busy bee

boy have we had a busy week and have an even busier one ahead...

Here is a rundown of what is going on in our household:

Last week Ben officially got a job - Praise the Lord! Then, on Sunday, we had Jackson's baby dedication and a "good luck ben/happy memorial day" send off party at Regina's. Tomorrow, I have to take our cat to get declawed because I don't want her scratching up my new couch (I'll post about our newest member of the family, Lance the leather couch later) and right now we are packing because the movers are coming on Friday. Here's hoping I can get everything done in a timely manner - prayers are needed and appreciated!

Good thing we have an easy going kid, none of this seems to phase him. Here are a few pictures from the fun time he had swimming in Regina's pool:

- Bethany

Never more, never more...

Our lives will never be the same - we now have a son who follows us wherever we go.

Up until two days ago, I could put Jackson in the floor with a bunch of his toys and leave the room to grab something and come right back without it ever being an issue. He has been crawling for some time now but was always distracted by his toys long enough for me to get something to drink or grab a new outfit for him, etc without him ever noticing I was gone. Not anymore.

Two days ago I set Jackson down in the middle of the living room, about 10 feet from the doorway and at least 15 feet from the room I was going to. I got into the bathroom and heard him blowing bubbles, babbling and yelling his usual "heh" - only I noticed it getting louder and closer. Next thing I know, not THIRTY SECONDS after I first set him down, there he was in the doorway of the bathroom. He just looked up at me and laughed. Needless to say, any time I leave the room now, he follows me. That rat - now I've got to go get a baby gate!

I think it's time for a hair cut...

Jackson's 'bang' as we refer to it is now down to his nose when wet - I'm pretty sure that means it's time for a hair cut.

Only...I don't really wanna cut his hair :( I mean, I'm going to cut his hair (no to the Samson look) I just don't want it to be this soon! Oh well - here is a picture of his awesome coif in the tub:

Mother's Day 2008

We celebrated Mother's Day last year when I was pregnant but it really isn't the same until you have your sweet baby right along with you. I love being a mom and Jackson and I had the best day together...here's to many, many more great days with my sweet little boy :)

And the winner is...

Our Pediatrician pointed out that Jackson is cutting four teeth at his appointment on Monday and today the bottom right finally broke through. We had lots of screaming and snuggling with Mommy today but at last...we have a tooth!

Edited to add: (Here is a picture of his three teeth as of May 18th)

Lucky Number 7

So, our big boy is 7 months old. Usually I talk about how much weight Jackson is gaining but thank goodness the weight gain has started slowing down. We went in for Jackson's check up today and instead of being in the 90th percentile for weight we were down to the 75th :) He is, however, a very long baby and was just over the 90th percentile for height. I'm guessing he's going to be tall just like his dad - maybe even taller.

We got another healthy report from the doctor today and found out we're even a little further along than average in development so we couldnt be more happy - I just want him to be on track and if he's doing anything else then that's a blessing from God. Here's hoping our sweet boy stays this healthy - I freak out over a red spot on his arm, I dont even want to know what it will be like the first time he gets sick : ( He also pointed out that Jackson is cutting 4 teeth all at once right now so that explains the super fun time we've been having with teething these past few weeks. He then told us we need to start letting Jackson fall asleep on his own (I may have been putting him to bed this whole time, hard to say...) and I thought it was going to be a nightmare. Instead, he rolled around a few times and fell asleep - that kid never ceases to amaze me.

We had to drive to Little Rock today to get Jackson a new sippy cup since they dont sell any that are bpa free here in Conway. Luck was on our side because baby depot had one left and in green...what would I have done if it was pink? The bad news was I had to go to baby depot in Little Rock - ugh that store gives me the creeps...clean up on aisle 5.

Last night Ben and I watched an awesome Louie Giglio dvd called "How Great is our God". If you haven't seen it before I urge you to get a copy. It was truly mindblowing and I don't think my relationship with God will ever be the same again.

Ben and I have some really big opportunities coming up in our lives and I'll be sure to post an update as soon as I have one...so until then hope everyone is doing well and enjoy these last few weeks before it becomes so hot you'll wish it was January again... Oh and Happy Cinco de Mayo - although the day would have been perfect if I had spent it on a beach in Mexico, it was pretty close anyway... My child is healthy, one of my best friends finally moved back and the possibilities that are on the horizon make my head spin - there's no doubt, God is so good.

Ten Years of Loyal Service

Well, I know this might sound like a weird topic for a blog, but hey, I think that a relationship that has endured this long needs recognizing. What is this relationship, you're wondering? A friend? A business? A job? NO. A Car. Not just a car- the first car I ever purchased. My Honda.



I bought it on April 30th, 1998, and that first year I washed it every two weeks. I babied that car like no car has ever been babied. Early oil changes, regularly scheduled tune ups, tire rotation, the works. Since I had no girlfriend, the Honda got all of my attention. Looking back, it's hard to imagine giving that much attention to a car, but I didn't have a lot going on then. Eventually, the new wears off of everything though, and so it did with my car. After a few years, the washes became less frequent, the paint had a few scratches and it became more of 'just a car'.


Now, 191,220 miles later, it sits in the driveway with a dead battery, itching to go driving again. I've thought many times about selling it, but it's just so hard to part with a member of the family. To call it a great car seems somehow unfair. It's almost like the car is invincible. It just never breaks down (the dead battery was my fault). It's cost precious little to maintain, and most of the parts I've replaced were just because I thought they might break eventually. Yep, the Honda's been good to me.


Here is the first picture of the car:I know, I know, what's up with those socks??

Here is a picture from today:

From Honda's Birthday

Last week I decided that the Honda needed an anniversary cleaning, so I gave it a good scrubbing. While I was washing it, so many fond memories came to mind from the last ten years and almost 200,000 miles. My first drive, moving back home after leaving the Air Force, moving away for college, my first date with Bethany, driving off from our wedding with cans dragging behind us, and many, many more. On that warm spring evening in 1998, I never imagined how great my life would be in ten years. Never. In my wildest dreams, I never imagined being this happy with my life. I have a beautiful, amazing wife who loves and supports me come what may, a perfectly healthy son who melts my heart every day when I get home from work, the promise of a great job on the horizon, and peace in my heart every night when I lie down to sleep. Maybe it took me ten years to find it, but God has been faithful to shepherd me through all of my wrong turns and misdirection. And He carried me through it all in a little white Honda Civic that has never let me down.

God is good.

- Ben

My big 7 month old boy

I never knew I'd love a little boy as much as I love Jackson...to say that he is our world is a complete understatement. He's growing so big and is personality is growing even bigger! Good news is that he's still Mama's boy :)

And here's the photo from our newest tradition...taking a pic of him sleeping at the end of his big "month" birthdays:

the grocery game

ok - so I don't' know if any of you have seen or heard about "The Grocery Game" but we had a bit on our news about it and I decided to check it out...let me tell you EVERYONE SHOULD PLAY THE GROCERY GAME!I went to Kroger this past Tuesday and my original total was $108.00 but after following Teri's list, clipping a few coupons and finding some other coupons online I only paid $35. Seriously - I was amazed. I got some really great stuff too:4 boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios (the name brand kind for $1.13 each), 5 Weight Watchers smart ones, 2 Air wick thingies (normally 10 bucks I got them for .99c), a roast, two packs of chicken, 2 things of toilet paper, 2 things of hand soap, waters, bran cereal, 2 packages of tea, 2 oscar meyer deli creations, a bertolli frozen pasta bag (normally $8 got it for $2) and a bunch of other stuff I can't really remember. The theory is to stock up on things when they are at rock bottom prices so that you have it in your cabinet when you need it and you aren't forced to buy it at full price when you run out. She also says that warehouse stores (walmart) aren't really the cheapest places to shop because they don't run sales like the grocery stores do and they don't do double coupons like kroger. The double coupons are great - for example tea was on sale for $1.50 each but I had a 60 cent coupon that was automatically doubled (kroger doubles all coupons up to 60 cents) so I paid 30 cents for the tea - you'd never find that kind of deal at Wal-mart! Plus, I hate shopping at Wal-mart...Anyway, if you go to the site (www.thegrocerygame.com) you can pay just $1 for a 4 week trial and then after that you have to pay $10 every 8 weeks (or 15 if you choose two stores)...which sounds like a lot but if you save $75 dollars a week and spend $1.25 a week on her list you are still saving $73.75...sounds like it's worth it to me.Also, you do have to start getting the Sunday paper because you need the coupons they have in there. So, if you buy it out of the stand that's 1.25 plus the 1.25 for her list - $2.50 for hundreds of savings potentially. I just started so I dont have the amount of coupons I will in a few weeks and some of the stuff on the list I just don't buy. If there was stuff I really wanted but didnt have the coupon, I just looked it up online and found most of them to print off. My two lists I used for the trial are Kroger and Walgreens. You'd be really surprised at how cheap stuff at Walgreens can be - I always thought it was an expensive store.Anyway, enough rambling on about it - I've been very impressed and I hope ya'll give it a try. Happy Shopping :)Oh and yes, this is Bethany - it's not a phishing ad, lol.

blog from myspace I forgot to post on here

To say that life has been crazy the past 7 months is an extreme understatement... we have faced things that I never dreamed we would for a time much longer than I ever imagined possible. Through it all though - God is still SO GOOD. We have come to realize how blessed we are and how great our friends, family and church family are - all to God's glory.
We have an amazing group of friends and family. My parents have been overly amazing in helping us through our difficult time as has Ben's...where would we be without their love to fall back on? When things are difficult you have no idea how much it means to just get an email saying "we're praying for you" much less a great meal and uplifting conversation that so many have provided over the past few months. To those of you who have been there for us, and you undoubtedly know who you are, thank you and may God bless you for the way you have blessed our lives. God has an amazing way of using difficulties and trials to show us how much others love and care for you and I now have a greater love and appreciation for so many loved ones - I know it has all been worth it to come to these realizations.
I haven't updated on Jackson in a while so here goes: We don't have his "6 month" check up until May 5 (Cinco de Mayo -woohoo) but we did take him in for a weight check when he turned 6 months and he weighed a little over 19 lbs. He is growing so fast and I can't believe how much fun he is every day. We now officially have a crawler. You put him down and he'll play sitting up for a little bit and then he gets over on his tummy and off he goes... so there's never a dull moment in our house. He's trying to pull up on our laps and the window sill, he just doesnt have the strength to do it all the way yet. So, we'll see how long it takes before he hits his head trying to get up on stuff. He just started waving and his new favorite thing to do is roll the ball back and forth.

There have been a few times in the last week where he's turned to Ben and said "da-eee" and Ben swears he's saying daddy - who knows but we'll let him have it :) Jackson has decided that he's the funniest person he knows because he'll be sitting in the floor and just start cracking up for no apparent reason - probably some inside joke he has about me and ben ;) He's obsessed with being outside and I'm serious when I say obsessed. He'll crawl up to us and I'll pick him up in my lap and he starts jumping up and down and lunging toward the doorway and won't stop until you get up and then as we walk toward the back door he reaches out for it and nearly jumps out of your arms - thank goodness it's almost summer!
Jackson got a new high chair from his Nonni and it could not have come a moment too soon - he was getting stuck in his bumbo. Because of an incident that I will not go into detail over, we got a 25 dollar gift certificate toward any fisher price purchase and so on my "Mom morning out" today I got Jackson some new blocks that he loves. I've become quite the coupon queen lately and I"m nearly obsessed with seeing how good of a deal I can get, lol. Like today at Target I also had a $5 off any toy purchase and the 25 gift certificate so I got him the blocks and some bath toys for .99 cents. It was awesome. I also got some Dove shampoo and conditioner for .50 cents. It made my whole day. So, if you have any awesome coupon sites or deals you know of - hit me up. It's my newest job title: Coupon clipper extraordinaire :)