Well, I’ve finally gone and done it. I’ve exported all of our posts from our wordpress blog and migrated them over to our own actual domain. I’ve wanted to do this for a long time but just could never make myself sit down and do it, but I’m really glad I did and I think it’ll be great to have this down the road. So, with all of that said, you are officially welcomed to TheMoosles.com!
It’s pretty pointless to say that so much has changed over the past year. Heather and I are doing great and our general lives are pretty much the same, but Mr. Sam has grown into a little man and we couldn’t be happier. He is almost 16 months old and he has teeth, is saying small words and it on the verge of walking like a pro. He is still working on his balance, but he gets around 5-6 zombie steps in before he plops down on his behind. It seems like every age that he grows into is more fun than the last one, but I can honestly say that the age he is at right now is more fun than I ever thought it could be. It’s great to watch him figure things out and to develop interests of his own, and not just the ones that we impose on him. He loves books and to climb on things, and I see the little boy in him more and more as he gets more comfortable with his mobility. He is always wanting to get into stuff, not just to look at it, but to tear it up and make the biggest mess of it as he can.
It’s hard to recap the past year in just one blog post, so over the next few days i’m going to start posting pictures and brief summaries about the past months and try to catch you up as best I can. I’ll also be putting together some more video clips from the past year to post, so look for those. Heather and I have loved looking back over the blog posts I did last year and it’s really made me feel guilty for not continuing that, so I’m really going to stick with it. Keep checking back!
I just had to post these new pictures I took this weekend. Sam has decided that he is too old for his swing now. He’s not much into swinging anymore. He would rather be rolling around on the floor or in his “johnny jump up.” Here he is trying his best to wiggle out of his swing.
Sam has decided that he likes sleeping on his stomach now with his little bottom up in the air.
Here he is in his new toy! He loves it. Thanks Elise!!
We’ve taken a lot of video over the past few months, and thought it’d be neat to make a little movie showing how much Sam has not only grown, but found his voice.
No excuses, I’m just going to post. It’s been a good….. month. Sam is growing like a little chubby weed and is more and more fun everyday. Tons has happened since my last post. I will hit on the highlights, starting with Heather going back to work. This is not so much a “highlight” as it is a significant event. It has gone much better than both of us expected, but that is not to say it is all good. Heather cut back to 30 hours a week, which allows us to keep our insurance through her work, so she doesn’t have to leave home until around noon, and she gets home a little before 7. If her schedule was the same as it was before Sam was born then I’m sure this would be much harder, for both of us, but mainly for her. Right now she is able to spend the entire morning with Sam before she leaves, which is good for both of us. I have started working most mornings by 7 at the latest so that I can get in a good 5 hours or so before she leave, which makes it easier for me in the afternoons if I have to take an hour off here or there to tend to Sam. So far it’s going well, it hasn’t all been easy, but it’s worth it.
Sam is sleeping pretty well and doing all of the things he is supposed to. It’s funny for us to look back and see that we were afraid he wasn’t getting enough to eat when he fed, because it is apparent that even though he doesn’t eat for long, he definitely packs it in. It seems as though the buzz-word that people use when looking at him is “healthy”, which is fine with us because we know he is. He’s a cute little hunk-a-chunka duder buddy. That’s what I say.
Some nights are better than others, and I suppose that is to be expected. The last 2 nights he’s gone 6 hours between his last feeding of the night and the next one, so that’s good. His naps all go pretty well too, so we’re just going to keep on our schedule and hope it keeps progressing positively.
Yesterday Heather had to have a cavity filled, so she went through the usual round of numbing shots, which then led to me laughing harder than I have in a long long time. She was laughing really hard too because I was laughing so hard, which only made her look funnier. It was a good 10 minutes before we both regained our composure.
Sam and Graham hung out this morning on the couch, so I thought I’d get a few pics. They are getting along great so far, I think they’re going to be good buds.
We are back from a 4 day weekend with my family over near Gatlinburg, TN at Douglas Lake. We had a great time and got some good pictures along the way. Emma is a lot of fun and being around her makes me excited about Sam getting a little older. I had to work on Thursday until late so we didn’t leave Murfreesboro until around 9pm, which put us in Knoxville at about 2 in the morning, so we were pooped. Friday morning we got up and all of us headed down the road for about an hour or so to the cabin. We spent the rest of the time there either out on the lake or in the cabin relaxing and getting in some good talk time. Sam did great and it was good for him to get to spend some time with Nana and Papa. He also hasn’t had much time with my sister and her family so that was nice too.
Heather goes back to work in a couple of weeks so we’re trying hard to get Sam used to his schedule. It’s easier said than done. He was doing great there for a while about sleeping for 4 or 5 hours at night before waking up but we’ve gone back to 3 hours max. We’ve been pretty busy lately with going out of town and doing other stuff so it’s been a little complicated with sticking to a set schedule, but hopefully we will be able to solidify some stuff over the next 2 weeks. It’s not all going to be easy, but overall he is doing really great and we’ll get it worked out. He’s gotten past the point where he would sleep no matter what noise was going on around him, so we have to be more conscious of how loud we are when he is napping. He is also a smiling machine. It’s obvious that he recognizes Heather and I now and that just makes you feel good when you can walk into a room and make your baby smile.
This weekend Emily and John are coming up to visit us from Georgia, so we’re looking forward to that. Then next weekend I am going camping with the dudes and I think Heather and Sam are going to head down the Georgia to stay with Mimi. Heather isn’t sure how much she’ll like staying here at the new house by herself without my strapping male presence, and really who can blame her. Talk to you later!
The Mosley Gang
Emma loved to give Sam kisses,
and Sam just thought it was time to eat again
Emma loved the boat and the water
I am wearing a bathing suit, it’s just a tricky color
Well yesterday was mine and Heather’s 2 year anniversary. It almost seems cliche to say it, but it’s pretty amazing to look back and see how much my life has changed over the past 24 months. Marriage, bought our first place, sold our first place, had a baby, bought our second place, and those are just the major highlights. There have been countless more smaller and less notable things that may not seem to be significant but have all played a major role in making these past 2 years the best 2 years of my life. I can’t wait to look back when it’s been 4, 6, 8 years and see what’s developed then. There is a lot to look forward to.
It’s been a busy past week. And yes, I do realize that it’s been a week without an update, since the very update where I promised to post the next day. So I’ve learned not to promise such things. I really like posting here, and I’ve actually bought the domain themoosles.com where I plan to move this blog shortly, so look for that.
Since my last post Mimi has come to visit, we attended Michael Waggonner’s 16th bday party as well as the annual Skinner family picnic (the Skinners are Heather’s grandmothers side of the family). It’s been a very busy couple of weeks at work for me, but on Thursday we’re taking a long weekend to go hang out with my parents, my sister, her husband and Emma over at a lake near Gatlinburg. It will be really nice to relax for 4 days and get in some good family time, I know they’re all itching to see Sam. Here are a ton of pictures from the various events over the past week. I’ll start out with a series of pictures showing how Sam likes to try really hard to get out of his swaddle blanket. He is usually successful with at least one arm, and we’ve actually started to leave his upper body un-swaddled. We thought we’d try it one night and he did really well, he slept for 2 five hour increments that night, so Heather only had to get up once to feed him, and we were both stunned. He is still doing well so we’ll see if it continues. Talk to you later, sooner rather than later.
Kathleen Foutch and Sam chillin’ in the backyard at Michael’s bday party
It’s been a good week or so since my last post. I have no excuses for my lack of posting, I just got out of the habit, so I’m working on getting back in it. Things have settled down here quite a bit, which none of us are complaining about. Graham and Greta are home and we are about 99% unpacked, so I’d say our new house is actually starting to feel like a home. Sam is changing every day. He is smiling and making little noises on a regular basis and I’m pretty sure it’s because of the faces I make at him, and not just gas. He is still sleeping well, usually he’ll go between 4 and 5 hours between feedings over night at least once. Heather is going back to work after this month so we’re trying to get Sam on that schedule so it won’t be a huge transition for any of us. Nana and Papa came to town last weekend and they were keeping Emma for a couple of days while my sister and her husband were out of town, so that was fun. I didn’t get enough pictures, as usual. I WILL have more to post tomorrow, if I don’t then you have my permission to yell at me.
These are either some really sleepy eyes or he is just giving me a preview of the looks I’ll get when I ask him to pose for a picture when he’s a teenager.
On a last minute change of plans, we decided to go down to Georgia to visit Mimi and Grandy this past weekend for the holiday. We were originally planning to go this coming weekend but neither of us were thinking about Memorial day and we thought we could spend the extra day down there by the pool. So Saturday morning we packed up, which by the way is not nearly as easy as it used to be, and headed for Carrollton, GA. This was Sam’s first time to lounge by the pool so we stopped by Target to pick up a swimsuit for him, but apparently they don’t make swimsuits that small, so he just got a pair of cool red shorts. He got to wear his super-cool shades too.
“yeah, i’m cool. yeah, i have a pacifier. you got a problem with it?”
We forgot to bring Sam’s bathtub with us so we had to get creative and Grandy had a good idea. They had a nice plastic dog kennel that had never been used so we took the top off and set it in the sink, and it worked perfectly. Sam loved it, he’s a fan of bathtime.
“careful there, lady. you’re walking on thin ice here.”
We were there until Tuesday morning, so we got to spend some good time with Mimi and Grandy, and we got to see Emily and John a couple of times too, so that was fun. It was a nice relaxing weekend and now we won’t need to travel this coming weekend, so I will plan on finishing off some projects around the house to get us completely settled. Nana and Papa are coming tomorrow for a couple of days, and they’re bringing Graham home. They will also have Emma with them so it should be a fun weekend. Talk to you more later.
“what’s the big deal about this sitting-up stuff? seems pretty easy to me.”
“tummy time is fun for a little while, but I’m about to let you know that I’m tired of it.”
Well this is my first post from Christiana, TN in my new office. It has definitely been a busy past week. Long story short, last Friday we closed on our house and Saturday we proceeded to pack it up and move it in. Any move is usually a stressful and chaotic endeavor and this was our first move with a baby, so it was a new experience. We have been somewhat nomadic in our time being married, this will be the 4th place in less than 2 years that we’ve called home, and 5th if you count the month we lived with Heather’s grandparents in ‘05 while we waited for our townhouse to finish being built. I can sincerely say now that I AM DONE moving for a loooooooooong time. It feels good to have a place where we know we’re going to be for a long time, and it’s fun to think about everything that we’re going to get to experience here with Sam and whoever else might come along (nothing is being planned yet Mom, don’t get too excited). Here is a pic from the day we closed..
I am a little disappointed with myself because I hardly took any pictures during our move, but I guess I was distracted by everything going on. Now that we’ve settled in a bit I’m going to make an effort to get back into the habit of taking pictures and posting more regularly. It took most of this week, but I think that we are nearing the point of being totally unpacked and everything is generally where it should be. I still have a few things to do like properly install the mailbox outside. It’s in the ground right now but not sturdily. I get to cement the hole this weekend and also plant some more grass seed. I feel like a real home-owner now. I felt like one at the townhouse, but here I actually have to take care of the yard and the other outside stuff.
Greta came home today from Heather’s grandparents house, sporting her new haircut. She spent the first hour of so inspecting the various areas of the house and getting used to it all. It will be good when Graham comes back next week, we’ll be a whole family again.
Today we also got Sam’s photo gallery link from the photographer we used in Kingston Springs, her name is Mandy Johnson. We’re really happy with the results. You can check out the slideshow by clicking on the “Just 4 You Proofing” link and entering “mosley” into the password field. I will have more to post tomorrow with more pictures, I promise. Here are some pics of the little man from the past couple of days to hold you over until I take more. Sometimes he gets this look on his face that he just needs to think for a minute about what is going on. During these times, his pacifier is of no interest to him.
