4 Months

It seems impossible that this little hunk is 1/3 of a year old.  But he is.  And he's a big 'un.

 

In celebration for him being such a big 'un, we had our first meal of rice cereal today.  He was a fan.

 He's starting to develop a fondness for certain things.  Like his brother and sister.  His daddy.  Being tickled and getting belly zurbits when he's naked.  And his bear.  :)  One of his favorite pasttimes is cramming Mr. Bear into his mouth. 

 

After much trial and error, we seem to have our reflux under control.  30 mg of Prevacid a day, plus tons of prayers and TLC have done the trick. 

 

We love this guy.  Judah Hill.

6

I keep hoping to relinquish my title as the worst blogger ever, but I continue to struggle with blogging regularly.  I didn't, however, want another day to pass without acknowledging the fact that this guy turned 6 on October 26th.  :)

 

I love him so.  He asked for ice cream for his friends as school, so daddy obliged.

 



A happier group of kidnergarteners could scarcely be found! 

 

Happy birthday, Levi Hudson Hill!

Fall Soccer 2012

Levi has been having fun with soccer this fall.  It's hard to believe as quickly as it starts, the season is over.  But then, that's not a bad thing either.  :)

 

Here's a 3-photo series of Levi's second goal of the season.  Mommy missed the first one.  

And my favorite part is the smile afterwards.  :)

 



6 Weeks

time is flying.

 

and this guy is smiling.  not always, but sometimes.  :)  and when he does, it's great!

 

he has a belly ache a lot, but it is getting better with time.

 



his brother is always smiling when he's around.  he loves him SO MUCH.

we're hoping that Judah loves him a lot, too...  they are destined to be great friends!

Praise

Well, I'm a little late blogging about our new little man, but it's been awfully busy around our house and blogger has not been my friend.  This little guy definitely deserves his own timely post, so maybe he'll consider 13 days after his birth "timely."  We won't tell him differently.  :)

 

We welcomed Judah Jackson Hill into our family on Friday, August 17th.  We are SO thankful to have him here with us. He is happy, healthy and much loved by his siblings. 

 

All who know us obviously notice we have given our children biblical names.  For us, it's just a neat way to give our offspring names that mean something.  Since we never could agree on any "family" names, we decided the Old Testament would be our starting point.  :)  For those who wondered:

 

Judah \j(u)-dah\ as a boy's name is pronounced JOO-dah. It is of Hebrew origin, and the meaning of Judah is "praised". Biblical: Judah was the fourth of Jacob's 12 sons.

 

We certainly are full of praise to have Judah here with us every day!

 

 

Since blogger has not been friendly about letting me upload photos, two will have to suffice for now.  Here is a photo of us in our going home outfit (Thanks, Ms. Amanda!)...

 

...and here is a picture of the whole crew right before our release from the hospital!  Thanks to everyone for your prayers and love for our family!

First Bus Ride...a Perfect End to a Great Day at School!

Yep, I sat on the front steps for 20 minutes...sweating in my pregnant splendor, listening for bus brakes and peering across the golf course for the big yellow bird carrying my first born.

I had to shed a tear or two when I finally saw it coming.

And another five or six when I saw this big smiling face running towards me...

It was a great end to the first day of school!

First Day of Kindergarten!

It's hard to believe this guy is starting kindergarten.  He was gung-ho and ready to go this morning.  When Scott went to wake him up for his first day, he found him counting to 1000 by tens.  He had been at it a long time.  :)

Shiloh was almost as excited as Levi.  We didn't know quite why until we realized she thought SHE was going to be staying at school with her brother. 

I hope his smile stays this big all day long.  Or all year long!

Seems like a long walk down a long hall for such a little guy...

Levi's teacher is Ms. Maisel.  This morning she showed Levi his cubby and where to put his water bottle outside the classroom.  I had planned to take a photo of him with Ms. Maisel before his first day, but he jetted off to play without even saying goodbye.  :(  But I'm glad he wasn't sad (like Mommy) and was ready to get started on this new journey in life!

Time...Stand Still!

 In a little over two weeks, this guy starts kindergarten.   I can hardly bear the thought of it!  The pics above were taken 7 months apart...he just grows too much every day!  Despite my reluctance to let him go, he's SO ready for "big school..."already reading lots of little books on his own, doing well in his math workbook.  I know he's ready to learn even more! 

This little monkey is growing too fast, as well.  The sweet, innocent, baby-faced girl on the left is now an independent, opinionated, dramatic 2.5 year old!  Eeek~!

Even more changes await us, as Baby Hill is due in less than 5 weeks...EEK is right!

Swimmin' 2012

Learning to post using the new blogger has been difficult.  Well, not really "difficult," but time consuming.  And summer has had us busy with lots and lots of things.  Like swim lessons.  :)

Levi and Shiloh are both doing great this year!  We finish up our last week of lessons next Thursday and hopefully I'll have some good video of both the little fishies swimming all around by the end of the week.  Until then, I just couldn't help but post these sweet pics of Levi encouraging Shiloh to climb out of the pool.  He's really a great big brother. 

The Computer Ate My Photos (and various other excuses)

It's been quite a while since I blogged. Or admittedly, read any blogs. We have been having horrific computer issues and thus, the unavailability of photos has...well...hindered my photo sharing. :) But I'm limping through to share a few of my favorite photos from our trip to the beach.

Who can resist a sweet photo with daddy in the surf at dusk? 

And a few shots of our first visit to the surf...

(doesn't Levi look like a surfer dude here?)

Shiloh was smitten by the waves...

And the seagulls...  :)

And daddy is just smitten by these two...as it should be.

Before and After

I don't have much of a creative streak, but pinterest has been inspiring me lately. If only the inspiration were in areas of fashion, cooking and house cleaning. Heheh.

Anywhoo.

$17 coffee table from the thrift store +


can of chalkboard paint=a fun chalk table for the littles! :)
They christened it this morning! Then Shiloh decided the chalk was really meant to be used as lipstick and we had to put it away. Oh, well.

Who Loves Papaw?

This girl. And he loves her, too. :)

What Do You Do...

to celebrate your son's birthday when he is in Heaven? When he would be four years old and you miss him terribly, long for his presence on earth, and desperately wish he could celebrate with his siblings?

Well. You wipe away your selfish tears and take the party to him.

You visit his grave with flowers.

You bring him balloons.

Then you send em to heaven where he can have them at his party there... :)

...and you watch intently as they disappear behind the clouds to make absolutely sure he gets them.

After you do all this, you go home and have birthday cake. :)

The Face of the Earth and 17 Weeks

I've pretty much fallen off of it. At least as far as blogging goes. Things have just been so busy for the past month or so. Scott has been working 70-80 hours a week in the heat of tax season. I look forward to more time with him after April 17th. :) The kids spent spring break with Nanni and Papaw so mommy could work and get extra tasks done around the house. We are busy gearing up for March for Babies in a little over a month. Things are just NUTTY.

I am now 17+ weeks pregnant. Next week we go for our high resolution ultrasound and visit to the perinatologist. It's a pretty anxious time for me, since this is the big ultrasound where your baby gets examined with a fine-toothed comb. Would you pray with us for the health of our little one? Thanks in advance. :)

Did You Know?

...that in an average week in Mississippi, 864 babies are born? Of that number, 138 are born to teen mothers, 156 are born prematurely and 102 are considered "low birth weight." 9 of the babies born in an average week do not make it to their first birthday.

The map below demonstrates that Mississippi is last in the nation in regard to so many of these issues. Sadly, the efforts of the March of Dimes in fundraising in Mississippi don't even allow them to keep their doors open in our state. Instead, the national organization pumps funding into our state to help FIGHT these horrible statistics!

Could you help in supporting the efforts of the March of Dimes in our state? Please consider a donation to Team Aaron's Heart or the March of Dimes this year to help babies get a healthy start!

www.marchforbabies.org/aaronsheart

Happy Birthday Aaron Hill...

Where I Unabashedly Beg for Walkers and Offer BRIBERY

Okay, March for Babies happens in 72 days! And Team Aaron's Heart only has 3 registered walkers! SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...from now until March 1st, I am offering every person who registers to walk on our team AND buys an Aaron's Heart tshirt a free $10 *Bop's gift certificate!

Please only register if you really plan to walk. :)

Let the registration and fundraising begin!

www.marchforbabies.org/aaronsheart

*to be used only at Bop's in Flowood.

Please Tell Me You Sent Angels...

Sometimes I'm not a spiritually sound person. I like to think I am. But I'm not. There, I said it. It almost feels better, but not really.

There's been a ton of heaviness in my heart over the past several days. It's almost too difficult to put into words. Every time I hear of a horrible tragedy in the world, I secretly ask God, "what is the POINT in all this?" Why did Susan Smith send her van into a lake with her young children strapped inside? Why did crazy Josh Powell bludgeon his young sons and torch his home? Why did you LET that happen? Why do seemingly innocent children and babies have to suffer pain, illness or abuse at the hands of those who supposedly "love" them? What were these poor children thinking as they suffered catatrophically at the hands of those in charge of them? You could've stopped it, God. So, why didn't you?

I don't have any answers. I trust that one day I will understand the reason for pain and suffering. Why it all relates to the fall of man. But until then, I pray fervently for comfort for these little ones. Please tell me you sent angels, God, to hold Charles and Braden before their father killed them. Please tell me you send them every time. Please tell me they have no memory of that pain and suffering in Heaven. Until then, I'll await the answers to the hard questions when I meet You face to face.

Team Aaron's Heart 2012!

Hello everyone! I'm very excited to say that our Team Aaron's Heart shirts are ready for order for 2012! March for Babies will take place on Saturday, April 28, 2012, at our state capitol.

This year Melessa at Oneway Promo came up with a new design for our shirts and we LOVE it. The back of the shirts will look like this.

The front pocket design will stay the same as our "official" Team Aaron's Heart logo. :)

This year, we're asking for an $18.00 donation for each shirt. We will have adult and youth sizes available and I will be glad to mail shirts to you for an additional $5. EVERY BIT of the proceeds from the sales of the shirts will go to the March of Dimes. We will take orders by paypal (see the "buy now" button at the top, right hand corner of my blog) or by check. If you'd like to mail me a check for your shirt order, shoot me an email at faith.hill.ms@gmail.com and I'll send you my address.

Also, please remember these shirts are A PRE-ORDER. That means I will not have them available for you until I've closed orders and submitted our one big order to the printer. I'll keep everyone posted on that date as the orders come in.

Also, if you would like to sign up to walk with our team on April 28th, we would be honored to have you walk with us in memory of Aaron! Our team page is www.marchforbabies.org/aaronsheart. Feel free to sign up and help the March of Dimes give babies a healthy start!

Hill Family News

Just in case you hadn't heard...

...we are adding to our family!

Well, Well, Well...

Somebody turned two and I forgot to blog about it. Well, for a few days anyhow. Or two weeks. But who's counting?

Here are some of the important things in the world of Shiloh Hill.

She loves to wash her daddy's hair over the side of the bathtub at bathtime. She LUBS her BWUDDER. "Wevi...where are you? Wevi, here's your shoes..." She loves to talk to her bwudder about anything. Oftentimes, he's the first person she calls when she wakes up in the morning.

However, she doesn't always like to share with him.

We've been working on potty training. Some successes...many failures. Recently, while at Nanni's house, Shiloh discovered the joys of filing her feet while sitting on the throne.

She worked at it for quite a long time. :)

Shiloh's favorite foods are "sketti," "chuggets," and "top tarts." And any type of candy or gum she can get her hands on. She loves to play with sand and every day she climbs into our bed and says "wet's watch Dowa."

She's a fun little person to be around. :)

Revisiting Grief

It's hard to let my mind go back to the days and weeks immediately following the death of my son. While the healing in my heart and life has been nothing short of miraculous over the past few years, revisiting the early days is terrible. As I prayed this morning for a couple walking this same painful road, I had to put myself back in that place to remember their needs. It's difficult to let myself remember the severe physical pain. How there never seemed to be enough air in the room to breathe. How it seemed so wrong that the world kept turning, uninterrupted, when our world had crumbled beneath us. Every morning after a night of fitful sleep and dreams you wake up praying it was all just a nightmare. All the awkward conversations with those who just didn't know what to say. Breasts aching to nurse the son you will never hold again in this world. Why would I want to go there again?

A sweet young couple from Brandon is living this nightmare. Monday morning they held their 4 month-old son and Monday night he was gone. I do not know the Bowens, but I hope to meet them soon. As a new grieving mother in 2008, there was so much comfort in talking with others who had walked the road before me, even those who were just a few steps ahead. I pray the Lord will allow Scott and I to somehow offer comfort to Maren and Brandon as they begin to navigate the pits of despair that follow the loss of a child. If you are a praying person, I would ask you to pray for comfort for this family in the weeks and months that follow. If you know them, tell them you are praying for them. Speak their son's name to them, for the sound of it will always be beautiful to hear.

Christmas Morning 2011

Headed downstairs at 6:30...Levi speculates, "I'll bet nobody else in the country is awake." Me, "I bet you're right, buddy."

We had to wake Shiloh up. Can you tell? :)


But after getting a new baby from Santa and a pink sucker, she was ready to go.

Shiloh got daddy and brother MSU shirts. What was I thinking?

Christmas evening we had all our family over for gumbo and crawfish bisque. It was an awesome fun time for everyone. Playing with new toys and giving and receiving hugs. Exactly the kind of celebration we wanted for Jesus' birthday. :)

We had an awesome birthday cake for Jesus for dessert and sang "Happy Birthday" 3 times at Shiloh's request. Didn't manage to get a photo of the cake before we ate it. Oops!