A Lifetime Of Love

I have been very blessed to have many good examples in my life...especially when it comes to marriage and commitment. 2008 marks a very big year for my grandparents, for my whole family really. On December 29, 2008 my grandparents will have been married for 70 years! Saturday they had a vow renewal ceremony at their retirement center. I love the second picture above...it has my grandparents being interviewed by a newspaper reporter but it also shows a picture of them when they first were married. They have had such an amazing life together and I am sure they are so proud when they look at the family that started all because of them. Although they are older now it is still obvious how much in love they are and how much they value one another. It is my prayer that Rhonald and I will know that kind of love when we have been married for 70 years...that we would see each other then as we do now. I pray that Cole grows up seeing parents who are devoted to one another and that we are a living example to him and his future wife. What an awesome responsibility it is to be a parent!!!!

Fun With Baby Food

Last night we had our first adventure with baby food! Cole has been eating rice cereal for a few weeks and really likes it so we decided to try something with a little more flavor. We started with sweet potatoes...we were so excited to get him in to his highchair and see how he would like it. He loved the highchair but was not too excited about the sweet potatoes. He would be so excited to get a new bite and once it hit his tongue he would make the funniest faces! I am planning on making most of Cole's baby food but we went with the store bought food last night because of time. Hopefully things will go better tonight and he will get more and more used to it as the days go on! I think the funniest thing about this new adventure was how we reacted to his reaction....Cole would take a bite, make a horrible face and we would cheer and clap and talk about how good sweet potatoes are (I hate sweet potatoes!) and how fun eating is. It really goes to show that once you become a parent you will do anything for your kids!

Cute Cole

Our friend, Rachel, is so good at taking pictures and loves to do so! It was such a great treat to check my email this morning and see that she sent me these cute pictures of Cole from last night. He did very well with all of the people and the music. He stayed in the sling the whole time and even took a little nap! Thanks for the pictures Rachel - you know we love them!!!!

A Bittersweet Goodbye

the 2008 graduating class of the AHEC NW

Rhonald receiving his diploma from Dr. Thomas

The blue grass band at the graduation party

Rhonald enjoying his dinner (he hates this picture by the way!)

Today marks a very special day for our family...after 11 years of education Rhonald has finished his residency in family medicine! In a way I feel like we both graduated. Rhonald and I met the summer before his senior year of college so I have been with him each step of this journey. I am so proud of him and all that he has accomplished and all that he has learned. Every sleepless night, every ounce of worry for a sick patient, each opportunity to teach someone about how to better their health all came together today - graduation day! It was so neat to see Rhonald receive his diploma and know that all of that hard work has paid off.

Today was a long day of partying beginning with a lunch at the AHEC. We had a nice time saying goodbye to friends and co-workers. It was both a happy occasion as well as a sad one. We feel like these people have been part of our family over the past 3 years and it will be so strange not to see them every day. We ended the day with a great party at the Whole Hog Cafe. After we got home and put Cole to bed Rhonald took some time to share stories about his 3 years here. It was so much fun to listen to him remember this time with good memories since going through it was not easy. Thank you to all of you who have prayed for us over the years. We have felt each and every one of them and we know we were only able to make it here because of prayer and hard work. Please continue to think of us as we continue our journey together.

Poor Mason!!!

Mason at 8 weeks

Mason at 2 1/4 years

Mason had his 2 year shots today and boy did we get a lecture! Mason is a very active pug but as you can see from the pictures above he has gained A LOT of weight. Mason was the runt of his litter and now holds the record for the largest (both tallest and biggest) pug our breeder has ever bred. At the vet today Mason weighed 34.6 lbs!!!! The healthy/average weight for a pug is 20 lbs - and the vet said that was being generous because he is a large pug. So, needless to say, Mason is on a diet - no more people food, no more treats of any kind and special diet food. I have to take him in once a month to be weighed until he shows he is making progress. Basically it is weight watchers for dogs! The tricky thing is that exercise is out of the question until fall because pugs cannot handle the heat well (they have no room to breathe since they don't have much of a nose). The vet was nice but stern and now it is up to us to help Mason slim down and live a long, healthy life!

In other Mason news....at about 7:00 pm last night Mason started running around our house like a mad man which, if you know Mason, is very strange (he is more of a sleeper). We thought he was just being playful until he then started rubbing his face on anything and everything. So, his nurse mommy and doctor daddy thought "hmm...something might be wrong." Actually we just wanted him to stop so we called him over to where we were and noticed that his whole face was swollen! He could barely open his eyes, his muzzle was so swollen he could not close his mouth, and his neck was swollen too! We called to vet because he had just been there for shots and he thought it sounded like a reaction to a bug bite. So, what did we do ... we drugged him!!!! 100 mgs of Benadryl later (50 mg at first and then 50 mg more a couple hours later) and Mason is back to normal! That much Benadryl never even put him to sleep - he just wandered around the house like he was so tired but did not know what to do! I think it was the worst day of Mason's life - thank goodness it is over!!!

Colorful Fun

Today marked the first official gathering of the play group the girls I used to work with and I started. It was crazy!!! We made tie dye t-shirts at our house and also had lunch. Almost everyone was there and it was great to see the girls and their kids. As you can see from the pictures above the babies chilled out and watched the bigger kids who were able to dye their own shirts (with a little help). Only time will tell if the shirts actually turn out (you have to let them rest for 12-24 hours) but like we said today...the kids are too young to care at this point! I have really grown to love our Tuesday get-togethers...and I love these girls. I feel like God really blessed our lives with the friends we have made here. Now that I am a mom it is so wonderful to have other moms to share time with and get advice from. I am so excited to watch our kids grow up together and I look forward to many more Tuesdays to come!!!!

5 Months Old...Can You Believe It?

Our little guy turned 5 months old on June 11th....can you believe that? Cole weighs 16.8 lbs. He is truly amazing and shocks us with all he can do each and every day. Last night before we went to bed, Rhonald and I agreed that watching a child grow up and learn is the most incredible thing in the world! To think that 5 months ago Cole could not do much of anything and now he can do so many things is too cool to explain. He is getting 2 teeth as we speak and has handled that very well. He can sit up for a few seconds unsupported. He plays with his hands and feet. He can put his pacifier in his mouth by himself. He pats on our faces whenever he can and will grab anything that is close to him. Cole is eating rice cereal and loves that so much! He loves being outside and watching new things. Cole enjoys riding in his stroller when we go for walks. Mason continues to be one of Cole's favorite things to grab on to and watch (poor Mason!). Stranger anxiety has set in and he has become a real mommy's boy. He adores his daddy and laughs more with Rhonald than he ever does with anyone else. He is sleeping well....he is only eating one time a night. He goes to bed around 8:30-9:00 pm and wakes up around 7:00-7:30 am. Oh! He has learned to blow bubbles with his mouth and does so almost all day long...he just reminded me of that -- ha ha! Well, those are just a few of the new things going on at our house. We are so blessed to have Cole and all of you to share him with. Thanks for listening to me brag about my boy a little bit this morning!!!!