my two favorite things

those lips and eyelashes... doesn't get much sweeter!

the squinchy nose

Crawford's new expression of choice.

I think he learned it from Stella. 

my new obsession and our 1st family vacay

I don't have an iPhone. In fact, I'm using David's old phone because mine is on it's last leg, and I'm just patiently waiting for our renewal on October 25 (Greg's birthday! another reason to be excited!) so I can join the iWorld. Until then, I use David's phone as much as possible. 

We just got back from a quick vacation to Colorado. It was great. Exactly what we needed. Time for just the three of us to be together. Away from home. No dishes to clean or floors to vacuum. No agenda. 

Meanwhile, I discovered Instagram. Yeah, I know. I'm way, way behind the times. Whatever. I'm obsessed. So, I will post a few of my non-Instagramed photos of our trip too, but for now, here's a pretty good recap: 

Pearl Street Festival, yam chips, already so thankful we brought the BOB

Boulder Falls, Crawford freaking loved the moving water

playground playing, gorgeous weather, my sunglasses look geriatric 

Artist Point at Flagstaff Mountain, thanks for the new-to-us Bjorn, Grandma Cathy!

Boulder overlook

prunes for breakfast... why does this kid never poop? why am I complaining?

uhoh, I discovered collages

Crawford's preferred method of drinking water, picnic lunch at Horsetooth Reservoir 

best part of the trip- Ft. Collins and Hannah, seriously affectionate child we have here

en route to the airport, stopped at a fun playground in (appropriately named) Superior, CO 

UTC Homecoming

Last weekend was Homecoming for UTC, and we spent the game in the Chancellor's Box. It's so nice that even though I left my job at UTC* when Crawford was born, we're still so connected through David's role on the alumni board. Selfishly, I love being able to stay in touch with the sweet friends I made!

Crawford was a trooper (theme of the week), and toughed it out way past his usual bed time. It helped that lots of people held him and loved on him! If only his adorableness had helped the Mocs win the football game...

Dr. Brown's last football game as UTC's Chancellor

Apparently the word is out (according to a UC Foundation Board friend we bumped into at the Atlanta airport) that I'm going back to work at UTC part time. My boss offered me some work-from-home time, and I couldn't turn her down! Details aren't finalized at all yet, so we'll see what comes.

a few fun Crawford videos

 And the best one yet...

[seven months]

One month:

Height- 20in,  Weight- 8 lbs. 9 oz.

Two months:

Height- 23in, Weight- 11 lbs.

Three months:

Height- 23.5ish in., Weight- 12 lbs.

Four months:

Height- 24 1/4 in. (25%), Weight- 12 lbs. 11 oz. (10%)

Five months:

Height- 25 in., Weight- 13 lbs. 10 oz.

Six months:

Height- 26 3/4 in. (64%), Weight- 15 lbs. 11 oz.  (19%)

Seven months:

Height- 27+ in.?

Weight- 16 lbs. 11 oz.  

Crawford, at seven months old you....

• make a few new sounds (g and w) and are still super chatty. You're definitely exploring all the different noises you can make and it is so adorable. 
• go to PlayGym at the Creative Discovery Museum once a week. Unfortunately, it is in the middle of your morning nap so it has taken a few weeks of figuring out how to make it so you aren't fussy the whole time. But you do love being there, and it's so fun to watch you learn and enjoy new things. You love the parachute and the bubbles the most. 
• think it's funny to put things in your mouth and let go of them so they hang (see green bean pictures below). 
• eat all kinds of food- broccoli, carrots, green beans, sweet potatoes, zucchini, prunes, yogurt (that you mostly feed to yourself on a spoon), and a new one from today is tortillas (Mojo! $1 taco day!).
• have had some poo issues as a result of the aforementioned food. You've been going 3-4 days without pooping (totally opposite from your previous poop-in-every-diaper routine), and at the end of that poop-strike is the NASTIEST diaper I have ever changed. Holy Toledo. And, now it stinks. And your farts stink (Daddy is so proud). 
• are the least flexible baby ever. Aren't babies supposed to be able to put their feet in their mouths?? You definitely can't do that.
• still have no interest in crawling. You are totally content to sit still and play with the toys within your reach. That makes my life easy :)
• are a flirt! Seriously. You cock your head to the side and give the sliest little grin (this happened for the first time with Camille). 
• love Harley. He has started showing some more interest in you too, which is fun. He likes to sit on your blanket with you on the floor while he plays with his toy and you play with yours. A few times he has brought his toy to you! You think it is hilarious when he gets close by. 
• don't like certain people. Uncle Jayme is the first person to get this response from you, and you thought he was terrifying.
• grab my necklace, nose, hair... whatever you can get your hands on. You love Daddy's watch and my rings, and you especially love this necklace that Uncle GG just gave me for my birthday. You're even gentle with it sometimes and just like to hold it in your hands and look at it.
• remember things! There is a nightlight behind the chair in your room that comes on when the room is dark. At night and in the morning when you are finished nursing you nearly jump out of the chair to see that light, and during the day when it isn't even on you do the same thing. It's so cool to me that you remember is it there even if you can't see it. It makes me consider what other things you can remember.
• love watching cars drive by. We often sit on the front porch and you are content to just look around and wait for a car! In general you love to be outside (especially on your swing). 
• think it is really funny to sit on daddy's belly when he is trying to make you laugh. It almost always works. He definitely gets the most smiles and laughs out of you.
• are mesmerized by my singing. Well, sort of. I sign the Doxology to you every night while I'm feeding you before bed, and you always stop nursing, break out a huge smile and just stare at me.  I can just say "Praise God" and you are totally entranced. It is the best part of my day.

adults live here too!

Since Crawford's arrival ye olde blog has been 99.9% about him. Rightly so since our lives look about the same these days. However, the two big people who live in this house have stuff going on too! I fail to mention it because the little man is the hot topic, but for the sake of recording our lives, here are a few comments about the rest of the Geyers in Chatt:

• I spent a lot of time over the summer as wedding central. I sewed a lot for Mary Shelton's wedding, helped Becca (Hart) Cash with her wedding stuff and wrapped a zillion wine bottles in jute for Ashley's wedding. Now I've got a paid gig (yay! money!) to make curtain panels for a wedding in October.
• Our house is officially OFF the market. After showing it FORTY - yes, four zero - times, we're calling it a day. In fact, I'm pretty excited about staying put. We feel like the Lord has really confirmed that this is where we are supposed to be, so how can we argue with that? 
• My sister is getting married in 24 days! Whoa! I'm getting super excited about all the festivities (including spending time with a bunch of extended family and special friends), but I'm getting equally freaked out about giving my MOH speech.
• In even bigger/better news, my sister and her then-will-be-husband are moving to Chattanooga in March!!! I'm begging Ash to work part time so she can hang out with me and Crawford the rest of the time :). We're all pretty pumped to live in the same town!!
• David and I just celebrated our 27th birthdays, and though we're the youngest of our group of friends, we feel old since we're in our "late twenties" now. David may be the youngest guy in our group, but he's got the most grey hair :)
• We're getting tons of use out of our BOB jogging stroller by going on lots of walks as a family. The weather is beautiful and we've been really enjoying the exercise and the quality time together after dinner every night. We have a 2 mile loop we usually walk, then after we come home and put C to bed, David runs the same route. I'm picking up the pace on my own a bit too, but I just remembered that I hate running. So, there's that.
• Our small group took a hiatus over the summer to pray and refocus our time together. We just started this video series, and during our first session our conversation was rich. I love this group and our time together, so I'm thrilled to be back in the swing of things. Plus, we rearranged our meeting time and now we have childcare! Yay for time to actually focus on adult conversation.
• I'm picking back up my ladies' Bible study at church and we're reading and discussing this book. I missed the first week, but I'm so ready to be back together with this group of women.
• Also, David and I have started going to a parenting class that is teaching through this study. We're doing it with a bunch of our friends, so I'm really looking forward to learning together as we parent together!
• This coming weekend is the first in TEN weeks that we aren't going out of town or have company coming to stay at our house. I cannot tell you how excited we are. Don't get me wrong, we've loved our busy summer, but it is high time for a break. Other than church and our parenting class, we have no plans and that is so refreshing! 
• We have a fun trip coming up in just two weeks! While we have done plenty of going-out-of-town since Crawford came along, it has been primarily for the purpose of seeing our (all) out-of-town family (yay for that to change in March!!). It's time for the three of us to get away on our own and enjoy some family vacation time. We can't wait.

Whew! I'm surprised that list is so long. Usually when people ask how we're doing I automatically talk and think about Crawford, so it's nice to be reminded that David and I have a lot going on too. 

cousins

I'm so glad my kid is blessed with such sweet cousins! I pray they will be best friends for years and years to come. I told Beth that I hope they are the kinds of cousins that are in each other's weddings one day :). Now... if we could all just live a bit closer to one another...

more swing pics

The best $20 I've ever spent! We are loving this swing!

swing

Crawford LOVES to be outside, so we bought a swing to hang in the front yard. I couldn't wait to try it out on him, and so far he loves it! Now, we just need some cool fall weather so we can play outside every day!

a few favs

Here are a few videos of some of Crawford's current favorite things:

Oh my goodness this video killlllls me. I love that little laugh!

three generations

the makings of a family photo

We just got home from a fun weekend in Ohio. While we were all together, we wanted to be sure to get a picture of Grammy Rae and Papa Dale with the five (of the 8) great-grandkids who were there. I had to document the process because it's pretty hysterical what it takes to get a photo like this accomplished. I'm not even sure that we got a good one, but we have lots of out takes for sure!

maybe the best one!