Bree felt better for about a week and she returned to school. We had a good week and then on Friday we met Jennifer & Brandon and Bebe & Gramps at Medieval Times. It was a lot of fun. Bree was fascinated with the lights and the horses. She wanted to be held so she could watch the show..in fact she watched almost the entire thing. It is so neat to watch her discover new things. She also enjoyed licking Daddy's fork with his cake icing on it! She likes sweets like her Momma. We enjoyed having everyone stay with us, but were saddened on Sunday when Bree woke up congested again and not feeling well. She also had a temp. of 100.7 degrees. Bless her sweet, lil heart. I gave her Motrin and she seemed to feel a lil better, but she wasn't herself. Her fever persisted and Mema & Nona had to come to keep her because she couldn't go to school feeling that way. On Monday morning I took her to see Dr. Leung and she was diagnosed with an ear infection in both ears, the left being the worst. We started her on antibiotics and today she seems to be feeling better. Her temp. seems to be staying around normal for the first time w/out the Motrin. Besides her cold she is really verbalizing a lot. She coos and talks all the time. We are sure she is saying something really important, we can tell by the tone of her voice. She is a very good natured baby, even when she's sick. She loves to cuddle and chew on her pink monkey(Thanks Melanie!) and you should she her talk to it. It is so precious. We are excited about having a girlz weekend w/ Nona & Mema while Daddy goes dove hunting this weekend. Thanks for checking on us. XOXOXO

Poor, Sweet Baby

We just finished up a nice visit with my Dad. He was in town to meet Aubree. I must say Aubree liked her Pa Paw. She was intrigued by his beard. She would pull and rub on it every chance she got. I am sad to say that Bree woke up on Sat. morning with a raspy cough, which progressed into a pretty bad sounding cough. It was accompanied by lots of sneezing and a runny, congested nose. Poor Baby!! It is so sad to see Bree coughing and struggling to breath. Bebe came on Sunday to help us out with her and is going to stay to watch her until she feels better and ready for school again. She just doesn't feel well. I can tell by her actions and the fact that she wants to be held and cuddled all the time. We are taking her to the pediatrician this morning & hopefully he can help her to feel better. It brakes our hearts to see her feeling bad. Mom is doing well from what I hear. She sounds great...we are going to see her this weekend so we will see for ourselves. Bree has started scooting on her back. She doesn't care much for tummy time, but when I put her on her play mat on her back she will scoot herself all the way off the mat and sometimes across the living room floor. It is hilarious to watch. She has also started trying to grab everything in sight...my hair, necklace, jewelry....anything that is in front of her actually. She is laughing and trying to talk all the time. It is a joy to watch her grow!!

We are back home and back to our normal schedules again. On July 25th I received a horid call saying that my mother(Vickie) was being taken to the hospital in Tyler for chest pain. In my career field I imediately paniced and we rushed to east Texas. Upon arriving at Mother Francis Hospital I learned that my dear mother had suffered a heart attack. She was in the ICU and for the first time in a long time I felt so helpless and afraid. My Mom went for a cath on Thursday morning where we discovered she had two completely blocked arteries. (RCA & LAD) The cool thing was that on her way to the procedure the nurses let Bree ride on the garney with her. They both smiled the whole way. This was the best Mom had looked in the past few days. She had to have a double bypass surgery. This news was very shocking, my mother who is only 52 & the strongest woman I know, needed bypass surgery?!.. In disbelief of what was happening I thanked God for allowing her to make it to the hospital and turned things over to Him. Friday morning she had surgery from 7:30am til 11:50am. Thanks to everyone who came to sit with us during those frightening hours. I was pleasantly surprised to see several of my dear G.S. girlfriends there to support me. Your love has been amazing!! Mom came out of surgery and it was very hard to see her looking so frail. She awoke from the anesthesia around 6pm. Again I was amazed by what an unbelievably strong woman she is. She recovered wonderfully and is now continuing to improve at home with Mema & Pa. Than you God for all you did for our family and Thanks to everyone for their prayers and thoughtfulness. On a more positive note, while we were enduring this process we met an extraordinary family in the waiting room. The Albert Smith family, whom were a really great bunch to be around. Mr. Smith was having a bypass at the same time Mom was. God has a way with bringing good things out of a seemingly bad situation. We are now back home and all is going well! Thanks for checking on us & have a great week!! Please continue to pray for Mom & Mr. Smith as they face some challenging rehab and try to regain their strength.