THE TOP 10!

my baby is 10 months old! ........ really?!?!?!

where has the time gone already?  it seems like these months just fly by way too fast. one thing i know God is teaching me about parenthood is to rejoice in every single moment: good or bad. my time with this precious baby is so brief - i pray that i love him and lead him towards God's truth. i pray that i can invest in his little heart each and every day. i pray that i give him many opportunities to see Christ in my life and those all around us. if you think about it.... it's alot of work!! i can only pray for God's grace, guidance, and wisdom to guide me throughout my years on this earth with court. and i hope they are MANY!!! (rhett and i just did our wills.... so that is why i've been thinking about this so much!)

rhett and i were watching a television show yesterday and they were planning their 18 year old's birthday. i looked at rhett and said - we only have 18 birthdays to plan for court. oh - it made me so sad to think about. but, i know these next 18 years are going to be the most rewarding and most precious years of our lives. i can't wait!!! well actually, i can wait - i really want it to go in slow motion. 

here are my TOP TEN favorites about court right now.

1. he loves to wave bye-bye... really it's hello, bye-bye, hey you, look at me, etc....
2. he is sleeping 11 - 11 1/2 hours at night! whooohoooo! maybe that should be my number 1!
3. he can crawl and play and crawl some more all morning long. where does he get the energy? oh yeah - it's that 11 hours of sleep he just got!
4. he is raising his arms up to us when we are near for us to pick him up. i just love that early in the morning.
5. when i go get him from his nap, he is already sitting up and he starts bouncing and clapping. man - if i had that kind of reaction every time i walked into a room....... :)
6. he loves to pull up on the dog gate and YELL at ruby. she just stares him down, but he continues to YELL at her
7. he can completely empty "his kitchen cabinet". we have 1 cabinet that is not baby-proofed so he can get into it. it has all safe kitchen stuff in it. he crawls in and i see things flying out behind him. then, that's just 10 more things for me to pick up once he's asleep! :)
8. he loves opening and closing all doors. he just gets a little upset when he closes one and i'm on the other side and he can't seem to find me......
9. he LOVES his daddy!!! court is one lucky boy to have such an amazing daddy. rhett is so attentive to court, and is SO patient with him. he takes him all around the house "riding" on his tonka truck that nanny and grandad gave him for christmas. court's face just lights up every time rhett is around. rhett is a wonderful example of what a great husband should be and a great role model for court. if court grows up to be half the man rhett is, i will be so proud. i love you babe!
10. court is STANDING by HIMSELF. it happened for the first time today in fact. he has been pulling himself up to his knees for a while, but today he pulled himself all the way up to a standing position by himself! won't be long now! :) i have a little video of it just for your amusement. be sure and pause the music on my blog before you push play. :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY POPS!

pops and his boys

uncle jon sugars

cade sporting the preppy look

can ya stop taking pictures of me please?

isn't he so stinkin' cute???

hangin' out with nanny and grandad

the birthday boy & fam

my dad (pops) turned the big 6-0 on sunday. i really can't even believe he is already 60!!! court just adores his pops!! i know he is "never spoiled" when he is over at their house. we love you pops!!! 

the whole family came over to our house for a cookout sunday evening to celebrate the big day. we cooked out and enjoyed the babies. rhett's parents were still here, so we had fun eating and visiting with everyone. i can't wait til court and cade are just a little older - they'll wear all of us out running all over the place playing with each other. it is going to be so much fun watching them grow up together. 

great testimony

such sweet words from such a wise child. :)

don't forget to pause the music at the bottom of my blog before you hit play. :)

wordless wednesday

bring the rain

for those of you that read the bring the rain blog, you really need to read this post if you haven't.

it is a video of the birthday of their precious daughter audrey caroline. so sweet, so touching, and so heart wrenching. grab some tissues before you read and make sure you have 11 minutes to watch in awe as this family shares their precious daughter with you. rhett walked into the room while i was watching it and even he teared up and had to leave the room. 

i don't write this to give you a "downer" of a day, but only to allow you to see into this family's hearts and how they give all the glory to God even during the most unimaginable grief. angie (the author) has AMAZING faith. faith that i want because after reading her blog, i realize that i don't have faith like hers, and i want that!! :)

the new do!

here ya go people :) even a day early. 

ignore the tired, sleepy look on my face and the fact that i just brushed my hair before this pic was taken. i've been taking care of a sick baby all day. all he wanted to do was snuggle on my shoulder which i am taking FULL ADVANTAGE of, because i know as soon as he is well, it will be OVER. we just put him to bed full of motrin, with a 102 fever praying that is is down by morning and he is not up all night. poor baby!

this is my "natural" color with a few highlights around my face. we'll see how long i can last before i get bored and need to be blonde again. :)

thanks for all of your sweet words. i'll try to never leave you in suspense this long ever again! :)

busy boy..... and busy mom

this was going to be a wordless wednesday post, but i needed to add words, so it's a thursday post! :) i caught "little mr." in the act of rearranging my magazine rack. ohh, the joys of crawling babies..... :) so sweet and so much to clean up now!! :)

what ma? i'm just looking for some cute baby girls on all these magazine covers!

when he saw that i "caught" him, he started trying to get the camera and crawling towards me. you can still see his mess in the background. excuse the "bed-head" look. court would rather eat the brush than let me brush his hair. 

you may not recognize me

i have dark hair now... well, it's actually my REAL hair color. i get a little bored with my hair every once in a while, so i decided to go dark this time.... really dark. it looks SO dark to me. it has been DECADES since my hair was this color.... that's how long i've been getting my hair highlighted. i still don't know what i think about it yet. i'm trying to give it a week. i haven't taken a picture of it yet, because i still don't know what i think. rhett says it looks great, but i don't even recognize myself when i look in the mirror. at least court recognized me right away because i was really nervous about that. so..... maybe by friday i'll take a picture of it so you all can see and give me your HONEST opinion. i know becky will for sure.... i'm counting on ya beck! until then....... is the suspense killing you??? :)