Grub Time

Our little man is growing up, and it's time for eating real food! We started with rice ceral a little over a week ago. He ate it, but didn't beg for more. I wouldn't either, that stuff is nasty!

Then we tried sweet potatoes, and this guy LOVED them! Smacking his lips and everything!


I'm attempting to make my own babyfood. It seems easy enough with veggies (and semi easy with fruit), but we'll see what happens when it comes to full meals and meats. I made my first batch of sweet potatoes.


It was really easy; I'm following my friend Amanda and this site.

4 months

We've been a little busy around here (see previous post) so I'm a week or so behind doing little man's 4 month post, but here goes...



Weighs 14 lbs. and 10 oz. (32nd percentile) and is 26 in. long (75th percentile)
Wears 6 month or 3-6 month clothes
Eats 5 to 6 oz 5x's a day (we'll probably start solids soon)
Sleeps 11 hours at night
On a good day takes two 1.5 hr. naps and one 45 min - 1 hr. nap (on other days, it's give or take one or two of those)
EXTREMELY active - scoots his bouncy seat across the living room by kicking (sometimes for an hour at a time!)
Mostly screams now to talk instead of cooing
Can roll over from tummy to back and vice versa on soft surfaces like the couch (can only get on his side on hard surfaces)
LOVES talking to and playing with his Daddy, smiles as soon as he sees him
Plays in his bouncy seat (likes this the most), his Johnny Jump Up, and his jumperoo
Favorite books - Fluffy Chick (with the crinkle pages) and Green Eggs and Ham

He's such a sweet, fun little guy. We feel so blessed!

Dream Come True

It has been a dream (and a calling) to start up a counseling center, especially one that can provide low-fee counseling to those that can't afford it. And thanks to my dad, mostly, and other supporters my sister and I are getting to do just that! Dayspring Center for Christian Counseling's Owens Cross Roads location is now open!

"Like" us on facebook to keep up with us and see all the work we've (including our awesome husbands) been doing. Check out our website too!

Merry Christmas!

What a blessing to have a bigger family this Christmas with this little guy! But we are most thankful that, as C.S. Lewis said, "The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God."

We had a great time of worship at church, including my dad singing a beautiful Casting Crowns song about the peace of God reigning in our hearts no matter what goes on around us in the world. My favorite lines in the song are

Then rang the bells more loud and deep
God is not dead, nor does He sleep
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, goodwill to men

So comforting to think about, that no matter the hate, trials, and storms that exist in our country and in our world, God still reigns and we can still have peace because His Son gave up everything to come here for us.
Merry Christmas, friends! Hope that you all know this peace!





Joey got his steel toed tennis shoes he wanted :)

3 months

Today marks 3 months for our little Marshall (aka Martian). Some milestones:


with his buddy, Carter Jones Cameron


"reading" his book

eating 5 oz. 3xs a day and 6.5/7 oz in the morning and at bedtime

sleeping 10.5 hours at night (and we usually have to wake him up in the morning)

until the past few days was still struggling with 30 minute naps, but we may have figured this one out (letting him stay up longer between naps and get really tired and he transitions through the 30 minutes easier), so lately he's been taking 3 hour to hour and a half naps during the day.

must be VERY entertained during wake times! He is extremely active like his Daddy!

only fussy when getting sleepy, really hungry, or BORED!

can roll over from tummy to back, haven't quite mastered back to tummy (can get on his side but can't quite make it)

coos but mostly "hoots" haha! Smiles and laughs a lot, especially at Daddy!

grabs a lot - his books, toys, bottle, etc.

wears 3 month, 3-6 months, or 0-3 months (depending on the brand)

uses his left hand a TON! (not sure if this is developmentally appropriate or we have a problem lol)

We love our little man, and are really getting to enjoy him since he's no longer screaming from fatigue!

2 months

Little man is 2 months old today! To be competely honest with you, it feels like it's been 6! Had his shots today :( He actually did so well, though! He only cried for a few seconds after each shot (had to have 3!) and then stopped! I was impressed! He's tough like his daddy!

He weighed 10 lbs 11 oz (50th percentile) and was 23 inches (40th percentile). He still takes his reflux medication (which has helped a lot), but he is otherwise a very healthy baby! He does still have his sleep issues during the day - we've literally tried EVERYTHING! Dr. says it's a sleep cycle issue where he can't transition from REM to deep sleep, which is why he wakes up at the 30 minute mark each nap (thankfully, he is still tired enough to sleep at night but it does take him over an hour to settle/fuss on and off to go to bed). Unfortunately, there isn't much we can do about this unless we want to drive him in the car or put him on the dryer for every nap (soothes him through the transition). So I'm praying he grows out of it soon because it's already been going on 3 weeks! I feel so sorry for this tired little man!

Here's some stats on him:
eats 4.5 oz 4 times a day and usually 5 oz at bedtime and at his early morning feeding (with 1 to 2 tbs rice cereal for the the reflux)
goes 6 to 7 hours between feedings after going down for the night
socially smiles a lot (when he's not tired)!! It's adorable, he even smiled at the dr today! He said he's about a month advanced with this!
Coos a little, but the doc said this should increase over the next month
wearing 3 month clothes (0-3 and 3-6 are too big and newborn is too small) which are kinda hard to find
wears 6 month socks (this child has huge feet and toes!)
still loves bathtime, will lay back and relax or kick and splash
no longer swaddles for sleep
still has strawberry blondish hair



We love our sweet boy!

Sleep Issues

Ok. Can somebody please tell me they experienced this and know what to do or can tell me that it will pass??! Marshall pretty much sleeps fine at night, every now and then we have to let him cry a few minutes at bedtime to fall asleep, especially since we've broken him of being dependent on the dryer for naps during the day. He'll go 4, 5, and 6 hours between feedings at night and pretty much go straight to sleep in between. The big problem is naps. One day he'll do great and stay up about an hour to an hour and a half then go down for a nap and fall asleep on his own, sleeping about an hour and a half to two hours. But every other day or so (since not using the dryer) he picks one nap (usually the lunchtime nap or the afternoon nap) to have issues with. He will go down for 30 minutes, then wake up. Instead of going back to sleep on his own like he does on the good days, he cries for several minutes (5 to 10) then falls back asleep for several minutes, then wakes up crying starting the cycle all over. We do this back and forth sleeping, waking up crying for an hour or so until then it's time for a bottle and he basically gets no nap. Typically after that our naps are shot for the day because he's so tired he does the same thing at the next nap (even if I try to put him down earlier because he's so tired). Somebody please help! I know he's miserable on those days because he's not even happy to be up and awake. Is this just his age (almost 8 weeks) or is it something we're doing or not doing? We try to stay on a pretty consistent but flexible schedule, eating every 3 to 3.5 hours and napping after being up every hour to hour and a half. So I don't know that he's getting "off" or anything. Any ideas??