Jiggity Jig

Well, this is my adorable little man helping me pack for home as our fabulous California vacation came to an end. We were there for almost 3 weeks and we had such a wonderful time! We stayed with my parents in their new home in Yuba City for the beginning of our stay. They have a pool in their new house which was REALLY great as it was sooooooo HOT there. Going swimming in a pool was just one of the many "Firsts" to be had on this fun adventure.

Another "First" was the plane ride out and back. I was really nervous but shouldn't have been, Sullivan did great. I had my sissy Paige with me for the trip home which was very nice. Sullivan was very well behaved and recieved many compliments. I would like to say he was a perfect gentleman but it appears that he may have picked up on one of daddy's bad habits. As the flight attendant passed by he smacked her square on the tush and when she turned around to investigate he gave her a huge smile. I am pretty sure that was when he won her heart. 8 ) Goodness knows thats when Tyson won mine. ; )

He is apparently more like mommy than I knew. He pretty much tried to talk to everyone he could make eye contact with and when they weren't looking he tried pretty hard to get their attention. Here are some photos from the plane ride. You will see in the 3rd one Sullivan found a friend behind us.

I fall more in love with that kid everyday. I wonder sometimes if God watches us as we learn, mature and experience the world and finds just as much joy as I do watching Sullivan.

My parents were great hosts and there new home really is beautiful. Sullivan and Nanu had great bonding time, we played with the doggies (the bumpy one and the mean one) and Nana bought way too many adorable outfits for Sullivan which I have been happily rearranging in his closet ever since we got home! 8 ) Thanks Mom!

Tyson was able to fly out in the middle of our trip and sneak in some time with his family too so we headed down to the Bay Area for a few days where Sullivan got to meet the rest of the Pardee family for the first time. Most importantly his Aunt Tiffany who has been DESPERATE to get her hands on him and then ofcourse his cousins who he enjoyed playing with thouroughly!

And the highlight of my trip was getting to see my grandparents love on Sullivan and get to play with him. They fell in love for sure and so did Sullivan. I have been so eager to see them myself and to watch them enjoy Sullivan was such a joy. We went to church with them 2 of the 3 weekends that we were there and spent the night with them too. Being in their home really does feel a bit like being home again. I miss it deeply.

These are a few of my favorite things...

Basically Saturdays are a giant collage of my favorite things. My hubby and I and my little man get up, watch cartoons, eat waffles made by the hubby, play and laugh and stay in our PJ'S all day long. Sometimes we don't even comb our hair as you can see in the picture above. 8 )
Saturday is our day for letting it all hang out and as you can see we have taught our son well. Look at that belly!

These are just some more cute after bath photos.

Enjoy!

5 Great Years

Well I have to say that the last 5 years have been the most fantastic and adventurous years of my life. I am blessed with the most handsome hubby in the world (sorry ladies) and the most adorable little boy ever (sorry mommies).

We celebrated our anniversary by catching the new Batman movie "The Dark Knight" and eating lunch at our favorite place "Baja Burrito." The movie was fabulous! If you like the first one you will love this one! AND, if you havn't eaten at Baja, you need to. It is the BEST!

Christa & Chad kept Sully for us and he did great. The return of dating to our marriage was a sweet reunion!

Bath Time!!!

We love this time of day. Sullivan loves to splash and play and wind down before bedtime. Thanks to Nana and Nanu for the new sink and faucet making such bath time fun possible!

Love you.

BTW - Like the haircut?

Granny & Papa in Tennessee!

We had such a great visit with Tyson's parents here this month. We enjoyed the 4th fireworks together and a great day at the zoo as well. Papa and Sullivan even got some fishing in at the BassPro Shop. Well.... sort of. 8 )

Thirsty?

Say Cheese

If those bright blues don't melt your heart I don't know what would. We are so blessed! These are some of our favorites from our family photo shoot. Hope you like them!

363 Un-Birthdays

Believe it or not our little guy is 6 months old! We decided to celebrate half birthdays in our house and here is a couple of pics of our little man and his first half birthday present, some squishy squeeky blocks! He is pretty good at sitting up now and keeps me pretty entertained.

Clear Eyes

An unbelieveable update on the vision front. We took Sullivan to the Opthamologist this week and the report was fantastic! Sullivan has absolutley no damage to his vision from the glaucoma or surguries so far. The Doctor said that if he hadn't read his medical history on the computer he wouldn't have believed me if I told him Sullivan had Glaucoma.
The main worry was nearsightedness. The first thing the Doctor remarked on was that "This kid is definatley not nearsighted!" After more testing he also told us that the optical nerves looked great.
We couldn't have asked for a better report.
Praise God!

We will call this day 'The Lord Answers Prayer' - Gen. 22:11-14

We are sooooo excited to post this new news! Sullivan's eye exam went great and we went home with NO EYE PATCHES!!!!! 45 minutes into the exam while Sully was under anesthesia Dr Joos came back to the parents waiting room and announced that the pressure on the right was a 9 and the pressure on the left was a ... ... ... bum bum bum bum... ... ... 14!
She told us that we would not be putting the valve in and that we would cut the eye drop medicine in half! Is our God awesome or what?!?!?
So many of you reading this prayed so hard for this and we are so blessed today by answered prayer. I wept the whole way home from the hospital.

It dawned on me as I was reading the passage I noted above (the story of Abraham & Isaac) that I have the authority as a believer in God and as a parent to mark a specific day or time in our families lives for the remembrance of God's provision/answered prayer.
Abraham named a specific place 'The Lord Will Provide' for God's provision of a ram in place of the sacrifice of his son. The scripture says "Abraham named that place 'The Lord Will Provide', so today it is said "It will be provided on the Lord's Mountain."

I have felt as though God was calling me to release Sullivan and his eyes and trust Him to provide for my son in ways I was not able to. Seemingly unbearable and impossible, I can't begin to describe the strength I have gained and the amazing lessons I have learned. When I replaced the worry with prayer and relied on the faith I have been cultivating in my short 28 years My God grabbed my hand so tightly and never left my side. Some of my most intimate moments in this sweet relationship I have with my Savior have been shared over my son Sullivan.

Today I call this day 'The Lord Answers Prayer' so that generations of the Pardee family will know 'The Lord has never left us.'