Parties and Beans...

Lily at Thomas's preschool party

Thomas ready for a cupcake...

Costume parade at preschool...

Is that a little "Bo Jackson?''

Sweet Big Bro...

Daddy and Lily at the church festival

Thomas ready to ride the pony...

Loving the pony rides...too cute

Lily eating re fried beans...She like them the last couple of times she ate them, but today she wasn't too fond of them...too funny!

In Sorrow...and Praise

I just received news that my friend's baby who was in the NICU with Lily, the only mom that I kept in touch with, lost his battle yesterday and went to be with the Lord. Words can't even express what I am feeling right now. This news has completely disturbed me to my core. Bringing back so many emotions that we went through while being in the NICU. It is such a tough place to be. Little RJ passed just two days shy of his first birthday, never leaving the hospital or getting to see his precious nursery that his parents designed just for him. I am aching inside and out for his parents pain right now. And selfishly I can't keep from thinking that could have been us. We could have had an even longer and tougher battle than we did. I quickly regret deeply all the times that I have complained about Lily waking up during the night, and being frustrated with her eating and vomiting and every other trivial matter that we have dealt with. Why? Why was God so gracious to us and saved our miracle baby to completion and not hers. I know these are normal questions to be asking as humans, but I also know as a believer, I will never know these answers and that I should be thankful. And believe me, as I was holding Lily when I received the news, I just shook. I couldn't hardly look at her, fearing what it might feel like for those parents. Thankful doesn't even begin to express what I feel. I honestly can't even complete a thought right now...Please be in prayer for RJ's parents and family and for those doctors and nurses that cared for him. Pray that even in their sorrow, joy will come in the morning and through their great loss God will be glorified and they will find a way to Praise Him through this Storm...To God be the Glory.

playgroup hayride

Going through the hay maze at steeplehill farm with our playgroup...

Lily on the hay ride...

Thomas riding the deer...

funny Lily on the hay...

going through the hay maze...

Lily and Mommy...

classic Thomas and Lily on the hay ride...

sweet Thomas checking out the animals...

all the kids on the hay ride...


This Wednesday our playgroup went to SteepleHill Farm for an hour long hay ride where we stopped along and saw several different animals and went through a hay maze. The kids had a blast and we had perfect beautiful weather. The farm was gorgeous and seeing all the beautiful tree leaves changing colors was such a welcomed sight. I didn't realize how much I have missed seeing the leaves change for the past 7 years. Love it!

Lily finally seems to be well and feeling good. She is constantly on the go and getting into everything! As I am typing this, she is pulling my magazines off the ottoman and tearing them to shreds so she can put it all in her mouth, ugh! That seems to be her new favorite hobby these days, putting small gross unidentified objects in her mouth! So gross!

Thomas continues to crack me up one moment and the very next moment he makes me want to scream! He is enjoying school and making some friends. He loves riding his skuut bike and we have had a few rough bike wrecks, but he is tough and gets right back up and keeps on riding.

Have a great weekend, enjoying this beautiful fall weather...

Lily at her first Auburn game/tailgate...sitting on the grass in front of Samford Hall...

Enjoying the view and hearing stories about Mommy and Daddy getting engaged at the top of Samford Hall...

My wonderful best friend L.A. drove from Tallahassee, FL with one of her daughters and husband to visit with us for the day in Auburn...We had such a good time, and it was sooo good to see them!

Didi and Lily at the tailgate...

Thomas resting after playing football at the tailgate...

sweet Lily...

Oh yea...the family pose, gotta have one!

Future Auburn football player...checking out where he will be entering and leaving Jordan Hare!

Famous Auburn van...drives around campus on game days playing the fight song and has been at this tailgate spot as long as I can remember...

We were so excited to get to take the kids to Auburn for a game day!! Greg has taught Thomas to wake up on Saturday and immediately say, "It's game day." So, Thomas was really excited to be going to Auburn. My best friend and roommate at Auburn, L.A. and her family drove up for the day to visit. We had a great time walking around campus and seeing all the changes, improvements they have made since we were in school there. So pretty and sooo much fun to be there again! We loved it! But of course, it wouldn't be an Auburn game if it didn't rain. Right before we were going to go to Tiger Walk, it started to storm and poor down rain. So we decided to pack it up and take the kids home. I really hated that Thomas didn't get to see Aubie or the Eagle fly. Thomas even "called" Aubie on his fake cell phone and I heard him say, "I just thought you were going to be there, Aubie." So cute, and sad. We will just have to go back again soon!

Fall update

Lily on her birthday in B'ham with the cake the hospital gave her when she was born...don't worry, we didn't eat it!!

Lily and her number one balloon!

Lily

Thomas having fun on the firetruck at a fall festival

Ok, so it has been awhile since I last posted, sorry. September was a crazy, busy month! Besides celebrating Lily's first birthday, we also visited family and friends for a week in B'ham, took the kids to an Auburn game, played at the lake and tended to a sick baby Lily. We also left Lily for the first time and Thomas for the weekend with my Mom, step dad, and sister Shelby so that Greg and I could go meet some friends in Knoxville for the Auburn game. It was a little hard to leave but once we were gone there was no turning back!! We had a great time and it was a much needed get away with some wonderful old friends!

Lily was sick for the very first time. We were so glad and actually a bit surprised that she made it this long without picking up something. She has had an ongoing ear infection for the past two weeks and this past week went back to the doc for wheezing. After our second antibiotic and some breathing treatments she is doing much better. We are all finally sleeping in our own beds and sleeping through the night again, yea! At her last doctor's appt. she weighed 14 lbs 7 oz. She had a lost a little after not eating as much and throwing it all up for awhile. She is now eating much much better, which is a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. I have been making her food and she seems to like it better, who would have thought??

She is lightening fast at crawling and very quiet so she can quickly disappear which is always a little scary! She seems happiest when she is pulling up and standing. She is getting more vocal and loud! This is probably a direct result of having a loud big brother! Speaking of Thomas, he is not too thrilled that Lily can crawl over to his beloved trains or any of his toys actually. We are struggling with teaching him to ask for help instead of just laying Lily out! There is no doubt she is very tough and will be fighting back very soon!!

Here are some random pictures taken over the past month. Hope you all are doing well. I will try and update more often. Have a great weekend!

Lily crawling...into everything!