7 Months and Milestones

My baby boy is 7 months old. It's hard to believe that in just 5 short months we'll already be celebrating his 1st birthday.

He has become a professional sitter and has quickly learned how to more carefully lower himself to the floor instead of falling and smacking his head into the floor. It still happens occasionally, but not as often.



He is a rolling machine. If you turn your back for 2 seconds that kiddo is clear on the other side of the room...and always getting into something that he's not supposed to. Cords, shoes, books. You name it, he's found it. And like all babies, he's fascinated and just keeps going back for more. He doesn't get the concept of "No" yet. He usually just laughs at us, but then gets ticked off when we move him back to his toys. Silly boy.





He likes to eat! We haven't found a food that he doesn't like yet. I think his favorites so far are carrots and applesauce. He scarfs those down! He enjoys a graham cracker from time to time too. He eat those better than the little puffs!





He is now in his big boy car seat. It was bittersweet. How did this little baby go from this:



To this?:



He digs his new ride! He's got more wiggle room and can stretch out. I thought he might miss his hanging toys, but he seems content to play with his regular toys. The only part the stinks is if he drops them.

He went to the park for the first time this past month too. He wasn't too sure of the swing, but ended up liking it in the end.



Adding to the list of firsts, he has his own pool now and got to take a dip earlier in the week! Hopefully we'll get out more this week. I would've liked to have taken him out again, but I've been sick with a bad cold, which has been no fun at all!



On Friday we went to Springfield to the Lincoln Museum.  My Grandma and family from St. Louis met us there. Daniel was such a good little boy until the end. Then he was tired and fussy. It was still a good time though!



Yesterday was the big 7 months though! It wasn't the best of days. I think the poor boy is trying hard to cut some teeth, but they aren't cooperating. I did get a few smiles though!



He never ceases to amaze me. I love watching him learn and grow and I feel so incredibly blessed to be his mommy. He's brought a joy to my life that I could never imagine. I love when he'll just burst into laughter over something silly. I love his squeals. I love when I can sneak in a few snuggles even though usually he just wants to "Go, go go!" I love that he's learning to reach his arms out to be picked up. Yeah. I love everything about him! How could I not??

Playing Catch Up

I don't even know where to begin. So much has happened since I last wrote.

My Grandpa passed away the same evening that I wrote my tribute post to him. He was sleeping (induced by the meds) when I talked to my mom in the early evening. She asked me if I'd like her to hold the phone up to his ear so I could say one final goodbye. I knew it would be hard, but I wanted to do it. I couldn't say much, because I was crying, but I did get to tell him that I loved him and that I would see him again someday. He passed a couple hours later.

The funeral wasn't until over a week later, but it worked out so that everyone who could get back to Iowa did get back.

The day before we left for Iowa, Jacob and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary! We had tickets for a Cardinals game and sat in the Champion's Club. I still haven't uploaded my pictures from the game, but we had a great time. We had some amazingly delicious food from an endless buffet. I'm pretty sure they lace their brownies with crack. Mmm. Plus the Cardinals pulled out a win for us! Daniel stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Elam and was awake when we got home at 11:30! He had been sleeping, but woke up and couldn't get settled back down. Thankfully he slept well once I did get him to sleep. (He wanted to play first!).

The next day we left for Iowa around 1:00. We needed time to sleep in and recover from the night before. I had agreed to drive the whole way since Jacob drove us to St. Louis and back. Ugh. I felt like that drive took an eternity.

Since writing every single thing that went on while we were there would take an eternity, I'll just recap a little bit.

*Daniel met his Auntie Erica



*He also had fun showing off his cuteness for everyone else too.



*He and cousin Zach were reunited. I think they were better buddies this time.



*Erica and I went on a hike at Morgan Creek in honor of Grandpa who used to take us there all the time.



We went wading where Grandpa would always let us wade. It wasn't the same without his hankie to dry our muddy feet. Instead we used mom's socks that she let us borrow. Ha ha!



*Got to hang out with my sisters (and Daniel chilled with us too because they just can't resist him)





*Grandpa's funeral was Saturday. The visitation was before the service. I thought I was doing okay when I went up to see his body. I cried, but I felt okay about it all. Then Grandma came up again and she lost it. That made me cry more. I just stood there and held her while she cried. The service was great. Different than any other funeral I've been to. There was a military salute (I can't think of what it's actually called, so that'll have to do.) It was the first time I've seen one of those. I cried through most of it because it was so neat. I lost it when they started playing Taps. Aunt Jeanne did a reading of Grandpa's life. Mom read some of my memories of Grandpa and a poem that Erica wrote. A couple of Grandpa's favorite songs were played. One was Beyond the Sunset and I can't think of the other one. It was really cool though. Uncle Mike was the one who did the funeral and did an excellent job. My Uncle Bill even accepted Christ. (An AMAZING feat!) There were tears and there was laughter. As they took the casket out they played the song Grandpa wanted...Happy Trails. It was perfect.

The ladies of Valley View did a fantastic job with the dinner. I had done my crying and the dinner was a time for laughter. Daniel was such a good boy. He was in the nursery during most of the viewing and all of the funeral service. He got to see his Great Grandma Thatcher who drove up for the service.



And later he went outside with Grandpa to watch the cars go by.



A very special day.

*That evening the boys aka Jeff and Jacob went to Buffalo Wild Wings with Tim and some guys from Valley View while the girl cousins all went to Texas Roadhouse. Good times!







*Kisses goodbye with Zachary!



*Love from Great Aunt Jeanne!



*Sunday we went over to visit Great Grandma. She seemed to be doing much better that day. Daniel made her smile!



*He also got a boo-boo that day. He face planted into the laptop. He cried pretty hard, but as you can see he doesn't seem too bothered by it about 10 minutes later!



*Saying bye bye to Great Aunt Donna!



It still feels weird to say it was a good trip, but it was. Sad, yes. But happy too. New memories were made and Grandpa would've been okay with that!

I have much more to catch up on and hopefully I will this week! My baby boy turned 7 months old today! How is that even possible!?!? Time just keeps flying by.

Memories With Grandpa S.

As you all know, my Grandpa is VERY sick right now. I really don't think he's going to make it. There are just so many things wrong. I'm okay with him passing, but I want my aunts to get the have their goodbyes first. My mom called me in tears yesterday. I've been crying on and off since then. I do not plan to go back to Iowa until he passes away (I'm kind of just preparing for the worst by saying that). We just visited less than 2 weeks ago, he was happy and alert. I choose to remember him that way. I had the opportunity to say goodbye to my Great Grandma and my other Grandpa before they passed away, but I already feel like I have closure. I told him that I loved him before we walked out the door.

I don't want to dwell on the sadness right now though. I am posting this to remember the happy times. (Although, I know I'll be in tears as I type it.)

Memories With Grandpa S. (in no particular order)

1. The Penny Man would always come an visit me when I was at Grandma's and Grandpa's house. Who is the Penny Man you ask? Why, he leaves pennies in the backseat of cars! They were always shiny and new and I'd run out to the car to see  if he came! I learned from Grandpa 2 weeks ago that I also used to look up the exhaust pipe because I thought he lived in there. (Something tells me Grandpa told me he did).

2. Hikes at Morgan Creek Park. We always found walking sticks (and would hide them in the pavilion rafters before we left) for our hikes. He'd always stop to let me throw rocks in the water. The best times were when he let me wade in the creek! Then he'd give me his hankie to dry my feet.

3. There was a bridge over the creek at Morgan Creek and whenever there was no water I would make him play "3 Billy Goats Gruff" with me. He had to be the troll under the bridge!

4. On VERY rare occasions Grandpa would take me to the DQ. I only can remember twice and both times I got an ice cream cone.

5. When I was still pretty little Grandpa was still working at Quaker Oats. Before he'd leave for work in the afternoon he would pick me up and "bonk" my head on the light fixture in the kitchen. I thought it was hilarious.

6. I liked to go out in the backyard at their house and watch him work in his gardens. One day I was helping him pull carrots and a worm wiggled out of the ground. I shot off like a rocket...I hated worms.

7. Although funny enough...he had a wooden box filled with dirt and night crawlers that he kept in the fridge downstairs...and I always wanted to look at them, so he'd take me down to see them.

8. I remember being at their house the day he was putting up a new ceiling fan in the kitchen. He told Grandma to hold on to it (as it was dangling from the ceiling) while he went downstairs to get something. Well...it crashed to the floor and I heard the longest string of swear words I've ever heard. I believe I was ushered into the bedroom to watch TV after that happened.

9, He liked to watch wrestling so I'd watch it with him. I called it, "Bing Bang Boom".

10. I also watched the Bulls with him. It was back in the days of Michael Jordan. Dennis Rodman was always coloring his hair, so he called him Popsicle Head.

11. He was the first person to take me fishing. I caught a blue gill and I made him take it home because I wanted him to eat it.

12. One time when we went fishing I really had to pee. He pointed to a weeping willow tree and told me I could go under it because no one would see me. Let's just say I didn't quite get the whole squatting thing figured out, so we had to go home because I was all wet. Grandma was not happy with him!

13. We could eat until we were ready to burst at their house. Grandma would give me a HEAPING bowl of ice cream and when it was gone Grandpa would ask me if I wanted another bowl.

14. When Grandpa laughs the skin under his chin wobbles. My sisters and I always called it his turkey gobbler laugh. That's when he was super amused by something.

15. I forgot my bug catcher at home one time and I wanted to catch lightning bugs. Grandpa drilled holes in the lid of a peanut butter jar for me so I could still catch them.

16. Once when I spent the night their sewer backed up. I thought it was ridiculous that I had to use a bucket in the backyard to go to the bathroom! ha ha!

17. Grandpa put up a tire swing for us in the backyard. There was also a swing in the apple tree until it go stuck by lightning.

18. We always climbed the tower together at Pinicon Ridge...as Grandma stood on the ground freaking out that I would fall. He would always write my name up at the top with a pen but it would always wash off, so one day he carved it with his pocket knife.

19. He and Grandma always took me to feed the ducks at Robin's Lake and Ellis Park.

20. They also would take me to Bever Park Zoo. It was back when you could feed animals so he would give me a bucket of corn and a bucket of apples to feed them!

21. He totally convinced me once that peanut butter makes paper taste good. I decided to try it...but Grandma intercepted it just as I was going to take a "bite".

22. He also convinced me that if I swallowed watermelon seeds I would grow one in my stomach.

23. He would drive Grandma and I around to look at Christmas lights.

24. Once in the car a grasshopper jumped through the window and onto my lap. I started freaking out so Grandpa stopped the car to rescue me.

25. Grandpa told me a few years ago about a time we were walking at the park when I was pretty young. He claims I fell in a puddle and then yelled out, "Oh, damn-it!" I have NO memory of this, but I'll bet his "gobble chin" was shaking.

26. I always found it hysterical when we would get in the car because Grandma always took forever coming out of the house. He'd wait til she walked in the front of the car and honk at her. She'd jump a mile and we'd laugh hysterically. Poor Grandma.

27. The year of the exploding macaroni! Glass shattered everywhere.

28. When I think of Grandpa I always think of him in his denim jacket.

29. He and I would sit at the table and eat oyster crackers in milk with a spoon out of a coffee mug. I'm kinda craving that now.

30. I'll always be thankful that he came to my wedding and posed for a picture and that he got to meet Daniel. I'm sad Daniel will never really know him, but I'm glad they met.

I love you, Grandpa "S"! Thanks for all of the memories...even all of the ones that I didn't list.

Summer Fun

So far, I am loving summer...even though it isn't officially summer.

Yesterday Jacob's parents came over in the afternoon to visit. We grilled out for supper and it was delicious! Daniel enjoyed showing off for Grandma and  Grandpa so much that he refused to even nap! You would never have known though, because he was pretty happy go lucky! Well, other than when Grandpa tried to get him to touch the grass again, anyway!



He loves his grandparent's though!





He gets to hang out with them again next week too! I couldn't believe it when I realized yesterday, that our 3rd anniversary is next Wednesday! That kind of snuck up on me. I'm pretty excited though, because Jacob and I will be heading to St. Louis for a Cardinals game! It'll probably be my only one of the season, so I'm gonna live it up! Plus, I'm not nearly as nervous about leaving Daniel this time Once I got past the first day of leaving him, I know I can do it! Besides, this time we won't be gone quite as long.

I love having things to look forward to and I realized do, even after the Cardinal game! My mom will be coming to stay for a few days at the end of June while Jacob is gone for a conference. It's funny because before Daniel I had no problem staying alone. Now, I like knowing that I have someone else with me at night. It'll be nice having her here and one day that week we're going to meet up with Jacob's mom and go shopping at the outlet mall. Woohoo!

Then in just over a month I get to see Erica, Jim and Logan! They're road trippin' across the US and are going to stop here overnight before going on to Wisconsin. Then they'll be off to Iowa for 5 days or so, which means we're road trippin' it over to Cedar Rapids again! I'm glad they're stopping here though so they can see where we live. (And maybe Erica and I can find the circus elephant that is apparently buried in Taylorville. Ha ha!) I'm excited for all of us to be together in Iowa too. Super excited for some quality sister time. I'm just thankful that I've gotten to see Erica at least once a year since she's moved, but it's not nearly enough still!

That's about it for the really fun stuff, but I'm enjoying just hanging out at home. One of my favorite times of day is when Daniel wakes up in the morning. We bring him into our bed for 15 or 20 minutes and we all just hang out. Then we just chill for the most part. It nice having Jacob home because I can run errands like grocery shopping alone. I even hit up a couple of garage sales last week and I think I'll start going to more now. Time to start looking for more clothes. My stash is dwindling as Daniel goes up in sizes!

I'm even contemplating having another garage sale myself. We'll see if I can get ambitious enough for that one. I have boxes of stuff in the basement that I have in a donate and/or sell pile. Jacob and I are going to be going through the basement this summer and cleaning. I have the urge. The urge to purge! We, as Americans have so much STUFF. Mostly things we wanted and then never use. I get sick of looking at things and want to get rid of stuff...and yet I find myself wanting more at the same time. Crazy, I tell ya.