8 months

Our little lion (he will be called this until his roaring/growling dies down...and I don't foresee that happening anytime soon) is growing so fast. He's huge. He's chubby. He's top 90th percentile for everything. And he owns it.

I almost don't believe I ever had a fussy child with how happy he is these days. I love him to pieces and feel blessed everyday he's mine...even when he has his occasional moments that make me want to pull my hair out. Motherhood at it's finest I'm told.

At eight months old, our lion scoots around like crazy. He rocks the backwards motion, twists and turns, and does all sorts of crazy maneuvers to get to where he wants to go. Everything but moving forward. Go figure.

He loves to roar. All. The. Time.

Babbles like crazy, and I'm convinced he can already say a few words, like mom, dad, hi, hey, wow, kitty cat, grandma, papa. Words I'm sure he has no idea he's saying, but the sounds are there, so I'm counting it.

He's Mr. Social. He LOVES loves loves people, especially older kids. If only he had an older sibling...

He's quite the ham, and chalks up any attention he can get. If he starts getting fussy, it just means someone isn't pay enough attention to him. Give the boy attention and he's happy go lucky.

He still cries when I leave the room, and I still find it endearing. John still hates it however.

He loves music. Nothing calms him down quite like our singing does. I wonder how long it will take for him to discover that I can't sing. At all. Until then, I'll enjoy the fact that he finds my terrible voice soothing.

Oh how we love this little lion of ours. What did we ever do without him?

December Highlights

My blogging has gone to shambles. Even though my life is far more exciting with a child in tow, I feel far less inclined to document our happenings since his arrival. Why is that?

Alas, it's a new year, and like the rest of the world making resolutions that will never be kept, I'm vowing to become a better blogger, if for nothing more than for myself.

Like the rest of 2012, December flew by faster than I would have liked. Half of it was spent in Utah with family, and like any good vacation, they always come to an end far to quickly. Although, I'm sure my parents were ready to have a house back to themselves for awhile, sleepless nights, thanks to certain grandchildren, are exhausting.

The first half of December was spent getting our house semi-ready to sell.

The second half consisted of:

Bath time with cousins...

 

Discovering what the hype with Scheels is all about... 

Being entertained by more cousins...

Eating Cafe Rio multiple days in a row...

Watching my parents play dress-up with their primary class (adorable), and wondering how these kids I don't know got my dad to dress up, when I'm pretty sure he'd never have done that with his own children years ago...

PJ discovering the nasty white stuff falling from the sky...

Enjoyed authentic Mexican food at our neighbors on Christmas Eve, one of my all time favorite traditions. Forget that I was throwing up the night before with a stomach bug, I had been looking forward to this meal all year...

After two years of spending Christmas with the in-laws, finally getting to spend Christmas morning with my family...

Free baby sisters, means date night for us. So there are perks of living near family...

 An exhausting road trip to Idaho to visit Grandma/Great grandma Benson...

And one late night plane ride back home to Oklahoma, for a few more months, before we pack up our lives and head to a new adventure that awaits us...

It was a good month, er, good year. Bring on a new year and all of the new adventures that are in store for 2013.

2012 Recap

This past year will always hold a special place in my heart. It's a year that brought the biggest challenges, the biggest rewards, and the biggest blessing into my life. It's the year I became a mother, and the year I wish I could rewind and live all over again, because somehow, it slipped by all too fast.

This little gem showed up in my inbox tonight, courtesy of my dear sister, and I have to say, out of all of our past family video's, I think 2012 takes the cake for best year ever!

It's always sad to say goodbye to a year that will be deeply cherished, but we know this next year holds so many new opportunities for us, and we're excited to jump right into the new adventures that lie ahead. Big things are in store in 2013, namely John graduating from dental school and a move to our new stomping grounds in St. Louis. I can only imagine that there will be plenty of other twists and turns, and hopefully not too many road bumps, along the way, so, stay tuned for another year with the Lovells.

We wish you all a happy and prosperous new year.

Success

As ready as I am for John to be done with school, there are perks to the student life that I am going to miss, namely, month long vacations. I don't foresee four week breaks happening all too often, (read, ever), once he becomes a full fledged working dentist. And that's just seems sad.

We (I) have a list of things we (I) want to do during his break. First things first, taking little PJ to sit on Santa's lap. An essential you know.

I felt like we'd be bad parents if we didn't take him to sit on Santa's lap his first Christmas. I'm sure as a boy it's something he could careless about, but I felt like we'd have to chalk that one up to a major failure in parenthood if we didn't do our duty and place him on the jolly old man's lap.

And, he loved it!

I don't think I've seen a happier kid than him sitting on Santa's lap, all smiles of course. We'll see if the smiles hold true next year, when he's more keenly aware of what's going on. For now, I'll continue to think I have the coolest, cutest, happiest kid there is, and of course, ooh and aww over how cute he looked sitting on the old man's lap.

And while we were in Bass Pro getting our free Santa picture taken, we decided to have a little fun ourselves, target shooting of course. Free entertainment at it's finest. 

Check that one off our to do list.

12.12.12

My lovely mother pointed out that today is 12.12.12, a triple digit date. The next triple digit date won't be for another 88 years. 88 years! I won't even be around in another 88 years. Unless by some sure miracle I'm still kicking it at 115...but that sounds both painful and miserable. So, realistically, this is the last triple digit date I get to enjoy.  

I'm going to try my best to heed my mothers plea and do 12 acts of kindness today, which means I should probably leave the house...and get out of my pajamas...so this could get tricky. Join me, it could be fun.

And because some people think it's the end of the world today, why not indulge in lots and lots of deliciousness. Tis the season, right?

One

As of today, John has ONE semester left of dental school. One! Which means the number of months left in Oklahoma can be counted on ONE hand. One! He now has ONE month off of school. One! His last final was taken this morning. And, for at least another year or so, finals are over and done with. Done! Where has time gone?

Little PJ and I joined John and some of his dental school friends/professors for lunch today. While chatting with one of his professors I thought I should be a good wife and ask him how John does in school, and how we thinks he'll perform as a dentist. He looked at me with all honesty in his voice and said, "You picked a good one!" I felt like a proud wife. A classmate chimed in and said, "You know, four years ago, John was the most desirable bachelor in all our class." Lucky me, he's all mine now! 

We still laugh about the fact that four years ago John started dental school single as ever, and four years later he'll be graduating married, with a son. A lot can happen in four years, especially when you're Mormon! :)

Neither of us can believe the end is actually in sight. At least the end of dental school. But it's here, and then it's off to live the Air Force life for awhile before we have to make any real big decisions. Thank goodness for that, it makes these next few months seem a little less stressful.

At the end of all of this,  he'll actually be a doctor. Sometimes I forget he's actually in school all day learning to be a dentist. I guess I should now start trusting him to fill a cavity, should my sweet tooth ever lead to such a thing...

Seven months later...

Seven months later, and I still think I have the cutest kid around. I must be his mom, right? Oh, how we love having this little guy as part of our family. It's amazing to think he was once a whiny, often times unconsoleable baby, and now's he's full of nothing but smiles, laughs, and ok, an occasional cry here and there, but the cries are few and far between...thank GOODNESS for that.

I love getting to spend my time at home with this little man, even though I'm afraid I'm a rather boring mom. I make him watch the Today Show with me in the mornings, humor me on my runs in the afternoon, and if he's lucky, he gets to accompany me to the mall or the craft store for a little window shopping before John gets home from school in the early evenings. I'm pretty sure he already knows that shopping's a girl thing, and every time I say, "let's just look at one more store..." and I look at two or three, he lets me know that I have just lied to him. He's a quick learner, that one.

Everyone who see's my baby, and asks me how old he is, thinks I'm lying when I say his age. The other day at Michael's a lady asked me this, and when I said, "he'll be seven months in a few days" she laughed in shock and said she didn't even think her 11 month old is as big as he is. And he's probably not. He's already in some 12 month clothes, and even those are looking a little tight on him. In his defense, today he wore a 12 month shirt and six months pants...that were a little snug, but tight skinny jeans are in style for boys, right? Yes, we pick and choose which age range we make work around here.

He's a fast growing boy, and I'm ok with that. It just means I can be a little more reckless with him and treat him like the tough boy I know he's going to be. It also means when he gets shots, it's like no big deal to him. He's like what? You just shoved something sharp into my fat covered thigh, and it's supposed to hurt? Please! Where's my sucker? I'm pretty sure he screams harder when I walk out of the room these days, than he ever has for his shots. I think we're nearing that attachment phase...and for now I kind of find it endearing. John hates it.

Last month he weighed in at a whopping 21 pounds. I don't even know how much be weighs now, but my arms are getting nice and defined, so really, there ARE perks to having a heavy child. He's all boy, through and through, and I just love his chubby little self. Let's just hope in five more months he doesn't gain another 13 pounds, could you even imagine a one year old weighing 30 some odd pounds? Gross!

And I'll end here, even though I could ramble on and on about this cute little chunker a little longer. But, aside from select family members, I'm sure this is just another one of those boring mom post that no one really cares to read. 

Happy seven months little boy!