[ summer time firsts ]

I don't ever remember savoring every season in it's own unique glory as much as I have this past year. I think that growing and nurturing a baby for nine months and then accomplishing the most amazing miracle of birth leaves the world a little bit more charming than it was before this little life came into the picture. Forcing you to see and appreciate things in every season of life that you would have normally passed by and never noticed before. I adore fall, and spring, and sometimes winter. Sometimes. Well, I really only adore winter during the week of Christmas. I can't say I've ever really looked forward to summer. Until now. I'm not sure if it's because I have Banana Boat sunscreen for babies sitting on my kitchen counter which reminds me of all the summer-time firsts we will welcome with a new baby, or street corners ornamented with neon handwritten garage sale signs, or that we have tiki torches and a deck to enjoy them on, or maybe it's because summer brings pounds upon pounds of freshly picked, mouth watering, sour popping, Michigan cherries?! OR. Oh, I bet I know what it is... maybe it's because there is a gorgeous pool filled with carribbean blue water and all the lounge chairs you could ever need about, oh... 50 feet from our front door? Yep. That's what it is. (Plus every other summer perk listed above, of course.)


This was my view on the way home from hitting the garage sales yesterday with my two boys. This is the new face he's been making lately... he's discovering his cute little bottom lip! He just doesn't know how cute it is yet. :) 

Breck's and Daddy at our POOL for the first time! (See that door just to the right of Breck? Yeah... that's our front door! Can't get any closer to the pool than our condo! We LOVE it!)

Mmm... smells of summer... 

I LOVE this picture. When I look at it I see a Daddy whispering a sweet pep talk to his baby and building up his courage to lose fear and tackle and that big scary ocean of lapping water. Priceless. 

As you can see... Breck was not a big fan of his first dip. :) Daddy barely got Breck's foot in the water... and he made up his mind it was way too cold! 

Mmm... colors of summer...

Breck and Momma relaxing...

[ ain't nobody like mama ]

So, today makes five times since Saturday that my little guy has been in the strange arms of someone else and cried for his momma once he realized; Oh wait, my mommy is there. And I'm here? Oh no, no, no. I am not ok with this. Five different people. Five different melt downs. I think somebody is catching on. And here is that somebody:

[ limit: 6 please. ]

Really? Really. I have 30 garments of clothing to try on. And you're telling me that I can only take 6 in at a time? You have got to be kidding me. As of tonight... fitting room garment limits have been added to my lengthy list of annoying pet peeves. Seriously... what is the point? The majority of the time the fitting room associate doesn't even count the garments, they just hand you a pointless card with a number on it, which you hand back to them once you decide nothing fits, of course. How is that supposed to prevent shop lifting? Got me. You know what's even worse than the ridiculously low limits and pointless number cards? Walking out of a fitting room with a fat-roll-accentuating bathing suit shimmied over a ghostly-white, post-pregnancy, sun-deprived body. With each embarrassing step towards the husband, I tried to interpret the scowls on fellow customers faces as they watched me bashfully model the suit for him.  All I could come up with were these thoughts that seem to be seeping from their faces... "Looks like someone has been absent from tanning class." "She could afford to loose a few 70 pounds." "She really thinks that looks good?" But, if I was really honest with myself... I know they were just as frustrated as I was that there was a mile long line to wait for a fitting room (and the fact that you can only take 6 garments in at a time, by the way). Did I mention that I hate that? I have always hated it, but I actually recognized it tonight because after each batch of six, I would: get dressed, organize my clothes into "no way," "maybe," and "can't live with out this" piles, turn the card and unwanted clothes in, make my new six selections from the cart, get in the back of the mile long line to wait for a new fitting room, wait again to receive the "pointless number card," get undressed and start the whole process over again. Wonder what the technical name for those "pointless number cards" are anyway?  Hmm. All I know is... fitting room garment limits should be increased to at LEAST 50. No less. There. Just had to vent. I love you anyways, Target. :) 

[ a milestone you won't find in any baby book ]

It finally happened!!! No, my baby didn't sit up for the first time, or get his first tooth, or say his first word. My baby laid his head down! He laid it down! On my shoulder! Most mommies jump up and down when their baby holds their head up for the first time, but not this mommy! I've never known my little Breck Reid to not be able to hold his head up. :) I've never seen a baby with such a keen awareness of his environment. He always needs to know what is going on. It just breaks his little heart to miss a beat, and to do the forbidden: fall asleep. As you can see... day #2 in the hospital... he was holding his little head up to check out the crazy world around him!

And he's been holding it up ever since! He hardly ever, ever, EVER lays his head down on my chest. But, it happened. Tonight. I was rocking him before bed and he laid his precious little head down. I then heard some soft shallow breathing begin that gave him away to some serious sleep. Before long, his little arms that started out on the bare skin of my chest began slipping down ever so slowly ending lifeless at his sides. This occurrence is so rare that I texted Daddy, who was downstairs during this milestone, and told him to sneak up, slooooowly turn the lights up, and quick! Take a picture! And here we have it! I had to have a picture of it! 

 

Ps. OH! I can't get enough of this kid!

(16 weeks)

[ kisses and smiles are all we have for now... ]

I smile at the most beautiful miracle I have ever laid eyes on. My heart feels as though it could explode with all the love bubbling inside for him. My little miracle is bashfully smiling back at me with a wide mouth open, and eyebrows raised, as if to say, "I know Mommy! I can feel that you love me. And I love you so much too!"

That big smile from my tiny son stirred an epiphany in me. It made me realize that for a solid year (or more) we build a relationship with our children, but never have a single (two-way) conversation with them. Can you imagine? For a year, not speaking an audible word to your best friend or spouse?  The only form of communication being smiles, cries, coos, laughter, and physical touch? Until our children can use language to communicate the emotions their little bodies experience... all we have are smiles, laughter, and physical touch. (Cries too of course.) How important those three things are in order to make a child feel loved, secure, and safe. This is why Breck gets plenty of smiles, KISSES upon kisses, baths, and massages every single day. He needs to FEEL that he is loved, and I believe he knows and feels that he is loved when he looks at his mommy and daddy every day!

Ps. This little guy has my heart!

[ when the best daddy in the world... gets a day off! ]

 We had SO much fun having Daddy at home with us yesterday!

We played together...

    

We walked together... 

(Daddy wasn't ready for the picture, but Mommy thinks it's still cute!)

And we talked together... :)

[ it's only going to worse... with the rebel 'n me ]

Anyone who knows me - knows. They know that I am always, 99.9% of the time, reaching for my camera. Family can predict it coming and will laugh when they see it happening. I have been given a hard time about the fact that I take a picture of everything. It's true. They're right... I do. It goes against every bone in my body to sit back and watch a priceless moment go by without at least attempting to capture it. Once that moment is captured, time is paused, and the moment is saved. Saved to be savored and relived again. And again. And again. Then - if, in the saddest of circumstances, a moment passes before I get a decent representation of it in picture form... at least I know I tried! I can't help it. I guess I'm addicted to knowing that with just one photograph (even thought I tend to take 50, just incase I can get one that's a smidgen better) I will always be able to go back and revisit any memory in my mind. My obsessive picture taking only got worse when I birthed the most handsome little boy into this world. Within the first week of his life I took about 700 pictures of his precious body. And now, thanks to my amazing honey, the picture snapping is on it's way to getting a million times worse. He got me a new Canon Rebel T1i for my 25th birthday!!! I can't wait to learn the camera and all that it is capable of so that I will be able to produce the best picture possible. I'll get to that though. I'll get to that as soon as I finish making the bed, unpacking the house, vacuuming, emptying the dishwasher, doing four loads of laundry, folding four loads of laundry, carrying four loads of folded laundry up two flights of stairs, hanging all of our pictures on the walls, and feeding the cutest baby in the world four more times today. But just playing around with it since my birthday and watching a few minutes of a tutorial... has gotten me some pretty amazing pictures. Here are some fun pictures to browse through... thanks to my hubby and my T1i! :)

My wonderful mom-in-law had these beautiful Lilacs on my dining room table waiting for me when we returned home from Indiana... 

First picture I took with my Rebel...

Made with love. By: Mommy For: Her Breck  

Sweet feet...

Mommy is always taking pictures of this little dude...

Momma's cuddle magnet...

Can I just say... I LOVE our new home! 

Mom saw an opportunity for some tattooing with eyeliner on her little guy's guns...

Dyl at his soccer game... :) He's so grown up!

Mom and Aunt Donna trying to stay warm and giggling under there... it was FREEZING!

       

    

Somebody got into the mouse!

Breck with his Grandmas:

Gramma + Breckers!

Mamaw + Breckers!

I'm so glad I have some of my Grandma Lasley's recipes written in her hand writing! I attempted to make her famous Coconut cookies yesterday! And they turned out looking just like hers!

[ overcoming intimidation... ]

I've avoided blogging for the longest time because I'll be honest... it intimidates me! I'm currently being inspired by some amazing blogs I've been reading lately... I'm thinking I'll make a go of it and see how I like it. If they can do it, I can do it right!?

When I ask myself... Why am I creating this blog? I think back to myself, ...Because I want a place where I can document the precious moments in my life that are worth cherishing and reliving! I am viewing it as my "journal," my "scrapbook." Even if no one else on earth enjoys a second of reading my ramblings, I will be able to look back when I am 80 and re-read and re-visit, with pictures, the moments I never ever want to forget. No never.

So here it goes. :) I'm bashfully attempting my first post and staring at the "publish" button... in denial that I'm actually doing this.  

Ps. I really, really, REALLY LOVE these guys! Plenty of posts to come about them! :)