This is our motto for Mark. Not that we want to carve out a life for him by any means. For greatness does not necessitate success by worldly standards. In fact, I have seen that it's often the smallest things we do in life that can be the greatest. Whatever that greatness may be for our little boy, whatever mountains that means he will one day climb...that is what we pray he will discover.
When Mark was around three months old, we started calling him the littler Stinker, or my favorite version of it... Stinkbug.
This name was not from out of nowhere. It was around that time that he started shrieking and babbling to entertain himself. It's pretty much the most adorable thing I had ever seen... a little baby talking to himself and making himself laugh!
Well, that was only the beginning of his personality. This kid is truly something else. He is happy, that's for sure. He loves to laugh. Even when he is crying or sick, all I have to do is make funny faces and he will laugh and laugh and laugh. From an early age, he was responding to me in a way that I haven't seen babies do before! Like he thinks it's funny when I pretend to eat his fingers, so he actually will stick his fingers in my mouth. Seeing him form those connections in a social way is so amazing. I know that everyone thinks their child is unique, but I'm realizing that's because it's true. Every little person has his own quirks that makes him special. And Mark is special because he is full of joy. It makes my heart burst with pride to see the twinkle in his eye! I have been told that this is what my dad was like as a baby. Coincidence? I doubt it.
Of course, his energetic personality has its challenges! The first challenge is Mark does. not. want. to sleep. He will be perfectly content, and as soon as he senses his eyes are getting heavy, he starts fussing and crying and eventually works himself up into a frenzy. This has made getting him to sleep in a crib the bane of our existence over here at the Holt household. Thankfully, after a week of pure torture, we have found a method that is working. We put the baby swing next to the crib, and we are using the swing to teach him how to fall asleep on his own. While he can resist sleep by crying in his crib for hours (sadly, this is true...he has not once fallen to sleep in his crib, no matter the different methods of "sleep training" we have tried). But the motion of the swing is too overpowering, and he eventually falls asleep...even if it takes an hour, like it did tonight. The goal is, over the course of several weeks, to lower the motion of the swing until it is still. Hopefully, at that point, the transition to the crib should be easy.
Hopefully! We are crossing our fingers here. Certainly, Mark's bright personality has a stubborn streak, not that Jack and I know anything about that, of course.
Thankfully, it feels like Jack and I are getting more at ease with this whole parenting thing. Now that Mark is sleeping in the swing for most of his naps, we are able to spend some time together sans baby, and that has been great. I have realized that, when Mark is in my arms, I feel responsible for him in a way that makes it difficult to relax. That is something that I am working on, because I want to be my old, goofy self. It's all coming back to me with time!
Of course, now that we are finally getting settled here in Georgia, making friends and feeling like we have etched out a place for ourselves, we have gotten the word that we will (most likely) be moving! We will be headed to South Carolina around May, where Jack will be a commander for basic training. You know all those movies you have ever seen about boot camp? Well, Jack will be living it out in real life! Fortunately, we have seen one too many roaches here in Georgia, and we are excited to move out of the deep south. (That sounds more "unfortunate" as I type it out...) Joking aside, we really are excited to move. The town we are headed to has a major university and a smaller military presence, and it is surrounded by some really awesome cities just a day trip away. Like all things military, we cannot say 100% sure this is where we are headed, but the process has started, so it's looking like most likely this is where we will be going. We can't complain.
All in all, life is pretty good here. A few exciting things:
1) It's warm! We can't believe it's winter. Often we wear t-shirts outside with no jacket. It's amazing!
2) Jack and I are so honored to be godparents for our friends' (Emily and Luke from Colorado) soon to be born baby boy.
3) My friend Steph asked me to sing in her wedding this June!
4) My husband is bald! Yep, he shaved his head.
5) I've been working on this post for two hours and little baby boy has slept the entire time. This is BIG news, folks. The longest he has ever slept in that swing during our sleep training escapades was one hour (until tonight).
All things considered, nothing too crazy is happening, but it's the little moments that make life special anyway.
Picture recap time!
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| Asheville, North Carolina |
This name was not from out of nowhere. It was around that time that he started shrieking and babbling to entertain himself. It's pretty much the most adorable thing I had ever seen... a little baby talking to himself and making himself laugh!
Well, that was only the beginning of his personality. This kid is truly something else. He is happy, that's for sure. He loves to laugh. Even when he is crying or sick, all I have to do is make funny faces and he will laugh and laugh and laugh. From an early age, he was responding to me in a way that I haven't seen babies do before! Like he thinks it's funny when I pretend to eat his fingers, so he actually will stick his fingers in my mouth. Seeing him form those connections in a social way is so amazing. I know that everyone thinks their child is unique, but I'm realizing that's because it's true. Every little person has his own quirks that makes him special. And Mark is special because he is full of joy. It makes my heart burst with pride to see the twinkle in his eye! I have been told that this is what my dad was like as a baby. Coincidence? I doubt it.
Of course, his energetic personality has its challenges! The first challenge is Mark does. not. want. to sleep. He will be perfectly content, and as soon as he senses his eyes are getting heavy, he starts fussing and crying and eventually works himself up into a frenzy. This has made getting him to sleep in a crib the bane of our existence over here at the Holt household. Thankfully, after a week of pure torture, we have found a method that is working. We put the baby swing next to the crib, and we are using the swing to teach him how to fall asleep on his own. While he can resist sleep by crying in his crib for hours (sadly, this is true...he has not once fallen to sleep in his crib, no matter the different methods of "sleep training" we have tried). But the motion of the swing is too overpowering, and he eventually falls asleep...even if it takes an hour, like it did tonight. The goal is, over the course of several weeks, to lower the motion of the swing until it is still. Hopefully, at that point, the transition to the crib should be easy.
Hopefully! We are crossing our fingers here. Certainly, Mark's bright personality has a stubborn streak, not that Jack and I know anything about that, of course.
Thankfully, it feels like Jack and I are getting more at ease with this whole parenting thing. Now that Mark is sleeping in the swing for most of his naps, we are able to spend some time together sans baby, and that has been great. I have realized that, when Mark is in my arms, I feel responsible for him in a way that makes it difficult to relax. That is something that I am working on, because I want to be my old, goofy self. It's all coming back to me with time!
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| Jack and I went on a little date when his parents were here! We wanted to do something that was impossible with the Bug. So bike riding it was! |
Of course, now that we are finally getting settled here in Georgia, making friends and feeling like we have etched out a place for ourselves, we have gotten the word that we will (most likely) be moving! We will be headed to South Carolina around May, where Jack will be a commander for basic training. You know all those movies you have ever seen about boot camp? Well, Jack will be living it out in real life! Fortunately, we have seen one too many roaches here in Georgia, and we are excited to move out of the deep south. (That sounds more "unfortunate" as I type it out...) Joking aside, we really are excited to move. The town we are headed to has a major university and a smaller military presence, and it is surrounded by some really awesome cities just a day trip away. Like all things military, we cannot say 100% sure this is where we are headed, but the process has started, so it's looking like most likely this is where we will be going. We can't complain.
All in all, life is pretty good here. A few exciting things:
1) It's warm! We can't believe it's winter. Often we wear t-shirts outside with no jacket. It's amazing!
2) Jack and I are so honored to be godparents for our friends' (Emily and Luke from Colorado) soon to be born baby boy.
3) My friend Steph asked me to sing in her wedding this June!
4) My husband is bald! Yep, he shaved his head.
5) I've been working on this post for two hours and little baby boy has slept the entire time. This is BIG news, folks. The longest he has ever slept in that swing during our sleep training escapades was one hour (until tonight).
All things considered, nothing too crazy is happening, but it's the little moments that make life special anyway.
Picture recap time!
Mark weighs about 21 pounds. He is now fitting comfortably into 18 month clothes and squeezing into the remnants of his 12 month clothes. He's our chunky monkey!
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Meeting Aunt Liz and Uncle Jake at Thanksgiving 
Little bear cub!
 Thanksgiving Day selfie 
Date night!!!!! This was our first alone time in three months, while my family watched Mark over Thanksgiving
Chunk
Mark's favorite toy, his Mama Mary rattle
Atlanta Zoo time!
"Captain Adorable"
Babywearing Pro (sorta)
Four months old and lookin' fine
Jack's Graduation from the Captain's Career Course
Grammy and Pops came to visit!
Someone is happy to see Mark!
 
Daddy and Son
Strong boy
We stayed at the cabins on post for a couple days while Jack was able to take paternity leave before Christmas.
 
Mark was first to see the new Star Wars movie...the night before it came out! Thankfully he slept through the whole thing!
Passed out. A little too much to drink. Not wine of course ;)
Home for Christmas! Uncle Jake loves his nephew.
Mark got to meet his great grandparents for the first time! This is my mom's parents, Joe and Jane Hecker.
All smiles!
Mark with his godmama, Jessie
Mama actually got dressed up so we had to take a selfie!
Mark meeting Papa Boresow, my dad's dad
Mima
My cousin, Mark with baby mark!
Grammy and Pops on Christmas Day
Makes my heart sing!
 Mark Pelham meeting his namesake, his great Granddad Pelham 
Mark with Nana
Four Generations
Four Generations. Every single one of them is a firstborn!
Laughing with Mama
Mark loves the animals!
Well it only took me five months, but I finally got a haircut. Yes, this is a big deal and worthy of mention!
My loves!
Stinker I tell ya!
Working hard!
He loves his feet!
The Bug.
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