He's Here!!

Sanford Parr Goodwin "Scout" was born this morning close to 8:00am. He is a healthy 9 pounds and 7 ounces and 21 3/4 inches long. Mom and baby are doing great! Tara was still in recovery when we all left and went to breakfast this morning, so I'm anxious to get back up there and hug her neck! He is absolutely beautiful, as you can see. We are so excited he is finally here!!

Sweet baby Scout! What a beautiful boy!!

Proud papa!

Excited family! We couldn't stand to wait in the waiting room, so we all piled outside of the surgery area!

My First Nephew!

Tonight is the last night Dwight and Tara will be sleeping in their house alone! She is having a C-section in the morning at 7:30. It's crazy how anxious I am about it and it's not me going through it. What joy these sweet babies bring into our lives.

My little Jack is 5 months old today. It's hard to believe he is out of the itty bitty baby stage and moving on to becoming his own little person. He smiles most of the time and loves to play in his exersaucer. He loves to be held---not just by me but by anyone who is breathing. He also loves remote controls, cell phones, anything electronic. Such a little boy for ya. I can't wait to see him and his little cousin play together soon! I'll post ASAP about the arrival of sweet baby Scout!

Father's Day

We had a wonderful Father's Day dinner with Tra's family on Saturday night at Riatta in Ft. Worth. It was my first dining experience there and I enjoyed it! The food was great and we had a room all to ourselves, so it wasn't a big deal that Hayley wanted to walk around and play. Sunday was nice to have just the 4 of us. I am so thankful for all of the dads in my life. The Lord has blessed me beyond measure with grandfathers, my own dad, my sweet father-in-law, and of course my favorite dad---the father of my children. He's the best dad. He gets home from work and immediately starts playing with Hayley. The first thing she usually asks in the morning before I even get her out of bed is, "Dada?" I'll answer, "He's at work." She responds, "Oh man!" She LOVES to have her dada home. It is so sweet to see her adore him and so sweet to see him love her so much. Here are some pictures of our Father's Days!





Happy "Poppy's" Day!













Happy 1st Father's Day!












Happy "Almost a Father's" Day
(Any day now! Hurry up, Scout!)













"So Happy You're Not a Father's" Day

1st Day of School

My baby girl's first day of "school" is tomorrow. She is going to Young Children's World at our church every Thursday from 9-2. Today as I started packing her lunch box (which they make much cuter than the ones I had growing up) I got a little sentimental and teary thinking about how fast time is going. I'm hoping I hold it together tomorrow when I drop her off at class. I hope she likes it, and that she eats her lunch, and that she lays down during nap time, and that she has a fun day. I'll post a picture of her first day of school picture tomorrow. Her aunts Aly and Abby got her a first day of school outfit that is SO cute. I am going to miss having her around tomorrow, but at the same time I'm looking forward to having some one on one time with my Jack! More tomorrow. . .

Easier said than done. . .

I was just looking at the title of my blog site trying to think of a title for this blog entry. It has not been easy to rejoice over the past several days. Hayley finished 10 days of antibiotics for a yucky ear infection that she got on our vacation to Florida (which could be a whole entry in itself---I'm sooo far behind) this past Friday and Saturday night started running a fever of 102 while we were in New Braunfels for Tra's family reunion. Today is Tuesday and this morning her fever was over 104. It hit 105 Sunday night. So rejoicing is not what my spirit feels like doing right now. It's hard having a sick baby. Even harder having a sick baby AND another baby to feed, hold, etc. I am rejoicing today over the fact that I have my sweet husband at home every night to help me with the kids---my healthy husband! More than once I have thanked God for His timing with Tra's cancer. It was hard enough going through all of that with one baby---but TWO?? It is just such a huge blessing to have Tra feeling good. Thank you God!

I know Hayley will be fine and even tonight she started getting a little bit of her spunk back. We'll know tomorrow if it is a bladder infection. It's possible it is some sort of viral thing. We've had lots of sickness around here in the past few months and we're ready to move past it and enjoy our summer!

We had a great vacation with our friends in Florida 2 weeks ago. Hayley LOVED the beach. Even though we were sick (Hayley's ears, my stomach bug one day, and Tra's allergies) we enjoyed our time with our precious friends and the crazy, long days together. It was fun sharing routines and watching our kids interact together. They were all sooo good. Here are some pictures:

Monday at the Gulfarium

Two hours later at the minor emergency clinic---Hayley's first ear infection : (

All 5 beautiful blue-eyed babies! Love these kids!

First family beach photo!

My beach babe! What you can't see is her pants---soaking wet!

You cannot take 2 year olds to the beach for a picture and expect them to stay dry! Ohhh did they have fun! This is John Critz playing in the water with Hayley.

Here is Julia (and Addie) trying to keep Jack under control. Too bad he isn't more content!