War Eagle and Pool Days

Tracey, Jeremy and Addyson are here for the weekend visiting. We are having a blast hanging out with them. And the girls are loving playing together. Trae and J were so sweet to be on Gabe duty last night and gave Stephen and I a full nights rest! THANKS GUYS! This morning Chris, Sarah and Elizabeth met us all at the pool for a swim. Then tonight we had our neighbors (ex-neighbors, they are moving in the morning) for dinner. Apparently all of the neighbor kids decided to join us too and we had everybody playing in the backyard. Here are pics...enjoy.

How sweet!
The best thing about this picture is the pink towel Stephen is wrapped in...

Fun Aunt Tracey swimming with Allie...

Joanne and Gabe - our neighbors who are moving back to GA in the morning. We will miss them so much!

War Eagle girls.
They may look sweet, but the truth is, I had to bribe Allie with a peice of chocolate to get this shot...

All ready for the first Auburn game of the season....

Gabe was holding on to his lovey tiger chewing on its ear.

Elizabeth, Allie and Addyson posing for a picture. Yes, my daughter is addicted to Applejuice!

The Bum Bum

I brought down the bumbo chair from storage for Gabe to try out. Everything I bring down for Gabe, Allie thinks it is hers. The bumbo, or as Allie calls it "bum bum", now lives in our den, and Allie sits in it all the time watching cartoons.

This past week

I believe this picture was taken at 6 weeks. They change so much from week to week so I want to be as precise as I can. He will be 7 weeks tomorrow (Wednesday). He is looking more like a baby to me instead of a newborn. He is really holding his head up and is sitting more upright instead of slouching. Gabe has become quite the smiler lately and is beginning to coo. I love that he is becoming interactive with us. He squawked at me tonight when I was holding him and I looked down at him and started talking to him...immediately he smiled. He just wanted attention. Oh, and he weighs 10 lb. 12 oz.

Uncle Benny holding his nephew. Normally guys have this newborn complex and are pretty scared to hold one...not Ben. He just scooped him up when Gabe was fussing and would hold him.

Pappy (Stephen's dad) was in Nashville last weekend and made a special trip to Alabama to meet his grandson.

Gabe and Allie at bathtime. Gabe is getting better about baths....he doesn't fuss every bath now. Allie is such a big helper with Gabe. She loves to wipe his mouth when he spits up and is starting to help me change his diaper. Tonight she helped me make the bottles for the nightime feedings.

Allie and her friend Addy Roper playing at Judy's house. We lived a mile away from the Ropers when we lived in Nashville....and if we still lived that close, the girls would play everyday! They had a blast playing together at Judy's house. It was great spending time with Addy's parents too. Wish we could do it more often Eric and Tracy!!!

Tongue Tied

We took Gabe to the pediatric surgeon this morning at Greenville Memorial Hospital. We thought we were just going for a consultation to talk to the dr. about Gabe being tongue tied. Dr. Chandler took a look at his tongue and confirmed he is definitely tongue tied and it would more than likely cause speech issues in the future. The decision was easy...clip it. I took Allie and left the room while Stephen stayed behind with Gabe. Within a minute the dr. came out and said they were finished. Gabe is no longer tongue tied. It only bled a little and he was eating immediately following it being clipped. He only took 2 oz., but they said he may just have to get used to his tongue feeling different to him. Past that, he shouldn't be in any pain. I still feel for the little guy, but I did get a look at his tongue and it looks SO much better! I am so thankful the surgeon was on the same page with us and agreed to clip Gabe's tongue.

Our Family

Smiling Gabe

I don't even mind that this picture is blurry....I took it with my cell phone this morning and had to share. Gabe has started smiling....

Cicada Killer Wasp

We have unwanted guests in our flower beds right now. I had no idea what they were until I googled them. Cicada killer wasps!

I first noticed them about 3 weeks ago...they are HUGE. Then I noticed about 2 dozen large piles of dirt (they look like ant hills) in our flower beds....but there are large tunnells that lead in and out of them. It is the home of these waps! They apparently rarely sting unless provoked, and should only be here for a few weeks around July or early August. Here's some additional info I found on the web:

"Cicada Killer wasps feed on pollen and nectar, but larval wasps feed on Cicadas. This female Cicada Killer has paralyzed a Cicada with her sting and is dragging it back to her burrow where she will bury it and lay an egg. The developing wasp larva will then feed on the paralyzed Cicada. Being that the Cicada is paralyzed and still alive, it does not harden and dry out so the larval wasp has living fresh meat."

These creatures are very interesting. We have also found a spot in our yard where the wasps are discarding of the cicada carcasses once they are done with them. To be more exact, Stephen and Allie found the pile of dead cicadas....Allie picked one up and brought it over to me in her hand. UGH!