We're Home!

Josh was released from the hospital on Sunday, so we hopped in the car (well, Josh didn't do much hopping!) and made the drive home.  He's been doing great.  I was worried that it would be hard for him to find a place to sit that was comfortable for him, but he's sleeping on the couch as I type.  I'm so glad it's all over.  It was a very long, stressful and exhausting week but it's behind us now.  

My parents kept the girls all week and they're driving them back here today.  It's been 10 days since we've seen them!  They did great up in OKC, but everyone is saying that Anabelle is really missing us.  She doesn't really know why she's out-of-sorts, but starts to ask for us when she's really upset.  I can't wait to see them!

There have been a few really funny stories from the week- here are just a few.

Josh's sister Bethany and her family came to visit Josh in the hospital on Friday.  They have 3 kids and the oldest was asking where they were going.  Bethany tried to explain that Josh had surgery on his heart and the doctor fixed it.  Liam said, "Oh.  Did he have a lot of anger?"

My mom was changing sheets on one of the beds and Sarabeth walked in.  

Sarabeth:  What you doing, Nana?

Nana:  I'm taking sheets of the bed to wash them, and then put clean ones on.

Sarabeth:  Why?  Did someone pee on them?

It's things like that that helped us get through the week.  Even though it hurts Josh to laugh, it's been good for him.

Thank you all again for your prayers, emails, notes etc.  We're SO blessed to have such wonderful friends and family!

The recovery.

Thank you all for your prayers for Josh during this time. It has been a long and exhausting week, but the Drs are pleased with how he's doing. There have been many ups and downs over the past few days, and I anticipate that's not over just yet. He was in ICU overnight on Monday night and moved to a room Tuesday evening. No word yet of when we might be headed home. At this point he really needs encouragement as much as anything. I was optimistic this morning b/c he got some sleep last night and had been in a good mood, but the day hasn't proved to be great so far. Hopefully that will change quickly. He needs a good day.

Josh's Surgery

Many of you may know, but Josh is having surgery tomorrow.  His cardiologist found a congenital heart defect about 8 weeks ago that needs to be repaired.  Without going into all the medical details, they're replacing a restriction in his aorta.  The surgery is open chest, but not open heart.  We'll be down in Houston for about a week (hoping to come back by Sunday Dec. 21st) and then he'll have an extensive recovery at home.  We would appreciate your prayers during this time, and thank you so much to those who have already been so helpful to our family.  I'll put an update online after he's out of surgery and recovering.

Other than that, I probably won't be online much over the next few weeks.  So, on a much happier note, Merry Christmas to you all!

She did it again.

You may remember a story I posted back in June telling about Sarabeth climbing up her dresser & it falling over on top of her.  Well, we put her dresser in the closet with a child-proof door knob cover to ensure that wouldn't happen again.  There's still a dresser in Anabelle's room though.  Yesterday the girls were playing upstairs and had been in Anabelle's room for a  few minutes.  I was just outside the door and heard a crash followed by shrieking.  I run in to find Sarabeth pinned underneath Anabelle's dresser.  I picked everything up off her as fast as I could and Josh ran in to get her.  Two of the drawers were broken into pieces and the dresser isn't salvageable.  Poor Anabelle was standing in the background crying (completely untouched by the dresser) but scared nonetheless.  Through it all, Sarabeth has one tiny bruise on her leg.  That's all.  The Lord was really protecting her (the dresser was loaded to the gills!) and I'm so thankful she's not hurt.  I guess I should have learned the first time around- I'm sorry, Sarabeth!!

Pictures

Just some fun pictures from the last week or 2.

A New Week

I'm thrilled to be able to post some good things, and I apologize for the negativity of my last post.  It had been a very hard week!  The great news is that we're doing much much better and had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We hosted this year and we were thrilled to be able to do so.  Unfortunately I didn't get pictures of any people, just of the table and Josh's delicious cake (yes, he really did make it himself!)  Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Series of Events

We've been living out the expression "when it rains, it pours."  One thing after another after another.  

Monday: Josh & I are in Houston for the day, drive home and are very tired from the long trip.

Tuesday: Toilet in the master bathroom overflows, flooding bathroom and closet.  Baseboards start peeling away from the wall.

Wednesday: A wonderful day- Josh & I went to see Cold Play in Dallas and had a blast.  And oh yeah, Sarabeth colored the walls in the playroom, hallway, her room, and Anabelle's room with a purple crayon.

Thursday (1am): I get the flu. (We were supposed to drive to OKC with the girls for a friend's wedding, but obviously that didn't happen)

Friday: Recovering from the flu.

Saturday (3am): Anabelle gets the flu.

Saturday (8am): Sarabeth gets the flu.

And that's where we are now.  The girls & I are feeling much better and they're playing for the first time today.  Sorry for the complaining, but I hope I've made you feel better about your week.  This at least explains why I haven't been on the computer much this week ;)

One week later...

Well, exactly one week after the her tumble out of the chair, Sarabeth hit her head again in the very same spot.  The bruise was turning a nice greenish yellow color, but now the black & blue has returned.  Fun fun.  To top it off, Anabelle was feeling left out.  She fell head first out of a little red wagon and now has a beautiful matching forehead.  I feel myself getting looks from strangers when I'm out in public with the girls.  I guess that's the nature of having a 1 year old and 2 year old.  Maybe next time I post something the girls will be without bruises.

OUCH!

It's rare that I post twice in one day, so you know this has to be good.  For starters, Josh is out of town so it's just the girls for a while.  We've had a great day- lots of laughing and smiles (a welcome hiatus from the recent screaming and tantrums!) and the 3 of us were eating dinner.  The girls finished and I was in the pantry getting them each one piece of halloween candy.  For the record, I've been sacrificing my personal temple by eating most of the candy so they can grow up healthy and have only one piece a day.  I know, martyr.  Anyway, I'm picking out candy and I hear a huge thud followed immediately by screams.  Sarabeth had fallen out of her chair and her forehead landed straight on the windowsill.  She's had some good bumps on her head over the last 2 1/2 years, but I think this one might take the cake.  (she's fine now, by the way)  Nothing like halloween candy to take the sting out of a head injury!

Halloween

We had a darling butterfly and leopard at our house on Halloween (you may remember the butterfly costume from last year).  When I figure out how to load video I'll put some of them trick-or-treating around the neighborhood.  They had a blast!

TCU homecoming

One of the things we've been enjoying since moving back to DFW is being close to TCU.  Josh has been to every home game so far this season and I go with him when I can get a babysitter :)  This weekend was homecoming, and we decided to take the girls with us.  Neither of them have anything purple, so naturally I went and got them both cheerleading outfits.  We made it through half of the game and actually went pretty well.  I didn't remember to take the camera out until we got home (by then they'd about had enough!) but I tried to make them smile anyway!

Pumpkin Patch

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...

5 years and counting

On Saturday Josh & I celebrated our 5 year anniversary.  I can't believe it's been that long, but at the same time I can't believe it's only been 5 years.  I don't remember what it was like before I was a wife, and now a mother also.  I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful, supportive, loving husband and couldn't ask for anything more.

Facelift

I got bored with the polka dots and decided to change things up a bit on the 'ol blog.  Hope it didn't throw you off...  :)

Weekend in OKC

Josh, the girls and I went up to Oklahoma City for the weekend.  A friend of mine from high school was having a wedding shower (oh yeah, TCU was playing OU on Saturday also.)  Even though TCU didn't have a great time in Oklahoma, we really enjoyed our visit.  My parents and I took the girls over to John & Susan's house for dinner on Saturday while Josh cheered on the Horned Frogs in Norman.  For those of you who might not know, my girls are animal lovers.  John and Susan have a great dane (horse) who is sweet, gentle, and very patient with children.  Here are some pictures of my fearless 1 year old and considerably more cautious 2 1/2 year old with Caesar.

Anabelle trying to kiss Casear.

He's a little bigger than Maverick.

I'll stay back here, thanks.

This dog just isn't as much fun.

Anabelle with John & Susan

Thanks to the wonderful chefs who got Sarabeth to eat (and enjoy!) lamb chops for the first time.  Truly amazing!

Pictures

Thanks to my sweet (and imac savvy) sister-in-law Kristen, I've figured out how to upload pictures to snapfish once again.  I've spent the past 2 days uploading, organizing, and ordering pictures from the last 3 months.  Here are a few I came across in the process. 

Sarabeth ready for school

Squeals of delight

Rub-a-dub-dub 5 cousins in the tub

The girls with OG & Nana

Sarabeth & Papa

The girls with Lucas (March 2008)

A good old fashioned game of peek-a-boo!

The BEST seat in the house!

The girls & daddy on Father's Day

Am I ok?

That is Sarabeth's new phrase.  "Am I OK?"  When she's fallen down or bumped into something and she's not really hurt, she'll say, "Am I OK Mommy?"  What she really wants is for me to say, "Sarabeth, are you OK?"  So I ask her, and she says, "yeah" almost as a sigh of relief knowing that she could have gotten hurt, but didn't (and that I acknowledged the severity of her almost-injury!)

Oh, to be inside the mind of a 2 year old.

First Day of School

I started Sarabeth in a Mother's Day Out program this year.  She's going one day a week and is doing great!  Her first day was last week and I, of course, took pictures to document the occasion!  I ordered a little backpack, lunch box, and napmat online and it hadn't come in time for her first day (which is why her lunch is in a JCrew bag!) but she was darling none the less.  She was WIRED the morning of her first day, and her pictures are goofy to prove it.  I'll post some of her with her new little backpack when I get them.                                                                         

Smiling and ready for the first day of school!

I get mom all to myself today!!!

 Being silly. 

If you won't look at me, I won't look at you.

Popeye with her lunch.

Now, you may be wondering where the pictures of her at school are...I took the camera to her classroom in hopes of getting her picture in the room, with her teacher, or something like that.   When we got to the door of her room she went straight in an never looked back.  I tried to say bye, but she was already so happily involved with the toys that I decided to leave well enough alone.  No reason to make her upset just to take a picture, right?  (Even though I wish I had taken the picture!)