Shoutout to Tiffy!!!

So one of my closest and dearest friends does AMAZING work with scrapbooking and cardmaking and I wish I were as talented as her!!! She is soooo sweet to be doing a Blog candy giveaway to show appreciation to her followers! How great is that!!! Anyways, here is a video of what she's giving away, AND you should all go check out her work at her blog stampingattiffanys.blogspot.com and show her some love for all her amazing work :)

Stampin Sisters in Christ Challenge #8

I just joined this blog - http://stampinsistersinchrist.blogspot.com/ and I think it is so cool! Their latest challenge was to make a baby card after the verse Jer 1:5 - "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you"

This happens to be one of my favorite verses, as it's just another reminder of God's greatness and that He truly cares about each of us INDIVIDUALLY and wants a relationship with each and every one of us personally!!

Here is my card, tfl!!

First Steps

About 3 days before Frankie's first birthday he began to REALLY walk... thought I would share a little video of it with you all! Of course now a couple weeks later he is already running! My my how fast they grow....

A year come and gone....

It seems so unreal to me that in just a few days my baby boy will be a year old. It has been a year full of discoveries, tons of laughter, equal amounts of tears (on both our parts!!) and many many lessons learned. As my son is learning to take his first steps (yup he is almost there!!! Walking more and more every day!) I wonder if he knows how much trust he has to have to do so. Trust in himself that is, no longer relying on Mommy or Daddy to hold him up, and help him to keep his balance. A part of me wants to keep him little and totally dependent on Andre and myself, and the other wants him to just walk already so I don't have to carry him! I wonder if this is how I will feel with all of his growing independence? Will I fight between wanting to be what he needs, and just letting go?

My son is going to have his first birthday... so many firsts. First smile, first giggle, first tooth, first time rolling over, first ouchie, first fall, first time crawling, first steps... and there are so many more to come. With each "first" that he learns, I learn so many things as well. I think that is my favorite part of being a mom, watching him learn, and me getting to learn right alongside.

Laugh it away

It's been so long! Wow, I guess I got distracted from my blog updates!! A lot has been happening, Andre is a real estate agent now, and I am doing marketing for a vintage couture clothing line along with being a distributor for Ardyss International - God has blessed us both TREMENDOUSLY with these positions :)

Frankie, my sweet boy, is getting so so big! He is crawling all over the place, pulling himself up on absolutely everything and eating like a two year old! I think he is ready to be a big brother in late November, and I know he will be the best big brother EVER! His first word was "Mama", followed by "baba" then "Dada" and now he is making all kinds of baby babble.

Perhaps my favorite thing he does these days, and by far one of the cutest things ever, is he will "fake laugh" to get me to laugh, resulting in us both laughing our heads off. Who knew a 9 month old could fake laugh! He learns new things every day and is just so smart.

Can you tell I am a proud Mama?

Next time your day is not going so hot, laugh it away :) My son taught me that at the ripe ols age of 9 months old.

Frankie's First Trip

I hope you all had a WONDERFUL Easter! I know we sure did, Frankie and I traveled to St. George UT with Nana Becky for a relaxing couple of days with Andre's side of the family. We arrived on Thursday and really just hung out at the hotel. We got to meet Andre's cousins that are like siblings to him and play with their adorable children. We spent one afternoon lounging in the park while the kids blew bubbles for hours. Later that afternoon I took Frankie swimming for the first time, he is definitely my child as he loved the water! Saturday I took Frankie to the Clark County Fair where he was enamored by all the things to look at, especially when the sun set and all the carnival lights came on. At the carnival I won him a stuffed bright green puppy that he had fun chewing on. It was a wonderful weekend, but we were so happy to come home and spend Easter Sunday with Andre. :) 

Oh How They Grow

When you become a parent everyone, and I mean EVERYONE tells you, "Enjoy this while you can, because they grow up so fast." And it is true, in the matter of 6 months you see your child change from sleeping almost 24 hours a day and really just laying there to being able to lift their head, laugh, sit up by themselves and many many other feats. I have noticed (as have my friends and family) that for the littlest things that Frankie conquers, things that we as adults take for granted every day I get overly excited. I log it on the calendar and make sure to take pictures so that every tiny little thing he learns is documented not to be forgotten. The question I ask myself today, as he gets older, say when he is an unruly teenager, will I still get excited over the little things he learns? Or will I just consider it common feat and discard it like the ads that come in the mail? Today I challenge all parents, to take a second look at all the little things your children, no matter what age they are, accomplish and get excited that they are still constantly growing and learning new things. Don't let these accomplishments fall by the wayside. I know I am going to try to remember this as my children grow. 

The pictures above are some of Frankie's accomplishments so far: Sitting up, finding his toes, holding his head up on his own and his first big smile.