I know, I know...

I've been too long without posting, but this week has been really crazy! Work has been busy, and I'm coming home, taking care of Banks til I get him to bed, and then back to work on the computer til I'm too sleepy to go on. Took a break from working to post this apology! I do have a few fun pictures from the week... maybe I'll get to them tomorrow!

I just have to share...

Please check out Mary Catherine's blog! Unreal! I did it too... got $90 worth of gift certificates for $9.80.

6 month check-up

Hooray! A clean bill of health at 6 months! And wow, have we grown! Here's are stats:

16 pounds 10.5 ounces

27 inches long (75% in length!)

18.2 inches around the head

I was pulling for 16 pounds... and got an extra 10.5 ounces! I'm officially not worried about weight anymore. This puts us close to the 50% in weight, and his cheeks and thighs are filling out quite nicely!

Doing well on all accounts developmentally! And, Doctor said he was the happiest baby he had seen all day! :)

The shots were terrible though. Nothing breaks my heart more than pinning down his arms while someone pokes a sharp needle into his precious, pudgy little legs. Poor baby.

For the record, Banks has slept 12 hours solid for the last 2 nights... without me waking him up for a 10 PM feeding (Katie, are you proud?!). Wow - what freedom that brings! I do miss the night time feeding a little though... but I won't go back!

Home Again!

Thanks for your prayers for Greg, Katie, Kennedy and Whit! They had a fun couple of days back at the hospital but Whit's bili rubin counts are going DOWN! No more tests, no more lights!

God is good! Welcome home, Whit and company!

Say a quick prayer...

Please say a quick prayer for Katie, Greg, Whit and Kennedy. You can read more here. Baby Whit is doing well, but pray that the family can all come home together soon!

My Girls Reunion Weekend

My Cindy and My Missy came for the weekend! Hooray! I loved spending the weekend with my girls and our babies - what a blessing they are for me in my life! Every time we get together, it's like we've never been apart. The conversation just flows and we pick up right where we left off. I love them so much, and now I love their babies and hubbies too! We didn't do much other than hang out and talk, and take a short trip to town to tour the 'boro, but it didn't matter because we were together (and with 3 babies, coordinating any activity is a bit difficult!).

Here are some pictures and highlights of the weekend (in no particular order because blogger picks it's own order for pictures sometimes...)

Dallas and J reliving their cheer leading days with their kids! Dallas was a cheerleader at the University of Arkansas (go Hogs!) and J at Clemson (go Tigers!).

The babies! How sweet they are! Banks, Bella and Presley! Bella was such a big girl compared to the babies! She kept saying "Baby...baby... baby banks..." And Presley is so tiny compared to Banks! I kept looking at her and thinking, "was Banks ever that small?!" Precious!!

Banks and Presley... they were pretty into each other on the floor this morning! Presley is SO CLOSE to rolling over!

Super dads! The daddies walked the babies back from the pool. Aren't they hot?

The whole crew! Nine of us - whoa! Nine, really? Yep - there's a bunch of us now! I see really fun beach vacations in our futures, girls!
And just the girls with the kids...

Bella in mid-air jumping to her daddy! Do you see the sheer joy on her face? So sweet!

6 months!

Wow, as I look at Banks's age ticker at the top of the screen I realize that my baby is half way to 1! How did 6 months pass by so quickly?!

To celebrate, Banks had his first meal! He had sweet potatoes and he loved them! I know that you "should" start with rice cereal, but since he has been getting rice cereal in his bottle to help his reflux I didn't think it also needed to be his first meal. He kept grabbing the spoon from me! I'm posting pictures and a short video for the grandparents to enjoy. Thanks to Missy and Cindy for videoing the experience as well as taking lots of pictures!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Dear Sweet Banks,

At 6 months, you can do so much! Every day you amaze me more and more. You've learned to...

- sit by yourself for short periods of time

- babble and babble, truly thinking you are having a conversation with us

- play the drums!

- eat solids as of tonight!

- drink juice (and hold your own sippy cup)

- fly across the country

- move toys from one hand to the other

- reach for the toys or person you want

- know your name

- recognize our voices

- crack up laughing when you're tickled

You bring so much joy to our lives. You have become such a happy baby, and your smile can nearly light up a room! We love every minute with you!

Happy 6 month birthday, sweet baby...

Mommy and Daddy

We spent the last week in Phoenix, Arizona! I was presenting at the Hobson's Connect University, a Users Conference for the recruitment module we use on campus, and Jonathan and Banks came with us for a little mini-vacation!

The trip to Phoenix was HORRIBLE! 24 hours long! Allow me to give you the highlights:
- Left the house at 6 AM
- Flight from Savannah to Atlanta was a breeze
- Board plane for Phoenix at 11 AM for an 11:30 flight. Right after we board, boarding stops due to bad weather. J and I are stuck on the plane.
- 1 hour later, boarding begins again. Totally full flight so we are crammed in like sardines.
- Sat on the runway for 3 1/2 more hours (Note - 4 1/2 hours total time on a plane BEFORE take off).
- FINALLY took off for Phoenix.
- 1 hour before landing, the captain came on the intercom and said... "Bad news - monsoon in Phoenix has closed the Phoenix airport for the time being. Because we sat on the runway for so long in Atlanta, we don't have enough fuel to circle the airport until the storm is over. We're heading to Albuquerque to refuel."
- Land in Albuquerque. Re-fuel. Plane won't start back up. 2 trucks come and try to jump the engine off (Like I feel safe flying now...) to no avail. Did I mention that the air conditioner was off this whole time? In New Mexico? We were dying on the plane from the heat.
- Pilot comes back on the intercom... "Folks, more bad news. The plane won't start and now the pilots are out of duty time. This flight is grounded."
- After running to the ticket counter to get a new flight, they finally decide that they can get new pilots and the same flight can leave at 11:00 PM (1 AM EST). It's currently 5 PM.
- At 9 PM, they change the take off time to 1:00 AM (3 AM EST).
- 1:30 AM, take off for Phoenix with a flight crew who is so close to running out of duty time that they literally got us boarded and were taking off within 15 minutes. We were already in the air when the safety video began.
- 3:00 AM (6:00 AM EST - 24 hours after we left home) we crawled into bed at the resort.

Fortunately, the flight home was PERFECT!

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the week. Jonathan and Banks got to spend a lot of quality time together. He was exhausted at the end of the week I think!

Banks on his first flight!

Laid over in Albuquerque for 6 hours...

Jonathan and Banks playing in the pool!

J will always be a cheerleader at heart! Cindy posted a picture here of her daughter and hubbie, and I think J was inspired!
Banks slept in the closet! I know, I'm a bad mom... but the pack and play fit in the closet and this way he couldn't see us! He gets so distracted if he can see us, and then he won't sleep!
Enjoying the vacation...
What a beautiful landscape!

A few pictures

I took a few other pictures of Banks last weekend and I thought I would post them. Nothing else majorly photo worthy has happened this week. Next weekend should be super exciting though - my Missy and my Cindy are coming to visit! YAY! I can't WAIT to show them around and watch the babies play! I'll be certain to post pics from their visit!

Romance is...

Waking up at 4 am to find that the diaper you changed at 10 pm is still laying in the bed between you.

4th of July

Banks had a big 4th of July! Lots of celebrating with family and friends! He played hard in the yard. There was a lot of sitting up to do! And yes, for baby book history, he can sit now! Not just for 10 seconds - but for quite a while as long as there are toys to play with! I wouldn't leave him sitting in a room by himself by any means (he would come crashing down eventually) but he's pretty stable for a fairly long period of time.

I'm actually happy to say that this was one of the quieter July 4th holidays that we've had in the past few years and it was really nice! Banks got to play hard but he didn't have to be overwhelmed by a large crowd.

And did he like the fireworks? No. For one thing, they didn't start until 10 PM which is entirely too late. Banks fell asleep on the boat for a while, but then woke up around 9. Had the fireworks started at 9, or even 9:30, we might have had a chance. But by 9:45 we were screaming and carrying on - it was time for night night and Banks was NOT happy about not being in bed! So we turned the boat around, fireworks going on behind us (at least we got to see a few as we drove away!) and went home. The best part? Not 5 minutes after we got in the house, the heavens opened and God showed his own fireworks - complete with torrential downpour! So it was a good thing Banks made us go home early anyway!