First steps

It was almost bathtime which is why Luke is just wearing his diaper.
He tries to clap for himself and walk at the same time. Excuse the high pitch voice in the background. Who is that? I mean, seriously, can her voice get any higher or more annoying?

Luke's baby dedication

We had Luke's baby dedication at church last night. It was a very sweet time. Instead of doing one big prayer at the end, the pastor prayed out loud for each baby & family by name as he went through the line. Luke did well until he became fascinated with Kevin's nose and started trying to stick his fingers in it. We didn't get pics of that, but here are a few other pics. Luke is trying to take a few steps so stay tuned for some video footage later this week.

Three generations - Kevin's parents came to visit.

Proud big brother strikes a pose.

for Audrey

Audrey is 4 1/2 years old. She was born one month after Fletcher. I've known her parents Mike and Bonnie for years since we were all in the singles group back in Houston. Bonnie is one of the girls that goes on our Girls Weekend trips every year. They have two older boys and Audrey is their youngest and the only girl.

This week they found a tumor on Audrey's adrenal gland near her kidney. Doctors believe it might be a rare form of cancer. She is having surgery Tuesday, July 1st at noon. Please pray for this family. Pray that the tumor is benign and if it is not benign that it is completely contained and nothing has spread. Pray for a complete healing. Mike and Bonnie have a very strong faith that God is in control. But trying to explain what is happening to a 4 1/2 year old and keep her calm while doctors and nurses are poking and examining has to be an overwhelming task.
Thanks.

Move over Clark Griswold

My brother, sister-in-law, niece and nephew came by for a visit. They live in Texas and they are huge baseball fans. They are headed to the northeast to see baseball games in Pittsburgh, DC, New York, Philadelphia, Maine, and Atlanta. Maine? That one really confused me until they explained to me that there is no baseball team in Maine but Monette's aunt lives there. Whew! I thought I had really lost touch with the baseball world. They will be in the car for 74 hours. I asked if they wanted to take Fletcher with them but somehow they quickly changed the subject.

Throwback Thursday

The date: I'm guessing somewhere around 1970

The place: Carlyss, Louisiana

The mood: Watch out Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders -- we are HOT!

This is my sister Denise and me. We were cheerleaders for my brother's football team - the Carlyss Colts. I think the cheerleading coach encouraged me to be a "base" not a "flyer" once she saw the size of my thighs! No one believes me when I tell them I weighed 10 lbs. when I was born.
My sister can still do the splits. The team had no budget for pompoms.
My brother's football career was short lived. He moved on to become a VP for Shell Oil. I still don't understand why we don't get family discounts on gas. Help a sister out!

Praise injury

Our church has a very sophisticated security system in the preschool area. You walk in to one of four laptop stations, give the last 4 digits of your phone number and the volunteer prints out nametags for your kids and stickers with randomly generated letter number combos that correspond to the letter number combo on the kids' nametags. If there are any problems with your children during the service, they flash your number on the Jumbotron screen in the worship center. Trust me -- no parent wants their number flashed on the big screen for any reason.

Luke has been having some trouble in the church nursery. Actually, he has been having alot of trouble. I had to stop going on Wednesday nights after they flashed my number three Wednesdays in a row. Wednesday services start at 6:40 pm and aren't over until about 7:40 pm. We usually start Luke's bathtime and bedtime routine around 7:15 so he would just start crying around that time. I'd go get him and he would be fine.

We decided to start going to the early Sunday service at 8:30 am. For those of you that know me well, you know that this is very difficult for me because I am not a morning person. But we figured that we could make it back home by 10 am for Luke's morning nap. We live 1 mile from the church. The last two Sundays they flashed our number on the big screen towards the end of the service. Luke was crying in the nursery, again. Poor baby. He is just not used to being away from me. And I think he is going through that separation anxiety phase. Did I mention we normally sit up front? That is such a long walk! Well, this past Sunday I told Kevin that we were going to sit in the back in case our number came up again. Wouldn't you know it. Third time's the charm. The pastor is just about to wrap it up and our number flashes on the big screen. Why don't they just include the words "Parenting Failure"?

I head back to the nursery expecting to hear Luke crying. Imagine my shock when Fletcher is standing there crying with a paper towel on his nose. For an instant I am relieved that Luke actually made it through a whole service. The director said the kids were singing "My God is So Big" and using music sticks. Um, yeah, whose idea was that? One of the kids whacked Fletcher on the nose after Fletcher "accidentally" whacked the other kid on the finger. After much parental interrogation, this is the story Fletcher is sticking with. The swelling has gone down and it is not quite as bruised. He's in VBS this week. Lord help us all.

Decisions, decisions

Can you guess what we are about to do?
Some of you may not know that we moved into our new house the same day we brought Luke home from the hospital. No, seriously. Kevin & his dad came back from Florida to close on the house. I had to stay in Florida with Luke until they told us it was ok to leave the state. I walked into our new house with a newborn in one arm and boxes everywhere. Needless to say, decorating was not the first thing on my To Do list. Heck, it wasn't even on the list. We did manage to paint the boys' rooms and bathroom. But then things kept coming up - Christmas, the new season of The Office, a sale at Macy's, vacation. Now that we've been here TEN MONTHS, I'm feeling somewhat guilty that we still don't have much on the walls. I can't exactly keep a glass vase on the coffee table. I can't even leave a magazine laying around without someone eating it. I won't mention any names, but it isn't Sadie. But we can paint.

We did buy a new area rug and a cool bench (go craigslist!) for the area in our house that Fletcher calls the "dance floor." It has some fun colors in it that we will try to incorporate in the rest of the house since our floor plan is so open.

I'll try to remember to take some before and after pictures once the painting is complete.