Updates and Beyond!

4th of July pics; hosted my family for all their birthdays!

Cole giving the thumbs up after his ear surgery; Mom here was so in the moment that I completely forgot to take any of his cute hospital pictures (he looked so adorable with that little blue surgical hat on)!

The blessed day of Abbey's baptism (the pictures are a bit out of order but as you can guess, the first couple pics are after the baptism, hence the wet hair).

I just love that glowing smile on her face; that just says it all!

In the baptismal room before hand, sweet moments together with her Nana and Mimi there.

This was the worst moment for my camera to poop out, but it did; all the other pics I'm getting from a disc off Nana's camera.  Thank the Lord we had 3 cameras b/w all of us!

Girls trip to San Antonio!

Uncle Scott and Aunt Carolyn... new San Antonians (or something like that)!

Breakfast at the Guenther House

Abbey's 1st day of school... more pics to come.  The new world of 1st grade!!

I'm back!!!  I've been avoiding having to update because there have been so many major events going on in the Baker household this summer, all good things, some really great things... o.k, here we go!  

July 

*Celebrated the 4th by having my parents and brother over to celebrate their birthdays with grill'in out burgers and my homemade lattice apple pies; FUN and YUM!

*Cole had his 1st surgery, TUBES in his ears; this was to help his speech since he had large amounts of fluid in the ear canal... the kid was hearing as if he was under water, poor baby!  It was nerve racking for Mom and Dad to put him under anesthesia but the procedure was extremely fast, he did beautifully, and we are seeing MAJOR improvements in his hearing and speech.  Which leads me to...

*Cole has been taking private speech therapy lessons for a month already and we are amazed in the changes in his articulation; it will still be a while before old patterns are broken but we are so proud of how hard he's working.  He tells us proudly, "I wuking eely hard mommy!" (I'm working really hard) :)

***Abbey made the decision, completely independently, to get baptized!  She came up to her Dad and told him she wanted him to baptize her at church that Sunday; that she had already accepted Jesus in her heart and she was ready to be baptized.  Our hearts are overjoyed and there really aren't words as a parent to express those emotions; we are so proud and at the same time completely humbled to have a daughter with such a zealous love for the Lord.  Many of you who know Abbey well, know this about her and that she was in every sense of the word, READY, to follow Jesus in baptism.  Join us in praising God for His work in Abbey and praying for our sweet daughter as she furthers her relationship with her Lord and Savior!

August

*Abbey and Cole finished swim lessons and just did SO awesome at their new swim school; I'm so glad we changed to this swim school.  Abbey is swimming completely independently, doing the backstroke, diving, and all other fish like moves.  Cole overcame his fear of the water after 8 straight days of crying and now loves swimming.  He can float solo and swim like a little puppy for about 10 seconds!  The key now is continuing the lessons periodically throughout the school year.

*Girls trip to San Antonio with my Mom (Mimi) and Abbey; this was a fun little trip to see my Aunt Carolyn & Uncle Scott in their new home and have our last YAHOO of the summer!  We had a great time toodling along the Riverwalk, eating Mexican food and a fabulous breakfast at the Guenther House, helping my Aunt nest in her new home and seeing their property up in Kerville.  Gotta love those weekend San Antone trips; OH and I was thrilled that Abbey didn't beg us to do the Sea World thing... can you imagine in this triple digit weather?!!

*Lastly, and HUGELY... Abbey started 1st grade already, CRAZY, I know!!!  Not just that school started so early but I just can't believe that my baby girl is in the 1st grade.  This means homework, science fair projects, and getting graded on papers, WOW, I feel old!  She is just loving it already; her teacher is so great and she's in class with her best friend (icing on the cake)!  I just want to freeze her in time right now; she's growing up too fast!!

I hope all my blogging friends have had a fun and relaxing summer and that God's growing you and your sweet families more in His love!  O.K., now I've got to go catch up on all of your blogs!!