A year later...

Well after a year long blogging hiatus....we have a little news to report around these parts:

We are a family of 4!!

On June 30th we welcomed Thomas Cannon Barker to our family. He weighed in at 7 lbs 10 oz and was 20 inches long. This delivery was much different that with James since we had a planned C-section this time. We arrived at the hospital at 7:30AM and planned on going into surgery at 9:30, but Dr. Phillips had an issue with another patient come up so we waited a bit back in the recovery area. When it was time to go in at around 11AM, I walked into the OR- which was a little strange- and we got all prepped for Baby Barker to come. We had waited to find out if he was a boy or a girl- and were thrilled when Dr. Phillips announced "It's a boy", but were equally as shocked that he came out with a head full of black hair (since big brother was bald with the exception of a few blonde wisps). Zack took Thomas out to meet all the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, and then they let him come back to the recovery area for some skin to skin which was very special (I was not able to do this with James). Thomas took to nursing like a pro and has so far been a very laid back baby. His big brother James loves him so much and tells him so all the time!!

I still need to download the pictures from Zacks camera...but here are some pictures from my iphone and the not so great pictures Zack made us take with the hospital photographer (who made me take pictures even though I was in my pajamas, right out of my first shower, with wet hair, and no make up...) for now....

Roommate Reunion

This past weekend we had a wonderful weekend with my college roommates and their families. Friday night we cooked out, stayed up later than I have in a long while, and talked about old times. Saturday we spent the day on the boat riding and tubing, and then the girls celebrated a much overdue reunion at Springhouse that evening (we had so much fun we closed the place down!!). It was a wonderful weekend with those friends you can only describe as " laugh till you cry, pick right back up where your left off, know way too much about you, love so much" kind of friends.

Oh and James hit another milestone this weekend: his 1st KISS!!!! While we were riding in the boat Anna started to pet James' hair and then she gave him a big ol' smack-a-roo. Of course our camera had gone kaput so we didn't get any pics of the big event.

The roomies

Rach and Jane

James and his girlfriend Anna

The boys relaxing

Andrew and Anna

Elisha and Taylor

My husband in his "swim diaper". I'm so proud ;)

4, 16, 65

Over the July 4th weekend we all headed from Kanuga to Lake Martin to celebrate Rudy's 16th birthday, my Dad's 65th birthday and the 4th of July. It was a wonderful weekend with lots of fireworks and lots of cake. James had a wonderful time swimming, riding in the boat, and playing with his cousins.

Eating Lunch

Lucas

William, Ross, Will

Rudy, Sybil, Adair

Happy Birthday Daddo!

James and Go-Mama

Happy Birthday Rudy!!

Kanuga

My brother plays in The Five O'Clock worship band at The Advent in Birmingham. Their band has been asked to lead the worship at Kanuga Renewal Conference in North Carolina the past few years. Sybil and George have told us how wonderful the week at Kanuga is but we have never been able to go. We finally managed to get our entire family (minus my sweet Mama who so stayed home to help my grandfather who had emergency surgery the night before we left) to go this year. We stayed in quaint little cabins with no phone, TV, internet, or air conditioners. But with lots of fans and a great screen porch- we had a relaxing and renewing time. We had wonderful worship and bible studies, went on hikes, took naps, laughed, played in lakes and streams, ate dinner (that we didn't cook) together, stayed up late together, etc, etc... James had a wonderful time too, but due to a lot of chasing him around, I don't have many pictures to share. Below are the few I had:

Lett's Get Our Hair Cut

It was time for a haircut!

I have been wanting to get James' hair cut for a while now- his bangs were getting in his eyes and really bugging him...poor little guy. I always make too big of a deal out of all the "firsts" so I have been putting off the 1st haircut... trying to think of who should do it, when can we do it so that Zack and I can both be there, etc. But today was the day. When I got home from work we took James to a new hair place in Prattville, Lett's Cut Up (Lett's is the last name of the sweet lady who cut my baby's hair). Well James was not very sure about the whole thing- but he sure looked handsome in the end. Here are pictures of his first haircut experience.

At this point all he kept saying "I want Mommy" so we had a little switch-a-roo!

All done!!