Happy Hannukah (and Blog Thoughts)

Well, my posts just keep getting fewer and more far between, huh? To be honest, I'm not really sure about the future of this blog. Lately I've been keeping family and friends updated with pictures and stories of Truman through facebook, facetime, and phone calls, all of which somehow seem easier and more time efficient than blogging. With Shea and I each working full-time now (yay for employment!) there doesn't seem to be much time left in the day to blog.

I did, however, find a few minutes tonight to share a couple of Hannukah pictures with you all. Enjoy!

Truman with his dreidel toy, courtesy of Grandpa Bernard

Lighting the menorah on the first night of Hannukah

Homemade cookie cake - yum!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today we are feeling incredibly thankful for family. Shea and I have no idea how we got so lucky to become the parents of the most incredible little boy, but we are thankful each and every day to have sweet Truman Bekalu in our lives!

Happy Halloween!

Haircut Afterthoughts

At first neither Shea nor I were quite sure how to react to Truman's new haircut; however, it's been a week now, and we are both loving it! I think we both had a hard time with the new look because all of a sudden our sweet baby looked like a big boy. But you wouldn't believe how much easier bath time is! Also, it now takes about 30 seconds to get Truman's hair ready in the morning, which is a huge step down from where we used to be. And while Truman can't tell us whether he likes it or not, I'm thinking it has to feel more comfortable for him :-)

Legos

Sorry about the whole "multiple posts in one day" thing. I feel like I can rarely find time to blog, and then when I do I am so backlogged that I have too many posts to create! I'm going to stop after this one, even though I have about 5 more to do...

Anyways, Grandma Bernard gave Truman some pretty cool Duplo Legos for Christmas that she had picked out with the help of Uncle Steve. Now I don't know about you, but both Shea and I grew up absolutely obsessed with Legos! So far, it seems that Truman is following in our footsteps. We waited a while to bring out the Duplos, not knowing if he was 'ready' to play with them yet, but lately his therapists had been using them to help with his coordination, so we knew he was ready to build. He's pretty good at stacking Legos, but even better at breaking them down :-) Truman's teachers at his new school (again, I need a whole post about his new school!) have been really impressed with his skills, and keep telling us how he's the only child in his class who understands how to build towers - not that I'm bragging or anything ;-)

Playtime with Grandpa Bernard

When we were visiting in NY, Grandpa Bernard was able to come over the spend the day playing with Truman. We were planning to go to a park, but my stomach wasn't really cooperating so we decided to stay at the house instead. We read books, stacked blocks, and ran around outside, aka Truman's favorite activities! Here's a couple of pictures we snapped:

Thanks for the visit, Grandpa Bernard! Can't wait to see you again :-)

Visiting Grandad Bigsby

While in NY we were able to spend some time visiting with Grandad Bigsby up at his house on the hill - I use the term 'we' loosely because I actually wasn't feeling well that night and was unable to go :-( Nevertheless, Truman and Daddy were able to go up for a lovely dinner and playtime, with Uncle Graham also joining the party. At my request, Daddy took some pictures of the night. He said they had a great time! And Grandad Bigsby soon learned the way to Truman's heart - beach balls!

Beach Trip Continued!

Well now that Truman has had his haircut you all are going to be able to tell when my posts are out of order! Oh well, such is life :-)

I'm finally going to try to recap the rest of our beach trip to Maine. I still haven't uploaded our videos to the computer so those will be in a different post later, but I'm going to try to finish up with pictures before Truman wakes up from his nap.

So as I said before, Truman LOVED the beach! As in, wanted to go all the time, screamed in happiness whenever we said it was time to go, laughed and giggled the entire time we were on the sand, and couldn't stop smiling when near the water. It was awesome! (So awesome, in fact, that we've already planned another beach trip for October, but that's a different story!). The beach was also fun because Truman kept approaching other children wanting to play with them, which is a huge social victory for us!

Below are some more of my favorite beach pictures. Thanks for the swim trunks and shirt, Grandma Simmons!

While in Maine we were also able to spend lots of quality time just relaxing and hanging out together at the house. For some reason, Truman thought the stairs were really fun:

He also loved getting massages and swing rides with Daddy:

Eating yogurt with Grandma Bernard:

 Getting hugged by Mommy:

Reading with Daddy:

Eating in restaurants:

Riding in wagons:

And, of course, snuggling with Grandma!

All in all, it was the perfect trip! Perfect weather, perfect food, and perfect company! We've already started talking about if another trip to Maine will be possible next year (it's a bit complicated since it does require over 17 hours of driving for us North Carolina folk). Either way, we'll remember this trip forever!

Baby's First Haircut

Today we decided to finally make the leap and get Truman his very first haircut. We've been talking about it for months now, delaying the inevitable need for a trim. As you could probably guess, his hair, while beautiful, requires a lot of upkeep, and we probably don't always do as much with it as we should to keep it healthy. So we took him in to J.C. Penney for a kid's cut. As soon as the hair stylist saw his hair, she told us it was pretty damaged on the ends and we needed to cut a lot off. Shea and I looked at each other, and then said "Do what you have to do." Well, the result was a lot shorter than we were expecting, but I think it looks good! We figure now it's all the same length and we can work hard to keep it healthy while it grows out.

In terms of the actually hair-cutting, Truman did great! At first he was a bit nervous, but then we started singing and reading to him and he almost fell asleep :-) So all in all, it was a positive experience - though to be honest, I'm having a little trouble adjusting to the new look! I think Truman probably loves the feeling, but I was just so used to that hair. Also, he looks so much more grown up with the shorter hair. This momma is feeling sad that her baby is growing up!!!

And now, without further ado, pictures!