Thinking Out Loud

I've been thinking a lot lately about what kind of big brother Jonah will be. I know that I pray he will be kind, adoring, and protective of his baby sister. I also pray that the normal jealousies will be brief and manageable. One thing I feel the Lord has been showing me is how to incorporate Jonah into Gracie's life before she's born by letting him help with the nursery preparations. He's helped paint her room, fold her clothes, and "assemble" her crib. This is never convenient, since things slow down and get messier when he's involved, but I'm understanding more that this could be the key to nurturing his instincts as a big brother now rather than after she's born. I'm encouraged by our progress. After Jonah helped with the crib, Meemaw and Pappaw came over for dinner. Jonah ran to greet Meemaw, and instead of his usual, "wanna go outside?", he jumped up and down and excitedly pulled her to the nursery. "Come see Gracie's bed, Meemaw!".
It's been several days since he helped paint her room, but he wanders into the nursery at least once a day to admire the paint. He has always loved to "help" around the house and takes a lot of pride in his work...
















Jonah at 6 months

I'm excited to see how this plays out once the baby arrives. I'm sure we'll have incidents where he tries to pick her up without help or force a pacifier in her mouth when she doesn't want it. And, I know things will take longer sometimes because I'm letting him help...


But I'm eagerly waiting to see him in this new role of big brother. I know one of the hugest blessings of all will be seeing her react to his voice for the first time. Seeing her smile and laugh at him. Seeing her adore him as much as Michael and I do.

Whatever Floats Your Boat

Guess those grilled shrimp kabobs are off this week's menu.

Painting Gracie's Room

Super Daddy

A few years ago I read James Dobson's book, "Bringing Up Boys". He explains that during their 2nd year, boys will transfer their allegiance from their Moms to their Dads. It's a natural part of their development. This fascination with Daddy happened right on time with Jonah. He has been shadowing Michael for about a year now, and Daddy can do no wrong. Jonah wants to mow the lawn with Daddy, his first attempt at make-believe was to make "coffee" in his sippy cup (just like Daddy does every morning), he loves his floppy sun hat because it's just like Daddy's, and Daddy was the first person to hear "I love you too". Daddy is a rock star. In fact, today, when we pulled up in our driveway after a day packed with activities, I watched Michael lift Jonah from the carseat, Jonah wrapped his little arms around Michael's neck, patted his Daddy's shoulder and said, "Tanks, Super Daddy". And then Super-Hormonal-Mama nearly burst into tears (from the sweetness of it all).

Happy Easter!

Jonah's playgroup had their second annual Easter Egg Hunt today.



















Last year Jonah found one egg, sat down, cracked it open, and ate everything in it while the other kids were running around picking up eggs and putting them in their baskets. By the time he realized he might want more eggs, they were all found.

This year, his strategy was to find an egg, crack it open, empty the loot into his basket, dump the egg shells in the grass, then move on to find the next egg.

The treasures he found were too precious to trust to anyone else while he played on the playground, so he had to climb up the ladder and slide down while holding the basket.





















When you're finished eating everything IN the basket, you must then eat the basket. Good source of fiber.

Nesting Bug Bites

Yesterday my hormones had me in a tizzy. I was physically unable to leave the nursery. It was really weird. You would have thought the room became a magnetic field and my pockets were filled with really BIG paper clips. Something was telling me that the closet must be completely cleaned out (no easy task, since this became our "junkaroom"), the crib (purchased off Craigslist - score!) must be assembled complete with bedding, and the baby blankets all needed to be washed. That Nesting Bug bites HARD.

Jonah was a real trooper. I gave him an allen wrench and he busied himself with "assembling" the crib.

So, this is what I accomplished...


















Here's the changing table we found on Craigslist too...


















Now all we need to do is paint (pink, of course), get rid of the remaining office furniture (Craigslist, maybe?), set up the closet with some shelving and more racks to hang little dresses on, and presto! We have a nursery. If I wasn't bitten by the Nesting Bug this list would seem daunting, I'm sure, but it seems I have the super hero power of organization and interior design suddenly. What should my super hero name be? The Nursery Fairy? That just doesn't seem super enough. Suggestions, anyone?

One other question. Michael and I were debating leaving the wall behind the crib the old office color. It's a mossy-sage type green. The other walls would be a realllly pale pink. What do you guys think?


I like the way the white crib looks against the green wall. Nice and crisp. But with my new super hero strength, I could easily paint one more wall. I'd love to hear your suggestions!

Texas and my Social Butterfly

Jonah, Michael’s mom, and I just got back from Texas. We took this trip to visit Michael’s side of the family, without Michael (he had to work). The last time his family saw Jonah he was 10 months old, or something like that. This trip was long overdue.

One of the things I’ve noticed about Jonah over the last 2 1/2 years, is that he is an extreme extrovert. When he’s in social situations he’s recharged. Trips to visit family are especially stimulating for his little toddler brain and he seems to absorb details, perfect motor skills, and try new things while we’re there. I’m always amazed by this phenomenon. It’s like the social stimulation sends his brain into super-soaker mode.

On this particular trip I came away with so many sweet moments, I had to write them down before the memories fade.

The first moment was the flight from Arizona to Texas. We had to wake Jonah up at 4:30 in the morning to make it to the airport in time for our 7:55 flight. He does NOT wake up happy. This kid needs orange juice and TV in the morning or else. Anyway, he was so contrary all morning, I couldn’t help but laugh when I pointed out the "big airplane" from the window of our departure gate and he scowled at me and said, "dat is NOT a big airpane, dat is a big jet". I stand corrected. Where did he learn to call them jets?

The day after we arrived, Michael’s Mammaw told me it might snow that night. I was excited because Jonah’s never seen snow, but didn’t want to get too hopeful because it might snow too late in the evening for him to see it and melt before he woke up the next morning. At 11:30 that morning I put Jonah down for a nap and when I came downstairs it was snowing like CRAZY. The kind of wet snow that sticks instantly. I was only upstairs for 10 minutes and there was already a thin layer of snow on the patio! I couldn’t WAIT for Jonah to wake up!

When he finally woke up 2 1/2 hours later there was at least 3 inches of snow on the ground and it was still snowing heavily. They were predicting 3-5 inches for our area, and we wound up with 9 inches!!! It was a doozy for Jonah’s first snow!

We took a very short side trip to Abilene and visited with my parents, grandparents, two of my sisters, and nieces. At Sunday lunch, Nannie brought her famous mac n’ cheese, smashed taters, Nannie bread, and chocolate pie to go with brisket from Sharon’s. Jonah only had eyes for the macaroni. In fact, while my Dad gave thanks, Jonah whispered very loudly, "tankyou for my macaroni", then when I shushed him (and everyone who was laughing at him) he leaned over to my mom and whispered, again, very loudly "Marmee, sshhhh! Granpa’s prayin’".

Finally, once we were back at Sandra’s, we discovered a park with a fort-style slide. Jonah dragged Michael’s mom (Meemaw) up the ladder and down the slide several times. Once she went up ahead of him and he hollared up to the fort tower, "Meemaw! Wait right der! I’ll save you!" Where did he learn this? I’ve so enjoyed that he’s been playing pretend this year, and his ideas always tickle me. This age is definitely MY favorite! He kept yelling, "Super Jonah to the rescue", and Meemaw (bless her heart) was playing the damsel in distress, "Oh! Super Jonah! Saaaaave me". It was precious!

Officially Launching "Cheese My Head"

My 30th birthday is rapidly approaching, and somehow Myspace doesn't seem appropriate anymore. Is that silly? I'm hoping this blog will be a good way to keep everyone up to date on our growing family. I love reading my sister's blog and those of my high school and college friends, so I think I'll be a copy-cat and give this thing a try!

This should explain our blog title...

Blog Headers by Becky at "Cheese My Head"