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.

Bath Time

So today Hope finally got her first tooth! Yeah-she's only been teething for months and months. Also she is now pulling herself up and walking around the coffee table. She will probably skip crawling at the rate she is going. I gave Isaiah and Hope a bath last night while Ryan was out and I left them upstairs playing while I made Hope's bottle. Well I am in the kitchen and I hear Isaiah yelling "Mom, Mom come here" Thinking it was urgent I go to the stairs and he says "hurry Hope is trying to eat the carpet!" I just laughed and laughed. The funny things they say. Here's another...I told Isaiah he couldn't have a piece of chocolate because he already had too much sugar. His response was, "mom it's not sugar, IT's Chocolate!" Here are some pics of the kids after their bath last night.

Merkel Update

Alright so I think I Kinda know what I am doing on this blog thingy now. Well a little update on out lives. Ryan and I were in a car accident two weeks ago. Ryan was following me and some lady was turning left and changed her mind and almost T-boned me, so I slammed on my breaks and Ryan tried to stop in time, But YES, my husband rear-ended me. We are very grateful that he is alive. It was a pretty bad accident, but the kids are ok and that is all that really matters. Ryan is probably going to need knee surgery and I have a disk in my neck that is pinching a nerve in my right shoulder, so I am in lots of pain, but ALIVE!!!! Did I mention that we are gald to be alive. Ryan is now searching for a new car, his is TOTALLED!!!! And my monster (aka YUKON) is finally fixed.
Now on to the fun stuff. The Kids are awesome. Hope finally said MAMA yesterday. Afterall she has been saying "dada, daddy, dad" for weeks now. She is scootin along on her butt, but no crawling. And I am totally fine with that. She is still suffering from the eczema. Some may not know, but my little girl is deathly allergic to eggs and milk. Yeap, no bday cake for her. I love having a little girl, they are so much fun. But let me tell you...She does have the Ballard ATTITUDE! Oh and of course she has her Daddy wrapped!
Isaiah is growing so fast. He is so animated with everything he does. He is a great helper and a wonderful big brother. He makes sure to tell Hope what she can and CAN'T play with. He is very excited about school next year. That is Home School for those of you that don't know. (That will be a challenge for mom, but one I am ready to endure.)
Well That is our little/long update. Here are some pictures of the kiddos. Hopefully I will be much better about updating this site, so check often.

Test Post

So I am not exactly sure what I am doing here. I have never had a blog before, however I figured it was time to learn. So maybe this way I can keep you all updated on family events and growing kiddos. So lets see how this works.