I'm 5 months old (5 months plus 11 days now...)

Faith is growing like crazy, and getting cuter by the minute. As a new father, there are so many moments during the day where I'm thinking to myself...oh my goodness, she is the most precious thing I've ever known...like this morning when I'm eating my cereal (after she's had hers first, of course...), Faith is sitting in her bouncy seat just looking at me. Every time I look at her, she grins widely, with her mouth & with her eyes. Then I look back down at my cereal, but out of the corner of my eye, I see that she doesn't take her eyes off of me. Her face is just sitting there waiting for me to look at her, and then she smiles like there's no tomorrow. And that's just one of the 20 most incredible moments from today, one day out of her 5 months.

I am so thankful to be a Dad, and to have God as my constant Counselor, Comforter, Guide. On my own, I'm completely inadequate. With God, I can handle it...actually, excel at it.

And Jaime, you are the most beautiful I've ever seen you. Watching Faith look into your eyes is simply too difficult to describe. She loves you so much, and is so content with the world when she's in your arms. Thank you for loving me, and for being so tender with our daughter. You are a wonderful mother, and I thoroughly enjoyed spoiling you on your 1st Mother's Day.

Please explain

We were only able to catch the last 45 minutes of the Idol finale last night. (Yes, I realize that we are one of the few houses left in America without Tivo...but we press on nonetheless).

I have to admit I lost MAJOR interest after Chris left the show.

One question still remains...can anyone help me understand the significance of "Soul Patrol" and why Taylor insists on saying it 6,000 times per show?

It is SO ANNOYING!!

2nd trip to Dallas...part 2

This is my oldest cousin, Bennett. He is really good at holding me.
We met our friends, The Lees, at Fudruckers. From L to R: Daddy, me, Mommy, Mr. Jesse, Jadon, Mrs. Lisa and Jonathan. We miss having them in Virginia so much!!
Here we are with Mommy's friend from grad school, Mrs. Courtney and her CUTE son, Gavin!
Me and Aunt Mel sporting our visors and shades.
This is my cousin, Briggs and his friend, Faith. She's a Faith just like me. She even has red hair and blue eyes like me too! I think she's very pretty!!
We surprised Briggs at his school on his birthday. I got to meet all his closest pals.

One picture I can't include is a pic with my Crazy Aunt Moni. Mommy and I were on our way to have lunch with her and I got REALLY HUNGRY and REALLY FUSSY (it was a long drive for me). Mommy decided to pull over and feed me and we ran out of time before Moni had to go back to work. I am sorry I missed you, Aunt Moni....please come visit me in Virginia soon!! I hope you and Uncle Aric had a great time in Mexico!!

2nd trip to Dallas..

Daddy had to attend a conference in Dallas recently. I don't think Nana or anyone else would've let him off the plane without me and Mommy so we came along too. As always, there is much to do when we are there. My 4 boy cousins are VERY active so I get to watch them perform and wanted to give you a little sample of my week....

This is Sterling...he's never without an audience as he is always saying something really cute or acting really funny!
Here I am with Aunt Darla trying to catch some zzzzz's even though there was a lot going on around me.
Ahhh...calm Uncle Brad. He just holds me and lets me look around.
Bennett plays ice hockey, roller hockey, baseball, he's in a band with his younger bro Briggs, and he just finished playing the lead in his school play...way to go, Curly!!
My cousin, Stone LOVES to be with me. He is always wanting to hold me and touch me. I love it when he does. He is so sweet to me!
Here I am swaddled in my blanket with Aunt Mel wathcing Bennett play hockey.
Another example of Stone loving me!
Stone is quite the baseball player. He is in coach's pitch and no longer needs a tee when he bats. He's so big!

More pictures to come later...for some reason several were left out.

My 1st Mother's Day

What a WONDERFUL Mommy's Day this was for me! Here is the sweetest, smilest, most beautiful baby girl I've seen! Thank you, Faithy for making Mommy's day SO PERFECT!!

Murray and Faith planned the BEST Mother's Day for me. After church, we had dinner at my favorite Mexican restaurant, Rio Grande. Yum!
The most thoughtful and perfect gifts were given to me once we got home. My favorite from Faith was a sweet book called, "I love you, Mommy." I teared up reading it. And Murray surprised me with a really neat frame with an embroidered matting which said "Mommy & Me". I can't do it justice by describing it with words so I'll post a picture of it once we put a picture inside. (Thank you to Amanda for spending some of your special Mommy's day weekend to make me such a memorable gift!!)

Faith is learning to hug! I LOVE when she reaches around my neck and just holds onto me for awhile! Nothing beats that sweet feeling!!
Here's one of my new favorite pics of Faith. She'd trying to beat the Texas heat with her new shades and sun hat. Too cute!! (It'll be awhile before she gets to wear these in Virginia as our weather has turned pretty chilly these last few weeks.)


My sweet and thoughtful mother-in-law honored me with a few gifts as well. Thank you, Alice for helping to make this a special day for me.

The greatest gift this Mother's Day came from God who graciously gave me the incredible gift of motherhood. It is a gift I have been longing for since my childhood years and is a far greater blessing than I imagined all the years in between. I will continue to cherish the joys of motherhood all the days of my life and count myself blessed simply because I got to be a Mommy! Thank you, God for being so sweet to me!!

I Love you, Nana!

Nana came to pick us up at the airport! As we entered the baggage area we couldn't miss her because she was smiling so big, waving her arms and I think I even saw her jumping up and down. She was acting like every good Nana should. (I was just as excited to see her!)
Nana treated me like a little princess. She read books to me, fed me, sang to me and rocked me to sleep. I really enjoyed being in her arms.The last day we spent in Texas, we got to honor Nana with a special Mother's day gift. Here I am with all my cousins and the gifts we gave her. She now has a "few" Nana t-shirts to wear, a nice collection of coasters with each grandchild's picture and a couple other treasures.

Nana--Thank you for loving me so much. You treat me so well and I love to look at you and smile. You were so sweet to buy me some nice new outfits and toys. I appreciate that! What I appreciate the most is just knowing that God gave me such a great Nana to love who will love me just as much in return! I can't wait to see you again! I love you!

Faith

Big day for Faith!!!

I rolled over!!!

Last night surrounded by my Daddy, Mommy, Nana, Uncle Michael, Stone and Sterling I made the big move over to my back. Uncle Michael, Stone and Sterling were coaching me and singing the "Roll over, Roll over" (I think the original version was talking about monkeys but they changed the lyrics to be about me!!). I was getting a little tired on my tummy and couldn't believe no one would pick me up so I pushed off and ended up on my back. All the sudden everyone around me started yelling with excitment, clapping, and cheering. It frightened me a bit so I started to cry. Mommy and Daddy couldn't have been more proud of me. They think I am growing up too fast. I keep hearing the phrase, "It seems like just yesterday when..." I have a sneaking suspicion that I will hear these words a lot as I grow up.

A special thanks to Uncle Michael for helping me reach this first big milestone. I am having so much fun here in Dallas!!

National Day of Prayer

This past Thursday was the National Day of Prayer. In honor of this special day, a 24 hour Bible reading marathon was set up on the front lawn of the Capitol building. My Daddy signed up to be one of the readers. He got to read the first few chapters of Ecclesiastes (I hope I spelled that right). He did such a good job. I was very proud of him. Here are some pictures of the event.

Daddy on the lawn of the Capitol building reading the Bible.

Here I am listening to Daddy reading my favorite book!

This is our friend, Sammie. He works in the Capitol and came down to hear Daddy read. He couldn't resist getting a picture with me.

Grandparents and Great Friends..

I have been blessed with so many people that love me and my parents so much. I love getting to know them and loving them in return. This is my last post of introductions from Indiana. It's a look at my grandparents (on my Mommy's side) again as well as our dear family friends, The Martins, Ms. Sharon (I call her Maw) and her sister, Ms. Judy. I loved getting to see all of you!

Faith



Hanging out with Grandman

Hoping Mimi will help me eat my Easter Bunny sucker
Loving my NayNay

Here I am with Mr. B
Mrs. Heidi and Leah are showing me a picture of myself
I went to the park with my new friends: (from left)

Eden, Joel, Ezra, Luke, Erin, me, and Leah

This is me with Ms. Judy and Maw

(my mommy calls her Sharon)

Me and Maw...she showered me with LOTS of gifts

including this little lamb hat