A Quick Catch Up

It has been forever since my last post, and Hampton is growing and changing so fast. I've let myself down over the last month in my blogging efforts. Let's see...We went to TN for Thanksgiving. We had such a great time. Hampton did great. He slept and ate well, which is always a concern when we travel. He is sitting up like a champ and rarely looses his balance. Just after we returned from TN, he started rolling from his back to his tummy in his crib. Ben and I would put him to bed and then watch him intently on the monitor hoping to see him roll over. I wondered why he wouldn't roll during the day. We finally saw it and he was using the side for the crib to flip (he "walked" up the side until he could turn his hips). I think his strong desire to chase his binky led to the new trick. Now he is rolling at will and covering more ground than ever. He has started giving "kisses" which result in 2 really wet faces, yours and his. He is not crawling yet, but can get himself up on his hands and knees and rock. Hampton has developed a pretty strong attachment to Mommy, and is very aware when I leave him alone. On occasion he will cry as soon as I am out of sight and smile and even laugh when I come back...even when he's in Daddy's lap :( I feel bad for Ben, but I know it's only a matter of time before his whole world is DADDY...so I'm lapping it up right now. I am continually amazed at his content nature and sweet smile, which he is quick to flash at just about anyone. He is quickly learning how to pick up cheerios and actually put them in his mouth and loves his sippy cup...more as a chew toy than as a cup. He likes his highchair (thanks Campions) and will let me work while he plays in it, as long as I'm close enough to retrieve the frequently dropped toy. Like Ben said yesterday, "This is such a fun age!!!"
He is such a rich blessing to our lives!

Poppy, Daddy, Papa and Hampton

The Trunk that Papa made for Hampton

Hampton with some of his sweet cousins

Eatin' some cheerios

6 MONTHS

I almost forgot...Hampton has his first ear infection :( He had a cold for over 2 weeks, so I finally took him to the doctor. I felt terrible when I found out that he had an ear infection. He never ran a fever and only pulled at his ear once or twice. Poor little thing. He is doing much better though...still sleeping until 9 or 10 for me. Mommy loves her sleep!!!

Rubber Ducky

Check me out in my big boy bath seat! Bet you wish you could take your bath in one too, huh?

LOOK AT ME

It's official, he can now sit up all by himself.

He is getting bigger by the minute. He continues to be a super happy boy who squeals and "talks" nonstop. He is still sticking to the vowel sounds, but studies my mouth when I try to get him to mimic dadadada, babababa or mamamama. He responds well to his name and wants to make sure he can always see you. You can pretty much count on him being ready for a nap 2 hours after he eats. You can't, however, predict how long he will sleep...for example, today he slept a TOTAL of 1 hour and 15 minutes. Needless to say I didn't get much done today and he is going to bed early tonight! Hampton is now eating green beans in addition to his rice cereal and peas. I think we will try avocado this week. YUMMY! Work has been really busy for Ben and he has been traveling more than normal. It is such a blessing to see Hampton light up when his Daddy comes home. He really likes to try to steal Ben's blackberry while he is sending emails and gets truly excited to sit with Daddy while they watch football (not really anything else...just football). Hampton starts to squeal, so Ben turns up the TV...Hampton squeals louder, so Ben turns up the TV more...before you know it the living room is really loud :).

I'm excited for you all to see him soon. He has changed so much. I was just telling my mom, Hampton is more fun by the day and I don't know how I could love anything anymore than I love him! He continues to be the joy of our lives.




Hampton playing while Ben cleaned the garage.

Peas Please

On Hampton's 23 week birthday, he tried peas for the first time. Candice inspired me to try making my own baby food. So far, so good. The video shows his reaction to the first few bites, but by the end he was loving it.

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Happy Halloween

Hampton's parents are too cheap to buy him a real halloween costume. He had to rely on his Great Aunt Julee to give him a jack-o-lantern outfit.

Sunday afternoon my new moms group had a costume get together. It was so much fun to see all the dads with their kiddos. The babies were super cute, but not big fans of their hot costumes.

Caleb and Hampton

Jack's daddy made his costume!

We are missing Josh :(.

Katrina and Carsen the Ladybug

PICTURES

Hampton at OSU in his big boy stroller

The fam minus 1

Fun play time with Pops

The big orange finger was used more to insulate my bottom from the cold bench than it was to cheer.

It's been awhile

It has a little too long since my last post...we've been on the go quite a bit lately.

Let's see. Hampton and I went to OKC to visit my parents and brother. It was Oklahoma State's homecoming and Drew has asked me to come since he was a freshman. Since he is a senior now (so hard to believe), I figured I better go now or never. We had a free plane ticket, so we got to fly! I'm still not ready to make a road trip with Hampton by myself. Our plane going to OKC was delayed almost 2 hours, but I would rather play in the airport than risk a 4 hour trip turning into 6+ hours because of a fussy little boy. All in all, we still made if faster than if we had driven.

I was totally amazed at the time and work that goes into homecoming decorations at a big school. At ACU each social club decorates a float for the parade. At OSU each frat house pairs up with a sorority to decorate their entire HOUSE. You can see in the pictures that there is some unbelievable detail...and all of it is done with chicken wire and tissue paper! Hampton proudly wore his O State gear and made his maiden voyage in a big boy stroller. He did awesome of course, but got a little over-tired and way over-stimulated by the end of the night.

This little boy reminds me of Campbell

Dad and I went to the football game on Saturday night and Mom kept Hampton at Drew's house. It was COLD and windy, but we were loyal fans and stayed through the overtime. OSU lost a heartbreaker to A&M by 1 point (blocked PAT). We were so excited to come home to Mom's hot soup...warm's the soul you know.

Ben has been out of town most of this week and is AR right now on the big golf trip. I know he is having a blast, but we are ready to have him home! Hampton and I are just hangin' out while he's gone. We have relaxed, gone to a pumpkin patch with my mom group, shopped and played...nothing to exciting.

I am amazed at how much stronger Hampton has gotten in the past week or so. He can pretty much sit up by himself...but in a tripod/hunched over position. He likes playing on his stomach more than being on his back. He loves the exersauser, sleeps until at least 8 every morning (usually later), and doesn't hesitate to express his likes AND dislikes. He has been a little more fussy than normal, so I think he might be close to cutting his first tooth. It's hard for me to believe he is already at that stage. Now I understand why my granddaddy used to tell me he wanted to put a brick on my head so I wouldn't grow up so fast. This is a really fun stage, but I'm sure the next will be even more fun!


For some reason blogger will not let me upload any more pics. I will try again later :(

5 months

Our precious boy is 5 months old today. My friend Jamie and I took our boys (who were born on the same day) to the park to take some pictures. We had so much fun, but it turned out to be much warmer than we thought. When we finished taking pictures, we were all sweating.

Hampton is changing so much, so fast. He is so close to rolling from his back to his tummy. He is super tickelish. He loves his mommy and daddy and his face lights up when he sees us both. He plays great by himself, but definitely wants to be a part of anything that's going on around him. He reaches and grabs for anything and everything he wants. He is still super laid back (the ladies in the nursery at church say he is always the best baby in there!!!!!). He memicks us when he watches us eat. He still likes rice cereal and will hopefully like veggies too. He is facinated by the outdoors, captivated by the tv and loves to "talk" to Mommy and Daddy while they eat dinner. He is my joy and crown.

Daddy says, "Shewee bottom"

After our trip, we came home to the same sweet boy we left, but a few things had changed. He is much stronger, his gas really stinks like a grown person, he has decided that the whole sleeping from 8-8 is for the birds, and he is constipated (that's probably embarrassing and probably why his toots smell so bad). We got home on Wednesday and it wasn't until Sunday night that Hampton "had a big job." It was obviously a struggle and produced army-green-peanut-butter-looking stuff...POOR KID. I talked to the nurse today about the problem and she suggested 1/2 ounce of prune juice...worked like a charm!

Ashley McCaleb and her girls were visiting Josh and Jenny in Waco and made the trip up to IKEA. They stopped by to visit and then we went to lunch. Katy is a pistil and Callie Jack has definitely grown up. They are super cute girls.

Vegas Baby

It has been a while since my last post. Since then, Ben and I have been to Las Vegas. We made the difficult decision to leave Hampton here with my mom. I was a bit anxious about leaving him for 5 days, but it turned out to be beneficial. Ben and I enjoyed our time just the two of us. Ben had to go for work, so I decided to tag along. Our first 2 days there he didn't have to work, so we took in the sights. We walked a ton, had lunch at a cafe across from the Bellagio to watch the famous fountains, and rode the Manhattan Coaster at New York New York. I was amazed by the massive hotels, detailed architecture, and overwhelming amounts of people. I was surprised to hear that it is usually more crowded. One of my biggest accomplishments was walking a mile in four inch heels to meet Ben for a client dinner. I didn't have cash to pay for a cab, so I decided to buck up and bear the pain. Surprisingly, my feet felt pretty good until 6 hours later when we walked back to our hotel (you'll have to ask Ben why we didn't take a cab home...he did have cash). All in all, it was a great trip, but both of us were VERY ready to come home to Hampton!

Family Outing

Hampton made his first trip to the golf course. Ben wanted to play, so the three of us enjoyed an afternoon on the course. Hampton did great...he loves being outside. Hampton and I left after 9 holes because he desperately needed a good nap.

Hampton is loving his rice cereal now. I think we discovered that he actually likes it a little thicker...which makes it easier to feed him as well. He is so quick to smile, loves to squeal, laughs alot, and is all around a happy, easy baby. He brings a joy to our family that we never could have imagined!!!