Activity Mats and Mobiles = Pure Joy

It was right around eight weeks old that Trey really started to be aware of his surroundings. As a result, his new favorite thing became laying on his activity mat and staring at his mobile. It's so neat to see him find joy in experiencing new things and exploring the world around him. We've since inherited the Cadillac of activity mats from a good friend Maggie, who luckily for us likes to share her outgrown toys. Let's just say Trey is beyond himself with joy since his upgrade comes with lights and music!

My Boys

Trey at 3 weeks

Now that I'm back to blogging, I just had to post some pics taken of Trey when we was three weeks old. These are the lovely handiwork of my super sweet and very talented co-worker Melanie. She graciously came to our house one Friday evening after work since we'd just been released from a second and very long hospitalization and mommy was in no condition emotionally, physically or otherwise to leave the house. It was such a blessing to have Melanie come to us and capture some of Trey's sweet characteristics while he was still a newborn! Thanks Mel!


LOVE his sweet smile.
(Though was probably caused by gas since he hadn't learned to smile yet!)





Didn't want to give up his passy



Sweet little hands

Precious feet and toes!




Such beautiful eyes!

Road Trippin It

We made our first big road trip as a family of three to South Carolina in mid August, and Trey was a champ in the car, sleeping almost the entire way there. That's definitely the Adams in him. They can tackle crazy long road trips (I'm talking 12+ hours) like it's a trip to the grocery store. I've gotten better at "road trippin it" since I married in, but mine's a learned skill. For them, it's in their blood. And Trey's definitely got those mad road trippin skilzs. For that I am grateful. I was starting to stress about a 6.5 hour trip with an 8 week old!

It was a special time for Trey. He was able to see his Uncle Reeves and Aunt Bec again and, for the very first time, meet his cousins Tallon, Tess, and Tate.

He also got to meet his great-grandparents - Papa and Nana, and Robert's Grandaddy.

We had so much fun playing with the cousins and visiting with family. We can't wait to go back later this fall.

Tummy time with the cousins

Mimi and her grandchildren

With sweet cousin Tess

Trey got lots of sweet kisses!

And had lots of fun watching and learning how to play

He got lots of Mimi lovin!

Playing with mommy

With PaPa and Nana

Four generations

T loved his cousin Tallon

With Aunt Bec, Tate, and Tess

"Heal in the name of Jesus!"
(It totally looks like Tate is laying hands on his cousin. Hilarious.) 

Crazy Uncle Reeves

We even got to take a family pic, though T decided not to cooperate.





Outakes

It ain't easy trying to pose in a chair with an elephant every week...

2 months!

It's August 30th, and my sweet boy is 2 whole whopping months old today!

Crazy how time flies.

Here's what Mr. T is looking like these days. What a cutie pie!

You can see that we're "chunking up" quite a bit, filling out those thighs, "chubbing up" the cheeks, smiling, cooing, making lots and lots of baby talk and giving big toothless grins too.

Just precious. And so fun to see his little personality start to shine through.

Here's a look back over the past eight weeks:

1 week old: not a big fan of mr. elephant

 
 

2 weeks old: not again!

3 weeks old: at least now i know he doesn't bite

4 weeks old: what happened to my hair?

6 weeks old: getting used to the bald look

8 weeks old: getting big enough to take down mr. elephant if i had to

Baby Trey - 7 weeks old

So being a mother changes things...like your ability to blog regularly. (Trust me, it's a good day if I keep him alive and get a shower, so blogging has definitely been on the back burner.)

Trey is 7 weeks old today. Those 7 weeks have been quite the journey - birth, coming home, back in the hospital due to an infection I developed in my cesarean incision site, home again, trying to figure out what we are doing, lots of feeding, sleeping, diapering, bathing (repeat, repeat, repeat).

Joyous moments, lots of tears, feelings of inadequacy, thoughts of how in the world we ever lived without our little man, grateful hearts for a healthy baby boy and the joy he brings each day. With motherhood comes the full range of emotions and everything in between. I'm not going to expand here, but if any of you are expecting and want to chat just call me. I'll shoot straight about our experiences - both the joys and struggles.

Parenting is by far the hardest thing we've ever attempted. It teaches you total dependence on God, which is a good place to be but very humbling and hard at the same time. It is also very revealing about just how selfish your heart is. But it also teaches you the gospel is whole new ways, especially in helping you understand God our Father's unending love for us.

As a dear friend put it:

"One of the things that has been so awesome to see with this whole baby thing is the picture of the Gospel that it has painted for me. Caring for this person that is so helpless and immature and loving her so much no matter what she does really helps me understand my relationship with God so much more."

In summary, parenting = Gospel 101. Good for the soul. So is this precious guy. I mean, what's not to love?

As far as blogging, for now I'm just going to pick up where we are at week 7, blog what I can when I can, and continue to post lots of pics of Trey to facebook.

Week 7:

• Lots of smiling!!
• Lots of stretching
• Lots of talking/cooing
• Loves back (and some yummy) time and exploring the world around him
• Getting quite chubby, especially around the tummy and thighs
• Filling out his footie PJs, which make him look so big
• For the most part, continuing to improve at sleeping longer at night
• Very alert
• Not very good at soothing himself, so putting him down to sleep at night or for naps has been more difficult. This should get better as he gets older
• Loves to be held, rocked, and to snuggle. He's a cuddly fellow
• Likes to sit up and see, be part of the action, be social and awake when we are
• LOVES his swing. I think we love it more. That swing is indispensable!