Christmas Review

Here are some photos of our Christmas vacay to SC! We all had a wonderful time.

Here are some videos too...

Talking to Paw Paw.
This was soooo cute. They talked for at least 10 minutes saying the same thing over and over..."ah-da".

Rodeo Boo!
Boo's Aunt P crocheted him this adorable cowboy hat (boots too) and here he is riding PawPaw bull.

Boo enjoying some of his gifts at Granny and Grandpa's house.
He also learned to clap in SC!

We're Alive

Hi All!
It's been a long time since I've been able to blog. We've been so busy in SC and BeBe's computer is just about the S-L-O-W-E-S-T thing I've ever used (sorry BeBe...but you know it's true!). I just couldn't find the time to blog or even check email regularly.

But, we're back in Fayetteville now and are in the process of unpacking...

We had a great time in SC and Boo's first Christmas was perfect. I'd also like to report that my Dad is doing really well.

I'll try to get some photos up soon of all of our fun.

I'm just sorry that we weren't able to visit everyone while we were home.

Hugs to you all! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Update

Hello All!
I wanted to let you all know that my Dad made it through the surgery well yesterday. He should be coming home from the hospital sometime today. Thank you all for your prayers and well wishes!!!

Thanks to B's family for watching Boo while I was at the hospital!!!!

Arrived

Just a quick update. We arrived on time yesterday afternoon. We had 2 flights to endure. The first was a little rough with Boo crying for about 30 minutes before succumbing to sleep. Luckily, the plane was pretty empty and I just moved to the back. The second flight was FULL!! And Boo was GREAT! Luckily, it's only a 40 minute flight from Charlotte to Charleston.

My Dad seems to be doing really well. He looks great and says he feels good since they cleared up the congestive heart failure. He says that if he didn't know there was something wrong with him, he wouldn't know there was something wrong with him. Does that make sense? But still, he realizes the danger and risk he's at, so he will go ahead with the procedure on Friday.

Thanks for all of your prayers.

To South Carolina

Well, Lil Boo and I will be flying to SC today. With my Dad's heart condition, I just couldn't stay here and wait until our planned trip to SC later this month. He saw the cardiologist and another doctor who deals with the pacemakers and defibrillators last week and both said that he is at great risk for cardiac arrest and really needs both the pacemaker because he has left bundle branch block and the defibrillator if he should go into cardiac arrest.

My immediate thought was DO IT TODAY (and that was on Tuesday)! Well, they couldn't because he's on a blood thinner and he has to be off of that for several days before having surgery and they also wanted to do a heart cath to make sure he didn't have a blockage too. Thankfully, that turned out well. So, he's having surgery Friday for the pacer/defibrillator. With all of these developments, B and I decided that the best thing for me to do was go home. So, G and I are all packed and ready to go. We'll be leaving mid afternoon today. I'll keep you all posted. B and the pups will join us after B's term is over.

Prayers for my Dad please.

Drum Line

Boo was playing with these drums and it was so cute...of course it was! Anyway, he would tap on the top of the drum and when the music would start, he'd hold on to the table and dance. When the music stopped, so did he until we tapped on the drums to start it again. It really was so cute. Of course, he was distracted by the camera and my giggles, so this was the best video I could get.

Wordless Wednesday

What do you see???

9 Months!

Our Lil Boo isn't so little anymore at 9 months old!

Boo in a onesie that fits him.

Boo in the "big" 12 month onesie. I wonder if it will fit at 12 months!

Boo is doing really well, crawling everywhere and wanting to stand up all of the time! He weighs in at 22 lbs now and is about 27.5" long. He also has FIVE teeth and is working on another!! We love him so much and are so happy to be celebrating the Christmas season with him this year.

I know B-man is going to kill me for doing this! But, they're so funny, I had to do it. I've never seen B move so well! And just look at how much fun Boo is having. Thanks to B-mama for the idea. See post below.

We've Been Elf'd!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Thaaaaanksgiving!

We want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! Hope you all have a great day with friends and family. Boo wanted to send out a special turkey day shout out to his family back home.

It's hard to see, but he smiles so big everyday when we say hi to you all!

Wordless Wednesday

Tubby Time

Dig, Dig, Dig!

You might be asking yourself, "What is Carolina Girl saying that is so funny?". Well, when we took swimming lessons, the code word for what you do with your arms was "dig". So, when Boo started "digging" his arms in the bath last night, I would say...dig, dig, dig. And for whatever reason, he thought it was hilarious!!!

I was glad to end the day on a happy note because he's been so whiny and needy lately. Wanting to be held or wanting to climb on me ALL THE TIME! I can hardly put him down. I've been looking into it online and I'm reading that it is just a phase of separation anxiety. Boy, do I hope so. It wears me out! But, when we have moments like the ones featured above, I quickly forget about the bad ones.

Any advice on the separation anxiety issue or similar stories to tell? It always makes me feel better to know I'm not the only one...

Welcome Home Uncle A!

Alternately Titled: To Kansas and back in a jiggity jig!

Uncle A returned home from his year long tour in Iraq Monday morning!! Yay!
B-man, Boo, and I drove up to Kansas to welcome him. Unfortunately, his Welcome Home Ceremony was at 2 AM, so Boo and I stayed at the hotel while B-man picked him up at Ft Riley.

Our visit was short and sweet. We drove up on Monday and home on Tuesday. Uncle A had to be at work at 8 AM to start out processing and B-man had class Tuesday night.

We were so glad to be there to welcome him home. We're so proud of you Uncle A for all you've done this past year and we're so happy that you're back safe and sound.

Here are a few pics and videos of the ceremony.

Uncle A!

Some of his team members.

Back at the hotel later that morning.

I made this shirt for Boo to wear!


Welcome Home!

Job well done!

Wednesday

It's supposed to be Wordless Wednesday, but I couldn't post without saying a few things.

Thank you all for your prayers for my Dad. It means a lot to our family. He's still feeling better, but there is more work to be done. He went to the cardiologist yesterday but reports that "not much" happened. He'll go back again next week. So, I'll keep you posted.

Thanks also for the birthday wishes and Veteran's Day acknowledgements. We are very proud of B-man and all of our family members and fellow countrymen who have and continue to serve our nation. I came across a prayer over at Building Cathedrals that really touched me. I'm sharing it here with you now.

Dear Lord Jesus Christ,
those whom we honor today
are examples of your words:
"Greater love than this no one has:
that he lay down his life for his friends."
They gave up their lives in defense of freedom
for their loved ones and their country.

Teach me to appreciate the virtue of patriotism
a true and Christian love of country.
Let me love my country not to follow it blindly
but to make it the land of goodness
that it should be.
Let my patriotism be such
that it will not exclude the other nations of the world
but include them in a powerful love of country
that has room for all others too.

Okay...I know what the Grandparents really want to see is their Boo!! So...here he is!

Crawling!

Isn't it the cutest?

Working on pulling up and standing. He gets so excited when he stands!

He thinks everything is a "bouncy bouncy"! :)

That's all for now! Sorry it's been a while...

PawPaw Update

You may have noticed that I added PawPaw (my Dad) to our prayer list. He has just been feeling ill lately and short of breath and would just be zapped of energy after minimal activity. He had an array of tests this week and his echocardiogram did not have great results.

He was still in atrial fibrillation and was now also in congestive heart failure (CHF). The scariest news was that his ejection fraction (a percentage of how much blood your heart pumps each time it contracts) was at 19%!! That is NOT good. At all. So, they admitted him to the hospital yesterday afternoon. They gave him a diuretic to help get rid of the fluid around his heart and today he was feeling MUCH MUCH better. He is still in a-fib and is planning a cardioversion in a couple of weeks. In his own words, "I'm not well, but I feel better". The cardiologist discharged him from the hospital and even ok'd him to go to our high school football game tonight. The Gators are the regional champs!! Woohoo!

So, please continue to pray for his health. That his heart rhythm will convert on it's own to a normal rhythm and rate and that he won't even need the cardioversion. That his ejection fraction will improve greatly with the resolution of the CHF. That he will have the energy to enjoy this retirement that he has worked so hard to earn.

Wordless Wednesday

Don't forget to vote today!!!

Laundry Shout Out!

I just want to thank B-man sooo much for doing the laundry! He's pretty much been doing it exclusively since Boo was born. I've done a few loads here and there and hardly ever to completion in a timely manner. But, B-man does an awesome job! It's so nice to wake up in the morning to neatly (perfectly) folded laundry!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!!!


In addition to laundry praise, I'd like to ask you for prayers for PawPaw (my Dad). He's just not be feeling well for a while now and has been diagnosed with atrial fib and is now on medication for it, but he's still having shortness of breath with minimal activity. He also is having a lot of GI trouble and will be getting all of the associated tests this week. Don't tell him, but I'm worried about him and we're praying that everything is okay, or that whatever it is can be easily fixed. Please join me.

8 months old!

Boo is 8 months old today!!! Wow, we've come a long way in that amount of time.

Baby's First Halloween!

Today marks Boo's first Halloween! We celebrated with the party a few weeks ago and today we went downtown to the square for trick-or-treating (really we just pushed Boo in the stroller and looked at everyone else). It was fun to see all of the itty bitty's all dressed up! So cute! Here are some pics.

We did find time to carve pumpkins this year!

Scary Larry and a Cute Lil Spider


Pumpkin snowman

These pups were hilarious downtown today! I had to take their photo.

Spider Boo!

Happy Halloween!

Do you see scary puppy eyes in the window??

Promotion Day

B-man's official promotion date is Nov 1st, but we had his promotion ceremony today on campus. It was a BEAUTIFUL fall day and the promotion was very nice.
We're so proud of you B for all of your hard work, dedication, and sacrifice. You definitely deserve this day!

LTC Taylor saying nice things about B-man!

Reading of the promotion orders.

G-Boo and me pinning on the MAJ rank!

LTC Taylor pinning the rank on B's beret.

B-man addressing the formation and thanking me and Boo for all we do to support him!



Boo eating leaves! He would NOT stop trying to eat them!

Prayerful Wednesday

UPDATE: Stellan is here!!! And according to the family blog, "the NICU team has yet to find a single thing wrong with him"!!! Check here for more details! Praise God!

Original Post:
I know it's supposed to be Wordless or Wordle Wednesday, but today we're going with Prayerful Wednesday.
I happened across a blog a while ago about a family with 3 small children and one on the way. Well, MckMuffin (the one on the way) was diagnosed with a fatal heart defect in utero and the parents were told that he would surely die. MckMama was hospitalized for a while and put on various medications to help correct her baby's heart rate, etc. Miraculously, when they took the mom off of the meds about a week or so ago because of her own growing heart complications, they found that MckMuffin's heart rate was excellent. He still has an enlarged heart and is very sick (per the doctors), but this family is so faithful. Beyond words faithful and they have totally given this problem to God to handle. Such surrender.

Well, today is MckMuffin's BIRTH day. He will be born via c-section at 9:30 a.m. CST. Please join thousands in praying for his health as well as his mother's health on this day. He already is a miracle baby (aren't they all?) and we're praying for continued healing and miracles for this little guy who has already touched the lives of people all over the world. Check out more about their wonderful family here.

He Passed!!

B-man just came home from completing his oral comprehensive exam....and he passed (it's a pass/fail exam)!!!
Hooray!!! Yippee!
We're so proud of you Honey!
Only 2 more classes to complete before graduating!

Forward Progress, Otter-ing, Good Morning Sandy, and The BIG HILL!

Here are some videos to keep you smiling and laughing!

This first one is of Boo crawling!!! He does short bouts of the real thing intermingled with inch-worming and scooting forward. But, it's all forward progression and we're all happy about that. He just needed the right motivation... the remote control! This boy LOVES electronics! He ends the video demonstrating our newest made up term around here: otter-ing. This is what G does when he gets to his destination object and rolls over on his back to play with it. He does it every time! Too cute! Maybe he should have been an otter for Halloween. Wait...there's still time.

This next one is a little snippet into our daily routine. Every morning after I feed G and change his roos, I sit him on the floor and we call our beloved yellow dog (aka Nanny Sandy) into his room and give her good morning hugs. She's always waiting in the hall and G gets sooo excited when he hears me say.... "Good Morning, Sandy"! He is usually more excited than displayed here. I think he was a little distracted by the camera.

Next up, the BIG HILL. There's a little bit of a back story here, so bear with me. When Aunt Rob and I were little girls, Granddaddy (BeBe's dad) used to take us down the street from his house to the BIG HILL!!! We'd take cardboard boxes and sit on them and slide down what seemed like the side of a mountain to us!!! It was so thrilling and exciting. We L-O-V-E-D it! What's funny is now we know the the big hill isn't so big. In fact, compared to our memory, it looks so small and puny. "That's it??? Are you sure???" Ha!! So, here's Boo going down the BIG HILL in our front yard in his little red wagon. In fact, when I told B-man I was going to take G down the big hill, he looked at me and said, "What hill?" It cracks me up to watch Boo's face and hair as we roll down the hill.

Hope you enjoyed!

First Hike

Last Sunday afternoon we took advantage of the great weather while B-man was taking a break between studying for finals and studying for his oral comprehensive exam on all classes to date (the exam is Monday) and went hiking. We were hoping to see the beautiful fall colors, but I think we were a little early. It was fun nonetheless to enjoy some hiking as a family. We really enjoyed it in Colorado and were eager to try it out here with our Boo!

Devils Den State Park

Boo's ride is my latest consignment deal!!

Mom even gave it a spin.

An itty bitty sneaky snake.

Boo and I finished our "Mommy and me" swim lessons today. He was especially swimmy and kicky today! He received a certificate of participation!! :)