She Said Yes!

My littlest brother is getting married!  Yay!  She's a wonderful, sweet, laid-back, genuine kind of Christian girl, and I'm just thrilled to pieces that the Lord brought them together.

They let me take some engagement photos of them a couple of weeks ago, which was SO much fun.  And it was really SWEET of them to let me do it!  I feel like I need to repeat my assertion that I am in no way trying to become a photographer.  Believe you me, I am well aware of how much I don't know.  But for things like this, it really does mean a lot to be able to do it.  And, hopefully, they will find a shot or two that they can actually use!

I have no idea if these shots are the ones that the beautiful couple will actually want to use.  I'm just putting about 8 of them on here.  I sent them about 70!  (Again, not a photographer....  )  

Who doesn't want to be looked at like this?  Ahhhh.... it's nice to see your brother in love.

Ha!  As we were taking pictures, a car drove by and honked at the duo.  David's look says it all!  "Yes, I know she's hot.  No, you can not honk at her.  Do it again, and I will smack ya".

Lord willing, we'll be able to watch them tie the wedding knot in early November.  We're so looking forward to it!  Then we can start pestering them to have babies.

KIDDING!!!!!!!  Just kidding.  Seriously.  You two, I'm kidding.  

David has just recently passed his dissertation proposal defense, so he's in the last stages of finishing up his PhD.  We're all so happy for him and Leah!

To the blessed couple, may your walk together be close and full, and always focused on a singular point - pleasing God.  May your lines of communication always be wide open to each other.  May you become each other's very best friend.  May you make each other laugh till you can't breathe!  May the new family that you create the day you get married be strong and forever-lasting.  God bless you, my sweet brother and future SIL.  I love y'all!

Eleven Months

Happy Eleven Months little angel girl!!!

Wow.  Eleven.  Next month brings you to the one year mark that always gets here way too quickly.  It's the one thing that parents always hear about, are expecting to experience, but never quite know what to do with - the speedy passage of time that surrounds the lives of our children.  But, God has been so gracious to us.  You are healthy and happy and full of the joie de vivre!

Just yesterday, you learned how to flush a potty.  Haha!  I was doing a quick clean of a bathroom and you caught sight of the handle on the side.  Oh yes, the look on your face expressed all the power and mischievousness that your little mind could imagine.  As your daddy said, you're enough of a stinker that you're going to be the one to throw things in the potty just to see them flush!  It's a good thing he has access to a database of plumbers.  Maybe we should put one on retainer now.

You are still crawling as your means of locomotion (yay!  not ready to give that up yet!), and you are still "cruising" by pulling up on things and using them to help you "walk".  We have caught you a number of times over the last month letting go while you were standing and remaining on your feet for a moment or two before sitting back down.

We get lots and lots and lots of babbling.  You still love patting on something or pointing to something and being told what its name is.  Dogs fascinate you, and Custard is like a mini, walking, shedding playground for you.

We are beginning to see the first stages of "independence", for lack of a better term.  You will look at us before you do something you know to be the wrong thing.  Like drop things off of your high chair.  And you're beginning to test your boundaries by having those first intentional tantrums.  Granted, they are mild and they are cute compared to what we know will be coming.  But, we're ready for 'em little one!  That's one of the problems of being the third baby.  It's not Mommy and Daddy's first rodeo.  We may have been clueless with Poodle and mostly clueless with Tooter, but we've got our collective gloves up this time.  And you are responding beautifully to the wee bits of discipline that babies can get, in your normal, sweet, accommodating way.

You've got two more teeth!  As of 7/16, you had a new tooth on top to the right of your front teeth and a new one on the bottom to the left of those front ones.  There is one more looking to break through any day now.  Teething is still bothersome to you, BUT, it's getting slightly better.  Just slightly, but still, we'll take what we can get.  Your toothy smile is just so cute.  So cute!!!

You are a whiz with the sippy cup.  And, it is still practically impossible to convince you to eat baby food.  (Don't know what happened!)  You want things you can pick up and hold and eat yourself.  Which is a challenge, because we're having to find things that you can gum (since you have no chewing teeth), but that have some nutritional value, that will also be easy on your tummy.  Yippee!  ::wink::  You're still nursing a lot, so that makes up for what you don't get vitamin-wise from your "real" food.  And, I can still convince you to eat a bit of yogurt, even though it is awfully baby food'ish to you.

Here are some things you like:
fish sticks
cheese (cheddar)
crackers
pretzels
rice (brown and white)
apples
blueberries, sort of
steamed carrots, sort of
cheerios
corn chex cereal

You kind of like pasta with a bit of tomato sauce, but pasta in general has a weird texture for you to chew up.

We have discovered that peanut butter is a big no-no right now.  I gave you a piece of a crust of bread cut from Poodle's pb&j, and it had a teensy bit of peanut butter on it.  The bread - you liked!  But, the peanut butter made your little face break out and your lips swell up.  Scared me a bit!  But, I don't think you have the kind of dangerous peanut allergy that is a cause for true alarm.  We just have to keep you away from the "strong stuff" for awhile.

Same thing with egg whites.  Not quite as extreme of a reaction, but still.  You can eat things with egg whites in them, like cookies or what-have-you.  But, scrambled eggs cause a bit of a reaction.  I have discovered, however, that you like scrambled egg yolks with cheese!  (and those are okay)

You have begun to "love love" things.  You'll put your sweet face down on various things and smile with a darling look in your eyes and wait for us to say "awww, Lollypop, loooove love!"  In fact, that's what you're doing in your eleven month progress picture.  You were love loving on Fuzzy Wuzzy!

My babygirl, you make us laugh, you make us sigh with pleasure.  Your giggle is our attitude adjustment, and your eyes are our reminder to do better.  We love you so much!

BFF Family

Last night, we all got to go hang out with Poodle's BFF's family and we had a blast! Mama BFF cooked some YUMMO Bbq sammiches with potato salad and baked beans, and she had brownies and ice cream for dessert. Hello! I could have really made a pig of myself, but chose to exercise restraint. But I didn't wanna.

Whilst we were there, I took some family photos! We didn't have a whole lot of time - literally about 10 minutes before the bottom dropped out. Actually, during the last 4 or so pictures, the raindrops were truly fallin' on our heads.

I didn't get a chance to take any Mama/Daddy pictures or any individual kiddo pictures because of the rain. But, we'll get together again, and we'll get another chance! And next time, we'll have more light outside, and I won't have to use the itty bitty f-stop that made the kids a bit blurry.

Thanks for the wonderful evening Wiggies!

Conversations with Tooter

(Mommy kisses Tooter for doing something sweet for Poodle.)

Tooter:  Mommy!!!  Don't kiss me!  (He's on a No Kissing kick right now.  It comes and goes).
Mommy:  Whoops!  So sorry.  I totally forgot.
Poodle:  That's right, Mommy.  Tooter hates kissing.
Tooter:  Nooo!  I don't want to hate it!  I just don't want to love it!


Alrighty, then.......

Salvation

This post really spoke to me to me today, and I thought I might share it with y'all also!  It's from www.baptistbiblehour.org.

Salvation

My salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my savior… – 2 Samuel 22:3

David had sought refuge in the mountains countless times while being hunted by King Saul. He knew both the discomfort of being exposed and vulnerable, and the peace of being safely tucked away in a strong fortress. Now David, as an old man, writes a hymn of praise to God, after being delivered once again, and calls God his salvation, his tower, his refuge.

Do you have a refuge? Perhaps not from a ravaging army, but from a smarting conscience? Do you have a safe place to run when you realize that there are sins in your past that cannot be undone, mistakes that cannot be corrected, wrongs that cannot be righted?

When your sins come rushing in on you, when you come to realize how far short you have fallen of the perfect and good standard of God, then your first tendency may be to save yourself — but you cannot be a refuge for yourself. You need someone else to shelter you from the just wrath of God. You need the perfect goodness of Jesus to be your refuge, your high tower of defense.

When you feel exposed and helpless before the all-seeing gaze of God, realizing that you are a sinner and that your only hope is a savior to intercede for you, know that Jesus Christ is a strong tower, a refuge into which you can run and find safety. This refuge will last, this tower will hold, this savior will save.

Lollypop in Action

Cause who doesn't love a squishy baby in a tub?  Really?

(This was her first bath out of the baby tub.  Happened around mid-May, I believe!)

Ten Months

Lollypop!

Sweet baby of ours.  On this, your Uncle David's 34th birthday, you also turn 10 months old!

Speaking of Uncle David, you are very pleased that he is engaged!  You love your Aunt-Leah-to-be, and she is so sweet to you.  They are planning for a wedding later in this year, and we are very much looking forward to it!

You're still pulling up on ev-er-y-thing, and I've caught you a couple of times trying to stand up on your own.  I don't know if you mean to do it, or if you start to do it by instinct, get halfway into it before you realize that you really don't have anything around you to hold onto!  I figure we get to enjoy your crawling stage a little bit longer.  At least I hope so.  It's so sweet, and you're really pretty effective with it.  You can get from one end of the house to the other on your own.  (And you're usually looking for me when you do it).  I love the sparkle in your eyes when you crawl over to my desk chair, pull up on it and say whatever is the consonant of the day to get me to pick you up.  Speaking of consonants, you're saying "ma-ma's" (not for mommy), "da-da's" (not for daddy, yet), "ba-ba's", and you've just started this crazy "ha" sound that is accompanied by a crazy, wheezy, hyper-ventilating sound.  lol...  Sorry.  It's hard to describe!

You love to turn over the garbage can at my desk and take out every.single.piece of what-have-you that's in there.  And, yes, I let you do it.  It's pretty much just paper.  And it amuses you.  And I get a blog post finished.  It's all good.

You have become strangely uninterested in baby food.  You'll eat it, but not with the delight you had been having.  You want to eat cheerios and corn chex and things like that.  You want to nurse a lot instead of eating.  You like to squish beans and peas in your mouth, but you don't want to eat them.  It's a conundrum.  Thankfully for you, your mommy is so busy with all the rest of life, that I don't have time to worry about it.  I have enough of a memory left to know that it will all work itself out.  And since you're still nursing, I'm not worried about nutrition.  (And your blood tests from your last check-up confirmed that you don't need vitamins, so it's all good).

Tooter and Poodle both can make you giggle.  Your daddy can *really* make you giggle.  And I'm still the person you have to have at night.  :-)

As of today, you have your fourth tooth!  You now have two on the bottom, and two on the top (with the 2nd one on the top having juuuust broken through the gumline).  Teething is not your friend.  I was hoping that maybe you'd be less susceptible to all the pain of it.  But, maybe that will come with the later teeth, like it was with your brother.  I hope so.  Because your nighttime sleep is pretty yucky right now.  Not that I mind.  I mean, I understand.  And I know that it will get better.  I just wish you could sleep better.  Sweet baby.

You've been to Florida and Alabama in the past 5 weeks.  Had a nine month well-baby checkup with vaccinations.  Been through an annual meeting at church as well as Singing School.  Survived the kitchen getting new countertops.  And you're getting through the summer heat as best you can!  It's been a hectic month for you.  I will admit to some crazy-mommy moments because of all the activity, but you have that instant forgiveness for crazy parents that God blesses the babies to have.  Ahhhh, that we all could have that knee-jerk forgiveness trait again!

It's a little disconcerting that you will be a whole year old in just two wee months.  But I can not tell you how blessed we feel because of you.  You are loved by your family, by your church, by your siblings' friends.  (And their mommies!)

And your daddy and mommy feel lighter and brighter when we see you.  We feel warmer and more complete when we hold you.  And we know that our family is better because of you.  Happy 10 months, our darling girl!

Singing School - Last Day (Third Performance)

Singing School - Day Three (Second Performance)

Singing School - Day Two (First Performance)

Nine Month Portraits

A variety to enjoy.  :-)  Since Lollypop's newest favorite activity involves pointing at pretty much everything she sees or wants or momentarily thinks about, I had precious few pictures made without that wummy widdle finger pointing at something.  Thing is, that's what she is doing at nine months.  I like that this is what I will remember about her at this age!

Bye Bye everyone!  *mwah!*

Scientific Method

I really enjoy this fellow. He's just... well, you've got to watch this. Now, it would be great if you could go back and watch all five parts of this video, but if you only have 5 minutes, just watch part 5 of 5. It's a great summation of how the Bible is believable - not because you "want" to believe it, but because simple logic and basic intelligence leads to the end result that it is a believable document.

And the last thing he says is a reference to the beginning of his sermon here.

Nine Month Photos

We've been doing some PHO-tography 'round here the past couple of days to get Lollypop's nine month portraits done. At the end of today's session, the older two wanted in on it. So I got some shirts on them, put them in front of the camera and just started clicking. There was much noise and chaos, but we got a few cute ones!

I'm still working on editing the baby's pics, so those will come later. I want to brag a little bit on the quilt that you see behind them. It was made by a beautiful sister in Christ from my church. She has been making quilts for most of her life, and she made my mother a Dutch Doll quilt a few years back. A couple of months ago, she blessed ME with one of those beautiful quilts! Technically, it's Lollypop's quilt. But, I lay claim to it a little bit too. :-) Thank you so much sweet Sister Jean!

Vacay!

We just got back from Watercolor, Florida where we got to spend almost a whole week with Jmk's family! It was just as beautiful as I remembered it from October 2008.  That place is just THE place to go if you are looking for a relaxing, beautiful atmosphere.

Thanks to the generosity and uber-awesome planning skills of his Aunt Jennifer and Uncle David, we all got to stay in a perfectly beautiful resort home for a week.  Fancy digs for us, for sure!  We were only missing Brecken (who had just started a new management position with her company and couldn't leave) and Grandmother (who isn't in a position to do that kind of traveling).

Biggest fun of the week for Jmk was the deep sea fishing day!  Awesome amberjack for him along with a few king mackerels and red snappers for the whole group of guys that went.

 

NOW - how did the kids do?  Well, to be 6 and 4 and 9 months and to have no other kids to play with in the house and to be somewhat out of their routine, but still at the mercy of a baby's schedule...  they did awesome!  Granted, Jmk and I realize that we need to alter our idea of vacations now, moreso than we had already altered them.  But, regardless, being able to spend time with the family in such a picturesque setting (and before the oil got there) was such a blessing!

Brennan gets MAJOR kudos for his maturity and compassion and his truly accommodating nature.  Being a young, single guy staying in the part of the house with the family with the young kids takes a special person, and he was GREAT!  And it was such fun watching Tooter with his newest love, Megan.  (Megan 2, that is.  Poodle has already claimed Megan 1 as her own).  You see, Jmk has a couple of cousins who are brothers who are both married to/will be married to a Megan.  It's so cute!

What I don't have this time?  Pictures from the actual beach or the pools that are on the resort.  Not a one.  GrandCandy has some that she will send me, but I didn't take a single one.  sigh....  Well, what can you do?  It's durn near impossible to keep the camera protected at the pool or the beach when you are handling a baby and attempting to help your sweet husband keep an eye on the older two kids.  (And, I couldn't find our point and shoot camera before we left.  Whoops!)  BUT, see, it's okay.  I can assure you we made plenty of sandcastles and spent a lot of time getting thoroughly waterlogged in the Frog Pool.  You'll just have to believe me, even though I have no photographic proof of those activities.

Now it's back to reality and time to get ready for an upcoming church meeting, Singing School, out-of-town family visits and I'm sure a few other things that I've forgotten about.  And that's just June.  :-)

Nine Months

Oh, my dear one!  I'm a bit late in posting about your nine months birthday.  Not that we forgot.  We didn't!  I just haven't had a chance to get to it until now.  But you've been a busy, busy sweet baby this past month.

Let's see....  well, you are crawling everywhere now.  And when you are ready to picked up, you'll crawl to the person you want, get yourself situated on your tushy, look up at said person, and start bouncing your arms up and down like you're about to take flight.  Usually with a grin on your face.  It's the cutest thing, and I hope I never forget what it looks like to have you flappin' those precious, squishy arms at me!

You've taken quite a fondness to little pieces of bread.  And those little puffed pieces of junk that gerber makes.  They are awful for nutritional value, but they have really helped you learn how to chew and push things around in your mouth.

You tend to exhibit low tolerance to new foods by getting a diaper rash.  And, oh baby, they are awful!  You just cry when I lay you down to change your diaper....  breaks my heart.  I've never had a baby to get such bad rashes.  But you're just as sweet as you can be once I pick you up.  You were supposed to have your nine month well-baby check up last week, but you were sick with a stomach virus and I didn't want you dealing with vaccinations while sick.  Then, right after you got over the stomach thing, (literally a day later), you came down with a cold.  Bless your heart!  You'll have that check up this Friday, so I hope your system can take all of that along with an out-of-town trip that you're about to take two days later.  Thankfully, you're still nursing, so if it all goes haywire on you, at least I know I can feed you.  Precious baby.

What else have you done....  well, you're "talking" up a storm.  Everything is ba-ba-ba and da-da-da, and you blurble and babble with ease.  You've taken to pointing to things and people.  And when someone tells you the name of the thing or person you're pointing to, it makes you smile so big!  I swear it's like you're trying to input that information already!

Poodle and Tooter are still in love with you, and you with them.  You have the best grandparents in the whole world.  Just this past Sunday, GaGa was looking at you over lunch and he said that "you're going to have those boys groveling on their knees with those eyes of yours".  He's smitten himself, I think!  :-)  It's not just your eyes.  It's your laid-back, easy-going, ready to smile and have fun manner that you have.

You've graduated out of the baby tub and into the 2-inches-of-water in the big person tub for your baths. Although lately, bath time has been tough because of the diaper rashes.  I really would have thought the water would feel good, but apparently it doesn't.  Definitely going to talk to the pediatrician about that one on Friday.

And you have a second tooth!  That booger cut through on Mother's Day.  Thankfully, we don't have any more about to emerge - they definitely bother you the way they did your sister years ago.

Three quarters of your first year on this earth have whisked by in a whirl of laughter and colors and beauty and whimsy.  Your daddy and I get a little overwhelmed when we allow ourselves to think of the blessing that we have been given with our children.  We are so grateful to God for you and your sister and brother.  We love you so much little Lollypop!!!

Funnity Fun Fun!

For almost 30 years, our local Symphony has had a big fundraiser where they held a contemporary music concert, outdoors, on the banks of a local "lake" that we have here.  While being on the shore, spread out on a picnic blanket, was always fun, I have always wanted to see the concert from a boat.  There are lots of folks that do that, and it always seemed like such a cool thing.



Well, I'm here to tell you that it IS.  A cool thing, that is.  We attended via watercraft on Friday night and it was a blast!  My dad and mom took us out on their boat.  We ate supper out there and enjoyed the concert.  Because there were some fantastic fireworks at the end of the concert, we were out there until about 9pm.  The kids did great staying up way past their bedtime!  Yay for the boat!  :-)  I'm thinking of decking it out with Christmas lights next year.  heehee.  I'm sure that will just thrill my Dad to NO end.

MooMoo and her sweet Lollypop

Tooter.  Extreme Closeup.  Yikes.

The Captain and the Kid

The Captain and the other Kid, who is actually old enough to listen to the Captain.

My baby.  And his baby.  ;-)

Poodle's opinion of the evening!

Poodle took some pictures while the sun was setting behind us.

And she shall be our Squishy.  And she shall be our very own.

The sun set leaving behind pinks and oranges to thrill all the little girls in attendance.

The baby took a short nap, but couldn't stay asleep for long.  There was playing to be done.  And sea legs to be developed.

The boats' running lights came on as the skies grew indigo.  The hillside was full of happy kids and grown-ups.  The music was wonderful and the breeze was heavenly!

A nice couple, enjoying the evening just above their decorated boat.  Didn't know them, but I like their enthusiasm.  Made me want to play copycat next year!