Archives for August 2015

Dear Mitchell, a very important note for you

Dear Littlest love of mine,

In all the chaos of you and your sister, it appears that I forgot to teach you something very important.  I’m so sorry!  Hopefully this note will make up for it.  Read it, take notes, and for the love of all things Mickey Mouse please try to follow each and every step…

 

How to sleep through the night:

1.) Take a bubble bath (I’ll do most of the heavy lifting with this step buddy, you just try to not pee on me).

2.) Slip into cozy jammies and an overnight diaper.

3.) Enjoy 7 ounces of your lukewarm & delicious nighttime bottle.

4.) Close those pretty blue eyes.

5.) Roll over & snuggle in.

6.) Dream of airplanes, baseballs, puffs, whatever floats your baby boat…

7.) Keep those eyes closed.

8.) Wake up when the sun comes up, and not a minute before then (please, pretty please).

That’s how you do it.

 

See you in the morning.

Love,

Your tired mama

xoxo

Vows 2.1

With this ring, I thee wed…

Seven years ago today at 4:55 pm, Denny and I said these words to each other.

We kissed to make it official, and then we threw an awesome party to celebrate (and it was awesome if I say so myself)!

We were so young!

There are few, if any, things I would change about these seven years as husband and wife.  I might take more opportunities to do something nice for Denny, and I might take less opportunities to take out my frustrations or tiredness on him.  Perhaps we could have found time for more date nights and maybe another vacation or two, but otherwise, it’s been a great ride!

But if I could go back to those vows… if I could take what I know now and go back to those words we stood up and said to each other in front of all the people we love so much, here’s what I would add to them.

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I, Erin, take you Denny, to be my husband…

I, Erin, also take you Denny, to be my fellow explorer when we toured Aruba on four wheelers on our honeymoon, my golf partner, my taste tester of new recipes (sorry honey!), my fellow house hunter, my co-swearer when the basement flooded on day 3 of home ownership, my painter, my grad school study buddy, my fellow flip cup teacher to the new neighborhood, my pizza orderer because you’re so much better at it than I am, my car buying companion, my personal masseuse while in labor, my co-diaper changer, my listener during hormonal meltdowns, my supporter when I just don’t know what the baby needs, my photographer when our daughter took her first steps, my voice of reason when we found out we were pregnant again, my rock when we had an unplanned c-section, my coffee getter when we were just so darn tired that only a cup of Timmy Ho’s will do, and my favorite co-tourist when we feel brave enough to take the kiddos out & about.

To have and to hold…

to listen and to respond, to screw up and to try harder next time, to challenge and to be challenged, to aggravate and to apologize, to pick up dinner and to share cleaning duties, to support and to appreciate…

from this day forward.

For better or for worse…

for wedding weight and for baby weight.

For richer, for poorer…

for times of savings and for times of broken water heaters, for cheap pasta dinners and for overly-expensive trips to the beach.

In sickness and in health…

in times of emergency appendectomy and in times of devastating miscarriage, in times of sunburn and in times of diaper rash.

To love and to cherish…

to make laugh and to barely tolerate, to share the remote and to share kids bed & bath duties, to share glances when we get a chance and to share nights out when we get a sitter, to enjoy our awesome kiddos, to learn, to grow, to try my absolute hardest every day to be better than the day before…

And I promise to be faithful to you until death parts us.

This part never changes.

This is my solemn vow.

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IMG_5955.JPGHappy Seven Years Denny McGee!  Looking forward to writing our next years together.

XOXO

Five Months, Six Months and Counting…

Mitchell Dennis, you are just growing so fast!

You are my littlest Love.  You are six months old already, and quickly approaching seven months old. Happy half Birthday to you sweet boy!!  Oh my, how fast time flies.  Didn’t we just bring you home from the hospital?

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Wasn’t this last week?

You are growing so fast and quickly turning into a little boy. In case you someday don’t remember this phase in your life, I’ll fill you in on it.  (And to be honest I never finished your five month blog post so let’s step back a bit.)

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::  Transitions  ::

From four to five months you so much changed.  You grew out of your swaddles and started sleeping in your crib every night.  You now love to snuggle up on your belly with your butt up in the air, but despite our best efforts to bribe you to sleep through the night, you just don’t want to do it.  Lots of coffee?  You bet!

Then from five months to six months even more changed.  You can now (almost) sit up, you can scoot, and just this week you started crawling.  Go little buddy, go!

::  Getting More and More Handsome  ::

I’ll let the pictures do the talking on this one.

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June 15, 2015 – 5 Months old!

 

Such an adorable little bum.

 

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My little stinker

 

July 15, 2015 – 6 months and a new haircut

 

Those chubby leggies!

::  Eating  ::

You are getting closer and closer to participating in family pizza night, but until then, you’re loving all your baby foods.  Sometimes your big sis even helps you eat.

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“Mitchell, here comes the big  choo choo!” -Big sis

::  Adventures  ::

Mitchell, your baby resume is chalked full of experiences.  By the time your sister was 6-months old we barely unpacked her from the hospital, but that’s not the case with you.  In the past few months we’ve done everything from road trips to helicopters rides (kiddie park style of course) and a hundred things in between.

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Getting baptized. Given his screams during almost the entire process, I’m going to chalk this up as an adventure. Denny and I were sweaty messes, but our wonderful Pastor Debi didn’t seem to mind one bit.

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Grocery shopping trips!  Next stop, baby food aisle.  Hold on tight little guy!

 

Helicopter rides at the kiddie park.

 

Ohio road trips to hang with his big cousins.

 

Barefoot rides on the swing.

 

Erie Museum visits to see his other cousins.  (Please disregard what looks like a baby toupee, even tots have bad hair days)

 

Mamaw snuggles in between exploring time at the museum.

 

And a very special meeting of your Great Grandparents. They loved you Mitchell!

A day trip to the new Outer Harbor playground where you showed off your daredevil skills!

::  Lots of giggles, snuggles and baby fun  ::

Mitchell, aside from your car seat (which you seem to despise), you are such a content baby!  You are a pretty laid back little guy, which is shocking considering your parents.  Maybe it’s the whole second kid effect?  Check out all these good times!

Little M and Littlest M sharing some after nap snuggles.

 

4th of July giggles. You are a blast buddy.

 

And some bath time giggles.

 

Blue-eyed stud!

::  Pirate party  ::

Littlest M,what six-month old wouldn’t feel complete with a visit to a pirate party?!   Thanks to your Nana, you got to hang out with the big kids while you enjoyed Jake & the Neverland Pirate fun.

Shiver me timbers!

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MitchMan, You daddy and I could not imagine our world without your big grins and constant attempts to keep up with Big Sis.  We have some fun surprises in store for your next six months and beyond.  Stay tuned!

xoxo

Mom