VanWingerdingers

Really!? Already???

2012-02-13T18:59:00.000-08:00

Today, Brady is 7 weeks old, but he started rolling over about 5 days ago!! I got it on video today to show the world because I feel like people don't believe me when I tell them. I can't believe he's already rolling over! The first time it happened, I didn't see it and I thought it was a fluke. Then he did it multiple times the next day, and the next day, and the next. I guess he does know what he's doing afterall!! I think he just has such a strong neck that he can get his head up high enough to carry the rest of his body on over. I asked his pediatrician when babies start rolling over and he said 4 months at the earliest! We'll have to wait and see if he does everything this early....I sure hope not!!!!

Sentences and Questions

2012-01-18T17:11:00.000-08:00

Jack is talking a LOT more these days. Tonight at dinner he said this sentence, "Daddy, Mommy changed my dirty diaper." I can't believe the kid put 6 words together! He's growing up WAAAY to fast!!

Jack is also asking a lot of questions. And by questions, I mean, "Why?" and "Doing?" (meaning, "What are you doing?") I hear these 2 questiong countless times every day! I'm not gonna lie, I'll be glad when this phase is over!!

And here's a picture from today just for fun :) The past several days Jack asks at least once a day to hold Brady. And he likes to hold Brady's hand....so sweet!

Brady is here!

2012-01-09T09:27:00.001-08:00

Well, I am officially the world's WORST blogger!! It's been over 2 months since I updated our blog (and have been reminded by a couple of people), and LOTS has happened since then!! We're getting settled into our new house and are loving life in Greenville. But the biggest change in our lives is the arrival of our 2nd son, Brady!! And, I'm 2.5 weeks late on this update!

Brady was born December 26th (about a week and a half before my due date). He weighed in at 8 lbs, 3 oz and 20.5 in long. He's got a full head of dark hair, blue eyes and couldn't be any sweeter. Jack is a very proud big brother and helps out by bouncing Brady in his bouncy seat, reading to Brady, and bringing mommy clean diapers :)

We are loving being a family of 4! Everything about it feels so right and complete. We thank God for a healthy baby boy and a smooth delivery. The Lord has blessed us tremendously and we could not be more grateful! Luke and I were talking last night about how we love Jack so much it seemed impossible to love another child as much as him. But our capacity to love has multiplied and our hearts overflow with love and joy for our 2 children.

Here are a few pictures of our new little guy. I hope to be better about updating our blog in the future, but I'm not making any promises....I'm loving spending time with my 2 boys :)

Jack looking at Brady at the hospital

The boys of the family at the hospital, just after Brady was born
Daddy and son just after his birth

Not the best picture of me, but I had JUST delivered a baby! I just love this bundle of joy to pieces :)

Our first (and only) family picture. Another bad one of me, but again, I had JUST pushed a baby out! Everyone else looks great, though. We really need to take another family picture :) LOVE this one! Jack sure does adore his baby brother :)
The rest are a few pictures that Luke took of Brady a few days after we brought him home.

31 weeks!!

2011-11-03T10:32:00.001-07:00

We're now 31 weeks into our second pregnancy! Praise God everything is going great so far! I have had no complications this time around. Hopefully the next 9 or so weeks will be smooth sailing, too!

I'm starting to feel very pregnant and very tired (I never really got my energy back this time around). Most days I feel I need a nap when Jack takes one. But I haven't been taking as many lately since there's so much to do with moving into a new house. It's also getting harder for me to get up from sitting on the ground...which I do a lot of since we have a toddler! I think Jack's starting to take advantage of it a little bit. He has not been listening quite as well as he used to. But maybe it's partly just because he's getting older and getting an opinion of his own :)

Can't wait to meet our sweet Brady boy!

House Updates...

2011-11-02T18:02:00.000-07:00

Luke, his dad and brothers have been working SO hard on refinishing our kitchen cabinets. It has required much more time than we thought it would....we didn't realize just how bad the paint job on them was! Since we want to move in this weekend, we decided to hire painters for Jack's room, our bedroom, and the family room/ kitchen. If you know us, we're "do it yourself-ers," so it was a big deal to hire someone else to do this. But, they did a GREAT job and we are really happy we did it! Now we can move in this weekend!! YAY!!

Family Room Before:

Family Room After (amazing the difference paint can make, huh?):

I was nervous that this shade of green might be too dark, but I'm super happy with the way it turned out!!

Fireplace:

Kitchen Before:

Kitchen After:

(You can see how the cabinets are coming along. In this picture, they have one coat of primer. They will be antiqued when it's all said and done. I think it'll look great with the green!)

Jack's Room Before:

(Can't really tell in this picture, but it's a VERY bright blue.)

Jack's Room After:

Chair rail still to be added.

Master Bedroom Before:

Master Bedroom After:

Our Little Artist....

2011-10-21T06:42:00.000-07:00

This morning Jack was doodling on a piece of paper. He handed me the pen; I drew a star (the only shape he knows) and asked him what it was. Then I drew a smiley face and asked him what it was....of course, he didn't know. Then, he took the pen back and started drawing little squiggles and asking me what each one of them was. If I didn't answer, he would ask again! This kid keeps me smiling all the time!!

On the News!

2011-10-19T12:56:00.000-07:00

It's hubby brag time! Since we've moved to Greenville (about 2.5 months ago), Luke has been intereviewed for the local news TWICE as a "Tech Expert!" I couldn't be more proud of him!! Here are the links to both of the news stories:

Story #1: http://www2.wspa.com/news/2011/sep/20/mobile-apps-under-investigation-bogus-claims-ar-2438075/

Story #2: http://www2.wspa.com/news/consumer-watch/2011/oct/18/hackers-user-mobile-apps-steal-account-passwords-ar-2570755/

ROAR!

2011-10-17T12:00:00.000-07:00

While walking around Lowes (Luke's favorite store) the other day, Jack decided to try to scare mommy. As you can see in this video, I didn't know that he was "roaring" at me for a little while. This little guy surprises us with his fun and creative personality all the time!

Mark 12:30

2011-10-11T19:42:00.000-07:00

Jack "saying" his Bible verse:

He does "mind" like he does when he's singing, "If you're happy and you know it, then your face will surely show it."

The Waiting Game...

2011-10-11T12:44:00.000-07:00

We closed on our house in Lynchburg yesterday (Monday)!! The process could not have gone any smoother. The lawyers we worked with said we'll never have another closing be so simple and go so smoothly (she was right!). We are so relieved to that house sold and so excited to get moved into our new house in Greenville! However, when we got back to Greenville Monday night, Luke had an email from our lender that the USDA was requesting more information from us. This is a bit of a bummer since we are supposed to close on our new house here in Greenville Wednesday (tomorrow). It has become clear that we'll definitely have to delay the purchase of our new home :(

According to our realtor, she has not had a closing on time in about 4 months. She said that the USDA is in control these days and they "send requests at the 11th hour every time." After quickly getting all the new information to our lender, he sounded like we MIGHT be able to close on Friday (although he origally said around 10 days). We're keeping our fingers crossed for Friday!!

The biggest delimma with delaying the closing is that we had planned to move in on Sat. the 22nd, leaving this upcoming weekend as the only weekend to do work on the house. So, if we can't close, we can't do work on the house, and we can't move in yet. Which means we'll have to pay for another month or storage :(

Although this news is very disappointing to us, we still remember that God is in control of all things. This delay did not happen "by chance." It is not an accident. And God has purpose in this, even if we can't see what it is. We are trusting Him that in His timing, we'll be able to close on and move into our new home!

But for now, we'll play the waiting game :)

"Thank You!"

2011-09-22T09:50:00.000-07:00

Once Jack learned to say "please," we started working with him on saying "thank you" when we give him something. We've probably been working on it for 4 months at least. We always tell him, "say 'thank you,'" and he would repeat us. However, the past few days, he been saying it on his own without our prompting!!! I think he's realized how much we like him saying it, so today he's started saying it just out of the blue: "Thank you, mommy. Mommy, thank you!" for no apparent reason! So sweet :) Of course, when he says "thank you" it sounds more like "tee too," which makes it even cuter! I hope our little boy continues to lean and use good manners!

Our New House!!!

2011-09-04T18:19:00.001-07:00

We found a house in Greenville that we love!!!! Well, actually it's in Simpsonville, but it's all the same area :) We put in an offer and it was accepted!! If all goes well with the inspection and the closing of our house in Lynchburg, we'll be the new owners of this home October 12!! Here's some pictures of the house taken from the MLS website.

Front:

Close-up of the front door (which I LOVE!):

View when you walk in the front door:

Dining room (on the left when you walk in):

Living room (on the right when you walk in):Half bath downstairs:
Family room:
(The TV stays. The open door next to the TV will be a playroom; there's no picture of it. Having a room downstairs for the kids to play in was a huge selling point for us! This is open to the Kitchen) Breakfast and Kitchen (doors on left go to pantry and garage) This picture is taken while standing in the living rom(picture above):

Master bedroom (love the chandelier, but we'll need a fan!):

Master bath:

Master bath sinks:

Closet off master bath (LOVE!!!):

Bedroom #2:

Bedroom #3: Bedroom #4:
Guest bath:

Laundry (washer and dryer stay):

Fenced backyard:

IT'S A BOY!!!!

2011-09-02T18:21:00.000-07:00

Wednesday we went in for our 20 week sonogram (actually, it ended up being at 22 weeks). It's always so exciting to see our baby moving around and hearing his heartbeat! Let me start by saying this baby seems very active to me. But the only thing I have to compare the movements of this baby to is Jack, who was less active in the womb. During the ultrasound, the technichian kept saying, "be still....quit moving for a minute..." I told her this is how he is every time I lay down. About half way through the ultrasound, she said he had already flipped over at least twice!! So, I guess it's not just me and this really is one active baby boy! Hopefully Brady gets it out of his system now! hahaha! Or maybe it'll just make it easier for him to keep up with Jack!

Here's the profile of our little booger:

And the heartbeat (152 beats per minute):

And I just LOVE the 3D pictures!! I know he'll change a lot between now and when he's born, but Brady's lips look just like Jack's when he was newborn :)

We didn't find out if Jack was a boy or girl until he was born and we kept going back and forth about finding out this time. To find out in the doctor's office seemed kinda anti-climactic, so we decided to take the gender in a sealed envelope to Publix. They colored the icing that held the layers together either pink for a girl or blue for a boy. When we cut into the cake, we saw BLUE!!! This was a very exciting way to find out! And we got to share this experience with Luke's parents, Laura's mom, Uncle Nick, Aunt Liz, Uncle Zack, and Uncle Caleb!

Everyone's predictions before cutting the cake:

Cutting the cake!!!

I'll spare Brady the embarrassment in the future of having the "it's a boy!" sonogram picture posted online. But trust me, it's definitely a boy!!!

Insomnia...ugh!!!

2011-08-31T04:46:00.000-07:00

Last night I had the WORST case of insomnia! At first I thought I couldn't go to sleep because I drank a lot of sweet tea a dinner. I don't drink a lot of caffine anymore, so I thought maybe that's what was keeping me up. I finally fell asleep around 1:45am, but woke up again around 3:30am. I laid in bed for a long while trying to go back to sleep, but I was just wide awake. I finally got up at 5:00 am.

Since I was up, I decided to work on a sewing project that I've been needing to do for a LONG time. Our friends, Dom and Bekah, who live in California are expecting their first baby...a boy! Since they live so far away from a lot of their family and friends, Bekah decided to make a bird mobile for their baby, but to have their family and close friends each make one bird to complete the mobile. You can read more about it and see a picture here. SEVERAL months ago I recieved instructions on how to make a bird and swatches of fabric that will be thier nursery colors. My instructions were to pick 2 pieces of contrasting fabrics, follow the pattern to make the bird, and return it to them by August 1st (OOPS!!).

I found 2 pieces of fabric in their nursery colors I liked from WalMart for $1.50 each (score!). Since I was wide awake this morning, I decided to get to work on making this bird. I mean, they do need it before the baby makes his big arrival! I am not a seamstress. I have only sewn a few things in my life. And to be honest, I didn't know if this bird would turn out right at all. But I wanted to give it a shot. (I even had to borrow a needle and thread from my mother in law!) I know this is not the best bird in the world and there are lots of blemishes, I'm sure. I actually stuffed it with left over fabric...I mean, c'mon, I definitely don't have any batting laying around my house! So, it turned out a little lumpy. But, this bird was made with much love! Maybe Bekah can put my bird at the top of the mobile so people can't see it real good :)

The top side of the bird:

The bottom side of the bird:

Now let's just hope it doesn't take me as long to ship the bird as it did for me to make it!!!

Birthday Weekend!!

2011-08-31T04:41:00.001-07:00

This past Sunday was my 27th birthday. This one was really special because my mom and dad were able to come spend the weekend with us. It was the first time in 10 years I've spent my birthday with them!!

We watched movies, went to a Drive game (local minor league baseball team), walked around downtown, went to church, looked at some model homes, ate dinner downtown, ate hot & ready Krispy Kreme doughnuts (my birthday cake), and just had a really good time!

My parents have been to Greenville before, but have never visited Greenville. I think they were pretty impressed with the city :)

Here's a picture of my mom, me, Jack, and Luke's mom Sunday night after my birthday dinner downtown:

Tonight Luke and I went out on a birthday date...just the two of us!! He took me to PF Chang's, which was AMAZING! He also told me that in a couple of weekends, some of my girlfriends from Lynchburg are coming down for a girls weekend and he's taking Jack with him somewhere else (TBD) as part of my birthday present! I couldn't be more excited!!!!

Pure and Faultless Religion

2011-08-29T13:11:00.000-07:00

A couple of Sunday's ago, we visited a church where the pastor shared James 1:27:

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

When the pastor spoke about this verse, he focused on the part about looking after orphans. I was thinking about that sermon this afternoon and the part about looking after widows hit me like a ton of bricks. I realized that we have a sweet 86 year old widowed lady, Mrs. Jean, living in the condo right next to ours and although I speak with her every few days, I have not done a good job of "looking after her." Mrs. Jean loves our son Jack to pieces. She only has one daughter living in town that visits her once a week at the most. I thought about how lonely she must be and it made me want to cry. I felt so convicted that to look after widows is what God loves and wants from us, and I have failed to do so with the person I share a front porch with. Never once have I invited Mrs. Jean inside my home. Never once have I invited her over for dinner. I guess there's always some excuse like, "my house is messy" or "I haven't prepared anything great to eat," but I honestly don't think she would care one bit. I think she would enjoy our company more than anything in the world.

So, we hope to have Mrs. Jean over for dinner later this week and hopefully spend more time with her and do a better job of looking out for her in the future.

My challenge to you (and myself): God's Word clearly says that the religion He loves is when we look after orphans and widows (not going to church, not singing in the choir, not soaking up knowledge, etc., etc. - although all good things). What are you doing to look after orphans and widows in your life?

Potty Training???

2011-08-14T17:34:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, Jack started telling me when he pooped. Not every time, but most of the time. So, I decided that even though Jack is still really young (20 months), we'd give potty training a shot. I haven't pushed it very much or even been really consistent with it because we've been out and about most mornings. I though he didn't really seem to interested in it or know how to control his bladder, so I was gonna call it quits. I figured he's too young for it anyhow. After his nap today, I decided to put him in big boy underwear one last time. He peed all over the den floor. But when I went to change him, he wanted to wear his underwear again instead of a diaper. A little while later, we noticed he was wet again, so I put him in a diaper. Later I went into the bathroom and saw that he had peed on the bathroom floor.....right next to his potty!! Maybe it was coincidence. But maybe I'll give potty training a little more time before calling it quits :)

Baby #2

2011-08-14T17:27:00.000-07:00

I feel like our second pregnancy is so different from our first. When I was pregnant with Jack, we took pictures of my belly all the time and I would NEVER forget how many weeks pregnant I was. I guess we're just so busy keeping up with Jack that I forget to post much about Baby #2 on our blog! So, here's a brief update of what's been going on in my belly recently. I'm now 18.5 weeks pregnant. I've been feeling the baby move for a long time now and Luke's been able to feel the movements for a couple of weeks. The past couple of days, the baby must be doing some crazy somersaults or something because we've both been able to SEE my belly move when the baby does!! I haven't had another doctor's appointment yet. We're waiting to get our group and policy numbers with our new insurance. I have my first appointment down here scheduled for a couple of weeks. We should be getting another ultrasound soon, so more pictures to come (yay!)!!

Potty Time!!

2011-08-01T10:45:00.000-07:00

I won't go into too much detail or post the picture that I texted to Jack's daddy and grandmas (and his Aunt Liz who didn't appreciate it ;) ). All I'll say is Jack pooped in the potty for the first time Friday and this is one proud mama!! Hopefully we can continue down the potty training road with some success :)

Life in Greenville

2011-07-27T18:28:00.000-07:00

Well, we've been pretty busy since our move! We almost completely settled into our apartment now. Luke had his first day at work yesterday (which went GREAT!). Yesterday we also celebrated Luke's 27th birthday and went out to eat with a bunch of family here in town. Jack and Laura visited downtown for about an hour today. It's so fun down there, but SOOO HOT!! All in all, everything's going great so far!! I (Laura) don't have much access to the internet right now, so I'll go ahead and apologize in advace for the lack of posts. Thanks everyone for all your prayers and all of your continued support of our family!!

Our BIG move!!

2011-07-12T18:34:00.000-07:00

I think that most people have heard by now, but our family is moving to Greenville, SC!! We are so excited about this opportunity that God has provided us with! It's something we've prayed about for over a year. Luke accepted a job at the University of South Carolina Upstate as their Director of IT Client Services. We move down next week and he starts July 26 (His Birthday)!!

If that's all the info. you want, you can stop reading now. If you want to hear more details about how we've seen God's hand in the midst of this whole process, keep reading :)

WHY GREENVILLE?
Luke's parents, 3 of his brothers and a whole slew of aunts, uncles and cousins live in Greenville. Also, Laura's family lives in Georgia, about 3.5 hrs. away from Greenville. We're currently 8 hrs. away from Laura's family. We've wanted to be closer to family for a long time now and have been specifically praying about moving to Greenville for more than a year.

THE JOB
Luke first applied for another position at USC Upstate. He received an email from the vice-chancellor of IT (Jeanne) saying he was not qualified for that position, but that they would be posting another position soon that he was qualified for and to apply for it once he saw it on their website. Several weeks later, Luke saw the position posted on a Monday night. He submitted his application and sent his resume to the vice chancellor and got a call Tuesday morning before 10 am about an interview! We ended up driving down to Greenville after Luke got off work Wednesday, he interviewed on Thursday, and was back at work at LU on Friday. Talk about a quick trip!! We later found out that the Jeanne did not even have his application (only his resume) when she interviewed him! That in itself is a God-thing.

We got the job offer call a couple of weeks after Luke's interview and accepted the next day. When Luke called back to accept the job, he asked if they would pay any moving expenses. Jeanne told him she had never heard of them doing that before, but that she would ask. Turns out they're going to reimburse us up to $1,500 of moving costs! Thank you, Lord!

THE HOUSE
Prior to anything with this job, we had dinner with our neighbors and mentioned that once we have another baby, we'd probably start looking for another house. Now, this is before we were pregnant again. After we found out we were going to have another baby (which was a surprise to us!) and told our neighbors, they remembered what we previously said about our house. I guess you should know that our neighbors only live next to us part of the year; they also have a home in Vermont. Before they left for Vermont, they told us to let them know if we were planning to sell our house, that they were interested in buying. This is all before we knew about the job! Since accepting this new job, we have talked with them several times and they are going to buy our house!! What a blessing!! We will never have to even put it on the market! The even bigger blessing is that once everything is said and done we won't have to pay anything else on the house. This is really great considering today's economy and the fact that we bought our house at the peak of the market. What a God-thing that we won't be loosing any money! We do have a few things to fix up on the house before our neighbors take possession, but most of them are minor things. The biggest thing is that we need to replace is the linoleum in the kitchen and back door, but it's definitely something that needs to be done. We really feel that we would not have gotten a better deal if we had listed with a realtor.

THE NEW PLACE
We left Lynchburg Sunday after church and headed for Greenville to look for apartments. Our plan was to spend the day looking at apartments on Monday, and Tuesday if needed. Well, Sunday night Luke's uncle came over to his parents house to drop some stuff off and metioned that maybe we could rent Allison's (his daughter's) condo. We went Monday morning and looked at one apartment, then we went to check out Allison's condo. We knew going into it that renting from Allison would be the best deal for us. Since we only want to do a 3 month lease while we look for a house, all the apartment complexes charge an extra $100 a month for short term leases. Plus there are application fees, pet fees, deposits, etc., etc., etc. We had lunch with Allison and discussed the details if we rented her place. We would have none of those fees. Over lunch, Allison also shared with us that she was planning on moving back in on July 4, but just didn't because she was too busy. So, it's a God-thing that her condo is even available for us to stay in!

After lunch with Allison, we were going to visit 2 more apartments just to check them out. We got to the first one. No one was in the office and the door was locked. And they looked a little too ghetto for me, so we decided to head on to the next one. We got to the next one and they looked nice, but there was a sign up saying they wouldn't be back until 2:30. It was only 2:00. We didn't really feel like waiting around for a half hour, so we took it as a sign from the Lord that he was providing us another place to live. So, we left and went home (well, to Luke's parent's hosue that is).

THE PLAN NOW
We're packing up our house right now and we're planning on moving everything down Tuesday of next week! We'll have to put a lot of stuff in storage for a few months. Hopefully we'll get to know the area quickly (schools and such) and will be able to find a house we like and buy it! Our goal is to be in a house and settled before Baby #2 comes in January. We're shooting for October to purchase a home in Greenville and Luke is shooting for baby # 2 to come this year :-).

Precious Moments :)

2011-06-24T11:01:00.000-07:00

This probably goes down as one of my favorite, sweetest moments with Jack so far :) I was on the phone with Luke and was going to put Jack down for his nap when I got off. I guess he just couldn't wait a few more minutes! I let him sleep like this for a little bit because it was just too sweet. I didn't want to get up and put him in his bed, but I knew it must be done....especially if I want to get a nap ;)

Sidenote: Yes, that is a pink paci. He has a particular kind he likes and they needed replacing...BAD. I checked all over the place and couldn't find some exactly like he had. I finally found a pack, which included a pink paci. This is the one we keep in his bed. He's probably gonna kill me when he gets older for posting a picture of him with a pink paci!!

Jack has something to tell you!!

2011-06-15T17:49:00.000-07:00

Jack's been waiting for weeks and he won't let us make him wait any longer. He has something very important and exciting he wants to tell you! Go ahead, Jack:

I don't know how it happened,

but I'm obviously VERY excited about it!!

Here's a picture of my little brother or sister. The baby's 10 weeks old in this picture and his/ her head is down. You can see a cute little arm sticking out - awwww!

No, it's not a boy. That's an arm.

Q & A time:

Q: How far along are you? 11 weeks

Q: When's your due date? January 5, 2012

Q: How are you feeling? A Pretty good. I'm mostly over feeling nauseous. I'm just really tired! This pregnancy has been MUCH better than the first so far!

We went last week for our first doctor's visit, where we got to see Baby V #2. We are so blessed! Baby looks healthy and has a strong heartbeat. Mom is doing very well, too. We praise God for such a great report! (If you remember from my pregnancy with Jack, our first report was not all perfect.)

Got Weed?

2011-06-05T17:38:00.001-07:00

First, let me explain the title of this post. I asked Luke, "What's a good title for our garden blog post?" "Got Weed?" was his response! hahaha He sure keeps things interesting around here!!

If you've been keeping up with our blog, you know from my post about 2 months ago that I started some vegetable seeds for a garden. Our wonderful, super-generous neighbors gave us 8 different types of organic veggie seeds. Of course, I should've planted these in the ground a LONG time ago, but we have just been so busy and out of town so much that we haven't gotten around to it. Yesterday, we FINALLY planted our veggies in the ground! Now I'm just praying that they will take to the soil (well, mostly clay) and actually grow into something we can eat!!

That's the tiller that our other awesome neighbor (who owns a lawn care business) let us borrow to get the ground ready for our garden. We (and by "we" I mean Luke) seriously would not have been able to do this without a tiller!

Jack "helping" Luke get the ground ready. Not sure how a golf club helps....but I'm sure somehow it does ;)

Luke mixing in some soil with our wonderful clay yard.

AAAnnnnd......the after picture!! That's our ghetto cheap way of making something for the tomato plants to grow up - hahaha! We had some lattice left over from a couple of years ago when Luke put some around our back deck. Thrifty (uhh....cheap), huh??

What's in our garden, you ask? Well, there's Sweetie Tomatos, Rutger Tomatos, Romaine Lettuce, Oakleaf Lettuce, Onions, Peppers, Okra, and Collards.

Beach Time!!!!

2011-06-05T17:30:00.000-07:00

Last week my sis-in-law, Liz, her daughter Sophie, and Jack and I were able to go with our in-laws to the beach for 3 days! Our hubbies weren't able to go with us because they couldn't take the time off work. It sure is wonderful to have such a good relationship with your spouse's parents that you can go on vacation with them without your spouse. God has certaintly blessed me with wonderful in-laws!!

I'm really bad at taking pictures, so I only got a few on the first day we were at the beach. Here they are:

Jack and Sophie playing with YaYa and Grandpa on the beach :)

YaYa playing with Jack in the ocean. Jack LOVED the water and the waves!!

Figuring out how to dig in the sand....

....and then put the sand in the bucket!

Yummy Strawberries!!

2011-06-05T17:18:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago Jack and I went with our good friend Jen to pick some DELICIOUS strawberries! Jack loved picking them...and eating them, of course :) So far we have enjoyed strawberry shakes, homemade strawberry jam, and LOTS of just plain strawberries - YUM!!

Thinking about picking some strawberries: Picking strawberries the "big boy" way:

Picking strawberries the "easy" way! Tee hee!

Jack with "Aunt Jen" at the strawberry farm:

Jack and Mommy at the strawberry farm :) I love this little guy!!

Washington Park

2011-05-25T17:58:00.001-07:00

While we were in Macon, I went with my dad, Landon, and Jack to Washington Park one day. This was a park I grew up going to, so I was really excited to take Jack there. If you've never been there, it's a really beautiful park with water running all through it.

Jack loved blowing bubbles and actually learned to say "bubble" this day! Now, he says it all the time and ALWAYS wants to go outside and blow bubbles.

Landon watching the water carry the ball to him.

Splashing :)

It took Jack a little while to warm up to the water (because the water was cold). Here's a picture of him running through the water with "PawPaw" in the background.

Trying to get a picture of the two of them....Jack wasn't having any of that!

Ok....KINDA got them both in this shot....

Landon showing off his muscles!!

Bobby's Graduation!!!!

2011-05-25T17:43:00.001-07:00

I am SO proud of my big brother, Bobby, for graduating from Macon State College a couple of weeks ago!!! He had so many reasons that he could've quit, but he stuck with it and graduated with his bachelors in business!

There he his! The one with the long hair and beard!!

See him walking across the stage getting his "diploma" (a piece of paper that says be sure to pay all your fines, etc.)?

Walking off the stage.....

There's me and my big bro after his graduation ceremony! Way to go, Bobby!!

I just LOVE this picture! Landon (my nephew, Bobby's son) shaking Bobby's hand after graduation.

My parents with Bobby afterwards:

A nice Father/ Son photo op :)

Outside Fun

2011-05-18T18:26:00.000-07:00

We're watching my brother and sister in law's dog this week, so Jack and I have gone outside every morning to let him and Levi out (we have an invisible fence, so normally we just let Levi out and we stay inside). This morning was no different....until we got back inside. Jack kept bringing me his Crocs and saying, "shoes, shoes, shoes." I knew what he wanted, but I just said, "yes, those are shoes" and tried to ignore him because I didn't want to go back out at the moment. He proceeded to bring me my flip flops and tried to put them on my feet. After that, he brought a dog bowl and said, "dog, dog." I said, "Do you want to take the dogs outside?" "Yes!" and he ran to the door.

So, I put his crocs on over his footed jammies and we went back outside with the dogs....and brought the bubbles with us this time :)

Having fun running outside:

Playing with Levi:

Jack loves to sit on the front step with me :)
While I had the camera outside, I thought I'd take a picture of my Dahilias to show you. Remember our super generous neighbors who gave us all the veggies? Well, they also gave us 3 Dahilia plants. One of them has come up. I'm not sure why some of the leaves are missing chunks! The other 2 have yet to show themselves....I hope I didn't drown them!!
On a side note, our son is becoming quite the artist.....well, at least he likes to draw! But only with pen. Here's a picture of some artwork from today proudly displayed on our fridge:

Bible verse, Body parts, and Bubble baths

2011-04-29T17:07:00.000-07:00

Jack is learning his animal sounds and his first Bible verse! So, the animal sounds in this video aren't so great, but he can do dog, cat, cow and lion sounds. The animal sounds are followed by Jack (sorta) doing his verse :)

Jack is also learning his body parts. Today he learned "tongue" (not in the video).

And last, but not least (well, maybe least :)), Jack had his first bubble bath tonight :) It took him a while before he would actually sit down in it. And he mostly liked to eat the bubbles.

Ladies Man ;)

2011-04-25T10:31:00.000-07:00

Funny story:
Jack and I were driving home with the car windows down today. We pulled up beside a car full of college girls (there was at least 5 or 6 of them in there) at a red light who also had their windows down and their music blaring. When they realized there was a toddler in the back of my car they all started waving at Jack. They all flipped out when he blew kisses back at them!

Onions and Peppers!! (well, pepper...)

2011-04-24T17:51:00.000-07:00

I was reading back over my last post and realized that I made a mistake. I wrote that my peppers were starting to sprout; however, it was my onions that were sprouting. I now have 4 onion sprouts (yay!). There's 3 in this picture. One of the sprouts is in another section.

I've been waiting, and waiting, and waiting and checking my peppers daily. This morning, there were no sprouts, but by the end of the day I have one, tiny sprout!!! Yay, I'm so excited!!

Veggies are Growin!!

2011-04-20T10:32:00.001-07:00

Just an update on my first ever vegetable garden: I haven't killed them, yet!!! The okra is doing especially well. None of my onions have sprouted and only one pepper is just starting to sprout (enough so you can just barely see it).

Gardening Adventures!

2011-04-15T10:53:00.000-07:00

About a month ago, we had a speaker come to our MOPS group to talk about gardening/ landscaping stuff. I've always considered myself to have a pretty black thumb. But I was inspired to try a vegetable garden this year (even though I didn't think I would end up following through with is). I mentioned it to our very generous neighbors who are always out in their yard tending to their plants. About a week later they gave us a some organic seeds to get us started!! I planted collards, okra, 2 types of tomatos, 2 types of lettuce, peppers, and onions. That was Monday.

Today I have some collard sprouts!! There's 2 in this picture, but 4 total! Hopefully I'll be able to keep these things alive!!

"Tissues."

2011-04-15T10:47:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, I was getting dinner ready in the kitchen. Jack usually is clinging to me, wanting to be held, and wanting to see EVERYTHING I do while I cook. But yesterday, Jack was being quiet in the den, so I was very excited. I heard him blowing his nose over and over, but didn't think too much of it because I had given him one wipe to blow his nose with. When I finally went into the den, this is what I found:

Apparently he blew his nose on every wipe in the box!!! Don't worry, nothing got on them, so I just put them all back in the wipes container :)

And this picture is just too sweet not to share. I was trying to wake Jack up because it was 8:45 and we had to be somewhere at 9:30. This is how he's sleeping most nights when we go in to check on him before we go to bed:

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

2011-04-06T17:47:00.000-07:00

I recently went to Anderson's, an Amish store we have here in Lynchburg, where I picked up a recipe for homemade dishwasher detergent. I've been making my own laundry detergent for a while and really enjoy saving money that way, so I thought I'd give this a try. I've been using it for a couple of weeks now and it seems to do a great job cleaning our dishes! I already had the Washing Soda and Borax because I use them when I make laundry detergent. And I already had salt, of course. I did not know what Citric Acid was or where to find it. It's used for canning tomatoes and I got it at Anderson's. I couldn't find it at the Kroger near my house, but it's also a small Kroger. I'm not near smart enough to figure out how much it costs per load, but I'm pretty sure it's saving us money :) Maybe I should get my mom, who's a math teacher, to figure it out for me! Here's the recipe: 1 cup Washing Soda 1 cup Borax 1/2 cup Salt 1/2 cup Citric Acid Mix together and store tightly covered in a glass jar. Use one tablespoon per load. If you live in the area and have never been to Anderson's, I highly recommend making at least one visit. They have great prices on locally made things (honey, produce, etc.) and bulk items.

Cheese Face

2011-04-01T14:21:00.000-07:00

This is what Jack's face looks like when he eats mac and cheese.

Making Faces

2011-03-27T18:01:00.001-07:00

Jack is starting to use other facial expressions besides just smiling/ laughing and crying.

These are his "angry eyes" when he doesn't like something we've done:

We were trying to get him to do his "angry eyes" and instead he gave us his "surprised face:"

"Bible"

2011-03-27T10:58:00.000-07:00

We stayed home from church today because Jack was not feeling great yesterday. We didn't want to risk getting the other kids in the nursery sick, so we thought it'd be best if we didn't go. After breakfast, we asked Jack if he wanted to read his Bible. And he said "Bible." No sweeter word to a mother's ear :) We read one story, and he kept asking for more. I think we read 3 stories this morning. For my son, that's AMAZING! Normally, when we read books, we're lucky to make it past 2 pages! We enjoyed singing a few songs about Jesus and then watched a VeggieTales movie (lol). Although we missed being at our church very much, we had a great morning as a family here at home.

15 months already???

2011-03-22T11:55:00.000-07:00

15 months and growing, growing, growing! I feel like this kid NEVER slows down! It seems like Jack is getting more and more coordinated every day. And he understands everything we say even though he can't communicate back to us very well, yet.

Last Monday, Jack had his 15 month checkup at the doctor. She was very impressed with his verbals skills (saying about 10 words or so), his coordination (can run and throw a ball like it's his job), and the fact that he can sit in time-out all by himself for 1 minute :) It's such a blessing to have a healthy, growing, active little boy. Thank you, Lord, for a healthy toddler!

For those who are interested, here's Jack's new stats:

Height: 32.5 inches = between 75% and 90%
Weight: 25 pounds = between 50% and 75%

We've been taking a lot of video of everything that Jack's been doing lately. You're getting an overload on videos today!

Jack's first chore....Feeding the dog. He does it every day. And sometimes he'll even go over to where Levi's food is, point at the door and grunt when he's ready to feed Levi.

Jack's YaYa gave him this car. Every time we go outside he wants to get in it. And he'll play with it FOREVER. Such a boy :)

Jack received a package in the mail yesterday from MiMi and Paw Paw. He has loved playing with this toy the past 2 days :)

Monkey see, monkey do! (Not saying that Luke's a monkey or anything.... :) ) That's the story of Jack. He mimicks us all the time! Luke was grilling dinner and decided to do a few pushups and Jack tried to do them too! hahaha

Bye, Bye Mullet!

2011-03-06T11:22:00.000-08:00

We finally took Jack for his first haircut last weekend. His hair was getting a little crazy and out of control. You can't see it really good in this picture, but he was beginning to have a bit of a mullet!

Jack enjoyed playing with the toys before the big chop.

I would brush his hair, then every time he would get in his car seat, lay down, or pretty much do anything, it would end up looking like this:

The lady that cut his hair had kids of her own and was EXCELLENT with Jack!
Every time she would snip some hair, Jack would turn around to see what she was doing.

Getting rid of the mullet :)
The "after" shot:
I didn't have them cut aroudn his ears because I like hair with a little length to it. AND since they didn't have to do a full haircut, they only charged us 5 bucks!! (That's the price of a bang/ beard/ neck trim.)

FL Trip Part 3: Macon, GA

2011-03-01T18:46:00.001-08:00

This part of our FL trip was the surprise part!! Well, kind of a surprise.... We were planning to stop in Macon Saturday night and leave Sunday morning. When we discovered that Mom had Monday off of school, I (Laura) decided to stay until Tuesday morning. Sadly, I didn't take very many pictures.

MiMi and Jack went to the backyard for a swing one afternoon. Landon and I ended up going outside to play with them, too :)

Bobby and I took Jack and Landon to the park Monday afternoon. Jack was totally wiped out. I left the house for a little bit and Bobby got Jack to fall asleep on the couch. For those of you that know my son, you know that this NEVER happens....he only sleeps in his bed.

I sure did enjoy my extended stay with my family in Macon! We don't make it down there near as often as we'd like to. We always have such a wonderful time when we get to visit our Macon family!

FL Trip Part 2: Mt. Dora

2011-02-27T18:22:00.000-08:00

Wednesday morning we packed up our bags and headed to Mt. Dora (just oustide of Orlando) to visit Uncle Jim, Aunt Dawn, Jake, Ben, and Sarah (and Grandma and Grandpa Brumels got to come visit for a couple of days!). Mt. Dora is just about the cutest place ever! We enjoyed beautiful, sunny, 70 degree weather the whole time we were there!

First things first, Luke needed to give Jack some Root Beer. Which I happen to think is disgusting, but Jack seemed to love it :)

Soon after we arrived at Jim and Dawn's house, Jack discovered his new favorite thing to do: walking the dog! These two kept each other busy for hours!!

This was a different day, but I wanted to group all the dog walking pictures together. Just for the record, I did not let my son walk around like this :)

Thursday night we went to the Disney Boardwalk for ice cream and fun. This is Uncle Jim with Jack. Jack took a real liking to Uncle Jim and Aunt Dawn.

We rarely get pictures of just the two of us anymore. I love this man!

After waiting around for a little while, Jack decided to take off!

Sophie decided to take off, too!!Uncle Jim and Aunt Dawn loving on Jack :)

Most of us at the boardwalk (Grandma and Grandpa Brumels, Uncle Jim, Jack, Me, Aunt Dawn)

Jack was so proud of himself for getting up in this rocking chair!

This is what we really went to the Boardwalk for: Beaches and Cream!! It's a 50's style restaurant that's known for their ice cream. You'll see what we ordered in the next picture. This, my friends, is called "The Kitchen Sink!" I didn't get a picture of it before we started digging in. Basically it's a bunch of scoops of ice cream with candy mixed all in it and tons of toppings! And a WHOLE CAN of whipped cream! YUM!!!

Jack eating his first Oreo. This one happened to be kinda soggy from the ice cream to begin with.

Me and Aunt Dawn enjoying our Kitchen Sink.... and yes, we ate everything but the kitchen sink :)

A short video of Jack enjoying some ice cream.

Friday we explored a little bit of Mount Dora, then spend some time out by the pool. It was really nice weather for laying out, but too cold for me to get in the water. Jack and Luke enjoyed splashing in it, though.

This kid loves water so much!

I love these two! I wouldn't pick Jack up when he was all wet, but Aunt Dawn is much nicer than I am :) I LOVE this picture! All the cousins (minus Jack): Luke, Nick, Jake, Ben, Sophie, and Sarah in the front.

We had so much fun with Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles, and Cousins in Mt. Dora! I can't wait 'til we get to go visit again! Thanks for having us Uncle Jim and Aunt Dawn!!

FL Trip Part One: Tampa

2011-02-25T19:36:00.000-08:00

We enjoyed a wonderful 1 1/2 week vacation this month! We got to travel with Nick, Liz and Sophie, which was wonderful and made all the driving much more fun! Our first stop was in Tampa to visit Luke's Grandma and Grandpa VanWingerden and his Uncle Bruce, Aunt Diane, Kira and Gunner.

Sunday morning started out with going to church with Grandma and Grandpa. This picture is in the lobby of their church. As you can see from the picture, it's a pretty huge church! Outside of the children's area, they have two huge fish tanks for the kids to look at. Jack loved pointing to all of the fishies :)

Sunday evening we went over to Uncle Bruce and Aunt Diane's house for dinner. This is Jack with their dog, Rodie (as in a rodie who travels with a band). He LOVED Rodie and Rodie was sooo good with Jack and Sophie even though he had not been around small kids very much.

Jack also enjoyed playing on their drumset:

Sometimes when the kids get tired, they just want the mommies. Liz and I was busy playing on the Wii, so we let the kids "help" us.

Monday we went to see the manatees. Jack fell alseep on the way there....he's just too cute when he sleeps! :)

There's a power plant in this cove and the manatee come hang out here until the water in the gulf warms up. There are literally hundreds of them!

You can see more of the plant in this picture:

There was also a birding trail that you could walk down. It was really pretty, but there weren't too many birds out this time of year.

You can see how the trail was covered in trees in this picture - like a tunnel.

Big boy Jack had to get down and push his own stroller.

Monday night we went to Josh and Amanda's house (where Nick, Liz and Sophie were staying) for dinner. They have a heated pool in their neighborhood, so the kids got in and played a little bit. It was still a bit cold for me! Despite the look on Jack's face in this picture, he really was having fun! He always LOVES being in the water! The second picture is of Nick and Sophie walking in the water.

Josh and Amanda have a waterslide at their pool. I'm not sure Jack knew what to think of it!

We had a FANTASTIC time in Tampa and it was really good to catch up with family and friends that we haven't seen in a long time!

Kiss the baby....

2011-02-09T07:27:00.000-08:00

Jack loves to give the "baby" kisses in the mirror!

I didn't realize this video would be sideways....turn your computers :) Disclaimer: please excuse my annoying voice. I don't realize I sound like a complete idiot when I talk to my son until I hear myself on video.

Man Purse

2011-01-30T17:37:00.000-08:00

We heard Jack playing in the kitchen, so after a few minutes Luke went over to check on him. He had put his sippy cup in Luke's shoe and was carrying it around like a purse!! This little boy makes us laugh all the time!

He was so proud of himself!

As you can see from the first 2 pictures, Jack is a big fan of not wearing clothes! This evening we were letting him run around in the sweater he wore to church this morning and his diaper.

Luke and I were sitting on the couch watching the Pro Bowl when Jack walked climbed up in my lap and handed me his socks to put on him. A few minutes he came back with his tennis shoes! Pretty stylish, huh??

Ok, I know this is bad, but I just had to post this picture! Jack had just walked into the side of the couch and was momentarily upset. (You can see the red mark it left on his forehead in the picture above). Look how big his mouth can get!!! hahaha :)

Jack's 1 Year Pictures

2011-01-29T09:21:00.000-08:00

We FINALLY took Jack for his one year pictures. Only a couple of months late! hahaha We were really pleased with how they turned out. Luke and I jumped in for a few family shots, too. Keep in mind that these are the raw images, so the ones that are zoomed in look a little better :)

He didn't want to stay in the chair at all! This is the best "chair" shot they were able to get.

Another family shot :)

Jack ran after this bear when he saw it. Then, he wrestled it to the ground!! hahaha

He LOVED playing with the blocks!

I love the expression on his face in this one!

....and this one

Such a happy boy!

He's so expressive sometimes! He also loved the firetruck (which I happen to think is a super cute prop!)

Typical Jack face when he's laughing

A much needed update!

2011-01-27T07:09:00.001-08:00

I know, I know...I'm a GIANT slacker on keeping our blog updated!! I don't know if I'll ever get around to posting pictures from Jack's first birthday or Christmas. The pictures are on Luke's computer and I just never think about it once he's home for the evening.

The most exciting recent thing is that Jack is now saying WORDS!!! Of course, none of them are super clear. And he only repeats them after we say them. But here's a list of what he says:

mama
dada
dog
woof
throw
cheese
please (which sounds a lot like cheese)
hot
paw paw
bo bo (for uncle bobby)
juice

Jack also has all but 2 teeth. Although he's a pretty good teether, I'll be very happy when teething is over (for a couple of years at least :) ).

Here's an updated picture of our little man so you can see how big he's getting:

Hopefully, I'll be better at updating our blog in the future. But I'm not making any promises :)

A "made" Christmas gift

2010-12-16T08:39:00.000-08:00

My friend Bekah came up with the idea of some of us girls from college, who are spread across the country, to do a "made" gift exchange. I immediately thought, "fun...but JUNK!!" For those of you that know me, know that I am ver craft challenged! I went straight to the internet looking for something to make for Casey. I found this website that explained how to make a Williams Sonoma knock-off glass hurricane candle thing using items from the Dollar Store. I used super glue instead of hot glue; tried the hot glue and it didn't really work.

I got the hurricane vase and candle from the Dollar Store ($1 each). They didn't have the base, so Jen picked some a different type of base at Walmart for $2. My wonderful sis-in-law gave me some holly from their tree ($FREE!!). So each candle costs $4 to make ($8 for the set). I had to go ahead and make some for me as well! :)

Here's the finished result!! I was pretty thrilled about how well they turned out! And I plan on changing out the holly with different things for each season (like brown leaves in the Fall - like the Williams Sonoma ones).

(I guess I need to make sure the candles are straight!! hahaha)

Jack's Toddling!

2010-12-16T06:30:00.000-08:00

It's true....Jack is taking more and more steps each day!! I don't have a video to show you yet, but if you're my friend on Facebook, you can go to my profile page and see a video that our sister-in-law took Tuesday night.

For MiMi

2010-12-08T10:00:00.000-08:00

This one's for you Mom :)

Jack's One Year Checkup...

2010-12-08T09:08:00.000-08:00

Jack had his 1 year checkup with the doctor on Monday. Our boy's doing great!! He also had his first birthday party...I'll do a post about that later once I get all the pictures and videos together. I just can't believe he's one! His doctor said I'll be saying that when he's 5, and 10, and 16, and 20..... I guess you never get used to your baby growing up :)

Here's his news stats:
Height: 31" - 75%
Weight: 21 lb 14.5 oz - 25%
Head Circumference: 18" - 50%

Although Jack's not walking yet, the doctor was really impressed with his coordination and balance. When you only have one kid, you think everything they do is normal. I had no idea that balancing on one foot (whild holding on of course) was something I should be impressed about! hahaha

Fun Facts About Jack:

He takes a step or two here and there. He also can walk pretty well while holding onto one finger. And he cruises ALL the time!
He mimicks us all the time - which is quite hysterical sometimes!
Jack eats mostly solid food now. He still has his bottle 4 times a day, but usually only eats a few ounces.
Some of his favorite foods include: grapes, oranges, Chicken Poppyseed Casserole, Chicken Packets, carrots, green peas, black eyed peas
Jack's learning how to put shapes in his shape sorter.
He loves anything that he can spin.
He gets into EVERYTHING!! He's always on the move and loves to open drawers and pull whatever's in them out.
He smiles and laughs all the time - he's such a joy in our lives!
Jack likes to dance to music.
He's starting to jump....sometimes his feet even leave the ground!
He's a climber! If there's something he can climb on, he will.
He loves to play with balls. He's pretty good at throwing them, too. We'll have to work on catching them, though :)
Jack LOVES taking a bath!
He also loves to play on our laptops...even if we don't love it! hahaha

We just love our little guy so much and can't imagine what our lives would look like without him!

Thanksgiving

2010-12-06T09:36:00.001-08:00

It's time to update our blog again!! Actually, it's way past time, but I'm just now getting around to it :)

We had a wonderful time in GA with Laura's family for Thanksgiving! It's been way too long since we've visiting family in Georgia!

Jack with Uncle Bobby - they formed a special bond over the week :)

I, Laura, made some pilgrim had cookies with my nephew Landon. They didn't take as long as I thought they would. And I think they turned out super cute!!

Landon wanted to wear his pilgrim hat for the picture :)

Jack and Paw Paw

Jack and MiMi - she wanted to hold him like a baby...this is about as close as anybody will get!

Our family on Thanksgiving Day

The grandparents with their grandkids

The great-grandparents with 2 of the great grandkids

...and now with 3 of the grandkids

Landon :) love that kid!

Landon and Jack crawling

Told you they had a special bond :)Jack and Landon playing basketball. As you can see in this video, Jack pretty much watched everything Landon did all week.

Jack got to try lots of new southern foods that I never cook because I married a northerner! :) (Love you, honey!) Some of the foods he tried (and enjoyed) include butter beans, black eyed peas, cheese grits, and Buttermilk Custard Pie (which pretty much no one in Luke's family likes).

Here's the PROOF that Jack loves Buttermilk Custard Pie! And I didn't have to force feed him (Liz...)

I mean....could his mouth get any wider???

Outside Fun!

2010-11-09T18:22:00.000-08:00

Jack absolutely LOVES being outside! It's been cold the past couple of weeks, but we're having a warm front right now. So, I took Jack outside yesterday for a little fun. I figured it'll be one of our last times playing outside before the weather turns cold for good.

Jack really enjoys playing in this car that YaYa got him. He loves for me to push him up and down the driveway in it :)

Yeah, so Jack eats a leaf in this video. I was trying to watch through the camera and make sure he was still in the shot and couldn't quite see exactly what was going on or respond quickly....whoops!

Time...

2010-11-08T06:46:00.001-08:00

So this was our first "fall back" experience with Jack. Normally, I LOVE to fall back...it's way better than springing forward! Who wouldn't want an extra hour of sleep?? (Or what usually turns into an extra hour of being awake....) Jack, however, has had a little bit of a tough time adjusting. Yesterday morning he woke up at 6:55am - WAAAAAY to early! But we had to get ready for church, so we decided to go ahead and get him up.

This morning, he woke up at 6:45am -even earlier!! After a while of fussing in his crib, he FINALLY went back to sleep and woke up again at 8:45am. Much better :) Hopefully he's adjusted to the new time for good and will be back on his normal schedule.

Just a few updates....

2010-11-01T08:14:00.000-07:00

In case you were wondering what Jack's doing now:

Jack says, "Mama" "Dada" and "Dog" (which he pronounces "Doh")
He's got 8 teeth
He's starting to stand on his own a little more now
Jack took one step Saturday night and one step Sunday...and I (Laura) missed them BOTH!!
He points at everything
He loves being outside and loves to play with leaves and sticks (and tries to eat them, too)
He dances to music a lot
He rarely will let us feed him anymore...Big Boy Jack has to feed himself
I think if he eats another grape he'll turn into one - BY FAR his favorite food!
He'll be one year old in exactly 1 month and 2 days - I can't believe it!!

Jack's such a happy baby and a joy and blessing to our lives. We couldn't love him more!

Happy Halloween!!

2010-11-01T07:33:00.000-07:00

The Moms with the Babes on their first Halloween

Cutest lion I've ever seen :) Love my niece, Sophie! Jack and Olivia - she kept trying to give him a kiss....he kept moving away! haha

TRBC had a whole area set up like Willy Wonka. Jack LOVED the bubble room!!

All of us together - I guess getting the kids to look at the camera is out of the question.

Sophie and Jack having fun on the trampoline. Neither of them was tall enough to hold on to the bar and bounce. (Although they did enjoy some bouncing - watch the video)

Jack couldn't quite figure out that he was supposed to crawl through this.

Sliding with Daddy

Jack started to pick up a duck......

...but then dropped it when he figured out there was water he could play in.

The duck he started to pick up had a #1 on the bottom...1 piece of candy :) Yeah, we're hott! :)

"Jack's" (aka - mom and dad's) stash at the end of the night (pretty sad, I know. Hopefully he'll do better next year!)

AND NOW FOR THE VIDEOS.......

Jack and Sophie having fun bouncing on the trampoline

Jack going down the slide...

Sophie going down the slide (sorry it's sideways)....

Fun times with Jack

2010-11-01T07:27:00.000-07:00

We got Jack's bouncy seat back out because we had some friends coming over for dinner who have a small baby. Turns out Jack still loves his bouncy seat, just in a different way! We've kept it out and he loves getting on it all the time!

Without anyone showing him how, Jack just started doing this the other day. What a funny kid :)

Run For Their Lives

2010-10-24T18:08:00.000-07:00

Luke and I had the wonderful opportunity to run/ walk a 5K yesterday. This was my (Laura's) very first race ever. This particular race is not about winning. It costs $24 to enter the race. That's the exact amount that it costs to purchase a Thai girl's freedom for one day from sex trafficking. Basically what Freedom 4/24 does is pay for a girl's freedom for the day and then they take that day to show them that there's another way. They show them the love of Christ. I can't think of a better reason to run. Here's how our day went:

Brett and Jack having a little pre-race fun. Jack loved playing with the balloon, so someone ended up tying one to the stroller he was riding in.

Luke about to cross the finish line. I was SO proud of him! He hasn't run in a really long time (like since high school) and he ran the entire race! He finished 67th with a time of 27:37:00!! He did 8:55 miles. Needless to say, he's feeling it today :)
Now, I have NEVER been a runner. In fact, I dislike running...a lot. It hurts. But I did end up running some parts of the race. After the halfway turn around we were going slightly downhill, so I just let go of the stroller and ran behind it. It's amazing how much more momentum you have when you use your arms! :)

Jen came and helped me push Jack up the final (very steep) hill.

Almost to the finish line! Snagging a quick picture with Luke (who helped quite a few women push their strollers up this final hill).

That's me on the left. I decided to sprint the last straight away, passing a few people. Suckas!!! I finished in 511th place with a time of 45:20:00. Now, that sounds a little worse than it actually is because there were about 900 people running/ walking the 5K. I did 14:37 miles; which is better than I do when I walk around our neighborhood (I usually do about 20 minute miles...but hey, it's a hilly neighborhood!).
Luke with Jack by the finish line.

Please Pray

2010-10-11T12:30:00.001-07:00

Please pray for my cousins (who will remain nameless). They are leaving tomorrow (Tuesday) to travel to the Middle East to be missionaries. They'll be traveling for 30+ hours. Please pray for safety in traveling and a smooth transition as they adjust to a new culture and learning a new language. And of course pray for the people they'll be in contact with :)

Growing Up...

2010-10-10T18:12:00.001-07:00

While we were in Greenville this weekend, I went yard saleing with Luke's mom. I got a lot of great buys! I found one of those cars that kids can ride on or walk behind for 5 bucks! I was planning to give it to Jack for his first birthday, but we couldn't wait :) He loves it!! Here's a picture of his sitting on it and a video of him walking behind it (excuse the mess, we had just gotten home and dumped everything in the house).

We also upgraded Jack to his "big boy" tub. I know most people probably just bathe their kids in the bath tub, but I got this super cute ducky tub that'll use less water. Right after I put him in it, I made the duck quack by squeezing it's beak. He was NOT a fan of that!! He crawled right out of it into my lap! hahaha Hopefully our next experience with the ducky tub will go much better :) Here's a picture of him in the tub (not happy) complete with a new ducky faucet cover...

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL?!?!

2010-09-26T13:20:00.000-07:00

Jack LOVES balls! We happen to think he's pretty coordinated for a 9 month old (although we have nothing to compare him to - just let us think, ok??). He was having fun playing football with Daddy while Daddy was watching football this Sunday afternoon. I love them both so much!!

Fun with Jack!

2010-09-09T18:40:00.000-07:00

This is so funny!!

Quelf

2010-09-09T18:24:00.000-07:00

Nick and Liz got this game called "Quelf" and they brought it over to play with us while Mom and Dad Nickels were in town. You have to do all kinds of crazy stuff. Here's a few videos of the fun! :)

Mom had to write a rap about herself and here's what she came up with:

Luke had to do a disco dance and try to get someone to dance with him. Nick did (of course, we didn't know what his card said):

Dad had to sing this same line is I think 5 different genres. Good luck figuring out what they are!! hahaha

If you're wondering about the snorting in some of the videos, I had to snort like a pig every time I laughed.

Updates

2010-09-09T17:34:00.000-07:00

Jack has 4 teeth now! You can't see the 2 on top, but here's a pretty clear shot of the 2 on bottom.

We have been without a lawn mower for the majority of the summer. (Thanks Matt and Jen for letting us borrow yours all the time!!) Luke got a steal on a new one from Lowe's. And he can't to have Jack sit in his lap while he cuts the grass!!

The Joys of Motherhood

2010-09-08T07:19:00.000-07:00

I absolutely LOVE being Jack's mom! There are so many things he does from day to day that make me laugh and make my heart melt. It's so fun watching him grow up and learn to do new things each day. Here's some things that Jack has done over the past few months that have put a huge smile on my face (in no particular order):

- the way he giggles when I tickle him
- how when i'm crawling down the hall he thinks it's so fun to crawl after me
- when he's eating cheerios and he tries to feed me one
- how just now he fell asleep in my arms while i was rocking him and singing to him
- that time i was read him "Goodnight Moon" before his nap and he put his paci in MY mouth
- how he dances when he hears songs with a beat
- the way he lights up when his daddy comes home from work
- how he'll come find me when i walk into another room
- the way he giggles when he's playing with Levi (our dog)
- when i say "give me kisses" he opens his mouth up as wide as he can :)
- when he says, "mama"....even though he's not saying it at me yet

Lord, thank you for the wonderful opportunity of raising Jack. What an awesome and huge responsibility! I pray Luke and I will be godly examples for him. I pray we would be able to teach him right from wrong. And most importantly I pray that he will grow up to love you!

What a day!

2010-08-27T10:57:00.000-07:00

So.....long story, short. Levi (our dog) came in from being outside yesterday and laid down on the couch. When he got up, I saw what, at first, I thought was black beads on the couch. I kept looking at these "beads" and noticed they were moving!! That's right, moving! Any one have any guesses as to what these tiny black things are? Nope, they're not fleas. They're baby ticks. That's right, TICKS!!! I don't know what Levi walked through/ played in outside, but it was like baby ticks hatched all over him!
I didn't know if these ticks were a new addition to our household, or if Levi had brought them in earlier. So what did I do? I became an emotional wreck and called Luke at work ... who came home promptly :) The whole time I was crying I was thinking, "Laura, God's in control. It's ok." But I couldn't help being VERY upset. I ended up taking Jack over to my friend Jen's house while Luke fogged the house, bathed Levi (twice!), and cut the grass. Luke said he pulled about 20 more bigger ticks off of Levi. We put Frontline-type stuff on Levi. This morning, we found a few more DEAD baby ticks that Levi lost overnight. I think our pest problem is solved. And remember what I said earlier about God being in control? Well, He is. Although clean-up took several hours, it only cost us $9 for the bug fogger stuff. Praise the Lord we caught this early on and it did not cost us an arm and a leg!

Hungry Boy!!

2010-08-25T06:21:00.000-07:00

Jack is working up quite and appetite. Here's an example: at breakfast this morning he ate

-8 ounces of formula
-4 tablespoons of oatmeal
-1 cube of apples
-about 1 inch of banana

After that I quit feeding him. I hope this is just a phase!!

And now a message from Jack:
`xqszxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxc xtgfgbbbsssawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwawzzzzzzzzzz36621`

What a mess!

2010-08-18T11:52:00.000-07:00

His mother should teach him not to play with his food!

(You really have to click on the pictures and enlarge them to get the full effect)

Bathtime Fun!

2010-08-18T11:45:00.000-07:00

Jack LOVES being in the water....bath, pool, lake, whatever. He inherited this trait from his Daddy. Here's a video of him thoroughly enjoying his bath :)

Old Friends

2010-08-18T11:31:00.000-07:00

Last week I got to visit with my dear friend Christie, who I met a camp when I was in 11th grade! It's amazing that we've been able to keep in touch after all these years! It's been about 4 years since I last saw Christie (waaaayy too long!)....I got to meet her son (who's almost 1) for the first time! What a cutie pie!

Christie and Jayce

Big boy Jayce standing up!

Jayce and Jack playing...I love the look on Jayce's face in this one!

Now they're playing with the DVDs

We let them play with some dolls...thought their dads would get a kick out of this!

They were so interested!

Jack givin' the baby CPR

Holdin' the baby's hand and picking her nose

Christie and me with our babies :)

OK - switch babies!!

Baby talk...

2010-08-05T12:30:00.000-07:00

I know...he's a genius, right?? Well, before you get too impressed, he's not REALLY saying "book." "Ba ba ba ba" is just his favorite babble right now. And he loves to do that tongue thing. All the time. Even when he's eating.

Jack the Crawler!

2010-07-27T13:53:00.000-07:00

That's right! Jack is officially crawling!!! He started to get the hang of moving hand, foot, hand, foot on Saturday. We took this video Sunday when he started crawling more. Now that it's a few days later, he's REALLY got the hang of this whole crawling thing!

His favorite thing to get is chords! Ugh! We have some covered with pillows and baskets. I'm leaving the ones under the TV open and keeping a close eye on him. I feel like he needs to learn what's ok to play with and what's not (instead of just removing everything that's not okay). But it'll be much easier if there's only chords in one place in the den rather all over. I can't believe how much my baby is growing up! He'll be 8 months old next week!!

Random Pics

2010-07-22T18:11:00.000-07:00

The following are some random pictures that have been taken at one point or another in the last couple months.

Proud Grandpa! This was from Sara and Mark's Wedding.

This was in NJ at Jen and Matt's Beach House

This was taken when we were on vacation in New Bern NC with my(Luke's) family.

Homemade Baby Food!!

2010-07-19T13:17:00.001-07:00

We waited a little longer than the standard 4-6 months age range to introduce solid foods to Jack. We've learned that it helps with allergies later in life the longer you wait to introduce food to a baby. Since Luke has allergies, we decided to wait.

I've been really excited about making my own baby food for Jack for 2 reasons. 1) It's much cheaper than buying baby food. 2) I know exactly what's going in his little tummy. So far I've used a food grinder to make Jack's baby food (since he's only been eating a little food).

Now that he's starting to eat more solids, I made my first batch of baby food today. It was really easy! And I made carrots and apples (and posted this blog) during his afternoon nap! I only have 2 ice cube trays to store the food in (until it freezes and I can put it in baggies). I have some more carrots that I need to freeze once these are ready to be moved to bags.

It's SUPER cost effecient! Store bought baby food is so expensive! The apples I actually got from my parents. They were visiting this past weekend and left some (4) behind....so those cost me nothing. And I bought the carrots for a couple of bucks. Just think how much all that baby food would've cost me at the store!

Jack the Scooter

2010-07-19T08:14:00.000-07:00

Jack is now scooting across the floor...not an official crawl yet :o) I must say, I REALLY like this stage! He is mobile enough to get to whatever toy he wants, but not mobile enough to move around the entire house. This morning I was able to clean the whole kitchen while he played with all of his toys in the den. I'll be happy if this lasts a week! :o)

The Man in the Mirror...

2010-07-16T18:01:00.000-07:00

Jack LOVES jumping up and down and talking to himself in the mirror! He's not looking at himself a whole ton in this video because he was distracted by me. But with only one person and no camera in the room, he really goes to town! It's so precious :)

Jack's newest trick is that he not only can sit up by himself, but he can get into a sitting up position by himself! The first time he did it by pulling up on something. He's sat up several times now without the help of anyone or anything. My boy's growin' up!

Today when Jack woke up, he had no teeth. By lunch time, he had one tiny tooth on the bottom :) I gave him a Biter Biscuit to chew on, and he certaintly had fun with it! What a mess!!

I love how he looks like he's leaning on the high chair in this one! Such a big boy!

7 months old!!

2010-07-13T10:00:00.001-07:00

We always take pictures and videos with the best of intentions to upload them to our blog. Somehow, I seem to never get to it! Sorry everyone! Luke took these ADORABLE pictures of Jack the other day. I can't believe my baby is 7 months old now! 6 months still seemed little, but 7 months is over half way to a year. Everyone tells us that time flies...and it sure does!

Other Updates:

Jack is STILL not sleeping all the way through the night :( He'll get to doing really well, the we go out of town and he has to spend the night away. And the sleep training pretty much goes out the window by the 2nd or 3rd night :( Hopefully we'll be home for a while and we can get this boy sleeping all night long!!

I posted a video about a month ago of Jack up on his knees. He's still rocking back and forth and moving his legs around, but he has not figured out how to move his hands yet. I keep thinking he'll start crawling any day!

He's so close!!

2010-06-22T12:38:00.000-07:00

Jack tries so hard to crawl! He gets his legs going, just hasn't gotten the arms down yet. I don't think it'll be much longer!!!

Sleeping!!

2010-06-16T05:38:00.001-07:00

Several posts ago, I told you about a sleep technique that I was going to try with Jack. We haven't been as consistent as we should have been due to vacations and visitors. But I have to brag about last night...it was the best night so far!

Jack went to bed around 8:45 pm. Woke up at 4:30, but went right back to sleep after I gave him his paci. Woke up at 7:20 am; ate 1.5 oz. I sat in the glider next to his crib to see what he'd do (of course he couldn't see me!). He dozed off for about 10 minutes, then played quietly in his crib until 8:20, when he got up for the day! (The whole sleep training thing is that they should sleep or rest quietly in their crib for 12 hours at night).

On a side note, Jack went for his 6 month checkup yesterday. He got 4 shots, including a half dose of the H1N1 vaccine (he'll get the other half in a month). Here are his new stats:

Height: 27.5 in (75%)

Weight: 16 lbs. 11 oz (50%)

Jack is growing up so fast! His newest trick is getting up on his hands and knees. I've even caught him rocking back and forth a few times! I think he'll probaby be crawling within a couple of weeks....I don't know if I'm ready for him to be that mobile yet!!

Venturing out...

2010-06-10T19:03:00.000-07:00

Luke and I are participating in a co-op with a local farm this year. It's a great deal! We paid $35 and we we get 5 lbs. of veggies a week for 24 weeks. PLUS, when corn's in season we get 12 ears per week. PLUS we get an 8 pound pumpkin. PLUS there's 2 free canning sessions.

We usually stick to the same veggies: beans, corn, carrots, potatos, etc. Today I asked the girls at the stand how to cook beets and we decided to try one! The decision (which both of us agreed on): beets really aren't that bad....but they aren't great either. I think if I ever come across a recipe that calls for beets, I'll try it. But as for now, we're not going to be eating any more beets with dinner :o)

Jack and his paci...

2010-06-09T09:17:00.000-07:00

Jack has recently learned how to put the paci in his mouth. We've even put it in his mouth upside down and he'll turn it around :) Too cute! This isn't the best video of him putting it in his mouth, but I think it's a cute video of him :o)

Jack's new trick!

2010-06-09T08:49:00.001-07:00

It's been a long time since I have posted anything new on our blog. We've been out of town a lot lately. I have some fun pictures to post of Jack in the pool, but that will have to wait til later :)

Last night Jack got up on his hands and knees for the first time. I wish I was able to get it on camera, but it only lasted about 7 seconds. I'll have to try to get a picture of it later .... when he does it again (past experience shows that when he does something the first time, who knows when it'll happen again!).

That's all. Just wanted to share that piece of exciting news! :o)

Sleep Training: Step 2

2010-05-27T04:59:00.000-07:00

Step 1: done! The past 3 days Jack went 4 hours between feedings, so I decided to move on to step 2 of the sleep training.

Step 2: Night time feedings - slowly give baby less at each night time feeding. You're supposed to decrease the amount you give the baby at night 1/2 an ounce ever 3 nights (unless they take less on their own). First time I gave Jack a bottle at night, he took 8 oz. Last night he only too 6.

Last night Jack slept 8 hours straight! Coincidence??? I hope not!!

12 hours of sleep??

2010-05-25T13:17:00.000-07:00

My friend lent me a book called, "Twelve Hours Sleep by Twelve Weeks Old" by Suzy Giordano. Obviously, Jack is past the 12 week mark, but I'm starting this with him now in hopes that he will be sleeping through the night soon!! It's a mix between the "cry it out" method and the "no cry" method. Suzy says in her book that she's been a baby sleep coach for 10 years and has never had a baby fail.

Right now we're on step 1: Getting baby to eat every 4 hours during the day. So far so good :) We should be there soon! Jack was already on a 3-4 hour schedule.

I'll keep our blog updated as we progress through this sleep training so you'll know how it's going.

Parents can have fun, too :)

2010-05-20T11:12:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we had some friends over. Kevin decided it was a good idea to play couples truth or dare. Luke and I chose to take a dare. Here's what we ended up doing:

If you can't tell, that's grape soda in the bottles. I prepared the bottles and gave Luke a size 1 nipple and me a size 3 nipple. He figured it out before we started chuggin, though :)

A Boy and His Dog

2010-05-17T09:28:00.000-07:00

Aunt Jen, her dog Tilly, and Levi. Jack LOVES puppies!!

Typically we don't let Levi play on our bed. But if it makes Jack laugh, we let him get away with a lot of stuff!!

Back to Square One...

2010-05-12T13:18:00.001-07:00

We've had to cut out giving Jack oatmeal before bed because it's plugged him up pretty good. Poor guy keeps trying to poop, but nothing's coming out! "What does that mean for sleeping at night?" you ask...I'll tell you what it means. It means he's back to sleeping 6 hours for the first stretch and waking up 2 times a night again :( I think I've finally come to the realization that my baby is not a great night time sleeper. He showed promise early on, but he hasn't really moved forward at all. I guess he's just a hungry lil fella!

Fun with Sophie :o)

2010-05-06T19:00:00.001-07:00

I had the wonderful privledge of watching my adorable niece a couple of days ago while her mom got pampered for Mother's Day. My friend Jen came to help...which I'm really glad she did. Once, Sohpie was eating and Jack needed to go down for his nap. Another time they both wanted to eat at the same time.

Cousins playing together:

Sophie playing with Jack's links:
All that playing wore her out

Cloth Diapers - FAIL!!

2010-05-05T18:40:00.000-07:00

So....tried the cloth diaper thing for the first time today. First diaper change: not so bad. It was only wet. Second diaper change: disgusting! Poop everywhere! I gave it a try and I'm done!

Oatmeal...

2010-05-05T15:31:00.000-07:00

These first 3 pictures are from Jack's first experience with baby oatmeal. He didn't quite know what to do with it at first, but by the end of it he was pulling the spoon into his mouth.

Here's a couple of videos of the first experience. First, we tried to put him in the Bumbo to eat. We quickly realized that that wasn't going to work!

These next pictures were taken after Jack had eaten oatmeal several times. He can now sit in his Bumbo and eat. :o)

Cloth Diapers

2010-05-04T09:10:00.001-07:00

After much convincing from my friend, I've decided to give cloth diapers a try. I didn't want to invest a ton of money into it in case I decide not to do it. My friend, Cassy, told me she would buy the items from me if I decided not to do it.

I got one Thirsty diaper cover. This kind has snaps to make the diaper bigger or smaller, so it grows with your baby. It is for 18-40 pounds. I figured that would be the cheapest way to go because I won't have to keep buying new diapers as Jack grows. The cover was $12.75

I already have some prefolds that I've been using as burp cloths. But because cloth diapers have to be washed in special laundry detergent, I had to wash them in Dawn dish detergent to strip them clean before using them as cloth diapers. Have no fear, if I decide not to continue using cloth diapers, I will NOT reuse these as burp cloths!!

This last thing is what really conviced me to give this whole cloth diaper thing a try. I do not want to deal with cleaning up poop. These flushable diaper liners catch the poop and you can just toss the liner in the toilet instead of trying to rinse the poop off. It was $8 for 100 of the flushable liners.

If I decide to go continue with cloth diapering, I will probably buy some better liners instead of using the prefolds. But for this trial period, they're pretty cheap. The only reasing I've even considering this is because it will save us a plethora of money in the long run. Obviously I'll need to buy more covers if I'm gonna keep doing this. But just to try it out has cost me about $20 (because I already had the prefolds). I'll write a post later on how all this turns out!!

AMGB - part 3: the final edition

2010-04-28T08:58:00.000-07:00

You guessed it...he did it again!! Jack slept 8.5 hours straight last night (plus another 3 hours after that). I'm hoping and praying that this is a permanent thing (although when he was about 2 months old he had 3 nights like this, then went back to his old ways). I'm not planning on posting about this anymore - you can just assume he's sleeping well :o)

Next big sleep milestone: sleeping 12 hours straight!!

AMGB - part 2

2010-04-27T09:20:00.000-07:00

If you didn't catch it from my last post, AMGB stands for "A mom's gotta brag." Jack did it again last night!! He ate around 8:30, asleep in bed by 9:00. He woke up at 5:15 to eat again, then slept til 8:40. That's 8 hours and 45 minutes between feedings! And I'm feelin good :o)

A mom's gotta brag!

2010-04-26T05:18:00.000-07:00

I've been told that when your child starts sleeping good or potty training, etc., that you're not supposed to brag to other people about it because then they stop doing it. But I just can't help it! I'm so proud of Jack!

Last night he ate around 8:15 (6.5 oz plus some oatmeal) and went to bed around 8:45. I heard him talking to himself around 12:30, but he didn't cry and he put himself back to sleep! I didn't hear from him again until 5:40 am!!! That's about 9 hours and 45 minutes from when he last ate! I got up and fed him and put him back to bed. Then, he slept some more til 8:15 this morning! I guess it could go without saying, but this mom is well rested! :o)

Night #2

2010-04-22T07:55:00.000-07:00

Last night went pretty well, although not quite as well as the night before. Jack woke up once before he would normally eat, so as planned we let him cry. I'm not quite sure how long he cried for because I can't see the clock without my glasses (yes, I'm practically blind). After a while, Luke got up and gave him his paci and he went right back to sleep. He only woke up one more time during the night to eat. Not a bad night!!

A GREAT night!

2010-04-21T06:18:00.000-07:00

For about the last month, Jack has been waking up multiple times a night. Not to eat...just to wake up. He was waking up 3-4 times a night and only eating once a night. Usually it's not hard to get him back to sleep. Like, we would have to put the paci in his mouth or pat him on the chest or occasionally pick him up. Luke and I finally decided we were so tired and frustrated that we had to do something about this. Last night we were going to just let him cry and not go in to help him get back to sleep. He must've heard us talking or something because he only woke up one time all night....to eat! Let's just say his mom and dad feel very well rested this morning!! :o)

Jack's All Better!

2010-04-12T12:56:00.000-07:00

Jack went back to the doctor today and she told us that his pneumonia is all gone!! YAY!! He also got his second round of vaccinations today. He is not a fan of the shots :(

Length: 26 1/4 inches (90%)
Weight: 15 lb. 6.5 oz. (75%)

Watching how Jack has been through this sickness reminds me of how I am with God. We've had to give him medicine and suck the snot out of his nose. He hated both of them, but we were only doing what's best for him. And he kicked and screamed the whole time. Too often when God's trying to do what's best for me, I kick and scream about it and want to refuse it when I know it will make me better in the end.

Jack's Dedication

2010-04-08T17:08:00.000-07:00

On Palm Sunday, we had the privledge of publically dedicating Jack to the Lord at church, something we did in our hearts even before he was born. It was a very special occasion with friends and family.

1 Samuel 1:26-27:

"For this boy I prayed, and the LORD has given me my petition which I asked of Him. So I have also dedicated him to the LORD; as long as he lives he is dedicated to the LORD..."

This video clip is of Pastor Ferrell saying a few words before praying over Jack. Hope you can hear it!

Pastor Ferrell asked Luke if he had anything he wanted to say. First Luke said, "Thank you in advance." Then he added, "Sorry if Jack acts up in Sunday School." My hubby is so witty on the spot!

All of the family with Jack during the dedication

Us with Pastor Ferrell after the dedication

All those standing with us L-R: Luke's Parents (Grandpa and YaYa), Luke, Jack, Laura, Laura's Parents (MiMi and Paw Paw), Laura's Grandparents (Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa).

Jack's getting better!

2010-04-08T09:31:00.000-07:00

I took Jack back to the doctor this morning, and she said his lungs sound good! I mean, not just better...but good!! Praise God for His healing hand on Jack! We go back Monday to be sure that he doesn't "rebound," as the doctor put it, once he's off of the medicine. From this point, we should be in the clear! Praying that he continues to improve and we'll only have good news on Monday! Thanks everyone for praying for our little guy!