Monday, September 30, 2013

Trip to the Rocket & Space Museum

We were at the beach for 4 days (see post below) and came back on Monday. Wednesday, Jake was having his 3rd (& hopefully final!!!) surgery at Children's Hospital in Nashville, so we decided to just extend our little vacation and pack in as much fun for Jake as we could. When we were going to his annual checkup in Nashville this summer, we passed through Huntsville and saw the rocket they have at the welcome center from the interstate. Jake was so excited to see the rocket once we found out Jake's surgery would be in September, we decided for our next trip to Nashville, let's stop by the Rocket & Space Museum. So we headed to Nashville on Tuesday, so we could stop by the museum on our way. 

Thankfully, because we are members of the McWane Center, our admission to the museum was free. If not, it would have cost $70 for the 3 of us to go. Jake had a great time, but he didn't have $70 worth of fun. There were a lot of things that were over his head and he wasn't interested in, but for it to be free, it was totally worth it and there was plenty that Jake was super excited about.
Token family vacation picture outside museum

Jake insisted I take his picture with this

Catching something?? in the black hole




What was Jake's favorite part? An iPad station that basically had a knockoff of Angry Birds except they used rockets & planets. He would have stayed there all day playing it.




We spent a few hours at the museum and then headed on up to Nashville. We took Jake to see Despicable Me 2 (which he loved!) and then let him pick out a toy for the next day. It's always fun to be at the hospital bright & early!

I cannot say enough great things about the Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt in Nashville. That is the hospital Jake's surgeon is based out of, and when we were living in Chattanooga, he was the closest specialist. He has been Jake's specialist since he was born. When we moved to Birmingham, Birmingham has a brand new Children's Hospital which I'm sure is amazing and of course is much much closer. But after talking with our pediatrician, others and just listening to our gut, we knew that we would never want to switch from Dr. Adams. He has treated Jake since he was born & did his prior 2 surgeries. It is worth the drive for us. Everyone at Children's is so great. From the person checking you in, to the nurses, doctors, anesthesiologist and all around, we've had such a wonderful experience at Vanderbilt. As always, when we are there, it is scary. But you look around that waiting room and see kids who are facing surgeries the rest of their lives or they are having surgery just to prolong their lives. Surgeries for them that are life or death. When you sit in a waiting room for 5 hours, you can't help but ease drop to pass time. There were 2 groups there each wearing matching t-shirts to support a child that I assume was having surgery that day too. I figured if you have shirts made, you are facing something very serious. I made a mental note of the children's names and I've prayed everyday since for them, their parents, their families, and their doctors. Thankfully, our surgery is not life or death. We didn't have to spend the night in the hospital and we are so near closing this chapter that started when I was 28 weeks pregnant with Jake. But there are so many children that have spent more nights in a hospital than their home, this is life or death for them, what their parents would give for just one normal day without worry. Please pray for them. Please pray for their families, their doctors and most of all for these children and their little bodies that shouldn't have to go through so much at such a young age. I pray that they feel the Lord's peace, His comfort and His love.    

 We are at home now, Jake is recovering like a champ and the hardest thing is just trying to convince a 4-year-old to rest and take it easy. They had warned us that the all the medication would probably make Jake drowsy & sleep a lot. Um, no. It did the opposite. It made him so wired, we finally on day 3, cut some of his dosages in half. That has helped, but we'll all be ready for things to just be back to normal.

Our Savior has carried us through this journey the last five years, and I give Him all of the glory.  


Friday, September 27, 2013

Beach Vacation

We took a little 4 day vacation to the beach. It was just the 3 of us. Usually we vacation/travel with friends, family or its just Robbie & me. But this time, we just went as a family of 3.  I love going to the beach in September, because it is still warm, but the summer crowd has left. We had such a wonderful time!
 
Day 1 - The weather was perfect! Unfortunately, it was a red flag day, so we wouldn't let Jake get in the water past his waist and one of us had to be right there beside him. This child is scared of 90% of everything. But when he loves something, he loves it. He loves waves. He could care less if they were hitting him in the face, knocking him over. (But yet he cries if any water gets in his eyes when I wash his hair.) He doesn't care that much about playing in the sand, but he loves being in the water. 

Jake & Daddy

 

Stop taking pictures!
Just a little mid-day nap


That night, Granddad Jake & GG Kathy drove over from Niceville to Seaside to meet us for dinner. Loved getting to hang out with them in a smaller group. Usually its a big group of people when we all get to see each other, so it was nice to get some one-on-one time with them. We ate at Bud & Alley's and then walked over & had some ice cream for dessert.
Granddad Jake & Jake
Jake & GG Kathy
 
Daddy & Jake
Day 2 - Still beautiful weather, but still a red flag. No worries! We still had a great time. We had no dinner plans that night, so we spent ALL DAY at the beach. It was WONDERFUL!

Practicing his modeling poses






Playing a little beach baseball with Daddy

Just a little beach nap

We enjoyed a beautiful beach sunset
 

 Day 3 - We were at the beach, so of course it had to rain at some point. We knew it was going to rain all day Saturday, so we planned some inside activities. We took Jake to an arcade (which he calls the game store). Then we came back, watched football & ordered a pizza. Even rainy, it was a great day.
My mom gave Jake a bag of beach goodies.
Thankfully, a fun pad was included it.
It entertained Jake all day in his "secret hideout*" while he watched movies.
*Which secret hideout = top bunk
Just hanging out on the balcony
Last time we were down, we saw an alligator in the water across from my parent's condo. Jake had been asking to see him again. Thankfully, the alligator made an appearance!


 
 Day 4 - The morning started out rainy, but as soon as it cleared up, we headed to the beach one last time.
Walking on the boardwalk from my parent's condo to the beach


We decided to go for a walk down the beach. There was this huge pool of water in the middle of the beach that looked like a pond. It was only about ankle deep, so Robbie & I were walking on the edge of it. Jake freaked out. He refused to come close to it. It was the most ridiculous thing. He loves to go out in the ocean & get knocked over by waves, but won't stand in ankle deep calm water. Being the frustrated great parents we are, we made him put his feet in the water.
He was not happy about it
Of course once he did walk over to it, he thought it was neat. No more tears.
But he was much happier to be standing on the ocean's edge


That night, we had a wonderful dinner in Rosemary Beach to celebrate Robbie's birthday one day early. Happy 35th Birthday Robbie! 
 
Good-bye beach! We had a great time!!
 

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

2013 Football Season - Week 3

We were in Auburn once again, this time for their SEC opener against Mississippi State.
Jake & cousin Jackson
Big Aubie got to come out
(Usually Robbie hates when it comes out because it's
one extra thing he has to put up. But the kids love it!)
Jake kept calling it a balloon.

Aunt Andrea & Jake

These little boys love to play outside!





We have an all boy tailgate!

The Bush family
From left to right: cousin Gina (married to Eric & expecting baby Evan in late Oct!),
Uncle Mike (Chuck's brother), Chuck, Judy, GG Kathy (Granddad Jake's
wife), cousin Eric (Mike's son), Rob, me, extended cousins Belinda & Richard
 Bush, Jackson, Uncle Johnathan, Jake, Aunt Andrea & Granddad Jake
 *Note: I'm not wearing red for MS State. I usually try to dress in a neutral color, but I had to pull out all the stops for an Alabama win against A&M. (I'm still waiting for my thank you letter from Alabama.)  Plus, I knew that I wasn't going to the game, so I figured I wouldn't embarrass the Bush's too much.
 
Hill, Jake & Jackson cooling off in the RV

Perfect way to end the night....
Watermelon