The Month of May

Since I'm pretty behind on my blogging due to all our travels in May, I will just recap. 

The first week of May was pretty rough. We said "so long for now" to Josh as he left to go to his training.  Originally our plan was that we would take two cars to Georgia, get Josh settled in, then Isaac and I would come back to my parent's house. Well, we got to my parents, and then decided that Josh would just go to Georgia on his own because it would be hard no matter where we had to say goodbye and it would save money on gas and a hotel for me and Isaac. 

Josh and Isaac the night before he left

So, we enjoyed our last night together for a few weeks (we already decided to see eachother Memorial Day weekend). And Sunday Morning, we said "so long"

Josh said he would just take Isaac with him and sneak him in! Can you blame him for wanting to try?! (also, this picture was early in the morning, so please ignore my messy hair!)

After Josh left, I was glad with our decision, because I was with my family and was able to have support that day when I really needed it. Also, Isaac and I got to go church with my family and my home church! (Love some Grays Chapel UMC!) I stayed with my family for a few days before heading home. 

Back on the island, I was excited to see a good friend of mine, Stacy, and her family while they were on vacation! Stacy had a new baby girl, Selah, in Febraury, so I was super excited to meet her!

Isaac meets future wife Selah. He looks shocked at this news.

The next week, we headed back inland to visit with my family.  I was not too keen on being all alone at home with just Isaac and I for 3 weeks, so we planned to stay with my family and visit with Josh on Memorial Day weekend. 
While there, I was able to visit with many family and friends, including Samantha and Corey, whom I used to work with at Carolina Cross Connection.


Sam says "sure Isaac can chew on my finger!"

Aunt Punk came to visit! (Grandma Nancy's sister)

 Aunt Sally Came to visit! She is extra special because she was at my birth!

 The first weekend, we went with my sister and mother to Relay for Life in Randolph County.  This was extra special this year as my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer last year and is now a SURVIVOR!!

Mom walking the survivor lap at Relay!

Isaac's shirt says "I wear pink for my Nana"

Isaac loved seeing Aunt Becca and Great-Grandma and Great-Grandaddy!


Grandaddy loves his little Isaac!

"Look Great-Grandma, I've got wheels now too!"

Aunt Becca is a good reader! :)

Memorial Day weekend was great because we got to see Josh! Isaac was sooo happy to see his Daddy!!

Isaac practiced sitting up while Josh was visiting! Also, Josh bought Isaac a new toy! He LOVES this toy!

Also, while Daddy was visiting, Isaac got his first taste of food! We tried banannas first, which he spit out and made a face at! (wish I had a picture!) Then a few days later, we tried sweet potatoes, which had a much better outcome!

Memorial Day arrived, and Josh had to go back to Georgia :( We were sad to see him leave, but we will see him again Father's Day weekend (which is only a week away now!!)!


Then it was back to the island. However, this time, we had company! Mom and Dad (aka Nanna and Grandpa) traveled back with us because the Ocrafolk Music Festival was the next weekend!

And that wraps up our Month of May!

Where did April go??!!

For those of you that know us, you may know that Josh works for the National Park Service and is heading off to Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in just over a week. So, as a family we are trying to enjoy these next few days as much as possible!

And while we are awaiting Josh's departure, we are enjoying the new things Isaac is doing!

He is rolling over a lot more now!  The past few mornings when I've went to get Isaac out of his crib, this is what I've seen:

Isaac also really loves playing with his feet, which can make diaper changes a challange!

I will be back in a few weeks with posts about our trip to take Josh to training, and visiting family!

4 months!

Today Isaac is 4 months old! Seriously?! Where did the time go??!!!  Before we had Isaac everyone always said "they grow up so fast"... but really... they do!! It seems like just yesterday we were bringing him home!

At four months, Isaac is really alert and developing so many skills! As you read previously, he can roll over now.. however, he does not do it a lot yet, and has yet to roll over from his back to front.  To help develop the rolling over skills, we have lots of tummy time!

"I really love tummy time!"


Isaac also enjoys sitting in his bumbo seat!  He is really focusing on things around him and reaching for things... and sometimes he grabs what he's trying to reach at! Also, he really loves grabbing his toes! 

My toes are so cool!

Yesterday, Isaac had on socks when I sat him in his bumbo seat while I was washing dishes. I turned around and he had taken his socks off! I wish I had taken a picture of him, he looked so proud of himself!!

Happy four months little guy!

Easter Weekend

This past weekend was filled with visitors and fun!

Josh's brother, Erick and his wife, Coleen, and their three girls came to visit us! We were so excited and so were they! This was their first time meeting Isaac! Here are some pictures of the girls with Isaac:

Josie meets Isaac! Josie was very sweet, and wanted to bring Isaac every toy he had while she was here!

Isaac was not too sure about being held by Morgan...


Also, Josh's parents came down as well as my dad.  (no they were not all at our house!) :)


Easter Sunday, we (Josh, Isaac and I), along with Josh's mom, and his brother's family went to Sunrise service on the beach. It was beautiful!

The Easter bunny made a visit to our house too! Here is Isaac checking out his basket of goodies...

After the service, we came back to the house for a great Sunday breakfast.

Later that evening, Josh, Isaac, and I went to dinner at the pub with some dear friends from Northampton County. Adam and Joannah and their 2 year old daughter were down in Buxton for the weekend and rode the ferry over to meet us for dinner! Isaac also gave up some of his clothes he's outgrown to them because they are expecting a little boy in August!



We had a great weekend visiting family and friends! And since we had people over, we had someone take a family picture!

We hope everyone had a great Easter! 

Toes in the Sand

Most of you know that we live on the beautiful island of Ocracoke, NC. We love it here. There is tons to love about Ocracoke, but for most, our beautiful beaches are the reason to visit, or live here. 

A few weeks ago we took Isaac to the beach for the first time! It was an unusally warm Spring day, so we lathered up in sunscreen, and off we went.

My Guys at the beach!

Isaac seemed to like the feel of the sand on his feet, and seemed happy sitting on the beach.

Cute little toes in the sand!

However, once he got a sandy fist in his mouth, he decided he'd had enough beach for one day :)

Here's to many fun beach days this summer!

Milestones! Two in one week!

So this week has been full of milestones for Mr. Isaac!

First, he has now spent two nights in his room, in his crib!!!  Since Isaac was born, he's slept in our room in a co-sleeper. I'm so glad we had the co-sleeper. I cannot imagine getting up and going to another room for the past three months every time he woke up and wanted to nurse. It was so great to just be able to roll over, pick him up, nurse him, and put him back to sleep. - all without having to leave my side of the bed! :) 

However, if you have read any of my posts on facebook, or have heard anything about how much our little guy is growing and how fast he's growing, it might not be too surprising to learn that he has pretty much outgrown that wonderful co-sleeper! So, two nights ago we jumped in and decided to try all night in his crib.  Isaac is having mostly good nights of only waking up once or twice a night, so we figured this was a good time to see how he would do in the crib.  So far, so good! 

Side note - SO thankful for a great monitor as well!

Secondly, today Isaac rolled over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



*(I've tried uploading the video of him rolling over... with no luck. Any bloggers out there have any suggestions on how to get it to upload?)

Diapering decisions!

My mom used cloth diapers with me...but that was almost 30 years ago. If you had asked me a few years ago if I would want to use cloth diapers I would have said "huh?"

When I got pregnant I became aware of cloth diapers and all the options that are out there now... and wow! I was really amazed at all the ways cloth diapering can be done now with all-in-ones, prefolds with covers, flats with covers, fitteds with covers, and then there are hybrids.  Well after talking with some friends, I decided to tread lightly and aim to use Gdiapers, which are a hybrid cloth diaper system.  This means you can use cloth inserts or disposable inserts.  Well we registered for some gdiapers on our baby registries, but they were not sold in stores, so we didn't actually get any for gifts. However, we were VERY blessed to receive a LOT of disposable diapers as gifts.  So, When Isaac came, we decided we would just use what we were given until we ran out and then we would buy the Gdiapers we had planned to. 

Well about 3 weeks ago, Isaac was in size 2 diapers already, and while we had a few packs left, we knew he would be that size for a while.  We decided to go ahead and invest in a small "stash" of gdiapers to see how they worked for us.  We've been using them for about 2 weeks now and I'm loving them!  

Today I found out about a giveaway on this blog for 2 gdiapers in the large size (we are in the medium size now)! Maybe I'll win! :) 

Also, someone did give us some Bumgenius diapers as a baby present.  I've been using them as well and really like them too.  

I was also lucky to have a friend here on the island who has used cloth diapers for both her children, and gave me a whole box full of prefolds as well.  I have been using them some with my gdiaper covers, but hope to venture out and get some covers for them to use as well. 

So for all you moms with young babies or those who are expecting I would urge you to consider cloth diapering. Here are a few blogs I like that have lots of good info about options!

http://clothdiapers.blogspot.com/
http://allaboutclothdiapers.com/
http://www.diaperswappers.com/

What's in a name?

So I'm sure most people are wondering what kind of blog name is "Blessings and Butterflies".  I was really trying to rack my brain to come up with something a little more original, but alas, I was not able to do so.  I kept coming back to this name.  I admit, I have to give some credit to my friends over at Fireworks and Fireflies for the name concept.
Let's start with the word "Blessings." I tend to use this word a lot when signing a note, or email; as in, "Blessings, Lora." I'm not sure when I started to do this, but I like the idea of ending on a note of telling someone to "be blessed." Of course, I feel that in general we as people should always count our blessings. It really makes you feel better about your overall situation! (Which I've had to do a lot of lately!!) I am just feeling very blessed in my life right now with my little boy that Josh and I have been blessed with and that our family is happy and healthy! With all of this in mind, I felt using "Blessings" in the blog title was very appropriate.
Okay, so what is with the "Butterflies"?  Well I first came to really like what a butterfly represented after attending Chrysalis (a weekend spiritual retreat) as a teenager.  In short, at that time, the butterfly was presented to me as a symbol of positive change.  Starting out as a catipillar and transforming into a beautiful butterfly, to me represents how as a Christian, God can transform us into a more beautiful person if we put our faith in Him and learn to live as He would want us to.  Of course, we want to teach our son the importance of God's love for him.  Also, I feel the butterfly just represents new life, and new begininngs, which we are in a new beginning of being parents. 

So there you have it, the reason for the blog name. I am not sure if it will make sense to everyone but I guess that really doesn't matter either. :)

Of course I cannot leave this post without another picture of our little blessing :)... or maybe 2 pictures :)

This picture from the newborn photo shoot is one of my favorites!

Our little guy is so happy in the mornings! This one from when he was about just over 2 months old

And I'm blogging....

To say this past year has been an exciting and eventful one would be an understatement.  It has been almost one year since we found out we would be expecting our first child! And now our little man is 3 months old!! Time really does fly! 
It has also been almost one year since we found out my mother had breast cancer. And since she has had surgery, chemo, and radiation and is doing great!
Also, after our wonderful baby boy was born, I made a difficult decision to not return to my job (well, it was more of a forced decision, but still hard to do.. thats another post in itself). 
Now I'm at home with my little boy, which is AMAZING, so I've decided to finally start a blog.  I hope that this will be a blog to let friends and family know what we are up to, but also to just share our life experiences of being new parents and trying to live life as an example for our little boy!
I hope you all will enjoy reading my ramblings of our life :)

And to start off... here is a picture of our beautiful family when our little one was only 6 days old!
(Mad props to Whitney Norko for the pics!)