First Ashes

We went to mass tonight not expecting Easton to ALSO get ashes tonight but he was WIDE AWAKE and staring straight at Father Josh when we went up so he got his ashes too! You just can't help but smile at a baby with his own ashes :)

Sleeping after Mass

Talking with Mommy about Lenten sacrifices...I think I'll give up drooling :)

Nakie Baby

Easton has developed quite a liking to being naked. If he's upset and we can't figure out why, we strip him down and let him go to town kicking, rolling, and drooling all over. As you can see, he's also at that point of OBSESSION with his mouth and anything that can go in it- does!!! But what's not to love about a naked baby :)

I love my NAN!!!!

Krista came in town this past weekend since Uncle Ben was going out of town. Needless to say they ran around together all weekend and Easton was spoiled beyond belief. We are just now getting him back to "Parent Rules" instead of "Nan Rules" :) His favorite thing with Krista had to be riding on her shoulders....and of course drooling on her head!

Valentines Day Gift

We had dinner with Ne-Ne for Valentine's Day and Trevis decided to take Easton home with him. When he brought him in Easton was grasping a pretty package with a huge pink bow and laughing hysterically. These two boys are already getting in trouble together!

Mommy Loves you THIS much

As today is Valentine's Day I'm reminded of the wonderful love that surrounds us right now. Whether God, family, friends, or spouses, we are all surrounded by people that love us. For me, I feel especially blessed because today I get to celebrate my love with the two most important men in my life. Last October I felt like my heart was ripped from me when my first baby and my grandfather were taken from me. I didn't think anything would ever fill the void in my heart that was left when they left this earth. And then God sent me Easton....

In him, I see the face of God. In him all things are "right" again. I still think about my baby and my grandfather everyday (especially at night before bedtime) and I can finally not shed tears all the time because I know that they are experiencing an even greater love in heaven than I'm experiencing with Easton. A love I can't even begin to imagine because I can't imagine loving anyone more than I love my son. When those little eyes stare up at me in the mornings and I get my gummy smiles, my heart melts. How could any day be a bad day when THAT is the first thing you get to see? With all his new milestones under his belt I find myself hugging him so tight and telling him over and over just how proud I am of him! I just want to freeze time and enjoy these little, tiny moments forever and ever. Easton knows no enemies. He loves everyone that he sees and everyone that talks to him. He smiles all the time and has no cares in the world because he knows that all will be well. He truly reminds me of how God loves.

My most precious time with Easton is in the evening and night. We will sit on the couch and he will stand on me (because sitting is "SO" 3 months ago...) and just babble away. He has become obsessed with putting his mouth on mine and drooling all over it eventually leaving a trail of drool from my nose to my chin!!! I remind him that I will always tell him that I'm the first girl he ever kissed just so he'll stay mine forever and ever :) As much as I hate to admit it, that drool is one of my most favorite parts of the day. At night, I always rock him to sleep. He'll put his head right on my left shoulder with his head tucked under my chin and he goes to sleep within minutes. It's those minutes that I find tears running down my cheeks as I think about how blessed I am to be HIS mommy. Out of all the souls that needed mommies, God gave me the perfect one. So today Easton... I hope you know how much mommy loves you. How much you have renewed in me what love TRULY means and how much I will always love you with all my heart. You will always be my Mannie Moo. Happy 1st Valentines Day sweet baby boy.

Absolute perfection.....

Happy Valentine's Day from Nan

Easton received his first Valentine through the mail and it was from his beloved Nanny, Krista. When Easton hears her voice on the phone he gets so excited it's hysterical. He'll stare at her picture on my phone as if asking me "Mom... is Nan in the house somewhere because I hear her?". When Krista comes in town, they love on each other for hours. I do believe she would sleep in the same bed with him if his crib would fit a 6 foot tall grown woman.

He received a card with an alligator on it and all the love that one card could hold from Nan and Uncle Ben (Krista's fiance). The book is PRECIOUS and full of bright colors so we read it to him immediately. Appropriately titled "I Love You Through and Through"....

Congratulations Trevis!!!

My husband is going to kill me for this but I just couldn't resist. Easton and I are just SO completely proud of him. This past Saturday, February 11th, Trevis traveled to Lafayette with some of the other Knights of Columbus members from St Anthony and he earned his 4th degree!!!!! For anyone unfamiliar with that, the Knights of Columbus is an organization established by the Catholic Church within each church parish that promotes leadership from the men of the diocese and also helps to fund many of our service projects both monetarily and physically. They have done wonderful things throughout the United States and Trevis has enjoyed his membership. He decided to become the highest degree possible and we are just overflowed with pride for him!!! As his wife, I sat here Saturday just reflecting on all the great things he's been doing and how much they mean to Easton and I. He's truly LIVING OUT his faith and being the husband and father that God called him to be. When that man walks through the door every evening, I couldn't be happier that he's home. In OUR home. With our family. We love you T.

Discovering our feet

I guess 3-4 months old is the time for many milestones to come flying your way. Easton has begun to discover his feet this month. He loves them. He'll sit and stare at them in wonderment. It's actually quite hilarious as a parent to watch and wonder what in the world he's thinking. His latest interest is sitting in his bouncy chair and instead of using his hands to play with the mobile items, using his feet. Silly boy :)

Easton checking out the animals with his HANDS

Why use your hands when those can be in your mouth and you have other appendages able to do the job?

He did WHAT?!?!

Let me set the stage for you.... It's Sunday February 5th and mommy and Easton are hanging out in our sunroom on his playmat. I'm enjoying playing with him and singing to him and I'm singing him one of my favorite songs from my childhood. "There were 3 in the bed and the little one said... ROLL OVER ROLL OVER... so they all rolled over and 1 fell out, there were 2 in the bed and the little one said....". Easton is killing himself laughing over it and I decide to video it to send it to his grandparents and Nan. And then jokingly I say "Easton are you going to roll over?" and the kid DOES IT!!!!! And I caught it all on VIDEO!!! ahhhh!!! Needless to say I freaked out with complete happiness!! (Yeah I'm going to be one of THOSE moms...) I immediately turned him back to his belly and he kept doing it!!!! After the 7th time I knew I wanted daddy to not have to miss out so I made him his own special video so that he could feel like he was RIGHT there with us in the moment. It took little man a little longer to roll since I'd been "exercising" him since the first "roll over" but it's just so cute watching him do it :)

Since then he's now decided to roll everywhere as soon as he's bored on his belly. He is 90% able to turn from back to belly too! AHHH!!! Where is the time going? While we are so proud of him for these new milestones it has shown a new issue... sleeping in his crib. Our baby has been a belly sleeper since 2 weeks old. Yes, I know we are horrible parents but that's the ONLY way he would stay asleep and stay comfortable. Well with this new ability to roll comes rolling at ALL times including sleep times at which he rolls over and wakes himself up and begins playing in his crib. Awwww that's cute right? Well it IS... but not at 4 am when he decided to start that little feat:) He's gotten better at resisting the urge to roll over at night and is now back to his 830PM- 630AM sleep time.

Hope yall enjoy as much as we did!

                                                        FIRST TIME ROLLING OVER                                                      
    

Rolling over for DADDY!

Got Cereal?

We have started on the adventure known as rice cereal. For anyone who is a mommy or for anyone who isn't you can all relate here on this one. There are 1 million and 5 questions on how to "properly" begin rice cereal. In the bottle? In a bowl with a spoon? In the morning? At night? One scoop? Formula added? Rice or Oatmeal instead? These are only SOME of the questions I had to ask when beginning this adventure. After collecting many opinions we started Easton's cereal on February 6th at dinner time with a bowl and spoon. I guess because my child is so use to taking medicine, he took to the idea of a spoon very well. There wasn't the general cereal EVERYWHERE concept but rather just a little around the lips that we "scooped" off right after we snapped his picture when he had finished his entire bowl. I will say though that my child has his mother's independence. You know that time when your parents say "I hope you have a child JUST LIKE YOU!!" and you don't know what they mean? Yeah... well I get that concept now. Easton enjoyed eating his cereal but not getting to NOT hold his own spoon was not sitting well with him. I had to let him put his hand on top of mine and "feed himself". Yes. Many of you are thinking "awww that's so cute" but have you ever wrestled w a 4 month old with something colorful in his hand and on that said colorful thing happens to be rice cereal? Certainly makes for an interesting battle :) He seemed to enjoy the cereal and wanted MORE (of course!) so we are excited to start this new adventure known as the high chair meals with him. Easton has also taken to giving himself his Nexium. We normally give it to him in an eye dropper but he now grabs the dropper and sucks out all the medicine instead of letting us squirt it in for him. Our boy is growing up I guess. Pulls at the heart strings for sure. We are certainly enjoying all these milestones with him :)

Easton's First Laugh

Our little guy has decided to start laughing! It has to be one of the cutest things I've ever heard. Easton will laugh hysterically for his daddy but I can do the EXACT same things and he stares at me like "Mom... you're SO not funny...". So every night Trevis and Easton have some laugh time together. It's precious. This video is Easton FIRST laughing at Trevis! I just happened to get to capture it. Its right at the beginning so listen closely:)