Another year. . .

It was time for a change. I'm in a blue mood for 2007. Started out pink in 05, green in 06. I'm liking the blue. It is wild to think 2006 is over! Thinking about this time last year: I was LARGE pregnant and anticipating the arrival of our precious boy, Hayley had only been walking for 3 months, we had just moved to our new house, and so many more changes were ahead of us. I'm anxious (in a good way) to see what 2007 has in store for our family of 4. I was taking the ornaments off our tree today thinking about this time next year and how very different things will be around here. Jack will be weeks away from turning 2 years old and Hayley will be almost 3 1/2. It's hard to imagine!

Our Christmas was wonderful. It started out w/ Tra's family and ended up with mine. It was the first time since 2003 that I had gotten to be w/ my family for Christmas at my parents' house. It was SO good to be with everyone again. 2004 Tra was too sick to travel and 2005 I wasn't allowed to travel. It was fun w/ Tra's family to see all the kids. None of them were terribly "into" Christmas this year. I thought Hayley would be more into it, but she so was not. She IS enjoying her new toys though---even if she seemed like she could care less at the time she opened them. One of my favorite memories of this Christmas was being at Richland Hills on Christmas Eve morning for the candlelight service and there were about 5 baptisms afterwards. Hayley always goes to her class during service times but the kids don't have classes at the Christmas Eve service, so she had never seen a baptism until then. It totally left a huge impact on her. I think she has talked about it every day since. She'll randomly say, "Remember when that boy got ba-tized? He just JUMPED in that water and got soakin' wet!" And I'll say, "He said, 'Hey everybody!! I. . " and she finishes w/ ". . .love JESUS!!" Last night she brought it up again and she said, "And then it will be Hayley's turn to jump in that water!" I told her I couldn't WAIT for it to be her turn! SOOOOO precious.

I'll end this post w/ some of my favorite things Hayley has said lately. Obviously the baptism thing was one of my favorites!

"I need a wipe-a-towel!" (paper towel to wipe off her hands/face)

She'll cover Jack's head w/ a blanket and say, "Jackin in the box. . . PEEK-A-BOO!!!" The other day Tra goes, "Hayley in the box, peek a boo!" She goes, "Not Hayley!! JACKIN!!" Jackin???

Jack threw his sippy cup off his high chair the other day. She walked over calmly, picked up his cup, put it on his tray and said, "That's not a good idea, Buddy."

If she sees something out of place she'll laugh and say, "Where did come THAT from???"

We pass a donut place we go to occasionally and she says w/o prompting: "Donuts are too sugary. They'll make my tummy hurt. They're not good for you." I followed that statement the other day w/ "Yea, they're not healthy." She followed that with, "No. But M&M's are healthy!"

We were at my cousin's wedding and she went up to this little boy who was about 6 and patted him sweetly on his arm and said, "Hi little boy! You're so sweet!" You know that "little boy" loved that!

I could go on, but I'll stop for now. Praying for an extra BLESSED 2007 for all of us! Happy New Year!

Catching up. . .

I can't believe it has been so long since my last post! This time of year is too crazy. I'm finding myself looking forward to the new year and slowing down a little! But at the same time I want to savor every moment of this Christmas w/ my 11 month old and 2 year old! Hayley is understanding a little more about Christmas this year but not 100% into it, of course. She loves decorating and re-decorating the bottom half of the Christmas tree. Most of the time half of the ornaments are missing. I'll find them random places like under couch cushions. : ) We've finally made the successful transition to the big girl bed. Grant it, we do lock her in her room for now, but it works and we all get sleep. We've had lots of family time this month w/ my side of the family. One of my cousins got married 2 weekends ago and last weekend was our family Christmas lunch w/ my dad's side of the family in Dallas. It was interesting as usual.
Jack is going to be 11 months on the 23rd. I can't even believe he is almost ONE! He is an absolute JOY in our lives. He is the happiest kid I've ever known. He LOVES his sister and vice versa. He is happy w/ his style of crawling (army crawl) and has no desire to do things like everyone else does them. He loves naps, wheels, and playing outside!

I'm assuming I won't have a chance to blog again before Christmas, so Merry Christmas everyone!

The saga continues. . .

Yesterday at naptime Hayley mastered the art of climbing out of her crib. She did it over and over and over. It is actually very impressive---she can get out of it in a matter of seconds! So as of naptime yesterday she is officially in her big girl bed! Once she went to sleep last night she stayed in bed until 6:30am! I know it will just get easier and easier as the days go by. Hard to believe I have such a big girl already!! I'm so proud of her, but not nearly as proud of her as she is of herself! : )

EAT MORE PIE DAY!

From Judy (my mom):
I have officially declared November 7 "Peggy Baldwin Eat-More-Pie Day". Mom would have been 82 tomorrow--what better way to celebrate than to give ourselves permission to eat a big old piece of pie and make a toast (with a cup of coffee, of course) to her on her day!

Anyone who has been craving a bite of something sweet, here is your chance to indulge with no guilt! My mom sent this email out yesterday. We will be having my grandma's infamous Chocolate Merangue Pie over here this evening. She is dearly loved and missed terribly, but oh what a time she is having right now with our Jesus and the other saints who have gone ahead of us. I don't know if we will celebrate our earthly birthdays in heaven anymore, but it is a sweet thought that this is her first b-day with her mom in a really long time. So join us in having a little pie today in memory of my sweet grandma!

One step forward, two steps back. . .

At 3:00am last night I put Hayley's crib back together. Let's just say thunderstorms and a yucky cough do not mix with transitioning to a big girl bed. And sleep deprived mamas are just no fun. We're all looking forward to a good night of sleep this evening. Stay tuned for round 3---whenever we get gutsy enough to give it another try. : ) I'm open for any suggestions from other moms out there who have had smooth transitions, or rough ones that ended up working out eventually with no one harmed in the process. : )

My Little Tigers!

I have a very hard time getting into Halloween. Part of it is that I was raised with a mother who talked every year about how SHE hated it. I didn't understand what the big deal was as a young child, but now I totally appreciate her perspective on the "holiday." I really don't want my kids participating in a holiday that promotes evil. I have some friends who don't participate in any way during this holiday---no parties, no Fall Festival, nothing. Tra's family didn't trick or treat when they were little. We did, but we never wore scary costumes. I'm glad the churches in the area do Fall Festivals so that there is a safe place to go where Christian music is playing and there are not SUPPOSED to be scary costumes. ( I saw one this year and wanted to ask the guy to remove the mask.) It is fun to see the little kids in cute little costumes. This is one of the first years that I not only understood completely why those who choose not to participate don't participate, but I have great respect for that decision. I guess the bottom line is that you have do do what you feel convicted by the Holy Spirit to do with your own family. And to my friends who do not do Halloween---you know who you are---I am very proud of you for sticking with your convictions and graciously declining all parties, festivals, etc. The Lord has enabled you to do that without anyone else feeling judged in any way--at least from my perspective.

Anyway--on to another subject. HAYLEY!! We have had a huge weekend over here. We removed the front rail from Hayley's crib and tried the big girl bed again! This time, IT WORKED! She kind of has a hard time getting comfortable with going to sleep, but once she's out, she's out for good! The first time we tried this she was up ALL NIGHT, literally. It was awful. This time, she has slept w/o tears until 7am for 2 nights in a row!! We are so proud of her and are excited about this new transition and how smothly it is going.

One more funny Hayley story---one of her new favorite words is Hallelujah! We were watching "God Made Christmas" (DVD) the other day and one of the songs on it is Handel's Messiah and I, of course, sing along with it. So later that day we were strolling through Target (getting a new blanket to put on her big girl bed) and she was singing, "Halle-loo-uh! Halle-loo-uh!. . . " over and over and over. It was so precious! Christmas is going to be extra fun this year! I can't wait!

More Than a Mailbox. . .

Is anyone else out there tired of waiting in LONG lines at the post office? If you live in the Keller area I have found a GREAT solution. . .More Than a Mailbox in the Albertson's parking lot off of 377 and North Tarrant is the GREATEST place ever to mail packages. I walked in, there was no line, the lady politely asked how she could help me and SMILED, I handed her my item to ship that was not packaged, she took it and immediately went to find a box and carefully packed it FOR ME without any grumbling, I paid, she gave Hayley a lollipop and we were on our way! It was almost too easy. And as a bonus for all you scrapbook lovers, there is a ton of scrapbooking stuff in there---a whole wall of paper, stickers, etc. It's no Scrapbook Warehouse, but definitely has a good selection of stuff. They also have a table with books for kids to play and some toys. I will never go to the post office again!! This place is incredible!

My baby boy is 9 months old today. I do not have any pictures b/c my camera is broken and is the item I shipped off today. I REALLY hope we get it back by Thanksgiving!! Anyway---back to Jack. He seems to change every day lately. Last week he started crawling. He does the army crawl thing where he pretty much drags his legs behind him. I saw him do it for the first time and started boo-hooing! I have not been too emotional at Hayley's milestones for some reason. Jack's, on the other hand, I just can't hold myself together. I think it is b/c it just doesn't seem like he should be this old! Time has gone SO much faster with him than it did with Hayley when she was at the baby stage. He is such a JOY to all of us and I can't imagine my life without my happy baby boy!

Anyone else not looking forward to the time change this weekend? Before children, it was GREAT! Fall back--you get an hour more to sleep! But to my dismay last year, I realized Hayley got up at 7:00ish in the mornings, which is now 6:00ish after the time change. Her little body clock didn't automatically change. So this Sunday could be the first of many days for awhile that we are eating breakfast by 7:00 and it feels like it should be naptime at 9:00am! : )

Speaking of naptime, ours is over. : ( Time to begin the 2nd half of my day! Thank you, God, for naptime!!

Good-Bye Paci!

Last week was a monumental one at the Willbanks' household. Hayley bid farewell to her paci after never sleeping a night or a nap without it for 2 solid years. She has a chipped front tooth (a whole blog entry in itself) that is now very sharp. She gnawed halfway through her paci after her nap the other day. I hadn't planned on weaning her from it yet, but when I saw she could actually bite through the thing and potentially swallow it, I realized I had no choice but to tell her to throw it away and say good-bye for good. I have been AMAZED at how easy this transition has been. She still asks for it at bedtime but doesn't pitch a fit when I tell her they're all gone and we had to throw them away. She goes to sleep just fine. It has been wonderful to have it be this easy! She'll say, "I want paci and blankie! (And then looks at me with a silly face and says in a silly voice) Not paci!! Just blankie." I told her she could keep blankie when she sleeps as long as she wants. It will be interesting to see how long she holds on to that. My baby is growing up! I have a feeling Jack's thumb will be another story. : )

Waiting Patiently. . .

To read about a real-life encounter with an angel, click on Courtney's Blog.

Summer has a similar story on hers too.

I LOVE it when the Lord reveals Himself to us in such sweet, wonderful ways. He must know we are all needing faith-building this week. It is so hard to see friends hurting!! Our sweet friend Christine has been in the PIT over the past couple of weeks. It is very hard to pray for God to heal and have to wait and wait and wait on His timing. But we all know that He is Faithful. He loves Christine and Matt and Jack, the Tyndalls and the Pinsons. He will never leave them or forsake them. He does hear our every cry to Him about precious Christine. He has provided her with this new team of doctors in Dallas who are hopefully as I write this finished with her procedure and she may finally get on the road to full recovery. We love you, Christine!! We love being available to help you and your family out during this time too. So many of us have talked about it and what a complete JOY it is to get to cook for your family, sit with you, keep Jack, or whatever we need to do. You are loved more than you know and you are prayed for multiple times each day (if not each hour of each day!!) I have no doubt that the same angels (if not Jesus Himself!) that Hayley and Ava have talked about this week are just as visible to your sweet Jack---especially during this time while you are away from him. As God is healing you, He is also providing your baby with a peace and a comfort we can't even begin to see or imagine! Praising Him for who He is and thanking Him in advance for answering our prayers for you! He's got you and has already begun to lift you out of the pit. We will be anxious to literally hear the new song He puts in your mouth, dear friend! May this time be used to bring others to fully know the Lord and His power and strength by seeing how He works in YOU!

WE LOVE YOU!!!!

Psalm 40:1-3
I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.

Catching up. . .

Lots to catch up on for the month of September. We had a small group over for Hayley's birthday this month---it was originally scheduled for her actual b-day on Aug. 30 but she got a stomach bug the night before, so we had to reschedule for later. I was glad we did---it was a fun day.

It is strange to me how blogger has good days and bad days with uploading pictures. Today is apparantly a bad day.

Anyway, on with my news from the month. Tra had a routine CT scan and all looks great! Praising God for another good report!

Jack had surgery Thursday to remove the cyst above his eye. He had to go under, but the surgery was only 20 minutes and he was an angel waking up from it. I was prepared to have a very unhappy baby, but he just snuggled down and ate his breakfast and went back to sleep! He is recovering really well too. The big bandage came off Sunday and the tape covering the incision comes off next Thursday! Thank you, God for a successful, uncomplicated surgery.

I am so excited that I get to keep my nephew, Scout, every Wednesday morning starting next week!! Tara is going to start BSF and Scout gets to come play with his cousins! We are all very excited and can't wait to spend Wednesdays with Scout. It is a perfect set up---they only live 3 miles away from us.

Tra is going on a work retreat this Thurs-Sat. and I am taking the kids to Austin Thursday through Sat. to see my parents and Papa Jack and Betty (my dad's dad and stepmom) They haven't seen Jack in person yet! Should be a great week! More pictures coming soon. . .

2 Peas in a Pod

I love these kids! I love it that they not only look close to identical, but that they also have similar facial expressions! It cracks me up. They are watching either BOZ or The Wiggles on tv in these pictures. I promise they don't do this all day. In fact these pictures make me want to limit the tv even more than I already do. : )

Happy Birthday, Hayley!

My baby girl is officially 2 years old as of last night at 9:31 pm. I had a little party planned for her and some of her friends/family yesterday at 11:00, but Tuesday night around 7:00 I was holding her in my lap while she was throwing up. It almost seems as if we are living under a little gray cloud of sickness as of about 2 years ago. Poor Hayley has had one thing after another for awhile now. We made the decision to cancel the party that night---no one wants to be in a house where a tummy bug is lurking. (Including me!!) She only got sick twice and was back to normal yesterday afternoon so it was just a 12 hour bug. We slept together on the couch Tuesday night and she actually went to sleep around 4:00am and was up playing with her toys at 7:00.

It ended up being a great birthday. I was super bummed not to have the party, but she was of course oblivious that anything would have gone on at all. My mom was here and they made banana bread yesterday morning. Then, while she napped from 10:30-1:30 I decided to go ahead and keep the balloon order b/c everyone needs balloons on their birthday!! When she got up from her nap she was so excited to see a living room full of balloons. Not ONLY were there balloons, there was a "Wiggles" balloon and a "Mickey Mouse" balloon! So funny what little it takes to totally make a toddler's day!

It is amazing to think that two years have gone by since I held that little 9 pound baby in my arms. Someone asked me if I was sad that she was 2---absolutely not!!! I LOVE this stage with her! Although it has its challenges (what stage doesn't?) every day is so much fun and filled with so much laughter and so much joy. I look forward to watching her grow this year and being amazed at how fast another year will go by. I'm enjoying each day, even the not so good days, as my heart continues to overflow with thankfulness to my God for the blesssing of my Hayley Brooke! I love you sweet girl! You are precious to me and even more precious to our God!

A Big Step. . .

It is a big day. Tonight we are leaving Hayley and Jack with their first non-family/friend real live babysitter. Tra and I have committed to start going out on dates every other Friday. I have been praying for awhile that God would lead us to a babysitter so that Tra and I could have more time together and not feel like we are imposing on our friends/family while we are out. God was faithful to lead us to not just one, but TWO girls who live minutes away from us, who are extremely reliable and responsible, and who are sophomores in high school! We get them both for 3 whole years!! I met them at church and already love them both dearly. I just finished typing out the 3 pages of instructions for sweet Jessica. I am a little nervous, but I know that everything will be just fine. I'm very thankful for cell phones. How did our parents leave us with babysitters and not have a way for them to be contacted most of the time?? YIKES!

I am so excited about being able to look forward to our new date nights. It is VERY easy to see how I could get so wrapped up in my kids that I could start putting them before Tra on my priority list. It is something I really struggle with and have to make a conscious effort to work on. My parents had date nights frequently growing up. I remember watching my mom get ready and putting on her "pretty" clothes and putting on her make up and smelling the scent of her perfume. I remember feeling really bummed out that they would leave, but the positive about that was that I felt good to know they liked going out together. It made me appreciate the times we all had family nights together too. I also remember, for the most part, liking my babysitters. It was kind of fun to have new routines when my parents were gone. I know they left instructions, but would you really be a fun babysitter if you followed them completely?? : )

Alright---time to go and figure out what to wear on my date tonight!!

Doctors. . .

Rejoicing today that we live in an area with such wonderful doctors! Hayley had her first appointment with her pediatric urologist today and we loved her. Not only did she answer questions about Hayley's refulx, she also solved a problem that we needed solved about a year and a half ago. I even remember blogging about this problem a LONG time ago---Hayley's constipation issues. Without being too graphic, the x-rays that we were looking at today showed that she is SEVERELY backed up. We were given a prescription for her constipation as well as hope that we should have a much happier baby girl once that junk gets moving. Hayley is a pretty happy kid overall, but some of you who have spent a lot of time with her lately might see what I'm talking about when I say she has random moments of extreme clinginess/ fussiness/irritability. It has just seemed so strange b/c it isn't "typical" for her. As I told the dr. today, I know she is almost 2 and that 2 year olds tend to be fussy sometimes, but I am anxious to see how she acts once her poor little tummy feels better. For more detailed info, feel free to inquire in person. I'll spare the random readers the description of my kid's bowels. : )

We take Jack to his surgeon on Thursday for a consultation. He has a cyst above his right eye (left if you're looking at him) that he was born with. It keeps getting bigger and will continue to do so. So between the 2 of them, we will most likely be doing 2 surgeries in the next few months. Tra and I need to decide what to do for Hayley---we do have an option of no surgery YET but it doesn't seem like a great option. What would I do if I didn't have full confidence in my God right now? I know He will give us wisdom in our decision making and that He will bring them both through their surgeries triumphantly. (if He doesn't heal them before)

I'm so thankful for my healthy babies and God continues to gently remind me that He is in control and keeps my perspective in check. The other day after walking through Cook's in Fort Worth and seeing some REALLY sick babies, I asked Him, "I know I've gone through some tough stuff, but how could I EVER handle having such a sick, sick baby?" Immediately I felt like He said, "You would handle it just fine. I would carry you right through it, just like I always have before." It was a sweet moment. What a MIGHTY, LOVING, PRECIOUS God we serve!

News. . .

Pictures are on the way of our night at The Wiggles, but it might be a week or so before I get them up. Check out Courtney's blog to get a report. It was so much fun!!

The big news of the week around here was that Hayley went tee-tee in the potty for the first time this week. She has a little "Winnie the Pooh" potty that several times a day she will ask to go sit on. She strips down, takes her diaper off and says, "I need to poop on the potty!" This has gone on for a few weeks now. We've done lots of running around with no clothes on lately. It's too exhausting to put her all back together, only to have her strip down within minutes. Well, one of my college roommates (Rae Hanan Boswell) was over with her little girl Macy last Tuesday (Aug. 1) when Hayley was sitting on her potty. After I told Rae that I hoped she didn't actually potty train until closer to 3 b/c I don't want to have to deal with stopping EVERY place we go to go "potty" I heard a noise coming from the bathroom. She did it! She tee-teed on the potty! We celebrated with her and called daddy and her grandparents to tell them the exciting news. She went twice the next day---once she came running out yelling, "I DID IT!!!!" and the other time she just went and then went about her day without telling me she went. I discovered it later when I was in the bathroom. It is apparantly not something she is 100% ready for b/c she hasn't gone since Wednesday. Ohhh, the things that we mommies get excited about. : )

Finally, for anyone interested there are pictures of Jack and Hayley up from his 6 month sitting. They can be found at www.memorablemomentsphotography.com Password: tra
I love Kristin, our photographer (and most of yours!) She is awesome. I am always amazed at how she totally captures their little personalities. It's hard to believe we're over halfway through his first year!

5 years ago today. . .

. . . at 2:00 in the afternoon I became Mrs. John D Willbanks III. (or as most of you know, Mrs. Tra Willbanks) I will never forget those double doors opening, everyone standing, and being so overwhelmed by the multitude of people at our wedding. I remember my dad whispering, "Walk slow---we're only doing this once." I got so overwhelmed by all of the people (around 600) that I didn't even see Tra until I had already started down the aisle. My "words of wisdom" to all brides are to take a minute before you begin walking down the aisle to stand there, take it all in, look down to see your groom (who is breathtaken by you, by the way), and THEN start your walk down the aisle to him. Our wedding was perfect---even with the whole unity candle fiasco. Five years ago as I was preparing to stand at that altar and promise to God, Tra and all of our friends and family that I would honor him and love him for better, for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, in good times and bad until death parted us I sure didn't realize all that would entail in our first 3 years of marriage, much less 5. What a joy it is to go through this journey of life with my best friend. What a blessing it is to know that he loves me in spite of all of my faults and weaknesses. What a precious example he is to me of Jesus---who knows even MORE of my faults and won't only love me in spite of them, but who died for me because of them so that I could spend eternity with my Father in Heaven.

I wonder if Hayley would mind if I popped in our wedding video this morning instead of watching The Wiggles??

It's OVER!

YUCK. I am so happy to have that test behind us. Hayley was a trooper. There were a couple of times that I thought I was going to lose it. She was crying sooo hard laying on that x-ray table as they were prepping her. Then later when we were trying to get her to tee-tee the dye out I was next to her ear whispering, "Can you whisper?" hoping it would help her calm down and relax enough to go potty. She started whispering through her gasps of air (she was soooo worked up by now), "Mama, hold you. Mama, hold you." Keep it together, mama! It was almost too much for my heart to take. I was so thankful Tra was there with me. He held her little arms and had the idea to put her hand in warm water to help her go potty. YEA, daddy! What ever would we do without da-da?? Afterwards we went to get the meal of choice for Hayley---DONUTS!! Whatever she wants, she gets today. This afternoon after naps (mom included in the naps today) we're going to go ride the ducky merrigoround at the mall and have "Chicken and spinach" for dinner from Boston Market. (her favorite dinner) I'm trying very hard to help the worst day of her life so far be just a little bit better.

Thanks for the prayers, advice, calls and emails! I'm so thankful for my wonderful friends/family who prayed for us (again) and who would keep praying again and again. What would I do without you?? Tara--thanks again for keeping Jack for us. He always has fun with you and Scout. (and Dwight when he's home!)

Random Thoughts. . .

Diet Drinks---Over all I hate them. I drank Diet Coke for years but never really liked it. I just didn't want to get cavities or gain weight from drinking Coke (which I LOVE). I was so excited to have an excuse not to drink Diet Coke when I got pregnant with Hayley and I started drinking Root Beer or Sprite b/c no caffeine. Well, recently I've discovered Diet Root Beer. If you like Root Beer, you would like Diet Root Beer too. I think it is the only diet drink that tastes almost exactly like the real thing. No caffeine, no sugar, and not quite as sweet as the real root beer but that's one thing I like about it.

It is funny to me that with Hayley I couldn't wait for her to do the next new thing when she was a baby. Now with Jack it's totally the opposite. I'm not ready for him to start crawling yet or sit or do any big boy things. Of course when he does I'll be thrilled, but selfishly I know that my job is about to get 10 times harder when he starts moving around.

Hayley and Jack are now napping at the same time for 2 and sometimes 3 hours in the afternoon. I need to start using that time for rest and eat it up while I can, huh?

Jack started sleeping through the night last month finally and I feel like the old Shelma again. Last week he went to bed around 9:00 and woke up every morning at 8:00! Whoo-hooo! Thank you, God for my little sleepers!!

Tomorrow morning Hayley has to have a VCUG and a sonogram on her kidneys b/c of a urinary tract infection she had a couple of months ago. I keep getting really nervous about it and have to keep praying for God to take the fear and replace it with His Spirit of Peace!! I could use more prayers though---so lift one up for me if you will! The VCUG requires her to have a cathedar and they fill her bladder up with dye and watch what happens on a screen. I know several of my friends have had this done with their kids and they all survived it. I'm still dealing with some serious anxiety though.

We get to go to The Wiggles this Saturday! Who will enjoy it more---Hayley or mommy?? : ) I can't wait! John and Courtney are going with us and we're taking Emma with us too. Should be lots of fun!

SIX months old??!!

Is my baby boy REALLY six months old today?? It's just so hard to believe that he is already so grown up. I love my little Jack. He loves people---no matter who you are, if you have 2 eyes, a nose and a mouth he'll give you his big gummy grin. He loves to be held---something I prayed for and I'll admit sometimes ask myself why I thought I wanted that?? I do love it. He LOVES his sister. It is so cute to watch him as she walks (or runs) by. He'll immediately focus on her and smile and giggle and squeal. I was telling Tra the other day that I bet he totally wears her out once he's able to get around. She's such an independent player---I can hear it now, "MOM!! Will you tell him to leave me alone????!!" Although she sure loves her little brother. Sometimes when he's napping she'll be playing and randomly say, "I wanna go get Jack-ee!" And when she comes into the living room after a nap or in the morning and Jack is playing, she'll say excitedly, "Jack's awake!!" So sweet. She has always liked to give him his "pappy" (pacifier) from the 1st day he got home from the hospital. He actually stopped taking one around month 3. He has taken after his mama and is a thumb sucker. (I don't suck mine anymore.) Nevertheless, he'll take it from Hayley---even upside down---and suck on it for a little bit before spitting it out. (To which Hayley gives him an exasperated, "Jaa-aack!" What a blessing this little boy is to us each day. I'm so thankful for this
precious gift in our lives! Happy birthday, buddy!




CARROTS!! I can't believe you've been holding out on me! This stuff is delicious!

Some families have bedtime stories. Ours has "Laundry Basket Derby" several nights a week. The dog to the left is Sam. We got him my senior year of high school and he now lives with my granddad. We were dog-sitting at the time. We love Sammy, but we're VERY thankful that we do not have a dog full time. Jack was cramping Hayley's style here---she doesn't get to go as fast when he joins her.

Jack loves his BUMBO seat! What a great invention. He likes to sit in it and watch The Wiggles when Hayley watches them at breakfast. No Baby Einstein for #2! He's jumping right in to the big kid shows.

Happy Anniversary!

Two years ago yesterday was one that will be etched in my mind forever. Tra had surgery to remove the lemon sized tumor in his colon, and when the surgeon talked to Johnny and me (and Tra's granddad) afterwards he said, "From what I can tell it appears to be a malignant tumor. . ." I knew right then that my life had changed dramatically. The embrace that my precious father in law and I shared immediately after and the tears we shed together over the love of my life and his firstborn precious son was such a powerful moment. I just wanted to stay in that hallway and not move. I didn't want to have to go out in the waiting room and have to hear all of the, "We're so sorry" "What can we do for you?" But when we walked out after semi-composing ourselves and approximately 30 or so people were there, the sweetest thing happened. Someone said, "Let us pray with you." It brings me to tears as I remember holding hands with my sweet friend Julia and with Johnny as many prayers were lead on behalf of Tra and our family. How incredibly thankful I am for such a strong community of believers who encouraged us and lifted us up during that HARD time in our lives. And not only were those people in the waiting room during the surgery, they were also at Aly and Matt's wedding on this day 2 years ago. Sweet, wonderful friends who rode that roller coaster of emotions with us. It was such a wonderful day---strangely wonderful. Only God could give us all such joy as we all got dressed and took family pictures with beautiful Alyson as she and Matt prepared for the biggest day of their lives so far (besides the day they accepted Christ, of course).

I know it is hard for her because every year on their anniversary, there is not only talk of their special day, but also the "this time 2 years ago, Tra was in surgery, etc, etc." My prayer for Aly and Matt and for our whole family is that although we will always have the memories of Tra's surgery, as the years go on that we will just be thankful that the Lord carried us through it and that we will be able to truly celebrate this precious, wondeful union between Alyson and Matt.
Happy Anniversary, sweet sister and brother in law!! I love thinking about your beautiful wedding and the greatest reception I have ever attended! Isn't God the greatest---to not only give you each other but less than 2 years later your precious, beautiful Adalyn Kate! I love you 3!

"Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak of them, they would be too many to declare." Psalm 40:5