Declan at 16 Months

Declan: 1 year and 4 Months

• You weight 20.8 pounds
• You are still wearing 12 month shirt, some 6-9 paints some 9 - 12 month pants, size 3 diapers, and size 4 shoes.
• Your 4 molars have finally popped thru, I feel like they have been coming in for months now!
• You still walk everywhere and almost running! Like a really fast walk!
• You sleep from 7pm-6:30am during the week and 1 nap from 11-1 sometimes until 2; on the weekends we are usually running errands and eating dinner late and visiting friends and family so you don't get to be until 7 or 8 but you usually sleep 11-12 hours and still take a 2 or 3 hour nap.
• You still love your bath time and you love pooping in the tub just as much.
• You love food! You've started getting more independent and are wanting to feed yourself and not have us feed you. 
• You can say dada, momma, milk, more, nite nite, nana(banana), all done, no no, thank you, bubbles, down, dat (Mickey).
• You've had a double ear infection this week, you were so sad looking because you didn't feel good. I felt so bad for you.
• You LOVE Mickey and freakout when you see him, it's so cute!
• When Curious George ends you say 'uh-oh'

Declan you are getting so big and so independent. You are having more tantrums but I just calm you down and tell you that we don't behave like that or act that way and then I hug you and off you go. You really only have these tantrums when you are super tired.

Declan you are the sun in my darkest days, I love you more than you will ever know.

{16 MONTHS}

{bath time at gigi's and pepaws}

{first time to chickfila - you loved the chicken}

{poppi's birthday dinner}

{sick with a double ear infection}

{what was i thinking giving you a cookie}

{your girlfriends 1st birthday party}

{looking adorable}

{so sleepy, didn't want to wake up}

{first time for sesame street}

{what to eat, what to eat}

{riding my old rocking horse}

{passed out on your visit to missouri with your poppi and mimi}

{your smile, it makes me smile}

 {you were so tired you slept thru dinner}

{2016 valentines pictures}

{photos by Jen L. Davis}

{you stand on the chair then can't get down}

{hanging with papaw}

Happy 16 Month Birthday Baby Boy!

I'll love you forever

I'll like you for always,

As long as I'm living

My baby you'll be.

xoxo

ac

Declan at 15 Months

Declan: 1 year and 3 Months

• You weigh 20.1 pounds..... walking every where doesn't help you gain weight!
• You wear size 3 shoes, size 3 diaper, 6-9 month paints, 12 month shirts.
• You sleep from 6:30-6:30 during the week and 1 nap from 11-2 sometimes until 3; on the weekends we are usually running errands and eating dinner late and visiting friends and family so you don't get to be until 7 or 8 but you usually sleep 12-14 hours and still take a 2 or 3 hour nap.
• You still love your bath time but a few times you've just cried so we got out as soon as you were clean.
• You love books, newspapers, magazines. You are so adorable looking at them and you try and read what the words are.
• You love food! Your nanny makes all different food for you for breakfast and lunch and you eat it up! By the time you get home you are starving! You usually have a banana, baby orange, string cheese, some veggie straws, sweet potato and avocado and finally baby yogurt. Before you go to bed you get milk.
• You can say dada, momma, milk, more, nite nite, nanan(banana), no no, thank you.
• You love showing off your tricks to people! You can wave bye-bye, blow kisses, peekaboo, you also know how to turn off light switches and then you clap for your self afterwards. 
• You know to go to your high chair to get food and you point to the pantry where your veggie straws are and you whine until you get them.
• You've had a few sickness this month. You threw up two times a few weeks ago, you had croup 2 weeks ago and now you have allergies/cold this week. I'm ready for your nose to stop running and for your cough to go away.
• We started watching Mickey Mouse Club last week. So far you love it.

Declan, you are so funny all the time you love having everyones attention! You love playing with your toys and then throwing them to see how far you can get them. You are starting to have some tantrums when you don't get your way, you have this cry (its so fake, most of the time) and then you lay down and hide your face into the the ground. I try and sit next to your or in front of you and tell you why you can't have whatever it is you wanted or why I told you no. This usually only happens when you're super tired. You usually sit up and then look at me and then smile and get up and go play. I can't believe how smart you are getting and seeing you learn and do new things every day, it's so much fun!

{15 MONTHS}

{cookie monster}

{model pose}

{watching the super bowl 50}

(i love it when you nanny sends me pictures of you sleeping}

{dressed to impress}

{mouth full of banana}

{hanging with your uncle j}

{bubble time at little gym}

{so sweet looking}

{you were really happy to see dada}

{so, I walked out of the house without your clothes so you wore pj's all day}

Happy 15th Month Birthday Baby Boy!

I'll love you forever

I'll like you for always,

As long as I'm living

My baby you'll be.

xoxo

ac

How I met him.

The first of 2008 my roommate came home having drinks with some friends from work. She asked me to go to a local bar and have a drink with her because there was going to be guy there she liked. I didn't want to go because I was tired and I didn't look like going out. She ended up talking me into going and we got down to the bar, we grab a booth and a drink. The guy she liked showed up and he ending up sitting next to me. The drink ended up just putting me to sleep. Her friend kept pulling on my sweatshirt to hold me up so I wouldn't get in trouble for falling asleep. About an hour later we drop her friend off at his apartment and we went home and I went to bed and crash. The next morning I had a friend request from him and he had sent me a message asking what I was going that night along with his number.  That night I had plans to go down to the local piano bar for a friends birthday. I went to the party but left early so I could go hang out and watch a movie at his place.

His birthday was just a week later so I took him out to dinner. I asked him about 20 or so questions... Questions like... Did he had any children. Had he ever been married. Did he talk to his family and was he close to them. Did he have a job. What did he want out of life. Did he want to get married and have children. Did he have any piercings or tattoos. Did he do drugs. He answered the questions correct (to my standards). He also said, 'you know this is our first date' - I replied 'yes, I know'. My thought was, if you don't answer these to my standard then we didn't need to start dating. I knew what I wanted in a boyfriend and future husband. I had dated the bad guys and the guys that didn't have the same goals in life as me or even belief's. I knew I wanted to start dating with a goal of marriage. I knew that I wanted to travel and see the states before starting a family. I wanted one child with the maybe the thoughts of one more later. I wanted a guy that believed in Jesus and God. I wanted someone that would wanted to raise our family with the same belief's in the lord. I wanted someone that would enjoy a glass of wine or beer while watching sports, but not a lush. Someone who would watch horrible reality tv or a sappy romantic movie with me. I wanted a family man, being the only child I'm close to my parents. I grew up seeing my grandparents and cousins every couple of weeks. I wanted someone that had a degree that had a passion to work. Someone that wanted to travel and not just sit at home but also enjoyed a Saturday night on the couch watching movies and eating frozen pizza. I didn't grow up with my dad going hunting or fishing. My dad was and still is a hard working man that kept the yard mowed, the pool clean, could build anything and fix everything, and never called into work. I knew that I didn't want someone that wanted to spend hours in the woods or someone that didn't have drive. I wanted someone that would be like my dad, in a way. I knew I wanted a year engagement and I wanted to wait five years before we started our family. To say I knew what I wanted was an understatement. I knew what I wanted and I wasn't going to just settle for anything else.

After his birthday dinner we saw each other every day and then about a month later we decided to make it official, July he moved in with me, October 11 we were engaged, October 3, 2009 we were married. I love being married to him more than I would ever thought I could.  I am so thankful that my roommate asked me to go to the bar that one Friday night when all I wanted to do was fall asleep on the couch while watching TV.

{Hot Springs: our first trip to the horse races - 4.2008}

{Las Vegas / Hover Dam - 7.2008}

{New Orleans, LA : day after getting engaged - 10.2008}

{Chicago - 7.2009}

{Wedding - 10.2009}

{Orlando: Honeymoon - 10.2009}

{Hollywood, California - 5.2010}

{New York City - 12.2010}

{Cancun, Mexico - 4.2011}

[West Coast]

{Seattle, Crater Lake National Park, San Francisco - 9.2011}

{Las Vegas - 4.2012}

{Hawaii - 10.2013}

{Florida: Pregnant - 6.2014}

{Florida - 7.2015}

{Florida - 7.2016}

{South Dakota and Wyoming - 8.2016}

[me and my cousin - Casper, WY - 8.2016]

{South East}

{Wilmington, NC, Charleston, SC and Savannah, GA  - 10.2016}

{Orlando - 12.2016}

{Kansas City - 6.2017}

{Florida - 8.2017}

{Chicago - 9.2017}

{Eureka Springs - 10.2017}

{Austin, TX - Fall.2018}

{10 Year anniversary - Fall.2019}

{Disney World - Spring.2020}

xoxo

ac