We have stayed busy since my last post. The week of Nanna’s passing is somewhat of a blur. Her ‘celebration’ service was Friday and it was nicely done. When the service was over, we sent the boys with my parents so they could head down to Texas. Lulabelle went to play with her friend Shelby and Jamie and I went to Ponca City. We had a small graveside service and then ate at ‘Chick and Millie’s’ with the family. Yummy! We drove back from Ponca to pick up Lula and then headed down to Texas. It was a lot of driving, but well worth it. The family reunion was so fun and such a success. The boys loved swimming in the indoor and outdoor pools. We loved getting to see cousins! The Avery kids came back with their grandma and Big Jim, so we have spent every day this week hanging out with them! And, Bree and Evy and Ana and Mirka. Lots of sun, lots of water, lots of fun!! We still have a hole in our hearts from Nanna. I spent some time on the phone with Jamie’s sister this morning. It was good just to talk some things through. We are somewhat dreading the Fourth of July cookout in Edmond without her. It will be noticeable. We have big plans this weekend, so in my ’spare’ time, I will try to post pictures…I have TONS of them!! And…I have a great video of how Lula spent her time in the crib in the hotel room. I think I will call it ‘Party In My Crib’.
We celebrated Father’s Day yesterday…sort of. We got up and the kiddos climbed into bed with Jamie and gave him his present. He is the best daddy to our 3 kids! We got ready for church and headed to Watonga. We went to church with Popps and then grabbed a quick Sonic lunch and got back on the road to head home. We had gotten a call on the way to Watonga that things were not good with Nanna. As soon as we got back into OKC, Jamie dropped us at the house and flew to Edmond. He did not make it to Edmond before his sweet Nanna went to be with Jesus. We are thankful that her suffering is over and she is whole and healthy now. It was a hard afternoon. Max grasps the concept of losing Nanna, but what he could not grasp is WHY we were not going to MeMe’s to celebrate Father’s Day and Joseph’s birthday. You never know what a day is going to bring, but please pray that our week would be full of peace and celebration as we celebrate Nanna’s life.
We have spent everyday at the pool this week. We swam with Carder, Christian, Maddie, Ana, Mirka, JJ, Beau, Adeline…lots of friends this week. Jamie will start physical therapy next week to hopefully get his feeling back in his hand. Nanna is not doing well and the doctors don’t have a lot of positive things to say right now. She went back to the hospital on Tuesday. Please pray for her. We celebrated Father’s Day/Jamie’s birthday last night with my parents. We went to Cheesecake Factory and the kids were SO good. Lulabelle had a run in with Zeke’s ‘Sodor Suspension Bridge’ today. She has a small cut above her eye. I am expecting some bruising tomorrow. We will celebrate Father’s Day with Jamie’s dads tomorrow. The American Chopper episode will air on Thursday, so set your DVRs or watch it live. Rumor has it that the episode is more ‘drama’ than natural gas chopper…oh well…you never know how the editing will go. It is still a really cool bike even if they didn’t capture some of the really neat aspects and benefits of a natural gas bike!
That’s it for us for now. My goal tonight is to get the ‘June’ album up and updated…yikes…I am BEHIND!!
I feel like it is officially summer. We are spending our afternoons at the pool and loving it. Zeke is still a little tricky. He prefers the water to be very warm. Both boys like it when someone ’swims with them’ and each other doesn’t count. The boys had so much fun swimming with Papa on Friday! THAT was a treat!
Max is growing up so much. Getting taller, wanting to eat all the time, more responsible. This morning when Zeke got grumpy he looked at him and said, ‘You are on the wrong side of the tracks today’. I am pretty sure this is in reference to me telling him that he had woken up on ‘the wrong side of the bed’ one day last week. It makes me laugh in the midst of the grumpiness!
Lulabelle is getting around really well. Still not brave enough to let go and go, but she is fast and BRAVE. Jamie called me in to the back room on Saturday to see what she had done. She had climbed onto one of the little wooden chairs and turned around and stood up on it. She was quite proud and quite and angry when Jamie sat her down on her bottom. She is proving that she will probably keep up with the boys!
Jamie has an appointment today about his neck. Hopefully we will find out when the feeling will return to his hand/arm. I think he is getting quite frustrated about the whole thing! And, I visited Nanna last night. She has been moved to a facility where she will get PT and OT and hopefully get her home real soon! She has some work to do, but she is SO much better.
We are all looking forward to our family reunion in just a couple of weekends. It will be nice to see EVERYONE. Hope your summer is as busyhappy as ours!!
Nanna is doing better. Still in ICU, but much better. Jamie’s pain seems to be gone, but his hand and forearm are still numb. His MRI basically showed that he has a really bad neck. Something is pinched in there somewhere. He is going to give it a few days and then he has some options to think about…no surgery for now! Blake got her tubes on Monday and did great. She was so brave. They did it in the office and took her back at 1:10 and I was leaving the parking lot at 1:20. The boys went to the dentist today and no cavities! Hooray!
When each child has turned 1, we have taken them to Hideaway Pizza on their birthday. I am so glad we had that tradition…and that I remembered to take a picture each time we were there!
Nanna is still in ICU. She does seem to be doing a little better today. Hopefully each day will bring more improvement. Jamie has an MRI in about 45 minutes. We will know Monday what is going on with him. Lulabelle is getting tubes on Monday. Her ears are full of fluid and this seems to be the best solution. I am curious to see if things change after the tubes. Her ear infections don’t seem to really slow her down…there have been a couple worse than others. But, I am hoping for better sleep and maybe a few new words!
Can’t believe it is already June! We ended May by having Lulabelle’s first birthday party. It was a good time. It was Carder’s actual birthday, so he was sweet to share his day with Lula. We missed Jamie’s Nanna. She was not feeling good that day and was later admitted to the hospital that evening. She was moved to ICU on Tuesday and still remains there. She is struggling with pneumonia, along with congestive heart failure and crazy blood sugars. Please pray for her! We celebrated my birthday on Tuesday. The boys were sweet. Max loves a party…Zeke slept through dinner (which was really nice. Thanks YaYa for holding him and eating at the same time!). Jamie has a pinched nerve in his neck/shoulder region. He remembers injuring it on Saturday while doing a ‘flying squirrel’ off the diving board. But, it has gotten worse and worse. He went to the doctor this morning and stayed home today. It has been spasming and his right hand is numb. Blake goes to the ear doctor tomorrow. I’m sure I will have an update on that. I have lots of pictures from Blake’s birthday and birthday party. I am working on getting them up. I’m sure it will be a few more days. But, until then, you may recognize some of the cute kids on this website. My friend Emily took some fun pictures of the kiddos last Friday. You can check a few of them out!
Blake, Lulabelle, Lula, Belle, Sister, Sis Sis…Happy first birthday! We love you. You are such a sweet little girl. You have the best smile and it is very contagious. Your brothers adore you and you love them too…until they get too close. You can hold your own with them! Your dad and I are blessed to have you. You have a mouth that is full of teeth and you like to use them. You love being outdoors. You like stroller walks, the wind blowing in your blonde hair and the sunshine. Thanks for a fun first year…can’t wait to see the ‘many more’.
Jamie and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary on Saturday with a very nice dinner!
On Sunday we celebrated the pool being open. Papa heated it and the boys had so much fun swimming with Jamie.
Monday was Memorial Day and the pool was even warmer! We celebrated with family and friends at the pool. Lulabelle LOVED the water…of course, it felt like a big bath tub. The boys swam until their eyes were red. We ended the evening with a cookout at MeMe and Coach’s house with more friends and family.
Today Blake had her well check up. She is just over 21 1/2 pounds and 28 1/2 inches long. She has grown so much this year! She is getting her top molars which will bring her number of teeth up to 10. She does have ear infections, so we will have to go see the specialist. Other than that she is healthy and happy! And, we stuck with tradition, taking Lulabelle to Hideaway for pizza and a chocolate chip cookie for her first birthday!
As mentioned in an early post, Jamie has been working on a special project at work. It was really an amazing and once in a lifetime opportunity. Last night all the hardwork paid off. Back in April, Jamie and a team of six other Chesapeake employees got to travel to New York to meet with the guys from Orange County Choppers. The team worked with the guys from OCC to design (and build) the first natural gas chopper. I think the experience was very surreal and at times I think Jamie was nervous how it would all turn out.
But, last night was the big reveal. Chesapeake hosted a big party to celebrate their 20 year anniversary. They donated a new ‘finish tower’ to the city, they donated 20,000 hours in volunteer time to the community and for the company, they got a natural gas bike! I have included the video of the reveal. It is about 5 minutes long. TLC will air the episode when Jamie and group go to New York and then the reveal. It was originally supposed to be Episode 12, but they may change it. I will try to keep everyone updated!
The boys are officially out of school. I took Zeke back to the doctor yesterday and he still has strep throat. So, he got a new antibiotic and hopefully this one will kick it. Jamie took Max to school for his last day and I got Zeke ready. He was very resistant and still saying he didn’t feel well, so we went up to his school and gave his teachers their gifts and said goodbye to his friends. His teachers made him a really sweet book with photos from throughout the year. It was so sad! I was kind of glad we weren’t there this afternoon. I am sure there were a lot of tears. Auntie was sweet to watch Lulabelle (as planned) AND Zeke so that I could go to the Kindergarten picnic without them. The weather was beautiful and there were a lot of excited children at the park. The boys are already making lots of plans for the summer and I am just thankful that I heard ’sleep as long as we want’ in those plans. Let the summer begin!
Today Max participated in the M & M Olympics at his gym. What fun! He did great and we are so proud of him. It was hard to choose which video to share on the blog, but I think this one captures his karate talent the best. Don’t forget you can click here to see the other videos. You are definitely going to want to watch the one of him breaking the board…I promise…it’s worth it!
We have a big week this week. Max will finish up his karate/gymnastics class tomorrow. The session concludes with the M&M Olympics. Both boys finish up their swimming lessons and of course finish up school. Wednesday is my last ‘moms group’…I am really sad about that. I’ll still see the girls over the summer, but not without kids, at Panera, chatting and eating and drinking coffee… The special project that Jamie had the amazing opportunity to work on will be revealed on Thursday…I can’t wait to post pics! I will attend the Kindergarten picnic on Thursday and officially have a first grader…yikes! Lulabelle has popped tooth number 8 through her gums and is obviously working on more. She is having a pretty rough time sleeping and is constantly chewing her tongue or fingers and she has a lot of drool. So lady like! I finally updated the photos today and should have some really fun ones to put up in the next couple of weeks….including a first birthday!
The video was a little long, so we broke it up into 4 segments. Here is one of them that I think is pretty precious. I love his nodding, shaking and blinking! After you view this, you SHOULD be able to see the other ones on our youtube channel. Enjoy!
