Easter Blessings

Easter is one of my favorite times of the year. It is a time to reflect and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a time to remember that God so graciously sent his only son to die for our sins so that we could LIVE today. I also love family time and we often spend time with family on Easter Sunday! We started our Easter morning at Covenant with an awesome sermon and then headed to Jimmy and Kim's for lunch. Kim is an awesome cook and loves to share her home with her family and friends. I can't even begin to tell you all that she had to serve for lunch. All I can remember is that I enjoyed everything on my plate! After filling our bellies at the Evan's we headed to my Aunt Kay and Guy's house to eat some more and enjoy my Dad's side of the family. Once again it was great to see everyone because I love my family!!!!! Thank you Jesus for the awesome family and friends that we have in our lives! Most of my family had not seen Little Luke Allen yet. He was so comfortable in my Aunt Kim's arms while he got all her kisses!

Kayley was the first to hold Luke Allen. She absolutley loves all the cousins so its no wonder that she wanted to be the first to hold him. I wished she lived because she would be a wonderful babysitter!

Just taking all this attention in! Cousin Kelly had to get some of Luke's sugar too!

Cristan, Grandma Shirley, and Grandma Josie all admiring Luke Allen!

Bobby and Landon playing on the bean bag while waiting on lunch to be served! We all joined hands and Bobby said a wonderful easter blessing before we ate.

Family picture time! We are always in 100 different directions so I thought it would be great to get a snap shot of the entire family. I think we look pretty good!!

Ashlyn got this new swingset for Easter. She not quite big enough to climb on her own yet so Cristan was there to help!!

Ashlyn giving a big smile when she made it to the top! She is adorable

Luke Allen 1 Month Old Today

Well I am so behind on my blogs. I've got a list full that I need to post and the dates have already came and gone . I have had trouble getting pictures to download like they should and it has been frustrating! So I have decided to move forward from today and add the other posts as I can. I didn't want to miss Luke Allen's 1 month old Birthday blog! Can you believe it Luke Allen is already 30 days old. I had a great time with my camera today shooting some shots of Luke Allen and Landon. He already looks more growny don't you think?

Play time with Mama after my bath. He was wide awake and alert for over an hour tonight


Luke Allen already can turn over on his side by himself. Looks like he is just about to go over on his belly but his arm is in the way.


Me, Landon, and Luke Allen went for a walk around the neighborhood. Luke Allen fell asleep as soon as the stroller was in motion


Me and Landon dressed Luke Allen up for our walk. Landon thought this hat on Luke was hilarious

Luke Allen playing on his play mat before bedtime

To Grandmother's House We Go

Last week Me, Luke Allen, & Casey hopped in the car to take a road trip to Hickory, NC to pick up a changing table for "Girl Beaman's" nursery that matched her crib. On the way back we stopped in Burlington for Luke Allen's first visit to see great grandma and grandpa (Mamaw & Pawpaw) and a added bonus the Black's. Mamaw was so excited to be able to hold another great grandchild and Luke Allen felt right at home on Mamaw's chest. Millie (puppy) was a little curious and a little jealous that Mamaw was sharing her love with someone else but over time I think he just found another friend in Luke Allen! Here are some pictures of our fun day! Mamaw, Luke Allen, and Millie rocking in the rocking chair
Millie licking Luke Allen!

Aunt Patti getting some of Luke Allen's sugarLuke Allen relaxed in Mamaw's lap. He was awake the entire time that we were there.

Carolina Born!

The Carolina Tarheel basketball season has finally come to an end. Although we had a really tough year the Denton family has still remained faithful Carolina fans! I will have to say for me, my Pawpaw in Burlington is the reason that I am a Carolina fan to this day. When we were small I can remember going to visit my Mamaw and Pawpaw in Burlington for a week in the summer. Pawpaw loved sharing his Carolina stories and updates. I would always sit on the floor in the living room and listen to my Pawpaw coach and carry on from his recliner as if he was Dean Smith on the sidelines. Because of My Pawpaw's love for Carolina basketball I knew that I had to marry a Carolina fan. Bobby is as much a Carolina fan as my Pawpaw. His Grandaddy Denton graduated from Carolina and instilled Tarheel Blood in him as he grew up as well! So can you guess who Landon likes? Carolina of course!! Bobby taught Landon this song and when they play basketball together he always has to be Carolina. I hope you all enjoy Landon school spirit!

Luke Allen Coming Home

Luke Allen certainly made his grand entrance into this world a little earlier than expected. Because he was premature, the doctors wanted to be extra cautious and make sure everything was OK before sending him home. Needless to say Baby Luke extended his stay with his awesome nurses until late Sunday afternoon. The reason for his extended stay was because the doctors wanted to see him either maintain or gain his weight and they noticed a touch of jaundice which is usually normal for premature babies. (I think he just enjoyed his nurses and wanted to get all their loving before coming home to a house full of hugs and kisses!) During Luke Allen's extended stay I was fortunate to get a room that is provided for mothers who are breastfeeding called the baby/mama room. This room is free of charge and by what the nurses say is very rarely available. Although I was blessed to be able to stay along with Luke Allen and go down every three hours to bond with and feed him throughout the night, I remember pouting inside when the doctor broke the news that they wanted to keep him a little longer. I wanted Luke Allen home with Me, Bobby, and Landon. All that pouting did not get me anywhere but to the room where Luke Allen was staying. In this single room there were 2-3 nurses and about 15 very small babies. As I looked at each baby I noticed that several of them had been there for months and still weighed less than what Luke Allen did when he was born. Over half were still hooked up to some sort of machine and wires for monitoring. Wow what an eye opener this was for me. God was showing me through these small miracles what all I should be thankful for. I had a healthy baby boy and concerned doctors who would not just release my child until they knew for sure that he was OK to go home with his family. I love the way God works sometimes!PS. Please pray for each of those small miracles and parents in the Convalescent Nursery at Pitt Memorial Hospital. I know that God has his hand and warm embrace around each of them. Landon was asleep when we first came home with Luke Allen. This picture is right after he woke up. He wanted some of Aunt Casey's loving too!
Proud Mommy getting ready to carry Luke Allen into the house for the first time

Luke Allen's first experience in his car seat. The nurses have to make sure that you have are carrying your little one home safe and sound.
I just don't know what to think about this!!

Baby Luke Allen is here

Well it has been over a month that I have had time to post on my blog and I will have to say that I have really missed sitting down and sharing our lives with my friends and family. Well I am back and I will have to say that I would have never thought that my next post would be shouting that Baby Luke Allen had come into this world!!! As most of you know Luke Allen was not due until April 11th. He surprised our family with an early arrival on March 10th. He weighed 6.9lbs and was 19 inches long. (pretty good size for a 32 day early baby...don't think I could have handled him at 40 weeks) So a lot of you know the story of how Luke Allen came into this world but for those of you who do not I thought I would share. So I guess I should start with the night before Luke Allen was born. I was attending an all associate meeting with the company that I work for (US Cellular) at the Hilton in Greenville and our leadership team felt that we needed to start the night off on the right foot by doing a little dancing. I was not sure of what my part would be in this dance because all we were told was to follow the lead. Ironically we would be dancing to a song called "I gotta feeling that tonight is gonna be a good night!" Check out the youtube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfl1TjFfGaY that we were following (by the way I did not dance as hard as these people did..I promise) So after all of the excitement at work I went home and got into bed. Shortly after falling asleep I was awaken by a constant leak of my water. I thought to myself at 2 am, "this can't be lil' Luke Allen already coming into this world." I got up and walked around still trying to figure out if what I was experiencing was what I thought it was before waking my husband. When I came to the conclusion that surely Luke Allen was coming I woke Bobby up and called the doctor. Because I was not in any pain the doctor told me to meet her at the doctors office at 8 am so that she could check to make sure I was leaking amnionic fluids before going to the hospital and she advised to call back if anything changed. Well in a couple of hours things changed tremendously. The no pain turned into consistent contractions about every 2 minutes so needless to say I gathered my things (you know that I did not have my bag packed) kissed Landon and me and Bobby headed to the hospital around 6 am. As soon as I arrived to the hospital Bobby got me checked in and they took me back through triage to ask some crazy questions and to place these things on my belly to monitor Luke's heart rate. After answering the 100 question survey for the nurse, she wheeled me on to my room where Luke Allen would be born in a matter of about 4 pushes. At this point I was too far along to receive any type of IV with pain medication or an epidural so all I had for pain relief was to get Luke Allen out as fast as possible. I would have to say it is amazing how hard you can push when that is your only option for pain relief!! Luke Allen cooperated and came on out to meet his Mommy and Daddy at 7:09 am. His Daddy cut the umbilical cord and Luke was shortly in my arms. Looking into his eyes it brought back memories of when Landon came into this world. He had some similarities but at first he didn't look exactly like his big brother to me. He had some uniqueness about him of course, but definitely looked like his Daddy. Everyday I am so amazed at God's creations and plans for our lives. Little Luke Allen was not planned (by us) but was planned by our Almighty God. Both of my children are miracles that can only be explained by God Almighty and I am so blessed to have the family that I do!!

The whole family right after Baby Luke was born. Landon has been the best Big Brother that I could have ever imagined!!

Are you serious! I am not quite ready for the real world yet!

Luke Allen has his Daddy's eyes.

Keep me warm, I am supposed to still be in the belly!

Mommy and Luke right after Luke Allen was cleaned up and weighed

Mommy, Daddy, and Luke Allen posing for a family shot

Connor is 1!

I can hardly even remember a year ago when Connor was born! Time has flown by so fast and Connor has grown by leaps and bounds since he came out of his mommy's belly! Today we celebrated Connor's 1st birthday with friends and family at the Kessler house. It was a beautiful day to have a party. The kids had a blast playing outside and upstairs with Peyton and Connor's toys. It was so great to see all of my family, friends, and their kids. Connor attempting to try his birthday cupcake after his Mom takes him out of his high chair. Connor can't stand to be confined to one place for too long and especially with 40 people looking at him!
What is this candle and cupcake here for?

I love this shirt that my mom had made for Connor. It was adorable on him!

How old are you? How old are you? ONE!!!