Smart-aleck

Here is an email that Jeremy received:
Dear Tom,
May I sincerely thank you for purchasing your insurance from me and Accuquote. You have made a mature and intelligent decision, I was pleased to be a part of it. The goal, at this point, for both you and me, is to place your new policy in force as quickly as possible, to provide your Family with this valuable coverage. We have sent you the new policy today and included a pre-paid Fedex envelope to facilitate the process of placing this policy in force. Simply place all the Delivery Requirements in this envelope and drop it in any Fedex box and you will be covered immediately. I recommend you do this, as soon as you receive the policy, that day or the next morning.
Please call me with any questions and again I appreciate your business, both now and in the future.
Sincerely,
Tony
I removed his last name and other personal info. No reason to completely mortify the guy on the internet.

And here was Jeremy's response:
Tony,
I wanted to thank you for your sincere email. I could tell it was sincere because you said the word sincere AND you called me Tom. Only my near and dear friends call me Tom. How did you know?
"Sincerely",
Jeremy "Tom" (last name also removed, since I keep it off of the blog)

Didn't know my husband was such a smart aleck? Me either.

Stamping Fun!

I love to stamp. In fact I have been in Connie’s stamp club for almost 3 years now. Now, Connie is quite amazing. I am not. I think I may have to retire from stamp club for a bit after this year. I have got rubber stamps coming out my ears and I don’t have nearly enough time to pull them all out and use them right now.
But a few nights ago, my friend Allison came over to stamp. She is in stamp club also. I worked on my old standby – cards. That is my main purpose for stamping – making cards, invitations and then I also use them in scrapbooking. But Allison actually used her creative juices and made coasters. Completely amazing coasters! She bought small stone tiles from Lowes and stamped on them. What a great idea! Such a great idea, that she left her stamps with me and the next night I completely copied her projects. So you might be getting a set of coasters from me for Christmas!

Allison's super cute coasters.

And my old standby.

Swaddleless

I thought maybe Holden was ready to sleep without being swaddled. So I waited for the weekend to try it out in case he cried and cried and cried. But there was no crying. So now he is wearing all his cute footy pajamas to bed and sleeping his normal 11 or so hours. And still sleeping through my picture taking.

Teeth have arrived

Clearly, my 4 month, yet 17 pound boy is growing at rapid speed. Kind of exciting, a tad bit sad. Today I noticed that his 2 bottom teeth have popped through his gums. I didn’t even know he was teething! I mean, I had a feeling he might be, but was told he might possibly naw on things a good month before the teeth came through. So I wasn’t really checking his gums. He has been so fussy the past 4 days or so. Wanting to be held a lot, but even that wasn’t making him necessarily happy. He had gotten 4 month shots on Tuesday and then woke up with a stuffy nose on Thursday. So I really didn’t know where to attribute the fussiness. Maybe it was all of the above or possibly that his little gums were in excruciating pain. Poor little guy! So I just started him on cereal and apparently he'll be ready for a steak soon.
So today I was holding him and as he was crying, I noticed 2 little white spots on his bottom gums that sort of resembled entering teeth. I placed my finger there, and lo and behold – he’s got 2 sharp little teeth. So thankful he is bottle fed! (And no, bottle feeding is not the only option for adopted children.) I tried to get a picture of his little teeth. Now look closely. I know it looks like I have him in a head lock, but when I pulled his lower lip down he just wanted to stick his tongue out. So it was a little tricky. But Holden was not harmed in the taking of this picture! :) In fact, he had a full belly, so he could have cared less.

Weekend with Family

We were able to spend Labor Day weekend with family. Jeremy was able to be off of work Friday and Tuesday, so we had a full 4 days of fun before returning home. Both of my sisters and their families were able to travel to my parents home. We were only missing 1 brother-in-law. (The big and burly one I mentioned in the previous post.) We did a little shopping (the girls), a little golf (the boys), lots of eating, some singing (dad told us Saturday night that we would sing as a family on Sunday morning). We spent Saturday morning in Canton and I actually began my Christmas shopping. You can never start too early! If you have never been to Canton, Texas – just take my word for it and go on a first Monday weekend. One weekend and Christmas shopping is done – I promise. Of course we were toting 5 kids ages 5 and under, so we only shopped for a short time. Anyways, here are a few pictures from the weekend.
All the grandchildren with Papa J and Nana

Carson and Hope putting on a show and Bella trying to get in on the action.

Sweet sisters. Bathed and ready for bed.

Bella and Uncle J

Uncle J is Jeremy’s name to the nieces and nephews. It was much easier to say than Uncle Jeremy back when they were learning to talk. Bella is one of my nieces. She is about 20 months and a complete doll. See for yourself . . .

Now Uncle J and Bella have had a love-hate relationship for about the past 16 months. Uncle J loves Bella and Bella has never been too fond of him. She has been pretty scared of him and normally cried and buried her face when he came close. This has always been particularly funny to me because Jeremy is so innocent. I mean, he is not a big, burly, scary guy. I have always told Bella that her own father looks much scarier than Jeremy. Her father and my brother-in-law Loren, is somewhat big and burly.
I think it all began when my sister came to visit with her girls, Hope and Bella. Bella was only about 4 months old. The girls went to bed that night and Amanda and I ran to a local store and then to Starbucks. Jeremy called me and I could hear Bella crying in the background. He couldn’t calm her down and get her to stop crying. She was probably thinking – who is this guy and where is my mommy. We rushed back to the house and were there within 5 minutes. Fast forward about 4 months. Same exact thing happens. Bella wakes from sleep and the only person there is Jeremy. Jeremy calls with Bella screaming in the background as we are pulling up to the house. So that is a little history. Probably Bella’s only association with Jeremy.
Anyways, this weekend they made amends. My sister had been showing her Jeremy’s picture all week and they were giving the picture kisses. Kind of a warm up before Bella had to face him in person. She was a bit timid at the beginning of the weekend. Notice the forced picture and she is crying with her blankee in her arms.
And then by the end of the week . . . . wallah! She finally loves her Uncle J!
Kisses and all!

4 months already

So yesterday, Holden turned 4 months old. Wow. 4 months. It really does seem like a short amount of time. I have realized how much a life can change in just 4 months. And I don’t necessarily mean his little life, but ours. So much has changed and it has been wonderful. I have learned a new kind of love. The kind of love that I should have always had for others, but probably didn’t. The kind of love that truly expects nothing in return. When Holden entered our lives, I think we got a taste of what this love is like. To love someone so much that doesn’t quite know how to love you back. I still have those moments when I can’t believe that he is our baby. We are still doting and proud parents to this boy. Proud when he mimics our laughter. Proud when he only cries for about 10 seconds after 3 shots. Proud when he contently travels all over Texas. Proud when he grabs a toy. Proud as he learns to swallow his cereal. You get my point. Everything he does is monumental to us and I daily well up with pride for him. We are so grateful for the happy baby boy that God has blessed us with. And here the little guy is at 4 months . . . .
Today we went to the doctor for 4 month shots. He weighed in at 17lbs even, which was in the 90th percentile. And they measured him at 25 inches, which was in the 50th percentile. Jeremy and I think he is longer than 25 inches, because that is what they measured him at 2 months. I may have to pull out the tape measure tomorrow to verify if Holden really has gained 7 pounds around his middle and none in his height. He is doing really well with the cereal and now swallowing most of it. I think he actually likes it. If all goes well this week we may venture into trying some green beans very soon. I have been looking forward to making baby food for YEARS. No joke. So this is very exciting to me. Holden still loves to scream for fun. He still loves to be swaddled at night when he sleeps. He gets so quiet and listens intently when he is sung to. And he is just lots of fun. We are enjoying each day!