By Stacey
No, that’s not the number of kids we want! Ha Mom!
Our oldest is 11 years old today. He was born at 3 AM in the tiny hospital in J’ville. Many of you were there and waited up with my mom and John’s mom for the baby to be born. We didn’t know if we were having a boy or a girl, and I labored all day long, pushed for 3 hours, and ended up with a c-section. It was the most difficult thing I had ever been through-and recovering from labor and surgery was really hard. But I had a beautiful baby boy! The nurses called him “He-Man” because he was so big, and he had the whole nursery to himself because we were the only patients in the maternity wing that weekend.
Andrew was a beautiful baby. He never had the red, scrunched up face like most newborns. He was the prettiest newborn we had ever seen-everyone said so. And I don’t think they were just being nice. He has always had the dark hair and skin of my side of the family. He is a pretty cool firstborn. He is learning more responsibility and helps a lot with his siblings. He has his weaknesses, to be sure, but that’s not what we talk about on his birthday, right? He helps me so much around here. Many times I am loading everyone in the van and he gets Katie buckled up and in the van, finds Anna’s shoes, combs Caleb’s hair, and grabs the diaper bag for me. He is my dishwasher unloader every day too. He is pretty willing to do whatever I ask him to do and looks forward to rewards. He is also my best eater- he even likes broccoli and tries everything.
Andrew is Mr. Music right now. His favorite thing to do is play the piano and make up songs. He begs for computer time so he can compose on it. He loves Beethoven too and wants to learn to play all his music. Every year we usually go to the fireworks show in a nearby town. We think it is so nice for the town to throw a huge fireworks party just for Andrew every year. The symphony plays, kids run around, and everyone has fun. But, tonight we will go to the show without our birthday boy. He is still at Boy Scout camp. He’ll be home tomorrow and we have really missed him this week.
I guess the saying “absence makes the heart grow fonder” can work for your kids too. With so many kids around to keep me busy you may think having one gone to camp would be easy for me. But it’s when Andrew is gone all week that I realize how much he helps me and how much I miss his questions, corny jokes, and messes. Josh says it is easier to keep his room clean without Andrew around…..but he misses him too.
Thanks for letting me ramble about our birthday boy. July is a busy month around here- we have 3 more birthdays coming up. I’d better get busy writing their posts so I don’t forget!
These are my most recent pics of Andrew. I confess that I take more pics of the baby than I do the bigger kids. This is him with Granny and at the piano.
By Stacey
Bethany and Anna have recently decided to go curly…..their hair is really curly these days and always looks messy. The curls are best, of course, when wet. Here they are at the lake last weekend on our camping trip. Gotta love the lake water, sunshine, and humidity!
By Stacey
This is Katie in one of my baby dresses. Isn’t she a doll?
By Stacey
The pool was the place to be for the 15 and under crowd at Granddaddy’s last week. I wanted to post a few pics so you could see how much fun the kids had. Bethany and Caleb were happy with their water wings on. Anna did not want to be IN the water, but was happy on a float. The big kids were jumping off the diving board and underwater too much for many good pics…..
By Stacey
My favorite age (as far as babies go) is 3 months. At 3 months, the baby is still small enough to cuddle like a newborn, but big enough to smile and coo at you. Katie can hold her head up really well and loves to watch the goings-on in our busy house. She smiles and goos and gurgles as she attempts to communicate with us. John remarked how interesting that even a tiny baby knows to look you in the eye.
Katie met all of her McLeod relatives last week during our family reunion. She did not try the pool this time- mommy and daddy were far too busy with the bigger kids! But she had her fair share of snuggles and kisses, and knees to bounce on.
By John
Logos Bible Software is celebrating the launch of their new online Bible by giving away 72 ultra-premium print Bibles at a rate of 12 per month for six months. The Bible giveaway is being held at Bible.Logos.com and you can get up to five different entries each month! After you enter, be sure to check out Logos and see how it can revolutionize your Bible study.
By John
Stroll on over to Cal.vini.st to enjoy their reformed theology and put your name in the hat to receive a free copy of Bibleworks Bible Software.
By Stacey
Here we come!
Don’t forget us! Caleb already has his swimsuit on for Alabama-house….
Can I bring myblankie?
I’m coming if Mama is coming!
By Stacey
I wanted to introduce our guest to you, my faithful blog readers. (Except Olya, who already knows her)
Katya (Kate) is here for the summer to get a summer job in America and practice English. She will be with us for a few weeks, then with another family in our church. Her English is pretty good, except when we speak fast. Also, when she is tired, it is harder for her to understand us. I think the jet lag is mostly behind her now. And there is a neat little thing on google where you can type something and it will translate…….nifty tool there for when you can’t find the hand motions to explain what you mean.
I took Kate to the social security office in Raleigh yesterday to apply for her ssn so she can work. The children and I sat in the van while she waited her turn. As a reward for my our patience, we went to the mall and ate at the food court. You see, Kate likes fish. Her favorite food. I hate fish and have never cooked any. She found some fish at one of the food court restaurants. I had chic-fil-a, the kids had pizza….all was good.
We are planning to go to Al for my cousin’s wedding. Kate is invited to come with us to see and American wedding. A typical southern wedding, that is. I hope some of you get to meet her, and if anyone wants to show her around your neck of the woods, let us know!
By Stacey
I am running out of band aids. And neosporin, cortizone, children’s motrin, and cough drops.
Last week the girls had a stomach bug. This week all the girls are coughing. A lot, especially at night.
Bethany has a mysterious bite on her leg that looked infected. It is getting better.
Caleb scraped his ankle on the driveway and lost a layer of skin. He’s tough and won’t let me keep a bandaid on him for long.
‘Tis the season for shorts, but I am ashamed to let my kids wear them to town. All of them are scratched, scabbed and bruised from their play in the yard. I don’t want people to think we are abusive around here! Guess we need to work on a suntan to help hide some of the less obvious battle scars.
And since we are planning a trip to see Nay Nay, there will inevitably be a scratch or scrape on someone’s face just in time for all those pictures!
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