.the man i call 'Daddy'.

I contemplated writing this post because I'm just no good when it comes to mushy gushy stuff.  not because i'm not sentimental...but because i'm too sentimental.   I start crying just thinking about writing a post about my daddy.  but, it needs doing.  so, with the image of a pathetic looking almost 23 year old hugging a jumbo box of tissues and looking like a big ball of mess, read on having been warned.

dad. daddy. dada. papa. pops. daddio.

all good names for the person who gave me half of his genes.  but not good enough.

giver. defender. guardian. protector. counselor. friend.
these are better names, but still not good enough.

 

hero.

 

my dad is my hero.  he always has been and he always will be.  there isn't a time in my life that I didn't have his support, love, comfort, and friendship.  everyone in my family has always told me that i'm just like my dad.  and to me, that's the greatest compliment anyone could ever give me.  I am his number one fan.  no one could possibly love him as much as I do, except, maybe, my mom. 

 

outside of the family there aren't very many people that really truly know my dad and who he is.  but here is just 1 story that i think shows, in a very small way, how my dad is.  it's one that always comes to mind when I think about my daddy.  and one that sums up just how, in his simple and gentle ways, he's always been there for me:

 

when I was about 14-15 years old I was having a hard night.  I was so dead tired but could not fall asleep.  I've never had that experience before.  i'm one of those people that can go to sleep easily.  my dad was up late and ready to go to bed and came by my room to say goodnight when i told him that I just could not go to sleep.  I was becoming emotional about it because i had a long school day ahead of me and was so worried about how hard it would be with no sleep. it sounds ridiculous now, but to a tired teen it was a big deal.  i think he could see how stressed I was about not sleeping, which made it even harder to relax and get to sleep.  without saying a word, he walked into my room, crawled into bed with me, and talked with me for the longest time.  we talked about everything and anything.  being a tall kind of man, with a relatively loud voice, i was touched to see him try to squeeze into my small bed with me, and to hear him talk to me with such a gentle and tender voice.  we talked for what seemed like hours before i finally fell asleep.  he stayed there for a good while longer, i'm sure, trying to wait until i was in a deep sleep. 

as he was trying to get out of bed without waking me, the bed creaked and i woke up to see his face right above mine.  he gave me a gentle kiss, whispered a 'good night', and quietly walked out of the room towards his own.  i laid in bed for a few minutes just wondering what i had possibly done to deserve that wonderful man as my father.

 

It sounds simple.  it sounds like something any dad would do.  but it was much more than that.  it meant more because it was a testament to me of his love for me.  that he would sacrifice his sleep, his personal time, and do something I didn't ask him to do.  he knew that I needed someone.  he knew that it would comfort me, calm me, and help me to fall asleep.  but he never knew that it would be something that stayed with me for years.

 

I could go on forever about my daddy.  I won't.  but I could.  he is one of my best friends.  and he is honestly someone I feel I could go to and talk to about anything.  he may not have advice that I want to hear, but he always has words that I need to hear.  he will never know...never ever know how grateful I am for his sacrifices in my life.  and now, in the life of my daughter.  she adores him. who wouldn't?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Dad is my hero.  always has been.  and he always will be.  for his unconditional love for my mother, all of my siblings, and now for my husband and sweet daughter.  for his faith in Christ.  for his never-ending sacrifices.  for the person that he is.

 

i love you daddy of mine.  i may be a wife and mother now and may not be a little kid anymore...but you will always be my daddy.  and i will always be your baby girl.

 

Happy Father's Day Daddy!







love, your Amy Lee

.pictures.

about a month ago jay and I decided to have updated pictures taken of just the two of us.  i had an underlying reason...i have an idea that i absolutely love for the wall above my bed, and it required certain poses that we haven't done.  so i wanted an updated session for that reason...and it's nice to have pictures of just the two of us.  the last time we had pictures done of just us was my maternity session when i was absolutely huge!  i'm still not as small as i'd like to be, but that could take ages!  and i wanted to get the wall done, so we decided to just go for it and have pictures done.

we could not have possibly chosen better than Priscilla.  she was perfect for us and for the style of pictures we wanted.  besides that I've known her for a number of years.  we went to the same ward together in church during our teen years, and she's always been the sweetest person, so there was no question.  we just HAD to have her, and we're so glad we did. 

here's a few of our favorites.  and now that we have them i'm super excited to get the wall art up and done in my room.  i'll post about that once it's done.  love them Priscilla!  thanks again.  you are the best.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oops..

I'm totally behind on updating this thing. My bad. Well...here's a lame attempt at updating what's been going on...mostly for me...because I forget everything so easily.

Emma is now 5 months. I've been so busy the past month I didn't even get a 4 month picture of her on the couch, like I've done with every other month (I'm terrible)..BUT I have her 5 month picture. She'll actually be 6 months on the 5th of May, so I'm kinda cutting it close.

My 5 month smiley babe. LOVE those big flappy ears! (good thing she's a girl and can hide them underneath her growing hair--another trait she gets from her daddy {the ears...not the hair..}) haha

I am still head over heels for this girl, and the love grows every day. She talks to herself when she wakes up from naps, just waiting for us to go in and get her, and then when I do go to pick her up she starts kicking and giggling from excitement...cutest thing ever! Sometimes I wait by the door and just listen to her jabber on. I've noticed that the longer I wait to go in and get her, the more excited she is when she finally sees me.....so I stall....can't help it. I die with happiness when I see her smile at me. *sigh*

She's been holding her bottle since early 4 months, I just never documented it, which is way cute because if I'm holding it in front of her face while talking to J, she'll reach out for it and pull it towards her mouth, and kind of jams the bottle into her mouth. She reaches for everything now...

exhibit a

She LOVES people food. Oh man! I don't dare eat or drink anything around her sight for fear that she'll stare at it wanting what I have. I usually cave and let her have at least a taste of whatever I'm delighting in. She's tried things like water, apple juice (100% of course..), bananas, carrots and broccoli (pureed), soup, spaghetti; pretty much everything under the sun. And she's hungry ALL. THE. TIME. But, good news! She's a super active baby, so her eating habits do not affect her chunkiness.

My active baby! Always has to be up and about. I'm going to be in such great shape when she's walking! It'll be fun to chase her around....kind of. :/

We're still trying to get back to a good routine with sleeping...we've been out of town a couple of times which really messed her up...so for right now, she wakes up several times during the night...but we're working on it, so that should change soon. *hopefully* A hardworking mama neeeeeeeeeddssss sleep. So, Emma girl..puleaseeee work with mama on the whole sleep-through-the-night-to-make-mama-happy "thing". thanks. Muah!

She really is such a sweetheart...as LONG as she gets a good nap. haha. She's too funny. She's the sweetest girl you'll ever know; she'll smile at everyone and anyone, giggle and play. BUT, if she's in a bad mood lookout! I would avoid her if I could. She's just not so fun when she's unhappy. On the bright side though, she's only fussy/moody when something's wrong; i.e. bad vaccine reactions, stomach problems, tiredness, etc. P.s. Just a word of advice...don't have your baby vaccinated until he/she is at LEAST 10 years of age. Emma had every bad reaction possible, and it killed to watch her in such pain. I'm dicontinuing for as long as humanly possible. It wasn't until after we found out Emma wasn't reacting well to the shots that I found out the vaccines put Matthew in the hospital for weeks due to a bad reaction when he was a baby...and that none of the rest of us had vaccines as babies. Found out a little too late...but I should've looked into it before having my baby poked and prodded. Oh well, lesson learned...and NEVER again.

Anyway, I'm rambling. We're happy. Baby's happy. Life is good. Jamison just started a nursing program at Kaplan College (huge blessing...he'll be done with school in a year instead of 3 years with CSN...yay!). I LOVE being a mama with every day that passes. It's SO worth the pains of pregnancy and labor, the sleepless nights and sore/aching body due to lack of energy/food...etc. Having her was the best decision we ever made in our little family. I'm already looking forward to having all our children together on this earth. I already dream of them playing in the yard together, painting eggs at Easter, taking care of each other at church and school activities. There's such good stuff to look forward to...so I'll happily embrace yucky pregnancies again, and hard times to have all the good and happy times. Bring. It. On.

.Valentines.

Valentines Day this year was really special in the Pruitt Family. We were blessed to be able to spend our first Valentines day with Emma bean.

For {love} day this year I found a cute idea on <Pinterest> to do for J. It was SO much fun to make, and I loved being able to remind him through something that wasn't store bought....something a little more meaningful.

J's gift to me was perfect in every way. He puts so much thought into his gifts to me, and pays attention to all the little details. He makes me feel so darn special. I love him so much! He laid everything out, wrote me the most beautiful letter, and gave me a new favorite necklace from (Charming Charlie).

Did I mention how much I love him??? Happy LOVE day sweet boy. :)