Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Whitt's 1st Birthday Party

Even though I didn't really make his actual birthday super special, his party was absolutely perfect!

I had planned on having his party at my parents' house probably since before he was born.  I was thinking it would be the perfect place for a first birthday since that's usually more for family anyway and a lot more family could come if we had it there.

I decided on a tractor theme.  However, I wasn't too crazy about your typical green & yellow John Deere theme, so I went with green gingham and a dark blue.




 Adeline was not in the best mood because of her very little sleep, but we made her take a family photo anyway.



Whitt had so many friends and family come to his party.  We are so blessed!














The bounce house was a huge hit.

He liked his cake, but wasn't overly impressed with it.



My parents got him this bike for his birthday and my Aunt Paula pushed him around in it.  He loved that.



We opened his presents after his nap.  He loved it all.

We are so blessed with such wonderful friends and family.  Thank you all for making Whitt's birthday so special!

May - Off to a Rough Start

It's only the 5th of May and I feel like we've already been through the ringer.

We made it to my parents' house on Thursday evening and the weather was beautiful.  Friday we spent a lot of time outside and Whitt got to enjoy a sucker.

That afternoon, Amanda and I got to have some BFF time.  We did some shopping, got pedicures and just enjoyed each other's company.

Jon got me a magnolia blossom from my parents' magnolia tree.  It smelled heavenly!
And then the fun began.  Adeline went to bed early because she was just so exhausted.  About an hour after she went to sleep (right after Jon and I both took NyQuil and/or Benadryl) she woke up gasping for air.  Her mouth was wide open and she was barking and gasping for breath.  It was terrifying.  We rushed her to the nearest hospital (25 minutes away) and her oxygen levels weren't great.  She had done fine all the way to the hospital, not talking much, but breathing ok.  However, they were concerned with her oxygen saturation so they did chest x-rays, gave her prednisone, and two breathing treatments, all over the course of 5 hours.  We were finally discharged at 2:00am, right after I almost had a panic attack about not being home in time for Whitt's birthday party.  I knew Adeline was better at that point and all I wanted to do was let everyone get some sleep so we could be ready to celebrate Whitt's birthday.  We had no real diagnosis other than an allergic reaction of some sort.

The next day was Whitt's party (that post to follow).  All of us needed naps afterwards, but Whitt refused, so my mom took him to my grandpa's car garage and let him "test drive" a few beauties.

Sweet Anna and Annabel had some fun in the bounce house that evening.

And this is the only picture I got of the birthday boy on his actual birthday.  I woke up Sunday morning with my throat absolutely on fire.  We drove back home, I went to a walk-in clinic, they gave me a steroid shot, but said it was just allergies.  Monday I felt even worse and couldn't even talk because my throat hurt so bad.  I went to a different doctor, was diagnosed with strep throat, given a penicillin shot (which almost made me pass out) and now I feel almost 100% better!  Praise the Lord!

Anyway, poor Whitt didn't have any of the fun his sisters did on their actual first birthday, but at least he got to wake up to balloons, thanks to his Nana & Happy.

And we're down to just nursing once a day at night.  He's doing great with that, but still likes his morning cuddles.

April at a Glance

Whew!  April was busy!  I never had time to blog, so this is going to be a long one...

My Hercules baby practicing his gymnastics routine.

We had our piano tuned and Annabel was so intrigued.

Whitt was allowed to make as many messes as he wanted if it kept him from climbing up my legs.


She said, "I want those red things that Nana brought us yesterday that look like noodle chicken & has the straight lines."  Umm, what?  I finally figured out it was twizzler bites she was wanting.

He almost fell out of the shopping cart at Office Depot one morning.  Thankfully one of the workers saw him standing up and grabbed him.  Mother of the Year.

One Friday afternoon, Annabel, Whitt & I ran to the mall.  She was looking at earrings in a store and said, "I just really want to get my ears pierced today.  I don't want to wait until I'm four."  I decided to be a "yes" mom and we did it!  She was so extremely proud of herself, and so was I!  One of the guns malfunctioned and the back didn't go on all the way, so the lady had to do it by hand and that made her cry, but when she saw herself in the mirror, she was all smiles.

Teething woes...

We helped Reagan celebrate her third birthday with a ballerina party.  So much fun!


And Adeline decided if Annabel could get her ears pierced, then so could she.  She didn't shed a single tear.  My girls are getting so big!

The next day was Sunday and we went to big church, then decided it was such a beautiful day that we should head to Branson and go to Silver Dollar City.


We had so much fun!  I have a family of thrill-seekers.
 More messes.... This is his favorite drawer.

The Monday after Silver Dollar City, Adeline started complaining of a stomach ache.  It got worse and worse as the evening progressed to where she was crying in pain.  We were worried about appendicitis, so Jon took her to the ER.  Turns out it was a bladder infection.  It was quite the ordeal and she was pretty miserable and ended up having to take some pain medicine along with the antibiotics.  She was a pro at swallowing a pill!  She was feeling better by Tuesday afternoon.  However, it must have just taken a lot out of her because she actually napped at school on Wednesday.  Her teacher sent me this sweet picture.

That Thursday I took Annabel to Dunkin Donuts before her school and the lady asked if she wanted the pink sprinkly donut.  She said, "No I want that gray one because it's chocolate!"  Girl after my own heart!

Whitt and I got pulled over for speeding one day.  Thankfully the cop was really nice and only gave me a warning.  She also gave Whitt a sucker.  He was super excited about that.

I hate having to wake up a sleeping baby.  It seems like they only ever sleep past 7:00 on school mornings.

He thinks he's so grown.  I mean a juice box?  Really?

She came home with this from school one Friday.  She said she learned how to write "God is Love" from a DVD we have that sings G-O-D is L-O-V-E.  She said she knew how to spell "is" because of another sight word DVD we have.  Parenting at its best..hah!  If you notice her left eye, it's almost swollen shut.  She had a major allergic reaction to pollen that afternoon after school.  It was terrible.  She was rapid-fire sneezing and her eye almost completely swelled closed.

We celebrated Shane & Jon's birthdays one Sunday evening

We laughed so hard at this kid after dinner.  He couldn't figure out how to get the sticker off his forehead, so he just grabbed another one and stuck it up there, too.

I resorted to turning the TV on for him one afternoon.  It lasted approximately 30 seconds.

"Mommy, you will not believe what we found outside!  It is so cute and adorable!  It's a CALAPILLAR!"  We named her Camilla, then she died the next day.  RIP, Camilla the caterpillar.

Adeline had a field trip with school one day.  They went to the park for a picnic lunch, then to the animal science center at the U of A for a program called "Farm Friends."  It was really fun.


Then it was dance recital time.  That involves a whole week of evening practices and pictures.

And during that time, we got stomach bugs and Whitt had his first ear infection.  I'm telling you, one thing after another in April.

Jon figured out the best way to keep him happy was taking him for a bike ride.

Watching the yard guys work in our flower beds.

And we finally felt better and went to church!

 Then that evening was the big dance recital.

We are so blessed with sweet family to come to watch them dance.
 Whitt trying to do his Bible study like his Daddy.

Most nights we read books before bed, but this particular night we really needed to bake cookies.

He is a fan of grapes.  He almost ate his weight in them.

I tried wearing him on my back to prepare dinner, but he just tried to flip out of it the whole time.

Don't you dare put me down!

And he finally got his shoe off by himself.  Here we go...

Our pink "panties" bloomed!  Also, at BSF, she learned "Moses cwimbed up dat mountain & he was strong & he didn't be tired.  Den he died."

End of year is so busy.  Adeline also had a school program the other day.  We had planned to all go to it then we were supposed to leave right afterwards to head to Texas for Whitt's birthday party.  However, Whitt woke up at 5:30 that morning with 103 fever and none of our toilets would flush and the shower wouldn't drain.  So, Jon and Whitt stayed home.  Jon took Whitt to the doctor and called a plumber.  The doctor said she thought he had Hand, Foot, Mouth, but I'm not so sure because he only ran fever that day and never broke out in any other blisters besides the two she saw in the back of his throat.  The plumber came and solved our issues, and we were finally on the road to Texas three hours after we'd planned on leaving.  Talk about stressful!

Adeline was a monkey in her program and got to hold the bible at the front of the stage while we did all the pledges.  I was so proud of her!

Whew!  April was busy and full of sicknesses!  Thankful it wasn't worse than it was.