June 2016

June was a really rough month for Baby Felix. On June 1st he had to have surgery on his left kidney. I had placenta previa during my pregnancy with him, and at my 35 week ultrasound to make sure the previa had moved we discovered that his left kidney was enlarged. We have been going quite often to the pediatric urologist for ultrasounds and test, and it was only continuing to get larger and larger.  On June 1st he had to have surgery to try to correct this issue. After he was under anesthesia and in the operating room they started out by doing exploratory surgery to determine exactly what was causing the blockage.  Eric and I were told that if it is something that they believe will eventually work itself out as he grows, then they will not need to continue with surgery. If it is something that will require surgery to correct it, then they would go ahead and do the surgery right then. Felix wasn't able to eat anything the night before after 9pm, couldn't nurse after 6:45am, and could have apple juice or clear pedialyte until 8:45, and then nothing after that. He had to be at the hospital at 10:45 and then they had an emergency come up so he didn't go back for surgery until 12:45 pm. He handled it all like a champ, though! He was very active, talkative, and won the hearts of all the nurses there. Once they came and took him out of my arms to go back to surgery (with him crying and reaching back for me- cue the many tears from me), Eric and I went out to the waiting room. They called a bit later to let us know that they discovered the problem and that it would require surgery, and that they were starting on that right then. They said Felix was doing great through it all. The entire surgery took about 1 hour and 45 minutes, and then they called us back to speak to the doctor. We learned that Felix's main artery was lying on the cord from the bladder to the kidney, which was causing a kink and making the kidney enlarged. Felix had a tube on his left side that had to stay in for a week for drainage, and then a stint that stayed in for three weeks while healing. The surgery went well and when we went back to the recovery room my heart broke at the screaming I could hear coming from his room as I walked down the hallway. We were told that he would be very sore, and I tried to nurse to comfort him but he didn't even want to do that at the moment. I was worried it would be a long ride home from Knoxville, but he was still so groggy from his pain meds that he slept the majority of the ride home. 

 Unfortunately just a little over a week after his surgery he started running a super high fever (like 104.9). I was so scared it was some type of infection from the surgery, but after running several test it was determined that he had a UTI. He was put on a antibiotic for ten days and had to have several doctor visits. He started feeling much better a couple of days after starting the antibiotic, but then after the ten days were over it wasn't long before he started running a fever again. I just knew it was another UTI and after another visit to the peds office it was confirmed it was sure enough a UTI. Dr. Adams gave him a shot of antibiotics and an even stronger oral antibiotic for ten more days. After that round he seems to be his normal self again.

 June also wrapped up the end of t-ball and baseball season. Jackson, Ansley and Elsie all had a great season and improved from where they were at the beginning of the season.

 Elsie- my just finished kindergartner- wearing my shirt from kindergarten.
Vada Belle and her love of kittens

One Sunday as we were headed to Sparta for a birthday party for Eric's aunt, my van completely stopped running as we were driving. Turns out it was the engine that blew.  We had to start car shopping and ended up with this new ride:

 The kids at Emergency Fest and Elsie and Vada Belle holding some of our baby turkeys (with our big turkey, Tony, behind them).

We were so glad that Felix finally started feeling better:

 Our sweet kittens, Oreo and Cookie, and the kids saying good-bye to a turtle their daddy found.

 Eric took the kids and I to our very first Drive-In movie this month. We all loved it (and I actually prefer this over the movie theater after going), and we saw Alice Through the Looking Glass. We all had a wonderful time.

 We also celebrated our wonderful daddy (and husband!) on Father's Day (which was also the same day as Vada Belle's birthday!).

 Ansley Kate has worked and saved up her money to buy her a new American Girl doll. She will go with me when I go to clean a rental house, and she will help me clean so she can earn a few dollars. She then immediately put it in her place where she saves her money, and then one day she finally had enough saved up that she was able to purchase all of this when they had a great deal going on. Can you tell she was a bit excited! It has been close to a year (if not longer) that she has been saving, so we were so proud of his accomplishment!

 We also had Bible School this month at our church. The kids had a fantastic time and here are a couple of pictures from Elsie's class and Vada Belle's. (Jackson and Ansley were in the class I taught so I didn't get a picture of them).

 -Jackson and Black Cat
-The kids helping out in the garden
-Something kept killing our chickens! We ended up catching two raccoons, but only after they killed 10 of our chickens.
-Picnic with my little man at the park

Felix finally feeling much better at the end of the month! Here he is swinging at Mamaw and Papaw's house. Check out that sweet little grin:

 Two of my best girl friends from high school were able to come hang out one day, and I loved watching all of our kids play with one another. What a sweet group of kids!

 Vada Belle, Felix, and Vada Belle snuggling with Oreo

We love the Summer Reading Program at the local library and all of the wonderful events they plan. One day in June they had a dinosaur puppet show that taught the kids all kinds of neat facts about dinosaurs, and then the kids were able to go out and take a ride on one.

Felix's 11 month old pictures! Like I said earlier, it's been a rough month for him with surgery on his kidney and then two UTI's after that, but he was still smiling through it all and loves snuggling, especially when he doesn't feel well. He is now cruising along while holding onto things, he loves to climb up the stairs (but I'm not a fan of that), he loves his cars, trucks, tractors- anything with wheels, and he thinks summer time is the best since he gets to play with his big brother and sisters all day long.

 Playing in the backyard and loving these summer days with my babies:

 Family Selfie in our messy play room:

Vada Belle is 4!

Happy Birthday to our precious, but oh so sassy, Vada Belle!

Vada Belle is so sweet and always saying, "I love you!" but can be the sassiest little thing the very next minute.  She always has her lovie by her side and she loves playing pretend anything; play-doh, Barbies, Princesses, Shopkins, and she loves to play with water (and is always asking to wash some dishes or wash off the eggs we've collected from the hen house). She can come up with some of the most random sayings, and she keeps us all laughing.

She started off her birthday with our birthday tradition, birthday pancakes:

We then went to church and after that we went to Mamaw and Papaw's house for lunch, a little time swimming in the pool, and cake time!  

 Then we went to Mamaw Pearl and Papaw Nulan's where the kids loved playing on cousin Cheyenna's new "couch."

 Then we came back home to open presents:

 Trying to get a pic of this girl actually smiling and not being silly can be challenging:

 Oh how the years pass by so quickly!

 Happy 4th birthday, our beautiful and smart Vada Belle. We are so proud of you and love you bunches!

May 2016

May! I love the month of May because it means the end of another school year and I get the summer with all of my babies home. The last few days of the school year were some exciting and fun days, though.  The kids had awards day, field day, career day, a field trip to Tweetsie for the entire school, and end of the school year parties. Here are some other exciting moments from this month:

-The kids doing a volcano experiment. They choose to get the safety goggles all on their own.

-Jackson at field day for grades 3-6. Unfortunately it rained and they didn't get to do the outside activities, but they had a fun time doing competitions in the gym.

-We got some new baby turkeys again in May! Turkeys are tough to keep alive, but we thought we would give it one more try, and we ordered 15 little baby turkeys.  

 Field day for grades K-2 had much better weather and were able to do lots of fun games and activities outside. Here are Elsie and Ansley with friends at field day (and of course Vada Belle had to jump in the pictures, too).

-Playing in the hot tub at their great aunt's house
-Felix is a bed hog!
-Sweet baby boy snoozing in his car seat
-Felix at his 9 month checkup (he was a few days late). He weighed 16 pounds 13 ounces, was 27 inches tall, and checked out wonderfully!

Hanging out at Mamaw Pearl's for Mother's Day. This wasn't a pre-planned event. I love how all of my family will just all go somewhere last minute. It was a great afternoon spending time with family and watching as Caleb was surprised with a new jeep. 

 My Mother's Day was excellent all starting with breakfast in bed brought to me by my dear husband and sweet kids. We then went to church, my grandma Ollie's for lunch, then family time at the Watson grandparents. I love these 5 and feel so incredibly blessed that I get to be their mother!

 A few random pics:
-Ansley and friends at a birthday party
-The girls and I were walking to my parent's house to visit for a bit. I put Felix in the Ergo and when I told them it was time to leave, they all had their American Girl doll's in a backpack, too.
-Me and Ansley Kate
-Vada Belle and Felix (who is on her heels all day everyday trying to keep up with her)
-Felix is into everything these days! Turn your back for a second and he will have a mess!

 The school took the entire school- every single kid- and PAID for them all, too, to Tweetsie Railroad. What a fun day hanging out with friends at a fun little amusement park.

-My little mama, Ansley
-Felix, Ansley and Elsie hanging out
-Elsie showing me her hula skills and the girls nursing their baby dolls

 -Hanging out in the backyard. Jackson likes to pretend he's a dad and carry Felix around in a carrier. Then when it is time for Felix to come in, he'll just stand by the door and wait for his brother and sisters to come in.

 Jackson had his banjo recital in May and the group that he plays with all did an amazing job. It was a wonderful recital to attend!

-New kitties; Oreo and Cookie
-Elsie and her buddy Khloe at Khloe's birthday party
-Celebrating Memorial Day

 Playing Tee-ball and Baseball

 For Jackson's birthday he had a couple of guy friends spend the night. He wanted pizzas, cake (he chose a caramel cake) and they were planning on having a camp out outside. The weather was not ideal at all for a night outside in a tent, so Eric put the tent upstairs instead!

 Felix turned 10 months old on July 29th! He loves to eat, babble, stand while holding onto things, and playing in his water table.  He crawls after his mama (me!) all day while saying my name repeatedly to make sure I can hear him.  He also screams dada when he gets home from work and he says, "kitty, kitty, kitty" the second he goes outside in hope one of the cats will come let him pull its hair- I mean, pet it.  He has the sweetest smile and gives the best hugs (but still doesn't love to sleep)! Happy 10 months, our sweet boy.

Last Day of 2015/2016 School Year

Yesterday wasn't just Jackson's birthday, it was also the last day of school for the 2015-2016 school year! 

 Just look at how much the kids grew this year!

 Jackson

 Ansley

Elsie

All three kids had an outstanding school year, which was evident from their report cards and the awards they received. They all seemed to come out of their shell a bit more this year, and even though it breaks my heart a little at how fast they are growing, it is so fun to see them developing their own personality each year. 

 Jackson loved third grade. He said that his teacher, Mrs. Greever, was the most patient teacher ever, and that she never even yells (which is pretty amazing to me since she is surrounded by 8 and 9 year olds all day, everyday- haha!).  Jackson received the Language Arts award, Science award, Math award, Social Studies award, award for highest GPA, good citizenship medal and the plaque for Citizen of the Year award for 3rd Grade. We were so proud of him! I had not only teachers, but also parents of other kids in his class telling me lately how great and helpful he is with their kid.  I hope that he always thinks of others and has a helping heart.

 Ansley was excited for school to start because her teacher, Mrs. Henson, taught with Aunt Jessica last year. Jessica had told Ansley how Mrs. Henson loves frogs and critters, so Ansley couldn't wait to be in her class since she shares a huge love of any animal. Her love for Mrs. Henson grew so much throughout the school year, and she was crying the end of the school year because she was no longer going to be in her class. Thanks for loving our girl so much this school year, Mrs. Henson!
Ansley is definitely our shy kid of the bunch, but we could tell that she became much more outgoing this school year. She became close with several other girls in her class, which was great for our shy gal. Ansley won the Science award, Reading award, Excellence in Keyboarding award and good citizenship medal. We are so proud of her and how hard she worked this year.

 Elsie is our tender-hearted gal that wears her heart on her sleeves, so I was very worried about her starting kindergarten and getting her feelings hurt so easily. Thankfully this was never an issue and I know a big part of that was because of her feeling so loved by her super sweet teacher, Mrs. Colson. Elsie had a fantastic kindergarten year and made lots of great friends. She learned so much this year, and she not only received her Kindergarten certificate at the awards ceremony, she also received a good citizen medal and the plaque for Citizen of the Year award for Kindergarten! I had to include an end of the year questioner she brought home on the last day of school that I just loved. (The part that says "I think I'm good at dancing" ends with "but not good at video games".) I especially love the very last thing on there- "My advice for kids- Love God and Jesus." I just love and am so proud of our little Elsie.

Thanks to the kids teachers, our amazing Principal, and every employee at their school that loves and cares on all those kids every day. Thanks for helping our kids have a wonderful school year! 

The kids awards and each recipient of the "Citizen of the Year" award for each grade level

So long Kindergarten, 2nd Grade and 3rd Grade.... Hello, Summer!

Jackson Lee is 9

Happy birthday to our oldest kid, our precious Jackson Lee!

Jackson has a huge heart and is always willing to help others out.  He has the best giggle and is the most ticklish person I know.  If you know Jackson you know that he is Lego obsessed and he is about to be overtaken by Lego's in his room.  He still loves to read and excels in all subjects at school.  He is kind to everyone he meets and we love and are so proud of him.

Today wasn't only Jackson's birthday, it was also the last day (and only a half day) of school. When Jackson left for school he asked if he could have a scavenger hunt when he got home to find his presents. I totally forgot about doing it until I picked them up and he asked if it was ready. When we got home I quickly made one and he was so excited to find his Mixels that he has been wanting.

At night we went to Elsie's t-ball game, and then Jackson requested Pablano's for his birthday dinner. Here they are singing to Jackson:

After Pablano's we came home so he could blow out his candles and have some cake. He is having a few friends over this weekend for a birthday sleepover, but of course he had to eat a little cake on his birthday! 

I get all emotional when I think that he is now half way to where he will be old enough to go to college and move out, but I also know how blessed I am getting to watch all of his achievements and to see him grow into a wonderful young boy.  I am so proud of the boy he is. We love you, Jackson Lee. Happy 9th birthday! 

Jackson's Birthday through the years: