Taking after daddy

It has been a joke since I was pregnant with Zeke and Katie Gaston was pregnant with Holt that Jason would teach the boys to hunt and fish and Spence would teach them to read. Zeke has already picked up on that love of books. He really enjoys being read to or even spending independent time looking at books. He has gotten really into lift the flap or touch and feel books recently. I caught him in this chair with a book and just had to snap a picture and get a video.

Benjamin Shelton

We have an announcement! We have settled on Benjamin for his first name. The middle name is still up for debate, hopefully that will be settled soon. I am so glad to be able to refer to him by name! We can now trade in "baby dos" for Benjamin.

More steps

Zeke continues to get better with walking. Here is a recent video of his attempts.

For Pawpaw

Courtney's dad thinks that balloons are the ultimate celebration accessory. Growing up I remember him putting balloons on our mailbox for everyone's birthday. I am pretty sure he still puts up balloons for our birthdays even though we aren't there. He loves blowing up balloons for Maddie to play with. I am sure that Sophia loves a balloon as well. Zeke has been intrigued by looking at balloons for a few months now, but I haven't let him play with one. The girls (my mom, Sierra, and me) and Zeke went to Red Robin last week for lunch. Zeke got a balloon tied onto his high chair and had a blast with it through out lunch. Of course we had to bring some home. Zeke thoroughly enjoyed playing with the balloons. Pawpaw, you can start blowing some up for him!

Showing off his balloon

Probably not the best way to play with a balloon

So happy to have a balloon

Of course the model pose with a balloon

We did it!

We are back! We got back yesterday just before Zeke's second nap. Yes, we did get up, check out of the hotel, eat breakfast and hit the road. Yes, I was ready to see my sweet boy. Yes, I have just stared at him all day. I can't begin to even describe how wonderful Abby and Charlie were to stay with Zeke. They definitely took on a huge task in dealing with first time parents leaving their baby. Not only did they step up and do a phenomenal job, but I come home and Abby, the saint, has washed the sheets and remade the bed so that I don't have to do that today. RIDICULOUS! But I am so thankful! I don't even know how to say thank you to them...

Alright, now to the trip... we did not take a single picture, sorry. I will tell you about the fun we had and supply links to the fun places we went. We got into Richmond, VA just before 7 on Wednesday. We checked into our hotel, The Berkeley Hotel, and then had to head to dinner at Morton's Steakhouse. Dinner was wonderful! They had our table decorated with confetti and took our picture. We had a steak and seafood special. Spencer got a ribeye and shrimp. I got salmon and shrimp (no I didn't get steak, ew). The hotel was beautiful and right in the middle of everything. We were able to walk to Morton's and then walk around the next day as well.

We got up Thursday morning and headed out to explore. This ended up including one of my favorite parts of our trip. We went to a farmer's market and got a snack for me around 10 or so. Then we sat and ate almost a whole basket of blackberries (ok, I ate most of them). We had such a great time just talking. We talked about favorite things through out our five years, what we want to happen in the next year, what to name baby dos, things we love about Zeke, things we need to work on with him during the next year, how to hold each other accountable to having our time with God daily, what we want to work on in our marriage, and so much more. For lunch, we had Bottom's Up Pizza. It was delish!!! Afterwards, we headed back to the farmer's market to get dessert. They had something called Soul Ice. It was super YUM! We enjoyed it by walking along the canal and headed back to the hotel. I took a nap and Spence watched lots of Law and Order and got into a discussion with Green Peace people (this was located outside of a Starbucks- yes, he can find one anywhere). For dinner we got to go to Carytown where we went to Carytown Burger and Fries. They have been voted to have the best burger in Richmond. For those back in Whitsett/Gibsonville, it was similar to Jack's, and was super yummy! Afterwards, we walked along Cary St. It reminded us a lot of Franklin St in Chapel Hill. Lots of cool, funky stores and places to eat. One weird thing, there were seriously about a million salons. People around there are serious about their hair, I guess. We grabbed some dessert and then went to The Byrd Theatre. This was my other favorite part of the trip. I am not kidding. If you go to Richmond, you absolutely have to go here. Spence and I decided if we lived closer, this would be a weekly activity.

We got up Friday morning, ate at Perly's (no website, sorry). It was ok, your general old diner type place to eat. And then we headed back to our sweet boy!

Sorry for writing so much and there not being any pictures. You can totally use this as a guide for enjoying Richmond though. We definitely had fun and were able to relax and enjoy our trip. Special thanks to Jena-Marie for all the good tips on Richmond.

What I have been up to...

Last week was a busy week. We went and stayed for a night with Yaya and Pawpaw. Maddie and Sophia were not impressed. Maddie fell asleep and when we tried to get her up, this is where we found her next.

Sophia constantly told Zeke "no, no, no" and took toys that were sitting near him. It was actually really funny. She wouldn't take a toy he was holding or playing with, but would take everything that was in his proximity.

Zeke has been really interested in climbing everything! The stairs, me, the bookshelf, the entertainment center, his toys... He actually gotten very interested in not just climbing his toys, but trying to scale them. Here are a couple pictures of him on the stairs and trying to climb over his stage toy.

Zeke had his first donut. We went to Daylight Donuts. My personal favorite donut shop. Yes, I like it better than Krispy Kreme, and no do not send me hate mail. We gave Zeke a donut hole. At first I think he thought it was a ball. Then I don't think he really liked the way the sugar felt. I tore it into half and then he liked it better. Please notice how lazy my kid is... he definitely tried to just eat it off the table.

We have blown up our little pool in the backyard. Zeke enjoys the water, but because he is so interested in pulling up things get a little dangerous. It is starting to be too much work keeping him sitting in the pool than it is worth.

Leaving on a jet plane...

Well, not really. But Spence and I are leaving Zeke for the first time today. Our good friends, Charlie and Abby Dunn, will be staying with Zeke tonight and tomorrow. We will be gone for approximately 44 hours total. I know not even two full days. I am as nervous as can be. But I am also really excited. I know that Charlie and Abby will take wonderful care of Zeke, probably better than I do on a daily basis. Charlie has said that when we get back Zeke will be walking, talking, and will have prayed to receive Christ. (Charlie's dog, Tucker, got saved after Charlie shared the gospel with him... maybe there is hope for Shamgar after all...)
You can definitely be in prayer for all of us. Pray for Spence and I to be able to relax and have a good time in Richmond. Pray for Zeke to be on his best behavior, to sleep well, and to adjust to not seeing mama and daddy. Pray for Abby and Charlie that this will not make them change their mind about having children in the future. :-)

Looking back...

So, here are the promised pics from way back in the days when Spencer and I first started dating. It was definitely fun to get these pictures from my mom the other day. Enjoy looking at us when we were much younger ;-)

On the trip that we met, I (on the far right) was 16 and Spencer (front and center) was 15.

During my sr and Spence's jr year in highschool
My graduation (he ws in a tux b/c he was a jr. marshall)

Spence's sr. prom

The summer of 2000 (this is one of my favorite pictures of us)

Future's so bright...

Mom of the Year award nominee..

Please note the sarcasm. After you read what happened you wouldn't vote for me either. Zeke and I were sitting in a chair in the kitchen on Friday while my dad and Spencer were tyring to repair our backdoor lock. Zeke has gotten extremely wiggling and I was not holding him as well as I should have been. He was spinning and reaching for the cabinet and slipped out of my hand. The results were a bumped head against the countertop, blood and a couple bruises. I am a bit encouraged that we made 11 months without any serious injury, and this was definitely not serious. It just really upset me the see my sweet boy bleeding and because it was his head it bled. He was so upset and it definitely broke my heart. I know all you mother's of boys are telling me to get used to it. I know that, but I can be like this over the first injury.
I don't think this would have been quite so crazy if we hadn't had a scare earlier. Zeke was down for a nap, and Mama, Daddy, Spence and I were downstairs. We heard a big bump upstairs. Spence and I immediately thought Zeke had fallen out of his crib. We have lowered his crib once, but definitely needed to lower it more. After Spence raced up the stairs, and I fell up them. (I have bruises to show for it- yes, please do picture the big pregnant lady falling up the stairs, while trying to hang up the phone- sorry Keva for the yelling) We get into Zeke's room and he has now been wildly woken up by us banging into his room like a group of crazy people. We do not know what made the sound, but we lowered Zeke's crib immediately. So, you can totally get how we freaked out so much...
Here are pictures of my sweet boy with his boo boo.

This is the day after, you can see the cut and a bruise under his eye

first bandaid

After he calmed down he got right back into a good mood

Poor guy

This wasn't right after he had been hurt, this was the next day, he was just having a moment...

Hope4RDU

The Shelton family headed over to Bethesda Elementary today. There were a ton of people there putting mulch in flowerbeds, painting inside and out, and just generally working on stuff around the school. One of the things that was being done was repainting the school sign. Some of the guys thought it would be funny to just paint the word men in elementary. Of course all the guys had to have their picture taken under it.

Look closely, you can see Isaac and Zeke looking back

hanging out

Newly painted sign

Just to prove there were girls there also...

So close...

Zeke is so into walking holding our fingers. We sit across from each other and help him walk back and forth. When Spencer tries to hold onto his hips instead, Zeke reaches down his body to try to grab onto his hands. It is really pretty funny. Spence and Matt took the walking back and forth to a different level the other night. Zeke actually did some steps with out any real support. He has done about 4 steps with out holding on to anything at all probably three or four times. But he quickly falls right over after those few steps. Since this video was taken, Zeke has become even more confident and is trying to walk even more. I think we are about to enter a very crazy time in our lives...

Summit Institute say moo

Spence, Zeke and I had the privelege of hosting some of the Institute students for dinner Friday night. The institute is a really cool thing for college students through our church. They live in host homes, have classes in the mornings, and then work with a ministry area in the afternoons. They also go on two trips during the summer, one of those going overseas. They are actually on their overseas trip right now, so if you think about take a moment to pray for them.
So, we had them over for dinner and to just hang out. What they didn't know until they arrived was that they had to earn their dinner. We made them dress up and go to Chick-fil-A to get free food. It was Cow Appreciation Day so if you dressed up, you could get a free meal. We were able to get everyone free food. We brought the food to our house, hung out, and had yummy icecream pie for dessert.
I am so glad they came over and hung out. We had a blast talking and getting to know some of them better than we did before. Thanks guys for being good sports! Here are some pictures of how the evening went.

Making their cow costumes
Beginning to look like cows...

Some of the group ready to get chikin

Dustin the cow

Katie the cow

Shelton cows

Zeke has already been a cow, check him out! (plus he tried to eat the pieces)

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

Beach part three

Here is the final installment of pictures from our week. I think we have finally recovered from the week, and I am finally caught up on blogging. :-)

Final family picture on the beach

Zeke playing in his pool with dad

He looks so confused

The only appropriate sink bath picture

Waiting on a wave

Isn't he the cutest?

Cheering with dad

this is my new favorite family picture of us, look how happy Z looks!

I think he was trying to escape from the pool

Hanging out with some tall people (Uncle Matt and Aunt Tori)

like mother, like son?

My mom sent me some pictures of Spence and I from back in the day (more of those to come soon). She included in those pictures some from when I was a baby. Spencer and I have been thinking that Zeke is looking more like Spence lately. The following picture made us rethink it...

Anyone else see the resemblance? He obviously was born to hit that model pose. It's in his blood.

Beach part two

Our beach daily schedule for most days was to get up, go to the beach for a little while, come back in for a rinse off and nap. Then we ate lunch and hung out inside until the heat of the day was over. We headed back out to the beach for a little more play and then came in for a bath, dinner and bed. We did take a couple days off from this and stayed inside to give ourselves a break. Zeke had a lot of firsts while we were there. He had his first shower, first bath in a sink, first taste of a lemon, first time going in the ocean, first time crawling onto a shelf of a table, first froot loops and frosted flakes, and I can't think of what else. I have included some fun pictures and a video of Zeke in the ocean. Enjoy!

Just after tasting the lemon

First shower

Headed to the water for the first time

Hanging out with mom

He liked dumping the bucket of water

Trying to run to get to the water

He liked when the waves came up on him

I love this picture!

This is Zeke's model pose

5 years

Today marks Spencer and my 5 year anniversary of being married. It also marks 11 years since we started dating. For those of you that do not know our story here is the cliff notes version:
During the summer before my sr. year and Spencer's jr. year in high school we both went on the history trip to Greece. We attended a small high school, but had never met. We could be found together basically from the very beginning. I don't have any pictures from our high school days (hey moms can you send me some of those?), but from the very first group picture we are together. By the end of the trip Spence and I had hit it off and even held hands (scandalous I know). Oh, important side note, I had a boyfriend back home. We got back from our trip, I broke up with my boyfriend with in a week and was out on a date with Spencer shortly after that. Important things you should know: Spence's mom was on the trip as a chaperone so I got to know her as I got to know him. Spencer lied and said he was 16 and had a license, so I had to drive on our first date.
We got through high school, I went to Meredith College and Spencer went to UNC. We definitely did a huge amount of driving between Raleigh and Chapel Hill. During our college years we had our share of fun and not so fun times. We were challenged in our relationship and in our relationship with God. I spent a summer in Gatlinburg TN, Spence spent the next summer in East Asia. I graduated from Meredith, but had to return to student teach that fall. That summer we worked together at a pool.
On June 18. 2003 (5 years from the day we met), Spencer planned a date for us at a park with a picnic supper. While there, we ate, enjoyed sparkling grape juice and chocolate covered strawberries, and danced. As we were dancing Spencer began talking about a book we were reading that was about marriage. I began to think to myself "wow, we are never going to get married, how did he not get this book was about getting married when the title is "10 great dates before you say i do", do I have to break up with him, I really don't want to, I know we are supposed to get married" As all of this is running through my mind, Spencer is getting down on one knee. Yes, I was shocked!
We were married a year later on July 9, 2004 (our 6 year anniversary). We have had some HUGE transitions in our marriage. Moving 3 times, going to seminary, buying a house, getting a dog, expecting our first son, expecting our second son, Spence going full time at Summit, me leaving a full time job for be a full time mom, and so much more.
Spence, I can't imagine my life any other way. I am so glad that God doesn't plan things based on my plans because what He has given us has been so much more than I could have ever dreamed. You are my best friend. I love spending time with you. I look forward to when you come home everyday. I love just hanging out with you. It is crazy to me that we still can find so much to talk about and have fun with. Thank you so much for taking a chance on this country girl. Thank you for introducing me to Christ. Thank you for continuously shepherding me, encouraging me, and challenging me in my walk. Thank you for being an amazing dad. Zeke is so blessed to be your son. I love you with all my heart and can't wait for what God has for us in the future.

11 months

Zeke is 11 months old today! I am a little in disbelief that in another month we will be celebrating his birthday. It makes me a little sad that my baby is getting big, but I am also so excited for what he will do next. He is doing such fun stuff right now so I will tell you a little about what he is currently doing, and then of course on to the pictures.

*takes 2 2ish hour naps and sleeps 12 hours each night (it took awhile to get here, but we are loving it!
*says mama and dada
*can identify by looking or pointing: fan, light, nana, grandpa, yaya, ball, scott, and I am sure I am leaving something out
*loves music and claps or dances along, when he gets upset if I sing it calms him (so there, to my 5th grade chorus teacher, someone DOES like my voice, HA!)
*makes the hand motions for bringing home a baby bumblebee and happy and you know it
*loves watching other kids
*enjoys baths, pools, and the ocean
*sleeps with a blanket, alligator named snaps, and a paci
*pulling up to stand, but still doesn't seem to have much upper body strength
*still army crawling
*not content to sit and play, either wants to be crawling all over or holding onto our fingers and walking
*can sign more and all done, but generally chooses to yell or throw things to let me know these things
*eats pretty much anything, but especially loves things he can feed himself
*is fearful of sudden noises
*has 6 teeth
*his hair is finally coming in and is super blonde
*prefers mom and dad over anyone else
*points to his nose or our nose when we ask where it is, and loves when we tap it and say "beep, beep"
I could keep going, but here are some fun recent pictures...

On a walk in his wagon

after a good nights sleep this is what your hair looks like

He can throw the ball and loves playing with his dad

We are thinking of getting him in the boxing circuit early

he is so proud of his accomplishments, even when I am a bit amazed

Beach part one

We are going to do this in bits and pieces over a few days because there is just too much! We had such a fun time at Emerald Isle this past week. Although, I must say vacationing with a kid makes it a lot harder. Gone are the days of getting up whenever, strolling down to the beach and laying around for hours on end. No, going down to the beach takes a lot of planning. All things must be considered: nap schedule, eating schedule, how hot is it, is there a breeze, is Zeke going to tolerate getting all sunscreened up, will we have time for a bath before needing to get back down for a nap, do mama and dada have the energy for the endless walking while they are hunched over... But even with all of that said, it was totally worth and we look forward to going back next year with two little ones (Oh, my, did I really just say that?). Here is a glimpse of our first time seeing the ocean.

first time seeing the ocean

family photo op

hanging out with dad on the beach

Zeke had no fear of the ocean

This is all Zeke wanted to do

If Zeke hadn't been so interested in the sand and water, this would have been a great picture...

Zeke with Nana and Grandpa (our hosts for the week)

Our house...

is a very, very, very fine house... Well, Zeke's new playhouse is! Some amazing friends at church gave us a playhouse for Zeke. He loves it! We are enjoying spending a little more time outside in it and he is getting braver in it. He has started pulling up on the window ledge or little table. He transfers from the window, to the table, to the window. He bangs on the table and floor. He LOVES opening and closing the door! We love our little house and know he will get TONS of use out of it in the years to come.

Mi casa, su casa

This could be him practicing for a job at McDonald's drive-thru... do you want fries with that?

The best part... the door!

My buddy, my buddy...

Zeke's best buddy is Holt. They don't really acknowledge each other a whole lot, well, unlessthe other has something they want... But I believe that Zeke is learning some things from Holt. After hanging out together for an evening, Zeke is now pulling up a lot more and is trying to climb stairs. Wow, one evening together and this is what that Gaston kid can do to influence Zeke! The big joke between the daddies is that Holt will teach Zeke how to fish and hunt and things like that; Zeke will teach Holt how to read... We love hanging out with Jason, Katie and Holt and we really should do it more often. Thanks guys for being such great friends and walking through this craziness of raising a son with us.

Holt is BRAVE!

"Who is pulling this thing?"

Holt posing, Zeke distracted by a toy

Zeke wasn't too sure about Holt using him to climb...