Grandpa's Farewell

I've been neglecting the blog lately, but with good reason. We've had a lot going on and I'm still trying to catch up! On September 14th, my Grandpa passed away in St. Louis. He was very old and not in good health, so we were praying for him to get his wings.

When the time came, he went in peace, but the finality of his life was harder than I expected.  Maybe because I was so far away from my Dad and sister.  But, we celebrated the end of his pain and focused on the good memories and funny stories we all have.

The services for my Grandpa were in Somerset, Kentucky last Friday. So me and my road warriors hit the highway again! It was 805 miles, which took us about 13 hours getting up there and 12 hours coming home. Jackson did amazing the whole trip, again I have to thank Buzz Lightyear & Woody, and Sarah from the Land Before Time {do you remember that movie?}.

Since we were traveling such a long way, my dad decided to make it a whole weekend farewell to Grandpa. Dad rented a beautiful lake house on Cumberland Lake, so we could all stay together in one house. I can't tell you how much better this worked out, as opposed to staying in different hotel rooms.

We never spent much time in Somerset growing up, probably because there's not much to do there unless you farm cattle or corn. No offense to anyone who lives there! Seriously, there were cows in the front yard of the lake house, which was located at the end of a 3 mile road with corn fields on both sides.

The land was absolutely gorgeous and we soaked in as much of it's beauty as possible.  It's amazing how connected you feel to both the land and those around you when your cell phone has no signal and you can't pick up a wireless internet signal to save your life.  It was pretty awesome, expect for not being able to watch Grey's Anatomy with my sister.  We can't say we didn't try though, for an hour or more:)

After the funeral service, and Jackson's visit with Grandpa's angel {true story}, we spent the next couple of days sightseeing and visiting with family.  My dad's mom was born and raised in Somerset, so there were old farmhouses and land to explore were they once resided.

We also spent an afternoon at the Haney's Apple Farm, which is owned by cousins of ours.  Jackson got a special new airplane to remember the farewell weekend with and picked about 100 apples!

And of course, the trip wouldn't be complete if we came all that way and didn't go to the Cumberland Falls! Again, a beautiful sight that I had a lot of appreciation for now that I'm older.

I'd say that Grandpa's farewell was one that we'll all remember and one that Grandpa was certainly watching over.  Even the Preacher was a little taken back by Jackson's connection with "Harry".  I think I'll save that story for another post!

Did I mention that I got to love on my little diva for 3 days, and I was in heaven.  How could you not just eat this little girl to pieces?!?

Even Jackson simply adores her, or maybe it's just her pink bunny and little dolly that he loves so much...I guess time will tell;)

Read more...

Big Boy Bed Updates

Tried and true, Jackson has always followed a rule of three.  Any change in his schedule or routine means 3-days of hell before it sticks.  And just like that, on the 4th day, it becomes the new normal.

After converting Jackson's crib into his toddler bed, we had a few sleepless nights and multiple meltdowns {both toddler and momma}.  I won't go into the details of said meltdowns where this momma may have rearranged furniture in the middle of the night in attempts to turn walls into makeshift crib rails.  Or the morning we woke up and found Jackson asleep on the floor outside our bedroom door because he knew he'd be in trouble if he crossed our threshold one.more.time. 

Those 3 days seemed to last an eternity, but are now just days in our past.  That phase too has passed, and my baby is a little boy now more then ever.

Jackson climbs up in his bed and taps his fat little hand on his pillow to signal for me to lay with him a minute.  He certainly doesn't need me to lay with him, but his kind heart knows that his momma needs to lay with him.  And when he's had enough, he kisses me goodnight and politely rolls over as to say, okay you can leave now get out now momma!

And that's all we hear from him until the morning, when his sweet feet pitter-patter all the way to our room.

Sure there are still the rare nights that I find him curled up on the floor or with a random toy or two when I go in to peek on him, but those instances are fewer and fewer.

But, I have to say that last night's findings was the best one yet.  I had to play a little game of Where's Jackson? to find him under all of his friends. He went to bed with just two airplanes and his blankets...and some how Elmo and three puppies snuggled there way in!

  Someone was a very quiet, busy boy last night:)

Read more...

Gone Fishin'

It's taking me a while to get caught up on the blog. I feel like the summer slipped by and cannot believe football season and fall is here!

A few weekends ago my boys melted my heart way too early in the morning. I am not a morning person, but not even I could sleep through Mr. taking Jackson fishing. They both got up extra early and Mr. tried to be oh so sweet by taking Jackson fishin' in the backyard while letting me sleep in. But, when I heard what they were doing I rolled out of bed and in my groggy state I grabbed my camera and zoom lens...

I love being momma paparazzi incognito:)

Oh and I apologize to any neighbors who had to see me in my pj's, before coffee and brushing my teeth. Did I mention that I'm not a morning person!

Read more...

Geaux Tigers

We decided to sit out the opening LSU game in Dallas this year.  Mr. wasn't too happy about "our" decision, but with the new house and Jackson's health costs, we needed to just stay home. I was happy to save a pretty penny on tickets, and instead spent the money to host a party our house! I love an excuse to decorate the house and throw a party:) I'm pretty sure Mr. would agree the weekend was a win-win!

I just wish that I had precious pictures of the 5 grown men cheering on their tigers like it was Christmas morning, or the 5 toddler boys getting caught jumping on the bed, or the 2 sweet baby boys trying to keep up with their big brothers, or the little 6-week old cheerleader dreaming of her pom-poms, or the 4-day-old newborn wearing his purple and gold for the very first time.

Instead I had my momma juice in one had and a baby in the other, or a food tray, or a wooden spoon chasing around crazy 2-year-old boys up way past their bed time!

Yes, it would have been a slight to see:) Oh well, as least I snapped a few good shots before everything got started!

Geaux Tigers!

My favorite tailgate party dish would sadly never make it for the party, Jackson thought the football was real...

PB&J and Fruit Snacks for the little boys

Purple M&Ms and Yellow Jelly Beans for Sweets

The bar set up and ready for action!

Read more...

Test results...

Just a quick post to let everyone know that Jackson's immunology test results came back and everything was normal! While this is such wonderful news, it still means that we don't have the answers as to why he's always sick. But, we are overjoyed that there wasn't an underlying immune deficiency that was going undiagnosed.

Jackson is tolerating the antibiotics pretty well, even now that I'm dosing him correctly...momma fail moment last week when Mr. discovered I was only giving him 1/2 of the dose prescribed. I couldn't figure out why all three of Jackson's doctors were calling to check on him.  I knew the prescription was very aggressive, but I was shocked when we realized we were supposed to give it to him twice a day.  Now I know why everyone was so concerned, I thought it was a lot just once a day!

Anyway, we're dosing correctly now and have about 4.5 more weeks to go. We have decided to wait on allergy testing until Jackson's done with the antibiotics. I'd hate to put him through another test if his issues are because of an infection somewhere and not allergies!

I hope y'all are having a nice holiday weekend. We've enjoyed the blustery, raining weather from Tropical Storm Lee and have slept more hours than we've been awake! Jackson especially needed to catch up and rest his little body:)

More updates soon...

Read more...

Beach Bums x3

A couple of weekends ago my little family was lucky enough to go to the beach for a third time this summer. There is just something about the sand on my feet and the beach air against my skin that makes me feel alive. I cannot begin to tell you how much I needed this third trip!

Mr.'s mom planned a little getaway for herself, her sister-in-law, her step-daughter, and her two daughter-in-laws and three grandsons.  It was a perfect girls trip that made for some much needed bonding and connecting! Everyone went up for the entire week, but with my work schedule I couldn't sneak away until the last part of the week. 

After work on Wednesday, Mr. packed Jackson and me into my car and watched us drive away once again! Only our good-bye wasn't too bad since he and his brother planned on crashing the girl's trip the very next night:)

Jackson did amazing {thank you DVD player, Lightning McQueen, and Buzz Lightyear} despite the endless traffic and my excitement to get to the beach!

We woke up bright and early on Thursday and listened to the waves crash as we all sipped our coffee and watched the three boys trade cars, share Cheerio's, and test out their mightiest dinosaur roars! Then it was time for the beach.  I needed some sun on my face and sand in my toes:)

The big boys made it to the condo late Thursday afternoon and Mr.'s step-dad was able to meet us on Friday, so the girls trip actually turned into a family vacation at the beach!

The weather was beautiful and the sun was intense.  We had a wonderful time, which of course includes too much eating and drinking...and napping on floats:)

On our last night, we went back to Bud & Alley's at Seaside and I was reminded just how good God is.  We sat and laughed with family and watched the sun set.  And as I attempted to hold my oh so busy toddler, I realized that we were sitting at the same table Mr. and I sat during our "baby making" trip way back when.  Needless to say it was much, much later before we actually got pregnant - we were blissfully naive!

If you're lucky enough to be at the beach, you're lucky enough:)

Read more...