some blonde, some dark brown... loved it !! In April he started cracking some grins. By the end of the month he was hamming it from ear to ear !! He loves to smile...especially at his momma. He has very expressionable eye brows and makes alllll kinds of funny faces. I'm guessing he will be part fish and love the water, love to swim. He loves baths and just smiles when water gets in his eyes. He's been to the pool twice and hasnt been overly fond of  the experience, but who can blame him... that water is ice cold!!

In May (21st to be exact!) he rolled over for the first time... it was at mimi's house and I was lucky enough to be there... amazing how something so simple can make my entire day !! He had his 4 month shots last week.... such a trooper for such a little guy. He sets up in his bumbo chair very nicely... and thanks 

to the jumperoo his leg muscles are getting strong and he wants to stand a lot more already. I would venture 

to say he will walk early... Amazement of ones own child is a beautiful thing !!  

Congrats to the grad...you monkeys belong in the ZOO!

In May, we hiked it (drove) down to attend Jaxson’s pre-k graduation. It is big time graduating pre-k and moving on to kindergarten! Kids are all funny, chaotic, and charming in their own little ways…Jaxson being no exception. His graduation was cute and there is a possibility we have a class clown on our hands? We stayed the night with Clay and Rachel and took him to the Little Rock zoo the next day… Kellen’s first trip to the zoo! Poor little guy didn’t get to see much, mostly chilled out in the travel system! He was good as always. Jaxson got to enjoy some friendly giraffes, some hungry prairie dogs and some obviously ecstatic chimpanzees. Jaxson is old hat at going to zoos. I can not wait until Kellen is big enough to be up and about watching the animals as I watch him… cant wait for those expressions and wide eyes as he spots flamingos and lions and hippos. Cant wait!! We did witness the traumatizing event of a little girl losing her flip flop. So sad  She walked up to an empty fenced in area where the bear was supposedly residing only to be disappointed that there was no bear. As she walked away from the railing her flip flop got stuck in the bottom bar and down, down it went into the empty water-way surrounding the bear cage. Oooooh she was not a happy camper. All day walking around the zoo with only ONE flip flop! This was a traumatic event. I do hope they were able to work this out. I’m guessing a $10 zoo ice cream cone or a $50 zoo stuffed animal might have appeased the situation  WE, on the other hand, had a semi close call. Jon only brought a few bucks cash in with him thinking he could use his ATM card…WRONG!

Jaxson had just eaten, but apparently the thought of a corn dog was overwhelming him. He was bound and determined to get a corn dog from that zoo! Fortunately for us, the monkeys were coming up next…and we just happened to get there at feeding time, so the zoo keeper was rallying them up! Whew, that was a close one. It was about to be drama city up in the animal kingdom! Monkeys going bananas would be an understatement. We were highly entertained. Well worth the zoo tickets on that day!!

It's the end of the world as we know it...

Ooooooooooooh Baby! You can hear from others how 'life changing' and exciting having a baby is...it's not until I actually had the baby that I realize nothing around me would ever be the same...Not even flowers smell the same! It's a mind altering, world dominating experience. UNREAL. Our son was born in February. He made a grand entrance as I knew he would. A mothers intuition runs deep, and starts early !! I 'knew' from day one I wouldnt need to go through classes on natural child birth. If there is something in life I absolutely do not, will not, or can not see myself doing then the chances it has ever or will ever occur is slim to NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! That's just how it's been for me...I didnt necessarily 'know' how or why I felt that way but I had a pretty good feeling that meant a C-section was going to be thrown my way. That, however, did not stop me at the time from being completely terrified or in denial of the C-section. After 27 some odd hours of trying to get him here naturally it was the only solution. My baby's cord was around his neck and he wasn't going to make it here on his own. He arrived three weeks early. I had just had two baby showers, one was that Sunday night. I told all the girls I hadn't even packed my bags for the hospital yet. That night there was a strong urgency to get those packed! As in, drop everything get the bags and get them filled with exactly what the baby and I will need for our glorious vacation away from home.. (an hour later bags were packed and ready to go!) ... At 3 a.m. I woke up to my water breaking. TRIPPY experience! The rest is just what it is! An amazing life experience I hope to never forget, and the grand entrance of what I as a mom consider the COOLEST baby on the block !! The first few weeks home were 'wall eyed'. Up around the clock, no sleep, not much food, no sleep, changing diapers, no sleep... no sleep, no sleep, no sleep ! And um, some of the 'after baby' experiences?? The phrase WTF comes to mind, but in efforts to keep this G rated I will say this: What in the world ! and WHY didn't any of you that went on and on about telling me stories and baby happenings... WHY didnt you warn me about that jazz ! Enough said, moving on.

I was able to stay home with Kellen for the first 8 weeks. That also happened to be the exact amount of time I needed to recover... worked out nicely. I did manage to take many many pictures. However, alllllll the research and planning and preparing I had done in order to ensure I had the most fabulous baby portraits went out the window when the exhaustion of it all set in. In fact, four months later I am still attempting to regain even an ounce, a smidge, ANY form of energy I can muster and it's really feeling like an impossible task. Clearly not all women have such a hard time recouping from all of this.. Heidi Klum, kiss it! Seriously how that woman manages to crank out kids left and right and be back on a run way in hours is beyond my comprehension, and i'm 75% happy for her and only 25% jealous.. #$%^&*()!@ moving on-

When you go from being a newly wed couple who've just realized in the last few years how much they both love to travel, to deciding you both want to have a baby and start a family, it tends to confuse your mind just a tad... we want to see the world! We've made several trips to various places and realized we've only just began our life journeys. In my mind we would just tote a baby right along..piece of cake... Negatory! Not for now anyways, the mother hen has kicked in and I am paranoid and scared at every second of every day for his safety and well being. The idea of trapesin through Europe with him unnerves me. Maybe as he gets a little older I will lighten up, We will see. I'd love for him to experience traveling, exploring the world, do fascinating things at early ages, be adventurous...I just dont know if I can let him! God blessed me with this child. He took my heart and placed it in this tiny little baby. I will fret and worry about him for all of my days, and yet somehow still feel like this is the greatest thing that has EVER happened to me... welcome to motherhood... sigh