Backyard swing

My dad just put up a little swing for Aaron and his cousin Brynn in the backyard. We tried it out tonight, and they both LOVED it. Aaron was laughing hysterically in it - It was so fun to see something bring him so much joy.
Also, this weekend, Aaron started officially crawling - I mean like a normal baby. =) I thought he might just do his scooting thing forever since it seemed to get him where he wanted. But I was playing with him on the floor yesterday and all of sudden, he just started crawling on his knees, like he knew how to do it all along - just in time for his 8 month old birthday. The sad/funny thing is that Lee is out of town this weekend visiting his brother in South Bend, Indiana, so he hasn't even seen it yet!

Huh

Since Aaron has been putting himself to sleep, I am finding him in the STRANGEST positions.....

After I snapped the picture, I moved him =) It just did not look very comfortable....

Celebrating Easter

Lee being in ministry means that Easter weekend is always a very busy one, and it's always dangerous for us to get caught up in the tasks and "doing", rather than reflecting on the significance of what we are celebrating. Lee was in charge of constructing a prayer labrinth for people to walk through on Good Friday, which involved several different stations and exercises in which you could pray and meditate through. One of the stations involved taking communion at the base of a makeshift cross and as I sat there, I was overwhelmed by the fact that Mary took a similar position on her knees at the foot of a cross looking up at her son hanging there in agony. I'm sure this especially hit home due to the fact that this was the first Easter for me to be a mom to a son, and I was overwhelmed by the emotion of what must have been felt by everyone there that day watching that scene. As I thought about the emotion Mary must have felt in that situation, I realized even more the sacrifice that took place that day - Mary was allowed a glimpse of what it must have been like for God to allow His only son to die for our sins.... I know it's the simple basic truth of Christianity, but it took on a new meaning again for me this weekend. I'm always grateful for these new realizations to understand God more and what He did for us, as it can be a routine for me to "celebrate" Easter....

3 pappies

This week we've been working on "putting ourselves to sleep." Not really us - Aaron rather. =) At any rate, he is doing really well with this already - I thought it was going to be much harder. Anyway, I've been putting several pacifiers (we call a pacifier a "pappy") in his crib with him so he can find one himself if he wakes up and needs to go back to sleep. Today when I went to get him, he was armed with one in each hand and one is in his mouth.... I thought it was so funny.

Tooth #3

I know it seems like a trivial thing to blog about, esp. to those of you with older kids or no kids, but honestly it really is such a relief and a big deal when one of those little teeth poke through. I can make it and keep sane if I know there is a reason for the mood swings and restlessness....

One of these sippy cups is not like the other....

I've been meaning to blog about this for a while.... I wasn't sure what to do because Aaron didn't really seem to be taking to a sippy cup very well - like he was sort of drink out of it here and there, but only when GREATLY coaxed and encouraged. Anyway, Lee and I eventually figured out that he liked drinking out of a straw so I went out and bought a sippy cup with a straw. Duh Mom! So yeah - 5 sippy cups later, we finally found the right one. Only my high maintenance little boy....

College Retreat

This past weekend, Lee and I took our college group up to Bison Ranch in Heber, Arizona for our annual spring retreat. We also had the added bonus of Lee's parents flying in from Florida to be the camp speakers. Aaron had a great time hanging out with all the students (esp. the girls =) and his grandparents - It may be an adjustment to be back at home with just boring mom and dad....

On a random side note - I felt like such a terrible mom because I forgot Aaron's pack and play this weekend! So we ended up making a crude "bed" on the floor with a bunch of blankets - So it turned out okay but I felt like a real dork. The comforting thing is that earlier in the week, I watched an interesting report on the Today Show about "Momnesia" - the state of a female's brain after having a baby. It made me feel a lot better and I'm SURE there are many of you out there that can identify with me. =)