Picture Post Installment #1

So I cleaned off my camera yesterday and came across some great pictures from the last month. Although I do have a ton to blog about, you know because being in the hospital is so interesting and all, but I'll save them. Therefore...promising a return to full time blogging. At least an honest try.

So, here's our last month in pictures. However, it's really backwards in pictures. Like the first one is the most recent. The rest....never mind. Enjoy!

My Sweet Baby Girl is 5 months old! This I can NOT believe. It seems like just yesterday we were fighting the battle of colic and walking around like zombies. Those were the hardest days and I don't wish colic on anyone. Now that we are past that, she is the most delightful baby. She's really starting to take to her daddy as well! This is so fun to watch since she literally despised him for quite some time! She's smiling, cooing, a laugh here and there, and just recently learned to roll over. Recently as in 5:00 this morning. She was not happy in her crib on her back. Yes, for the record, my daughter sleeps on her belly. Deal with colic and then talk to me.

My Blue-Eyed Princess

We can almost situp...

We are very fashion forward

And we sure love our brother!

A few pictures in an Easter outfit. This is from our playgroup Easter Party...

A TRUE Kenzie face...

The single-handed best thing about Houston is the Livestock Show and Rodeo. We took JD this year as always and here are some pictures. I have to tell you all that are working on Baby #2 or just had Baby #2. It gets easier...I promise that you will eventually be able to leave your house with both and have relatively sane time out. My advice would be surround yourself with good mommy-friends because it makes any adventure out so much easier!!

Bull-Riding is not for the weak at heart...

As JD said, "Ohhh Momma, look at that BIG weeeheeel!

I think he was born for this...

JD had a small obsession with this goat. It's the "mommy" goat!

And this is the baby goat. We know this because the baby goat was drinking the mommy goat's ninny. The rest of the petting zoo knows this as well because JD announced to everyone "That baby's drinkin' his mama's milk like Kenzie drinks my mama's milk!"

And here's our tired cowboy on the way home.

That's it for now. I am having quite the time with photobucket so I've been uploading through blogger. Which isn't very user friendly! Any tips? Am I the only one having issues with photobucket all of a sudden? (I can resize and rotate all I want, it keeps showing up on here and huge and sideways. What gives?) I'll share more soon!!!

Home At Last!

The rumor is true! I am HOME! I have never been so excited about getting home in my life. I rode down 290 noticing things I have never noticed before. I commented to Jimmy how I felt like I was seeing the world through new eyes and that the Cy-Falls water tower never looked better! He informed me it had just been painted. Oh. Or maybe it's that. Who cares...I am going home and I get to kiss and squeeze on my babies. I get to sleep next to my handsome (and wonderful) husband. I get to use both arms. Live with an IV for 5 days, you'll never be so happy to brush your teeth with the "correct" hand. Oooh, the reminds me...I can't wait to take a shower with both hands!! A shower in my shower!

So...while in the hospital I learned a few things...
1. Thank God for having 2 hands/arms that work! Again, the IV's are awful!
2. Don't assume that just because they went to school and have fancy letters after their name that the nurses (or doctors) you encounter know what they are doing. Always stay on top of them and ASK questions! And if it can be avoided, do not stay at the hospital by yourself - ALWAYS have someone who can keep tabs on what's going on!
3. THANK GOD for the great nurses you do have and be VERY NICE and FRIENDLY towards them!!
4. Hospital food is not very good. They can even screw up a grilled cheese!?
5. A good night sleep is hard to get when you are getting your stats taken every 2 hours!'


I also want to send out some love to so many people that helped my 5 day stay in the hospital be an easier one...

I want to thank God for taking care of me in there. Saturday evening was really scary and because of Him I was able to remain relativly calm.

My INCREDIBLE husband. Jimmy, thank you so much for all of the TLC the last 5 days. With the exception of rolling your eyes at me Friday night when I was needing to go to the ER, thank you for taking care of me. You were incredible. Thanks for staying every night at the hospital with me, for making the arrangements for the kids and for getting everything I needed from home. You are AMAZING and I know how truly lucky I am to have such a wonderful hubby!! Thank you.

I want to thank our wonderful family. I can't imagine having to go through all that without them. It's such a blessing to know that your kids are being taken care of by people that love them so much....my sister-in-law, mother, and mother-in-law...

Aylie - I can't thank you enough for keeping the kids Saturday afternoon and night. I know your hands are full already (she has a 6 yo and a 3 yo) and then to take on 2 more is a lot. Thanks for making their Easter special and making me feel so much better knowing JD was having blast with his cousins. Thank you for taking pictures of JD decorating eggs so that I could be a part of it all. Thank you for making their Easter extra special. You are a wonderful mother to your own kiddos and an outstanding aunt to ours. THANK YOU!!

Mom (and Shannon) - Thank you so much for taking the kiddos Sunday and Monday night. Thank you for taking off work for 2 days to take care of them. I know we couldn't have picked a busier week for you, but I am so grateful that you were able too. Thank you for bringing them to the hospital so that I could get my fix. I CAN NOT imagine having to go all 5 days without seeing them! Shannon, thanks for bringing food and coming to visit me. Thanks for helping out with MacKenzie and JD as well. I am beyond blessed to have such an amazing mother and sister and JD and MacKenzie are so lucky to have you both! Pa Tim, thanks for coming and kicking some nurse butt. Ok, I know you didn't actually "kick" any butts, but you did help get Saturday's situation under control. I love you!

Susan, thank you so very much for taking the kiddos last night and today. Again, we are so blessed to have such wonderful parents to leave them with. Thank you for my Easter basket - I can't wait to wear the outfit and I already enjoyed the body wash while there!! Thanks for also taking care of the kids Easter baskets. I was so worried about that and so glad that they woke up to adorable goodies Easter morning. I couldn't have picked out cuter swimsuits for the two of them!

To all of my wonderful friends that came and visited...

Kevin and Kourtnie, thank y'all so much for the wonderful visit! Thanks for the Easter candy and goodies. It's exactly what I needed while lying in bed for 5 days. Thanks. Oh, and thank you Kevin for letting us borrow your laptop. I literally have no idea what I would have done with myself (or Jimmy for that matter) without that machine. THANK YOU. There are very few of our friends that I would've let see me in that condition - you were one. Feel loved.

Laura, thank you for the wonderful surprise visit. When the door opened I assumed it was another nurse coming to take my vitals or bring me lunch. Never did I expect to see little LaLa. Thanks for the hilarious DVDs and I hope you aren't in trouble for taking them from your house! Thanks for the card and wonderful picture. I asked them if they wanted to use it for a brochure on Staph Infections but I'm not sure they share our taste in humor. Oh, and I'm not sure what I did before the 3 bottles of anti-bacterial lotions/gel but thank you. Cianaro Staph!! And now I can say I truly know the depths of our friendship - you don't just give your Bath & Body Works coupons to anyone!

Kathy, thanks for the wonderful little visit. It was so nice having someone to talk with for a bit. You are a wonderful person and your friends (including myself) are so lucky to have such a caring, thoughful person to be buds with.

Donna, a special thanks for taking such great care of the kids Friday and Saturday!!

To everyone who called, PRAYED, emailed, and texted...

Mrs. Kim, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!! I can't tell you how much all of your sweet, encouraging words and all of the praying you and the LPM girls did meant to me. It helped pass the time so much and it was so nice waking each morning and laying in bed each night only to receive another sweet text checking on me. We saw eachother on a daily basis for the first 7 or 8 years of my life and it's been so wonderful staying in better touch for the last several months. I can't wait to see you again on Sunday! I love you and your sweet daughter so much.

Nana, as always it's more than wonderful to talk to you and I was so glad to have an excuse (not that I need one) to call you once or twice a day.

Ashley, Nicole, Kate, Jessica P, Jessica J, Mel, Rachel, Marissa, Shanna, Amy, Tina, Kris, Monica (I got your VM), playgroup girls - THANKS for the sweet words and prayers!

And 2 more special thanks...

Jennifer, aka My Breastfeeding Guru - thanks for your infinite knowledge and research on breastfeeding. You are sooo wonderful and such a sweetheart to take time out to look stuff up and post on the LC message boards. It's so nice being able to talk to someone about all of these milk issues and even better that that "someone" has such a passion about breastfeeding. Again, you ROCK!

Amy - thanks for the sweet conversation and more breastfeeding knowledge. You are such a sweet soul!

I *NEED* to get in bed so before I sign off I want to say that I hope that everyone who's reading this has the same incredible, supportive, and wonderful family and group of friends that I have. They are beyond amazing and I am TRULY blessed to have each and everyone of them. I love them all so dearly....thank you.

It's a Pimple...It's an Ingrown Hair...It's...

I am sure the three people that read this blog are wondering where in the world my Happy Easter post is. I wish I can say we were still recovering from our sugar-induced comas, but no...sadly, not at all. No, my Easter (which I have looked so forward too because really...is their anything more precious than baby girl Easter dresses?) was one for the books. And again, not because we had the world's best Easter egg hunt either. No, I spent Sunday lying in bed all day. At the hospital. Matter of fact, I am still lying in bed. At the hospital.

Friday night when I should have been singing my heart out to Pat Green's "Take Me to the Dance Hall" I was instead on my way to the ER. I woke up Friday morning with a rather swollen eye that I assumed was a really bad pimple. Or ingrown hair. Or anything not that serious. Several hours later that included a playgroup Easter Party of 20+ and debating back and forth as to whether or not I should take my growing mass of a forehead out in public I was on my way to the rodeo in a stretch Hummer Limo with good friends. Wearing a hat might I add. The first half was great and included the BEST tamale pie ever. For those of you who have never had the pure pleasure of eating at the wonderfully delicious Alamo Tamale I will describe a Tamale Pie to you (afterall this has been the highlight of this past week). It's consists of 4 (or 6 if you opt for the large - I did) fresh out of the husks homemade tamales smotherd in melted cheese and the best chili. Tamale Pie. Delicioso! Oh, and only $4.00 might I add. So, 6 tamales and $25 in carnival tickets later (we were those crazy people carrying around the lifesize scooby-doo, basketball, and 2 monkeys - Jimmy was so excited about surprising JD with Scooby - his FAV right now) I was a wee bit miserable. After crying and figuring out how we were gonna get home (remember we rode in the limo) we were on our way out the door. Instead of going home we stopped off at the ER because I knew there would be no sleeping by this point. The area between my eyeballs resembled a golf ball and my eye was swelling more and more.

The ER was thankfully not too busy so we got in quick. Which was good b/c I was in tears. They took a look, gave me a shot in the swollen mass (made any labor pains I experienced feel like a massage), and shot my rear up with 3 additional shots (antibiotic, morphine, and zorfran). They sent me home with prescriptions and instructions to come back if it worsened. I climbed into bed and fell fast asleep. My wonderful husband got all my prescriptions filled and cared for the kids all night. He even woke me every 6 hours to take more pain meds.

I woke up Saturday feeling great and expecting my face to look the same. Unfortunately No. It was a MILLION times worse. So...yes, I ended up back in the hospital and sit here typing away 4 days later.

I have a horrible Staph infection. It's taken days of brutal antibiotics - Vancomycin and Clendynmicen (sp?) - to clear it up. I am praying I get out of here tomorrow. The area where the infection started has still looked awful but is finally looking a bit better this evening, so maybe. Hopefully. I have never been through such an ordeal in my life. Apparently this Vancomycin is no joke. It first caused me to have a major reaction (a side effect not an allergic reaction) where my head felt like a thousand fire ants were attacking it as if it was a chocolate cupcake. It took a lot of Benadryl and a change in dosing time to fix this. It has since collapsed 2 of my veins, which means I am on IV number 3 and caused some craziness in my circulation so that they could no longer take blood from my arm but now have to take it from my hand. Did I mention I've had my blood drawn 8 times? Awesome. So pretty much...my arms are raising more eyebrows than my face!

So...as you can imagine, I am SO sick of this hospital room, bed, and tv. I miss my kids like crazy. I can't wait to hold the both of them. I have missed nursing MacKenzie like crazy and I am pumping nonstop because my milk supply has dropped dramatically. So, please pray that I am out of here as soon as possible and that God provides me with total healing.

Little Tears...

I sit here this morning after just watching my sweet JD cry his eyes out! Nana and PawPaw have been here for a few days and had to leave this morning. Let me tell you one thing...that boy LOVES his Nana and PawPaw. There aren't words to describe how much he loves those two. He literally follows Nana from room to room when she is here (yes, he even tried to get in the shower with her this morning before being dragged out of there). Of course, she drops everything she's doing for him as well. They have a very (VERY) special bond. He loves his PawPaw as well. While PawPaw was here he learned, "Uh-Oh, Pa-ss-gah-ti-o's!" He is just crazy about both of them and was not ready for them to leave. It's really hard for me to watch because I feel the same way everytime we part and can remember literally having to be pulled off of my Nana's neck in order to leave. It's only appropriate that JD have the same type of relationship with them that I have. I can only pray MacKenzie will as well, and that God gives us another 20 years with both of them! It took about ten minutes to calm him down and even then he kept going back to the window to look for their car. I think this is the first time he realized that they were leaving and we wouldn't see them again for a little while. We have been truly blessed the last few years to only have to go 2-3 months between visits. This of course is because Nana can't go longer than that without a JD fix. They will be back down end of May for Shannon's graduation and Nana plans to stay a couple of weeks! YEA!!

While here we got a ton of decorating accomplished and now that the downstairs is mostly done I will share pictures soon. Let me get it good and clean tomorrow and I will post early next week!! Nana has such incredible talent when it comes to decorating and was really able to pull it all together. Hopefully when she's down in May we can start on the upstairs!!!

MacKenzie is changing drastically right now. She has turned into such a happy little thing and I was sooo glad they got to see her! The last two times they visited with her she was still very colicky and miserable. She is such a sweet and content little thing now, they both just gobbled it up!! She also had her first bite of cereal yesterday. And she LOVED it!! I was trying to keep her solely on breastmilk until 6 months but I could tell she was wanting more. We couldn't even eat dinner holding her anymore because she would reach for everything in her grasp. I felt so sorry for her that I gave her cereal yesteday afternoon and I have never seen anyone so excited. She cried in between every bit and would grab the spoon and shove it in her mouth as soon as it got near her. It's so funny how different she is from JD at almost 5 months. I feel she is much more advanced than he was at that age!! She's such a joy...

Well, I have a lot more to say but better run. We have a friend's wedding tonight and I need to get my toes and nails done! Saturday at a nail salon...NOT y idea of a good time!


One more thing...PRAISE GOD - PRECIOUS COY IS HOME!!! AMEN!!!!