We're still here...

I know, I know...it's been weeks since we posted anything on here. For those of you that we've talked to recently, you already know why that is. For everyone else, here's a brief rundown. These past few weeks have been a terribly trying time for the Lewis family. We thank God that there have been no major tragedies to deal with, but we have been faced with what seems like countless "bumps in the road" that have kept us busy, weary and in debt to the medical community (both in gratitude and in finances)! We have had several trips to the ER (Abigail made her first trip the night before her 3rd birthday party), but Jack started much earlier and has already outnumbered his sister's visits! We have battled severe croup, fevers of 105 degrees, gaping facial wounds, and various other illnesses and conditions. Josh has struggled with decisions related to his career, and I have struggled with the seemingly 50-pound "basketball" that is my tummy and the intense bouts of insomnia that have accompanied it. We have prayed diligently for healing, protection, and rest, and I am thrilled to say that things seem to be taking a turn in the right direction. Today is the first day in weeks and weeks (literally!) that every member of our family is healthy and rested. What a blessing! Because I am so far behind on updating the blog, I'm going to do one big "picture-fest" of some of the happy events that have been going on recently. I hope you enjoy!

Trick-or-Treat!!

Last night we had several friends from church over for a little Halloween party. We ate pizza then headed outside (there were people EVERYWHERE!) to let the kids visit some of our neighbors for candy. Abigail didn't get it at first, but by the time we hit our third or fourth house, she was a pro at saying "Trick or Treat," thanking them for the candy, and then running towards us squealing about her new candy. She always has fun when she's with her buddies, but last night had a little extra kick to it...I think it was the sugar!! Jack wasn't quite as thrilled with the whole ordeal, though, because at his one-year checkup yesterday morning, the pediatrician told me he had a raging ear infection. Who knew?!? He's on a 10-day round of antibiotics, so he'll be back in the saddle soon.

Homecoming Weekend

This weekend was Homecoming back at good old Samford University. We never really participated in the Homecoming activities when we were in school there (nor have we done much since we graduated!), but we had several dear college friends in for the weekend, so we all converged back on SU's campus for some of the festivities. I won't bore you with all of the details, but Abigail wants everyone to know that she got to ride in a hot air balloon! We saw it across the campus, so we walked over to watch it. It turned out they were giving rides...and the whole thing was sponsored by the Business School (from which Josh and I both graduated). When we got up there, they warned us that the driver (is that what you call the hot air balloon man?) said the propane tank was really low, so we stood in line for a few minutes and prayed that the propane would hold out for our turn. When it was our turn, we weren't sure how Jack would take it all, so I stayed on the ground with him. Actually, that was my excuse to be able to stay behind and get good pictures! Josh and Abigail hopped in the basket of the balloon and enjoyed a fantastic 45-second ride in the clouds. She was ecstatic (as you can tell from the picture of her coming to see me when she got off)!! It was such a fantastic day together with family and our old buddies!

The Crouch Family Shindig

We spent the weekend with my immediate and extended family at Tims Ford State Park in TN. The "Crouch Shindig" is a tradition that we started many years ago that allows our family from across several states to get together and have a few days of hiking, laughter and just enjoying being back together again. While we were there, we realized that at our last Shindig, Jace (my cousin's oldest son) was the only "little cousin" there. At this year's get-together, though, there were SEVEN little cousins (with two on the way). Needless to say, the adults are about to be out-numbered! We are already looking forward to next year's Crouch Shindig (and the nine little ones running around). :-) The kiddos are all below: Brayden, Abigail, Hailey, Jaden, Jencyn, Jace, Jack.

The Four Stages of Grief and Loss (of the Bottle)

In case you forgot that little tidbit that you learned in your high school psychology class about the stages of loss and grief, here is Jack's pictorial reminder. In the first picture, we can see ANGER. Jack is demonstrating his discontent with receiving his milk in a sippy cup rather than his "ba-ba". In the second shot, we observe that Jack has moved from the stage of ANGER to the stage of SADNESS. He can't even look at the cup (notice it on the floor behind him), and he attempts to "cute/pathetic-factor" his way into getting the bottle back. The third picture shows a dramatic leap to a place of ACCEPTANCE. He has realized that his bottle isn't coming back, so he has resolved to give the sippy cup a try. And finally, in the last picture, we see that Jack has made the final movement to the stage of HAPPINESS and CONTENTMENT.

For those of you who are perplexed by why I have so many pictures of such a seemingly miniscule event (I only posted some of them!), let me share with you a little saying that my mother-in-law taught me: IF IT'S NOT IN THE SCRAPBOOK (or the blog), THEN IT DIDN'T HAPPEN!

A beautiful weekend

We spent part of this past week and the weekend in Marietta celebrating Josh's sister's wedding. Rebekah and Kevin were married in a gorgeous ceremony on Saturday night. Josh was a groomsman, I was a (pregnant) bridesmaid, and Abigail was a flower girl. Jack just got dressed up for the pictures!! Everything went off without a hitch, and we were so proud of how amazing the little ones were the whole time we were there. Under normal circumstances, Abigail and Jack are virtually comatose at 8:00 or so every night at their bedtime. They were out until 11:00 or later some nights due to various parties and family get-togethers, but they were fantastic!! At the reception, Abigail spent most of the night on the dance floor...literally!! After the first song, she came running up to me, and I fully expected her to want to escape from the loud music and the chaos. No, no, no...she told me her bow was falling out, she handed it to me, and she ran off saying she wanted to go dance some more. Who knew?!? Jack spent most of his time in the arms of most of Rebekah and Kevin's guests. Every once in a while, Josh or I would look around until we found him. Sometimes we knew his playmate, and sometimes we didn't. He seemed to love it, though! One of his favorite moments came when he took center-stage on the dance floor and everyone sang "Love-Jack" (adapted from "Love-Shack") to him as he was hoisted into the air. Needless to say, it was a fun night for all!

Rebekah and Kevin are enjoying some much-deserved rest in St. Lucia right now. It was so neat for us to be a part of their special day. It may take us until September 2008 to fully recover, but it was well-worth it. :-)

Jack's Big Day

As hard as it is to believe, Jack will be 1 in just a few short days (26th). Today we, and about 25 of our friends and family, helped Jack celebrate with a big DINOSAUR party. Allison has been working for weeks to put together a great party for him...and she did. Not a detail was spared. Everything was dinosaurs...from the balloons on the mailbox to the "dinosaur bones" (pretzel sticks) that the kids ate. We had "Muddy Water" (Milo's sweet tea) and "PB&Jasaurus Sandwiches." Everything was covered...we've come to expect that from Big Al. But back to Jack...he had a blast. I went to get him up from his nap a little after the party started, and you could see the curiosity in his eyes towards all of the noise downstairs. I dressed him up in his dinosaur outfit (one last detail) and downstairs we went. It was a neat moment before we went down to be able to tell him how many people are here to celebrate with him and that so many people love and care for him. He probably didn't get it, but he will some day. So thank you again to everyone who took time out of their Saturday to come and share in some laughs, stories, and dinosaur eggs (red grapes). We're so fortunate to have each of you in our lives.

To Grandmother's House She Goes...

Tonight Abigail is spending her first night away from home (and away from Mommy and Daddy!). GrandPam (Josh's mom) invited her to come for a visit and to attend Sesame Street Live at the Philips Arena. Since Abigail is a big Elmo fan, we knew she would love the show and would have a great time visiting with GrandPam, Aunt Bok, PaPaw and Grandma. We met at Chick-fil-A in Anniston this morning to "hand her off", and contrary to Josh's expectations, I didn't shed a tear (even in my pregnant state!) It was so great to see her hopping in their car with a big smile on her face.

Abigail called us tonight to let us know what she had done since arriving in Marietta...we heard all about baking pumpkin muffins (a staple at GrandPam's house), visiting TCBY for "banilla" yogurt, and taking a bubble bath in the big bathtub. It sounds like she's having a blast!!

Jack is doing better today. Abigail had croup last week, and Jack came down with it Tuesday night. I ended up in the ER at Children's Hospital with him yesterday morning because of breathing problems. We have been so pleased to see how quickly he is bouncing back. We think he's missing Abigail, though, because he keeps looking around the house for something. He knows she isn't here, and he misses his big sister!

Baby Lewis is kicking all the time! Each time the nurse has listened to the heartbeat, she has commented on how active the baby is, because it keeps moving all around. We might be in trouble when this little one isn't contained in my tummy anymore!

I think that's all for the Lewis updates. I hope you are all doing well!

Meet the newest little Lewis...

Well, sort of...

The baby is still warm in my tummy, but here is one of the pictures from our ultrasound this week. For those of you who haven't heard, Josh spent WEEKS trying to convince me (the world's most serious "planner-aheader") not to find out the sex of this baby. At first I simply laughed in his face, but the more I thought about it (and the more he bugged me!), the more I warmed up to the idea. We are so looking forward to that priceless moment when all of our months of waiting are over. And as an extra little treat, my OB told us that he lets the Daddy do the announcement as soon as the baby is born. It will be Josh's big moment!

We have prayed diligently for the health and protection of this baby while he/she is in my tummy, and according to all the pictures and measurements at the ultrasound, God has once again blessed us with a perfectly healthy little one. We (and by "we" I mean "I" since Josh is slacking off on his blogging responsibilities!) will do our best to keep each of you posted on new developments with this baby and with our other two little munchkins.

Signs & Sports

Not only is Jack a cute kid, he's also turning out to be a quick learner. Allison has been working with him on his sign language recently, starting with "more." This was the first sign that Abigail learned...which ended up being quite appropriate for her personality! But Jack has now figured it out as well. This is a picture of him looking our front window, probably at 25 neighborhood boys playing football. And (this brings a tear to my eye) he's asking for more. More football. On a side note, he loves his basketball goal. Its about eye-level when he's sitting on his rump and it seems to be entertainment for hours. He loves it when everyone goes nuts after he "scores." And of course, we do our best to catch at least an inning of a baseball game over the weekend...about 9 if the Red Sox are on.

My first post...

Hello everyone,

This whole "blog" thing was Josh's idea, but I have to admit...I've definitely enjoyed reading his posts and seeing the pictures of our precious babies! So I've caved, and I'm now posting on the blog as well. Not much to say now, but I did want to share a recent picture or two that we've taken of the kids. By the way...thanks to everyone who has left a comment for us. We love reading them!! Aunt Libby, thank you especially for all the various comments you've left. Keep them coming. :-)

Love to all,

allison

And so it begins...

Okay, so I'm a bit late in letting everyone know this, but Jack is officially on the move!! Allison put him in the middle of the floor on Monday expecting him to play with his toys like he always does. When she turned around, guess who was scooting around the floor like he'd been doing it forever!! So now it begins...terror strikes. We've had a boy for 10 months now, but everything is about to change...we're about to experience "all boy." As you can see, having crawled for a matter of hours, Jack made short work of the contents in the entertainment center.

Professional Couch Potato

Jack has earned the title of "Professional Couch Potato" around the house for his keen ability to not move much. Over the last couple weeks, he seems to have taken issue with this title and is working towards a new, unknown title. Here's a picture from today...from the looks of it, he is on the verge of movement. We'll keep you updated on the progress, but for now we're going to enjoy our last moments of not having to chase him around the house.

We have a home

Today was another big day for our family. Actually, in this case, it was a big day for our entire church family. Many of you have heard us talk about our church (The Well). For the past three and a half years, we have been homeless. The first year was spent meeting in an elementary school gym with the remainder spent in a movie theater. Now don't get me wrong, the theater was nice and all...stadium seating, bathrooms-o-plenty, and the sweet fragrance of buttered popcorn around the time we would take communion. And if we learned nothing else over this time, it is that God can and will meet anyone anywhere regardless of what the building or its walls look like. We also learned that the church truly is the people...not bricks and mortar. And in this case, the people were getting tired. So today, our church family finally walked into its new home. One that we can get into more than 4 hours per week. And boy was it sweet! I don't have any pictures, but I'll try to track some down soon. The music was great (Allison did a fine job on back-up vocals and keys), and Brent presented a fantastic message. Basically, it was centered around one phrase..."This is church." Do you find yourself mumbling that under your breath as if you've come to expect church to be the same old boring thing? Or do you find yourself asking that question, as if someone forgot all about why we really get together every week? Or do you put an exclamation point at the end like we do and feel the love of God through his Word, worship, and community? Do you finally find yourself in the middle of the irresistable revolution Jesus started a couple thousand years ago? "This...is...CHURCH!" And we love it. You all come and visit.

Joining the Club

It happened. I swore it never would, but it happened. I fought it for years, yet it still happened.

This morning, Allison and I signed the paperwork for a minivan. 

The entire time we were there, something felt wierd...like I had forgotten something, left something behind...something I couldn't figure out. But as we pulled out of the parking lot in our 2006 Toyota Sienna, I turned around and saw it sitting at the desk.

There is was...my manhood.

All kidding aside, we love the van. It is a big day for the Lewis clan. Gone are the days of Allison worrying if the airbag would cause her knees to punch her in the face if it was to deploy. Gone are the days of having to shoulder tackle the stroller to get it into the trunk. And if we did get it into the trunk, gone are the days of Abigail having to hold the groceries on the way home. Yes, folks, this is big. We went from driving a studio apartment to driving an eight bedroom mansion.

So take your shots, but know this: I've got leg room again.

Allison & Jack

Back in November, Aunt Jenny, Grandma & Grandpa made the trip all the way from North Carolina for Abigail's 2nd birthday. This was also their first time to meet Jack. While they were here, Aunt Jenny, a better than average (arguably professional photographer), took the opportunity to put her top-notch camera to work...here are a few of the good ones.

A great Abbey pic

We love this pic of Abbey.

Jack is the Man

What a cool kid. Layed back as ever...always happy and smiling (unless it is time to eat). He isn't crawling, standing, or walking. But he is pretending in this picture. And he's pretty darn proud of himself! Jack is really starting to show his personality lately. He loves to cuddle with Mommy, wrestle with Daddy, and play and laugh with Abbey. Even if none of that is going on, he's pretty content to find the closest thing on the floor and strike up a conversation with it. We're not sure what exactly he is saying, but he seems to be enjoying his company...so we let him go.

My Girl

Abigail has to be the sweetest little girl on the face of the planet. As a result of that, I'm convinced to two things: 1. she is definitely a daddy's girl, and 2. I am 100% wrapped around her finger. Here's a picture of us on a recent trip to Gulf Shores, AL. Abigail has never been at a loss for love or excitement...and this picture pretty much sums that up!

I must be nuts!!!

The Lewis's are about to enter the 21st Century. After about a decade of technical mediocrity, I've decided to try my luck with a blog. I still haven't figured out why someone chose such a name, but we're going to go with it. Scary to think that Abigail may be asking me some time soon to see if anyone sent her a note on our blog. Blog? Seriously?

Why am I doing this? Because it seems like every day that the kids are doing or saying something that keeps us in stitches. They're hilarious! So I figured we would do our best to post some pictures and random stories for everyone else to enjoy. At the very least, we satisfy our daily urge to brag about what great kids we have and share how blessed we feel to be their parents. And somewhere along the way, we'll probably drop in some other updates on what is going on in our lives with church, work, family, etc.

So enjoy, and please drop in some comments as much as possible. We would love to hear from everyone.