This time next year

I'll have

A three year old
A two year old
and...

a FOUR MONTH OLD BABY!

Three babies in three years!

Addy is doing great & Business is.... well, growing :)

For those of you who have been asking, Adeline is doing great. Thank you so much for your thoughts, e-mails and prayers!

For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, a few days ago (its not clear when exactly) Adeline was bitten by some type of bug (its not clear what type of bug)....(as you can imagine the doctor celebrated my observation skills). Right away I noticed the bug bites were extremely swollen on her shoulders. I remembered my Mom telling me that when we were small children that we responded in a similar way to mosquito bites so I didn't think much of it.... until Sunday morning when I woke up to this:



For those of you who can't tell Addy's face is EXTREMELY swollen! You can especially see it in her left eye (the one that appears on the right in the photo). In this next picture you can see how it was all the way over the bridge of her nose and into her right eye too (the one that appears on the left in the photo).



Here's a reminder of what she normally looks like.



So, the difference was, in my opinion, quite alarming.

By God's grace I am not prone to anxiety or panic when it comes to crisis situations... but I definitely had to actively ask for God's help in remaining calm when I woke up to my beautiful little girl resembling "Chunk" from the Goonies.




Despite the obvious deformities.... she was happy as a clam! So, after asking God to help me to relax, I fed her breakfast and called the doctor's office to speak with the on call nurse. The nurse recommended giving her Benadryl and taking her to the Urgent Care facility if it didn't go down. So, naturally, I brought her into the Urgent Care straightaway. :) After all, I wasn't going to sit around all day and stare at her face constantly wondering if it was worse or better!!

The doctor essentially told me the same thing I wrote above.... she was having an allergic reaction to a bug bite... But, he did absolve any fear that the swelling was also occuring internally. He checked her throat, ears and lungs for wheezing and checked her out as all clear! He sent us home with a prescription for a steroid to remove the swelling and a topical cream. I opted for Benadryl instead of the steriod (the doctor said this was fine, Mom :)) and the swelling is almost completely gone! She's almost back to our precious, beautiful girl!

On a more attractive note, I took some pictures of some little girls in my church today. I am trying to build a portfolio to officially start a business with price lists and all so two beautiful little girls were a welcome addition! I'll put up some more of what I took but here's an appetizer!


















This one I went back and forth on and I think I've decided I prefer it in black and white:





One of my favorites....





More soon!

Birthday Central

Things here are still busy! I'm trying to be more purposeful at home... more crafts, more play time with the kids, more of a schedule. I thrive on a schedule... when I can keep it! And I am a firm believer that kids thrive on a schedule too. So, I'm trying to develop one that will serve our family..... but for now teaching Addy to sit through craft time for 20 minutes is goal #1! And finding crafts that she enjoys doing should probably precede that. She finger painted this week but told me that it was too messy. What a funny girl!

Here's a picture of us at my great aunt's wake. Notice who John Michael is staring at? His attachment/separation anxiety is worsening by the hour. If anyone has any suggestions as to how to keep a clingy baby off of your hip throughout the day I'd love to hear them! I can't sit the kid down for 2 minutes without him throwing a fit.





We celebrated Johnny's 31st birthday with our dear friends Dave & Kathy at Fogo de Chao. I had been saving money for months in preparation (its pricey!). We all had a blast and we're looking forward to getting together with them again for David's birthday this month.

Johnny & I before Fogo.



Dave & Kathy enjoying dinner. Nice bib Dave.




Wow... in this picture I do NOT feel like smiling. I think I just ate 2 pounds of beef.




This is how we really feel!!



Shortly after Johnny's birthday we celebrated his dad's birthday. He turned 31 too. :)



At this point Addy has become a pro at singing Happy Birthday to people. During this time I would hear her singing Happy Birthday to Lucy in her crib. It was so cute!

This is Addy's "Cheese" face.



She learned it from her daddy.



Me and my hip replacement... I mean son! Isn't he a doll?



Waiting for the cake...




The kids love to play outside with Dabo. He takes them to the trampoline at his neighbors house and they jump until their hearts content!



More soon!

The birthday boy!

I have been swamped with e-mails and phone calls as to why I so rarely blog these days! Well, the truth is I've been swamped. We've been busier this summer than ever before! Things are beginning to slow down and my goal is to keep them that way... but obviously something had to go and Johnny nixed my idea of copping out on the laundry. So, though not conciously, blogging was lowered on the priority list and before I knew it my posts had weeks in between them instead of hours or days! Then, my internet was down for WEEKS.... and today is the first day its been up again. Now, here I am, faced with the prospect of blogging and I'm barely motivated!

But, I'm going to fight the temptation to put it off some more and satisfy those few faithful friends who continue to check the blog!

My baby boy turned one this past month. I keep getting comments that its time to have another one! But for now we're just enjoying Addy and John Michael... and boy do they keep me busy! John Michael is a serious Mama's boy. He prefers me over anything else in this world.... food, fun, baths, toys, anything. Sometimes that's a bit challenging when its time to cook dinner or quickly straighten up the house before guests arrive... but mostly I love it. It makes me cherish this time because I know its fleeting.... it won't be long before he prefers mud and cars to sitting on his mommy's hip!

We had a Thomas the Train birthday party for him with our families. My mom made a beautiful train cake that everyone was impressed with... you can see why:







John Michael didn't ham it up quite as much as Addy did. He got a bit overwhelmed at all the people and, not surprisingly, complained about being removed from my hip... Here he is protesting being placed in his high chair.... I look pretty desperate for a solution to his misery!



Look at Addy in this pictures just relaxing while John Michael is losing it. She's used to his little fits. :)

I finally got John Michael to stop crying and try some of his cake... he definitely was interested in the cake.... (look at his red rimmed eyes!)







I even coerced a smile out of him.



Addy watched at the sidelines but was pretty thrilled to get her own peice of train car. (Go Vols...)



But John Michael soon lost interest in his food. Those of you who know him aren't surprised by this development... Eating isn't his strong suit.... but balls are! And I think floating "balls" were way more interesting to him at this point...



So, of course, my little tempermental man lost it when I removed the balloons from their impending destruction.



and so ended his little cake adventure... back to his rightful place on mommy's hip.... well after a trip to the bath tub!!