moments in motherhood

storytime with santa...12.8

noreply@blogger.com (kelly w) — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 13:00:00 +0000

angel brunch videos...12.6

noreply@blogger.com (kelly) — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 13:00:00 +0000

these videos are priceless...well, at least to this mommy :) i LOVE that sarah and drew do their hand motions with their left hands while everyone else is doing theirs rightie! they were doomed from day one, i guess!

angel brunch...12.6

noreply@blogger.com (kelly) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 13:00:00 +0000

this year, our church had an angel brunch for all of the families with children ages 0-5th grade. it was a sweet time on sunday morning where we had brunch together, the kids did crafts, we listened to the christmas story, and the childrens choir sang a few songs. it was a wild morning!

[i have some videos to post of the singing...but blogger is not participating at the time...check back!]

sarah's big trip to nashville with mimi and g.g... 11.27 and 11.28 (a little late!)

noreply@blogger.com (kelly) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:00:00 +0000

the day after thanksgiving, sarah, mimi, and g.g. headed to nashville to spend the night at the opryland hotel!

on friday, they enjoyed the charlie brown ice display and did some sight seeing around the hotel...

then, on saturday, they went to the rockette's christmas spectacular!!! (sarah ran into one of her friends from dance class while there!)

i think they all three had a great time on their little vacation...

but, mimi and g.g. looked very exhausted when i picked sarah up late saturday night!

i'm so so glad that sarah got to have a "girls" trip with her grandmother AND great grandmother!

i have lots of wonderful memories from my childhood of spending time with MY granny merle and MY g.g. (the original!)!!!

thank you mimi and g.g. for the wonderful weekend for the little princess!

anna beth's birthday party...12.1

noreply@blogger.com (kelly) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:00:00 +0000

[i am skipping over sarah's trip to nashville with mimi and g.g. because i STILL haven't received any pictures from the trip...hint, hint, hint!!!]

drew and ava's day of fun...11.27

noreply@blogger.com (kelly) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:00:00 +0000

the day after thanksgiving, i worked (yeah, i know...it doesn't happen very often!) and tim stayed home with the kids. well, he didn't have sarah because she was off on a fantastic trip with her mimi and g.g. but more to come on that later...so, he just had the boys.

he decided drew needed a buddy to keep him out of trouble all day so he invited ava to come over and play. apparently, they had a blast together. notice their dress up clothes...drew is wearing a way too small frog costume (jake wore it for halloween this year!) with a pilot helmet, and a tool bag around his neck!!! ava is a little more straightforward in her princess wear!

anyway...so, sometime mid afternoon i get a text from tim that the kids are asleep. i assumed ava had gone home, but NO tim got drew and ava to nap in the twin beds in sarah's room! what a miracle! had mary or i ever attempted such a feat it would have been disastrous! so, we have decided tim might make a really good stay at home dad...well, except for the fact that after i worked 4 days in a row, he was exhausted and ready to return to his day job :)

thanksgiving...11.26

noreply@blogger.com (kelly) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:00:00 +0000

daddy daughter dance...11.22

noreply@blogger.com (kelly) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:00:00 +0000

just some pics...11.18

noreply@blogger.com (kelly) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:00:00 +0000

just feeling a little patriotic with uncle andy's return! (OLD...from 10.6.09)

noreply@blogger.com (kelly) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 21:45:00 +0000

sarah's preschool thanksgiving party...11.17

noreply@blogger.com (kelly) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0000

[if you are bored, here's a link to last years' party...look how tiny baby jacob was!!!]

lauren's birthday party...11.14

noreply@blogger.com (kelly) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0000

its so nice to get the chance to just take sarah somewhere...thanks to nana watching the boys one saturday afternoon, sarah and i were able to enjoy some girls only time! we went to sarah's friend lauren's 5th birthday party [doesn't hurt that lauren's mom, lisa, is one of my good friends!] for a princess tea party! i LOVE how sarah and anna leigh ended up climbing a tree in their princess attire :)

poor sick little baby...11.12

noreply@blogger.com (kelly) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0000

sooooo...we had an interesting evening a few weeks ago! baby jacob had acted a little "off" during the evening hours and then was completely lethargic and didn't want to really wake up from his last nap that day.

then, about 9:30pm, he started screaming from his crib. when jake wakes up, he typically just starts babbling and singing...never crying. and definitely not like this. he was wailing. when i went to check on him he was screaming out in pain and cringing his whole body in pain. i stripped his clothes off to make sure he wasn't getting bitten by something...that's what his reaction seemed like. anyways...so, he kept doing this and was completely inconsolable...so i called the nurses line at our pediatrician's office. first time we have ever called the after hours line. i didn't realize we had to wait for a nurse to call us back...

so, we decided to head on to the ER ourselves...when we were driving there, he started vomiting. that even freaked me out more. my mind was racing with all the tidbits of information i learned in college and working in the hospitals. i was a basket case...

we got to the ER and they got us back immediately. everything was pretty routine...initial check looked pretty normal. tim slipped out to use the restroom, and that's when things got wild...baby jake had a febrile seizure. oh. my. goodness...the WORST moment of my life as a mommy.

that really freaked out the MD and nursing staff as well, since we weren't at a pediatric hospital. so, they started 2 IV's, put him on oxygen, and ordered a stat CT scan of his head and a stat chest x-ray...AND they called an ambulance to transfer us to lebonheur downtown...

[this was the most surreal moment of my life. i really felt like i was in a medical drama on tv. i just kept thinking, i can't be the mom standing here while the hospital staff is working on my baby...]

so, all the tests came back negative for anything serious, but they still felt we should be seen by a pediatric emergency physician...tim and baby jake rode in the ambulance and i followed in our car. when we got downtown, we waited for a while for the doctor to see us. baby jake was DONE at this point. he had been sleeping most of the time since his seizure. this whole wild ride began after he's normally been asleep for 3 or 4 hours to begin with!

so, the doctor comes in our room and does a quick exam and says everything looks normal. and then goes into the longest spiel i have ever heard about febrile seizures vs. a seizure disorder and ALL of the possible causes/treatments/prognoses. ugh! of course i was worried about the seizure, but what i was REALLY worried about was what caused his pain and screaming that led us to the ER to begin with! and all anyone could talk about after the febrile seizure was the febrile seizure!!!

so, we were sent home from the ER at 4:30am with a ton of educational information about febrile seizures and a prescription for a drug to give if jake were ever to have another febrile seizure that lasted longer than 5 minutes...we all fell into bed as soon as we got home. sweet baby had been sleeping since before he got in his car seat...

[i realize this is the world's longest story, but i rely on this blog to be my scrapbook of my kiddo's lives, so bare with me...this is mostly for me before i forget everything that happened!]

anyway...we tried to sleep most of the day to recover, and then headed to our regular pediatrician at 4pm for a follow up appointment...dr. bob checked jake out again and did repeat blood work which indicated we were probably dealing with a virus that was causing jake stomach pains and caused the spike in temperature resulting in the febrile seizure...

dr. bob pretty much summed up the whole thing [obviously he's a little more succinct that me :)] by saying, "jacob was normal before the seizure, and he's normal now. you and tim will NEVER be the same".

the pictures below are of jake's first ever sucker. poor guy was SO SO angry every time someone restrained him after all the junk he had to deal with in the preceding 24 hours. so, we decided he deserved a little treat/distraction during his blood draw. even though he still looks pitiful with his sweaty hair and sad, watery eyes, you can tell he enjoyed the sucker :)

p.s. baby jacob has been back to normal since about 2 days after all this mess. sweet little man gave us quite a scare!!!

rub a dub dub...11.11

noreply@blogger.com (kelly) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0000

an afternoon at the park...11.7

noreply@blogger.com (kelly) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0000

[baby jake was there as well...he was just hangin' in his stroller the whole time!]

sarah's preschool fall program...11.6

noreply@blogger.com (kelly) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0000

sweet church friends...11.4

noreply@blogger.com (kelly) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0000

L to R: drew, ava, cole, aiden, eva claire (triplets!), alli, and selah

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

one wednesday after mops, all of the kiddos were running around crazy so one [brilliant] mom suggested they all pile onto this bench! these sweet little friends are all in the three year old class together and spend sunday and wednesday mornings together along with sunday and wednesday nights! [well, except for selah's little sister alli who is hiding behind her in the picture!] how special to think of these kids growing up together at church!

jake's hiding spot...11.4

noreply@blogger.com (kelly) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0000

guess you have to find a private spot where you can around our house...

official pictures from the pumpkin party...10.31

noreply@blogger.com (kelly) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0000

happy halloween!...10.31

noreply@blogger.com (kelly) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0000

my little knight in shining armor, frog, and princess...

the kids were so excited to run into the yorks in the parking lot on our way into the pumpkin party at church...

enjoying the inflatables...

chelsea and baby jake...

g.g and sarah concentrating hard on fishing...

drew takes his turn...

aunt josette helps drew play a game...

jacob and his friend jonah discussing life...

we met up with the littles to leave and go trick or treating in their neighborhood. mr. jason had BIG plans for us!

our first stop was at "the candy man's house"...this guy in their neighborhood sets up a table with tons of full size candy bars! a treat-or-treaters dream come true!!!

then we hit a few more houses...we had gone over all the etiquette with the kids. you know, say please and thank you, etc...DIDN'T realize we needed to specify that you do not enter any one's house NOR go chasing their dog into the living room! all of our kids were first time trick or treaters!!!

THIS huge thing is how we travelled the neighborhood. mr. jason strung up lights around the top of it and all 10 of us piled in! we were definitely a sight to behold!!!

a very hopped up on sugar little boy!!!
~~~~~~~~~~
[side note: last year i didn't get to attend any halloween festivities as i was in the hospital having jacob at about 5pm!!! i was so happy to see my big kids enjoy halloween this year!!!]

baby jacob's 1st birthday party...10.31 (get a cup of coffee, this might take a while!)

noreply@blogger.com (kelly) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:45:00 +0000

the birthday cakes...

oh my goodness...the highlight of the party! who would have thought it?!? the kids LOVED the bobbing for apples...

all the girls had a great time getting their nails and faces painted...

sweet mcintosh sisters...kathryn and lauren...

the herrington kids...

nana sat with baby jacob in the driveway and he played with dice :) he was totally unimpressed with all of the carnival games his daddy built for his party!!!

sarah and ava. both of them had freshly painted nails...thus the pretty hands in their laps!

drew lovin' on one of his many lady friends...this time its sarah katherine...

the kids decorating their treat bags...

more apple bobbing...

drew and kate throwing bean bags with all of their might...

this is where baby jake spent the majority of his party. poor little guy. can't even catch a break on his own birthday!!!

hudson and maddox enjoyed their lunch together. so cute...

the higginbothams attempting the football toss...

yea for baby jacob!!! my 3rd child who has no tricks learned to clap about 3 days before his party! i would highly recommend delaying the teaching of clapping until then. makes for some precious 1st birthday party pics!!!

sweet little guy just sat there in the middle of a mob while all the kids sang. i was so surprised he didn't start crying! it was a little overwhelming to say the least!!!

g.g. making sure jacob was enjoying his cake!

sarah, baby jake, and drew...

obligatory cake pictures. he's an ole pro at sweets!!!

kids decided the bean bag toss made a great fort!

drew and his bff ava...

didn't i just post a picture exactly like this?!?

all the kiddos enjoying the candy walk...dancing to the monster mash...

moved the candy walk into the garage after the wind started blowing the place markers around!

drew the fireman carrying his spiderman costume...

miss alison grabbing some jacob sugar...

it took us a while to realize mary mcrae was sneaking gumballs the whole time she was quietly sitting on the couch!!!

annabeth and nina...

mary mcrae and anna leigh...

family pic...minus mac...

what was left of the apple bobbing station. the kids were hilarious. we were bribing them away from the apples with candy! isn't it supposed to be the other way around?!?

after the party, the family stayed to watch baby jacob open his presents. [after jacob's mid-party bath, tim asked what to dress jake in. i told him to grab anything. i thought it was self explanatory to grab an outfit that actually fit and was appropriate for the weather...i guess i was assuming too much!]

an attempt at a family picture...
~~~~~~~
i had a really really really hard time deciding what to do for jake's 1st birthday party. i wanted to avoid "halloween" as we will probably be having birthday/halloween bashes for the next 17 years...i finally settled on a carnival theme. i figured with 4 kids, 1 with a halloween birthday, we would get a LOT of use out of carnival games! so, i put handy daddy to work...he built a football toss, a bean bag toss, and ring toss, and a grand prize game...we had those "booths" along with a candy walk, soccer kick, face and nail painting, apple bobbing, and duck picking game. we were going to have sack races, but the yard was still really soggy from the 49 inches of rain we received in september and october :( the kids all had a great time and i think the parents did too! i couldn't have gotten the whole party together without the help of my grandmother, uncle rob, aunt josette, and cousin chelsea who came over early on saturday and let me boss them around all morning :) the weather could NOT have been more perfect...i know a lot of people were praying for the beautiful day we received! i am so thankful for all of our family and friends who spent part of their halloween to celebrate jake's 1st birthday!!!

drew's preschool harvest party...10.27

noreply@blogger.com (kelly) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0000

i ended up not being able to attend drew's harvest party because of an orientation at work, so sweet mary took my place...and took lots of pictures for me! LOVE the first one of little drew wholeheartedly praying!!!

halloween week at gymnastics...10.26

noreply@blogger.com (kelly) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0000

sarah AND drew take gymnastics at SEGA gym this fall. they were in the same class on monday mornings...we hit up gymnastics and headed straight over for sarah's dance class afterwards. it was a busy monday morning, but then we had no other activities for either kid the rest of the week (excluding church stuff!)...but, then miss sarah graduated to the "hot shots" class from the "gym-mini crickets" so we had to switch to monday nights so that both kids could take at the same time...it actually hasn't been too bad. we have dance in the morning, come home for lunch and naps, and then head out the door again...little jake is just along for the ride as always!!!
anyways...

halloween week is a big deal at SEGA...the kids were supposed to dress up in their costumes for warm up and then they got to go through the haunted house! THEN, the kiddos took off their costumes for their regular gym class. sarah and drew were in heaven! and of course we put baby jake in his new costume from aunt annie so he could be a part too!!!

it was a fun night and a great way to kick off halloween week!!!

ugh!...10.25

noreply@blogger.com (kelly) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0000

how can one sweet little baby make such a gigantic mess while eating breakfast?!?

mops playdate at priddy farms...10.24

noreply@blogger.com (kelly) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0000