Waiting for Spring!!

So sweet!!!

Parker was out helping Uncle Russ wash cars on a beautiful day!

Uncle Russ and Rylee acting silly!

Dad, please give me a cookie!

Last basketball game of the year!

Parker is getting even cuter (if that’s possible). He loves to grin and talk back to you. Ashley said she weighed him yesterday and he weighs about 14 pounds. Doubled his weight so far! I’m sure that has nothing to do with the fact that he wants to eat 24/7. He likes to eat a little bit and then wait a couple of hours and then eat again and again and again!

Rylee surprised her Mom this week! Ashley stepped out of the bathroom for ONE second to get a hair bow for Rylee and when she got back she saw all of this beautiful blonde hair on the floor. Ashley said she wanted to cry. Rylee sat there with her head down and knew what she did was really bad and Ashley just stood there with her hands over her eyes. It wasn’t really too drastic – one big chunk out of the side. Anyway, I have a feeling she won’t do that again. She didn’t get in trouble – she just knew it made her Mom very sad! I’m thinking I hope that is the worst thing she ever does to her hair!!!!!!!!

Fantastic update on Baylee!!! She had surgery on Thursday to remove the last small tumor in her abdomen and has been declared "cancer free." She still will be heading to Fort Worth in March for her stem cell transplant so keep praying - the prayers are working!!!

.

BIG news for Erin! She has accepted a job as a Nurse Extern at LeBonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis in the NICU. After graduation she plans to work there full time. She loves working with babies and I think she will be a wonderful and caring nurse. I can see her getting attached to every single one of the babies there! GREAT job Erin…..

LACTOSE INTOLERANT!!!!!

After a few days of stomach issues and lots and lots of crying I think Parker is finally back to normal. He definitely can only drink soy based formula! We thought he might be over not being able to drink milk based formula and tried it again since Ashley had $75.00 worth of formula sitting in the cabinet – but NO! Two days after trying that he was a mess! No one could put him down and he just screamed at the top of his lungs. Another lesson learned. As you can see now he is a HAPPY baby again!

“The Move”

We spent Friday, Saturday, and Sunday moving Ashley’s family out of their house and mostly into storage units. Russ kept everyone motivated and kept saying we can get this done – just keep working!!! Erin was definitely just sick and tired of the whole thing by the time they got home Saturday night about 11:30. They will be living with Pete’s Mom until they decide about a new house. It was an exhausting task but when all was done everyone was happy. (Ashley just hopes they got the right things in the climate controlled storage unit and the others in the regular unit – we’ll see!) Pete’s Mom lives about 15 miles from Wynne. I told Erin yesterday it seems like they have moved out of state even though I don’t think I will see them any less. Luke and Rylee will be spending some nights with me to go to school the next morning and I will still keep them while Ashley works. I just got used to them being right around the corner.....

One More Prayer Request

Whooo-Hoooo! Yea! Just received important information from another sweet cousin of mine. I'm sure you think by now I have lots of cousins - well, I don't have that many but the ones I do have are VERY important and special to me. Cinda, another cousin from Kansas (and Baylee's Aunt), just finished her last radiation treatment for breast cancer. She is doing so well and has such a wonderful attitude! Please keep her in your prayers for the good news to continue.

PRAYER REQUESTS!!!!

Please pray for my precious little cousin, Baylee Anne Banning, who is 10 months old and was diagnosed with Stage IV Neuroblastoma when she was 6 months old. She lives in Kansas and if her counts are where they need to be she will have a stem cell transplant in Fort Worth, Texas, sometime in March. To read about her battle go to http://www.carepages.com/ and her password is BayleesBattle. Her family needs prayers, specifically, for her counts to improve so they can proceed with her transplant.

Also, please pray for another favorite cousin of mine (Faye) here in Arkansas who is very ill with brain cancer. Her children and grandchildren are just taking it one day at a time right now. She is the kind of person who can always make you laugh and will just make your day. Please pray for her and her family.

Love to All...... (and Thank you)

HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN?????

The last two months have been so full of doing this and doing that and not ever knowing what would be happening the next day. There is never a dull day around here. I’m working some on my house (painting {Russ and Erin have done most of the painting so far- THANK YOU Russ and Erin!!!}, cleaning closets, etc.) but I just get to do a little at a time. Ashley has had the flu for the past week and I was busy helping with the kids. Life is very exciting with an 8 year old, a 3 year old, and an 8 week old.

Luke is doing great in basketball and really hustles up and down the court. He is SOOO fast he runs over himself sometimes. Hmmm – I’m thinking some kind of pro athlete in the future (perhaps most Grammys think that way - but I’m pretty sure about him!!!).

Luke is really getting good at Guitar Hero and Rylee is perfect as Barbie Hero.

Rylee is busy just being a Princess!! You never know what she will come up with next. When I took her to school the other day she discovered she had ear wax in her ear and went down the hall announcing it to everybody that walked by. There was no way I could make her quit talking about it. She was really grossed out about it. What a girl!!

Parker is growing so fast we can’t keep him fed. He wants to eat every two or three hours – much to Ashley and Pete’s dismay. They are going for four hours between feedings and would love for him to sleep at least six hours at night. They seem astonished that babies don’t sleep all night. How soon we forget!

ISN'T HE JUST TOOOOO CUTE?????

I have a new Shihtzu puppy named Zoe. She is really sweet and already puppy pad trained (it’s a good thing since it is FREEZING outside lately). If she wasn’t trained I would just have to toss her in the back yard to fend for herself….. not really – well MAYBE.

And MAYBE I will get better at updating this blog…………..