happy 10 months...late!!

**I never put this up :( i wrote it when he turned 10 months but never posted it, so be warned...it is a couple of weeks old. and i will put up pictures later.

Happy baby boy, you are 10 months old :) This morning I was walking you into church and you had a smile on your face the entire way to your classroom. You are just a naturally happy boy. A few people even asked, "what is he so happy about?!" haha, i love it :)

Here is what you are up to at 10 months...

-You weigh about 21 lbs.

-You are still in size 3 diapers

-You still wear 6-12 month clothes

-You love it when daddy and I take you for runs at the park. You just grin the entire time

-YOU LOVE DOGS.

-i still haven't found any food that you won't eat

-You take 3 8 oz bottles a day and will start getting whole milk this month

-You GRIN all of the time

-You are really good at sticking that pouty lip out when you don't get what you want

-You cruise along furniture and are getting better at coming down from standing. You won't take steps by yourself yet.


-You are satisfied with your army crawl. I don't think that will ever change until you start walking. Your army crawl gets you there fast. BUT it causes you to ruin A LOT of clothes. everything gets dirty SO fast and gets holes in them :(

-Next weekend you will officially have an uncle Bobby...yay!! We can't wait :))

I LOVE YOU SWEET BABY BOY!! I can't believe you will be 1 in 2 short months. Your train birthday party is going to be so fun :) I can't wait. I have already started your cute decorations and all of the planning. You love your sweets so I don't think you are going to have a problem digging into that cake~!
I can't wait to see what this next month holds for you!

i love you,
Momma

my big sister is marrrried!!

i can't believe it. all 5 of us gernatt kiddos are now married. this weekend my big sister chrissi got married. she is now chrissi lyons and her and her husband are celebrating that fact in Mexico!

The wedding went on without a flaw! It was a BEAUTIFUL weekend. she was a gorgeous bride. the ceremony was so nice and the reception was a PARTY and a celebration for sure!! yummy food, drinks, loud music, LOTS of dancing, and GLOW STICKS(those were the perfect touch). Then we sent them off with bubbles and hugs!

I am so happy for you sister, and i will be praying for you and bobby as yall start on this new journey together!!

sisters and best friends :)


Jakson did so great this weekend. he was loved on by SO many, dressed like a handsome man at the wedding and barely ever got a nap in but he was a champ! He partied with us at the reception until about 9:45 when he went home with the stewart family for the night! he loved the glowsticks and the loud music. i love this boy!!

new blog title.

Not sure if you noticed but I took on a new blog title. I have been trying to think of one because Burfitt Beginnings was just too boring for me. plus, we won't be in the 'beginning' stage forever :)

The new blog title-- Choosing happiness, comes from my father. My dad has always been so strong and positive in life. No matter what struggles my family was dealing with, my dad remained stong. There was a period in my life that my dad was unemployed. Every morning during that time my dad would get up and cook us all breakfast. YUM. he would make the most DELICIOUS bacon, egg and cheese sandwich. To this day I still can't get mine as delicious as his. Anyways, he would make us breakfast and then drive us to the top of the driveway in his little green two door Honda, and we would wait for the bus together. and EVERY morning he would tell us,

"happiness is a choice. choose happiness."

Now at that point in my life we would just roll our eyes and say, "ok dad." You know, we were too cool for that.
But i am SO grateful for the phrase that my dad embedded in my mind. To this day, if I start to get down about something, I will think of this phrase. It is so true and I hope that all of you will love this phrase as much as my sisters and I have.

Happiness IS a choice. Choose happiness :)

Hawaii, only a month late :)

I will just start off by saying that my phrase all week was, "that looks fake." You always see pictures of Hawaii but never really see it. It is just amazing. We went to Kauai, which is not as commercialized as the other islands. It was just simply amazing. When we landed you could see the waves crashing along side of rocks and cliffs...just beautiful.

So anyways back to the trip. Jaks did great on the way there with the traveling. We had two layovers and the longest flight was 6 hours. He was a trooper for sure. We got in about 7:30 HI time, 1:30 GA time. Josh rented us a convertible. We decided to make the splurge since we were in Hawaii. (Sidenote-- if you are under 25 it is an extra 27 dollars a DAY to rent a car in Hawaii. oh and did i mention that josh was turning 25 the next week!!! talk about frustrating--oh well :)) After we got our car we headed to the hotel. It was a beautiful hotel and we had gotten an oceanfront room. BEAUTIFUL!! They were out of baby beds...super :) We put jakson in between us but the poor guy just couldn't get comfy. He likes to snuggle in the corner of his crib, so he had a rough night. He was up EVERY hour on the dot. Phew...no fun, hah.

We got up that morning and watched the sunrise since we had been up all night. it was so BEAUTIFUL! We hung out by the ocean. This hotel was awesome.




The beach was not populated and just beautiful. We went across the street and ate some banana pancakes-- YUMMMMM!Then we headed out. We went and did some sight seeing that afternoon before we could check into the resort. We saw the spouting horn.

That was pretty cool. Then we got all checked into the hotel and relaxed that evening.

Day 2 consisted going to the grocery store...which pretty much took all early afternoon. Then right when we got back some of the group went out on a catamaran for a sunset dinner "cruise". Not the type of cruise we expected. We motored out along the Napali Coast. We saw beautiful cliffs, caves, beaches, mountains, valleys and dolphins! By the time we got to our destination, there were about 5 people hanging over the railings sea sick :( Thankfully, I was not one of them! They then put the sail up and we ate and enjoyed the gorgeous views and got to see the sunset as we were on our way back in to the dock. Here are some of the pictures from the sunset cruise.




Day 3- We got up and enjoyed the pool for a little while. The pool was awesome at the resort. It had sand all around it so Jaks LOVED it!


Then some of the group went on a Zodiac boat tour that afternoon. We also got to go along the Napali Coast like we did the day before but this time we were in these awesome zodiac boats that went super fast and drove right into waves and we got soaking wet. What an adventure that was :) We had a blast. We got to drive up into all of the caves that we had seen the day before. We also got to eat lunch on the beautiful coast and then enjoy some snorkeling. Our tour guide spotted a monk seal, which he said are now endangered, so that that really cool to see that. That tour lasted pretty much all day but was so awesome. We got to see the dolphins more up close and personal than the day before, too. We didn't get any pictures from this trip bc we weren't able to bring our cameras. They would have gotten wet and I didn't want to take that risk!

Day 4- We We headed out for lunch at the Canyon on the island. It was about an hours drive but totally worth it. It was a beautiful canyon. We didn't get to see all of the views since it was a little cloudy in spots but it was so pretty!



We headed back to the hotel after and enjoyed a little bit of pool time before getting ready for dinner.

Day 5- We were off to the beach :) We drove up to the north shore beaches after breakfast.





We spent the afternoon at this beautiful beach and then got some yummy fish tacos afterwards. That night we went to a Luau, which was so fun. Yummy food and fun entertainment, what a great night :)





Day 6- The ladies went to make Leis after breakfast. This was super fun and they turned out so pretty :)

Then it was a free day. So Josh and I took Jakson to the pool in the morning. Then we went to lunch with the other "kids" on the trip...then back to the pool for a little but more sun.

Day 7- Josh and I took Jakson to the pool all morning. Then we took him to the beach that afternoon. The beaches in Hawaii are beautiful to see but kids couldn't really swim in most of them so that limited our beach time a little bit since Jakson loves the water.
:)



Sunday was our travel day.

I don't really want to talk about it. hah, it was rough to say the least. The face above explains how the return travel went. poor guy, but what do you expect with a 9 month old on a 7 hour flight. but we made it home :) haha.

All in all, Hawaii was AMAZING!!

i'm baaaack!

Phew, it sure is hard to find the time to blog when your little one is everywhere and into everything. The house is completely baby-proofed now. He pulls up on everything and goes furniture surfing. He loves to clean off the coffee table and bookshelves...he is getting SO BIG!! His personality is coming out like CRAZY! He is going to keep his momma busy, I can tell you that much. Still, he is such a happy baby. I swear he is constantly smiling...unless he is hungry :) I LOVE MY BABY!!

And yes, I know I still need to blog about Hawaii. I will try and get that done this week. It was an awesome trip :)

This past weekend was a fun but busy weekend in our family!

Friday Jakson had his 9 (1/2) month appointment. He did SO great of course :)
weight- 20.3 lbs(50%), height- 29 3/4in(90%), head- 18 1/2 in(90%)
Everyone who asks how old he is will always make a comment about how big he is for 9 months. I just kind of chuckle and say well not really. Now i know why, it is because he is so tall. He has always been in the 90% for height. Basketball player maybe?!

Friday was also my older sister's birthday--she is 27!! I just love her so much and can't believe she is getting married in 3 weeks! She is one of my best friends and ALWAYS there for me!! We went to my parents house friday night for a game night. It was sooo much fun. I love my family and loved celebrating my sister!


Saturday Jakson and I went to Raquel's birthday party. She is the little girl I used to babysit before I had Jakson. After the party I stopped by Carter's and found Jakson's first birthday party outfit! His party is train theme and I have been searching for a cute train outfit and I found the perfect one--plus it was on SALE! Even better. I also found his halloween costume, he is going to be a dragon :) I was super excited to get all of that done! Saturday night we went grocery shopping for Josh's cookout the next day and went to a new mexican restaraunt in downtown cartersville. It was DELICIOUS and jakson destroyed a cheese, bean and chicken quesadilla. He LOVES mexican food and we LOVE that because so do we :)

Sunday was Josh's birthday!

I LOVE my husband with all of my heart. He is so perfect for me. He is such a hardworker and would do anything for me and Jakson. He is truly my other half. I love being with him.

He is an AMAZING father and an AMAZING husband. He makes me laugh and always keeps a smile on my face. And he is soooo stinkin' handsome! I am a blessed lady. For his birthday we had a cookout. He had some friends over and some of my family. The food was delicious and it was SO much fun. I wish I would have taken more pictures but here is what I have.




Jakson heading to bed...


Yesterday we were SUUUUPER lazy.

We eventually went to the park later that day but that was all we did ALL day. Seriously, but it was much needed!
*Side Note--Now whenever I eat Jakson chases me until I give him whatever I am eating. so here are some pictures I took of him eating my apple that he really wanted :)


Monday was also my niece's 3rd Birthday!

Natalie is so adorable. She has the sweetest personality. She is GORGEOUS and I have just loved watching her grow up. I love living so close to my niece and nephews and getting to see them all of the time. Natalie loves her "baby gakson". (that would be her baby jakson, i love how she says his name!)