Happy Anniversary

I'm a little late in posting this, but better late than never! On May 26th, Alex and I celebrated our 3rd Anniversary. It was a very simple, but special day. We agreed that we didn't need to get anything for each other, however, we both gave in. Alex sent me the most beautiful flowers and I gave him a couple of books I thought he would enjoy. I also prepared a nice meal that deserved our fine china. It turned out to be a wonderful and delicious meal. We enjoyed being able to sit and talk without any distractions (Perry was resting in his crib) while dining in the comfort of our home. There is a lot I could say about my dear husband, but because we are celebrating 3 years, I thought I would list 3 things that I love about Alex.
1. He loves the Lord and loves to share the Gospel of Christ.
2. He is a gracious provider for our family.
3. He keeps me laughing...sometimes it's with him, but most of the time it's at him.
I plan to add to this list every year. I think it will be much easier when I get to list 50 things instead of just 3!
Oh, and no pictures until Alex gets his computer fixed :-( It was attacked by some terrible virus.

Pool time

My friend, Laura, invited us to her parent's house to go swimming this week. The McElroy's live only 4 houses down, so Perry and I walked over Friday afternoon. It was Perry's first time in the pool and he absolutely LOVED it! He was cracking us up because he yelled for probably 10 minutes straight...not because he was mad, but because he was excited. Today, the three of us went down and enjoyed some good pool time with great company. I think Perry and Caroline are going to have lots of fun pool play dates this summer! Thanks Bowmans and McElroys! 

Perry's baptism

A week ago Perry was baptized at our church, Grace Presbyterian. It was a very sweet and meaningful ceremony, Perry being set apart as a child of the covenant. We were thankful that so many family members could join us for worship. All of Perry's grandparents were there along with great-grandmothers, aunts, and uncles. Following church, we had our family and some close friends over to our house for lunch. It was a busy weekend preparing everything, but proved to be well worth it. With all the ancillary things going on, it could have been easy for us to be distracted from the true significance of the event.  Fortunately, the importance of claiming the promises of God for our whole family was not lost on us, and celebrating that reality was the focus of the day.

Here we are with all of Perry's grandparents....

My mom (aka ??)

My dad (Papa) and Sheila (aka ??)

Alex's mom (Cheetah) and Bill (Papou)

Alex's dad (Paw) and Donna (Maw)

I was too busy to take pictures that day, so I'm counting on the grandparents for more.

6 month review

Perry,
Why do you keep doing this? Can't you just pick a month and stay put? Actually, like I've said before, it's a lot of fun watching you grow, but at some point I'm going to have to ask you to stop! We have had a lot of fun this past month and I love being able to stay home with you everyday. Here is a little bit about your 6th month:
--At 6 1/2 months you weighed 18 1/2 lbs were 27 in long
--You tried new foods: banana, apple, pear, squash, sweet potato
--You love jumping in your jumperoo, blowing bubbles with your lips, being outside, and laughing a lot!
--You understand the word "more"
--You have been experimenting with your voice and are capable of being quite loud when necessary
--You were baptized
--You can sit up unsupported
Everyone wants to eat you up because your so chubby and adorable!

Mother's Day

This was technically my first Mother's Day, although we semi-celebrated last year when I was pregnant. A lot has happened this past year that has made me feel extra blessed to be the mother of my sweet Perry. It's interesting how on a day that is meant to be all about me, I can't help but focus and reflect on the blessing of my child. I guess that is what it's like to be a mother...to constantly turn your heart to your child. Since Perry is too young to do anything special for me, Alex made sure that the day was meaningful. I told him all I wanted was for him to cook a delicious meal for us, so that's what he did Saturday night. He did an excellent job and I so appreciated being loved in that way! Unfortunatly, I've been sick and feeling pretty crummy so as an extension of my Mother's Day gift, Alex has had to pick up more slack here at home. We didn't make it to church on Sunday, but we did go to my aunt's house for lunch where my cousin, Philip, fixed lunch for all the mothers. I thought this was kind of funny...when we walked in my grandmother asked "Suzanne, did you just wake up?", I simply responded "No", hoping to expose her motivation for asking, she followed with "Well, it looks like you did". Wow, thanks Grammy! Despite not feeling my best, and according to my grandmother not looking my best, I still had a good Mother's Day.

Sweet times

Wow, it must be because it's Mother's Day that my computer finally let me use blogger. I don't know what the problem has been, but I sure hope it magically fixed itself. I've been wanting to document our recent weekend trip to Baton Rouge. The reason for the trip was because I was helping host a baby shower for one my best friends, Virginia. I was so thankful to be there for the special celebration and have a chance to see so many friends all in one place. We stayed with a sweet family who I used to babysit for and had a lot of fun hanging out with them. They have 4 boys and 1 girl, so Perry fit right in with all the boys! The kids loved having a baby in the house and were so sweet with Perry. One of the highlights of the weekend was finally getting to meet little Mary Stewart and spending time with her mommy, another one of my best friends, Ashley. It was so cute to see Perry and Mary Stewart "play" together. I truly didn't want the weekend to end, however, as we were driving off I felt joyful as opposed to sad. I had just spent the past 2 days with some of the people I love most but don't see often and my heart was so happy because of it! Alex was on Daddy duty most of the time, but was able to break away Saturday night and have some fun guy time. Here are some of the faces that warm my heart...

Ashley and me with the kids just after getting to town 

    They had so much to talk about!

 Perry with the Whittingtons

Me, Ashley and Virginia and baby James

Me and Mauree with baby Brooksher

Hostesses with Virginia

Me, Joanna, and you know these other two by now

It was so good to see Joanna, ANOTHER one of my best friends!

                     Saying Goodbye....