Week of Firsts

We have had a few important "firsts" here at the Apedaile6 this week.

The first having to be with me beginning to resume exercise after my delivery of JT and I have decided that I want to start jogging for the 1st time! My goal is to be able to run in the 1/2 marathon that is held in Nashville next spring. That gives me PLENTY of time to get moving, train my body, and get ready.

The next first was JT went to the church nursery for the first time! We just put him in for 1 hour, during worship/service time as opposed to what will be normal 2 hours. I'm trying to wean him- and me :) into being in the nursery a little slow over the next few weeks. He did just fine- he slept the entire time! How is it then when he's been with us during that time, he moves, grunts, and sometimes fusses? It figures, children behave better for strangers than for their parents!LOL!

The last is something I've been eagerly waiting for- First Smiles!!! JT has been cracking genuine smiles since this weekend, but it has taken us almost the whole week to capture a few on film. This is quite a hard task to accomplish! We usually have a crowd of the girls cooing, making faces, talking to JT and John or myself trying to snap the picture if and when he decides to crack a smile. JT looks so darn cute when he smiles, just like when the girls were his age. We are looking forward to many more moments with him to share.

We love you all and look forward to hearing from you. Off to enjoy the last week of summer break- the girls start back on Aug. 5th!

Brown or Blue?

Our little guy is officially 7 weeks today! Time is going by fast. JT is growing so quickly and getting nice and chubby. He will go at the beginning of August for his next Dr. visit and shots :( We have weighed him here at home and he is about 11 1/2 pounds. Sleep is still a slow progress, but improving every week. He is more awake during the day and has more of catnaps and has several strings of 3 1/2 to 4 hour stretches during the night. He usually goes down around 10pm and usually gets up for the day between 8 and 9 am. Much better than the 2 hour stretches we were having just a few weeks ago. I can say I am longing for the first full night of sleep or a good 6 hour stretch :) Sleep is a dear friend I miss. It will return though in time.

The title of this posting is about what color John Thomas' eyes will turn out to be. According to what I have read, babies eye color usually turns to its official color by 12 weeks of age. So JT is a little over 1/2 way there. I have brown and John has green/hazel. All of the girls have brown, but there is a chance I carry the "blue" gene thanks to grandparents on both sides with blue eyes. Courtney held out the longest with green/hazel eyes for several months, but eventually turned brown. JT's eyes have held a very distinct blue color from about 1-2 weeks without a hint of brown yet. When my Mom was here she said his eyes reminded her of her mother's eyes- big bright blues. So I thought I would share a picture that shows JT with his big blues that he has-for now. Will they stay? Time will tell.....

Special Visitors

We just sent off "Nanny" to return home to California after a nice long visit here with the family. "Grandma and Grandpa C." were here on their visit when John Thomas was 2 weeks old. We have had our Mom's/Grandma's here for about the past month in all. It was a wonderful time with each of our families, as we don't get to see them very often being so far away.


Not only did we enjoy being able to hug and kiss in person, the girls loved being able to share with them 1st hand everyday life. With having a newborn in the house again, our Mom's really helped out with things like making meals, cleaning, playing with the girls while Mom slept :) Thanks Mom's!!!

One extra special event happened while Victoria's Mom was here, she was baptized!!! While attending Sarah and Lindsay's camp share service, Leslie decided to take part in what we call believers baptism- being baptized after you have accepted Jesus as your savior. Leslie had made that decision long ago, but was never baptized. It was a wonderful, cherished time for our family to be able to witness that moment together.