It had to be done...

The day has come. The hour has arrived. Yes folks, Jack got his first haircut. I have been thinking for a while now that it was time for a little trim, but Josh kept holding out (isn't that usually the other way around)? Well, a couple of days ago Josh announced out of the blue that he thought we should go ahead with it. So I did it. I thought up a fool-proof plan that involved strapping him into the booster (can't get away), outside (easy to clean up), with a tray full of cereal (great distraction). The plan worked beautifully, and now Jack is down a couple of pounds of curls. I sound like this was a very non-emotional experience for me, don't I? Don't be fooled. Part of Jack's "precious-ness" comes from his head full of blonde curls. He is such a sweet little guy, and this seemed like a major "big boy" moment for him. I gathered up the scissors, fought back the tears and chanted: IT HAD TO BE DONE!

Not quite a fish yet...

Abigail had a big "pool scare" last summer, and she's been a bit water-phobic ever since. So we decided to enroll her in swimming lessons at our gym to help her gain some confidence and be more comfortable in the water. Here are some pictures from her first day of lessons with her buddy Ellery...make sure to check out the goggles! :-)

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Updates...

Praise the Lord...everyone is healthy! After two weeks in quarantine (with one of those weeks being at my parents for floor-to-ceiling disinfecting at our house!), everyone is well and medicine-free. Hooray!! Jack is doing wonderfully from his surgery on Monday. We think he's finally feeling (and hearing!) better. Here are some of the recent pictures of what the kids have been up to. Make sure you pay attention to Isabel's "hair-raising" shot about halfway through the montage. Oh, and Abigail wants everyone to know that she picked out this song. :-)

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Wyatt and Emery

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This past weekend I had a great time doing pictures for the Birch family. I've done pictures of several babies and new crawlers/walkers, so I had to laugh at how different it is shooting pictures of fast-moving targets! In case you don't know him, Wyatt is definitely a little guy on the move, and he gave me great practice with shooting at faster shutter speeds. :-)

Jack's Big Ear Tube Day

It started at 5:20 this morning. Well, it was actually closer to 4:00 for me, but 5:20 is what time we headed out the door for Jack's surgery. We were scheduled to arrive at Children's Hospital downtown at 6:00. We rolled in at 5:50 and felt like everything was going just as planned until the nurse came in to Jack's hospital room and said these words: "Mr. and Mrs. Lewis...I'm afraid we have some bad news." Already? At 6:30 in the morning? She went on: "The doctor got stuck in New York, so we are having to cancel all of his surgeries today." Here it comes...I feel it...the big lump rising in my throat...the tears filling my eyes. She continued to tell us how sorry she was and that we should go back home and wait for the office to call us with a rescheduled surgery date. My mind is racing now. Do I quietly say "Yes ma'am" and go back home with a little guy who is desperate for this procedure or do I beg for mercy? I chose to beg. I'll spare you the details of my groveling, but in the end, we were sent to Children's South (which is right down the road from our house) to be worked in with another doctor. Once Jack was finally taken back to the OR, he was only away from us for about 25 minutes. The doctor came out and told us everything had gone perfectly and that Jack had already been working his way into another infection (just a few days after coming off of antibiotics for the last one!). By the time we got home, he had a voracious appetite (it was unlike anything I've ever seen!) and was ready for a snoozer. I expected him to sleep most of the afternoon, but as you can see, after a couple of hours he was up and ready to go. And by "ready to go", I mean that he is wild! Only six hours after surgery, he is acting like he feels so much better than he has in a while. As I'm looking back on the day now, I can see that God handled every concern we had as well as some we didn't even know to pray about (i.e. Children's South was our original choice of facilities for his surgery, but they were booked at the time and couldn't get us in for several more weeks). We're so glad today is over with, and we thank you for your prayers for our little guy!

The Toy That's Always With Me...

Hi everyone--this is Isabel. I wanted to share with you about the new toy I found recently. I was sitting in my stroller while my family and I were out on a walk, and lo and behold, this new toy popped up right in front of my face. I reached out for it, finally grabbed it, and I've been playing with it ever since! Rumor has it that there's another one of these toys running around here somewhere, but I haven't found it yet. For now I'm content with just the one. :-)

Brayden and Emma

My sister, Bethany, and I have had the neat experience of having our most recent two children very close together. Jack and Brayden are six weeks apart in age, and Isabel and Emma are eleven weeks apart. It's been neat to watch their special little relationships develop during their short lives. Bethany and Bailey live about 30 minutes away from us, and she stopped by here recently for a visit. Here are some of the pictures of her little cuties. :-)

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