Gaines- Nine Months

 (TeeHee-Awkward!)

 Those legs!!

 Say What!?

  Whew. I may have gone a little picture crazy!

Gaines Facts

• Weight: 22 lbs
• Diaper Size: 3
• Clothing: 12 months
• Sleep: We have almost completely dropped the third nap of the day. He takes two 1-1.5 hour naps. They are usually around 8:30 and 12:30. He goes to bed between 6-7. On good nights, he just wakes up once around 3:00. I still nurse him back to sleep if he gets up before 7:00 am.
• Eat: Big changes. At the last minute, we decided to not take the boys to Savanna's (Brooks's sister) wedding. I didn't have enough milk in storage, so around Thanksgiving, I started him on formula. He has done pretty well when he gets a bottle. I know I am running low on producing breast milk, so he gets formula at the 3:00 feeding. I try to give it to him in a sippy cup too. He is eating more table foods too. 
• Peepers might need to be called Chompers. He has 10 teeth, and 11 is not behind.
• He is cruising all over the house. Sometimes he tries to let go of the furniture, but is still a little hesitant.
• He can crawl really fast though.
• Claps his hands and says "Yay!"
• At his nine month doctor appointment, I was concerned because he wasn't saying things like "MaMa" or "DaDa." Well, as soon as he got home, he started saying "DaDa" and babbling all the time. I am not sure if this is a 9 or 10 month update fact.
• Moved to a big boy carseat. Thanks Nana and Gran!
• He really likes his momma....no really.
• Woody and Dad are pretty great too,
• One night, I watched him on the monitor put himself to sleep. He was sucking on the ear of his lovie. It was precious. 

Good, Happy Weekend

Do you ever feel like the Christmas season is a bunch of "noise?" My husband perfectly described what the season has felt like lately. We get so wrapped up in the go-go-go, even when the go-go-go is good. It has been incredibly hard for me to focus on the reason why we celebrate Christmas when I feel my head and time with all of the insignificant things the bombard me.

This weekend was exactly what I needed to refocus my mind. A reminder of how good God is to me, especially with blessing me with my loving family and dear friends. A weekend full of those things was just what I needed. 

On Friday, I met my friends Alyssa and Catherine to ride the Pink Pig. We thought we were playing it safe by going on a weekday, but we still stood for over an hour in line. (I should have learned my lesson from this time.) I am grateful for my sweet friends who helped me with the boys, especially when I had to park my stroller.

Obsessed with these Christmas sweaters! Thank you Mimi!

 Catherine and Gracelyn

Alyssa and Watts 

When I had to ditch my stroller, I ditched my camera in my bag, so the rest of these are from my phone. Woody was OBSESSED with Priscilla the Pink Pig. (BTW- I wasn't supposed to take this picture, but I had already snapped it when they told me no personal photography. Sorry!!) He kept running back to her to give her a hug. When other children tried to visit with her, he would run in front of them to try to get in her lap. No the best manners, but still cute.

They would only allow two to a seat, so Woody rode behind me with a little girl. It was his first blind date. He loved the ride!

And so did Peepers!

On Saturday, we did yard work, refinanced our house, and went grocery shopping. Sounds super boring, but I am thankful for those things. Saturday night I met my friends for Libby's birthday. It was nice to get away for the evening and have some kid-free time. (Lucky me, I met my old teacher friends Wednesday night too.)

On Sunday, we went to church with these little candy grams.

I can't express how much I love knee socks.

Other fun stories

Woody loves to rearrange our pantry and snack cart. I saw that the bowl the keeps the clementines in it was empty and on the floor.

And then I found them here...

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Woody is obssessed with his ABCs. He says them all the time. I especially love when he says T (tay) and W (dub-lu.)

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Gaines and Woody fight all the time. Over e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. I feel like this is the way things are going to be for a while. However, every now and then I catch them being sweet to each other.

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I love Christmas with the boys. Woody loves to play with the tree, therefore Gaines loves to play with it too. The tree is in the den, which I try to keep the boys out of (or at least their toys.) However, we go in there several times a day to look at the tree. Woody was annoying me because he found this hot pink glitter ornament he kept trying to hang on my white and silver ornament tree. 

It hit me though, with today being the anniversary of the horrible Sandy Hook tragedy, I am so thankful for the little hands that hung that pink ornament. It is staying on the tree. And it may be my favorite one.

My precious guys!

And thank you, Nana, for our Santa shirts!

(In case you are wondering, I never buy my kids clothes.)

Oh, hello

Is this about Thanksgiving? Nope.

Gaines' 9 Month Update? Nope.

Savanna's wedding? Nope.

Although I need to blog about all of those, this is what you get for tonight.

Let's sum up today... canceled lunch date for dishwasher delivery, dishwasher delivered, but not installed, dishwasher currently residing in dining room, traffic jam going to PRESCHOOL (seriously, how does a preschool parking lot get so jacked up?!), no naps (Gaines), busted lip (Gaines...lots of blood), poop in the tub (Gaines) and spilling the tub of poop on the bathroom floor, thrown milk (Woody), thrown beans (Woody), current screaming baby because I refuse to nurse him every three hours during the night (Gaines), and a momma who finally got a shower after (too) many days without. Welcome to the Harvard house!

I know that I must be a gem to come home to. #Blessed Brooks hasn't flown the coop.

I use to completely judge those women that stayed at home and didn't have immaculate homes and delicious meals ready for their husbands. I get it now. The struggle is real.

I tried to get pictures of the boys in their Christmas pajamas. 

Which would you like for your 8x10?

Can we talk about that turtleneck?

Can we talk about those teeth? (9 of them)

I adore watching him play with his nativity. It is so sweet to see him act out the story of Jesus' birth.

Sike. I had just removed Mickey Mouse and Chase from Paw Patrol from their "house."

Nighty night. Gaines is still screaming.

Gaines' Baptism

Like I said previously, these pictures are all from Sister's blog. I am so lucky to have an on-the-ball sister to document all the important milestones for my kids' lives! She has even more pictures here.

I was raised Southern Baptist, so infant baptism was something I was new to (when we baptized Woody.) And in case you were interested in reading more about it, check it out here.

 (See my cute shoes? They belonged to Brooks' grandmother.)

 Dr. Pentz spoke about the importance of Gaines Alton's name. I have mentioned before, but Gaines was Brooks' grandfather's and uncle's name. Grandfather Gaines passed away when his plane went down on a mission for the US Air Force. It was very special since Gaines was baptized on the Sunday before Veteran's Day.

I would also like to take a quick second to talk about the other men where Gaines gets his name from too. I never met Uncle Gaines, but I love hearing stories about him. He reminds me of Brooks. He was funny and the life of a party. He also had a gift for flipping houses and wasn't afraid to try something new. I think we would have gotten along great! 

My Paw-Paw, Alton, meant so much to me. I grew up around the corner from his house. After my brother and sister left for college, I would go to his house after school. He called me Cotton Top, and sometimes I miss this nickname. Not only did he give me nickname, but all of his grandchildren...and his grandchildren's friends....and boyfriends/girlfriends! Sometimes they weren't the nicest nicknames, but it was special that he took such an interest in our lives. I wish that Brooks could have met him (mostly so I could get a nickname for him.)

And finally, my brother, William Alton. There are eleven years and one week between us, and I have always looked up to him. He is a natural-born leader (including being a principal.) When I was little, he would take me on "dates." I think it was probably so he had an excuse to see those cartoon movies or to show girls how "sweet" he was. One time he took me to see Dumb and Dumber when I was 8. It was awesome. 

I hope Gaines displays the characteristics of these men. Strong, dependable, outgoing, bold, brave, funny...I could go on and on!

 We held our breath, and Woody did pretty good. He climbed on the pulpit to give a sermon only once!

After, my sweet cousin, Becky, and her husband, Howard, hosted a brunch for our friends and family. Not only was it beautiful, but I got to chat with everyone without worrying about food or cleaning up! Extremely appreciative to them!

 Woody loved sticking his feet in the cornhole holes. He may be on to a new game!

 Gaines and my dad

 Gaines is so happy to be a child of God!

 My family (except for my sister's husband, Robbie)

I am so bummed I didn't get a picture with Brooks' family!

The grandkids

(Gaines-8 months, Marrell- 6, Maddox- 10, Hollon- 2 months, Jake- 5.5, Woody-2)

Woody is nothing but consistent when it comes to pictures.