Things to be thankful for...Thanksgiving 2010

Ahhh...I can't believe my five days off are already over. What a whirlwind! My little KingBear did so much; from Black Friday shopping craziness, to his first high chair experience at a restaurant, to meeting Santa for the first time. He thought Santa was oh-so snuggly and could've taken a nap on his burly belly. His cousin didn't quite like Santa as much, but of course it was adorable none-the-less.

"If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice."-Meister Eckhart. I am in tears thankful this year for so many reasons. I'm trying not to make this a mushy gushy post, but who cares...My heart feels all gushy right now :) I have a beautiful baby boy, a husband who truly, truly loves me even with all of my imperfections, wonderful friends, a very caring family, both of us are employed with a roof over our heads, we are seemingly healthy, the caramel brulee latte at Starbucks (YUM!) and so many other things that would just bore you. My excitement for the holidays seems on steroids now that we have our precious little (errr, make that big) baby. Everything seems new again! Can't wait to pick out our tree, put the lights up, finish Christmas shopping, (eeekk! squealing with joy right now just thinking about it all).

Below are a few pics from the weekend:

Wednesdays...

I absolutely love my Wednesdays. It is generally my only full day off during the week. It's just me and the KingBear all day long. We have a blast giggling, going for walks, getting our Starbucks in the morning, grocery shopping, going to the park, and just hanging out at home reading books! The only problem is that it makes it that much harder to leave him on Thursdays to go to work.

I try my very best to not check email or do any work of any sort. Yes, that means even housework...The dishes stay dirty, the laundry unfolded, the rug unvaccuumed; but I simply refuse to spend my only day with Kingston cleaning up. And even when he's napping, I still don't do the housework. It's the only way I keep my sanity (or at least that's my excuse). The only problem with this is that my poor dear loving husband usually ends up doing all of the housework. Sometimes I don't show it, but I hope he knows how much I sincerely appreciate how much he helps around the house. Thank you Em, for allowing me my special day with our beautiful son.

A bunch of pics from our day at the park...

Water...So cool until it splashes in your face.

A few of my favorite recent pics...

Crazy about cups!! His new favorite toy...

Seriously, every time I'm trying to drink something, he almost knocks the cup right out of my hand!

This poor kid has to wear a bib 24/7 because he spits up every 10 seconds, and if he's not spitting up he's drooling EVERYWHERE!

His cool guy vest...trying to be like daddy.

Sitting Up! What a fun new skill!

Four Month Nursing Strike...and a very guilty feeling mommy!

So right at four months, Kingston decided that he would only like to take the bottle and he no longer wanted to nurse. It broke my already working mommy guilt-ridden heart! I didn't just want to quit nursing completely, so I had to sit there and just listen to him scream at my boob for an hour, before he finally gave up and was hungry enough to nurse. This, of course, brought up all of the old feelings of a prior post regarding my guilty conscience of leaving my baby everyday to go to work.

Kingston eventually put down his picket sign and came back to his mommy. I've read that this is a normal occurrence for babies between 3 and 6 months. They apparently don't like to work hard to get food, when they know how easy it can be from a bottle. I'm so glad I didn't give in...I can only pray that I never have to sit there helpless, bawling just as loud as the baby, ever again.

I thought I'd end this post with a blurry picture of us after our war over my boob :) We are on happy peaceful terms now.

PEAS PLEASE!!

First taste of peas...YUCK!

Wait a minute, more peas please!!

4 Month Stats...

16 lbs even
26 and 1/4 inches

90th percentile height, and 70th percentile weight...All cheeks and belly, friggin' adorable.

A new list of favorites:

*Any and everything that he sees goes directly to his mouth.
*His toes...nuff said. See item above.
*He absolutely loves being held. He cries when you set him down. And I absolutely love it. I would hold him until he's 18 if he'd let me.
*Walks in his stroller. He just gazes at the trees and the sky with such awe, then he falls asleep.
*Fart sounds...It's hilarious, but probably something we should stop at some point.
*Smiling...He's even started to smile at strangers.
*Peas...He didn't like the first couple of bites, but after that he was all smiles. (Check out the next post for video).

Rolling Over at 3 and 1/2 months...

Trip to the South...

On October 22nd, Em, King and I took a daring trip all of the way across the country to Charleston, South Carolina...(taking the red-eye on Thursday night/Friday morning + a nursing strike [more on that later] + a 4 month old with no sleep = one tough plane ride for everyone, haha !) But it was definitely worth it. I absolutely love SC...One of the prettiest places on earth, not to mention some of my favorite people. They are always so welcoming and make me feel like I'm right at home. We were there for a wedding of our dear friends, Clayton and Christina. The Dennard's were gracious enough to let us stay in the beach house...Yea, I know, be jealous because it was AWESOME! They have this quaint little back porch (which I called the Arizona room) with swings and rockers galore! Kingston's own little heaven! I loved having so much family around to help with my cranky little guy. Kingston also got to put his foot in the ocean for the first time (actually Grandpa Ward had to splash King's foot with ocean water, but it counts). He slept through the entire experience. But it was adorable all the same.

Katie (our new best friend!!) and Emerson at the wedding.

Our first night out in a LONG time...Yes, that is tequila. Thank goodness they were just little baby shots! (Thad, Em, me, Meredyth, and Lauren)

E and I at the rehearsal dinner...Going on about 2 hours of sleep...Yes, we are rock stars.

Gammy Cyndi and the babe finally takin' a nap...

Bonding time for King and G-pa Ward...

Self explanatory. Why is my face always the most creepy. (Me, Katie, Lauren, and Mer)

Proud grandparents! So sweet!!

We haven't gotten our groove on in forever! So much fun! The band was awesome! A regular Dave Matthews sound alike!

Again, creepy...Mer and Lauren sure look cute. (By the way, thanks Meredyth for letting me steal a bunch a pictures from you from FaceBook)

King and Grandpa hangin' out at the beach house (Arizona Room).

Off to the beach...

Showing Grandpa how King can roll over now!!