Happy 30th Birthday Charles!

So, we hit another milestone in our house! Charles turned 30 this past weekend! It is hard to believe that we met almost 9 years ago! Who would have guessed we would be madly in love, have a beautiful child, and growing old together?! Man, life is great! When we asked how he wanted to celebrate, he very quickly responded with going to the Baylor football game in Waco to support his fellow teammates. So, on Saturday, we packed up and went for a great day to Waco with his parents and Cade. Here are some birthday pics. Happy Birthday to the best Son, Husband, Best Friend, and Daddy! We love you Charles!

Charles loves rice crispy cakes!

Charles and Cade watching the game in their Baylor Spirit shirts!

The Baylor Line and the Band

I even got to sneak in a visit with one of my roomies, Britni!

Enjoying the Game as a fam...Cade even has the Bear Claw up!

Cade's Baby Dedication

All of you know that Charles and I are strong believers in our Savior, Jesus Christ. With Cade, our mission has changed to include not only ourselves, but raising Cade in a Christian home. This past Wednesday at church, we had the opportunity to participate in the Parent/Baby Dedication. This was a special time where we made a public statement saying that we will raise Cade in the presence of the Lord. Family and friends joined us and we had such an amazing evening.

Our Family Pic

On stage with Pastor Fleming

He loves his Daddy's kisses!

Daddy thought it would be funny to put him in the collection basket.

Family pic with all the Grandparents!

My Great Aunt Lou and Uncle Ray even came to spoil me!

A new angel in Heaven

So, I have intended to post about this last week, but to be honest, everytime I tried...I had to stop due to all the tears. A week ago today around 8:45pm, a very special angel went to heaven. Her name was Grandma. There are very few people who touch your life in such a way that you know you will never be the same. For me, my Grandma was one of those people. She fought a very courageous battle of lung cancer and I am happy that she is now with our Lord and Savior. Although, I would still give anything to hug her one last time, or have her hold Cade. This post could go on forever with memories, but here are some of my fondest.

1- Every Birthday, I got a card and a McDonald's giftcard. Not to mention she would call and sing "Happy Birthday" to me around 6am.

2- Every letter I ever got from her had a stick of gum in it (complete with my name written on it...in case someone tried to take it!).

3- When a driver passed us speeding, she would say, "Go ahead and just tell them were coming!"

4- We would have to leave excessively early for EVERY event and she would say, "I'd rather be an hour early than a minute too late."

5- We would talk every first day of school, including this last year even though I was on Maternity Leave! So, I have spoken to her for 23 years. When I was going to school, she would say, "This year will make you even smarter!". When I started working in schools, she would say, "This is just one day closer to retirement!"

6- She called me "The Apple of her Eye" ever since I was little. So, when I was 5 I nicknamed her "The Peach of my Heart". These names stuck, and that was still what I called her every time we talked.

7- Finally, my favorite memory was talking to her every Monday morning on my way to work. This was a time we knew we would get to talk for sure, and she always picked up when I called.

Since the tears are really flowing now (I hope the pain of losing her gets easier with time!), I will just leave you with some pictures. She was my role model and I love her still so much.

I am a better person because of you Grandma, and you will always be "The Peach of My Heart".

Grandma and I overlooking where she grew up in Spur, TX

Grandma and I Geocaching

Grandma with her Grandkids at Christmas 2007

Kickin' up her heels!

Christmas Morning 2007

Thanksgiving 2008 with more cousins

Walking in a park in Lubbock, February 2008

"The Peach of my Heart"

Where has the time gone?

Ok, as this weekend came and flew by, I realized that my lil angel is already 4 weeks old today! I can't believe how time has gone! These last few weeks have been filled with lots of adventures by Cade including: almost 150 diapers, lots of bottles of milk, good naps, playing in his playard, staring at people, listening to music, watching his first Baylor Football Game (Sic 'Em Bears, great win!), sleeping on Daddy's chest, listening to Roald Dahl chapter books read by Daddy, and smiling with his dimples when he gets excited! Mommy's last week was not so fun as I had to battle severe Mastitus! If you have never had this, BE GLAD! If you have, you feel my pain...and I mean PAIN! Let's just say I thought I was dying in the ER room a week ago! But, today is a sunny day and we are enjoying family time with the holiday! Aunt Mendy, Uncle Chris, and Mackenzie came in town this weekend to visit and we had a blast! Mackenzie already thinks that Cade is hers and insisted on doing everything with him...including: feeding, diapering, helping hold his car seat, talking to him while he was trying to sleep, bathing him and lots of kisses on his head! Here are some pictures to catch you up, and I will try to be better about updating more, it is just hard to pry myself away from my lil angel!

Pictures by Charles' Brother Christopher...

Mackenzie playing with me in my playard!

Not so happy after being taken out of a warm bath!

Mackenzie holding me

One of my first outings with Mommy and Daddy!

Holding up my head like a big boy

Giving Mommy kisses for all her hard work and milk

This is how I roll...a chick on each side!

All ready and swaddled for my first BU football game! We won against Wake Forest, Sic' Em!!

Dear Heavenly Father,

Words cannot begin to express our gratitude for the gift of Cade. We have been faithful in you and clung to your promise that if we delight ourselves in you, you will give us the desires of our heart. Well, 3 years later, many doctors, tears, and prayers...here we are. Today we hold the most precious gift you have ever given us, Cade Beatty Hall. Monday, August 10th, 2009 will forever be a day of happiness and gratitude. His stubborn personality and desire to be breech meant he came via c-section at 7:37pm, which we were thankful everything went perfectly smooth. We are gracious for his healthy weight of 8.1 pounds and his length of 20.25 inches. He is just perfect and we could not have asked for a more perfect gift. So, today we dedicate this blog to every person out there Lord who is struggling with decisions in life and feeling like you are not there. We too felt like that at times, but you continued to show us that faith and perserverance will prevail and you gave us a gift that was worth the wait of all those years! Thank you again for showing us the gift of life through you, yet again.

Amen

Getting ready for surgery!

Mommy seeing Cade for the first time

Getting ready to leave the hospital as a family

Cade in his going home outfit... the shoes and socks were Charles' when he came home from hospital!

Chilin' at home with my Bro Baylor

Daddy leaving to go back to work! I had to match and tell him bye!

Matching wet spots with Daddy!

4 days worth of diapers...Yikes

Getting spoiled by Mommy

The shirt says it all, "The Prince has arrived"

My first bath at 10 days old

Daddy snuggling me up in my cool dinosaur towel

All clean and ready for bed

Mommy and Daddy's little angel

Top 10 ways you know you are Pregnant...

10- You answer "Air Conditioning" when people ask what you are craving
9- You become out of breath just trying to get into bed (not to mention you require a stool!)
8- You start to have eratic breathing when you are putting lotion on your legs
7- You have a constant burning in your throat from indegestion
6- You consider it a good night when you only have to get up to pee 2 times
5- You consider it your workout for the day if you put on your own socks
4- You are in the bathtub and wonder if your nipples will actually touch your belly button soon
3- You become jealous of the lady in the stall next to you because she got to pee for at least 10 seconds
2- You realize your favorite panties begin to roll down in the front to accomodate the belly

AND, the number one way you know you might be pregnant.....

1- You believe stretchy elastic waistbands are cool and making a come back!

Almost Here!

Well, we are on the home stretch! It looks like Cade will make his appearance this week via c-section! We are excited, but of course getting the last minute jitters! I think the excitement is just taking over! We are spending our time doing the last minute cleaning house, mowing yard, washing clothes, etc. Just trying to have less to do when we come home from the hospital! We are squeezing in date nights and last minute fun activities as well. So, while we are busy, Cade has been too! Here is what he has been up to this week!

"Your baby has really plumped up. He weighs about 6.8 pounds and he's over 19 1/2 inches long (like a leek). He has a firm grasp, which you'll soon be able to test when you hold his hand for the first time! His organs have matured and are ready for life outside the womb. Wondering what color your baby's eyes will be? You may not be able to tell right away. If he's born with brown eyes, they'll likely stay brown. If she's born with steel gray or dark blue eyes, they may stay gray or blue or turn green, hazel, or brown by the time he's 9 months old. That's because a child's irises (the colored part of the eye) may gain more pigment in the months after he's born, but they usually won't get "lighter" or more blue. (Green, hazel, and brown eyes have more pigment than gray or blue eyes.)" --BabyCenter.com

Also, wanted to post some pics that our friend Carol took. She is a beautiful friend who does this on the side. If you like what you see, let me know and I will give you her info. She is amazing.