Forget Sirius Radio...

Around here we've been listening to Uterus Radio. :) We had a home doppler with Merrick, and decided to get one for baby Barron also. It's fun to be able to hear this even in between my check-ups! I'm sure this sound is much more exciting to us...but just thought we'd share! :)
(Sorry the quality isn't great...I couldn't get Blogger to accept the sound file from my phone so I had to try to record it to my camera and THEN upload it to my blog...)

All I want...

"Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more." - Dr. Seuss.

How true! Well...Christmas has come and gone for another year! I am so sad it's gone *Christmas is my favorite time of year!* but we had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends! This Christmas was so much fun with Merrick...who was definitely more into the wrapping and the tree than the actual presents. He was fun to watch, and not so fun to keep out of the decorations on the tree. (He only broke one I think) We had a little more time to relax and enjoy the time together this year also. We spread our many family gatherings over a few days instead of all on one day. We spent Wednesday night with Grandma Howren and the extended family, Thursday with Austin-Lee's family, and Friday with Billy's. It was great to see everyone! We finally were able to meet Billy's new niece Gianna...who is very adorable and so tiny! (It's amazing how big MY *lightweight* baby looks next to a 2-week-old infant! haha) We have been blessed in so many ways this year. (Even in the rough times: struggling to find a house, assorted ER trips, car problems, etc...God has always taken care of us in the ways that really matter) We've learned so much, and are looking forward to what this next year holds for us. I'm sure things will be as busy/crazy/fun as they always are around here! Merrick has grown so much in the last year, and we are thrilled with the new little one who is on the way! We hope that each of you had a wonderful Christmas as well, and that you know how glad we are to have each of you in our lives! Thanks for reading my ramblings! :) Have a wonderful weekend! Here are some pictures from this week:

HSC Game

We went to the HSC basketball game with some of the kids from church today. Merrick couldn't understand why those big guys with the ball weren't sharing. During half time he ran off under the bleachers and tried to play ball with the other kids. :) Here's a (bad quality cell phone) video of him watching the game with Billy. (And nearly falling off the bleachers right at the end!)

Dancing Snowmen

Merrick loves these singing/dancing snowmen @ Grandma's house! He dances to them for as long as we'll sit there and push the button. :)

Tacky Lights

These are a couple of pictures from when Billy, Merrick and I went looking at lights last night. I love Christmas lights, the more the better. So we went on part of the "Tacky Light Tour" in Richmond. So much fun! Go if you can! Sorry the pictures aren't great...next time I'll remember my real camera and skip the blurry cell phone pics. Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays so far! :)

Famous Guy

Billy's parents took Merrick and Leia to the parade last Sunday in Farmville. They had a great time, and we're dancing to the music from the floats. Delma told us a lady from the paper kept taking Wild's picture, and called us Wednesday night to say she'd found him on the front page of the Farmville Herald. Pretty exciting! I don't think he cares really, but Mom and Dad were proud of our little celebrity! Haha. :) Here's the picture!

Do you hear what I hear?

Well, probably not, BUT...today we had the priviledge of hearing baby Barron #2's precious 163 beats/min. We are so excited to announce the next Barron will be arriving July '09 (prayerfully safe and sound)! Here is a picture of our "teddy graham". That's what the ultrasound tech said it looks like. :)

We are so excited about this news...and hope y'all will keep our growing family in your prayers. We were so blessed with Merrick's healthy/safe arrival, and are praying the same for this little one. I am about 9 1/2 weeks at this point...and the due date we've been given is July 9th, '09. (Merrick was 2 1/2 weeks early...so one can hope. haha) Baby Barron is about the size of a grape at this point. For a person the size of a grape it sure is making me tired and cranky, and a bit forgetful to say the least. Preggo brain already. It's been very hard to keep the secret this long. I knew something was wierd when I stopped wanting to eat ice cream and was craving bean burritos and egg/cheese biscuits. What?! The things pregnant women eat. Billy is loving this, to say the least. Beans and cheese keep alot longer than a tub of cookie dough ice cream. ;) Maybe there are no midnight ice cream runs in the next 7 months of his life. Hope everyone is having a great weekend...but for now I think Taco Bell is calling my name. ;)

Time for Turkey...and Tennis Shoes

Thanksgiving/Christmas are my favorite times of the year, and as much as I hate to see Thanksgiving gone for another year, I'm thrilled that Christmas is on the way! I started playing Christmas tunes Friday, much to Billy's dismay. :) We had Thanksgiving at Mom and Dad's house this year, with all of Mom's extended family. It was a full house as always, and was so much fun. We celebrate on Wednesday, so we get to have dinner twice before all is said and done. It's nice to just relax and heat up some leftovers with everyone on the actual holiday. Wednesday Merrick also started officially "walking"! He had taken maybe 2 or 3 steps at a time before, but now is taking more like 6 to 10 at a time, and doing it all by himself! He still exhibits his stubborn streak, however, and most likely will not walk for an audience, or when I'm trying to get him to show off his new skills. (If for no reason other than to make people think I have really lost it this time...haha) I did manage to catch him on video...so here goes:

We are so proud of him...and decided maybe it was time to get our little redneck to wear some shoes. We braved Black Friday and went shoe shopping...and he hates them. :) He acts like someone wearing flippers when we put them on his feet. Sorry, son, but you've gotta get used to these things. Restaurants won't take kindly to a grown man without shoes. :) Hopefully this will get better soon! We hope that each of you had a blessed holiday...we're thankful for each of your friendship! Here are a few pictures from Thanksgiving day at Mom's, also:

Forget the turkey...

Apparently funds are so tight around our house this year we are having roast cat instead of turkey. :) Just had to share this picture of our ridiculous cat making himself comfie right on the table before thanksgiving dinner.

My address??? Oh its the ER.

It seems to me that I've spent quite a bit of time in hospitals, or Emergency Rooms...since Merrick Wilder happened. Granted they haven't all been his fault. :) When he was born, we stayed in the hospital for an entire week because little man had jaundice and was a funny shade of orange. :/ They wouldn't let us leave, although I did try. Then my husband broke his leg a few months later, and I had the pleasure of my first trip in an ambulance. The next incident I didn't actually have to go to the ER, but Billy did. This time he cut his thumb open changing lawn mower blades. This last incident was my sister's boyfriend, Cam. We were playing dodgeball yet again at youth group (how Billy ended up in an ambulance with a broken leg) and Cam took a kickball right in the eye. At first all seemed ok, but then we noticed his iris was turning red (yes that would be blood...ah!) and decided that probably was the end of dodgeball at youth group, and the start of our next trip to the ER. Cam is fine by the way...other than some eyedrop trauma. :) *deep breath* I thought I was in the clear and moving on...I told the men in my life to stop being goofy and pulling stunts. They don't listen. Today the guys at church were playing football (to my relief they settled for 2 hand touch...BUT couldn't resist and ended up playing all out tackle at the end) when one of the kids tackled his twin brother. That's when I heard it..."Honey we need to go to the hospital." My reaction: "WHAT?!" The kid who was tackled was laying on the ground with, what was thought at the time, to be a broken arm. I am a panicker.. But surprisingly in these crazy situations God has kept me from turning into a screaming mess. (I'm like one of those ladies in the old movies who has to be slapped back from hysteria...no kidding.) I calmly walk over to figure out if this trip is REALLY necessary. After some examination we realize that it's not broken, but could have been dislocated and relocated...not sure. So the game comes to a screeching halt and we decide to give it some time to see if it's ok. I find out after girl's discipleship that the guy's dad came and took him (yes you guessed it) to the ER. I am not sure the outcome of that trip just yet...but am hoping no news is good news. Maybe I could get the guys in my life interested in playing cards? Someone I think even that would turn into tackle. Feel free to slap me anytime. :)

8K!

Me and my sister, Amanda, were in another race this morning. (you're starting to wonder what is WRONG with these girls...so are we) This one was an 8K, and I'm very excited to say I finished faster than my goal of 40 min...I finished in 00:38:19. Yay! Little sister beat me this time...very proud of her! There are no races in our near future, thankfully. :) We have realized as much fun as racing is (and we plan to keep it up) we don't exactly fit in with most "runners". As much as I love running...not a big fan of guys in booty shorts, energy bars that taste like mud, or scraping off my own toenails so they don't get in my way. Ouch. So we will keep racing...but with all our toenails still attatched. Here's a picture of my running bib!

Pansies and The Giggles

So it's been a pretty busy weekend around here! :) We had youth group as usual on Saturday evening, which is always lots of fun. This is a video I took of Merrick on the way to Farmville...

Then today we had the first Concord Baptist Church volleyball tournament. So much fun! Lots of people came out, and everyone had lots of good fellowship time. There were 7 different teams...two from Longwood, one of the guys from youth group, several pick-up teams, and then there was...THE PANSIES. No...we didn't give ourselves that name. We have Wilson the thank for that. We *unfortunately* left our team name off the sign-up sheet, and one of the youth from church thoughtfully filled it in for us! :) Our team was made up of me, Billy, my sister Anna, her boyfriend Cam, and my twin cousins, Maureen and Hannah, and Sebastien. While our name doesn't really strike fear into your heart, we did manage to win the tournament, and were undefeated! :) Here is a picture of our team:

It was lots of fun; hopefully it will be an annual event at CBC. Then as if that wasn't enough physical activity for one day...the guys from church topped it off with a football game. I must admit me and the girls sat that one out. We just froze and took pictures on the sidelines. :) I think the guys don't like playing with us anyway. ;) Anyway, it was a fun/busy weekend. Hope everyone else had a great weekend also! On a sad note, though, Merrick has come down with his first fever. (Other than his jaundice stunt his first week of life, he's been blessed with amazing health...barely even the sniffles! SO thankful for that!) Please be praying for him, that he feels better fast and keeps his cute little germs to himself. :) Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Lightweight

We had our 1-year check-up today with Merrick's Doctor! It was not fun. :/ He's finally figured out exactly who a Doctor is and what they do when you show up in their office. It's all fun and games...until Dr. Kirchmier walks in. Here is a picture of Merrick playing on the exam table in his diaper pre-checkup. :)
The office we go to is decorated really cute...with little bugs and animals painted on the walls. Merrick loves trying to pick the painted bugs off the walls. (He doesn't get that from me...at our house bugs are trapped under cups until Billy gets home to save me from them. :) haha)

When the doctor walked in, however, Merrick got this very serious look on his face. Even before the popsicle stick was down his throat he was screaming. It's such an awful struggle going to the Dr. as the Mom. I know my child needs to have a check-up...but really want to rescue him from the mean Dr. who is poking him in all the wrong places, also. :) Especially when Merrick is looking at me like, "Mom, anytime now." We had him weighed and measured. He is just under 20 lbs, which puts him in the 10th percentile for his weight. Maybe we should start feeding him cookies instead of bananas. :) We were calling him our little runt when we left the office. But apparently he has enough attitude to make up for whatever he may be lacking in weight. :) I'm sure that he is glad he won't have to see Dr. Kirchmier for another few months. Have a good evening everyone!

A Wild Rumpus

Happy Birthday, Merrick Wilder! Yesterday was our little man's 1st birthday. It was such a fun day...kinda bittersweet, but so much fun. I remember waking up at 3:30 am thinking "this time last year I was in the recovery room after my crazy labor/emergency c-section". Merrick was completely worth it, and I'd do it all again. He's such a precious gift, and this last year with him has been the most amazing of our lives. He's grown so much, and taught us so much in the process. We had a great day with him, and with so many of our friends and family, who were able to come to his birthday party! We threw him a "wild rumpus" as we called it...after the theme of the book "Where the Wild Things are". When I was pregnant with Merrick, Billy started calling the two of us The Wild Things. (Merrick was a VERY active baby, and Billy had been calling me "Wild Woman Austin-Lea Girl" since we were in high school...so it seemed fitting.) We had a blast, opening presents, eating pizza and cake, and trying to avoid the inevitable 1-year-old over-stimulated and over-tired meltdown. :) He did great, considering he chose his birthday to NOT get very good naps. Go figure. I begged and pleaded with God to MAKE this child nap...some things are just not meant to be. :) (If there is anything I've learned over the last year...it's that children LOVE to do exactly what you would rather them not...) Seriously, though, we are so grateful to everyone who came and celebrated with us, and are thrilled to have each of you be a part of our lives. We are looking forward to what this next year holds for us as a family! Hope that each of you had a great Halloween. I commented to Billy this afternoon that this Halloween is the first of Merrick's second holidays...I'm sure that each one of these holidays will be just as wild and blessed as the first. :)

Did I mention I love Fall???

Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all. ~Stanley Horowitz

*Here are some pictures from a walk Merrick and I took this afternoon*

Dancing with the Aunts

I don't know what is more hilarious about this video...Merrick dancing, Ali singing, or Ali's striped socks. Haha! :) Dancing with the Stars has nothin on these guys.

VID 00058.3GP

Who knows? Maybe he'll be a runner like his mommy! :)

Not-So-ScareMare

Well...not in my opinion. :) We went to Scaremare with our youth group this past Saturday night. I happen to be the world's biggest chicken, and so I was very much dreading it all day before. I decided to be a trooper, however, being that kids half my age didn't seem to be so scared. I can handle this right? I mean, Liberty Students aren't so scary. :) So we headed out to Scaremare and went to CiCi's for dinner before. CiCi's was VERY crowded...but all 25 of us managed to eat and get back in the vans in time. We had signed up for the LineSlashers deal, so we didnt have to stand in line. (Kinda nice, but I have lots of fun memories of standing in line at Scaremare from when I was an LU student...therefore I didn't get any pictures of the kids in line) We went straight through the house, and had a great time. I was holding on to the back of Billy's hoodie for dear life, and had several screaming high school students, and my sister Amanda, climbing on my back. I nearly lost clothing and limbs several times, and was knocked down some stairs, thanks to Amanda pulling on me. It was a lot of fun, though, and we didnt lose anyone, which is always a plus when we take the youth group out in public. :) Merrick was left with Grandma for the evening, and was thoroughly spoiled as usual. He was awarded the priveledge of crawling on the table while he was eating, something I assure you he is not allowed to do at home. :) It's been a very busy, but fun, week around here. We are glad to see what this week has in store, and hope this finds everyone doing well. Here are some pictures of the kids from CiCi's...

Uh oh...

Merrick has started saying "uh-oh" ALL the time the last week or so...and I FINALLY got it on video. Here goes!

VID 00049

Wow...we have Grandma to thank for this! :)

Now that I'm out from under my pile of boxes...

Well...we're all moved in! It's been a VERY crazy week for us...so I haven't had any time to write. It also doesn't help that we haven't had the internet, either. Now that we've got that all set up I just wanted to check in really quick. We moved into the house officially on Monday. We were able to start moving boxes in on Saturday, though. We moved things all weekend, and I spent all day Monday unpacking and trying to start setting up. Let me say...I HATE unpacking. I don't like anything remotely LIKE unpacking. Things such as unloading groceries, putting away clothes I've folded, unpacking after trips, etc, are all things that I would pay someone to do for me if I was rich. I'm not, however, so I try to pretend things don't need to be unpacked. (What I can't leave the groceries in the car and eat them from there???)

Other things keeping us very busy this week included Billy being swamped with homework, and Austin-Lee started working for her Dad doing some of the bookkeeping for the Hanover Airport. I love staying at home with Merrick, and am glad I found a way to help pay the bills without leaving him. He tags along when I do go to the airport, and a lot of what I am not doing can be done from home. God has really blessed us, and never fails to take care of us. We are learning so much...not all of it easy lessons, but we are so grateful! :)

Merrick's first birthday is quickly approaching. I've been having a blast planning for his party. Can't believe it's been a year already! This time last year I was REALLY uncomfortable and feeling like I had been taken over by a wild animal whose feet were forever kicking me in my internal organs. Funny thing...I still feel like that. Merrick Wilder is...what can I say???...wild. We love him to death, and he is a bundle of energy. The older he gets the more energy he seems to have. I don't know how long we will be able to keep up. :)

Here are some pictures of the house...hope everyone is having a great week! Enjoy the fall!

YAY!

That's really all I can say about FINALLY finding somewhere to live! :) We are THRILLED. It's a house that we are going to be renting about 5 minutes away from my parents' house, where we have been living for the last 10 months. I think you don't realize how much you miss having your own "space" until you get excited about things like having your own refrigerator. ha ha. I am SO excited about this, as well as having my own cabinets. :) My family is huge...the fridge and pantry at Mom and Dad's is overflowing with things that probably shouldn't be eaten by humans, but my family does it anyway. :) (They aren't the healthiest of eaters...they think I'm a healthy nut because I run and eat things like whole wheat bread and salad. *gasp*) We are not sure the exact date we are moving; we are waiting for the previous renter to move out and the owner to do some touch up cleaning. But it should be this weekend or definitely by next weekend! Thanks to everyone who was praying for us...we sincerely appreciate it. God has blessed us so much, and is continually bringing us closer to Him in the hard times we don't exactly understand. Here is a picture of the house...I'll put up more later!Can't wait to have everyone over for a visit! I'll be sure to fix you something on my own stove. :) haha.

Also...Merrick is 11 months old today! He is so precious, but if I'm not careful he might be married off before his first birthday. He's already had several offers from eligible young ladies in the church nursery and on facebook. :)

Chick-Fil-A Tuesdays

So what do you think of when you think of Tuesday? The day after Monday, not quite the middle of the work week, the third day of the week, not usually a special holiday...nothing TOO exciting I'm sure. In the Barron house, however, Tuesdays mean a trip to Chick-Fil-A. Every Tuesday me and Merrick load up and head out to meet Billy for lunch at our favorite poultry place. :) We've been carrying on this obsession, I mean tradition, since we moved to Powhatan. Merrick has moved from the baby carrier in the booth next to me, to sitting in the high chair and eating at the table with us. He has even been spotted stealing waffle fries. (Is it just me, or do babies seem like they have inspector gadget arms...they just keep getting longer until they grab whatever they aren't supposed to have?) He flirts with all the other babies, employees, tattooed bikers, and old ladies (he's not partial) in the restaurant, showing them whatever skill he's just learned. (This week is clapping, and wheezing of all things...haha) It's one of the small things we look forward to doing together each week...silly as it sounds. So since Tuesday seemed to be kind of a loser as far as days-of-the-week go, we decided a little chicken goes a long way. Tuesdays will never be the same. :)
P.S. During the writing of this post...all of a sudden my computer cut off. I realized about 2 seconds later it was because Merrick was under the desk and had flipped the switch on me. I knew he was under there, but just thought he was up to his usual mischief of climbing over the file box. What was I saying about those inspector gadget arms??? :)

Travelin'

There's nothing like a road trip with a 10-month-old. :) Actually...it went really well and I can't complain. We just got back from a very quick trip to Tennessee to visit Billy's grandparents. We drove down with Billy's parents...leaving on Monday morning and getting back home Wednesday night. It was about a 6 hour trip with a couple of stops. It was great to visit with them for a bit. I had never met some of Billy's family, so it was nice to finally get to know them. We stayed at his grandma's house, and had a great time! She filled us full of her famous ghost stories, and tales about her crazy neighbors. (I went running one morning while we stayed there...and in typical grandma fashion she worried about me the whole time I was gone...warning me to watch out for "picker-uppers".) This was both of Billy's grandparents first time meeting our wild man, and he, as usual, has never met a stranger. He broke in all of great-grandma Barron's furniture with his teeth, and hung out with the goats at great-grandpa Barron's house. There was 4 generations of Barron's at grandpa's house...so we had to take a picture!This is Billy, his grandpa Frank, Merrick, and Billy's dad Tom. We got to tour the old house on Grandpa Barron's property, that was built back in1862. Both houses are full of lots of old family pictures, and we got to hear a lot of interesting family history from both grandparents. It was a quick trip, but it was good to see the family. We were all reminded of how precious time is, and how much there is to learn from the people around us.

5K and 4 Doors

Usain Bolt has nothin on me. Just kidding...:) But I did run a 5K this Saturday with my little sister, Amanda. We both finished in 22:43, and were really excited about our time. She finished 1st in her age division, and I finished 3rd in mine! It was a fun race. Towards the end she started to sneak up on me, and it ended up being a full out sprint for the finish line. If anyone has ever seen me sprint, you might have thought I was sprinting in slow motion. I'm VERY slow...but LOVE to run longer distances. :) Amanda is much faster, so she would have passed me had I not been ahead of her to begin with. We ended up crossing right at the same time, only she was attacked by the chute at the finish line, so she had the sympathy of the crowd I think. :) Here are some pictures we took after the race!

Another piece of very exciting news for the Barron family: We got a new car! We sold Billy's truck (much faster than we had hoped!) and got a Dodge Caliber. We are so excited to have a vehicle with 4 doors. I was getting very tired of doing gymnastic trying to get Merrick into the back end of my 2 door Honda. :) I think Merrick appreciates not being launched into the car seat base in the backseat also. Here's a picture of our "Merrick-friendly" vehicle:
We are so excited that God allowed us to buy this car, and look forward to all the miles we'll be able to put on it together! :)

Laser Tag!

We just got back from Laser Tag with the students from church. Kinda our last hang-out of the summer before they all start back to school in the next week or so. It was a lot of fun! Billy jokes that everytime there is a gun involved I (Austin-Lee) outshoot him...so about a year ago he gave me the nickname "Shooter". [He lost today, also, by the way. ;) haha] Here is some pictures from the trip!

Other news from around here...Billy has started back to school after taking a bit of time off. He is working on Greek for this semester. This could be interesting. :) Merrick is continuing to get into everything, but has been down with a little bit of a cold for the last few days. That hasn't stopped him from a bit of his usual mischief, however. Examples from this week include: eating toilet paper he took off the roll himself, tackling the cat and yanking out two handfuls of his hair, and crawling out the door of the childcare at the YMCA when Austin-Lee went to workout. Our life is never dull...:)

Our Trip to the Vet...I mean Pediatrician

Well...we had our 9 month check-up today for Merrick! (He is actually 9 1/2 months at this point) All is going well, other than the friendship between Merrick and his pediatrician. :) Merrick doesn't seem to appreciate the man who sticks things in his throat and ears...and pokes him in various places. Haha. Following Merrick's exam, and screaming fit on the exam table, we were sitting in the office talking with his Doctor, and Merrick was growling across the desk at him. Apparently we should take him to the vet next door instead of the pediatrician. I'm sure they see wild animals all the time, and maybe could even recommend some shots. :) The Doctor said he is growing well, but mentioned he's a little on the light side when it comes to his weight. He asked was Merrick really active...(Billy and I look at each other and crack up at this point, thinking active doesn't quite cover what Merrick is)...and says that is probably the reason. It surely isn't his eating habits...which involve eating everything he can get into his mouth. Whether edible or not. He's starting to eat table food at this point...and seems to love it. I think he's tired of his baby food...wondering why it kinda looks like cat food compared to what everyone else is eating. :) He got several shots today, and was our little tough guy, hardly crying at all. I think getting his shots done is harder on me than it is on him. He doesn't seem to mind much, and is rarely fussy afterwards. He's gone to bed now...he was pretty worn out from his battle with the Doctor. :) He's growing so fast...we're so thankful for every day with him!

Rodanthe, NC

Well we're back from Rodanthe, NC. It was a great trip...Merrick's first time at the beach! :) I have lots of great memories of traveling (and going to the beach with my family) from when I was little, so it was fun to take Merrick for the first time!

He did great...and as usual wasn't afraid of anything. :) He (and therefore WE) had a very eventful week. He yelled at the waves, splashed in the pool until he looked like a prune, crawled away on the beach, and did a face-plant in the sand when he took a dive out of his "pool". It was classic Merrick style: head first and full-out wherever you go...even if it's off a bed or head first into the sand. :) Here is a picture of him crawling away on the beach...

and him in his "pool"...

We had a great time hanging out with my mom's side of the family...and were able to celebrate our second cousin Avery's 1st birthday...she and Merrick are about two months apart in age, and had a good time playing together this week. (Minus a few pacifier stealing incidents and getting jealous of each other's food) :) Vacation with a baby is definitely a new experience...because laying out or playing a little volleyball have to be arranged around napping/eating schedules. And as we realized this week...babies get fussier than adults when they get too hot. :) We are glad to be back home, though. Hope everyone is taking time to enjoy this last month of summer!

Kings Dominion!

We had a blast at Kings Dominion with the kids! (Despite the fact that it was 300 degrees outside) Here are some pictures from the trip! :)

Now we are packing up and heading to Rodanthe, NC for a week. We'll post picture soon. Hope everyone has a great week!

Runaway

Isn't he a bit young to be running away from home??? :)
(sorry it's sideways...I took it that way on my camera and can't get it to rotate)

What's up with the Barron Family?

Well...now is that time of day when it finally is quiet, and there's no one climbing up my head, or my leg. Merrick Wilder Barron has gone to bed. We miss him already...haha. He is going to be 9 months old this Wednesday...and we are so proud of how fast he is growing. We just can't keep up with him most of the time. He is crawling (REALLY fast and towards things he shouldn't be into) and pulling up on everything. He tried to let go of our filebox that he was holding onto tonight and walk to Billy. He just ended up falling forward. :) He doesn't nap, mostly because he refuses to sit down , much less LAY down, in his crib. Here is a prime example:

He is hilarious, though, and one of the happiest babies I've ever met. People stop me when I go out to tell me what a flirt he is. We are having a great time watching him learn new things. Other than staying busy chasing a wild man around...we are keeping busy this summer hanging out with the students of 180 at Concord Baptist Church, where Billy is working as Student/Associate Pastor. They are a lot of fun, and we are having a great time getting to know them! Here is a picture from a pool party we had last Friday...group cannon ball. :)

We are headed to Kings Dominion with the students this Wednesday...so it should be exciting! Especially for Austin-Lee, who is deathly afraid of roller coasters. :) In summary of this kinda boring "info-post", we are having a great time right where God has us at this point...we are learning so much every day about how to live this life that God has blessed us with. Hope each of you are having an awesome summer! Hope to see ya around!

Not sure about all this...

Hey everyone! I know so many people who are old pros at this blogging business. So...we finally decided to start one of our own! As usual...I don't have a lot of time to sit in one place and write anything, but just didn't want to have an empty blog sitting here. Merrick doesn't give me a lot of time to sit still period. :) He's screaming just for fun and literally climbing everything in sight at this point. But just wanted to say a quick "hello" and let ya know there is more to come! Have a great evening!