Fragile - Handle with Care!

We don't want to forget to pack this little guy!

Ms. Mommy Sling

My good friend Kathryn made this sling for me and Zayne. Wow - I love it! Anyone who doesn't have one of these with a little baby is missing out. It is so nice to be able to carry him around the house hands free. He loves to watch me work in the kitchen or pick up the house and now I can get twice as much done. Although, I was getting good at one handed sock folding :). Zayne doesn't realize it, but it is one of his Christmas presents. Kathryn has a little business selling these. They are way cheaper than what you can find them online or at the store and even better quality. Thanks Kathryn!

Kisses for Mommy

Zayne can give kisses - ok, so they are more like just open mouth slobbers, but he gets so excited about them. I will give him a kiss on his cheek and then ask him to give me one and put his little face up to my cheek. Once I get my kiss I look at him and tell him Thank You for the Kisses! and he gives me this huge smile. Talk about melting a Mommy's heart.

We are looking forward to Christmas and are working today on wrapping presents. We are also seriously going to start packing this week. Hopefully the process will go smoothly. We are not overly worried about it as we are pretty good at not keeping stuff we don't want/need, so we don't have excess clutter.

We hope that you all have a Wonderful Christmas celebrating the birth of our Saviour Jesus! From our blog/home to yours ~ Merry Christmas!

Moving... In more ways than one.

We had another yard sale yesterday and again huge success! I never knew yard sales were such a big thing here in FL. We had people lines up before our garage door even opened. Micah said he recogonized some of the people from the week before and even though it was all just the same stuff, they bought more. Who knows maybe they buy it and sell it later someplace else.

We are making long lists each day and getting lots accomplished. Micah is more productive than I am, but I do have a good excuse - see above pictures :).

We are looking forward to Christmas next week with Micah's parents. We have some special things planned and it will be nice to have some extra time with them before we head up to MI. We will celebrate Christmas with my parents in the New Year, hopefully in our new home.

Zayne is getting more and more active. He now likes stroller rides and laying on his belly. He also really likes his toys and gets this really concentrated look on his face when he is trying to reach or grasp something.

Today Micah went Mt. Biking and I am working on sending out the remaining Christmas Cards. We also have to get the house all cleaned up because we have some relators coming to look at it this afternoon. Next week we are going to be hitting the packing full force. I want to keep things as normal as possible until after Christmas, but there is still a lot we can do without tearing up the house too much.

Have a happy Saturday!

Story Time with Mommy

Zayne has started enjoying stories. He will sit through 2 or 3 short stories and likes to look at the pictures and reach for the pages. He is still a really happy baby as long as his basic needs are met. He is starting to be awake longer throughout the day and is so interactive. His little smiles and giggles just melt your heart. We are so thankful for our sweet little boy!

Garage Sale Days...

We are having a garage sale today. So far is has been a great success. We are more of the mindset to just "get rid of it" rather than make a big buck, but so far our running total is getting up over the 3 diget mark - yipee. Zayne and I are overseeing from the front window and making trips outside to charm the customers. It feels so good to be sorting, sifting, and simplifying our life right now. We will probably have another sale next week just to see if we can get rid of anymore. We are still looking for someone to rent or even possible buy our home. Please be praying with regards to that detail - now is not a good time in the market, but we are hoping it is in God's market.

In less than a month we will be in MI - AHHHHH!!! So, I don't do really well with change and pretty much since Zayne entered our lives everything we thought in our life that was worked out became unworked out. I have really been working at just resting in Jesus with everything, going with the flow and taking one day at a time. The hard part is, I liked my life here in FL. Although I miss my family in MI, I loved living in a warm climate, the friends we made, living by Micah's parents, the beach... oh the list goes on. I know I will be ok once we are settled and I can really see God leading us in everything - He has really given me a peace, now if I could only have a desire for cold weather... :)

4-Month Bundle of Smiles

Last Sunday we dressed Zayne up in his cute little frog outfit. This is the only outfit that Micah and I bought for him. He looks so cute in it. We took him outside for a few 4 mo pictures. He was so happy and just gave us smile after smile. It was such a painless way to get some super cute pictures of our little guy. We will probably be sending one of these out as our Christmas card. I went today to pick up some we had ordered, but they slaughtered the picture. It wasn't as if it was a bad picture and they didn't have much to work with - Seriously! Anyway I am going to get them printed someplace else and don't worry I didn't pay for them :).

Enjoy the preview!

Johnny Jump Up

This is Zayne in his Johnny Jump Up that my parents bought him. He is really starting to get the hang of it and loves it. It is so cute to see his big eyes look around at everything when he is in it. He doesn't quite have the bouncy part down, but he likes to rotate around and once in awhile will do a little hop.

Our packing continues... Micah is working out in his garage going through a bunch of stuff and then we are going to tackle the closets. We are hoping to rent out our house for a year so pray we can find a good rentor.

Last night Micah and I went out on a date. We dropped Zayne of with Gramma and Grandpa and went out to a fun barbeque place and then saw the new Bond movie. It was so funny because as we were driving we found ourselves tensing at every red light bracing for the cries from the back and then laughed when realized what we were doing. Zayne did great and gave Gramma and Grandpa smiles when we arrived and when we were leaving.

Bath time smiles and diaper changing giggles

So remember when Zayne used to scream all through his bath and cry through diaper changes? Well now they are pretty much the highlights of his day. As soon as you lay him on his changing table he gives out big grins and the other day I was cooing over him and he just started giggling away. Micah had told me the day before that he got him laughing when he was boucing him on the bed, but I didn't quite believe him. The sound is so cute and just makes you giggle right along with him. We still give him a bath each night and he loves to splash in the water. We had to move the ritual into the bathroom tub, because he was soaking the kitchen with his little antics. Above are some pictures of him enjoying his bath. Enjoy!

More Gramma & Grandpa

Micah's mom and dad tend to compete a little when we are over about who gets to hold Zayne :). As you can see Zayne doesn't really have a preference - he likes both laps a lot. Their house is still a favorite destination of Zayne's. He loves to sleep on their bed stuffed in between their pillows. He also has a little swing over there so he just feels like it is his second home.

On the home front. We have our Christmas tree up and a few decorations out. We are gathering boxes for packing and our moving ahead with our to-do lists. I went into work on Monday and said a final goodbye. It was sad to know I won't be back, but I really feel a peace about the new mission and job God has given me. I am excited about helping my husband and family with starting a new business and I am really thankful I won't have to leave Zayne to go back to work!
Winter-Wonderland here we come!