Aunt Linny

Three sweet cousins!

Last weekend, my sister Lindsay and her husband Seth came to town to visit. They brought our cute nephew Tate. They came to meet Luke and see our new house, life, and of course, eat some seafood!. We had a lot of fun and it made me wish that we lived closer to each other. When we were younger we always said that we would live side by side. I would raise both of our kids and she would make sure they were dressed cute and take them to do fun things that only aunts can do.



It is funny thinking about that, especially as I watched my sister with Tate this weekend. She is an amazing mom! It was touching to watch her love on him by the way she played with him and talked to him. She dotes on him and gives him everything she has. And the way they looked at each other...you can tell he is as smitten with his mama as she is with him. She has changed a lot since becoming a mom and i think motherhood becomes her.




Linny, I am so proud of you! Thanks for coming and giving me the chance to watch you love on my nephew!

Will's Pool Party

So...a couple of weeks ago we had a birthday party for Will in the backyard. We had everything, or so we thought. I forgot to bring out the camera. Mike and I were so busy making sure everyone had what they needed that we didn't even think to take pictures. Luckily, our dear friend, neighbor and aspiring photographer, Stephen came with his camera. Thanks to him, we have some cool pictures from the big bash. Thanks Stephen!!

Warning...there are a lot of pics. :)

Will with Caleb and Jack
We had a pretty big crowd.
Sweet Chole helping Will!


My family chilling
Aunt Tammy and Caleb


Aunt Jo-Jo
Mike giving instructions

I'm 2!

It's official, my baby is 2! Where did these two years go? I don't know, but they sure did fly by. In that short amount of time, though, we have gotten to see Will grow into an adorable little toddler. He is changing daily and doing so many new things that it is hard to keep up with.

Here are a few things that I don't want to forget about Will at this age:
*He is a wonderful big brother who loves to "help" take care of Luke.
*He is talking up a storm. He loves to repeat any new word he hears so that he can use it later. He also loves to ask "what's that" when looking a the pictures in any book.
*He is totally into trains and firetrucks and he loves to movie "cars". All things that he got for his birthday.
*He loves milk and graham crackers and would eat an entire bag of goldfish if you let him.
*He loves to say "Hold you" which means that he wants you to hold him.
*Every boo-boo needs to be kissed before he will be ok.
*He likes to point and say "no!" when he doesn't want to do what you ask. That doesn't go over to well with me!
*He melts our hearts when he says "I wub you, mommy/daddy".
*He weighs 27 pounds and is 35 and 1/2 inches tall.


He is active, very active, and can do things that drive us crazy. But at the end of the day, he is a sweet, little boy who is loved very much.

Luke at 1 month

One short month has gone by and its amazing the amount of change that has come with it. Our sweet baby Luke is one month old today. He has changed the fabric of our little family in the short time that we have known him. he has brought us so much joy and happiness and we can't remember what it was like to have just Will in the house. He is such a happy and content baby. He sleeps well and eats well(he is now 9 lbs 10 ounces and 22 1/4 inches long!). He loves to be cuddled and hugged. He smells wonderful and fits perfectly in our arms! We love you Luke and look forward to seeing to you grow up!






Just want to say a huge thanks to Nicholette Creedmore for coming to take these great pics!

What do you think?

Will at 9 days.

Luke at 9 days.

Do you think they favor?

The Real World

The boys just chilling.

We have now entered what I like to call the real world. The point of time where all of our wonderful help has gone home. No one here to wash the clothes, dishes, vacuum or take Will outside when he demands to swing on the swingset, except for me. I have to say a big thanks to my mom, dad and Gran who came to help me after we came home. Between the three of them, I had someone with me for a week and a half. It was awesome, especially since Mike was working a huge outreach event at the local Wal-Mart and was gone a lot the first week.
Anyways, like I said, we are now in the real world. Mike and I are on our own with the boys. Which means I am on my own for most of the day with the boys. So far, things have gone well, just the occasional outburst from Will. Or the occasional time where both boys want to scream at the same time, or the occasional time where Will decides to pull Luke out of his swing. Oh yeah! That's what happened today. Luckily, Luke was in the travel swing which sits very low to the ground, but still. I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth with the swing just outside the door when I heard Luke screaming. When I rounded the corner I saw Luke under the swing and Will standing over him smiling. Not sure if Will was trying to "help" or what. We are working on that with Will! Oh...and Luke was just fine.
Regardless of the few stressful times I have had so far with these two boys, I know many more are to come and that's ok. I am so excited to be a boy mom and so blessed to be Will and Luke's mom.

Here are a few new pics of the boys:
Luke at a week and a half. Hey Aunt Linny, like his paci? She bought it for Will, who didn't care for it, not his type. But Luke loves it! Funny that it has a pirate symbol on it and we now live in Charleston.
I love this sweet picture!
The boys and Gran, or Ohma as Will likes to call her.
loving on his brother
Will playing with his new red truck. This child loves anything that moves, planes, trains and cars. And he loves to point them out to us. He now likes to tell us what color things are. He knows red, blue, green, yellow and white. He can say his name, first and last, and everybody in our family. We are working on shapes and numbers now. His two favorite phrases right now are "I wanna swing" or "choo-choo boogie" which comes from his Mickey Mouse dvd. He is blowing us away at how much he picks up on. He is a little sponge!

Adjusting...

Little Luke is over a week old now. I can not imagine life without him! He is the sweetest baby! He loves to be held, but he also is content to be put down for a little while. He eats every 2-3 hours and sleeps after every feeding. He has been sleeping well during the night which has made for a well rested mommy. We took him to the doctor last week and he got a clean bill of health. He had gained a few ounces, putting him right at 8 pounds (he left the hospital at 7.14 lbs).

Will is doing great with "Guke", especially since we have had family here to help us. My parents stayed last week and my Gran is here this week. Will has had someone to take him to swing, play with his cars or doing anything else that he wants to do. This has also given me the chance to love on Luke and bond with just him. But, I have seen Will act out some, regardless of the fact that he has had someone at his beck and call. I know that he still needs me, and honestly I miss hanging out with him. I think that is going to be my biggest challenge once I am here with the boys by myself. How do I play with Will and keep him occupied and juggle Luke and his needs?

While I have been busy with Luke and adjusting, my friends have rushed to serve us. We are so grateful to each and every one of them. From delicious food to my dear friend, and neighbor, who took Will for a couple of hours for him to play with her kids. I can never thank everyone enough. All I can do is serve them in the near future. Thank you all! Mike and I love you!



Mike and his boys!

Will and Luke

Luke at 5 days old