Evan's 12th Birthday

Evan is our little social butterfly in the family and has always loved having lots of friends to celebrate his birthday.  In the last few years of moving twice, it became more difficult to put on big parties with family so far away and leaving so many friends behind.  I am glad we were able to give Evan a little party for his 12th birthday.  He was able to enjoy his birthday with some of his very special friends here.  Sadly, one of his best pals would soon be moving away because of the army so I am glad Evan had this special experience with him. Evan doesn't care as much about presents, but we had gifted him a laser tag set so that he and his friends could play a fun game of laser tag (a.k.a. running around in the yard pretending to shoot one another).

We had a little family celebration first.  Evan picked out a black forest cake at the local grocery store bakery.  It was pretty good.  

Yep, 12 candles on the cake! Mattox wanted to help him. 

Brody helped too. 

I can't believe my first baby is 12 years old and about as tall as me now.  

Can you tell how much his little brothers love him?

All of the boys enjoyed the cake. 

I just made some simple football cupcakes for his little party.  There were some gift bags for his guests.  The laser tag guns were ready. 

First, the boys enjoyed some pizza. Evan invited Canon and Coby, his church friends; Lee and Davis, his neighbor friends; Jamin, his best school and church buddy; and another school and sports buddy, Gabe, who hadn't arrived yet. 

Gabe did arrive in time for cake. 

Lee and Evan are more like brothers (and twins just one week apart) than just friends.  They have been inseparable since we moved in across the road.  They have so much in common, including their light red hair. 

Gabe, Evan, and Davis teamed up for laser tag while Lee and Canon teamed up.  I don't have a picture of the other team, Coby and Jamin.  They are not as cooperative.  We split up all the siblings on separate teams to make it interesting.  Haha! 

A nighttime game of laser tag sounds like an adventure. 

 12 YEARS OF EVAN

Our sweet baby boy has grown up into an amazing, kind, sweet, caring, smart, strong, and ambitious little man. 

Evan's Spring Break Trip {2019}

Since moving to Georgia over two years ago, Evan has been blessed with some of the best friends, and I am so very thankful.  These friends have precious families too.  Justin is one of those friends.  We have come to know and love his whole family through our church.  We can wholeheartedly trust Justin's parents with our child.  Justin's mother volunteered to take Evan and another friend with them on a camping trip to a fun campground in Florida.  These boys had a fabulous weekend together.  I was seriously jealous of all the fun they had.  Justin's mother was a rockstar for camping alone with three boys.  He will never forget this trip. 

First, the rockstar mom took the boys to play a game of paintball on the way to Florida.  

The arrived at their awesome campground.  It had so many fun things to do.  

Does anyone else remember watching Yogi Bear cartoons?  I loved that big lovable bear!  Justin's mama got some great pictures for us. 

Setting up their big tent for the weekend.  

An awsome spot for a picnic. 

Justin was not cooperating for this picture on the pirate ship. 

She got one with Justin in it this time.  I think the sun was very bright. 

A fun splash pad area. 

A game of basketball with some older boys.  Evan got some air for his jump shot. 

Pool tables too. 

Sweet boys playing together. 

I love this shot of the boys together.  There was a huge waterslide too. 

Fun in the lazy river. 

Awesome shot of the boys jumping in the pool together. 

Splash!

 

Another great shot of the boys by the lake.  

She even took a picture of Evan for me. 

Three awesome preteen boys.  

St. Patty's Day 2019

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We don't miss any opportunity to celebrate together and take pictures.  I wanted to document Miss Maggie's first St. Patrick's Day which was also her 2nd monthly birthday.  Her first few monthly birthdays fell on holidays (Valentine's, St. Patrick's Day, and Easter).  We are just so thankful for all of our little blessings.  I just love the traditional Irish blessing.  

We love going green for SPD.  Brody did not want to be in the picture, but he cooperated enough to sit close in his own chair. 

I love Mattox's and Grayson's silly smiles at one another.

My five blessings with two sunshines, two rainbows, and a pot of gold. 

Mattox really adores his big brother Brody. 

Sweet Maggie did not like being laid down. 

That little pouty lip is the best. 

These two babies are just so special, and I know this is just the beginning of a very special bond between them. 

He really wanted to hold his baby. 

My cute babies. 

We have a history of going green for St. Patrick's Day.  Even though Eddie's lineage is more Welsh and mine is more German, we feel there may be some Irish in our blood. 

Magnolia's 2nd Month

Maggie has the best big brothers in the world.  They couldn't wait to catch up on giving her hugs and kisses. 

Big brother Evan is a baby expert. 

The girls

Our first family pictures after coming home from the hospital. 

Meeting Papa 

Maggie and I were very tired after finally coming home so we enjoyed some snuggling in the bed.  

My little strawberry princess

Oh but she has a temper!  

Sweet baby

Her sweet 5 week pictures.  She wasn't super cooperative at first.  We have been doing lots of photography "training."  

The girls are ready for church. 

Wearing her little sister outfit. 

Spending time with some of her heroes, Daddy, Evan, Black Panther, Captain America, Spiderman, and Mommy. 

Already six weeks old and making big changes. 

Sweet swan princess. 

Time for her check up and weight check. 

She is definitely "worth the wait." 

Snuggling on Mommy and Daddy are her favorite things. 

Pretty in pink

Little Diva! 

7 weeks old

Cutie pie in her little tutu. 

Naps on her boppy pillow are also a favorite pasttime. 

Big brother Mattox adores her.  He argues with Mommy about whose baby she is.  He says, "My Maggie!"  I love outfits with cute things on the booty.  My little monkey girl! 

We finally had Miss Maggie's shower over a month late.  She was supposed to have one the week she arrived. 

It was a simple affair because we did it before our Wednesday night church class, and the kids needed to use the space.  

It was mostly a chance for some sweet ladies to love on Maggie.  Mrs. Debbie and Mrs. Marla are some of our favorites. 

Miss Maggie met her first boyfriend, Oliver, who subsequently moved away.  

Mrs. Bunmi and Mrs. Betty are also favorites. 

Sweet Mrs. Felicia and Mrs. Taylor put on the show.  

We brought home lots of gifts to open.  

I have wanted my girl to wear this little Polo dress for so long.  It was big sister Mattie's. 

I do love her big bows, but she hates when they get in her face. 

Pretty girl! 

Sweet little face. 

8 weeks old

She is so snuggly! 

I just loved her little socks. 

She is just too sweet.  I never want to put her down. 

Wearing our green for St. Patrick's Day, of course.  Her first two monthly birthdays fell on holidays.  

She was not loving this photo shoot. 

We persevered. 

And got a few good ones. 

But she was done.  What a way to end the month!  Haha! My little drama queen for sure. 

Health Update:  After a long stay in the hospital, we were very happy to have Miss Maggie home; however, we weren't done with doctors and follow-ups yet.  Miss Maggie still needed to be monitored regularly for her growth, eating, her cleft palate, breathing issues, and following up with her regular pediatrician, her pediatric ENT, another hearing screening test, and MRI and evaluation by a neurologist for some slight fluid in her head to be sure it did not increase.  Her ENT recommended just going ahead with an ABR hearing test like her brother Mattox had done because it probably wouldn't be worth it to attempt another regular hearing screening.  We got that scheduled and went in fairly quickly.  The test takes several hours depending on how cooperative the baby is.  She did well but needed to be fed halfway through the test.  The test showed that both of Maggie's ears were completely full of fluid still from the womb.  I think she tends to get more fluid in her head because of the hole in the roof of her mouth so it makes sense that when she was swimming in fluid a lot was going into her ear canals too.  Her ENT wants to put tubes in as soon as she is big enough to be under anesthesia so that will happen in a few months.  We discussed doing a follow up ABR at the same time while she is still sedated so we can determine if there is an underlying hearing deficiency like her brother's and daddy's.   Maggie also had a follow up appointment with a neurologist which was a bit disappointing because that office made us wait at the initial appointment for hours without being seen.  We finally left because Maggie and the other kids needed to eat and get Mattox to an appointment.  We did get it rescheduled and got an MRI performed of Maggie's head which showed there was still the same amount of fluid around her skull and in the right and left ventricles, but it wasn't increasing and wasn't an alarming amount.  They want to just monitor her to make sure it goes away completely.  So for now, we are making sure Maggie eats enough to be able to keep growing well and waiting for her ear surgery.  The cleft palate surgery probably won't occur until she is close to a year old.  It seems like a lot, but she is really behaving more and more like any normal two month old baby so I am optimistic that all of these little issues will be resolved just as easily.  

Mommy was trying to pump breast milk solely for Maggie.  Maggie had left the hospital taking almost 2 ounces at each feeding.  By the end of her second month, she was taking 2.5 to 3 ounces 8 times a day.    She did start trying to sleep through the night by the end of this month as well just like her brothers so we needed to try to go up on the amount per feeding since she was taking one less feeding a day.  At her 2 month well check up, she had gained almost 2 lbs. since her 1 month check up and weighed 8 lbs. 1.2 oz.  She had grown about 2 inches and measured 22 inches long.   She was still in the less than one percentile for a normal 2 month old baby so she had some catching up to do.  Miss Maggie really resembles Evan so much in looks and size, and it took him a while to catch up in size too.  She is actually progressing faster than he did since she is eating well by bottle.   Maggie is just such a precious blessing to us, and her big brothers, especially Mattox and Grayson, who give her lots of love.  Evan also loves "his baby" since she looks so much like him, but he teases me that she is going to like playing sports and hunting and doing all the boy things he does.  Haha!