So far so Blue

Sorry I end up doing blocks of posts all at once or close together. I'd rather do a few when I can and JT is sleeping :) than not do them at all!

Now John Thomas "JT" is 3 1/2 months old- time has really gone by fast! He is doing really well with head control when he has tummy time and he talks like he knows what he's saying! That must be something he gets from John- he he!

We are still working on the whole eczema and reflux stuff. The cream really cleared up his rash spots quickly, but once we stop- which we are supposed to- it starts to creep back up a bit after a few days. The reflux is getting a bit better, but not totally gone. I have officially switched to soy milk and I am doing my best to eliminate any other dairy products to help JT. Cheese is especially difficult because I love it so much and there aren't any good tasting alternatives :( I have cut out probably at least 50-60% if not more of cheese and eliminated everything else dairy. JT will go in about 2 weeks for his 4 month well check, so we will see what his Dr. says about these things then.

Also for the title of this post indicates that JT's eyes are still blue! Can it be blue eyes for an Apedaile kid? I know his color could still change all the way up until he is 1, but for right now it's entertaining to see if they are still blue or trying to change to brown like the girls and I. I think they will stay blue like his Daddy, but time will tell.

Here are a few pictures from a photo shoot I did with JT myself at home last week. I just love digital cameras!!!

Fun Weekend!

This past Weekend we went to John's company picnic at the Edwin Warner Park in south Nashville. We have never been here before and I think we will be returning again! Warner Parks- there are two- actually are almost 2,700 acres of recreation and nature facilities! Very large!!

At the picnic we had a great time of playing volleyball,playing Bingo, kids games, face painting, and yummy food! Sarah also won the water balloon toss! The weather has been pretty dreary here lately with storm after storm and tons of rain!! Lucky for us though it was soggy, it didn't rain the entire time we were there!

We were also near a small stream and the girls and I walked along the trail for a while, when John was mingling with co-workers with JT. There were some really pretty trees, flowers, berries and I can't imagine how beautiful this place will be within the next month or so with the leaves turning! I hope we can get out there again for some great pictures with the family.

Family Update

Its been a while since I've done a general family update so I think today is a great time to do so for our readers.

Sarah is doing well in her Junior year. Major change that she has had is she is taking her 1st AP class. She chose U.S. History as that what interested her the most. This is a year long class, where most classes are just for a semester due to the school's block schedule. This class is challenging Sarah to work hard and think critically, but its her favorite class! Classes like this will best help her to know what college life will be like more so than any honors or "regular" HS class ever will. Another big thing going on in Sarah's life is she is on the school's bowling team! Yes bowling! How cool is that? The first meet isn't until October, but she practices 2 times a week. Right now her score is in the range of 107-140, which isn't bad for a beginner! We are looking forward to watching Beech High School win some games in a few weeks.

Lindsay has adjusted to life at middle school better than I thought. I was expecting more challenges with having 7 different classes and more work. That hasn't been the case at all. Once the first week or two passed, its been smooth sailing! Lindsay has all A's in her classes of which she is in 2 accelerated core classes due to testing into those last year. She continues to grow and mature into a sweet young woman. She now stands at 5'4" and I think she has a good bit to grow still. I think Sarah is going to be passed maybe by the end of the year by her-she's 5'5 1/2".

Courtney is in her last year of elementary school, which I find so hard to believe! Where have all of my little girls gone? I think Courtney has greater school challenges than Lindsay right now. She has a very sweet teacher who is know for preparing her class well for middle school. This means lots of work and usually more homework than Lindsay most nights! This challenge is good for Courtney though there are times where she complains a bit at the homework part :) She is starting to loose the last few of her baby teeth-it had been almost 6-8 months- and she's hoping that means she is going to start growing soon. Lindsay shot up so much in the past year Courtney feels a bit short at times compared to her sisters. When ever she has pain in her shins/legs she gets excited that its her "growing pains"! I hope so for her sake!

Our little man JT continues to change on a daily basis is seems. He's now a happy, chubby 3 month old. He loves "talking" to us, smiling like nothing else, and watching his mobile. The past two weeks he has started sleeping through the night regularly- Praise God! It's been an adjustment at first- me waking up several times to make sure he's okay- but I am now getting a good 7-8 hours of nightly rest. Ahhh it feels so good :) One thing that we are now dealing with is that JT has reflux and eczema. So he has Zantac for the reflux, creams and lotion for the eczema and no dairy products for either one of us since I'm breastfeeding still. Dr. thinks both might be a reaction to cows milk. So any formula he gets- about 2-4 bottles a week- will now be soy formula and like I said I need to have no dairy or switch to things like soy/rice milk. We just found this out yesterday, so still looking for good products for me.

John and I are now teaching separate boys/girls groups of middle school students at our church on Sunday mornings. It's basically Sunday school,but they are called "Small Groups" at our church because it's more than teaching, its about building relationships with one another, listening about life and loving one another. We each co-teach the groups with another couple that we are friends with. My group is 6th grade girls and John's group is 7th grade boys. It's been great being with these kids and talking about Christ in their lives.

Also take time today to remember how blessed we are to live in this great country of ours, the friends and family we each share, and the sacrifice the soldiers, police, firefighters have made on this 8th anniversary on 9/11. God Bless you all!

On a Lucky Streak

Unbelievable as it is, we have somehow come upon luck related to major concerts for our girls. As I shared before, we won tickets to the Demi Lovato concert. Then just a matter of weeks later, we hit the jackpot-Jonas!

It started out the weekend before the concert when Lindsay was invited to come to the concert with a friend who has an extra ticket. Sarah and Courtney were excited for her, but were also a little sad since they wouldn't be able to go. Just not in the cards for us right now to buy tix for them to go, which they understood.

So 2 days before the concert, John was in the car listening to a Top 40 station, which he never does, but they had just changed formats on that station and replaced ESPN with the Top 40 hits. Horrible thing to do, BTW- we miss ESPN radio programming! Anyhow, he heard how they were going to give away tickets at the top of the hour. So he called me and told us to listen in so we could try to win. The time comes and we are all trying our best to get through, but all we are getting is BUSY-BUSY!!! Then I get a text from John saying: Listen to the radio. I replied:"The contest is going on right now silly!" I thought he was reminding me to listen. Next thing I know, I have Sarah screaming Daddy won, Daddy won!!! They were playing back the audio of when his call was answered for winning on the radio :) Cue all the girls flipping out, screaming with excitment. John was greeted with many hugs when he returned home from his errands.

So now all 3 girls were able to go to one of the biggest concerts of their lives so far. Another late school night, loss of voices from screaming so much and as many pictures they could take before the darn batteries died! Rats!!! Enjoy some pictures from another great night: