Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Who's getting older?



It's a big year for my husband as he turns 60!  
He's spending it in one of his favorite places, the beach!  

Once we get all set up, he relaxes and reads a magazine.  


Jack kindly offers daddy a birthday kiss!  


This man just gets better with time! He laughs in the face of aging said to me the other day I'm going to be 60!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

I'm thankful to God for Russell's life and to his parents for raising him to be the man he is today.  He's a special man.......old......but very special!  

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I also have a son with the same birthday.  Paul turns 41 this year.........I think I was 4 when he was born.


Happy Birthday, son!  

God's richest blessings and the happiest of years to you both!  


Thursday, August 25, 2011

Join me......



Join me today over at Mercy Uganda and meet Henry Mello, our Ugandan Director, here on his first trip to America.

Monday, August 22, 2011

OH, well.......




My husband planned a surprise trip to the beach for us starting this weekend.......to lift my spirits.....then we saw this.  

Rejoice in all circumstances

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Just a little Saturday talk....


Time is still flying around here!




It actually started last week with a great visit from some friends who brought their children to swim.  One of the things I love is watching children playing happily in the pool.....and if you ever talk to my husband be sure to remind him because he'd just as soon fill it in....YIKES!





Isn't this a sweet picture of them all about to jump in together. ....well, some of the little ones just stayed on the deck.




It was a fun morning of swimming and catching up.

The next night we had a overnight visit from some friends that we also don't see so often.

Carol came over to see them all Maddie.  She's adored that sweet girl since she was born.


Can't leave out Charlie and mother Nikki and of course the dogs!


I got my hugs too


They had so much fun in the pool, even got Jack on the float....that was really something!


Eventually Charlie was tired and snuggled up with Mikey to watch a little tv.


While sister Maddie was getting her hair combed out.....tangles you know!


 We had a fun time and hope it won't be so long until we see them again.....next time with Don!



We finally found a day when three of us long term friends could get out and have some fun.  We got pedicures....


We had dinner at a little place downtown @Zachary's.  It was good food and we laughed about everything.
We finally told the waiter that we'd leave if he would take out picture and I sure wish I had been sitting up straight!


I'll bet most of you couldn't take a night of such wildness!

David had a birthday!  My thirty four year old loves chicken enchiladas so we had a small dinner with David and his wife Arwen and Matt.  It was small.....stepdaughter, Devin had to work and hubby had a meeting.  We had a good time anyhow!

David showing off his birthday cookie cake.


Arwen and David


David and mama


Arwen and David again.....they are our newly weds and seem very happy.




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I think there should probably be a drum roll here.  I made Russell a Facebook page as a joke......you know so that he could write sweet things to me without actually having to think up and write them himself.

Well, apparently, I didn't fill out his info to his satisfaction so the man who was never having anything to do with fb was sitting in bed straightening out his page!  I had to laugh out loud!

The dogs were highly outraged because he's supposed to play with them at bedtime!


Finally, last night we took MIL over to Destin to have her very late birthday dinner.  We had a good time and a great meal.


That about ends this round of busyness. I want to slow down just for a few minutes.

Have a wonderful Sunday tomorrow.  I hope you are all attending worship somewhere!  Maybe we'll see you there!

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

An old timer birth story


O.K. it's official.......there are just too many birthdays when you have a big family.  So, from now on I'll try not to do one every time I turn around.  I'm thinking about just doing a few every year and change them up, but today since birth stories are popular on the young mother blogs, I thought I'd write a birth story.......from an old mom, cause things were VERY different in the old days.

Today is David's birthday, his 34th, which means he was born in the last half of the 70's and Lamaze was all the rage.  Please keep the word rage in mind for later.

We already had one child and I longed for another.  Lost one to miscarriage when my first, Paul, was about  4.  Kept trying and watching it seemed like every other woman in the universe announce their pregnancies and all the excitement that went along with all that.  Going to baby showers and acting happy and actually was happy for that girl, just so dreadfully sad for us.

My kids are seven years apart so it seemed like an eternity before I even started some kind of fertility treatment.......I took clomid for a year before becoming pregnant.  Every time I went into the doctor's office, I would sit among a sea of pregnant women.  They were happy, chatting about names and baby showers and such.  I was usually buried in a book, not really reading just trying to hide the tears that just would not stop.

For years, every time I was mad at David, my mother would smile and say.......you took fertility drugs to get him!  

Finally, I was pregnant.  Wow...I had decided it wasn't going to happen, but at long last I was actually pregnant.  I think I started wearing maternity clothes when I was two weeks pregnant, that's how exciting it was.  I felt pretty good, never having had morning sickness with my first child I didn't have it this time either. I was however, very tired.

As the last trimester was coming to an end, the doctor told me to go home and stay in bed for the weekend and meet him at the hospital Monday morning to be induced because my blood pressure was becoming dangerously high and I had a history of severe pre eclampsia with my first child.  I was not a happy mama. I wanted to do this all the natural way.  It was my mother earth phase and it didn't last long.

We spent the weekend with my parents so I could stay in bed and Monday morning we headed off to the hospital.  I got all hooked up to the pitocin drip and about that time another woman came in 8 centimeters dilated so I was left to my own devices while they went to deliver a baby.  I immediately had a contraction that lasted and lasted and lasted, didn't hurt but my stomach was tight and I knew it was a contraction.  I had taken lamaze you remember!

By the time the nurse finally returned, she announced excitedly why you're already contracting!
We explained that I had been contracting since they first hooked up the pitocin drip and she said way too calmly well, lets just turn this off for a little while.  I thought nothing of it at the time, except that the doctor came in and took a look at me and said all was well and they started the drip again.

After a long and painful day of totally unnatural goings on, they came to take me to delivery at 2 p.m  A nurse leaned over and said do you think you want a spinal?  To which I hysterically replied How much longer can this go on?????  Another nurse, said honey, don't do it.....so I didn't and thankfully David was born at 2:08 p.m.

Remember what the doctor told me in the beginning of all this that labor was like pressure?????  Well I was sure in a rage about this time since I thought I was probably going to die and I knew it was a very painful death!  About the time he walked in to catch deliver David, I reached over and grabbed his arm and squeezed......I said This is pressure, what I'm having is NOT pressure, it's agony.  He just smiled, looked at my husband and stated .......you know men couldn't do this.  I'm thinking men wouldn't do this.

But in just a few minutes, when they held David up for me to see, it was all forgotten and I was crying tears of joy.

My 7 lb. 3 3/4 oz. boy was in the world.  If he had weighed that extra 1/4 oz. he may not have ever come out!  :)  Now, a few hours after birth, he began having seizures and so we had lots of tests which ended up stating "birth trauma"....but you know what I'm thinking don't you?  That way too long contraction with that baby's head pushing down on those bones?  Yea, that's my theory.  The seizures gradually went away and all was well until he started school. 


Oh, one thing he hates for me to leave out is that nursing was a breeze for him.  So much so that he nursed for 2 years and 3 months.  Did I mention I was in my mother earth phase?

So here are a few pictures of him through the years.....I actually tried to upload a lot more pictures, but for some reason I couldn't!  Blah.

It was a lot of work finding pictures to scan in for this blog and yes, there is a story to that too.  When Russell and I got married, we had boxes and boxes of pictures.  I started sorting them to put in albums, but it just got to be too much, so I just stuck pictures in the albums helter skelter.  As a result nothing is in any kind of order.  I had to pull all the albums down the shelves needed dusting anyhow to find some pictures for this post.  Oh, dear!!



And now I have to put them all back again!


This was after my six week check up and I thought I was skinny again.  I couldn't breathe in that skirt!


Big brother taking a turn rocking his new little baby


Poor daddy, his eyes were half closed, but look at David's expression.  He looks scared of his grandpa!




I think this was David's 5th birthday......maybe the only one he had someplace other than home or grandparent's pool.  He had a wonderful time at this party.  He's sitting here with his cousin Kim, who sadly died several years ago.



David the adventurer


David at Petticoat Junction


At a cousin's party.......obviously more extravagant than our parties


I'm thinking this may have been birthday #16


 Couldn't keep his fingers out of the icing!


More birthday celebrations in no particular order




Brothers




This year he has a new wife and daughter to celebrate with!


Happy Birthday David.  We all love you!  But especially mama!

Saturday, August 6, 2011

I need to go back.....


before I can go forward!

Our youngest grandchild had a birthday.....which I did write about.....but he also had a party....which I now want to write about..... because it was so much fun!

Tommy and Claudia put a lot of thought and work into Charley's first birthday party.  They had paint centers, bubbles, a little pool set up.....grilling hamburgers with all the trimmings....you get the point, set up to be great!
They are still very close to most of their high school friends and it was so nice that a lot of them were able to be there.

Claudia's mama had come a few days ahead to help her get ready.  What would any of us do without our mama's???



The Friday night before his party, we were all anxiously waiting for the birthday boy to wake up but for a while we thought this was the only way he was going to participate in his pre - party!  He was just so tired but finally got up and we enjoyed some time with him.



Charley shares his birthday with his great grandma, Mema, below with Claudia our sweet dil and Charley's mama!


Meme and Mema



They had set up canopies just in case and it was a good thing because it started out raining right about party time.  Everyone handled it great and we all had a good time in spite of that little glitch and at some point it turned to just a light mist.
Meanwhile, the cooking went on as scheduled!


Uncle Matt and the two grand dad's


Granddaddy with Charley


Mema watching as Charley plays with his friend


Daddy cooking


Meme and Charley play all around the yard....several times!


Uncle Collis joins them


Hot and wet, they still look great and so happy


Uncle Matt bringing Nana a little something cool to drink


Time for birthday cake.....oh, yea!  Just a little snack of fruit before the sugar rush


Dig in




Poor Roscoe gets absolutely no respect.  If you notice Uncle Matt in the background laughing hysterically as friend Patrick puts Roscoe in the kitchen






Now that you're a year old......


Friends


and more friends


This party stuff is starting to be fun



Jessie got the prize for the most thought out gift.....I would tell you all he had in the bag, but ummmmm, I forgot!


Meme brought the cross stitch she made for Claudia when she was a baby


Pappy playing with a gift bag and Charley


Friends...


Nana and Meme with Charley


Charley loved his bags!  Just goes to show a child will always choose the box or bag to play with in the end


That is until he finds the little car Granddaddy brought him.  I heard there was a lot of fun surrounding putting this little thing together, but that's just a rumor!






And these pictures?  These are just the looks of a delighted and delightful birthday boy!





Happy Birthday Charley!