Happy Father's Day!

So this one is for one of the best daddies I know... :)

I knew he'd be a good one. When we decided it was time for kids, we were excited to begin that phase of our lives, but from day one, I enjoyed watching Heath prepare for Luke's arrival. He wanted me to get up early one morning and take a test to see if I could be pregnant, and I didn't expect to be, but I did anyway. I sat waiting for the result, and when I told him from the bathroom that it was positive, I could hear him throwing covers back as fast as he could and jetting to the bathroom. He sat down on the floor, stared at the test, shook nervously, and fought back tears. We had lots of complications early on in the pregnancy... We had plans to go to Dallas one day and pick up my car, and that morning, I started showing signs of miscarriage. My doctor told us going to Dallas wouldn't help or hurt, so we went on with our plans. Things turned from bad to worse before we got there... We signed the papers and left to meet some friends for dinner. We were both just sick about it. Heath ordered food at the restaurant that night and never even touched his fork. We were back home the next day and tried all weekend to analyze different scenarios. We went back to the doctor after the weekend, and we thought we'd seen a miracle when we saw that heartbeat. My doctor said he never expected to find one. We were thrilled! -- Heath was hands-on in putting together the nursery.. He'd take people in there to show them what we'd bought even when it was just piled up in the floor of the empty room. Towards the end of the pregnancy, he'd cup his hands around his mouth, get right up to my belly, and say, "Luuuuke, I am your faaather." :)

After Luke was born, to say Heath was "in shock" would be an understatement! He went through the motions of helping... He'd hold him when he came home, take him to the other room when I needed a break, get him out of his bed at night and bring him to me to eat. But I guess like most men, the fun for Heath started when he could get a reaction out of Luke. I think if Luke could comprehend the idea of it, he'd tell you that his Daddy is his best friend. When he hears the garage door open up, he takes off running and meets Heath at the door of his pickup. They dance and sing together, watch movies, play with tractors, swim, and play hide-and-seek. Heath will do things I don't think of... He duct taped a box and drug Luke around on the carpet, dumping Luke out at every turn from going so fast. He pops wheelies in the stroller for him and bounces him all over the place. He sits with him and shows him farm equipment on his iPad in the evenings. When Luke's been with Heath out to the farm or to run errands, he always comes in walking tall and telling big stories.

I'm thankful... extremely thankful. Watching Luke and Heath makes me want to be a better Mama. It's refreshing to see them interact - especially when I'm running low on patience. I think I've said it before, but I'm excited for this little girl to get to experience the love that Heath gives.

So, here's a look back at Heath and Luke. :)

Happy Birthday, Luke!

I have a 2 year old..!? What? - Still blows my mind. I looked at Heath the other day and thought back about our times in high school as purely friends and how we'd talk about wanting to be young when we start our families and what all we hoped to be doing in our 20's... I don't know if either one of us (at the time) planned on living that dream together, but it all turned out that way and I couldn't be more thankful. Jordan (brother) told me the other day, "Sara, 24 with 2 kids is young." - And yeah, I'll technically be 25... but I always wanted to be a young Mom. I'm glad to be living this life. :)

My mom has a tradition where she calls us every day on our birthdays and tells us about the day we were born. We give her a hard time about it, but I guess all parents think back on it when that day rolls around every year. We'll say "Hello".. She sings her version of "Happy birthday" - always ending with claps and whistles... and then she says, "Ok, let me tell you about the day you were born.." - I could tell you about that day almost verbatim, I'm sure. But, Heath and I have found ourselves, just in the past 2 years, thinking back on the events leading up to Luke's birth. Here's a recap of how it went down. --- After an appointment on the morning of the 4th, we were supposed to check in to the hospital that night to get a jump start on some medication and then they'd induce me on the morning of the 5th. We got everything ready for the hospital that day, and I had been having some contractions.. but nothing alarming or regular. I think we were supposed to be there around 9 or 10, but about that time, a storm blew in. My mom was here (their house had burned in January), so to keep her car from getting hail damage, we took our cars to the barn to wait for the storm to pass. The storm ended up being really bad, and I was having more contractions while we waited.... I was refusing to let that baby be born in a barn! haha :) - So, we finally got to the hospital around midnight, and they gave me some pre-labor medicine and some ambien. Would've been nice for that to go as planned, but the pre-labor medicine put me into full fledged labor, and so I was all wacky in labor at about 2 a.m. on ambien. I was hallucinating, crying, laughing all at the same time! Once I finally got comfortable (around 4 or so), everything was better, and little Luker was born just after 1 o'clock that afternoon. He was 7 lbs. 8 oz. -- Mama was instantly head over hills... Daddy wondered when his head would go back to normal. haha :) -- Oh, and he was back in the field the next morning to sandfight and replant.

I wonder what our story will be with this little girl... I'm anxious to find out. :) She still has no name.... we've made a little progress, but still nothing close to definite.

So, here's a look at Luke's birthday party!

We had his party at a park in the Vintage Township in Lubbock. We rented an inflatable bouncer... Luke loved it!

Sliding with cousin, Emma.

Friends Ryder Stracener and Gracyn Kauffman.. and their Mama's, Summer and Gina.

Family catching some shade.

More partying...

Cake and presents...

(I must've folded the cake getting it out of the pickup... oops!)

Silly boy!! :)

It's fun having friends and family with kids our kids' ages. They nail gift giving and make birthday parties fun to plan. :) - Luke loved all of his gifts. We boxed up all of his baby toys for sister so that we could make room for his new toys. He's been pretty occupied lately! - He got lots of Cars stuff... He took Mater to bed with him last night! He got a Buzz sit and scoot car, too. He took it out in the garage and parked it yesterday, and when I asked him if he was gonna leave it out there, he said, "Uh huh... Seep." Haha :) He let his Buzz car take a nap in the garage. He sits on it and wants it to "fye." :)

So, thanks again to everyone who came... You are all the ones Luke thanks Jesus for in his prayers!