Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Our first snow fall in Tennessee

We heard earlier in the week that we may have a chance of snow on Saturday.

When Friday came the percentages were almost at 100%. They said the first flakes could fall by midnight.

Genesis was so anxious that evening to catch the snow falling.

She thought that it was only going to fall for a short time then melt quickly and was afraid that she might miss it.

I'm pretty sure that she came into our room while we were sleeping about every hour and asked why there was no snow.

I reassured her that it was coming. Now go back to sleep!!

To be honest, I probably looked out my window at least 5 times in the middle of the night looking for it too:)

Around 6AM Genesis came in again, I told her to just go sit out in the living room and watch a movie.

A few minutes later I looked out my window.

There it was.

Falling softly from the sky and starting to lightly dust the ground.

I went out to the living room where Genesis was watching TV with her back to the window and said, "Turn around".


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I woke the boys up, put on their new (Thank you April!) winter jackets and we all headed outside.

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Nothing like a snowball fight before sunrise

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Later on Daddy joined in

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The kids spent most of the day outside. We didn't have the right kind of gloves, just the knit ones, so they would take a break once in a while to come in and put their gloves in the dryer. Then back outside they would go.

After lunch Guy made us "Snow Ice Cream"

Fresh Snow (yes, we stayed away from yellow snow)
Milk
Vanilla
Sugar

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It was a wonderful, snow filled day.

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Even Sage loved being outside

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Our house

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Genesis said she was copying Jude's face :)

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And now, enjoy the view

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Cannot wait for our next SNOW DAY

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Jude Man turns 5 today

Five years ago we arrived at Labor of Love Birth Center in Lutz a few minutes before my Midwife. I delivered Jude less than 1 hour after arriving. My wonderful big boy came into our lives at 10.1 pounds and 21 inches.

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Jude was such an easy baby. At 3 months he was sleeping from 7PM-7AM every night.
(That is probably one reason I got pregnant again so soon! Haha)

As a baby, he always had a smile on his face.

One Year Old
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Two Years Old
(You can see his eyes starting to cross here, he got his glasses soon after this)
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Three Years Old
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Four Years Old
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And Today
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Jude,

I love you so much! You have more energy then all of us put together. You can't stay still for even a second. I cannot wait to see what you are going to use all that energy for when you grow up. You drive us crazy always asking if it's time to eat. We will have to take out a loan to pay for grocery's when you are a teenager I'm sure. Every night you ask me to come see you before I go to bed and kiss you, and pray for you. You have always been a momma's boy and I couldn't imagine my life without you.
Happy Birthday Jude Man
I love you



We celebrated in FL while there for Thanksgiving weekend.
Kara made him a Little Big Planet cake.
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Of course no birthday party is complete without pin the tail on the donkey.
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Papa's turn
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Zane blew out the candles before Jude even opened his eyes! LOL
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Take two
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Of course Uncle Luke had to get him the biggest gun he could find
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Happy Birthday big boy!

While we try to teach our children all about life,
Our children teach us what life is all about.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

A Year Ago Today

I'm sitting here today thinking back to last year at this time.

Monday,November 24th.

Genesis had been complaining about an earache. She had no other symptoms at first so we thought it would clear up on its own soon. After weeks of her not getting better I decided to take her to the doctors where I was told it was just earwax. He cleaned her ear and sent us home. Genesis then started to really complain about pain and a few days later developed a fever. I took her back to the doctors and by now she had lost a lot of weight, was pale and very tired. After looking her over they still told me that she was fine. After the weekend her fever didn't go away and she was in a lot of pain. I took her back AGAIN to be told there was nothing wrong, but this time they suggested she get some blood work done just to be sure.

What I thought was going to be a normal Monday turned into being admitted to All Children's Hospital.

After much poking, prodding, MRI's, and Cat scans, they found that Genesis had a blood clot in the jugular vein in her neck and an extreme infection. They were not sure what caused the blood clot and told me that they really didn't know what to do exactly since they had never seen anything like it.

We spent 10 days in the hospital, including Thanksgiving.

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We were SO blessed to have many visits from family and friends.

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The nurses got a kick out of this
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A gift from Jude
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A good friend of mine, Marianne, brought Genesis a wonderful little stable with horses.
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Even Tinkerbell came by:)
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Our Thanksgiving meal
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Genesis was eventually diagnosed with Lemirre's Disease

-Lemierre's syndrome is currently a very rare disease, but was quite common in the early 20th century before the discovery of penicillin. The reduced use of routine antibiotics for sore throats by doctors may have increased the risk of this disease, with 19 cases in 1997 and 34 cases in 1999 reported in the UK. The incidence rate is currently 0.8 cases per million in the general population,leading it to be termed the "forgotten disease".The disease is known to affect healthy young adults. The disease is becoming less rare with many cases being reported, however it is still known as "the forgotten disease" as many doctors are unaware of its existence. The mortality rate was 90% prior to antibiotic therapy, but is now generally quoted as 15% with proper medical treatment, although one series of cases reported mortality as low as 6.4%.
The low incidence of Lemierre's syndrome has not made it possible to set up clinical trials to study the disease.

Her infection was treated with weeks of antibiotics and she had to get blood thinner injections in her stomach twice a day by Daddy.

Today she is off of all medicine. She will continue to have an MRI done once a year to keep an eye on the blood clot that remains the same in her neck.

So this year I am Thankful.

Thankful for God's peace that passes ALL understanding that I had the entire time Genesis was in the hospital.

Thankful for the crazy amount of prayers from all over while we were going through this.

Thankful for all the support and love we received.
From Grace tagging along that first long day.
Aunt Trisha's bed and shower.
Tanya's phone call and Paula dropping off a much needed Dunkin doughnuts coffee.
April's nanny service.
Jill Coffey's text just checking on us and spreading the word for prayers.
The Jordan family making a long drive just to visit us.
The Bradley's many visits to help cheer Genesis up.
All the ladies from the homeschool co-op that blessed us with tons of coming home presents and a gas card to help with all the doctor visits.
Stephanie and the Moen's sweet generosity.
My family having Thanksgiving dinner out of styrofoam while sitting in camping chairs crammed in a small hospital room.

And this was just to name a few.

Thank you all from the bottom of my heart!

And thank you God, for your love. We don't deserve it.
Thank you for friends and family.
Thank you for peace in the storm.
Thank you for healing.

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