Wrangler and William

Before William was born, Stephane and I were worried how Wrangler would react to having a baby around. Heelers are known to be protective and we heard a story about one attacking a baby because it was "hitting" his mom. Luckily, we picked the perfect pooch. Wrangler loves William. The other day William was laying in his Boppy on the couch when wrangler walks by, licks William's hand, and keeps walking. We call it a "drive by kiss". Wrangler does a lot of those. When he is in the car with us and William is crying, he will lick William's face to try and make him feel better. It's so sweet to watch, even though William sometimes doesn't like. lol. I can't wait for William to get bigger so he can play, run, and maybe even ride Wrangler! They're going to be the best of friends:-)

New life

Well we're finally in our own house now, and it's great. We did already flood the kitchen and living room after only being in it for 4 days, but it's all fixed now:) William and Wrangler both have their own rooms. Wrangler even has his own TV, which we'll be letting Dru borrow while they're living down here. Speaking of Amy and Dru, I am SOO excited for them to be moving down here in about a week and a half! I can't wait for William to play with Mina, since he's finally bigger than the first time Mina was here. And he's staying up much longer, and smiling, and finally laughing!!! I love my little baby boy, and I love Christmas time. We have our Tree up and all decorated with presents underneath. William loves staring at the tree when it's all lit up. It'll be William's first Christmas, and I'm going to take a lot of Pictures. I'm trying to be better at taking more pictures like Amy does. I just need to learn how to put pictures from the camera onto the computer. Now I need to go play with William:)

William's First Bath (he didn't like it)

William James Budge

Well, we have a little bundle of joy at home that we welcomed into our world on the 13th of September at 1931 in the evening. His name is William James Budge, or Liam for short. He weighed 7 pounds and 7 ounces and was 19 inches long. As much as we wanted him here, nothing could have prepared us for life with a newborn. No matter how much advice we received, or how many classes we took, nothing really prepares you for the riggers of raising a newborn. We love him very much and are very happy to have worked out several of the kinks in keeping him happy and healthy. Welcome to the family little one!

This is Liam in his going home outfit.

This is Liam the first time we had him in the room with us.

san antonio

so, with the help of Meagan's parents, we took a trip to san antonio this week. we only spent one night there, but it was worth it. we had one inspection to do in killeen so we thought, hey what they heck, lets just go all the way to san antonio and make a trip out of it. we only have so many more days to do stuff like that, what with the baby coming and all. so we did. we got there later in the evening so the first thing we did, because it is much cooler at night, was the riverwalk boat tour. it was fun. then we had dinner at the oldest restaraunt on the river, the casa rio, which was some of the best mexican i have ever had. there salsa is sooooo good. we stayed at the crocket hotel, which is right across the street from the alamo. litterally, we looked out our window and there was the alamo.

we visited the alamo first thing in the morning. not much to it. the grounds are gorgeous. but the alamo as a whole was just kinda.... anyway. we couldn't figure out what to do after that. we were going to try and go to the zoo, but meagan can't be on her feet for very long, and it was getting really hot. so we went to the wax musem instead and got wax hands. it was a lot cooler than i thought it was going to be. some of them looked real. and others, not so much. but pretty cool. we took more video than pictures, so we only have two to post. one is at the sign for the hotel and one is of the wax hands we got done. anyway, it was well worth it. we had fun.

the joys of life...and the not so joys of life...

i am the kind of person that likes to exceed expectations. when i don't, i get really down on myself and depressed. and i always, always assume the worst in every situation. sometimes, that isn't such a bad thing, but it sure makes me feel like crap. and they only way that i think i can make up for it is to be given another chance to do better.

so, if anyone reads this that i have let down, i am truely sorry.

becoming a dad....

what a roller coaster ride this whole ten months has been. granted we are still at nine and a few days, but to know that we are at NINE months and our son could be here in a few weeks is really something to take in. in the proclamation to the world; the family, published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it clearly outlines what we believe a father should be to his wife and kids. now that i have a wife and will soon have a child, the weight and responsibilities of fatherhood and husbandry are pressing down. being married was a whole different ball game than having a child. at least the person i was taking responsiblitity for could take care of herself if needs be. but our son will be totally helpless. i will have to provide for him and teach him how to be a better person than i am. i have to teach him the importance of living the gospel and staying close to the church. i have to teach him that the most important thing he will do in this life is to stay worthy to be married in the temple. what a daunting task. words cannot express the depth of my feelings of how awesome and overwhelming this seems. i love my wife. i love my son. and though i know things will be good and be bad at times. bring it on.