Welcome, Grant Richard Thomas Blackard!!

Thursday, May 6, 2010, our cousin, Jessie, and her husband, Will, welcomed their son Grant Richard Thomas Blackard into the world. He was born at 1:51 PM and weighed a whopping 9 lbs. 1 oz. and was 22 in. long! Jessie did such a good job during labor. I was blessed to be able to be the photographer to capture this special event. What a miraculous event to witness!

The last meal the night before delivery day...a baked potato from Ruby Tuesday.

Jessie's good luck charms
Her Care Bear has one of her Daddy's motorcycle pins on it
We know he was watching over his sweet baby girl from heaven on this special day :)

Jessie and Mamaw

The very last picture of Jessie and Jordan preggo together

Daddy trying to get some much needed sleep

A proud grandmother and a beaming aunt!

The two grandma's
Mrs. Wanda and Mrs. Paddy

They couldn't stand it! They kept peeking into the room to see if Grant was here yet.
Jessie caught them once and got onto them. It was quite funny!

Here he is!
What a whopper!

Jessie's first time to hold Grant.
Her sweet little face says it all...

You spend 9 (really 10) months dreaming about this little person that you're carrying in your tummy and what they will look like when you see them for the first time. You see them for the first time and it's like you've known them your whole life. What a sweet expression of love from this sweet new mommy!

Grant's size surprised us all! We had no idea he was going to be this big!

A very proud Daddy!

Dr. G and Will

Already got his Daddy wrapped :)

Look at those precious little toes!

Getting a bath

All clean!

Look at those chubby little cheeks! Don't you just want to squeeze on them?

Already a big time fan of Mamaw Chandler. She has the touch!

What a perfect little family!

Aunt Ra-Ra
(Sara, Jessie's sister)

Jordan (and Addi) holding Grant.
We can't wait for Addison to get here, too!

Jessie's step-father, Bob, and her mom, Wanda

Shane, Sara, and Grant

Jessie's favorite little boy in the entire world!

Will, Jessie, and Grant, we love you and we are so happy for your sweet family! We pray God's blessings on you as you raise your son. May God give you wisdom, strength, patience, and guidance as you raise little Grant. Thank you for letting me photograph this miracle! I love you guys so much!

Shoe Thief

If you come to our house to visit and you happen to take off your shoes, you need to know that there's a little boy who is probably going to find those shoes and wear them. You'll get them back, so don't worry, but he will make several trips around the living room just to ensure that everyone that is in attendance oohs and aahs over how cute he is in your shoes. Isn't he the cutest little shoe thief you've ever seen though?

Eli's First Baseball Game

Living in a small town kind of has its perks...you don't have to fill your car up with gas every week, you pretty much never meet a stranger, you get to sleep a little later because it only takes you five minutes to get anywhere in town, and you can attend high school baseball games right from a friend's backyard! The other night our high school baseball was playing a big game, so "B" and Memaw Tim (Jonah started that, but I don't know if Eli is going to end up calling him that yet or not) invited us to their backyard to watch the game. We definitely said, "YES!" Josh loves baseball, Eli loves outside, and Mommy loves watches her boys having fun together. It was a WIN, WIN, WIN for us all!

We got there and our music minister, Stephen, and his wife, Megan, were there along with Beppa, Cliff, and Zue-Zue. The game had already started and Josh immediately went into game mode and started watching. Eli didn't really care about that game that much. He was much more interested in stealing people's chairs when they got up, throwing his ball that he brought, and running around in the grass. He had a blast!


His favorite part had to be when he and Memaw Tim were getting each other with the grass. Eli just kept giggling over and over again. Then when that game lost it's appeal, Josh showed Eli how to chew on grass like all the good small town hicks do! Ha ha ha!






What a fun night! It made me think about the days when it'll be me watching through the fence waiting expectantly for my little boy to knock it out of the park one day. I'll be a nervous wreck, but I'll be one proud Momma that's for sure! Thanks, B and Memaw, for a great evening!

Eli's New Wheels

Zue-Zue gave Eli a new pair of wheels a couple of weeks ago. He couldn't wait to get on the tricycle; although, his legs are still a little too short to actually use it right now. He still had lots of fun though ! I'm sure this summer I'm going to be running to catch him on this!

My Little Pigpen

Have I mentioned before how much Eli LOVES D-I-R-T? If I haven't said it before, let me say it now. ELI LOVES DIRT! The other Sunday after church, Eli and Mamaw went outside to play and Eli found a dirt pile. He didn't move from that dirt pile for the next 30 minutes either. He was in little boy heaven!

He took a dirt bath. Great for exfoliating your skin, you know!

Throwing dirt is always lots of fun, too!

Shaking his little booty to get the dirt off of him.

Ha ha ha! My favorite!

The cutest and dirtiest piggy toes :)

Time for a water break and some one-on-one time with Mamaw

Needless to say, after all this wonderful dirt playing, Eli was one dirty little boy! I barely had the words "water hose" out of my mouth before Eli was running to the water hose to clean up. What a fun day we had!