Photo Session Sneak Peek

We had a family photo session yesterday to commemorate Isaiah turning 6 months old and our five-year wedding anniversary (both this Friday). Our photographer has posted a sneak peek of some of the photos from the session on her blog and on Facebook. Isaiah had a really rough day yesterday with his teething, and I was worried he wouldn't cooperate at all with the session (after a couple months of planning this!). Thankfully, he did really well, though his hand is in his mouth for most of the pictures. The most difficult part of the session was the heat and humidity!! I'll post more updates soon, but enjoy this sneak peek of photos for now...

Birthday and the Beach

Yes, I know...it's so hard to believe, but I turned 26 on June 7. Sarah and Brandon came over for dinner to help us celebrate with Chinese food and Muddy's cupcakes (yumyum!). We enjoyed catching up on life, and Isaiah enjoyed the extra attention. The lighter was out of fluid and we couldn't find any matches, so I had to fake blow out the candle as you can see below...totally convincing, right?

We also enjoyed a vacation to Perdido Key, Florida last week with my family. There was some oil on the beach where we were, but it wasn't nearly as bad as Orange Beach (next town over). Nevertheless, we didn't want to get Isaiah in the water at all because of the oil, so he chilled in the shade on the beach. I did put his toes in the water a couple of times, but he wasn't too thrilled about it. The first couple of days were a little difficult because Isaiah was much more fussy than usual--combination of teething, traveling, lost sleep, and a cold--but he seemed to feel better toward the end of the week. The little man had no shortage of attention from family, and we enjoyed spending time with everyone too. Isaiah especially loved hanging with Bailey (6) and Taylor (5) (step-cousins). I wish I had a picture of him with them, but everytime they came around, he just perked up. Here are a few pictures from Florida:

OIL!

Graduation and Dedication

Last week was a very exciting one in our household...

On Saturday, May 23rd, Chris threw a surprise graduation party for me at Jacob and Trish Cartner's house. I truly was surprised, especially because of the events leading up to the party... Chris and I had discussed having a get together with friends on Memorial Day to celebrate my graduation because we wanted to be able to focus on our family while they were in town during the weekend of graduation. Being the control freak that I am, I couldn't just leave it at that and let Chris handle the planning (as he requested). On the 23rd, I asked if Chris was going to send out evites for the Memorial Day get together. He said he didn't know how to send evites, so I said I'd show him. Not only did I show him, but I filled everything out for him and then let him see the end result. He asked me not to send it yet so he could look over it some more--I acquiesced at first, but when he left for an errand, I could no longer be patient and went ahead and sent it. The day before, Trish had called and asked if we wanted to come over for dinner on the 23rd. Chris got back from running his errand (supposedly helping Hunter put a bed together) right before we had to leave. When we got to the Cartners' house, Jacob walked out with a grin on his face, but I just figured he was happy to see us. When we walked in the front door, our friends were waiting there and yelled "congratulations" in unison. I was shocked to tears and deeply moved at all the trouble Chris went to to pull this off. While he was supposedly helping Hunter, he was actually running around town to pick up the food, cake, balloons, and supplies for the party to send ahead of us with Hunter. Chris thankfully had the foresight to tell everyone in his actual invitation email about the surprise party that he might have to send out a fake invite for a party on the 31st, and to ignore it. It took me a while to put all the pieces together and unravel the lies that had been told to keep the party a secret. The funny thing is that I had actually been thinking earlier that day how fun it would be if he had thrown me a surprise party, but I assumed I had spoiled any chance of that with my heavy involvement in the planning for the party on the 31st. Well, I got my wish and have my sweet husband to thank for it! Below are a few pictures from the party.

Our families came in town on Thursday, May 27 for graduation festivities. Chris and my parents accompanied me to the COM Parents' Reception that evening at the Memphis Botanic Gardens while Chris' family watched Isaiah. That night was also Lindsay's 30th birthday, which we all celebrated together later that evening with dinner at Huey's and then cake at our house. Amazingly, she blew out all 30 candles on the first try despite being 32 weeks gestation--some of them were trick candles, though, and it took cups of water and some quick work by my Dad to put them out.

Friday (May 28) morning was the College of Medicine Convocation at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church where we were hooded. My medical school career started at this same church with the symbolic White Coat Ceremony, so it was most appropriate to finish here. Below is a picture with Tina Gupta--we became close friends during our first year in undergrad when living down the hall from each other and then were roommates during sophomore year. It's crazy that we've been down an 8 year journey together. The pictures which our families are from the morning ceremony as well. We had lunch at the Majestic Grille to celebrate, and then we walked to the FedEx Forum for the UTHSC Commencement where my degree was actually conferred and I received my diploma. Isaiah made it through both ceremonies beautifully. One day I'll be able to tell him he was there when I graduated. We finished the day off at our house with some BBQ.

Saturday we enjoyed more time with both of our families. This weekend was the first time they've all been together since we were married five years ago. I think they all enjoyed getting to know each other better, and with grandkids now in the picture, I hope they'll be seeing more of each other.

Chris' family had to leave Saturday night to break up the long trip back to Hickory. My family stayed through Sunday to attend Isaiah's dedication at church. That was a special time for Chris and I to make known our commitment to raise Isaiah in the knowledge of Christ and to seek to be godly examples for him. Our senior pastor, Dr. Travis Fleming (a new daddy himself), did a wonderful job with the dedication. The scriptures that we chose for this occasion were Isaiah 43:1b-3a and Ephesians 1:16-21. One of the main reasons we chose "Isaiah" as his name (other than liking it) was its meaning: "Yahweh (The LORD) is salvation". We hope that one day Isaiah will have a true appreciation for this meaning as he claims Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Isaiah 43: 1a-3b:

"Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. 3For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior..."

Ephesians 1:16-21

"I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come."

5 Months

Isaiah turned 5 months old on May 25. As always, I truly can't believe this precious child has been in my life that long! What did we do before he was here?? He has certainly captured our hearts, and we're so thankful to God for this wonderful gift.

I'll give you the updates and then you can enjoy this assortment of photos from recent weeks (including the green bean goatee at the top).

-Isaiah has been consistently sleeping through the night for a couple of weeks now (thankfully!). Prior to that, he was going all night without any feedings for a few weeks, but some nights he would wake up wanting his pacifier 5-6 times.
-Isaiah's diet is slowly expanding. He has rice cereal for breakfast every morning. Right now he's getting green beans for lunch, and then either sweet potatoes or carrots for dinner. The first few times he got green beans, he made terrible faces. He definitely likes the sweet potatoes and carrots better, but he eats all of it pretty well.
-Around 4.5 months, Isaiah started noticing his feet. It was tough at time to change his diaper because he wanted to hold on to his feet, occasionally checking to see how they taste. He already seems to have moved on to bigger and better things, but it was awfully cute while he did it.
-He has become very easily distracted while I nurse him. I used to catch up on phone calls and things during that time, but I can't do that anymore because he seems to think I'm talking to him, so he pulls away to make eye contact with me. Sometimes when the initial hunger pang is gone, he'll take a break from eating to sweetly smile and talk to me. It's so precious, though we've definitely had some very lengthy feeding sessions as of late.
-He really loves his jumperoo. He'll play in it for a good fifteen minutes now. He seems to prefer playing with the ball on the toybar, which excites his daddy.
-Isaiah is doing well at daycare. The ladies really seem to love him, and they've told me on a couple of occasions he's one of their easiest babies (I have to brag, right?). I'm reassured when I arrive and he's sweetly smiling at one of them as they hold or change him. Ms. Amy said something that made me laugh last week--one of the other ladies misunderstood and thought she said Isaiah hadn't finished his bottle, and Amy replied that the day Isaiah doesn't finish his bottle, she'll know he's sick. The kid already has a reputation for eating!! Boy, he's definitely Chris' son.
-For the past week or two, Isaiah has really been noticing Frankie more than ever. Not only noticing, but loving Frankie! He'll try turning all the way around in our laps just to watch Frankie walk around, and he's always smiling as he does it. What's even sweeter is that Frankie has noticed the increased attention too, and he often responds to Isaiah's smiles by gently licking him on the nose. It's like they have a language all their own through their eyes.
-Isaiah's motor skills and coordination are definitely improving. He reaches for and holds his toys much more easily now, and he's able to control where they go (which is always to his mouth). He sometimes gets the pacifier back in on his own, though he has trouble getting it turned the right way.
-He's really been showing signs of teething recently, and he had a difficult night Monday with more crying (and even screaming) than usual. I still haven't seen any teeth break through yet, but I keep thinking they'll be there any day now. I'm told this can be a slow process, but I hope for his sake it won't be too slow.

Pawpaw

My grandfather (Pawpaw), Joseph Lynn Littrell, passed away last Saturday, May 15 at the age of 85. While his health had been deteriorating for some time, his death occurred suddenly while decorating my grandmother's grave with flowers. Though ironic in many ways, I find the circumstances beautifully poetic.

He will be sorely missed by all who knew him. He was one of the wittiest people I've ever known, and he had a way of drawing everyone in with his stories. Eldest of four children, abandoned as a child by his father during the Great Depression and left as the "man of the house" at a young age, sailor in the Navy during WWII, car and insurance salesman, father of two, widower at age 52 after losing his wife to metastatic breast cancer, remarried with the addition of a stepson, grandfather of nine, great-grandfather of five, Methodist, and democrat. My grandfather was all of those things and many more. I'm so very thankful that he was a believer and that we'll share eternity someday.

More than anything else, I'm saddened because Isaiah won't have the opportunity to know him as I did. I am so grateful, though, that Pawpaw got to meet Isaiah just three weeks before he passed. We took pictures of our four generations that weekend that I will post when I get them from my dad.

Chris and I drove down to Lawrenceburg on Sunday to join my family at my grandparents' house. Visitation was on Monday and the funeral was Tuesday afternoon. While the circumstances were difficult, we all really enjoyed being together and having so much quality time. The Army even flew Jared home from Iraq in time for him to attend the funeral Tuesday. The picture above is after the funeral on Tuesday. It's the first time all of my siblings have been together since the babies were born. It's sad that it took a death in the family to make that happen, but we're learning to take it when we can get it. It's amazing how much we've grown (are growing) in just the past year...Joe Littrell's heritage going strong!

Mother's Day

I've been meaning to update for weeks, so I'll post several separate entries to catch up on things...

I had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend. My mom came in town on Saturday to keep Isaiah for us that night so we could go to the Norah Jones concert at the Orpheum Theatre. This was actually our Valentine's gift to each other. It was an amazing show, though we both struggled to stay awake during some of the slower songs because Isaiah hadn't slept well in several nights. Mom enjoyed some one-on-one time with the little man, and I know he loved seeing Mawmaw too.

On Sunday, Isaiah actually stayed with us during the church service because he had a cold (his first, after only one week of daycare) and we didn't want to spread it to the other babies. He made me proud--didn't make a peep during the entire service. After church, Chris took us out to eat at Carrabba's...yum! He also bought me cupcakes from Muddy's Bakery in town--I had everything from red velvet to chocolate with mint icing, and they're probably the moistest cupcakes you'll ever taste. It was really a terrific first Mother's Day. Being a mother has made me appreciate other moms (especially my own) so much more. What an amazing and sometimes terrifying calling it is! I pray every day that God will give me the strength, wisdom, and patience to continue with the task he has granted me.

Cutie Pie

Below is a funny video of Isaiah and Chris taking turns sticking their tongues out. Isaiah has been so cute and interactive lately, and it's very clear that he intentionally plays along with this game.

I'm trying to post another video of some bathtime fun, but I can't seem to get it to upload. I'll work on it some more, so watch for that one...