I've been Tagged

by my lovely sister-in-law Tiffany

The rules...

1.) Go to the place on your computer and choose the 4th folder.

2.) Choose the 4th picture in that folder.

3.) Explain the photo.

4.) Tag 4 others to do the same.


This picture was taken in the backyard of my other lovely sister-in-law's (Aron) home!
Tallon was 1 1/2 yrs old and Aron and Collin had several friends over for an Easter Egg Hunt! Look at how little my son looks and I love that he is in such a cute outfit ( proudly made my Mimi!)- I do miss being able to dress Tallon up! now we just stick to jeans, kaki's and a shirt!
You can also see Makgill ( our nephew) who recently just turned 5 yrs old. Luke is holding on to his mom's leg and I can not figure out who the little girl is?! oh- I am almost POSITIVE that my husband is the one with the football in the background ( he ALWAYS grabs a ball to toss around if at all possible!)


ok- I am tagging: Aron, Carrie, Emily, Lia and Michelle

Something Worth Smiling About

Tess turned 7 weeks old today... and Boy has she grown. She weighed 10 lbs, 7 oz at the hospital last Thursday!! We have had several fun days back at home!

SNOW

Tallon was thrilled to see the snow falling outside yesterday morning when he woke up. His First comment: "It's not alot of snow mommy"
and
"I need my ski's"
uh-oh- sorry bud- no ski's or skiing to be found in SC-
Let's just try playing in the inch or 2 lightly covering the ground!

We headed over to Aron and Collin's home so that I could stay nice and warm inside with Tess while Aron bundled up and headed outside with the kids. She got some great pictures- check her blog here!

Tallon did not last long outside though

"It's cold' and "I'm hungry"

So we headed back home and while Tess napped- he and I had a yummy lunch- grilled cheese sandwiches and potato soup-mmmmm!

Later on, he decided to test out the snow in our backyars so, I bundled him up, grabbed a few pictures and out he went ( he lasted about 5 minutes!)

Tallon does not think he needs naps anymore so we have gone to "quiet time"- we read up in his room for awhile and than He can play quietly (or sleep) for an hour!! It is such a needed and refreshing time for me!! This is how I found him the other day when I went to check on him at the end of his quiet time!!
Yes, son- I think some days you still need a nap!!
Aron and the kids came over to hang out this morning-
Clara Beth decided real quick that she did NOT want to be in the picture ( can you tell her dad's a photographer!)
and last but not least..... Something DEFINITELY WORTH SMILING ABOUT!!

MY Sweet, SMILING little girl!

I know I am biased but I just think Tess is beautiful!!
and... check out the pretty hairbow!

RSV

Tess developed congestion, a cough and slowly stopped nursing Wed and Thursday morning, so I carried her to see the Dr. Thursday afternoon. I really just thought she had a small cold....
The RSV test showed up in about a minute ( it normally takes 10-15 min is what I was told)- positive. Because of her age and how quickly the test results showed up- the Dr felt it was best to admit her. Thankfully, she never dropped her oxygen sats so we never had to go on oxygen. She just needed the iv and the breathing treatments as well as LOTS of suctioning. Thankfully, our families were able to help out with Tallon so that Reeves could stay at the hospital with Tess and I. We were all very relieved when we were discharged home Sat morning. Now, she is on oral medicine every 6 hrs and I am just suctioning her a lot as well as trying to get her to increase her feedings again.

On top of everything going on- I developed mastitis due to all the extra milk I am producing that she is not requiring right now. It has been an interesting few days to say the least... but God has been good in that we found the mastitis quickly and my dad was able to call in a prescription so that I did not have to call the Dr on call!! Tess is starting to nurse better and seems to be handling her congestion well. I am still up checking on her frequently during the night, but so thankful to be home! I am already looking forward to Spring and warmer weather!! we appreciate everyone's prayers!
Here are a few pictures from the last few days....
Tallon was soo glad Tess was back home!
My dad has been picking Tal up from school once a week and carrying him out to lunch and to run errands- This is such a treat for Tallon (and for me too=). He loves hanging out with Pop! Here they posed with Tess for a quick picture before Pop headed back home last week!
Tallon and Reeves spent some time at the library yesterday afternoon- checking out videos and books and doing several puzzles there. Tallon happily made himself at home reading a book in Tess's carseat!
I love this sweet little girl- she will be 7 weeks old on Wednesday!

HOME

We are home! Thanks to Aron for updating the blog=) and Thanks to everyone for their prayers and emails and phone calls! Tess is doing well- it just sounds like we are going to become very close friends with the bulb suction over the next few weeks!! I am thankful that the RSV is not as severe as it could have been ( we did not have to go on any oxygen- she kept her sats up great!) Please cont to pray that feedings would go well and that the congestion and cough would ease up!! I am so thankful to be out of the hospital!!!

HOME

We are home! Thanks to Aron for updating the blog=) and Thanks to everyone for their prayers and emails and phone calls! Tess is doing well- it just sounds like we are going to become very close friends with the bulb suction over the next few weeks!! I am thankful that the RSV is not as severe as it could have been ( we did not have to go on any oxygen- she kept her sats up great!) Please cont to pray that feedings would go well and that the congestion and cough would ease up!! I am so thankful to be out of the hospital!!!

Please Pray!

Our sweet Baby Tess was admitted to the hospital yesterday for RSV. Reeves and Rebecca are up there with her, and Tal is with Rebecca's parents and will be heading to my parents' tomorrow. I haven't seen her, but have talked to Reeves and Rebecca a ton. I just got off the phone with them, and Rebecca said she thinks Tess may be doing a little better this evening. She is still nursing well, which is a huge praise. Please keep them all in your prayers! Pray that Tess begins to breathe easier, sleeps and eats well, and makes a FULL recovery SOON! And pray that Reeves and Rebecca are able to get some sleep. They sound exhausted and I know they are worried about their sweet girl. Thanks, y'all, and I will post an update tomorrow.
-Aron

6 weeks

Look who will be 6 weeks old tommorrow!! and she LOVES the sling- I have found it to be extremely helpful- especially during her fussy evening times!!

Life

Just for the faithful 1 or 2 of you who I know want to see some updated pictures.....


First- the big brother
We signed Tallon up for swim lessons starting next Saturday ( he is going to be in a class with 1 of his friends ). so I wanted to make sure he was not afraid of the water- last summer- it took him a while to warm back up to the pool! I was glad we did this... sure enough.... it took about 15 min of Tallon watching several boys throwing a ball around and swimming and Daddy coaxing him to get in and finally- he found this little duck thing that he could hold onto and off he went. IT was not long and he was ALL over the pool-kicking and completely free of daddy's hold (although daddy was nearby!!) It was nice to do something as a family (although Tess and I just watched from the sidelines!! He was worn out and is already asking to go again today...
We have had a good week overall- still working on trying to get some sleep around here, but as I have been told-- we do have a newborn so what do we expect!! Thursday night was rough, but I managed to keep Tess awake for several periods during the morning and afternoon yesterday and last night was actually better- she slept from 10:30 until 3 and than went back down at 4 and slept til 7 AM. not too bad- she seems to want to wake up after her middle of the night feeding for some reason!!


Daddy with his kiddosand because I realized I don't have very many pictures of Tess and me !

Look who found her Thumb!!!!!
and.... She smiled at me several times ( well, THREE TIMES) yesterday afternoon!! It was absolutely the sweetest smile and I am already ready for some more!!

Check this out

My sister-in-law Tiffany has a blog.
We were thrilled to have her and my brother back in town to celebrate Christmas. She posted several times about their trip here and I just LOVED this blog post!! Thanks soo much for spending time with Tallon and Tess while you guys were here!

1

1 monthwhat a month! Our baby girl is growing right before our eyes. She is such a Joy and we are all completely in love with her and it is now hard to imagine what life was like before she arrived!

Here are a few stats and things I want to remember:
*we weighed her on her granddad's scale and she now weighs 9 1/2 lbs
*she LOVES to eat- still nursing pretty frequently during the day (every 2 1/2 -3 hrs) but she actually gave me a 4 1/2 hr stretch last night-mommy loved that!
* she is an early riser- she does not want to go back to sleep after her 4 or 5 am feeding- YIKES!
* definitely has alert times now- I love to see her look around checking out her surroundings
*still waiting on those first "real" smiles but I am expecting them anytime now!
* I love how she can be fussy and I can now pick her up in my arms and she will look at me and get extremely content- she definitely loves to be held!!
*still has a very fussy time in the late evenings ( say a prayer for us around 8:30-11 pm at night!)

I love these sweet brother and sister moments!
Sweet sleeping baby girl

Tallon loves to include Tess in whatever we are doing-
whether reading a book, singing or simply playing!
Here he is singing to her