Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Monday, March 28, 2011

Kid's Scripture Album

Many of you know that Will and I have started a Kid's scripture album. It's been really fun so far, and we are excited to keep it coming. We don't have a lot of extra time during the week... so it may take us a little longer than normal to finish it, but it will be worth it.

Having kids learn scripture is so important! I grew up listening to Steve Green "Hide Em In Your Heart" songs and I still remember the songs to this day.

Our goal is to make songs that are easy to memorize, but are also more modern. We're aiming for a Miley Cyrus/Justin Bieber type feel. No more cheese ball kids cds. Plus, we want it to be somewhat enjoyable for the parents to listen to, too! And, heck, these verses are a good reminder to adults too. We love the idea of Micaiah growing up with some good scripture songs. Right now we are praying about which verses to hit... we may even end up doing multiple albums at some point :)

So, here's the first song we finished. It's on the fruit of the spirit... and it's me with the best bubble pop sound I could muster up! :D

All Our Visitors


All those lucky vacationers. On their way to Florida, they all decide to drop by and see us in good ol' ATL. It was the first time for most of them to meet baby Cai, which was of course very exciting. Here are some pics in random order. (I didn't take enough! I'm such a bum when it comes to pulling out the camera for things like this)


Meeting Uncle Jim for the first time


Meeting Aunt Kate for the first time



Cousin Kennah
Pop and Kennah

Meeting Uncle Mike

Aunt Christen back to visit
Jim was here for his birthday so we went out to a Thai restaurant. Here's the brothers with their babies... Caiah and Shaya haha.
And here's a cute one, just because. They are so handsome.



Monday, March 21, 2011

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

My Boy...




I haven't posted an update in a LONG time! Mommy life has gotten me into this whole new world. This little boy has stolen my heart. I can completely relate with every mom out there who says that you would go anywhere, do anything, be anyone for your child.
The other day, I put him to bed and just sat there crying looking at him sleeping. It wasn't necessarily a sad cry. It was a cry to God asking Him to help me trust Him and to protect this little life. It is so out of my control, yet I have so much peace of who this child is called to be. God has given us so many pictures of him as an adult and we are so confident in that. BUT, that's not to say that I don't get fearful of losing him or him getting hurt. It would be easy to crawl up in a hole away from the world just to protect your child. But God has put him here for a reason and I need to release him to do those things.

ANYWAY, done with my rant of how much I stinking LOVE him. Here's some updates on what he's been up to (more for my documentation than anything else) :)


- He is a snuggle bug! This child has a love language of touch, I bet you anything. As soon as you hug him or hold him he completely relaxes. SO CUTE! He has a little monkey in his crib and when he goes to sleep he digs his face in it and falls asleep. If you rub his forehead, he will fall asleep. If I put him on my chest, he falls asleep.



- He sits in his bumbo and we sit him up while holding his hands. His
head is strong enough to where I don't have to support it when I hold him, which is really nice! He is such a big boy.




- He started off sleeping completely swaddled. He didn't like it at first but he got used to it because he couldn't sleep with his arms flailing all over the place. Then we went to unswaddling one arm to get him used to it at around 12 weeks. During this time he slept on his tummy during the day for naps. I wanted to be able to watch him closer since he loved to dig his face in the mattress. Then we ended up taking both arms out and swaddling his legs. Now, just last week, we started putting him on his stomach at night since he loves it and sleeps so well. That's when he really started sleeping better. I just wasn't comfortable putting him like that all night until I felt like he could move his head back and forth and he can now :)





- He is THE happiest baby that I have ever seen. I have watched a lot of babies in my life and have never met one that is so joyful like he is. Constantly laughing and smiling. Seriously, as long as he is fed... he will be up until his naptime just talking and laughing. His little gummy smile seriously melts my heart like nothing else.
Here's a video of him belly laughing at Will...

and here's a funny one showing how animated he can be....



- He definitely knows who mommy and daddy are. We go to church and he will be held by many different people and as soon as he sees me or Will he lights up and smiles. We are trying to pass him around to get him used to people (not too much so he doesn't get sick or anything)... but he loves to be with us. I'm not gonna lie... I love it!

- He is sleeping at least 7 hours a night now. I am finally feeling like a human again! We have a great sleep schedule with him. He wakes up at about 8 or 8:30 for the day. He goes down at 9:30 for a nap and then he stays on a schedule of going down an hour and a half after his last nap and then sleeping for an hour and a half. All day long. He is amazing and just kind of sets his own schedule and it works! Then once he's up at 7 or so we try to keep him up until 9:00 or 9:30 and he will sleep until 5:30 or 6:00 in the morning! It's incredible! Then he goes right back down again and sleeps until 8:30.

- I weighed him yesterday and if our scale is correct... he is 15 pounds! There is a baby at church who is 3 months older and they look like the same size. It's crazy. He is chunky and starting to get the cute baby double chin and the squeezable rolls on the legs. Big boy!

- This child LOVES bath time. And I mean, LOVES! He's a Florida boy at heart... my parents will love that! We can't wait to take him in the pool once it gets a little warmer. He goes crazy in the tub and splashes and laughs. Here's a video of when he did it the first time. Now he's gotten even crazier...

- He really only likes one pacifier. It's one that we got on sale at Target once and now they don't have them anymore. It's a NUK but it is different than the normal ones. It's this one....

He likes it I think because it sits flat against his face and the handle thing on the front doesn't stick out. So when he rubs his face back and forth on things when he falls asleep it doesn't fall out as easy. I need to find more! I still haven't checked Babies R Us, but I should!


I think that's it for now.
Will and I have been great! We are getting more and more involved in our church. We led worship last weekend for the second time and are just realizing more and more that it is what we are passionate about. We love that we get to do it together. We can't wait to do it more.


Monday, March 14, 2011

Youtube Mondays

This one never gets old.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Youtube Mondays

00:55 and 01:15 are my favorite parts. I love this guy

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

The Stylish Blogger




I won an award. In the blogger world, this is pretty cool apparently. My friend Lindsay over here at this blog passed it along to me. She is so sweet. No seriously this girl is cool. And I miss her. AND her kid is so stinkin cute! So... Lindsay, you rock!

I'm not really sure what "stylish" blogger means... but I'll take it.

Here's the rules...
1. thank and link back to the person who awarded you
2. share 7 things about yourself
3. pass award on to bloggers you think are fantastic
4. contact those bloggers and tell them about the award

So, Here we go. 7 things about me.

1. I am a new mom to a sweet little guy. I endured the most torture in my life by going through natural childbirth with him... but MAN am I glad I did. Read all about that story HERE ;) Here's little Micaiah Gabriel

2. I am a research junkie. I am ALWAYS researching. I won't buy something unless I research if it's worth it first. I'm mainly crazy about checking out health things and how to live life without medication and just living healthily.
Check out my Health Revolution Blog to see what I'm talkin' about www.lauradstern.com

3. Fun facts: In 2010, my husband and I moved cross country twice. The first move, I got the call from my doctor on our way that I was pregnant. The second move, I was 7 months pregnant. And I had the baby at the end of the year. In the midst of all this, my husband has had 3 different jobs, we've been a part of 4 different churches, and my grandma passed away. Talk about a stressful year. But also very blessed!

4. I am obsessed with indian and mexican food. I wish I could live in India and Mexico simultaneously just for the food. SOOO GOOD!!

5. My favorite stores? Ikea, Trader Joes, Forever 21 (online because the store overwhelms me), and H&M. Thanks to Atlanta, I can go to all of them. :)

6. I love photography. I've had to take a little break since having the baby, but it is one of my passions. Check it out HERE.

7. Funniest moment: My cousin Charlene and I were riding in my car in college. I lived in Florida at the time and it was raining buckets. Literally. If you've ever lived in Florida you know exactly what I'm talking about. It can be compared to driving under a waterfall. Anyway, my air conditioning decided to go out on this 100 degree humid day in my 1992 Toyota Celica. My brain didn't quite put two and two together and we just watched as the windshield started fogging up. I start laughing because I can't see anything and my cousin sticks her head out the passenger window to tell me where to go. She is getting soaked and telling me "left, right" and I am laughing hysterically. Funniest part (at the time)... I had no idea where I was going and couldn't see the road at all. Thank you God for keeping us safe! She pulls out a tampon to wipe the inside of the car and the windshield. She is the funniest person on the planet.

So, there ya go.

And now to pass on the award....

Amanda Lester - www.appleblue.org

Get going ladies!! Follow the rules above :)