Me and my Boy!

Tim was away for a few days so it was just Jonah and I.  We did pretty good without him but were so ready to see him when he got home.  Those of you who have kids know how wonderful they are, but that you also know you need a break.  I was able to go over to my sisters for some of the time as well and we had a blast there.  We pretty much just played outside because it's Jonah's favorite place to be and the weather was so pretty.  Here are some random shots from our few days alone!


I was cleaning house and Jonah found the outlet safety plug.  He thought it looked like his pacifier and tried sucking on it like one.  I had to take a picture.  Then he gave it back to me and said, "ouch!"

We ventured outside and were playing on the slide when I noticed this huge turtle behind Jonah.  We went and checked it out.  It was a female because we went back an hour or so later and she had laid an egg.  But I didn't get a picture of the egg, and pretty soon both the mom and egg were gone.

Our new favorite thing is his sand table from Mimi and Papa.  We played outside taking sand from the table to his truck to wherever he could think of.  It was pretty cute watching him have so much fun!

A boy and his truck.  This truck goes everywhere with Jonah these days!

 Can you see the drool in this picture!!!

It's Mother's Day

Today is a bitter sweet day for me...

Dearest Jonah.  I am thankful and grateful for my little man and you are my best bud in the whole world.  We do everything together.  Wake up and start the day, play outside, wrestle, push our cars around, throw the ball, go on runs, tickle, laugh.  I love you so much Jonah and you mean the world to me. I always wanted to be a mommy but had not idea what a gift and wonderful thing motherhood would be.  You have shown what it means to love with all my heart.  You are so special to me and I can't tell you enough how much I love you. Thanks for making my life so wonderful and for what a sweet blessing you are to me.  I love you Jonah Gabriel!!

My dearest Ellie.  Oh how I miss you so much.  Today was a much harder day for me than I thought it would be.  I was very happy and bursting with joy when we sang song about Jesus and Heaven today but was so sad because I miss you so much. I thought of you and smiled knowing you are in heaven right now playing and running around.  The pastor talked of heaven and how we must be ready.  Oh baby girl, I am ready.  I think about heaven everyday because you know what, when the day comes that mommy and daddy get to go to heaven that means we will see you everyday for the rest of our lives.  I can't wait for that day!  You have no idea how my heart still aches for you and how much I miss you.  I want you to know that I love you so much and you were always my first little girl.  Jesus loves you so much and is taking such good care of you.  I happily and joyfully await the day I will get to hold you in my arms forever.  I love you Ellie Catherine!

Jonah Gabriel.  You are the most adorable and loved little boy.  Mommy loves you SO much!!  God has blessed me so much placing you in my arms and I will love you and raise you be like your earthly father (who loves you so much too ) and your heavenly Father.  You are so special to me.

Because Mother's are always there for you.  Through the happiest times, and through the hardest and most difficult times you could ever imagine.

To the best Mother-In-Law I could ask for.  You are so wonderful Chris, and I am so blessed to call you my mom and friend.  Thank you for loving me the way you do, for loving my husband the way you do, and for loving Jonah with all your heart.  You are an amazing Godly woman whom I admire and appreciate so much who you are! Love you!!!

To my mom.  Mom you are my foundation and I look up to you.  Thank you for teaching me to love God, love my husband, and love my family.  You are true example of a woman after God's own heart and I can't thank you enough for all you have done for me and all you have taught me. Thank you loving, for never giving up on me, and for the amazing mom you are. I love you!

I love you Ellie Catherine.  You are always in my thoughts and mommy loves you SO much!!  Thank you for blessing me and for showing me how deep I could love you sweet little girl!  You will always be mommy's little princess!

And to Tim.  I couldn't have gotten where I am today without you.  I love you Tim and thank God for the husband, father, and friend that you are.  You are the rock and supporter for our family, and you love the Lord, work hard, and have a sweet, soft and gentle spirit.  I love you Tim!

Homesick

Today started out as a usual morning.  Woke up to Jonah talking happily in his crib, had our milk and oatmeal for breakfast, then went outside to play.  We loaded up in the car and headed to Carrboro for our music's class one year anniversary party!  It was fun new park with lots of new things to climb on, a huge sand box, swings, and food.  What more would a 21 month old want?  We were having a good morning and then things started to go downhill really fast.  Jonah wanted someone else's truck, then he pushed someone down the slide, took a car from a little boy, pushed someone else, and touched every donut on the table screaming his head off when I smacked him.  A nice mother told me that her daughter hits too and it is just a stage they are going through.  I took it as encouragement, but I wasn't going to just let Jonah hit and figure it out on his own.  I listened  to her silently taking it all in and then saw Jonah out of no where whack a kid.  Tears started to build up and I calmly said excuse me, grabbed the diaper bag, grabbed Jonah, and left.

As we were walking to the car  I seriously wanted to beat him.  I was SO mad at him, embarrassed that he acted so terrible as other moms looked on and judged me.  I felt awful for feeling the way I was, but I was so fed up with him.  I don't know why he acts like that, I feel like the more I spank the worse he gets.  I don't know what to do with him?  I got him buckled in and within 2 minutes he was fast asleep in his carseat.  I looked in the rearview mirror and saw his sweet precious face and how beautiful he looked sleeping.  My anger quickly melted and I just prayed.  I prayed that God would give me the strength to carry on. To love Jonah as He loves Jonah and to figure out how to discipline Jonah so that he is a sweet boy who everyone wants to be around and everyone sees his sweet spirit and what a joy he is.  I prayed that God would show me how to discipline in love and grace.  I feel like being a parent is starting to get really hard.  It doesn't help that Tim is gone for 4.5 days and I am all alone.  Being a single parent stinks and the next few days are going to be long.  But thats where you pick up and move on.  It's days like this I miss home so much.  I have since regained my composure and Jonah has been asleep for an hour  and we are already doing better.

Strawberry Festival

I was so excited to go to the strawberry festival this year.  I kept hearing so many great things about it and thought it would a fun little family outing.  Our friends Mark, Julie, and Lillia came over for breakfast and then we headed out to the old Durham Athletic Park.  Unfortunately it was a cold, rainy, blustery day so the weather was not great.  But we got to play with bubbles, watch different bands play,  march with a marching band, and enjoy some food.  The strawberry season has been really bad this year because the weather has been so cold.  So there are little strawberries to buy and I don't even know if you can even pick them yet, but all in all it was a fun day with friends.

The old Durham Bulls stadium.  It is crazy to see how small this one was and how big the new one is now.

Fun with bubbles.  Jonah loves bubbles these days!  Fun and easy entertainment.

The marching band.  We were walking along and all of a sudden realized they were right behind us!

This is what happens when you leave Jonah with daddy to run to the store for a few minutes.  Apparently Jonah was screaming and would not eat.  SO daddy strapped his chair to the ottoman, put a movie on, and he was happy as could be.  Oh boy we are in for it.  Only Dad can do this, mom will not allow:)

Home Run

It was another cool, but pretty day in Durham, North Carolina and I decided to take advantage of it. It was nice weather and hopefully a good cloudy day for some great pictures.  Jonah was needing to get out of the house, as mom was too, so we headed over to Piney Wood Park and the baseball diamond for some running, giggling, and of course pictures!  There was no one else there so we had the baseball diamond to ourselves.  We spent some time running around the field and then of course ended the day with a little climbing on the bleachers and some raisins.  Here are pictures from the day, I am so happy with how they turned out!


I was trying to be brave and do some shots WITHOUT using my auto.  Well I took about four, freaked out, and went back to using auto.  It's so hard to practice shooting on manual because I don't want to miss the moment. One of these days.

Running, running, always running!  What a perfect place to do it too.

 I actually got a great shot that I was really happy with after, um probably 40 or more!!

Airplane in the sky.  We are big into airplanes these days, well really anything that flys, vrooms, beeps, or is loud and has wheels!  He is all boy and I love it.

Jonah saying, "momma, momma, momma, momma, about  20 times.  But I like to hear that sweet sound so I didn't mind!

After a very busy day playing  and running around like a mad man, we always enjoy our favorite snack raisins!  So I had to take a picture of the empty box that was so happily eaten!

My favorite

We found a dirty old cup under the bleachers, and that was entertainment for the rest of the day!