Clark is the cutest / Mom's Together rocks my world

Sorry to all other kids out there...the verdict is in: Clark is the cutest!!  Josh and I just can't get enough of him at this stage!  He is such a sweetheart.  His favorite activity continues to be bathing! :)  He has many bath toys but he usually latches onto this little green fish:

He will bang it on the sides of the tub, splash it in the water, and even tap the faucet with it!

He also enjoys sucking on the side of the tub...gee I hope I cleaned that well enough! :)

We have had a busy couple weeks!  I think it felt busier because the weather was so gorgeous: we were out almost every day!  His eating is back to normal.  We did have a bit of a sleeping dilemma because he started waking up at 6am.  I'd been holding off his bedtime until 7:30 or 8.  So I did some research and read in "Healthy Sleep Habits" that at this age babies actually sleep longer if you put them to bed when they are actually tired, like "on time" (between 6-8pm depending on when they woke up from their afternoon nap).  I didn't believe it, but because the book was written by a pediatrician, I decided to try it. :)  Sure enough!  Last night Clark was in bed at 6:45pm and he woke up at 7:15am.  Yay!  

Clark has had some new developments over the past couple weeks as well:

~ On Monday, 3/19, he shook his head "no" for the first time!  I'm not sure he knows it means "no."  But it's awfully cute!!

~ On Thursday, 3/22, he held his own sippy cup and tipped his head back to drink!  When I would feed him a meal I would stop every couple bites and manually give him a drink.  On that day he was just snacking on crackers in the high chair so I just plopped it on his tray.  Before I knew it he had tipped his head and was guzzling his water!  Big boy!

~ On Sunday, 3/25, he was in the bathtub and he pulled himself up using the side!  

Clark enjoying the warm weather in his shorts and short-sleeves:

Target is a serious place.  Didn't you know that Mama?? (I was trying to get him to smile here...)

I am (finally) feeling like I have a grasp on motherhood.  I am (finally) consistently getting dinner (or some semblance thereof) on the table by 5:15 when Josh gets home.  I am hosting playdates occasionally without much stress.  Laundry gets done every week (let's face it, usually every two to three days!).  And the house is once again usually more clean than messy (if the dishes get done, I consider my whole house clean haha).  

This morning Clark and I were at a Mom's Together event at church.  I know I've posted about these before but let me just say, they are a gift from God!!  My Mom puts them together about four times a year.  We get a hot breakfast on CHINA with SILVER utensils (!!) and we have a speaker.  Meanwhile our kids are being watched in the nursery, out of sight, even out of earshot! :)  Today Mrs. Frey spoke on balancing motherhood and wife-hood.  It was excellent!  She had wonderful advice, but the main things I took away were:

~ Arrange the most important tasks for each week and assign one day to each.  Then cross them off as they are completed.  Arrange secondary tasks as well, but be flexible in case they don't get done.  In this way, you will be building structure into your daily schedule.

~ Based on their individual strengths, choose one sport for each of your children to be involved in (and pray they choose the same one haha :) and help them succeed that way.  The alternative is they are involved everywhere and stretched so thin they can't succeed in anything.  And don't feel bad saying "no" when they are asked to be involved in more activites.  But balance that with flexibility.

~ Do energetic tasks when you first wake up in the morning (my interpretation: before Clark's first nap) then leave the quiet, naptimes for when you do quiet things like devotions and reading.

~ Plan and prepare for a special time each day to spend with just your husband (for her and her husband it was right after dinner.  Their boys would be eager to play again before bed and they would stay at the table and chat).

She recommended two books in particular: "What Every Child Needs" by Elisa Morgan and Carol Kuykendall (those ladies are the founders of MOPS) and "Captivating" by John and Stasi Eldredge.  I am excited to read them.

I just thought you young moms out there would be interested in those tips!  Somedays I just feel so overwhelmed; I'm excited to build more structure into my day and be more purposeful with my time with Josh at the end of the day.