fourth down....

Fourth month down that is. I can hardly believe we are almost half way through Mary Stewart's first year! My dear friend Suzanne recapped her sweet son Perry's month and I thought I would do the same with Mary Stewart.

During month four.........

-At the beginning of month 4 you were 13 pounds and 26 inches long.

-You tried cereal, avocado, & sweet potato. You LOVE sweet potato's.

-You began really rolling from your tummy to your back, especially when you are mad at me for putting you down!

-You want EVERYTHING in your mouth. You particularly love Sophie the Giraffe. She is your favorite teether.

-On Valentines Day you were baptized and were so blessed to have so many family & friends there.

-You have found your giggle, and though it's not often, it's absolutely precious.

-You love your pi (pacifier) & I'm wondering if I've created a "crutch"...probably so.

-I have discovered you are just a tad spoiled, OK alot spoiled.....but I wouldn't have it any other way!!

You have continued to capture my heart and made me ever so thankful for the loving kindness the Lord has shown on our family.

Baby Food 101

Today I broke out the Baeba Babycook maker. If you know me well, you know I don't like to read directions and I'm a "just go with it" kinda gal (ask me about my "go with it" sewing projects). The baby food maker seemed simple enough and I called my friend Judith who also has one, to get her pointers. As Judith told me, it was super simple and easy to use. I highly recommend this to all my pregger friends and those of you interested in making your own food.

I decided to make my own food for a few reasons:

- it's cheaper! Super Babyfood, a great book, shows you just how affordable it is.

- it's healthier! Only the best for my Mary Stewart.

- Why not? I'm home and I have the time (which it takes NO time at all).

So far I've introduced rice cereal and avocado to Mary Stewart. Tomorrow we will try sweet potatoes. All I had to do to prep for the babycook was peel the sweet potato and cut it into chunks. I placed the sweet potato chunks into the steam basket and filled with the recommended water amount. Turned the steamer on and unloaded the dishwasher. About 15 minutes later the potatoes were steamed and then I pureed them. I used the leftover water from the steamer to get my desired consistency. Voila! We have sweet potato baby food!

For me the babycook is ideal. It's an "all in one" baby food maker. If you had a steamer, blender, and food processor you essentially have what you need (but a lot more to clean up). Since the babycook is all in one, it will be easy to use when I'm in the kitchen prepping other food. I am excited to see what recipes are in store for Mary Stewart. I'll keep you posted.

Why a picture of Starbuck's? Again, if you know me well, you know I would rather a non fat carmel macchiato over just about anything. Our sweet friend Luke stopped by to borrow Matt's tripod and left me a coffee! It just made the rest of the morning that much more enjoyable!!

uncle ears

Everyone should be so lucky to have an "Uncle Ears." Uncle Ears, whose real name is Elliott, is married to my sister fabulous sister Holly (also referred to as Hattie by Mary Stewart). I have known ears somewhere between ten and fifteen years. He and my sister were in essence high school sweethearts (there is a great breakup story behind this...). I know Mary Stewart will look forward to the days when she will go to Uncle Ears house and look at the cows, ride the horses, play on tractors and annoy Eliza (this is their dog). Today is Ears birthday, February 23. Ears we hope you had a great day! We are thankful for the way you love the Lord, love Hattie and love Monkey Soup (this is ears personal nickname for Mary Stewart).

laughter is good for the soul

Over the past few weeks Mary Stewart has been discovering her voice. Recently she has found her giggle! I have only heard her giggle a few times. The first was when her Dee Dee had given her a crumb of her baptism cake. She got so tickled over the cake it brought tears to our eyes. Luckily this last time we caught it on video. Let Mary Stewart's giggle refresh your soul!

Avacado....

This week Sweet Mary Stewart tried avacado! To watch her facial expressions was priceless. I assume this is the first food that she has tried that truly has flavor (not sure rice cereal mixed with breast milk is that flavorful). Mary Stewart didn't love it, but she didn't not like it either. You could tell she was trying to figure out what this new texture was. The good news for me is I think I'll have someone to enjoy guacamole with me in the years to come.

This week I ordered the Beaba Babycook baby food maker! It came in today and I am anxious to be domestic with it! Don't worry I'll be sure to fill you all in on it!

Mary Stewart's Baptism

Valentine's Day was a very special day for our family, the baptism of Mary Stewart. What a day to celebrate God's kindness to our family by blessing us with such a precious child. It is our prayer that Mary Stewart will never know a day without Jesus as her Savior.

What made this day that much more special was Mary Stewart's dress. Matthew's grandmother (so Mary Stewart's great grandmother) Anna Mae let us use her wedding dress! My hope is that this dress will leave a legacy of an incredible marriage (60 years in September) to Anna Mae's great grand children. I know Anna Mae looked as beautiful in the dress as Mary Stewart did.

Matthew and I were so fortunate to have most of our family here to celebrate. After church we had lunch at our house with our family and friends. Truly a wonderful day.

Our sweet friends Chris and Katie have started a cake business. Check out their blog cakes on the corner. It was a beautiful and delicous cake.

"Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in a new way of life." Romans 6:3-4

Snow Baby

Snomageden as it has been referred to, finally reached Marietta this afternoon. The snow is absolutely beautiful! A great perk to living in Georgia is we usually get one good snow a year. By good I mean enough snow to make a snowman and to give children a thrilling afternoon, but it doesn't last too long where the negatives of the snow outweigh the positives. We have had a few flurries this year, but this is the first "big snow" of the season. Of course Mary Stewart was dying to get outside (ok so I was dying to get her outside in the snow). She seemed to enjoy the snow, more than I can say for Annie & Maggie (the labs that dwell in the basement) they sniffed the fluffy white powder and decided to get back inside!

Normally I am thrilled at snow and don't mind be cooped inside with my hot coffee, but this weekend is different. We are celebrating the baptism of Mary Stewart. Matthew's grandparents, aunt & uncle, brother & fiance & mom are already in North Georgia at Camp Donald (future blog on Camp D) but we are praying that my dad, sister & brother in law, father in law & sister in law & mom will be able to make it despite road conditions as most of them are traveling from Louisiana. Yes we are blessed to have so many who want to be a part of this baby's life. So I'm praying for God's sweet kindness to bring our family all together for this special celebration. For now, Mary Stewart in her bouncy and I on the stool are gazing at the beautiful wonder of snow!