Hello ladies...

Forrest

Let me backtrack a little and share Forrest's "stats" from his first check-up. We actually took him at 7 weeks and he was doing great! He weighed 13 pounds, 11 ounces (95 %) and was 23 inches long (90%). Just for a little comparison, Andrew weighed 13 pounds, 4 ounces at 8 weeks, so Forrest is definitely growing faster! And the funny thing is that Andrew always had a chunkier look then Forrest does. Andrew had a huge belly... and still does! Forrest is 9 weeks old today. His personality has really begun to come out in the last couple of weeks. He is a very happy baby. He loves "face time" as I call it - just looking at you... smiling and cooing. I love it!!

I took this picture of Forrest today.

my boys

some new pictures of my sweet boys... i love these little ones so much. how blessed i am!

2 smiling faces!

what a happy baby this boy is! he absolutely loves May-May's cradle swing.

1 word... precious

Andrew - talking on the cell... the orange thing in his hand

Forrest - smiling at his friend, red bird

Memorial Day pictures

oh, to be a kid again...
did we ever have a pool like this when we were little?!

"a ball"... one of andrew's favorite things!

sweet forrest

A trip to see Izzy & Bryan

We all went on a little trip last week to see Izzy and Bryan in Memphis. Wilson had a conference, and since Elizabeth and Bryan live there, Wilson and I decided to make it a family trip. Wilson was actually busy for most of the time, so the boys and I had fun with Elizabeth and Bryan. They were so sweet to have us and such a big help with the boys - who are quite a handful! :) We had a great time, and Andrew loved spending time with Izzy and Bryan. I just hope we didn't wear them out and that they'll let us come back sometime!!

Izzy and Andrew at the Zoo in the China Garden - where the pandas are!

Andrew really enjoyed seeing the animals. We loved the pandas! This one walked back and forth in front of Andrew and even posed for us - see below.
We also saw seals, polar bears, monkeys, the big cats, and giraffes.... to name a few! How fun, especially since Andrew has been seeing lots of these when he watches Baby Noah lately!

Thanks again, Izzy & Bryan, we had lots of fun!

First Smiles

Forrest is a precious baby boy - we are enjoying him so much!! He's a cuddler - and I love cuddling with him! I'm sorry that I have not been very good about posting pictures of him - he is growing so fast. He shared his first real smiles with us last week, and what big smiles they are! I love his dimples! The first 2 pictures below are of the morning he first began to smile at me. I quickly grabbed my camera to catch it. I apologize that the lighting is not so good. And just for fun, I've posted 2 pictures of Andrew's first smiles - also at 5 weeks. Do you think they look alike??

The Beach

We took a little trip to the beach last week. It was wonderful to have a getaway and a change of scenery. We were still up at night and very busy so we definitely didn't call this a vacation... but we didn't expect that with a 5 week old and a toddler anyway! It was just nice to be together and out of the house for a few days. Wilson and Andrew had so much fun playing in the sand - the water was a little too cold for Andrew - and Forrest and I enjoyed watching them! Now that we're home, we can't wait to go back!

relaxing under the umbrella on the deck

the ride to the beach!

I'm so excited he likes the beach! Andrew - digging and playing in the sand

more deck time for me and Forrest :)

the boys, checking out the water

I love the beach (& Oreos)!

sweet times together!

It's good to be home and well...

So, here is a picture that represents last week for us. When we took Forrest for his 2 week check-up, we discovered that what we had first seen the night before and thought was a blocked tear duct had actually become a pretty bad eye infection in Forrest's left eye. The doctor did a blood count and Forrest's white blood cell count was high and he had a little fever. She sent us straight to UMC Children's Hospital so our sweet little one could get IV antibiotics. It was a sad day - especially for me! The last thing that you want to do with your 2 week old baby is to be taking him to the hospital. God was good and after one day of antibiotics we saw a huge improvement in Forrest's eye. We stayed for a 2nd night and more medicine then came home on Thursday.

While this was going on with Forrest, Andrew came down with strep throat - for the 2nd time in 2 weeks! (He had been diagnosed with strep the day before Forrest was born.) He got a shot and the strep was taken care of with that but he had a yucky viral infection that kept him sick and feverish thru the weekend. With him running fever, the pediatrician wouldn't let him be around Forrest. So, Andrew didn't come home until Sunday. We hated having him away that long. Boy, did we miss him! Thank goodness for my sweet parents. They were so wonderful to take care of him when we couldn't. I really don't know what we would do without them!

Praise the Lord we are all well now! And so thankful!! I knew that I loved my boys, but all that happened made me realize it even more. They are such blessings and it is MISERABLE to see them not feeling well and to be apart from them. Here are some pictures from the last few days of being home and feeling good.

Forrest napping in his Moses Basket

Andrew, relaxing in his chair, getting a kiss from Daisy

Having some good "awake time" in his crib on his 3 week b-day

A mouthful of juice... playing on May-May's back porch

Getting ready for a walk around the block.
(This is one of the few pictures of the boys together. Andrew doesn't sit still very long for posed pictures these days!)

he's here...

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What are you doing? :)

Who me?

....Oh, .... just having a little snack with the puppies. Is that ok?

They like Cheerios!


(Notice the pile of Cheerios beside Andrew's leg. One for Andrew... one for Magnolia... one for Daisy... No wonder the puppies love Andrew so much! :) )

Easter Pictures

Andrew loved dying Easter eggs this year! I wasn't sure how he'd like it... he hasn't been too interested in crafty things yet (I've been hoping this was just because of his age). He loved it though! I let him use his hands to pick the eggs up and drop them in the cups of dye - you may have noticed his lovely dyed hands. He was so interested to see how they looked when we pulled them out, and he couldn't wait to get another egg to dye. What a fun day!

We had a wonderful Easter Sunday. After going to church, we headed over to my parents and enjoyed visiting, a delicious lunch, hunting eggs, and relaxing. I've posted a few pictures from the day.

This is the best picture I have of Andrew in his Easter outfit. He was playing ball (a golf ball in each hand) and not too interested in slowing down to pose!

Check out Andrew's new ride! Thanks Easter Bunny!

A family picture

Wilson and Andrew playing... I think my boys are super cute. :)

Andrew and May-May hunting eggs... Andrew loved this Easter tradition, too!

18 months old... plus a few days

Andrew was 18 months old last week. He's such a blessing, and we have so much fun with him. Here are a few of my favorite recent pictures....

Andrew loves playing outside and he loves playing ball. "Ball" is definitely his favorite word these days. He has also learned to play ball with Daisy which they both love!

A little grin while climbing on the playground at the park.

No, this was not posed... Wilson and I were in the kitchen and glanced into the den to find Andrew just like this! He's sitting on our coffee table (trunk) where he climbed himself learning a few new words. :)

Wedding Pictures, Take 2

Here is a better look at the wedding pictures!

Andrew

I just wanted to post a few pictures of Andrew. We have been having so much fun with him! Tonight, when Wilson got home, he and Andrew played "chase" around the house for I think about 30 minutes!! Wilson finally had to just stop, much to Andrew's disappointment, because he thought Andrew was getting too out of breath! They are so fun to watch!

Andrew loves balls, and he loved learning to play basketball at Sara Beth's house. We've recently gotten a "Bathketball" for the bathtub which he loves too. This mama thinks basketball might be a good sport to promote... not quite as rough as football. :)

These 2 pictures are from when we went to Meridian last week for cousin Elizabeth's b-day party. We were a little early and had fun playing in the park. Andrew was full of energy... if you could see the pictures most would be blurry from him constantly moving! I love how he's sticking his tongue out in the picture with Wilson... that's something he's doing a lot of these days. Not that he's sticking it out at anybody, he's just sticking it out!

Here I am trying to hold him still for a quick picture. Wilson snapped it just in time!

This picture was taken at May-May and Buddy's house in a rocking chair that me and my sisters sat in when we were little. He likes to sit in it to watch Baby Praise, and yes, he's quite the thumb sucker.

Mm-mm-mm, Andrew discovered Icees on the way to Meridian last week, and he is definitely a fan! I bought it for myself when we stopped on the way (thanks for the reminder of how good they are, Kristi!), but as soon as Andrew saw it he wanted to try. So I let him have a sip from the straw and before I knew it he had both hands on it! It made me laugh how he knew just how to drink it, even down to pulling the straw out and sipping the icee from the end of it! It sure kept him entertained for the last part of our trip.

On another note, baby brother, otherwise known as "Bubba" in our house, will be here before we know it... just about 5-6 weeks left, at most!