And The Minor Family Grows

Tonya and I are excited to announce that we are expecting Minor #3. As with all her other pregnancies Tonya has been very sick but is slowly starting to get back to normal. The new addition is due May 18th, 2008. This time we believe we will not find out what we are having since we have clothing and supplies for a boy and a girl. This means, however, that we have to decide on two names and its hard enough for us to agree on the first name of one. Austen has already decided her two names, if it is a boy she wants to name hime "Ben" and if it is a girl she wants to name her "Shiloh." Please post any ideas and we will add them to our list to "discuss."

A day at the doctor

Yesterday was doctor day for the Minor children. Luke had a normal checkup and as always for a toddler this means shots, including the flu shot. Austen was very excited because for some odd reason she loves helping the doctor and nurses torture her brother. This time she knew the appointment was for him and she was in the clear. Boy was she wrong. The doctor also felt it would be a good time to give Austen her flu shot. However, she did not tell Austen this until after she had just watched her brother endure four shots himself. When the nurse leaned and said "Austen's turn" she panicked. Screaming at the top of her lungs she ran for her escape. Tonya and the nurse held her down while she receive her shot. Luke and Austen screamed from the time after the shots to the checkout counter through the waiting room all the way to the car. I am not so sure she will be as excited to see her brother go to the doctor anymore.

Good Hearing Report

Sorry it has been so long since the last post, we have finally made it past summer. Tonya has finished her one month vacation, which was well deserved, and I have wrapped up the last youth trip for the summer. Since the last post Luke has learned how to walk. He only does it when he feels like it but he is now a walking machine. Today we had our six month hearing check up for Luke's hearing. In the past both of his ear canals were almost completely closed. Today the hearing report was similar but the doctor when looking in his left ear was able to see a defined ear canal for the first time. This was a great sign for him and he wants to go ahead with a canalaplasty (sp?) in the left ear to get 100% hearing in that ear. A canalplasty is where they will graft skin from behind his ear and go in to widen the ear canal with new skin. We go Friday to Duke to have a CT scan done on that ear. They have reserved us a sedation slot because it is impossible to keep a 1 year old still enough for the scan. TOnya is freaking out about this but we know God is definately at work in opening Luke's ears. So today has been a big praise God day for our family. I will keep posted on when the actual surgery will be but keep praying as I know many of you have been.
After Church on Sunday Tonya was eating lunch with Austen when out of the blue Austen asks "Is God coming back for us?'" to which Tonya said "Yes." Austen then asked would we go live with him? the answer was yes. Then Austen asked "will God come grab me?" with a fearful look. After she was assured that God was coming back to take her to heaven and not going to grab her to take her to heaven she looked at Tonya and said "It will be so much fun!" Just shows you better be careful the phrases you use around children but at least she was listening during sunday school.

Luke is a Flirt

Our son has learned a very interesting way to get people's attention, especially the ladies. Most children find a way to make people pay them some mind, usually it is crying, whining, or screaming. Luke has never been much of a cryer so he has learned that lokking cute will get the attention of the ladies around him. Now wherever we take him whenever he sees someone and wants their attention he cocks his head to the side, bats his eyes, grins a real sly smile, and when they see him he says "hey there." Women cannot resist his charm and he knows it. We were in Charelston and he was getting tired and fussy while Tonya was in a store looking at clothes. The store lady walked by and in one instant he went from fussing into his "cute mode" while saying "hey there" to her of course she stopped to talk to him. In fact in the pictures below of him in his new hat he is trying to get the attention of a lady selling something beside of us and that is why he will not look at me. Luke has the sweetest personality and is a joy to be around always but Tonya says we are going to have to reign this in before he gets to be a teenager.

Success!!!

Austen loves the water. After the first day of being petrified she slowly warmed up to it on day two and now she will go play about knee deep by herself with the waves splashing her. She now runs around the beach house asking when we can go play in the ocean. Luke is still eating sand. However, we figured out he is grabbing handfuls of sand and putting it in his mouth so he can find seashells to suck on. Today he learned that he could dig for the seashells before he put the sand in his mouth then he would not have to eat as much sand as before. Putting seashells in your mouth is not such a good idea for a 1 year old so the beach is a constant battle for us but he loves it and he laughs and splashes all while hunting for more seashells.

Quote of the day.

Yesterday, Austen wanted a snack from the pantry but could not open the door so she called out daddy three times, I was zoning her out (you parents know what I'm talking about), so she said called out really loud "DADDY MINOR" to get my attention then later that eveneing while trying to get Tonya's attention at the mall she called her "Mommy Minor." We think she picked this up because when we arebeing serious with her we call her by her full name so when she really wants our attention she uses our last name. It does have an interesting ring to it.

Vacation!!!

Thursday we packed up and headed for the beach. We got five minutes down the road and Austen said "I gotta go potty." Yeah, thats how the drive down went. When we finally arrived we hit up the grocery store for some goods and the vacation began. Friday we spent all day at the beach and Luke had a ball. He played in the water, played with the sand toys, and ate mouthfuls of said like it was candy (that diaper was very interesting). Austen had fun also but was petrified of the water; she refused to even put her feet in. It was quite a funny picture Luke splashing and playing as the waves broke towards him and Austen screaming at the top of her lungs because she got her big toe wet, but you cannot make that girl do anything after she has already made her mind up. Tonight we hit up Broadway at the Beach so Austen could see the dragon and play on the playgrounds. It was there that Luke and I went into a a store called "Ride Creator." It was a build a bear for boys but instead of bears it was cars. Everything from customized rims and decals to remote controlled parts. I tried to convince Tonya that Luke really needed one but it did not work, maybe one day. I love having a boy.

Like my new hat?


Two peas in a pod

Isn't she beautiful

Quote of The Day

Sorry it has been a while since the last post. Tonya and I just got back over the weekend from taking the teenagers to summer camp. Yes we had a blast, but you do not read this blog to hear about us so here it is. We have a strict policy at camp that students can only wear one piece bathingsuits. So right before camp Tonya bought a new bathingsuit to get ready for camp. A few nights before we were about to leave we promised Austen and Luke we would take them out to eat. Everyone was ready to go and Austen, Luke, and myself were playing in her room when Tonya decided to try on her bathing suit and show it to us. She walked in and made a few comments about the bathing suit before asking me what I thought. Before I could say a word Austen looked at Tonya and said "Mommy, you better put some clothes on." Ahh we are teaching her well.
Luke is on the verge of walking. Just the past couple days he is branching out in his adventures. He loves to pull up on something and let go to see how long he can stand by himself. He is actually quite good at this and his balance is improving daily. We hope he will begin walking very soon. Not that it matters because that child can crawl just about as fast as Austen can walk. He has perfected the one legged crawl even more so than Austen did.

Quote of the Day; July 4th edition

July 4th for the Minor family was not a very spectacular event. Tonya spent the morning painting her small group classroom at church while the kids played with me at home. We decided after naps that we really did not want to go anywhere so we spent the evening getting ready for her trip to the beach tomorrow. After Luke went to bed we took Austen outside to see if we could see any fireworks in the neighborhood. Luckily our neighbor was shooting some in his backyard so we pulled some lawnchairs up and watched. About 20 minutes into it Austen turned to Tonya and said, "Mommy these fireworks are amazing, I could just eat them up."
Luke's quote of the day was not spoken but signed. He learned and perfected the sign for "more" yesterday. He knows whenever he says more he can get some more milk or food. As much as he loves to eat he has been crawling around all morning banging his little fingers together saying "more"

Birthday Party!

How do you like my hat?



I'm not sure about this...


It's pretty good



Go get me a blue balloon Papa D



My nana will pay me some attention



Hook a brother up


Yeah you know you want some


Now this is a present!

Quote of the day

It is so cute to watch Austen take on the role of mommy. She has really started to get into playing with baby dolls. She has a doll named Gracie that she reads to everynight before they go to bed. Being a mommy figure has also translated to other areas in her life as well such as telling Luke what to do, which doesn't always end well. However the funniest of all is when she plays mommy to her mommy. Last Wednesday Austen went to Cary park with the teenagers and played on the playground. She was having a ball climbing this big blue hill beside the slide and sliding down. One time Tonya decided to climbe the hill with her when they reached the top Austen gave Tonya a hug and said, "Yay, you did it mommy, I am sooooo proud of you."

Happy Birthday!! Quote of the Day.

Today is Lukes 1st birthday. When I went to get him out of crib this morning it was like he knew today was a special day. Of course being dad I went in singing Happy Birthday to him and he smiled from ear to ear. Without a doubt he will be treated like a king today. That smile is so easy to love.

This morning Tonya's mother came by to visit Luke and Austen. Austen loves "grandma." They played all morning together in her room, outside under the carport, and in the living room. Well after a while "grandma" had to use the restroom. Evidently she did not close the seat when she left. Austen went in few minutes after and in a very stern voice said "Uh oh, Somebody did not close the seat." She ran to the livingroom and looked at "grandma" and said, "grandma did you not close the seat." And with that statement it became more clear that I am actually living with two Tonya's, as if the picture of them on the pony was not enough proof.

A Day at the Pool

Butner Chickin Pickin

Weekend of Sickness

This past weekend Luke became sick. He began on Friday evening with a mild grade fever but nothing to serious. At 3:00 a.m. he was awake with a full blown high grade fever and a weak cry. I rocked him for about an hour, yes he is a daddy's boy now, and waited for his fever to subside. Saturday he ran a temperature of 103 all day long and was miserable. Everytime he was up his eyes were so weak and his body was so weak he looked like he was drunk. Yesterday evening Tonya took Austen to Papa D's for a family get together. I stayed home with Luke. Everything was going great. Fever had dropped to about 99 and he ate a whole jelly sandwich. We were playing in the living room on the couch when I noticed he was gagging a little. I thought he was choking on something. I was a second from reaching into his mouth to check when he vomited the whole jelly sandwich all over me and the couch. Happy Father's Day dad. It was not what I envisioned being a perfect father's day but it's times like those when they need you so much that it is so awesome to love them, take care of them, and even in sickness, I am so proud to be called Dada.

Quote of the day

At Austen's age sometimes it is more fun to hear the things they say than to look at pictures so I thought that the blog could use an Austen or Luke quote of the day. On the days that Austen or Luke say funny things I'll post them here. Today Austen was having an imaginary conversation on the phone, you know the ones. As the conversation came to end Austen told the imaginary person on the other end "You call me later and I'll send you an email, sound good?" As a her dad I don't approve of email at such a young age so we will have a long talk tonight, jk.

A New Blogger in Town

After a 6 month long "blogger idol" contest at the Minor household we have finally decided on a winner. Tonya has decided that her Minor family pension plan is enolugh to pay for her blogging retirement permanently. So what was once a lengthy vacation has turned into full on retirement. Luke, although he could blog with the best of them, has decided there are more important things to life, like crawling in unusal ways, than spend his time blogging. Austen knows what a computer is, knows what a keyboard is but has never sat still for more than 30 seconds ever in her life to do anything, including blogging. So the bloogin mantle has fallen upon dad. Yes, unfortunantley for you, you have to put up with my unfunny jokes to get your blog fix. I am convinced, however, that no one reads these post anyway but rather scrolls down to see the pictures. The good news is the Minor blog is back, not sure if we still make nine minus some fish and Romeo but a name change would just make things complicated as if it wasn't complicated enough before. Quick Luke story before the long awaited pictures.
Last night the whole family was playing Austen's room when Luke found blue playdough crumbs in the corner of the room. The bright colors were too tempting. He kept reaching to put them in His mouth, at which Tonya would sharply tell him "No Sir." After a few rounds of this Tonya though it best to pick up the pieces and remove the temptation. As soon as she reached and touched the first piece Luke looked at her and said sharply "No Sir!" Thats my boy.

Here they are at the beach a month ago