10 months

ten months! 

this month was filled with lots more crawling and lots more pulling up,

lots of exploring the apartment,

lots of eating anything you give him,

lots of smiles and laughing,

but definitely more staring and taking everything in 

(which can get a little awkward when he's staring down the people in 

line behind us at the grocery store)

a little clingy stage and 2 calls from the church nursery to pick up early

first christmas

first ear infections 

second trip to mississippi

second hair trim

and lots and lots of fun

merry christmas!

having a baby this christmas has made me think of the very first christmas in a different way - 

mary laying her teeny newborn baby in a manger (hello germs)

cuddling and kissing on the Savior of the world 

no perfectly decorated and disinfected nursery but a stable - with stinky animals

(and we're not even talking about her riding on a donkey for days at 9 months+ pregnant...)

i'm so thankful for that baby that started christmas so long ago. 

"For unto you is born his day, in the city of David, a Savior which is Christ the Lord" Luke 2:11

babies make christmas amazing

Merry Christmas!

from the iphone lately

a whole lot of not-too-interesting has been going on here lately so here's a little recap...

the day before thanksgiving, we took a trip into the city and went on a architecture boat tour that i had gotten off groupon. it was pretty interesting and a good not-too-cold day. lots of fun.

covington is into everything. at least the pots and pans can entertain while i cook.

i went to a pinterest party with some girls in james' program and it was so much fun. there were 5 people and we each brought a craft. lesson learned - 2 people should probably team up to bring a crafts. after a late night, we ended up taking the last craft supplies home. it was soo much fun and we got to leave with lots of christmas decor! win win!

while i get ready, covington cheese's it up in the mirror. it's really funny to watch.


this makes me glad we don't have stairs! one of the families that we babysit for has stairs, and he went straight for them every time he got down this week. hoping the newness wears off soon...



he also loooves the dishwasher!

although he's not much of a helper - i put it in, he takes it out :)

side note - we don't always leave our kid running around in his diaper, but he has perfected the twist and scream while getting dressed lately. james said he's like dressing a rhinoceros. also hoping this passes quickly...

my dad came for a visit this weekend! so glad he think that 6 hours is close enough to swing by for a visit :)


covington was loving his hat

i might had drug covington and my dad to ikea on saturday morning and then my dad spent the rest of his trip putting together shelves for me - it was like a gift to me and james since james got off building duty :)
it was a great weekend!


also - i got bangs :) why not??

9 months

i know i say this every month, but we are loving this stage!  it's really hitting us that we have a real live kid around here - i know, it only took 9 months to sink in, right :)

so covington started off his 8th month by crawling. after rocking on his hands and knees for a while, he finally took off and didn't look back. he's pulling up all the time and getting into everything.

 he loves crawling up to us when we're on the floor, pulling up, and jumping like crazy. 

this is what i feel like he's constantly doing - about to dive off something. one night we put him to bed with an egg on his forehead and a swollen eye. awesome. 

 he's still hanging out at the 10% in height and weight at 17.9 pounds. he loves eating and will try anything. if he doesn't like, no problem - he'll just keep it in his mouth for the next couple hours. a lady at the grocery store was talking to him and said, um i think there's something green in his mouth...just a green bean from lunch and couple hours ago :)  he will also eat anything off the floor. he can find a spare thread on the carpet to chew on no matter how often i vacuum. his 5th tooth came in this week and he's putting them to great use.

 one of my favorite things about this month is that he really loves james. he always loved playing and wrestling with him, but would want me if i tried to leave. no more - now he follows james when he leaves the room and beams when he walks in. he cracks up at any noise james makes and loves to rub his scratchy face. the cutest is when he crawls over and climbs into his lap - melt my heart!

have i mentioned we're in love?

loving...

those blue blue eyes

the little pinchers

his concentrating face

the arched eyebrows

those teeny toes

and our little family picking out cov's first christmas tree

this week...

this week we've done lots and lots of

pulling up

and playing

and exploring

and chewing

and apple picking

it's been a great week. 

now we're ready for thanksgiving and for james to have a little break.

dave ramsey inspired cash wallet

 i needed some serious inspiration to actually stick to the all cash diet going on around here and ratty, worn out envelopes stuffed in my wallet just wasn't doing the trick. so i started looking around and all i could find were some seriously expensive dave ramsey inspired wallets on etsy and some plans that you had to pay to download - isn't the point of this to save money?? so after lots of searching, i decided to combine {this} and {this} to make a little wallet, in case anyone else is looking for a little help.

it's far (far) from perfect and the front little flap is crazy crooked, but i decided to use it for a couple weeks to see if i could live with it and - surprise surprise - i'm doing just fine with the imperfections :)

i'm loving all the little envelopes in the middle keeping me organized! i was worried that it would all fall out of the top with the envelopes open, but with the flap on the top, there hasn't been a problem at all.

 in defense of the expensive etsy ones, i would totally charge lots of money to make another one of these. it wasn't hard, it just took forever and i'm not really that great at projects that take multiple days :)

he's a real live boy!

it's all happened in a week. a way too fast week.

for the last few weeks, covington has been pushing up on his hands and knees and rocking and i was savoring those last few weeks of immobility. well that's no more. he's growing up.

last wednesday, covington put those little pinchers to use and fed himself for the first time! yay for finger food! this has totally transformed the whole fussy-while-i-try-to-cook-supper time. love it.

then thursday, he put all the rocking together and took off crawling across the room. it was slow, but he was on his way. sometimes he was determined and proud of himself. sometimes he was just mad and fussing that it was taking so long. crawling is hard work! 2 things that make him book it across the room - food and a computer :)

on monday, he pushed up from his belly to sitting - so. so. good. do you know how frustrated a crawling kiddo can get when he's stuck on his belly? now the whole apartment is his playground.




then he started trying this. He wasn't really getting anywhere, but whoa. this all happening fast.

look at those little baby leg rolls! i can't get enough!!

on wednesday morning, we walked into his room and look who was standing up in his crib all by himself! first time we had ever seen him pull up by himself! he's smiling in the picture, but he was not real happy about being up there and didn't know how to get down - poor thing! guess it's time to drop the crib down...



(check out the bed hair! maybe he did get something from me...)

and just like that, our lives had been transformed. our little baby is crawling on the floor pushing a tractor around.

my favorite part of all this? cov crawling in my lap wherever i go. is there a sweeter feeling? (i'm guessing this might get old when there's 3 of them and i can't go anywhere without someone sitting on my, but for now, it's the best thing ever :)
.

as covington was standing up at the coffee table this week, james looked at me and said, "we have a kid. he's like a real boy now."

and it's so true

projects

last week, covington had his first real non-tooth related fever for a few days. it was sad but i can't say i hated all the extra cuddling...

with all the extra time at home and super long naps plus james being crazy - pulling an all nighter - busy, i had lots of time for projects. when i proudly showed james how i'd organized our medicine cabinet and put labels on each shelf, he asked if i was starting to feel a little cooped up :)

i do love a good project! 

how great is wonder under?? some super clearance finds from babies-r-us with strategically placed appliqués make some fun little tee's 

i'd been looking for a storage ottoman for a few weeks before finding this one on sale at target for $8.50! what! 

i hot glued a yard of fabric on that i'd been saving for a year

and it's the perfect little toy storage! 

i got tired of looking for the perfect fabric to cover this shade with, so i just painted it - not perfect but better than before.

and my favorite - i've only been meaning to do this for a year... when covington took over our 2nd bedroom, james' "office" was squeezed into the corner of our bedroom. if you gotta use a filing cabinet for your bedside table, you might as well bling it up a little. i'm sure james appreciates it so much more now :)

i never get tired of gold and white :)