Fall 2009

Fall is my favorite time of the year. I wait on it with a great anticipation, much like the way I feel after I pour my morning coffee but before I take the first sip. It's something to do with the combination ever changing leaves, perfect weather, and early darkness.

My parents driveway is lined with 20 something trees that were planted almost 30 years ago. During the Summer months, they form an excellent canopy of multi-green hues. Then, as if the trees converged one late afternoon and decided that they must be more versatile, the leaves begin to slowly fade. Just when you think there is nothing too these fall leaves, the faded tan turns to a warm yellow, the dull orange to a vibrant shade of pumpkin, the plain red to a awe inspiring russet tinged red. Every hue seems to work together to make a beautiful collage of color. The leaves fall and cover the road with a bright and delightful mess. I long to be a child again and spend my afternoons romping in the piles of leaves and throwing them up so they rain color on my head. Driving down that path in the midst of this change makes it impossible to ignore the existence of God. He must truly love us with an unchanging and undying love to give us such a rapture of beauty.

The other afternoon, Matthew, Judah, and I ventured out into the yard for a bit of Fall fun. We fed the horses apples, walked through the leaves, and finally, climbed up into our very simple tree house. Matthew climbed first. The deck was covered in a layer of leaves but the tree the house is built into still had a lovely display of leaves hanging from it's branches. I passed Judah up through the hole in the floor and they sat on the edge looking out at "their territories". Judah loves being "bop", which we figured out means up, so he really enjoyed it.

I stayed on solid ground to capture the moment. The picture below has become one of my favorites. How happy do my boys look.

Cancun 2009!

Pictures as promised:


Momma and Judah splashing in the water


Me and my good buddy, Gabe - just splashing around


With a little help, Judah was able to enjoy the "big boy" slides


Going down the slide with Momma


And then Dadda
There was an incredible amount of giggling


Water Cannon at the Pirate Ship play area - Judah kept trying to catch the water - So cute


The water park was exhausting - the little one needed a nap - Dadda's shirt was a poor substitute for Bunny and Blanket but it did the trick


Dinner by the beach after a long, long day at the pirate ship


Up is good, I really don't need to feel the sand again, thanks


I love you, Momma


Momma and baby's foot prints


Dadda, Momma, and baby Judah at dusk


Why are we outside so early?


Oh, so it's normal to get out of bed this early to look at "pretty sky"?


Ok, I can see why people might want to come out in the cold


Judah's first ocean experience


He didn't like it too much!


And he hated the sand


Ummm, what am I supposed to do with that thing? Cause I'm not putting it in my mouth
Judah gets to "hold" a sea turtle shortly after it hatched - amazing!


Once in a lifetime event - We got to help release about 500 baby sea turtle on the shore and watch them make their way into the ocean - still in awe

Though you probably can't tell, there are around 5 baby sea turtles in this picture wrestling with sand and seaweed to get to the ocean - the marine biologist told us that only 1% will survive to adulthood and that these little things will grow to be 3 feet long - being a part of this sacred event really reminded me that our God is amazingly creative and thoughtful - he has his eye on all things great and small - my husband just wrote a wonderful post all about about perspective - check it out here: http://www.accordingtomatthew.com/2009/11/disease.html

All in all it was a wonderful vacation and we are incredibly blessed to have family who love us and who we love. Thanks Mom and Dad for such a fantastic vacation!

Delta served us up a big plate of nightmare!

Whew, what a trip. Next time I decide to travel with an infant on a non-direct flight anywhere, please remind me on this nightmare!!!

First, let me say that I realize not all air travel is this messy but our transportation ALMOST made the rest of our trip to Cancun worthless. Matthew and I spent 5 of the 9 days of our vacation riddled with stress. UGH! So here's the layout:

Monday before our trip my older brother calls to tell us that Delta is requiring an "Infant Ticket" for us to travel with an Infant in Arms. Upon receiving this information we did 2 things. 1) Three different people called Delta about our travel plans and to make sure we had everything we needed ticket wise to travel to Cancun with an Infant. All three of us were assured we had everything we needed. 2) When checking in at the Delta counter on Saturday morning in Nashville, both the Kellett's and I asked about an "Infant Ticket". We were both told by different ticket agents that we didn't need a ticket for an Infant in Arms and simply wrote the date of birth on the bottom of our boarding passes. We arrived in Atlanta with no problems and prepared for our 5 hr layover. After killing time in all manner of ways, we arrived at our gate 1 hr early to check in and were told we couldn't board the plane without an "Infant Ticket".

Now, I want you to take a moment to imagine the look on our faces when we were told we couldn't board our flight to Cancun. You got it? Now add in 2 toddlers who couldn't understand why were weren't getting on the plane and couldn't go to the beach. Got that? Now add in 2 infants barely holding it together after no naps and airport food for 12 hrs. Got that? Last, add in 4 very pissed very anxious parents and 2 over protective grandparents. Got that? Good. You might have an inkling of how horrible our transportation nightmare was about to get.

After hrs of arguing, haggling, and lost tempers on both sides of the counter, Delta got us on a flight the next morning. We asked for our luggage and their reply was, "trust us and our system". Matthew's response, if you can believe it was, "Why should we trust anything you say?" Now if you know Matthew, you know he is very slow to anger and very, very calm. Seeing him like this only made me more mad and more protective and if you know me, then you know that I have a very short temper and am highly protective of my loved ones. However, no manner of escalation was going to get us what we wanted so we retired to a hotel. We arrived 2.5 hrs early to airport the next morning and each begged our ticket agents to find our baggage and get them on the plane. We were all assured that they would be on the plane and we had nothing to worry about.

If you are as smart as I think you are, you will have already predicted what happened next. If you guessed that our baggage didn't get on the plane, you are right. Tell them what they've won Bob!!! After hrs of talking to a Cancun based Delta supervisor, we were granted $50 per bag to buy "what we needed" and promised he would personally track down our bags and get them to us ASAP. And you know what, he held true to his word. We had our bags less than 24 hrs from the time we landed which was unbelievable to us considering there were only 2 flights left that day.

My next post will detail the amazingness that was our 5 day (rather than 7) vacation but for now I want to conclude with the return nightmare.

We arrived at the airport in Cancun to go home Saturday afternoon and checked in. Everything seemed to be going fine. We boarded the plane, it took off and flew for about 30 minutes and then then Pilot came over the loud speaker and said something like we are experiencing some technical difficulties that require us to return to Cancun immediately. After landing back in Cancun, we were kept on the plane for 1.5 hrs before telling us they couldn't fix it and we would have to, you guessed it, spend the night in Cancun and get a flight in the morning. But guess what, upon stepping on the plane, we were no longer on Mexican soil so we got to go back through immigration and customs! Oh yes, all 175 of us including all the exhausted, fidgety, whiny kids who were promised their own beds to sleep in that night. It was awesome.

I bet you think, that has to be it. I mean, it couldn't get worse than all of that, right? Wrong.

We were bused to a hotel to sleep and bused back the next morning for our flight. They had it all worked out to get us to Atlanta but Delta hadn't put any thought into all our connecting flights. After waiting in a 175 person line we were told that every flight to Nashville or Knoxville was booked and that the best they could do was put us on Stand-by, with a baby...AWESOME!! So we headed to the Delta counter once in Atlanta and tried our hardest to whine and sucker our way on the flight but again, Delta said there is nothing they can do until the entire flight has boarded. So Matthew, Judah, Mom and Dad got a table at the bar/restaurant across from the gate and I stood there eyeing the ticket agent hoping he would say, "Ok, get on the flight". We waited and waited and then he said, "There are 3 seats available", my brain said, WHAT?!? We have 4 people..."there may be 1 more seat but we can't promise anything". So we waited until there was no one left at the gate and then he said, "Ok, all 4 of you can get on". YIPPEE!!!!!!! And then, when we arrived in Knoxville and our baggage wasn't there. Big surprise, right!

Bags arrived this afternoon, still waiting on the reimbursement check from Delta for the "$50 per bag" money that we were promised...We'll see how that pans out. I will say, it's all enough to make me never fly again. I'm guessing it's a bit like natural child birth though. After doing it most say they will give birth without an epidural. However as time goes by and the pain, nausea, and desperation pass from the short term memory it becomes less frightening and the idea of adding a new baby naturally becomes exciting. Maybe a trip to Cabo will get me back on that plane...we'll see!

The Thackers go to Oakes Farm

The Oakes Farm in Corryton, TN was a great time not to mention a wonderful family outing that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Matthew, Judah, and I went on Saturday morning and it was the perfect weather for a day outside in a pumpkin farm.
Judah napped on the way there and Matthew and I enjoyed a little Car Talk on NPR. We love the Click and Clack Brothers and I am always fascinated by just how much Matthew knows about cars. I mean, he grew up with an in-house mechanic, literally, so I guess it's normal for him to know a bit about cars. I grew up with an in-house surgeon but I can't make a worth while guess about what might be causing your aches and pains while Matthew can and does, often, give the same answers that Click and Clack do.

When we got there, we grabbed some Judah snacks and a water bottle and headed over to the ticket booth. We were originally going to do the corn maze and the pumpkin farm but realized quickly that that might be bit much for our little man. Instead we decided to walk around the farm for awhile and then go to the pumpkin farm.

Oakes had a lot of things for big little kids to do (ie: slides, mini corn maze, tractor wheels to climb on, hay stacks to jump around in, and a jumperarium) but not so much for babies. They did have a giant horse trough full of dried corn that Judah had a blast "swimming" in. He loved to just throw and kick the corn around. Obviously he kept trying to eat it but we were on stand by to fish it out.

After the corn trough we climbed on to the covered hay wagon for a ride out to the pumpkin farm. After picking a secluded area of the farm, I put him down to roam around the patch. He found big pumpkin and proceeded to bang on it like a drum. I rolled another pumpkin over to where he was sitting and he banged on it too. Then he banged both at the same time like he was playing bongos.

We walked around a bit and then picked a nice big, round pumpkin for carving. Once we picked the pumpkin, Judah began his sleepy time dance: eye rubbing, ear pulling, and whiny, whiny, whiny! We got a couple more pictures and then loaded back onto the hay wagon and headed back to the car. We loaded Judah into his carseat and he was out before we got on the road. We had a blast, got a wonderful pumpkin, and took some great pictures of our very first pumpkin farm trip!

My son plays well with others

Judah loves playing with other kids, especially big-little kids (as I have dubbed the 3-7 age group). He cannot even hope to keep up with any of them as he has not even mastered walking without assistance yet. However, that doesn't stop him from trying. He crawls as fast as his little knees will allow him to. I laugh just picturing it because he is such a great sport. My nephews are 3, 4, and 5 and Judah wants so badly to play with them. He will crawl all the way across the room and when the big-little boys notice he's coming, they go in a different direction. Judah simply changes directions, giggling his little head off. It's great!
He's also excellent at sharing. He will share bites of food (soggy or otherwise), milk from his sippy cup, and any toy he might be playing with (whether it is supposed to be a toy or not). I spent the last 6 months trying to teach him no touch and am still working diligently at it. But I discovered a new trick which is ever so much easier when it comes to getting non-toy items from him. Just ask him if he will "share" with you. He smiles, crawls over to me, and extends that sweet, chubby hand without a second thought. It so sweet and so much easier than fighting his strong will. I have no idea where he gets that stubborn-ness from...I'm sure if you asked Matthew, he would say that he gets it from me but it's not stubborn if you are just right most of the time, is it? I don't think so.

He's has recently started wanting to learn to walk as he finds it very difficult to crawl while carrying his stuff. He has resorted to carrying things in his mouth when in a bind, but is quickly learning that walking frees up the hands to hold whatever precious item he has decided to make his own.

Watching him try to figure stuff out is my new favorite thing to do. Sunday morning, Matthew, Judah and I were hanging out in the play room before leaving for church and Judah was trying to put the colored stacking rings on the stacking pole. His little hands couldn't get the ring to go where it needed to so that it would slide into place and make the coveted chiming noise that he so loved. He would try for about a minute and then knock everything over and push it out of the way, as if to say, "Who wants to play with those stupid rings anyway!" I also have no idea where he gets his competitive spirit...seriously...it's not me, I just don't like to do anything I'm not immediately good at. That doesn't make me competitive, does it? After pushing it all away, he came back to it a minute later and tried again, in a different way this time. When he finally did one by himself, got the thing to flash lights and make noise, that was enough for him. He's smart as a whip, as my great granny used to say and I cannot wait to be home with him again.

Pictures from the various first birthday parties

I know, I know...It has been longer than a week! I'm so sorry! I truly have been so busy with student teaching, family in town, trying my hardest to be a mom and wife, and then everything else that comes with breathing, walking, and interacting on this earth. It has been hectic. However, I think these pictures might win me some forgiveness as Judah has never been cuter than he is in the pictures below.

At Gran and Granpa's Judah wouldn't eat his cake. He was actually furious with us for getting his hands in it and spit the icing out when we tried to get him to "just try it". However, he loved his hotdog and after his sink bath and donning his pj's he was in a much better mood to open his gifts. He got a speak n` say, a "papa doc box" (as Matthew dubbed his doctor kit), a little tikes guitar, a nascar racer, a baseball game, and a set of leap frog maracas, and that was just one side of the family. The child seriously got too many gifts when all was said and done.

At Mumzy and Papa Doc's we didn't really have a party, per se. The adults just called it that so we would have an excuse to make cupcakes and eat too much. Judah wore a birthday hat and ate a cupcake but he had opened his presents from his aunts, uncles, us, and Mumzy/Papa Doc the day before so we weren't going to make it a big thing. From the Bingham side he got, a leap frog phonics bus, leap frog abc caterpillar, 2 sleep outfits, 2 monogrammed bibs, and still to come, a charcoal of Judah at the age of 1. Matthew and I got him a set of a-z all natural wooden blocks with a little wooden cart to roll them around in. So, like I said before, he really got way too much. I mean, our house is going to be chocked full of Judah stuff. But it's better to have than have-not, right?

As I mentioned before, the boy hates cake. Well, I thought he did until his Aunt Bam made homemade cupcakes with homemade icing for his Bingham family birthday. At first, it was the same story, shoving it away, happy to feed it to anyone that would have it. But then, a flash of hope! A bit of cake somehow made it's way into his mouth and that was the end of the sharing. He was all about shoving that stuff in his mouth and I got the memory I wanted. It was wonderful! I guess it was just the store bought cake that turned him off. I should have known, with his fickle tastes buds, that he would only have the most complicated cake ever.

You see, these cupcakes Brandi made weren't just homemade. They were a vanilla cake with just a touch of chocolate added to give a bit of sweetness and then semi-sweet mini chocolate chips mixed in as well. Now, some of you know that I love sweets but can't take too much "rich" sweet. These cupcakes were absolutely perfect for me and apparently for Judah too.

So without further ado, the most adorable birthday baby, ever!

Judah is 1!

We have reached a huge milestone, Judah is 1 tomorrow. What a year it has been! I can hardly believe that this time last year Matthew and I were laying in bed, very uncomfortably, asking God to make our little boy come soon and that he be healthy. We wrestled with sleep and finally, around 7 am, I woke up and with heavy contractions and soon, we were in business. Matthew came home from work and we worked together to get through the contractions until it was time to call Marva and get to the birthing center. After, 2.5 hrs of pushing and much pleading with God and my husband to "do something" and "help me, please", I got him out and held him in my arms for the very first time. You moms and dads know what I am talking about when I say I was immediately, utterly and completely in love with my son. Now here we are, 1 year later, and he is healthy, happy, and an absolute delight! We are soooo blessed. God must really love us.

Last Saturday we had a birthday party for him at his Gran and Granpa Thacker. Matthew and I brought all the decorations, food, and two cakes, 1 for Judah to destroy and 1 for the rest of us. The pictures tell all but as Matthew and I are crazy busy, the pictures aren't on SmugMug yet. As soon as they are posted, I will get some on here...Promise!

We are having another party at Mumzy and Papa Doc's for the Bingham side on Sunday or Monday, depending on when all Judah's Aunts and Uncles can be here. I will post pics and details on that one later too.

Tomorrow, the day my sweet son entered this world and made me my dreams come true, Matthew and I are going to come home and take our small family to dinner somewhere. We just want to celebrate him even if he won't know we are. Even if he doesn't know why we are out to dinner. Without presents, without the hoopla, just focusing on him and spending time with him.

Pictures to follow.