Happy Birthday Uncle Wa-Wa

6 Months!

[Well, it's actually 7 now (and nearly 8), but we'll pretend that it's still April and I'm not months behind on blogging...]

Two days after the big baptism, our little man turned 6 months old. As is tradition in our house, we made a big to-do about his half-birthday. The day started out with some milk, a bath, and tummy-time.

And he got birthday hugs from his big sister.

We played at Twin Rivers, and then at church with Ms. Ada and Ms. Shay.

No day is complete without some time stretching those chubby little legs in the jumperoo.

We took the birthday picture. Look at how much he's changed since the first one of these that we took!

After a good nap, Langdon got his first taste of big-boy food. Mmmmm... rice cereal!

Instead of our usual half-cupcakes, we had a half-of-a-half of the strawberry cake that was leftover from the baptism (I know, I know... I'm stretching on that one!) We had a special guest join us for the birthday celebration - one of Langdon's favorite friends: Mr. Mischa!Langdon was so full and exhausted from his fun-filled day that he slept through his birthday song and the cutting of the cake. He was so tired, he couldn't even get the fingers into his mouth.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET BOY! WE LOVE YOU!!

Happy Birthday Grammy!

A New Seeds!

I'm giddy with excitement - I'm a little behind the times and just found out that Seeds Family Worship has released a new CD. They are doing a "blog tour" right now and are releasing a new song on different blogs throughout the month of May. I just read about it on Tim Challies' blog. Check out "More Than Conquerors" here. You can go here to order the CD (they always send two - one to keep and one to give away), or it is also available on iTunes.

I know that I've mentioned it before, but Mary Laine loves all of the Seeds albums that we have (which I think is all of them). A couple of days ago, she was singing "Small as a Mustard Seed", and instead of singing, "nothing will be impossible for you," she was singing, "nothing will be in popsicle for you". Even though it's not quite accurate, I think that there's a theology lesson in those words too...

So excited to get a new Seeds album! Enjoy!

Afternoon Fun

Summertime Fun

This is Mary Laine's favorite part of summer. We did this for about an hour this afternoon - nonstop!

A Video for Aunt Su

Oh the things that we won't do to entertain Mary Laine! This is a video of our family (both sides of the family, actually) dancing to the "Hippopotamus" song just before Christmas (if anyone from my high school AP English class is reading this - does that song bring back memories? Bet you hoped that you'd never have to listen to that song ever again, huh?). Susanne has been asking for me to post it for almost 5 months. And I'm pretty sure that we didn't know that we were being filmed. Here you go:

Langdon's Baptism

Langdon was baptized on April 10th. We were so thankful to have alot of family travel great distances to be here for the special day. *I think that it is important to mention that we do not baptize our babies because we think that it will save them, nor do we do it because we think that it's a sweet ceremony. If you have questions about this decision, you can read what Bryan Chapell writes about infant baptism here.*

Unlike Mary Laine, Langdon did not scream. He did whimper a little after the cold water hit his head, but other than that, he did great. Here are a few pictures from our weekend.

Greenwood's River to the Rails festival was that weekend, so there were plenty of activities to keep us entertained. Here we are dancing to the band on Friday night.

Ainsley decided that Uncle Gary should wear the butterfly wings. She asked me to take a picture, and then immediately requested that it be posted to facebook.

What is it about baby toys that makes them so appealing to older kids. This is one of Mary Laine's new-old favorite toys, too.

Super-Grammy riding the train with the girls.

Our niece, Ainsley, turned 7 a few days before they got to Greenwood, so we decided to have a family "Fancy Ainsley" celebration.

The baptism:

March of Dimes

You may remember me posting about my friend Stephanie Gillespie who was pregnant with her son Yates at the same time that I was on bedrest with Langdon. Stephanie's family was chosen as this year’s Ambassador Family for the Mid-Delta Chapter of the March of Dimes. Her daughter, Charlie Rogan, was born at 29 weeks and weighed 2 pounds 9 ounces. She was born three weeks before Mary Laine. They stayed in the NICU for 76 days, mostly waiting on her to grow. Charlie Rogan came into this world a fighter. Today, she’s a healthy and determined two year old.

So, when Stephanie found out that she was pregnant with Yates, she took every precaution that she could to help sustain the pregnancy as long as possible. She was on many of the same medications that I was on with Langdon. Yates was born a very healthy, full-term baby! You can read more about the Gillespie family at their blog: http:meetthegillespies.wordpress.com. The March for Babies is this saturday, and they are making one final push to reach their fundraising goal of $5,000. If you would like to give - no amount is too small - please go to www.marchforbabies.org/stephaniegillespie or www.marchforbabies.org/team/t1497416.

Blurb Deal

I have alot of great pictures to post from Langdon's baptism, his half-birthday, and Easter. They're all coming...

But I wanted to pass along a great deal that I was able to take advantage of this morning. I have posted about Blurb before here. It's a website that allows you to put all of your blog posts into a book for a very reasonable price. There is a Groupon deal right now that allows you to pay $20 and get a $45 credit to Blurb. Here is the link:

http://www.groupon.com/jackson/deals/blurb-jackson-ms?utm_campaign=UserReferral&utm_medium=email&utm_source=uu18671261.