Judson at 2 months

Judson is already two months old! What a sweet little fellow his is, too. He is smiling and laughing a lot now, and it is so cute. He loves watching the fan and the lights, and he enjoys it when we make funny noises. At his two month check-up, he is already weighing in at a whopping 13 lbs., 7 oz! He is in the 97th percentile for both height and weight. I guess he is taking after his big brother! He had to get three immunizations in the legs (hence the bandaids in the pictures) but he was a brave boy and just cried a little bit and then he was fine. He now wears a bib as part of his regular attire because he spits up so frequently. At least this way his clothes don't get saturated.




Right now, we are living in a house full of boxes. The packers came yesterday and got almost the whole house packed up for our move. Now we just wait until Monday for them to finish up and load the truck. On Tuesday morning we will head on up to Jackson. Tomorrow will be our last Sunday at church and we'll have to say a lot of goodbyes (at least for me and the kids, since Barrett will be back for the rest of August).

It will be fun to get to our new house and do some furniture shopping, too. The kids are looking forward to getting bunk beds for their room that they will share, so that is on our priority list when we arrive. I ordered matching quilts for Caleb and Isabelle which everyone likes and I think will work for both of them.

Tomorrow evening we are planning on going out to the Harborwalk in Destin, which has been one our favorite spots to go as a family. We are really going to miss going there and enjoying the beautiful views. I will miss driving over the Destin bridge and taking in the gorgeous emerald green and turqoise blue water.

Judson's baptism

We had Judson baptized on Sunday, July 18. Barrett's parents and Susanne and her children were able to come for it. Judson did great the whole time, and when he started to get a little fussy, I just stuck his pacifier in his mouth and he was fine. He didn't even flinch when Pastor Tyson put the water on his head. We were so glad to be able to baptise him at Westminster, which we have called our church home and family for the last three years. It is sad to think that we will be leaving so soon. We have really felt loved and embraced by our church family here and we will miss everyone dearly.
After church, we had our family as well as Bill and Mary Ann Tyson and Beryl and Carolyn Hubbard over for lunch. We had a really nice time of fellowship together and it was nice to share that time with everyone.

Caleb and Isabelle had such a fun week at their grandparent's house this past week, getting to go to camp, the children's museum, play with their cousins, and all sorts of fun things. They even brought their cousins back with them to play here for the weekend!

Isabelle is in these pictures, too, but is standing behind Caleb


Great smile!


Caleb and Elijah

Isabelle and Gracie Beth

Judson at 6 weeks

I took some cute pictures the other day and just had to post them. Of course I am a little biased, but don't you think that Judson is just the cutest baby ever?!? He is definitely giving us lots more sweet expessions now, so it is easier to catch it on camera. I will take some video clips and try to get those uploaded soon, so stay tuned...

Isabelle's new haircut

Isabelle got her hair cut- short! She has been asking for a while to get it cut short, (like her friend Sarah's hair) so we went to have it done this morning. Caleb got his hair cut at the barber shop on base first, and then we went right next door to the beauty salon where Isabelle had her hair appointment. I think it looks really cute and it will be so much easier to manage. She is very proud of her new hair style and keeps asking me if I like it. It definitely makes her look older, though!

4th of July and 1st smiles

On the fouth of July, Judson smiled responsively for the first time! He has smiled before, but not as a result of anyone trying to get him to smile. He was grinning and smiling at us and it was so much fun to see his cute little expressions. Caleb and Isabelle enjoyed trying to get him to smile at them, too. To celebrate the 4th, we grilled out in the afternoon, and then just relaxed for the rest of the day and did some sparklers and smoke bombs and small fireworks with the kids. We just walked down to the beach behind our house to watch the Destin fireworks, but just as the fireworks began, it started to rain on us. It was mainly just misty, but the wind was blowing it across the bay at us, so we started to head back to the house and watched the rest of them from our porch.

I can't believe that we have less than a month left here in Florida before we move! Although we are excited about getting to Jackson, it is definitely a bitter-sweet feeling to leave here. I am really going to miss our view and access to the water from our house, as well as our great friends and church family here. The summer is flying by so fast. I guess we have enough going on to keep us busy. The kids are going to Grandmamma and Granddaddy's house next week for Caleb to go to camp at Lynn Meadows Discvery Museum during the mornings, and Isabelle is going to hang out with the grandparents and cousins. Barrett and I are going to use that time to really try to get a lot done around the house to get ready to move. Time to clean out and de-clutter! I guess moving every three years for us has kept us from accumulating too much junk.

Judson is doing great and we are all adjusting to having a new family member in our household. It's almost hard to remember not having him here! He is sleeping well at night and beginning to stretch out his daytime feedings a little bit so it's making it easier for me.

Judson at 1 month old:

Some cute expressions:



Our "little firecracker"

Swimming lessons

Caleb and Isabelle started taking swimming lessons at Emerald Coast Scuba in Destin, where they are known for excellent swimming lessons. I have been very impressed with the quality of the lessons, and the kids are both really having fun and learning a lot. They can't wait to go each week. We go on Monday and Tuesday mornings throughout the summer. They are in different classes that meet back to back, so we are there from 10:30 to 12:30 both mornings as they take turns having their lessons. The other hour that they have to wait, they play with some friends of ours that are doing lessons at the same time and eat their lunch. The first week was so hot and humid that it was pretty much miserable for anyone not in the pool. Poor Judson was just dripping with sweat and was not a very happy camper. So, the next week I came prepared with a battery-powered clip-on fan for his car seat carrier to help keep him cool. Thankfully the weather was much cooler this last time and actually enjoyable, but the fan has definitely come in handy at all the outdoor places we go. The pool that they swim in is bordered by two upstairs balconies that overlook the pool, and that is where all the parents go to watch their kids swim. It really works out well because there is a breeze you can feel off the water from the gulf.

Eating lunch on the upper balcony with Sam Ward while Isabelle had her swim lesson:

Isabelle floating:

Isabelle diving under the water to retrieve a ring (wow- what a difference from last year!)

Isabelle with her friend, Ben Ward:


Caleb practicing his float:

Judson sleeping peacefully with his personal fan:

The kiddos

Judson is over three weeks old already! Caleb and Isabelle are loving being big brother and big sister to Judson. They are so sweet to him and want to hold him and play with him as much as possible. We tried to give Judson a bottle for the first time today, and he took it without any problems- yeah!!! I am so happy about that, especially after Isabelle wouldn't take a bottle when she was a baby. This will free me up so much now and I won't have to be so stressed out about being home by a certain time if I need to run errands.

I love this picture. All the kids just happened to be color-coordinated, too- funny! They like to get down on the floor with him on his mat.


Caleb asks to hold Judson as much as Isabelle, now

These two pictures remind me so much of Caleb's baby picture that we sent out as his baby announcement- definitely brothers!