research study part 2

I took Hunter to Vandy today for the second part of the research study he is in. I was reminded as I drove downtown how thankful I am to work less than five minutes from my house. We made it to our 8am appointment on time. Hunter was very good for the first hour of the "tests." I remembered my camera and got a picture of him with the sponge cap on. He did great not bothering it. The second hour of the "tests" were not as good. He was tired of being there and wanted a nap. The lady said he did great and that he was right on tract with all of his development. I will get the official letter about all the test in a couple of weeks. He does not go back again until he is 2.

Country Music Half Marathon

I did something this weekend I thought I would never do. I ran/walked a half marathon. That is 13.1 miles. I started running in November. Thanks to some encouragement from Allison and Jeremy. I am really thankful they encouraged me to run, which I thought I would never do, much less enjoy. I am proud that I finished and thankful that Julia trained with me and stuck with me during the race. She could have finished much faster, but would not leave me. We finished in 2:49. The hills were hard and my legs did not want to go good this morning. I wish I could have run more. I am going to keep training and I hope to run the whole 13.1 miles in October. Derrick and Mark came to see us cross the finish line. We were thankful to be dropped off at the starting line and picked up at the finish line. Susan and Stephanie came out to cheer us on. We did stop for a second for them to take our picture. We were afraid we were going to get ran over. Thanks for coming to cheer us on.

After coming home and getting a shower Julia, Derrick and I went back downtown to a Surprise 60th birthday party for Auburn's dad. It was a great time of celebration. We ran as part of the Hot Rob's Hustlers. I am glad I was able to be a part of the team. Thanks to everyone who made a donation to our team. To read the whole story about Auburn's dad click here.

After leaving the party we went to see Kyle. He had a pic line put in this morning. I hope that just means he is one step closer to getting the infection in his leg cleaned up.

I am thankful that Grandpa Mike and Grandma Nene came help with the kids this weekend while I did the race and went to the party. Thanks for coming and I know Hannah and Hunter had a great time.

checking on Uncle Kyle

Hannah was so excited to get to go see Uncle Kyle in the hospital. She wanted to go when he was in the hospital the first time. We kept telling her she was not old enough. She told me on the way to the hospital that she could go to the hospital now because she was 4. She gave him a work out. She pushed all of the buttons on his bed. I am glad he does not get motion sick. She loved pulling up on the bar on his bed. Hunter was the most worried about pushing the buttons on his IV. He also enjoyed pulling on the bar and wanted to check out all of the things on the table by Uncle Kyle's bed. We were glad to see Uncle Kyle but did not stay too long. We love you Uncle Kyle and hope you are all better soon.

I know he is in there

Hunter does not like to let Papa out of his sight.

resourceful

Hannah was very resourceful this morning. She wanted her fingernails painted so she colored them with her markers. I am glad that Nana took a picture of her hard work. Dad was not so happy that she "painted" her nails this morning.

Banana

Hunter loves bananas. He always wants one when he sees them, on the counter, in the grocery store, that someone else is eating, etc. He even likes to hold it like a "big person."

update on Kyle

Kyle came through surgery well. He is in a lot of pain, but still gave me a smile before I left. I have to admit I was a little sick feeling driving back to Vanderbilt tonight. I still remember the night of his wreck very clearly in my mind. I was so glad to hear him talking as the nurse brought him into his room. I could tell he was hurting, but was so happy that he was not hooked up to anything except one IV. I was good to talk to him and be about to hug him and have him hug me back. I hate that he had to have surgery, but I am thankful that Dr. Mitchell is looking out for his best interest. I said prayers with him before I left and was so glad that he was able to hear the prayer and respond to me. I still do not like leaving him in the hospital, but it was much easier leaving tonight with him awake than it was in August when I had to leave him not knowing if he would wake up. God has taught me a lot about faith through these last, almost 8 months. I thank Him for bringing Kyle this far and for what he will continue to do in his life. Thanks for keeping him in your prayers.

lazy boy

Hunter is a lazy boy!!! He wanted some milk but did not want to put his snack down. He was so proud of himself for not have to let go of the snack. Silly boy!!!!

the morning with Papa and Nana

Hannah and Hunter were glad to have Papa and Nana here to visit. Hannah loves that Papa goes to get her pancakes, a potato, and chocolate milk for breakfast. Hunter is happy to be a part of the pancake breakfast. After breakfast Hannah and Hunter decided to make sure Uncle Kyle was up and ready to go to the hospital. I am glad they got to play with him for a little while this morning.

please pray

Tomorrow morning, around 10am, Kyle will have the rod removed from his right leg and an antibiotic rod put in. After talking to him at dinner tonight, from what I understand, he will also have a pic line put in for him to receive antibiotics after the surgery. Dr. Mitchell really wants this infection gone, as we all do. Please pray that the surgery will go smoothly, Kyle will recover quickly and that he will get the best care possible while in the hospital. I know Mama and Daddy will take good care of him when he comes home. When Hannah was saying prayers tonight she prayed that Uncle Kyle's leg would get better so he could do swimming lessons with her again. To have the faith of a child. Thanks in advance for the prayers. Hopefully he will feel like updating CaringBridge tomorrow. If not I will update it and I will update here as well.

silly dad

Hunter loves to be outside. Derrick took him down to the barn to get the humming bird feeder. Derrick thought he would like to ride in the wagon. He was right, Hunter loved it.

10k

Julia and I did a 10k this morning. This is the longest race I have done. I only walked about half a mile and ran the other 5.5. I finally pushed though when I thought I could not and kept running. It was a good feeling to keep pushing myself and complete the run. I ran it in 1:06. Julia beet her time by 4 minutes. Thanks for running with me Julia. Next week is the true test.

Lady Liberty

Today we had Lady Liberty come talk to us at school. I learned a lot about the Statue of Liberty. My students loved it. Thanks Mrs. Saunders for setting up this fun experience.

I knew this would happen

I was hoping we would never had to give both kids a treatment at the same time. Hannah woke up coughing this morning and said she could not stop. She did keep coughing, but said she could breath good. I called the doctor and learned that coughing is just as bad as wheezing. Since that is the case we went ahead and did a treatment. I was a little nervous about how she would do since it had been so long since she had to take one. She did great. She put her on medicine in and sat still through the who treatment. Hunter thought it was great that sissy had to take a treatment with him. I am praying that a few days of treatments will take care of her cough.

the prize

I told Hannah all morning that if she was good I would take her to get a prize later. She was good of course, so we went to Bravo Gelato to get ice cream for a good cause. It was good to see Auburn and her dad. Hannah and I both LOVE ice cream and were glad to eat it for a good cause. Check out Auburn's blog for more pictures. Thanks Auburn for inviting us.

Hunter's 1 year check up

I took Hunter today for his one year check up. We got to see our favorite nurse, Nurse Heather. She really loves my kids and is so good with them. Hunter is doing great. He could do all the things he was suppose to, expect walk. He has no desire to walk. I keep telling myself that Hannah did not walk until she was 15 months old, so just give him time. I feel like Hannah was talking more than he is, but he doctor was not worried because he says Ma Ma, Da Da, bye, the same sound all the time for Hannah, signs more and makes the m sound, waves bye and blows kisses. He weighed 21 pounds and was 29 1/4 inches tall. He got three shots, one in each arm and one in his leg. He did great. He cried for about two seconds, then Nurse Heather gave him a Popsicle and he was fine. She even brought Hannah a pink one. His left ear looked great, his right ear has some fluid in it but is not infected, his chest was clear and he is cutting two of his molars. As long as he stays well we don't go back to the doctor until he is 15 months. That will be here before we know it.

Snowbird

Snowbird came to school today to talk to our kindergarten, first and second grade classes. The kids loved it and he is one funny bird. I sure was happy to see him this winter. When you see snowbird it means a day out of school, or two or three, or seven for us this year. I will look forward to seeing him again next winter.

more Easter fun

Hannah was excited to dye eggs after her nap. She enjoyed it last year, but this year she also enjoyed hiding and hunting the eggs she dyed. Since it was a nice day we spent the whole afternoon outside. She ate lunch outside, dyed eggs outside, hunted eggs outside and even went to the park to play so I could run. I think she would have taken a nap outside if we would have let her. Hunter enjoyed his time outside as well. We did not let him near the eggs because they were real eggs. He loves the plastic ones. Derrick and I both forgot our cameras when we went to the park.

Happy Easter

We had a great Easter. I am so glad that Hannah is old enough now to know the real reason we celebrate Easter. Thanks to Aunt Debbie we have a set of resurrection eggs to help Hannah be able to tell the story. I was so happy that we had all of our family here to go to church with us. I can't remember the last time daddy, mama, Kyle and I were all at church on Easter together. Thanks to everyone for staying and going to church with us. After church we came home and all ate lunch together. It was a beautiful day to celebrate our risen Lord.

I did not think to take a picture of just Hanna and Hunter. I am a little sad that we did not get pictures of at least Hannah and Hunter with everyone that was here. I did not even realize it until I was looking back through the pics. Sorry everyone who did not get a picture made. I will have to do better.

Thanks again to everyone for coming this weekend and staying for church and lunch. We love you all.

more birthday pics

Hunter's 1st Birthday Party

Hunter loved playing in his cake. He helped open a couple of presents, but was more interested in what the present was. Good think Hannah is into opening presents. We had just family for his party. It was nice to have all the family here to celebrate with us. Papa grilled hamburgers and hot dogs for us. I think everyone had enough to eat. Then we opened presents and moved on to the cake. Hunter got really nice gifts. Thanks everyone for all of his gifts. He is one loved little boy.

Hunter's cakes

I thought this monkey party stuff was too cute and boyish. He is a little monkey so it was the perfect party theme for him. Thanks Nana for making him such cute and delicious cakes. You are the best cake maker we know.

Easter Egg Hunt

Hannah looks forward to this every year. She starts asking as soon as you mention Easter when we are going to Ty grandma's church for the Easter egg hunt. Thanks Mrs. Sharon for always inviting us. The weather was a little rainy this morning so we had to hunt eggs inside. She did not care. The had fun "hunting" the eggs and doing the activities at each of the stations. We were glad to take Hunter this year. He had fun, but I am sure he will really be into hunting eggs next year.

good mother/daughter time

I took Hannah with me to get a pedicure today. She loved it. Sorry the pictures aren't great. She was so funny. First we stopped at Sonic to get a drink, because that is what I do before I go get my toes done. When we got the the nail salon she was so excited to see all of the colors of polish there were to choose from. Since we were getting our toes done for Easter I helped her narrow down her color choices. This summer I will let her pick any color she wants. They put her across from me, but she did not care. She sat in the chair and waited patiently for the lady to come and paint her toes. She watched the TV and talked to anyone who said anything to her. She wanted a white flower painted on her big toes. While the lady was painting it she messed up and Hannah said, "Oh, no she messed up my flower." I told her to say sorry and that the lady would fix it for it. When she was finished she sat for a minute to let them dry. I got her down to come and put her feet under the dryer with me. When I was getting her out of the chair she said, "I am not finished she never put my feet in the water." I told her she had to be taller to do that. She said okay but was not very happy. I think other than not getting to put her feet in the water she loved it. I am sure she will go with me many more times. I look forward to having her with me again.