Mark's Graduation

Alexander Mark Ballard

Two posts in one day...I am just trying to catch up. I hope one day I will eventually get better at this. But anyway.....I have a precious new nephew. My brother Mark and his wife, Nicole, had their first baby. He was born on May 17th at 3:10pm, weighing 7lbs2oz. Less than 24 hours after he was born they found out that he had a few heart defects. So he underwent heart surgery on May 22nd. The surgery went great. He is doing awesome now. He went home after spending just five days in the Pediatric ICU. He has officially won himself a place at Aunt Cari's daycare! I am so in love with this little man. I love being an Aunt. My brother is an awesome dad and it is so exciting to officially be sharing parenting tips with him. Here are a few pics of him...They don't due him justice, you just have to see him for yourself.

Doin what he does best...Sleeping!
He looks just like my brother with Nicole's chin. The Ballard genes have a way of taking over!

Memorial Day weekend

So we had a great Memorial Day weekend with the Merkel fam. Ryan's brother Kenny and his wife, Julie, and Jackson came to visit. It was so awesome. We haven't seen Jackson in awhile and he has grown so much. We celebrated Jackson's first birthday and Uncle Ted's birthday with a big BBQ. At first I think Jackson was a little unsure about the cake, but then he started to REALLY like it. Uncle Ted was the master BBQer! On Memorial Day We went to Frontier for one final meal before they went back to OK. We were trying to find a table and Ryan said, "Geez eleven people, I remember when it was just a family of five." Oh how things change when you get married and have kids. We also took the kids to the duckpond at UNM so they could feed the ducks. I actually think the Merkel Boys had more fun "feeding" (aka. throwing bread at) the ducks and turtles. But Mama cat ended up winning the contest. We had such a great time. It's really cool to see all the little ones together. Isaiah makes sure to lead the pack! So here's some pictures from our weekend.

I think he liked the cake...Just a little
Jackson and Hope 'Chillin' in their strollers. Why can't we all have a little stroller?
Hope is in heaven in Aunt Cassie's arms!
Isaiah's arm is gettin a little tired after feeding those ducks all afternoon.
The three cousins....Isaiah at the top (of course) and Hope and Jackson crashed out again.