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

All is Well

Or at least a lot better. Luke is feeling much better. He's not even really coughing anymore. I've never seen a child get over the croup that fast. Austen coughed for weeks. Thank you to everyone who prayed for him")
Jeremy's finger is also better. All glued up and doing well.
I promise I will post pictures of Luke soon. He is growing so fast.

Luke Was Doing Well...

But now he is incredibly sick. He has the croup. It started when we came home from the doctor Thursday. He woke up with a fever, which is normal after shots, but it continued to get higher (103)as the night went on and he developed a barking cough. THe worse part is because his upper respiratory gets so inflamed he has a very difficult time breathing. Austen had the same thing though not so young and it is very scary when you know your child is not breathing well. It was bad enough that the triage nurse had us call 911 last night after listening to him breatheonver the phone. He had calmed down considerably by the time the rescue people arrived and we were able to treat him at home. Now his doctor has him on steroids to help control the inflammation so hopefully he can breath better.
Please pray that he will have a good night since the 2nd and 3rd nights are the worst and that the virus will leave his body quickly.

As soon as we got Luke calmed down today and taking a nap, Jeremy cut his finger open fixing Austen lunch and had to go to Urgent Care and get it super-glued back together. He is doing well now, he just can't put any pressure on it for awhile.
When it rains it pours:)
Praise God that HE is on His throne and in complete control!
He still takes care of us:)

Luke's Checkup

Luke had his 4 month checkup today. His doctor says he's doing great. Healthy and handsome:) HE weighs 16lb 3oz (80%), and he is 27 1/2 inches long. His height was greater than 97%, which means he's off the charts. HE gets it from both sides of the family.

The doctor couldn't tell me a whole lot about his ears, it's not her specialty, however she did say that his ear canals were bigger than they were before adn he seemed to be responding a lot better than the last time she saw him. He'll go back to his ENT in November.

Priase God for a good checkup. HE is good and he continues to take care of our family!

Pictures

by GIGIPAPPY

by GIGIPAPPY

by GIGIPAPPY

by GIGIPAPPY

by GIGIPAPPY

by GIGIPAPPY

Pictures

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by GIGIPAPPY

by GIGIPAPPY

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Mountain Pictures

Gigi and Pappy took Austen on a great mountain adventure last weekend. We are still trying to figure out who had more fun:)
Here are some pictures of thier fun times:)
Enjoy!


by GIGIPAPPY

by GIGIPAPPY

by GIGIPAPPY

by GIGIPAPPY

Blessings

Our children really are blessings.
It is amazing to see how fast they are growing. Austen really is a "big girl" now. It seems she learns new things all the time. She absolutely LOVES Luke and is already protective over him. She is quite the little helper and loves to help me change his diaper. She even folds it the same way I do before throwing it away.
She loves church and asks to go everyday (until we get to the nursery and she realizes mommy and daddy are leaving; yes she still has some seperation anxiety:)
It seems like only yesterday she was Luke's age. I know it's a cliche but it's so true. She has also developed an addiction to yogurt. She would eat it non stop all day if I let her. When she wakes up in the morning, before her eyes are even open (I'm not kidding) I hear "Yogurt?" The same is true after her afternoon nap. For those of you with the same fetish you know that much yogurt can get a little pricey.
So I bought her some cookies thinking surely she'll like these more than yogurt. Now for all you nutrition nuts out there shaking your head at me; stop. I know they're not as healthy but they sure are a lot cheaper. Plus she's pretty healthy. Anyways it didn't work because she didn't want the cookies. She wanted...you guessed it: Yogurt. Go figure.

Luke is also doing well. He is absolutely the sweetest baby in the world. He smiles and coos and laughs. We have so much fun talking to him and watching him respond. We don't go back to his ENT until November but we are already seeing signs of his hearing improving. He responds to all types of sound and we are praising God for opening his ears.
I have been working on doing "tummy time" with Luke since his doctor has told me it is very important that he have tummy time every day. I tried to tell his doctor that he doesn't like tummy time but she seemed to think I should do it anyways:)So the other day Luke was having tummy time and I was encouraging him to push up with his little arms and turn over by himself. (Not because I really care if he does or not, I think he's still too little, but the doctor seems to think it's important, you know how doctor's are:) so here he is doing tummy time and I can tell he doesn't like it because he's fussy, not really crying but fussy.So I make sure he's OK and go to sweep the kitchen floor and let him have his time to himself. I walk back in the room a few minutes later to check on him and the little bug was fast asleep! He obviously was more concerned with nap time than tummy time:) Go figure, he is his mother's child:)

"Home"?

A few days ago, Austen and I were eating breakfast (Berry Captain Crunch, our favotite:)as Jeremy was getting ready to leave for work. He grabbed his briefcase to head out the door when Austen looked up and said "Bye-Bye"? "Yes, honey", he responded. "Daddy has to go bye-bye." Austen then pleaded in the most adorable innocent little face, "Home"? imploring her daddy not to go to work but to stay home with us. It was too precious, and although Jeremy did go to work he was still talking about it that night at dinner. She really does hold a special place in his heart:)