Fall So Far

September started out hard for the little man. On Labor Day, Andrew slipped and fell into the end table in the den resulting in a trip the ER. He had on some hand-me-down pj's (don't get me wrong, I LOVE hand-me-downs) and the grippers had lost their grip...lesson learned for the mom. He was a champ though and stopped crying before we even left the house. I called James until he answered which took three tries and we made a stop by the adult ER so Doctor Daddy could confirm my fears...he needed stitches. We headed over to children's and went straight to a room...thanks to James' higher-ups :). I was handling everything fine until it hit me that Andrew would likely have to be sedated...I mean how else are you going to put stitches in a 15 month old's face? And he had just eaten...so they initially told me it would be 4 hours, which I understood. Fortunately they were able to just give him oral medicine to sedate him, i.e. make him drunk, and the plastics fellow happened to be in the ED for another consult and fixed Andrew right up. And James made it over just in time to be moral support for me :). Poor little guy! Hopefully the scar will fade with time. 

Waiting on the Versed to work it's magic...

Now we're feeling good :)

Good as new and enjoying a popsicle.

We also celebrated my 10 year high school reunion in September. Now that is an event that will make you feel old! I really enjoyed catching up with everyone and dinner at Maggiano's never disappoints! I am sad though that I did not take a single picture!

Andrew LOVES to be outside and has been having a lot of fun "helping" James with yard work.

We spent two weeks at my parents' house while James worked at Sumner Regional for his community rotation. It was a good change of scenery for all of us. Andrew chased my parent's dog around everyday yelling, "Cat, cat, kitty cat!" Very entertaining. 

We are looking forward to going to the City of Children in November. I haven't been since 2006 and that is way too long! I hope everyone is enjoying all the things that make fall my favorite season!

August

Decided to do a little catch up blogging. In August, James and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary and James' 28th birthday. We are now the same age for a few short months :). James chose the Gerst Haus for his birthday dinner, claiming that he has wanted to eat there since he returned from Vienna in 2003. We had some hits and misses in our ordering and would definitely know what to order if we ventured back there.

We had some fun in Ripley visiting Nanny and Gandy. These pictures were taken when they were still in the hospital, but they are BOTH at home now! Praise the Lord!

And the cousins had a photo shoot in hopes of getting a good shot for Nana's birthday present and it was a success! Here are a couple of the rejects.

I am obviously biased, but these are three good looking babies!

And Aunt Meggie came before the Katy Perry concert, but Andrew was a little unsure of her wig.

Knoxville

James and I made a quick trip to Knoxville last weekend for the wedding of one his high school friends. You might not know this about James, but he was Mr K.H.S. That's Karns High School. (He was also the middle school mascot which is a beaver- I'll try to locate some pictures of that). And the lovely Allison Clark was Miss K.H.S. so of course we wanted to be there to celebrate.

We drove down Saturday morning in time to share a burger at Litton's, one of our favorites, and then off to the wedding we went. James enjoyed having a mini class reunion a year in advance.

The good looking Karns crowd.

My handsome date rocking the bowtie.

 Andrew had a big weekend too hanging out with Nana and Grandaddy. I don't know exactly what they did, but I'm sure it involved blocks, Andrew saying "cat" 1000 times, and probably him handing them a book to read him over and over :). 

Deep Fried

Last Tuesday night, some of James's food dreams came true. We were in Jackson hanging out with Craig and Anna and the boys thought it would be a good idea to deep fry some different items. It started when the deep fryer came out to cook some tater tots and it was all downhill (in my opinion) from there. 

 The battering.

The frying.

And the finished products- Oreos, Almond Joy, Twinkies, Snickers.

They both agreed the Twinkies were the best.

Can you see their arteries clogging?

Anna mixed these Oreo Brownies up earlier in the evening (courtesy of Pinterest) and they were delicious! Brownie batter+Oreos+brownie batter=pure yumminess.

And I can't write a post without including this guy. He LOVES corn and he prefers to eat it off the cob. What a guy.

Paris

So this is my shameless attempt at trying to win a trip for me and James to Paris. He's been to Europe and I never have so this would be awesome. I asked him to think of 5 things we must see or do if we won and this is what he came up with:


1. Dinner overlooking Paris near Sacré-Cœur Basilica.
2. A day at  the Louvre.
3.  A trip to the top of the Eiffel Tower.
4. Window shopping along  Champs-Elysées
5. Multiple bowls of French Onion Soup along the way.


You can enter by clicking here or visiting ohhappyday.com. 

Here they are...

So this is Nanny and Gandy. It has now been a little over a month since the car accident and I am in awe of the miracle God has worked before our eyes. This photo was taken last Tuesday. It had been nearly four weeks since they had seen each other and at this time, Nanny was still in the ICU.

Gandy is doing really well with physical therapy and is gaining strength and more mobility every day. Andrew and I visited him last week and I knew he was feeling better because his sense of humor seemed to have returned to its pre-accident level :). He got a good report yesterday from the orthopedic surgeon and will hopefully be able to start putting weight on his leg in three weeks.  

Nanny is now out of the ICU, off oxygen, and had her trach removed today--praise God! She has one remaining surgery on her left ankle in about six weeks and will probably be discharged later this week to some sort of rehab facility until it's time for surgery. One of her docs told us two weeks ago that when she arrived they did not expect her to make it longer than a week. I understand that physicians have to be realistic, but I am glad they didn't tell us that. And my response to it is...they didn't know my Nanny (she's very feisty) and they didn't know how many people were lifting her up in prayer to our Mighty Father. 

I am so thankful for all the prayers lifted up for my grandparents and my family. I am also thankful for every physician, nurse, therapist, tech, etc, that has taken care of them. They have received excellent care. 

And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the LORD, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you. Exodus 34:10

One year!

We had a lot of fun celebrating Andrew's 1st birthday on Saturday. We just had a little party at the house. There are way too many cicadas to do anything outside!

Happy eating some birthday breakfast. Never mind the fact that he has on Christmas pj's :).

The cake.

The awesome hat and banner were made by my very talented friend Anna Wright.

So he doesn't like anything on his head...not even an adorable birthday hat.

And he excels in smashing cake. But he has two parents who love cupcakes, so I feel like this should have been expected.

Mischievous. 

Nana made Andrew his sweet birthday outfit and bib. Love.

Can't believe how much our lives have changed over the past year. Parenting is more challenging and tiring than I expected, but way more awesome too. This guy keeps us entertained and on our toes. We love him so much.

Blessings!

Update on Nanny and Gandy

The past two weeks have been a total blur. I have seen more of I-40 and the TICU waiting room than I care to talk about and eaten so much fast food that I will almost certainly be a hospital patient soon myself. 

My sweet Nanny is making progress. It is hard to see when I am caught up in everything going on, but when I am able to take a step back, I can see improvement. The ventilator was taken out of her room on Saturday and she has been on a CPAP machine (commonly used for sleep apnea) since then. She is much more alert and interactive and extremely frustrated to be laying in a hospital bed. She understands she has a couple of surgeries left and we can see that she is getting stronger. She is battling one infection and we are prayerful that this will be the only infection while she is at the hospital. She has asked where Gandy is and is anxious to see him. 

Gandy went back to the orthopedic surgeon today and surgery was scheduled for tomorrow. My mom and Caroline have been with him the past few days and now he is stuck with me again for a few nights. He is still really sore and also not happy to be in a hospital bed. Hopefully after surgery, his recovery will speed up some. 

I am so thankful for all the prayers over the past two weeks. I am thankful for friends that dropped what they were doing and kept my little boy, for loving in-laws that have now spent 4 nights with him,  for a friend that rode with me to take pictures of the cars, accident scene, and to meet the trooper, for church families in Nashville and Memphis that are praying for them, for sweet Memphis friends that let us spend the night on short notice, and for so many other things along the way. 

Andrew is doing great. He conveniently contracted Hand-Foot-Mouth Disease probably from the church nursery and became symptomatic the Friday after the accident. He is well now and we are excited about celebrating his birthday in less than 3 weeks!

On Thursday afternoon, my grandparents, Vernon and Lynnie McBride (aka Gandy and Nanny) were hit as they traveled on Highway 70 in Haywood County on their way to Jackson. A lady apparently had a heart attack while driving and swerved off the road to the right before re-entering the highway and hitting them head on. My grandfather was driving and tried to avoid her by swerving off the road to his right, but was unable to avoid the collision. They were both taken to the hospital in Jackson and my grandmother was airlifted to Memphis after it was discovered her injuries were more numerous and serious than my grandfather's. At this time, my grandfather is in fair condition in Jackson and will undergo surgery in 2 weeks (after swelling has subsided) to repair a broken right leg. He has a couple of other less serious injuries, but is mostly anxious about my grandmother. My grandmother is in the TICU at The Med and we know that this is the best possible place for her considering her injuries. Meggie, my aunt and I were able to see her Thursday night and she was alert at that time and trying to smile at us despite being intubated. We expected her to have surgery to correct a pressing circulation issue in her legs/feet Thursday night. This surgery actually didn't take place until Friday, but she tolerated it well. She has 2 small bleeds in her brain that the neurologists are not concerned about, however, she has to stay more sedated until they resolve. She has a fractured sternum and multiple broken ribs (flail chest) which are very concerning. She has multiple breaks in all extremities. We are obviously very worried about Nanny, mostly right now about the risk of pneumonia associated with being in the ICU and on a ventilator. We can tell she is very frustrated, but the meds are keeping her as comfortable as possible.
Until Thursday, I did not know what people meant when they said, "we covet your prayers". I now know exactly what that feels like. Seeing my grandfather so worried about his wife and seeing my grandmother laying in a trauma bed are the two saddest things I have ever laid eyes on. My family has been TOTALLY showered with love and prayers since Thursday. We are so appreciative, and we still covet those prayers. Both Nanny and Gandy are servants to so many people, both family and friends in their community, and I just can't accept that God is finished using them to accomplish His work and show love to others. I will try to update as we learn more. Thank you so so much for all of your prayers.

March

March was the month of friends. We started the month in Birmingham with our Memphis friends and I ended the month in Chattanooga hanging out with girlfriends from college. I didn't take any pics in Chattanooga, but if I had they would shown us either eating or watching movies like...

Very interesting. I especially enjoyed Bayar's older brother who is sort of a bully but entertaining to watch.

 It was a rainy weekend and the house that looked so nice on VRBO turned out to be in sort of a loud neighborhood and was not within walking distance of downtown as it claimed. It was also James and Andrew's first weekend alone and they both survived! I came home to rearranged living room and kitchen and both look great :). 

Andrew has had a really good month. He has become much more proficient at feeding himself, which is good considering he had dropped to the 8th percentile for his weight. He loves his rubber ducky and he figured out where dad keeps all his cash. I can't believe he will turn 1 next month! Crazy! He's not walking yet and I'm glad because we are a little behind on babyproofing.

James has been on a light rotation this month AND had a week of vacation so we have really enjoyed all the good family time. Back to reality next week though as he starts OB.

Here are a few pics of the little man, mostly for Aunt Caroline's sake.

And James and I watched this Sunday night...

This was an eye-opener. 

Birmingham Reunion

We met our Memphis family in Birmingham last weekend and had a blast! The Lokeys were kind enough to host all ten of us plus three dogs! Craig and Anna took lots of pics and they represent exactly what the weekend consisted of...eating (Buffalo Chicken Dip, Homemade Rosemary Flatbread, Spinach Dip, Oreo Balls, Sausage Pinwheels, Homemade Lasagna) playing games (Nertz, Rockband, MarioKart, Scribblish, Quelf), and hanging out. 

James and I are so thankful for these "forever" friends. Memphis would have been a total bore without them, and I am so glad that despite all the boys' crazy schedules we have been able to get together twice now since graduation. We look forward to many more weekend reunions and hopefully living in the same city again somewhere down the road.

Baby Day

Today was the Baby Dedication Celebration at Otter Creek. The service was really special and Andrew was lucky enough to have sweet cousin Kate with him on stage too. Being a parent is a daunting task in itself, but striving to raise a child to love and serve the Lord truly takes a village of believers. James and I feel so blessed to be at Otter Creek and are so thankful that Andrew has a family and a church family that are committed to walking with him on his spiritual journey.

James and I with the little man

Cousins!

More cousin love!

And I can hardly believe this little guy is now 9 months old!

West Tennessee

James worked nights last weekend, so Andrew, my mom, and I headed to west Tennessee to see my grandparents. We also made it to Memphis on Monday, in spite of the snow, to see my friends at Ruch Clinic. I miss them so much and I was so happy to be able to stop by and visit, and of course introduce them to Andrew. We were able to eat lunch at Holiday Ham which was great, but we missed out on Muddy's cupcakes as they are closed on Mondays. Next time we will have our priorities in order :).  We made it home just in time for it to snow again...

I love snow, but I am very ready for the warmer temperatures to come and stay.

We also got to hang out with the Graves family last week. Kara and I were college roommates and she and her husband, Josh, are parents to sweet Lucas. I hope Lucas and Andrew will be friends for a long time.

Andrew is VERY busy these days. He no longer picks up toys just to chew on them. He figured out this week that the basketball will actually go through the hoop. James and I are thrilled that at this point in time, basketball is favorite sport :).  We had our first stand-off this week as he sat and looked at the electrical outlet, then back at me, then back at the outlet, etc. This went on for a couple of minutes until he finally crawled away from the plugs. I was using my best stern parent voice and I guess it worked this time :). I know this is just the beginning, though. 

In other news, my family (parents, grandparents, and Meggie) is headed to visit Caroline later this week. It will be my grandparents first trip south of the border and I really wish I could be there to witness it, as I am certain my grandfather will have lots of ridiculous things to say. They will do some sightseeing in San Diego and lots of playing with the sweet kiddos at the City of Children. I am hoping they have such a good time that they want to go back.

Happy Valentine's Day!