Monday, June 24, 2013

So I Was Feeling a Little Sentimental...

and looked back at photos from Aylin's 1st birthday party! AWE :)  So here are a few comparison shots of my kiddos:
(BIRTH)
Left: Aylin Jewel on the day we brought her home from the hospital, 3 days old.  She was 5 weeks early and weighed 5lbs14oz and went straight to the well baby nursery. 
Right: Hilton Isaiah on the day we brought him home from the hospital, 9 days old.  He was 3 weeks early, weighed 8lbs8oz, and had to send 9 days in the NICU.

(1st Birthday Invitation Pics)


Aylin weighed 19 lbs and 13 oz at her 12 month check-up.  She had 5 teeth and was crawling and pulling up, but not taking any steps.
Hilton currently weighs 24lbs and has 7 teeth.  He is crawling, but not pulling up just yet.

Tomorrow we go for his neurological appointment to discuss these seizures.  Prayers welcomed ;)




Friday, June 21, 2013

Hilton's 1st Birthday Week

My little guy has had a rough 1st birthday week :(  On Wednesday, the day before Hilton's birthday, we went down to Sardis Lake Christian Camp to visit daddy.  We were there for 1 hour when Hilton had his 2nd seizure.  His daddy was holding him this time when it happened and was able to get him into the nurses cabin.  At the time, I was with Aylin and some friends on the water slide when I was paged over the intercom.  I knew right away that Hilton had a seizure, one of those gut feelings.  Bobby had been sitting with some Southaven members when the seizure started and fortunately one of them was a nurse and knew to start timing without us asking.  When I got to them, Debra told me it had already been going on for a few minutes.  This seizure lasted for 7 1/2 minutes :(  His temperature after the seizure was 103 and we brought it down with ice packs.  It dropped to 100 when we left camp and headed back to Le Bonheur Children's hospital.  We had called 911 but since he quit seizing and was stable before they got there, we cancelled the call.  His temperature was back to 102 by the time we got to the hospital, but his blood work came back normal, so there was no infection.  His urine showed that he was borderline dehydrated, so they think the heat brought on this seizure.  This was unexpected and since this is the 2nd seizure in a month we were referred to a pediatric neurologist.  We have our first appointment with them next week.
Thankfully we were not alone this time and had lots of help.  Trey Bledsoe, Debra Gill, Shannon Rister, and Suzanne Wofford were right there with us making phone calls, providing the first aid help Hilton needed, and just being there for us.  I know countless others were praying and doing other things like watching over Aylin as well and we are so thankful for everyone.  Our ER doctor was actually the same one we had last time so it was nice having a familiar face at the hospital too.  We were there until almost midnight.  So Hilton's actual birthday started off with a trip home from the hospital.
 After a few hours of sleep we woke up and had birthday cake with our little birthday boy before daddy had to head back to camp.
 Then we had to take a trip to the pediatrician for a follow-up appointment.  Hilton loved watching the construction workers through the window :)  This appointment again showed no infection.
 Because it had been a rough couple of days, I made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner and he loved it!
While all the excitement was happening, Aylin got to have A LOT of fun :)  She stayed at camp until late Weds night and then went home with the Risters for a long awaited sleepover :)  Then on Thursday they rode the 4 wheeler, went to lunch, and went swimming!  I didn't think she would want to come home, but she was worn out and ready to relax.  Although, she is already planning her next sleepover with Griffin, Reed, Annalise, and Shannon!
Before the seizure, we were having a really good week.  Aylin and I made healthy cookies with oatmeal, bananas, choc chips, and honey.  She did not care for them, but Hilton and I liked them :)
 I had to share this pic of HI playing in Aylin's kitchen while she and I were cooking.  He dumps out the buckets of kitchen toys and puts them in the cabinets and or back into the different buckets :) Love my sweet little boy!
 I guess Aylin was a little jealous of all of Hilton's sleeping beauty pictures from last week, so she fell asleep during Sunday evening worship and slept all the way through, so afterwards I was able to take this picture of my sleeping princess :)
 We had a great time at the education store's story time with the Woffords and Risters and here is a picture of this week's craft:
 Last but not least, HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to our favorite daddy!  You are awesome and we love you.  We are so proud of you and can't wait for you to come home from camp tomorrow! :)

Sunday, June 16, 2013

A Week of Ups and Downs

BUTTERCUP 
8/12/2002-6/14/2013
The second week of June brought sadness with it as we had to say goodbye to our beloved Buttercup.  We bought Buttercup as a wedding present from a breeder in Chattanooga and knew she was a keeper from the very beginning.  She was so loving and brave, she just left her family and came right over to see us like she knew we were there to take her home.  She loved going for rides in our vehicles, although that first one was a little rough...she threw up all over the inside of Bobby's truck while we were coming around the mountains-lol.  Buttercup loved to eat and play, she was a master of the Boxer Burn, frisbee catcher, family protector, bed hog, giving kisses, and a giant lap dog.  She never wanted to be alone; always wishing to be with her family.  She stayed in the perfect health until we lost our Tessie to cancer back at Thanksgiving.  Buttercup truly lost her best friend and sister and never recovered from the devastation.  It reminds me of one of my favorite childhood books, Where the Red Fern Grows, when Little Ann mourns herself to death after Old Dan died.  When Tes first got sick, we knew our Dub wouldn't be far behind.  Aylin keeps talking about getting another dog, and I do want one, but I just don't know how long it will take me to move on.  I know you non-dog-lovers don't understand but she was our 1st baby and the best dog anyone could ever ask for.

There were plenty of good things that happened this week.  Everyone is healthy and happy, other than the loss of Buttercup.  
We had 3 SWIM DAYS this week :)  I wanted to share this pic of Aylin, it was actually taken the last day of her swim lessons.  Hilton LOVES the water :)  He likes to splash everyone and of course he loves to eat snacks after swimming ;) He went to town on this watermelon!
Hilton also had his 1st popsicle, and it was from the ice cream man!  At one of daddy's games this week it was SOOO incredibly hot so we splurged and bought ice cream off the ice cream man's van :)  The kids thought it was great!  I thought it was a HUGE mess, but oh well :)
I love sleeping babies :) I'm not sure why I took 2 shots of Hilton napping this week, but isn't he adorable :)
We went back to story time at the education store, and this time the Rister's surprised us :)  The kids made Father's day cards for their craft :)
Hilton finally went back to physical therapy this week and he is now 2 for 2!  After his 1st trip to PT he crawled for the 1st time.  1 day after his 2nd trip to PT he rolled over (from his back) and actually tried to pull-up.  He didn't get it, but it is a start and the first time he put these different actions together on his very own!
 




Sunday, June 9, 2013

The 1st Week of June

We had a busy, busy, great, great first week of June!  Beautiful weather, Hilton crawling, picnic at the park, story time, swim play date,  swim lessons for Aylin, $2 movies with friends, Daddy's softball games, snapping turtles, and after dinner walks.  I didn't get pictures of everything though :(
 We kicked the week off with a Picnic at the Park with some of the 6th grade and under kids from our congregation.  We have nicknamed this group C.H.A.O.S. (children honoring and obeying the savior).  It was a great outing and we had a wonderful turnout.
 Perhaps the biggest news...
 Hilton began CRAWLING!!!!!!!  He took off for the first time at the park and hasn't stopped :)  He was 11 months and 14 days old.
 Aylin "singing in the rain"

We went to a new story time and it was awesome!  The sang a song, read a book, did a coordinating craft, had a snack, and got a prize out of a treasure box!  Yes, it is all FREE!  They only run on Tuesdays throughout the summer and you have to sign up, but it was great!  We look forward to going again this week.  Aylin's friends, Emma and Olivia, came too.  The picture on the left shows the 3 of them doing their craft :)  Aylin did this ALL BY HERSELF!  She was super proud of herself, which I didn't realize until her daddy came home later that night and she went ballistic trying to tell him about it!

Aylin also had her 1st swim lesson this week!  They were 1-on-1 for 30 minutes in a friend's pool and she did pretty good the first 3 days and then was really scared on the 4th for some reason.  But I am pretty proud of her :)  We also had a swimming play date at another friend's house one day.  We are going back again this week! 

We finally got to to Bobby's softball games this week.  Aylin loves going because she gets to play with so many of her friends, but this year she is actually understanding a little bit more because she played Tball this year.  We also went to Malco's $2 movie which started this week, we ended up having about 6 families show up.  It wasn't anything planned, just kind of happened, but it was a lot of fun.  The weather this week was beautiful!  Not too hot, not a lot of rain, so we spent the 3 evenings we had at home outside :)

I look forward to what this week will bring...

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Catching Up on May

Hilton's hospital visit and pneumonia kind of threw me off, so to catch up over the rest of May:
(SCHOOL)
Aylin finished up our Letter of the Week At Home Preschool with the Letter Z and then a review week.  We, of course, went to the ZOO!  We also talked about Zaccheus.

(Mini Vacation)
We went to Heber Springs, AR for the weekend to visit with Bobby's parents.  We decided to go camping on the Little Red River and rented a pontoon boat.  It was a great trip!

(Last T-Ball Game)
Aylin had her last game of the year; we had a blast playing t-ball and are really looking forward to soccer in the fall :)
Our Christian family and friends :) Georgia, Reed, Titus, Melanie, and Aylin

(Aylin's 4th Birthday)
I'll go ahead and throw in her birthday party pictures, too.  She had a fairy and gnome garden party that got moved indoors because of all the rain.

(Hilton Update)
He did seem to be doing much better, but last night he had trouble breathing so I took him to the doctor this morning, and poor little man now has croup :)  He is now 11 months old and really making strides with his gross motor skills.  We have started physical therapy with him.  We are getting to use the same woman who did Aylin's therapy, she started at 6 months of age and went for a year.  We don't think Hilton will have to go that long but we will have to wait and see.

(Memorial Day)
My family came over for our annual Memorial Day cookout.
Buttercup actually mustered up enough strength to spend sometime with us outside :)  My poor old girl seems to be getting worse and worse :(

(Tessa's Graduation)
My baby sister Tessa graduated from Germantown High School!