Past Month

Well, alot has happened in the past month!  Of course, we finished celebrating Ian and Bonner's first birthday in all kinds of style!  We had the air conditioning in our house relocated from our attic to our basement, which was quite a chore.  However, we are really cool now ....  In lieu of that, we went to the beach for a week.  It was a great trip!  Stewart "accidentally" planted acorn and butternut squash in our front yard - to which we have picked over 40 butternut and 10 acorn squash this summer.  We have been busy getting ready for football season, of course!  Just a few days and counting!  Bonner is ready, can't you tell?

And, I created this blog - well, that just happened tonight but it's finally happened!

The children are doing great and loving life!  We have had a couple of big things happen to us in the past month:
1) We are very proud to announce that Ian has been selected as a Heart Baby for the 2010 American Heart Association Heart Ball here in Greenville.  It will be held March 20, 2010, so mark your calendars.  Ian will even be making an appearance.  I have emailed them his biography and a picture and the AHA will cast him and 2 other children in printed materials and make a video to be shown at the Heart Ball.  We are truly honored and look forward to celebrating that evening with our friends and family!

2) I enrolled Ian and Bonner into Mother's Morning Out on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.  There are only 3 other children in the class so they will almost double the class population!  Ha!  We are going to start next Wednesday so be sure to stay tuned to hear how it goes!  I will use these days to work out and run errands so that I can be in the office from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday when Gina will continue to keep the children at our house.

3) Both Ian and Bonner are taking some big walking steps.  We went to Stride-Rite last week to get them some new shoes and they have literally hit the ground running.  They are so cute and getting steadier each day.  I'll try to post a video (if I can figure out how to do that on this new site).

I'm also going to try and figure out how to post some pictures from the summer.  As I mentioned, we went to the beach the middle of August and both babies had a blast.  Ian wanted to chase every wave and Bonner wanted to inspect every shell.  And, of course, they loved the swimming pool.  It was a really great trip!  Here's a sneak peek of pictures -- they are in the gynormous chair at Wild Dunes out by the Pavilion.  I look forward to taking a picture with them in that chair with each trip so that we can watch them grow over the years!

It was during this trip to Wild Dunes that we journeyed back to MUSC; however, with much less anticipation this time.  This time it was "with bells on"!  We were thrilled to be visiting them "on this side of PCICU" and they were thrilled to see Ian (and Bonner) thriving.  And, of course, when we told them that we had collected $4,000 for them, they were truly speechless.  It was a GREAT trip and a WONDERFUL experience!  Thank you to everyone who donated and for those that have supported us along this journey since day 1!  We truly have the best friends in the world!

Stewart and I are off to Oklahoma City on Thursday with our brother-in-law, Glenn, and our two nephews, Josh & Matthew (both UGA students).  We are going out there for the UGA/Oklahoma State game to be held at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday (I think it's on ABC) in Stillwater, OK.  We are really excited and thank both sets of parents for being willing to babysit.

Next weekend is my brother, Justin's, wedding.  We are excited for he and Taylor and look forward to a fabulous night in celebration of their nuptials.

Well, at least the blog is started and I promise to update as often as possible; even if it's just a quick note for the day.  The bad thing is with this new website, I don't think that you can receive notifications when I update it so you will need to add it to your Favorites and read it each and every day to see what's new!

And, of course, stay tuned, because I am sure the kids will be excited that I have created something new for them to learn!  They are much quicker studies than I am, too, so they will have this thing mastered before you know it!  Love to all!  Jennifer

August 18, 2009 - from CaringBridge

Hey everyone,
We're back :-)  We have been so busy since our birthday that we haven't had a chance to update you!  We are so sorry, but mommy keeps us on a tight schedule!  We just got back from a great week at the beach.  It was better than our last trip because we could sit and play in the sand and the ocean without falling over.  We LOVED it!  Bonner loves to inspect all the seashores and I just like to wait and see if the water is really going to come back and touch my feet!

And, of course, we loved swimming in the pool, too!  We both love to "kick, kick, kick" our feet and "jump in"!  Mommy and daddy had a good time, too!  Mommy's mommy came down for a few days to take us to breakfast and see us swim and then some of mommy and daddy's friends, Chad and Sharon, came for a visit.  Everyone took good care of us and we had so much fun.

On one day (mommy calls it Friday), we went to see the surgeon and deliver all the donations to MUSC'S PCICU.  Mommy changed the picture so you could see the nurse practitioner and the surgeon that did both of my surgeries.  They were thrilled to see me and how much I had grown and how fast I can move!  And, of course, they were excited about the money.  We delivered $4,000 - CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?  Mommy and daddy couldn't believe how nice everyone was to donate to the cause!  Bonner and I thank you, too, because we know that the kids down there can use it!  I just laughed when I saw Dr. Bradley; mommy doesn't know this but I do remember him!

Well, we are still waiting to hear if we get to go to "school" this fall.  Mommy told us that they have one space but are still working on the other one.  Hopefully, it will work out because we love to play with other girls and boys!  Mommy is going to take us to a class at Gymboree and another one at Kindermusik, too, so we can see if we like that!  We better start working to pay for these "outings"!

Well, we think that's about it.  We aren't walking yet but we do like to stand and take a few steps to mommy or daddy's arms...or to chase Baxter!

Mommy told us to tell you that she will post some more pictures (she put a few here on the blog) from our summer and our birthday party for you to enjoy so "stay tuned"!

We love each of you and still talk about those of you that came to our birthday party!  We had so much fun and love to look at the pictures mommy took.  And, we thank you again for your support of MUSC and your love!

Love,
Ian and Bonner