9 months

Caleb,

This month has been so fun with you and you seriously are the best baby ever. We see more and more how content you are in any situation, how laid back and easy going you are, and how you have such a sweet temperament.

My favorite thing about you recently is your love for Blue (your stuffed dog) and for blankets. If you're sitting on the blanket on the floor sometimes you'll scrunch the blanket up in your lap, lay your head on the blanket and suck your thumb. It is one of the most precious things I've ever seen.

You are getting more mobile - you love to roll around the floor and scoot around on your belly. You can get up on your knees and rock back and forth, but still haven't figured out how to move forward. We're working on getting you into the sitting position from the floor as well. You're so close to crawling and sitting up on your own though that I'm not worried.

This past month we've been traveling like crazy. We've been to Pittsburgh, Gwynn's Island, and the Smokey Mountains. You've outgrown your infant car seat and so you're now in what I call your 'big boy car seat'. In the mountains you said 'momma' for the first time and my heart melted. I cannot wait until we can talk to one another!

At your check-up this month they weighed you in at 23 pounds 15 ounces, which means you're still in the 95 percentile for weight. You're overall healthy though and so that's all that matters.

Caleb, you are the apple of my eye. Your dad and I cannot imagine life without you - you bring so much joy to our lives. Our hearts overflow with love for you and we frequently comment how we never knew we could love someone as much as we love you.

next project

One downside of our current house is that we do not have enough storage space. We only have 2 closets in the entire house, which are located in each bedroom. There is no linen closet or place to put our vacuum, stroller, bike, etc. My sewing stuff is laid out in our living room and stuffed under both couches. It stresses me out seeing all of our stuff just out and not in a proper place. And so I've been thinking of creative ways to store some of these things in our house to make it look a bit more tidy.

Another issue is that we need more seats in our living room. We have people over quite frequently and always have to pull in chairs from the dining room, which aren't always that comfortable. So my latest idea is to make a storage bench! That way I have a place to put all my sewing stuff AND have more comfortable seating for guests!

Here are a few pictures that incorporate some things that I like. Instead of buying something though, Steve and I are going to tackle making our own. It definitely comes in handy when your dad is a woodworker and your mom is a sewer. They don't know this yet, but we're volunteering them to help us with this next project of ours!

I like the slats on the front, but looks too outdoorsy for a family room

I don't know how I feel about the baskets, but like the idea of having pillows on top

My fav so far - simple, with slats and a combo of baskets and cabinets

Or I really like this one and this one, but would have to put a cushion on the top.

Pic sources are from Pottery Barn, styleathome, and furniturecreations

the smokies

We just got back from a super fun vacation with the Berry family in Bryson City, NC in the beautiful Smokey Mountains. There were 23 of us altogether so there was never a dull moment (especially with the 2 grandkids there). Besides taking in God's beautiful creation whenever we woke up and saw the view from our cabin, we did LOTS of activities and ate LOTS of food.

Activities throughout our time there included hiking, eating, white water rafting, cornhole tournament, eating, horseback riding, tubing down the river, eating, golfing, watching movies, playing card/board games, eating, putting together puzzles, and eating some more. It's a good thing we had so many physical activities with all the food that was consumed during our time there.

It was amazing to have boiled peanuts every day, fresh veggies from our gardens or farmer's markets, hand-picked blueberries, fresh peaches from GA, and then of course the neverending amount of sweets and blowpops (a Berry favorite).

Even though all the cousins are getting older, whenever we get together we just pick up right where we left off before. I am truly thankful for a family that even though are far away geographically continue to visit one another and can continue to have really fun family vacations together!

Family hike to some waterfalls

The highest mountain in TN - Clingmans Dome - but it was too foggy to see anything

Another viewpoint from Clingmans Dome

Caleb loved hiking!

Taking Caleb to look at the waterfall

The start of a crazy hike...Chimney Tops

This picture doesn't do the craziness of this rock climbing adventure justice.

On top of the chimney. You can't tell from this picture, but we had a magnificent view once the clouds cleared away.

handmade with love.

A couple of months ago I began making my first baby quilt for my future niece or nephew. Before starting, I knew there were two main requirements for this specific quilt:

1. it had to be a fairly easy pattern so I would finish it in time and

2. the colors had to be gender neutral.

I found an awesome pattern on etsy and then went to a local quilting store to begin looking for fabric. I wasn't sure at first what color scheme I wanted to do, but I knew I didn't want it to be the usual yellow and green.

I knew the nursery was mainly white and navy blue (which I love), but I also knew that I wanted to use more than just two colors in the quilt. Since it was a surprise quilt, I didn't want to spoil it by asking my sis-in-law too much about whether she was going to bring out any other colors in wall decorations, blankets, etc. So the goal was to have enough different colors in it that it wouldn't necessarily clash with any color that she could possibly accent the nursery with, but also to remain gender neutral.

What I ended up with was 12 different fabrics of all sorts of colors - reds, greens, blues, oranges, greens, yellows, etc of all various patterns - polka dots, birds, whales, stripes, flowers, etc. To bring in the nursery colors, I decided to use white muslin for the sashing/borders and then navy for the binding and the back.

I was really happy with the end result and was super excited to give the quilt to my sis-in-law at her shower. I hope she and Tom-Tom Jr. (or Amanda Sr.) will enjoy the quilt as much as I enjoyed making it!