Monday, July 22, 2013

Journey: 3 months Gotcha!

Our first picture together!

3 Months!

It is amazing how your life can change in an instant! Three months ago our precious little boy was placed in our arms for the first time. The moment we had dreamed about and planned for years was happening!! Our first three months has gone by so quickly- too quickly!! We've had many, many ups and such incredible blessings! I'm anxious to head back to the doctor to see how much he has grown!

The past couple of weeks he has really started using a lot of words and many that he is picking up from conversations as opposed to me labeling things. His new words are "home, thank you, duck, pull, and more". When asked how old he is he'll respond "two" (most times)- I started working on that one early so he'd be ready for his birthday :)

As I type this he is in his room chatting away! We put him to bed at a good time but sometimes he'll chat to himself for an hour or more! It's mostly just babbling at night and I love listening to it! His favorite word is still "no" and we're working on saying "yes" more often!
He is a boy and we've had some bumps and bruises. Last week he had a tumble down the stairs which scared me so much but he was okay. He still loves the water and has gotten a lot more brave and likes to float on his tummy in the tub now too.
We leave on Friday for our annual family vacation with my family. We can't wait though I've got a lot to get done in the next few days!!

At the zoo social- my little tiger!!

The zoo splash pad- a happy boy!!



Monday, July 15, 2013

Journey: a summer week

He loves to look and listen to books at bedtime!
We have really been enjoying our summer so far!! The anticipation of our family beach trip and David's 2nd birthday party are great too! I've been trying to do some planning so we'll have everything we need for our trip to Florida. I'm so anxious to see David playing on the beach!! The birthday party plans are coming along as well. His actual birthday will be while we are in Florida and we'll celebrate there and with a party when we get back.
Last week we had a special visit from a long time friend. Amy and I met in 8th grade when I moved to Waco. Cari, Amy, and I went to school and church together and had many, many memorable and fun times together! They helped make my move to Waco a little more bearable :) So, Amy now lives in Georgia. Each summer her family makes the trek to Texas to see family. Lucky for us they took time out to make it to Waco for the day. We met at the Mayborn for the kids to play and then enjoyed play time at Cari's house. Amy has 2 boys, plus her nephew and mom came too. With Cari we had 5 active little boys and a precious little girl to enjoy. David enjoyed the museum again and enjoyed following the older boys around. I'm so glad Amy was able to make the trip south. It was so wonderful to see her and her family!
Enjoying the water park!
We've spent some time at the pool this week too. The temperature was over 100 several days so the water was a welcome refresher. Our a/c started leaking upstairs this weekend, yuck! We turned it off and moved David downstairs. Luckily my parents have a pack-n-play and he has been sleeping in the study. Hopefully someone will be coming today to get it fixed. We've been blessed with some wet and cooler weather the last two days which has been awesome. I never thought I'd be celebrating Waco weather in July!




 
Cari, Amy, and me~ friends for 20+ years!
cooking up something great at the museum
He likes to dress-up


"get on the bus"!

playing with the water

a drum session with Christopher

Building a masterpiece!

My Love!

Thanks to Andrew for making a BIG bubble!
5 terrific kids~1 great picture!

Monday, July 8, 2013

Journey: a visit to the farm

"Hello" Mama Pig!
One of my good friends lives out in the country. She loves country living and in the past couple of years has started raising pigs. She started with 2 and now has 4 adults plus new additions with 8 piglets. We took David out to meet the pigs on Saturday. He wasn't quite sure what to think at first. The piglets were running around looking so cute and mama pig was wanting to get out of the gated area.
There was one runt which has to be hand fed. After being fed David got to pet the little one and he seemed to like it. We let mama go to her 'spa' area (mud hole) and he thought that was fun. Mama pig rolled around and got all sorts of muddy which was funny to watch! We also saw the other 3 adult pigs who were resting in the shade. We enjoyed an awesome brunch and David entertained us with some dancing!
David has been using a lot of new words lately and has started to intentionally listen and try to sound out new words. By the time we left the farm he was saying "pig". We brought his stuffed pig with us which he enjoyed playing with on the trip home. We also got a good supply of fresh tomatoes which David absolutely loves. It was a fun day!!
Cute little piggy!

Mama in her 'spa'


Trying out some work boots!
He loves to dance and sing!

Friday, July 5, 2013

Journey: Family, Fun, Food and Fireworks!

It's past 9am now and our little one is still asleep! This is because we kept him up late last night so he could experience his first 4th of July fireworks show. Although the show had some technical difficulties and was cut short, we all still had a wonderful time!! I love watching David's face as he experiences new things. He would point to the firework and light up!! He also enjoyed hearing and seeing the crowd and their reaction. At one point a BU student had everyone do a "sic 'em bears" and David absolutely loved it!! After that he kept doing the arm motion and saying bear. I see a strong presence of green and gold in his future!!!
That was the end of our night and we had a full day at my parents annual cookout. The cookout tradition started back in North Carolina at my grandparents farm. Growing up my mom, sister and I would spend the month of July at my grandparents farm in NC. On the 4th my granddad would fire up the grill and we'd have a cookout with neighbors and family. It was always a highlight of our trip! My god parents would make the most delicious peach ice cream and we'd have all the traditional cookout foods-hamburgers, hot dogs, baked beans, hot dog chili (an NC tradition), chips, etc. I was very excited to introduce David to our family tradition!
Lucky for us Waco has had a bit of a cool down so it was under 100 for our picnic which was great! We had friends and neighbors join us and my parents Baylor student- Nana from China. It was her first July 4th celebration just like David! We enjoyed eating outside under the trees and enjoying each others company. David ate and ate and ate! He really, really like tomatoes and blueberries. He also enjoyed the bread served with humus. By the time actual lunch rolled around he wasn't too hungry since he had snacked all morning!!
Since he loves being outside the picnic was great for him. My parents have a little table and chairs just his size. He loved moving the chairs around and sitting in different places around the backyard. He explored with Hannah and enjoyed playing with the dogs as well.
David's first 4th of July as an American citizen was lots of fun. I look forward to sharing this holiday with him and building our family traditions. I am so thankful that my parents and sister are all in one place so we can spend great family time together!! I am also thankful to the many men and women who so bravely serve our country each and every day so that we can celebrate and Independence Day!! Happy 4th!!

The Gochis Family
They were missing Drew who is at FCA camp this week