Sprinkled with Love

Everyone loves to celebrate babies! That is just what we got to do last weekend. We headed back to good ole Gump Town for the weekend to get together with some old friends who sprinkled Baby Mills with some love! Being that this is our second baby and we're having another boy, we didn't feel comfortable with a big shower but some of our friends spoiled us with some love in a low key sprinkle fashion!

We can't thank them enough for the sweet gifts they "sprinkled" us with but the best part was the time spent with them. Since moving we obviously don't see these friends as often as we would like. Hutton enjoyed his time with all these ladies and Baby Owen! As you can see, he's not into pictures as much as the ladies! 

We are so excited to meet Baby Mills and see how God blesses our family of FOUR! Five weeks from today!! 

Mom of Boys

This pregnancy I have gotten the question A LOT of whether it's a boy or girl. When I say boy, people often apologize as if we wanted a girl and are disappointed.

Most of my closest friends knew that in my heart I did truly want another boy! So today we are doing a Throwback Thursday to a post I wrote 2 years ago when Hutton was only 6 months old. 

http://chrisandjessicawhatley.blogspot.com/2012/08/my-little-secret-about-boys.html?m=1

Rest

Well hello blog world - it's been quite some time since I ventured in this direction.

Catching the blog world up would be a waste of time (especially since my main readers are my husband and best friend.) So, I thought instead I would catch the blog world up on the rest my sweet family experienced in August.

August was by far one of the craziest months we have ever experienced as a couple. Work was crazy. We both had two large weekend work events in. THE.SAME.WEEKEND. Scary! Did I mention that we no longer live in town with family? Yup- even scarier.

Well once the crazy weekend had passed our family headed down some small town roads to Blue Mountain Beach. Monday thru Saturday. People- can I tell you that I have never needed a time so much in my life.

This was our schedule:

Sleep.Beach.Eat.IceCream.Repeat.

Thank you God for that rest.

Yes the rest was vital. I needed it as I was exhausted from what we had been doing the past few months. I still hadn't recovered from the craziness of moving cities away from all that I knew and was attached to. This time with my little family made for 5 of the best days I have experienced in my 27 years. That may sound extreme but I'm beyond serious. It was the best! Enjoy these pics of our lovely week...

 

One Year

 I am now officially the mother of a one year old.
Hutton...

You are the most joyful, smiley, goofy, adorable, cute, silly, monkey ever. Your mommy and daddy love and adore you and look forward to every moment spent with you.

All pictures are thanks to Hutton's amazing photographer with many talents Tyler Caldwell!

 

 

10 things on Thursdays

Today is Thursday, which means tomorrow is Friday! Woohoo! I thought today I would list the 10 things I'm the most looking forward to this weekend!

They are in no particular order!

10- The My Kids Attic Consignment Sale! My sweet friend Melissa got me a preview pass so I get in tomorrow at 4! Woop woop!

9- Auburn Game watching and eating with my friends Adam and Amanda. I haven't seen either of them in SOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooo long so I can't wait to catch up. I know that laughing will be in store because Adam is hysterical.

8- My husband comes home!!!! We have only been together 5 hours (they were all sleeping hours) in the last week and we've never been away from eachother that long.

7- I'm teaching Middle School Sunday School this week. Now sometimes you have to pull words out of those middle schoolers to get them to talk but I'm looking forward to it nonetheless.

6- Youth Small Groups start back! I'm rocking my third year with the same group of girls. They are Seniors this year and I cannot express how much I love them and how proud of them I am. Love you Bailey, Caroline, Kathryn, Emily, Becca, Taylor, Alex, Kelsey, Carlie and Morgan!

5- Dinner with my Mom tomorrow night! I haven't seen her much lately so I'm very much looking forward to a free dinner and catching up.

4- Delicious family dinner Saturday night in honor of my husband's return! I'm not even sure what I'm cooking yet but I think I'm going to pick up some shrimp at the store and go from there. Any suggestions?

3- Sitting through a sermon at St. James with Chris. Between sicknesses, vacations, bachelor parties, bachelorette parties and more we haven't sat through a sermon together in over a month.

2- My dog not barking in the middle of the night. Anytime Chris is out of town Jacks goes on high alert. This means that any noise from the hours of 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. he barks at OUT OF CONTROL! For me it means, no sleep, dark circles, puffy eyes, tired employee!

1- Family walk! I have to admit, I am not a huge walker. I should be I know. But, Jacks loves them, Hutton loves them, Chris loves them so I'm determined to learn to love them. Plus- I love being with all of my boys so if they all want to walk- then I'm up for it!

Six Months Joy

  Hutton turned 6 months old on August 16th. We are only two and a half weeks past that and it has been amazing. Every month has been incredible and I love him more with everyday that goes by but this month has been by far the most fun. We have had a great time being a family and spending time together and watching Hutton as he discovers more things around him and more things about himself. He wakes up everyday with a smile, does something new everyday, gets more hair everytime I look at him, has baby chunky rolls and has brought me an immeasurable amount of joy. I'm so blessed and so thankful to God for this gift He gave Chris and me. Enjoy the pictures of my munchkin!!!

 

P.S.- for my own personal joke: It's pretty tough having the cutest baby ever but I think I'm up to the task :) I now understand how you truly believe that your child is the most handsome, smartest, wonderful child there ever was!

 

Hard Honesty

A week ago I would have told you that motherhood has been far easier than told, expected, and anticipated. Hutton has been a great sleeper, eater, incredibly happy disposition and cuter than I could have imagined.

I feel guilty even saying this, but the reality of the challenges of motherhood hit hard.

For over a week we have had lots of sicknesses rolling through our house. The worst of it hit Hutton Monday. I picked up a pale, unresponsive, heaving, coughing, throwing up bile, boy who seemed lifeless and whose eyes rolled in the back of his head. I was terrified. I tried to be strong. I rallied the family troops, made a plan, and then sat in my car holding him crying my eyes out and praying he would be ok.
It's been a hard hard week. My baby who rarely fusses spent a whole day crying. I was home with him but I gave in and called Chris to come help me for 30 minutes so I could finish getting ready. It was the first time I really felt I had no idea what I was doing. My little bugger had a stomach bug, a cold, an ear infection, and a fever that came and went. He was worn out, I was worn out. I used up almost half of my remaining time off, I missed a wedding party, we missed our first night away together, I missed girls night out, I missed sewing class. Don't hear me wrong- I willingly traded all that to be home with my sick munchkin and comfort him but it wore me out.

Well today the worst of it has passed, Hutton went back to school and I went back to work. I'm worn out, but looking forward to maybe our second date night since Hutton was born. I'm looking forward to a weekend of rest and rejuvenation come Monday morning!

For those of you that knew, thank you for the prayers. I truly had never been so terrified as when I picked him up Monday morning. For those of you that called, texted, visited, or brought me dinner- you're truly the best! It was greatly appreciated!

Almost 5 months in... favorite baby items!

Well Hutton will hit 5 months on Monday. 5 WOW. That is almost half a year. I can't even fathom the idea that he has been with us almost half a year. It has absolutely flown by. He has brought us more joy in five months than I could have ever imagined.


So, in those 5 months we have used a lot of different baby items and I thought I would share my 5 absolute favorites!  


#5- Canopy Float - What do you do when you have a baby under 6 months in the summertime who can't wear sunscreen? Why be the ingenius person who invented a float with a canopy. Whoever you are, we thank you! You have helped our lake and pool outings significantly!



#4- Bumbo - Honestly, I partly love this because he looks so darn cute sitting in it. But, our little boy gets in these moods where he wants to be sitting up sooooo bad but he can't yet. So we are thankful to the Bumbo that it gives him that back support so he can sit up and enjoy the scenery!

#3- Car Seat Toy Bar- Love! It makes noise, it keeps my munchkin entertained in the car and he is enthralled by it! So Bright Starts- you won us over with this! This was the first "toy" Hutton was really interested in!


#2- Summer SwaddleMe Blankets! I completely understand that there is an obsession with the Aden & Anais swaddling blankets. Maybe I'm missing something but they were a no go for us. Too big. He busted out of them. Just didn't like it. Now these bad boys though- let's just say last night was the first night he slept in a sleep sack instead of this!!

And the winner is....
#1- The Nap Nanny! To say this has been my best friend is an understatement. I give the nap nanny almost all of the credit for the fact that our sweet boy started sleeping through the night at 4 weeks. So here's to the nap nanny... thank you for the precious sleep you helped me enjoy :)

Hutton Update

Our sweet Hutton is 4 months old now so I thought I would give a little update

• He's 13 lbs 4 ounces
• 25th percentile in height, weight, and head
• He is still sleeping through the night (Thank you Jesus!)
• He loves the car and is the best traveler- he's already been to New Orleans and Charleston!
• He has just entered into a stage where he only wants Mommy or Daddy to hold him
• He laughs and finds himself very amusing
• He is getting baptized this Sunday 
• He gets more hair by the week and yes friends- it is still red!
• He apparently looks like his Uncle Tripp!
• He's wearing 3-6 month clothes
• If he sees the tv on he is glued to it!
• He still has a strong dislike of tummy time so we're not holding ourselves up on our forearms just yet- almost there though
• I hate to admit this but yes he's still sleeping in our room (We're gonna move him this week I swear) 
• Okay so now for a photo blast...

At my 4 month checkup!

With my Daddy on Father's Day

My first oufit made by Mommy

I love my Bumbo!

 Got my new shades on

On a walk with my friend Lilly Broox

I like sitting up in my nap nanny

With my Aunt Aletha when she came to visit!

Already an Auburn Fan- War Eagle!

With my Uncle Tripp - I look like him!

Been a little busy...

  Okay no need to even discuss the fact that I haven't blogged since maybe January? I have a really good excuse I promise! In January to mid-February I was completely swamped at work putting on an event for 2500 8th grade students. Then on February 16th this little bugger jumped into my world and consumed every part of it!

Christopher Hutton Whatley

7 lbs 7 oz

19 1/4 in.

February 16, 2012

I have never experienced anything like it and that little munchkin has brought me joy times a million. Everyday I am more excited to wake up and see his face! I won't overload you too much today but know that in the upcoming weeks you may be bombarded with pictures and such of our little munchkin!

3 weeks to go and a completed nursery!

  Happy Monday!
Sorry it has been a while but work has been pretty busy, personal life has been busy and well I do have a baby to prepare for! I can't remember all the fun things that have happened in between but amazingly I remember the post where I was talking about how we had 6 weeks to go and I wanted them to go by fast. God answered my prayers as we're halfway through that and now only have 3 weeks to go! It is pretty incredible that I found out I was pregnant at 4 weeks and I have made it through now where I only have 3 left. We have 99.9% finished the nursery so here is the finished product... Enjoy!

Here is the overall room view that shows most everything! The stool is going to be recovered but everything else is as it will be when Hutton comes home. Thanks to some very special people, Lil Conoly for the beautiful valance and curtains and Vanessa Rhodes for the bumper pads! A special thanks to my husband for working so hard with me to get it finished and to my liking :)

This is the opposite view and inside the closet are all of the many things people have blessed us with for sweet Hutton! We can't thank everyone enough for the clothes, diapers, wipes, toys, books, blankets, and more!

And there is the sweet boy's bed!