Our Papaw is Special

My dad, (your papaw) is special.

He was chosen to be one of the faces of cancer in a statewide campaign.

We were so excited for him!

Your papaw has been a survivor of melanoma skin cancer for over 30 years!!!

Each survivor selected had a photo shoot done that would be on display in many areas across Kentucky.  

Each participant was to do or show something in their photo that is important to them.

Your papaw chose to have his picture taken with his 6 grandchildren! (awe!!)

We got all dressed up to go to a picnic where the photos would be revealed and each survivor would be celebrated!!!

Here's the finished product, which was on display in the Meade County Public Library, as well as many other locations across the state!

We sure are proud of our papaw!!!

Liam Andrew is 13 months!!

My sweet baby boy, can you believe 13 whole months have gone by?  We are beyond blessed to have you in our lives and we just love to celebrate all that you do! Why do I obsess over every little thing you do?

WELL.

First, I am your momma (it's part of the job description) and second, your life is just so precious to us!
Last month, on your birthday to be exact, we had a health scare.  Your were very, very sick and your CBC blood work indicated that you could possibly have Leukemia and it needed to be investigated further.  So, we spent a very long day at the hospital for the tests and waiting to hear the results.  It was the longest. day. of. my. life.  At 5 pm, we found out that you did NOT have Leukemia! I can't even describe in words the relief that we felt. I cried. and cried. and cried. Because I was so happy! You were still very sick with a virus AND an infection which required several shots of antibiotics, but you beat it! We were soooooooo thankful God saw you through your illness! We pray and pray and pray for your continued health!!! So, this is just one more reason why we CELEBRATE ALL THAT YOU DO!!! We just LOVE you so much!

On a lighter note :)
Here are some of the things we just LOVE about you, our sweet 13 month old...

• You are a climber! You try to climb up and down stairs, all over furniture and people!
• You are a talker!!! Most of it we can't really make out yet (lol) but you can very clearly say Momma, Dada, light, ball, huh? and bye-bye!
• You wave hi and bye-bye! So sweet!
• You point at EVERYTHING!! You are one curious little boy!
• You are obsessed with bugging your big brother! (I'm sure this is only the beginning! lol) If he has a toy, you think you have to have it, and you follow him wherever he goes!! ;)
• You are a PIGLET! You could eat all. day. long. if we let you! haha
• You are cruisin' up a storm! You walk everywhere, but always holding onto something or someone! I'm sure we'll be chasing you in no time!
• You are a Momma's boy! You would be permanently attached to my hip, if possible.  I sure am getting some muscle in my arms from carrying around my big boy! :)
• You are all smiles, all the time!
• You now give kisses! So sweet!
• You have discovered your toes!!!  If I say, "Liam, where are your toes?" You smile really big, and point to your little piggies!
• You LOVE your cozy coupe car and sit in it ALL THE TIME!
• You love to listen to your daddy playing the guitar.  You even try to play it too!
• You absolutely love going down the slide your Nana and Papaw Shacklett got you for your birthday! You even climb up the stairs all by yourself!

Um, the sweetest thing ever?? I think so!

Whoops! You were playing and fell right in your toy basket! Haha!

Oh how I love how excited you get to listen to a story! 

Be still my heart! <3

A boy and his car!

Playing tunes with Daddy!

Someone is officially too old for the bouncy! Haha! 

Oh, baby boy. We love you. We love you. We love you! I just can't tell you that enough.  We are infinitely blessed and can't believe how lucky we are to have you in our lives.  We are so humbled that God chose us. We aren't worthy, but we will always do the absolute best we can for you. We pray that He will always guide us in our decisions as your parents so that we are always doing the best for you.  Happy 13 months, Liam!!!

We love you to the moon and back an infinite number of times!!!

Love, Momma and Dada

Connor James 34 months!

34 months already! I can't believe you are going to be 3 whole years old in less than 2 months!!! It feels like you should still be my teeny tiny baby!  You are becoming more and more independent each day!! It's too bad time can't slow down so you can be my baby a little longer!



Here's a few things you are up to lately... (ya know, it's getting harder and harder to keep up with all you do! lol)

• You are counting by 10s!! Yep, you walk around saying, "10, 20, 30, 40...." lol
• You LOVE being outside.  You love the pool, the sandbox, and riding your bike.
• A momma bird laid 3 eggs in a nest in our front yard.  You have to check on them everyday! We are waiting for them to hatch!!! Soooooooo exciting! I can't wait for you to see the baby birds!!!
• You nana and papaw Shacklett got Liam a slide for his birthday, and you are in LOVE with it! You expecially love the tent under it.  You crawl in there with your blankets, stuffed animals, and ipad like it's your fort! :)
• You finished up your first ever soccer season (even though you didn't spend much time on the field! lol) You and Tyler were a little young, and were more interested in other things! haha
• Our new discovery is that you LOVE waffles! Whooo hoooo!! Our picky, picky eater is eating a new food!!!
• You LOVE to go shopping.  You are DEFINITELY your momma's child!
• You think our sand box is Elmo! lol  It is actually a crab with big round white eyes! haha
• And BIG NEWS!!!! We are in the middle of redecorating your room and transforming it into a BIG BOY room! The walls are finished!!! :)

Loving the new slide!

Playing in the grass instead of playing soccer! lol

Sandbox fun!

Step 1: Taping

Step 2: Painting!

Step 3: Striped walls!!!

Mr. Potato Head fun with Tyler and Liam! :)

You are a TURKEY! You crawled in your brother's bouncer.  (Leg hanging out the top and all! lol)  Liam was not too happy with you!! Haha

Our baby birdies we are keeping an eye on!! :)

Oh baby boy, how we LOVE you!!!

You are, without a doubt, a blessing to our lil family!

We just love watching you learn and grow each day!

We love you to the moon and back an infinite number of times!!!

My BABY is ONE!!!!!!!!!

Guess who is officially ONE???  That's right, THIS LITTLE MAN:

You have passed Mr. Monkey up big time! 

 I can't believe you were smaller than him at one point!!

We had to cancel your original party because you were under the weather! :(

Even though you were fresh out of the hospital, we put together a new lil' party for our sweet "Little Man!"

You had the time of your life! It was full of family, yummy spaghetti, lots of laughs, tons of presents, a new slide, and delicious, messy cake!!! You were worn out by the end of the night! ;)

Cute neck ties for our cute lil' boy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LITTLE MAN!!!

Our fantastic cake made by Ms. Kelly Whelan! Delicious!!!

All giggles!

Connor LOVES his Ryan!

My little mustache man! :)

Uncle Andrew and Aunt Jill

It also happened to be Kentucky Derby day, so they were a little distracted when the race came on! lol

PRESENT TIME!!!

Two sweet toddlers had to get in on the present action!!! lol

Loving on your cousin, Colby!

Little Mustache Man!

Your favorite part of the evening??

The cake, of course!!!

You were even willing to share with Momma! Sweet boy!

So, what all is our sweet one year old up to? I'm so glad you asked.
Well, for starters...

• You are crusin' town, that's for sure! You cruise along our furniture like it's no big deal! You'll be walking in no time!
• You are eating us out of house and home! You are one little piglet!
• You use lots of gestures, pointing and motioning to what you want or are interested in! (Which is everything! lol)
• You are talking!!! You babble ALL DAY LONG, and even have several words now... Momma, Dada, light, hi, bye!
• You clap when you see other people clapping and imitate other actions as well.
• You are a super crawler! In fact, you are the Lightning McQueen of crawling! It is amazing how fast you can get from point A to point B!
• You're not so sure about this whole sippy cup thing...
• You LOVE your big brother so much! You think he is the greatest thing since sliced bread! You smile so big whenever you see him! I LOVE it!
• You are a Momma's boy, big time!! I love it, I love it, I LOVE it!!! Especially since your brother is a big time daddy's boy! lol  I'll take all the cuddles I can get!
• You think you are part monkey! You try to climb on or up EVERYTHING!
• You're the happiest baby on the block! You are literally smiling or giggling all the time! I love that quality about you! You just light up a room!

What a great first year it has been! You are such a blessing in our lives, and we thank God for you EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.  We can't wait to watch you learn and grow for many more years to come! We love you infinitely and are beyond blessed to call you our son! You and Connor are our whole world!!!

Happy First Birthday, Liam!!!

We love you beyond words!

Love,

Momma and Daddy

Connor James is 33 months old!!!

I can't believe how big you are getting! In just 3 short months we will be celebrating your 3rd birthday!!! That doesn't seem possible! It seems like just yesterday that I was snuggling you as a sweet, squishy newborn.  But, fast forward almost 3 years, and we now have a sweet, spunky, energetic, and fun toddler! You sure do keep us entertained AND on our toes!

You are always the life of the party and make us laugh so much!  Here are some of the things we have just loved this month...

1.  When we put you to bed, you have to have the WHOLE sesame street gang in bed with you.  You sleep with a HUGE Elmo and Big Bird, and have to have your Elmo jammies (as long as they're clean)!!
2.  You want to learn constantly! And you are a sponge!!! You have such a good memory! You see something one time or hear it once, and you've got it!! Lately, you have been really interested in learning to write.  You ask Daddy or Momma to take your hand and help you write.  You have been trying to write your letters and numbers!!  I just LOVE that you LOVE to learn!
3.  You LOVE playing outside.  You like to explore, taking everything in.  You point out trees and plants, clouds, and grasses! It is amazing all that you observe!
4.  You love going to the public library to play and check out books (and see Mamaw)!!
5.  You are OBSESSED with going to Mamaw and Papaw's house.  You think it is way cooler than being at home.  That is where you ALWAYS want to go!
6.  You are absolutely IN LOVE with the park!! You call it the "little house" because the play structures look like little houses.  You can't get enough of the slides!!!
7.  You love reading books.  Sometimes we read to you, and sometimes you read to us!!
8.  You are spelling your name! Yep! You walk around saying C-O-N-N-O-R!! lol
9.  You went to see Sesame Street LIVE this month, and you ABSOLUTELY WERE IN HEAVEN!!! I think you are Elmo's biggest fan!
10.  You have figured out how to turn door knobs, and now you are into EVERYTHING!! LOL
11.  You are a picky eater, BUT you eat much better when you are distracted with the ipad!! Haha! Momma has figured out a trick to get you to eat better!
12.  You are the sweetest "almost 3 year old" ever!! We LOVE you soooooooo much!

Happy 33 months Connor!

We love you to the moon and back an infinite number of times!

We are beyond blessed that God chose us to be your parents!!

Love,

Momma and Daddy

Easter 2013

I know this was a month ago, but just had to share...

My sweet babies were so excited to get a little treat from the Easter Bunny!

SURPRISE!!! :)

Elmo was a big hit!

So excited about his new toy fruit that he can "cut up!"

No so sure about the ears! LOL

Loved his Velcro fruit that he could cut like Momma and Daddy do!

The puzzles were Liam's favorite!!! :)

I hope you all had a fantastic Easter with your families! We had a great Easter service at church, and were certainly feeling blessed.  God is so good!

Sesame Street Live!!!

Connor's Mamaw and Papaw got him tickets to see Elmo Live for Easter!!! Now, if you've been following our blog, then you know that Connor is, without a doubt, the BIGGEST ELMO FAN EVER!!! Seriously, like EVER! So this was kinda a big deal! lol So, along with Aunt Jill and his cousin Tyler, we loaded up and traveled to the Brown Theatre in downtown Louisville. The boys were beyond excited!!!

Someone was really excited for the show to start!!!

The theatre was gorgeous!!!

We had to get in a cheesy photo with Momma before the show!

Mesmerized!!! 

 He LOVED every minute!! Really... he didn't sit down the entire time! lol

Clapping for Elmo!

Trying to inch closer and closer to the stage... lol!

Someone was out like a light  before we even got out of the parking garage!!!

I call that a fun and successful trip!! :)

BTW, Big Bird is now a permanent member of the family. He and Connor's large stuffed Elmo both have to be tucked in at bedtime with him.  It's a little crowded! Haha!!