Worried

Mr. Wally the Orkin man just left our house and of course Ella followed him out the door. Andy got her back inside and as she does when anyone leaves our house she stood at the door and watched him pull out of the driveway. As she watched Mr. Wally leave she and her daddy had a very interesting conversation.

Andy: "Ella, don't open that door?"

Ella: "I need to go outside."

Andy: "Why?"

Ella: "I need to go check on that."

Andy: "What?"

Ella: "That outside. I need to see what that is."

Andy: "There's nothing out there you need to worry about."

Ella: "I am worried about it!"

Oh, just one of the many reasonings she can come up with. You would never know that just six hours ago she was recovering from Outpatient Dental Surgery! Other than a being a little cranky when she came out of anesthesia and not wanting to wake up....she did GREAT and is back to her normal, playful self!

Updates

Ella & Paci
It's been one week without paci and Ella is doing GREAT!!! It's been much easier than I ever imagined. The first few nights were a little rough, but very manageable. However, she hasn't really even mentioned the paci in the past two days! Yeah Ella! We're so proud of you!

Brennan Bass
Keep the prayers coming!!! Brennan had an ok night and they did not take him back into surgery this morning. It's my understanding that this is a good thing because they feel his body is able to hold off so I assume the antibiotics are working. They postponed the surgery to give his body more time to get stronger. The doctors left the incision open so I think they will go back in in the morning to make clean him out again and make sure his body is fighting the infection and then close him up. His vital signs are good and his color is good. He is in an induced comma, but I got word a while ago that he squeezed his mommy's hand earlier today....PRAISE GOD!!! I know most of you do not know Brennan or his family, but please don't let that stop you from praying for them. God knows Brennan! Thanks for your prayers!

Calling all Prayer Warriors!!!!

Please, please, please be in prayer for Brennan Bass. His mom was Brady's K4 teacher. He's been sick for the last week and was not getting any better. From what I was told he had dehydrated and had a horrible night last night so he was sent to the hospital for a CAT scan. While they were preparing him for the CAT scan he coded. They were able to resuscitate and stabilize him and then transport him to the children's hospital. He went into exploratory surgery and they found his appendix had ruptured. They removed his appendix and cleaned him out b/c he was filled with infection. He is out of surgery and in ICU in critical condition. He is still very very sick and the next 12 hours are CRUCIAL. It is my understanding that his body was so terribely covered with infection that if they antibiotics don't work they may have to go back in in the next 12 hours. Please be in prayer with me and pray for Brennan. Pray for healing and pray his body responds to the antibiotics. Brennan is 8 or 9 years old....going into the 3rd grade. Thanks in advance for all your prayers! I'll keep you posted as I get updates!

Goodbye...

In the past two weeks we've said "goodbye" to two things in our household and in doing this not only have we lost those two things, but we've reached milestones in our life.....milestones in which we realized we no longer have "babies" in our house.

FIRST: Hudson got his very first "big boy" haircut. I had no intentions of cutting his hair.....we were just going for a little trim to clean it up. But something happened that day. Hudson decided he wanted "spiked up hair" like daddy's and Brady's. I tried everything to talk him out of it and as he sat in that chair and begged I realized he's not a baby anymore.....he'll soon be 5! His face lit up when I agreed and I knew it was more than "just a haircut". For Hudson, it was gaining a bit of independence and being just like his two favorite people - his daddy and his big brother. For me, it was heart wrenching....I couldn't watch. My stomach was in knots and my heart was broken. My little boy was growing up and I was having to let go a little and allow him grow. For those of you who know Hudson, you know his long hair fit him.....words can't explain it other than his precious hair was an example of his sweet, precious personality. Well, he's still such a sweet boy, but now just minus his precious hair. Here he is before and after!

My heartache was worth this smile!!!!

SECOND: Ella has been paci free for 2 days!!! HOORAY! I've been telling her she had to get rid of her paci when she turned 3. Well, her 3rd birthday came and went and her paci was still existent.....I guess it would have something to do with the fact that I was dreading giving up the paci more than she was because this girl is obsessed with her paci!! I finally decided this wasn't going to be an easy task and and there's no time like the present!! So long story short I created a little story about the paci fairy.....she's really into fairies and Tinkerbell. She took interest in this so I started talking it up and telling her that when the paci fairy sees that you're a big girl and you can do big girl things like ride a big girl bike and swim without floaties they come and get your paci's and leave you a special "big girl" suprise.....by this point she was all into it and telling the neighbor's what a big girl she was and she didn't need a paci anymore. So we went home and I distracted her while I did a quick run through the house making sure there weren't a stash of paci's anywhere. Andy and I both were thinking of any and everywhere she might put a paci....we searched the house hi and low and found not a one. Not sure where they are....I'm beginning to think the paci fairy may be not be make believe after all!! It's been much easier than I ever expected. Other than a few short crying spells in the middle of the night she has done GREAT!!! Way to go Ella....I'm so proud of you!!! Since the whole paci fairy was kind of on a whim, I told her that the paci fairy left money for her to go and pick out her own special suprise.....so today we're headed off to Target for Ella to pick out her very own big girl suprise!!!

Two of the few pics of Ella without a paci!

I know this post is about milestones for Hudson & Ella, but I just couldn't leave out this handsome big boy!!!

Ella's Birthday Party

Sunday is Ella's 3rd Birthday so we celebrated last night with a party at our neighborhood pool. I let Ella decide what kind of party she wanted to have and she chose Tinkerbell. Since we were having the party at the pool I wanted to do a "splish splash" or "flip flop" theme (she has the cutest smocked flip flop swimsuit) but she wouldn't even consider it.....she wanted Tinkerbell! It's her birthday, so she won! It was the perfect day for a pool party.....the heat and humidity made the pool even that more inviting! Ella had lots of fun and before the night was over she was swimming by herself! Hope you had fun Ella! We love you!!

Tinkerbell Cake....it was YUMMY!!!

Mommy & Ella

Lots of fun girly gifts!!

Trying out her new stroller...watch out Katharine!

Struting her stuff!

Look, I can dive!

Playing with Daddy...she loves her Daddy!

Hudson's new trick!

Brady relaxing in the pool!

Dressing up with Hudson & Ryleigh

Check out that pose!

Too Cute!!

Brady Graduates

Okay, so it's not quite high school graduation, but it's still a big moment at our house. I still cannot believe my baby, I mean my big boy, is old enough to have completed Kindergarten and enter 1st grade in August. I'm just not ready to let him grow up. I'm so proud of everything he has accomplished and how much he has learned, but it makes me so sad to admit he's leaving the little boy stage and becoming a "big" boy. Can we not put the brakes on and just slow this growing up thing down just a little bit!! I asked him the other day what he was most excited about going to the first grade and his response was, "staying all day like the other big kids and learning to write in cursive." Yes, he is eager to stay all day.....what kid wants to stay at school all day!! His school offered K5 half-day or full-day and I just couldn't send him all day. I guess he was ready, but of course mommy wasn't ready to let go. Of course like every other event at our house things were pretty hectic so I didn't get many great pictures, but here's a few of the one's I did get.


The Class of 2009

Is he excited or what!!!



I love that smile!

Thank You Hubby!!!

Many thanks to my dear sweet husband!!! Today is my birthday and this morning he and the kids gave me an iPod, which is exactly what I asked for - a simple iPod. After church he and the kids treated me to lunch at one of my favorite eateries, Sal and Mookies, and then we stopped at Andy's and the kids favorite store Best Buy!! Well, Best Buy turned out to be my favorite store today because my dear sweet hubby bought me a new laptop....Yippee!!! Thank you honey!!! So, I'm finally back into the world of blogging!! Brady graduated from kindergarten Tuesday so I'll post pictures of that tonight!!