9 months

My little munchkin is on the move!  That is our biggest milestone for the month.  His preferred method of getting around is doing an army crawl.  He is slowly starting to get up on his hands and knees, but mostly he moves on his stomach!

We have toys galore all around but Chance wants to play with DVDs, picture frames, speaker cords, etc.  Needless to say we have done some major baby proofing around here recently. 

He still loves to eat and is now getting three solid meals a day.  We are working on him feeding himself and he gets so excited when a bite of food actually makes it in his mouth! 

Picnic at Copley Square

We are loving the weather here and are outside as much as possible.  When we head for the door Chance squeals with excitement because he knows we are going out. 

Having fun at John's soccer game

Another milestone I'm quite excited about is he finally said "mama".  He does not say this often and most times when I try he still answers me with a resounding "DADA" but I know he can say it!!  He also loves to clap his hands and is trying to wave.


Chance is the sweetest thing!  He is getting so big and I can hardly stand it!  We have so much fun and I'm still so thankful to be home with him. 

Welcome Baby Ryan!

A little over a week ago, on May 14 the newest addition to our family made his arrival.  Matthew Ryan Hill was born to my cousin Riley and her husband Matt and he is a little cutie! 

We will get to meet him at LA and Rae's wedding in July and I can't wait.  Chance is 9 months older than him so I look forward to all the family gatherings down the road and know they will have so much fun together!

I can't wait to love on this sweet boy!!

Mother's Day

I had a wonderful first Mother's day!  John and Chance went and got breakfast from Dunkin Donuts and came back with a beautiful bouquet of flowers.  They also gave me a mani/pedi gift card and a Dunkin gift card.  I got cards and gifts from our families, too. 

It was a beautiful day so we went to John's soccer game after church. 

I am so blessed to be this sweet boy's mama.  It seems like just yesterday when he was born. 

Time is flying and we are having tons of fun!  Thanks John for a perfect day!

Gooo Red Sox!

We took Chance to a Red Sox game on May 5 and he absolutely loved it!  We got there during the middle of the first inning and actually stayed until the top of the 8th. 

With all the sights and sounds of the game, he was so excited.  But after a few innings he just couldn't hang on anymore.....

Once he napped, his energy was renewed and we stayed a little while longer. 

John and I weren't really sure how the game would go.  We went fully prepared to stay for just a couple of innings.  But since Chance enjoyed it so much we hope to take him back to another game!

Here is a pic of Chance at his first game when he was about 6 weeks old.  He slept through the entire thing :).

While Mom and Dad are away......

Chance was spoiled rotten while John and I were in Puerto Rico.  He split his time between the Kueven and White households.  Here are some pictures of his time in Meridian:

Puerto Rico

About six months ago, John found out that he had a work conference in Puerto Rico.  I pretty much told him there was no way he was going without me.  So, after twisting our parents' arms to have Chance for the week (ha!), I booked my flight to join John in San Juan!
We worked it out to fly into Meridian several days ahead of time to get Chance settled, spend time with our families, and it also worked out for Chancey to be baptized!  I was pretty anxious the night before we left.  This would by far be the longest time away from Chance.  The only other time we left him was over New Years for 3 days/2 nights and we were in Nashville. Thankfully when we got up Tuesday morning to leave Chance was happy as could be.  He didn't even whimper when we left.  This made it about a thousand times easier for me to walk out that door!  Guess who else didn't shed a tear... that's right, this mama did not cry.  I knew he was in perfect hands for the week while we were gone and I also knew that thanks to my iphone I could have all the pics and videos of him I wanted :).

John and I had a perfect vacation.  We stayed at the Rio Mar Beach Resort. 

View from our balcony

While he was at meetings all day Wednesday and Thursday, I had lots of beach/pool time.  It was such a weird feeling being able to go and do whatever we wanted whenever we wanted.  No stroller, diaper bag, bottles, etc.  I kept feeling like I was forgetting something! 

Birthplace of the Pina Colada

The conference was over Friday but we stayed through the weekend.  We enjoyed lunches on the beach, drinks by the pool, and nights sitting on our balcony.  It really was nice to spend so much time together.  With our five year anniversary coming up in July, this was the perfect timing for our trip. 

Empanadas and beer from the local beach (one of our fave meals!)

Enjoying free drinks at the Bacardi Tour

We had some great dinners, went on a tour of Old San Juan, John went scuba diving, and I spent a morning at the spa.  We also slept in, watched a movie, played cards, and took naps!  Our trip was a great mix of activities and relaxation. 

Exploring Old San Juan

By Sunday night as we were repacking our suitcases to head home, John and I were both so ready to see our little munchkin.  He had a great week in Meridian and we loved that he got to spend so much time with his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  That sure did make being gone for a week a whole lot easier! 
John and I had a fabulous trip... Happy Anniversary babe, here's to many many more!

Baptism

Chance was baptized at FPC Meridian on April 22.  I was so excited that Dr. Payne was able to baptize Chance in the church where John and I met, were married, and where our families are members. 
(Side note: we love our church in Boston but we have been out of town for the past two membership classes and didn't want to keep putting off Chancey being baptized)
It was such a special day!  Chance wore the christening gown that one of the triplets wore when they were baptized. 

All of our family that lives in Meridian were there.  I was a little nervous for Chance to sit through the service but he did great!  He also did such a good job throughout the actual baptism... no tears! 
After church we all went back to my parents' house for lunch. 

It was so nice to have everyone there to spend time with.  We had not been in MS since Christmas and while I know everyone wanted to catch up with me and John, Chance was really the main attraction :)!  Unfortunately for everyone, he napped for two hours. We joked that the lunch was all for him and he slept right through it!  But, my sweet boy woke up just in time for dessert.  John and I let him have a little taste of Aunt Jo's cake.  This was by far the most sugar he has ever had!

I'm so thankful to be part of a family with a strong faith and pray that John and I raise Chance in a way that he knows and loves Jesus.  We had a wonderful day and below are tons of pictures!