Sweet 'Taters and Six Months

Beau Elias is six months old! My goodness, time flies when you're having fun! Beau is up to (and IN to) so many things these days. Here's a little of what our sweet little buddy is doing:

• Rolling all over, front to back, back to front, you name it, he's doing it
• Scooting back and forth to try to reach things out of his grasp
• Jumping! This kid really enjoys that jumper we got him - Brandon and I both agree it's one of the best investments we made for that kid
• Squealing! Letting his opinion out there, that's what he does.
• Smiling and laughing ALL. THE. TIME.
• Getting upset when he sees me come into view and I don't hold him. This can be if he's playing alone, or even if he's with someone else.
• Learning who his Gran and Pops are and smiling when he sees them! 
• He's trying SO very hard to crawl, you can see the frustration on his face when he can't get to where he wants to be
• Sitting up on his own
• Standing up (with help) but managing to hold most of his weight on his own (using us mainly for balance)

Beau's been very anxious to get on the food bandwagon, so for his half-year birthday, we decided he could try some sweet potatoes. I bought a sweet potato, baked it and then ground it up and put it into ice trays to freeze for later, all the while leaving a little out for him to taste. Right now we're looking at giving him some everyday, but just once, and just a few teaspoons. Right now we're going for him learning texture, not really for nutrition. For that, he's still Mommy's man! He really enjoyed the sweet potatoes, and I think he's enjoying feeling included at lunch. So, food - check! Happy Half-Birthday precious Beau Elias, your Daddy and I love you more than we can say!

Give Thanks

Sweet Beau's first Thanksgiving arrived with tons of grins and laughs from the boy! He was ready to have some fun with all our family. And why wouldn't he? He was doted on every minute he was awake! Here's some of the boy getting ready before we headed to the Lehrmann Thanksgiving, where we stuffed ourselves full of turkey, ham, sweet potato casserole, mac and cheese, dressing, corn, green beans....you get the idea. Hooray for holidays and family time!

What a smile!

Huck being in the giving mood and letting Beau pet him

Giddy On Outta Here!

Brandon's friend Justin runs a furniture store here in town that has this wonderful saddle stool in the front area. From the moment Beau got on, he was LOVING it! Brandon was seriously considering bartering to get that thing home, ha!

The boy and his saddle

What a grin!

The boy and his dad, riding away!

Snooze Buddies

Need I say more?

Shameless Promotion

Ok, so I'll admit it. I've resulted to shameless self promotion. No, not for myself, but for my husband's business. And yes, I'm using my child. Go ahead, shame on me! But seriously, looking at this adorable child, how can you NOT want to stop by? :)

Yep, he's a cutie!!

Yes, his daddy's certified ;)

He's even pitching in to make it a success!

Hard worker! (And don't worry, the drill was only in his grasp for approximately 5 seconds - I may be shameless, but I'm not completely reckless!)

Come see Lehrmann & Jackson LLC! Grand opening December 10th! (For more info, just contact me!) And a BIG thank you to my wonderful and extremely patient child, Beau, who allowed me to pose him in a million different ways. Gotta love that child!

Speed Racer

This little boy just loves his car that his Gran and Pops got for him! He's so ready to race all around. Question is, are we ready? I'm not so sure.... :)

Beau and Graham, take 3

The boys got to spend some more quality time together this weekend. We went to Temple for Adam and Alisha's oldest (Landon)'s birthday. It was so fun and the party was amazing, Adam and Alisha certainly know how to throw a party! (The cake was amazing as well - a Darth Vader completely formed in their own kitchen by their hands - can you say WOW?) The buddies played for awhile and were so sweet. Graham is getting so big and is such a handsome fella! I think these two are going to be quite the lady-killing pair. :)

Fun with Fire

We spent some fun fam tonight playing with our firepit. Beau is such a boy when it comes to the outdoors - this kiddo just eats it up! He loved looking at the fire and just kept jumping up and down on us - what a treat! He's also at the point where he is constantly "talking" and we just love it. It's the neatest thing to watch your child realize they can make sounds. Beau gets the biggest kick out of realizing the power of his own voice. I can't quite imagine how neat it will be to hear him actually form words.

Dad keeping the fire going

Beau mesmorized by the flames

Beau and his Daddy

Having fun boy time

Ha, attempt at a fam pic (he was over it by this point)

Mama and her boy

Joining in the Fun

Since we've really been putting off the whole "eating" business until the 6 month mark (although he's had cereal twice), Brandon and I decided that since he was so interested in what we were eating at lunch, that we'd let him join in. No, I didn't grab my plate and let him start digging in, ha! I had pumped some during a small nursing strike we went through to keep my supply up, and we put a little in one of his bowls and fed it to him with a spoon...and boy did he enjoy getting in on the action! We'll start solids soon enough guy!

Big Accomplishment!

I couldn't get the video to load on here, but today Beau rolled from tummy to back AND back to tummy! It was SUCH an accomplishment. He had been trying so hard for the last couple weeks or so, just to get on his side and roll back in frustration. But today he made it all the way over. Great job, dandy!

Our boy's growing up!

Loving on his monkey friend

Retreat and Treat!

Yesterday Beau and I took off for our church's Ladies' Retreat. I was a little nervous over how Beau would do away from 1) Daddy, 2) home and his bed and 3) in a room overnight with people he wasn't used to. Well, he did really well. We had a rough night, which I was expecting, but at 4:30 AM, when my little one was up yet again (we were getting  up about once every hour) and we were pacing the floor after his feeding, one of the ladies in our room said she would hold him while I slept a little. This was SO sweet. So Mayre rocked Beau for awhile and when my alarm went off two hours later, these two buddies were snug as a bug together in Mayre's bed. So precious. AND apparently neither she nor Jackie (our other roommate) heard Beau much throughout the night - wow! He was wonderful the rest of the time and slept the whole way back. What a guy!

Playing during break time at the retreat.

Later that evening after we got home, my hubby and I went on a dinner date with a giftcard we had received from my very wonderful in-laws. It was so nice to spend a little time with the hubs, he's been quite busy the last month or so!

Love him!

Ha, this is probably a better description of how silly we are!

Day Trip

The morning started so sweetly by catching the boy snoozing HARD on his dad. These two are so sweet to watch and I just knnow how much Brandon treasures these moments with him.

Then later that day the boy and I went to Denton to visit my sister for her birthday. It was a lot of fun and Beau did VERY well all things considered. He even got a UNT onesie to wear, so now he has both Mom AND Dad's alma maters hanging in the closet. :)

Examining his new outfit

The girl and me

Hard

Work Hard.

Play Hard.

Sleep Hard!

Girlie's 22!

Today is my sister Michelle's 22nd birthday. Wow, just saying that makes me feel SO old! It's hard to believe 22 years have gone by since I finally became a big sister. I remember being SO disappointed that her name wasn't Praire Dawn (for all you Sesame Street fans), but Michelle Cathleen worked just as well. :) This girlie and I have been through quite a bit and through it all, I love her so very much. I know we don't always agree or see eye-to-eye, but she's been the one that's been through it all with me. I guess you could say there's just something pretty special about being a big sister. It's a feeling you can't quite describe. I just know the day they brought her home and every day since, I'm just so glad I got to be her big sister. I've let her down and have built her up and there's not a day I would take back. I suppose I just want her to know how much she means, how valuable I find her. I don't have too many pictures, especially not of any when we were little (oh, how I wish I did!), but I did manage to find a few. So enjoy, and to my sweet sister, Mishka-Boya, Happy Birthday and know how much you're loved!

My sister Clair, myself, and Michelle

My sisters and me at Michelle's HS graduation

Freshman at UNT

Birthday girl

With her two favorite pups in the world

Being so silly with my sister

Past Christmas