It's only 8am

Luke is whining in his excersaucer, my waffles are getting cold, Gabe just spilled his Sprite (yes, Sprite, from his Happy Meal, from last night) on the floor and I can't stop reading this blog. You know how you stumble across them. I stumbled across this one early this morning. My heart started beating quickly when I read "Superventricular Tachycardia". The mom in this story is around 25 weeks pregnant. Around 20 weeks they discovered that her baby had severe Tachycardia (heart beating well over 200bpm). I'm not even done reading yet, I had to stop, take a few breaths and thank God for healing Luke from this very thing. The course of treatment she is on is what we would have had to do if Luke's heart had not gotten better.
Pray for them.

More Cousins!

It's been the summer of cousins. Since the closest family members live 10 hours away from us, it's a rare treat when we get to see them. Neal's Uncle Mike and cousins, Cara and Kristen, decided to take a road trip and included a quick visit to see us in Nashville. They came in and spent the afternoon with us yesterday. It was so fun to have family come see us, since we are usually the ones who go see them, especially since we can hit Louisiana on the way to Houston. I barely had to do anything with Luke the whole afternoon. Kristen (and Cara too) were happy to tend to all of his needs. Oh, how I wish they were closer! Kristen even managed to rock him to sleep and he took a little nap in her arms, which she loved. Cara and Kristen are such sweet, beautiful girls. Uncle Mike has done a great job with them! We missed Cory (their brother), but he's 19...with a girlfriend...that explains that. Here are a few pictures.


Gabe and Uncle Mike. Contrary to what the look on his face says, Gabe really loves Uncle Mike, he just didn't want to have his picture taken, I guess.

Kristen and "her little buddy"

Cara, Sam and Gabe

His New Favorite Thing

I bought Luke a Taggie and he loves it. I highly recommend them to anyone with babies who love tags. He sat on the floor for a long time today, fascinated with it.

Pigeon Forge

Last week, we were able to join Neal's Aunt, Uncle and cousins on their vacation in Pigeon Forge. We went to Dollywood the first day we were there and had a blast! It's a great theme park with a great little "country fair" area for the wimps who don't like to ride the big roller coasters, or, for those of us with kids who can't ride the big roller coasters. I was so proud of the boys and Kate (5, Rachel's daughter) for going on most of the rides and having fun. Rachel and I didn't enjoy the Ferris Wheel as much as Sam and Kate, I'm sure we said "be still" a million times on the short ride. The next day we went to Dollywood's Splash Country and had just as much fun. The kids were all about the water slides and us "adults" had fun too! The cabin they had rented for the week was beautiful, complete with a first and second floor back porch with rocking chairs and an amazing view. We spent a lot of time out there. Aunt Helene and Luke had a little nap, Rachel and I spent about 4 hours out there one night chatting and letting everyone else deal with the kids, Uncle Jimmy and Gabe chilled out together one morning. It was fun and relaxing all in one. Thanks so much for inviting us down for a few days, we always enjoy the time we get to spend with each of you. Sam and Gabe keep asking when we are going back to the cabin in the woods.

The morning we left, we drove through The Smoky Mountain National Park and stopped to play in the river for an hour or two. Then we found a great little country restaurant for lunch, complete with homemade Apple Pie and vanilla ice cream...yum.

Six Months

There is not a day that goes by that I don't look at your sweet face and praise God for His healing power in your little life. Before you were even born, He healed your heart, twice. I'm continuously humbled that He chose to end that chapter in our life with the gift of you. You have a healthy heart. You have a strong heart. You have a complete heart. You have a heart that beats with consistency. You are healthy. You are crying. You are in my arms. You are laughing at your brothers. You are smiling at your Daddy. You are here. You are burying your head in my shoulder. You are cooing. You are sitting up. You are growing. You are eating. You are looking for Mommy. You are sleeping. You are waking up with smiles. You made it. You are us. You are here. You are healthy. You are worth it. You are pure joy.

We will forever Praise the Lord and give Him Glory for the gift of you.

A House Update

I just got back from the new house, here are some pictures. Yes, the boys are still in their mis-matched, ill-fitting pj's and they insisted on being in the pictures I was taking. We just got back from out of town, which, hopefully, explains the need for a PJ day! We still have about 4-5 weeks before moving and closing day, but the house is basically ready to move into. That will give us plenty of time to do some walk through's and do a little fine-tuning. We are so excited!

The front of the house with new grass, stairs, driveway, sidewalk and a cute little tree. They still haven't put in the real front door.

I'm standing at the very back of the house in the living room shooting towards the front. That open door in the hallway is the hall closet door. Breakfast room to the right and our bedroom/garage entry/laundry room is to the left. The dining room, bedroom and front entry are through the kitchen and hallway. And yes, that would be the oven in the middle of the LR.
We aren't getting a back splash, but for some reason, they haven't painted the wall there yet.
This is in the breakfast room, standing in front of the back door. The window in the picture is in the dining room. And, my crazy kids in their crazy pj's.
A close up of my kitchen cabinets. I am so excited about these cabinets! They look a little darker, not as white, in person.

A Day at the Lake

I'm way behind in blogging, so this is my attempt to catch up. My friend Nicole and her husband Gary invited us out for a day at the lake in their new boat. The only condition of the invitation was NO KIDS. We were happy to find someone to watch them and even pay someone for a day of relaxation with some good friends. Gabe woke up not feeling great that morning, so I left him at the house with Luke and the babysitter, Deeann, while Sam went to a friends house. Neal and I were walking down the dock to get on the boat when my cell phone rang. It was Deeann calling to tell me that Gabe had just thrown up! Of course! She said she had everything under control, but just wanted to check in with me. We decided to go ahead and get out on the water and just see how he did. I had Mommy Guilt the first few hours, but decided a day on the lake with Neal was really needed and that Gabe would be in good hands with Deeann. Gary bought Nicole and I rafts, so once we found a nice cove, we threw the rafts out in the water and floated. It was heavenly! Gary even grilled out on the boat for lunch.

Nicole and I met in the toy aisle at Target and have been friends since. Her son, Mitch, is 2 months younger than Gabe and her other son, Jake, is two months older than Luke. We've been friends for two years and these are the first pictures of the two of us together.

Thanks, Gary and Nicole, for a wonderful day on the lake! We had a great time.

***On a side note, after I saw these pictures, I marched myself to Target and got some smaller sunglasses. I knew those in the picture were big, but I didn't realize how ridiculous they looked on me!

***On another side note, we paid Deeann a big bonus for dealing with all the throw up. I'll certainly be asking her to babysit again, she was so great, I'm just not sure she will want to come back! :)

I can't ignore it any longer...

He's sitting up...all by himself...playing with toys.

We won't talk about how he will be 6 months on the 14th, or about how he is trying to get on his hands and knees to crawl.

Interview with your kids...

Gabe:
What makes Mommy happy? going to the store
What makes Mommy sad? when I'm sad, it makes you sad
How does Mommy make you laugh? like this (opens his mouth) (I have no clue)
Hold old is Mommy? 2
How tall is Mommy? this tall (with hands spanning about 2 feet)
What does Mommy like to do? play with toys
What is Mommy's job? going to paint (not sure)
What is Mommy's favorite food? spagetti (that's what we had for dinner)
How do you know Mommy loves you? alot - a one hundred of days

Sam:
What makes Mommy happy? When Luke smiles and laughs.
What makes Mommy sad? When I don't listen to you
How does Mommy make you laugh? tickling
Hold old is Mommy? 31 (he's right)
How tall is Mommy? this tall
What does Mommy like to do? tickle me
What is Mommy's job? cooking
What is Mommy's favorite food? apples (ha!)
How do you know Mommy loves you? she tells me

I'm tagging everyone reading this to do the same on your blog.

America's Party

The little town we are moving into, Nolensville, had a 4th of July shindig last night. Nolensville is a little bit South of Nashville, in the same county as Brentwood and Franklin. It has it's own little Main Street with fun Antique Stores and has a small, country town feel to it. My friend Stacey and I took her daughter, Skyler and Sam down to take in the 4th of July festivities...or as Sam called it "America's Party". We had a blast. It was such a fun way to spend the 4th. We ran into a couple of people we knew from the kids MDO school and also church. 5 of the families we ran into all have 5 year olds, that Sam knows from MDO or church, that will be going to Kindergarten at his school this fall. It was exciting to realize that there is a great possibility that he will know at least one or two kids in his class right away. A few of them live in the neighborhood we are moving into. As it got darker, we spread out the blanket and enjoyed watching Sam and Skyler run around, carefree and having fun being outside and just being kids. I enjoyed getting to spend some time with Sam alone, Luke and Gabe stayed with Neal, Gabe doesn't want anything to do with fireworks. I forget how easy and fun Sam can be when it is just us, one on one. His love language is definitely Quality Time, so he is even more enjoyable when he gets it. We had a blast watching fireworks and just being together (and, of course, taking pictures!)

House Update

It's been a while since I've updated on the house. Neal and I went out yesterday to walk through with the Contractor, Paul. They have done so much, it's amazing. This picture was taken last weekend, after they put the appliances and granite in. The granite is mostly covered, but you can see a little bit of it on the edge, it's blackish/greenish/brownish. They put the hardwoods in this week in the entry, dining room, kitchen and breakfast room. I'm bummed I forgot my camera yesterday, so I didn't get a picture. It looks so good though - I love hardwoods and am especially excited about the darker color that we picked and the way it looks with the kitchen cabinets. They have also completed the tile in the bathrooms, laundry room and garage entry, all the trim, doors, light fixtures, speakers, alarm and some other little things like that. Really, all that is left to be done is, touch up paint, carpet, the deck in the back, the front porch and some other little details. Paul told us that it would be ready in 3 - 4 weeks max! While that is so exciting, it's also a bummer since we can't close on our house now until August 18th. So the new house will be sitting, complete and ready for us a few weeks before we can officially move in. I've been doing a little packing this weekend and we are starting to do some research on new appliances that we will need to buy - fridge, washer and dryer - since we are selling our current ones with this house. I go to bed every night walking through the new house in my head, decorating it and imagining living life in it. I'm thrilled that we are moving into a great, family oriented neighborhood. We've already met a few neighbors and know that our boys will have plenty of playmates just on our street alone. They keep asking me "can I bring **some toy** to the new house"? I always say yes, everything is coming to the new house. "Even the couch? Our beds? Our clothes? This cup? The sand box? My pencil?" You get the picture. Next time we go out, I'll take some more pictures to post.

Hope everyone has a happy 4th!