The silent nursery drop off

I have been participating in a women's Bible study for a couple months now that meets on Wednesday mornings. It is a time where I just soak up things having to do with being a Godly mother and wife. It is keeping me grounded and focused as a mom and I am so grateful for it.

Of course I have to bring Judah Byrd along with me most of the time (if daddy's home they usually hang out) and it has taken a while for him to warm up to the idea of not being with his mommy. He has cried and cried and been super dramatic during our partings but of course once I was gone he had a fun time and was just fine.

The last time I went to bible study, not only did Judah NOT cry when I dropped him off...but he actually raised his arms up and reached for his teacher. I was super super happy. I want him to have lots of places where he feels safe and loved. I asked his teacher at the end of the morning if I could take a picture of them together since we finally reached such a huge milestone!

Doesn't she just look like a sweet teacher? Judah thinks so :)

Thankful!

I am thankful for many things...and after I am done celebrating and having a really good time with family and friends, I will spend more time here reflecting on some of those things more specifically...until then...I will leave you with a photo of the thing I am most thankful for...my joy...my son...my happy child...Judah Byrd...

A Thanksgiving blessing:

May your turkey be plump,

May your potatoes & Gravy have never a lump,

May your pies take the prize.

And may your Thanksgiving Dinner stay off your thighs.

Happy Thanksgiving to You and Yours!

Another Thanksgiving Pampers Gift To Grow Code!

This one is worth 10 GTG points! Check it out at the bottom of this blog post!

fondue fun

It had been WAY to long since Lance and I had gone out on a date...a dress up, leave the kid at home, have a nice conversation, kiss for no reason, night out on the town.

So we asked a friend to come over and watch Judah while we did just that!

The Melting Pot was our destination.

You know the rule of fondue...if you drop what you are cooking into the fondue

then you have to kiss the person you are with...I am pretty sure Lance was dropping his

food on purpose...I know I was :)

My handsome husband.

All dressed up with somewhere to go!

Fondue is an event more than a meal...we had a lot of fun cooking and tasting and mixing it up.

Of course we ended with chocolate cause it was the right thing to do!

I am a lucky woman! This man loves me and I love him. And that is as good as it gets.

Fairytales sneak peak

Check out what we did yesterday for fun :) I took some pics of my own but haven't gotten them off the camera yet...

Shutterfly Photo Cards

Remember a while back after I got home from vacation and I told you all about the amazing deal I got from Shutterfly? Well, we got the book and man oh man is it good. The quality is great and the memories are captured perfectly.

So now that I have an opportunity to get my christmas cards from Shutterfly I am really excited and confident they will be wonderful!

They have so many great options. I am actually amazed at how many cards there are to choose from. Here are a couple that stood out to me.

This one is darling...I love the blues and whites and that you can use 3 close up face pictures. It is also an actual card so you can write a message on the inside. I like that feature.

This is just a great card to feature an awesome family picture...no fuss no muss...I love its simplicity.

I love this one. SO sweet. I think I would stick to black and white pics if I used this card. It just looks so classic.


This one is also pretty classic...the red is so pretty and the green just pops. Again, I really like the B&W for the pictures. And this one is just a flat card, not a fold card.

One other thing that you can use Shutterfly for that I had not thought of before, is invitations. Are you planning a fun christmas party or gathering?



I mean, how pretty is that?! I'd want to go to that party :)

I am really excited to get started on my christmas cards...I must say with all the pictures we take, you would think I already had a family photo ready to go...but I don't...yikes...maybe by the time thanksgiving comes around I will have captured that fleeting moment...wish me luck!

PS:

Are you a blogger? Have you heard of the deal you can get from Shutterfly if you participate? 50 free christmas cards if you qualify and complete their requirements. Try it out! I am going for it (obviously).

I wanna hold your hand...

Judah does not like loud noises. He never has.

When I vacuum, the only way he won't cry is if I hold his hand. Which makes for really slow and awkward vacuuming. ha!

I found the boys in the backyard a couple weeks back like this:

I guess he also doesn't like the loud noise of a lawn mower.



... No one was harmed in the making of this photo :)

...and No one was scared in the making of this photo either :)

christmas time of year? kinda...

Judah is taking an early nap, I was finally able to take a shower and feel a little more human and less like a mommy only. I have hopes that he will be well again soon and life will go back to normal just in time to start celebrating the holidays!

I am sitting on fb watching all my MN people post photos and status updates with news of their first major snow fall...and I am listening to christmas music...cause all that snow makes me feel festive. And so far, nothing in TN has really had that effect on me. It doesn't even really feel like fall when it is in the mid 70's. ha! I am not complaining though cause it is lovely weather...it just doesn't feel holiday like.

Here are a couple pics I took just this week walking around down town...these birds do not look at all concerned that it might get cold any time soon.

So I will live vicariously through my fb friends and just close the blinds and turn on christmas music and make believe.

Maybe I'll even make some hot cocoa...mmm...sounds yum!

What's the weather like in your neck of the woods?

I know for a fact that there are people reading this blog from all over the country, and even around the world...so why not come out of the shadows today and leave a comment? it's a pretty safe topic, the weather :)

My sweet angel baby

I was fighting off a really bad headache after a really fun day, I was moments

from going to sleep...when I heard Judah making noises like he was choking or

coughing or something...I rushed into his nursery and thus began

one of the longest mommy nights I have experienced yet.

I won't bore you with the gory details because they were not pleasant...

but I will share a few photos of the sweetest little face I have ever seen.

I made the executive decision to bring him into bed with me.

Who knew a tiny little man could take up an entire King sized bed.

Before the night was over I had about 2 huge piles of laundry to wash,

we had taken a bath and had both changed our clothes several times.

But I didn't care, I just wanted him to feel better.

I put a plea out on my facebook page for other mommy's to give me advice...I was relieved to

find I was doing some things the way I should, and eternally grateful for the tips

to do other things I hadn't thought of.

It is nice to be a part of a community of moms who care for each other.

I am grateful for my online community of friends.

Eventually Mr. Sweet Face here was able to fall asleep for real, so I moved him back into his

crib for a few hours so that I could also get a little sleep...I have never been able to fully sleep

when he was right by me...and for both our good, I needed to get at

least a couple hours of sleep.

Unfortunately even after a few hours of good sleep and what seemed like a

great morning, we had a repeat episode of the not so fun getting sick

stuff again right after our bath to remove the craziness of the night. Go figure

.

So another load of laundry, more snuggles and lots of TLC is how the day ended.

I am SO thankful that we are still bfeeding...cause that is the only thing that little

man has kept down. And that is how I know he isn't dehydrating and will be okay.

So much peace of mind.

The silver lining of a sick angel baby is the extra snuggles. I cherish those moments.

Praying that tonight is much less eventful.

the keys to my heart

This child is a smart one.

We have been locking the back door so he doesn't get outside.

That may not be the best way to keep him in cause...

well...I'll let you see for yourself...

Amazing what you can do with an airplane riding toy and some determination...

and yes, he put the key in the lock on his own...I did not help him...

he hasn't figured out how to turn it yet though...

(and not to worry...if he ever does get out, he can only get as far as the back yard...)

This child amazes me daily.

I love him to bits, even if he keeps me on my toes!

He really does have the keys to my heart.

beware: lots of animal pictures in this post...dun dun dun..

So this is the instructor...he is instructing someone :) I was waiting my turn. We had just spent a little over an hour in a classroom learning about our cameras which was awesome.

This first exhibit we stopped at was low lighting behind glass. And the cats were pacing around which made it hard to get a good picture. The funny thing about "motion" photography is that you actually are trying to catch the animal in a moment of "tension" where they are about to move, or they just stopped moving...like a crouch or a pounce or a turn or something like that...

There were 14 of us in the class so it was a little tricky to get in a good spot to actually take photos. Some of the people were nice and would move so others could get a turn and others were pretty oblivious of anything but their own camera.

Here is another from behind the glass in low light. I really like how this one turned out.

The next exhibit we visited was behind a fence. You can see the fence behind the animal in this picture but notice that you can't see the fence I was shooting through...(well not obviously anyways) that was one of the lessons he taught.

Finding a spot where the fence is in the shade, extending your lens as far as it will go and lean as close to the fence as you can get (but never touching the fence as it can damage your camera). I never really got a great shot of any of these guys but I did get a few with out the fence. I would like to go back and practice this one more later.

Now this one you see the fence still but I liked it so here ya go :)

Next up was the tigers. I am sad to say that I did not have my camera set up the way I was supposed to, I could have gotten way better pictures if I had. But it was a lot to learn so quickly and I was worrying about one thing and forgot about another. ha. such is life.

This is a cool pic of the cat even though it's super super dark...

There were actually two Tigers but I was more interested in the white one...

But here is a pic of the other just to prove he was there :)

Now this picture was SO dark when I took it but I lightened it on my computer...ug...I wish I had had my camera set up right....this could have been so great...live and learn :)

Now this is one of my favorites from the day...I mean, look at those paws! dang!

This is my second favorite Tiger picture...what a beautiful animal...and powerful.

And now for a couple pictures of a gross little animal..lol..well, if you love slimy lizardy things you might like these...

These were taken indoors with window light coming from behind...and a flash light on the little buggers face to help with focus (or something like that...)

I just really do not like reptiles.

A few of my classmates giving it a go. I wonder if anyone got any great pics of this little guy.

And now for my favorite...this was outside and we were like 10 ft away. It was awesome. This is the largest species of owls, I think it's called a Eurasian Owl or something like that. Totally gorgeous and amazing.

She was on the handlers arm the whole time (minus a moment where she tried to take flight) so it was a little tricky to get a good angle for cropping later with space around the owl...

This is what most of my pics looked like at first...but I changed angles and was able to get less of the handler and more of just the owl.

You can still see her arm but loved the light in this one.

She looks like she is missing part of her beak or face or something in this one...lol

We were all going crazy taking her picture. I think her name is Arcamedes.

This is right after she tried to take flight and was settling back onto the handlers arm. It was really beautiful. I was amazed at the handlers patience.

PS. Did you know that every time a bird is about to take flight it crouches down, pulls its wings in and poops? yup. that is how you know a bird is about to take off...it lightens it's load so to speak...hmm...aren't you glad you read my blog?

Such a lovely bird.

More loveliness.

I love the owl in this one but not so much the background because of the big shadow...

Now this one on the other hand is perfection. I do believe I will print this one and keep it in view. I love it so much.

“A wise old owl sat on an oak; The more he saw the less he spoke; The less he spoke the more he heard; Why aren't we like that wise old bird?”

It is hard to put into words but this day just felt exciting. To be learning, to be growing, to be looking towards the future...it was a great feeling.