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! :)