It ain't over till it's over...the Sears portrait saga continues...

So we went to pick up our pictures Wednesday as scheduled and surprise! They weren't in. We waited around for the lady (who acted like she didn't even remember us..weird) looked high and low and came up with nothing. She said she'd mail them and Matt asked for a discount. She said she'd have her boss call him but she ended up calling back herself and telling us to come get the pictures because they had just come in. So Matt called her back and she said she'd give us half off but we had to come in and pick them up. Today I went to get him and surprise! She said that she couldn't give partial discounts so we'd get a full refund! Very nice ending to a not-so-nice experience, especially since the pictures really aren't that great. Glad to have this behind us and will not be dealing with that stuff again unless we have another baby!

Victory over the thumb?

Maybe...Maybe Not! We have a new plan for weaning Gray from the thumb. Actually it's the same old plan, but we gave it up for awhile and it's now been resurrected with the hope that it will be like potty training was with Gray...miserable failure the first time, easy success the second time. The plan is to wrap his thumb and part of his hand in duct tape (looks kind of like when athletes tape their hands:)) at nap and nighttime and if he keeps it on, he gets a sticker on his calendar. 5 stickers = small prize and 30 days of stickers = no more tape and big prize. I am willingly, whole-heartedly using bribery to get rid of this habit! I guess some would call it rewarding, but it feels like bribing. Anyway, at this point I am fine with whatever works and for the last 3 days, this has worked. 6 of the last 7 sleeping opportunities he has gotten a sticker! He was DEVASTATED the one day that he pulled his tape off and sucked his thumb for the last 10 minutes of his nap (I know because I had checked on him right before he got up and the tape was there) and didn't get a sticker. So I *think* he's really feeling it this time and we may have ourselves a "former thumbsucker" by the end of next month. There is hope!!

Julia at 7 months~

Our little girl is growing up, as babies do! She will be 7 months old this week. This has been a pretty eventful last month for her. I've told you about a lot of the things she has learned to do--wave, clap, sign "more", kiss, reach for people, babble, and squeal. She went from calm, laid back baby at the beginning of the month to loud, squirmy, into everything baby mid-month, and now at the end of the month, she is still pretty expressive, but more pleasant and definitely a go-getter! She loves dogs, books, being held, rattly/squeaky toys, sitting up, food, and her night-nights. And she is still up 1 to 3 times a night to nurse. She LOVES her mommy's milk and no signs of slowing down there. But if I feel anything like I did with the boys when they approached a year old, we only have 5 months to go before I am ready to cut her off and can sleep again. I do hate to count down though because I love this age with Julia and it will be gone in an instant!

Happiness in Huntington

Okay, the title is a little cheesy, but I'm feeling a little bit out of it tonight so prepare for me to not make sense! We got back a few hours ago from our trip to see Sawyer's baptism. Mama and Daddy came Wednesday night and spent the night and drove me and Julia up to WV on Thursday. (Thanks, parents! Would have been a tough trip alone!!) We had such a good time and Julia did AMAZINGLY well in the car. I don't have any pictures b/c Matt needed the camera, so I'm relying on Jeannie to shoot me a few of the best at some point for the scrapbook. Some of the highlights include:

-long stroller rides!..oh how I miss those days! Julia doesn't ever get that experience and it was really nice to be able to do that.

-Fun games! There's not much I enjoy more than a game night, just laughing and talking and playing. Settlers of Catan was one we played and it was a LONG one...like hours long. Our nights at home these days consist of preparing for the next day and maybe a little tv, so I really enjoyed doing something different.

-Cousin time! The babies were so cute together and we just spent time taking care of them and playing with them. I missed the boys a lot, but it was nice to be able to just focus on Julia!

-Road trip! We made a little trip over through Ohio to Kentucky (not very far actually) for a nice lunch. I forgot what it's like to go out to eat in a group where the kids don't outnumber the adults. Much less stressful!

-Huntington people! We went to Hunter's parents' house for lunch one day and got to meet (or maybe re-meet because a lot of these people I apparently met at Jeannie's wedding, but I don't remember) some of the folks I hear Jeannie talk about when we went to church this morning.

-And the reason we came--Sawyer's Baptism! It was very sweet and meaningful, particularly after we had listened to some explanations we had never heard about what baptism is really about according to the Bible. Hunter gave a little speech to Sawyer during the ceremony and that was very nice too.

Well I'm probably leaving something out, but that was basically our trip. Always good to be with family and I thoroughly enjoyed this little vacation from reality!

To Jeannie and Hunter:

Thank you for letting us stay with you, for the great meals, for the couch and closet (Julia and I actually slept really well with this arrangement!) and for my favorite little bathroom:) Sorry we didn't get time for the grand tour. Maybe we'll come back one day! Miss you already!

love,

Holly

Is she signing more?

Well Julia has shown me in the last few weeks that she understands what I'm saying sometimes...like she knows what "tap" or "clap" means. So the last few days, I've been really trying to label things with a word/phrase and/or sign language repeatedly so that she can begin to communicate...not that her screaming isn't desirable or anything;) Some examples are when I get ready to feed her, I'll repeat the word "milk"; when she's crying for me to pick her up, I'll say "up" and hold my arms up; and when she's eating, I'll say "more" and do the sign for more. Today she seemed to be trying to imitate that sign (which is sort of like clapping, but your fingertips and thumbs tap each other instead of palms)...I got this movie of it, so you can make the call. I'm putting it down in her book as a maybe.

Why I rarely get professional photos...

So today we took Julia for her 6 month photo shoot at Sears. This is the only age I've done professional photos for the boys and I was reminded why today. First of all I woke Julia up early so she'd take a nap before the appointment. She did not take a nap and so we headed out at 9:30 anyway, with Julia having been up for 3 hours, which is about one hour past her normal limit. We get there and I showed the photographer the shots of the boys that I wanted to copy. She looked at them briefly and we got started. Sleepy Julia was pretty serious, but we got a few smiles. The boys got restless and Matt took them out while we waited to pick which pictures to order. Then the photographer said it would be a little longer because the memory card was stuck in the camera. We waited. Then she tells us it's still not coming out and we should have a do-over just in case. I was skeptical that Julia would hold out, but she did better than I expected. Then we waited again and finally they retrieved the pictures from both times for me to look at on the computer. The boys ran around like crazy kids while I tried to pick and while the photographer explained to me why if I used the coupon I brought it would get me only one pose and every additional sheet would be twice the regular price, which was in the fine print, but I didn't expect it. So I used a different coupon and got only 4 photos, which, by the way, were okay, but not great. One of the poses I wanted copied was not taken from the same angle, which the photographer could have figured out had she carefully looked at the pictures I brought. Anyway, it's done, but I definitely left thinking it's totally not worth the frustration, stress, and $$!

Julia

What's new with our sweet little Julia these days? For one thing, she's turned into a wild woman! She's all of a sudden so loud--shrieking, yelling, screaming, whatever you want to call it. She has definitely found her voice! She's also reaching for people now and we think she waved a few times. And though she had stopped giving kisses, you can see from this movie that once she saw GrandGene that all changed!

Pictures

GranGene and Joshua

GrandGene, Gray, and his new bunny which he used to call "Milo" but changed it to a girl named "Cars Blanket"

Happy Birthday, Jeannie!

Mama's pretty flowers and 2 pretty girls:)

King Joshua and Queen Carly

Julia specializes in staring.

Gray loves his GrandGene snuggles!

Mimi and the 5 oldest grandkids...never did get one with the babies too.

Everyone was supposed to make a funny face, but only the girls obliged.

Joshua walked and ran Stuckey around the house on the leash...think he likes the power!

Julia in the dress I made from one of Mama's old skirts.

My 3 in the tub.

Julia loves Meema!

Naked Gray "loving" his cousin.

Julia and Sawyer's Berenstain Bears Book Club.

Mimi and the kids.

Just a quick note...

So probably half my readers (or maybe 3/4) are here with me, but just wanted to post a quick message about what we're doing this week. I have not been on the blog because we are in Fort Mill celebrating Jeannie's bday..which is today, so Happy Birthday to you, Jeannie! We have had lots of fun just hanging out with family. The boys got to go to an animal play with their cousins and Mimi and GrandGene. They also got to go golf cart riding with GrandGene and do lots of playing inside and out. Sawyer and Julia have been doing baby stuff together and just looking cute! Gray's been running around naked a lot. Joshua has been having a ball with Stuckey. I got to make a dress for Julia. We played a game one night. And now we're getting ready to have a birthday dinner with more family. It's so good to be with family and also to have a change of pace, though of course we miss Matt who couldn't make it this time. I'll post some pictures when we get home. Have a good week!

pictures/movie Julia

Housekeeping

This has been a week of cleaning and cooking! I had a bunch of things on my calendar this week that I only clean a few times a year, plus we ended up with lots of stained clothes to clean (I just figured out that sunscreen stain clothes...who knew?) plus I decided to clean out the storage closet plus I decided to make and freeze a bunch of baby food. So that has kept me busy. And Matt has been taking the computer with him most days, hence the lack of blogging! In other news, Julia started babbling this week (lalala and dadada) which I love. I'll post a movie of that and a picture or 2 from this week when I get a chance. Have a good weekend!

Keep meaning to update...

...on the gym. We are hopeful that things will keep picking up. Matt is on his 3rd week in the new place and we have 7 old members, 3 that started right before we moved, 5 that have started in the last week, 1 that plans to start tomorrow, and a handful of others that have said they are interested and/or come by and tried it. Matt has also started a "meet up" group. This is a website that people can check out to find activities that they are interested in. He has advertised his group as a place to meet on Saturdays for a free CrossFit workout and of course if they want to join the gym, we would love to have them. He seems to get new members there every day (most of whom are women) and so we will see who comes this weekend and if it produces any members for us. Right now there are 12 people in this group that we have never met before.

All in all, I think we feel good about how things are going. Starting a business is hard, but we know God knows what we need and is over all things! So thankful for his continued blessings on our family!

July 4th pictures

Happy Independence Day! We went to church this morning, followed by Cracker Barrel, nice naps, swimming, and sparklers. Hope you had a good weekend!

(Thanks, Cindy, for the picture of Joshua and Jackson from yesterday. So cute!)

Jordan Lake!

We spontaneously decided to make a little trip over to Jordan Lake this afternoon. The boys (especially Joshua) loved swimming and didn't even really play in the sand as I had thought they would. Before we left, Joshua was already asking to come back. It reminded me a lot of things we'd do in Washington and I think it was good for all of us to do something different. There was also a playground there that the boys enjoyed, though after missing his nap and playing hard, Gray ended up throwing himself on the ground and having a fit when it was time to go. Julia did well and loved kicking her feet at the edge of the water. I took a ton of pictures so these are just a few of the best.