Praise Him!

I've decided that it's been long enough, too long really, since I last took the time to praise Him for the many blessings in my life. So, that's what I'm going to do today...

Praise Him for the jobs that Hubby and I have. Like I've said before, we may not always like them, but we have them!

Praise Him that having those jobs allows us to have a cleaning lady come in every other week. She has saved our marriage! Just kidding. Actually, no - I'm serious.

Praise Him for the two beautiful, healthy children who call me mommy.

Praise Him for our family and friends who continuously support us. This weekend's March for Babies is just one example of them being there for us - both through financial support and walking with us.

Praise Him for my sight (even if it's not the greatest, I've got it). Whether it's in my children's eyes or a grove full of oranges, I'm blessed to see beauty every day.

Praise Him for the amazing healing powers of aloe - the only thing that has helped me through this dreadful sunburn!

Praise Him for little giggles that warm my heart.

I know that there are so many other things to praise Him for. So many that I can't even begin to list them, but He knows they're in my heart and He hears the praise.

The Best Ever!

Now that spring is here, and the warm sunshiney weather is with it, we decided to head to the beach for the day this past weekend.

We loaded up early Saturday morning - when I say we loaded up I mean basically everything but the kitchen sink - and drove about an hour & a half to our favorite 'local' beach. It's our favorite for several reasons.

First it's beautiful! Plus it's never too crowded. But most importantly, our friends have a house there that they let us use the bathroom at!! Seriously, with a three year old, that's very important!

Anyway, this was Buddy Roe's first beach trip and I'm sad to say that unlike his big sister, he doesn't seem to be a big fan.

It could have something to do with this...

Or the fact that after sitting like this for a couple minutes...

he toppled face-first in to the water.

This one on the other hand...

continues to LOVE anything and everything to do with the beach! Or the "ocean and the sand box" as she refers to it.

She enjoyed playing in the water and the sand, chasing the beach ball, and taking her annual "Father-Daughter trip to Mexico" (when they go far out in the water).

Our day didn't end at the beach. That afternoon we joined our friends (that have the house on the beach) in town for what we have officially decided is "The World's Longest Parade"! Seriously, it began at 6:00 pm and the last float came by at 10:00 pm.

Four hours of non-stop pirates, wenches, firemen, beauty queens and...BEADS!

While we were still at the beach BBug told us, "You're the Best Mom Ever! And Daddy's the Best Daddy Ever! And this is the Best Day Ever!"

And really, who am I to argue?!

Helping Daddy

Last night Hubby went out to water our flowers and BBug joined him to offer her assistance.

As I sat in the office (ordering a new swimsuit - yay!) I could hear squeals and screams from the front yard. Now, it's been a while since I watered flowers but I'm fairly certain that's it's never been that exciting!

After a few minutes Hubby called me outside, where I found this...

And just so we're clear...the outfit - she put that together all by herself so she could go to the store with her daddy. And yes, I let her go just. like. that.

Well, with Dora Crocs and before she was soaked, but you get the idea!

"Super Cute!"

I guess BBug does take after me a little bit. We've already established that she's a little bit redneck, and now I've seen another resemblance.

She loves to get packages in the mail!

Thankfully, she has a NahNah who is more than happy to feed her addiction and send packages to her every now and then. And those packages are always full of good stuff!

Early this week we came home to a slip from the mail carrier letting us know one such package was waiting at the post office for us. So the next day, Hubby - wonderful man that he is - stopped by and picked it up.

When we all got home from work and school we sat it out on the coffee table and went to town! As we opened the box there were letters on top from NahNah - which were quickly discarded by BBug, but salvaged by Mommy - followed by "too cute" clothes as BBug says!

As we quickly threw mommy's new dresses (thanks NahNah!) and daddy's new shirt to the side, we got down to business sorting through the treasures for the kiddos.

With each dress of her own that she pulled out Charleigh exclaimed "Oh, this is too cute!" or "Oh, super cute!" And with each outfit for Cagen came "Oooh, Look Buddy Roe!"

After carefully examining each dress, she's decided that the navy blue sailor dress, the yellow Disney Princess dress are her favorites. Personally, I'm in love with the white eyelet and pink ribbon dress and the two Chaps seersucker dresses!

And Cagen, well he's pretty easy to please and I think he's adorable in just about anything!

So, Thanks NahNah for all the "super cute" goodies!

A Little Bit Redneck

This weekend as we were playing in the backyard, Hubby found this...

In case you can't tell, it's a snake skin...a very fresh (Hubby had just mowed the yard and it wasn't there then), still damp snake skin.

Now I realize that many folks' first thought would be, "Oh no! There's a snake in my yard!"

Not us! Our first thought was to pick it up and see if BBug would hold it! And hold it she did...

You see, she does take after me a little bit. She's a little bit redneck!

Whadda Ya Think?

As you all know by now, we're walking in the March for Babies next month with a team in Cagen's honor.

One of the things that the March of Dimes encourages teams to do is to create a t-shirt for all of the members to wear. So that's what we're doing, and this is what I've come up with (on a white t-shirt)...

Whadda Ya Think? Be honest, Please!

She's A Growing Girl

Charleigh went to the pediatrician Friday for her 3 year well visit and we learned...absolutely nothing we hadn't already heard in her "sick visit" for her asthma two weeks ago!!

She is 37" tall and weighs 31 lbs. She's in the 50th percentile on the growth charts. She's "advanced" for 3 years (the nurse & doctor's word, not ours ~ I would never be that biased!) and she's "strong willed"...like we needed to pay someone to tell us that!!

The doctor told us everything looked great and he would see us in a year. Then he started laughing!

T-R-O-U-B-L-E

That's right, I said TROUBLE.

Well, actually Charleigh said it. Here's a conversation from our house last night...

Charleigh: They made a mess at school today.
Daddy: Who made a mess?
Charleigh: The boys.
Daddy: Which boys?
Charleigh: MY boys.
Daddy (trying not to laugh): Oh really?
Charleigh: Yeah, they're trouble!
Daddy: That's right baby girl, boys are trouble! And you just remember that!

A Little Bit Can Add Up to So Much

For those of you who don't know the story of my little one Cagen, let me give you the Reader's Digest version ~ I was diagnosed with complete placenta previa at 20 weeks. At that time my doctor, the nurses and my AMAZING best friend MS (who also happens to be a labor and delivery nurse) all assured me that so many women have it and it often corrects itself well before term. They also assured me that even if it didn't correct, that everything would be ok. I and Cagen would be well taken care of. Unfortunately, I was not one of those cases that corrected and I went in to the hospital with complications at 29 weeks. By the Grace of God and His guidance of my wonderful doctors and nurses I was able to make it to 35 weeks (with time in the hospital and bedrest at home) before the decision was made that we needed to go ahead and deliver. On October 14, 2008, exactly 5 weeks earlier than planned, Cagen made his debut. He appeared fantastic immediately following the delivery but started having some breathing complications shortly after arriving in the NICU and was on a vent for a short time. All-in-all we were VERY fortunate. He only spent 8 days in the NICU and other than some apnea issues (that scared the daylights out of us) a couple months later, has been relatively healthy!


OK - the reason I wanted to share that very brief summary of Cagen's beginnings is that we are 25 days away from the March for Babies!


Like I said in a previous post, Motivation and Determination, even though we've never had any direct contact with the March of Dimes, the fact that they're dedicated to improving the health of babies by preventing birth defects, infant mortality and that issue that hits close to home for us, prematurity, makes me want to be involved in some way.


And the more I thought about it over time, the more stories that came to mind of people that we actually know who have been personally affected by these very issues that the March of Dimes fights against.


Too many of our family and friends have had premature babies. Some of them who survived and are now thriving, others who only got to sit with families on earth for a moment before becoming angels in Heaven waiting for the day the rest of us can join them.


Too many of our family and friends have had perfect babies challenged daily by physical imperfections.


Too many of our family and friends have never been able to physically hold their child, but will keep their memories in their hearts forever.


And for all of these too many's we are only a small fraction of the families facing these challenges.


That's why Cagen's Crew is Marching for Babies. And that's why I'm going to ask each of you (those that I know personally and even those that I don't) to help however you can.


It doesn't have to be by sponsoring Cagen's Crew (although I would love for you to ~ there's even a link to the right that you can click on to do so).


It could be by walking in your local March for Babies, buying brownies at a local bake sale for a March for Babies team, or even just by donating a dollar at the grocery store checkout when they ask if you want to support the March of Dimes.


I know that times are tough economically. I know that you're all watching your pennies, we're doing it here too. But if we all do just a little bit it can add up to so much!

I Told You He Could Do It!

I know I told you a couple of weeks ago that Cagen had rolled over! Well, after those first two times he pretty much decided he was done with that trick.

Until that is, this past Thursday. And now, now he's a rolling machine! Well, kind of. Maybe. OK, not really but he did do it a few times and I was able to catch it on camera once!

He's still not rolling from back to front, but give him time. He'll get there!

And now, for your viewing pleasure ...

Please tell me you tuned out my awful video voice! Do I really sound like that in real life? Someone, please tell me I don't!

A Growing Boy

Cagen's a growing boy!

We took him in for his 4 month shots and his 6 month checkup yesterday (he's 5 1/2 months old, but his shot schedule has been adjusted for his prematurity).

He was such a good boy for the nurse giving the shots. When she was getting the first shot ready she told us it would sting and he wouldn't like it...my baby just laid there. The next one he fussed just until the needle came out and the last two he was done crying by the time we picked him up. That's it!! No more tears, no fussing, no squirming.

Like I told the nurse ~ if the boy can have a spinal tap done without crying (honestly, when they did his spinal tap in December there wasn't a single tear), these shots should be a piece of cake!

The doctor was pleased with the progress he's making. He's developmentally on track for his adjusted age and he's still on target with his growth. Still only in the 25th percentile but on target! He is now 14 lbs. 15 oz. and 25 1/4 inches long!

He is babbling now, but is pretty quiet about it. The pediatrician actually said he would be worried about his hearing if he hadn't passed the newborn hearing tests. But since he did pass that, it appears that he's just going to be a quiet, laid back child ~ Oh the differences in my children!

Happy Birthday Baby!

At 11:07 p.m. on April 1, 2006 I got the greatest promotion of all time ~

from Me to Mommy with the birth of Charleigh Ann

and each year since then, the benefits have only gotten better!

Happy Birthday Baby!!