A Party for Peaches

We celebrated Rhett's birthday with a little party for family and a few close family friends.  My in laws were so gracious to open their home for the gathering since our little rental is not very conducing to hosting parties!  Here are a few shots from Rhett's special day.  Come on in!

For an easy personalized wreath, I tied a big burlap ribbon bow onto a purchased grapevine wreath.  Tie on a letter and you're done!  I can either take the letter off or swap it out for a "P" and continue to use it.  I'm a big believer in buying party decorations that can be recycled.  Almost all of the decorations were things I already had or borrowed from my mother-in-law.  The lanterns were all recycled from Riggins' first birthday party, but I added the pops of red to make it new for Rhett.  The vintage linens were all Mama Dot's; aren't they fantastic?      

I served a light lunch of fruit, veggies, chicken salad croissants, bunco buns (baked ham and cheese sandwiches on Hawaiian rolls, for all you non-Southerners out there!), and chips.  (AKA, what can I buy at Sam's Club that is super easy to throw together?  I'm all about good food, but when you're hosting a party it's nice to keep the food simple and easy!)  

I was going for a bit of a farm stand theme for our little "Peaches."  

Tea and lemonade, or Arnold Palmers for those who know what's good for them.

A dear family friend made the dessert and smash cake for us.  She also made our wedding cake, so it's always special to have a Linda Curry cake in our family!

  

Speaking of dessert, since Rhett is our little "Peaches," I embraced the nickname and served peach cobbler for dessert.  It was topped with Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla, of course!  Linda's peach cobbler is really like a deep dish pie; out of this world!  

Favors: Peach Rings and Peach Preserves!

Couldn't resist an opportunity to use the flag bunting I made for Riggins' first birthday party.  It was a bit different to use it in windy Oklahoma compared to Memphis where the air never seems to move!  

My ONE year old!

Grammy couldn't resist buying the adorable hat and bib!  That's what grandmothers are for!

My little crew.

Happy birthday, dear Rhettaroo!

The paparazzi watching Rhett enjoy his cake.

He was a big fan!  Unfortunately, that red icing stayed with him.  His little nose was stained red for a good 24 hours after the party!

Little naked bum on the way to the tub to wash off all that icing!

Basking in his birthday glory!  

It was a beautiful day with all of the people who love our sweet Rhett.  I was proud of myself for managing to hold back the tears until after the party.  Watching your baby grow up is so bittersweet!  

Rhett is ONE

April 5, 2013

Dear Rhett,

You are ONE, little boy!  Truly, this year has gone by in a flash.  You whisked into our lives in a hurry and your first year saw a lot of changes for our little family.  At times I felt guilty about the chaotic and transitory nature of your first year of life, ut Rhett, God knew just what he was doing when he created your life.  Your presence in our family has brought so much joy and peace into a year that could have easily been dominated by sadness and discontentment.  When we have missed Memphis and our community there, when we have questioned God's plan for our future, when we have felt lonely and unsettled, your precious spirit has brought us back to the reality of God's goodness and the joy that we can always find when we focus on our blessings.

The laid back, sweet nature that has characterized your personality since the beginning remains your disposition at a year old.  You are such a happy baby and it takes a lot to ruffle your feathers.  You have never met a stranger and still have yet to experience a separation anxiety phase.  Waving is pretty much your favorite thing, and you have the most adorable little wave: arm fully extended, hand fully flexed, twisting your wrist back and forth.  You are quick to wave if you hear anyone say hello or bye bye.  Although you have always been quick to smile, you have finally come around in the laughing department!  We're making up for that slow start by doing whatever we can to get that belly laugh: tickling, peekaboo, raspberries, and throwing you up in the air or upside down are sure bets for a good giggle.

At your check up you weighed 22 lb. 1 oz. (50th percentile) and were 32 inches long (97th percentile).  You are tall!  You wear 12-18 month clothing, a size 4 diaper, and a size 5 shoe.  You still nurse twice a day, in the morning and at bedtime, and take a sippy cup of milk with your meals.  Although you finally came around to solid food, you are a bit on the picky side!  If you don't like something, you immediately spit it out.  Your favorites include grapes, strawberries, bread, crackers, yogurt, turkey hot dogs, and fruit/veggie pouches.  Your sleeping continues to improve, and you now sleep through the night pretty consistently from 7 to 6 or so.  Your naps vary depending on the day; you always nap in the afternoon with Riggins (around 1-3) but you may or may not take a morning nap depending on our plans.  You still go to MDO on Tuesdays and Thursdays when I work, and you love it.

You started walking about two weeks before your birthday, taking your first steps towards Daddy.  The highlight of the moment was when you stopped to applaud yourself!  It took you a couple of weeks of sporadic steps here and there, but then you just started taking off!  You can still crawl ridiculously fast and will often default back to that once you've fallen.  You definitely still look a bit like a drunken sailor when walking, but day by day you're finding your balance and taking off!  Another accomplishment is learning to crawl onto Riggins' toddler bed.  I often find you sitting there, flipping through a book or bouncing on your bottom with a prideful smile on your face!

This month you did start to show some spunk when you don't get your way.  You love to be outside, and if I'm holding you when letting Weber out into the yard you absolutely fall apart when I shut the door without taking you outside too.  If we take a toy from you or say no, you collapse on the floor face-first and cry!  Apparently you're discovering your dramatic streak!

You love to be around Riggins and play with his toys, especially his little cars.  Although you aren't talking yet, you will grab a toy car and scoot it around while making a growling little "vroom vroom" sound.  You also love to get ahold of Riggins' trains and toddle through the tracks like a little Godzilla baby (much to your brother's chagrin, of course).  You discovered books this month and I often find you next to the bookshelf, flipping through a book pulling all of them off of the shelves.  

We had a small party for you at Mama Anne and Papa's house to celebrate your big day.  Grammy and Grampy came from Arkansas for the occasion.  It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed lunch and peach cobbler in your honor.  You thoroughly enjoyed your cake and your little nose was tinged with red from the frosting for a full 24 hours afterward.  Other fun events this month included your first Easter; you loved playing with all the plastic eggs!

When I think of you at one year old, I want to remember your soft blonde hair and the way it curls after your bath.  I want to remember your scrunch-nosed smile that shows your perfect little white teeth.  I want to remember seeing you take off walking after Riggins as he ran down the hall, the first of many games of chase between you two.  I want to remember your perfect little wave as you watch us drive off for a date.  I want to remember seeing you dance for the first time to David Grey, twisting your little waist back and forth to the beat as you waved your arms in the air.

Rhettaroo, I can't even begin to tell you how much we love you and what a precious gift you are to our entire family.  Thank you for bringing so much joy and comfort to our family this year.  The best part about being the second born is that your mama has a little bit of wisdom that I didn't have with your older brother.  I know now that the best truly is yet to come, and I am so thankful to have that front row seat for all the fun we still have in store!

I love you, Peaches!
Momma

Doors Opening, Doors Closing

We are in the process of trying to choose and buy our first home.  It is not my favorite thing.  Something about the permanence of this decision after many years of temporary living situations coupled with my transitory Air Force upbringing makes this process a bit overwhelming to me.  Time and time again we have been reminded that there is no perfect house and no perfect situation.  That advice is helpful, and yet we do have to seek God in making the best decision for our family and weighing those imperfect options is not simple.  

We also have the blessing and curse of a relatively open time frame.  I sometimes wish we were in a situation where we had one weekend to find a house and were forced to make a decision.  It is such a blessing to be content in our current rental situation and to have the freedom to wait on the right thing for us, and yet that openness to something better on the horizon can sometimes feel like a hinderance.  There could always be something better around the corner.  

Last week we made an offer on a home.  It was a bit smaller than we would have hoped for, but it was at a great price, in a great location, and on a gorgeous six acre lot.  To make a long story short, it turned into a bidding war with another owner and although the ball was in our court and the home was ours if we wanted it, we did not feel at peace with upping our bid and decided to walk away.

There was a clear lesson for me in this and I wanted to share it.  

Christians often use a neat, tidy little way of summing up these types of decisions: doors opening and doors closing.  If the doors keep opening, if the opportunities keep coming, then you continue to walk through them, assuming that they are green lights for God's will in the situation.  If the door closes, you stop, assuming that God has red-lighted the situation.  

And sometimes that's how it goes.  

But sometimes it isn't.  Sometimes the door is open.  Sometimes the light is green.  And sometimes God still says STOP!  Even though all the signs look like a go, sometimes the Holy Spirit just whispers that little warning or puts that hesitation in your gut, and you have to shut that door yourself and walk away.  

That's when obedience gets difficult.  Living by a moment-to-moment dependance on the prompting of the Holy Spirit can be difficult and confusing.  In the days after we let go of that house, we would occasionally look at each other and say, "Are you sure we did the right thing?"  We had to rely on our assurance of God's clear direction and not on the seemingly ideal situation we had walked from.  We are trusting that God has something different, better, in store than the great situation we had found for ourselves.  

Just wanted to share that little lesson I've been chewing on.  Perhaps it can be applicable for you in a decision you are facing.  We sure appreciate your prayers for discernment as we navigate this process of finding a more permanent home for our little family!  

Rhett is Eleven Months Old!

March 5, 2013

Dear Rhett,

How on earth are you almost one month old?  I know it is cliche but I'll say it anyway: this year has flown by and I can hardly believe that there is only one month left of your "babyhood."  What's funny is that when Riggins was this age I thought he was such a big boy.  You're growing each day, of course, but with your brother around as a point of reference, I still totally feel like you're my little bitty baby!  Watch out, buddy, because I'm pretty sure I'll still feel that way about you when you're 30.

You continue to be such a sweet joy, our little peach!  Your personality is just so endearing; calm, content, happy, and quick to smile.  Bucking all the baby timelines, you have yet to exhibit any separation anxiety.  You cheerfully go to all the ladies at church, BSF, or MDO and remain happy as a clam until I return.  Although you are a chill little guy, you have turned into a busy fella!  You are the speediest crawler and you cruise on the furniture, wreak havoc on the dog bowls, climb into the dishwasher, pull over the end tables, and climb onto your brother's bed.  Other new skills include waving, clapping, signing "all done" and "more," and playing "peekaboo" (which usually involved pressing your hands onto your eyes so hard that you smoosh up your face...hilarious!).

At eleven months you wear size 12 month clothing, 18 month pajamas, and 4 diapers.  You have eight teeth!  It's funny to think that you were once the guy who refused solid foods because now you are eating all table foods with the rest of us.  In the past month you have eaten beef bourgignon, roasted red pepper soup, and goat cheese quesadillas; quite the gourmand!  Favorites are bananas, pancakes, and crackers.  You still nurse at least three times a day but take a bottle of formula when you go to MDO.  Your sleep continues to improve; you go down around 6:30 and sleep til 5:30 before eating and then going back down for another hour or more.  I'm ready to figure out how to drop that 5:30 feeding but after the long road to getting you to sleep through the night I'm trying not to mess with you too much!  You sometimes take a morning nap, but you always nap in the afternoon with Riggins.  Your naps are typically only an hour and half, but you're so happy when you're awake that I can't fault you for sleeping less than I'd like!

Your big even this month was that daddy took you on a road trip with Mama Anne, Papa Tom, and Riggins.  The five of you drove down to Dallas where you met many of Mama Anne's extended family members, including Aunt Francille, Aunt Claudine, and cousins Sandy, Hal, and Ashley.  I was not able to join you due to work, but rumor has it that you were quite the hit!  They all agreed that you bear a strong resemblance to your Papa Todd.

When I think of you at eleven months, I want to remember your little diaper booty crawling speedily down the hallway of our little house; your proud grin as you bounce on your brother's bed after climbing up all by yourself; your scrunch-nosed smile that now reveals all of your cute little teeth; your chubby little clapping hands; your belly laugh when Daddy tickles you; your squeals of glee when Riggins does something funny.  You are such a treasure, Rhett, and we love you so much!

Love,
Momma

Waiting

We are waiting.  I'm not sure what we're waiting for exactly, but we're waiting.  And that's ok.  It can often seem that we are living life from one event to the next.  A wedding, a baby, a move, a graduation, a new job, an accomplishment.  As soon as one event ends, we are looking forward to the next.  

I shared a few pictures of our itty bitty rental, but I haven't shared much about why we are here.  We always assumed that we would buy a home before moving to Oklahoma.  Last Spring, God made it very clear through both physical and spiritual circumstances that moving immediately into a home of our own was not to be.  First world concern though it may be, there was definitely a grieving process, a coming to terms with unmet expectations.  

As is always the case, God soon reveals a bit more of his plan, and we realized that this little rental house was meant to give us time and to reveal that the things we thought we wanted and needed might not be right for us after all.  With that realization, we expected God to quickly reveal his alternative.  And yet months and months of silence have followed.  No clear leading from the Lord.  No houses with potential on the market.  No firm sense of where we are headed.

For awhile, we worried that something was wrong, that we had missed His leading somehow.  That through our own desires or disobedience we had not heard Him clearly.  But the truth was that we were seeking Him and following Him in the only way we know how and that we had not missed a thing.  Around Christmas, the Lord pressed on both of our hearts that we are just waiting, and that is ok.  

Sometimes life involves waiting.  Waiting for big things.  Waiting for small things.  Waiting for babies or houses or relationships.  Waiting for who knows what.  Heck, at this point I don't really know what we are waiting for.  Are we waiting for that big pretty house in the perfect location for the perfect price?  For the little house in the neighborhood that we never imagined living in, but that we know is exactly where God wants us?  I have no idea.  

On one hand, I feel like our family is still lost in transition.  Try as I may to establish a sense of home and consistency in this little house, the transitory nature of our situation is constantly nagging.  The lack of community and any sort of permanence makes it difficult to feel truly at home here.  

On the other hand, I feel a tremendous sense of peace and contentment.  I know without a doubt that God has perfect plans for our family that he will accomplish in his own way and in his own time.  Any scheming or manipulating on my part robs God of glory and robs me of the absolute best God can provide.  At some point, he will reveal the next step.  We can place ourselves in the best possible position to receive that leading (being in communication with a realtor, receiving updates on new properties, getting our financial ducks in a row, etc.), but beyond that we wait.  

And here has been the biggest take-away during this season.  We don't just wait like we wait in the office of a doctor who is running late: tapping our feet, strumming our fingers, flitting about the Internet on our smartphones trying to be somewhere else.  We wait by living.  We live by thriving in the everyday realities of the life we are called to today.  It is too easy to say, "When we get settled in our real house, I will meet the neighbors/entertain/keep the best home I possibly can for my family."  If I am not faithful to do those things with what I have been given today, it is not likely that I will suddenly cultivate those habits in a different environment.  Living that way sends the message that what God has given me for today is not good enough or does not matter enough to be worth my effort.  That is a sinful attitude.  One that I fall into very often.  But I am learning and growing and changing and that's what matters.  

God has been so good to direct our paths to this point.  Psalm 106 tells of God's remarkable provision for the Israelites after they were brought out of Egypt.  Verse 13 says, "But they soon forgot what he had done and did not wait for his plan to unfold."  We are clinging to the great things the Lord has done for us and the clear ways he has directed us in the past, and we peacefully wait to see his plan for our family unfold.

Rhett is 10 Months Old!

February 5, 2013

Rhett, you are such a precious little peanut!  This month's picture pretty much sums you up: sweet, happy, smiley, JOY.  You are definitely getting a bit more spunk to your personality and are starting to articulate your desires and dislikes more strongly, but overall you remain my content, happy boy.  After picking you up from the nursery at church recently, a seasoned nursery worker stopped me in the hall and said, "Now that is the best baby.  The best. Baby. Ever!"  So apparently all my gushing is not just because I'm your mother ;)

At ten months old you weigh 20.5 pounds, wear size 12 month clothing, and a size four diaper.  You have four teeth!  You still nurse about four or five times a day and are now rocking solid food.  You prefer baby food but you're branching out into finger food territory these days and can hammer a graham cracker like a champ.  Your sleeping has improved quite a bit; you sleep from 7 p.m. to about 5:30 a.m. and then go back down until about 7 a.m. after a quick feed.  You may or may not take a morning nap, depending on our daily activities, but you always nap with Riggs in the afternoons for about an hour and a half.

At ten months old you can crawl at lightening speed, pull up and cruise on furniture, and wave hello and bye bye.  You are now very interested in toys and can play independently for a good chunk of time.  You are really starting to interact with Riggins more during play time which is fun for me to watch but mostly frustrating for your brother!  He doesn't really appreciate you crawling over his train tracks, but you both do very well playing with cars on his big road map so we do that a lot!

The big occasion of your tenth month was that you started Mother's Day Out twice a week while I teach a class.  I was really worried about this change but it has been so great!  Your teachers love you to pieces and you are always excited to see them.  But then you're even more excited to see me at the end of the day...sweet boy.

You love Weber, splashing in the tub and playing peekaboo with Riggins, trying to get into the dog food, crawling around outside, looking at yourself in the mirrored closet doors, and snuggling with the whole family on our bed.  When we put you on our big bed, you get so excited that you immediately face plant and then crawl across the bed with your face smashed into the covers; hilarious!

When I think of you at ten months old, I will picture your cute little bootie crawling down the hallway, and your scrunchy-nosed grin that shows of your bottom two teeth.  I'll remember your sweet babbling voice and the way we have little conversations before bedtime each night.  I'll remember your piercing blue eyes framed by dark lashes, staring up at me as you nurse.  I'll remember your chubby baby hand waving at your daddy as soon as you see him walking up the driveway at the end of the day and pinching Cheerios to shove into your little guppy mouth.

Rhett, you bring so much joy and laughter to our family and we would not be complete without you.  You are loved, cherished, and wanted, my darling!

Love,
Momma  

It Has Its Perks

Remember how I broke our coffee pot a few months ago?  We puttered through the fall with our French press and an extra drip machine borrowed from my parents, but this Christmas a new love entered our lives and I don't know that I'll ever look back.  

After lots of research and review-reading, we decided to try out the Presto Percolator.  The reviews online were outstanding and pointed to everything we want in a coffee machine: tasty, strong, hot coffee.  Mama Dot always used a percolator and her coffee was always delicious (or perhaps that was just the biscuits and mayhaw jelly alongside that made it so good?); Jonathan has fond memories connected to the bubbling sound of coffee perking.  And at only around $40, the price is hard to beat!  (Although my parents ended up giving it to us as a Christmas gift.  Thanks, mom and dad!)  

People.  This little pot.  Oh, how I love it.  There is just something so soothing about the ritual of filling the basket, hearing the water bubbling through the grounds, and pouring a cup from the stainless steel carafe.  I find myself using my great-grandmother's china cup and saucer just because the combination of the retro pot and the vintage cup brings a bit of everyday beauty to my life.  The assembly and prep are a bit different than a drip machine, but no more complicated once you've made your first pot.  You can make between two and twelve cups.  I typically do four, which makes two large mugs of coffee for me to enjoy throughout the morning at home.    

And the coffee!  It is truly the best home-brewed cup I've ever had.  Better than my French press (I know, I know, the coffee aficionados out there are writhing in anguish that I would dismiss the beloved French press).  The percolator produces a full-bodied, rich, HOT cup.  Looking back, I could take a swig of coffee from my old drip machine as soon as I poured a cup; I was always nuking it to keep it warm.  I love that the percolator gets it hot enough to linger over for a bit, and if I am taking it on the go it stays hot in a travel mug for hours!  (Someday I'll write about my beloved travel mug too.)  

So come on over and I'll put on a pot!  I might even let you use my special cup and saucer.  If you're in the market for a new coffee maker, the Presto Percolator is where it's at!