040: "Time is a Champion Racer."

My baby is 8 months old today.

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? What did that happen?
Just yesterday I was laying in bed, Mal asleep on my chest, watching my DVR.
Just yesterday I was holding a special needs bottle in my left hand and a nipple shield in my right.
Just yesterday I was a broken record saying, "Watch his head..."
Just yesterday I was tiptoe-ing around my living room so as not to wake the sleeping boy in the bassinet.
Just yesterday I was lamenting that I couldn't even change my own baby's diaper.
Just yesterday I was hovering over a sleeping baby on his first airplane ride.

So many yesterdays already. So many to come. I hope I can keep focused on the today.

Here are the moments from today's monthly photoshoot.

happy eight months.

I love you, little man.

blessings, sgym

039: Mama Monday, in tears.

Tragedy stuck the country last Friday.
More importantly, it stuck a small town community.
Specifically, it struck mamas and daddies.
It struck brothers and sisters.
It struck aunts and uncles.
It struck grandparents and godparents.

It struck dreams and hopes.
Blessings.
Wishes.

All that is left are prayers.

Prayers for abundant hugs in this time of grief.
Prayers for a graceful transition for the little angels.
Prayers for family gathering around the mourning.
Prayers for love and peace.

Lovely mamas of CT, I'm praying for you.
I know Nashville prays for you.
I know Tennessee prays for you.
I know America prays for you.
I know the world prays for you.

I know it will never be enough.
I hope you are surrounded with the warmth of family and well-meaning friends.

That's really all I can say. My tears are for you.
They are for your angel children.
They are for your angel mamas.

blessings, sgym

037: Mama Monday, Babywearing Dads.

So, yes, technically this post is a Mama Monday post. But I need to talk about Dads for a moment.

To be specific, babywearing Dads.

Babywearing Dads are not wimps.

Babywearing Dads are not whipped.

Babywearing Dads are not ridiculous.

Babywearing Dads are not hippies.

Babywearing Dads are not pushovers.

Babywearing Dads are not pansies.

Babywearing Dads are wearing their baby.

Babywearing Dads are holding their baby.

Babywearing Dads are looking to bond with their baby.

Babywearing Dads are possibly helping Mama out.

Babywearing Dads are trying to soothe their baby.

Babywearing Dads are having fun with their baby.

Babywearing Dads are Dads too.

Making loud comments about how you "would never want to look like THAT" or "would rather just carry the baby like this, that way is so stupid." Especially within earshot of that babywearing Dad? Please. We left middle school a loooooooooooooong time ago. (Maybe?) This has happened to a friend of mine. Her husband works long hours, so on the weekend, he wears their precious daughter so he gets extra doses of bonding time with her. Because he's her Dad. Because he wants to.

Making rude comments is stupid. I have no other words for it. Stupid. 

Be a parent to your kid and he'll be a parent to his kid.

.... Well, that was a rabbit trail. 

My main thought about babywearing Dads?

They are dead-sexy.

Ok ok, I might be a little biased, since this is my hubs.

But seriously. 

Real men wear babies too.

That's the end of this Mama Monday. Baby wearing. Dads. Love them. Let's not degrade our fellow papas for their parenting choices. Especially when they're this adorable.

Feel free to leave a shoutout in the comments for an awesome Dad you know. Does he babywear? Does he give baths? Does he snuggle before bed? Does he sing silly songs? Does he wrestle in the living room? 

They come in all persuasions! Make sure to give them some extra love!

blessings, sgym

017: Graduation

I cannot express how ecstatic I was this past weekend. Only if you've gone through something of this level of separation from your spouse, can you understand how incredible it is to see them again. From what I can tell, Cage had an adventure. He said multiple times that it was incredibly difficult, but he never really complained about the experience. Yeah, he said it sucked... but he wasn't whining. I am so impressed by his positive attitude throughout this entire process that it really has lifted my own spirits. The weekend was busy, but very fun. I picked up Cage's sisters from the airport around midnight and we were finally in bed and sleeping by 1:30am. We were up at 6am, the Airman's Run at 8am, and the Coin Ceremony at 11am. Because of bad weather, each training squadron did their own coin ceremonies at their headquarters. Cage had the rest of the day free to be with us, of course, his priority was eating! We hit up Burger King and then went to the bowling alley on base. After that we just wasted time at the mini malls and had some dinner before returning Cage to his training squadron. The girls and I then hit up Target and Ross for Cage's snack and swim suits for the pool the next day. We were up (again!) at 6am the next morning for the Graduation Parade. It would have been rained out and held in the training squadron headquarters again, except there was 4 Star General in attendance! His niece was graduating! How cool is that!? So, they did the parade in their ABUs (the camo outfits) which apparently has NEVER happened before. It was really cool, and since Cage was in the band flight, he got to play his trumpet and march around all important like with the brass and bugle corps. We then had to wait, while everyone else got to go to their Airman, while the band put up their instruments. After they were dismissed, we walked over to his dorm to see it. It was very interesting to say the least, and I will probably NEVER complain about my lodgings in college after seeing where Cage had to live for almost 2 months! We left Cage there to change into his blues, and went to get the car. I think I walked almost 4 miles throughout this past weekend. We drove back, picked up Cage, and went to Taco Bell for lunch. We went back to the hotel, had some alone time, went swimming with his sisters, watched hours of TV, took naps, talked to family on the phone... Basically, an awesome day. We went to dinner at a Chile's down the street and I was a little wary of the part of town we were in, but I did feel safer since Cage was with us! We had Cage back on time to walk over to his dorm, and the girls and I went back to the hotel and passed out! The next day we got to sleep in until 8am! I woke up at 6:45am and couldn't fall back asleep! But we were there on time to pick up Cage for our San Antonio adventure! We hit up Lulu's Bakery and Cafe, which was featured on the Travel Channel's Man VS. Food, and enjoyed their 3lb. cinnamon roll! After we had gorged, I drove around to find a parking garage, which was incredibly stressful, and finally parked the car. We walked through downtown until we found the Alamo, which was beautiful, and we then walked down the RiverWalk for a while. I have to admit, it was way too hot to be outside for much longer, so we retreated into the Mall! We decided to watch a movie with the small amount of time we had remaining. Cage hasn't seen ANY of the summer movies yet, so we thought it was a great idea! We watched The Karate Kid because of Cage's great love for Jackie Chan. After the movie, we were cutting it close to get the sisters to the airport on time, but we made it and their flight left without a hitch (as far as I know!). Cage and I had some alone time and got to talk through a lot of the changes coming up for our family in the next month. I had Cage back on time at the dorm and packed up my hotel room while watching Disney Channel for hours and hours. I did fall asleep, eventually. It was difficult being alone in that room and knowing that the next day was going to be the last time I see Cage for a while. Sunday was wonderful. Cage was restricted to base, so we ran the last few errands he needed to do before packing for Biloxi. We had some of his wingmen join us for an excursion to the BX and later for church. Church was such an incredible experience. The chapel was filled with 0-weekers to just graduated Airmen and their families. That many people in camo, with their arms wrapped around each other, some of them crying... It was powerful. After that, Cage and I ate a late lunch and I took him back to the dorm. Watching him walk away was, to date, one of the hardest things I've done in my life. I've already been able to text him a LOT, since the plane landed in Nashville... but I'm unsure of when I will get to see him again. I should be able to live in Biloxi and be near him, but both of us are unsure of when we will actually get to live together. If Cage and I were able to stay strong through just under two months of no more communication than 5 phone calls and 10 letters (I sent him 40+ letters)... we can make it through anything.

And, naturally, here are some pictures from the adventure!

014: It's the end of June...

... and it's also the end of one of the LONGEST months of my LIFE. I cannot wait for July 8th. That's the first time since May 11th that I'll see Cage. I can't believe I've made it this far. Being without him is horrible, but knowing that he's serving his country, that he is working for our future... it makes me content to be away from him. I've never been happy to be away, but I am able to describe myself as content. I'm sending a card to Cage today with a few random pictures, not sure what OF yet, but it's a fun anniversary card and, yeah, it's not a year or anything... but at this point I am celebrating even the small fact we've been married 67 days. We've been apart for 51 of those days. Oh, the numbers make me sad, so I'm moving on! haha.



The youth camp my Uncle put on this month was AMAZING. Not only was it fun to be with my family for two weeks, but the camp itself was a blast. The daily outline: 7a - 7:50a Breakfast. 8a - 8:45a Quiet Time. 8:50 - 9:15 Worship. 9:20a - 10a Games/Trivia. 10:15a - 11:15a Big Session. 11:15a - 12:15p Lunch. 1p - 4p Activity. 5:30p - 6:30p Dinner. 7p - ? Service. 11p In room Devotions. 12a Lights Out. Usually, we didn't get back to the hotel until after 11:30p and there was more than one night where we didn't get to sleep until after 1:30a. Even though I was incredibly tired, it was very rewarding.

Well, I have pictures to gather and send to Cage. I see him in one week and two days. Oh, I can barely wait!

011: Finding It Difficult.

For those of you who don't know, Cage is in San Antonio for training. He'll be there through his graduation on July 9th. He left this past Tuesday and I have to admit, I've been a robot. I would say I've been a mess, that I've been crying all the time every day, and that I mope around the house all day. Except, that wouldn't be true. I've been hanging out with Cage's family, tonight I'm having dinner with a friend and I've got a Starbucks date set up with another friend. I call myself a robot, simply because I'm trying incredibly hard to keep a brave face in all of this. This is probably the only time I will admit (to anyone outside of Cage and family) that I'm legitimately feeling pain in my chest from missing Cage. Just keep us in your prayers. We need strength and patience... and for time to pass by really REALLY quickly!

And what's a post by me if it doesn't have pictures? HA. No kind of post at all!

This is one photo from my bridal portrait session with Andy Morris of andycam productions.

It's rather random, but I love it. :) And, here are a few from our Honeymoon in Disney World.