Half a year!

It is crazy to think that I have a six month old now! To think I had a baby six months ago is totally weird. I say this every post but time has flown by.



Our monthly signs have to be up out of reach now. Too much fun to leave alone. ;)

Westin you are 16 lbs & 9 oz (30th percentile) & 27 3/8 inches tall (75 percentile). You are a tall boy! That is the first comment I almost always hear. How tall he is and how much he looks like his daddy. ;)

Can I just say my little Westinator you are so fun! This month you are SO active. You roll all over the place. You plank! This is soo funny. You are always in the push up position and you hold it for so long! Your daddy and I have no clue how you do it for so long! This past week you have started getting on all fours and even rocking back and forth a little. I predict by Christmas you will be crawling! Then our real parenting skills will have to come out! Ha!



Here you are "planking" with Daddy. ;)

You are sleeping great in your crib. You wake up once or twice at night sometimes and I have to pull you down back to the center of your crib because you scoot up all the way to where your little head is pushed up against the railing. You sleep about 11 hours at night. We are very thankful for that! My favorite time is first thing in the morning when I go to get you out of your crib. I know you are mine, but you ARE the cutest baby ever created! You get soo excited when we walk in your room. You giggle and give the biggest toothy grin! I love it!

Yes, I said that right. Teeth. The kid already has two bottom teeth! Crazy. Teething wasn't too bad. Some restless nights and boom there they were. We started solids when you turned 6 months. It's only been a few days and so far all you have had is sweet potatoes. You like them the most when I mix it with your rice cereal.

Here are some more pictures from this month!



This one makes me laugh!



Hands down, my favorite face you make! I call this "bird face". Too cute!

Sitting up like a big boy!

And this is what happens when you take away the monthly sign that was sitting beside him! Ha!





A Father's Love...

Do you ever feel that your thoughts are just better written out? Probably. I'm guessing a lot of us 'bloggers' feel that way. No worries. Not a mommy post. But, sort of in relation to. I can't help it. I live and breath it daily, it happens. :)

There have been many times where I have felt the love of God. Through blessings, healings, worship, friendship, during quiet times etc. I know that we have a God who loves us more than we can ever fathom. But, sometimes our feeble minds can't truly comprehend just how much. I am not sure we ever will. No matter what we do, where we have been, the choices we have made-there is a God who will love us no matter what, under no condition.

I have heard in the past that sometimes we don't fully understand the love of God until we have children of our own. Not to say that if you don't have any yet, you can't understand. Just that a child can help put things in different perspective in such a way that you have experienced a love you didn't know you could carry. I have found this in my own life.

This morning, at an insane hour my husband was off to work early to meet his boss. When I say early I mean like no sun shining...barely any cars on the road early. :) Me thinking I have an entire bed to myself to stretch back into dream land, I am awakenend by a cute but very talkative little boy jibbering over a monitor. I wait. Hopefully thinking he will drift back off. No such luck. So, in my hopes to keep the slumbering at bay, I quickly walk into his room and give him his pacifier. Only to find the poor boy soaked. Yep. Through his PJs and sheets. Darn you huggies. I trusted you!

Fastforward. I put Westin in our bed, hoping we both would just fall back asleep. Nope. So, I started my day. As my dad used to say Geese to Geese. Not sure if that's a French saying or not. But, it just means..shucks, darn..."are you kidding me!!!" I'm sure you get it. ;)

So I went ahead and fed him. All the while, the whole time he is eating sweet boy just keeps touching my face with his sweet chubby little hands. *insert pure mommy happiness overload!*  Gets me every time. I'm easy what can I say.

Thoughts of just pure joy and grattitude enter my heart as I hold my baby. I love this kid with a love I didn't know I could carry. Now, I love my husband too. He taught me a lot about unselfish love. But, O to the M to the G. I love this kid with every ounce of my being. Being covered in his vomit or *ahem* poo- phases me none. Now, when he is older that will probably change, ha! But for now it's baby vomit and his cuteness overrides any grossness.

Back to my point. As much as I love this boy, nothing he can do will ever change that. Sure, when he gets older he may test every boundary he's given. I will always love him. Always. Even if he looks me straight in the face and is flat out disrespectful. I will still love him.

I got to thinking...God loves me more than I love my son. Ya'll that is a lot. God loves us more than we do our own children. To me, it is completely mind blowing. No matter what I do. He loves me. He hold us in His arms while he burps..uh I mean pats our backs ;) and whispers in our ears, "I love you, I love you, I love you." Even if we can't comprehend like my son can't when I do. He still says it over and over. One day we will learn to listen and hear it. It is a sweet thing to know that you are loved by someone.

 He wipes us clean from time to time. He feeds us. He embraces us. He loves us more and more each day. The sight of our faces brings a smile to His face. Just like we love our children, He actually loves us more.

So today? Know that you have a Father who loves you. A Father who loves to see you grow. A Father that wants you to run to him when you fall and scrape your knee. Just so He can scoop you up and whisper I love you, I love you, I love you.

Five Months!

Westin you are five months! I am a little late getting this up. Better late than never!

He looks like he is showcasing himself! ha!



Love his baby blues. :)

Some highlights this month..

• You are my serious little thinker child. You take a while to warm up to people but, you will flash a smile! You do this really cute thing and tuck down your head like you are so shy when people talk to you! I love it, so sweet!
• You are an official crib sleeper! I think this was harder on me than you! Since we moved you, you have been sleeping like a champ! You usually go to bed around 8:30 and you sleep til 7-7:30am! Momma finally has her sleep back! Woo to the Hoo! ;)
• You aren't a fan of rice cereal. So we are going to wait.
• You are a rolling machine for the most part. At night I will wake up and look at the monitor and you are sleeping on your tummy lots!
• You will grab and reach for EVERYTHING. My phone, coffee, whatever. I need to be careful!
• You love Maggie Moo. You will pet and smack her. :)
• You giggle all the time. I love it so much.
• You love peek a boo. You just laugh each time we pop up and startle you!

You are so fun. Your personality shines these days. I love it so much! I can't believe you are on your way to being a whole half year already! Say what?! How in the world did that happen?

We love you so much our little Westinator! ;)

• 

Pun'kin Patch!

Before we had the little Mr. JC and I would totally go to festivals, tree farms at Christmas, and little farms to pick fresh fruit, etc. We would always say we couldn't wait to have little ones to bring with us one day and do family things like this! So thankful that this year we totally have a cutie pie to take with us. Granted he will remember none of it, I was so excited to get pictures of him! I took a lot, here is just a few! :)

I think his eyes, minus the eyebrows look like my dad in this pic!

His face in this one cracks me up!

We had a really good time. No it wasn't chilly at all. Boo. Come on cold weather, please come and visit us!

I love my serious little toot. I should totally do a post of the "many faces of Westin!" ha!

Year Six

It has been that long. Six years ago, life was pretty good! I had met this wonderful man who had been orchestrated into my life at the most perfect time. We were in love and inseperable. With years of my family life not being entirely interesting. My life suddenly had gotten so different.

I don't like to think of this time in particular. Mainly because it's hard. Six years ago my dad entered heaven. With all of my heart, I believe Jesus excepted him with open arms that day. No one likes to remember, for good reason, the time of life when you lost someone so precious to you.

Certain songs bring me back there. Particular places spark a thought and suddenly there you are in the midst of that awful moment again. A moment that you were so unprepared for. A moment that changed everything.

It was hard. Life was confusing. Life was getting really good and suddenly everything that I knew became so blurry. My focus was shot. Even those of us who are strong, break and become weak.

The Lord was there though. Through the entire process. I can remember feeling a peace that I couldn't understand why I had during such a heart breaking time. Why? Why am I not crying and losing it as much as everyone else? Not that I didn't. I can remember driving my dads truck the night of his passing back to our house. Screaming. Litterally. At the top of my lungs. Tears. Me violently shaking while, driving. Definitely probably shouldn't have been driving, now that I think of it. But, my world had been shaken to the core. I had never before experienced anything like this. Ever.

But, somehow in the midst of it all I could see the Lords face. I felt His presence ever so near to me. I cried out and He was faithful. Was it hard? Yes. Life became different. You see and feel things differently when things like this happen.

I can look back now and see the blessings that came from it. I can see how the Lord was with me. He gave me my husband. Poor guy had NO idea what to say or do. But, all that he did was perfect. I can't imagine what or how I would have handled it, would roles have been reversed. He held me as I cried into his arms not sure how to respond. He cried with me. He was a big source of Joy in my life at that time. That was Gods blessing to me. He knew that I would need his freindship and love.

The Lord comforts us during hard times. He is always faithful. Always. Even with six years being passed. I still miss my dad. I miss hearing his voice. I hope that I never forget what it sounds like. I miss the way he would walk by and reach out his hand, just so I would grab it. I miss his goofy laugh. I miss his tender heart and the way that he would cry when he was proud of me. I miss that he wasn't able to walk me down the aisle at my wedding. Now, I miss that Westin never got the chance to know his little Frenchmen of a Grandpa. My dad was a good Grandpa. I miss him. That will never change. Each year as this time comes I am reminded of a dad who loved his kids with all that he had. A man who was genuinely kind and funny. A man who really was a good father. I am also reminded that God never leaves us or forsakes us when we need Him the most. He is always there waiting to embrace us.

Love you and miss you dad!

Four Months!

Westin you are four months old! This past month has gone by so quickly, my son.

Some of your stats:

Weight: 14 lbs and 4 oz 49%

Height: 26.5 Inches! (you grew 3 inches in 2 months!) 90%

Head: 15 7/8 inches 50%

Eating: This month we have (finally) gone up to 5-5 1/2 oz per feeding. Sometimes you will eat 6 ounces, but that is it. You are still soley on breastmilk except for one feeding. You are not the biggest eater, you never have been. Sometimes this makes me a nervous wreck because I want to make sure you eat all that you need to. The doctor says you are perfect though and gaining just as you should. You just don't have the biggest appetite. You typically don't even cry to tell us when you are hungry. You eat every 3-4 hours. Except at night of course. We can introduce rice cereal if we want to, but because you seem satisfied with the breastmilk, I am not in any hurry to.

Sleep: Oh, glorious little sleeper you are! We have finally really got into a good groove this past month, hallelujah! Bedtime is 8-8:30. You go to bed no later than 9. This month I am seriously considering seeing if I can push up your bedtime to 7:30. We shall see. You typically wake up between 6-7 am for your morning feeding. You are all smiles when we come to get you up! You are also a good little napper. You usually will talk yourself to sleep which is by far the cutest little thing to hear!

Play: We still do plenty of tummy time. I think you love this more than anything. You can roll from your back to your side, almost all of the way. But, when you are on your tummy-you always roll on to your back. When you first started doing this you would get mad! You didn't like it at all which was funny! You grab at EVERYTHING! When I am holding things, you want to see it! You love to look at your little teether books. You sit in your bumbo and also play in your excersaucer!

Personality: I can truly say that as a mom, this is my favorite thing to see! I love that your sweet personality is coming alive! You smile all of the time now! All I have to do is look at you and grin, and you will give me one right back! You are super tickleish. You giggle and grunt with a big smile when I tickle you. You get so excited when daddy or I come over to you. You kick, throw your arms around and get big happy eyes! You also jibber jabber con-stant-ly! If I am in the store, when you are tired, when you play, sometimes when I am trying to feed you, you will look up and just coo like you need to tell me something at that moment! I.love.it. : ) You have become so social lately. I hope it grows even more! I want you to love everyone! You still love you some bath time. You will kick and splash now. I can already see the future and in a couple of months I just know that we will be completely soaked after baths. ;)

You truly are the sweetest baby. You typically don't cry, unless you are irritated with something. When you are mad-you.are.mad You can get a little att-ti-tude at times. Not sure who you get that from! ;) You really are easy going baby though. I love being your mama. I love seeing you grow and learn. But, at the same time it makes me sad to think at how fast it truly goes by.

We.love.you.more.than.you.will.ever.know.

Hello there Mr.Turtle.

Three Months!

Westin you are three months old! My has time seriously flown by! You are the sweetest boy and each day my love for you grows even more!

This month you have started sleeping so good! Up until this week you were still getting up once to eat around 3-4am. But, this week you surprised mommy and slept til 8:30-5:45am! I was shocked and so excited! The next night you did it again and slept till 5am! Last night, you got up around 4 again. So, you are still trying to work it out. But, progress has been made and I couldn't be happier! You still sleep in the co-sleeper next to our bed. We have bath time every night around 8. I lotion you up, put you in your PJs, feed you and you are in bed usually by 9. I can lay you down wide awake and you usually never make a peep. You know it is bed time! I have started putting you in your crib during naps and you really are doing great! I give all credit to the sound machine we have. I must mention that after we give you your early morning feeding, you go back to sleep. I have to wake you up every morning! I swear you would just keep sleeping if I let you!

You love tummy time still. You can be tempermental sometimes about your play mat. I think you have a love hate relationship with it. :) You love your bouncy chair. I am not sure what we would do with out that thing! By far my favorite must have mommy item. You sit in it everyday so mommy can get a shower, fix her hair and get dressed. Thankfully you love to listen to the hairdryer. However when I put on my make up, you always start fussing! Typical man.. ;) I guess I am taking too long to get ready!

You started to sit in your Bumbo chair. You only last about 5 minutes or so, then you are done. You love to be faced out when we hold you, so you can look at everything. You are still fascinated at Maggie. You always just stare when she comes near you. I am not a fan of the doggie kisses all over baby thing, so mommy usually doesn't let her get too close. I know eventually I will have to get over it though, because you will be chasing her. Sigh. Maggie really loves you though!

You have gotten much better about eating. You don't take forever to eat anymore, which is great! You are still at about 4.5 ounces per feeding every 3-4 hrs. I have tried to offer you more and you are not interested. You will roll the bottle on your toungue and act like you have never used one before! That is how we know you are full. Your new thing is you have started to squeal when it is time to burp in the middle of feedings. You get so mad at us! You just want to keep eating!

You look SO much like your daddy. :)

You sitting up in your Bumbo! You look so big already. :(

You were also dedicated this month back to the Lord!

Westin we absolutely adore you being in our lives and can't imagine you not in it! We love you little man!

Love,

Your Mama