A lot has changed in the last four years

Before I start today, I just want to let everyone know that a childhood friend of mine has had a tragedy in her life. Heidi Weaver Thompson will bury her baby on Tuesday. I hope all of you will count your blessings today and don't take anything for granted. I know I will never take any of my children or their health for granted. It's sad that there has to be a tragic event like this to really step back and look at how lucky I am.

Molly Elizabeth


Benjamin Laverne
Samuel William
It has been just over four years since Renee and I did this whole baby thing. A lot has changed since then. For one thing, babies nowadays are born with a lot less appendages. Two less than Benny and three less than Sammy to be exact. I told the nurses before surgery that if Molly didn't have extra fingers I was going to order a DNA test. But after I looked at her I knew she was one mine. The resemblance is quite obvious. Now that I compare pictures she might look more like Sammy. But anyone with kids will tell you those unprofessional maternity ward pictures never do the baby justice.

I'm not sure if this is one of those different hospital things, but we didn't get a birthday cake for either of the boys when we were at the other hospital. It was quite delicious. The frosting was just right, not too sweet like a wedding cake. Mmmmmmm.

Sadly, there is someone missing from this picture. He would have been proud to see his grand kids play in a baseball tournament someday. Unless Juli or Jane have another kid. Then we could divvy up the grand kids and had them go head to head in a basketball game.

The one change on the technology side of things is having wireless Internet in the rooms. Without it I wouldn't have been able to share pictures of my girl the very day she was born. Then the Mrs. of One Carbon Hill wouldn't have had that instant gratification of being able to live vicariously through my bonus baby instead of having one of her own. Is that completely off the table, Mrs.?

And these boys were no where near this handsome four years ago. They both had a pretty rough go of it in the looks department. They are strapping young men now for sure. And don't worry, I think Sammy may just be afraid of hurting Molly. That's why he is not interested in touching her....... we hope.

And for all of you ladies that are going to go to bed tonight with that twinkle in their eye, don't forget this picture. That is not a yawn, it is a blood curdling scream. I think a lot of us forget about that kind of thing after four years. Just think about that before you scoot over to crowd your man's side of the bed.

And finally, some more pictures of my girl. This should get me off the hook for at least a week with the blog demands.