Fall is in the air

Houston has two seasons... Summer and SUMMER. Memphis has much more of a seasonal change, and I have come to love Fall the most. Our dear friends, the Fernandez family, had us over for dinner a couple of weekends ago. Their boys built a fire pit in their backyard, and we had smores for dessert! Since that night, JM and I have gone into major Fall mode. He got us a fire pit, and we had our first fire the night he brought it home (with some spare wood from the Fernandez fam--thank you)! I am just loving the Fall weather and see the fire pit quickly turning into a weekend tradition!

Freidan thought the firewood was for him.

Getting it started!

Football!

Well it is official, I have been sucked into the football culture here in Memphis.  Growing up, it was never really a huge deal.  If it was on, great.  If not, I certainly didn't feel like I was missing anything.  That is definitely not the case in SEC country! Even JM's younger brother's high school football games include tailgating beforehand. It is SO fun and I love witnessing the rivalries that stem from so many SEC schools being close to Memphis. Ruth likes it too... we may have a future athlete on our hands--she is always enthralled when we are watching sports :)

Go Brothers!

Go Brothers!

She wouldn't even take her eyes off the game for a picture!

Checkin' out the game with Papa...
Two peas in a pod right there!

Saturday Mornings

Saturday mornings are a sweet time for our family.  We take a break from the busyness of the week and enjoy a big breakfast, coffee, and just being outside together! I have come to cherish these times and am looking forward to when Ruth is a little older and can enjoy it more with us! She certainly seems to love it now, though!

Baby Feet

We are all about the feet in this house. Actually, we're pretty much about anything we can get into our mouths. Within the past week, Ruth has mastered the art of getting her feet in her mouth. It's quite impressive!

Scootin'

Ruth has become a scootin' machine! When we set her down on her back, she immediately flips over onto her tummy and starts trying to move. I think I'm going to need those running shoes sooner than I thought I would. This girl is going to be crawling before we know it!

Five Months

Ruth is now five months old and has gone from an infant to a baby right before our eyes.  She is super chatty and loves to growl back at us when we growl at her.  Which of course we do all the time because we love it too :)  She is a huge smiler and melts my heart with her big gummy grins.  And she is LAUGHING.  It is so fun to figure out what kinds of things crack her up.  Ruth loves to be thrown up in the air and to "fly".  We love to make her laugh!  It seems like everything is a delight to her, and it is fun to see the world through her eyes.

It has definitely made me think more about all the many ways the Lord blesses us.  I am quick to forget about daily things such as food, but seeing how excited Ruth is about eating oatmeal (which she absolutely loves), or her awe and wonder at trees and flowers when we go for walks, helps me to remember that the Lord is our provider.  I am so thankful that we can trust in Him and His faithfulness to His children!

25“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?g 28And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

SO BIG!

Adorable bow from her Gigi!

Cute monogrammed shoes from her Honey

Lovin' on her Papa

Hangin' with Mama

FOUR Months and photo frenzy

Ruth is now 4 months old and still continuing to amaze us each day!  At 12.7 pounds and 25 inches, she has a very sweet personality and is extremely easy going.  She is still a HUGE smiler and we are beginning to hear her laugh.  We visited my parents in Houston and my dad actually got her first laugh out of her.  Must be something about that mustache! Her newest discovery has been her hands and she has become very good at grasping things. She constantly has her hands in her mouth and has become quite the drool monster--let the teething process begin! She is now sleeping through the night (7-7) and is getting ready to start solid foods! She's pretty intrigued when JM and I are eating at the kitchen table with her sitting in her high chair watching us, so I'm interested to see what she thinks. My parents kindly gave me a camera for my birthday and I have taken around 300 pictures since then... SO I'm posting my favorites so far for y'all to enjoy!

We have a little water bug.... she loves to splash in the tub.
I love that big smile!

Sitting in the high chair for the first time.
She liked checking out the flowers!

Loving it and letting her personality shine through!

Talking with Papa during dinner

Our sweet girl

Hand in mouth.... constantly!

Hands together checking out her toys

Ruth loves to play and move around a ton. I'll leave the
room and come back five minutes later to find her on the
opposite side of the mat. I have a feeling I'll need some
running shoes once she's really mobile!

Summer strollin'  She looks like an alien--who knew
they made baby sunglasses? Freidan checking to
make sure she's ready to go!

Loving our flower bed!

It has gotten humongous and we love all of the colors!

Thank you, Gramma Karin, for getting this started for us!
 They are a joy to look at each day.

Play Gym

I pulled out Ruth's play gym this morning for the first time! Not really sure why we haven't used it before, but I have a feeling it will quickly become one of our regular activities! We played on it for about an hour today, and she just loved looking at all of the fun toys and exploring their different sounds. Freidan (our dog) also found the toys interesting and alternated between standing at the edge of the mat to watch Ruth play, and running to lay down and squeak his toys on top of his bed--too funny! I guess he decided that since he wasn't allowed to play on her play gym he'd create his own!

This is her "are you watching me" face

Having so much fun!

Freidan's version of a play gym

Study Buddy

We apparently have a very studious baby on our hands.  JM was holding her while he was studying, and we discovered that she was actually checking out his notes! Hey, it's never too early to form good study habits, right?

Checking out Papa's work

Concentrating really hard to figure it all out!

Beach Bum

We took a trip to the beach with John-Michael's family last week!  We had a blast and enjoyed getting away for a little bit.  Ruth did amazingly well, putting up with a 9.5 hour car ride like a champ.  She hardly even made a peep!  We're not really sure what she thought of the beach, but she has definitely mastered the art of being a beach bum... she slept the majority of the time we took her down!

First time down to the beach!

Snoozing in Papa's lap

Date night!!

My two beach bums :D

Checking out the ocean with Mama...
she fell asleep on me after this!

Family of three

THREE months

Our baby girl is three months old today!  She is growing so fast, I can hardly keep up.  Literally.  She went from size 1 diapers to size 2 diapers overnight.  Thankfully we had some on hand.  And then a week and a half later, I had to switch her into size 3 diapers.  We didn't even make it all the way through the pack of size 2 diapers I bought.  Crazy!  She is holding her head up pretty well at this point, but she still has some "flop" moments.  She is also very BUSY.  She loves to lay on her back and just kick away, sometimes content to stay there for over an hour--we have fun just watching her and hearing her excited noises.  Which brings me to her next favorite thing--"talking".  She has become quite vocal: cooing, squealing, gasping and making just plain baby noises.  She also loves it when I click my tongue at her and after much concentration is able to click back at me sometimes.  Music fascinates her and causes her to kick excitedly.  The songs she likes best right now are Come Thou Fount and Amazing Grace.  And she gets most excited when Papa is singing to her or dancing with her--so sweet!  Ruth is a big smiler, and I often call her Miss Smiley.  She smiles all the time, even taking what I call smile breaks when she is eating, but she reserves the biggest ones for her Papa!  I also think we will be hearing her laugh soon--you can see her laugh now and we get a kick out of what she thinks is funny.  She is sleeping through the night at this point (10-6) and takes a morning nap and an afternoon nap.  The Lord blessed us with a very sweet and precious baby. We love watching her grow!