33

I celebrated my 33rd birthday on Wednesday. I haven't especially been looking forward to it, but not really dreading it either. It is just another day now, except that I know we will get to eat lunch at Sugarbakers :) So that is what I look forward to! ha! So this year, I took Crockett to school and went to get my FREE coffee at Starbucks (another highlight!) I had planned on being ready for the day before I took Crockett to school, but we opted to sleep kind of late, so I just took my time getting ready instead. My mom, Mon and I (and Bowen and Ryker) went to eat at Sugarbakers at 11, which was SO nice! It is always delicious and without 3 small children, it was very enjoyable! (Although I LOVE all 3 of those small children!) At lunch, Mom, Mon and Rach surprised me with my gift of a massage, mani and pedi at the Woodhouse at 1! I have needed some 'me time' in a bad way lately and I was beyond thrilled! This was such a great surprise and I am so thankful for such thoughtful and generous sisters and momma. My mom came over and kept Bowen and Crockett so I could be 'off-duty' for the afternoon. The massage, mani and pedi were ABSOLUTE HEAVEN. That with a few mimosas, a little lite adult conversation, and head-to-toe pampering made for such a fabulous day. When I returned home, I was surprised with gorgeous flowers from my sweet hubby and boys. I was so excited and they were really beautiful. For dinner we went to LuLu and Papaw's house. We had yummy steaks, potatoes, salad and a mouth-watering chocolate cake from Sugarbakers. If it weren't for trying to eat really healthy, I would have devoured the entire thing. It was that good. All in all, my just-another-day-birthday, turned out to be such a wonderful day. I am truly blessed by all the special people in my life. I went to sleep knowing that this 33rd year is going to be a really good one. I am a very lucky gal.

Chunky Monkey!

Mon took some pictures of an almost-naked Bowen the other day. I know all these precious rolls won't last forever. How can these pictures not make you smile???

Bowen Barrett - 7 months old

I cannot believe Bowen is 7 months old. Several of my friends that I was pregnant with are celebrating their baby's 1st birthday! It just seems like time is in fast-forward mode, with no slow down in sight. The past month was a whirlwind. It was LONG and SO QUICK, all at the same time. Bowen has grown SO much just in the last month. I feel like all these big milestones are happening at once. I am loving this happy, fun, squishy baby, still more and more everyday. He is such a good baby and if we could recover our old sleeping habits from before the flu, we would really be in business. Bowen is such a blessing to our family and has been so much fun to watch grow. We all, including Crockett, can't get enough of the sweet laughter and giggles that seem to constantly come out of his mouth. 

At your 7 month birthday you are wearing a size 3 diaper, barely. You are in size 6-12 or 12-18 month clothes. I am not buying anymore 6-12 month. I have no idea what size shoe you wear, because I never put them on you. However, your socks all cut off your sweet little cancels :) You got your 1st tooth (bottom, left) on December 21 and your 2nd tooth (bottom, right) on Christmas day! You look adorable with your little teeth! They are SO SO sharp and you like to bite. It makes you giggle when I scream :) You also started sitting up like a champ right around Christmas, which you loved, by the way! You loved the lights and paper and toys and music :) It was a very special 1st Christmas for our family! You love to see what is going on and cry and scream when you aren't sitting up. You will go from sitting up to laying on your tummy, but you don't move yet. I am sure that will happen any day. You still do not like laying on your tummy for more than a few minutes, even though I think you would be so happy sleeping that way if you would just give it a chance! You still sleep in your nap nanny... not sure how we are going to change this habit. Every once in a while you will sleep flat on your back, but not very often. Usually you cry and scream and then when I give in and put you in your nap nanny, you will be asleep in 30 seconds. I guess that is something we should work on while neither one of us are sleeping anyways!??! You are such a happy little guy unless you are tired or hungry or feeling yucky. No one can believe we had such a rough start 7 months ago! You are still breastfeeding most of the time, and eat something for dinner. You love food, but you want what we are having,  not the pureed mush I try to feed you. Dinnertime has become quite messy. You take your baths now in your duck bath and you love to splash around and hear the duck quack. Bedtime is 8 or 8:30 and you are pretty regular about that. You have started pooping in every single pair of jammies we own. (And that is A LOT of jammies!) Usually once a day you will blow out, up the back. I wish there was a way to stop this. I am SO incredibly tired of cleaning these jammies!!! And really, I will probably throw them all away and go replenish the supply for whoever might need them next. Please stop this, Bowen :) You love me and your daddy, but your favorite person is probably your big brother. You will be crying so hard, and as soon as Crockett starts talking to you, you will start laughing. I love to see the way you love one another and the way Crockett wants to take care of you. He hates it when you cry and is very proud when he makes you laugh. He tells everyone we see that this is his baby brother! It makes my heart so happy.
You are the sweetest, chunkiest, squishiest, most loveable little guy and I am so glad I get to be your mommy. You always put a smile on our faces and the faces of most people you come across! We love you so much little man.

Little Man Down

While I tried everything I knew to do (flu shots, constantly washing hands, sanitizer, etc), the flu got us. And by us, I mean my sweet little Bowen. It started suddenly, at about 3:00 a.m. on Sunday, January 6. I took his to the clinic that afternoon, along with half of the children in Lubbock, thinking that it was an ear infection or something. I knew the flu was going around, but he was the last one of us I expected to get it. The sweet nurse told me she was going to test him and about 5 minutes she told me it was positive. I wanted to cry. She gave him some motrin, which did wonders, and they prescribed Tamiflu for Bowen and Crockett. After the Dr. office, we got medicine and I prepared myself for a VERY long week. When Bowen woke up a little later, he was fever-free... and he, surprisingly, stayed that way all week! I couldn't believe how tough he was. That nasty flu big couldn't handle my healthy baby, Bowen! And then on Friday morning, after waking up every hour, he began to feel hot again. So we went BACK to the Dr. office thinking he was having secondary infections (ears, throat) from the flu. His temp was back up to 102 but everything was clear. The flu was back. It started on Friday and lasted until Monday. He ran 102 temp everyday and just felt terrible. It was awful and there just wasn't anything I could do besides giving him tylenol, motrin and letting him sleep. He finally began to feel better on Tuesday. Praise the Lord. Babies really shouldn't even be able to get sick. We are all so thankful to have healthy babies and to have doctors who take such good care of them when they do get sick. We are very fortunate. It was such a long week for all of us. I am so glad Bowen is back to his old self. I sure missed his smiles and giggles.

Happy New Year 2013!!

Happy New Year! I love New Year because I feel like it is a time to reflect on all that has happened in the previous year.... New Year 2012 we were still living in Midland and had no Bowen, Crockett wasn't 3 yet, Chris was still working for Gray Wireline... to mention a few. I also think it is a time to be prayerful, hopeful and thankful for another year to grow, experience, learn, play, change as an individual and family.   There are still changes in store for our family and I am excited to see where we are led. And while I am not really a "resolution" person, I have a list of things I would like to accomplish this year. I think 2013 is going to be a wonderful year and I am so thankful to have these boys by my side. (And Chris too :) We are truly blessed in so many ways.