Right now I am ANXIOUSLY awaiting word concerning the arrival of a certain baby boy into the arms of some pretty amazing people. If I'm calculating right, Brayden Samuel should be getting a kiss on the top of the head from his Mommy right about now. Josh is being ushered into the nursery where he'll give Brayden his first bath while Mom recovers. Christi and Josh have had a year full of major hurt, healing and some overwhelming blessing. Through it all, they have been a blessing to us. I'm thankful we live in a world where news travels quickly. I wish I was in a waiting room at Norfolk General, but for now, I'll have to be content with facebook checks every thirty seconds or so.

Much closer to home, we're waiting on a phone call at any time to tell us that Miss Nora is ready to come. What a beautiful day for it! There's a crispness in the air and the sky is perfectly clear. Baby Nora is due today too, but showing every indication that she plans to stay peacefully curled up with mom for a little while longer.

Speaking of peacefully curled up...

This boy has been undergoing some serious sleep training over the past five weeks. When we finally hit it hard, we had a very difficult time. Listening to him cry it out was excruciating for us. Jonathan really resisted going to sleep on his own, but he's finally making progress. Last night he slept from 7:30 pm - 6:15 am with one waking period around 4 am that lasted about 4 minutes. Yeah Jonathan! We love this boy and he's becoming even more lovable now that he's getting more sleep. I'm sure he would say Mommy and Daddy are a bit more lovable now too! Mom still often rocks her boy to sleep for his naps and we still have our special time at night with books, rocking time and more lullabies than the experts would probably allow, but Jonathan is learning to put himself to sleep and to sleep through the night. Often I wonder if I don't give our little guy enough credit. He's a lot smarter and, I think, ready for a lot more than I generally allow.

My friend, Lisa, came down to visit just before the school rush started in August. We had a great time in DT Boerne and on the River Walk. Here are a couple of pictures from the pool!

Bop and Giggie came down over Labor Day weekend for a much-anticipated visit. They were able to come out for Jonathan's birthday in June, but Bop got very sick on the way and wasn't able to visit with the little guy. We were so anxious to see them again and thankful that they were willing to make such a long trip. For some reason, this is the only picture we got of that trip. Maybe there are more on the other camera. We've been so sleep deprived, we haven't been thinking straight. Sorry Bop and Giggie! We know Bop got more and we're hoping we'll see a few of those soon.

We did a lot of hanging around the house and a lot more eating. The only site seeing consisted of a trip to Cabela's in Buda, TX (South of Austin) and then back to San Antonio for Pappasitos. The route takes you through a section of the Hill Country and up through New Braunfels and San Marcos. We got to see our friend Alvin and meet his dad, William. Giggie and Bop bought Jonathan a couple of very cute shirts and a pair of shorts at Cabelas.

We finally got a new dining table. We purposely purchased one that would make down into a very small table or a very large one since we're never quite sure where or in what size house we'll end up. This table includes four leaves just in case we get to host Thanksgiving or Christmas one year, but without the leaves, it fits very nicely in our eat-in kitchen.

Jason relented and allowed me to have this darling bench to go with it.

Here's one of two armchairs.

I had been contemplating redecorating Jonathan's room in a nautical or cowboy theme and decided that all the beautiful Pooh Bear pieces that had been made for him by my Mom and Mrs. Anne (...who will become a grandmother again today!) needed to stay on display a while longer. There's no reason why Jonathan can't be a Pooh Bear boy for a few years. I'm not a great seamstress, but I can sew a wobbly line, so I made a couple of things to compliment what Jonathan already has in his bedroom.

Here's the picture that hangs over Jonathan's bed. Mom actually created this using some copies from an old book. She spliced the images together and touched up the color.

Here's the crib skirt I made that will eventually be his toddler bed skirt. You can't really tell, but the fabric coordinates with the quilt Mom made him before he was born.

Here's the quilt and pillow mom made him...

The pillow to the right is store-bought.

We've been using the antique rocker we bought in Salida, CO to rock Jonathan to sleep at night. Here's the blanket that Mrs. Anne made him and the pillow Mom made to go with Jonathan's quilt.

This is the hamper I made just before Giggie and Bop's arrival. I found the hamper frame (with a bag included) at a consignment shop in Elizabeth City for $6 just before Jonathan was born. Sure beats the $30-$60 they want at the department stores. I plan to save the other bag to use for another project I've got in mind.

Here's Pooh and the darling book that belonged to Uncle Aaron when he was a little boy. We're keeping it safe until you need it again Uncle Aaron!

Items like this Pooh Story Book were quickly thrown into laundry baskets and hauled to the back of the car just two days ago. A wild fire broke out less than a mile to our north and we were evacuated. We are so thankful that we were able to come home just a few hours later. The fires are out for now, but we continue to pray for rain in Texas. As you know, there are quite a few Texans without houses to go home to today.

Things just seem to keep getting busier, but hopefully I'll get better about getting pictures of Jonathan and updating the blog. Love to all!