Two Teethies

DO NOT ADJUST YOUR SCREEN!

Those are actually TEETH.....................On my 3 1/2 month old!!!!!

One popped through last week and the other cam through yesterday.

AMAZING!

Thank You!!

Thank you for all of your prayers and concerns with Ashlyn and my dad. Ashlyn is 100% back to her normal happy, wild, sometimes ill/whiney self! I'd much rather see her ill and whiney than in the shape she was in Thursday night! My dad was able to come home from the hospital yesterday. He's doing amazingly well! The EKG that was done on Monday showed that there was no permanent damage done to his heart. PRAISE GOD! Please continue to lift him up during his recovery. I am SOOOO very thankful that Dad is still here!!!! God's not finished with him yet.

When it Rains it Pours

Ashlyn woke up Wednesday night/Thursday morning at 2am screaming and crying with her belly hurting. She also had a fever of 102. I was up for a good 2 hours with her trying to calm her down. I gave her some Motrin hoping that it would help. By 5am when Britt came in from work she was crying out in pain again. I took her to the doctor first thing Thursday morning. Appendicitis was the first thing that popped into my head. The doctor was shocked at how much pain she was in. He ordered blood work and a urine sample. Everything came back with the results that he wanted. He said that more than likely it was just viral. There was only a 5% chance that it could be appendicitis. He told me that if she was still showing the same symptoms on Friday to bring her back in and he would order a catscan on her appendix. He called in some hydrocodone for the pain and sent us home. By 5:00 that afternoon she was worse than she was before. All she did was lay in her bed an moan. I called back up to the doctor's office and spoke to the doctor on call. He told me to take her to the ER and that he would call the hospital and order the CT scan. It killed me to see my child suffering the way that she was! I've never seen anyone in as much pain as she was laying on that hospital bed. It was the worst feeling as a mother knowing that my child is laying there helpless and I can't do anything to take this terrible pain away! They drew blood, started an iv, gave her morphine for the pain................. MORPHINE for my 4 year old!!!, did a catheter, gave her an enema of dye so that they could do the catscan, ran the catscan. She was PITIFUL!!! The surgeon was 99% sure that it was appendicitis. He had the OR room ready, and he was fully prepared to do surgery on my baby. To all of our surprise the CT scan came back normal. Her appendix looked fine. They admitted her for the night because of her pain level. Also they weren't sure what was going on, so they wanted to keep a close eye on her over night. Not the greatest thing in the world, but I was happy that they kept her so that they could monitor her pain level. By Friday morning her fever had broken, and her pain was slowly going away. She definitely had the doctor's scratching their heads. All they could say was that apparently she had some kind of nasty virus. The doctor finally released her at 8pm Friday night. As Ashlyn was being released my mom called and said that she was bringing my dad to the ER because he was having pain in his arm and tightness in his chest. Mom came into to Ashlyn's room bawling. My dad was having a heart attack! They transferred him from Catawba to Frye. I couldn't leave with my mom because I was stuck at Catawba until all of Ashlyn's release forms were drawn up. I have never in my life been under as much stress as I was at that very moment! I felt like my world was crashing down on me. Britt met me up at the hospital to take Ashlyn home and I rushed up to Frye to find out news on my dad. He had a complete blockage in his main artery. There is a 90 minute window whenever there is a complete blockage. He made it to Frye, and the heart team had the stint in place right in that 90 minute time period. If he would have waited a few minutes longer before going to the hospital, or if anything wouldn't have played out the way that it did my dad may not be here with us today. I PRAISE GOD that my daddy is still here!!!! He's been in the critical care unit, but they finally moved him to a regular room last night. They will assess the damage today to see if he has any long term damage to his heart. Please pray for my dad, that he makes a full recovery. Please keep our family in your prayers. It has been one heck of a week! On top of all of this our house was struck by lightning on Thursday night while we were at the hospital with Ashlyn. It knocked out our satellite dish and receiver, our computer modem and speakers, and our brand new remote control gate that we just installed a few months ago. For the love!!!!!!!!

I stole these off of my WONDERFUL friend Moriah's blog. I hope you don't mind girl!

You are amazing! This is one of the perks of having a photographer as one of my bestest!

I had such a great time with you girls last night! I truly needed that!

Ashlyn needed it too! She had a wonderful time playing with the boys!

I say that we start making this a weekly thing. What about 'Wine Wednesday'?

I am blessed with an amazing circle of friends! Love you girls!!!

Cute snapshot with my camera phone

The Butterfly

I will never look at a butterfly the same again. This has always been beautiful creature, but on Sunday afternoon it became heavenly. Ashlyn was sitting at her coloring table in our den coloring Mammaw Cody and Mammaw Drum a picture. For those of you who don't know, both passed away within the past year and a half. Ashlyn kept repeating over and over again, "Mammaw Drum, Mammaw Cody, I love you! You will always be in my heart!" At that very moment I looked up and there were 2 butterflies fluttering by our back door. I just knew that it had to be the two of them together saying hello. I didn't say a word about the coincidence of it all because I knew that Britt would just give me a crazy stare and tell me how lame I am for coming up with such an idea, but in my heart of hearts I knew it was them. Later that afternoon I packed the kids up and went over to my parent's house for an icecream party. Ashlyn and my cousin Keela were swimming in the pool when all out of nowhere a butterfly flew down. I watched in amazement and didn't say a word. Then Keela's parents said "That butterfly is all over Ashlyn. Just look at how it follows her everywhere!" My heart nearly stopped. I felt a sense of peace that I haven't felt since my grandmother passed. She's definitely an angel now with her butterfly wings. She's more beautiful than ever!

Doctor's Visit

I had to take Brennan to the doctor again this morning. He's had this hacking cough for 4 weeks straight. Now coming from a mother who worries about everything under the sun, this was a MAJOR concern! I had ten thousand things running through my mind from 'what if he's allergic to dogs?' to 'what if he has cystic fibrosis?'. I called the doctor's office this morning and they told me that they didn't have an opening until 2:00. I ended taking him at 9:00 as a work in so that I didn't have to be out of work for an entire day. I knew that it would be an adventure, but I took Ashlyn along with me so that I didn't have to back track. She was a hoot! On the car ride there she was singing a song that I'm guessing she's learned at school. Something about your eyes are for seeing, your ears are for hearing, your nose is for smelling, and so on. Then she started making up her own verses. They went something like this...
Ashlyn - Your hair is for...............Mommy what's your hair for?
Me - well, I guess it's for keeping you warm.
Ashlyn - Your bellybutton is for................Mommy what's your bellybutton for?
Me - that's how you were fed when you were in Mommy's belly.
Ashlyn - Your boobies are for....................Mommy what are your boobies for?
Me - (laughing hysterically) Well Ashlyn.......mommies can feed their babies with those. I really don't know the purpose of a man's boob's though.
Let me ask you...........why must doctors offices have play areas? Am I the only one who sees a problem with this? You have a bunch of sick germy kids putting their snotty hands all over the toys and what do you have but a disaster waiting to happen for the healthy kids parents! These are doctors we're talking about. You'd think that they'd have a little common sense! We finally saw the doctor and he listened to Brennan's chest and looked in his ears. He said that there's no wheezing which is a good thing and that his ears looked great. Brennan is gaining weight like he should so there's no reason to be concerned about something major like cf. He weighed 15.2 lbs today. He had gained 2 lbs in the past month! I'm telling you he's a chunky monkey! The doctor seems to think that he has a milk allergy. He told me to try switching him to an all soy formula for 2 weeks. If he doesn't seem to start doing any better then I can switch him back to his old formula and we'll know that's not what the problem is. Hopefully I can get this cough gone for good! Poor baby has to be tired of hacking all of the time.

Caught on Camera

He's been smiling for a long while now, but this is the first one that I've captured on camera.

And another.

I love this picture!

What a rough life! LOL!

And last but not least I got a picture of Ashlyn in her pull-ups

Wednesday night when she was sick. BLESS HER LITTLE HEART!

Just look at those curls..........That all nat-u-ral! No product, No nothing.

Just pure gorgeous locks!

What is a mom to do?

Yesterday, while on my way to pick my children up from daycare, I receive a phone call from the director. Here's how it all went down.

Jamie (director) - Mindy...............

Me - Is everything alright?

Jamie - I'm sure that you are on your way right now to pick up the kids, but I just wanted to let you know that Ashlyn has had diarrhea twice today and wasn't able to make it to the bathroom either time.

Me - I'm almost there. I'm in downtown Newton right now. How is she right now?

Jamie - Well, she's doing ok. She used up all of her extra panties, so we had to put a pull-up on her. She's been crying. I think that she's really embarrassed.



Once we got home she went to the bathroom and sat on the potty for I know at least an hour. Brennan was screaming for a bottle. She was screaming because her stomach hurt. I was there by myself because Britt was working so I wanted to scream right along with them. I gave her a dose of Pepto and the later it got the better she felt. This morning Ashlyn came in Brennan's room as I was getting him dressed. She asked me the funniest question - "Mommy - what if I have to go to the doctor because of my belly hurtin' like it was and I have a baby in it? Wouldn't that be neat?" Then she proceeded to tell me that she was going to have herself a baby sister. Ha! Or wait, maybe she would have a baby brother like Brennan, and she would name him Hessa. ???? Where do kids come up with these things?


Next week I'm going to be in H-E-L-L! Britt is leaving and going to Raleigh all next week. Not only is he leaving, but my friend Hanna is going to be gone to the beach all next week also. You know how you call your spouse your other half, well I guess Hanna would be my "other third". She lives about 2 miles from me and her husband and Britt just started together on the same crew at the sheriff's department. So when Britt's not there Hanna is. She helps me out TREMENDOUSLY with Ashlyn and Brennan. While she is gone I'll be keeping their dog for the week. Soooooooo, next week I'll have 2 kids and 4 dogs to tend to all by my lonesome! If you see the news next week and hear of a woman going mad in Startown it's probably me. I hope that you will all come visit me in the looney bin. =)

More of My Little Man

What mom?

Who could resist this face?

The Ladies Man

This is a 6 month outfit. Ha!

Mom.......Enough Pictures!!!

Pictures from the party

Ashlyn's birthday party..........

was a huge success thanks to my parents! Thanks Mom and Dad for letting us have her party over at your house so that we could use the pool. I believe that all of the kids had a wonderful time! Ashlyn got SOOOOOOO many gifts! We ended up getting her one of those nice wooden swing sets from Mommy, Daddy, Nana and Pappaw Drum, and Pappaw Jerry. It's one that has a playhouse up top. I figured that she'd like that as much as the swingset itself. Now it's just getting the men motivated to put it together. =)

Ashlyn's party pictures coming soon! I promise.

Ashlyn and Brennan

Ashlyn

My little princess is now 4 years old! Where has the time gone from when you were a baby until now? You are such a beautiful little girl! I love you So so so so so so so so so much!!!!

Brennan

Brennan was 2 months old on the 14th. He went today for his 2 months shots. He weighs 13lbs and he is 2 feet tall. He is such a little cutie! He is smiling and starting to laugh. He tries to talk. Tonight I would say "ma ma ma ma ma" and he would just grin and talk back to me. His little personality is beginning to shine through. He's my chunky monkey! =)

Are You There God? It's Me, Mindy.

My oh my. It has been a very hectic week and a half. I started back to work last Tuesday. That really wasn't too terribly bad. It was almost nice to have a break from mommy duties and be back into my normal routine. It was extremely hard leaving the little guy for the first time though! Work is good. It's just going to take me a while to get into a new routine and get adjusted to the new schedule.



Once we returned home from the beach Brennan began sleeping 7 hours a night. He would wake up for a bottle and then go back to sleep for another 3 to 4 hours. I was THRILLED! This was perfect timing since I've started back to work. Well.............Saturday night he woke up at 2 for his bottle and he just screamed. I couldn't do anything to settle him down. After an hour of screaming and crying I finally got him back to sleep. He was up again at 5 and the crying process started all over again. He cried nearly all day Sunday. Mom and Dad had us over on Sunday afternoon for Father's Day to grill out. That afternoon I bent down to pick him up out of his bouncer, and I saw 2 teeth trying to come through his bottom gum. I was a little shocked because he is only 2 months old. Sunday night he didn't sleep a wink so I decided to take him to the doctor on Monday to make sure that my findings were in fact correct. I couldn't send him to daycare not knowing if there was something more serious wrong with him. The doctor looked him over. His ears were fine. She looked at me like I was crazy when I told her that I thought he was already cutting teeth, but once she looked in his mouth she then realized that I wasn't crazy at all. Sure enough he has 2 teeth coming in. She also told me that she thinks that he has some colic. Great! A baby who's teething and colicky. Just in time for my second week back at work. =( Other than the teething and the colic he really is a wonderful baby. He weighed 13 lbs on Monday. He's already wearing 6 month clothing. There's nothing little about him. LOL!


Ashlyn, where do I start? She has grown up so fast! Tomorrow she will be 4 years old. That is so hard to believe! She is no longer a baby, but a little girl. I can't believe that tomorrow will be 4 years from the day that we brought that little 6 lb 11 oz little girl into this world. She is such a spunky little thing. I've never in my life met someone with as much willpower as Ashlyn. She is so headstrong, and STUBBORN............Just like her daddy. LOL! She's the sweetest little thing ever! When anyone's sick or not feeling well she'll be the first to draw you a picture or pick you some flowers to make you feel a little better. She's the best big sister that any little brother could ask for. Anytime that Brennan cries she's right there to sing to him ,or give him his paci, or even rock him if he's in his carrier. You can tell that she loves him so much!



As for myself, well I think that I've been running off of fumes here lately. I'm just waiting for the day that I crash and burn. Having 2 kids is no easy task. I wouldn't trade either of them for anything, but man it's tough, especially when between the two of them you only get a few hours of sleep per night. Between Ashlyn waking up in the middle of the night and yelling for me to come cover her back up and Brennan teething and being colicky there's no hope for sleep! I'm as sleep deprived as they come right now, and anyone who knows me knows that I'm not a happy camper if I don't get my sleep. That's just the price that you have to pay when you have kids, but have mercy! I mean can't you give me at least one of the other...........teething or colic? Not both all at once................right when I start back to work! So that's my life right now. Oh, and I forgot to mention that a man whom Britt arrested last night threatened his life once he got out of jail. Can you say NERVOUS WRECK????

I'm back..........

Sorry that it took so long for me to get back to my original beach post, but there has been SOOOOO many crazy hectic things going on in my life right now it's not even funny! After my grandmother passing away I felt like a part of me had died also. She was the one person who I always confided in the most growing up. Watching her suffer was the worst pain that I've ever felt! Having a new baby and then having something like this happen on top of having a new baby has had me a little stressed and on edge lately to say the least. This beach trip was definitely what I needed.

We had a wonderful time down there. We stayed at Ocean Lakes. My home away from home. I swear.........I LOVE this place. It's far from fancy, but I love our beach cabin! There are so many great memories there! We took Brennan out on the beach just one day. I lathered him down in sunscreen, took his baby tent down to the beach along with our big umbrella, this all just for Brennan. We also had all of our chairs, Ashlyn's sand toys, towels, beach bag, cooler, floats, etc. After all of this packing and getting everyone ready especially Brennan, we get out on the beach for 30 minutes and he starts screaming at the top of his lungs. Ugggghhhhh..................all of this exhausting hard work for 30 minutes out on the beach!?!?!!? =) I took him back up to the house and Britt stayed down with Ashlyn. Brennan didn't go down to the beach another day. LOL! Once Mom and Dad came down Dad stayed in and watched Brennan while we all went to the beach and pool throughout the day. We really did have an AWESOME TIME!

I'll be back later this evening to catch everyone up on the past week.

Beach Pics

Ripley's Aquarium

17 + Water = The Formula for Dying

This is what my Mammaw mumbled to my aunt Marva Lynne just 3 days ago. She told my aunt to make sure to write the formula down on a note pad because everyone needed to know it. She's been losing her mind with this horrible disease so we thought nothing of it. Funny thing is today is the 17th day since she stopped eating, and she hasn't had any water in almost a week. She passed away at 2:11 this morning. Is this just a coincidence or was she really trying to tell us something? I guess we'll all find out on our on time.
I went to visit yesterday evening. I wasn't sure rather to take Ashlyn over to see her in the state that she was in, but my mom said that when they would just mention Ashlyn and Brennan's names she would wake up a bit, so I felt that it was important that my Mammaw get to see them. At this point I did not realize that it would be the last time, so I'm so thankful in my decision. When Ashlyn walked over to Mammaw's bed they (Dad and my aunt) said that Mammaw was more awake than she had been in the past 2 days. She couldn't talk and she could hardly open her eyes, but you could see her eyebrows moving up and down with joy knowing that her babies were in the room. We all took turns sitting with her talking with her and saying our goodbyes, letting her know that it was ok to let go. We never anticipated her going downhill so fast, but it truly was a blessing that she didn't suffer any longer than she did!
Mom drove over to my house at 5 this morning to tell me the news. She said that she couldn't do it over the phone. I'm so happy that she's no longer in pain, but I'm going to miss her more than anyone can ever imagine! It's not going to be the same walking in that house without her there. There's not a doubt in my mind that she's in heaven right now and I know that she's going to be watching over Ashlyn and Brennan all of the time. She's their guardian angel, there's no doubt about it! Please continue to pray for our family during this time of grief.

Overload

My mind is on overload. My body is on overload. My emotions are on overload. It's been a very hectic week around here. Having 2 kids is no walk in the park. Don't get me wrong. I wouldn't change a thing, but having two is NOTHING like having one! It's a completely different ballgame. I don't know who cries more my 3, soon to be 4 year old in less than a month, or my newborn baby. I do believe that Ashlyn is the whiniest child on the face of the planet. Brennan is overall a good baby, but he will not let you forget a feeding. It is every 3 hours ON THE DOT, and don't you forget it! He's up every 3 hours at night to eat, which I figured would change by now. Ashlyn was such a good sleeper. Everyone kept telling me that if you had one good sleeper get ready because the second one won't sleep a wink. I didn't believe a word of it...........until now! It's so true! =) He's also spoiled rotten which makes it very hard to get anything done throughout the day. He wants to be held 24/7. Britt and I were talking and we don't know what he's going to do at preschool when he isn't held all of the time. =) Tonight was my first attempt to go out shopping, by myself, with Ashlyn and Brennan. Let me tell you these people who have 4 or more kids are NUTS!!!!!!!!!! I was struggling with just the two of mine. Brennan screamed the entire time in the first store. We left, went out to the car, fed him, and were off to my second stop. Crazy I know! Ashlyn whined the entire time about getting a surprise, Brennan cried the whole time if we weren't constantly moving, everyone was staring at me like I was the CRAZY woman with 2 screaming children as I was trying not to lose my sanity. On top of all of this I was bathing suit shopping none the less. Just what I wanted to do after just having a baby, but we're planning on going to the beach next week and as much as I'd like to do it, I guess I can't sit out on the beach in shorts and a tee shirt trying to get a tan. I did find 2 tankinis that cover all of my rolls and stretch marks. Man I feel so old right now! I don't think that anyone will see me in a 2 piece EVER again. Brennan has done some major damage to my once upon a time decent body.

My Mammaw Drum is not doing well at all. She hasn't eaten in almost 2 weeks, and now she's barely taking any fluids in. They've started her on Morphine because she's having a lot of pain in her chest. I took Ashlyn and Brennan over there on Monday and as Ashlyn was giving Mammaw a hug goodbye my Mammaw took Ashlyn's face in her hands and said, "Baby, Remember that Mammaw will always love you!". I lost it. Try explaining to your daughter who thinks the world of her Mammaw that she's very sick and is going to be going to heaven soon to be with Jesus. Ashlyn is not happy about the idea. It is such a tough situation. We went back over on Thursday to see her and she could barely talk. Ashlyn went to tell her goodbye and she said, "Bye Mammaw. I'll see you in Heaven." My heart skipped a beat. Then my Mammaw replied, "Yes, and that will be the best day of my life!". I have cried and cried and cried over losing my Mammaw. Her and I are so close. It's hard to think of her no longer being a part of our lives, but I think that it's even harder to watch her suffer the way that she is. Please continure to pray for all of us during this time.

Beautiful Family

The Best Medicine Ever!

As most of you know my Mamaw Drum has pulmonary fibrosis which is hardening of the lungs.

When Ashlyn was born the doctors only gave her a year to live.

As you can see she's well surpassed their expectations.

She lives and breathes for Ashlyn, and now Brennan.

They are her only great grandchildren and they are her WORLD!

Since before Christmas she's been bed ridden.

I truly believe that she has been holding on to meet that great grandson of her's.

Last week she stopped eating.

She's losing her strength and the hospice nurse thinks that it's probably just a matter of time before something happens.

I took the kids over last night and her eyes just lit up as soon as they walked into the room. Ashlyn made her a special get well picture and brought her the beautiful flower lei around Mamaw's neck.

Please say a prayer for my Mamaw and for our family duing this difficult time. Thank you!