Here's the Scoop: Micah's Broken Leg

This time last week we were headed to a family reunion and to spend a couple of days with my mom.  Wow, has it been a week.  It's hard to believe that in a week's time, we have gone from

this: 

to this:

I'll try to re-cap a bit of the story.  We got back to Mobile on Tuesday about 11 a.m. and the boys wanted to play on the slip-n-slide.  So Matt took them outside to play while I got a few things unloaded and started on lunch.  Micah had a freak accident where he got his left leg twisted underneath him and Matt was confident it was broken.  

From there, I packed up Hudson and Lily while Matt held Micah and we headed to the ER.  Thankfully, a friend met me and took Hudson and Lily.  God bless you.  It was excruciating to see him in that much pain.  X-rays were awful because we had to move him and he had only had Tylenol with Codeine.  I have cried many, many tears over my little man's pain.  It is so awful to see your child suffer.  Once the orthopaedic doctor on call saw his x-rays, they decided we should be transferred to USA Women's & Children's Hospital so that an Ortho that specializes in pediatrics could see him.  Once we were transferred and seen by their doctor, they admitted us and made a plan to take him to surgery the next day at 3 p.m. (their doctor would be at a clinic in Selma until then).  

That night was so so so awful.  Micah's pain was terrible all through the night.  Matt and I stood on either side of his bed.  Matt comforted as I cried.  He would begin to sleep and then jerk awake screaming crying every 5-10 minutes.  At about 4 a.m., he jerked really hard and bent his knee...and he was inconsolable from then on.  I asked for the doctor to be called, and thankfully he was at the hospital in about 15 minutes.  He decided that they needed to re-set the leg, but after taking a look at his chart decided that he didn't want to give him any more pain med before he did it, because he didn't want to risk having too many narcotics on board and compromise his breathing.  It. Was. Awful.  The tears streamed down my face, but what could I say?  I definitely couldn't say for him to risk Micah's breathing just to keep him out of pain.  So, I stepped out of the room while they re-set his leg.  Thankfully, after that Micah was able to rest peacefully.  

He had surgery on Wed. at 3, and the doctor was able to place 2 "nails" on either side of his bone to create a type of "internal cast", and so we were able to avoid the spica cast, which would have been a lot harder for us to take care of.  I am thankful for that.  

He has done well.  Moving him was awful and very upsetting for me, but he has manged very well at home.  He has been sitting in his wheelchair, and we are beginning to figure this thing out.  I am thankful that his pain is getting better.  Thankful for many things.  Thank you all for your prayers.  I have learned a lot through this process.  I have learned that my husband is more calm and rock solid than I ever really knew.  He has been kind, caring, compassionate, and rock solid through it all.  He has carried Micah over and over again.  I am so, so thankful.  He balances out my nerves.  I have also been reminded of friends that have to watch their children suffer often and I have grown in compassion for them.  I have thought about the many women around the world that watch their children suffer and don't have the means to take them to a hospital for treatment.  I can't imagine what they go through.  I am grateful.  Grateful we have insurance, a hospital nearby, for doctor friends who give advice, for pain medicine, for a husband that is off work and helps, for friends and family, for it all.  I'm grateful that though he has suffered, he will recover soon.  

Matt Spivey, the Artist

I love this man.  I love that he is an artist...and that no one would ever guess : )

He is so talented.  Buttttt.....I'm just saying that the same man that does this can NOT be the same man who gave me "tator mits" for Christmas one year.  Just sayin'.

 These are for our boys' namesakes.  Micah 6:8 and the Good Samaritan for Micah-do.  And then the well and John 14 after Hudson Taylor for our little Hudson.

 These are for the boys' room.  Love them.

 This was my birthday present...Matt painted it & the boys did the bottom right.  It is based on Isaiah 61.  Sweet.  And I love it.

 This is for Lily's room.  LOVE.  It's just missing the verse in the middle.

 This was a present for our 1st anniversary.  7 years ago.  Yeesh.  Inspired by Isaiah 61 again... Man, we love some Isaiah in this house : )

Love, love, love him.  And love, love, love that he is an artist.  It's restoring to him...and I think he is so good at it.  Love it.

Lily...Happy 4 Months!

How does time fly so fast?  Man, I am so in love with this little girl.  She has stolen every heart in this family.  She is the sweetest little girl.  I don't know what we would do without her.  Here are a few pics today to celebrate her 4 month Birthday!

Here's what she is up to lately:
Eating:  She eats every 3 hours.  She refuses to take a bottle : )  A lot like her big brother, Micah.  And she is a no go for a paci.  She's so cute I don't even care.
Sleeping:  By FAR my best sleeper.  I usually put her to bed at 8:00 p.m. and she wakes around 5:00 or 5:30, I feed her and put her right back down.  Awesome.  She's not the best napper, but she's still the best in our house : )
Loves:  She loves her brothers, her bouncy seat, her own bed, eating, and her super silly daddy.  She is smiley smiley but has yet to give us a big belly laugh.  We are all waiting! 

Best. Husband. Ever.

Matt Spivey has been outdoing himself lately.  For my 30th birthday he painted me this amazing picture based on my favorite passage of Scripture...LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it.  Isn't it amazing???  Bottom right is painted by my "offspring".  I love that he let the boys paint with him.  Such a kind dad.  Also, he threw me a huge surprise party and even had close friends and family come from out of town.  I'll write about that later, but seriously.  He has outdone himself.  I. Love. Him.  

He also convinced some of my friends and family to go together and get me a new camera.  It is awesome.  Here are some of the pics I've taken with it so far.

Sweet Lily.  She is too grown up already.  Sigh.



Lily and daddy snuggling on the couch.  Love.

How grown up is she???



Oh, man my heart swells for this boy.

 Micah-do.  He loves posing.



I'm feeling the need to do a "30 days of blogging"...didn't I do this last year about this time???  Pretty sure I did.  And pretty sure I got preggo and then started wanting to puke so I never finished.  Not gonna happen that way this year : ) 

Stay tuned.  

Ton of Bricks

Grief is so unpredictable.  Today is the 14th Father's day that I have celebrated without my dad. 

 You would think that it would get easier...and it does, but sometimes grief hits me like a ton of bricks.  It was so sad for me today.  I'm not sure why this Father's day was so different from others. 

 Hudson had a tball tournament this weekend, and as I was watching him play and Matt coach I was reminded of how my dad coached my brother. 

I remembered that we buried my dad in his little-league baseball hat and that his team wore their uniforms to the funeral.  I could picture him there at my little boy's game...I could almost feel what it would've been like if he had, and grief washed over me.

 It is a new phase of life that I am living without my dad, and it peels back a layer of grief.  I am thankful that my Heavenly Father promises that His mercies are new every morning, and so I'll look to another day.

For those that this was a bit too much for...lighter posts are coming : )  It was a wonderful and fun tball weekend, Hudson & Micah had a blast, and Lily is growing up way too fast.  Pictures to come soon. 

One Month Old

Ok, I'm gonna try to come back to the blogging world...  Here are some pictures of my sweet Lily during her first month.  I am so, so, so in love with this baby girl.  She is super sweet.  

Also, she started going loooonggg  stretches at night at ONE MONTH OLD.  Blows my mind.  Totally opposite of my boys.  Here are some of my favorite things:

Her amazing hair...I love it.

Sweet baby smell.

I'm her favorite because I have all the milk : )

She has a precious laid back personality at this point.

Man, I love a new baby.  She is such a gift...I'm trying to soak it all in.  Her first month was amazing...week 1 and 2 were a dream.  Aaaannnd then week 3 hormones and pure sleep deprivation set in!   One of my worst best moments that week was when I cried my eyes out saying I "couldn't have any more children" because I couldn't get my act together.  LOL.  Thankfully, my hormones leveled out & Lily started sleeping longer.  Praise God!  Because for that week, I was crazy!  

Sweet sleeping baby...

I love those rolls on her arms!!

One month old pic before her doctor appointment.

Hello, crazy hair : )  It's a bit out of control.

Her paci is as big as her face...

Uncle Mac came to visit.

I love baseball, wink wink...
This is her Ranger t-ball attire.

Baby Legs....LOVE LOVE.

Thanks, LaJuan for this super cute ruffle onesie.  Also, I am in love with that dark hair...

This is for all the folks that thought she really wasn't jaundice...yikes!  That's some kind of a tan...

Hi.La.Ri.Ous.

This is from t-ball opening ceremonies : ) I will blog about that soon...Hudson is loving it. He and Micah both look waaaay too grown up in this pic. Just thought posts are better with pictures...

The boys had their Easter parties at school yesterday. For some reason, I hate on party days at school...does that make me a bad mom?? I think it's the mom guilt I get because of having to run back & forth from one room to another. I always feel like I should be in the other room : ( Oh well. Yesterday was awesome. And absolutely hilarious. When I got there, this is the conversation that Hudson's teacher relayed to me:

Context: They were sitting at the table eating lunch and one of the girls in Hudson's class was talking to him about marrying him one day. TOO FUNNY!

Hudson's response: "I can't listen to that right now. And you need to get that outta your head."

Bahahaha...everyone was cracking up about it. Her mom said that she hopes she takes his advice. I think it is hysterical. He told her to "get that outta your head". Wow. Where does this boy get this stuff from? Seriously. I think he gets that from his daddy : ) Lol. Later when we got home, I asked him to tell me what happened and he was SUPER embarassed and laughing in a shy kind of way. All I could do was laugh when he told me his response, and he just giggled. Priceless.