Dad

I never could have imagined life without you here. I always have been and always will be a daddy's girl. I will always remember- Long talks. Walks on the beach holding hands. Standing on your feet to be tall enough for the roller coasters. Learning to drive. Learning to play basketball and softball. Watching movies. Date nights at all of our favorite restaurants. Shopping:). Our crazy songs."come check on me". Bible studies. Advice. Your beautiful words at mine and Collins wedding. Your hugs. Your encouragement. Feeling like a princess with you. Wedding dance. Seeing you with Jude. Your beautiful voice. Your kindness and compassion.

Thank you for teaching me-To respect myself. To communicate. Love. To put others before myself. To laugh. That it's ok to cry. To do the pretzel:). To believe that I can do anything I put my mind to. To be expressive. To be honest. To love the Lord. To grieve over loss but find joy in knowing how perfect heaven is.

Love you daddy.

grocery time saver!!

and specifically go to

http://www.budget101.com/groceryguide.htm

AWESOME website!

www.budget101.com

Enjoy!

ready for my hike!

loves to be with his daddy

sorry jude, couldn't get your whole face!

all done, that was fun mom and dad!

I've got my daddy's morning hair

I have always loved the way that Collin's hair looks in the morning when he wakes up! haha, now I have two of them to enjoy.

I could just eat him all up!

Yum Yum

I can't believe that my baby is already 6 months old! I feel like time has flown by so quickly. I am so blessed by this little man that has come into my life! Everyday is so much fun, and it's amazing to see how he changes from one week to the next. He just started on his first baby foods, he seems to really like them! I knew that he was ready when he started paying attention to everything that we ate. You can tell that his first bite was a little timid but by the next day he was chomping down!

His new favorite things are

- steering wheels of any kind

-growling

-Our lhasa Annie girl

-jumping and kicking those legs!

-playing with daddy's hair

-the running stroller (falls asleep every time)

-sucking on his piggies

-and middle schoolers! haha, guess that's a must!

5 months

Could he be any sweeter?

Two of a kind

My Mother-in-law, Nancy, brought some of Collin's baby clothes. I think Collin was a little older than Jude in this picture.

Cutest Little Tushie

Some Women are dripping with Diamonds...

Friday March 20th I woke up with pain that was somewhat famililar.I like jewels, but these were not the kind of stones I had in mind. My mom and dad had come up for Brett's birthday and I am very lucky that they were here! On Saturday I ended up having to go to the ER with my second set of kidney stones. The first set in 2004. I knew that I had more in the opposite side but there was a chance they would never move. They thought differently. Anyway I was sent home with the hope that I could pass these two little 2 mm stones. I was in extreme pain the whole next week and went back to the Dr to find out the stone was stuck and was bigger than they had thought. It was more like one 5mm stone. We set a date for surgery the following Monday, just had to bare the pain a little longer. The surgery went well and I came home. My mom had come back up to stay with Jude. She went home Monday night just to turn around and come back Tues morning at 6:30 am. The Dr did not get all of the stone so I was having to pass more. It was terrible and I was sick and had to head back to the ER. This has truly been the most challenging time of my life, I have had to supplement some formula for Jude (which I have hated doing) and I know he has been thrown off with me being gone and out of commission so much. One thing is for sure I am TRULY thankful for my wonderful husband and mother. They have been so much help and support through this. Hopefully these stones are gone for good, and the rest of everything in my system with go away soon!

Falling Up

Jude and I have been reading some of my favorite poems by Shel Silverstein. Here is one of the ones that we laughed at today!

Scale

" If I could only see the scale,

I'm sure that it would state

That I've lost ounces...maybe pounds

Or even tons of weight.

'You'd better eat some pancakes-

You're skinny as a rail.'

I'm sure that's what the scale would say...

If I could see the scale."

Oh the joys of losing weight!

Mine and Collins baby pics

We wanted to post these for everyone that has been asking if Jude looks like either of our baby pictures!

I love my Uncle Brett

Need to be reminded

"If we knew no sin, we should know no sickness. Sinners are fools. They hurt their bodily health by intemperance, and endanger their lives by indulging their appetites. This their way is their folly. The weakness of the body is the effect of sickness. It is by the power and mercy of God that we are recovered from sickness, and it is our duty to be thankful. All Christ's miraculous cures were emblems of his healing diseases of the soul. It is also to be applied to the spiritual cures which the Spirit of grace works. He sends his word, and heals souls; convinces, converts them, makes them holy, and all by the word. Even in common cases of recovery from sickness, God in his providence speaks, and it is done; by his word and Spirit the soul is restored to health and holiness."

Commentary by Matthew Henry on Psalm 107:17-22

It is so easy to forget to give Christ the credit for the sickness that I have seen around me and have experienced myself. During hard times of my life I have prayed harder than ever for loved ones to be healed. Once my prayers have been answered (yes or no) I go on with life without recognizing that it is my duty to be thankful for what the Lord has done for me.
I need to be reminded over and over that the Lord has blessed me. "It is by the power and mercy of God that we recover from sickness."

The shirt says it all.

This was so cute! Jude is a soaker. When he gets up from his nap he likes to just hang out for a little bit before it's time for fun. He just threw his hands back and decided to relax for a while.

Just Hanging with Poppi

My little Tootles

MOM! Are you seriously still taking pictures?!

I LOVE my fingers

Jude has always been a finger sucker, from the day he was born he loved to have his hands in his mouth. Lately he has been teething and anything that he can get into his mouth is fine by him! Because he is not always so great with the placement of his hands we give him one of our knuckles every once in a while and he can really clamp down! I can feel a couple of little sharp teefers making their way through...I will admit I am a little nervous about this. There is one side that he does not like to nurse on very much anyway and sometimes clamps down with those gums...and teeth?! Well I guess we will see how it goes!

The love of my life for Valentines Day

Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime,
Therefore, we are saved by hope.
Nothing true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history;
Therefore, we are saved by faith.
Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone.
Therefore, we are saved by love.
No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as from our own;
Therefore, we are saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness.

-Reinhold Niebuhr

This sweet face is so exciting to wake up to everyday. His rash has cleared up completely and I know that he is so happy to be itch free!

Pump it up

wow what can I say about pumping? It is a combination of things wrapped up into one. Great for times when I need extra sleep or to run out of the house, neat for Collin to feed Jude and have some bonding time, and a time to relate a little better to a cow. I am so thankful that my cousin Jessica let me borrow her electric pump but being hooked up to that system is hilarious!

One morning when Collin was letting me sleep in I had pumped so that he could give Jude a bottle. I had not pumped enough so he was going to give Jude a little bit of formula after the breast milk, and above is the result. Haha, Jude was not having the formula and kept spitting it back out. The top picture makes me think that he was laughing at Collin's attempts to feed it to him. This little guy has so much personality and is always making some kind of crazy expression!

I got an itch and I don't know where to scratch...(courtesy of uncle Lidelle)

Our poor little guy has been broken out with what we thought was an allergic reaction to something that had been touching his skin. We ended up taking him to the Dr. yesterday because he has been clawing at his face from itching so bad :o( It ends up that it is a rash caused by cradle cap but called seborrheic dermatitis when it is not on the head. Our Dr. advised us to use hydrocortisone cream to stop the itching and said it should clear up. Today he already looks so much better and hasn't been itching as much. Thank goodness, how terrible to itch and not have control over your hands to scratch in the right place!

Oh Uncle Wyan, you're so silly

Ryan came to hang out with Collin in Knoxville a couple of weeks ago. He is great with Jude! As always he had a new "do" probably for aerodynamics during his 3 mile run with a 50 lb pack ( for fire rescue training). I think that they could almost pass as relatives in this photo.

Too Big

I can't believe how fast he is growing! Today we laughed and talked to each other like he was a pro at conversations. It really feels like I just brought him home...I know now what they mean by cherish every moment.

The future of our world.

The sweetest flowers in all the world—

A baby’s hands.

–by Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909)

I was trying to do a photo shoot with him but he did not want to cooperate! Oh well so cute anyway.

I think they look so much alike here! I am seeing Collin in Jude more and more everyday. What do you think?

And 2 became 3

We went on our first date last night since Jude was born. Mom and Dad said just let us keep him and you go enjoy each other. It is amazing to think that it has been 6 weeks since we went anywhere and talked alone! It reminded me of the days when that was all we did, hung out together doing whatever we wanted. Those were definately fun times but nothing could replace our relationship now with Jude here. Having a baby does change things but for the better! There is a little life that is part of both of us and that is a bond that can't be replaced by anything else in the world.