One Happy Mommy!

Yay!! Ben is finally home from Camp Shelby and I survived the two weeks without him (barely). I am so thankful for my husband and what he does to help make our household run. He actually does load the washer/dryer, dishwasher, sees that our 3 year old is ready for preschool, gets him to preschool, diapers the baby at wee hours in the morning, and even makes coffee and fixes mine just how I like it. I could keep going, but I'm sure all of you have super husbands that do the same things. So, I really missed him is quite an understatement!
Ben was home with us for the day on Friday and we loved it. After a lazy morning lounging around the house, we decided to get out and go find some pumpkins and fall flowers for our front porch. When we got to Blue Goose and picked out our pumpkins, they were just the regular orange pumpkins that you find. Ty got all upset and was saying, "No, this is not the right kind of pumpkin. I'm talking about a pumpkin with a smile like that." He was pointing to a fall banner that was hanging up that had a fall message and cute little jack o'lanterns all over it. After finally convincing him that we could do that with our pumpkins, we purchased our pumpkins and flowers and headed home. Ty couldn't leave the pumpkins alone. I'm not sure how long they will last. I'm afraid he may find a stick or some other thing to carve his own "smile" in his pumpkin. So....we'll enjoy them for as long as they last!!

Halloween Costume #2

We thought we had Ty's Halloween costume all planned out. Mrs. Tracy (our wonderful nurse at the hospital) had him all set with a complete doctor's suit (mask, gloves, cap, and dr. shirt). The child couldn't keep it off during our hospital stay, or once we got home for that matter. But.... Ben returned home from Camp Shelby (from his 2-week school) with a little something extra. Ditch the doctor scrubs, we will now be sporting this:

Meet our newest Army man. (just got to find the boots now. Notice the stance-hands and feet are perfect, just a little scary to a mama.)



Of course, we had to do a serious shot.


I'm just not sure I'm liking what this has led to. Now, Ty is saying he wants to be an army man like Daddy when he grows up.

Due Date

Today is September 18th, Andrew's due date. I can not even imagine still being pregnant as huge as I was 2 weeks ago. Thank the Lord He saw fit for Andrew to come on into this world and save me of 2 weeks of extra misery! Fortunately, I was able to work up until going into the hospital. But my ankles (in my case, cankles) were horrendous everyday by about 8:15 in the morning. I even took a pillow to put in a chair to prop my feet up. Try teaching 4th graders with your feet propped up in a chair. Doesn't work too well. Just too much getting up and down. Every afternoon after I got home from school, I would plop down on the couch with my feet propped up on about 5 pillows and a 3 year old trying to wedge his body around me, or as close to me as he could possibly get. Usually around 7 or 8 at night, my ankles would eventually go back down to almost normal size. Not to mention all the times getting up and down going to the bathroom. Just think, all of that uncomfortableness (I think I just made up a new word) for this....




And I would gladly do it all over again.



This is what I found when I laid Andrew down for his nap.


Mr. Ty constantly reminds me that he is still my baby!!

Trip to Wal-Mart

Ty Clark is definitely something else. After I picked him up from preschool, we ventured out to Wal-Mart, which was Andrew's first Wal-Mart trip. I was dreading it at first (going by myself with a 3 year old and a 2 week old) but it went surprisingly well! They both did super! Ty loves all the Bath Bubble products, especially Thomas, Hulk and Mickey Mouse. Well, once we looked at every type of bubble bath on the shelf, we proceeded down the aisle. Next on the shelf was all the lotions and body sprays. I only glimpsed for a second and I saw Ty get this really ugly face. I heard him say, "I don't like all the mommy stuff." I wasn't sure what he was meaning until I looked at him and he said it again while he pointed at the make-up. I assured him we weren't looking at make-up today, so that was good with him. He put his happy face back on.
After making our rounds, we stopped by the toy dept. to look at some Thomas railroad track pieces. After looking and trying to decide for nearly 15 minutes, Ty finally made up his mind on which piece to get. He puts a package of 3 tanks in the cart and we move on. As we are leaving the toys, Ty sadly turns around to look at the toys one last time and waves at them saying, "Bye Bye toys." It was as if he were about to be separated from his toys or his family for life. His little voice was just so pitiful.
We finally get out of the store and head home. As we are going home, I asked Ty what he wanted to be when he grows up. In my mind I'm thinking he's going to name some type of profession and he simply says, "A man." That wasn't what I was expecting but that was a good answer. Then he went on to say, "I want to be a big man just like my daddy one day."
After we get home, I start unloading the bags and to my surprise, along with the 3 Thomas tanks, there was another package with Emily train and a tank! I couldn't believe that little stinker snuck it into the cart without me knowing it.
Later in the afternoon, Ty and I started cleaning out our carport. I was getting ready to blow it off with the blower. As I was getting Ty to help me get things put up, he asked me what I was going to use to blow off the carport. When I told him the blower, he said, "Girls can't use blowers, just Daddy's." I thought this was pretty cute. I guess he's just never seen me using the blower before. I'll gladly turn the "Daddy duties" back over to Ben next week when he gets home. We sure miss Daddy alot!
Just some cute pics of Ty-

Growing Baby!

Check out these cheeks! I just love them!

Andrew had his two-week check-up today, and boy do I have a growing little fella on my hands. Last week he was back up to his birthweight at 7 lbs. 12 oz. This week he was already at 8 lbs. 12 oz. and 22 inches long! I couldn't believe he had gained a whole pound in a week. It shouldn't really surprise me that much, because I really feel like all I do is feed this little baby.
Here is a picture of Andrew and Allie this weekend. This little outfit that Andrew has on is the cute little outfit Allie bought with her own money. She was shopping with her Gram and me in Dothan several weeks before Andrew was born, and she had several items to buy with her own money. When she found the little onesie, she asked Gram if she had enough money to buy it and Gram told her she was just a little short. So sweet little Allie put one of her items back just so she could buy this little outfit for Andrew. That was so sweet and generous of you Allie! Andrew loves his little onesie!


Couldn't leave Miss Amy out. She is a little natural at holding Andrew. She's had so much practice with all her baby dolls. She looked like a mini-Mama holding him and patting his little bottom with her legs crossed like a little lady. We got a kick out of watching her!

Little Shadow

Since Andrew's arrival, Ty can't get enough of his Daddy. He's constantly asking when his Daddy will get home from work. From the moment Ben walks in the door, Ty is right beside him. They have to do everything together. I would love to know what's going through that little mind of his. I think Ty must think Andrew is going to take his Daddy away from him. Over the last few weeks, Ty has started saying, "When I grow up, I wanna be just like my Daddy." It's so sweet. He loves his Daddy so much and he sure is missing him right now. Ben left Friday morning for Camp Shelby, Mississippi for a two-week school. I think I've got my work cut out for me with a 3 year old and a 10-day old. The older Ty gets, the harder it is for him when Ben is gone. We've been marking the days off of our calendar, but he still asks everyday, "Does Daddy come home this day?" He just doesn't quite understand the concept of two weeks yet. It seems lately that Ben has had to be gone quite a bit. But we can handle two weeks...we just don't want it to be more than that!!


Silly Boys!


Last week we thought it would be fun for Ty to roast some marshmallows. He loves to eat marshmallows out of the bag, so we decided we would burn our brush pile behind the house and let him have a marshmallow roast. He roasted one with a little help, and decided that he had had enough. I think it probably took a little longer than what he expected.

Aunt Kelley helping Ty




Ty had rather just eat them out of the bag.

A Good Report

We went for Andrew's one week check-up yesterday and got good news. He's already back to his birthweight, which was 7 lbs. 12 oz. Dr. Gabe said this was great and that he was ahead of the game. She said they don't expect babies to be back at their birthweight until their two-week check-up. So this was good news to me! Also, she said his bilirubin level was still elevated, but she didn't think it would be over 9 or 10. We did not have to go back to the hospital to get stuck, so that was very good. I'm hoping and praying that next week when we go for his 2-week check-up, his color will be back to normal. Thanks for the prayers! Slide show is pictures of Andrew at home and just some fun things the kids got to do this past, very hot weekend.

More Andrew

More photos of Andrew's arrival and friends and family that were there to welcome him into the world.

Andrew's First Outing!

Andrew resting with Uncle Micah.

After coming home from the hospital on Tuesday, we've made three trips back there over the last 3 days. On Wednesday I noticed Andrew becoming a little orangey. We called Dr. Gabe and she had us go to the hospital to have Andrew's heel stuck. We got the results later that afternoon, and unfortunately his jaundice level was at 13, up 7.5 from when we left the hospital on Tuesday. So we went back on Thursday (twice) because the first test didn't do right. Our little fellow had to get stuck twice in one day. We got those results back and it was even higher at 14.7. Dr. Gabe told us they would not put him under the light unless it was around 16 or 17. We were all too familiar with this since Ty had to be admitted back in the hospital for 3 days after we had come home with him. We certainly didn't want to go through that again. We went back Friday and our numbers were just a little lower at 14.1. So that was a relief that it had not jumped up. We're just hoping and praying that when we go to the Dr. on Monday, it will be lots lower.

Andrew weighed 7 lbs. 2 oz. when we left the hospital, so he lost 10 oz from his birthweight -7 lb. 12 oz. That was another thing that concerned us, but he had gained 6 oz. when we were in the Dr. office on Thursday. This little boy likes to eat! He's doing so good with his nursing and Dr. Gabe said he should be back at his birthweight in no time.

So....after all the trips to the hospital, we decided to get out today and go somewhere. Ben has drill this weekend, so we didn't want to stay by ourself all day. So, we headed to Aunt Kelley's house. We stayed there for most of the day before heading home. I have some great help from those two little girls. They are going to be so much help for me!!!


Ty and Amy got to go for a tractor ride.

Waiting for Andrew Photos

Thought I'd share more pictures from the hospital while we were waiting on Andrew. The junior M.D. is Andalusia Regional's latest staff addition. I have to say, Dr. Clark was my favorite doctor!! Thanks to our sweet nurse, Tracy, she had him decked out. Ty was loving the extra attention! I think we have our Halloween costume for this year!

Andrew's Finally Here!

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! 2 Corinthians 9:15 Andrew Thomas Clark arrived Sunday morning, August 31, 2008 at 2:30. He weighed 7 lbs. and 12 oz. and was 20 1/2 inches long. What a precious miracle from God. We are so thankful to have this little guy here with us. Big Brother Ty can't get enough of Andrew. So far, Ty has been so sweet and loving to his little brother! We brought Andrew home from the hospital yesterday and everyone is doing great!