Time Sure Flies

Can you believe Aubree is now 5 months old? Where did all the time go? She is changing with every minute. She has gotten very curious with her hands and everything goes straight to her mouth. She has to taste everything. We have started feeding her rice cereal with a spoon. Boy is that a mess!! She usually likes to eat from a spoon, except lately she hasn't had as much of an appetite. On Friday she ran a lil temp.(100.9) and then Friday night she was really fussy and acted as something was hurting her. On Sat. morning when we woke up she was burning up so I took her to see her pediatrician. They did a CBC test and her WBC count was 22,000. The normal range for an infant is 10,000-16,000. So then they drew blood and took a urine sample by catheter. The poor baby already felt bad and then was poked and pricked all over. She also got a shot of a really strong antibiotic to start treating the infection. We also went to the hospital and got a stat chest x-ray, which turned out to be normal. We are still waiting, they are suppose to call us today with the results from her lab work. I really would like to know what it was bothering her. But atleast she is feeling better now. Her WBC count was 10,000 yesterday and she weighed a whooping 14.86lbs. She is really growing fast. She loves to laugh and we love to hear her precious laughter. She also really enjoys looking at books and magazines. I try to read to her daily and she seems to enjoy it. Thanks for checking on us...We love u!

Wow, Bree is so smart!!

Bree has really grown. She is 24 1/2 inches long now and 13 1/2 lbs. She rolled over for the first time on Sept. 2nd and then on Sept. 8th she said her first and favorite word....Momma. It was absolutely fabulous to hear her say it! She melts my heart. She is so sweet and such a good natured baby. She has really gotten good at grabbing things as well. Sat. Sept. 15th she held her own bottle...talk about precious. She has such a radiant smile, too. She is really developing and man is she smart. Kerry & I are enjoying watching her discover this great big world. She had some of her Daddy's sweet tea on Sat. and absolutely loved it. She would grab at his cup for more. She also loves to play in her exerciser that Nona & Mema gave her. Her lil, chunky legs really get after it in there. Its adorable!! Motherhood is so GRAND!! Everyday is so precious with her. Thank you God for the amazing blessings you give to us!

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.

Aubree's 1st day of daycare

Aubree slept so well through the night. She awoke at 4:30 am to nurse. Afterwards she fell back asleep like any other morning. Although, it was unlike any other morning thus far for both of us. I got ready for work while she slept. Then at 5:30 she awoke again for whatever reason and I began to dress her and give her medicine to her. I was glad she awoke again, because my fear was that I would miss out on her moring smile. But luckily for me she woke up smiling and playful like usual and I got to share a few moments of laughter with her before work. I then loaded her up for work. Upon arriving she slept til 8:00am. I nursed her and then returned to work. I went to visit her at 9:40 again and then at 12:20 and 2:30. Each time she was awake sitting in a bouncer, smiling. What a relief! And each time when I entered her classroom she would grin so big my heart would hurt with joy. While nursing her she would smile and talk to me, sometimes even laughing. It was as if she was telling me all about her first day. Her teachers' names are Deborah(The lead teacher) and Cookie. They seem really awesome! My heart is at ease after seeing how well she ajusted. I love the fact that I can go over and see her whenever I want. Which today has been every couple of hours. I miss her terribly but I have enjoyed my first day back at work. Bree has done amazing and I feel confident she will continue to love her daycare.

Growing like a weed!!!

Aubree is growing and changing so rapidly. She was 12 weeks old last Thursday. She is smilimg and laughing all the time. What a happy baby! She lites up when you talk to her or even when she sees a familiar face. Bree is cooing and aahhing all the time, too. It is so precious to watch her enjoy life. Saddly, she will start daycare Monday. She is going to Childrens Choice Learning Center which is a HCA hospital affiliated learnin/daycare center. I am very confident in the center and its employees, however it will be extremely hard to leave her. Atleast she'll be right there w/ me and I can go see her often. On Thursday Bree started imitating her Daddy and making the motorboat noise w/ her mouth. Now she does it non-stop. Its adorable! Her Daddy is pretty proud too. We are amazed at how fast she is changing. She is doing a good job of holding her head up as well. She still takes reflux medication and hates it as much as ever. She has outgrown her favorite pj's. We are heading to Target as soon as I get finished to shop for new ones. We had our pictures taken at Magical Memories. Cara did a great job! But, ofcourse she had a great subject!!! We had a lady date/lunch with the girls from G.S. this past week. All the new babies were so precious. We all enjoyed it. We Hope to see everyone soon. Love you, Amanda