Catching up!

Some of these pictures are older but I wanted to share!
Jack is getting good at making messes. He wants to help with putting the spoon in his mouth and he also likes to "raspberry" when he is eating!


This next picture is from back in April but I love it. I walked in to get Luke up from nap and he was sucking on his oxygen tube. I was laughing and his look says "what is so funny?"


Lindsey came to visit and it was during the boys nap time. I kept them us as long as possible but they crashed:


Just playing:




Luke the day after his surgery with his 2 favorite things: His blanket and his monkey. His uncle Rob and aunt Cailey sent him get-well balloons and the money after his surgery. He LOVES his monkey--Thanks!


Notice the drool pouring down:

To the South Carolina folks--you may need a raincoat when holding Jack!!

I was getting pictures of the boys today and all of a sudden Luke made a fish face! He may never do it again and I am glad I got a picture of it. It cracks me up.

Jack has herpangina. He has the sores on his lip and also in his mouth. The virus should almost be done running its course but he has been a pitiful baby. He isn't eating solids right now and it takes him a while to settle down and go to sleep. Last night he woke up every hour crying. It was a long night! Hopefully he will sleep better tonight.

Jack and Lily Playing On The Floor

Things just got really quiet. I looked around and saw Lily stretched out on the floor, playing with Jack. Now that Luke is two weeks past his surgery, he can play in the exersaucer again and he is loving it!




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Your Opportunity To Help A Deserving Family

Last month we let you know about our desire to send some new friends of ours to a medical conference honoring their son Eli. Jodie and Jesse McGinley (here is their story) had twin boys last August (a month before we had Jack and Luke). Walker is doing great! His brother Eli was born with Spina Bifida, fluid on brain, and many other complications, causing him to leave this Earth less than a week after birth.

A medical conference (AWHONN) is featuring Eli's nurses who will present his case to medical professionals from around the nation. The conference was to be held this month at Opryland Resort in Nashville, Tennessee, but had to be relocated due to the catastrophic flooding that occurred early last month. Jodie and Jesse were planning a quick day trip to Nashville (about a 5-hour drive) to see Eli's case presented. The conference was moved to September at the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas. They cannot afford to make the trip and were devastated at missing the chance to see Eli's story impact others.

Thanks to the wonderful generosity of Rob Kegley, a distant relative that we have not even met, Jodie and Jesse's flights are completely taken care of! We appreciate this so much! That was a big part of the cost, but now we have the rest of the trip to provide for. Jodie mentioned that seeing Eli honored and visiting the Grand Canyon would be the trip of a lifetime, and that is exactly what we would like to give them.

We ask everyone to pray that the remaining money will be raised. The amount needed is $1,500.00, which will cover all of their expenses (hotel, meals, Grand Canyon day trip and a little spending money). $280 has been received so far, and we are asking for ANY amount you may be willing to donate - no gift is too big or too small.

If you would like to donate and help make their dream a reality, please mail checks to Rachel Barnes, 16 High Timber Drive, Maumelle, AR 72113 and write "Team Eli" in the memo line. You can contact us at raebarnes@hotmail.com

Thank you so much for your prayers and please pass this along to anyone who may be interested in helping!

Fun with our two favorite girls

Last night we had the Rays over for dinner. Rachel's favorite summertime meal is kabobs on the grill, and she was so excited! Ryan and Samantha brought their girls with them - Ryleigh and Rowan. We had a good time eating and watching the girls play.

Tonight we brought the girls home from church to give them a night out. Rachel made a special picnic spot for them on the living room floor.

Another great day for Luke

Luke is still doing great. His appetite is still good and he is even eating food now! We had trouble getting him to eat more than a few bites of baby food from a spoon, and I especially did not push him leading up to his surgery.

He ate pretty good yesterday while the speech therapist was watching, but we thought he just liked to do well for an audience (Grandma Barnes has had the best luck feeding him so far). Rachel just gave him some sweet corn casserole (baby food) and he loved it!

Luke is doing great

Luke had a great day! He was a little more tired and cuddly than usual, but was pretty much his normal self all day. His appetite is the same or a little better than before - hopefully he will keep it up and will start to eat more and put on some weight.

The boys started 3 of their 4 therapies last week (physical, speech and occupational). They will eventually start developmental therapy, but for now they get "playtime" on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. The therapists come to the house, which makes it much easier on us.

We expected Luke's surgery to prevent him from therapy until at least next week. He was in such a good mood today that we decided to give it a try. Luke did great and was able to do a lot! We saw all three therapists today, and the only thing Luke did not do was the physical therapy. That mostly involves working with the legs to do standing and crawling exercises - a little too much for his first day after surgery and not worth pushing him too much. He did fine with everything else and will probably be back to normal next week.

He has a low-grade fever, which is normal, and has only needed Tylenol and Motrin (alternating). He can take a shower, but not a bath for 5 days, so we will stay away from the pool this weekend.

Everyone is back home

We just got home and can't believe how fast and great today was! We picked up Jack on the way home. Thanks to Mimi and Pop-pop for keeping Jack and Lily last night and today!

After Luke's hospital visit for pnemonia in April, I was all packed and ready to spend the night. It's so good to be back home and not have to worry about being woken up by nurses all night.

Luke did great and woke right up as soon as we went back to see him. The doctor was very happy and was able to do everything the easiest and best way possible. Luke's appetite appears to be back to normal already, so we're looking forward to taking it easy the rest of the week and having a lot of extra cuddle time.

Thanks to everyone for the prayers. I am amazed at how great and stress-free this has been and I know that is why.

Almost ready to go home

Luke is going great! Wide awake and just ate most of a bottle. Looks like we may be leaving soon!

Starting to wake up

Just got to see Luke in recovery. Still pretty groggy and just starting to open his eyes a little.

In recovery!

Doctor said he did great and that if he keeps doing good then he can come home later today!! Thanks for the prayers! We will be able to go see him soon!

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Off too surgery

Just rolled off to surgery.,.



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Getting ready

Just got a breathing treatment, met a couple of the doctors, and waiting for the main doctor. After we meet him we will head to the OR.



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Just checked in at the hospital

Luke just finished getting weighed, measured and changed into his hospital gown.

Surgury time change

Luke's surgery has been pushed back to 10am tomorrow. He was first on the schedule, but was bumped because of an inpatient surgery. We will be at the hospital at 8am and post updates when we can.

Luke is having surgery

Luke will be having surgery this Wednesday to fix his two hernias and
do his circumcision (he was still too small to do it when he came home
from the hospital in January). He is scheduled for 8:30am (CT) and we
expect him to stay one night for observation.

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. I will post updates throughout
the day on Wednesday, so check here for the latest.

Pictures of the boys' first swim

Jack and Luke had a great time Friday night staying with Grandma and Grandpa at the campground. Saturday afternoon was their first time to swim.

The smallest swimmer diapers are still too big for Luke's waist, so duct tape saved the day! It worked great and we will probably have to do that all summer.


Jack loved sitting back in his raft and splashing around in the water


Mimi came to see them too


Getting Jack ready to go underwater


Luke was too small to be comfortable in the raft but did well being held


Aunt Robyn found a hat small enough to fit Luke


Jack was in the water over an hour but Luke tired out pretty quickly

Getting ready for the boys' first swim

The Barnes grandparents were back to visit last weekend. They had been out west for almost 2 weeks seeing the Grand Canyon and many other sites and stopped here on their way back home for three more days with the boys.

They stayed at the campground and we decided to let the boys take their first swim there since the city pool does not allow any kind of rafts or floating toys.

Rachel had to work on Friday, but the rest of us went to the mall looking for baby sunglasses and matching swimsuits for the boys.



The smallest sunglasses were still way too big for Luke...



Jack and Luke spent Friday night with the grandparents



They are still small enough to fit together in their pack-and-play