Take Me Out To The Ballgame!!

Last Thursday, our Sunday school class had an outing to a Durham Bulls game. I had never been to a baseball game! Apparently, I am in the minority because no one can believe that fact!! Everyone was bringing their kids, and we were SO excited to take William. Until he started coming down with a bad cough. And that night was supposed to be chilly. So he ended up going with Mama and Hannah for the night while Robbie and I enjoyed a date night! (Thank goodness we decided he would stay home, you will see why in a minute!)

We had a great time! The game started at 7, and we left around 9:30. It had gotten pretty cold by that time, and there were still a couple innings left! Thursday nights are also $1 concession nights for hot dogs, popcorn, and french fries! Couple that with our Living Social deal for 2 tickets for $10, and it was a pretty cheap date! All of the guys were pretty into the game, and Robbie would keep telling me stuff, but we gals were all too busy chatting! ;) I can't say enough how lucky I have been to meet Carolyn, and get closer to Laura! They are such a blessing and we have such a good time! We will definitely have to make another trip out there and show William the ropes!

LOVE these two sweet girls!

Wool E Bull with his babies!

The Bull smoking after a run!

So, moving on to William. I felt SO bad that we didn't take him. I mean, guilty! But I knew his cough had gotten worse and it just would not be a good idea for him to be outside. Well thank goodness he didn't go, because the next day, his cough was even worse! And he was wheezing. I called the doctor and they squeezed us in. We didn't see our usual, sweet, Dr. Willey. This doctor was no nonsense! He had to have a breathing treatment (his first!) and STILL had an ear infection. I am so glad we went! He had to take an oral steroid for 3 days to open his lungs up also. Luckily, we only had to do one additional breathing treatment at home, and he is definitely on the mend. Poor thing! I just shudder to think how much worse he could have been if he had sat in that night air for 3 hours.

He loves the fish at the dr office!

Taking his breathing treatment like a pro!

Boys Day Out!

Weekend before last, Robbie's parents and nephew came up to visit! They arrived late Friday night and we stayed up for a while talking, but not late enough to see Robbie when he got home from work, ha! I worked from home that day and William and I were on our own. I brought the iPad out so that I could get a little work done. He loves it, and then abandons it for a book or toy haha! During his nap, I spent a few blissful moments reading my Elizabeth George book and Bible. I love reading her tips on becoming a "mom after God's own heart".

His new trick-lying down flat in the tub and dunking his face - he is so proud!

Saturday, Linda and I headed to church bright and early for our women's conference. Robbie, Leroy, Jeremiah, and William had a boys day. They had lunch at the mexican restaurant, headed downtown to the museum, picked up propane, milk, etc. It was nice for them to have a day with just the guys! I told Robbie to take lots of pics, and I got 3. ;)

We decided to grill out for dinner. Leroy and Robbie grilled delicious chicken and corn on the cob, Jeremiah made baked potatoes, and we had a salad. It was all delish! After dinner, we walked to the park in our neighborhood. William LOVES to be pulled in his wagon. He just laughs and claps the whole time. He was all into exploring the park and climbing and sliding and swinging. All of that playing wore him OUT, and after a bath, he retired! The rest of us enjoyed watching "Parental Guidance". It was SO funny and GOOD!!

Sunday morning, we went to Sunday school and church together and lunch and then the Browns hit the road. We had a great visit with everyone!!! Can't wait to get together again!! :)

Build 'Em Up: Friendships

 

 Well, I never thought I would be doing a link up on Kelly's Korner or Blue Eyed Bride, but here I am! :) Four great bloggers are doing a series called Build 'Em Up, to build moms up and encourage. Every other Tuesday has a different topic, and this week's was Friendship. I just could NOT pass up writing about this. Friendship is a very important part of life, and very dear to my heart.

As I have gotten older, friendships have changed SO much in my life. My high school friends were my BFF's. I totally thought we would be friends forever. After college, lots of things changed. We all went our separate ways and got married, had kids, etc. My whole life changed and I had to rely on the friends who stuck by me through it all. I am so lucky to still have SO many friends from childhood. Even though we may not talk all the time, when we do talk or see each other, it is so easy to just pick right up where we left off!

Since having William, I have realized more and more how much I need close friends. Even though I work during the week, sometimes I still want that togetherness with moms and their babies. William needs friends too!! Luckily, a few of my best friends started having babies right around the same time as me, so William has lots of little buddies, and I have lots of mommy playdates as well. ;)

 

Friends at work are also important. I am SO lucky, and work with some great girls that I just love! We have a great time together all day long.

It is also important for Robbie and I to have couple friends together. It is always so fun to get together with another couple and just hash out what's been going on. Laughing, crying, whatever! We have met so many new friends at church. Church is such an easy place to meet people - not just by sitting in a pew, but by getting involved in a Sunday school class, or going to events! In all honesty, having a child makes it easier to make friends, haha! I think it gets harder to make friends as you get older, and William definitely makes it easier because people start talking to me, asking how old he is, etc. We always have something we can discuss, if we both have kids haha! I also have met SO many friends via blogs! Robbie always will ask me, now how do you know her? And I quietly admit, "I read her blog." He just laughs. But seriously, in the past year, I have met almost all of the ladies who write the blogs I read, and they are super and definitely friends!!

And let's not forget the built in best friendships you have if you are lucky enough to have a sibling. :)

Being married, having a job, having kids, moving away. All of these things drastically reduce the time you can spend nurturing friendships. As you get older, maintaining friendships takes more work. Even a simple text to say, "I was thinking about you and miss you", can make someone's day and totally keep the friendship alive! I have many friends that we don't talk all the time, but we randomly call on the way to or from work, or text all day...and that helps to keep up with each other!! And when the stars align and all of our schedules work out for us to get together "in real life"? It is just great!!! So, let's all take some time out today and text those friends and just thank them for their friendship!!! :)

Life Extraordinary 2013

This weekend, I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the women's conference, Life Extraordinary, at our church. I had wanted to go as soon as I heard about it, but my mom would be out of town that weekend, and I knew Robbie never could get off, so I didn't have anyone to watch William. I knew my mother in law would love it, so I invited her to go with me! Leroy offered to watch William for us, even if Robbie couldn't get off. Yay!! In a total lucky move, Robbie ended up getting off Saturday and Sunday! So, they all had a guys day!! Anyway, Linda and I had a great day. I was so glad she was able to share it with me!!

For a new believer, it was a wonderful reinforcement of what I already knew. We arrived at church at 8 and had breakfast. After that, we were fortunate enough to have bestselling Christian author, Elizabeth George, there to speak. We also had Heather Payne as our worship leader. She was awesome at getting the crowd going! Elizabeth's talks spoke to me, since she didn't become a Christian herself until she was 28, like me! So she realized she had a lot of making up to do and dove in and it changed her whole marriage and her life as well as her children's. She shared her testimony of being a young mother and wife, and how stressful it is, and how she turned to God after becoming so stressed out - she was at her breaking point! After that, she really focused on how important a relationship with Christ is and how to grow your relationship with Him. She was hilarious, and had the audience laughing most of the time. Her husband, Jim, was there also. They have written many books together as well, and they were all for sale. I bought a few for myself, and Linda got one for William for little boys. We got all of them signed! :)

We chose two breakout sessions from a list of 28. Linda and I both chose different ones. The first one I went to was taught by our senior pastor and his wife. He is so funny!! It was all about Strengthening your Marriage and they gave out a great 10 page handout with all sorts of advice and scripture to reference to back it up. Robbie and I will definitely get good use out of that handout! It was very encouraging, and an hour wasn't long enough to hear all of the tips they have, after 40 years of marriage. I could have stayed in there a couple more hours! Ha!!

After a lunch break of Jason's Deli, we had our second breakout session. I chose The Blessing of Coming Home. It was about leaving the workforce to become a stay at home mom. I'm not really there yet, just wanted to see what advice could be given. It was a little disappointing. I'm not sure what I was expecting, haha! But it was basically things I already knew. But the leader was super nice and it was interesting hearing everyone's story of their kids and jobs.

We had a second session with Elizabeth George after that, and were dismissed at 4 pm. It was a great day!! I told Robbie that I have many things to share with him that I learned. It was just all so interesting and inspiring. In her second half, Elizabeth did talk a lot about finding time for God every day. She said when she doesn't spend time in the morning in His word, she has a more stressful day because she just doesn't have that peace. Even though, she recognized how hard it is sometimes to sit down and devote time to it, since moms constantly have 20 irons in the fire, ha! I think that is something a lot of moms and wives struggle with. Finding time to devote to that, when we have SO many other things to get going at the beginning of the day. I know I struggle - I always think about it, and then get so busy doing other things, that it is nighttime by the time I remember!! So, it was a good message for me to hear!!

It was such a wonderful time! I enjoyed spending the day with Linda and was so happy she was able to come with me! Providence put on a great women's conference and I was so blessed to be able to go. Robbie and I are just so blessed by Providence in general, really. We have met so many great friends already, and feel so connected in our Life class, and know that William has so many opportunities for friendship and worship in his little class!

Centerpieces on each table!

Official name tag!

Elizabeth George speaking

Heather Payne leading us in worship

The stage all lit up!

Sunday Funday

Sunday, Robbie closed. The ONLY benefit to that is that we were all able to go to church together! William looked SO sweet in his consignment store find! ;) He stared at those puppies on it alllll day, and kept repeating, "riri, riri!!" (All dogs are Riri, no matter the color, size, etc) Ha!

Sunday night, we went to dinner with mama and Hannah and then drove over to the park in Brier Creek for William to get some wiggles out. There was only one other little boy there, so it worked out great! He loved climbing the steps, going down the slide, all of it!! He was so funny; if he fell down, he just looked up at me and said, "Uh oh!" His little knees were filthy from crawling around.

I have to tell y'all, I have always been anxious for the "next stage". I loved when he started smiling, let go of the bottle, could eat real food, etc etc. But NOW, I am ready for it all to slow down. He is just at the most fun and perfect age. Of course, he has his moments of tantrums and hollering, but he is just so perfect to me. I seriously just couldn't believe how big he looked at the park! Playing with another child that he doesn't even know. It just warms this shy mama's heart. I would have rather died than go play on the slide with the other boy - I would have picked another slide (probably still would haha). But, he just has no fear, and we are so thankful for that. That night, as I got him dressed after his bath, I was just staring at him. He kind of looked at me like, "what?!" and started grinning. But, I just can't believe he is mine!! He is just so perfect and sweet and I could never have imagined how much fun we would have together. I'm just in awe that God trusts us enough to raise him and love him. He will always be my largest obsession!!! :)

Watching Toy Story 2 with sister before church! ;)

I could squeeze him!!

Doesn't even look back!

Oh my! That sweet smile!