New School- Update

Well, we are 2 weeks and 1 day into the school year. This year has been full of so much change! Those of you who know me, know I am not a huge fan of change!  New school system, new school, transitioning from high to middle school, having technology to use in the classroom, … The list could go on and on.

It was a really hard decision for me to interview and except a new job. I loved my kids and co-workers from my previous school.

 The first day of school was hard on me, because I missed seeing all my babies in the hallway! However, I was really excited about my new job. The reputation of RQMS….well…. it’s awesome! There are some amazing teachers and administrators at this school. It is actually a little intimidating! However, they have all been so supportive! I still find it hard to believe that they chose me. I hope my ability and skills measure up!

One exciting thing, that some of you may not know, is that I now get to work with my dad. We are neighbors! It is great getting to see him daily. We try to get together and pray each morning. How many people get that opportunity? I am one lucky  blessed girl!

There have been a few challenges. I guess the biggest challenge is the chattiness of middle schoolers. Previously, I would say that classroom management was one of my strong points. Yes, even at a high school that many find to be one of the most difficult to work at, (although that is totally bogus!) I underestimated the chattiness of a middle schooler! I am currently trying to find what will work best for each class. So far my favorite method of ending the madness came to me on Friday.  I have one particular kid who cannot be quiet. The rest of this class is pretty good at being quiet when needed….. So, I told the class if any of them felt like they were being distracted by _______, then they could write a letter to his parents. If I agreed with what they wrote in the letter, then I would mail the letter for them to ________’s parent.  Well, _______ didn’t really like the idea, but his classmates did! Unfortunately, I have not gotten any letters yet.

So… those who asked me about my new job the first couple of weeks…. And I had a crazy look….. and said hesitantly, …..its going good! Just a little stressed! Please, know it is going great. I love the school, I love my kids, I love the faculty and administration!

Every year I begin the year stressed and feeling behind. Also every year I say, I will be fine…. Just get me a few weeks into the school year so that I can get my feet under me. And…. Every year, I am right! (Including this one!)

No More "Night-Night Shoes"!!!!!! (Warning- a little long!)

It’s finally here! A day that I have hoped for and waited on for over 3 years….. The day that Libby gets to stop wearing her corrective shoes (or as we call them, her “night-night shoes!”) We just put her “night-night shoes” on for the last time! Woo hoo!

Many of you don’t know, some of you know a little bit, and some of you have been amazing friends who have listened and encouraged…… but the day we found out our precious baby was a girl, we also found out she would be born with a clubbed foot. It was not something I expected to hear. All I had thought about was pink or blue! It never crossed my mind the real importance of the ultrasound…. To make sure that my baby girl was healthy. I remember after finding out we called our parents and told them. I also remember being really strong. I had talked with Jason and called my parents and not cried one bit. Then, I called my friend Brittany. I feel so bad, because before one word got out of my mouth I was sobbing! I was no longer strong! My perfect baby girl….well…. she had a flaw. I remember asking God why? I remember Brittany and Brittany came over that night to celebrate my baby girl and brought her adorable dresses. We talked and I cried some more. They encouraged me and said that God only gives things to us that we can handle. I knew they were right. I knew He had a plan and that Libby was going to do amazing things.

A week or so later we had a more detailed ultrasound scheduled in Birmingham. Both of our moms went with us for support. As we sat in the waiting room, I could hear other couples talking. One in particular was there to confirm their perfect baby was going to be born with Down Syndrome. It was then that I finally realized….. This is nothing. This is fixable. She is still going to be our perfect baby girl!  Until that point I had accepted our situation and that God had a plan and He would be with us, but at that point I realized how little our baby’s issue was compared to so many others. Only Jason and I were allowed in the back for the ultrasound. There we could see her. See her precious features. We could also clearly see and confirm that she only had one clubbed foot.

After that appointment I began to wonder what all this would mean for Libby. My mother-in-law had a Facebook friend that recently had a baby with two clubbed feet. So, we looked up pictures and saw their cute little son with the corrective shoes on. Other than that I don’t remember knowing much more before her first doctor’s appointment.

On February 11, 2010, Libby was born. She was perfect! Beautiful! She had a head full of hair that looked like it had highlights! She brought us all so much joy! (And still does!)

About a week and half after she was born we went to Children’s for her first doctor’s appointment with Dr. Khorey. As I said before, I had no clue what to expect. But on that first appointment, she got her first, tiny cast. It went from the tips of her toes all the way up to her diaper line. Some other things we didn’t know to expect….. poop on the cast! (YUCK!), no real bath until all of the casting was done, the weird feeling of holding your not even 2 week old with a big, hard cast on, and the fact that she seemed oblivious to the cast (such a blessing!)

We had to return to Children’s weekly to have the cast changed for a total of 7 weeks. If it was bottle time, we always had to try and hold her off so she would take a bottle while they were changing the cast, in order to make it easier on the nurses and doctor. Every week the cast would turn more outward, which was turning her foot more outward. After the 7^th week of cast, she had a minor surgery to clip her Achilles tendon. (this made her foot more flexible.) While she was asleep, they also made molds of her feet so they could create her corrective shoes. After the surgery she had one final cast that she had to wear for 2 ½ weeks. When they took the final cast off, they gave us her corrective shoes. These shoes have 3 buckles per foot to keep the shoe on and have a bar that connects the two shoes together and pushes the feet out. We were so looking forward to this! It meant she could have her first bath in the tub (before the cast, she still hadn’t lost her umbilical cord thingy-which by the way still grosses me out- sorry off subject). But, we were unprepared. Going from the cast for 2 ½ weeks that had followed a surgery to the shoes….. well, it was painful for her. The doctor had warned us….. but other doctors had warned us about shots too….and those were nothing…. We had planned to meet my parents and eat that night to celebrate no more casts. However, she had been crying and screaming basically since she got the shoes on. So my parents let us eat and took her home so we could have a break. Luckily, that only lasted a couple of days! The shoes had to be worn 23 hours a day. We could take the shoes off for one hour, but her bath had to be included in that hour.

Again there were things I didn’t expect with the shoes. I didn’t think about how maybe people who kept her in the church nursery might feel uncomfortable taking the bar off of her shoes in order to change her clothes (if needed), or about how (once again) it would be difficult to hold her, or about how she couldn’t sit easily on my hip like other babies did, or wear footie pjs. L

I wondered, how will she learn to sit up, crawl, walk? But she is a champ! She sat up and crawled with her shoes on before most average kids. She also pulled up! I can remember her pulling up and rocking back and forth on her shoes. She loved to do that! I thought pulling up was the magic skill she had to master to be able to get to stop wearing her shoes during the day….. but it wasn’t. Because she pulled up so early, they knew she wouldn’t be walking that soon and had us keep the shoes on. Once it got closer to time for her to walk, we were allowed to only make her sleep in the shoes….hence the name we gave the shoes, “night night shoes.”

Around 8 months, she finally got to only wear her shoes at night. Since then things have been pretty easy. As she got older she never seriously questioned the shoes. If anything, it helped us with the bedtime routine. She knew it was bed time when we started putting her shoes on. I think it also helped transition into a big girl bed. She couldn’t get out! Unfortunately, in the past 6 months she has learned she can indeed get out of bed and crawl down the hallway to ask to go potty or because she is afraid of the bats that might come in her room…… The first time I saw her crawl down the hall I almost cried because it made me so sad…. However…. Now I get irritated. Stay in bed girl! J

In the past year there have been a few questions. I can remember one night, not too long ago, she had a scrape on her foot and didn’t want to wear her shoes. We told her she had to. She looked at me and said, mom, do you want my foot to hurt? Talk about break your heart! I said no baby, I want it to get better. (She wore her shoes that night!)

One thing that never crossed my mind (until recently), I never worried about how others would look at her (when she was younger and wearing the shoes 23 hours a day). And…. It was not a problem. If anyone noticed Libby, it was because she was/is absolutely beautiful! A few people did ask about the shoes, but I was never ashamed. So if this is something you are facing….. don’t be ashamed. Others will still notice your child first, not their stylish footwear!

I will say it has not been the easiest thing. There have definitely been emotional break downs, but compared to what so many other parents go through, it was nothing! I will also say we were very consistent! There were very few nights she didn’t wear her shoes. She got a break on Christmas, when she spent the night at her grandparents, if she was sick, and a few other special occasions, but we really tried to be consistent. On those days she had to wear the shoes 23 hours a day, there were very few times we didn’t do wear them all 23 hours.  We felt we were in charge of correcting her foot, and although we wanted those times of no shoes for her, we wanted more for this to be a memory!

And now……. It becomes a memory! Woohoo! We will still go back to see Dr. Khorey sometime at the beginning of next year…. But shoes every night….SEE YA!

When she is older, she will probably only remember what we tell her about this whole thing. The one thing I hope she knows, is that through it all, she was a champ! She was and is so strong! That her parents would do anything for her! That through it all, God was with her and He healed her. That He has some awesome plans for her life!

In closing, I want to leave you with the verse we picked out to be her life verse at her baby dedication. I also will include  a few of the earlier pictures. One is with her cast and two show her shoes.

“ Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”    Psalm 139:16

Praise God!

By request I decided to write a new blog post….. this again will not be my typical post. (because its not about my kids- which by the way are the cutest and sweetest things ever!)

Over the past couple of months God has been doing some amazing things. It started back in January. I was sitting in Bible Study one night next to a good friend who has been struggling with a decision and saddened by her current situation. While sitting there and not knowing the updated details of her situation , God spoke to me. Now, there have been many times in my life where God has given me peace or spoken to me through a friend or a Bible verse…. But on that night, I knew He wanted me to tell her something. After it was over, I told her that I never felt the Lord telling me so clearly to do something…. But that He had just told me to tell her that His promises are good. She immediately knew what He meant. It was such an amazing moment for me, because (like I said) I had never so clearly heard His voice. Since then, she has had several things good happen and she is more clear in the direction she will go. I can’t wait to see God fulfill His promise to her!

This month, on my birthday to be exact, God allowed one of my best friends, Rebekah Owens, to have her third baby boy. She was only 25 weeks pregnant at the time. Benjamin entered the world less than 2 pounds. It has been so amazing to see the love of God’s people. They have given so much support to my friends. There are so many people praying for Baby Benjamin. (You can follow his story and find specific things to pray for on Facebook. There is a group called Prayers for Benjamin.) Rebekah mentioned to me the other day how she doesn’t know how anyone could go through what she is going through without the support of God’s people! I can’t imagine either.  In the past two weeks Benjamin has had many lows and some highs too. He is such a little fighter. God is already doing amazing things through Benjamin. Rebekah  has told me stories. I myself have seen some wonderful things too. All of this by a two week old baby! God can use anyone! I hope we can all remember that!

God has also been doing things in my personal life. Jason and I decided at our church’s couples retreat to create a budget and stick to it. Now, in the 6 ½ years we have been married we have done this several times….. well, except the stick with it part. This time we were determined. We came home, made a budget, and were ready. Then that stinkin’  Devil decided to through us for a loop. We had an unexpected payment come up. A pretty large payment we would have to start paying monthly. At first, I was devastated. I didn’t know how we would be able to do it. After a good night’s sleep, I got a grip. I decided that God knew the situation and He would guide us through it. We prayed about it at my Zumba  class on Thursday nights. (FYI- Zumba is more than exercise it is also therapy! Just last week 5 women had answered prayers…. Things we had prayed for at Zumba the previous weeks! It was amazing!) Anyhow, the day after we prayed about it at Zumba…. We got a much unexpected check in the mail for a decent amount of money! In the next couple of weeks we got 3 more unexpected checks! (Not for as much money, but still helpful!) You see…. God will provide!

Anyhow….these are all things that have been on my mind lately. Who knows who will actually ready this. Who knows who will get something out of it…. If anything I hope you see that our God is alive! He is with you from the smallest things to the most precious things! His promises are good! Oh ,and also….if he can use me to tell someone His message….well, then He can use anyone! 

This is not my typical blog post. There has been something on my mind all week. Before I say it though, I want to say that Yes I am a Christian. Even though I am a Christian, I make mistakes. I sin. I am far from perfect! BUT by God’s grace I am forgiven and have salvation. Praise God! That being said, there are a few things that I have seen during this summer that have really concerned me. I see some of my Christian and non-Christian friends reading 50 Shades of Gray or going to watch Magic Mike. Now, I don’t know a whole lot about either of these things. I do know that 50 Shades of Gray has been compared to reading porn. I also know that MOST of the ladies going to see Magic Mike have no real idea about the plot of the movie. MOST of the ladies going are only going to see Channing Tatum and Matthew McConaughey taking their clothes off. I wonder how us ladies would feel if our men were going to a movie where some of the hottest ladies in America were stripping down to g-strings. But more importantly I wonder how God feels about those who have read or watched. (As I stated before I am not perfect but this week I have felt highly convicted about this book and movie.)

I have wanted to write a status on Facebook, but feared I would step on toes. So, instead I have been praying about it. Today at church, Dr. J had such a wonderful message that aligned so much with my thoughts this past week. One of his points is that we should intercede for America’s spiritual decline. He told the story about Abraham asking God if he could find just 50 righteous people would he spare the city? Eventually he went down to just 10 righteous people, but he couldn’t even find 10 righteous people. What about you? In your workplace? In your neighborhood is there 10 righteous people? I can’t answer myself, because I am a coward when it comes to talking to people about their faith. I do pray for the county and my co-workers and neighbors….. But we are called to do more.  I am called to do more. So please pray that I will have boldness.

A verse Dr. J shared today was really haunting to me.

Ezekiel 16:49-50 says “Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed, and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.”

Does that not remind you of America? As you get ready to celebrate the 4^th of July, the freedom we have in our country, please pray for our country. Not just because you don’t like Obamacare, but for the lost people. For the culture that is so willing to except books and movie that causes people to lust.

 This week and especially today as I listened to Dr. J’s sermon, I thought back to I love Lucy. That show wouldn’t even show a married couple sleeping in the same bed. Think about some of the things we watch on tv? (yes WE, I am guilty too) I was thinking about how I wish I could live back then. (I would even be willing to give up my IPhone J)

Sorry, I know my thoughts are jumbled but this has been on my mind all week. Again, please pray for our country. Please pray for me and that I will have boldness! I know our God is bigger and stronger then the immorality of our country! 

OK! I am still awful at blogging…. But at least it hasn’t been a year since I last blogged! Summer has been so busy! Jason is working on his internship for his Administration degree, we went on an anniversary trip to Gatlinburg, and of course we are soaking up our time with the kids!

Gatlinburg was a great trip. It was hard to leave Libby and Luke, but we really enjoyed the break. We went zip lining which was fun. I don’t know that I would choose to do it again. It was really fun, but it is one of those things once you have done it…. You’ve done it and it’s enough. We also went shopping at the outlets and went to a fun upside house…. It wasn’t really an upside house. It looked like one but inside it reminded me a lot of the McWain Center. It was cool. We also ate really, really well!  Enough about us though….

Luke recently went for his 4 month check up. He was 18 lbs and 8 ounces and 26 ¾ inches long. That is the 98^th percentile for both! He is a BEAST! Everywhere we go people are shocked that he is only 4 months! He is starting to use his hands a lot more. He enjoys watching Praise Baby on the tv and he loves watching his sister play too!

Libby has such a huge personality! Lately she has become obsessed with the David and Goliath story. In her version she includes that David wasn’t scared because God gave him courage…. However she also includes that after Goliath got hit in the nose and the head with David’s stone, he went home and had to go to timeout! Occasionally she gets mixed up and says he went to Nineveh. She has had a big summer! On Thursdays she has “Gran and Soach Day.” They take her to the library and “Chick flay”. Then she goes home with them and spends the night. She has also spent lots of time with CiCi and Pop Pop. However often she lets us know that she wants to go to the beach (and I do too!) So in a few weeks we will be heading down there!  She has also had some tough times this summer. She has had a lot of UTIs and yeast infections since January. She has also been complaining about her back hurting.  A couple of weeks ago we went to the doctor. She had to have a catheter (her second since January), blood work, and x-rays. She was such a brave girl (although there was plenty of crying.) Everything came back ok, which is great. Although we still don’t have an answer.

The past few weeks I have also been working on my dining room. It has pretty much been an empty room with a table and a timeout mat. I am still waiting on my curtains to come in. Once that is done I will try to post a blog about the house.

Ok that is all for now….

Inside The Upside Down House (really wish I could remember what that place was called)

 At Bubba Gumps

 Tanning ;)

Swim time!

I am totally awful at blogging!

Our family of 4

Luke on Easter

LOL! I can't believe I have not blogged since last summer, before I even knew I was pregnant. Now, my baby boy is already 8 1/2 weeks old. It is probably a good thing you didn't have to hear about my pregnancy since this time it was a lot more difficult then my first. However, Luke has turned out to be a very sweet, calm baby..... unlike his sister. He has reflux like she did, however it causes him to spit a lot more then she ever did. I am talking handfuls, several times between feedings. We went to a GI specialist last week and they increased his meds. That didn't help. Yesterday they added a new med....so far it has helped.... hoping it is not a fluke!

Update on Libby.... she LOVES her brother! She has picked up on a lot of my mannerisms as she takes care of her babies. When Luke cries, she either goes to him and puts his paci in his mouth, gives him her "night-night", or sings to him. Speaking of singing..... Libby LOVES to sing. All she does is sing! She has made up some dances to songs and remembers what dance goes with what song. She is a little performer.... I believe I was too. I just don't think I started so young.

Luke was a big baby when he was born. He weighed 9 lbs 8 ounces and was 20 inches long. I had to have a c-section because of his weight. ( my water broke two nights before the section was scheduled, that was unexpected. I thought we had it all planned. I had so many plans for that Tuesday. Buy groceries, pack our hospital bags, pick up my piece from All Fired UP..... But Luke had other plans. ) At his 2 month appointment (which we had this week) he weighed 13 lbs and 14 ounces, 23 inches long- He is growing even after all the spit up!

Ok, so I have so much more I could say, but I guess I should limit myself. I will TRY to be a better blogger!

Oh! Just remembered.... i didn't blog about the sale of our home, and building our new one while living with my parents.....I will try and do a blog on those events soon. There is so much I didn't blog about over the past year.....

Summer Begins

Just about a month ago I kept Libby’s Sunday School class. She is at least ½ a year younger than all the other kids in her class (I asked for her to be in this class because she was walking and more aggressive than the other kids her age.) While keeping the class I felt like she was really behind when it came to words. Then I remembered that she is at least 6 months younger then all of the other kids. However, since then she has really started to expand her vocabulary and understand more too! Some of her favorites are Dog, Roe (my parent’s dog), Daddy (which she also calls me…still no momma), Hey, Bye, What’s that?, fish, baby, hop, shoes, and there are more, but I won’t bore you.

She still loves to dance. Anytime music comes on she gets to shaking her booty. So it makes my love of So You Think You Can Dance easy…. She enjoys watching it too!

She loves for me to hide behind the couch and jump out and scare her. The more I scare her the louder she laughs. It is so funny. She also started saying cheese when we take pictures (which is really helpful because she usually won’t pause for a picture). Her favorite show is still Micky Mouse Clubhouse.

We just got back from our first 2 (of 3) beach trips. Libby really enjoyed it. She loved to dip her shovel into the sand or bucket of salt water and lick it. Yuck! She hated to get sand on her hands though. One of our trips was to Destin. It was my first time there and it was beautiful. The water was so clear that we were able to snorkel. I also had the most amazing dinner from Dewey Destin. It was Mahi Mahi Parmesan and it was AMAZING!