10 Months Old

How can it be? My Nater Tater Tot is growing up way too fast. He actually turned 10 months old on the 25th but things have been so busy that I am just now getting to post - and without a 10 month old picture. I will try to post some later. Mark is back at home and the boys and I are at the farm for a few days. Hopefully Mark is enjoying some peace and quiet (doesn't happen often at our house). The boys are having a great time playing with their cousins Lang and Lanae. They will also get to see their cousin Ben tomorrow.

Nate is so very sweet. He is a cuddler and so good-natured, most of the time. He has developed a temper if you take away something that he wants. He gets very mad but he gets happy again quickly. He is still pulling up and "walking" behind things or on the edge of the couch. One of his favorite activities is pushing a chair all around in the kitchen. He can stand for a few seconds without holding on to anything unless he realizes that he is standing without holding on to anything. If he is aware that he is not holding on then he will promptly sit down. He still loves his brothers! His brothers can really make him laugh. He loves animal sounds! If he is upset then I can start to tell him various animal sounds and he smiles and listens intensely. He particularly loves the camel sound (spitting), the snake sound, the kitty cat sound, and the bee sound (because there is a tickling at the end of the bee sound). He loves making motorboat sounds. He is saying "uh-oh", "Da-da", and occcasionally "Ma-ma". When he really enjoys something that he is eating, he will smack his lips together. He has a cute toothy grin now. He has 4 teeth and 2 more are so close to popping through. We feel so blessed to have him in our lives. So precious.

Lila

Mark's grandmother passed away on Tuesday. She was 97 years old. Here is a picture of her holding Nate (I believe it was in September). I know that she is in Heaven with her husband whom she has not been with for 34 years. I loved Lila's laugh. She loved her family and enjoyed just being around them. Her family also loved her - what more could anyone ask for? She was one who loved good food. She also was one who spoke her mind. We have a lot of stories involving her speaking her mind :) I know that she loved Mark dearly. She gave him the diamond from her ring to give to me. They plotted together to have my ring made without anyone noticing that her diamond was gone (she replaced hers with a cubic zirconia). Mark has always loved her also and he has always felt loved by her. I will be forever grateful to her. Without her, there would have been no Ann. Without Ann, there would have been no Mark. What would my life be like without Mark and without my boys? She will be missed. Please say a prayer for Ann.

Mark is already in Abilene with Chase and Dylan. I will be joining him on Friday. The funeral will be on Saturday. When I told the boys that Great Gran had died, we talked about how we needed to pray for Grammy because her heart would be sad. Cade immediately folded his little hands together and said a little prayer for Grammy. So sweet.

Happy Father's Day

Daddy and Cade at the air show in 2005- Chase and I were at home because he had chicken pox
Daddy and Dylan at the deer lease
Chase and Daddy at Mount Vernon
Daddy and Nate right after Nate was born

My boys are the luckiest boys in the world because they have the best Daddy ever! Mark is truly a remarkable father who has a deep love for his boys. Before we ever got married, Mark was aware of the fact that I wanted at least 4 kids. He thought he wanted 2. Of course, who really knows how many kids you want until you actually start having them. When I told him that I was pregnant with Chase, his face was a mix of fear and pretending to be happy. Was he really ready to be a father? Fatherhood was something that he has always taken seriously, and it shows. He is a very involved daddy, because he wants to be. He spends time with his boys because he enjoys being with his boys. He loves them and appreciates their individual strengths. He is the kind of dad that gets down on the ground and plays with his boys. He is always trying to be a better dad. He is training them to be wonderful dads to their own children. I love him more every day because of the way he treasures the boys. And we all treasure him.

Random Pictures

MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU!
Four boys in a tub - Imagine the dirt ring after this bath!
Dylan "lost" a tooth - meaning the dentist had to forcibly remove a tooth that was not going to come out. The dentist paid him a dollar for it and then the tooth fairy came later that night! This tooth was worth double the money!

I love it when my boys truly enjoy that they are brothers. Last night, they built a "tent" on the bottom bunk of Chase's bed and they all slept together in the same bed (not Nate of course). It really makes me proud when they treat each other like friends.

Megann

A blog has been set up to keep people updated on Megann's treatment. She will be reading comments so feel free to encourage her. Please, please pass the word around. Prayer is so powerful.

http://megannupdates.blogspot.com/

Prayers Needed

On Monday, I wrote about our friend who was going in for surgery to determine what was causing fluid in her pelvis region. The news is very, very bad. Tammie posted an update. Please go read the update and pray, pray, pray. Please pass the prayer request around. I just hurt so much for this family. I don't understand it.

Still Growing

Chase had his 3 month appointment with his growth doctor today. His medicine is still working great. It is really amazing. He is now above the 10th percentile!! Pretty good considering he was completely off the charts 2 years ago. He is now 49 1/2 inches tall! He was 42 inches tall when we started the medicine in July of 2004. That's 7 1/2 inches in 2 years!!! Amazing! God is good! 

Donkey Tales

Chase playing the role of Balaam
He is "riding" the donkey here
The angel in the way
More white boy dancing

Chase and Dylan went to music camp last week at church. They worked on the musical in the morning and they had fun activities in the afternoon. They had a great time and came home exhausted every night. They had a performance of Donkey Tales on Saturday and another one on Sunday. Dylan was a part of the band the Bandanas. He looked so very cute up there playing his washboard. Chase had the role of Balaam. He is looking so much older to me. It broke my heart to see him being so big up on stage. They did a great job! I think I have very handsome cowboys! 

More Donkey Tales Pictures

Dylan playing his washboard


Look at that white boy dance! 

Nate

Nate swimming! Ann (Mark's mom) is holding him
My sweet niece Ashley holding Nate

Nate keeps getting cuter and cuter every single day. His latest thing is that he is scared of any toy that shakes. He has a green block with a frog on it. You pull the frog's leg and the block shakes. That toy terrifies him! Then there is the crab bath toy that you pull the string and it shakes. He does not like that one! So funny! 

The Blessings We are Given

Holding my sweet, sleeping baby I breathe in the sweet, sweet aroma of his clean baby head. I love to feel his complete weight resting on my chest. Two seconds ago he was wiggling and playing and then he was out like a light. We are at church. Worshipping God while holding the sweet blessing entrusted to us, I got very emotional. Sometimes I do not understand why we have been blessed with 4 beautiful blessings when others so long for children but do not have any. We have a friend who has longed for many years for a child. She went in for a medical procedure to hopefully make it possible for her to have a child. Instead, cancer was discovered and her dream of having a biological child was forever taken away from her. She dealt with her cancer with grace and courage. She truly has a beautiful soul, a soul made to be a mother. Things were looking up for her and her husband. Her treatment was done and she and her husband were looking into adopting a child. At a follow-up appointment, fluid in her pelvis region was found and her blood test for cancer markers came back with a concerning number. She has a procedure done tomorrow to try to determine what is causing the fluid and the rising number. Please say a prayer for her and her husband.

The Joy is Back at Our House

The door opened and in bounded my sweet bundle of energy and joy. Oh the bliss of being able to hold my sweet Cader Rader in my lap. He was only gone for 5 days but it seems to me like he has aged a year. He is talking so much bigger and acting so much bigger (okay, not really acting bigger yet but a momma can dream). He came in with a big handful of his silkies and a car that he got at McDonalds. He promptly filled me in on the car. He had a few questions for me about the things that concerned him like where was Nate (taking a nap) and was that Nate's new toy. I had to keep my promise to him. He got a hug, a good tickling, and a good spanking (just a play spanking). It feels so good to have him home. The Joy is back!

For those who don't know; Chase is my Treasure, Dylan is my Blessing, Cade is my Joy, and Nate is my Gift.

Some Things are not Fun

The one part about parenting that is not so much fun is when those teachable moments rear their ugly heads and you have to utilize them. Those are the times when I have to remind myself that my job is not to make my kids feel good all the time but to help them become strong, Christian men. It can be so hard! Dylan and Chase have been giving us teachable moments lately! Dylan gave me one last night that required many deep breaths before disciplining him so that my anger at his behavior did not dictate the punishment (by the way, I am sorry Amy). Chase decided that he needed to learn some things this morning, so sweet of him! Time to go repeat my mantra: I am molding Christian men, I am molding Christian men.

Of course, I remember being on the receiving end of some teachable moments when I was young. Like the time my brothers and I got in big trouble for getting on the roof (we could not figure out how Mom knew we were on the roof), or the time I got up and walked out of a performance of a high school singing group because I wanted to play (big trouble for that one). There are many others but I don't want to embarrass myself. I just hope that my boys "get" the lessons that we are trying to teach them. I also hope that I don't have to teach them the same lessons again.

Ahhhh, Sweet Relief

Chase's hair pre-haircut
Post-haircut

Chase has been letting his hair grow out (because it is the style). It has been driving Mark and me crazy, but Chase is a super good kid and if he wants his hair a little longer then we were not going to fight that battle. We are much more interested in his heart than in his hair. He finally agreed to a haircut!!! He really just wanted a trim but the woman who cut his hair cut a lot more than that off (sweet relief). I could tell that Chase was not pleased with the haircut by the expression on his face while she was cutting it. To his credit, he was super polite to her. I think it looks fantastic!! I think he looks 2 years older. He is still not happy but maybe enough people will compliment him on it so that he will keep it this way! He says that he misses being able to put his hair in his ears!?!? He is too funny! 

Nate's New Toy

Our activity walker did not survive Cade (among many other things). I took Nate to Walmart to buy him a new activity walker. I showed him the box and he was smiling and hitting the box. I tried to put the box into the basket but Nate would have none of that. He wanted the box right next to him so that he could see it and could bang it. I really think he knew it was for him. I finally gave him a container of fruit puffs to hold so that I could put the box in the basket. Mark opened it up for him when we got home. Nate was so very excited! He was squealing with delight and pushing it all over. It is a big hit!

Nate is having a hard time adjusting back to his schedule! He is also wanting a lot of attention because he got used to having a lot of attention while we were on vacation. (He has always gotten a lot of attention but on vacation he got a TON of attention). I am ready for him to get back into his good nap schedule and eating schedule!

He has started "dancing" to music! It is so cute to see him bob up and down. He has also learned how to make motorboat sounds. Luckily he has not tried that with food yet! He will also stand without holding on for a few seconds until he realizes that he is not holding on to anything! Yesterday, his top left tooth came in. He still has 2 big bulges on top so we know that more teeth are on the way! He is such a sweet cuddle bug!

Two More Vacation Pictures of Cade

Watching Daddy cook the fish 

Car Show

Our niece Ashley 

Our Trip to Blue Haven

On top of Johnson's Mesa
We had a great time at Blue Haven. Chase was very excited when he discovered that there are a lot of lizards and snakes there! The joy!! The boys have had fun playing by the creek and riding the 4-wheeler. They found it amazing that mommy could actually drive the 4-wheeler. Mark and the boys went fishing and they caught 7 fish! Mark cooked the fish and Chase and Mark ate every bit of it. Dylan tried a teeny, tiny bite then he declared it was good but he did not want anymore. Dylan was very hesitant to try the fish so Mark was pretending to cry while he was holding Nate. Nate thought that Mark was really crying and it broke Nate’s heart. He started to cry so very hard. He already has such a sweet heart.

We took a short hike on Tuesday. We tried to find some of the old places that we used to hike to but it had been so long that we had forgotten the way. Cade and Dylan weren’t so sure about hiking but Chase and Nate loved it! I showed both Chase and Dylan around camp. I can’t believe that Chase will be old enough to go to camp in just 2 years!!! Chase is excited about it and I know that he will love it. Dylan has already asked me if he has to go. I am not sure if he will like it. He will be old enough to go in 3 years so I am hopeful that he will get excited about it by then. Camp is such a special place to Mark and to me.

Some parts of camp that I thought would never change have changed! I took Chase to the meadows to show him the spot where Mark proposed to me. It is GONE!!! A ropes course now takes up the area. Although the ropes course looks truly spectacular, it made me sad that the meadows were gone because it was such a special place to me. The first few days that we were there we were amazed at how dry Camp was. It was drier than I have ever seen it. It was really sad. The creek was dry in a lot of places and the baptistry looked just awful. When you walked on the ground everything crunched. The campers will not be able to have fires and hikes will be limited if at all. It finally rained some on Wednesday and a little on Thursday. It sounded and smelled so very good. Even the little bit of rain helped things. Hopefully it will rain a lot more!

On Thursday we took another hike to Echo Point. This time we let Cade “lead” the hike. He loved being the leader and did not complain. We were a little paranoid at Echo Point. We kept Cade far away from the edge. It has always been a fear of mine that one of the boys will have a disastrous fall. We made it back safely to the cabin! Thursday evening we went to the top of Johnson's Mesa (we drove that one!). On Friday we headed towards home. We stopped briefly in Lubbock to say hello to Alison (Andy was in the hospital since his appendix was just removed!). We spent the night in Abilene. On Saturday, Mark took the boys and our niece Ashley to the car show that Mark’s dad was participating in at a local dealership. Ashley is super cute! Some photographers were taking a picture so Ashley made sure that none of the boys were in the picture! She laid her poodle skirt out carefully and smiled very sweetly! She is cute and she truly has a sweet, sweet heart! We also visited Mark’s grandmother while we were in Abilene. She is not doing well. She has been eating and drinking very little for the last few days. Prayers for her and for Ann would be appreciated! We had a great time, but it is wonderful to be almost home (we are still in Abilene as I post this). Cade is staying with Charles and Ann for the week if he can make it, and if I can stand him being gone for long, and if Charles can survive his “spirit”. He will probably be back home in 2 days!! Just kidding!

More Echo Point