First Annual Crawfish Boil

The Guest of Honor..... mudbugs from Louisiana!It's a lot of work to peel them but worth the wait.
This is the second batch that was made. 80 lbs total!
Friends and Family gathered around the crawfish that was laid out on tables in our garage. It was very cold out so everyone huddled together to keep warm.
Samuel's first Crawfish Boil!

Crawfish overdose.....someone put me to bed.

Mommy got a break while family friend, Mike, rocked Samuel to sleep.

Crawfish Cook Chad... now that's quite a pot to cook in.

Ant enjoying some Cajun Corn

Guy had the perfect t-shirt for the big event.

Siena and Mariah enjoying each other's company.

The girls were right in the middle of the action.

4 1/2 months old

Samuel now weighs 12 lbs 11 oz and is doing great. He is starting to sleep 4-5 hours at a time at night. yeah. His shirt says "World's Cutest Baby"....well of course he is.
His personality is starting to emerge. This is his Elvis look.

Samuel is a happy baby. He's starting to really smile alot and coo. You can tell he really wants to talk and laugh.

Grammy's 90th Birthday

What a little cutie! Siena in her party dress.

Great Aunts with their Great Nephews
Grammy meeting Samuel for first time.
Me and Siena Biena
The boys in there Didi outfits

The Welsh Gang

Sleepy Boys!

Mike and Emily

We drove to Houston for Mike's Grammy's 90th Birthday!!! Samuel slept the whole way there and the whole way back. He's a Road Warrior. He slept in between at the hotel which meant Mike and I go NO sleep. He's a little wiggly worm.. a very noisy one at that.

Happy St. Paddy's Day

Our little leprechaun.

Samuel and Mariah's baptism

Sunday, March 15 Samuel and Mariah were baptized at Saint Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Grapevine. The same Baptismal Fountain Mike was baptized in two years ago.
Baptism Buddies
Getting baptized is hard work.

Getting ready for lunch.

Samuel's Great Aunt DiDi made his Christening gown.

It is really beautiful.

His bonnet was made out of an old handkerchief that can be passed on to his future bride as her "Something Old and Something Blue."

God Parents Phyllis Catton, a dear friend of the family and my brother Hugh.

We are Mariah's God Parents.

Sam I am

Out for a walk with my cool hat on!

Snuggling with Daddy

My boys!

Extreme Makeover

Not sure if any of you watched the Extreme Makeover tonight. It was a great story about a lady in Keller who takes pictures of babies that are in the NICU at Baylor. It was really touching and definitely brought back memories of our time in the NICU. The ladies name was Amber and she took pictures of Santa with all the NICU babies while we were there. Her story is that she gives the gift of pictures to parents who have preemies in the NICU. Sometimes all they end up having are the pictures she takes of their children as not all preemies make it home. A horrifying thought. What a wonderful gift to give parents in their time of grief and need.

At home with Samuel

The happiest place on Earth!
Jackson.. my other son!
Our little sleepybear.

Playing with Mama.

Look at those cheeks.

The Three Amigos.

Samuel is doing fabulously. We'll know exactly how much he weighs later in the week but he feels like he is over 10 lbs, which is truly amazing. He is starting to coo and smile back at us. Baylor Grapevine has a NICU Graduate Program that Samuel is participating in. We went for our first evaluation and Samuel did well. Because he is a preemie he is evaluated based on his adjusted age which is his actual age minus 12 weeks (the amount he was born early). Based on that Samuel's adjusted age right now is 4 weeks old~ even though he was born almost 4 months ago. Physically he tested at 4 weeks old. We have to work on getting him to look to the left more. He tends to favor his right side. They also want his head to round out more. Developmentally he tested at 2 months and was above average on his feeding. He has no problem sucking, swallowing and breathing. Overall, Samuel is on track and they expect him to catch up both physically and developmentally by age 2. No matter where he is with his development it is a miracle that he made it through being born so early without any major problems. We are thankful every day.