FAMILY PICTURES

A local photographer took our picture a couple of weeks ago. We are just THRILLED with how they turned out. If you are in the area and are wanting some pictures done, I HIGHLY recommend Leah Robinson of Sweet Essence Photography. She does this as a side business and is FANTASTIC! I know of several families who have used her, and I have to be honest...I have not seen a bad picture yet! Here are a few samples of pictures we received... We had several taken in her Halloween costume (Lady Bug)

Where did my baby go!!!!!!

The video should explain it all.....time is going by way too fast.


Callaway will 11 months old this coming Sunday and she is becoming quite the entertainer. During the evenings she gets to showing off and walking every where. She likes it when we get on her level on the floor so she can crawl all over us and so we can play with her. She really likes it when Daddy starts tickling her and passing her the ball to bounce off the wall and window. Watching her walk is just too funny. She has been standing on her own for quite some time now and has been pulling herself up since before she started crawling at 8 months. This weekend she has really took off on the walking. At first she would just take a step, maybe two if she was really balanced, and then fall. Now she is walking all across the kitchen floor and living room and into the bedrooms and back. Little stinker is growing up WAY TOO FAST!

She has been enjoying table food for a while now too. I would say her favorites right now consist of green beans, vienna sausages, and canned pears. She'll even sneak in some ice cream here and there:o) I have been working on getting her birthday party ready. I have some of he invitations done now, but most of the other stuff will be last minute. We plan on having it down at the garage on our place so we can have a bonfire, so hopefully it won't be too cold, but we'll see. I got to pick her theme this year since of course she is too young to pick her own and to be really interested in too many things, so I went with the Hoot Owls. I have all kinds of neat decorations planned and the desserts are even owl themed! I love to throw a good party! Especially when I can bring out the kid side of me!

We are having her pictures taken next weekend with a local photographer so we (well I guess just myself:o) ) are so excited about that. The lady who is taking them is so good and I just love the way she takes pictures...all natural, nothing staged. They will be taken outside, so I'm praying for good weather. Mommy and Daddy are even going to try to get in on a few and she'll have an outfit change in there too....she'll have some taken in her Halloween costume! YEY!!!!!

Well I will try to get some updated pictures posted soon. I need to download them all off my camera. I hope everyone has a good week and FALL IS HERE! Enjoy the cooler weather and get ready to watch our Master's art canvas of color!

Other Pics from the weekend

Kung Foo Fighter

I just had to post this picture...

Getting Big

I know everyone has been after me for not updating...Sorry. I've been busy with let me just say everything! We have had a lot of company visiting over the summer and we left on vacation and trying to do things around the house and the list can just go on and on.

Callaway is 9 months today!!! I just cannot believe it! She is getting so big. Not size wise so much (she doesn't have much hope since her Daddy and I are both under 6'), but just the things she is doing now; I don't even know where to begin! The day after we got back from vacation she started crawling (she was exactly 8 months and 1 day), she has been pulling up all on her own since before she was crawling and now she is learning to balance standing up and getting to where she can at times pull herself up without holding onto anything! She has developed a taste for REAL food especially sweets :o) She has been sampling mashed potato's, cheese, cottage cheese, scrambled eggs, pasta, Gerber puffs, toast, bread sticks, cantaloupe, and then of course the sweets, but her favorite would definitely have to be ice cream. You really know when she loves something by when she starts "flapping" her right arm like she is trying to tell you, "Faster, Faster!"

We have now baby proofed the house (up to a certain height anyways) and it still seems as though she can find everything, including things you never see until they're in her mouth. Toys and toy baskets now set on the sofa table where pictures and vases were once displayed, plugs have been covered, lamps have been moved or removed from the room, doors are now shut, an ottoman now rests in front of the TV so she can't reach buttons and knobs, and there will be alot more proofing as soon as she figures out the whole walking thing! Did I once say that I couldn't wait until she started crawling?????

It's funny how women (and men) just kind of step into the role of being a parent without really consciously thinking about it. You wake up 2 hours earlier than you use to in order to be some where on time, you find yourself looking for Disney movies instead of the latest Box Office hit, you sway back and forth even if you're not holding a crying baby, your grocery list begins to be filled with foods you would eat if you had your wisdom teeth removed, any extra money you have for yourself you find yourself spending on that ADORABLE outfit that you just thought she would look so cute in or a toy that she just smiled from ear to ear at while in the store, you find yourself singing Patty Cake or humming the latest nursery rhyme she seems to enjoy. Priorities change, family becomes the most important thing in your life, and you even become minivan owners...

Yes we took the plunge. We are now proud owners of a minivan! I know what your thinking, you only have one child to haul around. But we tend to go on the road a lot or go places where we have several passengers and we just couldn't pass up the great deal we got, so...we now own a Dodge Grand Caravan. We picked it up last night and I am loving it! It rides so smooth and quiet and not to mention all the cool gadget's it has! Now if I can only figure out how to work all the buttons... You know your in trouble when the van comes with it's own 85 page manual on how to operate JUST THE RADIO! All well we'll figure it all out. We are looking forward to taking on our vacation this fall to test out it's Stow-N-Go storage space. We'll just see how much shopping we can do now!!!!!

Anyways, the summer has been flying by and that is ok with me as far as the weather goes (I hate summer weather), but my little squirt is almost 1!!!!! and my sweet baby girl is almost 2. Where has the time gone? We will once again be celebrating Braylyn's life at our house with our family on her birthday and I am trying to come up with something special, but I can't give away too much. Callaway's birthday will also be at our house and I'm hoping to do it outside since it will be early November and the weather should hopefully be nice.

Well I better get going. I have a lot of work to do today. I hope everyone is having a great day!

Busy Busy Busy

The Inman family has been busy this month. We have been through Vacation Bible School at church, visiting with my foreign brother (Jo from Holland), working, cleaning, hosting my brothers 30 birthday (yes Josh just reminding you, you are now 30 :o) ), getting our spare bedroom set up (FINALLY!!!), doctor's appointments, dental appointments, I know there's more...

This week we will be just has busy even with an extra day off with the holiday, we have a list of things to do this week. Sunday we walked outside to leave for church to find a BIG bucket tractor sitting in our yard in front of a BIG hole! Don't worry we knew it was going to happen, just not when. So it was sort of a shock to walk outside and see that. To explain...we have been having some plumbing problems, a.k.a, septic tank issues. Ever since we moved into our house, the plumbing in the basement has not worked correctly. Well now we are getting around to finding out the issue. So that was going on Sunday. Yesterday, the insect guy came to do our quarterly spray and inspection, the plumbers came by to draw up a plan of action (still don't really understand what is going on), and this was all after a full day at work and a doctor's appointment for Bran.

Today is another fabulous full day of work, while the plumbers are at the house working (on doing what, still not sure) followed by this evening fixing dinner and then going on a walk. I think that's it. That's all I've planned for anyways, but somehow it never seems to go that way.

Callaway is going on 8 months old now! Kristi pointed out the other day that she is closer to a year old than a newborn :o( Where has the time gone... She is doing really good. She has a cold right now, along with her mother and father. I guess that's what you get when it's 100 degrees outside and you keep your house a chilling 70 degrees. Anyways, Callaway has yet to crawl, but she is getting there. I think she will be one who either doesn't crawl at all or crawls for a short time period and then quickly goes into walking. She pulls herself up pretty good and she will rock when she is on her knees, but she just can't get the whole coordination of moving her legs with her arms. She still just has two teeth on bottom and has started holding her bottle all on her own. Watch out! she tends to snatch it out of your hand before your ready! She is also making noises my moving her hands over her mouth and she has developed a CHEESER smile that is just too funny. I need to get some pictures! She still sleeps through the night; falling asleep around 8-930 and not waking until 8-9 when she is able to sleep in (when I'm not working). I am hoping she will stay that way, since little does she know, in less than two weeks she is moving into her own room! Yes she is still in our room. She sleeps in her pak-n-play next to our bed. But I think "I" am ready for the move. She could probably care less, it's me who is struggling with "letting her go." Maybe I should invest in the video camera monitor????

Well I'll wrap it up. I hope to get some good pictures this next week and I'll post as soon as I can!

6 Months

Callaway is now 6 months old! I just cannot believe how fast time as flown by. She is reaching that stage where she is doing a lot of new things and making some cute faces, so needless to say she keeps us smiling. My mom and I took her to the doctor yesterday for her check-up. She did really good considering she got 3 more shots. Poor thing. But of course mommy picks her up and she immediately stops crying and within minutes she is smiling again. Little stinker. She now weighs 16 pounds 1 oz and is 25.6" long. She feels as light as a feather to me and everyone keeps saying she is small, but the doctor said she looks good. We are going on a 4 day running streak of NO SPIT UPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I pray that the spit-up phase is coming to a close. It has been so nice to have her sitting on her own and in her chairs without worrying about spit-up going every where. And to go a whole day in the same shirt! AH the little things that makes us Mommies happy. My dad met us down there after Callaway's appointment and we went to a local plant nursery and out to eat. I could have went hog wild buying all kinds of plants and tress, but that project is slowly progressing. After that my mom and dad took Callaway home and they let me enjoy some time to shop. I went to Wal-Mart and Elder-Beerman to just look around and of course try on shoes! We all had an enjoyable day, with the exception of three shots.

So at 6 months Callaway rolls from her back to her belly, sits on her own, grasps rattles and her other toys, loves being outside and strolling around the yard in her stroller, laughs at Diesel as he runs in circles around her, jabbers more, enjoys sticking her tongue out, discovered that when she coughs you give her attention and ask if she's ok, still enjoys looking at herself in the mirror (see bath time pictures in the slide above; enough said), is still a mommies girl, but loves when daddy gives her kisses and sings to her, still eating peas and green beans but we are reintroducing carrots, and if she continues on the spit-up free days, we will hopefully spend more time on our belly so we can learn to crawl.

All in all Callaway has brought so much joy to our lives. I just love to watch her sleep and when she smiles...I just want to cry with tears of joy. I say a prayer each morning for God to watch over her, to protect her and to guide her through her day. It seems like I hear on almost a daily basis of someone who has caused harm to an infant or child and when I look at Callaway I just cannot imagine causing her pain. I mean taking her to get her routine shots is hard enough. I just cannot comprehend how people can do such actions, and not to even mention abortion. The other day Brandon and I had heard of a young man on the news who had beat a 3 month old baby boy and then fled with the little boy in his car and threw him out the window as he drove down an interstate, I told Brandon, "His day will come when he will be judged for his actions and he will pay the ultimate price. As as for the little baby boy...he is no longer suffering and he is being taken care of by our Lord and Savior." I believe God punishes those who cause harm to children. Someone who feels like they have power or control when they do something like that to a defenseless baby...I just don't understand. Callaway is a gift from God as are all children and to cause harm on one of God's precious creations is just mind boggling to me.

On a lighter note, Brandon and I have been busy. The nice weather has made our moods and ambitions go into full gear I think. Sunday we power washed the house and trimmed the yard. We have been progressively getting closer to getting the landscaping project going. We need to bring in a tuck load or two of dirt to help build it up around the house and once that is done, we can finally get started on re-planting! The tough part will be deciding what plants to buy. I am all about low maintenance cause once it gets 100 degrees outside with 100% humidity......this girl will NOT be outside messing with plants. So I'm leaning toward ornamental grasses and several different flowering bushes. This fall I want to plant tulip bulbs and some mums and asters. It's going to be a big project, but I can't wait to see the finished product.