Nana and Pop gifts

This picture is of some of the things from Nana and Pop (my, Curtis, Mom and Dad). Noah is their fifth grandchild and you would have thought it was their first. They have made the 4 1/2 hour trip twice in the last six weeks. Mom's help for a week was greatly appreciated and Pop's help and stress relief (golf) really helped me... of course how could anything be bad with Noah to come home to? Look at that picture, he is already looking at Mommy and saying "huh, what did you say"? Just like his Daddy!

First Grandchild

Jen-Today is the last day of sharing the quilts/afgan pictures. The picture that you see today is Noah showing you all the adorable animal quilt that his mamaw gave him. I am the only child, so of course Noah is my parents first grandchild! I must say they are loving every minute of being grandparents! My mom wanted a gift to give him that was special, and just from her. She asked my aunt Regina to help her make this quilt for him. This quilt matches the baby animal theme of his nursery that he loves to look around at daily. I'm sure that Noah will cherish this blanket along with all of the other ones we have written about this week!

Noah is a very blessed little boy that so many people "covered" him with love! I'm sure that his mamaw will give him plenty of other gifts throughout his life, but this one will always be one he remembers.

The stare

Lisa Williams was like a second mother to me. I spent many-a-night hanging out with her son and my best friend, Jeff. Many of the seemingly hundreds of evenings/nights I stayed over there, she knitted during her free time. The church where I grew up threw us a shower. Since it was too close to the due-date (however Noah came a little early and was already here) they videotaped the gifts being opened by the people who were giving them to us with a message as they unwrapped it. This type of afghan is called "popcorn" and has to be difficult to make. Jennifer, Noah, and I appreciate the finger sacrifice for this beautiful gift. It truly means a lot to know someone who hasn't seen me on a regular basis since 1997 thought highly enough of us to give such a wonderful gift. More gifts/ explanations to come later. Isn't Jennifer doing a great job with the pictures? Every evening I get to see what she has set up for the next day during his nap. Keep up the great work babe! I think we are both going to hate having to go back to work... however I do miss the students. The time with Noah has truly been AWESOME!!!

You know, there is nothing better than coming home from whatever and just staring at Noah. Whatever happens just melts away when he is lying down in a peaceful slumber. He is simply at peace, which is difficult for us and the norm for a baby when everything is going right. Perhaps the stare is us, as parents, admiring how peaceful we have made our baby.

May you find peaceful moments on your journey today.

Family Tradition

I would like to take this chance to show off a baby quilt that my (Jen's) mamaw and Noah's great mamaw made for him. It is a Winnie The Pooh quilt and Noah already loves it:) This is a quilt that Noah will hopefully keep and pass down to another generation of our family.

Let me tell you a little bit about how this quilt is a part of our family tradition. Every since I was a baby, my mamaw has always made these types of special quilts for her grandkids. She has made me a "Daddy's Broken Heart" quilt, a "Memory" quilt (loved this one because it was made from tee shirts from my childhood that told a little story about my life), and a "Wedding Ring" quilt. Whenever any of her grandkids got married she has made us all a quilt to give us as a wedding gift. I had asked her before I ever got married if she would make my baby a quilt when they were born. I was very thankful and excited when I opened up my baby shower gift from her and saw this beautiful quilt that was made with lots of love! This quilt meant more to me than any I had received, because I know how painful it was on her hands to sew this quilt. Noah and I will always be thankful and blessed! Thank you Mamaw for this very special gift and we hope you like the picture!

Noah was blessed to also receive another quilt and an afghan that were made especially for him. We will be blogging about those in the next couple of days, so stay tuned:)

Memories of M.J.

Any one our age remembers Michael Jackson's highest point. Jennifer and I are going to talk about some things that we remember about the "King of Pop." Here is a video of Thriller done in Lego's frame for frame!


On a side note, it was great to see full length videos shown on MTV all day.

Curtis- I am going to share my fondest memory that involves Michael Jackson. In the mid eighties we had a "jam box" that was gray and obscenely large. You know the type, you would see people walking along with these hoisted upon their shoulder blasting in their ear. My brother, his friends, and I did not usually get along at this time. With Chris being 4 years older than me he was always just enough ahead for me to be annoying and me to want to hang with him. This particular day there was no argument, fight, or other disaster. Instead we were all brought together with Michael's music. We spent that afternoon dancing our best impression of M.J. We all thought we were doing great, but I am sure some little white kids from Western Kentucky would have only slowed down traffic because of how ridiculous we looked. Finally, I must commend Michael on being a star who transcended the stereotypes. He was huge on every continent but Antarctica! Black, white, asian it didn't matter he loved the people and people loved him.

Jennifer- Since I was a little girl I have always been a Michael Jackson fan. I may not have always agreed with some of the things I heard about him, but it isn't my place to judge. It all began for me listening to the "Thriller" record (Now my age is starting to show)! I loved that album and would listen to it over and over without getting tired of hearing it:) I would always say I wanted to marry him being too young to understand what marriage meant. Thanks to Michael Jackson I began early appreciating the art of dance!

I hope that one day Noah will be able to tell memories of an artist like we have today. The song that sticks out to me that I would like to dedicate to Noah is "I'll Be There". I want him to always know that no matter what, his mommy will always be there for him!

May you be "thrilled" by something on your journey today.

Noah hits a homerun at Louisville Coca-Cola

We went to see Papaw today. He couldn't wait to show off his grandson to the men and women in the office. Noah got a bath and all ready to go out, which always wears him out. So, once again, Noah slept through all the people oohing and aahing over him. Papaw couldn't have been prouder or beamed more radiantly than when he was with Noah today. We all had a great time (showing off our li'l Noah is always great) and got back home. Noah slept the entire way home and stayed awake for a good while when we got home. This gave us some time for a great photo session.

On a side note Hannah got a bath using a new method today. We are sold on the Rapid Bath system. If you have a dog, especially a large one like our Hannah, it is worth purchasing. Our 85 pound dog was done in 3 minutes!!!

Why are we waking up?

Noah has consistently been sleeping better (Stressing BETTER). Now when he awakens in the dimly lit darkness of Mommy and Daddy's bedroom, he needs something. A few diaper changes and one meal in the early morning hours then he is back out and in his cradle. Noah has been pretty good about this throughout the week and we feel a small step forward has been made. Of course little bodies have little bladders and tiny tummies. However, it is great to know we are feeding about every 3 1/2 to 4 hours rather than the the standard 3 of the past two weeks.

Noah is especially excited about tomorrow. He gets to visit Papaw's work. He has loved his past two trips to Mamaw's work. He would probably enjoy this trip a little more if he could drink some of the Coca-Cola. Noah is already taking after Daddy and loves getting out of the house for just about any reason! His favorite thing seems to be his walks with Mommy

May you find comfort as you slumber through the night.