Lately

Lots of things going on since Easter...little Tripp is growing up so quickly. He is 10 months old now, I can't believe it.  Every day is so much more fun than the one before.  His personality has come out and he is so happy and laid back.  He has not started walking yet, but tries to take a step but eases himself back to the ground because he gets a little nervous. He does stand completely independently and can lean over and pick things up and stand back up again. He crawls and climbs all over the place, it's hard to keep up.  He says, mama, dada, nana.  He claps for more...and yay...and pretty much any time he gets excited for something. And if you cough and he watches you he will fake cough as well. We have introduced a few table foods to him.  He loves cucumber and any melon, he nibbled on a waffle the other day. He wasn't so sure about it though.  He would prefer his cheddar puffs over anything else.
I am now on my Summer break and have loved every minute of it!  He has been to the pool for his first time and had a ball! He loves the water and just likes to people watch.  Side note: Aunt Natty, who keeps Tripp during the school year, let us borrow this fantastic "game day type high chair".  I highly recommend it.  It is simply a fold out high chair and can get wet and is the fabric of a game day chair.  It has a little pouch you can zip it into when you are done and even holds the tray for easy carrying!!!  He sat it in and had some snacks and loved it as much as he did the water.  Here are some recent pics!

Getting lotioned up and ready to swim!

Daddy and Tripp

Mommy and Tripp

Excited clapping!

Swimming in the baby pool with Natty and Katie

Look at that sweet face

Aidyn and Tripp in his game day high chair!

Easter

We celebrated our first Easter as a family of three on Sunday. We started out the day with Tripp seeing his Easter basket and getting little gifts, which he was interested in for about 15 minutes. Then it was on to something else. He is into EVERYTHING, especially things that require him to climb and pull up. Then we all got ready and met my family at church. We put Tripp in the nursery and he cried most of the time. He has been very attached to RJ and I lately. Side note: At night when he is sleeping....or not sleeping...he stands up with his little head sticking out of the rails and cries "mamamama!!!"! I can't help myself, I go in there and love on him and he goes back to sleep...ok, maybe I just go get him and bring him to bed with me. Who cares, I'm embracing the moment. :) After church we went to my parents house for lunch, and watched the Masters. Tripp was worn out so he slept for a good chunk of the afternoon. We went home last night and just spent time together as a family. Such a great first Easter!

Spring Break and Baptism

I love Spring Break! I have been soaking in all the time that I have been able to spend with Tripp. Can't believe he is 8 months old!!! Mom and I went shopping today for Spring clothes...18 and 24 month clothes. My little giant! He has hit a few milestones this week...he waves back at you when you wave at him, and he comes in to give you a kiss! It is so sweet! It's more like a lick, but I'll take it! One other milestone that's a pretty big one is...he is about to start crawling, he gets on all fours and rocks back and forth. He has been doing this for a while, and can eventually "scoot" to what he wants. The leg and arm movement that is needed is about to come together...and then we will be chasing him everywhere! Also, he is able to sit and watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and be totally occupied. This gives me a huge break. He loves it!! "Oh Toooodles" sticks in my head all day long, but it keeps him entertained. We have been having nothing but fun while we have been on the break. Although, this pollen has really aggravated his allergies. We spent one morning at the doctor making sure that he did not have an ear infection. He is all clear, but his snotty nose is causing some sleepless nights, poor guy!

We had his baptism on Sunday! He looked liked an angel. His gown was worn by my grandfather, my father, my sister, brother and me! It was so nice to have everyone together on this special day. He is one loved little boy, that's for sure.

Here is Tripp and his girlfriend Anne Barron. They played in the church library...the sermon did not interest them. :)

Back to School and Almost 8 Months Old

Just looking at the pictures from the last post, it shows I have not blogged in a long time. He has changed so much!! Since the last post we have had so much going on. I am back to school, and busy busy busy. I barely have time to just sit and catch my breath, let alone update my blog. BUT this is something that I promised myself I'd do to keep track of our life with Tripp. I have been reading everyone else's and thinking "tomorrow I'll update mine", well, many "tomorrow's" later. Im back! And in a nutshell...

1. We had an incredible Christmas and New Year's, very uneventful and so relaxing! We visited with both sides of the family. Tripp got many gifts over the holidays, but his favorite part was eating and making crunching noises with all the bows and wrapping paper.

2. We had his 6 month check up and he is growing right on track, getting so big! He started sitting up independently around the beginning of January and can do it COMPLETELY by himself now. We actually lowered his crib last weekend to keep him from pulling up and over.

3. School is good, very different from when I was "Tripp-less". It was hard leaving him for the first time with "Aunt Natty" his sitter. She is WONDERFUL, but the first week was hard. Dropping him off the first 2 days that I had school were sad. But the Friday after we started was the worst, I think I was probably exhausted and reality was setting in that I really wasnt going to get to spend every waking minute with him anymore....and thats when I lost it. Since then it has gotten much better, and although I think about him all day, I have no worries at all and I know he is in loving hands. I am so thankful to have her though. AND I'm so thankful to have Miss Whitney who keeps Tripp on Wednesdays! I know they probably get tired of hearing from me, texting them at all hours asking them for pictures, but I am so glad to have them.

4. Tripp is starting to say more consonant sounds and laugh and smile so much more. He says "mama" and "dada", but Im not sure he understands the connection to us. He sings/talks every day on the way to school. He is eating fruits and veggie baby foods, and formula, and would rather eat veggies every meal. His favorite is actually the mac and cheese. Imagine that...I dont know who he gets that from. :) If his daddy were on death row, I think he may order that for his last meal. He is so strong, and the doctor said that he may just walk, and skip crawling all together. Then we'll be REALLY exhausted chasing him around the house. He recognizes people that he sees frequently and smiles and reaches for them.

5. He has had two ear infections, which were not fun. But, worse than that was when he got his two bottom teeth. Sheesh, those were a pain in the neck. We lost a little sleep the nights those were coming in. Bless his heart! Those are the only teeth so far though.

6. Tripp is getting baptized next weekend at our church. We recently joined at Asbury Methodist and we are so excited! He will be wearing the same gown that my sister, my brother, and I wore at our baptisms. We tried it on him today and he looked like an angel, absolutely beautiful. It is so special that he is getting to wear what we all wore on this important day. I'll definitely put up pictures of that!

I think that's all for now, I promise I will be more diligent about getting news and pictures up from now on!

Here's a video of our little climber

Happenings Lately

Well on Monday, Tripp will be 18 weeks (almost 5 months) old. I don't know where the time has gone. We have had our first Halloween, and Thanksgiving, and before we know it... Christmas will have passed and I'll be back at school. I try not to think about it much, so that I can enjoy my last month with him. I have anxiety about returning to school, but I am looking forward to getting back to my classroom. Believe it or not, I really am. Of course, the hardest part is going to be being away from my precious angel baby all day long. I get a knot in my stomach when I think about it. It helps that he's going to my friend Natalie's house, who I know will not mind me wanting pictures texted to me once an hour, HA! Everyone said he would grow up fast, and he truly has.

There are a few milestones that the little guy has been hitting lately. One, is that his hands are in his mouth constantly, and if not his hands, whatever he can get his hands on go directly to his mouth. He also likes to gnaw on mommy or daddy or anyone else's hand/fingers. He has started to reach and grab at things, and if he can get whatever it is....again, straight into his mouth. For example...

I have had to go and buy more bibs because he slobbers all the time and it's easier to change out the bib and not the soaking wet outfit. He laughs all the time and loves to hear himself make noise. By far, his favorite time of the day is bath time. And last, but definitely not least, he rolled over from his stomach to back today. I caught it on video! I'm thinking that he has probably been able to do it for a while, we just hadn't had any tummy time lately. We put him on a mat on the floor and he did it about 5 times! It seemed so easy for him, and he seemed to enjoy it. However, I'm thinking that going from his back to his tummy may be a bit more difficult.

We got him an exersaucer for Christmas and already let him have it. He loves it! So many things to look at, and it wears him out. All that bouncing around! He lasts a while in it, I was surprised by that. Such a big boy!

This is a picture of the exersaucer that he has at my parents house! Thanks Nana B and Grandaddy!

Happy Halloween "Trippy"

Tripp's first Halloween was spent at our dear friend's Jeff, Hillary and Greer Wilkerson's house. This past weekend we went to a birthday party and Tripp was a football, it was precious. But this time we bundled him up in the ole elephant outfit, yes, we are THOSE fans. HA! We spent our time riding through the neighborhood, taking pictures, eating delicious taco soup, and passing out candy. It was a great first Halloween. Look at how stinking cute Big Al and Snow White are: Greer and Tripp were buddies that night, she takes such good care of him. She decided his nickname should be "Trippy" and called him that most of the night. He did GREAT! He stayed awake the entire time and did not go to sleep until we got home.
And, of course, we could not leave Sabie out this Halloween. She was such a good sport, and made us laugh a lot. She hated that hat, but kept it on for pictures. My mom got her this jailbird outfit, it seemed so appropriate. Thanks Nana B!We went to Katie Meyer's dress up bday party on Saturday, and Tripp went as a football. I got creative with this one. The hat and leggings were a gift from the Wilkerson's and the Nike's are from Susannah and Mitch, so I just combined them all and he turned out to be a pretty cute little football.

Lastly, here is my little, although, bigger brother. He has been Spiderman for the past at least 5 years, maybe more. He came over so that I could do his makeup. He looked just like Spiderman and was so proud. He won first place at the party that he went to with his buddies. Sweet Uncle Allen!

Busy, Busy, Busy

We have had a busy past few weeks! We have had a wedding in Kentucky, new schedules, and an Alabama football game. I'll start with the wedding...

R.J., my mother, Tripp, and I all headed up to Lexington, KY (that would be about a 7 hour drive) for our dear friends, Matthew and Sarah's wedding. Tripp was a trooper, and so was my mom! The events started on a Thursday night and continued through the wedding on Saturday night. My mom came with us to act as our babysitter in the hotel room and stroll around the beautiful city of Lexington so that R.J. (who was a groomsman) and I could go to all the festivities-rehearsal dinner Thursday night, horse races at Keeneland all day Friday, cocktail party Friday night, wedding Saturday and reception Saturday night. We were able to do everything without worrying about Tripp AT ALL! He was in great hands....however, we were all in the same hotel room and Tripp grunted all through the night keeping us up all hours. He is used to sleeping in his crib in his own room at home, and was restless. And, since he is in his own room at home, we don't hear the grunts, only the cries. So, it was a LONG weekend but worth the trip to see Matty and Sarah, who looked absolutely gorgeous on her big day. I couldn't tell her enough! We actually made the decision to take Tripp to the reception Saturday night...it was a little too much for him. The lights, the noise, the people....he was way overwhelmed and cried crocodile tears with his little lip out, which was a new emotion for us since he is a normally happy baby, with hungry, and sleepy cries. These tears broke mommy's heart. Everyone was so glad to see him and get to meet him though, and we were happy to show him off! My mom and I headed out a little early and R.J. came back to the hotel a little later. What a FUN and exhausting weekend! Here is Tripp all dressed up for the wedding reception:

After the wedding weekend in Kentucky, I decided that Tripp needed to be on more of a schedule. So, we have tried it...AND IT WORKS FANTASTICALLY!! Especially for me since I'm kind of a planner :). It has turned into something like this: Starting at 7 am he eats every 2 and a half to 3 hours, takes a couple cat naps in the morning, and then a LONG 3 hour nap starting between 12 and 1. Then he goes to bed around 9 pm, gets up at 3 to eat and then sleeps until 6:30 or 7. I am loving it. I should have started it a long time ago.

A couple side notes about things that he has been doing lately:

He loves to hug something like a blanket as he drifts off to sleep, he has finally started accepting a new paci...he has only taken the ONE that the hospital gave us (I don't plan on getting rid of the paci any time soon, he LOVES it), he would much rather sit or stand than lay down, he must be swaddled in order to sleep for long periods of time, his hands are constantly in his mouth, he'd rather sleep on his tummy, he watches our dog and thinks she is funny, he has discovered he he has a high pitched squeal and loves to hear himself, he's most peaceful sitting with daddy watching football on tv, I'm sure there is more but those are a few things that I'm thinking of right now...

Lastly, R.J. and I went to the Alabama v Tennessee football game in Tuscaloosa and left Tripp and Sabie with my parents. I was so nervous about leaving him for so long because I miss him when I'm away from him for a couple of hours and this was going to be all day and night. Well, we left at 10 am and by 2:00 I was ready to have him back. We didn't get back to Birmingham until 1:30 am and Tripp and Sabie ended up spending the night with my parents, so I didn't get to see him until the next morning. That's enough for me for a while, and that is definitely the LAST night game for me for a while, SHEESH, the traffic is ridiculous and I was wiped out for the rest of the weekend....I'm getting old.

Here are a couple of recent pictures! Enjoy!