A Big Day!

Guess who took his first steps today with Nana when mom was getting her haircut??? My baby boy is growing up! It's funny that I've wanted him to walk soooo badly but watching him take those steps today my heart kind of sank. But then I was REALLY excited! It'll be a little while before he's off and running, but not too much longer at all! Way to go, Jack! We're so proud of you!

Summer Fun

I love summer time! We've been to the zoo a couple of times, played in the water outside, gone swimming w/ friends, and it's only the first week of June! Lots more fun to have. Here are some pictures of Hayley and Jack having fun in the sun! Skinny dippin at the lake w/ Scout!
Jack looking cool w/ Hayley's sunglasses
First time to ride the train at the zoo. They're having more fun than it looks like they are!Playing outside in our cool "ring-o-water" Looking at the fish at the zoo

American Idol

This is the first season I followed American Idol the entire season. Tra isn't as much of a fan, so I tevo'd it and would watch it at random times when he was gone, naptimes, etc. I've watched several finales though b/c it is so much fun seeing the winner announced, seeing their family's reaction, their reaction, etc. So last night Tra was out of town and I was down from putting kids down in record timing DYING to see who would win this year. So I get to the part where Jordan and Blake are standing together, the envelope is being handed over and the MENU screen pops up saying the recording is over. ARE YOU KIDDING ME???????? I thought SURELY it was a mistake---oh no. No mistake. So I called my mom to get the scoop and totally had the wind knocked out of my sails the rest of what was left of the night. I MISSED IT!!!! : ( So if anyone happens to still have it on YOUR tevo (however you spell that) please save it for me and invite me to come over and watch it. : )

Sidenote: For those of you who know my cousin Mandy (Baldwin) Hawes, she has started a BLOG!!! She's on my list----Welcome to Blogland, Mandy!!! It's a fun place to be!

Imaginary Friends

I am finally feeling better and not requiring a nap every day during Hayley's and Jack's naptime, so I'm hoping to be better about blogging more frequently. I'm finishing up week 10 of the pregnancy and happy to be close to the end of trimester #1. I cannot complain even a little bit about it though, b/c I am fully functioning and able to eat and keep food down. Christine, if you are reading blogs, I'm still praying for you that your sickness will subside. I wish so much there was more I could do for you and your family. I saw your precious Jack today and he is as cute as ever.

Okay--now for the connection to the blog title. Yesterday Hayley informed me that she was headed outside to see the ducks (our new "pets" that live in the pond next to our house---a mama and 12 babies) and that she was going to see if her friend "Nucy" was here to play today.

I said, "You have a friend Lucy who plays with you outside?" She said, "No! NOO-SEE!" Ohhhh. Like Lucy, but Nucy. So off she went. She came in later and I asked if Nucy was here today and she responded, "Nope."

My sister and I had 3 "imaginary friends" growing up. Their names were Nusha (pronounced "noo-shuh"), New Ryan, and Muh-Muh. We played with them a lot and I still have a mental picture of what Nusha and New Ryan looked like. So when I heard Hayley had one it got me thinking. I just wonder. . . are they imaginary? Or are we TOLD they are imaginary and that we are making it up in our heads? Did anyone else have "imaginary friends" growing up? I'd love to hear if you did and what their names were. : ) So I've decided not to call Nucy her "imaginary friend" but to treat her as if she IS here and that somehow she is related to Nusha and like Courtney said, "Maybe we have some family guardian angels hanging around." Kind of neat to think about.

My parents' 34th Anniversary is today. What a special day! And what a blessing it is to have them love each other more today than ever. What a gift to have their example for us and our children of a Christ-centered marriage. I love you guys and am proud to be your daughter!

Here are some recent pictures of Hayley and Jack. We've had a trip to Austin to "Nana's and Big D's house," a fabulous Mother's Day, a trip to the zoo---just the 3 of us, lots of playing outside w/ these gorgeous days, and the last day of school was this past Thursday! We're all looking forward to our fun summer days ahead!



Being silly













Gettin' muddy (she ended up taking the other shoe off and coming to the back door w/ mud everywhere!) Why didn't I get a picture of that???












Our new pets
A very happy Mother's Day


Jack loves playing with daddy!

Oh BOY!!! (or girl???)

I'm sure many have already heard our latest news, but the Lord has blessed us with another BABY!! We are thrilled. He/she should arrive around the 12th of December. That will make Hayley almost 3 1/2 and Jack will be almost 23 months. So we will definitely have our hands full, but we are blown away by this incredible blessing and so excited to have another little one around here to love on! It's interesting b/c my mom felt really strongly a couple of months ago not to recommit to a bunch of her activities in Austin for next year. She wasn't 100% why she felt like she shouldn't, but trusted it was what God wanted for her. YAY, GOD!! He was looking after ME!! She'll have much more flexibility to help us out and we are so happy about that. I ordered all new stockings for our family last Christmas and I went ahead and ordered one extra---not thinking I'd use it THIS Christmas!!! Too fun! We appreciate prayers for a healthy baby and a healthy pregnancy---and a supernatural gift of ENERGY this first trimester!

I went on a sister trip this weekend to a Joyce Meyer conference in Phoenix, AZ! My sisters and I hadn't spent good time together since we went to Europe for 3 weeks together and backpacked the year after I graduated from college. Abby was only 16, Angie was 21 and I was 23. Kind of hard to believe my parents went for that one! We're SO glad they did though! We had such a blast. We had some good quality time together and it went way to fast! Anyone who has never heard Joyce Meyer speak should seriously listen to her if you ever get the chance. She has a tv program on Daystar "Enjoying Everyday Life" and she has teachings on her website you can listen to. She's so encouraging and I have really grown to love her. It's a great way to get a "pick me up" during the day when kids are napping!

I think we're done w/ sicknesses around here for awhile. Hayley passed her pink eye to Jack--he came down w/ it last week and his also turned into an ear infection. I asked the dr. if he could pass it back to Hayley or if she was immune since she just had it and the dr. said, YES she could get it again! WHAT??? How on earth do you keep this vicious cycle from repeating? Lots of prayer is the answer. Looking forward to a great week and to getting to see the newest addition at my dr.'s appointment on Friday! Here we go again!!!

Happy Easter!

We got GREAT news on Friday! Jack does NOT have mono! His spleen was back to normal too. The doctor said he guessed it must have been some other random virus, but we're choosing to believe that we asked God to heal Jack and HE ANSWERED!

We found out the results to his bloodwork while I had Hayley there for pink eye! Friday morning her eyes looked TERRIBLE! There was so much yucky junk in them and it wouldn't go away. They checked her out and everything else looked fine. Got antibiotic drops and we were on our way.

Friday late afternoon was SO much fun! Tara, Aly, Abby and I took Donna to High Tea at the Ashton Hotel in Ft. Worth for her birthday. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes to do that kind of stuff. It was so much fun being with all the girls! The 5 of us went on a trip to New York before Tara got married and I think it's the last time we all hung out together like that. Lots of fun! I love my in-laws. It's like I was born for 2 families. Mine and Tra's! From day ONE I've felt so comfortable w/ his sisters and parents. I LOVE spending time with them and can't imagine dreading being w/ my in-laws. It makes me sad for people who aren't as crazy about theirs. It's fun to love another family just like your own!

Saturday was going great until 5ish when Hayley woke up from her nap screaming that her ear hurt. She was running fever and miserable. Took her to the new Care Now right down the street (the web check-in is the way to go!) and she has an EAR INFECTION! Poor baby! I ended up sleeping w/ her last night b/c her fever was so high (103.5 ON MOTRIN) and she woke up in panic mode several times reaching for me. I think her fever is down and I'm hoping she wakes up feeling better. Do you kind of feel like I'm going to say "April Fools?" I feel like I've been in the middle of a very cruel April Fool's joke over the past week and a half or so. SURELY this is the last of the sickness around here for awhile!

I was asking God what else we needed to be doing? Sometimes you wonder if there is something in the environment causing the sickness (or maybe it's Chick-Fil-A and McDonald's playlands??) ha ha. So I told Him last night I was just going to be quiet and listen and wait for Him to tell me what we needed to do differently---a different way to pray, a sin we needed to repent of, WHAT??? I was in the kitchen making fruit salad for Easter lunch today and it was silent. Kids asleep, Tra at pharmacy getting medicine, and after a few minutes deep in my spirit I heard Him, "Praise ME." So I did. It's one of my favorite things to do. And it was good to be reminded to acknowledge God for WHO HE IS in the midst of the craziness of life. HE heals, HE loves, HE comforts us in our times of need, HE provides me with strength, HE showers us with BLESSING upon BLESSING! And today HE LIVES!! Praising God for the most precious gift of His Son and for giving Him up for us so that WE may truly LIVE!

POOP!!!

Today was another milestone in the Willbanks' household! Hayley pooped on the potty for the first time ever! It is really funny how excited I am about this. I never imagined I would be so excited about poop! So I thought I would share my excitement w/ all you other blogging moms out there who have experienced the same joy as you contemplate never changing a poopy diaper again (at least of HERS)! We'll see if it continues. We made a super big deal out of it today, of course, and went to Braum's for a family celebration tonight of ICE CREAM!!

Jack went in for bloodwork today and we'll get results tomorrow to see if it is (was) mono or not. His spleen was back to normal today, so that was GREAT news!

Other than that, pretty uneventful around here today. I'll take uneventful. We're excited about Easter weekend. It so much fun having Hayley get excited about Easter this year. Earlier she goes, "We'll say 'YOOOOO-HOOOOOO, Easter eggs!? Where arrrre youuuu?" I need to make



sure to talk as much about the REAL reason of Easter as much as hyping up egg hunts and candy.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter weekend!

Weary. . .

Okay. I'm not sure what the deal is with me frequently having sick kids, but here we go again. I've heard of parents who conjure up their kids' sicknesses and of course hypochondriacs, but I assure you I'm not one of them. I would be THRILLED to go a whole month and not deal with some sort of infirmary around here. Before I begin the story of my drama for the day, I apologize that I informed almost nobody that this was even going on. Tra was out of town so I talked to him a lot of the day. And I'm sorry to all my friends/family who might read this and it will be the first you heard of it.

Last night Tra left to go out of town---actually out of country. He was on a short business trip to Mexico. So of course, I'm getting Jack ready for bed and realize he is HOT! Running 101. That's it though. Happy, smiling, typical Jack. Slept all night, still running fever this morning. Call dr. and they squeeze me in at 9:20 at my request to check his ears to rule out infection. Of course I have a hair cut at 10am b/c they are supposed to be at school. Cancel hair cut. Fight tears---it's WAY past due. Take Hayley to school, realize I don't have wallet when I contemplate driving through Starbucks, call doctor to tell them I don't have wallet and they say come anyway. Go to Dr. VERY hungry, craving coffee, needing gum that is in my purse at home. Try to find a way to look at the positive side of the morning so far. Struggle. Late to doctor. Nice receptionist---thanked God for her b/c I might have broken down if she was tacky. Contemplated asking her for money for coffee. Called my in-laws hoping I could go by after apptmt. and borrow money. No answer. See doctor. Ears clear. He feels around on his stomach---do you ever wonder what they're feeling for exactly? Today I found out one thing---an enlarged spleen. Are you kidding? I thought we had an ear infection. Doctor (who I'm a HUGE fan of by the way) says he wants to do bloodwork. I ask what it could be? He said most likely viral--like mono. And there are other things, but he'd talk to me about it after he got bloodwork results this afternoon and said, "Don't go home and look it up on the internet." Traumatize Jack w/ taking blood---although after all of Hayley's cathedars it was a piece of cake! He doesn't know how easy he actually had it today. Go home, feed Jack breakfast (late--thought I had money in car) put him down for nap. Go to computer (you didn't know I was so rebellious!) and look up "enlarged spleen." BAD IDEA. My heart sank. I saw the words leukemia and lymphoma. Needless to say you can imagine the state I was in the remainder of the day. I was supposed to hear back from Dr. by lunch(ish), he left message at home while we were picking up Hayley. I call back I felt like 500 times (only 2) and finally hear back a little after 5. Dr. says he was worried it could be leukemia but that it looks like it is not. (Deep breaths--thank you God, thank you God!) He has low white blood cell count but his platelet count looks good and he isn't anemic (sp?). If the latter 2 were off, we would have a problem. So he thinks it looks like mono. I didn't know 14 month olds got mono. He called a hematology oncologist to talk w/ him about the case and that guy agreed it sounded viral (mono). We're checking blood again Thursday. We're feeling pretty good about things and expect to see things looking better next week and not worse. Those few hours today were by far the scariest, most stressful of my life so far. And I've had some scary hours in my life. It was hard on both of us to have Tra gone during the time of waiting. So pray for Jack---his eyes look tired but he acts pretty normal. I'm thinking his throat hurts b/c he's not eating great or drinking as much as he usually does. We're going to do some smoothies tomorrow! Lots of vitamin C!

This is the day that the Lord has made! I will REJOICE and BE GLAD in it. It was hard to do at times throughout the day, but I will drift off to sleep with rejoicing in my heart tonight. And I will say an extra prayer of God's comfort and peace to all the moms and dads that heard the words today that their child DOES have leukemia. And for the ones in the midst of it---treatments, etc. Oh Father----COME QUICKLY!!!

My Courageous Girl!

Hayley's procedure went as smoothly as we prayed it would today! The staff was wonderful. The doctor was an hour late this morning, which meant we got there at 6am for a surgery time of 7:30ish and didn't go back to surgery until 9ish. Thankfully we came prepared w/ the portable DVD player, a new sticker book and a 38 cent bracelet that you would think was $380 as excited as she was about it! She was a trooper and handled everything beautifully. She was fussy from anesthesia and hurting from about 10:30-11:30, but by noon she was back to her old self! She has been napping since about 1:30 and it is 3:00 now. I'm so glad to have this part behind us. Now we just have to gear up for the VCUG in 3 months to see if this thing worked. In my opinion, the VCUG is one of the CRUELEST tests out there for little kids. I wish they could find a less traumatic way to check for kidney reflux. For those who do not know what it is, the kids have to be wide awake and have a cathedar inserted to fill up the bladder with dye. Then they take 5-6 x-rays as they pee the dye back out. Last time it took Tra, a nurse and me to hold her down as she was screaming, etc. SO I am not too excited about repeating that scenario. But the good news is I know exactly what to expect now and maybe this time Tra and I won't be as traumatized.

We are so thankful for Hayley's health and we know that this is VERY minor in comparison to a lot of other things that she could be dealing with. But as many times as I remind myself about that, my heart still can't help but ache as I have to watch my baby go through physical pain over and over again. I think it is really cool that the spiritual meaning of "Hayley" is "Courageous." And that she is! What a comfort it was today to know that as she left our arms and we went to the waiting room, she was being held by the GREAT PHYSICIAN in the operating room. Praising God for His peace that passes all understanding, strength and courage that he provided us all with today!

Happy Birthday!

Today is a special day---Tra's 30th Birthday! 2 of the girls at work (Chalyse and Melissa) surprised him w/ a small party at the office this afternoon. I brought Hayley and Jack up and a homemade carrot cake (his favorite) and he was surprised! Hayley and Jack picked out balloons at the store for him yesterday to bring to the party. Hayley chose a hot pink balloon w/ high heel shoes, a purse, and lipstick on it. : ) Ya gotta love little girls! I wish I could take some time right now to write down 30 things I love about Tra, but it's almost dinner time and Hayley is being very quiet in the other room---which always makes me a tad nervous. : ) I will say that I love my husband more today than I EVER have and I LOVE being his wife. We are a great team. So different in so many ways, which enables us to strike a pretty good balance in our marriage. I love sharing this journey of life with him, I love watching him with our kids and watching them LOVE him so much, I love going to dinner with him, watching 24, The Office and Lost with him, going to movies (a whopping 2 this year so far!) and I love seeing his goofy, silly side and at the same time have long talks about stuff that matters. Mostly I LOVE how much he loves the Lord and how he strives to be in His will for our lives. It makes him an easy person to submit to! (most of the time!) : ) It is such a huge blessing to be in love with my best friend. I don't thank God for the gift of him enough!!

A quick update on Hayley---we ended up scheduling her procedure for Friday, so we would appreciate your prayers for her that day! I am having a hard time figuring out how to order my pictures---blogger has a mind of his own most of the time. Anyway---here are Jack and Hayley helping to make the carrot cake.

Everyone is singing Happy Birthday here.

Attempting to blow out the "trick" candles. Pretty funny!

It was a happy birthday!

Big Day. . .

I met w/ Hayley's urologist today and she has an opening Wednesday to do the procedure to try to correct the kidney reflux. So since the next available wasn't until July, we jumped on it. I'm glad it worked out this way. Otherwise I'd have it hanging over my head for months. So please say a prayer that it works the FIRST time and that there are no complications w/ anesthesia and that I will TRUST God and not be anxious. He cares about her more than I do---which amazes me everytime I think about it.

Funny Hayley story---at the mall on Saturday she was walking along beside me when she suddenly stopped, stuck her hand down her pants and pulled out what appeared to be a cell phone b/c she "opened" it. (it was actually nothing---she was pretending) She proceeded to put it up to her ear and say, "Hello?" Then she kept walking and was talking and saying things like, "Okay. Yeah. I'm just going to go play on the slide, and . . . uh huh. Yeah." I said, "Who are you talking to?" She took the phone away from her ear, looked at me like, "You're interrupting my conversation--how rude," and then said very seriously, "I'm talking to Chesley." She talked a little more, said bye, flipped the "phone" down and stuck it back in her pants. It was the funniest thing I've seen her do in awhile. I LOVE this age!!!

Goldfish Anyone??

Apparantly Hayley doesn't get enough to eat around here and gets some serious cases of the munchies. Each of these pictures are taken on different days. I've got to give her credit for thinking to keep the floor clean.

I happened upon this scene one morning. I had been upstairs in her room trying to clean out her closet. She had gone downstairs to "play".

Caught in the act!

Encouragement. . .

The other day Hayley got very frustrated with me about something---most likely that I would not let her touch one of her new DVD's (or as she says, "DDD's"). She yelled and threw a fit on the floor. I went through the whole discipline routine and we went about our day. I'm going to be VERY vulnerable here and admit that I have a tendancy to lose my temper with her more than I wish. It is the thorn in my flesh that HURTS and I HATE it. I pray all the time for God to take this away from me. It is something that has been passed down for several generations in my family and I want to break the cycle. No one deserves to be talked to in an ugly tone of voice--especially my 2 year old daughter. So you can pray for me about this! But on with the story. . . I feel so guilty about this sin in my life so often and live under a spirit of condemnation and worry that she's going to have this picture of me in her head when she grows up being so ugly. Well, that day she came to me a little bit later and said in a sweet little voice, "Mom, I sorry I lose my temper." And the Lord spoke to my heart after she said that and said, "You are not perfect, nor will you ever be. Just make sure that you continue to model to her how to admit you are wrong and how to ask forgiveness. That is key for her salvation." One thing my mom was SO good about was coming to us after she did lose her temper and say, "I am so sorry I lost my temper. You do not deserve to be talked to that way. Will you please forgive me?" So that's something I have tried to do too, but now I will do even more of after that little conversation with God. Our kids, as much as we hate to admit it, really do need to see us making mistakes and asking either for their forgiveness or for others' forgiveness and especially God's forgiveness. Just thought I'd pass this along in the hopes I've used the Lord's encouragement to me to encourage someone else.

Quick funny story that my mom loves to tell about me---When I was 2 she came to me one night before bed and said, "Shelly, I am sorry I got so frustrated with you earlier. Do you forgive me?" I answered, "Nope, but God does."

Psalm 103 continued. . .

An update on sweet Hayley. Sunday things went from good to really bad again. We were sent to the emergency room with her Sunday night b/c she was hurting so badly and hadn't urinated from around 10am until 8pm. Long story short, we took her over to the urologist's office in Dallas this afternoon, had to do ANOTHER cathedar to get more urine b/c the results from Thursday's culture were negative (just got those this morning). The nurse's words were, "She has a raging infection." It has been a very traumatic day for all of us. I believe God was merciful to Hayley on Saturday by giving her a day of relief from her pain. We are still, of course, praising His Name as much today as we were Saturday when we thought she was okay. I keep thinking of the story of the "fiery furnace" when Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego said to the king, "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."

The Lord did not heal Hayley completely from her infection or (as far as we know) from her kidney reflux. . .yet. We believe with our whole hearts that He will. Our prayer is that He will heal her before she has to go through the surgery to correct her reflux. We believe He can. We also know that it could be His plan for us to go down the road of doing the surgery. Please pray for us to be in tune with God's direction and wisdom regarding that decision, and that we will use this as an opportunity to tell nurses, doctors, people in waiting rooms, about what a MIGHTY God we serve and that others will come to know Him or grow closer to Him after encountering our family.

On a lighter note. . . I have the most INCREDIBLE sister in law. I actually have 3 of them, but today I am talking specifically about Tara. She has come to my rescue with keeping Jack twice over the last few days while we have taken Hayley to dr.'s appointments at a moment's notice. She has totally dropped what she was doing to help us out and met us with a smile on her face at the door as we blew in and out like a tornado trying to get to the doctor and then home again. She never complains or acts like it is any kind of inconvenience to help out. What a BLESSING to have that sweet woman in our lives. (her husband and son aren't all that bad either) : )

She lives out the verse, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men," Col. 3:23

What a gift you are in my life! I love you, Tara!

Psalm 103

Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits---Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases,Who redeems your life from the pit and corruption, Who beautifies, dignifies, and crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercy. (verses 1-4)

Thank you for praying. We truly believe that the Lord has healed Hayley of whatever the problem was on Thursday. She was back to normal Friday and has done great all weekend. We'll get the results from the culture on Monday, but as of Friday nothing had started growing. All glory and praise to Jesus Christ alone!

Prayers Needed. . .

I picked Hayley up from school today and she was burning up. I got her home and the fever was 105. She was just limp and wouldn't talk. She would only shake her head yes or no. THANKING God for Motrin!! It brought the fever down and she came alive again. Took her to the dr. and had her tested for flu (negative) and had the traumatic experience of cathedarizing her (I wasn't allowed in the room, but could hear her screaming down the hall----ripped my heart out) and the urine test was also negative. We will get results from the urine culture w/in the next 48 hours. I'm almost certain it is a UTI (urinary tract infection). She has kidney reflux and is on a low dose of antibiotics daily. It is hurting her to go potty SO badly. She just screams in pain. Thankfully tonight after she woke up in hysterics b/c she had to go to the bathroom and couldn't I thought about putting her in the bath (thank you, God, for that thought!) and she was able to go potty and feel better immediately.

So---please pray for the doctors' wisdom. Pray that her urologist can get her in quickly when I call in the morning. Pray for peace for Tra and me. It is SO HARD to watch your baby in SO much pain!!! And pray for COMPLETE HEALING. We believe God can heal her kidney reflux and we are boldly asking for that. I am so thankful that it is not something worse or life-threatening. But it is still gut-wrenching to see her hurt so badly. : (

A Big Week

Hayley decided this was going to be the week to potty train! I've been working with her on it for several months but I have let her just go when whe wanted to. My plan was to take year #2 to familiarize her with it and by this summer if she wasn't potty trained I would hit it harder. I think it was peer pressure at her school/BSF/church that led her to this decision. She has had dry pull-ups every day this week! Today she wore big girl panties all day (except for our trip to the mall---pull-ups) . It is a big adjustment for me trying to train myself to start asking, "Do you need to go potty?" everytime we leave the house.

Jack decided tonight was the night to start self-feeding! The boy will NOT put anything in his mouth on his own---until tonight. I put a piece of cheese on his tray at dinner thinking, "Maybe tonight will be the night." Sure enough, he just picked it up and put it in his mouth like he had been doing it his whole life! My jaw hit the ground! I gave him another piece and he did it again! WE CELEBRATED in the Willbanks' home this evening!

So that is 2 pretty major milestones all in one week. My children have this thing with wanting to do things their own way in their own time. We're not sure where they got that! : )

Jack's latest weird quirky behavior is wanting to be up on the couch and bury his face in the pillows. He is not happy anywhere else. He'll just throw his head in the pillows and lay really still for a few seconds and then pop up and look at us with this look like, "Am I not hilarious???" He'll occaisionally laugh at himself. What a stitch! Oh---he has also started crawling on his hands and knees over the past couple of weeks too! The army crawl is still his favorite, but if you watch him long enough he'll bust out into a full-on crawl! It is wild to watch the transition from baby to little boy!!

The other day, Hayley randomly said, "I like your earrings, mom." It was the first time I had ever heard her voice her own opinion on something. So cute! Actually, I take it back. One day in October or November I went in to wake her up one morning and she said, "I not like that shirt, mama! Take it off!!" I'm sure that won't be the first time in her life that she doesn't like my outfit! : )

Tra came home from work early today with a stomach ache. It has turned into an UGLY stomach BUG. I'm PRAYING it doesn't get me, Hayley, Jack, or anyone else at Anchor. YUCK.

Last thing: Hayley's latest thing is going into Jack's room when she wakes up and getting into bed with him. It's so sweet to see them play together and love each other!

One Year Old. . .

I am several days late with this birthday post to Jack (it was on the 23rd) but better late than never. It is so hard to believe you are ONE year old! My memories of the day you were born are still so vivid. I remember being so surprised at how FAST you were born! I had Oprah on at 4:00 and I was visiting with Poppy and daddy and at 4:30 I started feeling LOTS of pressure. You I only had to push a few times and you were OUT by 4:57! I remember the fear in my heart as the nurses suctioned out all the junk in your mouth over and over and told us they needed to take you to the NICU. You just looked SO perfect and I just wanted to hold you and not let go!!! Daddy and I prayed over you before we handed you over to the nurses and as quickly as you got here, you were gone. The next 3 hours were so strange not getting to be with you. I remember being so thankful that you were going to be okay and crying for my friends who have had to give their babies back to the Lord for good. The Lord used that moment in my life to give me a window into the hearts of these friends. Although I have never had to experience giving one of my babies back to the Lord, I had a very small glimpse of how much it has to hurt. My heart hurt so much giving you to those nurses, and that was a fraction of what my precious friends have felt.

What a BLESSING you are, precious Jack. Your little smile appeared within your first month and hasn't gone away! You have such a sweet disposition. My favorite memories with you during the past year are lots of nights rocking you (one of the last things my grandma said to me before she went to be with Jesus is, "You rock those babies!!" so sometimes I even go in and get you after you are asleep and rock you some more!), watching you suck that thumb and play with your ear with your other hand, seeing your face light up when you see your sister and your daddy, hearing you take deep breaths and seeing that big smile when a cool breeze (sometimes a cold gust) hits your face, watching you army crawl EVERYWHERE (crawling on your hands and knees is SO overrated!), putting you to bed at night and having you be fidgity and fussy until I start singing and you immediately relax and snuggle up to me EVERY time. My list could go on and on. You are a joy to your dad, sister and me and to SO many others. God has such a great plan for your life. You will be such a mighty warrior for Him and I am confident that the Lord will use you to bring multitudes to know and serve our Almighty God. Like the scripture says on your wall, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6 The Lord will direct you and lead you in ways that are hard to understand at times. It won't always make a lot of sense in your mind and you might not want to follow His lead. Follow Him. Seek HIS face ALWAYS. TRUST HIM COMPLETELY. He is the only one in your world who will NEVER let you down. He will NEVER fail you. Take time to BE STILL before HIM, and LISTEN to HIM. As much as your dad and I love you, HE loves you even MORE!!

What a wonderful, fun first year! I love and adore you more and more every day. Next to your dad, you and Hayley are the greatest gifts in my life. I'm looking forward to year #2 with you! Walking, talking, talking back----not YOU???!!! I love you forever. . .

My New Hobby. . .

I think I've finally found a hobby that Tra will not steal from me. . .online scrapbooking!! I have never gotten into scrapbooking. I tried when Hayley was born and got through her 8th month or so. I just have a really hard time really getting into scrapbooking---getting ALL the stuff out, making a huge mess and having to clean it all up before the kids get into it. Take it out, put it up, take it out, put it up, etc. For Jack's birthday (which was yesterday. . .birthday post coming soon) I made a Kodak Easyshare book for him on the internet. I did his whole first year in 3 days or so. It was probably a total of 5-6 hours that I spent on the whole thing. And I LOVE it. Well, my friend Ashley told me about a website that is online scrapbooking---backgrounds, tons of layouts, places to journal, etc. It is www.picaboo.com and I cannot begin to describe how excited I am about it! I've already started on a little 1st Birthday book for Jack and it is so much fun! No scissors, no bits of paper, no mess!! I was so excited I had to share! Also, you can email the books out on this website and you can't on Kodak's (as far as I can tell). So for anyone out there who is interested in this stuff (Courtney), you have to check it out!

Cousins. . .

I should be in bed, but was just looking through some pictures and had to post some of these. It's wild to think that this time last year we only had Hayley and at Christmas this year we had Hayley, Jack, Adalyn and Scout! These little cousins have so much fun together and love to play with and on each other! What a joy they are to us all!

Jack (11 mos.) and Adalyn (8 mos.) smiling for the camera.

"What are y'all lookin' at?" This is Jack's favorite thing to do with Scout (6 mos.)

Hayley (2) is reading everyone a bedtime story. We did not make this happen---we looked over and yelled, "Get the camera!"

This is what happens when we try to line them up for a picture. Notice Jack is crawling over Scout AGAIN. Will we even be able to make all 4 stay still long enough to get a picture of them together next Christmas??? : )