4 months

The stomach bug has bitten this momma hardcore so a full post will be coming later on what all our 4 month old little fella has been up to along with his stats we'll get next week. Until then, I just wanted to share a few pics of his sweeeeeet smile, just in case you have a stomach bug too and need something to cheer you up...

Mothers Day

We celebrated Mothers Day a little later this year...actually according to Josh, we celebrate Mothers Day EVERY day in our house. Sounds sweet unless you know him, then you know he's being sarcastic. Ya see, on Mother's Day, I don't change diapers or give baths. I don't have to take little girls to the potty or do any laundry...I WISH we celebrated Mother's Day EVERY day :) I'm kidding. I truly don't mind those things at all, well maybe I kinda hate the laundry but other than that,  I really love every part of being a mommy. 

I mean, how could I not love it when I have this little pigtailed cutie smiling at me every day?

And doing a little jig, completely accessorized by a rosary.

And making these silly faces at me when all I really want is an impish grin...doesn't she know what an impish grin is??

And this little fella who has discovered how to use his chubby little hands. He's a paper towel pulling, necklace grabbing, toy playing fool these days.

Who has THE sweetest smile ever!! I can't think about Mac without smiling...he's such a sweet, happy little guy.

I often wonder if he ever gets a "face ache" from smiling so much- you know...the kind you get in a pageant or after taking hours of wedding pictures. 

And speaking of pictures, my mom's card was full of them. I love Shutterfly and all of their card options. 

Saturday, my delayed Mothers Day celebration started out with breakfast prepared by short stack and Daddy. I can hear you asking, "are those cupcakes?? Didn't she say breakfast??" And my answer is "Yes and yes." In my perfect world if gaining 200lbs was never a concern, I would eat cupcakes for breakast everyday...and maybe for lunch and dinner too. These are my favorite. Strawberry with cream cheese icing! I was PUMPED when I woke up. Yeah, I slept in until 8am and so did Mac! Another little gift to get the day off on the right foot.

We spent the rest of the day outside and hanging out by the pool, playing, relaxing and grilling.

Dinner was soooo good. I'm a meat and potatoes (and cupcakes) kind of girl so my meals for the day were right on the money.

I hope every mom out there had a wonderful day. Its hard work being a mom, but I'm glad (and so thankful) to do it.

Stroke. Not Stoked.

It's been a while and believe me, I wish I had a ton of photos from a lot of fun things that we've been doing to excuse my absence but instead we've been in a much different place experiencing new things...but not really anything I hope our family experiences again.

I'll start at the end of the story: My father-in-law had a stroke but he's doing very well now.

So now let's take it from the top...this is how it all went down.

The weekend of Mac's Baptism and also of Mick's 60th Birthday, he started to feel pretty bad. So bad that he passed on a round of golf with Josh, Jason and Marcus - something they all look forward to so much. He was complaining of severe headaches and that he was having a very difficult time concentrating on anything. I know that doesn't sound like much initially - we all have days where we read the same sentence 3 times in a row and still don't remember what we just read. But this was different. 

I know that he and I had the same 5 minute conversation 3 times within an hour, and each time it was like we were having the conversation for the first time. There was no "Oh yeah, I remember you telling me that now..." It was all new information to him. 

I think we were all kind of dismissing it at first. Maybe he was just really tired (he's not a great sleeper), maybe his sinuses were causing the bad headaches, etc. Well, it got worse. Josh and his dad work together and that is more of a blessing now than ever before. Josh was keeping a close eye on him and noticed that his memory was getting worse and that he was also becoming very confused pretty easily. He had problems typing in website addresses that he visits everyday. He wasn't just misspelling things, he couldn't find the letters on the keyboard to type in the address itself. He is a tech savvy 60 year old and he knows how to work computers and his iPhone as well as anyone so we knew something was way off when he couldn't find "send" on his phone to send a text...and that text...well his intention may have been to tell you that we were going to" meet for lunch at the office", but what he really typed was "iiiiiiiip". It was very, VERY bizarre. 

It was bizarre enough to warrant at trip to the ER. Unfortunately our first trip to the ER wasn't very helpful in diagnosing the problem. We were eventually sent home with the "diagnosis" of being a little dehydrated. I don't think anyone felt very comfortable with that conclusion so we continued to monitor everything closely. A few days passed and he seemed to be a little better.

But then he got worse again. Much worse. He couldn't remember how to spell his name or the alphabet. By this point, we were all super concerned and were not taking "dehydration" as the answer to his problems. After playing the physician referral merry-go-round game for a little while, we decided the quickest way to get the help we knew he needed was to go back to the ER. I think that sense of urgency we all felt was placed on our heart by God. And I'll tell you why...

After several tests, we found out that his left Carotid Artery had around an 85% blockage. For all of you non medical folks out there, I'll give it to you in my terms....you have 2 main arteries in your neck and this is one of them. It takes blood from the heart to brain and if gets clogged up, bad things happen. I'm not really sure why the ultrasound that identifies this wasn't done initially but thankfully we found a great set of doctors and they ordered it just in time. 

On Sunday, Mick had the arteriogram done that identified the severity of the blockage by shooting dye in to the arteries and veins. It gave his surgeon a "road map" for surgery to be held on the following day. We were told that doing these types of test are very rare on Sundays. They are typically put off until a normal work day. The entire radiology crew (doctors and staff) were called in specifically at our surgeon's request for Mick's test. They did his and went home after it was over. Timing is everything. I say that because on Monday, when his surgeon was operating on him, he found that the blockage had grown since the test they ran the day before. It had almost closed completely. If the arteriogram had been done on Monday, like they typically are, the dye wouldn't have even been able to travel through. They wouldn't have been able to operate. It could have been bad. I believe our doctor's exact words were "One day later, friend, and well..." We knew what he meant and we knew then and know NOW how blessed we were to be touched by God's perfect timing. He placed the doctor we needed in our life at the exact time we needed him. 

Despite the severity of his situation, Papa was in GREAT spirits the entire time we were in the hospital. His room was full of his family and friends...LOUD family and friends and he never complained. I don't think anyone could have barred the thought of leaving him so its a good thing that he didn't kick us out. We capitalized on the fact that we were all in the same place together for a few days and actually got in a lot of good family time with one another.

Both of our kids were spoiled beyond belief during the 6 days we were in the hospital. Having Aunts and Uncles that let you do WHATEVER you want, WHENEVER you want and HOWEVER you want is HEAVEN for a 2.5 year old. Yes, I was there. No, I didn't stop it. It was fun for me too...I love watching our kids with them. It will take a few days (and several fits) to get her back on track, but its worth it :) Aunt Christy depleted her lip gloss supply on Day 1 of our stay, thanks to Anna Lee. She came prepared on Day 2 with an arsenal of Strawberry Shortcake lip gloss, chap stick and fingernail polish. She knows the way to Anna Lee's heart. When we took a nap time break from the hospital one day, the first thing she said to me when I walked into her room to get her up was "I'm ready to go back to the hospital now and play with Aunt Christy and see Papa". Usually, I get..."I want some chips" or "Can I have some root beer please, mommy?" You know you are SOMEBODY when we out rank root beer and chips in Anna Lee's world. 

Leigh Ann was the designated nap place for Mac. He snuggled with her for hourssssss while Anna Lee and Cody passed the time by running relays up and down the hall. 

And by going on hospital field trips. Christy had a pic of Lindsey standing by this little deer while she was waiting for Anna Lee to be born. So of course, Anna Lee wanted her picture taken like "Win-sey"

We also celebrated Mother's Day while we were there. I think the only thing every mom in that room wanted was for their patient to make a full recovery ASAP. Thankfully the good Lord answered our request. 

Because within 24 hours after his surgery, Papa was up and dressed and READY TO GO!  I walked in his room to see him on Tuesday and immediately looked to the bed and when he wasn't there, it took me a minute to realize that he was actually up, dressed and looking great. 

He has some diet changes coming his way and honestly thats a good thing for us all. We eat together so much so hopefully I'll be able to shed a few pounds by following his lead. 

I can't convey how grateful I am for so many things that happened during this journey to a diagnosis and surgery. I'm so thankful that Mick acknowledged that something was off. I'm thankful that Josh works next to him everyday and could keep up with how his day was TRULY going. I'm grateful that his kids and wife wouldn't take "dehydration" for an answer and pursued a 2nd opinion. I'm grateful for the surgeon who took on his case and the radiology team for coming in to do that arteriogram at his request. I'm so thankful that the surgery itself went well despite the surprise growth in the blockage. I'm thankful for the friends and family that prayed for him and checked on him daily. But most of all, I'm eternally grateful to our Creator for orchestrating all of those things and answering our prayers.

Girl Trucks.

Trucks can be for girls too. 

At least at Landmark Park's Touch A Truck Day - they can be for girls. 

And Papas...

Boys would probably like them too if they weren't asleep and missing all of the action...

P.S. I just discovered that our son does an AWESOME Ceelo impression. 

The Skinners met us out at the park for a little truck touching...I think Hampton was super stoked about it. 

Anna Lee was kind of unsure about all of the stuff out there...especially the helicopter. She said it scared her...

But the BookMobile...the air conditioned, gnat-free BookMobile - she loved. A LOT. 

She said "I don't want to leave this truck, mommy. I want to stay in here a long time." Books and cool air - she's my kind of girl.

Coming in 2nd on her list of fav trucks - The School Bus. 

Those chubby toddler legs walking down the aisle of a school bus - it makes my stomach ache. I can't imagine my little girl being old enough to do that one day - for real - like on her own - like going on big girl field trips and stuff. Like when keds aren't cool anymore and she wants to wear shoes that light up or something like that. Lord help me.

I thought she would be all about the fire truck but she wasn't. Not at all. 

Out of all of the trucks today, she definitely picked the 2 girliest ones as her favorites. I couldn't convince her to get on any of the "big rigs" or dump trucks. I guess she's a school GIRL at heart...no trucking days in her future.

It was a fun morning out there and we took full advantage of the "quiet hour" from 10-11am. For all of the locals, its definitely worth a trip out to Landmark next year. I'm guessing Mac Attack might have a different list of favs by then.