In Love...

Watson's seven month post will be up sometime this week, but I had to take a minute to show off the newest addition to our family...

Hampton Reynolds Anderson was born on Tuesday, February 21...and our whole family is so in love with this handsome bundle of joy. We have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of Watson's future best friend and co-troublemaker...and we are thrilled that he is here. These two boys are exactly 7 months apart and I cannot wait to watch them grow up together!

Proud Aunt :)

Graham is in Africa right now so he was not able to be there for the birth...He cannot wait to meet his nephew when he gets home!

And this sweet girl is already a wonderful big sister. She loves to help take care of "Baby Hampy" It is very clear that she is going to have no trouble, whatsoever, keeping these two boys in line :)

Six Months...

What a busy, but wonderful month we have had! I absolutely cannot believe our little man is already 6 months old. That's half way to one year...yikes! Where did the time go?! This has been SUCH a fun month with Watson - he is developing so much every day. I can honestly say that every morning I wake up looking forward to playing with W and seeing just how much he has developed over night. Between the talking, playing, grabbing, watching, laughing, eating and sleeping...this boy stays busy all day long...and consequently, so do I! I would not have it ANY other way, though!

Weight: 17lbs 11oz
Height: 26 1/2 in
Size diaper: 2
Size clothes: 6 months, 6-9 months (some 9 months)
Eating: 6oz 4 times a day, with a fruit after his morning bottle and a vegetable after his evening bottle
Sleeping: We have a wonderful nighttime sleeper on our hands - he sleeps anywhere from 7-8pm to 7-8am...we are so thankful! He has a morning nap (1-2 hrs) and an afternoon nap (1-2 hrs).

W hit a big milestone this month: he can now sit up all by himself! We first noticed it the day after Christmas...he still needed a tiny bit of assistance then, but within about a week or so from that day he was sitting up like a champ! He still topples to the side...or front...or back after sitting for a little while, but we are so proud of him!

We began rice cereal with Watson at 4 1/2 months, but he began his actual baby food at 5 1/2 months. The first food he tried was sweet potatoes - and he LOVED them! He now eats a fruit in the morning and a vegetable at night - all of which are Stage 1 baby foods. His favorites are pears, sweet potatoes, squash and prunes. His least favorite is peas - we have seen the dramatic side of our boy come out when eating peas! Overall, though, W is a great eater and loves his baby food - he gets so excited when he sees me walking towards him with it!

This little boy LOVES to play with his toys and books. It is so cute! When we put him in his exersaucer, he acts like it is his command center. He always gets so focused on what he is playing with and just goes from toy to toy - it is a wonderful thing for me when I am trying to get something done around the house as well :)

W is trying so hard to crawl. He will get up on his knees and stick his little hiney in the air and try to move, but it's just not happening quite yet. He still manages to get to whatever he is reaching for though, usually by rolling back and forth until he gets it!

This month we had our niece, Abby, over for a spend the night party! She loves Watson and helps us take good care of him...always making sure he has his paci and kissing on him...so sweet! W loves watching Abby and usually that includes a big smile on his face.

Before bath time...

Before movie time...

Several months ago, Graham, myself and 2 other friends started a small group that has since grown to include some wonderful people who are quickly becoming great friends! We meet at our house each week - and it is always a highlight of our week to fellowship and study the Word with this group of people. This month we had everyone over to watch the National Championship game.

We love our sweet boy so much and are cherishing this precious time with him.

Memory Lane...

I finally found the charger and cord that go with my point and shoot camera! I had no idea that there would be pictures from all the way back in 2010 on that little camera...guess it has been a good while since I connected it to my computer...whoops :) It was fun looking through all of the pictures though and remembering such great times...

Summer 2010 on the road with Student Life. I am so incredibly thankful for this time in my life!

Fall 2010Trip to California and lots of quality time with Briana!

Fun visits from great friends - this sweet little boy, Mattox, is who made me so excited about possibly having a boy some day (I was not pregnant at the time)
Waiting on Watson...

Three year anniversary...

Watson's first bite of solid food (rice cereal)...

Christmas 2011...
Picture with Santa

Christmas in Tuscaloosa...Watson loved cuddling with Stacy...
Sweet time with the Mattocks' - so thankful for this sweet couple and the strong influence they have had in Graham's life!
Story time with Janza and Grandpa

Christmas...

I have just been doing monthly posts for Watson on our blog lately, but I wanted to do a separate post for Christmas due to all of the pictures that I wanted to include :) I will say that I have been holding off on doing this post because many of our Christmas pictures are on my point and shoot camera, which I cannot upload right now because the battery is dead and I cannot find the charger anywhere...oops. Really hoping it shows up soon!

Our Christmas decorations this year...

We had a wonderful Christmas and New Years break - it was busy, but great! We stayed in Birmingham until the 23rd, so we celebrated Christmas with my family a little early, which was lots of fun.

We headed to Oklahoma on the 23rd and stayed there until the 31st. It was fun getting to spend Watson's first Christmas in Oklahoma. I was VERY nervous about flying with him, but it was honestly not bad at all! He did great, for the most part...I think we successfully avoided being "that family" with the screaming baby on the plane :)

On the plane...

We were able to spend lots of time with Graham's mom and stepdad, as well as his dad and stepmom. Let's just say that between both sets of grandparents in Oklahoma, and my parents, Watson was very well taken care of this Christmas. My goodness!!!

Kisses from NannieCuddling with Grandpa

...don't worry about how long my hair is in these pictures...I got it done while I was in Oklahoma, but my appointment just happened to be after all of these pictures were taken :)

We had to come home on New Years Eve because Graham had to be in Atlanta on January 1 to work at the Passion Conference. I know I talk about it every year, but it is truly amazing the way God is using the Giglios and everyone else on the Passion team to make eternal impact on the lives of thousands and thousands of people around the world. These are some of the most amazing people that you will ever meet - I promise you can trust their leadership. I was so sad not to be there this year, but look forward to making it to the dome next year :) Thankfully, they were streaming the sessions live on their website so I was able to watch them. Each year they have the Do Something Now area (which is where I have worked with Compassion the past two years). This year, the entire Do Something Now area focused on slavery and trafficking - to read more about the organizations that were represented, click here. Between the 40,000+ college aged students that attended, as well as the generous donations from others, Passion 2012 raised over 3 million dollars - every penny of which will go towards the organizations that were represented and the city of Atlanta, which is the hub for trafficking in the United States. Praise God for the ways He led people to give to this cause.

I hope everyone had a wonderful break!

Happy New Year!

Five Months...

How is time flying by so fast?! I know I say it in every month's post, but I truly feel like Watson is changing so much every day. He is at such a fun age - we love watching his sweet little personality bloom more and more each day. He is an incredibly content, happy, and easy baby - we are truly blessed beyond measure.

We did not have a 5 month appointment, so we do not have W's weight and height for this month.
Size diaper: 2
Size clothes: 6 months (some 6-9 months)
Eating: 6oz 4 times a day, sometimes 7oz. We have started adding some rice cereal to his bottle since spoon feeding it did not go over so well with his little tummy. We are going to start that back up this month, though, so that he can be ready for actual baby food at 6 months.
Sleeping: 11-12 hours at night. Napping two times a day, about 1-2 hours each. He almost always falls asleep in the early evening before his nighttime bottle as well, but I wouldn't exactly call this a full nap..maybe a cat nap :)

To say that we have an active baby is quite the understatement! This boy LOVES to roll all over the floor and scoot himself around. If one of his toys is out of his reach, he is bound and determined to get to it...and always manages to do so! He almost always rolls immediately to his tummy when you lay him on the floor, but the past week or so he has found his feet and decided that he loves having a built in paci. Not his thumb, as you would think...but his toes. Yes, his toes. He is trying so hard to sit up on his own. If he is in his swing, bouncy, car seat...anything that has him in a reclining position, he tries so hard to sit up. Graham and I always joke about how strong his little abs must be with the positions he holds :) He was doing pretty well in the bumbo seat, but the past week or so he has decided that he does not like it...at all...always calls for some tears.


Watson love, love, loved his Johnny Jump Up! I put him in it for the first time and he squealed, laughed and smiled the entire time. So precious!!! He plays so hard in this that it always calls for a nice long nap :) Win for both of us!

We tried starting some rice cereal at the beginning of the month, but it did not go over so well so we took him off of it. We are having such a difficult time getting his reflux under control. He is on a different medicine for it now, but it does not seem to be helping much at all. If anyone has ANY suggestions, please let me know!!! We are so fortunate that he is not a fussy reflux baby, but it is just constant spit up. All. Day. Long.

He still talks, smiles, laughs, and squeals all the time - I love the sweet noises that he makes...they melt my heart! He loves toys, rattles, stuffed animals and books..and does not like for something that he is playing with to be taken away from him!

Watson's first Thanksgiving was so much fun. We stayed in Birmingham and spent the day with my parents and my mom's side of the family. Watson and Abby showed up in matching outfits (this was not planned, actually) so we had to get lots of pictures of them together :)

This past week (I feel like I keep saying that...guess it has been a week of changes for our little man!) Watson began responding to his name. He always gets such a surprised look on his face when he turns towards you...always good for a laugh from his parents!

W met Santa for the first time this week - as you can tell from the picture, he wasn't too impressed :) (Don't mind the fact that it looks like he has on capris...Santa's elves were really rushing things along so I couldn't fix his little outfit before the picture was taken...)

This just might be my most favorite picture...ever. Our friend Jared was shooting some pics for us to use on our Christmas card - I had looked on pinterest (of course) for some picture ideas and dad decided to jump in on this one. I love this man so much - he can make me laugh just about harder than anyone. So thankful for him and the wonderful dad and Poppa that he is to his grandchildren!

It has been such a wonderful month with our precious boy. We could not be more in love with him! This is such a special time of the year and it is our prayer that even from 5 months of age, Watson will know and believe that Christmas time is not about Santa or gifts or Christmas trees, but about the miracle birth and precious gift of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We hope that you and your family have a joy filled Christmas and a very happy new year!

Merry Christmas!