Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Prayers Needed Please


If you are reading this, please stop & take a moment to pray for Karlie Gill. Karlie is 3-years-old and fighting for her life at Children's Hospital in Birmingham. Karlie's mom, Kacey, & her aunt, Krissi & I went to college together and were in the same sorority & pledge class. This is such a sweet & precious family and my heart is breaking for them. A little over a week ago, Karlie was taken to the hospital in Montgomery for dehydration, diarrhea & vomiting. She was then airlifted to Children's due to kidney failure. Doctors determined that she is fighting two parasites, which has caused a condition called HUS. They have faced many challenges since the diagnoses like blood pressure issues, fever, infection, CT scans, etc... It brings tears to my eyes to think of a little child going through something that is causing them so much pain. Please pray for Karlie's healing and for the doctors & nurses who work with her. Please also pray for Karlie's family. I can't imagine what Kacey & Jason are going through and how hard it must be for Kacey not to hold her baby girl and take that pain away. Keep in your prayers Karlie's 6-year-old sister Kaylee who is back in Montgomery. I imagine that she is scared, confused & misses her mom, dad & sister. And lastly, please pray for their extended family, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins. They are a very close family. Kacey's sister Krissi is keeping everyone updated while holding down the home front in Montgomery. I've been amazed at Krissi's strength. And through it all, they are using this trying time in their life as a witnessing tool, declaring their faith and trust in God. Please pray for sweet little Karlie. You can follow her progress on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/prayingforkarlie?sk=wall.    
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7

Monday, October 17, 2011

2011 Football Season - Week 6

BIG Weekend! Florida was the biggest Auburn home game so far. My parents watched Jake for the weekend (pictures below) so we could both go to the game. I LOVE the big home games at night because the crowd is always large & we have the whole day to tailgate! We had over 50 people at the tailgate, tons of great food and a great time.

LOTS of food

Seafood gumbo was the main dish






We've gone green at the tailgate
 So, was Jake missing us? This is what all he was doing at Nana & Gran's while we were away...
Going to the park with his cousin Marrell


Swinging on a tire swing with Marrell & his other cousin Maddox




Best of cousins, best of friends

Going over the Shake Shake bridge (if you have a child that loves Thomas, you know what I'm referring to!)

Playing cars with Gran
Watching Alabama football with Gran

Driving the trail wagon

To go feed the ducks

To go out in the row boat




They only have 1 paddle, so both Gran & Jake have to fight over it. Whenever it's "Jake's turn", they basically just go in circles in the middle of the pond.

Gran finally got a turn so they could paddle to shore


"Hey, Gran's busy putting the boat up....

...now how do you crank this thing?"
Do you think he missed us? (And yes, my mom was there! She was busy taking all the pictures!) Thank you guys!!

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

2011 Football Season - Week 5

(Pretend this post was written Sunday, October 2)
Finally! A weekend at home. This was our first weekend home since buying the house. Not that we got much done. I've been having to travel during the week for business & Robbie has been super busy at work. So the weekend came around & all we wanted to do was hang out with friends (& meet the newest little tailgate member Hill) & watch football! Completely worth it! (Until Sunday night when I see that our house still looks like we just moved in!)
I love the way he concentrates on any car or train

Getting ready to play some football with Granddad

Ready? Set...

Throw...

Catch!

2011 Football Season - Week 4

(Pretend this post was written Sunday, September 25)
Very fun weekend! We had our good friends from Chattanooga, the Strickland's join us this weekend. They came down Friday to Birmingham to see the house & hang out. Then we headed over to Auburn Saturday for the game & spent the night in Auburn at the RV. We had a great time!
Jake & Henry

I wish the picture was clearer. Jake & Henry were playing in Henry's grandfather's SUV. Henry was wearing Phil's straw hat & driving. They were too cute!


Zach, Robbie & Chad

Zach, Kimberly, me & Robbie

Henry driving the RV with his unruly passenger

Such good buds! We are lucky to tailgate with such special friends!

Judy & Robbie's tailgate birthday cake

3 Months Until 3 Years

(Pretend this post was written on Saturday, September 24)
I cannot believe that Jake will be 3 years old in 3 months. He is growing so fast. I have meant to write this for months weeks. Jake is changing so much so quickly, I have to be better at writing it all down. These are just such precious times, I'm so scared that I'll get too busy to stop & enjoy it & remember it. So to help jog my memory, here is where he is at, at 33 months.
  •  Typical boy. LOVES cars, balls, outside, climbing, running, etc... When we were unpacking some attic boxes, we found some old matchbox cars of Robbie's. Jake has had the best time playing with them. He loves to make them crash. He will lay on the floor on his stomach playing with them for the longest time. He loves for you to throw a ball to him. He new thing is when you throw the ball, if he misses, he falls on the ground like he was tackled. Love it, already understands pass interference.
  •  Loves to read. He is a very good memorizer (is that a word?). At first it was just picture books with rhyming words. But he can actually read most of his books. I'd like to proudly boast that my child can read, but he can't. He just has a very good memory when it comes to books & pictures! I feel like I need to introduce some new books to him. No wonder he can read the ones we have, because we read them all the time! Funny thing is, we actually have tons of books! (My mom was a children's librarian) We just read them all the time.
  • Loves to color. He colors with the jumbo crayons or the the Crayola Mess Free Wonder Markers. (I love these things just about as much as he does! [the mess free part!])
  •  We are getting back on schedule with the sleeping. He has adjusted pretty well to the new house. I've been very proud of him for napping. They are building a house right beside us. Between the noise of the hammering/sawing and their Mexican music jam fest, it is a little loud. He sleeps through it though. Usually he is so tired from school, he won't even fight me on it. Bed time is still a work in progress. He will not fall asleep unless one of us is in there with him. Laying on the floor until a toddler goes to bed is not the most comfortable thing in the world, but yet it never fails, whoever gets bedtime duty always ends up falling asleep on the floor. I've put up with it this first month, because I wanted him to adjust to being in the new house & in his new room. I'm scared we started a bad habit though. I just don't know how to keep him in his bed. As soon as we leave the room, he is out of the bed looking for us. Once he is asleep though, he is sleeping through the night. Yea! No more joining mom & dad at 3 in the morning!
  • Still has very good manners. I love it when he says "excuse me" and "thank you so very much".  Other favorite things I love to hear him say are "have a good day!", "oh brother", "you found my [mommy, daddy, car, etc...]", "hold you".
  • He has started singing a lot lately. He won't sing if you ask him to, you just have to catch him doing it. Usually it is when he is supposed to be sleeping. His favorites are Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, the ABC's, I've Been Working on the Railroad, BINGO & the Wheels on the Bus.
  • He was doing great on the potty training. Then he relapsed. Bad. But we are back on track & almost where we were before the relapse. I would say that we are 95% potty trained when we are at home & he has to pee. 50% when we are at home & he has to poop. 0% out in public. (I'm too scared to try)
  • He is completely loving his new school. The other 2 mom's day out programs we went to in Birmingham, were both very good, but he never seemed to clicked. It was never was bad enough that I felt like he should stop going, I just didn't feel like he loved it. He loves this one. I'm not sure what about it makes it different, but he loves it. I think one thing is his teacher. He loves Ms. Michelle. And she is awesome. He gets upset if she is not the one to get him out of the car in the morning. As soon as he sees her, he runs full speed up to her & gives her a huge hug. It melts my heart and makes me so happy. He loves music class & the playground. He tells me he wants to go see his friends in the morning. As soon as I pick him up, he is blabbering away about everything he did. Love it! 
  • This child can talk! He will talk to anyone at anytime. Sometimes he gets to talking too fast & you can't understand him. And sometimes he gets very excited & talks super loud. But he got both of those from me, so what can I do?
So things are going really well. We of course have our moments of tantrums, pouting, brattiness, but overall, I could not have asked for a sweeter, happier little boy. I just love him to pieces & cherish all of these moments.

Happy Birthday Mimi & Daddy

(Pretend this post was written on Friday, September 23)
Two very special people have birthdays in September. Happy Birthday Mimi & Robbie!! Mimi's birthday was September 22 & Robbie's birthday was September 23.

Mimi (Robbie's mom)



Mimi w/ her 1st grandson - Jackson


Mimi w/ her 2nd grandson - Jake
 Happy Birthday Mimi!!

 Robbie



I cannot believe how much Robbie & Jake look alike at this age!

This picture makes me laugh, because Jake has the same problem with his belly hanging out of his pj shirt!










Happy Birthday Robbie/Daddy!!