so very thankful

This year Shea and I had the pleasure of hosting Thanksgiving dinner at our home. I have only hosted on other Thanksgiving dinner and that was about 6 years ago with my own family. This year was nothing over the top. That is my opinion and not Shea's. He thought we made way too much. Anyway, it was a lovley day spent with Angel, Ricky, Amanda, and us. It was a small gathering, but still so much fun. My favorite Thanksgiving to date.

After we finished dinner we drove out to James Island for the Festival of Lights. I have seen it a few times in the past and Shea has seen the lights about a billion times. It's funny how much you enjoy things like that after having a child. William sat in Angela's lap as we went through the 3 miles of lights. Seeing his reaction is what makes it all the more enjoyable. He reacted in true William fashion, contently watching as we passed through. When I think about it I can still see the reflection of lights in his big blue eyes. What a magical day. Filled with loving family, a new friend and a sweet bouncing (I mean that literally) baby boy. I am very blessed woman. I have so much to be thankful for. God has blessed me beyond my wildest dreams.

My Sister's Wedding

Last weekend was quite eventful. We went to Kingston, Georgia to the home of my Uncle Joe for my sister's wedding. A family get-together had been planned for the last weekend of October at Uncle Joe's house, but it was canceled due to his job. After that was canceled I got an email from Uncle Joe asking if I would be able to be a part of a wedding at his house for Nicki. It was a spur of the moment wedding, but it was really a beautiful weekend. My hands were so full with trying to help Nicki, and taking photos on top of caring for William without Shea being there that I didnt get as many "non-wedding" photos as I would have like to get. But here are some that I think could represent the weekend.

The highlight for any trip to Georgia is getting to see my family and of course getting to show off William. We all had a lot of fun, playing in the yard, watching the babies play and enjoying the breathtaking scenery of the Georgia mountains.
I had not seen Sid (Nicki's youngest) since he was 3 weeks old. Him and William are 8 weeks apart. He is one of the funniest babies I have ever seen. he cracked us all up with his squeels and grunts.
He is a spunky child though. Full of energy and beaming from ear to ear. I was looking forward to seeing how they reacted to one another. The grunting scared William a little and he could not handle Sid crying. William has just gotten where he is really interested in other kids. They were really cute together. Sid isn't sitting up or crawling yet, so there wasn't a lot of "playing" but they did exchange grunts and giggles and big smiles with one another.

Asher was adorable with William. He is loving, and tender towards him. He calls him "cousin" and can actually say William now instead of Willum. I have to admit that I miss hearing him say "Willum."
All of his sweetness unfortunately does not come out in his photos. When I say look at Gogo this is the face that I get.....

Those are my favorite kind of photos though.....boys of course will be boys. I believe he was saying over and over again to me "I WANT CAKE!" And yes, I meant to put that in all caps. He deserved as much cake as he wanted, because I bribed him with cake all day when we were taking pictures.

We started the day of the wedding off with some engagment pictures.
Nicki and Marvin had not had any engagement photos done yet. So we got up Saturday morning and did them.

Well I guess I should get to the "main event"....Nicki's wedding. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL! The ground was covered with colorful leaves. The trees were still hanging on to many as well, which created such a gorgeous scene. The backdrop of the ceremony was a green covered mountain and fall leaves. The ceremony took place a little before sun down. This is Marvin and Asher moments before seeing Nicki. Just look at Asher's face! He is happy to be in a suit, cant you tell.

Nicki was breathtaking as she walked to her groom on the arm of Uncle Joe.
and the ceremony was really sweet. I choked back tears all while trying to get the best pictures possible.

Her beauty was not lost of one little person, her sweet son. Asher was standing by his dad as Nicki came down. When Nicki finally reached them Asher exclaimed, "Maaaaama?! Where did you get your dwess!? Maaaaama, I like your dwess!" He must have said at least five times. It was probably my favorite moments from the whole weekend. It will definatley be one of those stories that I tell him over and over again into adulthood. That is one sweet little boy.

Of course we had all three boys dressed to impress.
Since Sid could'nt sit up I did have the antique cradle on hand for him to sit in. I love these pictures but William would not smile. He was soooooo ready for a nap. The weekend was hard on his sleep schedule (an mine). I was about to put him put him down for nap and realized that we were losing light outside. That poor kid, photos always have to come first.

Here is William with his pretty Aunt Nicki. I had to throw it in because he is actually smiling a little.

After the sun went down we had a giant bonfire. We are a family of piros! The night ended with a first dance in front of the bonfire.

I love you Nicki! I hope that it was everything that you dreamed of in a wedding.

discoveries

Finding a new world right in our own backyard.

a new world for ALL his senses.........

taste being one of those....I guess I should be taking that from him and not be taking pictures.

okay, just one more photos. he loves his veggies!

making new discoveries everyday.

At times I feel like I will never forget the important moments with him. It is so exciting every time he accomplishes something big like getting teeth, standing in his crib, army crawling, crawling, laughing and more. I know that every mother must feel so incredibly proud when her child does these things, but I am realizing that since he has hit 6-7 months there are moment of great accomplishment almost daily. Daily Shea and I are amazed at what he can do now. It's funny, when he was teeny tiny, we thought he was so BIG. When he started laughing we thought nothing could get better than that sound. Now I look at this 8 month old boy, who is so vocal squealing and chuckling all the time, crawling like he has done it since he was born, and growing so fast and I realize that he is not going to be a baby much longer. When I think back to the day when he was so small, I can barley remember really what that was like.

Of course there are highlights that stick in my memory, but the day to day life moments fade a little. We still think of him as being so big, and that he is, but I know in 4-5 months I will look back at photos from today or tomorrow and say oh look how small he was, just as we do when we look back at his newborn photos. I have absolutely loved every stage with him. This one though has been the most fun and the hardest one yet. I say it is the hardest so far because of the mobility and the things he can get into. My life is changing big time. He used to go down for naps so easily, sleep all the time, stay put anywhere I put him and be the most content child. He is still oh so content and happy but he is starting to voice his disapproval when I remove him from the dog's water bowl, or remove him from the kitchen or take the new item he has discovered from his sweet little mouth.

The first few months I even told people that I felt as though I cheated in getting this angel baby. Besides the nursing issues it was so much easier than I even imagined. I am getting it now. I am understanding why when I talked about adding another one so soon people thought I was crazy.
I didn't realize what an adventure it would become at 6 months old.

I have to say though that while it has been the biggest change for Shea and me, I can honestly say that it has been my favorite stage so far. I love the laugher and constant chatter, I love watching his delight in discovering something new. I love seeing his excitment when I stands on his own. I love this stage!

The photos below were take just this morning. While I was drink coffee and watching the news, he stood at the coffee table squealing with glee. That is by far the best part of waking up. The baby, not the coffee...the coffee is great too and a MUST!

Myma's Tigger

Every year Angela's work holds a Fall party. She works with the elderly and severely handicap. It is always a lot of fun. I didnt even think of dressing William up, but his dear aunt Theresa saw a Tigger costume about a month ago and got it for him as gift for both him and Angela (Tigger is her favorite....actually she IS Tigger).
There were lots of goodies and great entertainment. The people that she takes care of put on a skit for everyone there. William of course stole the show with his abounding cuteness.
I have to admit that I will go to just about anything where I can show him off.
Someone else really enjoys showing him off too....his Myma!

She loves her grandbaby. He's pretty fond of her too.

The bunch that Angela works with are such a hoot. You cant help but laugh when you are with them.


And here is Tigger with one of our favorite people, Yolanda. This is one of the funniest people I know. Not to mention sweet, genuine and just a great girl. William likes her too, but he likes her jewlry even more. She was dressed as a church lady.


Thank you Trucare for having us. We had a blast!