Party at my crib

BYOG (bring your own g-tube formula.) Shirts and both socks optional. Diapers required.

Who says white people have no rhythm???

Oh, wait.

And I am not issuing another disclaimer about how messy the floor is. I should, but I am not. No one can say my kids are understimulated!

Happy Birthday Oops!

Once upon a time, 21 years and 40 weeks ago, a man with a twinkle in his eye earned 9 months of the silent treatment from a woman with a squirmy surprise in her tummy... A blessing with feet so big the doctor had to cut them out. The woman decided after a while that the baby was pretty cute, so she might love him, and that the father had been her husband for almost 20 years, so she might as well love him again too, and they came together as a family and named the precious boy "Oops."

The kid was weird. He was a good kid, but he was different...

And by different I mean very, very awesome.

He's become an obnoxious, irritating, compassionate, and lovable little troublemaker, and I am so proud of him. I've begged him to start a blog of his own, for all of you who would love to hear modern day Huck Finn stories about 20-year-old boys trying to trap hogs and fall into creeks. They're very entertaining stories, I promise. He could call it something like "Looking for Beavers, Gaters, and Love in Lobutcha Swamp." I promise, you'd all read it :)

Happy Birthday Jon. Hope to see you soon, and I'll let you take me out for a margarita :)

Love you!

Oh, and just for a treat, here's a picture from one of the major milestones in Jonathan's life: His first trip to Hooters, and possibly the first time he ever got that close to a girl :)

Happy Happy Happy 21st Birthday Uncle Jon!

If anyone sees him this weekend, have him buy you a beer. I'm sure he owes you one! :)

I may not be walking yet...

... But don't think that slows me down!

Let's see how fast I can type...

Hi all,

I know I'm running behind on posting, but we've had an icky computer virus that rendered us internet-free for a few days... And right now I have a second or two as Dax has "I want everything Ty has-itis" and is sitting content in the exersaucer that he hasn't wanted to be in for over 6 months.

Sibling rivalry has its perks :)

So, quickly...

Ty is doing great. He's 5 and a half months old, can sit up forever once you plop him somewhere, and is trying so hard to crawl forward, even if all it leads to is inching backwards. He eats like a champ and is 18.5 lbs at last fat-check... He's wearing mostly 9 month clothes, and wears the same size diapers as his "big" brother. He oohs and aaahhhs and coos and... poos. Still no teeth but I'm pretty sure he's working on some.

Daxton is also doing really well. He's still only taking a few steps here and there, but cognitively he seems to be taking off. He's learning little games like catch and basketball, and he's able to generalize those skills to activities like putting the ball into Mommy's round coffee mug (that she is drinking from that has coffee in it.) Score! And despite an aversion to anything "weird" from his bowl with his spoon, with "weird" meaning anything other than baby cereal mixed with purees, he will now taste almost anything from a grown-up utensil off a grown-up plate.

Dax has learned to view Ty as a necessary evil that makes a handy piece of furniture. Dax sits on him and crawls over him, then steals his toys and hides them under the ottoman. Ty has developed what we refer to as "little-brother-itis," where he flinches and blinks repeatedly anytime Dax is within arms' reach. On the other hand, Dax does love to give Ty kisses at bedtime. I guess that's just the way brothers operate. I know I still flinch whenever I'm near my brothers, and if you know how annoying my brothers are then you understand!

And we had a vision therapist come out to see us on Friday to evaluate Dax. She was impressed with his "functional vision," which is his ability to manipulate and explore his environment using his visual skills and other senses. She's going to come see Dax once a month, although I think since Dax is doing so well we might better benefit from having her work with his dad on functional vision tasks such as finding the milk, the remote, and his socks. :)

Guess that's mostly it for now, and I have a chubbo-tubbo in need of a nap. Please keep praying for Dax and all these other kiddos who are about to lose their insurance... It's a bad, bad mess we have going on in TN!

Love you all!

Daddy and his Mini-Me

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Mommy's two bigger boys sharing cookies :)

Have a little (lack of) faith...

I was talking with a friend of mine the other day about a problem, a serious problem, that had just come up with her family.

"What are you going to do?" I asked, thinking she would rattle off a list of things that she could do to get to the bottom of the situation. There were, after all, several good, plausible solutions.

"I'm just going to let God handle it," she said.

When she said that it made me a little angry. Why, I don't know. I'm just such a doer, and such a problem-solver. I want to fix things. How could she just sit by and "let God handle it?"

Yes, I know, how ridiculous of me.

That conversation just highlighted for me another one of those areas of faith where I find myself completely lost and confused.

Is it "God helps those who help themselves?"

Or...

Is it "Let go and let God?"

I admit, I don't "be still and listen" very well. Maybe if I did I would be better able to hear Him tell me what to do. I suppose I generally include asking God for help on my to-do list when I have a problem, but I check that one off after I've already got my "real" solution started... You know, like when you pray for God to heal your child as you're driving him to the hospital.

But what is the answer? If we just have faith, will God just fix it? Does "helping ourselves" indicate a lack of faith? If I just starting listening better would I understand?

I believe God knows everything that has and will happen for eternity and beyond. I know that faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains. I know that crappy things happen sometimes, but that God can work through us to turn all bad things to good.

What I don't know is how this really works here in real life... In my life.

Maybe one day I'll get all this stuff figured out...

But for right now I still fall dreadfully short.

It's duck season! No, it's wabbit season!

Don't you wish you were this cool?

Waiting at the cardiologist (good report btw)