Oh my. Now that song is stuck in my head.

Apologies, everyone.

So, last but definitely not least, I’d like to introduce you to my beautiful and talented sister, Cayce.

Also known as Kiki around here, thanks to a movie called America’s Sweethearts. Cayce is almost six years younger than me and when my parents told me, Bryant and Caleb that they were pregnant, I started praying that very night for a sister and prayed every night afterward until she was born. And God was kind enough to grant those prayers!!

Cayce is hilarious – she’s got a very dry sense of humor and it just makes me laugh. She’s my fellow movie buff. We LOVE watching movies together and once a year, we have our Annual Worst Movie Ever day, where we watch the dumbest movies we’ve ever seen. We make popcorn and get Starbucks and chocolate and just laugh and make fun of the movies the whole day.

It’s awesome. So, there have been years where we’ve just needed some cheering up so we’ve had more than one Worst Movie Ever days. 🙂

The real love of Cayce’s life is Christ and she is definitely an unashamed follower! I love that she is always being asked questions by her coworkers (or dragging them to church 😉 ). She has a huge heart for anyone hurting which is something I just love about her.

Cayce loves politics and will never shy away from a good political debate! She’s also a music lover and plays the guitar, sings and occasionally will write her own music. (Are you noticing a trend here in my family? Then there’s me – zero musical talent at all.)

She is such a wonderful auntie! Nathan is a huge fan of his Aunt Cayce’s and anytime she comes over, he feels the need to show off all of his new tricks. It’s SO adorable!

She’s the best sister and friend I could have ever asked for!!

You’ve now met all of my siblings! I’ll introduce you to my wonderful parental units this week and then you’ve met the family! 🙂

Hope y’all had a great weekend!

~~

It occurred to me that I’ve never really introduced you guys to my siblings, other than Bryant who y’all met the other day. 🙂

So, that being said, I’m going to take a couple of days and tell you all about my other brother and sister, both who deserve their own blog post!

This is my 22 year-old brother, Caleb. 🙂 (And his then-puppy-now-dog, Joey!)

Caleb is AMAZING. He is so funny, so personable and so just genuinely likable! I have never met anyone who didn’t get along with him!

He loves God and you can totally tell by the fruit in his life. While Caleb is very outgoing in some areas of his life, he’s very private and personal in other areas – but when we have talks about faith, Caleb is dead-set in his convictions.

I love how fun he is with Nathan – he’s always making faces at him (or me. Either one of us). Cracks me up! And Nathan loves, loves, LOVES his uncle!

Caleb works at a dental office and is hoping to become a dentist someday – we’ll see what God has planned. Because of that, I think Caleb’s theme song needs to be the Misfit song from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, so I sing it to him frequently (you know, since that guy was a dentist). 🙂 He also loves sports – he plays basketball and football on a weekly basis and he’s usually studying while watching some game on TV.

Caleb is classic with compliments. Whenever there is even the slightest possibility of an opening for a ridiculous compliment, he manages to fit one in there. It’s hilarious (and wonderful when you’re just feeling disgusting that day and he says something just so sweet)!

And ladies, Caleb is SINGLE. 🙂 Not quite sure how he still is, New Mexico must be filled with blind, dumb women. 😉

Love you so much, Caleb!!

~~

I had such a FUN weekend! On Saturday, I helped throw a baby shower for my sweet friend Leigh Ann – she’s due March 26 and it will be here so soon! Nathan can’t wait for a new friend to play with! I think the shower was a smashing success!

Nathan has become a rolling MACHINE. I am fondly remembering those days of being able to set him down somewhere and him staying in the same place – and I know it’s only going to get worse from here! He rolls back and forth across the whole floor most of the day. Time to baby proof!!

(Pardon the phone pic – it’s super blurry, but I just LOVE this picture! This is the face I see 90% of the day! I just love our happy, happy boy!) He’s learned to sit up by himself now. 🙂 🙁

He’s also learned how to shake his head “no” and does that for minutes on end until MY head is pounding with the headache he must have. Ha! What cracks me up about it though, is he laughs the entire time he’s doing it. 🙂 Silly boy!

We are having a MAJOR chill day today – Nathan and I are not in our pajamas, but we might as well be with what we’re wearing!! 🙂 So, I thought it would be a great day to keep talking about mine and Jon’s story!

Instead of continuing though, I did want to stop and answer a few questions y’all have asked me over the past few times I’ve told these stories:

How did you know Jon was the right one?

There were SO many little things that led up to Jon being the right one. He was a Christian – and not just in word, but in actions too. We shared the same theology (sounds weird, but it DOES make a difference!). We had the same hopes and dreams for our lives. Jon loves, loves, loves kids and I knew he would make an amazing daddy (which he now is!). He treated my parents with respect. He treated ME with respect – everyone likes to talk about how the guy loves them, takes them out, brings them flowers etc (which is HUGE, don’t get me wrong), but it is very important that he treats you like a treasure as well!

He was very protective of me and it was so sweet. 🙂 He took the time to learn about me – he remembered things about me or things I’d said that I didn’t even remember saying. I’ve already mentioned how he respected my boundaries (I don’t think I can say this enough – if he doesn’t respect your boundaries, leave him NOW).

In the end, though, I just knew. And yes, it drove me nuts when people told me that when you know, you know. But really. You just know. I loved him, he loved me, we both loved Christ and I knew our marriage would be a triangle, not a line (lines end. Triangles don’t). 🙂

Dating, engagement – it’s all steps toward getting to know each other so very, very well that you just know. Don’t rush it – you don’t need to find out everything about him on the first date (and he definitely should not find out everything about you!!). Take your time. The fun is in the journey!

What about guys who say they are Christians and then – surprise! – they aren’t?

Oh friend – my heart just breaks for you after reading this question!! I want to encourage you that not all guys who say they are Christians are just defrauding you – there are wonderful, sweet, Godly men out there!

But I also want to encourage you to really include the men that God has placed in your life – your dad, your grandfather, your brothers, your friends – in any relationship that you are thinking of starting. Guys tend to have a sixth sense about other guys – and most of the time can tell whether or not they are who they say they are.

Above all else, stay close to Christ. The closer you are walking with Him, the more evident it will be when someone is just pretending to have a relationship with Him. And know that I am praying for you!

How about you guys? Those of you who are married, how did you know that your husband was the right one?

~~

No idea why I just titled this post with that. I think was thinking about writing about the past which then led to thinking about someday in the future this will be the past and then I’ll be writing about how I used to have time to blog when Nathan took naps and then I started thinking about the future and back to the past which is how we arrived at the title.

So, I guess now we all know why I titled this post with that.

Oh my. This was a long day.

Thank you for the birthday sentiments! Even if you were a little guilted and begged into it, I still thank you. 🙂

A very long time ago, as in pre-Nater Tot (only six months, but gosh, for as fast as they’ve gone by, it feels like he’s been a part of our family for forever!), I started telling y’all about how Jon and I met and started dating. And if you missed the beginning of the story, you can catch up here, here, here and here. 🙂

I think I saw Jon every day or every other day for almost the entirety of our dating relationship, except for about a month or two when he went back to his home in California for the summer. And during that month, we talked on the phone for like an hour everyday. (Seriously. My parents had to sit us down afterward and show us the phone bill for that month. Oy.) So, needless to say, we really got to know each other. And my family really got to know him too since he was over so much.

One of the coolest times when we first started dating was when my dad had a friend of his come into town and he came over for dinner. Jon was going to be a little late, but he was coming over too. And I could hear my dad talking to his friend in the other room while I helped my mom get dinner ready in the kitchen and Dad was bragging on Jon. 🙂

Which just made me smile because that was a definite sign that Dad liked him.

So, we’d been dating for probably about three or four months and I was working at the time as an intern for my church’s youth group. Basically, I got paid to take girls out to coffee and lead Bible studies.

No better job EVER if you ask me.

Once we started dating, Jon got very involved in helping out with the youth group too. At that church, we did a huge outreach for middle schoolers every summer – and it was a TON of prep work. We filmed movies for it, we made up games for it. It was huge.

Jon was part of the movie filming and we were coming back to the church after filming all day. It was starting to get dark and we were unloading some of our equipment from the back of Jon’s 4Runner. Jon took a load in and I was gathering up more when he got back. He came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist and, unknowing to me, leaned over to kiss my cheek.

Right as I turned my head and was like, “Hey, Jon, could you—?”

And to this day, I swear that our lips brushed.

Which is when I freaked out. “OH MY GOSH!” I yelled. “We just kissed!”

“We did not! We did not!” Jon said. Which he repeated the rest of the night. “I promise, we didn’t. We didn’t kiss, Erynn.”

Meanwhile, I was completely bummed out the whole rest of the night because here I’d just had my first kiss and I’d missed the whole thing.

Completely. Bummed. Out.

Which I kept saying over and over. “I cannot BELIEVE I missed it!!”

Jon took me home and pulled me aside before we walked in the house. “Erynn. Seriously. Someday, I hope I do get to kiss you and when that day comes, you will know that you just got kissed. Got it?”

Um. Yes, sir.

That someday DID come, but I’m going to save that story for later!

Ha! I love sharing these memories!! 🙂

~~

Well guys.

Y’all know I’m a bit of a matchmaker. Maybe more than just a bit. 😉 So, when I saw that Kelly’s Korner was doing a matchmaking type of a thing for singles, I just couldn’t resist.

So in the spirit of all things good and marriageable…

This is my brother Bryant!

He is 24, currently getting his Masters in Electrical Engineering at the University of Texas in Austin.

Bryant is such a GREAT brother! 🙂 First and foremost, he LOVES God and follows Him completely with his whole heart! He loves music and he plays the guitar extremely well – he’s now leading the music at his Navigator’s group in Austin. He is a big sports fan – loves to watch football and baseball and he plays pickup football and basketball. He’s also a huge fan of skiing – both snow and water.

Bryant is a family guy – here he is with our grandmother who lives in Missouri. 🙂

He is something of a homebody but he still enjoys hanging out with friends and family. His new favorite person is this little guy:

my son, Nathan (who was drooling horribly in this picture)! Bryant is such a good uncle and SPOILS him to death!

When Bryant finishes his degree, he’s coming back to New Mexico to continue his engineering career for a company out here. Which is great news for us because we LOVE having him around!

Feel free to contact him at bdmangum8@gmail.com. 😀

I love that Kelly is doing this!! 🙂 And I’m posting my “real” blog for today in just a couple of minutes… ha! 🙂

Love you, brother! Sorry!! Hopefully one day, you’ll thank me! 🙂 🙂

~~

Yesterday was my 26th birthday.

That sounds like a shameless plug to get a few “Happy Birthdays” in the comments section. Ha! 🙂 I had the best day! Jon had the day off because of MLK Jr. Day, so we woke up late, he cooked me a huge breakfast of French toast, eggs and bacon and then we stayed in our pajamas and watched movies until it was time to get all dressed up for our dinner date. 🙂

And my little Nater Tot behaved so well! My parents kept him last night for us so we could have a quiet dinner and it was just wonderful.

Such a great day!

Y’all know I love hanging out with Nathan during the day – but I absolutely LOVE my dates with Jon! Sometimes it’s hard now to ever have a moment just the two of us where there isn’t a baby between us or a monitor buzzing in the background. It’s hard to get used to – especially since it was just us all the time before Nathan.

So, last night was VERY nice – we sat and talked at California Pizza Kitchen and just kept ordering food so we could stay longer without making our waitress mad. Ha! I left there so full! I got these Baja Fish Tacos and they were just as good as they look!

I started the story of how Jon and I met before Nathan was born and I’m thinking I might need to finish that story. Maybe this week? Would y’all mind if we took a blast to the past again? 🙂

Have a great Tuesday!

~~

Fifteen toys around him and Nathan would rather plan with the unopened bottle of Mylicon.

Before, this would have worried me. I would have pushed those little keys on him so he could be surrounded by his primary colors and learning his gross motor skills. But to quote Elizabeth Bennett, “My feelings…my feelings are so different now.” Now, I like to think that maybe he’s on his way to becoming a pharmacist.

(And just know that there were a few more toys on the floor too. Not just the two on his highchair. Though, there is a good reason I went into creative writing and not math.)

Since we were out of town, I waited to introduce any other solid foods until we got back, just so if there were any tummy issues, they happened at home instead of in the middle of Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. Because as much as I like diaper explosions in public places, I just thought Disney World would be so much fun without it and I didn’t want us going into Fun Overload Mode.

So, last night, we gave Nathan squash and applesauce. He chowed down on the squash. He loves squash and loves his rice cereal. And here were his thoughts on the applesauce:

Ha! We’ll try again tonight!

~~

This last week, we went to Disney World with my family! My parents gave everyone the trip for Christmas and it was SO FUN! Nathan did so much better than I ever could have imagined – thank you, Lord! He took his naps in the stroller, he rarely fussed and he LOVED the Disney characters.

My grandmother met us in Orlando from St. Louis and it was SO good to see her! The last time she saw Nathan, he was only two weeks old – he’s changed just a little bit since then. 🙂 Disney World is one of my family’s favorite vacation spots and it was a blast doing it with Nathan – though, a totally different kind of “vacation” than we used to have! Ha! Jon and I were talking about it and this vacation also included a lot of work – but it was WELL worth it.

Such a wonderful vacation! We got home yesterday and all three of us were in bed by 8:30 last night – ha! We were exhausted!

Half a year has gone by since my little Nater Tot was born!

I feel like I say this every month but…

HOLY COW.

This month has been SO fun! He is developing quite the little personality and I have a feeling that in a few years, I’ll be getting calls from Nathan’s principal about all of his antics in class. Ha! 🙂 He is SO animated and such the entertainer – my boy is NOT shy or withdrawn (or even boring!) by ANY means.

He has learned that he can make us laugh by making faces or squealing or “talking” at the top of his voice, so he does all of the above almost all day long. My house is no longer quiet unless he is down for a nap or in bed for the night.

He is also quite content being the center of attention and if, for whatever reason, he doesn’t feel like he is, he will often just get even louder – whether that’s yelling louder or throwing a fit. Oy! Y’all can pray for me! Ha!

BUT – Nathan is the sweetest, happiest, funniest little guy and I just cannot imagine a better life than the one I have now!

He’s now eating cereal and squash and tonight, to celebrate his half-birthday, we’re going to try applesauce. He LOVES to eat and as soon as I pull a bib out, he starts getting so excited and flaps his arms up and down and kicks his little legs!

He’s getting better at naptimes. We have a whole routine down now. I get him in his little sleep sack and then we rock and read from his Jesus Story Bible (highly, highly, highly, HIGHLY recommended!) and then I lay him down and he’s out in a couple of minutes.

He’s discovered he can make his fingers move when he wants them to. And he is also sitting up by himself for a couple of minutes now. At least until he gets distracted and falls over. 🙂 He’s still a little snuggle bug – even though he is CONSTANT energy, he always, always, always wants to be held. He’s also learned to shake his head side to side like he’s saying “no”. TOO funny! At least for now… I have a feeling that will cease to be so cute one of these days!

As you can see, we had a GREAT time in Disney World! I hope you all have had a wonderful week! 🙂

~~

When I get to heaven, I’m going to walk right up to the Baby Whisperer and give her a huge hug.

She is not be the first in line for that hug, but trust me. She’ll definitely get one. Because as of tonight, Nathan has gone down for every nap in the last two days with little to no complaining and last night he slept ten and a half hours.

STRAIGHT.

I was so happy, I nearly cried this morning. After my last post, he was again up in the middle of the night for two hours and I decided I was losing my mind. He slept better when he was first home from the hospital than he was the last couple of weeks. In desperation, I started reading the Baby Whisperer books my friend Krista loaned me at 3AM one night.

And I think a combination of that and a TON of prayer has helped a lot!!!

So, I’m a bit more rested (thank you, Lord!!) and Nathan is quite a bit happier. We had a good day today – a super sweet woman, DJ, came over for a little bit this morning and we worked on our friend Leigh Ann’s baby shower (YAY!). Then, Nathan and I headed out to Kohls for some new jeans and we ran by Babies R Us for some squash.

Because, y’all, Nathan loves himself some squash. He’s the Squash Boy of this household. I gave him about a tablespoon of it the other day and he liked it okay, yesterday he had about half a jar and today, he ate the WHOLE jar.

Probably would have licked it clean if he had a cool mom who would let him do that. But he doesn’t, so he didn’t.

I have to show you his first impression on the squash. We tried it at my parents’ house two nights ago. Hilarious!

We also have a new member of the family:

Yep. Jon finally got his truck – and it’s got TONS of room for Nathan’s car seat in the back. And the best part is we were able to get such a great deal on it – it ended up being very close to what we got when we sold the Mustang. What a huge blessing! 🙂

What did you guys do today?

~~

We have had a rough couple of nights here. Nathan has woken up at least once and usually twice or three times in the middle of the night for the last few nights and he’s been all congested during the day too.

It’s so sad. So, yesterday, we finally went on the offensive. I bought almost every product available at Wal-Mart for sick babies and last night, we rubbed his chest with the Vicks BabyRub, sprayed saline in his nose and suctioned him out (which, as you can imagine, he just loves. Or not), and I found a little plug-in vaporizer thing that was recommended for babies.

And even with all of that, he was STILL up at 3 AM last night. And was up for at least an hour and a half – I finally just put him in his swing and fell asleep on the couch because nothing I did was helping. And then he slept until nine this morning. I kind of wonder if it’s because of the rice cereal – he has been SO gassy lately. Like painfully gassy. Moms out there – did your kids ever deal with stomach issues after starting solids?

Today, though, he’s been a little better. I’ve been suctioning him out every hour and spraying his nose with saline. And he’s even taken two decent naps today. Today was Jon’s first day back at work after Christmas break, so it was weird to be home without him but nice to be back in a routine.

I’m a girl who likes my routines. 🙂 I know, I know. Boring, boring, boring.

Even though he didn’t feel so good, he still was making faces at the dinner table. So, I had to share the less than flattering video of me which is also the super cute video of him. Notice the soaking burp cloth on the table. We like to keep things appetizing at my house.

Side note: As I was writing this, Jon was half playing with Nathan on the floor and half watching the Orange Bowl. He looked down and Nathan had rolled over from his back to his stomach for the first time and NEITHER OF US SAW IT.

Great timing there, kid. And then Jon and I got so excited about it that we scared him and he burst into tears.

Poor baby.

~~