Icky Ike

14 days later and we finally have power! Here are the updates from the past 2 weeks. It's a lot...sorry. :o)

The Hurricane...
The afternoon of Sept.12th we packed up and headed to Daddy's training room at the high school to "hunker" down for Hurricane Ike. We were there with Mimi, Uncle J, Aunt Steph, Jayden, Aunt Paigey & Uncle Robby along with the Humble ISD police and another coach and his family. Renner had fun playing on the floor with Jayden. As the winds grew stronger the boys decided to head outside to experience the winds. It was crazy how strong they became as the night progressed. We were all trying to sleep when I remember waking up around 4 am when the hurricane force winds blew through. They were so loud. At 6 am Renner woke up and it was quiet so I asked Mike if he thought we were in the eye of the storm and he said yes. I walked Renner down to the other side of the high school to watch tv with the police (they had a generator that we were able to watch the tv on). Sure enough, we were right in the middle of the eye. Renner had no clue what was going on. I think he was just enjoying being with Mommy & Daddy.

Around noon we decided to drive home to assess any damage we might have incurred. Other than losing all of our banana trees and one of our fences we were pretty fortunate compared to so many others. Here are a few pics from our neighborhood. That afternoon I took Renner and we drove out to Hardin to stay for the night since they had a generator to keep us cool. The next day we came back and stayed at home for a couple of days. The weather was beautiful and cool so it didn't bother us too much to not have power. Renner & I made the best of it by going outside one day to play. Here are some fun pics from that day of outside play.

Look what I can do Mommy! I can pull myself up to standing...

After we went back inside I had to put Renner in his bed so that I could put some things together so we could go out and do a little shopping. As I walked back into his room that little turkey was standing in his bed staring at me! I was so shocked that he was able to pull himself up all by himself. I ran to get the camera when I snapped this pic. I can ride on Pa's John Deere tractor! After Ike we spent a lot of time out in Hardin helping out there. They were hit really hard as well. One day Renner got to ride on the tractor with Pa. He thought he was something else on that big tractor. After a few days of bouncing from home to Hardin we decided we couldn't take the heat any longer so we found a hotel to stay in for a couple of days. Renner was so good through all of this especially with his routine interrupted. It is now Friday, Sept. 26th and we are home as a complete family now. Renner is in his bed fast asleep, Mommy & Daddy are trying to rest from cleaning the house the past 2 days and Ryder is passed out from exhaustion of keeping up with the chaos of the past 2 weeks. Thank you for keeping up with us and for praying for us during this challenging time of no electricity. We are so grateful to the power companies and all of the volunteers that helped during the clean-up and restoration of our great city. A huge personal thank you goes to http://www.convoyofhope.com/ for the goods we received when we were out of power. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Until the next update ... see ya later & adios Ike!

Making Memories

I don't want to make this one too long today because I don't have the cord with me to download pictures. Needless to say, we made it through Ike. I'll write all about that experience soon. As of right now we are going on day 10 of no electricity at the house. Renner & I have been in a hotel the past 2 days because we were so miserable from the very hot house. Daddy is staying with us tonight so we are hoping to all have a good night's sleep. As soon as our power is restored I promise to write all about the new happenings in Renner's life. There is a lot to tell you and I can't wait to write all about it along with some really great pictures!
Thank you for all of your thoughts, prayers & phone calls during this challening ordeal.

Hunkering down for Hurricane Ike with Mommy & Daddy

Well, I have so much to write about that I'm hoping I don't make this too long. Renner is about to experience his first hurricane...hello Ike! Daddy is gone to Wal-Mart right now to get gas and a few supplies. We will be "hunkering" (that's the buzz word we keep hearing) down at the training room at Daddy's work to be on the safe side. I'm sure Renner will love that as one of his new favorite things to do is slap the wood and tile floors in our house. The training room will give him plenty of room to crawl, play and slap the floor. Renner is still eating well and is now on the 2nd foods and is loving them. I bought some rice snacks that melt in Renner's mouth this past weekend and he ate his first one a couple of days ago. He gags a little bit when he takes a bite because he's having to learn to swallow. It's so funny because of the silly look he makes on his face. He is wearing himself out everyday because he's so active. He loves to crawl all over the house, finding anything new. Mike's co-worker, Caryn, bought Renner his new favorite toy. It's a replica of Lightning McQueen from the movie "Cars" that makes all kinds of noise, music, etc. He loves to be pushed around on it. I'm sure it won't be too long before he's able to scoot around all by himself.

On Sunday we had Renner's dedication at church. Of course I was a huge ball of emotion that morning as a video was played about the miracle of children...I am getting choked up just thinking about it. Renner was so well behaved and made us very proud. He was presented with his very own Bible that is just so beautiful (thank you Gran & Pa!).

We are now a family of 4 down from a family of 6. Bonnie & Clyde have found a new home in Hardin with a family from Gran & Pa's church. The family is such a great fit for our precious first cat-children. Ryder seems a little depressed but this is allowing him to get more attention as well. It's best for all of us, even though we miss them terribly.

Mommy's good friend Meredith and her little girl, Sadie, came for their first visit this weekend. Sadie is such a beauty and Renner enjoyed checking her out while we visited.

Also over the weekend we took Renner for his first professional photo shoot. Thank you so much Mimi for organizing that for us. We had felt so bad that we hadn't had any pictures taken of him yet. I'm posting a few of the pics from the photo shoot that I thought were just too adorable. They are copyrighted (bummer) so that's why they have the weird emblem on the front of them. Next up on Renner's agenda is a party on Sunday (if not canceled from the hurricane) at the Humble Civic Center for the NICU that he was in when he was born. We are excited to see Dr. Munoz and his staff! Everyone stay safe and if you are in Ike's path ~ Hunker down!

This is not fun...

Teething is not fun. That's all. Cranky, irritable and fussy. Poor baby.