Old friends, new looks

We went to visit my mom and dad yesterday, and to spend the day with some friends who I have known from childhood.

 Here are Lydia, Abigail and Knox.

 Here are Abigail, Philip, Erica and Simeon watching a movie.  Erica has 6 children.  2 pregnancies. 1 adoption.  Can you do that math?  She had quadruplets!  She is the most mild-mannered, truly lovely lady I think I know!

 Here's Uncle Steve eating dinner with a bunch of cats!  We used face paint that belonged to Gareth, 20 years ago!!

And if you imagine dollar signs on Lydia's teeth, you will know what we did today!  Braces 1.0.  She gets these partial braces for 6-8 mos., a year off, and then full braces.  By that time I'm sure I'll be paying for someone else's braces as well!

Knox is 2 months

Royal Mail

When I was 4 years old, I drew a picture for the Queen of England.  After all, I lived there and she had just become a grandmother for the first time.  She loved my letter and wrote me back to tell me so.  Okay, so her lady-in-waiting wrote me back and told me how much the Queen loved my letter.

Well, because my oldest son is taught largely by his grandmother, she suggested that he ought to do the same thing as a six year old, and write to the Queen.  After all, he lives in America and she's close to having great-grandchildren.  Makes sense, right?!  Anyway, she made him write a long letter to the Queen and here's the envelope.

Well, the Queen is still interested in receiving fan mail and at the end of May, guess what Philip received?!  Yes, a letter from the Queen.  And, if you can believe it, she said very similar things in his letter as she had said in mine 36 years ago.  Well, her lady-in-waiting said them, again.  And this time she sent some nice pamphlets which greatly impressed this little boy!

Saying Goodbye to a dear friend

May 23rd, we had to say goodbye to our dog of 12.5 years.  Silas had one eye removed last summer due to a disease which led to glaucoma, which resulted in much pain for Silas.  We knew that his other eye would at some point also go blind.  From December to May, I gave him eye drops 3x/day and they seem to work at keeping down the pressures in his eye.  However, at some point they stopped working and he went permanently blind.  He was obviously in discomfort and we knew that our only course of treatment was to get his other eye removed. We had already decided that we weren't going to do that.  He was deaf and it would've been a tremendous liability to himself, the children and anyone driving by, if a blind and deaf dog wandered to the road.  Nonetheless it was hard to say goodbye to a member of our family who was so integrated into our lives.  Interestingly, almost all the photos we have of him are taken by the children.  And often, he is just a background feature, just part of the fabric of the photos because he was part of the family.

And, life goes on!

Here's our little spots and stripes guy!

 Abigail turned 9 on the 9th--her golden birthday!  She had a special day off school which included a trip to the mall and different gifts which marked her golden day.

 She is a special little girl and we enjoy her unique ways of thinking and processing as well as her cheerful spirit.  She loves being a big sister and I'm thankful for the help she's able to give with the baby.

 And, in the meantime, Spring sprang!  Our dogwood looks so beautiful for a couple of weeks each year, until the Fall when it's bright red berries are treats for the birds.

We managed to get our garden in pre- and post-baby.  We are currently harvesting our lettuces and watching our potatoes grow by the day.  We have a lot of onions which have about another month to grow.  We've also got in some herbs and tomato plants as well as flowers.  Gardening is so much fun.

11 days in

I mean really, are there any cuter things on earth than baby feet?

 I was trying to do a creative little photo shoot with Knox while he was asleep.

Then he opened his eyes and propped his hand under his chin like, "Hey Mom, are you finished yet?"

Knox Morgan

Well, he's here ;0)  Praise God for a very smooth and straightforward 6 hour labor and delivery.  Amy, I wasn't able to get in a whole book to read, but I did listen to a sermon on the iPod during labor.  It was actually a really good time to listen--very few interruptions!
Knox weighed 8lb 3oz--our tiniest baby!! He's so small--and I'm really thankful for even that detail.  I always wondered what it was like to hold our babies when there were in the 7lb range, and I was a little sad that I would never know.  But, here we are--holding our (as of today) 7lb 14 oz. baby.  He's so beautifully tiny!
About an hour after he was born (and we were still in the very hmmm. "getting cleaned up" phase, shall we say) the children all arrived to meet their baby brother!  He was not yet bathed, and had on no clothing!  But, they were so excited to meet him.  They each took turns speaking so quietly and gently to him, and just loving him.  It was wonderful to see, and to just appreciate how blessed we really are.  I know they really love him.
We came home from the hospital on Tuesday afternoon.  My parents have been fantastic--my mom has been basically running the ship and I even caught a 3-hour nap this morning.  Nights have been a little rough as that's the time he's most awake.  But, I'm thankful that each day I feel a little stronger physically and less emotionally volatile!  So, here are some pictures of his earliest moments.



Here I am at 6 a.m.--ready to go!

 Here we are at 1:55 p.m.--glad it is all over!

 Proud papa!

 Well-intentioned little big brothers.

 Handling the baby like a pro!

 I think these two are going to look very similar.

 This image is slightly distorted, because it doesn't reflect his true handsomeness ;0)

And some people always manage to find a snack--even in a hospital room!