Javan Walking

Some of Javan's first steps, he is getting to be such a big boy!!

Cat Naps

This is what happens when the baby doesn't get a nap. Too Cute!!

Helping Hands

Abbi has some things that aren't really for playing with in her room so she needed a nice shelf to put them on to keep them away from curious hands. I found a nice wooden shelf at Michael's the ast time I went so I picked it up to put in her room. Since the wood was natural we needed to paint it white to go with her crown moulding and chair rail. It was a nice day outside so I took all
l the kids out and painted the shelf. Bresa and Abbi were playing on the swing set and while Javan played in his exersaucer. Pretty soon the girls wanted to help me out so we all took turns painting the shelf until it was done. Hopefully now that it is painted Daddy will put it up soon so we can get some use out of it. :)

Party Time

After church this afternoon we had a small party for Javan's first birthday. It was just a little thing so people could stop by and see Javan and have some cake. I really wasn't into the huge party thing and I knew Javan wouldn't remember so I it was nice to have just a small and short gathering. I had requested people not bring toys and rather bring diapers if anything. That worked out great since Javan has all the toys from the girls before him plus more that people give to us from time to time. The diapers we received should last us a couple months and are greatly appreciated! Our friend Brenda made the cakes for the party. She made a big chocolate one for all the guests and then a smaller white cake for Javan. We had discussed the decorations being either wheels (like on a car) or guitars. Javan loves wheels but Brenda tried a few different things and couldn't get it the way she wanted so she went with the guitar theme instead. Both of the cakes looked awesome, she even died dry spaghetti black to make the strings! Once everyone I figured was coming had arrived we sang Happy Birthday and I tried to get Javan to dig into the cake. He was not at all interested and actually spit out the first couple of tastes that I gave him after making a terrible face. I forced him to take a little bit more and then he decided that it might not be so bad. He was hesitant with his first couple of finger tastes but pretty soon he was double fisting it. He put a decent size hole in the side of the cake and made a nice little mess too. I let him go at it while I cut the cake for everyone else and passed it out. All the kids ate around his table and he just shoveling it in. Eventually I had figured he had gotten enough so I took him away to clean him up. He didn't whine about leaving but while I was trying to clean him he kept going back for more. After the cake we opened the presents. He got a couple toy cars and a glass mug with his name on it and then lots of diapers and some wipes. After the gifts most people cleared out and I started to clean up. I think everything went really well and it wasn't the huge stressful event that some of the parties we have had here were so that was really nice. We got some good pictures of the cake eating and I think that is the most important! Thanks to everyone who came and shared Javan's special day with us!
You can click on the pictures to see them larger in a new window.

Happy 1st Birthday Baby Javan!!

My sweet little baby is a year old already! I told him not to get bigger but he is not listening. I am so sad to see my baby grow up but I am also so proud to see how he grows and gets smarter each day. Boys are definitely different from girls, it is easy to tell that already. We didn't do much today because Javan's party is going to be on Sunday. It is just a small get-together to celebrate our baby boy and watch him dig into his first cake. I thank God daily for giving me Javan. I feel so blessed to have him as my son. There is something so special about having a son, and Javan is the very best there is. Happy Birthday baby boy, you are so incredibly adorable and it is so easy to love you!

Bresa's First Grade Play

Tonight Bresa had a play at school that she was very excited for us to see. She and all the other first graders had been practicing all week. Since Bresa is in the gifted class with the second graders she had to be pulled out of her class to join the other classes and practice real hard. I was glad that they didn't forget about her, there were a couple of other kids that had to be pulled out too so she wasn't alone. The play was about the rainbow and how each color has it's own expression but together it makes a beautiful symbol. Bresa was in the green part of the rainbow and they danced to Big Band Music. It was really cute and not too long. We didn't get great seats but I went to the front when it was Bresa's turn to dance.

Flat

I got up like normal today and did my usual routine. I got my lunch together and then headed out to go to work. I scrapped the ice off the windows and put the scrapper on Peter's car for when he took off and then got in Oscar to go. I was driving down our dirt road and thought something must be wrong because it just seemed too bumpy. I turned around and went back home and sure enough Oscar had a flat. Ugh. I told Peter and we got the girls ready and Javan in his seat and then Peter took me to work. We didn't have time to change the tire and it was only about 30 degrees out so Peter wanted to wait until it was warmer. Turns out the tire was pretty bad but the wheel was okay (thankfully). With some help from our friend Ron, Oscar got all squared (or is it rounded) away and tomorrow I will be good to go.

Winter Wonderland

We had cold temperatures the last few days and I must say, "I love it!" It so rare that we get any kind of winter here in FL so when we do get a taste of what the north experiences I am very excited. This is not to say that I don't get cold, because I do, just to say that I would be happier living somewhere other than FL the majority of the year. Although we have been leaving our facet dripping overnight our pipes still froze the last two nights (the joys of being a well owner). It's not that big of a deal, mostly just an inconvenience. They thaw out in a couple hours and then we are back to normal (good thing I take my showers at night). Yesterday we were driving home from the hospital and passed by an Orange City park that had their fountains flowing over night and had gathered much ice and icicles. We decided to stop and show Abbi (that's what we told her but really it was for me just as much) and take a couple pictures. Abbi couldn't get over the icicles and had blast touching it to make sure it was real. It reminded me of when I was little and our neighbors used to leave their sprinklers on over night to get this same effect. If I didn't care so much about my plants I would probably do the same thing, hey at least then my pipes wouldn't freeze right? In the morning when we were headed out we had a lot of frost on the cars too. Even though the sun was already on them they were covered and it almost looked liked it had snowed (again).

Emergency Room Visit

It all started yesterday around 11:30. Javan was standing at the fridge playing with the magnets and must have slipped on the rug when he fell over and hit his head on the ceramic tile. I was standing right next to him at the stove and heard his head hit the floor so I picked him up as he started to cry. I was doing my best to console him and cover him in kisses when he suddenly vomited quite a bit. I called for Peter and started to clean him up and undress him and Peter made a phone call to the doctor. After Javan was all clean and his pain seemed to pass he seemed happy and normal, playing with his toys, talking, crawling around, so we all decided that he was alright. We kept an eye on him the rest of the day and he was able to be startled and awaken when he was sleeping (which they say is a good sign) so we didn't give it much more thought. However, this morning I went to get him up for the day and he had vomited all in his crib so we made another call to the Dr who suggested we take him to the ER. I sent a text out to a couple of people to spread the word and asked for prayer on the way to the ER. There was no one waiting when we arrived and we only had to wait a few minutes before they called us back into Triage which was really nice. They got the information and took his pulse and temperature and then admitted us back for a CT scan. Peter had stepped out to see if someone could pick up Abbi (Bresa is at Grandma's) because we didn't know how long we were going to be. An RN came and got me to take me to the room where the brain scan was going to be done. The one they used is similar to the one in the picture but I didn't take that shot. I laid Javan down on the bench and put his head in the rest with a towel there to help fit him in. We had to shield his body with a plated wrap. His arms had to be at his sides and he wasn't supposed to move. He started to cry because he hates having his arms restrained. This is where I just about lost it. I am pretty good at detaching myself from situations (you have to in my job) but this big machine that had it's own room and a glass window like on they do on TV just made it too real. I had to lay on top of Javan and hold him down, I just talked to him and told him he was alright and the machine moved us back into the ring and then the ring moved around Javan. There were red lights that flashed inside which helped distract him from being restrained. He did so well and it probably only took a minute and then we went back to our room to wait for the results. The doctor came in and said everything looked normal and he didn't see reason to be alarmed. Since Javan was his normal self and not fussy or sleepy or irritated the doctor really didn't feel threatened by the situation. He looked Javan over and didn't see any bruising and didn't seem to think there was any pressure in his brain so he gave our pediatrician a call and released us. When we were leaving the ER our friend was on his way in to meet us and since then we have received several phone calls inquiring about Javan and lots of people telling us that they had been praying. We have such a wonderful support system!! Peter will take Javan to our doctor tomorrow for a follow up but we are pretty sure our little guy is going to be just fine. Praise God!!

Happy 1st Birthday Charlotte!!

Cousin Charlotte turned one year old yesterday and to celebrate she was having a party at the Grand Floridian today. The girls were very excited about this because they wanted to wear their princess costumes even in the freezing temperatures. They layered up and put their dresses on under their jackets and we headed out. Baby Charlotte was just as cute as ever such a good girl! She didn't really know what was going on but my girls got to meet Cinderella, Prince Charming, and the wicked step mother and step sisters. We got pictures and autographs and had a nice dinner. Javan was not impressed with any of it but he was still a good boy and enjoyed watching the balloons on the table. Of course the pictures I took of Charlotte in her pretty crown didn't come out (my fault for being too far away) but you can take my word for it, she was adorable!! Happy birthday sweet girl, may you have many many more to come!!

Yes, there is snow in the forecast for tomorrow (here in Central FL)

Happy New Year!

Well, we made it through another year and here we are with one more child in our family. Things are starting to even out for Peter now that he has another guy on his side against all us girls. Last night we went over to our friend's Bill and Lisa's house and celebrated with them. I had the day off of work today and we decided to just take it easy. Reba came over and had lunch with us and we just hung out and did a whole lot of nothing. After dinner we decided to watch the second Narina movie together (well after Javan was in his bed). We made it about half way through before I was the only one still awake, maybe we can finish the rest tomorrow. I hope everyone enjoyed a safe and Happy New Year's Eve and I wish you all the best in this new shiney decade!