Achieving Zen

Becky was working for a few hours last night and it was guys night at home. After getting Jackson down to sleep it was time for daddy and Noah to have some one-on-one play time. Noah wanted to play astronaut so I convinced him that his Air Force flightsuit was also an astronaut flightsuit. He asked me to put on my flightsuit "so we can match" and of course I complied.

After a while, playing astronaut turned into playing pilot. We made a makeshift airplane in the living room floor and shot several approaches into Bowman International. Then he asked me if we could watch airplanes together on TV in our uniforms. After taking a moment to wipe away a tear (almost) we sat down together... father and son... in our flightsuits... and we watched daddy's favorite movie of all time..."TOPGUN." Ahhhhhh... So this is what Zen feels like.

Best Buddies

Whenever Jackson is taking a nap, as soon as we hear the first stirrings of him waking up, Noah always lets me know- "Mom- Jackson's awake!". He loves to be the first one in the room to greet him when he wakes up. Today when Jackson woke up, I was busy getting ready for church, so I asked Noah to go check on Jackson for me. This picture shows what I found when I got there! They looked so sweet cuddled up in Jackson's bed together. I know I've said this before, but Noah is the most loving and enthusiastic big brother I think I've ever seen! I just can't believe how much he loves Jackson and wants to take care of him! Jackson loves him too- his little face just lights right up when Noah walks into the room. I think our two little boys each have a best buddy for life in each other!

Operation Swingset Repair

Our swingset was a casualty of one of the very windy thunderstorms that have come through on regular basis the last couple of months. It was blown over, bent in places it wasn't meant to, and the slide ripped off. David was off yesterday, and since it was such a pretty day, decided to try to patch it back together. As soon as Noah found out what he was doing, he of course said "Daddy needs my help!" He then proceeded to load up all his "tools" in his Handy Manny toolbox and headed outside to help. I'm sure David could have finished it up a little quicker going at it solo, but he definitely enjoyed working side by side with his little buddy!
After repairs were complete, we hung up Jackson's baby swing and let him try it out for the first time! As you can see, he was all smiles- as long as we didn't push him too high. He seemed to prefer drifting in the breeze rather than actually "swinging super duper high" as Noah likes to!

Field Trip!

Today Noah's preschool class went on a field trip to Grassland Ranch to learn about horses and cows. I don't think they could have picked anywhere to go that he would've liked any better (except maybe DisneyWorld!). Noah loves being a cowboy. As you can see in the first picture, they all got to take a turn at brushing a horse.
The most fun of all, he got to take a horse back ride! He hopped up in the saddle with seemingly no fear at all. He looked like an old pro riding around the arena on horseback. Notice that he's wearing his cowboy boots and also insisted on wearing his blue jean jacket. It was about 80 degrees and none of the other kids had on a coat, but he had to keep it on so he could "look like a cowboy!"

All the kids also got to take a turn at "bullriding". It was the most fierce bull you've ever seen made out of barrels! Don't worry- Noah wasn't afraid and managed to ride that bull for the full 8 seconds! Way to go Cowboy Noah! They wrapped it all up by taking a hay ride into the pasture to see the cows, then had a picnic lunch before heading home. It was a very fun day for all!

Jackson Went to Bible Class!

Jackson went to Bible class at church for the very first time tonight! He sat in his seat, and, according to his teachers, did really well. They said he seemed to enjoy all the little activities and songs in class. I guess I must look like the crazy mom of the century taking the camera to church to get a picture of it, but I take pictures of everything else he does and I thought this was a pretty important occasion, too! We're proud of you, Jackson! Thanks to teachers Lori and Emily for taking care of him and teaching his very first Bible class!

Wedding Pictures

My cousin Amanda got married this weekend and Noah got to be the ringbearer. Olivia was the flower girl, so they got to go through everything together. He looked too cute in his little tuxedo! He also did a very good job walking down the aisle and standing semi-still during the wedding! Aside from almost falling off the step a couple of times while the ceremony was going on, he did really great! Way to go Noah and Olivia, and a big Congratulations to Matt and Amanda. Thanks for having Noah in the wedding!

Biking for St. Jude's

Noah got to participate in a Bike-A-Thon for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital at his preschool today. They collected pledges for riding their bikes to raise money for the hospital. He raised enough to get a St. Jude T-shirt for his efforts. They really had a lot of fun- some of those little guys were speed demons and would run right over you if you weren't paying attention. There were a few 5 bike pileups since there were about 30 four year olds riding their bikes around a large oval shape mapped out by orange cones! They seemed to have trouble making the turns without running into each other. Luckily, no one got hurt and they enjoyed riding their bikes together to raise money for a good cause!

Overheard...

Noah seems to have become just a little spoiled by getting random surprises. David has a little harder time dealing with this than I do since he is gone from home more often, and Noah has come to expect that Daddy will bring him a surprise. I'm sure many kids get little surprises like this from their Daddys, but where Noah's getting spoiled comes in is that he's now requesting certain things that he wants. He'll even go so far as to let you know where to go find the wanted item and say "So can you bring me that?". Yesterday, while shopping at Target, Noah found a Buzz Lightyear toy that is that latest on his list of wants. I heard him whispering on the phone to David about it yesterday. He knew that I had already said he might could get it for his birthday, but he knows that Daddy's out of town and coming home tomorrow- therefore he expects a surprise. This morning when he got up, he wanted to call David again. I heard him talking again about the Buzz Lightyear, and as he walked toward me to give me the phone, he said to David- "Now, you don't talk to Mom about that, Okay?". It was all I could do to keep from laughing. I guess he thinks I tell Daddy not to bring surprises, especially not really good ones like Buzz Lightyear! I guess that reaffirms that Daddy is the fun one and Mommy's not so fun, huh?

6 Months Pictures!

Just had to show off the pictures that our little buddy had made today! I just love the way his little bald head shines in the one with the black background- he kind of has the little old man look in it. The one on the bottom is my very favorite because it just looks so perfectly Jackson. He's got his hands and feet up to his face like he loves to do, and the cute little twinkle in his eye that shows how happy he is. He did very good posing for all the pictures. They took a total of about 70 shots, so it was very difficult to walk out with only three poses.

Cracker Please!

Jackson has become quite interested in eating "real food". When he sits in my lap while I'm eating, he's very likely to take a lunge at my food. Sometimes he'll actually grab my hand and try to bring whatever I'm eating into his mouth. While we were eating supper the other night, I kind of felt sorry for him. He had eaten some baby food, but still seemed to want some of what we were having. Since we were eating spaghetti, I thought that might not be the best idea, but I let him try out a Ritz cracker. I thought it would get mushy quickly and be a pretty safe thing to try. Needless to say, he loved it! He really enjoyed getting it into his mouth and mushing it up. We had lots of crumbs everywhere when he was done, but it was worth it for the fun he had with it. So far, he hasn't really met a food he doesn't like except for green beans- he tends to spit those all over the place. Once he actually gets some teeth there'll be no stopping him! We went for his 6 month check up Friday and he weighed 16lbs14oz, and was 27 inches long! He's averaging a little bigger than his older brother was at this age. Look out Noah- He's gonna catch up!

A Visit With Papa and Nana

David's parents came over for a visit with the boys Saturday afternoon. It was the first time they had gotten to see Jackson for a few weeks, so they were pretty impressed with how much he's grown and changed. Noah always has fun playing and showing off all his toys when Papa and Nana visit.

Mystery Solved!

Hopefully we have come to the right diagnosis with my Mom. It turns out that she's been having some irregular heartbeats that were a little more significant than we thought they were. As a result of this irregular heart rhythm, small clots were forming in her heart. When her heart would return to a normal rhythm, those clots were sent out into her body. A couple of them lodged in her brain causing the strokes that she had over the weekend. The good news is that we saw the cardiologist today who put her on stronger blood thinner and a medicine to keep her heart in the correct rhythm. Also good news is that the neurologist said that since the strokes that she had were so small, she should recover fully and never know that she had them. Her speech is already much improved and back to normal at times. It should continue to clear up and be just as normal as it ever was- we have always made fun of her for the way she pronounces some words!! So hopefully very soon we can hear her say "herricane" (hurricane) and "cassette tape" in her very signiature way of pronouncing them! Thanks to everyone for thinking of her in your prayers over the last few days!

MawMaw Update #2...

Mom made it home last night after a long and not so pleasant 8 hour trip from Indiana. Aside from dealing with the yucky side effects of one of the medicines they put her on, she's doing pretty good. Her speech seems to be improving a good bit. We went to her family doctor in Huntsville today, and now have an appointment to see a neurologist tomorrow and a cardiologist on Thursday. No new news from the appointment today- we'll just wait to see what the neurologist thinks tomorrow. Thanks for keeping her in your prayers!

Jackson is 6 Months Old!

Today Jackson is 6 months old! We can't believe how much our little man has grown and changed. The time has just flown by. I took these pictures today while we were "babysitting" Bo-Wendy and Scott's dog. He and Jackson seem pretty fond of each other. Jackson just laughs at him while Bo tries to eat Jackson for a snack!

MawMaw Update...

Just heard from David a little bit ago- Mom has had a couple of small strokes in the area of her brain that only affects the speech. They are putting her on a blood thinning medication along with something for blood pressure and going to let her leave the hospital. The plans are to try to get some rest today and come home tomorrow. David, Wendy, and Scott are going to stay there tonight to be able to drive back with them. We'll try to get her in to see her doctor on Monday to see what we need to do from here to get to her back on track. Thanks for praying for her and please continue to pray that her speech improves!

Prayers for Mawmaw...

Please keep my mom in your prayers for the next few days. My parents traveled to Indiana for a few days, and while there Mom has had to go into the hospital. Yesterday she suddenly started "not feeling very good" and developed slurred speech. She was at the mall by herself at the time and was taken to the hospital by ambulance. So far, there's no other symptoms of a stroke except the slurred speech, but there's a huge history of problems like this in her family- my grandmother had multiple strokes over the years. Mom herself is always healthy as a horse, and I cannot remember her ever even having to stay overnight in the hospital since I've been alive, so the fact that this is happening with her so far away from home is very hard for everybody. I feel pretty helpless. David, and my sister Wendy and her husband Scott went up there last night. They could all pick up and go easier than I could since I've got the two little ones, so I stayed here to keep all the kids. They didn't get there until about 4a.m., and they've just now gotten to see her this morning. I feel much better knowing that David is there and can actually see her and give me his opinion of how she is. Not much has changed since last night- speech is still slurred, but no new symptoms at this point either, so I guess that's good. She had a CT scan last night, and has already had an MRI and echocardiogram this morning. We'll just be sitting tight waiting for results now. Our hope is that her speech will clear up and the hospital up there will let her go, then they'll just get her home as soon as possible so we can get with her doctors here to get to the bottom of things. Again, having David there makes me feel much better about putting her in a car for 8 hours to come home- I know he'll take good care of her. Please just say a special prayer for her that she will improve and we can get her back home safe and sound!

All By Myself!

Jackson has seemed very frustrated with himself this week trying to do new things that he just couldn't quite pull off. But today, he managed to learn something new! He was able to sit up all by himself for several minutes- sure he's leaning forward propping himself up on his arms, but he's doing it all by himself! We only had a couple of bobbles and one all out falling over face first!
Looks pretty proud of himself doesn't he? He growing up just a little too fast!

We're one step closer to being on the move now! Noah better look out, 'cause Jackson's coming after him! We've already started the whole "he can't play with that- it's mine!" and "Jackson can only play with baby toys!" thing. Now that Jackson can hold himself up, Noah may be dealing with a little more protests and power struggles from the little guy.