Blue Springs

I am having lots of second child guilt. I just can’t stop thinking that Nathan has no clue how much his world is about to change. He has no clue that in just 2 days he is no longer going to be alone at the center of the universe. Add that to Meredith’s need to clean some more and Nathan and I took off for Blue Springs State Park yesterday after nap.

Blue Springs is a natural spring (that they actually bottle water from via a very long pipe) that has been converted into a big swimming area. The name makes it sound like a natural type place, but really it is just a big concrete hole in the ground with a concrete waterfall at one end. Since it is a natural spring the water is very, very cold. It is wild to be standing in 100 degree weather and then jump into water that takes your breath away.

Nathan and I have been before, but I still didn’t know how well he would take to the water. The cold water messed with him for a while. He pretty much perched at my shoulders to be out of it. But eventually we found a ledge that he could walk around so that the water was about waist high. He thought it was fun to walk around the ledge especially because all of the big kids were playing in the same area and I think he felt like he was part of what they were doing.

So we walked back and forth on that ledge for a long time. We also played in the creek area and went and looked at the pond. (see pictures below). But what I think Nathan loved the most was bollyball. (I don’t think he realizes there is a V on that word). We had to play it when we got back home and even when we got up this morning.

It was a fun little trip with my little guy, except for the part where Nathan fell in. He was walking on the ledge and I was turned giving back an inflatable shark someone had let us borrow. As I was waving at them I heard a big splash and look around to see Nathan down in the water. His head is up and he is swimming, but he is terrified. I pulled him up before his face went back down into the water a second time, but he was pretty upset. I calmed him down and made sure that he had a little time back in the water before we left. It wasn’t long until he was playing just as before. But it scared his daddy that’s for sure.

 

Top Five Questions of the Day

How are you feeling? Honestly, hot and tired.
When is the big day? Thursday. We're having a c-section at 7:30 a.m.
Are you ready? Yes, if they said come tomorrow I would.
Are your bags packed? No. Not at all.
What does Nathan think? I'll let you be the judge of that.

Father and Son

Here’s a few shots of Daddy and Nathan playing together lately. Tuesday evening while playing in the swimming pool Shane figured why not take a bath at the same time? Someone gave us some of the new Johnson & Johnson baby wash & bubble bath so we thought we’d give it a try. And today they picked out a late Nathan birthday/Father’s Day present for the two of them together at the toy store. Shane had as much fun if not more with the race track as Nathan.

Nathan’s Big Boy Room

I have been meaning to take pictures of Nathan’s new room for a while now. I finally got around to it. This is our old bedroom. He is really excited about his new room and I am really excited about all of the space that he has to play now.

 

Father’s Day Fun

Early Sunday morning Nathan and I went and picked out a cookie cake for Shane for Father’s Day. Nathan is still learning about Mother’s Day and Father’s Day and kept trying to tell Shane Happy Mother’s Day. He was more than excited to have cake with Daddy for breakfast. (Shane is not a breakfast eater unless it’s after 10:00 a.m.) After church and nap we went to Columbus and celebrated at one of Shane’s favorite restaurants Johnny Carino’s. Before nap time Shane and Nathan were watching golf on TV so after dinner they had to get in a round of golf themselves. Hollywood Connection is a wonderful indoor play place that has air conditioned putt putt. Shane is a wonderful father and I hope he had a wonderful Father’s Day!

And the next to last hole - Shane’s hole in one!

All Aboard the Boomerang Express!

Nathan had fun this year in the 3 & 4 year old class at VBS. Everyday we would ask him do you want to go to Vacation Bible School again today and he would excitedly squeal yes! One afternoon Shane asked him what he learned and he said he learned about the Bible, the missionaries and staying in line.

Watergun Wars

Monday after the first day of VBS and a trip to my doctor in Opelika Nathan picked out two water guns at Wally World for him and Daddy. As soon as we got home they had to test them out. I have to say in this heat, if you’re going to play outside it better include water play to keep you cool. Nathan had lots of fun chasing and spraying us both.

Caves, Dragons, Hail, and Prayer

Yesterday Meredith was looking a little burned out. She suggested that Nathan and I go and play somewhere so that she could work on more cleaning and moving. So I was more than happy to oblige and took Nathan to Dothan.

We had a very full day. It started with an hour in the “train store” which is what Nathan calls Books-a-Million. Then we moved on to Home Depot and T.G.I Fridays.

After that it was time for a nap so Nathan and I drop down to Florida Caverns State Park. It is a fun little place with some walking trails and it about 40 minutes south of Dothan so it would give Nathan a chance to sleep a little bit.

It was raining off and on in Dothan, but it cleared up on our trip. We were less than a mile from the state park when it started to rain again. Nathan was still asleep so I pulled into this neat little public park and stopped hoping he would keep sleeping.

He did until the hail started. Well, he slept through the first small bits of hail, but when it starting being walnut sized it got a little loud in the van. I have to admit I was a little scared. I was worried that 1) there would be a tornado and 2) that the windows would break from the hail.

Anyway, Nathan woke up and told me that it was loud and asked me to make it stop. He was a little freaked out so I tried to play a show to calm him down, but it was so loud in the van he couldn’t hear it.

So here I am sitting in a storm praying and trying to put on a happy face for my son when it hit me that this was a teachable moment and I needed to seize it. So I asked Nathan if he was scared and he nodded. So then I said that we could pray and ask God to take care of us. After some coaching he said, “God, please take care of us.”

Seriously it was an amazing little moment. Almost as amazing as the fact that immediately the hail let up and just a moment later the rain slowed down too and even if it hadn’t you could tell that both of us in the van felt lighter because we knew that God would take care of us.

The cool thing is that when I asked him later, “Who took care of us when it was raining?” he answered “God.”

Anyway, Nathan and I had a pretty cool day. Here are some pictures.

 

 

O yeah, I forgot to tell you about the dragons. So Nathan and I were going to look for a dragon in his cave and Nathan was all excited about it. He even made me get him these binoculars so that we could go find the dragon. Then when we got to the cave he was too scared of the dragon to go in. Sometimes he forgets where the line between what’s real and what is pretend really is.

The swarm of mosquitoes that were all around us were very real though and that made him and I both very irritable. On a side note looks like the one good thing that I passed on to Nathan is my lack of reaction to mosquito bites. I saw one bite him on the cheek and smacked one full of blood on his head and he doesn’t have a single red mark now.

 

This rock is at the playground of the park outside of the state park. It is a pretty cool little place. The rock that he is standing by looks like a large rock, but when I got close it had one of those “Placing this over concrete or hard dirt can result in fall injuries” warnings built into it. So I tapped on it and realized that it was hollow. It is actually a man-made thing with several climbing faces. I thought it was much cooler than Nathan did.

 

At the same park there was this pond. The duck stood there while Nathan yelled “Hey Duck!” at it over and over. It didn’t move until we go the remains of our breakfast biscuit out and started feeding the turtles. The duck hoped off and ate some too. 

It is Finished

Nathan and I went to Home Depot and got the drawer pulls for Nathan’s chest of drawers. Here is the picture of the finished project. I am pretty proud of it and think that it looks amazingly better with the hardware in place.

My Project

As a computer guy I really miss my “undo” command when I am working with real projects. If only paint had a ctrl+z option things would have gone much faster. But I am officially finished with painting Nathan’s chest of drawers. I am not sure about the final colors. I may eventually take the yellow drawer next to the bottom one and make it blue, but right now it is in the house and that means it is finished for a while.

 

 

Nathan Paints

I have been working on a project for the past couple of days. I wanted to make a “Thomas” colored Chest of Drawers for Nathan’s room. Well, today Nathan wanted to help me paint. He was very cute in his smock so I thought I would take a picture.

 

 

New Site Name

(This is Shane)

I was sitting around trying to think of a new design and new name for our family web site. The Adventures of Super Squirrel has been good, but what happens when there is another little guy on the scene. I tried to come up with some “sidekick” names like The Adventures of Super Squirrel and the Radioactive Chipmunk, but then I got to thinking about Noah and how I don’t really know him. I don’t know if he is a sidekick kind of kid at all. On top of that I don’t know what sort of personality he is going to have, and I won’t know that for several months.

So it looks like Super Squirrel will have to stick around a little longer until we figure out just who little Noah is. (BTW, I tried to abbreviate Adventures of Super Squirrel just then and realized that it just doesn’t work on a family blog.)

Noah Update

I went to the doctor for our 36 week checkup today. My blood pressure was great and I have had hardly any swelling this time. He measured my belly and felt around the baby and said "That's a good size baby you've got there!" We are counting down the weeks and days. We are still on schedule for Thursday, July 2 so we have 3 weeks and 2 days!

We are working hard getting the house ready. Shane is such a good sport. He had to give up "his room" first and has been cleaning and cleaning and cleaning some more. Next we move our room into that one and then Nathan's room into our old room. Then we will hopefully start on Noah's, turning Nathan's room back into the nursery. Yes, all in 3 weeks and 2 days. (And we have VBS next week.) Please keep us in your prayers and we'll keep you posted.

We are ALL Home!

Shane is home from camp and we are home from my parents. I don't have pictures to post from this week because Shane took the new camera to camp and I have no idea where the old one is. Hopefully I can snag some from my family of our trip to their house. Nathan had quite a week visiting with friends. Ms. Allison, Ms. Reba, Ms. Theresa, Ms. Kelli and Ms. Melissa are some very special ladies in our lives. Nathan played with all of these ladies and didn't cry once when I left him to go to work. God is so good!
We also had a blast visiting with my family in Pell City for a few days. Nathan got to spend lots of time with "his best friend Jonathan" and all of my family. This trip included lots of fun memories including a snow cone from the ice cream truck, playing in the tent at the library, a visit to the green Walmart for a new toy, lunch at Arby's with Anne Marie, Aunt Joan and Grandmother, a train ride, bouncy house, go fish, basketball, popcorn, a huge tractor and a helicopter at the block party, a baby shower for Noah and swimming with Jonathan. He was definitely sad to leave but also very excited when we pulled up in Eufaula and his Daddy was here waiting for him.
Shane and the youth had a wonderful week as well and we are all glad to be home safe and sound! God is good all the time. All the time God is good!

Where Did You See God Today

At camp Shane will often times ask the youth during group devotion time "Where did you see God today?" I was thinking about that tonight as I reflected on today.

I saw God in a friend as she came to stay with Nathan for the afternoon while I went to work.
I saw God in a friend who cooked dinner and took out the trash while I was gone.
I saw God in another friend who came to visit and smiling and laughing took on a sword fight with my three year old.
I saw God in my three year old who blew bubbles over and over with eyes as big as saucers standing in awe and wonder.
I heard God in the voice of my husband as he excitedly told me about playing his guitar with a 99 year old man playing his harmonica, singing and dancing before the Lord.

Where did you see God today?