6 Weeks!!

Dear Luke: yesterday you were 6 weeks old and just like everyone says, you are growing up so fast!  I wish I was a better photographer so that I could capture each minute with perfection.  Hopefully over time my skills will improve.  We visited the doctor today to get a few questions answered.  You weighed in at 10 lbs 8.5 oz.  You are getting so big.  The doc said that was a good healthy weight, so hooray for that.  It's a vast improvement over how we got started.  Here you are just this week:

I wanted to share one of my most cherished moments with you in the hospital.  We had a difficult start: you were quickly loosing weight and I had a day of pain followed by a blood transfusion which put us two days behind in learning to nurse.  It was quiet time at hospital.  I was holding you close in my arms and we were trying to get some rest.  Your daddy thought some music might help and found a Christian station on the TV. Soon after, the song "Safe" by Phil Wicham came on.  I am sure I have heard this song before, but this time it had a new meaning to me.  I remember just holding you, crying and singing to you. Because of the abruption and the loss of blood, all my physical strength had been torn from me and I felt so helpless in taking care of you.  I knew that the words of that song were so true and that they were words that I would need to hold onto for the rest of your life.  My precious boy, you are a gift from God and you belong to him.  Your daddy and I are blessed to have the privilege of being God's hands and feet in raising you, but you are ultimately on lone to us.  I am thankful for all that we went through together those days in the hospital because it forced me to depend on the Lord for strength and reminded me of who He is and His place in our lives as your parents.  I love you punkin, more than I could have ever imagined!!  Happy 6 weeks!!

Safe by Phil Wicham
Verse 1:
To the one who's dreams are falling all apart
And all you're left with is a tired and broken heart
I can tell by your eyes you think your on your own
but you're not alone

Have your heard of the One who can calm the raging seas
Give sight to the blind
pull the lame up to their feet
With a love so strong he'll never let you go
oh you're not alone


Chorus:
You will be safe in His arms
You will be safe in His arms
'Cause the hands that hold the world are holding your heart
This is the promise He made
He will be with You always
When everything is falling apart
You will be safe in His arms

Verse 2:
Did you know that the voice that brings the dead to life
Is the very same voices that calls you to rise
So hear Him now He's calling you home
You will never be alone

Bridge:
These are the hands that built the mountains the hands that calm the seas
These are the arms that hold the heavens they are holding you and me
These are the hands that healed the leper

Pulled the lame up to their feet
These are the arms that were nailed to a cross to break chains and set us free

Luke's 1st Christmas

At just 4 weeks, Luke took his first road trip to Mema's (my mom) house in Cuero, Tx.  It was a 6 hour trip that included his first Chick-fil-a stop in Pflugerville; which included his first public restroom diap change.  It went well and there was no free flying pee!  So all in all, a success. Here are a few pics from the holiday.

Luke's Christmas gift from Mema

Luke & cousin Emma (my sister's little girl - 4 mths)

Our first family Christmas photo

And a close up of Luke, just in case you can't tell how cute he is :)

Luke Henry

Belly Updates



Almost 37 weeks

Amost 40 weeks 



Socks & Monkies

Stephanie and I made a trip to REI this week to pick up some of my favorite Smartwool Socks and we came across these "Baby Woolys"!  They were on the clearance rack, so we couldn't pass them up.

Once they were out of the package I noticed that Mr. Sock Monkey had his eye on them...

Nursery Reveal

After months of planning and hard work, we finally finished the baby room!  And quite possibly just in time, considering that my contractions are increasing in number, strength and frequency.  It was fun, overwhelming at times, challenging and worth the effort.  Dave worked so hard on furniture, painting and being creative to save money.  I am so blessed to have such a talented husband and I am proud of all his hard work and love that he enjoyed it as much as I did. 

This is the changing table.  It used to live in our den holding our TV, but we wanted something shorter. So Dave built a new beautiful TV stand and worked hard to re purpose this piece.  It was black and now is white with a rich espresso stained top that he built himself. We both think it looks better than it ever did with it's bad Pottery Barn finish.  The changing pad...perfectly covered by my very talented mom!  She worked so hard and it fits just great.  It's a perfect accent to that side of the room.  The pictures above...I painted the P on some wood that Dave stained to match, there are baby pics of each of us, a silhouette of the baby's best buddy to be, Dixie.  And the other items...Dave found on the internet and printed them.  In addition to his woodworking talent he has a knack for finding great things on the internet. We already had the baskets on the bottom.  They just needed some felt on the botttom keep the finish of the piece in good shape.

To spruce up the drawers we got some cute wrapping paper.  This was a fun DIY...we first attempted a tip that we found online with Mod Pog.  That was a bust...maybe because we do not know how to use it correctly.  But we did not want to give up...so we talked it out and decided that we could cut cardboard the size of the draws and spray glue the paper to it.  It worked great, and better yet, no damage to the furniture!

Moving around the room...

In researching the cloth diapers...we found this cute idea for them.  2 trash cans...one for the dirty diapers (thay get washed regularly, so no major odor issues) and the other for the used wipes that get tossed.  We will use those plastic bags from the grocery store for the trash can liners.  We will see how it works out.  At least for now it's cute and we will update you in a few months how it's working out :)

On the wall... another great internet find for Dave!  They are 8x8 and finding 8x8 frames is not easy and I was not about to spend $$ on custom frames.  Our solution: Dave cut 3 pieces of 8x8 wood, spray painted them white and we used our wonderful spray glue again to adhere them.  They turned out just great!

The drapery panels and pillow on the chair are other pieces of my mom's talent.  They look just great!  The lamp was a Home Goods find...love that store.  The side table was another creative collaboration. We took an old bar stool that we had, Dave cut it down, repainted the bottom and purchased a round wood top that he again, beautifully stained and attached.  It turned out so much better than I even imagined!

The dresser was an unfinished craig's list find that Dave worked his stain magic on again!  He tweaked the base and stained it espresso. The floating shelves were built by my hunny and they are a great decorative piece for the walls.

And of course, our little baby boy's room would not be complete without a John Deer Tractor and a Rural Retreat cow.  It's important that he always knows the roots of the Phillippe's. The tractor is a collortors item that Dave's Uncle Martin gave him years ago and the cow is something I painted a while back when Dave and I went to Paint Yur Pottery.  The random owl...it ties in the other pics and it's from my childhood.  It got a little face lift with some glossy white spray paint.  It looks better than it ever did in just dark glass.

And the drawers...cloth diapers and again cute wrapping paper lined drawers.  If you look close between all the pants you can see.

Here is the closet...you can't really tell in the pic, but it's blue inside like the ceiling.  Just a fun touch since we decided to not spend the money or time right now on doors.

The crib...the pics do not due the beautiful bedding justice.  More handy work of my mom.  It looks just beautiful.  She made the bumper, quilt and crib skirt. The skirt is ivory, with chocolate brown trim on the bottom to match the trim on the bumper.

And last, but not least...our DIY mobile.  Dave had orginally found these really cute pin wheel mobiles on Etsy, but they were our of our budget. So we came up with our own idea. We purchased some fun paper from Michael's and Dave made some paper airplanes.  With great attention to detail, he successfully balanced each plane and glued in the string.  It turned out just great and will be a fun piece for the baby look up at. 

I guess that is about it...we just love it.  In case you forgot where is started, check our earlier post here. Thanks hunny you did such a wonderful job! I look forward to to all the hours we will spend in there with our little one. 



One of these is not like the other!

Only a couple of weeks until the baby arrives...