Crawford, true life.

Where do I begin? I just put the little boy down for bed (to him saying "vacuum! vacuum?" because David is cutting the grass), and my heart is full. And exhausted.

I'm afraid I've been too positive in my monthly updates of this little guy, and I haven't adequately expressed the difficulty that is Crawford these days. I want to remember the fun and the joy, but I want to be realistic and not just paint some picnics and butterflies picture of our jolly little life. Especially because I have a feeling that I'll look back on these posts when Lawson is X months and see how the two compare, I want to record it all - the good, bad and the frustrating.

And, to be honest, there's a lot of "frustrating" going on these days.

I think we do pretty well at home when it is just the two of us, but when we are around other people (which is every day!) I feel like I am constantly making excuses for his crankiness. He's teething. He woke up early. He woke up late. He is hungry. yadda, yadda, yadda... I think I so desperately want people to think he is a good, fun kid (he is! I promise!) and to approve my parenting "skills". Or, at least not judge my lack thereof.

I tell people regularly that God is so good to simultaneously make kids more fun as they become more challenging. I am constantly thankful that Crawford can give kisses and make silly faces and talk so much and dunk a basketball and color pictures (well, you know...) because without those simple joys, the tantrums and whining and defiance would maybe be too much to handle some days.

What I remember being the most difficult about the first few months of Crawford's life was the mental stress of knowing/not knowing how to care for a child. How to feed him enough and sleep train and buy the right car seat and the list goes on and on. I'm realizing now (finally! 17 months into this whole ordeal!) that that mental engagement NEVER ends, and I need to figure out how to handle it in a healthy way. I need to seek advice from godly friends and older women (choose selectively people I won't feel judged by!); genuinely trust the Lord, even with the simplest of decisions (has he slept too long? should I wake him up? will he sleep later?); discern the guiding of the Spirit throughout my mundane-ist of days, when a simple trip to the park will revolutionize our attitudes.

I prayed with him as I put him down, and I thanked the Lord for the good times and the hard times because they edify us and make us rely on Him more. I pray that Crawford feels that way about life some day. And in the mean time, I need a lot of edification. And chocolate.

dining room - the (mostly) after

As a refresher, here are the before pictures of the sunroom-turned-dining-room. And, some progress pics here.

As we (David/Randy) made a bit more headway on the room construction, we (I) realized the completion date was going to be precariously close to David's sister and her family coming to visit. They have four kids now, and I knew we would need and want as much space as possible so I encouraged (read: was annoying and persistent) everyone to get it finished before their arrival. Last week turned out to be nutty, but we got it finished. David made the VERY wise decision to hire John Bryant to come help get stuff done around the house. Some things had just gotten a backseat because the room had taken priority (clean out the gutters, put together our new grill), but he was a total lifesaver to have help. He was at the house Tuesday night until 10:30 laying tile because it HAD to get done that night in order for the timing of the rest of the week to happen. Oh, and a tree fell on the house mid-week, and he took care of that too. Whew. It really was a nutty week.

Now, some pictures (and a few scattered words - mostly for my future recollection):

Table score at the Pottery Barn outlet!

Then, this happened. Lovely, right? We actually had someone come give us an estimate to have this tree limb cut down a few weeks ago, and he told us it didn't need to be. Nice. Fortunately it came down very slowly over the course of a few days, so it didn't cause much damage (a dented gutter and part of the deck rail that needs to be re-nailed together).

And, the finished product! Complete with farmers market flowers David brought home on Thursday :).

We got the chairs from Pier One when they were running a sale, but our local store only had five in stock so my parents picked up the sixth one. The brown pillows were on the porch before, and they are a bit faded but who cares? I've had the baker's rack since my Birmingham house, and now it's finally getting more use. We certainly still have some styling to do - oh, and a boat load of touch up painting. Oops. Turns out I'm pretty horrible at painting... But, all in all we can call it complete. Tonight was our first family dinner in there, and it was so wonderful. I'm loving it already!

17 months

Crawford, at 17 months you:

• are a little parrot. You repeat everything we say!
• LOVE balls. This is certainly nothing new, but it has reached a whole new height of obsession.
• are addicted to your paci all of a sudden. We have always kept a few in a mug downstairs and now you know where they are and ask for them alllll the time (by saying and signing "peeeas"). And then you have to have a lovey (to rub under your nose) or the blanket off the couch to lay on the floor to cuddle. We've only let you have the paci in the crib and car seat for months now, but when you were sick recently we caved and let you have it a lot. We have to get out of that bad habit! I hate for you to talk with that stinking thing in your  mouth... you're too old for that!
• hated swim lessons, I think mainly because of the time... We're going to try a different session next week. You generally love being in the water!
• cut all 4 molars at once (verrrrry slowly).
• are down to one nap a day (around 12:30), but sometimes wake up so early we have to sneak in a morning cat nap.
• love to point out my earrings (and turn my head to find the other one) and teeth, everyone's hat and/or glasses.
• think all African American people are wearing hats. And point it out. Loudly. In public. 
• willingly give kisses, but mostly just to me and daddy. You almost never turn down an opportunity to give the baby kisses. 
• love stickers, your lawn mower, bubbles, wearing your sunglasses on your head, watching Elmo on YouTube for 30 seconds at a time, making baskets, the vacuum cleaner (and lawn mower and power tools- you call them all vacuum), driving cars and reading books (by yourself).
• LOVE the VBS DVD my mom gave you. It is the "music videos" of the songs they sang that week, and you would watch it all day if we let you. I don't know if it's the actual movie ("moomie") you like or just that it's the only you-specific thing we put on the tv.

snapshots