A tender moment

Last weekend my dad was home( a post on that soon) but Wesley was his little shadow the whole four days he was home. Little Wesley heaven, anyways, last night my mom and I were walking through Walmart. Wesley was in the cart and mom was pushing, Wesley looked at mom, and asked where is GPA? And she said he was in DC. Wesley said I miss GPA! Seriously. I almost cried in Walmart. Sweetest babe ever.

Children's books

Kris has been a little under the weather. Today, while Wesley was napping we turned on netflix. Kris chose Brian Regan. He is a comedian, kris introduced me to it when we are dating. We can laugh pretty hard. It has accompanied us on road trips and random late nights. We quote him too. Well today I saw a new on children's books and we laughed so hard. Here it is...
 a good laugh about children's books.

Independence...

We have hit a new stage in our house. This stage of independence. We have been treading in and out of it for a few months now. But I think we are finally waist deep and no looking back. Sigh. It's a struggle, but exciting all at once. This means Wesley is learning, developing, growing into a young man. But this also means I don't have my baby who wants to cuddle every time he cries or share his snacks or even get help of something. And to add the independence, he has got two pretty hard headed parents, which makes for an especially hard headed child. Patience, it takes a lot of patience. I have heard plenty of no! And mine! lately. And I keep thinking in my head... This too shall pass... And one day I will miss it way to much. So I need to enjoy his ride of motherhood. Right?

Cousins.

A few weeks ago, my brother in law and his family came In From Utah. They have a little girl Kenley who is six months older than Wesley. Kenley is so cute and hilarious. Her and Wesley enjoyed hanging out I think. She would walk around asking for Wesley. And they would hold hands or give hugs. She talks a lot, and that got Wesley talking a ton more. He hasn't stopped since she left. It is so funny how that helped him start saying a lot more. She also did sign language, and Wesley picked up some from here and has been way more into it now that he has seen another little person doing it. We have been teaching him more signs as a result.

Anyways, while they were here, we did a lot. We went to a Havoc game, on carousel rides, ate out way to much, went to the park, the mall, and just hung out a lot. I think they kids really enjoyed himself. He slept great from being so worn out all the time.

While they were here we attempted to get a cousin picture, and to be able to photoshop the new baby in (the baby I made the sailboats for, he will have his own post soon) Well try getting four children unde the age of five to cooperate. Not happening. Frustrating is what that is. But it was comical to look back at the pictures. Here, you can have some laughs too.

18 Months

Mr. Wesley,

Oh dear. You, my sir, are a YEAR AND A HALF! What! Where has time gone? Surely you can't be this old already. Just yesterday you were a newborn, slept all day, and just barely started to fill my heart with love. Now, I love you more and more each day. Really. It's crazy. You are so sweet. You give kisses and hugs, you like to cuddle, you want to sit on my lap, and take my finger and take me places. Now, don't' get me wrong, some days you are so stubborn and cranky, it is downright frustrating. Ah. But some days I just don't think I could possible love you more. You are full of all sorts of tricks. You talk like no one's business. Just yesterday I asked if you wanted a cracker, and you said no, not that one, the other one! What!. Sometimes you do speak in sentences. It freaks me out just a little bit how much you know!

A list of words you say constantly....snacks, crackers, airplane, helicopter, mama, dada, bye bye, love you, night night, Malachi, Ethan, grandma, grandpa, iPad, little Einsteins, baby Wesley, mine, no, yes, slide, outside, up, down, all done, eat, cat and the hat, baby sign, oh toodles, eww, gross, gucka, cars, stars, trucks,...the list could go on and on.

We have been working on our sign language more lately too. I think the Easter Bunny will bring some baby sign DVDs. Some signs he knows is more, juice, ball, all done, eat, stars...i can't remember the others.

Well Mr. Wesley, it's been a fun year and a half. I love you more than I could ever imagine. You are a wonderful, handsome, smart, little boy. Keep growing and learning.

Running

Ah. I used to be a runner. I ran a lot. Seven days a week. Long runs once a week. I enjoyed it. A lot and then college, marriage, a baby. Life got in the way. But now I have nothing but time, and a desire to do something for myself. We as moms, need mom time, even if that means pushing a baby in a stroller.(but this momma's baby is quiet because he is outside!) anyways. Every year my family runs the cotton row 5k on memorial day. We have been doing it for six years. These past few years I barely jog any of it. But not this year :) I am starting the couch to 5k program. Exactly two months is the 5k and I hope to be able to jog the whole thing. Now, I know I won't be able to keep up with my super fast husband, (I only made him run with me one time, he was super bored and it was annoying, so now I let him do his own thing. Like run six minute miles. Crazy I know) anyways, here is the program. http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml There is even an app for that. So here it goes. I start today. I will update you on the progress if I make it through.. Ps- at one point, way back in the day, I ran 11.5 miles.

Baby sign

I have been teaching Wesley sign language since before he was one. I taught him a few signs but stoped for a while . He knew eat and drink. The important ones. Well somewhere along the way he thought the sign for a drink was more. We have been working to correct that habit. He can sign juice now. He signs more first, I will say no how are we supposed to do it, and he will do it correctly. I have also taught him stars. He loves to go outside at night and look at stars. I hope to teach him more so that we can get past some of the frustration of not understanding eAch other. Sometimes he gets so mad because I can not understand him, I am always looking up new signs to teach him after he has had a particularly frustratin time to tell me something. Before I had Wesley, and even when he was a newborn I didn't want to teach him because I thought it would inhibit his talking. But he definitely can talk so I think he can learn more signs until he can talk better. It's funny to see him try the signs and he gets so excited when I praise him for doing one right. Here is to learning more signs.

A Day at the Park

The Cutest Boy Ever.

We have had crazy weather lately. Some days are freezing, raining, hot, windy, etc. You just never know the weather. Last week we had some nice days. Carrie invited me to book buddies, which we missed because we were so late. But after we decided to take a trip to the park nearby. It was perfect, because I had brought my camera along to get some pictures of Wesley. It had been a while He is in the difficult stage because he never stops moving ever, and he hates to look at the camera.

Malachi was there, and Malachi and Wesley have a sweet love for each other. They love to play together, give hugs, and wrestle. Malachi is so sweet with Wesley, and always helps him out. I love the time they get to spend together. And Malachi will soon have a little brother, that I am sure he will love so much.

Tradition

When I was young, my parents did a lot of wood working. They are both very talented. Well I had the idea that I wanted to do some wood crafts for Wesley. Pass on the tradition. My dad always says, you have to make traditions. Well I have wanted to make Wesley some wooden toys. Over Christmas while my dad was home we started on the project, and I have slowly gotten closer to finishing. I still have a few puzzles left, but here are some for Wesley to play with now.

He has a little zoo of animals. Giraffe, elephant, pig, alligator and bear. The bear is extra special, because I remember growing up with a much larger version of that exact same bear. I used to make it sit just right and move his arm and legs. I was so excited to make Wesley one.

He also of course had to have some other fun toys. Every child needs a wooden train. And of course, of you have anything to do with my dad, you need a helicopter.

God Bless America

Huntsville had a Veteran's Memorial. I think it has been there for about a year now, I have driven past it many times but never really stopped and looked around. Well one Saturday, we had some extra time after a free day at the Museum. We packed our lunches and went ate at the memorial. It was kind of windy day. But it was really neat to see. .They had the words courage, sacrifice, and duty in a couple different places. I loved it. I thought it was very fitting.

Around the memorial, there were places for all the wars we've fought. A description followed, along with those fallen comrades or veterans that served from Huntsville. It was beautifully done. It was interesting to read about the different conflicts, a few things were new to me. I hope Wesley grows up with an appreciation of the sacrifice of the many soldiers, including those in his family. It's something that I have always had a lot of respect for, due to my father and his family. There is always a peaceful feeling at places like this. I have been to many sites, and it amazes oh humbling and grateful they make you feel. In May we are going up to Washington DC to see all the sights. I know Wesley will be to young to remember, and I am sure we will take him back some day, But it will be neat to go there with Kris. I can't wait for that trip.