Cafe de Valentine

 Baby Gage, Cousin Carsyn & Bear. These boys will grow up like cousins and best friends. Gage's Mama is like a sister to hubs and his sister and both families are very close friends. I forsee lots of touble these boys will get into together!  This is what teething looks like in our house. Our sweet boy runs a low grade fever about a day before a tooth comes in. He cut his first tooth (bottom left) on March 12th at 9 months old.  This is what crazy hair looks like before Mama chops it off! He now has a summer hair-do! Pics coming.  This child is in pure bliss when he's in his bath tub. He is holding his toy turtle bath toy that is his favorite.  This was on his 9 month birthday. Just a sweet little grin with bed head. And last, but not least... this is the vision of a redneck baby. Sitting in a field on a blanket playing with toys. This boy would live outside if he could. He loves it.

I wanted to share a few photos from my phone since that's where most of my photos are these days. My mom actually sent me the one above while I was working one day. This is his favorite new face to make. The lighting is horrible on this one (above) but he had on a new camo vest. I put him down awake for all his naps so he knows how to put himself to sleep but at night for bedtime I prefer to rock him to sleep. This was the end of a very long day so forgive the lack of decent hair and make-up. This one is taken in the dark so you have to look hard but when I rock him he likes to have his little hand on my face. It's the sweetest thing, I hope he still does that when he's 20. You know, when I rock him to sleep. :) This is the usual face I get when I get home from work. I long for this moment ALL DAY LONG. I don't want to forget these sweet moments, they go by so fast. *all photos taken in the last 2 weeks. 7 months old.

I wrote this post mid September and I never posted it. Now that I've been back at work for over 4 months I thought I would add to the bottom my current schedule (things have changed a bit) and my current thoughts/struggles. I'd love the feedback from any other working Mom's. ******************************************** I am officially 3 weeks into being a full time working mom. It's probably the hardest job I've ever had. Parenting is a 24/7 job that I love and it brings me so much joy, but when we add all the things that I used to get done each evening, weekend & early morning outside of work to taking care of a little one that's a tough task. I will say that I had zero post-pardum depression and never even really had a difficult time transitioning to being a Mama. It came very naturally to me. I loved it from day one and there wasn't really anything for me to get worked up over. I will share with you, however, that transitioning back to work has been h...

I forgot to post this back in July when it happened but I don't want to forget it. Bear is a fourth generation with his name, most go by their middle names. It was a fun day having all these boys together. Bear, his daddy (Hubs), his Papa V & his Papaw. He's so blessed to have such great guys in his life.

My sweet boy had quite the fall already! We visited the pumpkin patch, took pictures IN a pumpkin and of course had to dress up as a Bear for Bear's first Halloween. My cute little Bear was not a huge fan of his costume. Part of the problem was the fact that it's really warm & cozy and it was 82 degrees on Halloween. Another issue was the fact that there were about 12 cameras flashing at him the second I got him in the costume. He did love the pumpkin patch! This photo was taken with our iphone so it's not the best quality. I had seen on Pintrest a cute picture of a baby sitting in a pumpkin and I knew this was the only Halloween that he would fit, so we had to do it. We may have spent a small fortune on a pumpkin big enough to fit our chubby boy & his thighs! :) They seriously made for the cutest photos though! I'm so glad we did it! We had a great first Halloween with our little man and we can't wait for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. The holiday...

I'm not sure how I have a four month old already!?? Bear is seriously so fun right now. He's getting really wiggly so these pictures are getting harder and harder to take, but he's got so much personality. He is still eating great, on a much more consistant schedule. Every 3-4 hours. He is maybe waking up once a night, depending on how he eats in the evening. His teeth have been giving him some real trouble this last week or so. He fusses more than normal and pulls at his bottom jaw. And Oh The DROOL! He still occasionally spits up, not near as much as he used to. He is such a little flirt already, he'll flash anyone a smile. He is in size 3 diapers and still fits in some 3-6 mo clothes but mostly all 6 month stuff now. It got a little chilly for about a week and we had a hard time fitting into winter stuff. By the time it gets cold for good he'll fit in things better. Pants are hard because if they fit around his chubby belly they are about 6 inches too long, if ...

Time flies when you're having fun! B turned 3 months old on September 7th Time flies when you're having fun! B turned 3 months old on September 7th.You have become very aware and responsive this month. You have such a fun personality. You laugh and talk all day long. You can follow our voice and respond to your name (and your many nicknames). You love to read stories and you get excited when we sing to you. Your new advancement is grabbing anything in your reach (including Daddy's chest hair & Mama's earrings) & you have become a professional drooler. We don't see or feel any teeth yet (which Mama is thankful for) but you slobber all day long & your fists/arms spend all day in your mouth. You aren't spitting up as often, but when you do it's EVERYWHERE! You have always loved bath time, but you have learned how to splash and it's your favorite thing to do! Your little bath has moved from the kitchen sink into the big bath after Mama had to mo...