Soda, Sweet T, MiniSoda & Hi-C Anderson

Super Bowl 2008 vs. Super Bowl 2012

2012-02-05T20:48:00.001-05:00

The last time the Giants & Patriots played each other in the Super Bowl, Will was two weeks old and he was passed out in his Daddy's arms during the game.

Our little 4 year old actor wanted to recreate the moment tonight!

My how times have changed!!!

Tuesday Tidbits...

2012-01-31T16:58:00.002-05:00

Hi All!

So I know I've been a little lacking in the blog department these past few weeks. My excuse is that I don't have many pictures and to me no pictures means no clever blog posts! We really haven't been up to much lately worthy to "blog about!" And the few get togethers we've had with some of our friends lately, while we've had a ton of fun...I've forgotten to take any pictures. So there you have it.

But to keep you all in the loop and to help me remember what we've been doing this month a couple years from now...here's a few latest tidbits with The Anderson Family!

1. We are over halfway through our marathon of doctor's appointments for Will this month. Just the way everything scheduled out, Will had FOUR doctor's appts. with various people over the past two weeks. And we have one more to go next week!

First up was the 6 month check-up at the ENT doctor. Great news! Will's ears look fantastic and his tubes are just about to fall out on their own!!! This means, he's hopefully outgrown his ear infections and he won't have to have an additional surgery to take the tubes out! Dr. S was so impressed, that he released Will from his care. No more follow-ups needed! Of course, we'll just have to wait and see to be completely sure his ears are fine and that he doesn't start getting infections again, but Dr. S didn't think we would have a problem. YAY!

Next, was Will's 6 month appt. at the dentist. This was his second time going and he did Fabulous!!! He was such a big boy. He was a little hesitant the first time and didn't sit in the chair for the teeth cleaning back in July. But not this time! He marched right in there with no problems. And everything looked great!

And yesterday, we had the one year check up with Will's cardiologist to check on his heart murmur/abnormal valve. And again, we received great news. No change from last year, which is what we wanted to hear. All looks well and Will can continue to grow & play like a normal 4 year old does. We go back again next year.

So all that's left is his 4 year well visit next Monday and we can finally have a break from doctors' offices for awhile!

2. Yesterday, we registered both kids for preschool next year! WooHoo! Will is going to go to the MWF 4 year old class, while little Miss C will be old enough to go to the MW 2 year old class. Can you believe it! They both will have a few of their friends from church in their classes, so they are excited about that.

3. I've been busy trying to get my new Pampered Chef business up & running. I went to Target last Friday and got a bunch of organizational/office stuff, so that was fun shopping for office supplies again. Away from work for almost two years and I forgot how much I like creating labels, file folders and shopping for ink pens!!

4. And speaking of PC, I'm excited about my Launch Party coming up this Saturday night. I'm looking forward to seeing my friends and getting some new cooking tools!

5. Other than that, we've just been enjoying the gorgeous weather we've been having lately, fixing up a few things around the house, hanging out with friends, going to birthday parties, watching football, working & babysitting, and just enjoying the quiet/downtime January brings after the holiday craziness!

HAPPY TUESDAY!

A New Opportunity...

2012-01-24T17:02:00.003-05:00

Hi Everyone!

I have some exciting news to share with you all! I have decided to start my own Pampered Chef Business!!! I am very excited about this new opportunity and to see where this new adventure takes me!. Pampered Chef is a wonderful company with quality products that I have been using for years. I am looking forward to working with my friends & family to start my new business off successfully. And then hopefully making some new contacts along the way. I'm willing to travel, so all my Virginia friends, please keep me in mind if you would ever like to host a live cooking show. Or at the very least, you can also do a catalog show and earn some great free stuff too! I appreciate your support as I tackle this new endeavor.

Please contact me if you are interested in hosting a show!

So to kick things off I would like to invite you to join me for a great party with fun, food, and friends! I am hosting my Pampered Chef Launch Party at my house on Saturday, February 4th, at 6:30pm. My new director, Stacey, will be helping me get things started with my first show and we will be treated to a live cooking show where we will see The Pampered Chef's professional quality cooking and entertaining tools in action, learn a fast and easy recipe, and then get to sample the tasty results! I can't wait for you to taste what we are making!!

The Pampered Chef offers everything from entertaining to cooking to baking to backyard grilling; and their products make great gifts! They have something for everyone, even those that don't like to cook! The products are of uncompromising quality, are all backed by excellent warranties, and will last you for years to come! Everyone who knows Pampered Chef loves Pampered Chef and the Fall/Winter Catalog is great, so come see what's new and tasty!!

Jump, Jump!!!

2012-01-16T12:00:00.000-05:00

We celebrated Will's 4th birthday on Saturday with a "jumping party" at Jacob's Jump-n-Fun here in Clayton! It was so much fun. The best part was not having to do anything for the party. We just showed up and everything was ready to go. The balloons, the cake, the food, the plates and the entertainment. All for one price. And a very well worth it price if I do say so!

We invited a few of Will's friends & family and everyone had a hair raising good time!!!

It was certainly the way to go!

Aunt Jennifer & Hi-C

Party Time!

Aunt Wanda proving she can hang with the kids!

My weekday baby, Sweet Little Wesley, stopped by for his first taste of birthday cake!

It sure was a good cake!

Auntie Melissa getting some love from baby Liam.

Alissa & Fordie taking a sweet slide.

Best Picture All Day!!!

Cousin Trey is down for the count!

Birthday Boy!

2012-01-16T06:00:00.000-05:00

Will turns four years old today.

Although most of the time he is four going on fourteen!!!

And boy does he keep us on our toes.

He is so funny.
He is so stubborn.
He is so smart.
He is oh so cute.

He is imaginative.
He is determined.

He is a great big brother.

He is a sweetheart.
He is impatient.
He is sensitive and shy.
He is amazing at remembering things.
He is a master block builder.

He is not a crazy ball of energy.
He is not easily pushed into new adventures.
He will not do something just because he knows you want him to.
He is not one that can be bribed.

He hates loud noises, not getting his way

and sleeping in his room by himself (although we make him).

He loves to make you laugh.
He loves to laugh at you.

We are extremely blessed to be his parents and thankful for the joy he brings to our lives each and everyday!

Happy Birthday William Hairston...
you are deeply deeply loved.

Fun at the Park!

2012-01-15T22:21:00.001-05:00

Last weekend we headed over to the newly renovated Pullen Park in Raleigh and met up with the Carlisles for a some afternoon fun. The renovations look amazing and the park was awesome. I'm glad it's finally reopened since it's such a neat park to visit.

This was Hi-C's first trip to the park and she had fun riding on the train.

Although, I think my kids enjoyed the boat ride the most.

The Carlisle boys? Not so much. It wasn't fast enough for those daredevils!

"Come on Hud! Have some fun. Ring the bell."

"Really Guys? This is suppose to be fun?"

Fordie got so bored, he tried to jump ship towards the end!

Twenty One!!!

2012-01-06T18:22:00.003-05:00

Our sweet Hi-C turned 21 months old on Thursday! I CANNOT believe we only have three more months until our baby girl turns TWO!!! Where in the world is time going? So in honor of her 21st month and to help me remember things since time is going by too quickly, I decided to give y'all a little update on what she's all about these days!

Sweet Caroline...

Is a DRAMA Queen!!! Wow! People always ask me if it's any different raising a girl after having a boy and I have to say this is the BIGGEST difference. If I thought Will could be dramatic at this age, I didn't know what I was talking about. She is very sensitive and knows how to use the pouty lip and tears to her advantage. She can throw fits as good as any soap opera star and unfortunately for us she knows how to get her way most of the time!

Although, she can still be the sweetest little thing you've ever seen! She gives great hugs while patting you on the back. Loves to blow kisses and when she is in the mood, will give you a big smooch on the lips!

She idolizes her big brother and is super sweet to him! Unless he is trying to take a toy from her...

Loves to be outside and cries when she has to come in.

Has some sweet dance moves and shakes it whenever she hears music of any kind!

Her hips and late start on walking sure isn't slowing her down now. She wants to run and walk everywhere we go. Which makes stroller rides and shopping carts a challenge sometimes!

Is like her brother in her eating habits. We have another little bird eater. Not necessarily picky about what she eats, but particular in when she will eat and when she won't. Makes meal planning a little bit tricky. Never know when they will actually eat something or not.

Is very into her bracelets, purses and baby dolls, but loves playing with big bro's cars, trains & tractors!

I'm still not quite sure she's exactly where she needs to be with her speech at this point, but I'm not worrying too much because she is saying more & more words & phrases everyday. And she knows exactly what we're talking about and is great at following directions!

Is such a little model. Smiles, poses and says "Cheese" whenever the camera comes out!

Has decided that she is much to grown up to be bothered with her highchair these days and insists on sitting in the bumbo seat at the table beside her brother for all meals. She actually fits in the bumbo seat better now than when she was younger since her chubby thighs have thinned out some!

Is slowly starting to become interested in the potty. She has even pooped and peed on the big potty. Of course she also did the same on the bathroom floor too, so we're not really close at this point. And I'm not forcing it right now either since she still is wearing the brace at night. Plus, I feel like I just got done getting Will potty trained and I need a break!

And finally since everyone always asks...I'll give a little update on Betty the Brace. Yes, Betty is still around, although Hi-C only has to wear it at night right now and will do so until we go back again at the beginning of March. She usually doesn't fight us to put Betty on at night, but she can't wait to take it off every morning. Betty has interfered with C's sleeping, which is our biggest challenge right now. She tosses and turns a lot with the brace on and winds up getting her foot stuck in between the slats of her crib on most nights. She usually cries out and when one of us goes and frees her, C usually goes right back to sleep. But it has been a bit of a headache, but I guess if that's the worst of it, we'll take it! It would probably be better if she were in a big girl bed so she would have more room to move around, but since she still has the brace on and can't move all that great in it, I'm not comfortable with her not being confined at night. I guess we'll cross that bridge after her March appt. and closer to her 2 year birthday.

So all in all, Caroline is doing remarkably well. She is such a joy to our family and makes us smile everyday. Happy 21 months Baby Girl!

Swinging & Sliding!

2012-01-04T08:00:00.000-05:00

GRoy & JoJo gave the kids a wonderful Christmas present this year!

A Brand New Swing Set for the backyard!!!

Jamie spent most of his free time in December clearing the spot, prepping the ground, building a small retaining wall, and putting the swing set together! We have been so busy that he had to work on it a little bit at a time. Our garage turned into the swing set prep area for the month. He even assembled most of it in the garage before we moved around back.

And luckily, it was such a nice day outside on Christmas that Pa helped him finish putting everything together so that the kids were playing on it by that afternoon!

And they love it!!!

And lucky for us we have family in the tree business, so last Saturday Bobby brought over a dump truck load of free wood chips & mulch for us to use to finish everything off so the kids would have a safe place to play!

We think it looks great and we're looking forward to hours of fun outside on the swing set for years to come! Thank you soooo much GRoy & JoJo!!!

Christmas Morning 2011

2012-01-03T07:30:00.001-05:00

We had a wonderful Christmas morning! GG & Meemaw were visiting and Grandma & Pa came over later that morning and we all enjoyed celebrating with one another, opening our presents, enjoying a yummy breakfast and spending all day relaxing at our house!

Santa came through with Will's Batman Cave! He was soooo excited!

And Hi-C got a new set of wheels!

Which is where she pretty much sat most of the morning. She didn't show much interest in opening her presents. She would rather you open them for her and then she could just play with whatever she got. Such a little Diva!

Finally Daddy helped C out and opened a few of her presents for her. It took us the rest of the afternoon to finally get her to finish seeing what all she got for Christmas.

Anderson Family Christmas 2011

2012-01-03T07:30:00.000-05:00

We spent Christmas Eve with our Anderson Family in Goldsboro. We enjoyed lots of yummy food, a few presents & wonderful family time.

Hi-C with her favorite cousin Courtney!!!

Great picture of us! Too bad none of us were looking at the camera.

The Original Anderson Family!

The Siblings...

And The Grandkids!

Hi-C was sooo over having to take pictures!

Xmas in Williamsburg

2012-01-03T07:00:00.000-05:00

For the three days leading up to Xmas, we spent them in Williamsburg visiting & celebrating with GRoy & JoJo. It was nice to be in Williamsburg before Christmas to see all the lights & decorations. We wanted to spend a little more time in Colonial Williamsburg at night to see the bonfires & carolers, but it was pretty rainy when we were there so we missed out on that. We did get to take a carriage ride around the town so that was fun.

Hi-C must have enjoyed it so much that she fell asleep along the ride!

And on Thursday, we all went over to Busch Gardens for the annual Christmas Town Celebration. The park opens in the afternoon and through the night and is completely decorated with millions of lights, trees and Christmas decorations. They had several rides operating, lots a shows and good food. Our favorite ride was the Sky Ride over the entire park. It was awesome to see everything lit up and decorated. It was very cool and we had the best time. We will certainly have to go back again!

VA Trip...

2012-01-02T10:04:00.002-05:00

The week before Christmas, the kids & I went up to Virginia to GG's house for a few days. Along with visiting with my BFF Stephanie & her kiddos (where we forgot to take any pictures), we also took the kids for our annual trip of going to see the Legendary Santa in downtown Richmond! And we were so excited that we didn't have any tears this year! Of course, Hi-C was still a little apprehensive and wouldn't actually let me put her on Santa's lap, at least we got a good picture and there were no major meltdowns.

GG & C waiting in line...

Will was really excited to see Santa this year!!!

Visiting with the Snow Queen and waiting our turn to see Santa.

I was so proud of Will this year. He hopped right on Santa's lap and asked him for a Batman Cave.

Our picture this year!

Thanks GG for taking us to see Santa!

While we were in Richmond, we also had the chance to visit with my cousin Whitney & her girlfriend Cris for dinner one night. We went to Bottoms Up Pizza downtown, which was YUMMY!!!

Then we went over to see the Grand Illumination. All the lights were so pretty and the kids loved it!

Our Little Donkey!

2012-01-02T09:46:00.002-05:00

In order to get us caught up, I guess we should start at the beginning...two weeks ago! Will was in our church's annual Children's Christmas Play. The 3's & 4's were animals in the manager and sang a little song on stage during the play. Will's animal of choice was a donkey! He was super excited about having a tail!!! And he did great. He marched right on stage with the rest of his class and sang his song without hesitation. We were very proud of him.

Hi-C cheesing before the play...

Posing with our sweet friend Kaylee...

The Donkey & The Dove...

Starting New...

2012-01-02T09:37:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year!!! Welcome to 2012 on The Anderson Blog. I'm finally back in the blogging world after a two week vacation. I didn't actually mean to go so long between updates, but with traveling, celebrating Christmas, spending time with family and general laziness, it ended up being a long break! But we're back and I have a ton of photos to upload so you all can see all the fun we had during the holiday season. Since I know that's why y'all keep coming back to this 'ole blog in the first place! So bear with me as I get everything uploaded and bombard you with family photos. I hope you enjoy.

And more importantly, we hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a Very Happy New Year's!!! We certainly did. Last year was incredibly good to our family, even with the few ups & downs we had and we are hoping that we are equally as blessed in 2012.

We don't have big plans so far this year, so we'll have to see what's in store for us and trust God along the way.

In the meantime we will continue living life enjoying the joys and challenges of raising our two little ones, trying to be better, more patient parents along the way. Getting more & more involved in our church, continue learning more & praying more about what God wants for our lives and how we can better serve Him and raise our children to know & love Him throughout their lives. Work hard at our jobs, simplify our life, get more organized, live off less and give more-save more, nurture our friendships & relationships, be healthier and treasure life's moments as they come along.

Bring in on 2012!!!

Smiling for the camera...

2011-12-16T08:00:00.000-05:00

Back at the end of October, we had the amazing Rebecca Mill, photograph our family at the NC Art Museum. The pictures turned out amazing if I do say so myself! You may have seen some on Facebook already, but I've held off on posting to the blog until our Christmas Cards went out. For all you lucky enough to be on our mailing list, we hope you got a kick out of the photo we chose.

Here's some more just in case you're interested...

Oh What A Week!!!

2011-12-14T22:35:00.002-05:00

The weekend started off great with our quick trip to Roanoke on Saturday morning to celebrate Christmas with my Robertson Family relatives. And I even got to spend a few hours with my college roomie and her family catching up and exchanging gifts. We kept it simple this year and decided to bypass the big traditional holiday dinner and instead went to the Liberty Train Station in Bedford for our Christmas Family Dinner. It was much better than having to cook and deal with the dishes. Most all of us were able to make it, but now that all the cousins are out of school, getting married and having babies, it makes it harder for us all to find a weekend when everyone is free. So we desperately missed Ashley, Brandon & the boys and Mack & Scott who unfortunately couldn't get off work. But the rest of us had a nice time spending time with one another and celebrating Christmas.

Tabitha, Whit, Aunt Patty & Uncle Gary

Aunt Melissa, Uncle Mark, & of course Meemaw

GG & her Hi-C

And then there's us...and our soon to be 4 year old who

can't take a picture without making a funny face! :)

We then headed back to Mark & Mel's house for the kiddos to open a few presents.

And then our ALL TIME FAVORITE pastime as a family....

We watched and quoted word for word the BEST movie ever made!

That's right! National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation!!!!

So all was right on Saturday. And then came Sunday....

I unfortunately woke up Sunday with a horrible stomach bug. So instead of us being able to leave by lunchtime to get Will to play practice on time, I ended up laying in bed all day long sick as a dog!!! By 5pm, I knew I had to force myself to get in the car and suffer through the 3 hour car ride home. It was a LONG ride home!!!

And it's been downhill from there....

As I slowly recovered Monday and prayed no one else would get sick, Jamie's ear started hurting later that night. By Tuesday morning it was completely swollen and after two doctors appointments it was determined that he has a pretty severe ear infection and he's been feeling poorly for the past two days. To top it off, as we walked out of preschool yesterday, Caroline (who seemed completely fine two seconds before) decided to throw up ALL over herself and me as I carried her out to the car! It was awesome and just one of those moments where you throw up your hands (no pun intended) and say "Welcome to Motherhood!"

Luckily, she has been fine since. I'm doing much better. Will has yet to get sick and I'm keeping my fingers crossed! And Jamie is on meds and hopefully on the mend soon too!

In the meantime...one of our busier weeks...has had to be altered somewhat. Canceled lunches, canceled dinners, canceled playdates! Instead, we've been spending time at home trying to get better as soon as possible. So hopefully, our plans for this upcoming weekend can go on as scheduled as we have several fun parties planned and Will's part in the Church Christmas Play on Sunday.

Welcome to THAT time of the year, huh???

Disney On Ice...

2011-12-14T21:36:00.000-05:00

Last week, Will & I had a Mommy/Son date night to go see Disney on Ice at the RBC Center. It was actually "kind of" a princess show, highlighting Cinderella, Tangled and The Princess & the Frog movies. I didn't realize it when we bought the tickets several months ago. But as it turned out, it was actually still pretty cool and Will seemed to have a great time. There were plenty of little boys there and he still had fun watching Mickey Mouse, Minnie, the horse and all the Princes come in and rescue the girls :)

Is it a double standard that I want to teach Will to treat girls like Princesses, but teach Caroline that she can be strong and doesn't need a man to rescue her???

Anyway, it was a fun night just spending time with my boy and it was actually a really great show to watch live. I enjoyed seeing all the princes & princesses from all the beloved Disney movies skate to a big number at the end!

Celebrating Soda...

2011-12-07T15:05:00.001-05:00

On Monday night, we celebrate Jamie's 36th birthday with the Carlisles at Buffalo Brothers Pizza. Nothing fancy, just a fun night out with the kids and our friends at one of our favorite places! The boys had fun signing the Happy Birthday Song to "Uncle Soda" and I made Paula Deen's Gooey Butter Cake for dessert. It was yummy!!!

Hi-C was too busy eating to be bothered with singing...

Hope you had a Happy Birthday Soda!!!

All the twinkling lights...

2011-12-05T10:28:00.001-05:00

On Sunday night we visited The Lights on the Neuse Christmas Extravaganza with our friends The Forbes. Luckily it's right down from our house so it's nice having a big Christmas attraction so close by. We had visited it once before when Will was about 11 months old, but this time was so much better because the kids really got into it and it was awesome seeing everything through their eyes. We had an awesome time.

Sweet Siblings...

Will & Riley...

No picture of Will with his girlfriend Kaylee, as she decided that she wanted to explore the port-o-potties during our photo ops.

Cheezin' while waiting for the hay ride!

Kristin & I smiling for the camera...

Didn't get too many good pictures of the lights since it was pretty dark and we were constantly moving, but this one did turn out pretty good.

And this is what the rest of them looked like!

Life via the iPhone...

2011-12-05T09:53:00.001-05:00

We've been staying busy this past week/weekend with preschool, MOPs, church, play practice, Christmas parades, and general day to day busyness. So in turn I've taken more pictures with my iPhone than my actual camera since we've been on the go so much.

And speaking of "being on the go"...look who moved into a REALLY BIG BOY car seat!

Yep! We decided it was time for Will to move into a booster seat style car seat. He seems much more comfortable in his new seat and thinks it's super cool that he can get out of his seat all by himself! Don't worry though, we made sure he knew the rules about only unbuckling when Mommy or Daddy says it time and never while the car is moving!

Meanwhile, Captain Caroline has been having fun dressing up around the house, trying on hats, wearing jewelry, and carrying purses everywhere she goes.

Check out what I passed by the other day! Apparently I've opened up my own salon! Although I'm not quite sure what the sign in the window means....Family Hair with a Southern Flair! Does that mean your hair is going to have some flair or just the atmosphere??? And according to the website you get served Sweet Tea while they cut your hair! Interesting Twist.

And on Sunday afternoon, Will & I participated in the Rolesville Christmas Parade with our MOPs group! Zach & Will had an awesome time riding in the wagon, waving & wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and even had fun throwing candy to other little kids as we passed them by.

These photos aren't the best since I was trying to walk and pull the wagon at the same time as taking a picture. Plus, once we actually started the parade, I got caught up in the excitement of waving and throwing out candy that I forgot to pull out my camera! So these are all before shots as we were lining up to start!

Our group did a get a great spot in the parade though. At least as far as the boys were concerned. We were right smack dab in between the marching band, the motorcycles, the tractor and the fire trucks!

We all had a great time! And after being in about five parades every year from 7 years of age till my senior year of high school, I forgot how much fun it was so it was cool to be back in the action! :)

Tuesday Tidbits

2011-11-29T14:50:00.001-05:00

Can you believe I forgot to take a single picture over Thanksgiving weekend? I even took the camera with us on Thursday when we went to Jamie's parents' house and ended up leaving it in the car and didn't give it a second thought until we were on the way home! Oh well. I'll try to make up for it over the Christmas holiday.

I did get to cook my first turkey breast, dressing, green beans, and sweet potato balls on Saturday! Even though we celebrated on Thursday with the Andersons, my Meemaw wanted to cook a meal for just us. And since she's having a hard time seeing too well these days, she stood on the sidelines and told me how to cook everything instead. It was great and not nearly as intimidating as I thought it would be. It probably wasn't as good as Meemaw's dinners usually were in her heyday, but I thought it turned out great!

We had some excitement here on Sunday afternoon. A brush fire broke out in the woods behind our neighbor's house...although it was practically in our backyard too. We just happened to be outside playing since it was such a nice day and were able to see it when it first started. Jamie ran over to try and put it out with the garden hose, while I was running around banging on neighbors' doors to come help. However, with the wind, it quickly picked up steam and got out of control, so we immediately called the fire department. Luckily, they responded quickly and got it under control. Fortunately, we were at home and outside, because if that hadn't been the case, it could have been very very bad. I hate to think what would have happened if no one had been home!

And all this was going on while Will, Hi-C and GG were out on our back deck taking it all in. Will was super excited to see a fire truck pretty much in his backyard! And of course, for all of Jamie's heroic efforts, Will thinks his Daddy is a real fireman now! I'm sure if you see Will anytime soon, it will be all he talks about.

We ordered our Christmas cards last night! WooHoo! And we are almost done with our shopping. All that's left now are a few stocking stuffers and the people that are always hard to buy for...i.e. Jamie's mom, my Meemaw and yes, you too Dad!!! :) Of course now I have to wrap it all!

And a bonus is I think we're pretty much done buying for Will's birthday too. Gotta love being able to get things on sale before January!

I can't believe how quickly our calendar is filling up for the month of December and it hasn't even started yet! And we're not really even all that popular :) :) But I love all the holiday get togethers, parades, gift exchanges, Church Christmas plays & practices, time celebrating with family, etc... It's always my most favorite time of the year.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed reading my random thoughts. It was the least I could do since I don't have any new pictures to share :)

Happy Tuesday Everyone!

Giving thanks at Preschool

2011-11-22T15:44:00.001-05:00

Will had his Thanksgiving Program and Friendship Lunch today at preschool. They all sang a few songs, made some friendship bead necklaces and Indian feathers. It was all so cute!

Our little Indian...

Well at least he's got his priorities straight!

Riley & Hi-C...the crazy destructive ones at the party!

The Christmas Parade

2011-11-22T14:46:00.001-05:00

On Saturday morning, we headed to downtown Raleigh for the annual Christmas Parade. The kids & I had never been before so we were excited to be going. We met the whole gang there and set up shop with some yummy breakfast treats before the parade began! We all had a great time and it really put us in the Christmas Spirit. So much so that I even talked Jamie into putting up our tree & decorations when we got home! :)

Here's a picture overload for all of you...but I figured, hey, it was our first time to the parade, so better to remember it with photos and a few memorable quotes!

"Kicking off our good old fashion family Christmas season!"

Silly Girl...

Cutie Pie Huddy...

Daddy's Little Elves, plus sweet Fordie...

Hud & Will thought they were being soooo funny with their hats!

Sweet Ciara...

"Don't throw me down Dad!"

"Want to hurry this up? I'm freezing my baguettes off!"

Little Conner...

Best Buds taking it all in...

One of Will's favorites...The Monster Truck!!!

"Burn some dust here. Eat my rubber!!!"

"He's got that crazed look in his eye again!"

American Idol & Hometown Favorite...Scotty McCreery!!!

Hi-C would only wave at the animals...I think this wave was for the miniature horses!

Begging for candy!!! "Ah, it's all part of the experience!"

"At this point, I can't even see the nuts. They must have blown away.
Oh here they are. Here come the nuts!"

"Hey Kids, I heard on the news that Santa was spotted in Raleigh!"

"Merry Christmas!!! Sh*#*er was Full!"

(Sorry I couldn't resist this one!)

Santa & his eight tiny reindeer!

Merry Christmas to All!!!

Birthday Weekend Getaway...

2011-11-15T11:19:00.001-05:00

We had a wonderful long family weekend celebrating my 31st birthday!!! Jamie, myself, the kiddos and my mom all headed to Charlotte for the weekend for a little getaway. We did some Christmas shopping, made our yearly trip to IKEA, visited with some old friends, went swimming and ate lots of yummy food! We had a GREAT time!

Side note: These pics were taken with the iPhones, so not the best quality....

We started the weekend off right with a big VA Tech football win over GA Tech on Thursday night! GO HOKIES!!!

Here's Will and I enjoying the game! We let him stay up a little later to watch football.

On Friday night, we celebrated 11-11-11 at On The Border with some yummy mexican food and a birthday brownie. And Yes, the wait staff did sing to me!

One of the highlights of the trip was being able to meet up with one of Jamie's oldest friends, Andres, and his family on Saturday night. They are some of the nicest and coolest people we know...(and yes, I know they read this blog, but that's not the reason I'm saying it :)...We had a lot of fun catching up and watching the kids play together. Jacob & Will became fast friends and that melted their Daddies' hearts while Alex & Hi-C were sweet on each other! They kept giving each other hugs! It's too bad we don't live in the same city, although, Sidney & I found out fast that if we did, we'd probably never see our husbands because they'd be hanging out together so much! Thanks for a fun night Andres & Sidney!

We also had fun on our 3 hour IKEA trip. The kids did great. C feel asleep in the stroller for the entire time and Will gave out towards the end!

Getting a few Christmas ideas for the boys at Toys-R-Us....

And our hotel had an indoor pool which the kids loved! It was fun getting to swim a little with them after my birthday celebration!

And we finished the weekend off with a trip to one of my favorite restaurants...Macadoes!!! It's a favorite hangout in Blacksburg so whenever I go it always reminds me of the fun times we had in college. Luckily for us, they have one in Concord Mills, so we were able to go for lunch on Sunday before we headed home!

What a great weekend we had!!!

FALLing down on the job of blogging...

2011-11-08T15:44:00.002-05:00

So I guess I need to play catch-up since I've been MIA for over a week. We've just been busy helping our friend Alissa move to her new house and get settled in, celebrating a rainy Halloween, going to preschool and MOPS, celebrating my friend Kristin's birthday and spending some time with family. And of course I haven't taken many pictures in our busyness, so I haven't had the motivation to blog and post pictures. Just been living life I guess! And the fact that keeping up with three kids, including a sweet little baby boy who likes to eat a lot and who doesn't seem to think he needs to sleep during the day lately, has made it hard for me to find time to get on the computer to blog.

But here are a few pictures to show that we're still around.

Here's some from the end of our Halloween night. Glad I took some good ones of the kids earlier in the week because Halloween turned out to be a wash. Literally!!! It poured down rain all evening. We ended up at the mall thinking that might be a good alternative. Well, so did the rest of Raleigh and they ended up running out of candy within in the first 20 minutes. We ended up having to buy some candy at the candy kiosk just so we would have something to go home with! Thank goodness the kids took it all in stride, because the adults got annoyed and lost our patience pretty fast!!! So we ended up just coming home and promising the kids ice cream sundaes instead. So a little bit of a disappointment, but oh well, there will be more years to Trick or Treat!

This past Sunday we invited all of Jamie's family over for Sunday dinner. Unfortunately, Grandma Angie ended up getting sick so she couldn't come, but everyone else made it and we all had a great time. We sure missed Grandma though! But it was nice having everyone together again and just enjoying the day with one another. I think there was 14 of us total!

Pa and Will building the monster truck from Lowes.

(Thanks for getting it for us Auntie Melissa)

Hi-C played so hard outside before dinner that she got comfortable in her highchair and took a little snooze! One of her favorite pastimes.

It turned out to be a beautiful day so the kids loved having time to play outside all afternoon.

Jackson & Will having fun in the truck!

And the Princess being pulled around in her wagon all afternoon!

She had Aunt Wanda wrapped around her finger while they were playing outside!

And the big kids played some football...

And chilled out...

So that's what we've been up to. Hope all of you are doing well and enjoying Fall. It's my favorite time of year!

What About Betty???

2011-10-28T12:25:00.000-04:00

So we took Hi-C to see Dr. V, her orthopeadic doctor, this morning to get an update on how C's hips are doing and whether Betty's doing her job. I must admit, it's been a loooooong three months and July seems like forever ago, so we have been counting down the days. We have been hoping & praying for good news to come from this appointment.

And well.....we GOT some!!!! YAY!

The good news is that C's hips are improving! When we went in back in July, the x-rays showed that both of her hips had dysplasia, with the right hip being a little off and the left hip being moderately bad. As of right now, her right hip looks to be normal!!! Her left hip is improving, but it's still not in the normal range. And this is making her hips asymmetrical.

Basically, he gave us numbers. He said he likes to have the hips at or below 24 degrees by age three. The right hip is now. Back in July, her left hip was at 32 degrees and is now measuring at 27 degrees. So you can see, that it is certainly an improvement, but still not quite exactly where it needs to be. Dr. V said that it's hard to tell if she's improving because she's growing and this would have happened on it's own or if it's because Betty is really working. Either way, she is making progress. The thing is though, since they don't really know specifically what's actually the reason for it working, it's always better to air on the side of caution and chalk the reason up to being because she's wearing the brace. Dr. V doesn't want to take the chance of thinking it's happening naturally and take the brace away, because if it isn't happening naturally and the brace is the reason, then it could cause some long term problems if we don't get this fixed by the time she's three.

However, the other great thing is that if things continue on like this, Dr. V doesn't see any reason that she would need surgery!!! Betty the Brace should hopefully continue to fix things over time.

So while we can't throw Betty in the fire just yet, Dr. V did say that...

Hi-C ONLY HAD TO WEAR BETTY AT NIGHT!!!! WOOHOO!!!!

This is the news we were hoping to hear. We were really trying to be realistic and realize that C wouldn't be completely healed in three months time, but our hope was that she could at least be free of Betty during the day and only have to wear it at night! So this is great news for us! Completely doable. In fact, the way Hi-C climbs on things, we're actually hoping that Betty will keep C from climbing out of her crib anytime soon!

So as of now, she is suppose to wear Betty every night while she sleeps and this will last for four months. We go back to see Dr. V again in March and hopefully see even more progress and healing!!!

Thanks for all your thoughts & prayers as we continue down this path. We are very thankful that C is improving, that she is walking, that it looks like we can avoid surgery and that she is very much a happy, healthy, thriving 18 month old. And the same can be said for Mr. Will. Again I'm so so grateful that this is all we're having to deal with concerning our kids' health. This is cake compared to what many parents are going through right now. Our hearts & prayers go out to them and to everyone who is dealing with health struggles right now.

May God bless you all, as He has certainly blessed our family!

Halloween Preview...

2011-10-28T11:52:00.003-04:00

We had our Fall Festival at church on Wednesday night and the kiddos got to dress up, play games, get their face painted and decorate cupcakes! I know it's not Halloween quite yet, and I'm sure I'll have plenty more pictures come Monday night, but they were just so darn cute in their costumes, that I couldn't resist sharing the pics with y'all early.

Will the Pirate and Tinkerbell

Sweet Siblings

Preschool/Church Buddies...Kaylee & Riley with CW

Have you ever seen a cuter fairy?

Check back next week for lots more cute Halloween photos!

So Long Soccer...

2011-10-28T11:44:00.000-04:00

This week we finished up with soccer for the Fall season! I think Will had a good time playing the game, but the jury's still out on whether will play again in the spring. He certainly isn't the star soccer player, and that's perfectly okay, but we'll just have to see if he's still interested next time or wants to try something else. We still had fun watching them play. Although, I must admit, it's going to be nice having our Monday nights free again for awhile!

Apparently the new thing in organized sports is to give everyone a trophy instead of just to the winning team! I'm not sure how I feel about this principal in the long run (isn't that the whole point of trying to win for the season?) but it made my 3 year old excited so that made me happy!

And the Y actually gave out pretty neat trophies! Not just some cheap soccer figurine!

Will and our team's ringer, Aiden! This kid was an awesome soccer player!!! Hence the reason he's trying to steal the ball away from Will as soon as Will kicks it off :)

Pumpkin Carving 101...

2011-10-25T08:00:00.000-04:00

Pick the perfect pumpkin & find your design...

Keep sharp objects away from children...

Smile while you supervise...

Always look cute...

Get out all the gunk...

Carve out the face...

Keep on carving till it's done...

Light a candle inside...

And finally, proudly display on the front porch...

Happy Pumpkin Carving!!!!

Weekend Recap!

2011-10-24T10:54:00.002-04:00

Jamie & Will decided to drive down to the beach with the Andersons this weekend to do a little fishing. And since Hi-C isn't quite big enough to go out on the boat and I didn't want to spend the weekend chasing after her making sure she didn't jump in the canal by the house, we decided to drive to VA and visit with GG. We all ended up having a great weekend, which was just what we needed after a long week. There was some upsetting news for several of our friends & family throughout the week, and that had laid heavy on our hearts, so it was nice to getaway and have a little fun.

Caroline & I enjoying a girls' day lunch with GG...

While Jamie & Will enjoyed a beautiful day out in the sound...

And Hi-C had Millie Dog all to herself, which she loved!

It was nice having a little one on one time with each kid this weekend. I think C's personality really started to shine since she wasn't competing for attention with her big brother. We drove over to Williamsburg for the day and did a little shopping and she was in the best mood all day long.

And surprisingly, Will lasted pretty much all day out on the boat fishing with Daddy, Pa, Uncle Donnie and Aunt Wanda. I guess the little power nap helped! Sadly they didn't catch many fish to bring home, but they all still had a wonderful time.

I know it made Jamie's day to finally be able to go fishing with both his Dad & his son. Its something he's been looking forward to since the day we found out we were having a boy! I guess now that we know Will is as much into fishing as his daddy, then we need to by him a proper life jacket for next time! :)

Fair, Fun & Family...

2011-10-16T21:33:00.001-04:00

We had a fun weekend spending time with GG, doing a little shopping, hanging out with some longtime family friends, and topping it off with our annual trip to the N.C. State Fair!!! We had beautiful weather this weekend, which made for a great day at the fair. Of course everyone else seemed to think so too because it was c-r-o-w-d-e-d!!! I should have known better going on a Sunday considering I use to work at the fair, but it turned out to be the best day for everyone to go this year so we figured we would try it. We now know that we will ALWAYS go on a weekday! But we still had a great time and I always love taking my kids to the State Fair. I spent several years at the fair watching all the other families enjoy it and making memories while I was hard at work. And now I feel blessed that I have a family to go to the fair with and create our own memories!!!

Side Note: Excuse the crazy shadows in most of these pictures. It was very BRIGHT all day long and made it hard to take good pictures!

Taking advantage of a family photo op...

Will had fun riding a few rides with Jay, Morgan & Mary. C was still pretty little to ride most things, but she did get to ride on a few.

She was sooo excited to see the farm animals.

Clearly visiting the exhibits is not nearly as exciting as riding the rides!

Checking out the bunnies with GG...

I think this was one of Will's favorite parts of the fair. The train display in the Flower & Garden show. We ended up going by it three times!

This has always been one of my favorite parts of the fair and I think has become one of Jamie's too. The pumpkin carver!!! He is amazing. We even got to catch one of his demonstrations and we're completely impressed.

And to finish our day off, we all took a ride on the giant ferris wheel. The kids loved it! And it's always cool to see the State Fair from way up high.

Although, I think C just enjoyed waving to everyone as we passed them each time we went by.

This was Will's attempt at taking our picture. I think he actually did pretty good. Except for the crazy flash floating above my head. But not bad at all.

Thinking about doing this in the front yard???

Until next year State Fair...

Children of the Corn...

2011-10-11T17:27:00.002-04:00

On Saturday we headed over to Zebulon, which was about 15 minutes away, to visit the Jolley Family Farm for the first time. It was a little more rustic than what our previous Fall Family Adventures have been, but we had a Groupon, so we figured what the heck! The main attraction was the giant corn maze, which we stupidly thought at first, "How giant could it really be?" More on that below...But there was also a big corn bin, hay bales in the shape of a pirate ship, a hay ride, and a slide. We ended up having a fun time even if we didn't know what we were getting ourselves into. And it was actually pretty nice not having to fight the huge crowds that other local attractions typically draw.

Enjoy our story through pictures...

The Carlisles floating through the corn...or actually, just riding the hay wagon!

Fordie does not seem too sure about this little adventure...

The corn bin is always a huge hit with everyone!
We took Betty off so Hi-C could have a little more fun...

I could have stayed in here the whole time. For whatever reason, it's very relaxing. And my feet probably wish I would have stayed here. Again, more on that to come...

I love this pic...it's like they're deep in conversation amongst the corn...

The Giant Slide...a.k.a. The Slide of Death, as Aunt Melissa likes to call it.

She picked up a little too much speed going down and hurt the heck out of her tail bone!

Oh and I think these two pics are funny!

It like pic #1...this is how it really is...

And pic #2...Oh wait, smile for the camera!!!

Wrestling in the hay...

Here we are starting off the corn maze. We saved this adventure for last. Not thinking it would really take that long. We actually laughed at the girl when she said it usually takes people an hour to get through it. We were like, yeah right, we got this! They even gave us surrender flags to carry in case we need to signal them for help. We let the little boys carry them for fun, never really considering we might actually have to use them!

It all went downhill after that! We started off pretty good not hitting a single dead-end. But once we got to the middle, it all went down the drain. We apparently took one bad turn and ended up way off course! Once the little ones started to turn on us we considered waving the flags, but the 12 year old in the lookout tower didn't give us much hope, so we knew we were on our own. Not being prepared for the huge walking excursion, about mid-way through our adventure, my shoes started digging into the back of my ankles and I lost all train of thought on how to get out of the maze alive. My brain centered on the intense pain in my feet!!! But once I decided to kick off my shoes and go barefoot in the dirt, I was able to focus again! Hi-C also took the opportunity to nap in her stroller and let us do all the work!

Thanks to Jamie's excellent map reading skills, we were able to turn ourselves around and head in the right direction and we did end up finishing in just under an hour!

Grateful we finally made it!

Now, who's up for trying the maze at night?

Turning 18...

2011-10-11T15:17:00.001-04:00

Our Baby Girl turned 18 months last Wednesday!!!

So I took Hi-C to the doctor this morning for her well visit. It's so funny to see how as kids get older, the more they become aware of the doctor's office. It's like, how does she really remember? She did great, but she was certainly more apprehensive this time when we got in the room than I have ever seen her before. Dr. S checked everything out and she seemed pleased with how C is doing so far. She was excited that C is finally walking and reviewed the notes with me that Dr. V, our ortho doc, sent over to her. According to the notes, C is suppose to be in the brace full time until the end of Oct., but after that only at night! I really hope that's true!!!! Obviously we'll have to wait and see what the x-ray looks like, but it's good to know that Dr. V is thinking along those lines already! I guess we'll wait and see in a few weeks.

She's not worried, but also wants us to continue working with Hi-C to develop her speech more and start getting her to say more words. Her ears were completely clear, which turned out to be our concern with Will, so that was good news. Other than that, everything else checked out perfectly. She did have to get two shots, including her flu shot, but she handled it like a champ.

Side note though: I also took Will in a little later on to get his flu shot and I had told him that it would just be the mist through the nose like last time. Well unfortunately, because of his heart murmur diagnosis last January, they had to give him the shot instead. Poor thing lost his mind when he found out he had to get the shot and it took everything that the nurse & I had combined to get his jeans off, hold him down and give him the shot. He was devastated! I felt so bad for telling him the wrong thing. But he's fine now...

Anyway, here's Miss C's 18 month stats:

Weight: 23.11 lbs...40%

Height: 31.25 inches...40%

HC: 48.4 cm...92%

And here's a few other cute shots from the doctor's office too!

Watching Mommy take our picture in the mirror.

She's just so cute and looks so grown up!

Checking herself out...

Silly Girl...

Friday Facts

2011-10-07T17:47:00.002-04:00

1. I made it through my first week of keeping three little ones! Yippee!!! Little Wesley started coming over on Monday and I have to say it was easier than I though it would be. I'm sure it helps that he's still pretty little and isn't very active and sleeps a lot! But my kids adjusted well to our new normal, and we survived being out and about for preschool, bible study, & Mops and luckily I remembered to put all three of them in the car AND buckle them up! Yay Me!

All this while Jamie was out of town for the week too...

2. Yes, we also survived Jamie being out of town for four days! I'm so glad he doesn't have to travel for work on a regular basis. That would suck! Mainly because I'm a scaredy-cat and hate staying in the house at night alone. But we made through the week! Even if I did tell the kids we were having a slumber party for the week and set up the cot and pack & play and put them in my room with me and locked my bedroom door at 9:00 so I didn't have to go back out into the big dark house alone!

So glad he's home now!!!

3. I have the best neighbors EVER! Case in point...when I opened the front door yesterday to find a little dead birdy on my doorstep from an apparent kamikaze attack with the door window, I was able to ask Mr. Marty if he would mind disposing of the dead creature since my hubby was out of town and I don't do well with dead animals! He was happy to oblige!

4. We are going to the corn maze tomorrow! I'm so happy to take part in a true fall tradition! There are so many fun things to do in the fall, but just not enough weekends to get them all in! Pics to come I'm sure.

5. And for those who have asked...or for those who are wondering, but haven't asked yet...We have 21 more days until we go back to the orthopaedic doctor to get an update on Hi-C's prognosis and to see if Betty will be joining us for Thanksgiving & Christmas. Please start praying and crossing fingers! For some reason I don't have a great feeling about being able to completely get rid of Betty...but maybe we'll get lucky and only have to wear her at night. We'll shall see.

I can tell you what Caroline wants to do with Betty...

Happy Friday Everyone! Have a great weekend.

Riding the Rails...

2011-10-04T11:01:00.000-04:00

On Sunday we headed over to the New Hope Valley Railway to catch a train ride! It started off as one of "those" mornings so we were running REALLY late and almost missed the 12:15 train with the Carlisles, but luckily we caught the last four seats on the train so everything turned out fine. Although, the last four seats just happened to be right up front next to the steam engine. While it was pretty cool to be up close, it was really loud but surprisingly the kids did pretty good!

Great Family Pic...we're all looking at the camera!

Best Buds...

View from our seats...

I love their faces in the pic!

Look at all that smoke...

Oh, Daddy! Not in front of my friends...

My sweet boys...

Silly boy...

Our pretty princess...

Having fun with Daddy...

Miss Hollywood...

Trying to be cool like Daddy...

A New Baby

2011-09-28T16:40:00.000-04:00

We've got a new baby coming to our house!!! YAY!!!

The only thing is he gets to go home at 4:30 every afternoon!

(Did I get you going for a second though?)

Yes, starting on Monday we will have a new baby boy that will be coming to our house everyday during the week. Sweet Baby Wesley is the son of some of our good friends, Ryan & Emily. Emily will be starting back at work next week as the school art teacher, so that means Will, Caroline & myself will be looking after him during the day while they're at work. Wesley is 4 1/2 months old, but since he decided to surprise his parents and come 10 weeks early back in May, he's still pretty little and a little bit behind kids his age. But he's perfectly healthy, is slowly catching up to his peers and is just the sweetest little thing!

I'm sure some of you are wondering what in the world I'm thinking taking on another baby when my own kids keep me pretty busy, but I'm not worried. Sure it will a big adjustment, but we've had a few practice runs and everything has gone great. Will & C love little Wesley. They aren't jealous at all and love having him around. And we still plan on going out & about and doing things...but now we'll just have one more passenger in the car. I figure people do it all the time with three little ones. The good thing I have going is that my "3rd child" gets to go back to his house in the afternoons, on the weekends, during holidays, summer vacation, etc... And hopefully it will make keeping up with my two seem like a breeze!

So while I know we've got to get use to our new situation and with me "working" again, we are all very excited about this new opportunity and glad that we are able to help out some friends and provide a safe & loving place that they can send their baby to while they're at work. I know what a blessing that was for me to have during Will's first year of life.

Wish us luck!

Bend It Like Beckham!!! Or Not....

2011-09-21T14:09:00.000-04:00

We signed Will up for the Fall Soccer program through the YMCA and on Monday he had his first official game! His team name is the Broncos and there are 9 other kids on the team with him. They all did so great for their first game. And even though they don't officially keep score at this age, I was mentally keeping track so I know we actually WON! :)

Will didn't get a chance to score any goals for his team...We have a couple of ringers that take the ball and run with it to make a goal, but Will did great at kicking it off, staying with the pack, and kicking the ball out of the crowd so that his teammates could take it in for a goal! I really don't think we'll be raising the next David Beckham, but honestly we were just pleased that he participated and was good at waiting his turn to play on the field! We have several more games till the end of the season at the end of October, so we're hoping he continues to improve and more importantly continues to have fun!!!

Putting his game face on to intimidate the competition!

Funny...he wears that same face around the house

when he's not getting his way.

Team Broncos getting excited for the first kick-off...

Whoa...settle down kids! Let's don't appear to be having too much fun now!

Will's going to kick it off for the team...

BRONCOS SCORE!!!

And we also were able to capture our first head to head contact of the game!

Apparently Will's working on his team goal celebration dance skills...

Keeping up with the pack...

I'm Number One!

No really...that's his jersey number.

The red team preparing for the attack...

And a few more action shots...

The Great American Camp Out...

2011-09-19T16:20:00.000-04:00

On Saturday night, our backyard was turned into a camp site for the boys to enjoy! Jamie, Matt, Will & Hudson all decided that they wanted to roast marshmallows, eat s'mores, and sleep in the tent for the night. Melissa & I took part in the s'mores portion of the evening and then we put the little ones to bed and stayed warm & cozy inside the house and watched a cute chick flick instead!

The little boys seemed to have the time of their life! They were so excited! And luckily they all lasted the entire night outside with no problems!

The evening's accommodations...

Hi-C trying to sneak inside the tent so she could stay the night too.

Not sure how the big bouncy ball got in the picture???

And of course since we were outside for any amount of time, C expected to have some time in the swing! She loves it!

Fun was had by all and I think all of the boys are looking forward to their next camping adventure!

Mommy vs. Betty the Brace

2011-09-15T17:36:00.001-04:00

Oh what a day...

Not really sure why, but I've had one of those days where I'm starting to really hate Betty the Brace! It probably started off this morning when I left Hi-C in the nursery so I could go to Bible Study. She immediately started crying when I left, which is normal, but she usually settles down. Well after 20 minutes of uncontrollable crying on her part, they finally came to get me. The only thing that seemed to soothe her was taking Betty off and letting her go play outside with the other little ones.

She was fine after that.

Same thing happened last Friday during nursery at MOPS.

I have come to the conclusion that if I'm going to drop her off with someone else, I'm just going to take the brace off and let her be free and play happily. I think she gets a little sad when I leave, but then gets extremely frustrated when she can't do some of the things that the other kids are doing and then she becomes uncontrollable.

So the craziness of the morning set off feelings & emotions inside of me having to do with Betty the Brace in general. And so then I just got sad...

Yeah Yeah, I know that the brace is suppose to be helping fix her hips. And boy do I pray that it's working!

But in saying that....we are approaching the two month mark of her wearing Betty...and I'm just tired of it. And I know for a fact that she is too! Especially since she's taken off with her walking without the brace, only to be slowed down once more when we have to put it back on her.

I hate the fact that Betty stays dirty...ALL THE TIME. As someone who doesn't like to have her kids wear anything with stains...Betty drives me crazy!

I hate the fact that C isn't running and jumping and climbing and playing like most normal 17 month olds.

I hate the fact that C gets blisters on her legs and bumps on her stomach from wearing Betty. (She has very sensitive skin!)

I hate the fact that I can't even say "Oh, only one more month of wearing Betty!" Because while I hope & pray that's true, there is a very real possibility that we are preparing ourselves for, that she'll have to wear Betty for another 3 months! We don't dare get our hopes up.

I hate the fact that in trying to buy her cute fall & winter clothes, I have to constantly try to figure out if she can wear things while wearing the brace.

I hate the fact that ever since C has started wearing Betty, she just seems to get frustrated a lot more easily, seems to be crankier more often, and is on her way to being extremely spoiled since we feel bad and give into her more often.

Anyway...I guess this was just a big venting session and something I needed to get off my chest. I do hope Betty is really working. I still think we are doing the right thing. I will still try to make every effort to make C wear Betty as much as possible over the next month.

I'm also just ready to put Betty in the attic!

But tomorrow is another day right?

17 Months

2011-09-09T08:10:00.002-04:00

Doesn't she look like her Mama?

(even if she is making a silly face!)

Our baby girl turned 17 months old this week! And the biggest news of the past month has been her walking! While she took a few steps here and there awhile back, she has really taken off here lately.

And yes, while we've taken Betty the Brace off of her a little more than normal here lately, we just can't help it. It's so awesome to see her really walking instead of

crawling around with brace on.

Although, I am happy to say that last week she did take about five steps without holding on to anything all while wearing Betty! She looked like a little sumo wrestler. And I couldn't get to my camera fast enough. But it did take a lot out of her to walk like that so she was pretty tired afterwards and didn't want to try again.

But now that we're done with trips to the beach and traveling in general, it's back to wearing Betty for the majority of the hours of the day.

Hi-C has also been:

...perfecting her sweet dance moves

...eating with silverware like a big girl

...blowing kisses

...making silly faces

...learning to share toys with her big brother

...talking up a storm and actually saying some words we can make out

...growing out her beautiful hair...it's getting soooo long!

...pretending to be a Mommy to her baby dolls

...becoming very attached to her Bunny Rabbit

...learning how to brush her hair, wash her face and the names of her other body parts

...enjoying watching some cartoons/movies

...and trying to climb on everything...(let's just say it's a good thing she has Betty the Brace on or we might be in some trouble! Although, it's not going to slow her down for much longer.)

One thing's for sure....we have the sweetest little 17 month old baby girl ever!!!

Back to School...

2011-09-09T08:00:00.002-04:00

In the craziness that this week has been with getting back into town, I forgot to blog about Will starting preschool on Tuesday! Our little boy is in the 3 year old preschool class this year and so far is doing great and he seems to love his new teachers and new friends.

What a difference a year makes. On Tuesday as I was driving him to school, he said, "Mom, you can just drop me off!" He seemed a little annoyed that I had to walk in with him on his first day. I'm happy about that though. I'm glad that he is excited about school and doesn't cry anymore when I drop him off.

Oh and he wanted to make sure I got a picture of his cool new Spiderman backpack...He thought he was Hot Stuff!

When did my baby boy get to be so big?

And here is Will's little girlfriend Kaylee as they walked into preschool together!

And poor little Riley was NOT happy that she didn't get to go to school this year too. She missed the cutoff by four days, but luckily that means she and Hi-C will get to go together next year!

Are you ready for some football?

2011-09-08T15:45:00.004-04:00

The highlight of our trip to Indiana was going to the BSU football game at the Colts stadium on Saturday night! Ball State played (AND BEAT) Indiana University in the season opener. And since it was the kick-off game they played in downtown Indy at Lucas Oil Stadium where the Colts play!

And since the Colts are my favorite NFL team, mainly because of my crush from college for Peyton Manning, it made it even more exciting to be able to watch the game from the President's Suite at the field where they play!

And the kids had so much fun and did great throughout the whole game even though it was a late night. Luckily we had seats in the box that were on the front row, so the kids could stand and watch the game, walk around or play.

The cutest cheerleaders there ever were...

I had to beg him to take a picture with me so I could prove that I was there too.

He was NOT happy to oblige.

And towards the end of the game, to keep the kids entertained, Jamie had a little fun with Will's dinosaurs and some popcorn!

Our Trip to Indy...

2011-09-08T15:18:00.004-04:00

Over the past month we have been world travelers it seems...well at least US travelers! And Labor Day weekend was no exception. The four of us flew out to Indianapolis for the long weekend to visit GRoy & JoJo. And I think we all had a wonderful time.

We usually get to see them when they come to visit us or when we visit them at their house in Williamsburg, so it was a treat to visit them in Indy for a change. We hadn't flown out there since Will was 10 months old. I think because we were all a little leery of flying with two kids. But I'm happy to report that the trip went very smoothly. Luckily, we had a direct flight which helped tremendously. No delays and no problems through security.

And Will was super excited about flying on an airplane!

He did great the whole time. Just took it all in and enjoyed watching his movies, looking out the window and eating the airplane snacks. He was a real trooper!

And the best part was that Hi-C pretty much passed out both ways as soon as we took off until we landed. It was awesome. I guess my only complaint with her could be that my legs fell asleep while I was holding her! But I'll take it. Especially considering on both of our flights there were several screaming, hyper kids. I was just glad that they weren't mine!

And once we were in Indy we enjoyed our time exploring the city of Muncie, playing at the playground, hitting golf balls, checking out the children's museum downtown, walking around the BSU campus and playing with Dad's dog Sierra! (which I'm sad to report that I didn't get a single picture of the kids playing with the dog. She was the highlight of the trip for them!)

And speaking of playgrounds...check out how cool this playground is!!!

Pouting for some unknown reason...

Playing in the dirt with GRoy...

Look at how grown-up she looks in the picture...

Oh and we also made a special trip to the Indianapolis Zoo on Monday before we headed home. It was actually very crowded so I didn't take hardly any pictures, but I did snap this cute one of the baby elephant that was just a month old. So sweet!

All in all, we had a great time and I'm please to say that I'm not quite as opposed to flying with the kids anymore.

Life at the beach...

2011-08-31T15:05:00.004-04:00

Girl is not afraid to get dirty!!!

Exploring the island...

2011-08-31T14:58:00.003-04:00

On Wednesday, we went to Harbortown on the south end of the island. There were lots of cool boats, a lighthouse, some cute shops and an awesome playground that provided some very neat photo opportunities.

Having some fun...

2011-08-31T14:49:00.003-04:00

Hilton Head has tons of awesome bike trails all over the island. We took advantage of it and rented bikes for the week for all of us. We got some great exercise and the kids LOVED it.

How cute are they in their little matching helmets?

Riding on the beach in the early evening was such a cool thing to do.

The pool was right across from our villa, so we took advantage of it daily!

And we made the best of a rainy day on Friday by letting the boys make & decorate cookies.

The finished products were very yummy!

I could get use to this...

2011-08-31T14:23:00.003-04:00

Ahhh....I'm back in blogging land! Sorry for the long break. I know all 12 of my readers have been anxiously waiting for my return.

YEAH RIGHT!!!

Anyway, we are finally back home. Where have we been? Well, it seems like for the biggest part of August we decided to live at the beach.

Which was not a bad way to spend the month let me tell you.

The kids are slowly turning into sharks...

and sand crabs!

And becoming great little travelers...

No, but in all seriousness we have throughly enjoyed our beach vacations this month. Last week, we headed down to Hilton Head for our regularly scheduled family beach vacation. We went with Jamie's cousin Bobby, his wife Stacy and their son Trey, who just happens to be two months younger than Will, so they play together well. We had such a great time. Lots of relaxation, fun in the sun, bike riding, and family togetherness.

We had a cute little villa that we called home for the week.

Complete with little lagoons all over the plantation that housed real live alligators. Or so we were told. We never actually saw one. Thank Goodness!

Luckily we picked a good week to go since we missed out on an earthquake back home and we're too far south to have to evacuate before Hurricane Irene came through. Fortunately, we only got some rain and a little wind out of the storm on Friday and didn't have too much trouble coming home Saturday. Until we arrived back in Clayton and saw the mess of trees, leaves & limbs that were waiting for us. But we were refreshed from vacation, so that didn't even bother us that much. All is cleaned up now and we're looking forward to our next trip!

Staging a Revolt...

2011-08-31T13:59:00.003-04:00

I LOVE this picture. I think it's hilarious!!!

Could easily pass as C's twin. In fact, when I first saw it, I thought

"Hmm...I don't remember taking that picture!"

Thanks to our friend Pickle who shared it with us.

Tuesday Tidbits, aka a bunch of randomness..

2011-08-16T07:00:00.001-04:00

We have decided that Caroline sounds EXACTLY like the "look-out monkey" in Toy Story 3. If you haven't seen the movie...go watch it. This is not a compliment whatsoever! But she does do a great impression of the monkey!!! She can be LOUD! when she wants something or gets mad!!! Wow!

Betty the Brace & Hi-C have been getting along fairly well lately. At first C doesn't usually want to play with Betty, which causes major meltdowns and some screaming & crying from both C and whoever may be trying to put the brace on her at the present time. But once she's strapped in, Caroline has adapted to Betty pretty well. She's crawling like a pro, pulling up on things, wrestling with her daddy or brother, climbing stairs and chairs and anything else she can. And just the other day I caught a glimpse of her walking behind her push toy! Just for a quick second...but yes, she was walking while wearing Betty!!!! I was thrilled.

Of course, she has also been trying to walk all over the place at night when she's not wearing Betty, during her 30 minutes of freedom after her bath. It's been awesome...but also a little bit sad knowing that if Betty hadn't gotten in her way, Hi-C would probably be a master walker by now.

Oh well...let's not dwell.

We are all starting to get excited about fall around here. I may be a little bit more excited than usual knowing that Will starts preschool again in three weeks (hallelujah)...but he's getting pumped for it too. He's all set to go with his new Spiderman backpack that he picked out! Although, I just hope he adjusts to his new teachers. He keeps saying that he's going to see Miss Michelle again and I keep having to remind him that he'll have Miss Amanda this year, so we'll see how it goes on orientation day!

And this is our last week of the summer soccer program at Kicks-n-Sticks. Will has had so much fun that we signed him up for the soccer league through the YMCA for the fall. He'll actually play real games in this league, so we are pretty excited to see him play. Or more than likely, it will just be organized chaos on the field as a bunch of 3 year olds go after one soccer ball.

Should be fun!

Nothing really new with Jamie or I. We lead such exciting lives, I tell you! Our biggest updates are...let's see...I got a $13 haircut. Jamie installed shelves in the closet last week...Woohoo! We went to see the movie The Help...which was awesome by the way. Jamie gets to go play golf and go to a fancy-smancy VP Credit Union retreat at the Washington Duke Inn this weekend and I got to go to Target all by myself the other day.

Wow! That's just sad.

No just kidding...it's called our life and we love it! But maybe I do need to find a hobby...you know in my free time!

But we are really looking forward to our family vacation coming up soon, even though we just got back from the beach. But this time, Daddy will be with us the whole time! Yay!

Lions & Tigers & Bears...Oh My!

2011-08-15T14:52:00.010-04:00

We took the kids to the N.C. Zoo yesterday and met up with the Carlisle Family for a day of fun! It was a perfect day to go because while it was a little bit humid, it wasn't nearly as hot as it usually is in August and even though it was overcast, we never ran into any rain! I think everyone had a great time seeing all the animals, getting a lot of exercise and enjoying the company of friends!

Here's two cute pictures of Will & Hudson...

Oh wait....I mean Will & Hudson :)

And another picture of all the monkeys...

The funny lemurs and the white alligator

And here's the Anderson Family Rhino...we end up taking our picture here every year.

Sweet Siblings...

How the elephant cools down vs. How we cool down...

This is by far the funniest picture I've ever taken at the zoo! I love how that big grizzly bear is just chillin' in water, resting his head on his hand, thinking about life...

By the time we made our way from Africa to North America, Hi-C had pretty much passed out, so she missed most of the attractions on the other side of the zoo.

But Daddy & Will enjoyed North America...especially seeing the Polar Bear playing basketball & the seals wrestling with each other.

Ahh...The Beach!

2011-08-08T16:12:00.001-04:00

Oh how we LOVE the beach!!!

The Sun. The Sand. The Surf. The Family Time.

We love it all!

So when a somewhat last minute opportunity came up for the kids & I to head to North Myrtle Beach for the week with my Mom, Meemaw and some other extended family, we jumped at the chance for a trip to the beach. We as a family had already planned to spend a week at Hilton Head later in the summer, so unfortunately Jamie wasn't able to take a lot of time off to join us, but he did head down towards the end of the week.

Overall, we had a great time. Lots of fun in the sun. Lots of family time with my grandma, mom, aunt & uncle and cousins. Lots of good food. And lots of fun activities. Not soooo much relaxation...as a vacation with little ones never is...but we had a blast nevertheless.

Warning...photo overload!

Let's just say my kids LOVE the sand & surf. Couldn't get enough of it everyday.

And my kids weren't the only ones who loved the beach...

Uncle Gary, Cousin Trey & Will

The babies...Cousin Aden & Hi-C

My Loves...

2011-08-08T16:11:00.001-04:00

We had a rare date night at the beach Saturday night...we got to celebrate with our BFFs Matt & Melissa for Mel's birthday since they were in town too. Thanks for babysitting GG!

Jamie could hardly get the sand castles built before Will wanted to knock them down!

I absolutely LOVE this picture! She is such a Daddy's Girl!!!

C had so much fun in the tidal pool her brother & daddy made for her...

And Will had a blast riding on his boogie board!

Family Time...

2011-08-08T16:10:00.001-04:00

The best part of our beach vacation was getting to spend lots of family togetherness. I love having a lot of my family all together in one place.

Hi-C & her GG

The big boys..chillin' watch some Toons!

All the Great Grands!

Meemaw, GG & C

Mom relaxin' with a good book.

Will & Uncle Gary being lazy in the "crazy river"...at least according to Will & Trey!

And Aunt Patty & Sweet Aden getting sleepy by the pool.

Fishies & Fast Driving...

2011-08-08T16:09:00.001-04:00

We did take a break from the sun & sand for a little fun elsewhere in North Myrtle. It just so happened that my friend Heather and Will's buddy Zach were also spending the week at the beach while we were there, so on Wednesday we met up at the aquarium so the kids could explore a little bit.

Hi-C spent the morning riding in the stroller, but she seemed to enjoy looking at all the sights & colors of the aquarium!

Heather, Zach & Will with the Horseshoe crabs.

And on Monday night, we all headed to the race track to have some fun on the go-karts! Will had a blast and we even smoked Uncle Gary & Trey on the track!

Caroline enjoyed watching the action!

Quick Hi-C Update...

2011-07-31T07:40:00.004-04:00

I just wanted to give everyone a quick update on how C's doing so far with Betty the Brace... almost two weeks in! We took her back to the Orthopedist on Friday for a check-up and for Dr. V to see how the brace was fitting. Everything looked great by Dr. V's standards. He did take another x-ray with the brace on just to be sure it was doing what it was suppose to do...and it was! He said her hips were in the perfect position.

So now we just wait....for three months at least!

It's not a quick fix and doesn't happen overnight, so we will go back again at the end of October to have another x-ray to see where we are with things. Fingers crossed that it works and she can be done with Betty. Or at least only have to wear it at night. Guess we'll see how things go.

In the meantime, Caroline is starting to figure things out where Betty's concerned. She has learned to crawl, climb a few stairs and she is slowly starting to pull herself up again to a standing position. This is awesome news considering just a week ago she didn't move around much at all while wearing Betty. And they say she'll walk while wearing the brace. That I might have to see to believe, but we are all thinking positively. She did take a few steps while holding onto Jamie's fingers the other night, so that's a step in the right direction!

The worst part about it right now is the fact that it's so dagum (in the words of Mater) hot outside that wearing an extra layer of foam, plastic & velcro makes her miserable when she's outside for small periods of time. Of course lately, I think we've all been miserable when outside for just five minutes, so we all don't mind staying indoors for awhile.

And on a positive note...Dr. V said that C could enjoy playing in the sand and the pool when we're at the beach...without wearing Betty!!! He said to use common sense and only have her out of the brace for short periods of time, but that she should just go and have fun playing at the beach.

Awesome news!!! I'll try to post some more pictures of Caroline being more mobile with Betty. It's kind of funny to see.

Swings, Slides & Spiderman...

2011-07-27T13:07:00.005-04:00

On Saturday we celebrated Zachary's 4th birthday at an awesome Spiderman themed party at the park! Even though it was a pretty hot, there was a nice breeze and

the kids all seemed to have fun!

Will & Zach doing their best spiderman impressions!

Check out this cool cake!

And the big surprise of the party was that Spiderman himself even showed up to help Zach celebrate! He was a big hit with the kids. Will liked him from a distance, but didn't want to have much to do with him up close. He gets his fear from costumed people from his mommy! Although, by the end of the party he did manage to give Spiderman a High-Five...so I guess Spiderman was still too cool to ignore completely!

And we were able to get creative with the baby swing & Betty the Brace, so that Hi-C could get out of her stroller for awhile and partake in some park fun too!

Museum Time

2011-07-24T08:00:00.001-04:00

On Friday, the kids & I headed to downtown Raleigh to the Natural Science Museum to meet my friend Heather & some of our MOPS group for a morning play date!

The museum was a big hit. We went to story time where the kids could touch several animals and then we went into the discovery room and let the kids play for awhile.

All while being in the comfort of some very cold AC while it was 135 degrees outside! It was wonderful.

Zach, Aiden, Will & Caroline all posing (I use that term loosely) for picture in the dinosaur room! And Miss C enjoyed being pushed around all morning in the comforts of her stroller! See you can't even tell she wearing Betty since her pretty dress covers it all!

And boy does my son love him some dinosaurs!!!

He also loved examining everything in the room with the magnifying glass.

And Aiden & Caroline had fun playing with the wooden blocks!

And of course my son would pull out the frog costume to dress up as. It's the only one he wanted to put on! That's fine...as long as he doesn't bring any real frogs around me!

And Will chose to look on quietly while he let Zach be brave an hold the beetle. He wanted no part of that!

We Love Play Dates!

2011-07-23T10:00:00.001-04:00

Last week we had several play dates with some of Will & C's little friends.

Thank goodness for play dates when you're a Stay At Home Mom!!!

On Tuesday, we headed over to Triangle Town Center to meet Kaylee, Riley and my good friend Kristin at the play area and to have some lunch at Moes!

Kaylee & Will are best buddies from preschool and we try to get together with them at least once a week.

And it works out great because Riley & Caroline are only about 6 months apart and they will be in the same preschool class together, so they are becoming fast friends too!

Will loves riding on motorized toys at the mall. And 75 cent is a great deal for some entertainment in the AC and out of the house!

And how cute is the Ladies' Man & his little girlfriend, Kaylee? They are so sweet on each other and play together great! She plays with his trains and cars when they come to our house. And he plays with the Ken doll while she plays with Barbie when we head to their house!

And Riley & Caroline just run around annoying their older siblings and trying to steal toys, so fun is had by all!

What's a diaper?

2011-07-22T22:10:00.003-04:00

So I can't believe I forgot to blog about this OH SO IMPORTANT milestone in the life of Will!!!

We FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY have a potty trained child!!!! WOOHOO!! I never thought this day would come...seriously, I mean that! And, actually it's been going on for the past month...but like I said, apparently I completely forgot to blog about it.

Or maybe I didn't want to jinx ourselves and even admit that it was actually true!!! That really is the real reason! But I can say that after several weeks of being clean & dry both day & night, I think we are finally home as far as potty training goes! And it is a glorious thing!!!!

Hence the reason for the big boy bike pictures! We had promised Will, as his big reward for being completely potty trained...along with it being a present for his half birthday...that we would go to the store and let him pick out a big boy bike.

So when the time finally came, we headed to Target and he picked out a brand new shiny red Lighting McQueen bike & matching helmut!

We are soooo proud of him for finally achieving this huge milestone. Honestly, it was the hardest thing for us so far when it comes to teaching & parenting. But I guess he proved the statement, that you can't push a child into potty training and once he makes his mind up that he wants to do it...it will happen!

Boy is he stubborn!

We are still secretly keeping our fingers crossed that it happens much quicker and sooner for Caroline!!!! At least that's the excuse we always used for Will..."Oh well, they say boys are harder to train!" Let's hope it's true!

Hi-C vs Betty the Brace

2011-07-22T21:20:00.006-04:00

So after three days of wearing this brace, Caroline and the rest of us are sloooowly getting use to it. I have decided to call it Betty...just for some fun during this crazy process. She has actually adjusted to Betty fairly well, all things considered. She doesn't fuss too terribly much when we have to put it back on after each diaper change or her bath. And she hasn't tried to take it off. But it's a pain!!! And she is getting VERY frustrated with the fact that she can't crawl, walk, or stand up like she use to. She just looks at me with puppy dog eyes, like "Mommy, why do I have to wear this silly thing?"

The doctor said she'll adjust and get use to wearing it. So much so that she should start to crawl and walk when she's ready. Honestly, I just don't see how that's going to be possible, but I guess we'll see how it goes. Her legs are in a permanent split at all times. Right now, she kind of crawls by dragging her back legs on the floor. Needless to say she doesn't get far and it's so sad to see her like that. We're trying to stay positive and keeping our fingers crossed that eventually she will get the hang of it and be able to walk & stand like she use to. I think the worst part is that she had just started to take off with her walking two days before she got the brace...and now we're back to square one.

Although, I'm sooo glad she took her first steps before she got this darn brace on!!!

We are also having to make a few adjustments as it relates to her wearing the brace full time. Luckily, she still fits in the grocery cart if I prop one of her legs up. She didn't seem to mind.

She's sitting up pretty well with it too. Every now and then she falls backwards since she doesn't sit completely on her bottom, but she's slowly finding her balance again.

She lays on her belly and plays with her toys most of the time.

I guess it's the most comfortable position for her.

The biggest challenge for us was finding something for her to sit in while she was eating. The first day I had to just put her in the stroller because it was the only place she could sit securely while I fed her.

Luckily, we found a travel booster seat online that attaches to a chair and allows her to sit at the table and keep her legs off to the side. Plus it's small enough for us to carry to restaurants or other houses. And she can still feed herself too which is a plus. Although, she does make a lot more of a mess, not having an actual tray to use, we'll take it.

I'll have to get a picture of her in it.

This little ride-on toy was quickly becoming her favorite thing to play with before the brace. But as you can see, this is about as good as she can sit on it and still push herself kind of.

Big Brother Will is being really sweet to his Sissy. He's not completely sure why she has to wear the brace, but he's been a big helper so far this week.

Such a great big brother!!!

She's allowed to take her brace off for bath time, which she has been loving. We've been letting her take extra long baths the past few nights. And then since technically she only has to be in the brace for 23 hours a day, we've been putting her PJs on after her bath and giving her about 30 minutes of play time where she can crawl, walk, climb and play like normal.

She has sooo much fun with her freedom!

The other good news is that her clothes still seem to fit. I'm putting little capri leggings on her and an undershirt so that brace won't rub on her skin, but then she can still wear her cute little sundresses and tops! And she still fits nicely into her stroller and car seat which is a blessing. Plus, she seems to be adjusting well at night and we haven't had too many problem with her sleeping in the brace. Although, last night I did see her on the camera monitor and she was on her side with her leg hanging straight in the air. But she never woke up!!!

So after the first few days, I guess we can say we are adjusting. It's no fun and I still hate it for her, but our hope & prayer is that she'll start getting more mobile in the brace and be able to play like she use to. Guess only time will tell. Thanks for everyone's words of encouragements and prayers over the past few weeks. We really appreciate it.

Soccer Time...

2011-07-15T16:55:00.003-04:00

We signed Will up for a summer soccer program offered through Kick-n-Sticks as something fun for him to do and to get him exposed to organized sports. They meet every Wednesday night for 10 weeks at the community center here in Clayton. The instructors teach the kids the basics of soccer and the kids practice different activities that help with the fundamentals of the game. They might not actually play a full game of soccer, but they do exercises and run drills that show the kids what soccer is all about.

Will has done great with the program and seems to really have fun out there.

Running the field...and burning off some energy too!

Jumping the cones...

The object here was to get the balloon down the field using your feet or head.

It's hard remembering not to use your hands!

Dear Diary Moment...

2011-07-15T16:05:00.007-04:00

This has been an emotional week for me...

The news that Hi-C is going to have to wear a brace full time for 3 months (possibly longer) has begun to sink in. And along with it comes feelings of anxiousness, dread, worry, etc...

You name it and I've probably felt it this week. I think a big part of this has to do with the fact of the unknown.

I don't know what the brace is going to look like exactly.

I don't know how C's going to react to wearing it.

I don't know how she's going to sit in her car seat, stroller or high chair.

I don't know how we're going to deal with this on our beach trips coming up in August.

I don't even know how her clothes are going to fit her while she's wearing the brace.

I know what you're thinking...Chill out Tiff! And just wait and see what happens once she's wearing the brace!

That's what my head is telling me too..along with Jamie! But I still start thinking about things too much and then get myself worked up. I have stopped looking at things on the internet because no good can come from that!

And of course I find myself getting weepy and emotional too. Thinking things like...

Why does my precious baby girl have to deal with this?

What if this doesn't work and she has to have surgery?

Will she take her first steps while wearing this brace?

Now I know that things could be MUCH worse. And there are many parents out there dealing with far more serious issues than this. I get that! And I'm grateful that we do have healthy kids and so far this is the worst thing we've had to deal with. I should just suck it up & deal with it, right?

And I KNOW that we are doing this now to hopefully prevent her from having surgery or problems with her hips later in life. BUT...knowing she's going to have to deal with this for awhile, and yes, I admit selfishly, knowing that Jamie & I are going to have to deal with this too, makes it a little hard to take right now.

I'm sure once she gets in the brace and we see what we are dealing with, everything will work out. Again...it's just the unknown that scares me.

But we are scheduled to meet with the doctor on Wednesday morning at 8am sharp (that should be fun getting us all to Raleigh by then) and Caroline will start wearing her brace.

Until then, I'm going to TRY and stop worrying so much about it. The kids are spending the night with the Andersons tonight, so I'm sure they're having a blast being spoiled by Grandma & Pa. And while they're gone, Jamie & I are going to enjoy a little quiet time and a date night with dinner & a movie.

And then I'm going to just give it all over to God and let Him take care of everything! But a few extra prayers for us this week would still be appreciated! :)

So here's the rundown...

2011-07-11T16:42:00.003-04:00

So the verdict is in and Hi-C does in fact have hip dysplasia in both of her hips. The Orthopaedic Surgeon said that it was a moderate case and that he thinks that even though she's already 15 months old he still thinks we caught it early enough, and that it's fixable without surgery. That's the great news!!!

The not so great news, but easy enough to live with news, is that he wants Caroline to wear a brace for 23 hours a day for the next 3 months! She can only take it off to take a bath.

That just kind of sucks!

But we'll take it, if it means it will fix the problem and we can avoid the extensive surgery it would require to repair the hip. And Dr. V thinks that the brace should work. So fingers crossed!

It's actually very lucky that we even discovered this problem at all. After he examined her hips, he even said that nothing really looked out of the ordinary and he probably wouldn't have even ordered the x-ray and we might not have known anything was wrong for a long while.

Thank Goodness for Dr. S and her instinct for just wanting to be sure! We love her!!!

Dr. V also doesn't think that the hip dysplasia is the reason C isn't walking yet. He thinks that it's still perfectly normal that she's not quite walking on her own and that she'll walk when she's ready. He said that the new brace is going to take some getting use to, so it might continue to slow her walking progress for a bit, but that when she's ready, she'll walk...even with the brace on. And if it does slow her down walking for now...that developmentally she'll still be fine in the long run and catch up to her peers in no time!

So I guess that's some positive news. And we are actually really glad that we out about found this problem now as opposed to waiting to when she's 5 or 35 for that matter.

The next step is for us to take Caroline in to get her fitted for the brace. We will wait to hear back from the orthotics office as to when we can come in, but it shouldn't be more than a few days I would imagine. Then we'll continue to have regular visits with Dr. V at Raleigh Orthopaedic Clinic and see how Caroline does.

Thank you to everyone for all your thoughts and prayers. I'm glad it's not extremely serious and that it is fixable. Now I just pray that C along with us will have a smooth transition into wearing the brace full time and that she'll be as good as new in no time at all.

15 month well visit...and Some News!!!

2011-07-10T21:21:00.005-04:00

I took Hi-C to her 15 month well visit last Thursday. All in all, she had a great report!

I think she knew she was going to get a shot because she would not crack a smile at the camera!

The doctor was pleased with how she is growing and all the new things she's learning & doing. As for her stats, they are right on target for her growth chart.

Weight: 21 lbs 12 oz - 30%

Height: 29.5 in. - 25%

HC: 47.6 cm - 90%

Apparently she has a big head, huh?

The only thing that I was a little concerned about was the fact that she wasn't walking on her own yet. The doctor didn't seem to worried. She asked me the standard developmental questions..."Is she doing this?" "Is she doing that?" kind of thing and seemed pleased with the fact that Hi-C is right on target with everything a 15 month old should be doing, except for the completely walking by herself part. Dr. S checked Caroline out and even had C hold her fingers while they walked together. She didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.

But just to be sure everything was fine, she wanted me to take her across the street to have an X-Ray done of C's hips. She told me not to worry and that more than likely everything was normal and Caroline would probably take off walking within the next month. Dr. S told me that 15 months is a little late, but not abnormal for not walking and even her own daughter didn't walk until 15 1/2 months.

So we headed across the street to Wake Radiology, waited a few minutes and they took two quick X-Rays of C's hips and we were on our way home.

She was pretty tuckered out by the end of it all though...

I didn't worry too much and when Dr. S's name showed up on my phone to call me with the results later that afternoon, I didn't think much about it.

However, she did have some news....

Apparently, something showed up on C's X-Ray that is a little abnormal. The x-ray tech said it wasn't completely obvious that something was wrong, but she noticed that something wasn't quite right with one of the hip joints. Dr. S said it could be something as simple as Caroline has looser joints than most kids, however, she also said it's more likely that C has a mild case of hip dysplasia. I'm not even sure what that is exactly, only to know that it's something where the hip joint doesn't stay in place and if they can catch it when they're little babies, the kids have to wear a brace for awhile. And I only know all of this because one of Jamie's co-workers little girl had this when she was born.

Dr. S said she was surprised to see this on the X-Ray because several doctors have checked C out over the past year and half and they've checked for this specifically when she was little, as they do for all newborns, and no one ever noticed anything abnormal. But with that being said, she wanted us to take Caroline to a Pediatric Orthopedic doctor to have her checked out right away. If this is the case, than this is possibly the reason she isn't walking yet. She gave us the name of the one she recommended and wanted me to make an appointment as soon as possible. She didn't say much more because she wanted the Orthopedic doctor to take us through things and didn't want me to get too much information from her, especially if it turned out to be nothing.

So I called right away and we have an appointment in Raleigh at 2pm tomorrow. I can't lie and tell you I'm not nervous. I've been watching her movements very carefully all weekend. I'm hoping nothing is wrong and maybe C is just ultra flexible or double jointed or something? But I guess we'll see. I almost didn't post anything about this right now since we don't really know anything. But then I thought for all of you reading this, that you could send up an extra prayer to be sure everything is okay with Hi-C. It would be greatly appreciated.

I'll keep you posted on what they say...