Please Don't Touch

I have attached a link to a BLOG that I follow. The post is titled "Please Don't Touch". I think this Mom said it all......

Click here to read her BLOG.

Germs are dangerous to these little ones and we have to be careful about touching hands AND feet (since Anna Grace puts her feet in her mouth too). Thanks for being mindful of this :)

Climbing..... Yes - I said Climbing!

So, just a few weeks ago I shared with you that Anna Grace was crawling. Since then she has learned to crawl over to the coffee table and Zachary's train table and pull herself up. There is not much she can't get into these days. So yesterday, I came into the living room to discover the latest adventure. Yes - it looks like our little one is now actually climbing. I think some serious child proofing is in order. I've been trying to wait until we get into our new house (November maybe?) before actually doing the serious childproofing since we're not planning on being in this house much longer - but, perhaps it's time don't you think? It's really pretty awesome. I am excited that she is learning and discovering new things each day. My kids are a blessing and I am thankful :) P.S. - My house does actually look this messy everyday. I pick up each evening and then by 9:00 am it looks like this again. Before kids this would have driven me crazy and now it's just a beautiful mess don't you think?

Broken Hearts

Thought this was beautiful. It brought me to tears.

Click Here

Blankie... We love you!

So... when I was a little girl I had a "blankie" - actually it was a pillowcase that I caried around and it's name was "Sluckie". I loved my blankie very much and to this day have very fond memories of my Sluckie. So, naturally when i had children of my own they got blankies too. Zachary's blankie is called "Blankie" although recently he has taken to calling him "Blue Blankie". Anyway, he is a HUGE part of Zachary's life therefore he is a HUGE part of my life. I don't mind that he has a blankie and honestly don't care if he carries him around with him until he's 20 - although I think the attachment will probably resolve itself once he starts school as it did with me. So, since Zachary has a blankie Anna Grace has to have one too. I am really glad that she has a blankie. Her blankie was given to her from someone that I didn't even know as a baby gift before she was even born. It has been at the hospital with her through both open heart surgeries and it now sleeps with during every nap and bedtime. So, without any further introductions - may I introduce to you "Blue Blankie" and Anna Grace's blankie (who does not yet have a name)!

Anna Grace - September 18

Today's adventure took me and the kids to Nivens Apple Farm. Brian has been at the new house all day laying tile. I think we had more fun than him today!


Getting ready to go!



All Zachary wanted to do was drive the tractor! FFA, maybe????


Look how big we are!


Zachary was enjoying his first "Cow Tail" - it's a candy that's chewy and YUMMY!


Yes, we're back at the tractor!


Still more tractor....



Whew....Mommy took me out of the backpack to crawl around and play!

Anna Grace - September 16

We've had a pretty busy week this week. Zachary started swim lessons last week and he LOVES them. He takes them on Monday & Wednesday mornings so he's been twice this week. He is SO enthusiastic and is really doing great with swimming. We've also hit the park 3 times this week so we've been ON THE GO! Today we're having a queit morning at home - mostly because Anna Grace needed a good nap and I needed to get some laundry done. I wore dirty shorts to Church last night because the clean shorts I was wearing got Gerber Baby Food Peas split all over them - don't ask - so I just put the ones on that I wore on Tuesday. Yep, I sure did. Needless to say, laundry was in order today. Since we've been running so much this week it was nice just to stay home and chill.

Anna Grace had a rough night last night. I'm thinking that she occasionally has "Night Terrors" or "Nightmares" - she wakes up sometimes just screaming and can't be soothed. It's terrible. It doesn't happen often but when it does it's bad. She was restless all through the night last night, but seems to be fine today. I hoping that just taking it easy today will help some.

I am charging the battery in my camera today so once it's charged I'll try to upload some pictures to the BLOG from our adventures.

Just an update on Baby Bowen - they are trying to wean him off life support - please be praying for him during this transition.

Simul Iusus et Peccator

That title came across my subject line this morning while opening up my email browser. What does it mean? It means this:

"At the same time righteous and a sinner"

See below a confession by John Nox regarding this:

"We confess and acknowledge that the law of God is most just, equal, holy, and perfect, commanding those things which, when perfectly done, can give life and bring man to eternal felicity; but our nature is so corrupt, weak, and imperfect, that we are never able perfectly to fulfill the works of the law. Even after we are reborn, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth of God is not in us. It is therefore essential for us to lay hold on Christ Jesus, in his righteousness and his atonement, since he is the end and consummation of the Law and since it is by him that we are set at liberty so that the curse of God may not fall upon us, even though we do not fulfill the Law in all points. For as God the Father beholds us in the body of his Son Christ Jesus, he accepts our imperfect obedience as if it were perfect, and covers our works, which are defiled with many stains, with the righteousness of his Son. We do not mean that we are so set at liberty that we owe no obedience to the Law--for we have already acknowledged its place--but we affirm that no man on earth, with the sole exception of Christ Jesus, has given, gives, or shall give in action that obedience to the Law which the Law requires. When we have done all things we must fall down and unfeignedly confess that we are unprofitable servants. Therefore, whoever boasts of the merits of his own works or puts his trust in works of supererogation, boasts of what does not exist, and puts his trust in damnable idolatry."

- John Knox, Scots Confession 15

above photo by John Dearstyne..

Couch Crawling

Pray for Baby Bowen

Please pray for Baby Bowen. He is the newborn son of a member of the Christian Band Sanctus Real. He has Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome - very similar condition to Anna Grace's and he had his Norwood surgery on Monday. Bowen is not doing well and is on full life support. Please pray for Bowen and his parents. Thank you.

(Click on Bowen's highlighted name to a link to his website for more info).

Please pray for this baby

There is a Mom & baby in the PCICU down in Charleston whose BLOG I've been following. The baby has HLHS and has been in the PCICU for nearly 3 months now. Below is an excerpt from her BLOG from last night in the middle of the night. I don't know who the baby is she is talking about, but please pray for this baby. Please pray for the Lord to send someone to care for this sweet baby. This breaks my heart. Lord, please send someone!


Excerpt for the BLOG:

While I am sitting here, I can hear other babies crying off an on. There is one baby in particular that I feel so very sad for. I am not sure how long he has been here, but since I have been here he has never had a family member come to his bedside. When Mason is asleep and I am just sitting here I hear him crying and wish I could just go over there and pick him up. The nurses have been comforting him. They all seem to go to him when he cries whether it is their patient or not. If they aren’t busy they go in and hold him. It is so sad to know he isn’t feeling his parents touch. I don’t know what the circumstances are but I am going to say a prayer for him tonight for healing and hopefully being reunited with his parents.

Anna Grace - September 11

We've had a busy week. This week Anna Grace has started pulling herself up on the coffee table and Zachary's train table. She is quite pleased with herself when she does it. She loves destroying Zachary's train track and destroying the whole Thomas town we have set up on the train table - Godzilla stirkes again! Today she started taking a few steps as she's holding onto the table - I told her she can't do that, she's just a baby - she's not listening to me. I've had to start putting her in the exersaucer to keep her contained when I have things to do in the kitchen and stuff because she won't stay in one place. She wants so very much to keep up with her big brother and he wants so very much for her to leave him alone! It can be a little difficult at times, but honestly it makes me so happy to see her being so active.

Also, I want to tell you that I was able to go to a Bible Study at Church on Wednesday night. Brian stayed home with the kids. The study is called "Knowing God" by JI Packer. I'm so excited to be a part of this for so many reasons. It's a discussion class and I think I dominated the conversation on Wednesday night. I couldn't help myself... I was out amongst grownups having grownup conversation and I just couldn't stop talking. I'm hoping the group will just humor me as I haven't been out of the house for 9 months now. It's exciting! I am thankful!

True Freedom

3 minute clip of Ligon Duncan speaking on human freedom.

Thank You's

Inspired by a friend's BLOG to send thank you notes I prayed about who I should send thank you notes to. The Lord really laid on my heart to send thank you notes to Anna Grace's doctors. We have been so blessed with doctors who truly care for our daughter - they are not only intelligent and talented but also compassionate.

I started thinking about Anna Grace's surgeon, Dr. Bradley. He's at the hospital most everyday. Even on weekends just to check on his patients. His family must miss him on Saturdays and Sundays when he makes rounds. It must be hard to make plans with friends when you're at the hospital every weekend. He has surgery cases everday. He starts his surgeries early. I wonder what time he must get up in the morning to get to the hospital to start a 7:00 am or 7:30 am surgery. Then, the physical demands that an 8 or 9 hour surgery must make on his body. There's no way he breaks away for a "lunch break" when there's a 7 day old baby on heart lung bypass in front of him. It must be as emotionally taxing a job as it is physically taxing. He is special to us and we are thankful to him.

Anna Grace's cardiologist, Dr. R - when I was still expecting Anna Grace he would come to the high risk OB's office to pay us "social visits" because he knew we didn't have maternity insurance. He didn't do that because we were so fun to hang out with, it was because before our daughter was even born he cared about her well being. What a blessing he was to us then and still is to us today - keeping such a close eye on Anna Grace's developing heart.

Anna Grace's pediatrician, Dr. Y - he makes special arrangements for us to enter his office through the back door and go directly into a "well baby" room so we NEVER have to wait in the waiting room or check out. He has also told us on numerous occasions that he and his children pray for our daughter regularly. We are so blessed to have a doctor who sees our baby as an individual who has special needs and is willing to do whatever it takes for her.

I really could go on and on. I felt compelled to share a little bit of my thoughts with my BLOG readers about my thankfulness to Anna Grace's doctors. It doesn't take long to write a note of thanks and I honestly should have done it before now. I'm glad that my friend BLOG'd about thank you notes :)

pARK pLAY

Fun time this morning at the park....

Anna Grace - September 4

Friday morning we had a fun playdate at Hatcher Gardens with some friends. You may remember me mentioning Hatcher Gardens before, it is a botanical garden here in town and a place we love to frequent. Our friends met us there and the kids had fun playing together and exploring the numerous trails. We were able to have about an hour and a half together before I had to head home for Anna Grace's nap time. It was a pretty hot day that day, but the kids handeled it beautifully!

Hatcher Gardens with Friends


Saturday morning Zachary went to work at the new house with Daddy for a couple hours to let me get a few things done around the house during Anna Grace's morning nap (and for some Zachary and Daddy bonding time)! Saturday afternoon Mommy got brave and took the kids hiking at Milliken Park. It was so much fun - the weather was just about perfect and both kids did great for me. We were all tired and in need of a bath when we got home, but SOOOOOOO worth it. I just LOVE hiking!

We're about to set off on our hike!


Little boys LOVE the water!


Isn't it beautiful!


Zachary would throw the pinecone into the creek and follow them as the water carried them down to the lake.


Crawling around on the blanket while brother played!

Anna Grace - September 3

We headed out this morning about 8:30 am up to Landrum again. We had to stop by and pick up a permit at the City Hall which happened to be right down the road from the park that Zachary loves. So we were able to go to the park and play for about an hour. Since it was so early in the morning there were no other children there to play with, but I think he still had fun and he was able to run out some energy. I forgot to whip out my camera at the park this morning so no park pics today.

After we got home we played puzzles for a little while. After I took Zachary's picture HE wanted to use the camera so I let him take this picture of me and Anna Grace, pretty good huh?





So this evening after dinner and bath I put Anna Grace on the floor in the living room with some toys to play with and Zachary was in the living room as well playing on the computer. I was walking around the house picking up the toys that were littered everywhere and putting laundry away and those types of things when I hear Zachary yell from the living room, "Mom, you need to come in here. There's trouble". What is he talking about..... is what I was thinking. I walked into the living room and our Anna Grace had figured out how to crawl over to Zachary's TV tray where his snack was and she had dumped it all onto the floor.

There were three different emotions going on at that moment. (1) Happiness - Anna Grace was so happy.... she was smooshing her little hands in the food and quite pleased with herself. (2) Not Happy - Zachary was NOT happy that she had gotten his food and was now playing in it. (3) Amazement - I was amazed that my little baby who just two months ago was having open heart surgery is now a CRAWLER! Yep... she just turned 8 months old a few days ago and she is crawling. I have added a little video clip of our crawler here for you to see as well.



Yep, that's definately crawling. Another HUGE milestone reached today. Developmentally she is right on target which is just a miracle considering all that she has been through. Now... I'll need to start picking up all those little toys that Zachary has that I haven't really been too concerned about. The choking hazards are everywhere!!!!

Anna Grace - September 2

Tuesday we went to storytime at the library and Zachary did a little better this time. He participated in the activites and played with another little boy there about his age. It was fun. Anna Grace did well sitting on her blanket during the stories and dancing. She never fussed or cried while we were there - which is always a good thing when you're at the library! (I forgot to take my camera so no libryary pics, sorry!)

Tuesday afternoon we headed to Happy Hollow Park. There weren't any kids there to play with so Zachary was a little disappointed, but he had to settle for just playing with Mom and Anna Grace. Not NEARLY as much fun as playing with other kids!

(Happy Hollow Park - Little Monkey)


(Happy Hollow Park - Climbing UP the Slide)


(Happy Hollow Park - Happy Baby)


Wednesday afternoon took us to McMillan Park. Unfortunatley there are no shade trees at McMillan Park so we played there about 5 minutes before we were all too hot to stay. Fortunatley, the park is surrounded by woods and trees so I grabbed a blanket that I had conveniently stashed in the trunk of my car, some sippy cups of water, some play toys and we headed to the shade of the trees. There are always fun things for little boys to do in the woods - tree climbing, throwing rocks, picking up sticks. Anna Grace had fun just playing on the blanket. There was even a pretty decent breeze so it felt quite nice in the shade. Our fun was disturbed when Zachary yelled, "I HAVE TO GO POOP!!!!!!". It was time to wrap it up and head home!







We've had lots of fun hitting the parks this week. We'll see where tomorrow takes us......