Photo Challenge: Smiles

This is a picture of Gus laughing. He doesn't have any teeth yet (he's about to turn eight months on Tuesday) but when he laughs, he closes his eyes and opens his gummy little mouth and it makes my heart melt!!

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Week 1: My Niece Aine Week 2: My Soldier

Weeks 1 and 2 Letters

Because I am starting this project a little late, I decided to send two letters this week so that I'd be on-track.

Week 1:

I decided to send a letter to my niece Aine. She's also my God Daughter and is just the most delightful little person! I love seeing her and miss her terribly. She's funny and sweet, and an absolute joy to be around. She likes to dance and be around family, and absolutely ADORES babies and little children. I think she'll be an excellent mommy one day, and I can see her as a pediatric doctor/nurse, teacher, or pediatric dentist. Someone who works with kids for sure!!

I wrote her a letter and then drew a picture for her to color and then she can hang it up in her room. It's a jungle picture with a hippo, giraffe, lion, and zebra. I hope she likes it!!

Week 2:

I am on the Letter Writing Team (LWT) for Soldiers' Angels and have adopted a soldier until he/she comes home. My soldier's name is Javier and he's new to me (my previous soldier just came home!!), so I sent him an email a few days ago to introduce myself, and then I'm sending him a letter this week.

Soldiers' Angels is an amazing group and I encourage everyone to check out their "Adopt a Soldier" program. It's an easy way to make someone's day and to give back to those who are giving so much for us. It's free to join and all you're asked to do is correspond with your assigned solider through snail mail, email, or packages. Easy right?

See you next week...

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Day 9

Holy smokes was today an amazing day!! It started off with a bang and kept gaining momentum all day long! So the first thing that made today incredible was that Gus stood up by himself (using something to hold, of course)! It's like he went from just being able to sit up unassisted to trying so hard to stand up by holding onto something. Well, he figured it out and is now on a roll!

Laughing while standing up in his crib

My little guy is so clever... he was supposed to be taking a nap and instead, he decided to try and stand up in his crib! A few days ago he had tried to stand up and would fall, and I had Steve lower the mattress. Thank goodness we did it when we did!! I decided that all of Gus's naps will be taking place up here in his crib from now on. No more of this sleeping wherever and whenever nonsense!

So I decided at 2 to bring him up and put him in his room. I figured even if he doesn't sleep, he needs to get used to being in there for "quiet time." It'll be beneficial when he gets a little older. So imagine my surprise when I went in to check on him and saw him standing up smiling at me!! As my dad would say, "What a little turkey!!"

Then later this afternoon, I got out his standing table (can't think of what it's called) and he was actually able to use it!! He can stand and play and just hold onto the toy! I'm amazed!!

The last thing that made me just sit and be amazed at his abilities was when I was feeding him tonight. I think I've said this before, but Gus is not a HUGE fan of solid foods. He prefers his bottle. Well, this is going to bite us in the ass if we don't put a stop to it (he'll only be using a bottle until he's a year... and then no more forumla). So the other day at Wendy's she gave him some yogurt with a metal spoon and he LOVED it!

I decided to not use plastic spoons anymore, and to try the metal thinking it would make a difference. It didn't matter yesterday, but, when I tried to feed him with the metal spoon, he wasn't really hungry. So today, when I fed him, I did the vanilla yogurt and he LOVED it!! YAY!!!

Not sure how long I can keep giving him yogurt, but at least it's a start, and a step in the right direction!

After Gus finished his yogurt, I decided to try the Gerber puffs again. The last few times that I've given them to him, he has made this crazy face and coughed and acted like he was gaging. So this time, he tried them and liked them! Then I gave him some cheese doodle puffs and not only did he like them, but he was self-feeding!!! I could not believe my eyes!!! He's so absolutely incredible to me!!

I'm sure that what he was able to do today isn't "spectacular" to most people, and who knows, maybe he's right on track developmentally with being able to do these things, but I was amazed and so proud of him!!

Tomorrow is Gus's last day as a seven-month-old... I wonder what'll happen in the eighth month???

Until tomorrow...
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I just read my SIL Heather's blog and she's doing this 52 in 11 project. I read her post and was instantly inspired to do the same! I am pledging to send 52 pieces of mail (probably more with Soldier's Angels) this year. I will send at least one item each week.

I'm already a week behind, so tomorrow I'm going to write two letters and mail them on Monday. I am going to write friends and family, and tell them how much they mean to me. I'm going to send letters to Gus's birth family and tell them how much they mean to us as a family.

I think it'll be fun and rewarding. Won't you join me? Here's the link to get started: 52 Weeks, 52 Letters-- A 2011 Project.

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Day 8

Gus and Elphie this morning

Steve getting Gus ready for his bath

Chompin' on his G in the tub

Have you ever stopped to think about tragedies and how for the people involved, it was just an ordinary day, and then something happened out of their control that changed their life/their family's lives forever?

We went grocery shopping today. It's Saturday, and it's something we do every Saturday. We went to Wal-Mart and went up and down the aisles looking for our weekly items and not once did we think we were in danger. Not once did we think anything "bad" or life-altering would happen while we were grocery shopping.

I imagine that the people who were shopping at the Safeway this afternoon in Tuscon were not aware that by doing something as simple as going grocery shopping, they were putting themselves in harm's way. Not only was a federal judge killed, but so was a nine-year-old girl and four others. Some were there for a constituent meeting with AZ Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, and others were just at the wrong place at the wrong time. The Congresswoman is in critical condition after being the target of the shooter and being shot in the head.

My mind is absolutely blown by this whole ordeal. What kind of world are we living in where this happens? I can't even imagine what it must have been like to be in that store when this happened. Innocent people there to do their weekly shopping, and apart of something so tragic. To top it off, Sarah Palin's PAC has put a gun target on various Democrats that she's targeting in 2010. Among those listed, happens to be Gabrielle Gifford. Now I'm not saying that Palin directly caused this shooting today, but seriously?? How is this okay? If this was a high schooler doing this, they'd be arrested, so why is it okay for Palin to have any involvement in this? She had a "hit list" and had gun targets on the states of these Congress men and women... and then lookey lookey... some idiot with a gun took her seriously and literally and decided to shoot one of the people on Palin's hit list. OMG!!

I don't know... I'm shocked by the whole thing and just sick by it.

Anyway... off that soapbox for now. Today was a pretty good day. We didn't do much and we were supposed to go to church but I had a massive headache and didn't feel well after we returned from our shopping trip.

Gus has gotten really good at trying to stand up on his own. It's a little scary how quickly he's growing and trying to move!! He went from zero to ninety in a minute! He had some apples and peaches today and didn't hate them... I just think he wasn't really hungry when I tried to feed him. There's always tomorrow...

Until then...

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