Garrett - One Year!

Our precious third born son turned a year old on August 5. Praise God for his little life after my majorly complicated pregnancy. When I read the third bullet point of the diagnosis information of vasa previa, I can't help but get a chill down my spine and be that much more thankful for him. Despite the pregnancy and delivering him 6 weeks early, Baby Garrett is doing great!

This past month has included lots of transitions for him. He is crawling, YAY! He still is not very motivated to do it much but he can do it when he wants too. Even before he was crawling, he figured out how to scoot himself across the living room floor to the shelf that holds some puzzles, books, and a few toys and proceeded to scatter everything around. He switched from a bottle to a sippy cup with no problem. He also switched from formula to milk with no problem. He cut his second tooth (now he has both bottom front teeth). He is in the process of transitioning to one nap a day as opposed to two. He babbles and laughs a LOT. It is really funny to be around him just to watch him talk and laugh. He has pretty severe stranger anxiety. It makes me feel kind of bad when someone he doesn't know tries to talk to him and he screams like they just pinched him or something. He has quite a bit of separation anxiety too. I feel kind of bad for him when I walk around the corner (out of sight) and he screams his head off. Other than that, he is really fun and fairly laid back. His stats from his checkup are: 23.5lbs and 31in. Such a big boy!

We had a little party for his birthday. We were very blessed to have my mom, dad, and nephew, Conner, visiting from Indiana. My dad's birthday is August 6 and my mom's is August 7 so we had a celebration for everyone on Saturday. We had barbecue pork, corn on the cob, beans, cake, and ice cream. We had a pinata for the older kids (filled with granola bars, granola, raisins, fruit roll-ups, and blow pops...yes I caved and got one kind of candy). And, Baby Garrett got a few presents that included a v-tech drive and discover toy, school bus toy, puzzles, books, and a ball.

Garrett gnawed on his first corn on the cob:

And, he took down his first cupcake much like a wood chipper takes down a piece of wood:


Previous monthly posts: I can't believe it has been a year already.
11 months
10 months
9 months
8 months
7 months
6 months
5 months
4 months
3 months
2 months
1 month

Real Food - Confessions

I just now realized (yeah I am a little slow) that I forgot to mention something in my last update. I never want to give off the impression that we've got this figured out or that we never cheat, because we don't and we do. Confession time: We eat fast food a couple of times a week sometimes. It is a way for us to get the kids out of the house and play and get out of cooking dinner. Our favorites are Chick-Fil-A, McDonald's, and Burger King. Sometimes I don't like it and wish we never went out to eat. But, the fact is that we do and it does make things easier on me when we do and the kids really enjoy it. This food thing is a major work in progress with us. Possibly at some point I will plan well enough to have "real food" to-go meals and we can just go picnic somewhere instead of buying fast food. But until then, it is what it is.

While I am on this confession kick let me also tell you that we go out for ice cream once or twice a month. We are having cupcakes and store bought ice cream to celebrate Garrett's first birthday this weekend. We are even getting a pinata for the older kids and I *might* put a little bit of candy in it. One of my major weaknesses is potato chips so I buy those sometimes.

If we are out with other people or at someone's house and we are offered something that doesn't *fit* we eat it anyway. We by no means are food snobs. We are just trying to eat healthier, less processed foods the majority of the time and making small changes a step at a time.

I sincerely apologize that I didn't fess up to these realities in my last post.