Our Life is about to Change!

Well as most of you know we are expecting baby number two - Luke Hamilton - to be called Luke. He is set to arrive in two weeks! I can't believe it. We are having a c-section on the 9th of September, it is hard to believe that the time has already arrived. Life is about to change. For the past 16 months we have been a family of three and have really gotten into a routine of things - all that is about to be turned upside down with an infant! We are so excited about his arrival. Landrum really loves babies so I think she will like him, sometimes she just loves them too much - there is such a thing. When she was around her 12 week old cousin last month we had to really supervise her visitation - she would have catapulted her out of the bouncy seat or swing with her vigerous helping! I know she will be such a sweet big sister, it is just hard to imagine loving another baby as much as I love her. I know that I will, every other mom I know tells me it just happens - your ability to love grows! I am looking forward to that. Here are a few shots of Landrum lately - she is changing so much every day. She is learning new words and using them all the time! She is a non stop talker! She loves to play with her friends, go to church, do ANYTHING with daddy, ride in her wagon, and read books. She is such a joy in our life and makes us laugh all the time. I have really been enjoying sewing for her lately and have had some free time in which to do that - I know that will slow down once Luke arrives, but hopefully when we get back into the swing of things I will get back into it.. for now enjoy!

Landrum enjoying birthday cupcakes at her cousins 1st birthday party!

Landrum and her Mimi at her Mimi's birthday party!

Stewardship

So we have been having a sermon series at church about stewardship which has been great and I have thought some about this idea as of late.. how can I be a good steward of our resources and make them go as far as possible. Well one area that we always seem to go over budget is groceries - isn't that the case for almost everyone though? I just realize that every little trip we make to Kroger/Wal-Mart during the week adds up - you just can't go and spend less than $20 or $30 a pop. So I thought about how I could reduce our budget and stop these mid-week expenditures... I decided I would only shop once a week - buy all that we need and when we run out - we are out, until I go again. I thought that was a good plan but I was still researching ways to do even better. And so... I have joined The Grocery Game. Some of you may have heard about it - but if not, it is a very inexpensive program you can join online that does almost all the work for you (if they did all the work the groceries would just magically appear in my cabinet!). Anyway - each Sunday I go online to the website and download the "list" for my grocery store(s) and all of the sales are already organized. The company knows exactly what is on sale and if it is at it's lowest price, it tells you precisely what coupons to use and when. The idea behind the program is to stockpile items when they are at their lowest price instead of paying premium price for goods. The point of the program is to drastically reduce your grocery budget. Several acquaintances of mine with families of at least 4 have budgets low as $60 a week when using the game! So if you are interested you can read about it at http://www.thegrocerygame.com/. It really does not take that much work and there is a four week free trial! I am excited to be able to save money this way for our family. This past Sunday night I went shopping at my local Kroger, I got $120 worth of groceries for $60!!! Yeah!

Quick Update

I just wanted to update that we got good results from Jared's mom's biopsy. She had the bone marrow biopsy on Thursday and Friday we found out that the leukemia is gone. This is great news and exactly what we prayed for. However, we ask that you continue to pray for her. She is at her lowest point and having very bad days right now. They are continuously fighting fever and cannot get her white count to rise or her platelets. She has received platelets every day for the past week but her body is rejecting them. Please pray that her body will start accepting the platelets and making their own. Please pray for her comfort and strength as she is very weak and feeling awful with many side effects from the chemo this time. Thank you for faithfully praying for our family.

Fair Pictures

Here are some pictures from our first weekend at the fair.

Fair Friends! Our fair neighbor Anna Scott loves Landrum and is a huge helper!

Landrum and I are so proud of Jared! Great job on the triathalon!

Quick story: Landrum was exhausted Friday night after playing hard at the fair. We put her down around 7 and didn't hear a word from her. Jared went up to check on her around 8 and this is what he found! She had reached onto the ledge above her crib and found Jared's wallet. She then proceeded to empty all of its contents and spread them all around her crib. I found a $10 under her!

Loving the sawdust!

Update

Jared's mom finished up her chemo last night. She handled it really well all through the week and is only starting to feel some of the effects today. Her fever has gone up and her white count is very low. This is all expected and part of the process. She is starting to have some body aches and a bad head ache but otherwise is still doing well. She will have her biopsy this Friday and we will know more after that. Please pray for early remission and a clear biopsy so that we can move forward in this process.

We spent this weekend at the Neshoba County Fair and will head back up on Monday afternoon after my doctors appointment. We missed Debbie desperately as the fair is not really the fair without her! She is the life of our cabin! We still had a good and fairly relaxing weekend. Jared knocked the Heart of Dixie triathalon out and I was so proud of him! He completed the triathalon in a lot better time than he expected and felt great afterwards! He said he really enjoyed doing it and I am so glad that he was able to do it this year - the 30th running of the triathalon! Landrum and I were so so proud to cheer him on at the finish line!

Tonight is a really special night for us as well - Jared is being ordained as a minister. Another reason we have to be so proud of him! He and our good friend Craig Curtis (who was in Turkey with his wife Katie while were there) are both being ordained at Pinelake tonight and we are looking forward to a very special time with our family, church family and friends!

Pictures are soon to follow I promise!

Jared's Mom

Well it is hard to write this post, at least I did not think I would be writing it so soon. Jared's mom's cancer has returned. We found out today. She went in for her regular monthly check up and her counts were off. The doctor went ahead and orderd a bone marrow biopsy for today and checked her into the hospital. We received the results this evening while we were up at the hospital with her. The leukemia is back. She will begin 7 days of 24 hour chemotherapy tomorrow morning. They will do a follow up bone marrow biopsy in about 2 weeks and if it is clean they will begin building her counts back up so that she will be ready for a stem cell transplant in 6-7 weeks. She has already had her healthy stem cells harvested so they are ready whenever her body can handle the transplant. Unfortunately, she will not be able to have this transplant done here in Jackson and will have to go to UAB (in Birmingham) to have her transplant.

Please keep our family in your prayers as we battle this together. We know that the Lord is control of every one of our steps and has each of us in His arms. Please pray for Debbie, for strength, comfort, peace and for the ability to fight this disease. Pleae pray for Stan, that he will be able to offer her the comfort she needs and that he will have peace and strength as he battles with Debbie. Thanks so much for your support and prayers.

First Tooth

Yes you read that correctly. Landrum is 15 months today and is JUST NOW cutting her first tooth. Well one has cut through the gum completely and is slowly working it's way in, a second is close to follow I think. Can you believe it has taken this long? You have no idea how many times I was convinced she was teething over the past 15 months.. and now when she is really teething she has none of the classic symptoms! So that is pretty great... the doctor kept saying.."as long as she gets them by 18 months"... but would not ever say what would happen if they did not come in by then.... baby dentures? Ah well, not to worry - she is getting her teeth.

Otherwise - we are doing well. I am now 30 weeks pregnant - Landrum makes sure I go to bed each night completely exhausted. I feel great and am progressing well I guess. We will meet our son 9 weeks from today... hard to believe! I would post pictures of his nursery... if he had one. That is my next project... so there will be pictures one day soon!

Visiting the Cousins

Landrum and I went on our first solo road trip last week. We drove to Dallas last Sunday to spend a week with my older sister Erin and her family. Erin just had her third baby, Olivia, in April and this was our first time to meet her! We had a great time. I was a little nervous about the trip over as it is about 7 hours driving. I tend to get really sleepy in the car and Landrum tends to get fussy after about an hour of riding. Well the Lord heard my prayers and we had a great trip. Landrum slept all the way past shreveport - wonderful! I was so sleepy until Monroe when I remembered I had several sermons in the car, I love listening to sermons while driving - focusing keeps me awake.. so Chip and the Word saved our lives! We had such fun even though it was unbearably hot each and every day. Landrum adores her cousins and did not want to nap or even sleep at night as she was convinced she was missing out on all the fun. I made Landrum and Rylie matching dresses to wear to a picnic/outdoor childrens concert that we went to one night and they were both thrilled! We can't wait for them to come and visit us in August, along with Bethany, David and Pace! What fun!

Not so sure about the apron!

Playing dress up

Fun at the picnic/concert

Cooling off!

Week 2 (Savannah and Tybee Island)

Please read the previous post for a recap of our fabulous two week vacation. Enjoy the pictures from the second week!

Exhausted after a hard two weeks of playing!!!

Two Weeks of Fun in the Sun (Week 1 Pics)

We just got home from two weeks of fun filled vacationing! We started out down on the emerald coast in Seagrove Beach, Florida with my parents for a week of relaxation at the beach. Although we dealt with some strange weather while there it did not deter us from having a great time. There was a freak cool front the weekend we left (56 degrees the first morning we were there!) followed by a week of sunshine, mixed with gale force winds, and finally followed by a tropical storm/depression! Each day there was sun time though so we trucked down to the beach, lugging everything under the sun and had a great time. Landrum adored the sand (especially to eat) and was not the least bit afraid of the water. In fact she would be pleased to just crawl on out to see if you turned your back for a second! On Memorial Day we drove 7 hours to Savannah, Georgia to meet Jared's family. We stayed just outside of Savannah on Tybee Island. Jared's mom has always wanted to go to Savannah and since we are celebrating her remission for Leukemia we all jumped on board! We stayed right on the beach, which was a very different looking beach from Florida and spent several mornings playing in the sand and water. Most afternoons we went into town to tour Savannah and eat some of the best food in the world! In fact one restaurant was so good we ate there twice in the week for lunch. The first day we waited 30 minutes in line and the second time we waited an hour!!! I am telling you it was delicious! All in all it was a great two weeks with both families and we felt very relaxed! The 10 1/2 hour drive home Saturday was tough and as you can see at the end Landrum was exhausted - but she did great! Enjoy the pictures from week 1 - i will post another with pictures from week 2!

Fun Day at the Zoo

Wednesday was Earth Day and so to celebrate we went to the zoo with friends. We weren't really celebrating Earth Day it just happened to fall on the day we planned to go to the zoo but I did think it was fitting. We met up with our friends Melissa and Will and Jennifer and Ava for a fun filled day of animal sighting and picnicking. The Jackson Zoo - while not one of the top US zoos is really quite good. However, the way they have the exhibits - or habitats - or whatever you call them set up it is very difficult for the babies to see the animals from their strollers. Therefore our favorite animals were the giraffes and the elephants - those that could be viewed no matter what because of their height. We had a fun picnic and called it a day after half of the zoo - that is about all the kiddos could do. Unfortunately none of the kids would look at the camera at the same time but you can get an idea of our fun day!

Happy Easter

We had a wonderful day celebrating our risen Savior! What a glorious day of worship and fellowship! Landrum had a great day and looked adorable in her new dress from Bebe and Grandaddy. She had fun opening three rounds of Easter goodies and we managed a few good pictures in the yard before the rain came and flooded us out!

Fun with cousin Pace after lunch! Jayme's sister, Bethany, her husband David and cousin Pace are moving to Aurora, Colorado next week. David is a JAG lawyer with the US Airforce and they will be stationed there for atleast the next 3 years. We are so so sad to see them go. Landrum and Pace are four months apart and have so much fun playing together (although Landrum is sort of a bully right now!)

Birthday Party Bash!

We rang in Landrum's first year in style! We had a wonderful backyard party with family and some close friends. Landrum adored having so many people come over to play and loved being outside. She got lots and lots of fun presents and even a baby duck! She approached her cake with some trepidition and was really more interested in the icing than the cake. I finally dug into the cake with a fork and she took a big bite - but did not seem to be too enthusiastic about her first taste of real sugar. (That is fine with me!). We are so thankful to everyone who came and helped us celebrate our baby girls first year! She is such a joy!

Happy Birthday Landrum!!

Well, I have to say I cannot believe that a year has passed since our baby girl was born. We remember her 'birth' day so vividly - as if it were yesterday.. and now here we are celebrating her one year birthday! She has had a wonderful day and woke up to lots of "happy birthdays" from mama and daddy. She had a pancake for breakfast and then headed out to play with her cousin Pace for the morning. We are going to have her party on Saturday so I will post more pictures then. Today we took several on the front lawn so I have a few to share.

Landrum is such a wonderful, happy, and friendly baby. She loves to meet new people and her favorite word right now is "hi!" combined with a wave. Also, for those of you who know her - you know that for the first part of her short life she did not like to be held, cuddled, etc.. but that has all changed recently and she is the best hugger! She loves to lay her head on your shoulder and pat your back - she loves to give hugs and kisses - even to your feet! She is so sweet to all of her toys and animals and hugs on them all day. She is so loving and happy - we are so blessed to have her in our lives.

She still has no teeth and I am not sure she is getting any anytime soon! That does not stop her from trying all sorts of new foods though. She is not walking but is a mean crawler and can pull up on anything - I don't think we have long before she is off and running.

Our New Project

So we decided to build a garden this summer. We have been really wanting to grow some of our own veggies, especially tomatoes for the summer. So we scoped our backyard - which for the past year has just been an endless field of nothingness... with the exception of a terrible dog pen that was left so graciously by the homes' previous owners. We finally decided to rip out the dog pen and build our garden there. The grass was already torn up under the dog pen so it was an ideal place to build our raised bed. Jared did a lot of hard work to build us our bed and it looks AWESOME! Landrum and I went to our favorite Old Fannin Farmers Market to buy our new plants. We have 9 tomato plants, 2 basil plants, 3 cucumber plants, 1 bell pepper plant and 1 peppermint plant. We are so excited about it and can't wait for our harvest come June/July!

Here is our new raised bed garden!

Baby Chin-ups

When they are this age you just can't help but doing fun stuff with your children, just to see how they will respond.

Landrum Crawling

Landrum just turned 10 months and started crawling a few days ago even though we had asked her not to. I guess we'll have to go ahead and baby-proof the house now. As you'll see she is also quite vocal - she may look like her dad, but she definitely has some of mom's traits too.

News

Landrum has some news to share

That's right, in September, Landrum will be a big sister!

Straight A Student

Jared's dad made Landrum the most adorable little pink desk for Christmas - it is fantastic! And best of all, she loves it. She loves to sit in the little chair, which is shaped like a teddy bear, and read her books. I am not kidding. Here is the proof:

The Holidays

I love 'the holidays' you know - the two weeks you get of Christmas and then New Years - anyway I guess that is what folks mean by the holidays.. I am sure some people might even lump Thanksgiving in there too.. But I mean I love these last two weeks of the year. This year our Christmas week was sort of hectic. Jared had lots of work to do, Landrum had RSV, I had lots of wrapping etc to do and we just sort of got caught up in it all. Plus now that Jared is on staff at church we have to be at our church for Christmas Eve service so we had to come up with a new family schedule this year. It all worked out and we were able to be with both families on Christmas day. Jared's mom spent all day Christmas Eve in the emergency room with a high fever. She was fortunately able to be home on Christmas day but went right back in the day after Christmas unexpectedly and had to stay in the hospital for a week. So that was no fun! But she is doing well and feeling great. Landrum had a wonderful Christmas and was showered with gifts. She loved playing peekaboo with the tissue paper the most I think! We started on Christmas eve morning with opening her stocking where she got several goodies and it just went on from there. She LOVES her new toys (thank you everyone!).

We really have had a wonderful two weeks filled with family time and worship time and just time to celebrate our Savior and his birth. We are so blessed. We had such a great year last year with so many blessings poured out upon us. The birth of our daughter, Jared's mom being healed of her cancer, new work, new house, new friends and the list continues. Our Father is truely our Jehovah - Jirah, our provider! We look forward to all that 2009 holds!

Here are a few pictures from the holidays: