Lots of things going on around here...

Haven't had time to post in a while. Life seems to get so busy. Lots happened in November. Here's a summary: Reese-- Molars starting to come in (He told his teacher something was in his mouth. I guess she looked, bc she told him they were his molars. HA!) Had his soccer and football parties and got his trophies for playing Made his first F on paper bc he didn't understand how to circle the correct answers (he was upset) Very excited bc he had his first boys night with Poppa and Uncle John, they played board games Took a friend (aaron) bowling and to see Daddy play in his new band-One Eyed Jack Raygan Elise-- Discovered and now loves holding her feet Meaning to touch and hold things now Put paci in her mouth by self 1st illness and then 1st ear infection Likes Peek-a-Boo 1st time to be kept by someone other than family member (Melissa, Aaron's mom) Fell off bed for 1st time while at Mamaw Corrine and Reese dropped her on same day :( What a busy time! They are both growing up so much. We enjoyed Thanksgiving! Got to visit C'dale, Louisville, and Clinton!! Enjoy the new pictures!

2 Sick Children

Well, we had one sick halloween week. On Monday, Raygan-Elise ran fever all day and wouldn't eat. We went to doctor at 5:00. They ran blood work and everything...then, said it was just a virus and she was dehydrated. We gave her Pedialyte out of syringe to get liquids in her. She slowly began feeling better. Then, Thursday morning Reese ran fever, and by that afternoon he was sick sick. So this was our first experience with having 2 children and them passing their illnesses to each other. No trick-or-treating for us! We stayed home and passed out candy. Raygan-Elise wore her trick-or-treat shirt, and Reese laid on the living room floor so he could see costumes.

ZOO BOO 2008

This past Friday night was our annual trip to the Memphis Zoo Boo. This year besides having our new little girl, Raygan-Elise, AKA Princess Baby come along for the event...John Aedon and Nana joined us too. The costumes-- Reese was Johnny Test (a cartoon character he watches). His hair was a HUGE HIT! It was too cute! John Aedon was a pirate. He loved the gun and sword. And Raygan-Elise was an adorable pumpkin (Thanks Aunt Joan!). The children had a blast. John Aedon was so cute. He leaned over to Nana once and said "I so happy." We loved the magic show as usual. We ate ice cream when it was cold, as usual. Reese enjoyed dancing this year under the disco lights, which was a first. His other new thing was to have a characertuer (sp wrong!?) drawn of himself. He also said the hay ride was not scary. Reese and I rode a spinning ride together. He loves those! Raygan-Elise slept and looked around. We saw one of her nurses from the NICU. It was one that mostly wasn't nice to us. I spoke to her and showed her Raygan-Elise. I know she was probably thinking that I should just not have this preemie baby out this late and with all this crowd. BUT we kept her covered and away from people! John Aedon had one accident b/c we forgot to take him to potty. All in All...It was a wonderful night. Enjoy the pics...

Why does time fly?

First off, children grow up too fast. I want them to grow and experience things, but couldn't they do it at half the rate. It just goes by too quick. Everyday Reese takes a lunchbox to school (which is everyday but chicken tender day and maybe an occasional other day) I have always sent him a note in his lunchbox. Well, Last Thursday, Reese said kids in his class teased him b/c I had a heart on his note. I asked him what he said to them and he just grunted and said that is what he did. I told him to ask them next time if their moms loved them b/c I bet they do!!!! Then, asked if he wanted me to stop sending notes in his lunchbox. He looked really sad, and shook his head no. Then said, "but can you just hide them so only I can see them." How sad!! He is growing up! So it has been also been almost 5 months since princess baby entered our family. That is just amazing and so sad BC I have to go back to work tomorrow. I am so upset. I have had a wonderful time off. 5 months has been great!! Now it is back to the real world of teaching....

Possible First Laugh

Picture after the soccer game- Reese, 6 years, Raygan-Elise, 4 months

Last night, Reese had a Football game at 6:00 and soccer at 7:30. Raygan-Elise and I tagged along with Daddy and Reese for the fun filled sports night!! Football was exciting as usual. Reese pulled one flag and got to run the ball once. He said it was "more boring than usual"...possibly because they didn't win. :( After football and a quick change in the car, it was off to soccer. Raygan-Elise slept in her stroller during the first half. Reese was off a bit at first (probably bc he just played football for over an hour). He even started to kick the ball the wrong way, but quickly recovered and then was right on track again. In the second half, he played defense and was way down the field from us. Raygan-Elise and I walked the field to go get some pics of him. While we were down there, there was a great play where the ball was right in front of the goal line with 2 kids trying to kick it in and 2 trying to kick it out (Reese being one trying to kick it out). The crowd was yelling for their teams...Raygan-Elise was on my shoulder staring at the man behind us who was yelling "Kick it, kick it" along with doing some arm and foot motions. Then, beside my ear, I heard a funny noise. Could it be her first laugh? At this random man? We've been smiling and playing with her for weeks. I'm still not sure b/c it was hard to hear over the yelling, but I really think that was it. It was so sweet. We are eagerly awaiting to hear it again. And Reese kicked the ball out, so no goal for the other team. We won 1-0!! GO, Blue Snakes. (Yes, they are the Blue Snakes, and that is another long story. Reese came up with it and the team all voted! He was so proud.)

First Shots...

So, I took Raygan-Elise to the doctor on Monday for her first shots...she is now 4 months old. She weighed 12 lbs. 3 oz, so she has tripled her birth weight. Everything was great. She can take a whole prevacid now, which should help her GERD. Shots, of course, were not fun and neither was Monday night or all day and night on Tuesday. In fact, last night she cried so much that Reese started crying. He was worried something was wrong with her. But this morning she woke up smiling, so all is right in Princess baby's world again. Here are pics taken after church on 9/21...her 4 month b-day...

And then came along Princess Baby...

After having a high-risk pregnancy with Reese, being put on bed rest for 8 weeks, and delivering a sick baby that had to stay in the hospital, it took Brian and I a little while to decide to have another one...plus Reese was so much fun and we got to spend so much one on one time with him. But the time did come where I was eager and very impatient about wanting another baby. When we found out I was pregnant, we were thrilled, but didn't want to tell anyone until we heard the heartbeat, which was the most amazing sound in the world. Reese was the first person we told, and he was so excited! 5 Weeks later, our world was thrown around again, as I was already put into high risk and seeing my doc. plus a specialist. I went to the doctor once a week, but we got to find out she was a girl at only 13 weeks pregnant and we had 4D ultrasounds every other week...so there was an up side to it!! I knew with all this watching that this baby was going to turn out just fine and this pregnancy would last till 40 weeks just like Reese. They stopped it that time when he tried to come at 32 weeks, surely they could do it again. That all changed as I got out of my car and walked across the parking lot to
go to a regular doc visit. As I crossed the street, my water broke. I was 33 weeks. Though I should have been scared, God protected my worries by making me think of random, crazy things that needed to be done and I made lists and sent people after things--we needed a car seat, a baby book, a mommy brag book, pajamas, the room isn't done, etc. The docs wanted to hold off a week, but it didn't happen. On Monday they were trying to stop labor all day and night and by Tuesday it had stopped. Then Tuesday afternoon, we had a biophysical of the baby and it showed that she wasn't doing what they wanted her to do and they gave me pitocin to start labor. How funny! At 12:49 am, we welcomed our little girl Raygan-Elisabeth Ann (Raygan-Elise) weighing exactly 4 lbs. After brief moments with her, she was taken to the NICU, and she and I stayed there for 2 weeks. She didn't need oxygen, but had trouble with her stomach, apnea, and jaundice. She is now doing good (except for gerd/reflux) and is going to have her shots tomorrow!! WOW...Time flies!! Pics: in NICU, 1 month, 2 months, and 3 months.

My First Blog

So I'm going to try this blogging thing. I got an email from Ashley Pollan about Ella's and I'm now giving it a go...let's see how I do..

A little Background-- Brian and I met my senior year, dated all through college, and married in 2000. In 2002, we welcomed our son, Reese, into this world. He came to us weighing 8 lbs. 11 oz. with pneumonia. I didn't know that was possible, but he had to stay in the hospital a week until his lungs cleared. We lived in Duncan, then Clarksdale, then Cleveland, then Olive Branch, and now have our wonderful home in Nesbit...where we hope to be for a long time. I teach in Olive Branch, and Brian is the QC Director for MMC Materials. Brian also plays drums in a hard rock band, One Eye Jack. We're still waiting on him to grow up, LOL. Reese is now a healthy 6 year old in first grade who loves sports, running, and playing on the computer. He keeps us laughing all day long. I'll have to get some baby pics of him later, as we didn't have a digital camera then...but here are some current pics of our little man. .

Reese's First Day in First Grade

Just Playing in the Rain!