My baby is TWO!!!

I cannot believe that Avery had her 2nd birthday yesterday! Time certainly does fly by...I vividly remember two years ago...Not knowing whether she was a boy or a girl (I was CONVINCED that "it" was a boy...and Brenly was too! She kept saying that Jesus told her it was a boy!) Obviously we were very wrong...I also remember them putting this light haired child in my arms, "where in the world did SHE come from?" I was so used to my dark haired baby, that I NEVER imagined that God would give us a red-head! However God has blessed our family so much by giving us Avery Ray and I pray that she continues to grow in the Lord, developing into the young woman that God has designed her to be! What an honor it has been to be your parents Avery...We love you more than you will ever know and we thank you for what you have brought to our lives!

Spring in February...

and we took full advantage of it! Sunday after church we got home and decided that we were going to enjoy a day of fresh air! I took my Esther Bible study outside and spent some time in the Word and let the girls run free on all of our acres! What a beautiful day!














and then Ray got ahold of the camera and started taking wildlife pictures...a woodpecker and some geese! You gotta love leaving out in the boondocks!

Babysitting Baylee...

On Saturday, we got the chance to keep Baylee while my bro. and sis-in-law went to a surprise party! This was the first time that we have gotten to keep her and my girls loved it! They love their cousin to pieces and it was fun to see Brenly take the role of big cousin and protector!! Here are a few pics from the night! Thanks for letting us spend time with that precious baby girl! We LOVE her!

Life can be so confusing...

who knew that having children could complicate your life so much (haha...what an understatement!) I cannot believe that they girls are growing up so fast! Avery will be celebrating her 2nd birthday next Monday and then a month later Brenly will be celebrating her 5th! YIKES! They are getting so big, so fast! With Brenly's fifth birthday comes the idea that within less than 6 months, Brenly will be starting Kindergarten!! It makes me sick just thinking about the idea..but know that this is the normal progression of life! With us living where we do (out in the boondocks!) we have really had to contemplate where she will start school-- Where will she go, how will she get there (logistics of it all), will they have before/after school care, etc. We have been praying like crazy that God would show up let us know where she should be! We have also been praying that God would tell us where we need to live...do we stay in Bolivar, do we need to move to Middle Tennesse, when will positions for Ray come open? For as long as Ray and I have been married...our prayer has always been that we would go whereever God wanted us to, but that He would need to be very specific with letting us know! Here recently we have come to a crossroads as far as out lives are concerned and we have been anxiously awaiting to hear from God! We truly believe that at this point in our lives we are going to stay put (at least for a little while longer...it may change in a year or so) and we believe we are going to try to put Brenly in Macon Road Baptist School! Now, I have NO clue how God will provide the extra money that it takes to put her in a private school...but we believe that God is the ultimate provider and that if we trust Him in this decision, that once again He will provide the necessary means to accomplish this goal! We will continue to pray for clarity about God's will and how we can adjust our lives to match that! We pray that God gives us peace about what is to come...and pray that He will shout it from the mountain tops where we shall go from here!

"Sweets and Sassy's"

...at least that's what Maci Dean (Brenly's best friend!)calls it...and that is where she choose to have her birthday party!


So imagine my precious Bren (the biggest tomboy ever...as I have noted in previous entries!) as she prepares herself to have to ENDURE one of the most miserable things in her life...Dressing up, getting her nails done, make up, sunglasses, scarfs, dancing (remember she has NO rythym---apparently a trait she picked up from her daddy and her MiMi:) AND a doing a runway model deal, strutting her stuff and having to pose three times! I mean, there just isn't much more that a tomboy could dread!! I had to have a SERIOUS conversation with her on the way there, "This is MACI's party, she is your best friend, you need to participate, have a smile on your face and for the love, just TRY to have a good time!" So we walk in, and it is all things GIRLY!!! Pink everywhere, boa's, nail poish, hair glitter, dresses...enough to make Brenly get sick even at the sight of it all! But she was a trooper...they took her back and let her pick out a dress...(ha...I can't help but laugh even as I type it!) and she finds one that is blue...(at least they have one that is her favorite color, I don't think she could have gone with a pink one!) The funniest part of that is that the only blue dress was the "Frilly-est" one there! They place her in the chair to get her nails done (she picks the lightest color in the box so that no one will notice that she has had to endure such pain:) she changes chairs and they start fixing her hair (keep in mind that she has a come apart when I try to even brush it and put a barette in...and she is sitting there patiently while they put half of it up in a pony tail?!?! My talk really did help!)





The girl asked if she wanted glitter and she winced and quickly nodded her head yes, truly hoping that the girl would NOT see her response...She loads Brenly hair up with sparkly glitter and now it is makeup time...Brenly again decided that she is going with the most neutral color...almost skin color :)
And not they get to have a freeze dance party (they play loud music and when it stops, you FREEZE!) So she quickly starts jumping up and down to resemble any form of dancing...with a smile on her face no less!




And now they start to practice their runway modeling...They must come from behind the beaded curtain, walk up the runway and pose three times (Brenly looks at me with a terrified look..."what's a pose?)




She does all of it very well, and even does the cutest "poses" ever! AND now for the real fashion show...sunglasses, scarfs, rings...the whole nine yards! It's showtime...They crank the music and she struts her stuff!





Absolutely precious..and I think she may have even enjoyed it...just a little, but don't you dare tell her that I told you so! She will deny it forever!


P.S. and I had to add one of Avery...she was too cute...She was just ready for the cake!

We take the paci...

and she finds her fingers...and I am not sure which one is worse. We took the paci from Avery when she was 13 months old...(for her mother is a dental hygienist who is a nut about anything teeth related...YES, I even Floss :) and when she was about 15-16 months, she and Brenly were playing in her room and at the VERY bottom of her toybox she spotted it...a long lost paci!! AND the love for that thing was rekindled and perhaps even stronger than before...SHE LOVED IT! and we let her have it for a week or two...only to remember what a hassle it was! When we lost it (remember we only had that one!) It was traumatic! So we quickly remembered why we didn't like it in the first place (other than the fact that it was messing up her alignment and her occlusion!) So we have recently, within the last month...have been noticing that she has replaced the paci for her fingers...three of them to be exact, on the right hand....The pointer finger of the other hand goes in the tail of her lamby (I know, it sounds a little disturbing...) and so I had to take a picture of her, so that we would remember exactly why we are going to have to spend thousands on orthodontia in the years to come!

The power of advertising on tv...

is a pretty powerful thing...Last week we were sitting at the dinner table and Brenly tells us that she is freezing and that she needs to get her blanket before she can eat! She continues to say that she is always freezing when she sits down to eat! We both look at her as if she has lost her mind...but allow her to go get her blanket (she is VERY good at using EVERY excuse in the book to keep from eating...esp. when we are eating something that she isn't fond of!) so she goes and gets her blanket and sits back down at the table! She starts "picking" at her food again and says..."Last night (because any moment that is not in the here and now...is last night to her!) I saw that they were selling these blankets that have sleeves in them...they only cost 4 numbers (meaning $19.95) AND they come in different colors! They have kids sizes too! I need one so that I can wear it when we eat!" She would be referring to the "slanket" that they sell on tv! Imagine my child ordering a slanket to wear at the dinner table, so that she will eat!...OH MY...way too much tv for my oldest child!

She is healed...

Praise the Lord! Yesterday was very traumatic and emotional for all involved...however our prayers were answered and she no longer has bladder reflux!!
We were supposed to be at Methodist Germantown at 8:30 and the procedure was to start at 9:00. Everything was going as planned and they were right on time. They call us back to the xray/ultrasound room and I was FINE! We walk in and Avery can sense that "something" just isn't right! She asks if we have done this before, I nodded yes and she hands me a little bitty gown to put Avery in....Avery LOSES IT!! She cries like never before (over a gown...and it only went downhill from there!)Brenly is standing beside me and big ole' alligator tears are streaming down her face (because she doesn't want Avery to be sad!) Oh my goodness...So I have not one, but two children who are terribly upset...The nurse tells me that they are going to need strap Avery to the papoose board (its easier to use, less radiation, less traumatic-right?!, makes the procedure faster, etc....none of those excuses make it any easier for a momma!!) One of the nurses take Brenly behind the metal wall and I proceed to get her dressed in her little PEACH gown (did not go with the RED hair:) and they laid her down on that skinny (keep in mind that my kids are not) little board and strap her in...BLOODY MURDER!!! (this is when I LOSE it!) She was so mad (comes with that red hair territory) that she started arching her back, trying to squirm her way out of it! The nurses take a leg a piece and put me in charge of her upper body! GREAT...so I get to watch the HUGE tears, the blotchy face, the looks of agony ("Mommy, do you see what they are doing? and why aren't you stopping it?) and in the midst of all this nonsense...one of the nurses starts the catheter and the bloody murder screams gets louder and the fit grows larger! Avery starts SCREAMING, "BB (which is what she calls Brenly) HELT ME, HELT ME (interpretation, HELP ME!) PITIFUL! BROKE MY HEART!! So we are set to start the test...except that we now have wait on the radiologist...Are you kidding me? In the meantime, one of the nurses has gone to get Avery a bear from the "toy chest" and so I start asking her what she is going to name the bear...I go through every name that I can think of (I am sure that I mentioned your name...that is how long we waited!)I even threw in things like "I promise we can go to Target (my kids love TARGET...so does their mother!) and I will get you popcorn and an icee! I am trying anything that I can to get her mind of this most horrendous experience! He finally arrives and asks if I remember which side had the reflux (right, like I remember that, especially NOW!) So now he says that we need to call the Lebonheur Surgery Center (which is where we had the first test done) b/c he needs to know which side and how much of the contrasting soln. they used last time! For real? Just start this mess so that we can get out of here! They never heard back from the surgery center, so he proceeds on without that info (couldn't we have done that 15 mins earlier!) So he fills her bladder up to at least the size of a large cantaloupe (perhaps even a small watermelon) as I watch it on the screen (in my head, thinking...I wonder if a bladder has ever burst because her bladder was HUGE! They finally stop the drip (of contrasting soln.) and the nurse explains that she is going to start removing the catheter...HERE WE GO AGAIN...not that it ever really stopped, but the screaming and crying subsided "just a little"! The cath. is removed and Avery pees everywhere (well who wouldn't when they put liquid in your bladder the size of a cantaloupe!) and it shows that her reflux is completely gone! Jesus has healed her and we are getting out of there! The doctor mentions that the reflux is gone and her kidneys/bladder are functioning completely normal! Thank you Jesus!
We wash her off, clean her up, dress her and we are on our way to Target for some popcorn and an icee and all is well with the world!
By the way...Brenly was such a big sister, she tried real hard to brave, but it is hard to watch baby sister go through that! She got popcorn and an icee as well :)

Girls will be girls...

and girls can be silly! The other night (after the scary potty incident) I was taking pictures of the girls together and they decided I needed to join in in the fun! Can you tell by the smiles on our faces that we had a pretty good time?!

PooPoo on the potty...

The past week has been a busy week for Avery as far as potty training goes! She has been trying to get this whole thing down...and she has picked up on it pretty quick (we are no where NEAR the end of this journey...however any step forward is good!) so Sunday night she was running around naked (which helps her realize that nothing is going to "catch" what is falling:) and she ran up to me whining, basically with her legs crossed...So I pick her up and run her to the potty and she continues to cry..That's interesting, this hasn't been an emotional issue before...She quickly finishes and as she is getting up I realize that this wasn't just a peepee stop...She went ahead with "other" and it scared her to death...Perhaps even a bit scarred for life! She got up and cried and REFUSED to look at the surprise she had left in the potty! It really was quite comical...So now, she is even scared to poop in her diaper...which has made her even a little constipated!! Great...I now have a child who is scared of her own poop!


and "lamby" even made it for the big occasion...there isn't much that "lamby" hasn't experienced!