Thanksgiving #3

For T-day itself, we headed out to visit James' dad and step-mom. Poor James had to work all night Wednesday night, so as soon as he got home on Thursday morning, we started packing up the car. Once we were ready, we got Ian up, fed him, and got on the road. We had about a 3 1/2 - 4 hour drive, so James was able to get some sleep on the way. Ian joined him for a couple of naps. We really are very lucky that Ian is such a good car baby! Hopefully he will continue to be as he gets older!

III, IV, and V together! Grandaddy found a book James used to love for Ian - Eddie Elephant.

Ian with his cousin, who is 11 months older than he is. Grammy Jen got them such cute matching outfits!

Grandaddy and Grammy Jen with their boys!


The whole gang (minus Grammy Jen, who was taking the picture). It was great to see everyone!

Thanksgiving #2

I had this blog all ready to go Wednesday night and my computer ate it when I clicked "publish"! I guess it needed some food for its own Thanksgiving. ;-) I had to restart the computer, so I went to bed early (at 8:30pm!!) instead of waiting for the computer to reboot.

******************
We just finished Thanksgiving #2 and I am stuffed!!! My mom and younger brother came over for Thanksgiving dinner tonight. James has to work all night and had to finish getting ready for work right after dinner, so it was just easier to do it here. My younger brother, Kenny, is attending college in Kansas and had not yet seen our new apartment, so it worked out well.

Here's a picture of the table with some of the food.

Nana, Kenny (the youngest of us four siblings), and Ian. (The stuff for everyone from my Pampered Chef party had just arrived - hence all the boxes in the background.)

Uncle Kenny and Ian playing in the mirror.

Now Ian was being a bit fussy, so I didn't take very many pictures. However, I do have a few others to share. Ian's new favorite toy, as of Monday night, is a full bottle of baby lotion! He discovered it while James was helping him sit up on his changing table (which is really a dresser and has some extra room for things like baby lotion). At first, he could barely pick it up. For some reason, he loved that though. It was a good new challenge for him, I guess! Now he can move that bottle of lotion around any old way he wants to.

Going for the kill!

Got it!

And dropped it back on the tray. So much fun!

We hope everyone is gearing up for a great Thanksgiving!

Happy Anniversary Liz & Russell!!

Happy Anniversary to you!
Happy Anniversary to you!
Happy Anniversary, dear Liz and Russell!!!
Happy Anniversary to you!

Today marks the 7th wedding anniversary for my sister and her hubby. They were high school sweethearts and married the fall after they both graduated high school (my sister is a smartie and graduated early!). She was 17 and he was 19. Within a year and a half, Russell had joined the Air Force and they welcomed their first baby into the family - my niece, Allie. At five, she is already very much a young lady and keeps us laughing with all of her witty comments! 16 months later, my nephew Aiden was born. He is a boy through and through and does a great job keeping up with his sister.

I cannot say enough about how inspiring Liz and Russell's marriage is! It certainly isn't perfect, and that is what is amazing. They have faced many difficulties and obstacles, many of them seemingly insurmountable, but time and time again they have found ways to work them. Both have put an incredible amount of hard work into making their marriage successful and becoming the best parents they can be to their children. They are one of the few couples I know who have a realistic view of the hardships that marriage can bring, but are also aware that the rewards of a solid marriage are worth it! I learn so much from them and am so grateful that they have set such a good example.

Here's the most recent family photo I have (from Halloween this year).


By the way, Russell - we're still trying to catch up in number of married years. Maybe one day we'll all be married so long that we lose track and can call it even...

Thanksgiving #1

Between both sides of our family, James and I will be having three Thanksgivings! Today was the first one with all of the Britt family getting together at Gramma K's new house to for a huge Thanksgiving meal. Ian sure kept us busy at the restaurant yesterday, so it was great to get a chance to see everyone a bit more. We enjoyed getting to chat, and of course, to eat! It was absolutely amazing to see how much food we had!

Gramma K has a great playroom in her new house and lots of fun toys for the boys.

Ian hanging with Uncle Tray - they were watching the game.

Trying to get a pix of the cousins together!

Ian's Great-Grandma made him a stocking for Christmas! She is very talented and had made one for everyone in the family!

Yummy, yummy, yummy food!

More food! Left to right: Caitlyn's arm, Aunt Kim, Aunt Kathy, Kayla.

Katie and Grandpa...such a sweet pix!

Bath time! We had bubbles tonight.

Gramma K got the boys matching outfits! They were so cute together.

Unfortunately, my extra batteries were hiding in the diaper bag and I couldn't find them in the two seconds I had to look for them. So, we had to take some pictures without the flash. This was the best I could do to brighten this one without waking up James to use a program on his computer.

A good time was definitely had by all! We sure enjoyed it.

Sitting for Great-Grandpa's B-day

Today was a big day for the Britt (James' mom's) side of the family. James' Grandpa's 80th birthday was this week, so the whole side of the family got together and planned a major birthday party/family reunion/Thanksgiving celebration weekend. Grandpa's four kids and their families really put a ton of work into the weekend and we had a great time! For us, the festivities started out this afternoon with everyone getting together at Texas Land & Cattle for a late afternoon birthday dinner for Grandpa Britt. We all got there by 3:30pm and waited and waited to surprise Grandpa. They surprised us by showing up a bit later than we anticipated...haha. They had a bit of trouble finding the place, but they got it figured out and we were all ready to yell, "Surprise!". Grandpa was very surprised - he had no idea that many people would be there!

Here are Grandma and Grandpa walking in.

The birthday boy blowing out the candles on his cake.

Ian and Ace, his 17 month old cousin, were too pooped to party any more after the dinner, so we headed back to Gramma K's house for baths and bed for the little ones.


Oh yeah, Uncle Tray changed Ian's dirty diaper for us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All that EMT training has given him a strong stomach.

Amazingly, even after such a long day, our little guy had a major breakthrough in his sitting up skills! He sat up by himself, without falling over, and played with Aunt Katie and Daddy for a good 10-15 minutes! We were all very surprised. He normally lasts 10-15 seconds before he plops over sideways. It must have been in honor of his Great-Grandpa!

Happy Birthday, Great-Grandpa! We love you!

More Six Month News

We had Ian's six month check up and shots yesterday. Poor baby - there is usually a second or two delay between getting the shot and the pain setting in. No fun! Good news is he is happy, healthy, and growing! He is 18 lb 15 oz, which is the 75% for weight. He is 28" long, which puts him in the 91% percentile for height. His head measures 43.9 cm, which is the 52%. None of the percentiles really mean much to us, but it is kind of fun to see where he ends up.

Here's a picture of his boo-boos. The doctor's office gave him three shots and he got two Bugs Bunny and one Taz band-aid. The band-aid on his left leg came off before James took the picture.

In the last couple of days, I have thought of a few other things I love about my baby that I wanted to share.

I absolutely love the time Ian and I spend together when he is nursing. He usually crosses his legs (which is super cute) and settles right in. This last month, he has found his ears and will often play with them while nursing. If he isn't playing with his ears, he is rubbing his head. It is the cutest thing! He'll take his free hand and wiggle his little fingers back and forth on his head...sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. It is so precious! Apparently he doesn't do it often while drinking a bottle because I showed James the head rubbing the other day and he hadn't seen Ian do it before. Also, for his first feeding of the day, Ian will often take just nurse a few sips and then stop to grin at me. He repeats this process over and over. It is so precious! I never get tired of his smile, even though I am usually quite tired still and just want to keep my eyes closed.
I will have to add the others as I get a chance. Right now, it's nap time!

***Updated December 15, 2009 ***
The other thing I kept wanting to add, but just didn't get a chance too, is that both James and I love how Ian will pull up his little legs when we pick him up. It puts him in the perfect little tucked cuddle position as we lift him up. We love cuddling our little man and I am sure feeling his cute little body all tucked into the perfect cuddle is a memory we will carry with us for years to come!

Mobile, Babyama

Well, we sure don't live in Mobile, Alabama (I think I have driven through there once though), but we have our own little Mobile Babyama around our house! Ian is constantly making new developments in his ability to get around.

I often lay Ian on the floor in front of his bathroom while I get ready (most of my stuff is still in there from when James worked night shift and I used Ian's bathroom during the day so I didn't disturb James). Ian just loves to look at the walls, light, and all the doors. So today, I put him down to finish getting ready so we could run errands.

I turned around, and he had rolled over! Ian has rolled over several times in his room on his rug, but he doesn't ever seem to think about rolling over when he is in other rooms of the apartment.

I finished getting ready, turned around to pick up Ian, and found he had rolled over yet again! This was the very first time he had rolled from his tummy to his back without any help. He had also scooted around so he could touch the laundry room door.

Also, our little guy is figuring out how to move around more in his jumperoo. The jumperoo seat actually turns a full 360 degrees, and we will move Ian around in it, but he has never tried to turn circles on his own. Yesterday, he was playing in his jumperoo and I looked over to see that he had managed to turn himself a quarter of the way around! I am not sure how he did it - I still have yet to catch him in the act.

This was his starting position (of course, the picture was taken afterwards - Daddy came home right about then and was congratulating him).


Here he is having turned himself!

You know how I was so excited and ready for him to crawl? I'm not so sure about that now! My baby is growing up and it is sad to think he'll never be my little un-mobile baby again. We're still very proud of him, but I am definitely cherishing each and every day before he is scooting around on his own!

Six Months Old!

Our little man is half a year old today! Man, where does the time go?! Oh yeah, feeding, rocking, changing, feeding, playing, rocking, bathing, jumping, singing, feeding, changing, walking... Seriously though, it is hard to believe Ian is already six months old!

Words cannot even begin to describe how much we love our little guy. He brings so much joy into our lives and we love watching him learn and explore the world around him. Even though James and I both are finding our schedule to be really tough with tag team parenting, we wouldn't trade having our little baby for the world! Ian is so good natured and really makes these tough schedules so much easier on us! He is so good about entertaining himself for 30-45 minutes a few times a day and letting us get caught up on short naps or things around the house.


Let's see - new changes this month. With November 1 came daylight savings time and Ian has changed his sleep schedule accordingly. Instead of going to bed around 9pm, he now goes to bed between 7:30 and 8pm. He had moved his wake up time from 9:30am to 8am to 7am for a couple of weeks, but thankfully we are back to 9:30ish. I totally believe that is just God's grace for his poor tired parents, because we fully expected him to keep the earlier wake up time. It does mean he still nurses somewhere between 3am and 6am, but since he sleeps later, I am reluctant to try and wean him from that.


Our biggest accomplishment this last month was Ian learning to roll over! He goes from back to front on his own, but not front to back yet (although we are working on it). He is getting stronger and can almost push up into crawling position. He hasn't quite figured out how to put weight on his knees, so he flops down almost immediately. He has also graduated from his little bathtub to taking baths in the regular tub. He loves, loves, LOVES the extra room and splash ability! Bath time really is one of his favorites times of day. Haha - we usually get a bath at the same time too with all the water he splashes!

What else? Hmm... Oh yes, we have also moved on to Stage 2 baby foods this month. Ian will often eat the entire container of Stage 1 foods now. He also loves to drop his teething blocks off his highchair (and anything else we give him!). It is kind of funny to watch him when we first sit him down in his chair with all the blocks stacked up in front of him. He will knock them all over first and then start gnawing on them. The ones he likes, he keeps. The rest get dropped off the side of his highchair. Eventually though, all the blocks will end up on the floor and he will start looking around to see if he can grab anything off the table to drop it on the floor too!

He still loves his stroller rides too! He absolutely loves going for walks and just cannot get enough of them! It was really cute watching him today. He had one hand hanging over the side of the stroller, feeling the wind going through it. He also has gotten big enough to put his feet on the underside of the tray bar and will often ride the whole way with a foot propped up!


We are so thankful for our little boy and all the happiness he brings to our lives! Here's to many more months and years!

Shopping Cart Ride

I'm sad to say that Ian will soon outgrow his car seat carrier. The weight limit on those things is 22 pounds, and Ian is already 19! So, I have been planning ahead for what I will do when I no longer have a convenient carrier to tote my little man around in because the next size up car seat will have to stay in the car instead of coming in the stores with us. I'm a little worried Ian will hit 22 pounds before he will be able to sit up well on his own, which will make shopping carts a much harder obstacle for us.

So, I picked a sunny day where we didn't have to hurry to try out his handy dandy big boy cart cover. We left his car seat in the car and headed in the store to see how he would do. At first, he just sat there, leaning onto the front of the cart. That actually worked pretty well.

Then he realized he could sit back, move around, and play with his toys.


Oopsy daisy! My little guy is just not stable enough to sit by himself - even though he was strapped in!

I did not want him impaling himself on the cart, so I had to quickly find a way to prop him up. Luckily, I had a purse and a slightly larger bag with me to pad both sides of my baby. That worked pretty well - at least until he decided to investigate the contents of my bag.

Then I had to zip it up and ruin all his fun. I'm such a mean Mommy sometimes!

I don't think he was overly traumatized though! He quickly found other things to play with. But, as you can see in the picture, he kept his arm through my bag strap for the rest of the shopping trip. It was pretty cute! We haven't tried using the cart cover again though. I'm hoping his sitting up skills take off in the next couple of weeks before we try again!

Visiting England

Well, I guess I should be more clear. We went to visit more than just one England - in fact, we saw four of them! Ian and I finally made it out to New Mexico to visit my sister, her hubby, and their two kids. Ian is five and a half months old and they still hadn't met him due to Russell being deployed when Ian was born and then the whole family being transferred from Nellis Air Force base in Las Vegas to Holloman in New Mexico. Needless, to say, we were all REALLY looking forward to the visit!

James took us to the airport and then got a pass to go through security with us. Good thing too because our flight was delayed for two hours!! So, we were really glad to get some extra time to hang out with Daddy.

Here's Ian and James watching the airplanes.

With Aunt Liz, Aiden, Allie, and Cody. I love how Ian is checking out both of his cousins at once!

Watching TV with Uncle Russell!



Getting ready for the fall festival at the base chapel. Ariel, Hulk, and my lil monkey!

Here's a better pix of his monkey hood.

We had so much fun while we were there and we have a TON more picture! I've actually been putting off this blog for a while because I thought it would be such a massive post. However, I've decided just to leave it at these few favorite pictures and let you view the rest in my Facebook album by clicking here.