A Nice Afternoon at the Pool

Evening All! We had a slow afternoon today, so we packed up the family and went down the street to our neighborhood pool. We've taken Samuel several times now, but kept forgetting to take the camera. Well we remembered today, so here are some pictures of little britches in the pool. WARNING: There is a very fat, hairy, unattractive, scantily clad preacher in these pictures. To prevent permanent damage to your eyes, please refrain from looking at him and focus on the cute baby in his arms. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!! :-)

OH Yeah! I look good!
(The baby, not the Daddy!)

Now this is what I call relaxing!

Take my picture now Mommy!

OK Pop, I"m not quite ready to go solo!

All in all, we were able to spend about three hours in the pool today. It was a very warm 94 degrees, but felt great in the pool. Carrie got sunburned (of course), I didn't. Samuel seems to have my complexion, about 4 different days in the pool, and not even a hint of a sunburn. Gotta love it!

Here are a few more snapshots:

Don't you wish you knew what I was dreaming about?

You gotta admit, I look REALLY relaxed!

Who needs a Sealy PosturePedic when you have my Dad? He's soft!
(Dad loving his snuggle time with Samuel, but really bloated because
of the steroids the doctor has him on, yuck!)

The Old and The New

Thanks for checking out our blog!!!!!!!!!

I've put together a little collection of old pictures and new pictures. I thought some of you might like to compare them. I'll put one of us next to one of Samuel, so you all can compare. Don't forget to click on the pictures to get a real close look. With no further ado, here they are:

This is Carrie at 3 and 1/2 months old. Looks SO MUCH like Samuel!
OH yeah! I'm cute like my Momma!
This little cutie is yours truly! The redhead is my older brother Keith, he's kind of cute too.
What happened to us? :-)
Hey, at least my feet and hair look like my Dad's!
(sometimes his smile looks a lot like mine too!)
Zachary on day one of his little adventure!
I look a lot like my Bubba, cept' I had hair when I was born and he didn't,
and he has blue eyes to my brown, and he has blonde hair to my brown,
and HEY WAIT A MINUTE! :-)

OK, that ought to give everyone some room for comparison. Here are a few more we like. Kind of a trip down memory lane. For the ones of Carrie and I, it is a LONG trip down memory lane!

Man! Is that one cute little girl or what?
The Heavy Revy before he was quite so heavy!
I was cute too!

They don't get much cuter than this!
Zachary riding big on my new riding mower back in 96'
Look Dad! I can handle this baby!

Dog Days of Summer

Mom, if this smile doesn't melt your heart, nothing will! OH yeah, can I eat now?

Hi everyone! If you haven't noticed, it is HOT! I don't do well in the heat, and come to think of it, I just flat don't like it either. That said, we have been able to enjoy our community pool a few times. The baby really seems to like it. We keep kicking ourselves for not taking the camera when we go down there. Man is he cute! We'll try to remember next time.

On the topic of summer, we have a few cute pictures for you. Sometimes when the baby cries, Zachary will take him outside. Samuel LOVES it outside and almost always stops crying when he's outside. The other day, Zachary scooped him up and went outside. Zachary decided to sit down with him in our little rocker swing on the side of our yard. Both of them fell fast asleep. I just couldn't pass it up, grabbed the camera and snapped a closer picture every few feet! I would have gotten even closer, but Carrie laughed out loud and Zachary woke up. Funny stuff. It was about 95 degrees outside and they were both asleep! Here they are: (farthest to closest) (be sure to click on each of these, you can really see how cute they are asleep together!)

Hey! We weren't sleeping!

If you think I'm going to stay this cute and innocent you are CRAZY!

Prayer Request

I hope everyone is still enjoying the blog. Sorry I haven't kept it more up to date the last few weeks. I've been terribly sick and we have been very busy.

On that note, I have a prayer request for all of you. Last Thursday, June 12th I went back to the doctor for the first time in over a year. During the last year, I just went without medication for the most part, suffered, and let it ride. During all of that, my illness has continued to get worse and worse, with seizures often coming 4 to 5 times a day. The pain has become unbearable, the debilitation almost complete. I'm long past my breaking point.

That said, I'm giving the doctors one last chance to make a difference. I have signed on for a years worth of treatment and therapy with the Fybromyalgia and Fatigue Center. They are supposed to be the best of the best. We are going to the office in Fort Worth. The cost for one years treatment will be nearly $10,000.00, no insurance. I'm not asking anyone for money, Mr. MasterCard has taken care of that, I'm only asking for your prayers. As I told the doctor and nurse the other day, this will be my last rodeo. I won't go back for another round of poking and prodding, ginnie pig, and thousands of dollars in medical bills after this one. This is my last go around. I have spent tens of thousands of dollars, wasted countless months and years, taken bottles of pills that made me more sick than the disease, and suffered more than most people will know. I won't do it again. If this doesn't work, I'm done with doctors.

I'm more hopeful this time, than at anytime before this. We were able to spend nearly an hour with the doctor (who ever heard of that!). They take a very holistic whole body approach, using the best of prescription meds and the most effective natural means. They attack the disease at all levels. If this doesn't work, I don't imagine anything will. I've started my regimen, it is intense. I'm not sure how all of these things will make me feel, but I'm in this for the long haul. I'll give it a year, do everything and take everything they throw at me. Please pray it will help, I can't take much more of this. My suffering is unbearable, pain, weakness, fatigue, exhaustion, seizures. There just is no end.

Your prayers are coveted. Thank you all.

Micah

On a better note, Samuel had his two month check up yesterday. He is doing great! He now weighs 11 lbs 8 oz. Now thats my boy! His fat rolls are coming along nicely! :-) Check out the new pics below.

Trip Home to Arkansas

You wouldn't believe the day I've had!

Bad Blogger, Bad Blogger!

OOPS, it has been 18 days since my last post. Sorry about that, I'll make up for it.

Trip to Arkansas

Last weekend we made the first trip back home since Christmas. We were able to see my Dad, my Mom, and even got to stop at "Grandma Linda and Papa Mike Hughes" for a quick visit. We made it in Friday night, stayed with my Dad and Candis through Saturday day. Saturday afternoon, we went up to Lake Degray and spent time with my Mom and Jerry. Most of Jerry's kids and grandkids were there as well, so it was great to see all of them. We made it back to my Dad's late Saturday night and went to church in Texarkana with my Dad for Father's Day. My Dad was able to dedicate Samuel during the service. It was great!

We didn't get a whole lot of pictures from the trip, we will do better next time. We did get a few, and have a few from here at the house. I'll post them.

Could you at least take me out of the car seat before putting me in bed???
(OK, the truth is he was sound asleep when we got home, and we WEREN'T going to wake him!) (We did get him out before we went to bed, for the record!)

What a comfy bed!
(We weren't sure where he would sleep at my Dad's, but his Grandis had it all figured out!)

So THIS is that Grammy Sammy lady I've been hearing so much about. She is Great!

Oh yeah, I'm cute!

Six Weeks and a Dr. Visit

Oh yeah! We are in love!

Sorry for the delay on the blog, we have been really busy and I've been really sick. Little britches went to the doctor today, not really a check up. We wanted to get him in to his new pediatrician and we had some concerns about how his breathing sounds. He snores and makes a lot of nasally noise when he breathes. The doctor says it is normal, it is called "tracheomalacia" or floppy airway. It is pretty common among newborns. They say he'll outgrow it.

He weighed 9 lbs. and 12 oz, so he is plumping nicely. I think you'll see in the pictures, he is getting cuter by the minute. Of course, we might be a little biased on that! :-)

We all sat around looking at pictures tonight. We pulled some pictures of Carrie as a baby and were all a little surprised at just how much Samuel looks like her! I'll be scanning some of those pictures in this week, and will put them here on the blog. Some of Carrie, Zachary, and me as a baby. We all think he looks a lot like Zachary as a baby, but doesn't really look like my baby pictures. After tonight, he looks more like Carrie than anyone else. We will let all of you be the judge.

Here are some pictures from the last two weeks.

I love my cousin Jaden!!!!!
(and BOY does she love him!) :-)

I'm dreaming of unlimited nursing time! Man what a life!

Check out these abs! or isn't my hair a happening do!

By the way, if you haven't noticed, I think this boy is so beautiful when he is sleeping! I just can't help myself! :-) Check out next week for some Mauldin family baby comparisons!