Take Me Out To The Ballgame!!!!

Rhonald and I took Cole to his first baseball game on Thursday night. We saw the Northwest Arkansas Naturals vs. the San Antonio Missions. It was so much fun! Originally I was carrying Cole in to the ballpark but Rhonald quickly stole him away saying that his dad should be the one taking him in to his first game! Who could argue with that?!
The ball park was so nice and the game was a lot of fun! You would never know it from the pictures but the game was suspended during the 5th inning due to a severe thunder storm. Luckily we saw the clouds rolling in and left about 10 minutes before the rain started. I hope that we go back again soon though - it was a great way to spend an evening.
Cole did much better than we thought he would during the game. He was a little frightened by the loud speakers at first but quickly settled in and enjoyed watching all of the people around us. He even took a little bit of a nap before we left.
The most fun Cole had was when he was playing with Marla! Brad and Marla got a babysitter and met us for the game. It was great to be there with them. Brad played baseball in college so Marla was telling me all about what was going on during the game. I think they were more disappointed than we were that the game was suspended since they were without their kiddos for the night. We agreed that we will get together and go again soon!

What A Face!

I could not resist sharing this photo with you guys! Rhonald took this shot of Cole after his bath tonight. Rhonald has been home studying and we have been blessed to be able to spend time with him during his breaks and in the evenings. I have not seen Rhonald this much since his 4th year of medical school and I love it. Cole loves it too! We had such a great day together. During one break we played with Cole in the baby pool and then took a nice walk. This was the first time that Rhonald had seen Cole in the water so that was super special. The next break we took we went to Sportsman's Warehouse....aka Rhonald's favorite place to shop! He is going fishing tomorrow with a friend so he had to stock up on supplies. Cole loved that store! He is all boy that is for sure. He played with the different types of flies and then we found a huge bin of giant stuffed fish which he thought was so fun to touch and play with! I think he is a boy after his daddy's heart - he is already interested in fishing! Another nice thing is that we have been spending so much time outside and playing with Cole that we have hardly turned the TV on at all. It has been so wonderful to be in the house and just talk and play without that distraction. The atmosphere is so peaceful around here without the extra noise! Well, I just wanted to share a little of our day with you....I hope that you are all enjoying your summer as much as we are.

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!!!