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Jedi’s third birthday party!

Gosh, y’all, Jedi’s birthday just crept up on us this year! It was like 2 weeks before his birthday before I realized that we hadn’t even THOUGHT about what we were going to do! Maybe it’s having a new baby, maybe it’s just our busy schedules, but it came fast and furious!

Jedi is REALLY into Superheroes right now. He’s all about Batman and Superman and Spiderman… you name it… he likes it (well, except for the Hulk… he’s scared of the Hulk). He’s also into costumes. Nearly every day, he asks to wear one of his MANY superhero costumes. He got a few as a reward for potty training, one was a hand-me-down, and the others we got at a garage sale (a whole box of costumes and masks, all for $5 DOLLARS! #boymom SCORE!!!). You can see a Stormtrooper, or Batman or Spidey strolling down Main Street or playing out in the yard on the regular.

So the day after Halloween, we happened to be in Wal Mart grabbing some essentials, and saw the clearance rack full of costumes. So I sent Trent to check them out to see if there was anything Jedi would like that he didn’t already have. He came back with 4 Incredibles costumes… they just happened to have one for each of us in all the appropriate sizes (well, mine was a bit on the small side, but close enough). Now what are the odds of that?!? It seemed like it was meant to be! So we bought all 4 costumes for 20 bucks. The only problem was that we knew that the baby’s costume wouldn’t fit him next year, so we decided to wear them this year, even if it was only to put them on and take some fun family pictures. Then an idea was born…

I realized how close Jedi’s birthday party was and we decided to do a DRESS-UP super hero party, with us, as your INCREDIBLE hosts. 🙂

Over the next few weeks, we threw together a party- we sent out invites and started getting things together. Pinterest became my best friend (oh, how I’d missed you!) and my creative side began to thrive! We were super busy leading up to his party (aren’t we always), so there were a lot of late nights spent getting things ready. But here is how it all came together!

Games:

We had a few “formal” games and then some other games that the kids could just do on their own. I found some cute printables that inspired me for some games, others I just added a little Superhero “twist.”

Game number 1: Pin the star on Captain America’s Shield

I bought some red, white and blue poster boards and went to work making Captain America’s shield. I scoured my home looking for the right sized bowls/cups, etc to make the concentric circles, and then used a star cookie cutter to trace and cut out the star in the middle as well as the stars the kids would later try to “pin” on the shield. Then I wrote one kid’s name on each star and put them in a bag. Voila… done with that one! All I had to do was hang the shield and hand out the stars. Easy peasy!

This game was a big hit! The only thing I would have done differently is hang the shield a little bit lower… as you can see, the little kids all put theirs too low. I had the kids all line up from youngest to oldest and, as I put tape on them, the birthday boy helped me pass out a star to each kid. I had the little kiddos just close their eyes (or I covered them for them), the older kids got a blindfold. I used a scarf I had given my grandma before she passed away earlier this year. It had butterflies on it- her favorite. So even though she couldn’t actually be here, she was still here in spirit. ❤

Game number 2: Hulk Smash

I saw several different versions of this game. Most used Hulk hands to smash ice cream cones. We didn’t have Hulk hands… soooooo… I changed the game up a bit. I had seen somewhere else online that you could blow up black balloons and pretend they were “bombs” that needed to be destroyed in order to save the city. The kids could pop the balloons however they wanted- with their feet, hands, whatever!

The kids went nuts for this game too. I did have to warn the little ones that it might be a bit loud. But even the little ones got into it… just with their ears covered.

The “Supers” even cleaned up after themselves and all picked up the balloon pieces when they were done.

The other games we had were just for fun and we didn’t do them formally. These were simply a part of “Superhero Training Camp!” The kids played these as people arrived, mingled, and ate.

Game number 3: Avengers Throwing Practice

For this game, I bought a 4 pack of thin, red plastic plates at Wal Mart for $.97 cents. I used paper and that same star cookie cutter to make these plates into Captain America shield frisbees. Then we used cans and decorated them and stacked them for the kids to knock down with the frisbees. I got the sign printable free, but added a little extra flare with some clip art from the internet… and because I’m a nerd, I laminated it all.

Game number 4: Cornhole

I didn’t have to do much to make this game superhero themed. I just printed off some superhero logos, laminated them and slapped one on each side! The kids loved playing this! Grown-ups too!

Game number 5: Ping-pong toss

This game was also very easy. I just printed off different point values and put them on several buckets. (I was a teacher for YEARS, so I have all sorts of these things still sitting around. I used to use them for different learning centers). Then the kiddos had to try to throw the ping-pong balls into the buckets for points! The closest bucket was worth 1 point, the second one was worth 5 and the farthest one was worth 10.

We were going to have another “game” but it was a flop… literally. We have this cool blow-up Captain America weighted punching bag that one of our friends was thoughtful enough to give to Jedidiah after his baby brother was born… but it had a hole in it somewhere, so literally… it was a flop. This wouldn’t have been so much a “game” as just something fun the kids could have done.

Other than the official games, my mother-in-law (who graciously hosted) had a swing-set and this awesome car roller-coaster type thing (for lack of a more official term). That was a HUGE hit, especially with the older kids. They LOVED it! And of course, Jedidiah loved it too. He pushed it back up after EVERY. SINGLE. TURN. (his or anyone else’s).

Food:

For “thematic” foods, again, Pinterest for the win! Some of my favorite touches were the “Thor hammers” (pretzel sticks and little blocks of cheese) and the Captain America shield fruit platter. My mother-in-law prepared this one and it looked superb! I saw several versions of this online- I went with the marshmallows because they were easier, but you could do bananas if you wanted something a little more healthy. You could also use cherries or raspberries as one of the other red circles on his shield. I used that same star cookie cutter to hold some vanilla yogurt in the center for dipping. We also made green “Hulk” Jell-o cups and simply drew an angry Hulk on the clear plastic cups (you will likely notice that my artistic skills do not extend to drawing…).

Some of the other little things we did were simply a matter of presentation. We had applesauce pouches that I put out in a Batman shoebox (from his superhero shoes that Nana gave him). Spidey held the napkins, we put silverware in those inexpensive plastic superhero cups you can get at Wal Mart or HEB and of course, we decorated with some framed art as well.

Then we just put out some sandwich and veggie trays and we were all set!

For drinks, we simply had bottles of water and little juice boxes for the kids in a cooler. I printed off a little sign for the lid that said “hero drinks.”

I also made some “Hulk punch” using equal parts of Sprite (or 7-Up or any sort of lemon-lime soda) and “Green Berry Rush” Hawaiian Punch. Then I added a couple of scoops of lime sherbet on top and voila! Hulk Punch! My pic isn’t awesome… I didn’t even realize my decorative Hulk had toppled over… but the punch was a big hit (pun intended).

For the cake we ordered a chocolate cake from Costco without any decorations on it. They didn’t have any Superhero themed cakes, so we just decorated it using his own Superhero action figures.

Photo booth:

Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE taking photos. I’m not an avid photographer by any means, but I sure do enjoy it! So, of course we had to have a photo booth! My mother-in-law found this awesome backdrop on Amazon and ordered it for the party. I bought a cheap pack of cardboard superhero masks at Wal Mart and the rest of the props we either had or I made. Thor’s hammer was simply a box that I covered with tin foil and the handle was an old wrapping paper roll that I had cut down to size and reinforced with some tape.

Then I made sure to take photos of each family as they came in. For thank you cards, I will simply make prints of these and write a short thank you note on the back. 🙂

Decorations:

We tried to keep the decor simple. We had two signs as people came in. “Superheroes welcome” and a separate sign that Nana made.

Because of my son’s affinity for costumes, we decided to use these to decorate! We hung them along the fence and trellis as people came in. They ended up looking pretty cool!

We kept the other decorations pretty simple- we taped a superhero emblem on each table- the picnic table where people ate, the gift table, the entry table and the kids table.

The entry table was Batman themed. I used an old coffee can to create a city scape and added the Bat-signal to the top. I also added one of his stuffed Batman toys, a photo of Jedi and his brother wearing some “super” shirts that one of Trent’s students’ parents made. Beside that is a little frame that says “Little boys are just Superheroes in disguise.” Then I just printed off some blank superhero logos and put out some pens and instructions for our friends to leave a note for Jedi and left it at that!

The gift table was decorated with what used to be Trent’s classroom treasure box- a cool Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle chest that we got for 7 or 8 bucks years ago at Ross. Black Panther held a little “Gifts and cards” placard.

Goody bags:

Well, goody cups, in this case. We set up a few party favors- superhero stickers, a Batman pencil, Bubbles, a few starbursts and these super cool snap bracelets that Nana found on Amazon.

I printed off little “POW” emblems and put them on the bubbles.

Then Nana set them up on the way out so all the kids could grab one!

That was it! We opened presents and the kids wrapped Jedi up in a big group hug and then people went home.

We want to give a very special “Thank you!” to Nana and Popo for helping with the food and decorations and for letting us use their backyard. It was a wonderful party and Jedi had a SUPER time!

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Posted by logsdonsbigadventures on November 28, 2018 in Uncategorized

Tags: 3 years old, Birthday party, boymom, incredibles, Jedidiah James, superheroes, themed parties

A (not-so) “smash cake”

04 Dec

So, I don’t know if you’ve heard of this trend called “smash cakes” but basically, on a child’s first birthday, you get them a special small cake and just let them go to town on it!

We had seen many of our friends do this with their little ones and decided that since Jedidiah’s first birthday was in the middle of the week and we weren’t doing anything special otherwise to celebrate it (until his birthday party that weekend), that we would get in on this “smash cake” business.

Now I’m pretty picky about what I give Jedidiah to eat. I am a fierce advocate of healthy foods and I really believe that what we put in our bodies directly affects how our bodies function. That being said, Jedidiah really hasn’t had any sugar (except for what’s naturally found in fruits) up until this point. So I didn’t want to go and ruin that to give him an entire cake on his first birthday. Thankfully, many other like-minded momma’s have gone before me. I found a good, healthy smash cake recipe online and I got right to work baking it! Of course, as a busy mom, I didn’t have loads of time to do this, so of course, Monday night, I’m scrambling to get the cake baked so that I can frost it the next day and have it ready for him that evening.

After I finished my workout, I donned my baking apron and got to work. The recipe was simple and called for real ingredients!

apron

Ingredients

4 or 5 ripe bananas
1/2 cup natural no sugar added applesauce
3 Tbsp. coconut oil (melted)
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup oat flour (grind rolled oats in blender, then measure)
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions

Mash the bananas in a medium bowl.

bananas

2. In a separate large bowl, mix the flours, baking soda, and cinnamon together.

wet-and-dry-ingredients

3. Add the mashed bananas, applesauce, coconut oil, and vanilla to the flour mixture. Mix just until incorporated.

4. Coat your two 8 or 9″round pans with oil.

5. Spread the batter into the bottom of the pans. (I only had one pan, so I had to do two rounds) batter

6. Bake at 375° for 15-20 minutes. Check with a toothpick for doneness.

cakes

7. Cool the cakes before frosting. If you used the 8″ or 9″ pan, then use an overturned smaller bowl to cut out small cake rounds.

Well, I had seen on another blog that you could cut up banana slices (in case you didn’t already use enough bananas) to add a little more height to the cake between layers… I don’t know that I would recommend this as it made for a harder time frosting it, and it didn’t really add that much more height. Here it is pre-frosting.

layered

I let the cakes cool and then put them in the fridge so that they’d be ready to frost the next day.

Of course, the next morning as I pulled up the recipe to make the frosting, I realized that I didn’t have enough cream cheese. So I ran to HEB that morning and returned, ready to whip up the frosting and have everything ready! I had set out the other container of cream cheese that I’d bought and the apple juice while I shopped so that they would both be soft when I returned. Anyways, when I got Jedidiah down for his nap, I decided to get after it… EXCEPT I didn’t read the recipe closely enough and put in the entire can of apple juice concentrate (instead of the half cup it called for). I didn’t realize this until I had already added all the other ingredients and it was just far too runny. I couldn’t figure it out… and then I looked back at the recipe and did a major hand-slap to the forehead. Geesh!!! Total mommy brain! SO I had to go back to the store a second time that day to re-purchase all of the ingredients that I WASTED because I wasn’t paying enough attention (that’s what you get when you try to rush things and get them done during nap time). Anyways, this time I READ the recipe and actually FOLLOWED it! The frosting turned out much better the second time around. Here is the recipe that I used.

Cake Frosting

1 cup (8 oz.) cream cheese
1/2 cup no sugar added apple juice concentrate
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Anyways, finally the cake was frosted and ready to go! I had made a banner for his party that we got to use during his cake smash as well. We hung that and a few other decorations, threw in a few balloons, and we were ready to go!

set-up

We set our bubba down next to that cake and firmly expected him to go to town! He is a HUGE eater so we figured that he would devour this cake… much to the contrary, we had to force him to touch it! He began curiously pulling the number 1 candle off of the cake and trying to hand it to us. The expression on his face said… “what is this?” Followed by, “Is this some sort of trick???”

After that he got up and walked away. So we brought him back and set him down beside the cake and I put his hand in it. He was NOT a fan. He looked at his hand and then at me like… “get this stuff OFF of me!!!”

what-is-this-stuff

He fussed, so I got up and wiped off his hands. He then wandered off again. This was not going like we had planned! Trent had to coax him back a second time and tried to give him a taste of the frosting… surely, this would entice our little guy to dig right in! As you can see, he’s still not so sure.

frosting

After that, daddy thought, “what the heck… let’s try putting his hands in it again” and you can see that that was NOT successful. We had a sad baby. Momma wiped his hands down a second time. At this point, daddy took to the cake with a spoon and churned it up a bit so that Jedidiah could get at it without having to dig in the frosting first. He definitely considered it, but still didn’t go after it.

take-two

Next, we tried a spoon. Daddy loaded up a bit of cake and gave him a bite. NOW we were talking.

trying-it

He picked at the cake a little bit with his hands, but really still didn’t want to get dirty, so we gave him the spoon and let him try eating it that way. He started with his much more proficient left hand, but lately he always wants to switch the spoon or fork to his much less accurate right hand, which he did in this case as well.

When that didn’t work so well, he went back to his hands, but was very careful about just getting pieces of cake and not any frosting.

He started walking around with his spoon and even brought mommy and daddy a bite.

smiles

After a while, he got distracted by the balloons and tossed them around a bit and then would come back for a bite from momma.

This went on for quite a while… back and forth… back and forth. Then my parents called us on Skype to sing him “happy birthday,” so he ate and Skyped at the same time. Once the call ended, he’d eaten plenty and we decided to clean it up!

skype

Our “cake smash” didn’t go quite as planned, but it was still fun to watch our little one react to this situation. He has such a big personality already and I would totally do it over again!

Happy first birthday Jedidiah!!! Momma and Daddy love you!

Have you tried a “smash cake” for your little one? How did it turn out for you?!?

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Posted by logsdonsbigadventures on December 4, 2016 in Uncategorized

Tags: birthday boy, first birthday, healthy cake recipe, Jedidiah James, smash cake, Turning one

The Jedidiah-ries (Diaries)- 12th month

25 Nov

Weight: 18.7 lbs

Height: 30 inches

General Observations: Jedidiah is now able to get on and off of things, go up and down little steps, climbs, and has figured out how to get up by himself (before if he would fall, he’d crawl to something nearby to pull up on, but now he just gets back up).

climbing

This boy is super silly and loves to run towards Trent or I with this goofy, open-mouthed, squinty smile and just plow into our arms. Then he’ll go to the other parent or circle back and do it again!

walking

Jedidiah also has started putting things in the craziest places. He put the remote in the freezer, he puts his shoes in the bathtub, he puts toys in the cupboards, he puts his balls in the diaper pail… The funny thing is that he REMEMBERS where he put them, which just baffles me! There was a day that I couldn’t find ANY of a certain kind of ball (he has four of them) and I looked high and low, and then all of a sudden we were in his room, and he was playing by the diaper pail, which I didn’t particularly want him to do, but then all of a sudden he opened it up and pulled a ball right out! Crazy kid!

Our son has developed a love for singing and I often hear him “singing” or humming while we’re driving or just when he’s playing by himself.

Jedidiah had gotten very interested in faces last month and now he not only points to eyes, but can also say “eyes” when he’s doing so. He also is very interested in our teeth and noses (he likes to pick momma’s nose) as well.

We’ve now found that Jedidiah is ticklish! He is REALLY ticklish under his neck, which makes washing there pretty tricky. He giggles and tries to squirm away as I suds him up and try to get in that neck crease!

He’s started signing! He signs “all done,” usually in accordance with saying “all done,” and he will occasionally sign “more” and “milk.” He’s also started using the “I don’t know” hands. It’s super cute when he does this!

Health: We went for our 12 month wellness check-up and the doctor said that he’s looking great! He’s dropped off quite a bit on the weight curve, but he said that for as active as Jedi is, it’s to be expected and he’d only be concerned if he wasn’t eating well… which isn’t at all the case!

Our little Jedidiah did get his first bloody lips this month… twice he fell and caught his lips with those little teethers. Poor baby sported his little wounds for a few days and then was back to normal!

Eating:

Jedidiah now communicates when he wants to eat. He says “eat” and points either to the high chair or my shirt… depending on what he wants to eat.

eating-hand He has also decided that instead of eating with his very proficient left hand, he’d rather try to eat with his right hand. He takes the spoon or fork from his left hand and then very carefully hands it to his right hand, but grips it only by the very tip and then tries to scoop or stab whatever he’s eating. Not only does he have a hard time getting it on his spoon or fork, once it’s on there, he has a hard time (holding it that way) getting it to his mouth! He is however, starting to be able to stab and scoop a little bit. It’s not very smooth, but he’s getting the hang of it!

Now when he eats something yummy, he’s started making “nom-nom” sounds. It’s really funny to watch him!

He got two more teeth. I had seen them coming long before they actually broke through and when I found that the one had broken through, I checked for the other one. I didn’t see it, but it was definitely there! In fact, one day we were playing on the ground and he was laughing and I saw that tooth, clear as day, in far further than the other one that I KNEW was there! I don’t know how I missed it, but I did!

When he nurses, he still tends to pinch me, especially in my underarms… in that very sensitive thin skin! I’ve taken to wearing t-shirts when I’m nursing just to give myself an extra layer of protection! Another thing he’s started doing, which is pretty awkward, is sticking his hand in my other bra cup and playing with my other boob while he’s eating. I try to limit his access, especially when his nails are long… that hurts!!!

Sleeping: He’s gotten so much better about sleeping!!! Naps are still a battle as far as duration (30 minutes like clockwork), but for the most part, he only cries for 5-10 minutes before putting himself to sleep. My sister-in-law gave us her old black-out curtains for his room, so I think that may have helped a bit too!

He’s also taken to napping during our afternoon runs. We go in the afternoon because there’s not enough time for me to digest our breakfast and run before his morning nap, and then the Texas heat is too strong mid-day, so we’ve been waiting until later in the afternoon and he’s been falling asleep in the stroller while I run.

sleepy-boy

Even still, I don’t think he sleeps enough. There were several days last week where he woke up from his regular afternoon nap (in his crib, not in the stroller) and then was still SO grumpy! He wanted to nurse as soon as he woke up and sure enough, 2-3 minutes in, he’d fall right back asleep… for another 30-40 minutes!!! I KNOW he needs this extra sleep on the regular, but he just can’t seem to put himself back to sleep. Once he’s awake and stands up, that’s it- there’s no lying back down. So, we tried adding back in another early evening nap, around 4:30 or 5, because he was starting to show signs of being tired then, and he’d take a third 30 minute nap and then still be tired by bedtime. I wish I could just get him to go down for longer stretches at a time, but I’ve learned the hard way to be thankful for what I can get!!!

At night he is sleeping well, and has our bedtime routine down! He helps us put his Bible and prayer book back on the shelf and then points to the diffuser that we always run and says, “light” because it lights up when we turn it on. After daddy or mommy turns it on, he smiles big and then knows it’s time to go to sleep!

Diapers: Disposables… still size 3.

Clothes: He’s very good at “helping” me get him dressed and undressed. He knows how to get his hands/arms in and out of his clothes and if he’s holding a toy, he understands that he has to pass it from one hand to the other while I put his arms in/take his arms out of his clothing. He also pulls his shirts over his head.

He’s finally getting too long for his 6-9 month sleepers, but the 12 month ones are HUGE on him! So I guess he’s in-between sizes for the moment.

Social:

We went to Cibolo Fest for a while in the afternoon, just to check it out. We had a birthday party to attend, so we didn’t have a lot of time to browse. It was nice though, we knew some of the vendors, so it was fun to catch up with them. Then we left for the birthday party and ended up coming back later that night. Jedidiah loved looking at all the lights from the games and the rides. He was so funny. There was this one obstacle course house thing that he REALLY wanted to do (but was too little for). He was looking through the bars at it (because there was a ball pit) and as we were leaving, he pulled us around the stairs, like, “Hey guys, seriously, we can get in RIGHT HERE!”

We went to our buddy Rowan’s birthday party. He and Jedidiah are almost exactly a month apart. In fact, I was holding her little nugget only a day or two before I went into labor! Anyways, the party was fun. Laura had set up a cute little pumpkin patch photo booth, which had I known, I would have put Jedi in some more appropriate seasonal attire, but alas, daddy still had fun with this one! I left them alone for a few minutes and this is what I came back to!!

One of my girlfriends from college was in San Antonio visiting and we were able to meet up for dinner on the Riverwalk. This time Jedidiah was old enough to feed the ducks. He so entertained a few couples that they just kept giving him more and more chips to give to the ducks! It must have made an impact because whenever we’re out walking, there’s one house that has some fake ducks outside their house and he gets VERY excited when we pass them!

We got to hang out with our buddy Declan one night while mommy and daddy enjoyed a night of wine and snacks with his parents and friends. It was hilarious to watch the boys together. They were both crazy about eating their “puffs” and at one point, they basically were boxing each other out around the coffee table, protecting their stashes!

We went to our friend Avery’s first birthday party! She and Jedidiah are only a few weeks apart and we met her momma in our birthing class! It’s fun that we all still get to hang out with the babies, post-delivery!!! It seems that every time we try to get the three of them together for a picture, it’s always my son that’s crying… this time was no different, but we did manage to get a few cute shots!

We went to the zoo with our friends Laura and Rowan. We enjoyed our day there and ran into some other friends Amberly and Kayden! Jedidiah really likes the zoo right now. He gets excited about the animals, and this time in particular, he loved waving at the birds! He also LOVED the petting zoo!

Jedidiah went to vote! He wasn’t particularly thrilled with the candidates, but he went anyways and waved to all the other people who were voting. Thanks to him and his sweet nature, I know that there is yet hope for this country!

We went to a benefit dinner for Project 82:3 that sponsors an orphanage in Haiti. It was a fabulous dinner with a bunch of Haitian foods and it was great to learn about all the good things happening at the orphanage! If anyone is interested in supporting the orphans there or would like to go to the orphanage on a mission trip, let me know and I’ll hook you up with the right people! They had a movie going outside in the yard and Jedidiah cozied up with daddy and all the “big kids” to watch for a while.

benefit

One Sunday evening, while I was out doing my long run, Trent took Jedidiah out on a walk and ended up at our old church up the street at a little fall carnival they were having. Jedidiah loved playing with the beanbags (he STILL loves this game) and the balls (of course).

We did a family photo shoot at Cypress Bend Park, of course, Jedidiah was WAY too busy throwing rocks to look at the camera and smile, but it’s a good thing he’s so cute! We haven’t seen the finished products yet, but we’re looking forward to it!

Throwing rocks into the river after it got too dark to keep taking pictures.

We went to an “Adopt a Soldier benefit” that my good friend Ana was throwing at a bar Trent and I used to frequent. This was to raise money for Thanksgiving meals for our military brothers and sisters. We bought two plates. It was REALLY good food and we were happy to donate to the cause! I guess we can mark Jedidiah’s first time at a bar off the list!

Likes: Our son got a kiddie basketball hoop as one of his baby shower gifts from my friend Abby and her kids and we finally set it up (in our house). Jedidiah loves it when we pick him up and let him “shoot” the ball (he’s not quite tall enough to get it up there himself). Sometimes he takes a bit longer than we’d like, but he has fun with it. Now when we’re out walking, he shrieks with excitement when he sees other real basketball hoops!

basketball-hoop

Pumpkins are also something that quite excited our little guy. When we’d be out walking, he would point out all the pumpkins people had sitting out as decorations!

pumpkin-excitement

He still loves balloons, balls, birds, dogs and his kitty cat, being outside and going on walks.

Excitedly pointing at the doggie in his book

Something else he really likes is putting the tops on things. He used to always want to drink water out of my water bottle when he saw me drinking out of it, but now he just wants to help me put the top back on it! He also likes to put the top back on the milk carton, plastic water bottles, his food pouches… pretty much anything!

He’s gotten much more interested in animals (more than just dogs and cats). He likes to look at his animal books and particularly likes to watch and listen to me making the animal noises.

books

As we started to get ready for Jedidiah’s first birthday party, we cleaned out the “man cave” and made it workable again (it had turned into a storage horror for a while). Now Jedidiah and daddy like to go in there and hang out!

man-cave

He loves his vacuum! Nana bought it for him and he absolutely loves it!

He also likes this little game that daddy and I play with him where daddy holds him and dances and mommy dances in front of him. It’s hard to explain, but he thinks it is SO funny and he smiles and laughs, and it’s all so very sweet!

Dislikes: To say that this kid doesn’t like to have his diaper changed would be the understatement of the century!!! It’s like he just doesn’t have time for it; he’s got better things to be doing. The second I lay him down he starts screaming and squirming. It makes it very challenging for me!

Memorable moments and firsts: Jedidiah has started laying down on the floor. He thinks it’s a game. He lays wherever and then rolls around (I guess we should maybe be more concerned with that). At home, he does the same on the rug or he REALLY likes to do it laying his head on our bedroom pillows (that are usually on our bedroom floor…). It’s so cute, he crawls and burrows his little head in the pillows and then waits for us to “attack” and tickle him.

He also likes to put his head upside down almost in a downward dog position.

Jedi started giving hugs about a month ago, but now he’ll pat our backs too, just like we would with an old friend! Give a hug and a couple of pats on the back! I love his sweet hugs!!!

Jedidiah pooped in the toilet! Now before you get too excited, it was only because we were just getting out of the bath tub and I noticed that he was grunting, so we quickly moved him to the toilet and he pooped! We waved bye-bye to the poopies and flushed them on down! It may not have been intentional, but we were still excited!!!

poop

Before we left China, our friends from our school all signed (and wrote cute little notes) on a couple of onesies for us. Granted, at this point, we didn’t even know that we were having a boy yet, but they made us one little long-sleeved onesie that he was finally BIG enough to wear and we finally had COOL enough weather to warrant a long-sleeved shirt! Putting this on him definitely made me feel nostalgic for the people we left behind!

qiss-shirt

Jedidiah went on his first bike ride! We’ve been waiting for him to get big enough to be able to ride in the buggy (and to wear the helmet) and he’s pretty much there. He still tipped a little bit but we went out and he did really well! Plus, look how cute he looks!!!

We had our first Halloween! We don’t necessarily celebrate Halloween, but we do dress up (we’ll dress up for any excuse… and family themed costumes are the best). We went to a costume party at De Voir Fitness, where I used to do Zumba. It was a lot of fun, and it was great to see Trish!

Jedidiah had a few costumes that we put him in. We had a hand-me-down Whinnie the Pooh costume and we also had the Yoda costume that we had bought for him. This Halloween we did go to a church carnival and then to Trent’s parents house afterward.

halloween

We also partook in some pumpkin painting at the library and we tried our hand at carving a pumpkin (but he wasn’t very interested in that).

pumpkin-carving

He did however, very much enjoy the pumpkin patch that we went to as a family. He would continually try to pick up the pumpkins, even though most of them were twice his size!

bracken

We were out eating one night at Catalano’s Italian restaurant and it’s right by the train tracks. Anyways a train came by and as soon as it tooted its horn, Jedidiah shrieked so loudly, as if to say, “GUYS!!!!! The train is coming!!!” Laughter erupted throughout the whole restaurant!

He has been going to Bible Study Fellowship for months now, and we had a really hard time at the beginning leaving him in the nursery, but now, not only does he stay in the nursery, but he’s really been enjoying it! The ladies told me that he’s started singing during their song time and playing on his own (whereas someone used to always have to be with him).

Not only has he been staying in the nursery at BSF, he’s also FINALLY been staying in the nursery at church. A couple of Sundays, he even stayed for BOTH services!!! (we usually attend one and then serve one). We are SO thankful that he’s passed the point of crying the entire time! This makes for a much more enjoyable time for all of us!

Shopping has also become so much fun. Anytime we go to Toys’ R’ Us to get birthday gifts for our friends’ parties, Trent takes Jedidiah to the “big” toys… the big cars and things that we can play with, but are NOT taking home with us. I love watching him though, he’s just too cute in these pictures!!!

He’s got some new words! He now says “yes,” “eyes,” “nom-nom,” “door,” “hello,” “out,” “down,” “eat,” “I want it,” “I do” and “please.” This one was particularly funny because I said to him, “say please,” while showing him the sign for it, and instead of signing it, he just flat out, plain as day, said “please.” Haha, I guess he doesn’t need to sign it if he can say it!

He can climb up the slide at the little coffee shop we go to pretty regularly. It’s a nice distance away, so we walk there often in the early afternoons before his second nap and I let him run around outside and play to get some energy out. Not only does he climb up the slide, but he also goes down… face first. It’s a small slide, so for now, I guess it’s okay. He thinks it’s pretty funny.

We go to this coffee shop often, and I’ve taken many pictures of Jedidiah there. Here are a few of my favorites from this month.

Jedidiah has also started putting things away (YAY!!!!!). It started at Nana’s house, when he started pulling out her Tupperware, and then… all of a sudden, he did an about-face and brought it all back! It wasn’t returned quite as orderly as it was when it was taken out, but hey, it’s a start! He’s started putting some things back at home as well! Yay for cleanliness and order (or at least some semblance of it).

What about mom? Well, this month mommy got really sick for the first time since he was sick born. I think I had the flu. No vomiting or diarrhea, but I had a fever and my body was SUPER achy. It had me down and out for a few days, but there was one day where I could barely lift my head!!! It felt like the longest day EVER. I could not WAIT for Trent to get home to help me with Jedidiah. That was pretty miserable. I hope we don’t have to do that again any time soon! Thankfully Jedidiah was pretty self-sufficient and kept himself entertained for most of the day, so I only had to move minimally.

I am still training for my marathon which is VERY soon! I’m so thankful that Trent takes Jedidiah during my long runs so that I don’t have to push the jogging stroller (I hate running with the stroller).

training

I have been spending much of my time preparing for his first birthday party, which is coming up so soon! I can’t believe that my baby is going to be ONE!!! Wow, this year has flown by! We chose a monkey theme for his first birthday party, since we’ve always said he was our little monkey. This momma made banners, posters, games, decorations… all sorts of stuff! I can see why people charge for this kind of thing on Etsy and after all the work I put in, I would probably just let someone else do all the work next time! But it was all a labor of love and I look forward to celebrating soon with his friends and family!

decorations

I’ve taken on some additional responsibilities at church. We serve in a lot of areas, but I am now in charge of our prayer team. This team has been such a blessing to me and to others, and we are so grateful to get to serve YHWH and our church in this capacity!

prayer-team

I’ve also been helping coordinate Financial Peace University through our church, so Tuesday nights have been dedicated to helping others learn some Godly principles for their money! This program helped get Trent and I debt free!

This time around, we struggled to get him to take his 12 month pictures… he did NOT want to sit still for even a moment, but thankfully we ended up getting a few cute shots, and here is one I particularly liked of him helping me “review” the photos when we were done.

photographer-jedi

Daddy time: Daddy got sick this month too. He had whatever I had but about a week before I got it. And then he got it again! Man, it just makes us that much more grateful for our health on a regular basis!

On the weekends, Trent has been so sweet, taking Jedidiah out for a walk in the morning so that I can get some extra sleep!

Here are a few of my favorite daddy moments from this month. 🙂

daddy3

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Posted by logsdonsbigadventures on November 25, 2016 in Uncategorized

Tags: 1 year, 12 months old, baby, Jedidiah James, month-by-month

The Jedidiah-ries (Diaries)- 11th month

05 Nov

Weight: Terrible as it is, I didn’t weigh or measure him this month either… totally forgot about it!

Height: Again, I have no clue, but lots of people have commented that he seems much taller.

General Observations: Jedidiah is talking so much more and seems to be learning new things almost daily. He is very social and loves to wave to anyone and everyone passing by. He also has mastered the art of high fives and loves to give them as well! Jedidiah has also gotten much better at walking and directing himself where he wants to go, although he had no awareness of obstacles in his way at the beginning. He has gotten better about knowing where things are and how to steer clear of them. Even though he walks well, he still enjoys pushing his walker around the house. He is excellent at maneuvering that thing!!! Like seriously, I am impressed. He knows that if he’s hit a dead end or run into something, that he needs to back it up and redirect it, and he can even turn it all the way back around in a U-turn when he hits the end of the hallway!

I’ve definitely noticed that his personality is much like ours- silly and playful with a bit of mischief. He plays little games with me, like he’s teasing me, and likes to go where he knows he’s not supposed to go.

He’s developed this adorable little squinty faced smile that reminds me a lot of the face my little sister Jackie used to make when she was little. It’s super cute and makes me laugh every time!

Oh, that sweet little smile!

Health: Jedidiah had his first real fever this month. 😦 It lasted only a day and a half but it wasn’t super high and it didn’t really seem to bother him too much otherwise. He was still his normal, active, silly self, just a much hotter version (literally). I’m pretty certain that it was teething related, so we didn’t go to the doctor. We used essential oils to bring down the fever and it got better soon thereafter.

Speaking of teeth, we now have four teeth! Two on the top and two on the bottom!

Eating: I know I’ve said this before, but this kid loves to eat! He really enjoys food and wants to eat a lot more “real” food. He’s even thrown a few tantrums when he didn’t get to eat what we were eating. I’ve been making a deliberate effort to make our dinners something that he can eat too.

He really likes carrots, sweet potatoes, broccoli and strawberries. His favorite though is probably still banana. He can eat an entire banana in one sitting, no problem. Jedidiah has also enjoyed vegetable curry and rice when we made it as well as acorn squash with wild rice and a little bit of chicken. He really hasn’t run into too many things that he DOESN’T like (which we’re very thankful for), except for peas. They were mushed up, so I’m wondering if it was the taste or the consistency. We’ll try again with regular peas. I think if he can pick them up and eat them, he might like them a bit more.

Another thing along with eating is that he used to eat dominantly with his left hand. I would dish up whatever he was eating onto his spoon or fork and he would very accurately get it to his mouth. Well, now we’ve been letting him try to scoop/stab things for himself and he’s SO funny! He will pass the spoon or fork to his right hand, but only hold it by the very tip of it and then try to scoop or stab whatever it is. He doesn’t have much leverage however, since he’s only holding the tip of it and usually only by his thumb and pointer finger. Then, IF he can get a piece on his utensil, he has a much harder time getting it to his mouth! I’m not sure why he won’t just try to scoop things up with his left hand- I think he’d be SO much better at it, but for some reason, he REALLY wants to use his right hand. So far, he’s just ended up getting frustrated, so between that and us wanting him to eat independently, we’ve more often than not opted to just put little chunks of food on his plate that he can eat by himself. Then WE both get to eat our dinner as well without pausing every other bite to feed him.

Sleeping: Jedidiah has gotten into a much better sleeping routine and now hardly fusses at all when we put him down at night. I nurse him and then put him in his jammies, then we read to him and pray with him and give him kisses and hugs and then put him into bed. He knows the routine and will even point to the oil diffuser we put on at night and say “light” because he knows that the little light goes on when we turn it on.

sleeping Napping is hit or miss. Some days he cries for a LONG time (now “long” is more like 20-30 minutes, not the old “long” which could be upwards of an hour) and some days it’s only for a few minutes. He still only sleeps for 20-30 minutes at a time and only twice a day (which, to me, doesn’t seem long enough), but I’m grateful for what I get! That’s the only time I get during the day to catch up on things or do anything that requires silence!

The one thing is that we’ve ran into is that he ends up sitting and crying until he falls asleep, but then he ends up falling asleep against the bars of the crib and by the time he wakes up he’s got these deep creases (and occasionally small bruises) where his head was resting against the bars. It’s a terrible predicament… I don’t want to go in there and move him when he’s asleep because he will surely wake right back up. But I hate that he sleeps this way too. My poor baby…

Look at that deep crease over his eye. 😦

Diapers: Oh, my. I really want to be using the cloth diapers again, but we only have a few of the ones that are already set to the right size, so I constantly run out of them and the other kind we have all need to be adjusted, which is actually quite a task. The elastic on each side of the diaper has to be changed via two tiny buttons on both sides. It’s something I just need to sit down and do, but WHEN?!?!? The other problem I run into then is that I’ve used the 6-8 good diapers that we have, but I never feel justified washing just that few… plus the last load I did, I washed with some towels and all the diapers came out with lint on them, which end up on Jedi’s little bum when they get wet. Ay-yay-yay! I just need some time to get situated and then I’ll get back to using the cloth ones! I especially want to start doing that now, since he’s getting closer to the age where he could be potty trained!

Clothes: For as tall as people think he is (which I don’t ACTUALLY know because I keep forgetting to measure him…), he’s still barely fitting into 9 and 12 month pants. If they don’t have elastic on the bottom he trips and slips on them as he walks and they end up being more work than they’re worth. That being said, he is wearing mostly 9 month clothes. He still fits into some 6-9 month sleepers, and a few 6 month onesies. On the other end of the spectrum, he’s also fitting into some 12 month clothes. So it varies.

Social:

We went to Mr. Gatti’s again this month, but this time with Nana, Popo and cousin Cohen. He really had a fun time playing arcade games and particularly ANY game with a ball. At the end he even got to cash in his tickets for a little orange bouncy ball, which excited him beyond belief.

Jedi and I went over to a friends house to make fall wreaths and have a play date. We made tacos and drank mimosas and had a wonderful time hanging out (and letting the kids hang out) and celebrating fall (or what SHOULD be fall… except that we live in Texas…).

wreathes

We got to celebrate daddy’s birthday!!! We didn’t do anything particularly special. I kept asking Trent what he wanted to do, but he just said he wanted a day to relax with his two loves (Awwww). So that’s what we did! We’re so thankful for him and another wonderful year of life to spend together! We did, however, get to go out to celebrate both of our birthdays that evening with Trent’s family. We went to Houlihan’s and then back to his parents’ house for cake and presents. It was a great time celebrating!

We drove up to Austin for a surprise birthday party for one of our best friends from China. We barely arrived on time, but were there to yell “Surprise” to “uncle Zach.” It was a really nice party (His wife, Heather, ALWAYS throws amazing parties) and we enjoyed catching up with these dear friends. Another friend, Nicole, who we also met in China was there as well, and we were thankful to be able to catch up with her too! Jedidiah loved being outside, playing with Chara (their dog) and throwing the corn-hole beanbags in the hole!

Jedidiah and I headed to a pumpkin patch at Stahlman’s at Bear Creek in New Braunfels. We went after Bible Study Fellowship one morning with our friends Ashley (and Avery) and Vanessa (and Elizabeth). I totally forgot both my camera and my phone that morning (total mom fail) but thankfully Vanessa had her nice camera and was kind enough to take some pictures for us. Here were a few that I absolutely LOVED!

We had another play date with two of my old co-workers from the days when we worked at Copeland Elementary/Walker Intermediate School. We got together in the late morning and had a nice time chatting and catching up over lunch while the kids played together. 🙂

We had the chance to go to Hondo to their South Texas Maize festival with our neighbors and friends down the street. It was so much fun to do together and the kids had a good time. We walked through the corn maze, played with the pumpkins, and checked out the animals. I totally recommend going! We had a great time!

The two of us attended a baby shower for one of my friends from Northwestern College (in Minnesota) who lived in San Antonio for a while before moving to Austin with her husband. We are so excited to meet her little guy!

kates-baby-shower

Mommy hosted an Usborne book party and Jedidiah got to play with some of his little girlfriends. He had a good time pushing Avery in his little riding motorcycle. He’d make the car noises and push her down the hall. It was soooo cute (the picture is a blur because he was moving too fast)!!!

We went to a small outing with a few close friends to celebrate my friend Abby’s son’s 4th birthday. We went to the Trinity soccer game and enjoyed hanging out with all the kiddos and her brand new baby boy!

soccer

This month we attended our neighborhood’s National Night Out, although we couldn’t stay long because of other obligations at church. We still made it in time to see the police officers and their patrol dog. Jedidiah of course loved the dog! He also got a police badge sticker from the visiting officers.

Likes: The three B’s- birds, balls and balloons! If he sees any of these things, he will literally shriek with delight! It’s hilarious and a bit obnoxious, but you can’t help but admire his enthusiasm! We will be walking through HEB and he’ll see the balloons and freak out. I have to try to keep him away from the front area so that he doesn’t get too excited. Even still there have been a few other times, where they’ve had special promotions (one day was “Italy day” so they had red, white and green balloons at the food sample booths) or there has been a random stray balloon that floated up to the ceiling (even in the back where they store everything). If there’s a balloon there, he will find it! In parking lots or even sitting in his high chair, he will point out the birds with great excitement. It’s really adorable to watch!

Another thing Jedidiah loves is the broom, vacuum or duster. Really anything he can push back and forth… oh, yes, and the fly swatter (not something I particularly like for him to play with).

He is very interested in the dishwasher and every time I open it to load or unload it, he climbs right up into it and starts “helping” me with the silverware.

dishwasher

Much to my disdain, one of his favorite places to play is in the toilet. He just can’t seem to toilet understand why he can’t play in that water and why momma makes such a big deal about it. At the beginning, we could just close the cover because he couldn’t quite open it, but those days are gone. We really need to invest in toilet locks but for now we’re just trying to keep the doors to the bathrooms shut at all times.

Speaking of doors, he still absolutely LOVES to open and close doors. Thankfully he has a good awareness of where his fingers are and hasn’t pinched them.

Jedidiah REALLY likes rocks! Especially when we arrive to the church that my bible study is held at, he sees the rocks and FREAKS out!!! I use it as my bribe to get him to stay in the child care. I tell him that afterwards we can come out and play with the rocks. It’s worked so far and he REALLY gets excited about them. He really impressed me one day because he picked a particular rock and threw it (into a million other rocks) and then went and found that exact same rock to throw again! He did it twice, finding that same rock, before he moved on to another one. I don’t even know if I could find the same rock I threw in all those other rocks!

Another thing he gets SUPER excited about is seeing dogs! He loves Nana and Popo’s dogs and any dog he sees while we’re out walking. Our neighbors all have dogs and when I’m loading him into the car, he’ll say dog and point (even though they’re behind the fence) if he hears them barking.

dogs

Jedidiah absolutely LOVES the bath. As soon as we start filling up the tub, he is right beside us, SO ready to get in there and play! He walks ALL over the tub, which of course scared the crap out of us at first, but he does a good job with it and is really proficient. Of course, his favorite bath toy is still the little orange puffer fish that resembles a ball.

bath-time

Dislikes: He HATES having his diaper changed. In fact, I think he really dislikes any time we try to lay him on his back or keep him still. He also STRONGLY dislikes and fights getting put in his car seat. He arches his back and squirms so that it makes it very difficult to get him in! It doesn’t happen ALL the time, but it would be safe to say that MOST of the time, he does NOT want to be strapped down! Usually once he’s in though, he’s fine.

He also hates having his mouth wiped after he’s done eating, and he’s gotten pretty good at blocking me! Sometimes we’ll be out and about and I’ll see a spot I TOTALLY missed! Oops!

Memorable moments and firsts:

We went to our first pumpkin patches this month! One in Hondo at the corn maze and the other with my girlfriends.

Jedidiah has started saying lots of new words this month. He’s added “peek” (for peek-a-boo), “light,” “outside,” “water,” “thank you,” and “choo choo.”

Shopping with him has really become a lot of fun. He is able to communicate much more clearly the things he likes. One day we were out at Toys’R’Us getting a gift for a friend’s birthday party, and as we were leaving, he was adamant about sitting on the little rides they have in the front. He could care less that they weren’t moving. He just wanted to ride them! So I brought him over and let him sit on both rides and clearly, he enjoyed it!

Jedidiah has been greeting with us at church since he was about 3 weeks old, but now he is ACTUALLY greeting people, with waves and high fives! He’s so darn cute!

He makes car “vrooming” noises when he’s playing with his walker or toy cars or even anything he can push (like it’s a vacuum).

When he’s playing with his toy phones, he now puts them to his ear (backwards). He also does this with my cell phone too. When daddy calls he won’t talk to him but he will wave hello and goodbye to him.

He puts his face in the water at the pool for 4-5 seconds at a time. He hasn’t figured out how to blow bubbles yet, but he holds his breath.

There’s this cute little café up the road from us called Emily’s Place. We walk there often and Jedidiah loves to play on their little playground or run around outside while we just chat and relax (and chase him around). We’ve been making a habit of going up there on Saturday mornings just to unwind and begin the weekend slowly. Plus the weather has been nice these last few Saturdays so that’s been super helpful as well! They have this little motorcycle there that he likes to ride on. He can get on and off of it by himself and he loves it when daddy pushes him around on it! The picture to the left was particularly great because he was wearing his yellow and blue motorcycle shirt riding the blue and yellow motorcycle.

emilys-cafe

He’s learned how to kick the ball (like intentionally, not accidentally) and occasionally will choose to kick-the-ball-and-chase-it rather than his usual throw-the-ball-and-chase-it down our hallway.

We were at Ihop one Sunday after church and after we had finished our meal, Trent was walking around with Jedidiah (as he often does, to let me finish my food). Anyways the cleaning crew had come around and Jedidiah saw the broom and dustpan and was ENAMORED! I’m telling you, I hope this kid keeps up his excitement over cleaning tools! Anyways, we let him “sweep” a little and all the staff thought he was adorable. Who knows what the other people in the restaurant thought… maybe that he was going to have to work to pay for our meal!

ihop

We randomly decided to go garage sale-ing one morning but got a much later start than we rocking-hors had intended. We really only found a few that were still going, but we totally lucked out! We found an awesome rocking horse in excellent shape that gallops and whinnies! It would have been my dream as a little girl to have one like that, so we snatched it up! He likes to push it around like a walker, and he also likes to rock it back and forth. He’s not too sure about being on it yet (but it’s a bit too tall for him yet). That day will surely come!

Jedidiah has been helping me make my shakes for a while now. For the longest time, he just liked to put his hand on top of the blender and watch it blend. But one day we were making my shake, and he was already helping me with the ice cubes (we always count them as we put them in) and then he kept motioning towards the sink. I couldn’t figure out what he wanted, so we went over there and I let him grab his little plastic fork out of there. When we went back over to the blender, he put the fork in and started stirring around my ice cubes! This was amazing because it just goes to show how much kids watch what you’re doing, even if you don’t know they’re watching, and even if you don’t realize you’re doing it. You see, every time I make my Shakeology, I grab a spoon and push all the powder down so that it gets blended and doesn’t stick to the sides, and he NOTICED that!!! Not only did he notice, but he tried to replicate what mommy does on a daily basis. WOW. That sure gives me pause to what else he sees me doing!

Speaking of which, another thing he must frequently see me do (like every time we leave the house) is unlock the deadbolt to the door with my key. One day after coming in, I left my keys on the table beside the door. Jedidiah immediately took the keys, turned around and reached up towards the lock with the keys. He KNOWS what he’s doing!

keys

He has finally figured out the art of sucking! He can suck out of a straw and he can suck out of those little food pouches by himself. Now he also likes any water bottle that you can suck out of as well!

straw

When we go to HEB, they give the kids these little things called “Buddy Bucks” which you put into this arcade-like machine and push a button and it gives you points which you can then redeem for little prizes. Well, Jedidiah could care less about the prizes, but he sure does get excited about pushing the button! It’s super cute to watch his tiny little self walk up to that machine and reach up and push the button.

buddy-bucks

When we put him in his car seat when it’s already in the car, he loves to play a little peek-a-boo game with us. It is SOOOO adorable and he gets such a kick out of it! We usually let him play it for a minute or two and then he doesn’t fight us so much getting into his seat.

We are still going to the library for “Baby and Me” time and it’s been fun to watch Jedidiah begin to come out of his shell more and get more excited about playing. He still doesn’t necessarily play with the other kids, but he’s at least playing alongside them. 🙂

We’ve started going to parks now that he can walk and climb. He can’t do everything, but he loves to be outside and loves to climb on everything. He particularly wants to go up the slides, but the stairs are good practice for him as well (he crawls up them, not walks). He also enjoys the little steering wheels that they have on the playgrounds and any of the little rocking animals (he’s also figured out how to rock them by himself!).

He makes “choo-choo” noises every time he hears the train. He’ll stop and listen and then make the sounds. It’s super cute and I love how observant he is!

I think I wrote last month that he had used crayons successfully one day at Ihop, and this month he was very interested in me writing. He loves to play with pens but I usually make sure that they are “disabled” so that he can’t write on anything. But one particular day, he crawled up in my lap while I was making a to-do list or something like that and I let him draw a bit. It didn’t hold his attention for long, but he did make the connection between what he was doing and the lines on the paper that were forming.

writing

Jedidiah loves to be a part of everything that we do. We had bought a new shelf for his room for his toys and such and we were putting it together in our living room and he was enamored with the hammer. So we helped him use it to “hammer” in a few nails. I love that he always wants to be a part of everything.

What about mom? Well, this momma signed up to run a half-marathon on the 19th of November, so I’ve been training through the weeks. Usually on the weekdays, Jedi ends up being my running buddy, but I’m not really a big fan of running with the jogging stroller. I’m not a fan of running with anything, really. I just prefer the freedom to move my arms and run unhindered. It has however, been good for training as when I’m doing my long weekend runs WITHOUT having to push the stroller, it is MUCH easier!

Other than that, I’ve still been going to Bible Study Fellowship on Wednesday mornings. I LOVE this time to grow in the word and fellowship with other women. And as much as I love spending time with my little guy, I am SO very grateful for those two hours a week that he is being cared for and ministered to by OTHER people! It has been a huge blessing for me.

I’m really LOVING my job as a Beachbody coach! I love connecting with people and encouraging them on a daily basis. How cool that building relationships and pouring into others’ lives can be my ministry AND my job! Plus it keeps me in good shape and keeps me accountable for how I eat too.

Daddy time: I know that I literally say this every month, but I. Love. These. Two. The way they interact is so precious to me. They play little games and have so much fun. Jedidiah looks up to his daddy and loves spending time with him!

One night they were playing this silly little game as we were getting Jedi ready for bed. Daddy would put his shorts on his head, and Jedi would laugh and pull them off. Then daddy would put the shorts on Jedidiah’s head and he would laugh and pull them off. They went back and forth with this little game for quite a while and we all got a good laugh out of it!

Until next month… thanks for reading!

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Posted by logsdonsbigadventures on November 5, 2016 in Uncategorized

Tags: 11 months, baby boy, Jedidiah James, month-by-month

The Jedidiah-ries (Diaries)- 10th month

15 Oct

Weight and Height: I totally didn’t even check this month! And I’d do it now, except this post is already nearly a month overdue, so the numbers wouldn’t be very accurate.

General Observations: Well, we have a walker! Although he took a few steps at 8 months, he really started walking about a week before he turned 10 months old. Before he was comfortable doing it on his own, he would take Trent’s or my finger and walk around holding on to one of our hands. It was super sweet and we love it when he reaches up for one of our hands.

holding-hands

We’re still really dealing with separation anxiety and I have had trouble leaving him anywhere except for Nana and Popo’s. He won’t stay in the church nursery and has a terrible time if I leave at all. He also went through about a week-long period where he would scream/shriek this high pitched scream to get my attention. That didn’t last long because it was OBNOXIOUS!!!

He is into EVERYTHING. He loves opening up the cupboards and pulling everything out. He even tries to climb INTO the cupboards.

Cupboards aren’t the only thing he likes to climb in. He got a whole lot of enjoyment out of this bin too!

He gets down on his belly when he loses something or when his ball rolls under the couch or somewhere else where he can’t reach it. He gets down and sticks his little butt in the air and reaches wherever it went. If he can’t get it, he’ll wait there and look at me until I come and get it for him.

down

Another place he really likes to be is under our kitchen table. Sometimes he goes around and around it, weaving his way from chair to chair; other times he just likes to crawl in the small spaces under the chairs and such. It’s kind of nice when I’m sitting there trying to get some work done because I can see him through the glass. Sometimes he makes the sweetest faces at me. I love it so much! Look at this cuteness!!!

He’s very sociable and waves to everyone, especially when we’re out and about. It makes me smile to see him really brighten peoples’ days. He also really likes looking at older kids and watching them and interacting with them. He seems to make “friends” wherever he goes!

Health: We still have a happy, healthy boy! We shouldn’t have to see the doctor again until we go back for his 12 month check-up!

happy-boy

Eating: My, oh, my, do we have an eater! He REALLY likes to eat and has gotten a good grasp of feeding himself. He can feed himself now with a fork or a spoon (if we load it up) and is really pretty accurate with getting it into his mouth without making a mess. He feeds himself with his left hand. The one thing we needed to work on was throwing the spoon/fork when he was finished with the bite. Part of it is that he just learned how to throw and that he LOVES to throw his ball, so of course he doesn’t know the difference between the two and why he can throw one and not the other. But each time he would throw it, I would leave it on the floor and point to it and explain to him that now he couldn’t eat (for a little while) because he had thrown it down. I would wait a few minutes (2-3) then get up and wash it off and we would try again. It has worked for the most part! There are times where he thinks about throwing it, and I simply say, “Make a good choice. Give it to momma.” and most of the time… he does! There are times that you can really see him considering his options though… like I REALLY want to throw it… BUT then I won’t get to eat for a while…

We’ve also started giving him some “puffs” now that he has two teeth on the top and two on the bottom. They dissolve quickly and he really likes to eat them. He picks them up very well (again, he’s very coordinated) and carefully puts them in his mouth. It’s interesting though because he feeds himself with a spoon or fork with his left hand, but he favors his right hand when picking them up to eat. The area we’ve needed to work on here is that, at the beginning, he wanted to put a bunch in his mouth at a time. So we would just put a few out and break them into smaller pieces so that, even if he did put more than one in his mouth at a time, he would still be eating no more than the equivalent of one at a time. Now he’s gotten much better about pacing himself and figuring out how much he can actually eat at once.

One thing that we’ve really had to watch is that now he puts anything and EVERYTHING into his mouth. Anything he finds on the floor tends to make it’s way into his mouth… including… the kitty food. He’s had a few times where he’s gotten into the bag of cat food and I’ve had to swipe out one of the pieces. The good thing is that when he picks something up off the floor, he usually holds it up to show me before it goes into his mouth so I have a few extra seconds to intervene. Even better, if I ask him for it, he’ll usually put it in my hand (instead of in his mouth).

While nursing he’s really started to pay attention to my moles and freckles. He delicately picks at them with his little thumb and pointer finger as if he could pick them up and take them off. It’s pretty cute. I also thought we had moved away from the pinching, but alas, it’s not over. He did go back to the sweet rubbing for a while, but he still prefers to rub my skin in between his little fingers, especially where it’s most sensitive (like my neck)!

Sleeping: WELL… as I had written in my last post, we had been traveling and so Jedidiah was WAY out of his normal sleep schedule. Then when we got back, Trent went right back to work and I also had a crazy schedule so, quite honestly… we got lazy. We didn’t really know any better and we were both in survival mode so when he woke up in the middle of the night to nurse, I’d just bring him in bed with us and basically switch him from boob to boob every time he’d wake up. Of course, that was not making for good sleep for ANY of us! Anyways, my sister had called me because she was a part of a baby sleep study group and she had learned some tricks that she was going to try and she wanted to share with me too (bless her heart). You see, I KNOW that Jedi can go at least 10 and a half hours straight without needing to nurse. He had done it before all the craziness and out-of-routine-ness that came afterwards. SO, after our conversation, both of us resolved to try to put our babies to sleep AWAKE (so that they would learn how to put themselves to sleep as opposed to us doing it for them) without the help of any soother (boob, bottle, blanket, pacifier…) and to let them cry it out for up to 20 minutes if they woke up in the middle of the night before it was time for them to need to eat again. That first night, he woke up for about 20 minutes and cried, but then… went back to sleep! Then again a little bit later, and cried for about 15… and then went back to sleep! From that point on, it was easier and easier to get him TO sleep and to get him to STAY asleep! Now if I go to bed at a decent time, I get great sleep! It’s been nice to gain back some time on the night end of things for myself and for Trent.

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That being said… napping hasn’t gotten much easier. I’ve tried putting him in the crib awake, same as at night, and he cries and cries and cries. I’ll go in there if it’s for longer than 20 minutes and (leaving him in the crib), just hug him and explain to him again that it’s time for him to rest and that when he wakes up that I will come get him and we can play again. BUT so far it hasn’t gotten easier and he doesn’t really get GOOD sleep during nap time (unless I’m holding him or nurse him to sleep). So I guess you can say we’re still working on that.

Diapers: After coming back and feeling MAJORLY overwhelmed with everything that was going on, I definitely used disposable diapers. With the exception of a few days this month, I went the easy route. And honestly, I’m kind of glad that I did! After we introduced the little “puffs” to him to eat, his poo got really gooey and sticky and messy! I would NOT have enjoyed cleaning all of that out of the cloth diapers!!!

Clothes: He’s wearing 6-9 month clothes for the most part. He can still fit into some 6 month onesies and on the other end, he can wear 9 month ones (but they are still a bit long on him). But truthfully it depends on the individual outfit. All clothes are made differently. He wears a few 12 month outfits, yet fits into other 6 month ones. It just depends.

Social:

Baylee came over for two days and I watched her while her mom had to work. She was the flower girl in our wedding and I’ve known her since she was about Jedidiah’s age, so it’s kind of cool now that SHE is the one helping me watch him! She helped me feed him and play with him and we did some fun things together.

We celebrated my sister-in-law Katey’s birthday with a family gathering at her house. It is always fun to have the cousins together and hang out!

Just around the corner from us, a new pizza place opened and they had a grand opening party. They were giving away free pizza and they had all sorts of games and music and such. We took Jedidiah (he didn’t get any pizza) and he enjoyed watching all the kids running around.

We attended a birthday party for our neighbors. Even though it rained, we enjoyed our time at the park and had a nice time celebrating Carter turning 3!

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We got to go to the zoo with some friends and their kids. It was TONS of fun (but still so HOT outside)!

We got to have a play date with two of the ladies that I met in birthing class. We started a play group last year but had been on hiatus through the summer up until this point and then we got together again. All of our kiddos are pretty much within a month of each other age-wise, so it’s cool to be able to get them together and watch them play!

We went to our buddy Declan’s 1st birthday party. He was born a few months before Jedidiah and we hope they grow up to be good buddies. It was a Mickey Mouse party and it was super cute! Kathy made all sorts of decorations and had a little photo booth. We had a great time and it really got me thinking that in a few short months, we too will have a one year old!!!

I’ve been co-hosting a salad prep “party” with my friend Abby where we invite people over and each person brings an ingredient to share with the group and we make mason jar salads to eat throughout the week! It’s brilliant, fast, easy and fun to hang out and chat with my girlfriends while preparing healthy foods for my week!

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We went to a baby shower and got to see lots of my old Friday’s crew! For those of you who don’t know this, I worked at TGI Fridays for nearly 8 years. I started working there in high school when I still lived in Minnesota and then ended up working at the one here for a few years as well before I started teaching full time. Anyways, it was so much fun to see my girls and catch up while celebrating baby Raigh.

We got to attend a friend’s birthday party at Mr. Gatti’s. This was Jedidiah’s first time at an arcade. He LOVED the lights and the sounds. He even rode the merry-go-round… by himself (daddy was right there to catch him if he lost his balance)! His favorite game though was, of course, one that had to do with balls! He LOVES balls. This one you had to roll the ball down the ramp and try to get it into different colored slots. He could have cared less about the slots, he was just excited when the balls kept coming! It was so cute to watch!

Likes: He LOVES opening and closing doors! I have to watch him very closely to make sure that he doesn’t pinch his fingers, but he seriously could play with a door for hours! At our house, we’ve started putting dumbbells in between the doors so that he can’t close them all the way (and pinch himself in the process).

Animals! Any animal, but especially dogs and cats (ki-y, ki-y). He enjoys chasing the dogs at his Nana and Popo’s house and even barks at them. It’s so cute!

He LOVES balls and has gotten REALLY good at throwing them. Like good aim, good release, good hand-eye coordination… just GOOD (and with both arms at that)! He loves balls and when we wake up and go out into the living room, that’s the first thing he looks for. I’m actually pretty surprised that he hasn’t said “ball” yet, for as often as we say it.

This little bo cleaner y loves to clean! Well, I hope so at least. He loves the vacuum, the broom, the duster… even the toilet bowl brush (ew). Not that he’s proficient with any of those things quite yet, but you know what they say… “Train up a child…” Speaking of which, when he’s finished eating, he always carries his bowl and spoon/fork to the sink and we sing a little song that goes like this… “Take it to the sink and wash, wash, wash; wash, wash, wash; wash, wash, wash; we take it to the sink and wash, wash, wash; when we’re all done.” (To the tune of “The Wheels on the Bus”) Kids are never too young to start good habits!

He really enjoys this play table that my friend Traci passed down to us. It has a hole in the middle for a ball to go in, and then it comes out one of the four legs. It only took a few times for Jedi to catch on to this game and he spends quite a bit of time playing with this. Dropping the ball in over and over and then looking to see where it came out. It is really impressive to watch him learn so quickly!

Another toy he loves is the new walker his Nana bought him. Here he is playing with it. His favorite thing to do is to open the little barn door over and over again because it says, “Peek-a-boo, I see you!”

walker

Bath time is still his favorite and he’s finally using bath toys… kind of. We got these plastic sea animals but out of all of them, he only likes the puffer fish… because it’s just like a ball. He throws it in the tub and then goes to get it. He walks in the tub… he’s all over the place!

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Dislikes: For some reason Jedidiah hates having his diaper changed and being put in his car seat.

Memorable moments and firsts:

He went to the San Antonio zoo for the first time! We had gone to the Minnesota zoo while we were up there last month, but now he’s been to our “home” zoo too! We went with some friends and spent a lovely day there watching the animals and hanging out!

He started pointing at things. It is so cute. He points at EVERYTHING now! He also says “that” as he points. 🙂

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Speaking of things he says, his vocabulary is up to about 10 words now. He can say “momma,” “da-da,” “c-t” (cat), “dog,” “ma” (more), “all done,” “get it” and “got it,” “nana” (for banana), and “that.”

Jedidiah feeds himself now.

Spe drawing aking of feeding himself, we were out to eat at IHOP after church one morning and they actually brought us crayons and a kiddie menu. For a good while, he was happy just playing with the crayons. He’d take two at a time and then trade one out for a different color and repeat it over and over again. But then he figured out how to color! He didn’t do much, but he did make his first official drawing! Maybe I should have kept it for sentimental value, but I’m certain that there will be much more where that came from in the future!

He figured out a fun way to get his ball to come back to him. We had this big skinny cardboard box in our living room from an easel Trent had ordered for school, and Jedidiah found out that he could roll the ball up the “ramp” and it would come right back to him!

He got his first bonk and owie. It comes with trying to walk and falling down. He just happened to fall right and got a little bump close to his eye. Thankfully it wasn’t big and it didn’t last long. Just a day or two and he was back to normal.

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He started getting down correctly off the couch (feet first, sliding on his belly).

One of the gifts we got for Jedidiah last Christmas were these shoes that have his name and birthday on them. We finally put them on him for a little photo shoot, and it’s a good thing we did, because he BARELY squeezed into them! But we got some really cute shots of him!

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He got two more teeth! Both of the top teeth are in. They came in within a few days of each other (much like his two bottom ones). Now he’s got this adorable toothy grin!

Jedidiah started doing this funny Chinese “dubbing” thing with his mouth where he’d make a sound and then silently move his mouth afterwards as if he were still speaking!

One day we were at Nana’s house and he was playing with three balls and he was really trying to figure out how he could hold all three at once. He tried to pick them all up and obviously, that wasn’t working so well. So then, he decided, well, if I can’t get it with my hands, I’m going to try to pick it up with my mouth. It was hilarious! He’s so clever and resourceful!

He’s figured out how to take selfies. Haha… I think he still needs to work on the best angles.

When we go on walks, he likes to put his feet up on his stroller. It’s so funny. He just looks so relaxed and laid back. I like to think of it as “stroller swag.”

He and I took our first trip to Brackenridge Park and our second trip to the Witte Museum. It was a random Tuesday afternoon and I knew that we NEEDED to get out of the house. The Witte is free on Tuesday afternoons but I had forgotten what time it started. We arrived a bit too early and so we decided to walk around and play at Brackenridge for a little while before heading back to the museum. It was fun to watch him play on the playground. He likes to climb up (he’s good at that), but isn’t as good at climbing back down. He also loved the steering wheel and climbing up the slide!

What about mom?

September is my birthday month, so we got to go out and celebrate at Buffalo Wild Wings. It was one of the only days of the month that Trent actually got home by dinner time. It was extra special to be able to eat dinner together, AND to go out! We were blessed with a beautiful sunset and a lovely evening together.

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Well, I had a rough bout with breastfeeding. I guess I should be super grateful that we hadn’t had any real issues up until this point, but I started having a LOT of pain in my right breast when I was nursing. At first I thought that maybe it was a clogged duct, but as I looked more and more into it, I decided that that wasn’t it. Then we moved to nipple blebs, but it really wasn’t that either. It ended up just being a clogged Montgomery gland. It was very painful for about a week but I watched it closely for any signs of infection and eventually the pain just went away. It hurt terribly when he would first latch, but then the pain would get less and less as he nursed. It almost felt like it had at the beginning again where my boobs were just getting used to nursing. So… that pretty much sucked. But we got past it and now we’re good again.

we started going to Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) with a few friends of mine at a chuch in New Braunfels. It is about an hour and a half long and so I was worried about Jedidiah staying in the nursery that long. He hadn’t done it at our own church (where he knows everyone) for a shorter time, so I was praying EXTRA hard that he would make it there so that I could enjoy my time in God’s Word and learning without having him distracting me. It took 3 times before he stayed the whole time, but we made it! It was so nice to be able to relax and study God’s word and enjoy this time of fellowship with other women all the while knowing that he was being taken good care of in their children’s program.

Daddy also let me dress Jedidiah in a Longhorns shirt for our church series called “Quarterback.” You see, we’re a house divided. I’m a Longhorn fan while my husband (bless his heart) is an Aggie. This is a HUGE rivalry that gave us trouble at the beginning of our relationship. We both agree that it was a God thing that they went to separate conferences- it may have saved our marriage! Anyways, here are Jedi and I in our Texas gear.

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Daddy time: I absolutely love watching these two interact. I know I’ve said that since the beginning, but as Jedidiah has gotten more and more personality, it has become even more fun. Trent always wants to spend time with him and unfortunately, his work schedule doesn’t allow for more of it. Here are some of my favorite daddy moments from this month.

My boys serving together at church

Outside daddy’s school

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Posted by logsdonsbigadventures on October 15, 2016 in Uncategorized

Tags: 10 months, baby, Jedidiah James, month-by-month

The Jedidiah-ries (Diaries)- 9th month

25 Sep

Weight: 17.7 lbs.

Height: 28 inches

General Observations:

We traveled a LOT this month and he really did well being in so many different places with so many new people! That being said, Jedi’s schedule was completely out of whack for the majority of the month.

We spent almost three weeks in Minnesota and while we were there, Jedi picked up some bad habits. His cousin Evie puts EVERYTHING in her mouth and up until they spent a lot of time together, we didn’t really have that problem. Now… not so much. Let me be clear though, I’m CERTAIN that she picked up some bad habits from him as well- like banging on everything and screeching in his high pitched excited squeal (Sorry Christie and Ryan).

When we got back from Minnesota, Trent went right back to work and I started watching my friend’s two girls for the week. During that week, Jedidiah developed major stranger anxiety. He was SUPER clingy and would freak out if I even left the room. Sometimes he would freak out if I walked two steps away from him! I think he had a hard time transitioning to daddy being at work all day after he was home with us all summer. He was probably thinking, well daddy’s gone, now I better make DARN sure that mommy doesn’t leave too! Poor baby.

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He started making these stink faces toward the end of the month. I have no idea where he gets it! I am SURE that neither Trent or I make those kinds of faces! He would look at people when we’d be out and just make these RUDE faces at them! It was awful, but it only lasted a short while.

Object permanence- it’s there. When an object moves or disappears, he knows to look for it and is actually very adept at where and when to look as well.

He’s been talking a lot more. It is sounding much more syllabic and we’ve even noticed him copying our intonations!

He has CURLS!!! They are tiny and just starting in the back and on the side of his head, but they are adorable! I tried to get a good picture, but didn’t have much luck… this was about as good as I got!

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And can we just talk about his eyes for a minute… these EYES!!! OMG, I took this picture of him while the light was hitting them just right and they just look AMAZING! And those lashes…

eyes

Health: He’s got 2 teeth so far! Look at how cute they are!

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We went in for his 9 month check-up and the doctor said he is doing very well. We had his appointment while I was still watching the two girls, so all four of us packed up and headed across town for this check-up. He had to get tested for anemia this round and so he got a little heel prick (actually two of them since the first one didn’t get enough blood for a good reading). The doctor popped his head back in before we left to give us the results and he left me very encouraged that we’re doing good. He said, “I don’t know what you’re feeding him, but keep it up, because he is not anemic AT ALL!” Lots of fruits and veggies are keeping this boy healthy and I’m pretty sure that my Shakeology is also partly responsible for the encouraging news!

Here we are in the waiting room with the girls

Eating: This boy ALWAYS wants to eat and shows an intense interest whenever we’re eating. He tends to throw a little fit if we’re eating and he isn’t. So I almost always have something on hand that I can give him. The only problem is that I have to time it right so that we finish at the same time… if he finishes his food before we’re finished eating then it’s more tears.

Getting some grub from Grandpa

He’s also been quick to get into the fridge. He wants to be all up in EVERYTHING all the time! And we’ve had to move the breakable things in the door up higher so that he can’t reach them!

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He’s started smacking his lips when he really likes something.

While Jedidiah used to rub my arms or chest sweetly while nursing, it has turned sour as he now likes to pinch my skin between his little fingers over and over again. It hurts!!! Occasionally he will still rub me sweetly, but lately it hasn’t been as pleasant.

Oh yeah, speaking of not as pleasant… let’s talk about biting for a second, shall we? Yowzas! He hasn’t done it often, but wow, does it hurt! I’m thankful that he only has bottom teeth at this point… I can’t imagine how a full set of teeth feels.

Sleeping: Well, the majority of this month was spent on vacation, so his sleep was not consistent to say the least. We had him in and out of our bed, in a pack and play and even in the same room as his 6 and a half month old cousin for a while. There were lots of wakeful nights and it was definitely out of our normal routines. So… momma hasn’t been sleeping so well either. I’m thankful that now we are back and in our own house and Jedi is in his own crib again. I was worried about transitioning back in, but that first night was AMAZING! He went down, woke up once early on but cried himself back to sleep after a few minutes, then woke up later to nurse and went right back down for the rest of the night!

Diapers: We definitely only used disposable diapers this month but we were traveling the whole time! It’s way too much work to try to do cloth diapers on vacation!

Clothing: He still wears primarily 6-9 month clothes, although he still fits into a good portion of his 6 month ones.

Social: Oh, goodness. I don’t even know if I can scratch the surface of “social” this month. We flew to Minnesota to visit family and friends and we had about 2-3 outings a DAY for nearly 3 weeks!!!

Before we left we attended a birthday party for Trent’s best friend’s oldest son. It was a nice time to catch up with friends, plus they had a little kiddie pool so Jedidiah enjoyed that!

On our way up to Dallas/Fort Worth we visited several friends/family members. We were able to visit a friend of ours from China and her family. Stopping at Debra’s was a nice break in the driving. Then we spent the night with my aunt and uncle (who is also my Godfather) before meeting up with a friend of mine from high school for lunch. Then we flew out of DFW to Minnesota! (It is so much cheaper to fly out of there than it is out of SA, Austin, or Houston)

Hanging out with Debra and her family

With my aunt and uncle

With my high school friend Robert

We spent a lot of time with family- he got to hang out several times at his great grandma and grandpa’s house.

I was so thankful that we got to attend his cousin’s baptism! My sister tried to plan it for when we were in town, but between us coming and our pastor being on vacation, there was only one Sunday available! We’re so thankful it worked out for everyone to make it! It was such a blessing to be there for the christening of our sweet niece!

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We took a day trip to the zoo with his aunts, uncle and cousin. Jedidiah loved seeing the animals and was actually pretty engaged in what was going on around him!

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We hung out with TONS of different friends (far too many to post here).

We attended a benefit for my dear friend Terri, who passed away 6 years ago from a gastrointestinal stomach cancer. The benefit was to raise money for GIST awareness. They have this benefit every year, but this is the first year that we were able to make it. I am very grateful to have been there!

We spent a week up at the lake! My family has had a time share at Breezy Point Resort since I was in high school but Trent and I hadn’t been up there in several years. It was so much fun with both of the babies together and EVERYONE was able to make it up! It was great to spend time together as a family in a relaxing environment! (Again, there are WAY too many pics to post to fully capture our time together)

Memorable moments and firsts:

He took his second round of flights to Minnesota this month and clocked a whole lot of driving hours!!! He did really well on the flights and mostly played with the kids in front of him or on the floor at our feet the whole time! It was so cute- he kept reaching in the crack of the seat in front of us and would put his hand on the little boy or girl’s arm (two different flights, two different kids) to make them look back and play with him. But the kids were great with him and they seemed to love playing with Jedi! It was SUCH a blessing! I will say, however, that trying to keep him still this time around was MUCH more difficult than when he was a newborn!

On the flight TO Minnesota

On our flight back home to San Antonio

He started walking in the pool using a floatie to keep him up. This was AMAZING and SO unexpected. Another family was in the pool and had offered to let us use their little inner tube, so we accepted. I put it around Jedidiah not thinking much and for a minute or so he just kind of hung out… and then all of a sudden, he TOOK OFF!!! Literally walking from one end of the pool to the other! It was such a cool thing to see. He LOVED it!!! (And while I won’t post it here because it’s far too long, my brother-in-law managed to catch it all on video!)
He says “Mama” now (even though “Da-da” came first)! And I think he also says “Ma” by itself for “more” (judging by context). We’re trying to teach him the sign language for that, but it doesn’t seem to be catching on yet. It also sure sounds like he says his name- “Di-di-a.”
He is FEARLESS when it comes to water and swimming. He is not at all worried about going under water and in fact, there were several times where he would just take off and dive in. He’ll sit on the side of the pool and “jump in” (fall in) to mommy. This is something we practiced at swimming lessons, so he knew what to do, but he wasn’t the least bit scared! This momma and daddy are going to need to watch him SUPER closely around the water!

His “THIS. IS. AWESOME.” face

Poor baby had a fall in the tub… well actually, it wasn’t a fall as much as a push-off. You see, he loves to stand up along the side and pull everything into the tub with him (the soap, the washcloth, the pouring cup, etc.). Anyways, then he just sits back down, like he would fall from a standing position normally. Well, on this unfortunate evening, he not only fell back onto his bum, like normal, but pushed off back onto his bum, which wouldn’t have been a problem EXCEPT… he fell right onto the tub plug… and all the weight went right onto his poor little balls. His first time getting racked. It was terrible. He cried for like 10 minutes and there wasn’t really much I could do to help him except to nurse him, which was the only thing that finally calmed him back down. Eek!
Speaking of balls, he figured out how to throw! He’s not great at it yet, but he can throw them! He got to practice with his great grandma and his uncle Derek!

He went to the zoo for the first time with his aunties, uncle and cousin. We had a lot of fun watching the animals!!!
He took his first steps!!! One day at my sister’s house, he randomly took two steps towards me and we all stopped, looked at each other and were like, “He just walked!” The next day he took two more steps!
While we were up at the lake, we went up to the playground and put both Jedi and his cousin Evie in the swings. They swung for a little while, while we all tried to get a good photo of the two of them together. Yeah… that wasn’t so successful. But my brother Derek started playing with Jedidiah and he absolutely LOVED it! Just look at his face!

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He began standing on his own for long periods of time! We were at my grandparents’ house and he was playing with a toy and all of a sudden, he was standing… and still standing… and still standing, all on his own! We were so impressed!!!

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He started waving hello and goodbye. He still won’t necessarily do it all the time, or when we want him to, but he gets the concept and moves his sweet little hand up and down!

We visited my alma mater Northwestern College after an evening at Caribou Coffee meeting up with some old girlfriends. I LOVE the campus there. It is just so peaceful. Even though it was almost dusk, I decided to take Jedidiah down to the island so we could spend a few minutes by the lake. I’m so glad that I did, it was a beautiful evening and I think just being there was good for my soul!

After seeing how much he liked the sand while we were on vacation, we were all too eager to get his sandbox up and going once we got home. We had purchased it right before we left on our vacation, but Jedidiah has now finally had the chance to play in it! The verdict- it’s a hit!

When we got back from Minnesota, Trent had to go back to work right away. We spent most of that first week back helping him in his classroom and getting ready for the school year. There were two significant events that were memorable. One was just on a random night when we were there late helping daddy get set up and Jedidiah started moving from hook to hook almost like a monkey and then reaching up and pulling down the papers that we had hung from the cubbies above. It was HILARIOUS to watch and we were all so impressed with his coordination!

20160813_192930 The second was on “Meet the Teacher” night. I had driven up to his school with the girls I was watching to help with some last minute touches for his classroom and to help out in any way that we could. Anyways, it was getting close to time for the girls’ mom to pick them up and Jedidiah needed to nurse, so I decided to go out to the car where we could have a little more privacy. Anyways, the girls’ mom came and Jedidiah finished up. I was just finishing something up on my phone so I was letting him play with the steering wheel (which, for the record, I had done before many times, and he’s always loved it and we’ve never had an issue). Anyways, once he finished, I headed back inside. All of a sudden, I looked at him and realized that he was covered with black stuff! Like ALL OVER. It was on his face, on his hands, on his clothes… I was so embarrassed to see him such a mess so we hit up the bathroom and I cleaned him up as best I could, but his clothes were still black, so I decided that that was a sign that we weren’t supposed to stick around and we headed home instead. I still don’t know what the heck was all over him!

hot-mess

Likes: Water- both the ocean and the lakes, playing peek-a-boo, throwing balls, playing in the sand, spoons, banging on things, being outside, going on walks, screeching with excitement, animals (especially our kitty cat or Nana and Popo’s dogs), and eating!

Dislikes: Being in the car!!! Oh, my, we had some pretty LONG, LOUD drives along the way, with lots and lots of tears. He also very much dislikes having his hands held (unless we’re walking with him). He gets mad at us if we try to hold his hands while we say grace before meals or any other time really. We tried to reach back and hold his hand when he was upset in the car and he would just bat us away.

What about mom? Well, mom got to run a race while I was up in Minnesota. My good friend Katie had invited me to run the Warrior Dash with her and since it was a race that I had wanted to run for quite a while, and it happened to be while we were up there, I said YES!!! Originally Trent was going to run it with me, but Jedidiah was at a stage where he wouldn’t take a bottle and since the race was an hour away, there was no way we could have left him with anyone. SO, Trent volunteered to stay with the little man and my brother ran in his place. It was really fun for the three of us to run and do the obstacles all while getting down and dirty!

Other than that, I REALLY enjoyed seeing my family and meeting up with friends. It was a busy time that really flew by but I wouldn’t have traded it for anything! The time we are able to spend with them really is priceless and it is so much more meaningful now that we have Jedidiah. I really want him to know his grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousin (plus Great aunts and uncles, second cousins… you get the gist). I have to admit that I also really enjoyed our time up at the lake. There is something about being around water that really just helps me to relax and enjoy God’s creation.

Once we got home, I’m not going to lie, I was a bit overwhelmed. We got back pretty late Sunday night and Monday morning Trent had to return to school and I was up at 7am with two extra kiddos. Having them all week WHILE adjusting to having Jedidiah by myself and not having any transition time really made it tough getting back into the swing of things, but we ended up finding our rhythm again.

Separation anxiety has made things HARD on me. Jedidiah was SUPER clingy that last week of this month and wouldn’t leave my side. He would just cling to my ankles for dear life and desperately want me to hold him. Poor baby… and poor momma!

Daddy time: I know it was a hard transition for daddy to go back to work as well, especially after a really short summer (due to three weeks of training for his new job as soon as the last school year ended) and lots of traveling. It kind of felt like there wasn’t much time for just the three of us to relax. But I do know that he enjoyed our time in Minnesota as well and we had a lot of fun with my siblings and the rest of the fam. Trent got some gaming time in with my brother and brothers-in-law while we were there and he really enjoyed playing with the babies! We are also sad that daddy is back at work and he’s been working insanely long hours. Once school started we really didn’t see him unless we went up to school to help out. That was a BIG change for us (and for him as well). Here are some of my favorite pictures of the two of them this month.

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Posted by logsdonsbigadventures on September 25, 2016 in Uncategorized

Tags: 9 months old, baby, Jedidiah James, month-by-month

The Jedidiah-ries (Diaries)- month 8

01 Aug

Weight: 16lbs 8 oz. (Down a bit from last month, but he is SO active!!! He’s burning through those little calories)

Height: 28 inches-ish (trying to measure a squirmy baby is NOT the easiest… or most accurate)

General Observations:

Sitting on his knees

This boy is ALL over the place!!! He pulls up on nearly everything, even with only one hand (and for some reason, he also thinks it’s a good idea to use his mouth to help him pull up). He holds on and leans down to pick things up. He even tries to stand or go between different things by himself. He hangs from things. It is crazy! He has pretty good balance and loves to sit on his knees and bounce up and down. He has also gotten much better about balancing and tries to stand by himself on occasion. He also falls better. Now he knows how to fall right on his bum or drop to his knees so that he doesn’t get hurt. Jedidiah is just SO BUSY all the time! He’s loving crawling and has gotten very fast at it.

His hair is getting longer and blonder and his eyes have evolved in color to the point where I’m not even sure exactly what color to call them. They are a bluish gray on the outside with specks of brown around his iris. Whatever color they are, they are BEAUTIFUL! Especially with his long lashes! I just can’t get enough of this handsome boy!

looking back

Health: He’s doing great. That tear duct is still clogged but other than that, he’s happy and healthy! He’s also SUPER tan! I’m SO jealous of his coloring- he definitely got his daddy’s skin. He’s got a farmer’s tan right now, and he’s even got fat roll tan lines in his little creases. They are so cute!

tan lines

Eating: Jedidiah loves to try new things!

A list of foods he’s tried so far: Avocados, lime, bell peppers, bananas, mangoes, strawberries, blueberries, watermelon, sweet potatoes, regular potatoes and refried beans… yep, like a true Texan (and he loves them!).

While nursing he still moves all over the place. Gone are the days where he would just lie still and snuggle with me… now he’s standing up and getting down and moving, moving all around! He definitely keeps me on my toes!

Sleeping: Ughh! Jedidiah’s sleeping was TERRIBLE this month! I think that it was just because of the teeth, but man, he was waking up SO MUCH during the night. It was just towards the end of this month that things started to get back to normal. Thank God!!!

sleeping

Diapers: We got busy again this month. We took a few little trips here and there and so we reverted to the disposable diapers more than the cloth ones. We moved him up to size 3 but really, they’re still pretty big on him, he could totally still get away with wearing size 2.

Clothes: Jedidiah can still wear some 6 month clothes but he’s starting to need the 6-9 month sleepers. He’s just getting too long for the 6 month ones. But he’s still skinny enough to wear 6 month clothing in most everything else. I love all his cute clothes and of course his Nana is always buying him adorable new outfits!

The other thing we’re finding right now is that Jedidiah doesn’t so much like to wear shoes, which is such a shame since he has the CUTEST little shoes! He basically wears each pair once… just long enough for us to get a cute picture of him in them… that’s about all we can hope for right now.

Social:

This month was Father’s Day! We celebrated Trent for the awesome daddy that he is! Jedi and I made him a little something

(Star Wars themed, of course) and we just spent the day relaxing and enjoying life.

yoda best

Trent and I took Jedidiah to Fischer Park early on and spent an afternoon hanging out at the splash pad. It was a hot day so the water felt great! We also visited a second time with our friends the Steele’s and their little guy (who is just a few months older than Jedidiah).

Chief Gramma Wanda came by for an afternoon visit, so Jedidiah got to see one of his great grandma’s. He was very sweet with her and even crawled right over to her and into her lap!

PicMonkey Collage

We spent a weekend in Houston visiting two sets of close friends. We drove out on a Sunday afternoon (Which was an awful idea because traffic was TERRIBLE) and drove back Tuesday morning. We got to see our friends Sheena and Nick (who I went to college with in MN) and also our friends Kelly and Antonio, who we worked with in China (and who recently got married!!!). It was a great couple of days catching up with good friends and we’re thankful that we got to see them!

Hanging out with Kelly and Antonio

We had a couple of outings with our neighbors down the street. They’ve got a 3 year old and a 1 year old, so it’s fun to hang out with them and the kiddos!

I was able to have a little play date with two of my old co-workers from years ago, even before I started teaching. My girl Brilyn was in town with her 2 1/2 month old, so she and my girlfriend Missy came over for an afternoon. Missy brought her daughter Baylee, who was the flower girl in our wedding. She’s grown up a lot since then! She loved carrying around Jedidiah and playing our piano.

We visited some of my old kiddos from a few years ago. We had visited once when I was pregnant (after coming back from China) and had promised to come back with the baby. It was later than we had intended, but we really had a great time seeing all these sweet kids and their families. They were all great with Jedidiah too! They passed him around like a champion.

kids

We made a short visit to Trent’s Meemaw (Jedididah’s great grandma) to say hello and take a few pictures of them together. She has dementia so it is hard to stay for a long time because she keeps forgetting who we are and why we’re there, but we wanted Jedidiah to have a chance to see her.

meemaw

We went to the Witte Museum in San Antonio for their free Tuesdays. We actually ended up paying half price to get into the Maya exhibit, but it was pretty cool and worth the entry fee. I had the chance to visit many Mayan ruins when I lived in Mexico, so it brought back a lot of memories for me. We found that most of the displays were really still too advanced for Jedidiah to enjoy, but he did like playing with some wind chimes and drums and then he LOVED playing with the different rocks inside the gift shop. We just sat there for nearly 30 minutes and let him play in the different bins of colored rocks. It was a great day and we totally recommend going! I only wish we would have had more time to explore and check out the rest of the exhibits.

rocks

We drove to Austin for a day to meet up with one of my best friends from high school, Tiffany, who actually lives in Florida but was in Austin visiting. We were lucky enough to have lunch with her, then headed to the Austin Nature and Science Center where we spent a good amount of the hot afternoon in the shade of the Dinosaur sand pits. Then we met up with another friend from China for dinner… at a Chinese restaurant. 🙂 We enjoyed our bubble tea and Jedidiah even ate some curry potatoes. It was a fun day filled with adventures!

San Antonio hosted a thing called SciFest, a mini comic convention, and so we got nerded out as a family and dressed up to go check it out. We didn’t stay long but we were there long enough to pose with some of the characters and walk around for a while. It was fun!

We attended a tea-party themed birthday party for our neighbor down the street who was turning one years old! We got dressed up as a family and had a lovely time hanging out with them.

My good friend Sandy and her son Cyler came by for a visit. Jedidiah is at a fun age where he really enjoys watching and playing with older kids so he and Cyler were really cute together!

We had a chance to hang out with Trent’s sister, her husband and their two kids. Her youngest daughter is only 2 and a half weeks younger than Jedidiah, so it is really cool to watch the two of them interact with each other. Now that they’re both crawling, it is fun to watch them chase and follow each other around the house!

We also took a trip down to Corpus Christi to visit a good friend of mine and also to bring Jedidiah to the beach for the first time! He absolutely LOVED the sand and the ocean. He wasn’t scared at all and just wanted to get out there! I love my adventurous spirited boy

Likes: Pulling up on anything and everything, playing in the dirt or the water. Jedidiah absolutely loves the vacuum! He watches intently when I am using it and always wants to help me push it around.

vacuum

He pretty much likes anything that is cylindrical. He nearly almost always has a pen, a spoon or a straw in his hands. He crawls and even pulls up with things in both hands and particularly likes small hard-to-get-into spaces.

This little boy LOVES to bang on things! His favorite being the table, Nanas birdcage and cardboard boxes. I’ve even thought of calling him BAM-BAM because of how much he loves to hit stuff! Jedi REALLY likes to eat! We’ve also found that he really likes animals- watching them and trying to pet them (which basically means he chases them all over the place).

Dislikes: Being in the car for long periods of time. This month especially, with all the trips all over Texas, he was NOT a fan of being strapped in when all he wants to do is GO, GO, GO! He’s also been a bit more wary of strangers and new places/situations. He gets pretty angry when we’re eating and he’s not. Ha! He’s so his daddy’s boy!

Memorable moments and firsts:

Jedidiah popped his first teeth this month, both in the same week, just days apart!

You can KINDA see those two little teeth on the bottom if you look hard

He stood by himself! He’s been doing so for anywhere from 2-4 seconds at a time.
Jedidiah celebrated his first Fourth of July with a parade in the morning, a party in the evening and fireworks that night. He really liked the fireworks the first time we saw them a few months ago, but this time he only watched for a short while before falling asleep on momma’s shoulder. It was a fun day together as a family!

He took his first trips to Houston, Austin and Corpus Christi.
Jedidiah had his first beach experience!

What about mom? Well, Jedidiah’s always been active, but now that he’s into everything and pulling up on everything, I really have to be super vigilant. With no crib naps (only naps on momma), I really lack time to myself. I constantly feel behind on the housework and rarely have a spare moment to get things done that I want to do (this blog for instance). It’s been tougher for me for sure, but it’s also been such a blessing. I’ve really enjoyed every stage so far, but this one that he’s in is just so fun and exciting! I always feel like he’s doing something new and he is so smiley! He’s such a happy boy and that makes me happy too! He likes to watch me when I work out, and often he tries to climb on me while I’m trying to get it done. This is one of my favorite photos from the month. He just wanted mommy to hold him. 🙂

motherhood

Daddy time: I think I can speak for the both of us when I say that we are SO happy to have daddy home for the summer! This little boy LOVES his daddy! They play all sorts of little games together. Lately Jedidiah has really liked making a game out of taking off daddy’s hat or glasses. It’s super cute to watch the two of them together. I absolutely love it!

glasses

And I leave you with this cuteness… just because I can’t resist! Until next month (which, since I’m so late on this post could be in a week or two)!

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Posted by logsdonsbigadventures on August 1, 2016 in Uncategorized

Tags: 8 months, Austin, baby, coast trip, Corpus Christi, Houston, Jedidiah James

A letter to my son on Mother’s Day

17 May

wild about mommy

Dear Jedidiah,

I know that you are too young to read this, but one day I want you to be able to read these words and be reminded of how much I love you.

I am so thankful on this Mother’s Day that you have made me a mother. I am thankful that you chose me and your daddy to be your parents. There is no greater call or responsibility, nor is there anything I’d rather be than your mommy.

Even before you were born, we couldn’t wait to meet you. We talked to you and read to you and imagined what you’d be like. I loved feeling you move in my belly and treasured having you safe inside me. We watched you grow and read about how you were changing every week. We counted down the months and days and hours until you’d be with us.

belly

When you were born, we cried tears of joy. We held you gently and snuggled you close. We smothered you with kisses and watched you for hours on end.

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In the 6 months since you were born (and even before that), you have changed our lives so much. I can’t even imagine what our life was like before you were in it and I want to share every moment with you now. I love watching you learn. I love watching you smile. I love hearing your laugh. I love hearing you talk. I treasure every snuggle, every sloppy kiss and can’t help but to think, “Wow, this is the best job in the world.”

mom11

I pray over you constantly, thanking the Lord for his protection and provision over your life. I ask him to teach you and guide you and to make you a man after his own heart. I pray for your future, that you would come to know him as Lord and Savior and that you would walk in his ways. I thank God for blessing us with your life and I praise him for every moment you’re with us. You are our greatest gift, our most prized possession, our most precious treasure.

On this Mother’s Day I want you to know more than anything how much your daddy and I love you. We can’t wait to watch you grow and learn and experience life. We will be there in the happy times to cheer you on and to celebrate with you; and we will be there in the sad times, to hold you, to comfort you and to wipe away your tears. We promise to love you the best we can through it all. Thank you for making us parents. We love you Jedidiah!

Love Always,

Mommy

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Posted by logsdonsbigadventures on May 17, 2016 in Uncategorized

Tags: Jedidiah James, letter, Mothers day, thankful

Jedidiah’s baby dedication

16 May

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Well, last weekend at church, we had baby Jedidiah dedicated. It was a special Sunday to do it, since it was also my first Mother’s Day!

Many of you may be wondering, “what is a baby dedication?” Well, it’s similar to a baby baptism, except without the water. I personally was raised in the Catholic church and I was baptized as an infant. However, since I have grown up in my faith, I have come to believe that the Biblical model for baptism is as a “going public” statement of faith. Because of this, I also chose to be baptized as an adult. In fact, my husband and I got baptized together on Easter Sunday 5 years ago. That was also a very special time for both of us. Anyways, we decided to dedicate Jedidiah and hope that he too will choose to be baptized later in life.

Revolution Church has four services each weekend, one on Saturday night and three on Sunday morning. Usually we go to the 10:00 service and then stay to serve the 11:30, but since we wanted our family to be there for this special day, we decided to serve the 11:30 and attend the 1:00 service (they are all late risers). This turned out to be a blessing for us as we were the only family to choose this service to have our baby dedicated (the other services were packed!). It allowed Pastor Zak to really make it more personal and special for us as a family.

He introduced us on stage and even told the church that our little Jedidiah was “Made in China” while we were up there (He thinks that is pretty funny). Then he read Deuteronomy 6 where it talks about the blessings in store for those who love God and who follow his commandments. “These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life.” This is important because the Shema, which I’ve written about in other posts, was the first passage of scripture the Hebrews would teach their children. “Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one. Obey the commandments I am giving you today. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress these words upon your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up…”

Then we got to the dedication part. Really, it should be called a parent dedication rather than a baby dedication as we are the ones promising to raise him up to love God and to obey his commandments (out of love, not out of obligation); to transfer Jedidiah’s dependence on us to a dependence on God. And by doing this, generations to come can be changed. We’ve always prayed that God would use Jedidiah’s life for his glory, and who knows what kind of influence he’ll have on his generation and the next? We made this promise before God, our family and before our church.

baby dedication

Then came the church’s part. They also dedicated themselves to come alongside us to make this commitment happen, through prayer and support. We don’t believe that they made that commitment arbitrarily either, as this church really has become our family. We treasure them and they treasure us, and together, we’re on a mission to start a revolution of grace in one life at a time.

After the church made their commitment, they stretched out their hands and prayed over us. Pastor Zak prayed for:

Protection in the midst of a dark and hurting world…

Hope for his future…

Security in Christ…

Comfort when he’s hurting or lonely…

Overwhelming grace to flow through his life…

Healing…

Victory in the battle…

Daily provision…

and guidance as he walks through life.

He finished with some prayers from Psalm 23, that Jedidiah would see God as his Good Shepherd.

Finally, we were given a Jesus Storybook Bible as a gift and as a tool to equip our son to go out and bring hope and joy into the world and to grow in the faith and the knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Last but not least, I pray that my son’s identity will be deeply rooted in who he is in Christ, and that this creed would be in his mind and on his heart as he grows up.

I am

This was a really special time for us as parents and we are so thankful for our church family. Oh yeah, after the dedication, Jedidiah got kicked out of service for being too loud… how many people can say that their baby was dedicated and kicked out on the same day?!? This kid… I’m sure God has great things in store for him.

If you want to watch the video of his dedication, here you go! Enjoy! #revyourlife

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Posted by logsdonsbigadventures on May 16, 2016 in Uncategorized

Tags: #revyourlife, baby dedication, church, Jedidiah James