7 months

Carson turned 7 months old on June 15th so I'm a little late. He is still sleeping and eating the same as last month but he has some new tricks. He can sit up by himself now.

 He can hold his own bottle and feed himself the entire thing, unless of course he gets fidgety and then I have to give him the last ounce or so.

 He is still so big for his age! I thought at some point, maybe around 6 months that he would start to level off and thin out like LG did but that is not happening. He is wearing 18 month clothes.

Last Friday we got the below note from Carson's daycare worker, Ms. Monica. She even had him stamp it with his fingerprint. How precious is that?!

 He got to spend some time out by the pool at our next door neighbor's house last weekend. The hat is just too cute on him.

Love love love me some juicy baby "La!!"

10 years, what?!

I cannot believe Andy and I have been married for 10 years! We cannot be that OLD!! LOL! It has been 10 years full of life changes and we have weathered the storms and seen the rainbows!

We celebrated Friday night, June 8th, our actual anniversary day.

This is us before we left the house.

We started out at the Mesquite Chop House. YUMMY! I had pork tenderloin and Andy had a filet, always cooked to perfection. We shared some scalloped potatoes and I had a glass of champagne, while he had a Budweiser. We exchanged presents over dinner, which is a story in itself. 

I bought Andy a gift card to Dick's Sporting Goods store because he asked for a new driver. Anyone that knows about golf knows you can't buy one of those for someone, they have to be "fitted" for it. So to keep it a surprise, I had to get him a gift card and he went Saturday after our anniversary and picked it out himself.

A week before our anniversary, Andy asked me what I wanted. I told him that I needed work-out clothes and they were expensive so he could get me a gift card to Sports Authority. He just laughed in my face and said, "There is no way I am getting you a gift card to a sports place for our 10 year anniversary!" So there I am feeling like a complete idiot for getting him a gift card to a "sports place." So, fast forward to Friday night at dinner. He hands me a card and inside is a gift card to Sports Authority. Well, I gave him hell! I told him, after he opened his gift card, that he had made me feel like a loser for getting him that gift when all along he had the same thing. 

We left dinner and went downtown to the Majestic Grille for dessert. We sat on the patio and "people watched" and enjoyed each others company. Their desserts are $2 each and come in a shot glass. I got the chocolate mousse and Andy got the strawberry shortcake. Both were delicious and just enough after a big meal.  

On our way downtown I brought up the gift card thing again and asked him why he would play such a mean trick. He said, "I can't stand it anymore" and reached behind the seat and handed me what he called "my real gift." It was another wedding band to put on the other side of my ring!! He had been working on it since January. I took my ring in a couple of weeks ago to get it cleaned and the prongs tightened and they kept it longer than usual because they were making a mold of the band. He gave me the band without the diamonds Friday night. I had to take the band and my ring in on Monday so they could match the diamonds perfectly so they had to keep my ring for a week.

These are our final gifts:

New driver

New wedding ring

BTW~there was no money on the Sports Authority gift card! :)

We ended the night at The Embassy Suites where we spent the night, slept in, and had a wonderful breakfast the next morning. It was truly a perfect milestone anniversary!

Does he know his name?

We never actually call Carson by his given name. I'm not even sure if he knows it. He has so many other names...La (said like Baa~the sheep sound) is the primary name and others have spun off, i.e.:

La-ler, La-ler Bean, Bean, Beany Baby, Mr. Green Jean Butter Bean, Butters, Buddy, Bubba, Little Baby Foot~Lilley Grace grabs his foot and sings a song and now calls him that, Footer, LG calls him-Stoody, Stooders, Man, Manners, and I'm sure there are more that I have forgotten. It's literally something new everyday. Good luck with all that...La, Car...uh, whatever your name is :)  

Some cute stuff

Late yesterday afternoon we played outside for a couple of hours. LG wanted to play baseball so of course everyone, including Carson, needed their baseball attire. I think he looks so handsome in his ball cap!

 I took the kids to church by myself yesterday while Andy played golf (part of his Father's Day gift :). When we made it to church, Carson had pooped in his diaper. I changed him in the car before we went into church. I laid the diaper on the windshield while I was putting his outfit back on. I forgot about it. It stayed on my car during church and I didn't realize it was still on my car until I was driving down the street going to Andy's dad's house!! LOL! 

 LG put these sunglasses on in Walgreen's and told Andy to take her picture!

 We helped our cousin, Becca, Saturday with a Poker Run to raise money to help her dad with some medical bills he incurred after suffering a brain aneurysm last September. Carson did what he does best~eat, sleep, and chill!

Just thought this was a fun pic! Even Bella made an appearance. 

Chicago

I love 80's music!! So when I heard the band, Chicago, was coming to the Botanic Gardens to play, I was so excited!! Thank goodness I am not the only one who appreciates such fine music! :) A group of us went this past Sunday and had a blast!

Andy and I

 Bradshaw and I

 Baxter, Dan, Mark, and Kim

 Baxter and Jenny

 Jenny and Katie

 Mark and Kim

Mimi's house

Sunday we all went to Andy's mom's house to celebrate some family b-days. LG and Carson had a blast! LG got to play on her new play set and she passed the torch of the "baby swing" on to Carson. He LOVED it! He giggled and smiled the entire time. This was his first time ever in a swing.

 LG wanted to push him which she absolutely loved doing! I love how much she and Carson love each other. I pray daily that they have the type of loving supportive "best friend" relationship that I always envisioned between siblings. Love my babies!!!!

Curly Sue & Kramer

Andy and I have seen every Seinfeld episode at least 3 times so I immediately thought of the "Low Water Pressure" episode when I saw LG's hair after bath the other night.

I notice a similarity between LG and Kramer, don't you?

My heart is broken...

The sweet little girl, Lucy, whose picture is at the top left of my page hasn't got long to live. She has cancer again and there is nothing that can be done. I do not know this family personally but I feel like I do. I have been following her mom's blog for over a year. Her mama posts EVERYTHING about Lucy's journey~good and bad~so I feel like I have had a little window into her soul. I have cried so much today thinking about this little girl and all she has been through in the past year and a half. I feel myself getting angry at God, wondering why He would let her suffer for so long only to take her anyway. That doesn't seem fair! I have been thinking about her mama and keep having to stop myself from thinking about how I would feel if I were her. It is unbearable to think about so I cannot even begin to imagine what she is going through today and what she has been going through for over a year, for that matter. My heart hurts...

A very dear friend of mine (he's also a pastor) said these words when I told him how sad I am and asked him to have his congregation pray for Lucy:

"Sometimes it's hard understanding why things like this happen (especially to small innocent children)...sometimes you can only lean on the fact that GOD knows what's best! He loves that child more than anyone else could ever imagine. I pray that GOD gives you and the child's loved ones the understanding and trust you all need to bring some sense of peace to your spirits. Always remember, God takes everything into consideration before making a decision and HIS decisions are always what's best."

Thanks, TH. That is so true and my head gets it. Now if my heart could just understand it...

Please pray for no suffering for sweet Lucy and for her parents, older sister, younger brother and everyone who knows and loves her to find the peace that only God can supply.

A weekend away~

As some of you already know, Andy and I went to New Orleans this past weekend to help celebrate our neighbor's 40th b-day and just to get away for a weekend together! We have never in almost 4 years been away from LG together. I have been on trips and so has Andy but never at the same time.

We weren't able to leave Southaven until 5:30 pm Friday night so we didn't get to NOLA til 12 am. Isn't that when the party gets started anyway? So we put our bags down and went out onto Bourbon. Our hotel was on the corner of Bourbon and Canal so we could walk everywhere.

The first night we saw this car trying to cross Bourbon and I had to stop him so I could get a pic with it! Notice the door is open upwards like a Ferari door!  

 Saturday night we started out a little earlier :). Tanya's friends bought her some birthday attire and MADE her wear it! LOL!

Kim, Tanya, and I

 A man on Bourbon standing like a statue, completely covered in gold paint.

 Andy and I standing outside of our hotel. Notice the beer~if you've never been to NOLA before~they let you carry your drinks everywhere. They always give you a to go cup and don't make you throw your drinks out before you come in or go out! It's crazy!!

 We saw a wedding processional~Bradshaw said it's called a 2nd line. They were playing music and waving handkerchiefs and raising parasols in the air. It was awesome!!

 I got this pic of Carson on Saturday! Apparently while my mom was watching him, he fell asleep in his jumper. She said it was like his batteries ran out.

We had a blast in NOLA and I would love for Andy and I to go back one long weekend and do all the fun "touristy" things.

 Just a bonus pic...I found this in my phone while downloading the other pics. We took it a month or so ago while on a walk around the neighborhood. Check out Carson's "shades." :)