Life Lately

So much life has happened the past 3 months. My surgery went great and I had about 18 inches of intestine removed. Recovery was a bit tougher than I expected but once I got to the 4th week, it was much easier. I am amazed at how fast the body can heal. I returned to work two weeks ago and it has been interesting trying to adjust back to normal life.

 

Camden has grown so much in the past few months. I am amazed at how much he has changed. I am hoping to post a 15 month update soon. For now, here is a little bit of what we have been up to for the past 3 months (warning:lots of pictures).

 

Our little guy got his first haircut back in January. He did so good and this is when I realized we now have a toddler.

No telling what we will find in the wrong places now. His favorite is the toilet and the trashcan.

 

We celebrated Valentines Day by attending his first class party and handing out Valentines to all his classmates. I didn't get a picture of his goodies but we handed out goldfish and attached a note that said "I'm so glad we swim in the same school."

 

Team Spirit day and you know he had to rep his Panthers.

How cute is his class?

 

This was taken back in January and they have both grown even more since then. Avery is getting so big and Camden is really loving his cousin.

 

Somebody loves to play hooky from school if it means he gets to spend the day with Mimi.

 

Naps with Big Pa are his favorite.

 

This boy loves cars. He always want to touch the tires and sit in the front seat to pretend like he is driving.

 

Trying to the hang of his four wheeler from Lulu and Papa Al.

 

 

We took Camden to his Papa Al's baseball practice and he loved watching the players and playing with the baseballs.

 

He loves spaghetti.

 

Celebrating St. Patrick's Day at daycare.

 

Cam loves Ella and Caleb.

 

He loves playing outside and usually screams when we take him in.

 

Craw and I had a date day the Saturday before my surgery. We rode motorized scooters around NC States campus and had the BEST day.

 

We took Cam to a baseball game and he did so good. One day he will be out there playing and I will be his biggest fan.

 

This boy loves a ball.

 

Fun at Mimi and Pappys

 

It was time for another haircut. Why does my baby look so big? 

 



Marriage: Top Three Challenges

Crawford and I had the pleasure of attending the Art of Marriage (AOM) Live conference on Valentine's weekend at The Bridge in Goldsboro, NC.  We started the AOM during our wedding counseling but with the busyness of wedding planning and the fact we were not living together before the wedding, it was a bit hard to do separately. I cannot say enough positive things about attending an AOM conference live.  What a difference it made for us as opposed to being by ourselves and watching the videos and studying the lessons.

While our first year of marriage is still fresh on my mind, I want to write about some of the top 3 challenges that we faced as newlyweds.

1.  How to live with a person of the opposite sex.

Girls and boy are different. Plain and simple.  I had never lived with a male (other than my dad) before we got married.  Learning that we both say/do things differently was a real challenge at first.  I would not say that either one of us are neat freaks but we are not sloths either...at least we DID have that going for us.  However, I have my pet peeves and he has his.  For example, Craw has a bad habit of leaving dresser drawers open and not closing them and I. CANT. STAND. IT!!! However, I have a bad habit of leaving my towels on the floor and not hanging them up and HE. CANT. STAND. IT!!!  It's quite comical...


2.  We both handle issues very differently.


I feel like this may be a given for most newlywed couples.  Most relationships have one person that likes to talk things out right then and then the other person needs to be left alone.  This definitely applies to Craw and I .  He is the one that likes to talk and hash it out right as soon as we disagree/argue...and I'm like...DON'T TOUCH ME!  He's definitely a person that likes to touch and thinks that he has to put his hand on mine or on my knee while we work through a disagreement...#nope! I will quickly spazz out on him. Thankfully, we learned this about each other while we were dating and again during marriage counseling but it seems to be a much bigger deal when you're living under one roof.  It took some time but I can happily say he knows he needs to give me about 5 minutes and then we can talk and I guess I learned that he can at least touch my knee...


3. Juggling two very different, yet busy, schedules


This one was tough.  Craw and I are go-go-go people.  Even when we try not to plan anything and stay home, we end up going somewhere and doing something.  We both have jobs with different hours, we are both involved in different church activities, his family lives out of town, he plays softball during the spring/summer, and we both love to travel. One thing our pastor told us during counseling was that we would need to learn to say NO during our first year of marriage.  I don't like saying no but Craw has no issues telling a person no so that really worked well for us.  One thing that really helped us was communicating with each other.  This allowed us to let each other know when one of us was burned out and it also helped us keep our busy schedules straight.  Also, Craw is not good at remembering things so he knows that all plans need to be ran by me, otherwise, there is a chance he is not going to remember.
#imtheplanner


Marriage is definitely not easy but it is so worth it.

Our First Married Valentines Day

To be honest, I really don't care much for Valentine's Day. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate it, just could care less about it. I will say that this was probably the BEST Valentine's Day I have ever had. We started the day by waking up and going to a Couples Panel session sponsored by The Well. My friend Madison started The Well back in October and it is a gathering for young women that are intently wanting to focus on having a Godly marriage and how to be a Godly wife. They meet once a month but this month, they decided to switch it up and invite the spouses. Madison found 4 couples that have been married for 15+ years and had us submit questions for them to answer in relation to their own marriage. For two hours, we got to listen to couples share their experiences and what they have learned throughout their marriage. They covered all types of questions newly married couples may have regarding finances, communication, intimacy, and how to center our marriage on God. Crawford and I gained so much from that panel and it was an awesome way to start our Valentine's Day.

The rest of the day, we spent just being together. We did a little shopping, took a nap, ordered take out, rented a movie and came home and watched it by the fire. It was pure bliss and I told Craw I was a cheap date. I loved just spending time with my husband. While I try to show my love to him everyday in random ways, it was nice to have a day that was just for us. Maybe I am starting to like Valentine's Day a little more now that I'm married.

**For those interested in more information on The Well, comment below or email me.**