Dilemma

I'm in a dilemma!!! I can't stop thinking that Faith Ann is still my newborn! I know she is growing, I mean she is already getting her molars in! But, in my heart, she is my baby. With the boys, I seemed to look forward to the next phase while also enjoying the current phase. But with Faith Ann, I want to push PAUSE! I am not looking forward at all. I am stuck in the baby phase!

She is almost one, in 2 weeks!! Yes, a 1 year old is still a baby. I know that I will enjoy that phase too. But, not yet!! I want her to stay just like she is! She is so much more than I ever imagined my baby girl to be. She is just as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. Her peacefulness continues to fill my heart. She goes through life with such joy and grace. Will she always be like this?? I don't know? But she is like this NOW, so I want to just stop and enjoy this phase for much longer than time allows!

She will probably have some phases that I will wonder where my peaceful little girl disappeared to, but for right now, she is here with me...right next to me and always wanting to be in my arms! See my dilemma?? I want Faith Ann to stay a baby forever- sucking her thumb and twirling her hair!

However, I know the joys that come along with growing up. I love to watch their personality blossom, their thoughts deepen, their dreams grow! We know that we have wonderful days ahead with our little girl, but for now, I am soaking in these days that she is my baby! Heck, she will be my baby forever- who am I kidding?! One day, I will introduce Faith Ann as my 30 year old 'newborn!' Love this girl TOO much.

Bluebonnets

We just went to Terry Hershey Park and found a patch of bluebonnets. Our friend has a nice camera, so she did photo sessions with all the kids. It has hot, but fun. The kids were running down the hill, which didn't work out quiet as we planned...haha, Hunter was falling! But, they had a wonderful time. Faith Ann wore one of my old dresses. It was baby blue with sweet white lace going down the front. Sweet girl!

11 Months and Happy Easter

My newborn is 11 months old...eleven months! I still feel like she is my new baby! What happened?! Faith Ann had a wonderful first Easter. Our days filled with family, friends, church events and egg hunts. Other than really disliking the Easter bunny, here is what Faith Ann is up to at 11 months.

•  3 teeth (2 bottom and one on the top is breaking through)
• Still crawling in the sitting position like Trent did. It is so funny!
• Loves to pull up on front and back door to look outside
• Sleeps 7:30-7:00am
• Nurses at 7am and usually falls back asleep until I wake her for the day (around 8:30)
• Breastfeeding 3 times a day. Morning (7:00am) before nap (around 1:30) bedtime (7:30pm)
• Eats lunch, afternoon snack and dinner. She usually eats what we are eating.
• She doesn't eat breakfast yet. Her morning nursing keeps her happy until lunch.
• Loves avocado, kiwi, mandarin oranges, pancakes, muffins, turkey. She pretty much likes every food except eggs and chicken
• She talks in this "growling" voice that is hysterical! She knows it's funny, so she keeps doing it
• Has the cutest wave hello/goodbye, looks like she is karate chopping
• LOVES bath time! Scott puts all 3 in the bath, and they have a blast
• Size 9-12 month clothes, some 12-18 month clothes- depends on brand
• She does this squeal when she is trying to be "wild"
• Loves to chase her brothers down the hallway
• All kids nap 1:30-3:30ish. One Hunter's school days, they all nap 2:30-4:30
• Gives big open mouth kisses

Faith Ann is so easy going. It may a 3rd child thing, but I'll take it! She has the most likeable disposition. She just accommodates and rolls with it. Her birthmark is looking a little lighter to me, it still covers most of her upper arm. It gets more red when she is hot. The doctor says that the fading process will really begin between 12 months and 3 years old. I don't even notice it anymore because it is just part of her. Every once and a while, someone will ask me about it. It's hard to capture in pictures because it's on the inside of her arm. All the elementary aged girls on our street say they wish they had a "Faith Ann mark" because they think she is so beautiful and it's cool that only she has that! One day, her birthmark will be a faint memory, but for now it is a mark that resembles uniqueness. It also is a mark that reflects this fast phase of life. It will be fading as the months and years pass while my baby also fades away into a toddler, then little girl, then teenager, then young adult! Ahhhh, having a baby just moves too fast! The days are long, but the years are short!

Easter! I love everything about Easter. It has always been my favorite holiday. It has such a simple, pure and joyful feel to it. My mom loved Easter, and I have hosted Easter ever since mom passed away. I very much feel moms presence during Easter time, especially as our family fills our home. Her children and grandchildren, most of which she never got the chance to meet. But her grandchildren filling our home makes my heart fill with her love. I can feel her so deeply, I can almost smell her and hear her! Faith Ann, your Zsa Zsa would ADMIRE you. She wraps her arms around you, and I pray that you always feel her presence.

I enjoy all the Easter traditions. We dyed Easter eggs in the driveway. The boys were covered in all the colors while Faith Ann cruised around in her walker. We went to the Good Friday church service, which was so sweet and educational for the children! Easter morning was great. Their Easter baskets were pretty simple, but they loved their tennis racquets. They hit the tennis ball way down the street for Bentley to chase after it. They have been using our racquets and dragging them on the concrete, so the Easter bunny decided they needed their own racquets to drag around! And Scott was so excited about the basketball the Easter bunny brought him. The Easter bunny also found rain boots at a garage sale down the street for Hunter. He has been wanting those particular ones because his friend George has them, so the Easter bunny about died when these were sitting there with a $1 sticker on them!

We host my family for brunch. This year was a little different because my dad got out of the hospital Easter morning, just in time for our gathering. Literally, my brother picked him up from hospital and came straight over! He gets severely dehydrated as a side effect from his kidney transplant 15 years ago. He is also more prone to urinary tract infections because of his transplant. Well, he got hit with both- dehydration and infection. He felt crummy and spent a few days in hospital. He got IV liquids and antibiotics. He feels much better. All par for the course of his health. We are grateful for each day and holiday that he is with us. My dad, Pardner, treats all of us to Easter baskets. I do all the shopping and work, but on behalf of my dad because he loves to spread grandparent love! Dad even has me buy Easter surprises for the adults. Preparing 15 Easter baskets is quiet the undertaking. I had to hide them all at my neighbors house. She is in her 80's and got a kick out of all those baskets in her dining room!

Anytime my family gets together, we usually end up playing some sort of outside game. Well, this Easter was baseball! Scott has all the equipment and bases from being Hunter's coach. So, we set up a baseball field in our front yard and had a blast! Trent rode his 4 wheeler for hours in circles around the 'baseball field!' Then, he quietly went and handed the pitcher a tennis ball and stood at the plate with his tennis racquet. Sure enough, he nailed that tennis ball and started running the bases! My sweet boy! Hunter loved showing his cousins everything he has learned, and he did great! He didn't even need the tee to hit the ball.

The egg hunt is always a hit. I coordinate the eggs so that each cousin gets a certain color. Scott hides the eggs age appropriately for each color, and the kids really had to hunt this year. It was so fun to watch! Faith Ann wore my first Easter dress, which was adorable. My mom would be in happy tears to see Faith Ann in the dress that she picked out for me on my first Easter. It is so sweet with these little rosebuds and lace. It fit her beautifully, and it even had a matching bonnet which made me laugh so hard. I have to say, I think she looks better with a bow! And this picture of me holding her cracks me up! Look closely at her little hand...hahaha! Sweet pretty girl sending us an ugly message, but she still looks precious! This picture is a laugh out loud favorite!

Then we headed out the Woodlands to visit with Scott's family. Macy, Scott's sister, hosted a wonderful dinner. The kids have one special cousin, Kinsley, on that side of the family. It is a much more quiet gathering. It is so fun for our kids to experience all types of fun and laughter in one day! Macy, Drew and Kinsley are moving to the Virgin Islands soon. So, this was her last holiday to host at their house. It is bittersweet to see them go! The kids love growing with Kinsley, and I always enjoy visiting with Macy! They will be missed, but we do look forward to a long vacation in the Virgin Islands one day!

 

The rest of the holiday weekend was filled with the usual...playing outside and family time. Of course, the games in the ditch is a daily thing! The kids built this lovely fort in our ditch. Good thing we don't live in River Oaks because I am sure that our daily front yard shenanigans would not be appreciated, haha. I love our neighborhood, our street our friends....this is what life is about! This picture of Hunter just makes me smile, he is just such a big boy. He is something else. Love him! We had a wonderful Easter. Happy 11 months to Faith Ann, and happy 1st Easter to my sweet baby girl! 

Spring Happenings

This has been a busy week full of Spring activities. I just unloaded my phone pictures, so I will post a little tidbit about the photos. We went to a neighborhood egg hunt yesterday. Hunter was SO excited about finding the eggs, he was totally into it, running around with joy! Trent just found one egg and was perfectly content with that one egg filled with candy! They all looked adorable in their Spring colors. Gosh, they are all so beautiful in their own individual way...inside and out. I am a proud momma! 

Faith Ann got her Easter basket. There's just something about an Easter basket with a child's name on it...ahh, I love it! It just makes me smile to think about that Easter basket being there through all the years, all the egg hunts, all the Easter adventures. One day, Faith Ann will hold this basket when she is 18 years old. Yes, I will still do egg hunts until my "children" are 50! She wore one of my old outfits, it is so feminine and sweet! It is embroidered and has these delicate ruffles on the bottom with sunflowers! The back is open with adorable ruffles on the border. I could just eat her up!  

Oh yes, we made our weekly visit to the "peacock street." This was the best visit EVER! There were like 20 peacocks, and about 10 of them had their feathers open. They were walking in circles around each other, doing this crazy shaking dance, and they were so loud!! Hunter demanded that he needed a feather for show and tell because they are supposed to bring something that starts with the letter 'P.' I was scared, so I said "no, feather starts with F." He quickly corrected me that it was a Peacock feather, starts with P, so go get it! I was terrified, but ran out of my car and grabbed a feather that fell off during their wild dance! I was screaming!! Hunter wanted me to unbuckle his carseat before I got out of the car..."in case a peacock jumped on my back, he could help!" I asked him if he would get out and help me. He said, "no way, I would just jump in your seat and honk the horn until the peacocks got off you!" haha! Well, I got the feather without any attacks! We did research and found out it is the end of mating season, which means the male peacocks put on a "beauty contest" to win the ladies. So, we caught them in the middle of the competition, and it was awesome!! 

And what's an update without pictures of our front yard adventures?! Our street is FULL of young children. Everyday usually ends in some type of gathering or party, and it's usually at our house!The kids put together this cool slip and slide in the ditch. They were pulling each other on the knee board...of course, soap on the slide!! They played for hours. Faith Ann was passed around from girl to girl. The girls love to put her in the wagon and take her on walks to the "Morning Tree." They could do this all day! Cousin Ally fed her lunch, and gave her a mohawk too! Faith Ann looked like such a big girl in her bathing suit! Slow down time!!

We had a little photo session after church. Faith Ann was wearing one of my old smocked dresses, so I placed her in front of the bunny and she looked so beautiful! Again....mom- thank you for saving so many of my gorgeous dresses. It means the world to me! I love these pictures, looks like she is admiring her dress! 

Oh my....big deal at the Monteverde house! Hunter's 1st T-ball game. He looked so dang cute in his uniform! Just like that, he is a kid, a big boy, a dude! These pictures just melt me! He did great! There are lots of his friends on his team, and Hunter is SO into T-ball. He is our social guy, so he loves being with this friends and playing ball!! And to top it off...Scott is the coach! Hunter is SO proud to have his daddy be the coach! Go team Dragons! And sweet Mimi drove in from the Woodlands for his first game. His game started at 8am!!So Mimi had to leave her house bright and early, but she wouldn't have missed it. Mimi is extra special, such a great role model!

 

After the game, we played outside all day in the gorgeous weather! Faith Ann was a cute little sailor! She is going through this little separation anxiety phase, which we are working through. She is such a happy, carefree soul so I know this is a phase! It's hit or miss. Sometimes, no big deal. She goes to the ladies at church or the gym with no hesitation. Other times, she has the most pathetic pouty face! She usually stops crying after a few minutes. Other times, she commits to crying! We are going on week 4-ish of this phase but there is light because her crying is short lived now! Phases are the only consistent thing in parenting...along with unconditional love!! 

I just thought these pics were funny....Scott with me on his shoulders when we were 16 years old and now present day with Faith Ann on his shoulders. And yes, I am wearing pleather pants, ha! Scott is such a good good man! These are pictures of him and his little girl walking the sky bridge on our "Wednesday lunch at daddy's office." I especially love the picture of sweet Trent running behind them! Smack dab in the middle of business men and women, there is a daddy with his baby girl and sweet boy. Ahh, Scott has such a loyal and tender heart!

Faith Ann, you are something else. We adore you! Your character, your spirit, your peaceful heart. You are more than I could have ever dreamed of when I pictured having a baby girl. We are enjoying our Spring days!!