Hospital Picture

Baby Brother's first professional picture!

This morning.

I have the best husband. We have been doing night duty on shifts. It is really working out good. I told him that there is no need for us both to be up. Last night, Henry and I went to bed and Steve and Buzzy went to bed. We are alternating nights with Buzzy too. He wanted me to lay down with him last night, but I told him it was Daddy's turn and he was okay with that!

Anyway, Steve got up at 5:00 to take over with Henry. He said Buzzy got up at about 7:30 and took over the recliner. Steve took this picture of his boys sleeping, kind of, together this morning! Steve never takes pictures, so I was so excited that he did!

This was after his first "bath" last night. He was not too happy while he was getting bathed, but as soon as he was wrapped in that towel, he cheered up. MiMi has been such a huge help. She hasn't stayed at night, but she's kept the laundry washed and put away and kept our bellies full. We all laughed Friday when MiMi said that to get a meal around here, you have to have a baby! She hasn't been cooking lately and we were like locust bugs eating the crops! We devoured the pork chops, fried potatoes, corn on the cob, and mac and cheese! Then we had watermelon and strawberries for dessert! She fixed sloppy joes for us yesterday and has a chocolate pie at home for tonight! I can handle having babies if it comes with a personal chef!

Settling in

Our first night at home was a refresher course for me! Finally at 4 am I decided to use my instincts and he slept from 4:30 until 8:00! I think tonight will be much better, since my instincts have decided to return! This is all that he does! Sleeps and eats. Quite the opposite of his brother at 3 days old!

Buzzy showing off his new shirt. This is Daddy's race car number. We went to the ear Dr. this morning. We all went. Mimi drove us and sat in the car with Henry while Buzzy and I went to see Dr. Mumford. She said that his ears already look so much better.

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for giving us a little space. I told K that I'm going to set a cooking timer by the door and when it goes off, I'll tell whoever is here that their time is up! I don't think I'll be that bad, but it has been nice having the space to get settled in. We are all tired still, but that's to be expected, but I think we are ALL adjusting just fine!

Homecoming

We haven't gotten to use the moses basket much. We can't keep the big baby out of it!

First car ride.

Buzzy helped when I fed him. He held the bottle and then helped me with the burping!

Meet Jack Henry!

Meet Jack Henry Ashley. He was born on Tuesday, June 24 at 1:31 pm.He was 8 lbs. 4 oz. and was 19 1/2 inches long. He is such a sweet boy! I can't decide who he looks like. What does everyone think?

This was shortly after he was born.

Buzzy warmed up on Wednesday night and finally touched his brother for the first time. He did better when he didn't have an audience. He had to approach Baby Brother on his own terms!

This was as close as Buzzy would get on Tuesday night. The more everyone insisted he sit next to him, the farther away he got.

Fishing Buddies

Buzzy loves fishing. He wanted to go in the rain yesterday. Then he wanted to take his pole to Beech Bend so he could fish in the river while Daddy raced. Steve took him this afternoon. They went to Rural King first to get a new battery for the trolling motor and then to Uncle Lee's for some tackle. Buzzy came home so excited because he got a new Jeff Gordon fishing pole! It's a regular size one, not a kids pole. They had a bag full of lures too. Steve just drives around with the fishing boat in the back of his truck. Gosh, how Kentucky is rubbing off on him!!

We Are Nesting

Buzzy helped vacuum the sunporch today. He had to wear his ear muffins. The vacuum was too loud for his liking!

Afternoon

Mimi asked Buzzy what he wanted her to bring him after he had his tubes put in his ears. His first request was bologne, oreos, fresh milk, balloons, and a toy. She brought the balloons, but didn't make it for the rest of the stuff, so she gave him money instead. He and I had to go to Wal-Mart to get a few things and he picked out this Nascar slip & slide! It has two lanes, so he thought it would be perfect for him and Daddy!

You know that your child has a good Daddy when he stops working on his race car to come slip & slide with his little boy. He went to practice his car on Tuesday and was not happy at all with the results. He came and played with Buzzy instead of working on his car. Is that a good Daddy or what? I don't think he's in any hurry because the weather channel is showing rain for Friday, so he probably won't race anyway.

Kate and LeeAnn came to visit tonight as well as K and Tommy. K hasn't met Kate yet and I think she kind of liked her! I can't wait for K to have a baby! She thinks my belly is repulsive, so I can't wait to torment her someday!

It's official. Pappy has adopted LeeAnn as his third daughter! I now have two sisters!!! I think he just wants a granddaughter!

Drunken Buzzy

I have only seen my husband highly intoxicated once in our soon to be 9 years together. This brings back memories of that evening! Buzzy had tubes put back in his ears on Wednesday. They gave him a little something to calm him before he went back for the procedure and it had quite an effect on him. Steve and I laughed and laughed at him. He has been a new Buzzy since we came home. He's been agreeable and pleasant and he can hear so much better. Thank goodness for Dr. Mumford!

University of Tennessee Chicken House

Steve's Dad built Buzzy a chicken house for his birthday. I showed him one that we liked on the internet and this is what he came up with. We started painting it on Tuesday. I learned that I HATE painting! We got all of the orange on and one side of white! It was an all afternoon project. Buzzy supervised more than he painted, which wasn't such a bad thing!

I wanted to paint it white with green trim, but since it's Buzzy's I had to let him pick the trim color. Guess what he picked. When I stood back to look at it the first thought that came to mind was how much it looked like a UT chicken house! It will be cute when we are done. Just don't know how soon that's going to be! We are going to move it to the other end of the house. Our roosters start crowing a little before 5 in the morning and they are just past mine and Steve's bedroom window. Not a good wakeup call!

Happy Father's Day!

"Any man can be a father but it takes someone special to be a dad." - Anne Geddes

"He didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it."

-Clarence Budington Kelland

Congratulations Mrs. Lear!!!!

Isn't this who you would want teaching your child?? K got her first "media specialist" job this week. That is a librarian in old terms! She will be working in Daviess County. I am so happy for her! She had worked so hard to get her degree and she stresses over EVERYTHING!

She had to take some sort of test on Saturday and missed Buzzy's birthday party. She came by afterwards to see him. She kept saying this was the first party that she has missed, but it's okay, K! Just think of all the time you will get to spend with him during the summer now!!!!! I can't wait! Congratulations!! I am so proud of you!

Birthday Party #2

I think there were 40 kids here today. No really about 20, I think. That little pool at the bottom of the slide was quite full most of the day! I'm not sure who had more fun, the kids or the "big" boys aka Steve & Brad! There were a couple of children that didn't slide. They just hung out and ate. The slide was at MiMi's at 7:30 and ready for action at 8:00. Buzzy was in it from 8:00 until about 2:00 this afternoon. He is so tired - thank goodness!! I didn't know how many would show up since it's summer and Father's Day weekend, but we had quite a crowd!

Kate and her Momma came today and stayed all afternoon. Steve was refreshed on holding a baby. He is such a natural! Kate is the sweetest little girl.

Buzzy on the slide. That's Stevie's leg in the background. It got a little rowdy and we had some bees caught in the netting, so Daddy came to the rescue. He had to hang onto a couple of kids because they were crashing into each other at the bottom. He would hang onto them until the pool was clear and then they were gone!

Buzzy before he hit the water once.

Buzzy had sparkler candles and they WOULD NOT blow out! He blew and blew and blew. We had two cup cake cakes - 48 cupcakes, and I think after everyone left we had 5 or 6 cupcakes left!

Ain't she the sweetest little darling! All she does is sleep. I just love her!

Last T-Ball Game

Guess who.

Buzzy was so proud of his trophy! He played really good. He was the lead off hitter the whole game. They only got to play 3 inning, because there was a storm in the distance. He told us that this was "the first trophy I've ever got in my life." He was so proud of it and we are going to hang a shelf over his bunk to put it on. He had to show it to everyone at his birthday party today.

Bunk Beds

Buzzy is enjoying his new bunk beds. He and Daddy have become roommates. He likes Steve to sleep on the bottom and, of course, he's on the top! I slept in there with him last night and everytime he moved, I had to get up and check on him. I'm too nervouse to sleep in there with him! I'm afraid he will fall, eventhough he's probably 5 inches below the rail! He loves them and there is so much more room for him to play in the floor now.

Such a happy boy!

Meet Kate

Meet Edith Kate. She is the daughter of Grant and LeeAnn. She is the sweetest little girl. I told LeeAnn that if Henry isn't good, I am going to switch them out until she can get him to be good like Kate! They came to visit Saturday and I had to take her picture. I just love her to death. I just want to hold her and look at her. I can't wait until Henry is here and I think he is beginning to feel the same way. My stomach looks like it has a giant catfish flopping around in it! It's beginning to get uncomfortable and I am READY for this to get going! Just a few more weeks, I hope!

Happy Early Birthday To Buzzy

Buzzy had an early birthday party with Grandmother, Papa Steve and Ninnie at the camper over the weekend. They came on Friday and brought Buzzy his chicken house - pictures of that later. It is the neatest thing! If we get tired of the chickens, it's big and nice enough to be a play house. Buzzy helped put it together and tried to put Grandmother's eye out with a nail! Luckily she's quick and flinched just enough that it hit her cheek. He wanted a piece of Ninnie's birthday cake before the race, so we went ahead and lit the candles for the pictures, eventhough he didn't get to open his gifts until Saturday!

He was SO EXCITED to finally open his presents! He about drove me batty on Friday night wanting to open "just one!" He got some foam blocks and money from Ninnie, money from Jerre, a nerf assault gun from Uncle Ryan - believe me it will assault you!, and the chicken house and a giant badminton set from Grandmother and Papa Steve. Me and Steve got him a new Rocket shooter fishing pole. He broke the one he had from the lake house. He was so excited over all of his gifts. Needless to say, I have just now got most of it picked up out of the living room floor. He also got his new bunk beds. I will post pictures of those later too.

KY Down Under

We have been promising to take Buzzy to KY Down Under since last summer. He had so much fun and I walked myself to death. We did everything there that they had to offer. The cave was the best part, temperature wise. I got to the end and wasn't sure that I had made the best decision to go on a cave tour. It had a couple narrow spots and some areas that you had to duck your head while climbing wet stairs. I made Steve hang on to Buzzy. They were in front of me and when they would get finished climbing, Steve would look back at me and just smile. I had told him that there wasn't as much walking at Ky Down Under as there was at Beech Bend Park. He reminded me of that a couple of times. At the very end of the cave, there were a whole bunch of steep stairs and when I got to the top, I was so happy to see the door leading out!

One of the first exhibits that we saw was in the wool shed. We missed the dog working the goats, but we got to see the different kinds of sheep and learn about them. They asked for volunteers and, of course, Buzzy was more than eager to help.

They told them to stand with a firm hold on the bottles. When the lambs had emptied the bottle, to drop the bottle on the ground and pick their lamb up and take it back to the stall.

Buzzy's lamb was a little frisky and he had to have help from Daddy. Daddy showed him how to pick it up.

He did good for a few steps and then it wiggled away. Buzzy held on and chased it for a second!

Daddy helped him get it in his arms one more time and he finally made it to the stall area with the wiggly critter! It was so funny!

They asked for volunteers again, and this time, they led in Faye, the milk cow. Buzzy got to milk Faye!

He just could not believe that he got to milk a cow! Just like on cartoons!

He went in the Lorikeet cage. We took him to the Louisville zoo when he turned two and he was not impressed witht he Lorikeets. He had a little bit of a nervous breakdown in the cage at the zoo. He was ready to try it again at KY Down Under. He was so proud of himself when the bird came down and ate from his cup of nectar!

Daddy liked feeding the birds too!

Buzzy kind of wanted the bird on his finger, but he wasn't for sure about it. He was being extremely cautious!

I understand the "proud as a peacock" saying now. This thing strutted all over the place. The man working said that during the winter, the peacock will walk up the squirrels and rabbits with his feathers fluffed trying to get attention! When we first walked up he turned toward me, just like he new what my camera was for!

It was love at first sight with Daddy and Camille the camel!

Kangaroos were all we heard about all day, so Daddy and I were so glad when he finally got to see one. We didn't know that he would get to pet one, so that made it even better for him!

The guide told him to pick up this ones tail to see how heavy it was. He liked this one the best. He was a pretty red color.

I've decided the next thing I want Steve to build for me is an aviary for parakeets! They had and enclosure with probably 300 parakeets. That was Steve's estimate! They gave us Popsicle sticks with peanut butter and bird seed and the birds would fly down and eat it off the stick. It was so neat. I told Steve that was the next thing that I wanted!