A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly

This past weekend Jon and I were blessed to have some of our dearest friends grace our home with their presence. Jay, Amber, Abby, Emma and Nathan Ferrell, Michael, Dana, Alli and Joshua Hataway spent Friday thru Sunday here with us and we had the most glorious time. It was one of the best weekends we have had in, well, ever! We laughed so much I am still smiling. We stayed up so late into the night talking that I am yawning as I type! But we made some wonderful memories and all agreed that this must be made a yearly event!

You don't often find 6 people who all get along perfectly and have so much in common. During the day the guys spent hours discussing scriptures and such and us girls spent hours talking about our children and laughing our heads off at random comments in between diaper changes and juice cup refills! At night, after the much anticipated bed time for the wee ones, we all sat around sharing our opinions on how to solve all the problems in the world and tons of other random subjects. It felt good to laugh so much and be in the presence of such wonderful people.

Our kids hit it off from the start and played together as if they see each other every day. They had plenty of room to roam around and they just had a blast from sun up to sun down. Period.

When I went through my pictures from the weekend I was bummed to see that I hardly took any and the ones I did take aren't that great. And I didn't get any of all the kids together or any of us "adults". Amber I hope you got some! Wait a minute, who am I talking to?!!!Allie bug has the sweetest little disposition and the tiniest voice to go along with it!

Emma and Audrey are cut straight from the same cloth. They both have that mischievous smile in their eyes, that evil laugh and that sassy attitude that is so cute sometimes you can't do anything but laugh at them! When I saw them in the toy box I knew I had to freeze the moment and
one night the play room had "thrown up all over itself" (don't know who could of done that!) and I had to freeze that moment as well!!!You guys, we had such a wonderful time and will carry these memories with us for years to come. Thank you for coming and thank you for such wonderful friendships! We love you!!!

Beach Trip '09

We had a wonderful time on vacation this year! Well, for the most part but all my wonderful stories will have to wait for another time. We have a week and a half left before school starts and my "enforcer" has to go back to work. So, we are packing as much as we can into these last few days of freedom. Our grandmother Nenie is here with us till tomorrow and then some of our dearest and bestest friends in the world are coming for the weekend! Then we will be heading up to Danville for Cool Springs annual meeting/200th anniversary to finish off our Summer break with a bang!! So these few pictures will have to suffice for now but trust me there are a lot more!

Beach pictures will have to wait

So I'm standing in the kitchen tonight, cleaning up after supper and I see James pass by me with a baby under his arm. He was heading for the dining room where I had the music playing and when music is playing and he goes in there, he's going to dance. I knew that if he was going in there to dance with that baby I was fixin' to see it all! Shore 'nuf, my son walked all the way from the play room to the dining room to dance with his baby!! I must say, he will make a good dance partner for a young lady some day!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

One more hurdle

James got his brace Thursday afternoon and it has been a very trying 48 hours to say the least. He's been real sweet about it which makes it all the more pitiful. He hasn't tried to take it off, he doesn't scream or fuss when we put it on him. It's almost like he knows he has to wear it. But at the same time he isn't handling it very well emotionally. He has had several break downs since we got home with it, especially last night when he looked at the steps he had to go up to get back inside the house. Jon said he just fell to pieces. It's hard for him to walk with it because it's odd and a little bulky. He's real clumsy and his feet are spread farther apart than normal while he walks but his foot does stay flat on the floor all day! Our therapist (I say "our" because she has really become more mine than James' lately!) said it will take at least 2 weeks for him to learn how to walk in it(i.e. gain more balance and bring his feet together) so in the grand scheme of things two weeks isn't two long. And it will all be worth in one day! That's what I keep reminding myself. I'll be honest, it's very hard to watch him struggle with it. It tugs at my heart strings in a way that I can't even begin to describe. It's such a HUGE adjustment for the little guy. For all of us. He has a schedule for wearing it but that's only gonna last for a little while. He wears it for two hours then takes it off for one hour, etc. till bed time and he doesn't have to wear it right now while he sleeps. He will eventually though, at least that is what we have been told. Maybe he wont.Eventually it will be a 24 hour thing. Only to be taken off at bath time. This is basically all the orthopedist told us at our visit and while we were checking out at the desk I started freaking out about our beach trip imagining the poor little guy not being able to swim or do any fun stuff while we're there. My level headed husband went back and asked him if he could take it off to go swimming when we are at the beach. He said of course and went on to explain to Jon that if there is something James wants to do that he can't do with the brace on, then take it off and let him have fun. Now that makes a mama feel better but I just don't understand why some doctors don't feel it necessary to share little bits of info like that. Honestly.

We'll have to go the orthotist (the man who actually made the brace) every week for the first month or so so that he can check it out and make sure it's working right for James. And make any adjustments that he may need. When the brace comes off I have to watch and make sure that any irritation on his foot from his new "shoosie" goes away with in 30 minutes and so far it has! So hopefully there wont need to be any major adjustments made.
We are off to the beach tomorrow after church hopefully for a week of fun in the sun! We are really looking forward to taking them this year because they are at such a fun age(make you want to poke your self in the eye sometimes though)and I really think James will be much more tolerant of the sand this time around. I hope so anyway!!!

The trip home and a couple updates

On our way home from the 'Burg we stopped at Cracker Barrel for supper and needless to say our children quite enjoyed their meal! They were starving, poor things, and just about licked their plates clean. We "shopped" while waiting on our food and you would of thought they'd never seen toys in their life! I love the innocent part of this stage that they are in!! Speaking of innocence, at this point it is about the only thing that keeps me from giving them away. Just kidding! But seriously I am so over the drama that these little people inflict upon our household day in and day out. They are quickly approaching the terrible two's so I know there is no end in sight right now so lets pray they continue to be the cutest little buggers alive in between their fits and tantrums and constant screaming, crying and fighting.
We've been so incredibly busy lately that I haven't really had time to update on Bubs. Two weeks ago we went to see an orthopedist and he took one look at him walking and stated "Well he definitely got the right diagnosis." Gee thanks doc, such comforting words. Wait, let me back-track. About a month ago James started running and he just gets faster and faster as the days go by. Which is a wonderful thing to see, especially since we didn't know if he would even walk a few months ago! But and however the leg that's affected by CP cannot keep up with the rest of his physical/mental advancements so he's started creating more tone in that leg to compensate for his lack of strength in the muscles that are affected by CP. Really long story short: The stretches that were working so well for him when he first started walking are not affective any more so he needs a brace. We had hoped he wouldn't need it but he does and we go to pick it up this afternoon. I know that most of this info is confusing and has you all scratching your heads. I promise one day soon to go into a complete and uncomplicated as possible explanation of Cerebral Palsy and the way it works.

The 4th in Mississippi

On Thursday of last week Audrey was better and no one else appeared to be coming down with the virus so we decided to go out to Mississippi to spend a few days and celebrate the 4th of July with family. We had a wonderful time of course but I think James and Audrey had the best time of any one!! We enjoyed a wonderful cook out around Becky and Hugh's pool Saturday afternoon and James and Audrey stayed in that pool pretty much the entire time we were there! They loved it. I had a slight peek into what our week at the beach next week is gonna be like!! I better go buy some floaties or something!!All she needed was someone feeding her grapes and someone else fanning her with a palm leaf.....Enjoying their meal of cut up hot dogs and potatoe chips. You don't get any more American than that!!
Audrey and Millie Rose bonded over the weekend. Uh-oh is all I can say!