Worth the mess.

Normally when Hardin is eating, I take every precaution to make it as clean as possible. I give him only a few bites at a time and feed him with a fork to prevent sticky hands. I tossed that to the wind tonight when I made Cat's famous homemade lasagna. I only make it when we have company, and my poor mom's air conditioner went out so she and Maw Maw are here for a sleepover. I cut up a bunch of salad and lasagna and let H at it. He had a BLAST. The mess was worth every second of it. Cleaning a huge mess is not much more work than cleaning a small one, but I wouldn't expect a repeat of that event anytime soon.

The rest of our weekend was spent relaxing and enjoying our lack of plans. Jason played golf Saturday morning and I met some of the girls at the club pool. Steph brought Leighton, and believe it or not this was the best picture of our cuties. Hardin and I stopped at Walmart on the way home to get a congrats cake and every bit of tacky yard decor I could find for my neighbors house. Her son's baseball team won the state championship and is on their way to the World Series in North Carolina! Little old Winder, who would have thought.

This morning Hardin had his first Waffle House experience where he was able to enjoy the food as much as the scenery. He loved every bit of the waffle daddy shared with him. No syrup of course.

I'm not far behind him.

The way he sleeps now melts my heart.  I love that little bum stuck up in the air.  One day I'll find one of the many pictures we have of my little bro in the exact same position.  He literally could be B in that crib.  Well, except the hair of course.  By this age Scott had a head full of blond curls. 

This week was great, uneventful, but great.  The most exciting part is that I get to spend 60 hours straight with my boy this weekend!  It is also worth noting that Taylor Swift's "Mean" video came on today and stopped Hardin dead in his tracks.  Jason is a CMT junkie, so this was not his first experience with country music.  He watched the entire video and danced.  Jason thought it was hysterical so he saved it to show me.  It was by far the cutest thing ever.  He just sat quite as a mouse watching and then he'd bust out a little shoulder dance.  

He sure looks cozy and I'm not far behind him.  It's not even 9 and Daddy's already joined him.  

I love your face!

Sunday was the perfect day. We did absolutely nothin' except cuddle and play with our sweet boy. His little face just makes me so happy. Sometimes so serious, sometimes so goofy, rarely sad, and always super sweet. I could just eat him up!

But don't expect that sweet face to be crawling anytime soon.  He still gives me the total stink face when I try and get him to play on his tummy.  That face is followed by a quick flip.  He also has plenty of toys, but prefers to dump out the personal care products and put them back in.  Over.  And over.  And over.

Finally, after much thought and even more prayer, this mama will be around a little more starting this week.  I've been running both our Buford and Athens offices for over a year now, but due to some recent changes and craziness, I have decided to scale it back to just Buford.  While I'll be missing the extra funds and The Classic City for sure, I'll be so much less stressed and crunched for time.  I figure I've got the rest of my life to work and make more money, but my boy is growing up in a hurry, and I'm going to love every extra second of time with him!

Longest. Week. Ever.

I honestly thought this week would never end. Ever. I'll spare everyone the work drama, but there was plenty of it. I'm so thankful to have my boys to go home to every day.

Tuesday afternoon, one of my best friends in this world lost her sweet mama to cancer. I still remember the day she was diagnosed. I was in my first year of law school, got the email during class and packed up my stuff and drove straight to Carrolton. I just knew I heard wrong. Knew it.

Bardene was absolutely wonderful to me, and even welcomed me to stay with them one summer following a very difficult year for my family. Sharing time with Mary Ellen's family that summer meant more to me than any of them will ever know. She was the type of mom you can only hope and pray every single one of your children's friends will be raised by.

She put up a very good 7 year fight, and she will be missed like no one can even imagine. I think the very worst part of having experienced the loss of a parent before someone else, is that you know what the next couple of months and years have in store for them. Not to mention this was her Mama, and sweet Liddie's Nana, who kept her every day. Makes my heart ache for them.

Also makes me want to give my mom about nine million more hugs than I already do. Mom and I have never been big phone talkers, and I think one of the best things about seeing her all the time is being able to thank her and tell her I love her when she leaves.

One quick story from today. Elise is back from maternity leave, so Hardin is going to mom's every other Friday again. Today I got there and she had an old comforter spread out on her floor. This just made me laugh because I knew it was to keep him clean. You could literally eat Thanksgiving dinner off that woman's floors and you'd go home questioning the cleanliness of your finest china in comparison. She sure does make me smile.

Good times and other times.

Saturday was day three of single and Gigi free motherhood. It is nice to know I can handle it if I need to, but it is a different world without my man and my mama. I enjoyed every second of Hardin to myself, it's all the cleaning and organizing and such I could do without.

Saturday night, I was able to go to the wedding Jason was in since I was in town. I took Hardin to Justin and Cathy's on my way there, and he had his first spend the night with his cousins. Cat and Justin got their first taste of three kids. Hopefully Mimi won't blame me if there are no more grands from that side of the family.

I think they all had a great time, and from the pictures Cat took, it looks like H and Lil just followed Cawley around everywhere.

We had a blast at the biggest wedding I have ever been to. Big in the fact that almost every one of the 500+ people that were invited were in attendance. Also big in the fact that Jason is 6'2" and was EIGHT in line in height order. Those Holders grow'em big.

Sunday was a sadder occasion. We attended "uncle" Bruce's memorial service and it was a beautiful tribute to his life. He was actually my mom's cousin Connie's husband, but he was so much more. It was way too close to home as he was in his sixties and left three wonderful children. I can tell you one thing though, if you're allowed a cold beer in Heaven, Bruce and my daddy surely had one this weekend. Those two were quite the pair back in the day.

Hardin looks a little out of it, but it was the best we could do!

Saved by the Burrous

Olivia is as fast as she is cute!

My lifesaver of a friend, Ali, volunteered to keep little baby Hardin today.  It was one of those sincere volunteers too.  Not just the kind where you say you'll do something while crossing your fingers praying they don't take you up on your offer.  I thought it may be a little too crazy with two 8-month-olds, but then I also thought it'd be the good kinda crazy, and I think it was.

I went over a little before 9, and put H down for a nap around 9:30 when I left.  He slept until almost 11:30, and so did Olivia.  Fortunately, they took their afternoon naps at the same time too, so hopefully Al had a little time to regroup. 

When I got back around 5:30 everyone was just fine and my sweet friend didn't even look frazzled.  I'd say it was a success.  I sure am a LUCKY mama to have such a wonderful mommy friend to watch my boy when I was in a pinch.  I'm secretly hoping Ali gets in a pinch soon...  it sure did look like fun to have those two together.

After the past week, any fear I ever had about Hardin not being able to adjust well went out the window.  He'd never really done anything to make me think he'd have trouble, but in his 8 months of life, the boy hardly ever went anywhere besides Gigi's for any extended period of time.  In the past week he's been tossed around states, slept at Mimi's, Gigi's, Terri's, Ali's and tomorrow Justin and Cathy's house.  He did just fine at all of them as long as he had Bunny and Doug in tow.  Love that boy.  And love when he surprises me being such a big brave boy. 

Happiest when he is eating!

A Fantastic 4th!

We went to vising Mimi in Ft. Myers this weekend and it was a blast!

The boring stuff I'll want to remember:

Our first flight with Hardin was picture perfect. We breezed to the airport, taxied right out, smooth flight, baby was charming and Becky was waiting when we got there.

Our second flight was the exact opposite. It was delayed 2 1/2 hours. We were supposed to land at 6. We took off at 7. Then had to drive in the storms that caused the delay. Hardin was up way past his bedtime, and was not nearly as charming on the plane. He whined quite a bit. Overall though, I'd say it was a success.

Hardin slept like a dream! We were worried because he's never been in a pack-n-play that long. He napped and slept like a champ. No fussing at all.

He was great at restaurants as long as he was eating. And eating. And eating. We have yet to put anything in his mouth he didn't like.

The fun stuff everyone will want to remember:

In between those two flights we had a wonderful visit. Friday we had take out pizza and hung out at Mimi's with Cathy, Cawley and Lillian. Cawley showed Jason how to use his new iPad.

Saturday we went to Cathy's mom's house for a cookout. Cathy's mom and aunt went to high school with Becky and they've all been friends for many years. Hardin was SO serious the entire time. Those folks probably think the kid never smiles.

The little kids did a lot of this...

The big kids did a lot of this...

The bigger kids did a lot of this...

Sunday, when there was no one around, Hardin sat on the floor and laughed at himself. He smiled, he hammed it up. At least Mimi got to see him all goofy. We also drove out to Sanibel Island and met Cathy and crew at the beach for a little while. Of course I'd been dreaming of the perfect beach baby picture. When it came time to leave, I wasn't about to put that boy down in the sand to get all nasty. We'll try again next year.

It was so much fun we're already talking about going back next 4th!

Note to self...  next vacation, get at least ONE picture of myself with my baby.