Mama's Prayers

Over the last 17 months, I haven't taken much time to pray. Terrible, I know, but I usually only tend to make time when Remy's really sick or I'm just at my breaking point.  I've been making a point to pray while I lay Remy down at night, and I've just let my prayers wander. 

I've been praying for his wife. Someday, my little man will find a little girl to love, and I'm praying for her. I'm praying for her parents, that they're raising her to know the Lord, and to be confident, wholesome, and spunky! I hope they are encouraging her to be all she can be, and that they're hugging her tight!

I've been praying for his teachers. With the beginning of school, it's becoming more and more real to me that one day we will walk through the school doors with our Kindergartner, and he will be in someone's care all day... someone who will be responsible for his education, his social development, and many many other things. I'm praying for you! and you, his first, second, third, all the way through high school teachers.   I'm praying that the things your students teach you this year will help you grow into the teacher who will love my son. He's a handful, and has a big personality, so I'm thankful you'll have a couple of years of big personalities before he gets to you! ;) haha. 

I'm praying for his friends. It's becoming noticeable to me that he is learning from those around him, and while for now it's a silly face or throwing of a toy when you're told 'no', some day his friends will be responsible for much much more.  I'm praying that his friends' parents are also raising them to know the Lord, to know kindness and compassion.  I'm praying that they're also being affirmed to be who they are, and I can't wait to meet them someday! I can't wait to have them all piled in our living room laughing after I tell them it's time to go to sleep.  Likewise, I'm praying for their parents, that they will become friends. I'm praying that they'll become positive people in Remy's life. We know he can never have too many of those!

And I'm praying for you, Remy Jones. I love the sweet, spitfire of a little boy that you are becoming! You love so big, and with so much drool! ;) You are happy (usually), loud, and so so busy.  You're starting to discount the dangers in your life, by climbing on and jumping off of anything you can, and you're giving my mama heart a run for its money.  I am so blessed to be your Mommy. 

Our Week With Croup

Many of my friends' babies have had Croup, and I thought it just came with high fevers and a seal-bark cough. And it does. But when it was my baby, my world was ending. 

Monday, he was great and playful, but when I was putting him to bed he coughed and I heard the first of many barks.  That bark sticks closely to his first cry in my mind. I thought he would be fine because he didn't have a fever, and I laid him down.  About midnight, he woke up and we brought him to our bed where we noticed he was burning up.  Still he was sleeping and breathing fine, so nothing was thought about it.  Jackson kept him home Tuesday just as a precaution, and took him to the pediatrician that morning. 

They confirmed it was croup and gave him a steroid shot. 

Cue Mom guilt.

Jackson said he was doing great, but after he woke up from his nap he would cough and wince, and cry because he just didn't feel good.  That night, his fever spiked to over 104 and his poor body shook and shook with chills. I took him to the bathroom and ran a hot shower in hopes the steam would make him feel better (because of course we caught it in the summer and going outside in the cold wasn't an option). After he threw up all over him and me, we got in the shower, fully clothed, to cool down.  It was the first time I had heard him laugh all night and was well worth it. 

Wednesday, Jackson and I both stayed home because we were terrified.  Plain terrified.  

Wednesday was the worst of it all.  He was lethargic, weak, and pitiful. His fever reached 104 at points, but he stayed in good spirits when he could stay awake. Wednesday night was awful and he could not keep down motrin to save any of our lives (and if I couldn't get him to keep down 1.875 mL of Motrin I wasn't going to attempt 5mL of Tylenol). So again we got in the tub where he and I sat in cold water in hopes it would bring his fever down. It was a success, but by Thursday we were all exhausted.  

Thursday came and he still had a fever, but was starting a cruddy cough instead of the bark, hallelujah! Friday was more of the same with a low grade fever never reaching 100, which we determined was probably his overachieving and cutting all four canine teeth at once.

Saturday came and he was good as new, and Sunday brought us back our babbling, giggling, running baby!

This was the worst week of my life. Not being able to help my baby feel better is the worst thing I've ever experienced. I am so thankful for answered prayers, and I cherish that sweet sweet smile. 

Weekend Recap!

Our weekend was another busy one, but, thus is Summertime!

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Last week, during Monday night at VBS, I noticed Remy wasn't feeling too well (contrary to the picture below). when I got him home, he had a 102.5 fever, but was fine otherwise. Tuesday night, when we got home, he was running a fever and had the spots in his mouth, his hands, and his feet. Hand Foot and Mouth had made its way back in our lives! Luckily, he had a mild case, but just to keep him well, we stayed home Wednesday through Friday. 

Friday, Jackson's best friend Byron came over for dinner and we broke in the new grill for Chicken Quesadillas! YUM! 

Saturday, we went out early to drop Jackson's car off to have the windows tinted, and then went to the mall to get my rings inspected (wahoo warranty maintenance!). While we were in the mall, Remy decided to make some friends. He took off running toward a group of girls, hugged one around the legs, and as she was melting he started giving himself a round of applause.  Phew - he's something. We went to Target and then home to snuggle the night away.


Sunday, we got up, went to church, had lunch at my in-laws, and then we went home. I finally got 30 uninterrupted minutes to put away laundry and clean Remy's room, and it was glorious. Jackson mowed the grass and then we were in for a night of pizza, snuggles, and the last episodes of this season of The Ranch - if you don't watch it, you should! 

Weekend Recap!

To say we had a busy one is an understatement.  

Friday was a not so great day for us.  After I got Remy ready for Daycare and got him there, I realized he was having some tummy yuck going on and didn't want to spread it to the masses, so we headed home and Daddy met us there. I had a conference call at 3 I couldn't miss, so he was on Remy duty! We had a day full of snuggles and naps!

 

 

Saturday we got our new kitchen table and it warrants all of the heart eye emojis! It is a 6 seater farmhouse counter height table that fits our dining space perfectly! Once Daddy got home from VBS setup, we went swimming! 

 

 

 

Sunday we went to church and came home just long enough to snooze for a little while. Then we were up and ready for Remy's first (really his second, but last year he was three months old) VBS!

 

 

(yes, we know Yellow is not our color!)

We are in the midst of our summer schedule where there's barely time to breathe, but it's so fun with a little one! 

Milestones!

I wrote this for a friend's photography page as a review for our Milestone photos and figured I'd share it here so you can cry along. 

When I was pregnant, I found myself aimlessly scrolling through Pinterest and pinning the cutest baby photos I could find. Don’t we all? I dreamed about what my baby boy would look like - Whose nose would he have? What color would his hair and eyes be? The day he was born, he was the spitting image of my husband, my husband’s dad, and my husband’s grandfather; the Hinners genes run deep.  A few days after getting him home, as he lost the swollen newborn features, his features started to change. They changed so quickly, that I look back at pictures a couple of days apart and they look like two different babies!

Lindsay came to our apartment when Remington was a couple of weeks old to do newborn pictures.  She seemed to effortlessly capture his personality, even catching one of those sweet sleeping smiles. Even still, he was changing. His cheeks were still chubby and pinch worthy, his eyes were widening a bit, and his hair was growing so quickly. It was all going so quickly and I couldn’t imagine losing one more second of each fleeting phase! I reached out to Lindsay to ask if she would do his milestone pictures, and she agreed!

Looking back, I couldn’t fathom not having these pictures. They are some of our favorite memories hanging in our home. I can look at them and remember who my little baby was at that point in time.  At his three month pictures, he was barely able to push up enough to keep his heavy head held high. He had recently found his tongue and was obsessed. Lindsay also captured our first professional picture as a family of three; it is something I will always cherish!!

                Between Remy’s three and six month pictures, he developed quite the personality. He was precious and he knew it. He had the silliest smile and was still a little wobbly when sitting up. He had just found his pointer finger and, much like his tongue in his 3 month pictures, was obsessed. I remember crying quite a bit after his 6 month pictures because I couldn’t believe my sweet baby had changed so much!

                By nine months, my sweet boy had gone from being precious to being a ham. He loved being in front of the camera. I remember by these pictures that crawling had just entered his skill set and he had just found his voice. I was reminded, after looking through the 9 month pictures to pull my favorites, how much Remy had started to love daddy’s duck calls. Lindsay was so thoughtful to incorporate it into the pictures!

And lastly, for his twelve month pictures (which I really feel like they were taken the week after his newborn pictures), I was already a teary eyed mess going into them because I was in partial denial that my baby was already a year old! He was trying so hard to walk, and would take his first steps two days later! We incorporated a cake smash session, too! Words of advice – opt out of chocolate icing! You’ll thank me! ;)

Holding each set of pictures next to the ones before both breaks my heart and makes me smile. (I don’t dare hold the one year next to the newborns unless I want to cry!) I can go back and watch him grow all over again! This has been the best investment we made in Remington’s first year!

Winging It

 

My personal challenge to myself this summer is to wing it.  I am a very regimented, very scheduled person with little tolerance for last minute plans. 

So far, I'm only semi failing.  It is so hard for me to put my planner away to live a little, but I'm trying to learn to just up and go, to take Remy places that make me totally anxious, and to breathe.  

Over the weekend, we had a full couple of "wing it" days.  

Saturday we were having furniture delivered between 12 and 4, so we got up in an attempt to go get breakfast and have fun for an hour or so. The plan was Target to look for a birthday gift for a party on Sunday (yikes: last minute) and then breakfast. Jackson was gone all week and was tired and hungry, and so was Remington. So they both fell asleep and I took the chance to swing into Krispy Kreme's parking lot. Then we got a call at 10:30 saying the furniture delivery truck was in our driveway, so we booked it home. after getting the furniture settled, we headed back out to get a rug (ouch - expensive), and to take Remy to Monkey Joe's. A major stressor for me is whether Remy eats or not; he's picky to say the least. We took him to Panda Express for dinner and he chowed down! So unlike him, but such a pleasant surprise. 

Sunday, we got a last minute cancellation for lunch plans, and we had to somehow make it to West Nashville to take our recliner to Jackson's brother before heading to a birthday party that afternoon.  We ended up at Blue Coast for lunch where Remy ate lunch like a champ and then was a terror in Target. But we needed to go, so we went. 

All of that to say that it didn't kill me to wing it - in fact, it was kind of refreshing not to feel nailed down to plans. I rested well, the housework waited, and we even napped a bit as a family. 

Here's to living. 

Summer 2018 Bucket List

This is our first summer with a toddler, and it's my favorite summer so far! Everything is new to him, and it's all so fun and scream worthy!

Here's our 2018 Summer Bucket List!

Lots of splash pad time

Remy's first watermelon

Go to the zoo

2 ice cream dates per month

Feed ducks!

Chalk drawing on the driveway

Plant some bushes in our front yard

4th of July fireworks

Play with Finger Paint

We Built a House!

In December of last year, we found a house in the middle of Nashville that we loved. By the time we got the preapproval paperwork done, numbers crunched, and got out there to look, it was sold.  We were devastated. We waited and waited and looked and on the 30th of January we found one that was in the process of being built outside of Nashville (12 minutes from my work) in a quiet country neighborhood.  We went and looked and fell in love. 

We put in an offer and on our fourth anniversary, our offer was accepted! It was a long process with lots of setbacks due to rain, but after many light fixture choices and paint colors, we closed on May 4!

We are so excited for all of the life that will happen in this house! For now, we are still unpacking and getting our life hung on the walls. 

For now, enjoy the pictures of the house pre-move in!