What a year!

This year has been full of so many blessings! Kudos to Lindsey Cummins for making me realize that! We were so shocked at the blessing of another baby (little Chap). I will admit that I wasn't the happiest camper when I found out that I was pregnant. I had just been accepted into nursing school and struggled with the thought of not being able to finish the program. That pregnancy turned out to be the biggest blessing I could every imagine. God has such a wonderful master plan. After Chap was born I was FINALLY diagnosed with Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy (mouthful, I know....we'll call it CIDP!) after literally years of neurological problems I finally found a doctor that could help me! I love Dr. Ruth Fredericks. She's my little angel! After this diagnoses I was told that I should never have any more children...this suddenly made me realize why God had given Chap to us when I wasn't prepared for another baby! What a relief it was to know what was causing so many problems in my body! So after spinal taps and EMG's and countless visits to the doctor we finally could move on with a plan to control my disease. After several rounds of IVIG (Intravenous immune globulin) I can do things that were out of the question before! I went from not being able to walk through walmart to doing whatever I want to do! It's truly a miracle drug (as it should be...being more expensive than chemo!) I feel better now than I have in years. The only bad part is that it is the ONLY drug that slows my disease! We are steadily praying for a new alternative...something I can do at home! Until then we will keep doing IVIG. We are trying to go longer without an infusion...we are trying every 3 months instead of every 6 weeks! Chivas is a trooper! He was been so perfect and supportive! Also, my family has been incredible! We know that it is a long road ahead (lifelong diseases can be so stubborn! haha)...that can turn at any given moment...but we are ready for whatever! Little Sam has had a wonderful year. He has really transformed into a funny little boy...SO independent and headstrong. He adores his baby brother! Chivas has had a busy year...mostly because he had to deal with my medical drama! He is so kind and sincere...he takes things so easily without getting stressed out! Chivas and I are both going back to school in 2 weeks! AHHHH! We are both really excited. I will graduate in June...thank goodness! I'm sure each year will become more and more joyous!

Longleaf Fun

Christmas day we left for Longleaf. Longleaf is about 2000 acres in the middle of NOWHERE...literally! Nestled in the center of the woods is a gorgeous master house and "little house". It is HEAVEN on Earth! Longleaf is the only place that I've ever been where you hear absolutely NOTHING...no cars, no cows, no people, not even the cell phone ringing (not a single bar of service:-( So Daddy got to hunt and we got to RELAX! So fun...miss is already. Sam caught 7 fish one day! All by himself! It was SO hot there...seriously like 80 degrees each day!

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning was SO much fun! I've tried to upload the video all morning long and cant seem to get it to work! I'm SO frustrated. The file is probably too big. Anyways, Chap loved all of his gifts especially Elmo LIVE! He was content in simply holding Elmo's hand! It was so sweet! A few ACTION shots with Sam and his new Jeep...hilarious!

Christmas in Alabama

It has taken me FOREVER to post....so sorry! We just got home from Alabama yesterday and we are so very tired! We had Christmas Eve lunch with the Darby side (Kathy's mothers side) and here are a few photos. Sam just LOVES his cousin Judson!

I HATE PACKING! But I LOVE Christmas!

I've been meaning to post some recent pics I have taken but I am SWAMPED with "things to do" before we leave for Alabama. I absolutely despise packing. It seems like no matter how soon I start packing, I'm still rushing to get things done! We are leaving tomorrow at 1:30 (hopefully, but not realistically;-). I should have tons and tons of pics when I get back! Also, today is Chivas' dads birthday! Happy Birthday Greg (Poppy)! So here I go...back to packing. I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas! Gute Nacht!

Sam's School Christmas Party

Today was Sam's Preschool Christmas party! The kids had a blast! Sam LOVES his friends and also his teacher, Ms. Carol! The children got tons of goodies and exchanged gifts! One of the dads video tapes EVERY party. I'm SO glad he does! I can't wait until the kids watch the videos when they are in High School...HILARIOUS!

What a poser!

Precious girls...Abby and Mary Patton (Sam calls them his girlfriends:-)

Gettin' some brother lovins!

Sam and his buddy Davis

Happy Birthday Kat-Kat!

Today is Kat Kats Birthday! Don't worry Kat, I won't tell your age! Sam was SO excited about calling her to wish her a happy birthday today! We love you Kat Kat! Have a wonderful birthday!

Sam's Special Day

Today we took Sam to Jackson to have his "special day"! We had so much fun! We got Nana to keep Chap and the three of us went to the zoo and to Bass Pro Shops (Sam's FAVORITE PLACE)...I know it's sad. Sam was more excited about BPS than the zoo!!!!! We like for Sam to get attention from the two of us without little brother. Chivas and I have found that it is difficult to give him the attention he deserves when we are taking care of Chap as well! So we like to make him feel extra special. Today when we dropped Chap off at his Nana's house Sam said to us " I want Chap to go!". It was so precious! He loves his little brother! But Sam ended up really enjoying having his momma and daddy all to himself!

He LOVES Daddy!

I knew Sam was having fun when he decided that he was going to pose for mommy...this NEVER happens!

It was a good day:-)

Introducing....

Our new kitty! Lily Flowersplash Thompson (named by Sam, ofcourse!)
Chivas and I aren't exactly cat lovers but we're getting used to life with our feline friend. Ty doesn't mind her...atleast he hasn't killed her yet:-0
Remind me of the life expectancy of a cat....guess we've made a LONG TERM decision!

When Daddy is away...

We get SO incredibly bored when Chivas is hunting...So today we were lazy (which is ideal for me:-) Sam and I cleaned the house (yes, he does help! Shocking, I know!) and we watched Spongebob for the majority of the day...I just love sitting with the boys and not being in a hurry to go somewhere! Maybe Daddy will bag a big ol' buck today!

Chap LOVES his Elmo book!

Chap's Surgery

I LOVE this photo!

Sleeping soundly in the car on the way there (still dark outside)!

We were up SUPER early this morning to take Chap to Surgicare to get his tubes for his precious little ears. He did SO GOOD! We were praying that the weather would be okay so that we would have a safe journey to and from Jackson! It wasn't too bad...definitely could have been worse! It started to sleet and snow really heavily just as we were leaving Jackson. The surgery went well...not a big deal. It took literally 5 min. for Dr. Gordon to perform the actual surgery. And unfortunately we weren't new to this. Sam had a set of tubes when he was about 1 year old and had a tonsillectomy soon after that. We LOVE Dr. Gordon and Healthsouth Surgicare and would def. recommend them both! Chap was the only baby (out of 5) that wasn't fussy before surgery! We were praying that he wouldn't be too crabby because he wasn't allowed anything to eat or drink after midnight last night. He did SO well and had all the sweet little nurses wrapped around his fat little fingers! I took a few photos of him asleep in the car and in the hospital waiting for the surgery. He looked absolutely PRESH in the hospital gown!

Okay so the second funniest thing I've seen all year!

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The funniest thing I've seen ALL YEAR!

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What a BIG BOY!

Chap is growing up SO FAST! He's pulling up on everything! He is crawling to different rooms instead of staying in the living room. Which is NOT GOOD for me! If I take my eyes off of him for one second he is in another room! He is a very cautious baby though! Thank goodness! Sam was NOT. I love to see Chap "inspect" things before he really touches it. He's our little professor! You can just see him thinking "now what is this, and what does it do????". PRECIOUS! Here are a few photos of Chap standing with the help of his trusty toy! Also, another video of him laughing at Sam. This is becoming a regular nightly occurrence! WE LOVE IT!

Christmas Memories

Last night Sam and I were reading a bedtime story when he looked above the bed where I have antique fishing lures hung in a shadow box. He has always been interested in them and enjoys hearing the story of how we got them. So I told him (like I've done so many times before) about how his Paw Paw collected them when he was a professional fisherman. Sam LOVES to hear stories about Chivas' grandfather who passed away on Christmas of 2004. Sam (who was named after him) was so special to Mr. Reaves. He had been fighting esophageal cancer for years and we always knew that he struggled to live just to see his first great-grandsons precious face. It's impossible for me to explain how wonderful Mr. Reaves was. He was (in our eyes) a perfect Christian man. This picture was taken only a few months before he passed. So Sam and I talked about his Paw Paw and I always have to explain that he went to heaven to live with Jesus because he was really sick. Sam looked at me with his sweet little innocent eyes and said "Mommy we need a bigger ladder so we can go see Paw Paw". I simply replied with tears streaming down my face "yes we do..."
Isn't is precious to hear the thoughts from the mind of a child??? Christmas is really hard for us and Chivas' family...especially his Mother, Kathy. We hope that everyone takes Christmas as an opportunity to spend time with the people you love.

Christmas Pics

The SUPER talented Natalie and Shane Ivey took these Christmas photos of the boys last week! SO SWEET! Sam was up to his usual behavior which made it ultra difficult to get a good shot. Photos shoots always make my blood pressure sky rocket!!!! Thank you so much Nat and Shane for your patience and understanding with my child! Also, thank you Marlin and Nelma Ivey for letting us use your gorgeous home for the setting!

Officially Christmas TIME!

The Christmas tree was a success! I absolutely love it! I was worried about Chap at first. I just knew he would go directly to it and attempt to tear it to pieces! But as usual he surprises us with how wonderful he is....He crawled to it and touched a tiny spot on it for a few seconds (like he was studying it) and decided it wasn't a big deal. SO PRECIOUS! Thank you Kat-Kat for helping with our tree and taking care of the boys while I was at the hospital! Hopefully I will be able to get all of the other decorations up this week! Here are a few shots of our tree!