Marcus' response to peaches

He's somethin' else...

     This child of ours is somethin' else!  He amazes us daily with his new skills, inquisitive looks, and the different sounds he makes in an effort to communicate.  Yesterday, he put on quite a show at the UPS store, clapping and waving at people who waved at him.  Then he'd play shy and bury his head into my shoulder, only to pop back up seconds later and peek to see if they were looking at him.  He's quite good at communicating his dislike for certain situations with cries (obviously), grunts, squeals, and flat out huffs.  Even though I've thought this for a while, he is definitely showing more signs that he can understand what we're saying.  In the mornings, when it's not so hot, I'll take him out on the porch just to sit.  He'll make mocking sounds of birds and trucks that are in earshot of where we are.  He'll stand on my lap and look all around God's creation, watching squirrels and crows.  But his favorite thing to watch is Max, our next door neighbor's dog.  If he's not looking, I can say, "there's Max," and his little head will swing around so fast, you'd think it would make him dizzy.  He'll coo and "wooooo" at Max until Max looks our way, then he'll clap and wave.  Sometimes, he'll even "woof" or make a similar sound when we first do it.
     Now, I've read books to him since he was 6 weeks old, but he's just now getting to where he likes them for himself.  He has 4 "baby" books that he loves the best and will actually laugh when we get them out: Farm Babies, Dinosaur Babies, Jungle Babies, and Bug Babies.  From what I can tell, he loves the farm one the best because he laughs almost every time we read it.  There's a cow, horse, pig, etc and I make the animal noises after each one.  Yesterday, before his nap, as we read, he would look at the page and laugh, then look up at me with the most beautiful little smiley eyes.  We did this same routine each page.  I almost didn't want to stop because I was enjoying it as much as he was.
     When it was finally nap time, we put the books down, turned out the light, and I gave him his paci and love bunny.  As I sang him a few songs, he patted and smoothed his little hand all over my face.  I hope I never forget how sweet that felt.  His other hand gripped my rings and then my fingers, before I put him into bed.  I told him that I loved him, said, "night night," and walked out.  Five minutes and a few small whimpers later, he was fast asleep, clutching his love bunny.  What a precious little man we have!

This is the first day he wore his big-boy shoes.

Happy 4th of July!

     Ok, so I know he still has sleepy eyes in this clip, but we wanted to make a short video to make your Independence Day a little sweeter. :)  Here, Marcus is clapping and waving on verbal command, and we're working on his version of, "Praise the Lord!"  It's where he raises both his hands straight up in the air, hands out.  It's adorable.  Anyhow, have a great day, everyone!

VBS Kicked Our Butts...but man, it was fun!

     Last Sunday night was the first night of our church's Vacation Bible School.  It was from 6:00-8:30 nightly, through Thursday.  Marcus usually goes to bed between 7:30-8, so obviously this wasn't the easiest with him, but we did it anyhow.  He actually only got fussy one night since there was so much to look at at do while there.  He LOVES the other children and his VBS teachers, so it worked out well.
     Mark and I taught the Bible Blast story each night and it was super fun.  Some of the pictures are below of us and the children.  We had K-6th grades (2 years old through pre-k were taught in a different area) and they got to experience a different Bible story every night.  It was a really enjoyable time and, as always, it helped US remember Bible stories, just like it did for the children.
     In other news, we're making a movie over here.  It's a comedy/drama.  Just kidding, but sometimes we feel like it.  Mark's right wrist has this crazy inflammation/infection thing going on.  He NEVER complains about pain, but this has kept him up many nights this week.  So he finally went back to the doctor yesterday and had to get prednisone (a high powered steroid) to help with his pain.  Yesterday hew was in the most pain so far, but that was just in time for Marcus to get a throwing-up stomach bug.  Our sweet little man threw up 6 times in 2 hours.  It's NEVER easy to watch that.  He threw up on me twice, and by the 2nd time, I just cried tears of pain for our little boy as he whined to get it all out.  Luckily, we think it's gone from his system now because he slept through the night.  He woke up hungry at 6 and I fed him, but put him back down and he slept until 8:30.  He's been a little slower than normal this morning, but still smiles, laughs, and crawls where ever I go.  The final part to our drama/comedy concludes with Mark having a flat tire on his truck again this morning. It's just comical at this point for us, but we're thankful that everyone is feeling better and that in the big picture, this is very minor.
     In all things, God is GOOD and we praise His name for another beautiful morning here in the mountains of Western North Carolina.  

Aren't these the sweetest little children you've ever seen?

I bet you didn't know Mark was a firefighter, did ya?

Here I was teaching about Elijah calling God to light the wet alter on fire.

In this picture, the child in the blue shirt was saying, "JESUS!"

Mark teaching about Jonah and the whale

Standing up is the new craze around here.

Crawling to come get me.

Such a boy!

Had to get on his tippy-toes to reach that book.

He was so busy reading The Word that I had to say, "Doggie!" to get his attention.

A weekend with family

     On Friday, Mark, Marcus, and I drove to Virginia to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday with his friends.  Olivia made him a camo & shotgun shell cake and let me tell ya, it might sound redneck, but she did a GREAT job on it.  Not only was it visually appealing, but it was really yummy, too.  Of course we had to let Marcus have some (without icing) and he ate half of my piece!  We enjoyed the party, but it was especially great for Marcus to get to meet his Uncle Josh for the first time.  He has been away for the past 7 months, protecting our country by serving with the Marine Corps in Afghanistan.  He had a month off before having to report back to base Saturday. 
     On Saturday morning, we got up and headed to Mt. Airy to eat lunch with my mom, John, Olivia, and TJ.  On the way there, we stopped at Grandmother's home to see the renovations that Dad and Sonya have made to it, as well as get any remaining pictures that hadn't yet been taken by other family members.  On one hand, it was sad that I opened the door and didn't see her sitting by the table, smiling, waiting for me to walk in.  On the other hand, it was such a sweet time of reminiscing seeing old pictures and "memorabilia" that she kept in the house.  I'm thankful for the time we had when she was here on Earth, but remain hopeful that we will see her again, when we meet Jesus at The Father's feet.
     After leaving Grandmother's, we met the rest of the family at my cousin's winery in downtown Mt. Airy.  It was Olivia's 26th birthday, so we gave her gifts (cake making stuff, of course) and had a wonderful lunch.  Then we hung out a few hours at Mom and John's house so they could play with Marcus and Mark and I could rest! When we finally got home, later that evening, we were all exhausted, but happy we got to see so many family members in a whirlwind 24-hour period.  The best part is that we'll get to see Olivia again this week since she's in town for a conference related to school. 
     Oh!  And I forgot!  Our church's Vacation Bible School started last night and goes on through this Thursday, so pictures will be coming of that as well. 

Marcus is starting to pull and stand up on his own!

Grandad, Marcus, and Uncle Josh

Marcus loved Molly and would almost say, "woof" every time he saw her.  It sounded close enough.

Marcus and Uncle TJ at the party

Aunt Liv and her amazing camo cake

Marcus and Uncle Josh before he headed back to base

Marcus and Grandma

She bought him a cute new pair of shoes and he wasn't too sure about them.

Crawling on the floor with Papa John

Any time people help him, he LOVES trying to walk.

Father's Day & 9 month stats

     Yesterday, we had one heck of a Father's Day.  After Sunday School the three of us drove to Charlotte to watch the Syracuse Chiefs play the Charlotte Knights in AAA Baseball.  We knew a guy Mark played with during a summer, when we both were still in college, and he was currently a starter for Syracuse.  His name is Tug Hulett and he had a great day, going 4 for 5.  It was especially great because a random guy offered us two free tickets which were exactly in the area we were going to buy seats (behind the Visitor's dugout).  It was quite hot, but the clouds brought occasional shade and there was a sweet breeze at times.  Mark and I took turns taking Marcus up to the concourse to keep him shaded as much as possible, and yes he had a hat AND SPF 55 sunscreen.  He's not tanned in the least little bit today, where as Mark and I are a little bit crispy (a little).  Marcus did GREAT overall, making it through the whole game and even being pleasant when we were able to speak with Tug afterwards.
     When we left the game, we got to visit with another friend that we knew back in college.  Steve Hull and his wife Lara live just a few exits past the stadium, so we met them at Moe's for supper.  Why Moe's?  Well, since Charlotte scored more than 6 runs, Moe's offered, "buy one, get one free" entrees (always looking for a deal, ya know!).  They brought their two vibrant children and I enjoyed watching them interact with Marcus, and let's be honest, I liked playing with them myself, too.  They each had sweet little personalities and were fun to be around.  We probably stayed longer than we should've, but it was a really fun day, both at the ballpark, and with the Hulls. 
     Finally, Marcus had his 9 month check-up today and in the words of Dr. Love, "everything looks perfect."  I was SURE he had an ear infection due to recent fussiness and an exuberant amount of snot, however Dr. Love said his upper gums were slightly swollen and he chalked it up to teething. Both ears checked out clean and he put on quite the wiggly, smiley show for him during the examination.  I gotta say, Dr. Love is GOOD with Marcus.  He was a WILD MAN before he came in, but calmed down, overall, when Dr. Love was in the room. 
     Marcus measured 31 inches tall (98th percentile), 21 pounds, 7.5 ounces (75th percentile), and his head was 18.6 inches around (90-95th percentile -yes, he has my big ol' waterhead).  Dr. Love said that if you look at his height to weight ratio, his BMI is between the 10th and 15th percentiles, making him a long, lean baby.  Who woulda thought we'd have a long, lean baby after all the fatty comments I heard in the beginning?  Other moms have told me that he'd trim up once he started crawling, so that could be part of it, too.  He's definitely crawling at lightning speed nowadays, so he's GOT to be burning calories and building little muscles inside that sweet little frame of his.
     Ok, that's all for now.  The Braves are at home against the Blue Jays and we're a divided house for the next 3 days.  Don't tell my husband I said this, but GO BRAVES! :)

This was the first time Marcus has pulled himself all the way up and STOOD on his own.

Marcus is advertising our church's VBS starting next Sunday, June 26th.

Here's a small view of some of the "floats" from our VBS parade.  It was a blast.

Marcus sat in his stroller most of the parade, and was a really good baby.

Standard monthly shot. :)  9 months old.

Standing in his crib.

Tug up to bat.

Marcus & Mama

He LOVED Homer, the Dinosaur.  He Oooooed and Coooooed when he walked by.

Mark & Marcus speaking with Tug, after the game.

Since it was Father's Day, any father and his children could play catch in the outfield.

Peyton, Landon, and Marcus...socializing. :)

Happy Father's Day to the greatest daddy of 'em all! :)

9 months old already?

     Yes, it's true.  9 glorious months have passed by already and time marches on.  Marcus keeps growing, learning, exploring, and changing and we just adore him.  This week, he got a visit from Granddad and Aunt Liv, and even though it was short, he enjoyed his time with them.  During their visit, he showed them how he crawls all over the place, babbles all types of different sounds, and how he can spit his food out (thanks to Aunt Liv's encouragement - thanks Olivia).  When we hold his hands, he's starting to put one foot in front of the other and walk, but he's still a waaaaaaaaaays off from that (thankfully!).
     After they left, I was sweeping the kitchen floor.  I had to put our bench down, sideways, to block Marcus from crawling into the dirt.  Before I knew it, he had pulled up onto his knees, then as I was watching he STOOD UP!  He got excited and scared at the same time as he realized he was on his own.  He dropped down, onto his butt, then rolled onto his belly, before I picked him up and cheered.  He's now associating me saying, "yeaaaa" with clapping, so that's what we did.  Clapped and rejoiced in his new accomplishment.
     In other news, I'm not sure if he's teething again (top teeth) or possibly has an ear infection.  He's not tugging at his ears, nor does he have a fever (although it's slightly higher than normal, but not at fever-status).  He just has an enormous amount of snot in his nose, and slobber everywhere else (mouth, chin, chest, belly, EVERYWHERE!).  He's been pretty fussy this week, so I look forward to his 9 month visit on Monday to see what Dr. Love says about his recent behavior.  Maybe he's just having sympathy pains for Daddy since he has strep throat.  It's definitely no fun since Mark's fever spiked at 103.6!  He's on an antibiotic and taking fever reducing medicine 3 times a day, however his throat is really giving him a lot of pain.  We'd appreciate your prayers for his prompt healing as he refuses to stop working, but just trudges through it.  He's definitely a man who takes his charge to, "provide for his family," seriously.
     Finally, I'm not sure if I mentioned it or not, but we think Marcus has said, "Mama" a few times.  It was last Sunday night when we were at church when I think he first said it.  Mark was holding him and I was speaking to a group of ladies.  He was trying to get to me and get my attention and very clearly said, "MAMA!"  Everyone said, "Did he just say Mama???"  He's said it a few more times since then, but I'm not sure if he's associating it with me or not.  Either way, it's sweet music for my heart.  Now if we can just get him on the, "Dada" train...

Since we won't allow him to get the DVDs off the shelf, he now pulls his books down.

"What?"

Grandad's first view of Marcus crawling

Ballers

I let Olivia take a turn at feeding him since she encouraged him to spit it out.

She fed him, and yes, he spit it out on her, too! :)

They were both just smitten with our sweet Marcus Paul

Here's the cake Olivia made for Marcus, "just because"

Side view (didn't she do well!?)

Yes, we let Marcus taste his cake and of course he loved it (so did we!)

 PS - 9 month "birthday" shots will be posted later.  We have a big day today, so we'll take and post them when we can.  Maybe Monday after his 9 month well-visit with Dr. Love.