I love lists, too

My friend Emily posted on her blog a list of things that make her most happy and at the end she invited her readers to do the same....so here are mine. The things that bring me the most joy in my life (in no particular order)----

1. Being married to Ross - my marriage is a huge source of joy in my life. No one knows me better than he does and continues to show God's love to me on a daily basis. We can have fun doing absolutely nothing and every day with him is something new and different.

2. Going in to Jude's room to get him first thing in the morning - It seriously is the sweetest thing ever. He is so happy, just talking up a storm and smiling so big, I love it. It makes getting up every morning totally worth it.

3. The "morning experience" - The morning experience consists of me, my Bible and a cup of the yummiest coffee ever. To be able to spend time alone with my God and drink an awesome cup of coffee along with it (that I ground and made myself) is the best part of my day.

4. Doing dances - Anyone who knows me knows that I love to make up dances for anything and everything. Who's seen the Okra Dance or the Johnny Cash dance...let's not forget the FRIDAY DANCE? They are all very fun. I just made up another one last night, the Taco Dance. Love it! Last night Ross told me that something really good happened at work. I asked him if he made up a dance to celebrate, with which he replied "no, babe. That's not me, that's you." :)

5. Jude's laugh -when I get him laughing really hard, it makes my insides hurt. His laugh is seriously the sweetest sound I have ever heard.

6. Home movies - If we had a camcorder, I'd be that annoying guy that always has it on and in everybody's face! I love, love, love home movies. Since we don't have a camcorder, our camera is the next best thing. One day we all will be much older and have forgotten what the early days were like and I will be able to look back and remember Jude as a baby (and our future children), remember us as new parents, and see the good times captured on camera.

7. Music - This may be a superficial one, but music is such good therapy. When I need an uplift, I just put in my Highpoint Respond cd or Todd Agnew and jam out while praising the Lord. I love jamming out in my car to old music, new music, the Beatles (my FAVORITE), Clapton, Justin Timberlake, whatever. I don't discriminate, I like it all. Well, except for the new rap stuff. That's just not good.

8. Worshipping God - whether it be at church, small group, at home with Ross, by myself, whatever. I find it absolutely essential to my well being.

9. My family - I can't be away from my family for too long without driving to Memphis to see them! Thankfully it's not that far. We usually have such a good time together laughing and talking and goofing around, I miss that.

10. Email - this sounds silly, but I really love emails. Getting them is like opening a little present and it fills me with joy! It keeps me in touch with people I'd probably never talk to otherwise. It's hard to get on the phone these days. However, I hate long forwards. So, don't send them to me!

I'm sure there are more, but I HAVE to go do some cleaning while Jude is asleep. Maybe I'll post some more soon! Hope you enjoyed reading this and maybe even learned a little bit more about me. :)

Oh, and I want to pass it on...so I invite you to share yours, too!

Pics of my little man

You know I am always all about posting the newest pics of Jude that I like and today is no different. I haven't gotten any really good smiley pictures in awhile, so here they are. Oh, and of course he's sans clothes in them. He likes to be nakey...

Yep, that's lots of baby drool on his chin

And this is what we like to call drunk old man...which is him being drunk on the magic milk. hehe

And here is a pic from our day at the pool today. My sweet friend Lisa got him this floatey and he loved it! It looks like I'm strangling him in the pic, but I promise I wasn't. :)

Memphis trip and Father's Day

This past weekend we spent in Memphis with our families. We drove in Friday night and were planning to stay til Sunday, but Ross decided to take a vacation day on Monday, so we got to stay an extra day! The whole weekend was really, really fun. I think Ross had a good first father's day, too. He is such a wonderful daddy, I am so proud of him! Here are some pics from the weekend...



































Double team



































Jude and Naughnie...















Just before bath















This is what we like to call Super Baby...















Lovin my kid




















Jude fell asleep with his Pap Paw















Jude and his sweet cousin Shawn















They are almost the same size! Shawn is 7 weeks younger than Jude.















Here I am with both babies




















Here's Jessie talking to both of them















Then sadly, it was time to come back home. It was one of my favorite Memphis trips.


Fiona likes to join Jude on the floor















Jude is all about making tongue faces now































...and sticking his fingers in his mouth 24/7















This time Ross joined Jude for tummy time :)















And by himself





















He's getting so good at holding himself up. It's crazy how fast he's growing and changing.

The year of Cotton

Last week Ross and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary. Usually I post a blog about what I've learned that year. At least that's what I did last year. But this year I just want to say that marriage does get sweeter. In the beginning, it was all so new and exciting and I miss that sometimes. But the more time goes on, the better friends Ross and I become. The closer we get and the more we know each other. And going through the hard times, it makes us stronger as a couple. I know 2 years doesn't sound that long, but I'm pretty proud and happy to have celebrated another anniversary.

Ross' grandparents are getting ready to celebrate their 60th anniversary, which is amazing. What a testimony to us younger generations! I look forward to spending the next 60 years, and hopefully more, with my wonderful husband. Marriage and parenthood are truly the 2 best gifts on this earth.

Rolling over

I had to redo my blog. I get tired of the way it looks so often that I need to change it. Ross informed me today that the family blog is starting to look more and more girly. Since his name is on it, he wants it to not be so girly. So, we agreed on this layout. It's still under reconstruction, though.

So, Jude started rolling over! I discovered this as we were doing tummy time yesterday that we hadn't done since last week. I put him on his tummy and he was holding his head unusually high and not crying, which I was excited about. And then he just rolled over! I kept putting him back on his tummy and he kept rolling over, which is how I got it on video! Here is a video of it...



So exciting!! He is growing up so fast. I am so loving being home with him and getting to see all of this stuff. It truly is better than any paying job I could ever have.

And here are a few of pics of Jude I've taken the past few days...

Smiling boy

Awww

Here is Fiona with her favorite ball. She found this football in our backyard and now loves it! She's so funny with it.

Spa Days & Stuff

My awesome weekend started on Thursday. My sister, Jessie and Shawn came to visit and stayed the night. We had a lot of fun! Here's how it started, just us hanging out...


My sister holding both babies...

Here is a good one of Shawn, my sweet nephew

Later that night we watched Enchanted, which was dumb. After a night of good sleep, we went to the park with our lunch. We had Sonic, yum. We thought it would be a good idea to eat our lunch at a picnic table.......that is, until the geese started flocking toward us. And anyone who knows me knows I am terrified of birds. I'm more scared of the little ones that fly over my head than these, but the beaks still freak me out.


I thought the babies were cute and wanted to feed them, so I did. That is, until more geese saw that we had food and wanted lunch too...


They got their fill of cheese fries that day. I'm not sure it was good for them, but they sure liked it.

Here are more pics from the park. At first, Jude and Shawn were asleep.


Then Jessie woke Jude up...

And then Jude started crying, so we had to leave. Other than that, it was so much fun!

After my sister and her crew left, Ross and I drove into Memphis. My spa day was scheduled for Saturday, so we went in a day early. Ross' mom got some good pictures of me and Jude, FINALLY. Someone willing to take my picture so Jude will know he had a mommy!


Here's Jude with his Aunt Mary...

And here he is playing with Aunt Mary and Nanny J...

This picture is funny. He was totally excited about his great Aunt Meme! He just talked and talked to her. It was so cute!

Finally...the SPA EXPERIENCE! Eating lunch after our amazing facials...


Here we are, getting our pedicures...

All good things must come to an end. I was bummed that the spa day was over, but I can't stop looking at my feet. They are so pretty!

And Fiona was pretty sad to leave, too. Mary brought her dogs with her, and among those is Fiona's best friend, Pixel. I wish I had gotten a picture of them playing, but sadly, I didn't. Fiona was sad to leave her best doggie friend. One day, she will have her own doggie friend to play with all the time.