It's Crawdaddy's Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Crawdaddy! My dad is truly Ford's most favorite person. Everytime my dad walks into the room, Ford starts laughing and waving his arms and bouncing up and down. EVERY single time! It's so cute! And I think the feeling is totally mutual. Crawdaddy loves his namesake (my dad is CrawFORD, which is Ford's middle name) and apparently everyone thinks Ford looks just like him, which my dad LOVES to hear. My dad tells anyone that will listen that Ford has totally changed his life! We love you, Crawdaddy!

A Thanksgiving Post for Papa and Dede

Sorry this post is so delayed...I've been crazy busy finishing up a calligraphy job and making our Christmas cards! We spent Thanksgiving in Charlotte with the Rays, and then we went to Atlanta on Friday to spend some time with all of Joseph's Dad's family, minus his dad and Debbie:(...Papa and Dede, I'm posting lots of pictures for you so you can feel like you were there with us! Katie, if you have any pictures from Atlanta, please send them my way! Thanks!

Ford all alone at the Thanksgiving table...where's the turkey, guys??

Clean cousins!

Ford and Maryn really played together for the first time. It's so funny to already see their personalities coming out! Maryn is definitely going to be the boss!

This picture looks so sweet, but I think Maryn was actually trying to rip the bottle from his mouth! Speaking of bottles, they are no more in the Martin home! And it was so much easier than I thought it would be!

Cooks in the Kitchen...I wish I'd gotten a better picture of the 3 girls cooking - Jennie and Mark invited their friends Shawn and Andrea to share in our Thanksgiving feast and we had a great time! Andrea is one of the sweetest, funniest people I know, and she has the best accent! Joseph tried to read all the road signs in her voice on the way home and it didn't sound nearly as cute coming from him. At one point, I called Jennie (who was following us to Atlanta) and asked if I could please switch places with Mark so I wouldn't have to listen to it anymore! That pretty much stopped the accent!

And brought to you by request from Darby Stickler...the little pup in the corner is Max the War Eagle Beagle! He's not on Jennie's "Favorite Things" list right now due to his obsession with food and the lengths he'll go to get it, but he's the 2nd cuddliest dog I know (right behind his cousin Mac). Max, I hope you enjoy your blog debut!

We had Christmas while we were there and it was great! Ford got some fun books and puzzles, Parker got a Thomas train wash that he played with for 10 hours in one day, and Maryn got a baby stroller and a Cabbage Patch Kid (inspired by Paige and Carol...thanks Darby!)!!

Hours of entertainment...Parker got major air jumping onto the beanbag! The babies would try to get on the beanbag and he would get so annoyed!

Ford loved pushing around the popper. He has a push toy at home, but we only have tile and I think he really liked being on the carpet!

And a quick update on our lives...we are scheduled to close on our house December 14th! Praise the sweet Lord! Joseph claims the first thing we're moving in is the Christmas tree...we'll see about that! I'm thinking more along the lines of furniture and the millions of boxes that have been in my parents' basement for 4 1/2 months! Also, we took Ford to the doctor yesterday for his 1-year shots and check-up, and his weight has dropped pretty drastically, from the 50% percentile to the 10%. Our doctor wants him to come back in a few weeks for a weight check to make sure he's gaining. It's not a big deal yet, but we'd appreciate a few prayers for Ford to eat! A boy cannot survive on graham crackers and yogurt alone! He actually ate a good bit of turkey potpie last night, so that gave me a little more peace of mind about it.

I hope you all had a terrific Thanksgiving! I am so thankful for such wonderful friends and family the Lord has blessed us with!

Ford's Pictures!!!

Oh my goodness, I have a new favorite person! Ford's "photo shoot" was this morning, and Sharon, the photographer, was AMAZING! She made it so easy! I'm posting the link, but you should take the time to go to her website and see all of her beautiful pictures. It is well worth the drive if you're in the market for an incredible photographer!

Ford's pictures

All Dressed Up

Joseph and I got to have a night out last night! We went to the beautiful wedding of Perri and Levale and got to see the whole town of Opelika! Joseph thinks everyone should be required to wear name tags at such events because I'm so bad at introducing him to people. Thank you Brooke and John for taking care of the little guy - I keep finding peanut butter in the strangest places! Maybe I should just go ahead and give him a bath!! And thank you Lenzie for the dress...it sure is nice having a pregnant best friend willing to share her wardrobe with the unstylish!

We are heading to Charlotte tomorrow to spend Thanksgiving with the Rays. Ford is having his one-year pictures taken on Tuesday, so I'll try to post the link after they're taken - I know my mom will be dying to see them! We'll be back on Friday to get ready for the Iron Bowl! Happy Thanksgiving and safe travels to all of you!

What do YOU think?

This site also has a thing that compares your face to celebrities - it said I looked like Kate Hudson! It also named some less flattering people that my vanity will not allow me to share. Who do you look like?

Hunger Strike '07

Anyone that has talked to me in the past couple of weeks knows that I've been one frustrated mommy! I can't remember exactly when it started, but for the past 3 or so weeks, Ford has been on a hunger strike! That child would not eat ANYTHING with nutritional value. Graham crackers? Good. Cheerios? Good. Any meat, vegetable, or fruit? NOPE!! His old favorites, like pears, cheese, turkey dogs, chicken nuggets - he wouldn't have anything to do with them! I don't know exactly what he was striking for - better toys? less room time? a trip to Disney World? Whatever it was, his demands have been met, because I'm proud to say the boy is eating again! All it took was a little ground turkey with spaghetti sauce (no noodles - he's NOT a fan of pasta) and we have an eater once again! I tell you what, this little boy had me STRESSED! My laid back husband kept saying, "He'll eat when he's hungry, don't worry about it" and about a million other annoying phrases along these lines that I knew were right, but it is a mother's job to feed her child and he was going to eat that grilled cheese sandwich if I had to force it down his throat! I guess this is our first hurdle in learning that Ford is his own person and we can't always "make" him do everything we want. Looking back, his loss of appetite was probably due to his ear infection, so maybe I'll be a little more relaxed the next time this happens and watch his ears!!!

Joseph's first race was this past Saturday, and he got 2nd in his age group and 15th overall out of more than 100 runners! He also beat the time he was going for by 2 minutes! Yay Joseph! He is totally addicted now, so we really might have to start that Runner's Fund for entry fees! He's going to do a 10K in December for Toys for Tots, so at least it's for a really good cause. Ford and I are so proud of him!

Happy Birthday to Ford!

So I know his birthday was almost a week ago, but this is my first day back at work and the first opportunity I've had to blog about it! My parents have this really awesome thing call dial-up, so it takes FOREVER to upload pictures and my patience has dwindled for all things time-consuming since I became a parent. I had planned to do this big post entitled "A Year in Pictures", but maybe I'll wait until it's "Two Years in Pictures".

This look basically sums up his entire birthday!

Ford's 1st birthday was not exactly the picture perfect day I had imagined. He got some sort of stomach bug on Tuesday, we went to the doctor on Wednesday and he had an ear infection and the croup, I got the stomach bug on Thursday, and we were both still feeling pretty puny on Friday, his actual birthday.

My wonderful sister-in-law Jennie risked illness and she, Parker, and Maryn drove their rental car down from Charlotte on Saturday. A rental car, you ask? Yes, a rental car, because their car CAUGHT ON FIRE on Thursday night! Absolute insanity!! But that's how much she loves her nephew - she didn't let a little thing like a CAR FIRE keep her from coming for his first birthday!

Parker loved throwing rocks into the lake with "Grownie" (rhymes with "brownie"), what he called my mom all weekend! I think my mom would have kept Parker here if Jennie would have let her!

We had a small party on Sunday night, and Ford loved all his presents. We're both feeling so much better, and I still can't get over the fact that I have a one-year-old! Joseph and I can't believe how fast this year has flown by. Every new stage is our favorite, and I know I'm a bit biased, but I really do think Ford gets more adorable every day!

He wasn't a fan of the cake, but he sure did like the balloons! Don't be fooled by that icing on his face - it was put there by me. Not a single bit went into his mouth! And he didn't like it on his hands either!

Ford Loves Aunt Bug - and the dump truck she gave him!

1st Birthday Stats: He weighed 19 lbs 8 ozs (little squirt) when we went to the doctor on Wednesday, but his real appointment had to be changed so she could recheck his ears in a few weeks. He has 3 top teeth (the middle 2 are HUGE - it cracks me up) and 2 bottom teeth. He can say 'hey' and 'go go go', and he's been saying 'mama' and 'dada' for a while. He loves his daddy - he gets so excited when Joseph gets home every day. He can walk holding on to one hand, but we're not really encouraging it until we get moved in to our new house! Now that he's feeling better, he's the most fun little guy ever! He laughs all the time, is pretty obedient (except about throwing food on the floor for the dogs - we're still working on that one), and would stay outside all day long if I'd let him.

Thanks to everyone for all your support this past year! All of your prayers were definitely felt! Please continue to pray for Ford as well as for Joseph and me as we walk down this crazy path called parenthood that we look to Jesus for the guidance, for the patience, and for the grace necessary to raise a child to know Him in such a mixed-up world. We love all of you!