Look How I've Grown!

1 day

1 year

2 years


3 years old!

Andrew is 3!

Look at this big boy! Andrew is 3, and we had a great time celebrating his birthday... more pictures to come!

1st Day of MMO

The boys are ready for their first day of Mother's Morning Out in these pictures!

They are having so much fun going to "school". This is Forrest's first year to go, and he knew just what to do... walked right in and started playing! I guessed going in with me to take Andrew last year helped him see what it was all about. They both have super sweet teachers and we're excited about the year. Ann Evelyn and I are enjoying our time together, too!

Go Dawgs!

Wilson and Andrew had a blast at the first MSU game. They were both so excited before leaving for Starkville. I took some pictures of them practicing their cheers.

If you ask Andrew about it, he'll probably tell you about the Tiger (JSU mascot) and Bully - that seemed to be what made the biggest impression on him. :) They sat right beside the JSU band so I think that was pretty entertaining, too. And it of course was pretty exciting to see a win!

They are ready to go back and cheer the Dawgs on again!

Sweet Baby Girl

Here are a few pictures I took of Ann Evelyn. She is 2 1/2 weeks old in these.





Andrew came in on our photo shoot so I had to take a few of him, too!


I wish I had a few of Forrest, but he is way too busy these days to take part in many pictures!

So Sweet

This morning Ann Evelyn slept in a little. When she finally woke up, I took her to her room and laid her on the changing table to change her diaper and clothes. Andrew had followed me into the room and climbed into the rocker, which is next to the changing table. He stood in the rocker and leaned over Ann Evelyn's head. Of course, my immediate words were "Be careful, Andrew." He said, "I want to see her" and continued to get in a position where his head was right above hers. He leaned over and gave her a kiss on the head. Then in a cute little high-pitched voice he said "Hey, Ann Evelyn. Good morning." Then he looked at me as he patted her head and said, "She's so sweet. She's so sweet." I agreed, "She is sweet, isn't she?" And I thought she's a sweet girl with a very sweet big brother!

I was excited to have a sweet picture of these 2 together!

Ann Evelyn's 1st week at home

A few of my favorite, most memorable pictures from Ann Evelyn's 1st week at home...

Will we have another thumb sucker?

My baby girl wearing the dress my mother made for me to wear home from the hospital. She must like it... see that smile?

Snuggling after her 1st bath

Big brother checking on Ann Evelyn

and holding her hand.

I think this picture is so funny - Forrest giggling in the background, and Ann Evelyn looking as if her brother is already annoying her. :)

Andrew holds his baby sister

The boys love patting her little head.

Such a sweet picture of Ann Evelyn reaching up to touch Forrest's face.

Kisses from the boys

And, even though Ann Evelyn is not in this picture, it definitely represents her 1st week at home. We had a little problem with Andrew climbing into Forrest's crib at night. Most nights Forrest would wake us up crying, mad that Andrew had joined him in his crib and disturbed his sleep. (Forrest is our good sleeper!) But one morning, Wilson went in to find this - pretty cute! We can't understand how Andrew could have possibly been comfortable enough to sleep though. I think we've finally moved past this issue, and the boys seem to be back to sleeping soundly - thank goodness! I expect to be up at night with Baby Girl, but having to get up with all 3 little ones at night was getting pretty rough!!

Funny Forrest

This boy keeps us laughing. He is really so funny and such a mess. Wilson took him for a check-up last week. He weighed 30 lbs (over 100th%) and was 31 inches (80th%). As Mrs. Betty one of our favorite nursery workers says, he's a "big ole lump of sugar!" Last week as he and Wilson were leaving the house, he went over to see Ann Evelyn in her bouncy seat and said, "Bye-bye Sissy". It was his first word 2-word sentence and what a precious one it was!

My Sweet Andrew

2 weeks old

Ann Evelyn is 2 weeks old today! She went for her 2 week appointment yesterday, and the doctor said that she looks wonderful. She weighed in at 8 lbs 13 oz which the doctor said was great. (Her discharge weight from Woman's was 7 lbs 12 oz.) She is so sweet and good. Her doctor told us that 3rd babies are usually the easiest... but that as a toddler they are sometimes the most difficult because they've had 2 years to watch older siblings! :) I guess we'll enjoy the "easiness" while it lasts - and pray that the bad toddler stage won't be true for Ann Evelyn! We are certainly enjoying every minute with her now. The picture above is one I took of Wilson and Ann Evelyn this morning. It's been a sweet, quiet morning here... the boys spent the night with May-May and Bubby last night, and Wilson has the day off today. We've enjoyed our morning with our baby girl.

Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!

She's been with us for a week and a day, and we are in love! Ann Evelyn is oh so sweet! We didn't know what we were missing without a little girl in our house. I'm so thankful the Lord has blessed us with yet another precious child. The boys are a bit of a mess, but it's already apparent that they love their sister. I hope to share more pictures and stories in the next few days, but for now, here are some pictures of when Ann Evelyn was born...

I'm not a big fan of posting picture like this of me :), but I had to share it. This was taken outside of Woman's Hospital around 11:00 a.m. It's hard to believe we were holding our baby girl in our arms just 3 1/2 hours later. Maybe I'll write a little more about her birth story later.

Here she is! Born at 2:32 p.m., August 6th.

Proud parents! We were thrilled to have a baby girl!!

Wilson introducing his daughter.

8 lbs, 6 oz
She was 3 weeks early! I wonder how big she would have been had she stayed put a little longer?!?

Precious, little feet with ten, tiny toes

Big brothers, Andrew and Forrest, looking in to see their baby sister.

Forrest meets Ann Evelyn.
He's so sweet and gentle with her! And he's super interested in her paci! :)

Can you tell how sweet she is? :)

A kiss from big brother, Andrew. He's been telling everyone about his new sister, Ann Evelyn.
I love hearing him say her name!

Our baby girl!

It's a Girl!

We are so excited to have a precious baby girl in our arms! It was quite a surprise for us to bring her into the world almost 3 weeks early... but even more surprising to bring a GIRL into the world! Many eyes were filled with tears in the room as our doctor exclaimed, "It's an Annie!" I just ''knew" we'd be welcoming another little boy and had convinced Wilson of it, too. What a sweet, sweet surprise to see that the Lord had planned a little girl for our family. We were so blessed to have an easy labor and delivery and most importantly, to have a healthy baby with us now. God is so good and truly our cup runneth over!

"Ann Evelyn" Shirley

August 6, 2009

8 lbs 6 oz, 20 1/2 inches

2:32 p.m.

Her big brothers are doing fantastic and are so proud of their baby sister already! Andrew talked to his Aunt Izzy on the phone yesterday and told her "I have a baby sister... Evelyn". Hearing him say this melted my heart! I'll post more pictures of our baby girl when we are settled at home.

From the mouth of babes...

Have I ever mentioned how much we love our church?! We love it and feel so blessed to be a part of it. It's especially touching to see our own children being ministered to. That's exactly what Wilson and I saw last week during VBS. Two very sweet friends of mine (who also have little ones at home) were Andrew's teachers. They worked so hard to make the week fun and special for these little ones - all the while teaching them about Jesus! How thankful I am for them!! Andrew had his Bible verse memorized with motions by Wednesday and most days came home sharing his "cheer" for the day with us. One day at lunch he looked at Wilson and exclaimed with a smile, "Jesus saves sinners!" It did our hearts good to see this evidence of the Spirit working in our little boy's heart. Hope you enjoy this little video of Andrew's Bible verse. I've typed the "translation" below in case you have a hard time understanding... Philippians is a hard word to say! :)



"At the name of Jesus every knee should bow in Heaven and on earth and under the earth..."
Philippians 2:10

Fountains

What great entertainment for this hot summer heat!!

Cow Costumes = Free Chicken

For a little family fun last week, we headed over to Chick-fil-a for Cow Appreciation Day. Yes, we dressed up like cows and ate free chicken. :) The boys and I actually went more for a "cowboy cow" theme. We didn't make Wilson go so far into the costuming since we took him to the airport afterwards to join the youth for their Yakama mission trip! The boys had a great time pulling their cow spots off just as fast as I could put them on!

And, yes, you also have a nice profile view of my pregnant belly - it might be the only picture I have of my belly this go 'round!

Summertime, summertime

Hugs!

Rock Candy - loved this growing up!

Playing outside - Forrest loves climbing up into the play set.

Cooling off in the pool! The boys love sliding into the pool!

They began sliding in on their bottoms, then Andrew slid down on his belly....

then, Forrest thought he needed to do it, too! As I've said before, Forrest wants to do everything Andrew does!