Sweet Patient

Well, we survived Macy having tubes put in her ears 2 weeks ago. It was a very quick procedure, but the crying as she was coming out of the anesthesia is what nearly had us in tears. She calmed down once we got home and went to sleep for a few hours. She woke up as though nothing had happened. Let's hope this is the end of ear infections! Our sweet work family sent her a teddy bear with balloons signed "Your Eye Care Nannies".

Now she is back to her job of seeing what she can get into.

Happy Trails

Happy Days

One Saturday we decided to venture out to the Hattiesburg Zoo. It is a small zoo, which is good, because with the heat and humidity, we only lasted about 20 minutes. One of the coolest things was getting close to some peacocks that wander the grounds. That is, until we accidentally stood between a mama peacock & her baby.
I think Macy's favorite part was cooling down with an ICEE.She still isn't a pro with the sippy cup, but we discovered she REALLY likes Coke. We were in Williamsville last Saturday which consists of an old general store that is actually owned by Peyton & Eli Manning's grandparents. I think they even bagged groceries there some back in the day. You can get anything from a new pair of Nikes or brand name clothes, to saddles, or even bacon sliced while you wait. Anyway, they have the old fashioned Coke machines where you can still get the bottled cokes. We wanted to introduce her to this little treat, not knowing it would lead to what might very well have been her first word (besides "Mama" and "Dada").

You can hear our surprised little gasps as we looked at each other thinking "Did she just say that?" She sure can kick those little legs when she wants something.

Daily Adventures

Macy is always ready for a new adventure from the time she wakes up....

It may be shopping with Mama, where she gets aggitated sitting the "normal" way in the cart and must turn so that she can always see what is coming... Or maybe the adventure is a stroll around the neighborhood..

It may be going new places and trying new things. A little artist?

Or a musician? "This one goes out to all the babies!!"

She is a little less adventurous when it comes to food, which is why it surprised us when she LOVED salsa tonight at Mi Casita (don't worry...it was fairly mild, and she is half TEXAN).Whatever the adventure, we are so blessed to be sharing them all with her. Every now and then, something will happen out of the blue to make Macy giggle like crazy. We were out back the other night, and Charlie swatted at a mosquito. She started to cackle. Luckily, I had the camera on hand to capture the moment:



We can't wait to see what adventures we will share next!

Much love,

The Lukes

9 Months Old

Macy had her 9 month check-up this morning. She is 29.25 inches long, and 22 lb, 9 oz. The nurse asked if daddy was really tall, because Macy is so "tall" for her age. :) She is crawling everywhere, pulls to standing, points all the time, and if you ask where mama or dada are, she will look for the correct person. So much fun. Now if only we could get her sleeping through the night.

Her right ear still had a little effusion. She saw an ENT specialist Monday. He recommended tubes, but said there were a few things we could try first. We go back in 3 weeks.

Macy is quite the little flirt. She loves guys and will smile really big, then bury her head into whoever is holding her. She also loves to watch little kids. She was laughing out loud at a few in the waiting room this morning (while mama wanted to laugh out loud at some of the names of the children)! Hasta Luego!

Cousins

We had such a great time going home to Texas this past weekend. Macy loves her cousins! We got to see Avery for a little while, since Julie & Gary were "stuck" in Italy. Arden loves to play little mama, and I think Layne likes to have someone else be the "baby" that he can boss a little. Macy loved to laugh at Layne as she watched whatever he might be doing. Well, usually...

Macy was babbling what sounded like "Du-du" and Arden looks up at me and says "Macy just said 'what tha'"! It was too funny! I took Arden with me to visit with Amanda's family, as Belinda has a little one Arden's age. Her name is Mahalia. We were sitting around the table and Arden was talking to her. She said "Hey. Mama-mia. Mama-mia." If that wasn't funny enough, Mahalia later was trying to get Arden's attention and said "Garden! Garden!"

It was so fun to look back & see all the kiddos. This is how we roll...

Sisters (minus the poor lil' ol' sister stuck in Italy):

Stealing pens from cowboys:

Macy loved getting spoiled by Grandmama & Grandpa. She was really a "Grandpa's Girl" this weekend.

We had originally planned on attending the Wallace reunion, but it didn't work out. So we went by the Glaze reunion for a bit.

Macy did great on the flight. Everyone goes crazy over her red hair & blue eyes. Daddy sure was glad to see us step off that plane! Now it is just a crazy week of watching her crawl, pull to standing, babbling, playing peek-a-boo, etc. She is such a sweetheart!

Music to My Ears

Macy has been babbling "Da Da" for over a month now, along with some other syllables here & there. Today, I finally got what I have been waiting for: Macy said "Ma-ma"!!! We were in the store, and she was sitting in the cart. I was holding a "conversation" with her as I usually do (I think it is really just an excuse to finally talk out loud to myself without it seeming so strange), and suddenly she said the magic word! Everyone within a few aisles of us probably knew what happened too, as I was so excited. She said it a few more times with a smile (of course, by now it was more of just a "ma-ma-maaaa-ma-ma" but I didn't care). I called Charlie to share the news & he gave me a hard time saying he didn't believe it. However, he hadn't been home ten minutes this evening when she said "Ma-ma" again. Ahhhhhhh....I love it!!

-Joy

Oh, and here's another picture. Can't resist. She's focused on the t.v.

Independence Day

The title of this blog has double meaning. While we celebrated our country's independence this past weekend, we also saw our little girl gaining more independence by CRAWLING for the first time! Are we ready? I guess we have no choice! As of today, Macy will crawl about 4 or 5 "knees" forward. She is so fun to watch, and will probably be trying to keep up with her cousins when we go home to Texas next week! (Thanks for the little dress Johneen!)On July 4th we celebrated with our good friends Johneen & John. Johneen made an awesome cake & star-shaped cookies. Charlie grilled ribs & smoked a Boston butt in the Green Egg. Mmmm... Once it was dark & Macy was in bed sleeping, we sat on the back porch & watched the fireworks they put on each year in the field by our subdivision. Such a great night. Although Charlie & I often feel disappointment over the direction this country seems to be heading since the last election, this was a night to remember how blessed we are and to feel pride in our country's past. We still have hope for the future! May God Bless America!!