To Marriage, Parenthood, and Beyond...Nicole and Grant: January 2011

January has flown by in a flash! New Years Eve was fantastic! We went with friends to a party downtown. It was a champagne tasting along with wine pairing at dinner, and the night was topped off with dancing. It was the best NYE I've had in many years! Besides that, Grant and I have been super busy with obligations, but have sometime found some wonderful time to spend together. As of late, we painted our bedroom, which was very hard for Grant because he prefers everything be vanilla colored. :) It turned out wonderully! We went to dinner with some of Grant's high school friends, and it was great to visit with them and their wives. Grant's sister, Whitney, has decided to go to Prague for a full year to teach English! She prayed about her decision and feels that this is where God wants her next year. She is currently raising support because she will be leaving in July. I have began working out twice a week with some teachers at my school, while Grant has been working well into the AM hours. He got home last night at 3:30! (So I guess that makes it this morning.) I really enjoy my coworkers at school. They are very laid back and they make me want to come to work in the morning...is it bad that its not the students???

Asher seems to change so much week to week. I even thought at the beginning of last week, "I wonder what he will do this week?" Sure enough, he sprouted his top two front teeth. They are only partially in, but they look so cute. He now has his top front and bottom teeth. He can sit up like a champ. We actually are not using the Bumbo quite as much! Pictured below, I found out he can get out of it. Hes gotten great at eating baby food, and even screams when we don't get the spoon there quite fast enough. haha. I am totally biased, but I think he just gets cuter and cuter each day. Last night was his first time to sit in a shopping cart instead of his car seat. His eyes were huge and he was holding on with a death grip. He did very well until I saw him chewing on the Walmart shopping cart and I shreaked! So gross! haha I have one of those covers, but of course it was at home in the closet where it gets lots of use...We had to move up to a bigger car seat because Asher is so big!! At 6 months he weighed 20lbs even, and was in the 90th percentile. He is about to be 7 months in a few days, and I bet he is 23lbs at least. I swear we don't over feed him! :) The best part of the day is when Grant gets home from work. The look Asher gets is priceless. It is the biggest, happiest grin ever! On Friday, I heard the garage door open so I grabbed the camera and took pictures when Grant walked in. Thats what the black and white pictures below are from.

In the future coming up, I am looking forward to February book club because we read The Help, and it was the best book I've read in a while, a girls weekend in Dallas, going to the Houston Rodeo, and working in a trip to Wichita Falls to visit family and friends. The Lord has been very good to my family over the last month. I pray for guidance and strength for the next month as well.