Dear God, please reveal to us the next step of this journey!!

Marc and I are asking for prayers as we are about to make a very important decision that will definitely affect the future of our family. Marc will finish his residency in ophthalmology in June after 8 years of training... a VERY long road we have been on, but so excited to see what lies at the end! We have been waiting for this for a very long time and it's just one of those things that hasn't seemed real. I've guess we've just been so comfortable and "safe" while Marc has been training and preparing for his career that "reality" of life after residency has just seemed so far off. Marc has been searching for a job as an attending ophthalmologist for about a year now and the time is almost here for us to make a decision. He has had several discussions/interviews with practices in various locations and a few job offers. This has been weighing heavily on our minds for several months now and Marc has just felt this huge burden on his shoulders. He wants to make the best decision for his family. We have been praying faithfully that we will be able to see God's call loud and clear. Signs have been pointing very strongly lately to where it is we think God is leading us and we're so thankful for that! We are continuing to learn that sometimes God's plans are different from our own... just a continuation of our learning experience of bringing Mason into this world. :)

Once this decision is made we will feel so much better and that stress will be gone only to be replaced with new stresses, anxiety of what the future holds, and most of all, excitement! So, we are asking for prayers during these next few days and months as we begin our new adventure together. I am so proud of my amazing husband for how he works so hard at being the best doctor he can be, while never once putting that before God and his family. He juggles so much each and every day yet his love for Mason and me just grows stronger. I fall more and more in love with him as I watch him be the father he is to our sweet baby.

I covet your prayers, support, and encouragement! I will post our news as soon as we find out what it is we're going to do. I feel so much comfort in knowing that God has been leading us through this decision-making process and will not leave us now. He is forever faithful!

Happy 8-Month Birthday, Mason!!

Our little boy turned 8 months old on January 11, 2009. We cannot believe it!!! He is finally doing all this big boy stuff that we've been waiting on for several months now. Well, I don't really sit around and wait for him to turn a month older cuz it makes me the saddest, but according to Dr. Hain and the baby books, there were some sweet milestones that happen around 6 to 8 months old that we've been waiting for Mason to bust out with any day now. They're finally all happening!

Mason had been teething since about 3 months old, but we noticed even more pain and fussiness around the holidays. His first little tooth started peeping through around Thanksgiving and was really showing by Christmas Day. Well, out of nowhere, he woke up the day after Christmas with not just that one little tooth, but a second one perched up right beside it! I guess it needed a friend. :) I cried when I saw it and took him running into the brown room where Marc was on the computer. All of Mason's fussiness was suddenly gone. So, we're saying that around 7 1/2 months Mason got his first 2 teeth.

Up to this point Mason hasn't really been babbling any specific syllables. He has been going on and on about something, but no consistent sounds. Well, on January 12, the day after his 8-month birthday, Mason woke up saying "bah bah"! Marc was with him in our nursery and yelled for me to come in there. Marc had him laying on his bear on the bed and Mason was "bah-bahing" away! It was the cutest thing!!! He takes his lower lip and tucks it in (which he has been doing for several weeks now but we had no idea it was leading up to his first syllable!). It is just the loudest and most distinct "bah" you have ever heard. He mostly does it when Marc is playing with him. For about a week he would wake up from every nap yelling it in his crib.

Well, it doesn't stop there! This past Saturday (Jan. 17) Mason woke up saying "da da"! Marc was with him again. Mason's daddy sure brings out the best in him! :) Of course we were the most excited. So, now he talks all day long with his bahs and das. All of this is happening soooo quickly, so who knows what he will do next! I'm just waiting for the first "ma ma" as I'm picking him up and loving on him! :)

So Mason's big moves the last couple of months have been sitting up (this started at 6 1/2 months, around Thanksgiving), getting his first 2 teeth, "graduating" from the church nursery, and now using syllables. Not yet crawling, but this Momma is relieved for that! :) Marc and my mom have been working with him trying to get him to crawl, but he's showing signs that he's not really ready yet to do that. He looks like he's about to take off crawling, but then he just rolls over and falls down on his back, like he's exasperated at us for making him do that. Besides these things, Mason is also into some serious baby food. We started baby food jars around 6 months and he loves it. He still mostly breastfeeds, but once a day we'll give him one jar of veggies and one jar of a fruit. This is his special meal of the day that he so looks forward to! We don't really do the rice cereal as much, but we do give him a couple of bottles of formula a day. It'll be interesting at his 9-month check-up to see what his weight will be after we have been feeding him this mixture of different types of foods for a couple of months.

Here are some pics of Mason doing all of these big boy things! I just cannot believe we have this little person in our house doing all of these new things each and every month. It really is amazing how much they change. It doesn't even seem like I had a lot of those days when Mason was so tiny and would just nurse and sleep in my arms. That just went by so quickly and now here he is with this HUGE personality wanting to explore the world! Marc and I say all the time how much joy Mason has brought us and how happy we are when we are with him. Being Mason's mommy and daddy has definitely changed us in indescribable ways!!!

December 26th, the day Mason's second tooth popped out!! I tried to get a good picture of his teeth, but instead I got a good one of him pooping! Thank you. He was not wanting to show his teeth off cuz he was being stubborn, but I managed to capture his famous pooping face after eating sweet potatoes and green beans. Those would do it!

All cleaned up after dinner... Quality time with Dad! I love these moments!

Of course, quality time with Dad also means fitting in some good 'ole tv watching!! Marc took one of our old remote controls and cleaned it all up just for Mason! Remote controls and cell phones are his new favorite toys, so we thought we would start with his very own remote control. And he's settling for a toy cell phone for now from his Grandy C!
Ah ha! Finally!! On December 27th, Mason finally started showing off his sweet teeth!! They make him look like the cutest little boy!



January 11, 2009... Mason's officially 8 months old!!! Here little stinker is with Mr. Stinker.... Will Logue! Mason LOVES his Uncle Will! This was taken in the church foyer on our way to put Mason in big boy class for the very first time!
And here it is... Mason has officially moved out of the nursery and into the bucket seat class! Most of the other kids are around 10 months, but since Mason is sitting up pretty well and so observant of everything we thought he would be ready for this move. Our friends Mark & Tamara McLean are the teachers this quarter, but they were gone this day and Tim & Katie Chick were filling in for them. And my son is already making the moves on the older women!! He and sweet Caitlin Moore (no relation!) are having a serious discussion about their duckies. This started the second we put him in his little seat. He sure doesn't waste any time!
And of course Mason immediately spit up... Mr. Tim came to the rescue and jumped right up to get Mason's burp cloth from the diaper bag. Tim and Katie are such good little teachers! :)
Katie singing away about ducks
I think that is baby Claire Hudson in the background being so content in her car seat... But wait, why was she back there? I'm the most confused!
Mommy and Daddy so proud of our sweet little boy who is growing right up!

Happy New Year!

Hey y'all! I hope you're having a wonderful 2009 so far! I am so excited to see what this year brings! This year will definitely be full of new adventures for my new little family and I will try my best to keep you updated on it all! Please say some prayers for us as we embark on the next step of God's plan for us!!

Once again we celebrated the New Year with our closest friends in the entire world. I started this tradition with my high school friends waaaay back in high school, but after starting college it kinda became this collogromate (okay, NO idea how to really spell that word!) of high school friends and people that Andrea had became friends with at Lipscomb Univ. Then, as Marc and I started dating the high school friends slowly all started doing their own thing with hubbies and such and in all these different states, and our New Year's parties settled down to just this new Lipscomb "crew" of Marc's & Andrea's friends; people who I had started to call my close friends as well. This past year marked the 9th year to be with the same group of people every New Year's! It's now our set tradition. No question about WHO we will be with every New Year's Eve! Every year we do alternate who will host it. This time it was at Johnathan & Brooke Akin's home in Hermitage. We just stayed in and ate lots of yummy food, played games, did a "Dirty Santa" gift exchange, and caught up on what is going on in each other's lives. We all come back together the next day after waking up at 11 am for a yummy breakfast at Cracker Barrel; our favorite place to eat!!

We had some new friends join us this year and we hope they can now be a part of our tradition! :) Erik & Angela; and Matt & Kristin, it was so fun celebrating with y'all and I hope we weren't too crazy for ya! Hee hee! :) Love you all!

Uncle Cory feeding Mason his dinner... rice cereal and applesauce

Dinner #2... Uncle Erik giving Mason his bottle... the little boy isn't spoiled at all by all of his "uncles"!

Brooke, Carrie, Beth, Andrea, and me... some of my best friends in the entire world!! Brooke and me... love her! Together with our husbands we have helped each other get through some tough times these last few years. I'm so thankful for the Akins'!

It was way past someone's bed time! I made the mistake of trying to get our family New Year picture at 11 at night! Oh well, I'll know better next year!
Oh, I love this one of Mason and his daddy!

Happy New Year!!

Some serious discussiong going on during this new game we were playing... I can't even remember the name of it, but it was the most fun!

The Petersons' & Akins' scheming and coming up with some crazy answers!

This is Marc's and my TENTH New Year together and it is our tradition every year to show on our fingers what year it is.. It's getting harder and harder each year to do that, but our lovely assistant Carrie helps us out some! :)

Lovin' from my baby

Matt, Marc, and Seth doing who knows what...

Our silly husbands... oh, and they so wanted to sport all of their New Year gear, the wives didn't force them to do that at all! :)

Best Friends Forever!! Andrea and I have not spent one New Year's apart since 7th grade!! No matter where we are, we always make it a point to come back together again at this time of the year!

Matt & Kristin

Kristin and Carrie were good friends in Memphis. Kristin and Matt moved to Nashville this past summer and I've hounded them to join our Life Group at Harpeth Hills. Ha ha! I'm so glad we're getting to know them after hearing wonderful things about them for so many years from Seth & Carrie!

My Life Group girls... me, Andrea, Kristin, Angela

Checkin' on my baby and wishing him Happy New Year... Carrie and Andrea came up with me to check out the situation. I have no idea how he was sleeping so soundly with all that racket going on downstairs!

This moment may officially be my best New Year's moment ever! :) I am so blessed by this little boy!

Time to play Dirty Santa... oh, and dirty it got! Here you see Marc and Matt fighting over some gift card. Thank you. Marc was stealing the Longhorn's gift card from Matt that WE actually brought to the party! That is so wrong, Marc Moore!

Kristin proudly showing off the prize she fought so hard for and won!!! A little stake thing for your front yard or wherever. I got it at Christmas Village and wish I would have gotten one for myself. It's sooo cute!

Oh my! Carrie threatening all of our lives if we dare touch her pink tree bag given by Andrea! But what is Seth's role in this though?

New Year's Day.... off to Cracker Barrel after we all finally get up out of bed! And STILL flaunting our 2009 headbands! Even Mason is wearing his... along with his new sunglasses from his Uncle Jody and Aunt Christy

Let's try the Moore Family Photo again since it didn't exactly work out on New Year's Eve!

This momma and son were loving their new sunglasses they got for Christmas!! What is everyone trying to tell us?? Are they taking us on a tropical beach vacation sometime soon??!??! OH, please!! Marc COMPLETELY surprised me with these just as we were going to bed Christmas Eve. And I didn't think we were getting each other something!! I was in complete shock that my husband had bought me COACH sunglasses!! What in the world?!?!
I love my Carrie Rae!!
Mason with two of his favorite aunties!! They spoil him rotten!

On January 2nd (yes, still celebrating!!!) Beth had us all over to her parents' house where her, her momma (Mrs. Herndon), and Ms. Hargis fixed us the yummiest chili ever! That is another one of our traditions... for our crew to go over to the Herndons' for some of Mrs. Herndon's home cookin'!! Some of the best fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, and fudge pie we have ever had!! They started this tradition before I even knew Marc... when they were all freshmen at Lipscomb.

Here are us girls doing ANOTHER gift exchange... but this time we were playing nice! Us girls always exchange fun, cheap girly gifts. John & Jamie Burgess, and their precious baby girl, Audrey, joined us for this one. They came down from Morganfield, KY that day. They usually spend New Year's with us but couldn't make it to this one. We were so glad they caught the tail-end of our celebrating though!

Johnathan Akin holding Mason, and John Burgess with his baby girl, Audrey.. Just hangin' out watching us girls get all into our gifts
Oh, I LOVED my beautiful pitcher from Jamie!! It's so unique, but yet kinda Southern Living-ish looking!
Girls picture with our babies... wait, where are you going, Colt? He had had enough apparently! And Mason was getting there!


Mason with his Auntie Beth... we miss her so much when she is in Texas! It was so good to be able to see her over the holidays and catch up on her exciting adventures.
Oh, I'm so glad I caught this sweet moment! Marc and Seth (one of Marc's best friends from Lipscomb) with their most prized blessings... And Colt is telling Mason the biggest secret!

We all hated for our wonderful 3 days together to end! It was like we were on vacation or something! It is so hard to all get together, especially since we're so scattered... Memphis, Nashville, Texas, Kentucky... but we are so blessed that our friendships just get closer and closer as the years go by. I love you friends!