My Heart Grows

Early Friday morning on February 11th, at 6:37 a.m. my heart grew 8 lbs and 11 oz in the shape of a new sweet niece named Erin Grainne. My big brother Adam and sister-in-law Leigh are new parents, and what a blessing this little girl is to them and everyone who loves them.

I got to visit this weekend and meet my new sweet niece, and she's precious! She loves to snuggle. She loves her Mama and her Daddy. She likes her swing, but she didn't get much of a chance at it with Aunt Bethany around to snatch her up. She has such dainty little hands, the softest skin. She's just perfect! :)

It sure does my heart good to be around my family. I've had two great weekends in a row - getting to spend special time with family members who live away. I'm just so thankful that God blessed me with a family of such love. We just really enjoy being together.

My first live look at Erin! Leigh wins Best Wife and Mother award for taking Erin to support her daddy in his first SMFL (Saturday Morning Football League) game since his daughter's birth.


Jesse was also there to support his daddy. This is Scott reading the quarterback right before his pick-6. Good job Daddy!!! Whoo!!!!!

Adam's friend Grant brought his dogs to the game. Jesse wasn't disappointed. They have a little boy in their house that's 3 days older than Jesse, so they know how little boys love dogs. :)

Back from the game, I finally got my hands on this girl!!! PRECIOUS!

She'll need Ella to help her with that BINK

Uncle Scott's so good with Erin. :)
He knows how to handle babies.

Aunt Joni and Uncle Joshy love this baby.
Aunt Joni baby whispered Erin to sleep.
Adam and Leigh want to her stay a few nights. :)

Here's Erin, Jesse. What do you think?

Jesse thinks she's pretty, but she sure took a lot of my mom's attention.
I love seein these boys with their babies!!!

Gettin' some love from Uncle Joshy - good hands Joshua! :)

Thanks Grandpa Kent! :)

Beautiful Mama with Beautiful Erin!
Notice the A&M shirt Leigh is wearing after they beat OSU the night before in basketball? Hmmm...

I love these two!!

Happy Mamas with Beautiful Babies

Snugglin' with Aunt B. Did anyone else get to hold Erin?

A beautiful day to walk to the lake and feed the ducks and birds.
We were missing Toby, Yvette, and Elyse.


Heading down to the water to feed all the ducks.
I had Barry on his leash, he lunged toward the ducks,

and they all started to leave.
So I brought Barry away from the water.

Barry was just too excited. He worked hard and slipped out of his collar and

HEADED FOR THE DUCKS!

They all quickly scattered, while my dog went swimming out into Whiterock Lake.

A little ways out, there was a pile of muck that Barry got stuck in.
I got nervous and knew that if Barry got stuck, Scott would rescue him.

I was also worried that Scott would be upset that I let Barry get loose.

After freeing himself from the nasty muck, he headed back to us on the shore.

He was very dirty.

He had the time of his life.

Aunt 'Noni' is a bird whiperer...and still has great aim with that All State softball arm.
She'd throw the bread up into the air, and they'd catch it in their mouths! Stud.

Happy One Year Anniversary!
We love this awesome couple and had so much fun playing 'one year ago today...'

Fun With Sheri

Jesse's Aunt Sheri came to visit last weekend, and we LOVED having her here! She watched Jesse so Scott and I could go to dinner and a movie for Valentine's Day (a couple days early). She and Jesse got along great! She found out that he loves grapes. They will satisfy even his saddness at being left by his parents - what an easy bribe. He also really enjoys bathtime, and she was so sweet to let him have a longer bath time. He'll be asking for her now when we try to rush him. We even got to celebrate Sheri's birthday with her. What a treat to get to have the Bday girl here with us!! :)


Thanks for coming Sheri! Feel free to move on down anytime. We'll take ya!

Preparing Sheri's room for her, Jesse found the perfect seat. He's really into sitting on 'chairs' right now. :)


Happy Birthday Chocolate Milk for Sheri!

Happy Birthday Lunch at Lupe's. Anyone shocked that we took a visitor to Lupe's?

A Jesse Sandwich!

Happy Birthday Red Velvet Cake for Sheri. She had to wear the Bday Hat. It's a new tradition in our family.

Watch Jesse! This is how you blow out a candle.


I put these two to work. :)

Backyard Fun

As I've said before, a lot of pictures we get of Jesse right now are action shots. Or we catch him when he happens to be looking our direction. He doesn't pose for us yet or smile on command. He laughs a lot on his own, so he's very happy. He just doesn't smile for the camera yet. :)

Jesse loves playing in the backyard now, and I love that he has a new place to explore and be entertained in. Jesse walks around and will throw Barry's ball for him some. He has a pretty good arm already. :) We're certainly enjoying the nice Houston winters.

On this afternoon, I thought Jesse looked so handsome in his sweater that his Daddy, Uncles, and even a Grandpa have. He's also wearing his cowboy boots from his Grandma and Papa Blakemore. People at church think Jesse has a great cowboy walk in his boots, but his Aunt Sheri pointed out that he walks that way with his tennies on and even barefoot. That's a TRUE cowboy - walkin' a little bow legged all the time. :)

Very intent look - probably at Barry

This is the smile/yell combo Jesse lets out as and after he throws a ball


Get ready Barry, he's gonna throw it!


Playing with his truck. It says 'vroom vroom'.


Such a cute little tongue to stick out

Lookin' a little serious at Mama

Look at that cute outfit! :)

Jesse knows this truck wants to go on the ground

Helicopter Mom

My definition of a helicopter mom is the mom who doesn't let her child experience consequences. She rescues her child with the intent of protecting him or her but keeps her child from accepting responsibility for his or her actions. This is not something I want to be.

However.

At this point in Jesse's life, I do take responsibility for almost everything that happens to him. Jesse rolled/fell/climbed out of his crib at 9 months, because I didn't lower the crib. Jesse broke a glass, because I didn't keep him from it. Thankfully, he hasn't experienced any horrible injury from these and many more mishaps.

SO.

I take responsibility for what happened with my boy this morning. Scott got up early and left to help set-up at church. We meet in an elementary school, so every Sunday we have to turn it into a church. I got my boy ready and SO handsome for church. See?

( Jesse won't look at the camera and pose. So we have to be happy with action shots for now.)

As I was getting ready in the bathroom, Jesse walked out lookin so cute. He came back in a minute or two later like this:

I don't know how it happened, except that his Mama dressed him in pants that were too big. My fault, but still surprising and amusing that he figured out how to wiggle out of his pants. That was certainly a first. :)

I still took Jesse to church in those too-big-for-him pants. I shouldn't have been shocked when we heard from the nursery workers that Jesse had tried taking off his pants a few times in the nursery.

I take responsibility for his actions. It's my fault. If I had dressed him in pants that fit better, he wouldn't have been taking off his clothes at church.

Maybe this doesn't make me a Helicopter Mom. It probably makes me a failed Helicopter Mom. I want to protect him from these consequences, but I didn't do it this time. Poor kid. :)

The Lone Sleeper

My Jesse is the lone sleeper.

Jesse's sleeping habits changed SUDDENLY when he was about 6 months. For the first months of his life, I had to BOUCE that boy to sleep. I walked and walked and bounced and bounced. Don't you dare sit down to rock the boy to sleep. No sir. He was a walker/bouncer. He also was a very long time swaddler, and he liked it when I said 'sh, sh, sh'. Even though he wasn't making noise.

I would walk and bounce for a long time. He would seem to be asleep. I'd lay him down. He'd open his eyes. It was over. More bouncing and walking and 'shush-ing'.

Then one night, he was very squirmy in my arms, contorting his boddy this way and that. I didn't know what he wanted, so out of frustration, I thought I'd just try laying him down and see what happened. He got content. That's what happened. And he fell asleep on his own.

Ever since, he's just wanted to be put down in his bed so he can kick around, maybe talk to himself a little, then fall asleep on his own.

We've tried putting him in bed with us - we thought it'd be fun to sleep with him. But he is just WAY to excited by Mom and Dad to sleep. Heavens, no!

When it's bedtime now, I want to hold him and sway with him, sing to him, and pray for him, and he leans toward his bed. That's where he wants to be.

Scott has been saying for the last few nights that we should bring him into our bed once he's fallen asleep so he'll sleep with us. We tried it last night. He stayed asleep for not quite an hour, then realized where he was, that it was different, sat up, and got upset. I took him back to his bed. :(

The Lone Sleeper

Come On Boots!

Jesse got these boots from his Great Aunt Cindy for his first birthday. He put them (or I put them on him) to wear around while he drank his milk for the night. I just thought he looked pretty cute.

This is Jesse's 'just after his bath' slicked down clean hair look. :)