Merry Christmas!

We hope that everyone has a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! The above picture is Trace's reaction to waiting more than an hour to get to see Santa at the mall.

Actually, after loving Santa last year, he doesn't want to sit on the big man's lap this year. Here's our first attempt at a Santa picture this past weekend, where Trace's picture with Santa turned into a family picture with Santa after he didn't want to sit on him by himself:

Lastly, here are a few long overdue pictures from the 3-4 inches of snow Baton Rouge received on Dec. 11. This is also the same day we found out that Trace is allergic to Christmas trees, so we didn't get a chance to take many pictures of him in the snow:

LA Children's Museum!

Today we spent a fun-filled family day at the Louisiana Children's Museum. We were planning on a day at the zoo; but the weather did not permit, so we quickly changed our plans and headed for the museum. Trace had as such an exciting day playing and exploring new things. He loved climbing the huge staircase, blowing bubbles, playing in sand, touching the electricity ball, watching the puppet show, grocery shopping, planting vegetables, playing trains (or what he calls "choo choo"), reading books and so much more. But the one thing he couldn't seem to get enough of was the slide! He went over and over and over again. He definatley had a blast and wore himself out. Here's a clip of him playing on one of the slides along with a few pics. Enjoy!

"Choo Choo"

"What a day! "

Trace is a cousin

Trace's cousin, Morgan Rae, arrived at 7:48 p.m. on Nov. 4. She weighed in at a whopping 9 lbs. 0.8 ozs with jet black hair. Mom, baby and daddy are all doing well and are going home from the hospital today.

Here's Trace with Uncle Eli, getting to see his baby cousin:

The proud papa with their doctor:

Morgan, a day old:

Happy Halloween

Trace had a great time at Halloween as Donald Duck. He had a Halloween party at his day care center, trick or treated in our neighborhood, attended the 4th annual Joe Moak Memorial Halloweenie Roast and trick or treated some more. He had a great time, but unfortunately, he was sick the next day so he couldn't enjoy his candy as much as his daddy did.

Here are a few pictures from his night:

Pudding Painting

The other day Trace did some pudding painting and had a blast, mostly because he got to eat as much pudding as he wanted. Enjoy the above video of him calling for momma to see/try his pudding.

Here are a few pictures of him going from clean Trace to Pudding Face in a matter of minutes:

"So Big"

The past few weeks have been busy and exciting for us. Since the hurricane, things in Baton Rouge are getting back to normal. Our fence is still messed up, but other than that, our neighborhood is pretty much back to its pre-storm state.

As for Trace, he is growing up so fast. The past few weeks, he's become more of a "little boy," and its hard to picture the 6 lb baby that we brought home a little more than a year ago. The week of the hurricane he started walking well on his own. Now he's all over the house. He enjoys walking outside the most, especially when we take Phoebe out. Now, we have to chase Phoebe one way, and Trace is going the other. He's also started to call most animals dog. If its not a dog, then its ggrr (as in Tiger).

A few weeks ago, he was calling Phoebe, Beebee, but he hasn't been doing that lately. Now he just wants to see dogs, whether they are in books or in our neighbor's yard. He amazes me everyday with the things he does. He's so smart. He picks up a book and starts pointing at a picture saying, "dog, dog." I look and sure enough, he's pointing right at the little dog among the children in the picture.

In September, the Child Care Center held their LSU Spirit Parade and Trace rode in his "Pandas on Parade" wagon:

After the parade, he got to meet Mike the Tiger and the LSU Cheerleaders but he seemed to be more interested in the cheerleaders' Mardi Gras beads than anything else.

Meeting Mike the Tiger:

With the LSU Cheerleaders:

Enjoying a juice box after the parade:

Then, earlier this month, Trace was part of a group from our church that walked in the JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes on LSU's campus. We walked to help raise money for juvenile diabetes and support our friend Addy, who has JD. Trace wore his LSU t-shirt and Saints hat for the walk.

We had a really good time at the walk, and Trace even caught a nap about halfway through it. After the 2.5 mile walk, Trace enjoyed some red beans from Picadilly and got to meet Scoobie Doo, what a day!


Trace has also got to spend some time with his grandparents the past few weeks. Trace had his first night away from both mommy and daddy and stayed with Ashley's parents while we were out of town this past weekend. A couple of weeks before that, my parents came up to visit and go to the LSU vs. Mississippi State game. We look forward to the days when we're bringing Trace with us to Tiger Stadium. As long as the cheerleaders don't have Mardi Gras beads on, we should fine.

Trace's 1st Hurricane

This week has been quite an experience for Trace. He has survived what I'm sure will be the first of many hurricanes of his lifetime. And while I know he won't remember everything that's going on, I definately know that he knows something's up.

He did great throughout the storm, he slept right through the worst part of it, which was such a relief for me. I was afraid he might get scared, but it didn't seem to phase him. He was, however, fascinated by the rain. My dad and Ernie would take turns holding him up to the window to watch it.

As we listened to the sounds of trees snapping near the house; he was busy reading books, playing with cell phones, and parading around in his wagon. Then the inevitable happened...we lost power. Ernie and I have both weathered many storms in our lifetime; but somehow this one seemed to be a little different knowing that we would be riding this one out with a one year old. Losing power has been one of my biggest fears about facing this storm over any other. It stressed me out thinking about how uncomfortable Trace might get or what other challenges we might face without the convenience of electricity. (i.e. MILK!) We did our best to plan ahead and buy powdered milk and my parents brought up as much ice as they could fit into their car along with other belongings. So, once it went out; I decided to just be optimistic about our circumstances and pray that the power would come on as soon as possible. That was Monday.

On Monday night/Tuesday morning Trace woke up sweating and cranky; so I decided to strip him down to just his diaper and that is how he stayed for the next two days. Luckily, Tuesday was still a bit of an overcast, so the house didn't get quite as hot as I imagined it would. Trace had a good day just sitting on the porch with the grandparents, watching the rain and the people passing by. That night we tried giving him a cold bath to cool him down, but he wasn't having the cold water. So, we warmed it up and he was just fine. I think he especially liked taking a bath in the dark. He was fascinated by his shadows on the bathroom wall!

On Wednesday morning we woke up dreading another day without power, knowing that the sun would be out today to add to our misery. Ernie and I decided to try to go out and get ice and/or milk because we weren't doing to make it through lunch with what we had. We went to a couple of stores with no luck. We also went to look into getting a generator. When we got to the store, we realized what we were up against. The line was wrapped around the building and the store hadn't even opened yet. The worry began to set in over the idea of us having to battle not only the line for the generator, but finding gas, an extension cord; not to mention milk. I gave up, called a friend who had power and decided it was time to leave home. Ernie was going to have to go back to work and remain on call after hours for the next few days. My parents were leaving to try to get back home, even though they weren't sure they could get there. That left me staying home with a hot and cranky baby and no supplies or means to get them. So I packed up our things and off we went to stay at a friend's parents house, which was such a blessing. They welcomed us with open arms and made us feel so very comfortable.

Trace is getting so much attention from the whole family, I'm afraid he's going to have withdrawals once we return home to some normalcy. The only down-side is that we miss Daddy. He's come to visit a couple of times and we joke that he has "visitation rights" in this "separation." But in all seriousness, we are doing really well and count ourselves very lucky and blessed to have survived this storm without the loss of anything more than power and a fence. Many of our neighbors and friends were not as fortunate. It's times like these that put it all into perspective and make you so thankful for all we've been given. Even when some things are taken away for a brief period, what matters is we're safe and sound.

Coolest Kid on the Block

Trace has been enjoying his birthday presents for the past few weeks. He especially likes things he can ride in that give mom and dad a workout pushing him around.

At first he wasn't sure how to ride in his Little Tikes and would drag his feet, but he's gotten the hang of it now and even climbs in it all by himself.


He's also a big fan of his Lion walker. He hasn't got turning it down yet, but he walks all over the living room with it.



The other day The Ring Kid's Community Group had an outing to It's My Party. Trace wasn't a big fan of the space walks and slides, but give him a few years and he'll love them. All of the kids had a great time.


Trace went to a wedding too. Congratulations to Spencer and Sarah!


Lastly, here are some of pictures of Trace having a great hair day: