Girls Weekend 2012

Girlfriends are good for the soul. Every year I count down to our annual Baylor girls weekend.  Without a doubt this weekend did not disappoint; with all the stress of Halle, it was nice to have some time for me.  A HUGE thanks to my amazing hubby and awesome in-laws for holding down the fort while I was gone.  Already looking forward to next year!  Here are a few pics highlighting our time together.  

Thursday night we all just met up and hung out, so Friday morning was our first official outing.  We went hiking at Lake Grapevine.  It was really pretty!

Next we headed to downtown Grapevine for lunch and shopping.  It was perfect weather! 

Laur~love how we can not see each other for months and nothing has ever changed. 

That night we went to a murder mystery dinner theater...it was a little lame, but still fun to do with my girls!

The next morning was spa day. Yes, we are all in matching uniforms in a disco like room.  The spa was very interesting to say the least~lots of stories to tell from it!

Alison~one of my first Baylor friends and she introduced me and Toby!

Mexican food for dinner in Ft Worth

Sarah~Never short on laughs when she's around.

Besties~Love these girls!!!

Then we headed over to the Ft. Worth rodeo!

Thanks to Ashlee we had a great seats!  It was very entertaining and certainly out of our norm!

 

 

We ended the night at Billy Bob's.

Our traditional crazy pic in our matching shirts!

Like Father, Like Son

Love these silly boys!

Another Hospital Stay

Halle's eating has always been a challenge.  Early on she was so sleepy from jaundice and hydrocephalus that we battled her falling asleep.  Then we moved into reflux and lack of hunger.  Pair this with the fact that she did not gain weight her first month and the fact that she above the ninety-ninth percentile for height and we have a problem.  She is currently in the fiftieth percentile for weight for her age, but only second percentile for weight to height.  Since she was a week old, we have been adding formula to breastmilk to up her calories.  We have seen multiple pediatricians, GI doctors, dietitians, chiropractors; we have tried many medicines, dairy and no dairy, inclined sleeping, and many other things; we've had an upper GI, ultrasounds, and other tests.  I am thankful that we have had some good stretches of pain free eating, but feeding Halle always takes at least forty-five minutes and usually more like an hour.

 

Two Mondays ago started our latest downward spiral.  She kept eating less and the pain kept increasing.  It is so tough to force feed a screaming baby for an hour and to not be able to stop because of weight concerns.  To say we have been stressed would be a vast understatement.  We can handle feedings lasting an hour, but not screaming for an hour. 

 

Last Tuesday we went to Childrens to seek help.  We spent two nights there working with their staff to make a plan for Halle girl.  She was quite the trooper through many pokes, tests, and new things!  We have a new GI doctor who developed a plan for Halle that has eliminated the pain.  The total bottle time has not improved, but the pain is gone. Please pray that this period will pass quickly and for comfort for Halle.  We'd also love prayers for us as we feed her.

 

We are thankful that most babies typically outgrow reflux and that this is not a life long problem, but we cannot wait until we can all enjoy feeding.  So hard to see your baby in pain!  We'd also appreciate your prayers for weight gain.

 

We pray this is our last hospital stay for many, many years!  It was a little weird to have the same room, nurse, and doctor as one of our previous stays.  Stirs up some not so good feelings.  

Thankfulness from a 2 Year Old

Camden and I made a Thanksgiving turkey today complete with feathers where he got to share people he was thankful for.  In true Sunday school fashion, his first two were God and Jesus. 

Go Big Red!

Halle Girl

Love seeing this girl's personality come out and her discovering new tricks!

Siblings "Sharing"

I'm sure this won't be the last time Camden insists on sharing something of Halle's.  Yesterday I was taking a picture of Halle and Cam said "I want in", so I said ok thinking he meant in the picture....turns out, he meant the Bumbo seat!

Sweet Conversation

One of my hopes is that Camden and Halle will grow up knowing about their brother Beckett and that he will be a normal part of our conversation.  As a mom and a Christ follower losing him makes me long for the day where we will be united in Heaven.  I can't wait to see all three of my kids together.  I pray that Camden and Halle will come to know Christ at an early age and that Beckett's life will be a good way to have conversations about Heaven.

I didn't want to forget this conversation we had at lunch today.

Me: Who is God?
Cam: He loves us very much.
Me: Where does he live?
Cam: In Heaven with Beckett.  I wanna have shake milks (we had milkshakes on Beckett's birthday this year) and give him a balloon).  A star one (we sent a read star balloon up in the air this year too).  Who is Beckett's mommy?
Me:  I am.  I miss him.
Cam:  I miss him too,  Can I play with him?

Then he quickly moved on to wanting to know who Copper's mommy is...

A few minutes later,

Cam: Who is Beckett's Daddy?
Me:  Daddy is.
Cam: You are my Mommy and Daddy is my daddy.
Me: Beckett is your brother.
Cam: And my special friend.

Love my boys!

Halloween 2012

I loved watching how much Camden got into Halloween this year!  It is so fun to watch him experience things.  He would go up to each house, knock, and say "Happy Halloween" before anyone even answered!  The cutest part was that he always said "trick or treatING" not trick or treat and he was good about saying "thank you"!  He's already asked the past 2 nights if we can go again when it gets dark and Daddy gets home.  And in true Halle fashion, she was a breeze!  She slept in her stroller most of the time.  It was a fun family night! Warning: all of these pics are from my phone so the quality is pretty poor!

My 1st attempt at a cute pic of both kids...

it ended quickly as Cam was not that into sitting still!

Every time we got a pic of him he wanted to say "roar" and would look scary!

 

Brave boy walked right up to the houses all by himself!

Our little dragon wanted a lift after a while...

Sweet sleeping beauty

We had to take a stop for a chocolate break

Love these two!

And my little guy!

Lately

Love them. 

A fun treasure hunt with friends complete with binoculars and... 

 a gold medal prize!  He loves to wear it!

How cool do we look?  This is how we went for a walk on one of our cool days last week... 

Someone likes to eat their hands all the time these days! 

You can't go to Home Depot aka The Tractor Store without Cam taking a ride. 

 Flying with Daddy

Huge head control improvement!  And she loves that baby in her mirror. 

She was even having a conversation with her here! 

Lots of playtime outside while its still warm!