I love you…

Corey, I have spent the last few days just staring at this picture of you…sometimes hours would go by and I would realize I had done nothing but sit, stare, and remember. There are so many memories! Most of which make me smile to myself because we had so many inside jokes…others make me laugh out loud…and lots of them just warm my heart…ALL of them make me miss you terribly! I had to ride through town yesterday to run a few errands and everywhere I passed, another memory of you came to mind…needless to say I drove through blurry, tear filled eyes. Did I mention I miss you…I have been missing you for years…with the exception of a few phone calls and FB messages you just haven’t really been around…but you’ve always been with me…you ALWAYS will be! My ultimate prayer is that I will see you again one day! I love you my sweet friend! 

Lately…

Sometimes I feel organized and put together…as if everything is running on course and sometimes I feel like my life is all over the place! I actually like both extremes…weird, huh? Anyway, this week has been one of those random all over the place kind of weeks…Here it is in pictures (in no real order)…

Stopped by Daddy’s job site to ride on the equipment…always a highlight for JT :)

 

My boys looked so stinkin’ cute before they left for worship on Sunday morning that I HAD to get some quick pics!   Side note: I told Jeremy the greenery in the background was so pretty…he laughed and said “I think that’s poison ivy”…YIKES! We were careful not to touch it :)

The weather has been so nice…perfect for the park…

 

JT and I went (daddy stayed home with Luke) to our friend, Jackson’s, farm yard 2nd birthday party. We rode on a hay ride, petted the baby goats, and fished in the “pond”. It was SO cute and JT had a blast!!!   

My sweet little boy came in from playing outside with this in his hand…he said “mommy, this makes you happy”…he knows me so well (watch out ladies…he’s smooth :)  I asked Jeremy if he encouraged that and he said “nope…that was ALL his idea!”

…but not to be outdone…Jeremy sent him in with these…I love that man!

 

We took Luke to church for the first time last Sunday…he’s not old enough to go to nursery yet and the crowd on Sunday mornings are too large (too many germs)…so, he came to big church with us on Sunday night…he did great! Please excuse my hair…I’m aware of how bad it looks ;) After church, Aunt Stacey got to feed him a bottle :)

        

 

AND…new things are on the horizon for our family…getting ready to start building our next house!

Luke at 3 weeks!

This week has been crazy busy…with good things…but busy nonetheless…So…I’m just now posting Luke’s 3 week old pictures…he is changing so much! He had a doctor’s appointment on Monday and now weighs 8 lbs 6 oz and has grown an inch! WOW! His umbilical cord finally fell off on Monday too! We were able to give him his first “real” bath…which he thought he liked at first, but then decided quickly it wasn’t something he cared for :) Another highlight of our week was meeting MawMaw Pace (Luke is named after her late husband – my PawPaw). And of course, Sissy LOVES coming to visit and holds Luke as much as we’ll let her…she’s our “little momma”…And she’s a kiss stealer ;)

  

Fun day at the zoo…

Last week we spent a day with friends at the local park/zoo! We rode the train, rode the carousel, played on the splash pad, and visited all the animals!  Luke enjoyed being outdoors…he slept most of the day :) 

                          

TWO WEEKS OLD…

…WOW…another week has already flown by! Your little personality is starting to show! You smile a lot…especially when you sleep! (I don’t care what everyone says…it’s NOT air bubbles)   :)   You also AMAZE everyone with how well you hold your head up already. You are a strong little guy! This week you were able to spend some time with your Paw Paw Courtney and Grannie before they headed to their lodge in Colorado…they sure are going to miss you! You also spent several hours with your Mimi and Pawpaw Tommy on Saturday…your brother had a birthday party to go to and you aren’t ready to be around a bunch of kiddos (and their yucky germs)  just yet! Mimi said you were the best baby…we already knew that, though *wink, wink*! 

   

Names…

I’ve had a few people ask me about how we chose Luke’s name…it’s a sweet story, really, and one I hope Luke will be proud of! I’ll have to start by telling you about the years leading up to our little Luke’s arrival. After many many many years of infertility, we began our first adoption journey. At that time, Jeremy and I had been married for 11 years and most of our friends/family had started or completed their families already. This meant most names that we would have chosen were taken by the time our first son arrived. Also, we both love using meaningful/family names which made our selection more narrow. On the drive to the hospital, we made our final decision…Jeremiah Thomas. Jeremiah was chosen partly because it’s a “form” of Jeremy’s name and partly because Jeremiah 29:11 was the verse we clung to in the four long years that Jeremy battled depression. Thomas is Jeremy’s dad’s name. From the start, I said I would call him JT…not many people were on board with this idea (including Jeremy) but it stuck :) and I LOVE his name! Fast forward three years later, and our second child is on the way. Since our birth parents chose not to find out the sex of the baby until birth, we had to begin thinking about possible girl and boy names. However, our birthparents had also decided to name their child and requested we consider using the names they had chosen. They had selected Katherine Alexandria and William Connor and expressed their desire for us to use Katherine/William and change Alexandria/Connor if we wanted. I was a little sad because I had really wanted to name our child without any influence but knew in my heart that honoring our birth parents was more important than any “control” issues I may have had. The girl name was pretty easy. We decided to name her Mary (after Jeremy’s mom) and keep Katherine (to honor our birth parents). We loved it and had decided we would call her “Mary Kate” . Girl name settled…on to the boy name…this was where I was struggling. William Williamson was a mouth full and we had a hard time finding a middle name that “rolled” with it. I was convinced that if our birth parents knew our last name, they would understand if we decided to change the name. We got the call around 4:15a.m. on Tuesday, August 30th with the news that our baby BOY was born the night before…we had been aware that our birth mom was in labor the day before and we were scheduled to arrived at the hospital around 11:00 a.m. During the 3 1/2 hour drive, we discussed names again. We decided that if our birth parents were not completely set on us using William, we would change it.  If they were set, then we chose Luke (after my sweet pawpaw) for the middle name. We decided then to call him Luke. During our time at the hospital, we never mentioned names, but saw the intense look of love in our birth dad’s eyes as he referred to his son as William. Jeremy and I never even discussed it further…he was and always has been William…we couldn’t and don’t ever want to change that!

One Week Old…

 

 

Luke, I can’t believe how fast a week went by! All I want is for time to stop so I can get a few more kisses and cuddles before you start running around all over the place like your big brother :) Your first week of life has been busy… on the night we brought you home you met your cousins (chey, sissy, josie, and eva), your aunt stacey, uncle john, aunt chelle, uncle jamie, pawpaw courtney, grannie, pawpaw tommy, and mimi…you’ve been to the doctor a couple of times already (jaundice…test came back in normal range when you were 5 days old)…took a trip to see Ms. CC (our family’s case worker at the Hattiesburg Bethany office), played outside (mostly you watched your big brother)…you’ve also met some new friends (we spent a fun night at Ms. Kelly, Mr. Tony, and Ely’s house)…and you even went to the park for the first time (Ms. Candice and Bella went too…and you slept while Ms. Candice held you…before we left we put you on the bumble bee and snapped some pictures)…your big brother is so in love with you! He wants to feed you and help change you all the time. This morning when JT woke up, you were the first person he asked for! He asked “can I go see baby Luke, mommy?” God has truly granted me the desire of my heart!  I love you, sweet baby Luke! Love, Mommy

    

Our Little Luke…

Before leaving the hospital, we dressed Luke in his cute coming home outfit and snapped some quick pictures…