January Catch Up

Beau turned 19 months old on January 9th. I can't believe what a big boy he is becoming!

He loves to talk and try to repeat what he hears. It is making Rodney and I very conscious of what we say around him.....for example, he heard "shut up" on the TV one day and then said "shut up" right back. I wanted to cry. He is currently saying "blu balu balu berry" for blueberry, sit, sheep, horse, house, car, ball, momma, da, dadu, mydadu (all for Dad), nona, papa, mag(maggie the dog), grin griny (Gran Gran), T (My Dad), Sam (dog), grape, nana (bananna), popcorn, more, cat, dog, all gone, no (for everything...even if it is a yes), store, eat eat, tee tee, poop, baby (for all kids...no matter how old)and he can say almost all of our family members names (or at least the beginnng of them).

He still loves to eat, but does not like drinking milk anymore. When he does not drink enough milk, he gets a little purple under his eyes....must be missing a vitamin or mineral in the milk. Our pediatrician said he is healthy, and to try to add milk to his oatmeal and anything else we can stir it into. He does love to drink water or "otter" as he calls it.

We have been having fun playing at home or with friends during the week. On the weekends we play with friends or family too.

Playing at park

Beau told Dad to "sit" with him


New Favorite Activity.....Coloring
Final Masterpiece

Funny

On Friday, during Beau's nap, I was talking to one of my best friends, Lindsey, on the phone. I was telling her how Beau has started taking his clothes off during nap time and in the morning when he wakes up. It is normal for us to go in and find him with one pant leg off, a diaper partially off, and a shirt hanging off him. Friday afternoon, Rodney was home a little early from work, so he was able to get Beau when he woke up at nap time. This is how he found Beau....check out Beau's enormous grin. What a goose!




(I know his outfit does not match at all, but I was doing laundry and it was either that outfit or a shirt and a diaper....I knew the diaper would be off in 5 seconds and that would not be good!)

Playing Outside in January

This past week the weather was rainy, but warm enough to play outside when it was not too wet. After lunch, Beau and I played outside for almost an hour. He was fascinated by the big tree in our front yard. It had a hole where the rain water had collected. Beau loved putting sticks, leaves, and most of all, his hands in the water. Then, he entertained himself by putting things in the hood of his car....sticks, leaves, bark, whatever he could find. This child loves to be outside. I am learning to like it more because I know for many years to come, most of my time will be spent outside playing with him!

Blanket Time

Rodney and I decided to start trying "Blanket Time" with Beau when he turned 18 months old. In December, he turned 18 months old, so we started this process. We put Beau on a blanket and gave him a few toys. We told him to stay on the blanket until we told him it was okay to get up. This is supposed to help him learn to be disciplined at home and outside the home. Anyway, the first few times, he would get up and run around the blanket. But, the other day he sat on the blanket for 10 minutes solid! I was only going to try for 5 minutes, but let him keep going once he went over 5 minutes. He was entertaining himself by his cell phone and the boots (of course!)

Goodbye 2008, Hello 2009!

Rodney and I celebrated New Year's Eve by dinner out while Nona and Papa (Rodney's parents) watched Beau. We then ate some cake and ice cream and watched a movie on the couch. We rang in the new year with New York and then headed to bed. Beau even slept in on New Year's Day until 8:30. It was such a treat for us!

Rodney and I both had to agree that 2008 has been the worst year of our lives together. We have had several family members pass away, family members battle cancer,3 sets of great friends move away, Rodney's parents moved 2 hours away, and the list could go on and on!

However, We did have a huge blessing in 2008 that I could quit my job teaching at stay at home with Beau. We found a great house that we could afford on Rodney's income, so we prayed about it and went ahead and bought it while we still owned our other house. We never thought that in May of 2008 we would find out that the house would be deemed "unsellable" due to foundation issues when it was built.So, in May, I resigned from my job to stay at home with our child, we had 2 homes with 2 sets of bills and were on one paycheck. The last 6 or so months of 2008, our prayer has been "God Are you still there?" "Did you forget about us?" Our old community is still waiting on a solution from the builder/developer, so after much prayer, we put the house up for rent.

Thankfully on Jan. 2nd, 2009, renters moved in and will be living there for 1 year. We are so thankful that the Lord did hear our prayers for provision and guidance in 2008, He just answered them differently than we had thought/wanted. Don't you love when that happens?

Rodney and I are praying for and believing for a fantastic 2009! Here are our some of our favorite pics of 2008 with Beau....

January 2008

February 2008

March 2008

April 2008

May 2008





Both of June 2008 (1st birthday and 1st beach trip)

July 2008



August 2008

September 2008


October 2008

November 2008


December 2008

Christmas 2008

We celebrated Christmas Day by breakfast at our house, lunch with Rodney's family and dinner with my family. Beau was a trooper that day, even though he was still recovering from his fever virus.






(This is from zoolight safari that we went to before Christmas...but it is one of the few pictures where I am holding Beau and he is smiling....He LOVED their "snow" that was falling)




Beau enjoyed all the gifts and toys that were given to him that day. His current top 2 favorites are:

"Boots" My Aunt Patti gave him these boots. Whenever we go anywhere, these are the shoes he wants to wear. Rodney and I even hid them in his closet, but Beau found them yesterday and so we have been wearing the "boots" everywhere again. He does look super cute in them!



"Monk-Monk" This is a stuffed animal, technically called a "Fur-Real Friend" that Rodney's cousin gave Beau. This monkey cries when he is hungry and he makes sleeping sounds when you lay him down. Beau loves to carry "Monk-Monk" everywhere with him. We have already lost the bottle that the monkey drinks from, so Beau feeds the monkey his sippy cup and popcorn for a snack. It is too cute!