Three

May 19, 2005: Our lives changed forever. Our life as a couple became our lives as a family...of three. I thought we would never love anything more than that new baby boy. So cute, so sweet, so ours! Three months in, we had a new understanding of hard. How do we train him 'in the way he should go'? What if we mess up? Will we ever feel rested again?!
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I think we love him more now than we did then. Three years of joy, challenges, laughter, learning. He is so smart. We constantly glance at each other while shaking our heads, amazed at what he knows. He speaks in complex sentences, grammatically correct paragraphs...in the cutest three year old voice. He remembers EVERYTHING and listens to EVERYTHING. He knows more Bible verses than most grown ups. He cracks us up. He loves the number three. Three cookies, three stories..."I want three of 'em!" He loves his friends ('buddies'), his family, God and Jesus. He loves animals, trains, balls, books, puzzles, his Bible CDs, construction trucks, flashcards, playing outside, and snacks. He loves to sing...songs that he's heard or ones that he makes up. He is our favorite little boy.

Thank You, God, for the glimpse that You've given us of the love that You have for Your children. It sometimes is overwhelming how much we love this child and how we would do anything for him...You did everything for us. Thank You for our Gehrig.

Here is the story of him turning three:

We had his birthday party early on May 10th. Two of his favorite girls came into town for the weekend...Aunt Gretchen and his 'big girlfriend' Jessica.


We met at the park for Gehrig to play with his friends and he had a great time there until a storm came about an hour into it.

We were seriously low-key with pizza and cupcakes. So wish that we would've had time to get a picture with all the kids!

After the storm passed, a few of the kids came over to the house and played with Gehrig until bedtime. Boy, did they play hard and have so much fun. Had to post this pic of G opening gifts just to show how wet his hair was from sweating so much!

It didn't go exactly as planned (does it ever?), but Gehrig had a great day. In the end, that's what counts!

On the actual day, Daddy wanted to take G to the zoo. Again, he LOVES animals. Oh the joy! And to make a great day even better, he got to invite his friend Luke. Wow.

Checking out the bears and elephants...

And, oh yeah! It was Greer's first zoo visit! Her present to Gehrig was being a very sweet girl despite missing her afternoon nap and eating a couple hours late!

She is the sweetest thing...oh my word.

We finished the day with a big boy birthday dinner at Ruby Tuesday near the zoo. Hungry and delirious...

And chocolate cake to round out the day!

Happy birthday, G. We love you!! (Please stay three...)

Portraits With Two

We went last week for Greer's 6 month pictures and Gehrig's 3 year pictures. During naptime. By myself. It went okay, but we didn't capture the best smiles ever...especially with the two together. They are still edible...

I Love Technology

I lost all of April's pictures. "Card reader error." No luck getting help at Wolf Camera either. It isn't the end of the world, I know, but some fun things happened last month that we wish we had recorded in pictures.

Gehrig had his first organized sports practice. Yes, I am now officially a soccer mom! He is playing on the Upward soccer team at Wesley with his good buddies Luke & Mark. We are still working on understanding what the point of it all is! He had his first game this past Saturday and seemed to do best playing goalie...standing still and catching a ball coming towards him was much easier than running with a pack of kids fighting over one ball with his feet.

Greer is now crawling and pulling up everything. It's amazing how fast this has gone the 2nd time around! She is trying hard to keep up with her brother and his buddies.

We had a great trip to Chattanooga with Jenn & Madi to visit the Johnsons, Coopers & Owens. Thankfully, Jenn had her camera...see April pics on the right for the April pictures that she got for us. And we are going to try to download pics to the computer more often not to lose a whole month at a time!

I'm a Big Kid Now

Bottles to cups...check. Crib to big bed...check. Giving up paci...check. Diapers to big boy underwear...check. Gehrig's potty trained!

Daddy gets all the credit for working with him last week while on Spring Break. We've talked about it off and on since last summer and are so glad that we waited until now...it has been much easier than we anticipated because he is old enough to understand and communicate well and do most of it himself.

Now come the interesting trips to public restrooms while balancing a 6mo old on my hip and trying to keep everyone germ-free! Oh, and the long trips where the aforementioned 6mo old is finally sleeping and we must stop to go potty. And the calls at 2am that he needs to go peepee...can he stay in diapers at night forever? :) We'll figure it out and enjoy the small boost to the budget, all while mourning just a tad for our baby boy who is grown...

Hanging With Kijana

It's that time of year again. Spring is in the air, the azaleas are in bloom, and former Heisman runner up's with REALLY large calves are everywhere ...well, at least at the Augusta National. We were able to spend Monday at the course thanks to an invitation (B is still waiting for his from the club) from our awesome friends, the Owens. We had a great day and really enjoyed being able to spend some "non-kid" time together with good friends. (Huge thanks to Karen & Jenn for keeping the kids.) During the day an observant Chad was able to spot Kijana Carter, former All-American running back at Penn State and NFL athlete. If anyone is having trouble remembering, here is a refresher ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ki-Jana_Carter

Here are a couple of pics from the meeting.

Yes, they are real. Feeling a bit inadequate, Chad spent the remainder of the day flexing intently as he walked around the course.

A good day was had by all!

P.S. March pics are up!

Happy Easter

Slade

February: Baseball started...Owens visited...Madi turned 1...Slade...


We made a couple of trips to Atlanta last month because my brother has been sick since mid January. For those who haven't heard the story, you can find the recap at http://www.carepages.com/. (You sign yourself up with your email & a password and then plug in "sladesellers" to find his page.) Jenn & I are going back tomorrow to help out after his surgery today. Please pray for wisdom for the doctors, answers and healing for him. We love him dearly. We have been overwhelmed with everyone's love and concern for him and our family and trust that this will be behind us soon.

Psalm 91:2: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; He is my God, and I am trusting Him.

We managed to snap a few pix during the month...they are posted on the right.