Big Decisions

Isaac and I have decided to sell our house. We love our house and think it was one of the best decisions we ever made, but now we are feeling called to put it on the market and prepare for some changes in the future. We do not have any concrete plans to move elsewhere but feel that God wants us to be ready. We will be putting it on the market "For Sale by Owner" for a while just to see what happens, but we're also checking out other avenues such as going through "Help U Sell," which sells your house for you just like any Realtor, but charges a flat rate for their services rather than the typical 6% of the home price. We're open to suggestions and advice (not too much though, hehe) since this is the first time we've ever sold a home. Thanks!

Pack 'n' Play

Yay, we got a pack 'n' play (and most importantly, John likes it)!!! This week I have been working with John to get him to like playing in the pack 'n' play. Our wonderful friends the Coopers gave it to us because they heard we needed one and it's been so great! John plays in it twice a day now, for about 20 minutes each, giving me ample time to vaccuum the house (which he has always been terrified of until now) and unload the dishwasher (bottom shelf has Cutco knives and he's always trying to get at them!). Anyway, we're very excited that he likes playing in it, and soon we're going to try getting him to sleep in it, to prepare for our trip to CA in July. Here's a couple pictures...that's all.
PS- Pirates was sooooo good!!

Weekend

Well, we got our tickets to Pirates!!! We're so excited to go tomorrow, and thankful that Meredith and Nathan will be watching John for the 4 hours we'll be gone (driving time, lines, extra long movie). It is such a blessing and a joy to trade off Mondays watching each others' kids; I know that John is in good hands, and we enjoy watching Aubrielle too (even if she cries every time she sees me ;)
Saturday we got in the car and went to pick up a pack 'n' play from our good friends the Coopers since they were gracious enough to give us their old one. We are so excited to use it since it will be a way to keep John confined while I get a shower or can't otherwise watch him, force him to learn to play on his own, and hopefully get used to sleeping in it before we go to CA in July. He seems to like it for now, but even when he throws a fit we'll be making him play in it most days to keep him used to it.
I took some videos in the car yesterday of John trying to cluck like mom and dad, and playing peek-a-boo with daddy's hat. They're short and cute, here they are:


What a great morning we had at church today! Our friend Brandon Briscoe took over for Michael Darr and taught Sunday school, and what a great lesson we learned from a few sheep! Isn't it wonderful that sheep and shephards had such a great relationship in those times that the sheep would only follow the voice of their own shephard? Many flocks would be penned up together at night, and in the morning, shephard by shephard they would call their flocks out of the pen and only the sheep who recognized the voice of their master would come. I think it is so relevant today that we must be correctly trained day after day to hear the voice of our Shephard and respond. We are not to listen to the thieves and false shephards of today, but only to our Great Provider and Leader. Anyway, kind of rambling, but thanks Brandon for teaching us what it means to be like sheep :) Well after church we came home and played for a while, here's a video.


Oh yeah, this is the general progression of John in the car, pretty funny. That's all for now, have a great week all!

End of the Week

Yet another week full of fun! John and I went to Aubrielle's house on Thursday to go swimming; it was just a bonus to get to hang out with Meredith and go to the pool! Here's a video of John in the pool, but it kept going out of focus for some reason, so be patient.

He loved the pool and was splashing and kicking like crazy! Here's a few pictures of my friend Meredith and her daughter Aubrielle.

...and some more pictures of fun at the pool; John looked so cute in just his swim diaper!

Let's see, what else? Friday John and I went with some ladies at church and their kids to a park with a fountain that shoots up out of the ground; it was so much fun to play in, but John had more fun shouting at a puppy that was also there, than playing in the fountain. We didn't get any pictures because we were too wet to get the camera out, sorry! We also went to daddy's church softball game last night, which was a blast (for the spectators). Sadly they lost in just the 4th inning because they were behind by so much, but it was a great evening with friends. There were lots of fireants on the ground so we couldn't get out of the back of the car, but John didn't seem to mind. He played in the back of the Trailblazer with Bailey Briscoe.

Well today is Saturday and I don't have much planned. We'll probably go to the Augusta Greenway for a walk in the shade and run some errands. That's all for now, I love you all and miss you.

The Past Few Days...

Well it's been an eventless last few days, just hanging out at home since daddy was gone in Dallas for the weekend, and then worked Monday. John and I spent a lot of time resting (we both have colds) and playing. Even when he's sick, he's still my smiley boy; not much phases him, except maybe teething. Still waiting for the rest of them, he's only got 2 so far!

John has learned to crawl quite well now and is quickly wearing down the cats; he chases them every chance he gets and they haven't figured out yet that they can jump on a bed and he cannot. I guess this is a way to get Mike to lose weight, he's sooo stinkin fat!
Right now I'm sitting listening to John scream his head off because he doesn't want to take another nap today, even though he's sick and tired. We were going to go to Target but I discovered a flat tire as I was pulling out of the driveway so Isaac went with AAA to get it fixed. Hopefully he'll be back soon so I can get this boy out of the house for a while, it's too hot for a walk!I guess there's one new development; we turned John around in the car and he loves it! He can see out the window and see us now, and it seems to make the car rides much better. Yay for growing up!

First Successful Video

A day of entertainment at home, brought to you by John and the cats

I'll probably just do a vidoe or two per week, but not leave them at the top of the page. I'll let them be phased out with the rest of the posts, so if you miss a few, just go back some pages and watch the videos rather than having them clutter up the top of my blog. Hope you all enjoy watching John entertain himself, and sometimes the cats!

Here's a funny picture of John after his nap with total bedhead, and another video of playing with the cats; at least John's entertained!

New Respect for Bloggers

Wow! I'm exhausted from blogging. I have probably spent 10 hours of the last 2 days trying new things on my blogsite, like adding a counter, countdowns until John's birthday and our anniversary, uploading video and pictures, and customizing the site. I can't believe how much work it is to learn this stuff, and how easy it actually all is after you've learned. Pretty fun. Anyway, I'm just ranting because I have nothing better to do while Isaac is in Dallas this weekend. John is down for his second good nap of the day, leaving me time to do this stuff, yay! I'll add more pictures later, if there's any good ones. This is John's poop face, while we were at Taco Bell one day, haha.

We went to the pool!

Here's a few pictures of John's first time at the YMCA indoor pool. The outdoor pool and waterpark will be open next week! He had a great time swimming with me and Isaac!

This is another pic from our house in the kiddie pool

Here's a few pictures of when Grandma and Grandpa Hammond were here last week! It was a great visit but ended too soon! Luckily We're all going out to CA in July to celebrate John's birthday, and his cousin Warren's also.

Our Latest Stuff...

John got a pool! Grandma and Grandpa Hammond were here visiting and we picked up a $5 pool at Babies 'R' Us. He seemed to really like it, so we're planning on using it this summer when it's unbearable here in the wonderful state of Georgia.

This is a picture of us at Abby and Jahmar's wedding (Isaac's sister). We had a great trip to WA with Grandma and Grandpa Stegman though we're glad to be back home and getting back into a routine with John. Here's some more pictures of the trip in WA and of the wedding.

Us in Jim and Kathy's backyard on a beautiful day in SeattleThe 4 Stegman generations, starting with Caroline, Jim, Isaac, and John

Abby holding John after the wedding, Jahmar and Isaac

John having fun with Grandma Stegman the day we got there