"Side"

Guess what Andrew's new favorite word is? 'Side!


My parents gave him an awesome red, off-road wagon for his birthday and we've been leaving it outside on the back patio.


So every time Andrew looks out the back door he thinks we need to go outside and ride in the wagon.


He'll grab my hand and lead me to the back door. And if I don't let him go out the back, he'll turn around and take me to the front door.


I can only spend so much time out back or on the front sidewalk pulling him around in the wagon.


Really he just wants to explore the dirt and the grass and the grill on the patio and the air conditioning unit and the rocks in the flower beds.


I'm just hoping he gets this need for "outside" out of his system before it's 95 degrees here.


But that's probably not going to happen.


I think I'm going to buy a little baby pool for the summer. And I'm thinking of getting a water table like this one.


So if you're looking for us, make sure you check "'side" first. These days that's right where you'll find us. And Andrew wouldn't have it any other way.

At the Arboretum

Our little family of three headed to the Dallas Arboretum on Saturday morning to meet some friends.

We decided to go the the Arboretum specifically to take photos of our kiddos because it is absolutely beautiful this time of year. There are so many spots to get wonderful pictures.

I was so thankful Brian was there to help me chase after Andrew because while I was busy talking to my friend Brenda Andrew kept escaping.

It was ironic because Brenda's little girl Alex didn't want to get out of her stroller. So we ended up with all of these pictures of Alex in her stroller and the back of Andrew's head.

I did manage to capture this moment:


And I love it. Dinosaur eyeballs and all.



{Darcy at my 3 boybarians has started a wonderful blog hop called Sweet Shot Tuesday. There are no themes and it's really easy to participate. She encourages anyone with a camera, whether it's a super fancy dSLR or a point and shoot, to participate.

So hop on over this week and join in!}

Mama Who?

Did I ever show y'all the adorable banner I made for Andrew's birthday?


I am absolutely not crafty at all, but I spent hours measuring, tracing and cutting out those letters and squares.

I was so proud.

I will do just about anything for Andrew - even arts and crafts.

And he has no idea who I am.

Last week my mom (Mimi), my nana (Nana), and my sister (Aunt Kels) were all at our house before we left for a Mavs game. Andrew was eating dinner in his highchair, and we were all standing around the kitchen watching him.

A little background - Andrew has yet to say mama. He says ball, bye, dog and da, but NO mama.

So Mom says, "Andrew, where's Mimi?", and Andrew points right at his mimi. "And where's Aunt Kels?". And he looks right at Kelsey. "Where's your nana?". And he looks at Nana. He knew everyone.

And then Mom says, "Andrew, where's your mama?". And I'm not kidding, he looked side to side and then raised his hands in a shoulder shrug. He smiled like he knew he was funny. What??

He couldn't point me out!!

The last few days when I've asked him where is his mama is he points to himself.

What has gone wrong? I have given him everything. I've nursed him for almost 13 months with no plans to stop. I've never left him for longer than eight hours. I've rocked him to sleep every day. I've read him book after book after book.

And he can't point me out as his mama.


I know he loves me, and he's really attached to me which is a great thing. But, oh my goodness, he has to be able to point me out.

I know he'll learn eventually. And there will be days when I'm tired of hearing him say, "Mama, mama, please mama." But right now, just one little "Ma" would be wonderful.

Easter Weekend

We had a wonderful Easter weekend. It was full of friends, family, church, eggs and cute outfits.

See?


I don't know how long he'll happily let me dress him in darling little smocked outfits, but I'm going to take advantage of it now while he can't argue with me!

I went to a Sip and See for my friend Courtney and her sweet little 8-week old baby, Reid, on Saturday morning and then Brian, Andrew and I went to our friend Will's 1st birthday party later that afternoon.

Andrew had a blast running around playing with his friends and Will's toys!

We decided to go to the 10AM sanctuary service on Sunday morning. We got to church at 9:20, dropped Andrew off in the nursery and were standing in line to enter by 9:35. And do you know we still had to sit in the overflow room?! I couldn't believe it. But it was still a wonderful service as always.

We headed out to Rockwall for a family Easter celebration after church.

We had a yummy lunch and then it was time for Easter baskets and egg hunting!










Andrew wasn't all that interested in the eggs. He was just really excited to get to play outside.


We even worked in a family picture. My cousin's 10-year-old watched the end of our photo session with my mom. He very wisely commented that it's sure difficult to get a picture with a one-year-old looking at the camera.

I'm so thankful for my family, for the Easter season, for God's love and eternal life.

I hope you, too, had a special Easter weekend.