One Fat Baby & A Bunch of Campers

Brayden is now 5 months old. He's a chunk (and you're thinking, "yeah, I've seen the pictures). He now weighs almost 20 lbs and is 27.5 inches long. He's in the 92nd percentile for weight and 90th for length. I always thought I'd have a little bitty skinny baby. But Brayden is making me little bitty skinny mommy (with big muscles)! He's a wonderful baby, though. He laughs now - it's so cute. He's learned how to give hugs and kisses - well, they are really just big open mouth slobbers, but it's "kisses" to him. He's almost sitting up and is starting to scootch. He can get up on his knees and he can push up on his arms, just not at the same time. We think he'll be crawling soon.

Camp has been keeping us very, very busy. We've maxed out one week and came REALLY close to maxing out this week. It's wonderful!!! The extra work doesn't really feel like work when you know that it's all for such a great cause. We had our first graders here this past weekend and it was so exciting to see them singing worship songs and learning about reflecting Jesus. They managed to give more money to missions than they spent on candy & pop in the canteen - which I think is an amazing testament to what kind of great kids they are. John & I are really looking forward to watching these kids grow up here at camp and seeing what kind of kids they are when they are in junior high and high school. We've already met so many great kids, so much potential!!! It's such a blessing to be involved in changing kids' lives!

PS - As much as I love my job, I hate mosquitos. Just thought you should know.

Planes, Trains and Autos - and Mommy's Day

Well, camp is about a week away (all together now - AHHHHHHHH!!!!) and so John and I have been trying to squeeze all the fun out of the last few weeks of "freedom" that we have. Last week we flew out to Denver for the wedding of an old roommate of mine. I have to honestly say - BEST wedding I've ever been to (including my own!). They had an outdoor wedding at this gorgeous place in Golden, CO; the preacher was amazing; the reception was a ton of fun; the bride looked absolutely stunning; the weather was perfect... I could go on forever!! Brayden went with us, so it was his first plane ride (and John's too for that matter). Both of them had a great time on the plane. Brayden barely fussed at all. It was also Brayden's first wedding - he got a picture with Shawna and also gave her $$ for the dollar dance. I wish we could have stayed longer and spent more time with everyone, but it's kinda hard when you have a baby who gets fussy when it's bedtime... The day we flew back to Oklahoma was Mother's Day. I was a little depressed about having to "miss" my first Mother's Day at church... But it was worth it to get to see an old friend get hitched. PLUS, while we were in the airport, people would just randomly tell me "Happy Mother's Day." It was realy neat.

THEN... this past weekend, my parents, my brother and John, Brayden and I all took off to the old stomping grounds and headed to Silver Dollar City. I was kinda nervous that Brayden wouldn't be able to handle such a long car ride (it was about 6 hours), but he did GREAT. He's just a fabulous little traveler. And he had a wonderful time at SDC. He got to play in the water a little and had his first experience with a swimming pool at our hotel. My mom's got the pics - when she gets them developed, I'll post some. He looked so cute in his little swimming suit!!!!

A few developmental milestones have been occurring... Brayden has started reaching out to grab things like toys or people's hands. This has really just happened in the last two weeks... He could bat at things earlier, but he's finally figured out how to grab on with both hands. While we were in Branson, my dad was playing with him and Brayden reached up for him! He's also on the verge of rolling over from back to front... He'll make it about halfway and then give up and flop back onto his back. I've managed to get him to sit up on his own a couple of times, but only for a few seconds... but he's getting there.

It seems like every morning when I wake up and look at him, he's gotten a bit older during the night. He's turning into a little kid instead of a newborn baby. It's totally amazing and awesome to watch it happen. I can't describe how it feels to watch a child grow up before your very eyes. But I can say now with full confidence, he'll always be my little baby boy.