Adios Pootie

Tuff has always called his paci a "pootie." Not sure where it came from, how, when or why... But that's what it's been called. Pootie has been Tuff's very BEST friend since day 1. Even when he was a tee-tiny newborn....

....he loved his pootie.

Some days, he would even suck 2 pooties.

But our pootie days are thankfully sadly coming to an end!

Tuff went through a stage sometime last year where he started chewing on his pooties. He would chew on them so badly that we would have to throw them away and buy new ones. I constantly told him that pooites are expensive and if he kept on chewing on them that mommy and daddy weren't going to buy him anymore. But instead of keeping my word, we kept buying them. Eventually he stopped chewing on them. Well about 3-4 weeks ago he started this bad habit again! 3-4 weeks ago we probably had 5-6 pooties stocked up. One by one they were thrown away because of being chewed to a point where they couldn't be sucked on. When he started this habit back up I told him "Mommy and Daddy are NOT buying anymore pooties!" (and I mean't it this time!!!) About 2 weeks ago we got down to the LAST pootie and he started chewing on it too. Once I told him "This is your LAST pootie, mommy and daddy aren't buying anymore so you better not chew it up!" I think it set in. And he figured out "Hey! I think she's serious this time! I better hold onto this one!" So, after a little chewing I cut the nawed part off. (I think this is when it REALLY set in and he knew I was serious)

Here is pootie now.

2 weeks later and he is still holding on tight. Literally. Most nights he goes to sleep holding the pootie in his hand instead of putting it in his mouth. Obviously since it's almost impossible to suck now. I think it's just a sense of "security" for him. But hey! It's a start! Right? Right! For a kid  who used to wake up in the middle of the night to find his pootie and if he couldn't find it, he'd wake EVERYONE else up to find it too.... I think it's a start!

YAY!!! to losing the pootie.

Not so much for losing our baby!!!

Mommy & Daddy are SO proud of the big boy he's becoming!!!

Now... here's to being pootie-less! :)

Brothers (Photo Shoot)

I wish I could explain how impossible fun it is to try and get just ONE decent picture of more than one child. Especially when both are under the age of 2. HA! Tuff wanted to "hold" baby Gunner last night. He has been wanting to do more involving baby Gunner lately. Helping, Holding, etc. So I thought I'd try and get a good picture out of it. Here is how that turned out. (In B&W, I edited them)

TAKE 1

 TAKE 2

 TAKE 3

 TAKE 4

 TAKE 5

And if you're wondering if I got any decent ones, I did.....

 After a whole lotta "TAKES"....

Sweetest babies I've ever seen!!!

Even though I could be a little partial ;-)

Happy Wednesday, Friends!

Weekend

Daddy had to work Friday night so we had a pretty low key weekend. We usually do when he has to work Friday nights because he usually sleeps most of the day on Saturday. Friday night the boys and I went to Dalton's ball game. Both boys did great! We tried sitting in a different location so Tuff could move around a little more and it worked out wonderfully (for everyone!). Saturday we went to the grocery store. My little sister tagged along to help. It's hard doing it alone. Too hard in fact. Once we got home we stayed there... the rest of the weekend. Told you it was pretty low key. I don't really have anything TO special to talk about today so I'll just post some random pictures from the past few days/weeks.

Loving my babies one night after work last week.

 Always loving this sweet smile.

Gunner Bear being a cry baby. ;-)

Daddy reading to Bubba before bedtime.

(LOVE my boys!)

8th grade night last week.

Can't believe how big my niece, nephew & sister is getting!

(They'll all be in HS next year, wowzer! Wasn't I just there??)

Courtland's poster

Courtland with mom.

Syd's poster

Sydney w/ mom, dad & coach.

(Sorry the quality stinks. They had the lights off for a slide show)

Got to have lunch with the sweet Smith clan on Friday.

(LOVE them!)

LOVE this pic I got of Sophie.

Sweet little Greer was "under the weather" and pretty tired.

(But still sweet as he could be)

And I'll leave you with my 2 FAVORITE smiles.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

Happy Monday! ;-)

"Pray for Branden"

I've been seeing this a lot lately.

 "Pray for Branden!"

Signs, pictures, t-shirts, wrist bands, bumper stickers. All with different quotes or sayings. All for a sweet little boy in my hometown who is battling cancer right now. Let me start by saying this...

 I can NOT even begin to imagine....

This is Branden.

He is in the 5th grade

&

he was diagnosed with medulloblastoma in November 2011.

I find myself thinking about him and praying for him daily. I find myself thinking sometimes, what if that were one of my babies? I can't stand to see my babies sick with a cold, a fever, a virus... anything! But all of those things are nothing compared to cancer. Cancer. Such a cruel disease. Something no person should ever have to endure, especially a young child.

I'm not really sure where I'm going with all of this. I just felt it was necessary to post about him since it is something that has been so heavy on my heart lately. Passing his story along also means more prayers gathered. If you're reading this, please keep this sweet boy and his family in your daily prayers. Even though I don't know him personally, my heart still aches for him and his family. And I still continue to pray for him daily.

"fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." -ISAIAH 41:10

Where did the time go?

Where ole where did my little boy go?

He's getting WAY to big WAY to fast!

Mommy loves you Bubbie!