inspire me.

i have this stack of journals in our bedroom that i have been neglecting, but you can't start one journal until you finish another

this one was given to me on christmas and the last time i wrote was april 1st, haha funny how much has happened since that day. i was resting on the couch that day so the baby wouldn't come early. little did we know, he would make his appearance the next day.

anyways, 6 months have passed and these pages should not be empty, and yet here they are. my heart and mind have been so full, with no release. i'm in need of some inspiration.  

weddings and growing up

what we're doing

milestones

he's starting to hold (or try to) his own bottle now during feedings. 5 months and growing up fast.

Moving on.

I think I am queen of list making. I have to make one for everything anymore, it seems. I have one for the beach vacation, our future wedding planning, things we'll miss and not miss about the place we're living now, and started on a list of positives about the new place. Also, a regular ole TO-DO list. (This is all not to mention the growing list of things from the grocery store.)
My mom says I get it from my dad, because he made a list for everything he did. I specifically remember the grocery store lists, complete with pricing. I think it's a combination of that, and the fact that since right around when I got pregnant, all through pregnancy and now just through a lupus flare up, it feels like my brain is slacking. I think it's a Lupie thing.

My most recent, as mentioned before, is things that we will miss, and not miss about living here on Smith Road. I'm not sure if the list is helpful, or if it's really just bringing my pessimistic side out,  because the negatives FAR outweigh the positives here. Or you could take it as a sign. Maybe we were settling when we took this place. We felt a bit rushed. But now we've spent a year here and we know what we really want and what we really DON'T want to have to deal with.

I'm excited for all the possibilities that come with starting fresh in a new place. Time to expand and grow!

I'm really looking forward to when Jake gets off work so we can check this place out and I can complete the list, as well as maybe add a picture or two.

5 months old

9/12

They say whatever you are doing on the first of the year is what you'll be doing a lot of the rest of the year. Can the same thing be said for the first day of every month. Because we have spent the first day of this ninth month of 2013 with a special little boy, whose smile lights up his daddy's face, which in turn warms my heart.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. - Jeremiah 29:11

I cannot believe how fast the year has flown by. And I hear the years just seem to try to sneak up and on by you quicker the older you get, especially when you have baby's to watch grow up. The trick is to not let them. I know the last 5 months have went by so fast. I don't want to waste a single moment with my family. Brantley keeps hitting milestone after milestone, and even though I have looked forward to a couple of them (holding his head up, sitting up on his own, holding his own bottle) I know that he is just growing up on me and I will never have this cute little baby anymore. He will grow into this cute little toddler, this cute little boy, this smart little teenager and this handsome young man. One thing I have felt 100 percent sure of, is that the hand I will be holding through this journey will never change. I have been certain of this for quite some time now. It is one more thing that keeps my heart beating. I cannot thank God enough for my Hardy boys.

Proverbs 22:6 - Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.