The Birthday Boy

We celebrated another great year with hubs today. What a nice day it was to have a birthday...considering that it was National Cheesecake Day and all!
He worked from midnight to eight in the morning and then slept a few hours. When he woke up he was anxious to get going. He decided that he should take a ride in his man truck, so he and cookie went out to the feed store in Montevallo to get some hunting supplies. After a while, they arrived back at the house to put out "bitamenens and pood (vitamins & food) for the deer" as Brooke says.
Later, we all got dressed and headed over to Cheesecake Factory for a fabulously fattening four course meal. Like a said earlier, it was National Cheesecake Day, so we knew it would be crowded. They were having a special on cheesecake and everybody and their brother wanted a piece of that deal. (We even saw the Jower's there. Wendy was wearing her cute "Deliver me O Lord" shirt and having her last supper before heading to the hospital to meet their sweet baby girl!)
We purposely arrived around 3ish to dodge the lunch and dinner crowds. Thankfully the crowd was long gone by the time we arrived. We only had to wait about ten minutes to be seated. The hostess commented that they opened up a little earlier today and that they seated all 53 tables within 20 minutes of opening up and there was a line out the door for an hour. She said it was insane! I am so grateful we didn't get caught up in that mess.

We ate tons of bread, a Caesar salad, our entree and then came the CHEESECAKE! We ordered 4 slices and they brought the birthday boy his with a candle to blow out and sang to him. His was the Adam's Peanut Butter Fudge Ripple, Brooke had the Tuxedo, Bailey ordered the OREO, and mine was the White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle. I must say...I do highly recommend the White Chocolate Raspberry...it is THE BEST!
We all shared the smorgasbord of cheesecake and whipped cream (Brooke enjoys just eating the plain whipped cream) until it was almost gone. And then we boxed the rest up for later.
About two and a half hours later, they rolled us out on a stretcher!
We came home and daddy slipped into a mini sugar coma.
We finally got him up to open some presents.
Boy did daddy rack up! He got lots of cards, some birthday money, clothes, and a new birthday cake scented candle. He loves candles, especially when they smell like dessert.
After presents, we played outside a while. The girls didn't have a nap, so we put them to bed kinda early and then busted out our latest Netflix arrival. We stayed up late having a nice time watching the movie together. I was so proud of hubs for not falling asleep.
I asked him if he had a good birthday and he replied, "It was a nice day with all my girls and I got some sweet duds too. I just wish I wouldn't have eaten so much cheesecake!"
I say, you only turn thirty-four twenty nine once, right! ;-)

A Long Lost Relative Blows Into Town

What a surprise it was when Penn's long lost sister, Holly called to say she was coming for a visit this weekend! Well actually, she wasn't really lost, just so busy with school and stuff. We hadn't seen her in three years, so we were thrilled that we were finally going to get to hang out with her again.
At the last visit, Brooke was just a baby and Bailey wasn't even around yet, so they didn't know their Aunt Holly. Before she arrived, we pointed her out in pictures and Brooke practiced saying her name.
When Holly arrived, Brooke ran outside to greet her with open arms. Her and Aunt Holly became fast friends. Brooke really enjoyed showing her around the house and they played great together.
Unfortunately, Miss Bailey was not quite as welcoming! She frowned and then wailed (hence the nickname~Bailey Wailey) when Aunt Holly tried to introduce herself. Thankfully after a little bit of playing and sweet talk she did warm up.

We spent most of the weekend at home due to Penn being laid up, but I did get out with the girls for a few birthday parties.
On Sunday night, we even talked Penn into going out to eat because I was tired of slaving in the kitchen all weekend. (I usually never cook on the weekends.)It took a bit of convincing for Penn to oblige, but we finally decided to go to Longhorn. He is not a big fan of the place because of a visit we had there when they 1st opened. He pretends that he doesn't, but we all know that he loves that yummy bread (I think we had about 5 entire loaves and as many dishes of butter between the 4 of us) and we all enjoyed our different entrees too. Penn was having a good ole time until the bill came. They had tried to charge us for an extra entree that we didn't even order. It goes to show you that you should always take a look at the bill closely!
Back at home, we made cookies for dessert and had them with milk and some sinfully delicious Godiva chocolates (Thank you Holly for the Godiva treat and the Starbucks coffee too!) We stayed up a while, and Brookie convinced Aunt Holly to read her lots of books before bed.
Brooke especially loved the Dora Goes to the Doctor book that Holly brought for her as a gift. She sure does know how to spoil her niece!
Although it was short, I think that we all agreed it was a great visit. We look forward to seeing you again really soon, Holly....thanks for coming! (please do not let another 3 years go by)
Evidently all the fun the girls and Teddy had with Aunt Holly must have worn them out, because this is what happened after she left...

They are all passed out!

Oh and I almost forgot, you must watch Bailey's cool new trick she showed us this weekend.

I think that we need to get a baby gate, PRONTO!

My Tall Drink of Water~Nine Months Today

This morning, daddy met us over at the Dr's office and we had Bailey's nine month check up, nine month check ups are great because you don't have to get any shots. Woo Hoo...Brooke was so excited for her baby sister!

Dr. McCowan said everything looked perfect. Bailey weighed in at a nice 18 pounds and 11 ounces~50th%tile and I can't remember the exact measurement for her head, but it was in the 80th%tile. However, these were not the most impressive measurements of the day...
~Everybody says she looks just like Penn, but I guess being 29 inches long and in the 90th percentile for height isn't quite following in her daddy's footsteps! ;-)

Maybe she'll be a tall drink of water like her Great Grandma Vera Grace for whom she is named after??

My Bailey continues to be a sweet~T~pie. She has a set of lovely hazel eyes with long lashes, a few kinda dirty blonde locks, and a beautiful gummy grin. (Still no TEETH!) She likes to crinkle her nose and make a heavy breathing sound when she wants to play. She is super funny and loves to be teased too. She is very strong and soooo curious. And unfortunately, she likes to pinch the fire out of you. She does it so hard that it brings down right tears to your eyes. Although, I don't believe she is being ugly when she does it. I just think she likes the way the tender flesh feels between her fingers...man does it hurt, though!

Now that she is crawling and mobile, she doesn't really like to sit still. During diaper changes, she kicks and twist and turns to try to get away. How dare anyone try to give her a clean diaper when there is a world out there to explore!! And you can hardly even get her fed without her looking all around to see who is doing what. Sometimes it takes her an entire 20 minutes to eat a little jar of baby food cause she is checkin' stuff out. Now Dr. McCowan wants me to add another jar of baby food in the AM. We are sure to never get anywhere on time!

My girl might eat slow, but she can move fast! Since she has been pulling up on everything for a while now, we decided to break out the push toys and she is getting quite good at following behind them. Her 2 favorite things at the moment are shoes and the clothes dryer. Any time I open the dryer or my closet door, she will crawl over as fast as she can with a big smile and look at me like please let me play with your shoes or hit my hand on the dryer door. I love to see her soo happy! Oh and she is VERY loud when she squeals and babbles. I guess sometimes being the baby she feels that she isn't "heard", so I think it makes her feel better to shout. Or maybe it is because I have been shouting in her ear from day one and she has never known what an inside voice sounds like. (When I was nursing Bailey, Brooke would always disappear upstairs or somewhere out out my range of vision and her and I would having these shouting conversations about where she was and what she was doing. Is is surprising that my poor little baby girl didn't develop horrible digestive problems from the disturbing circumstances.)

So, after the appointment we headed over to Chick-Fil-A with daddy for some lunch. I mean...what kind of special day would it be without Chick-Fil-A?

After lunch, daddy had to go back to work and so we drove over to the pool to meet some friends.
Since it was a special day, daddy even gave us money to get some ice cream from the ice cream man at the pool, but it took us so long to get out of the pool and to get our act together that he drove away before we could get any ice cream. Brooke was so sad, but Bailey didn't even know the difference. We stayed at the pool for about 3 hours and then went to Bruno's to pick up some groceries for dinner. I salvaged the ice cream dilemma by getting the girls some free sugar cookies from the bakery. Bailey is quite a messy girl....especially with sugar cookies, so I am sure we left a nice long crumb trail throughout the aisles of the store. Aside from the messiness, Bailey couldn't have been any sweeter ALL day long. It was a nice 9 month celebration day for my little bitty girlie.

I don't know much, but I do know that being the mama of this sweet baby girl (and her big sister too) continues to be pure joy for me. I love being a mom and I am so thankful that God has granted me the opportunity. How thankful am I that God's grace and mercy is poured out to me daily! If it wasn't for HIM and the cross I would be in BIG trouble. As a woman and especially as a mom, it is so reassuring that each day is started with a clean slate and that I have the opportunity to do better.

OK so I guess I have rambled enough for today...

Happy Nine Month Birthday Sweet Baby Girl!!!

Teddybears in Tennessee

****Update: I added 2 new songs to my playlist. The Natalie Grant song has been a favorite for a while~it is my new theme song for now! Also, I added the Cinderella song~I love it for my girls and their sweet dada.

We're back safe and sound from a long girls weekend in Knoxville, Tennessee...you see ~it was a must that we go cause our sweet little friend Ava was turning 1! (You probably already know, but her mommy is my good friend and college room mate. She is married to Mark and they have a boy too~Evan. Brooke and Evan are only 1 month apart)
On Friday, we loaded the car and drove most of the afternoon. It took us a while to get there due to a few "unexpected stops", but we did arrive safely!
Upon arrival, we visited with Mark and his parents.(They were visiting too~from Florida.) Brooke always loves exploring a new place or at least one we haven't been to in a while. She scoped out all the rooms and decided she would sleep in Ava's room. She put her pillow in the middle of the floor and announced that she would sleep there.
After a while, Kerri, Evan, Ava, Mia (Kerri's Mom~visiting from Louisiana) Kim, Caroline, Meredith, and Granny (more friends from Louisiana) all arrived home from Dollywood where they had spent the day.
Mia fixed some yummy lasagna and broccoli casserole (I will post the recipe later~so delicious)and we ate like little piggies. We all had a great time catching up and visiting. And because of all the fun we were having, we stayed up REALLY late including the kiddos. Here they are watching Stuart Little on the couch. This is the 1st of six times total for the weekend!
On Saturday, we got up, got dressed, and headed out to the mall. They were having a clearance sale that we didn't want to miss. There I found tons of cute stuff for the girls for next summer. After the sale, we did a few last minute preparations for the party and then it was finally party time.
It was 3:00PM and the Teddy Bear Party had officially begun, but my Brooke was was still napping and so exhausted from the night before, that I couldn't even bribe her to get out of bed. After some major finagling, she grumpily agreed to make an appearance. She couldn't even mange to smile while she made her new bear friend. Thankfully my Bailey was being a cooperative and sweet baby!

The birthday girl~Ava~was a super sweet girl too and was all smiles when she made her birthday bear, opened her presents, and chowed down on some yummy chocolate teddy bear cake. What a precious little girl~I can hardly believe it has been a year since our last visit to Tennessee where Kerri and I were about to pop! How does time fly so fast?
Brooke eventually snapped out of her grumpiness and had a great time at the party. Some of her favorite times were playing the bear hunt game, having a teddy bear attack with granny, and hanging with her Poppa (Kerri's dad that Evan calls Paw Paw, but Brooke made up her own name for him)

After the party, we played outside, ate dinner, played some more, and then had baths and went to bed. Brooke and Evan always like to have bath time together. And we let them because it won't be too long before her daddy nixes that idea.
The next day, we headed to Gatlinburg for a little more shopping. Of course we found some bargains and had a great time. It was Ava's real birthday, so we headed back to Knoxville to have dinner at Puleo's. They served some great bread (you know I love me a place that offers free bread!) and the kids each really enjoyed having a special birthday ice cream sundae treat. It was a nice celebration for Ava. That tiny little girl literally ate the entire 2 hours we were there. We left a huge mess and jetted out.
Back at the house, the kids watched watched Stuart Little again~number 5 or 6 I think and we stayed up a while. Just long enough for Brooke to have a little tantrum and show her new sassy side. Haven't you heard that 3 is the new 2!
Since we totally wore out our welcome, we headed back to Birmingham today. My kids were exhausted and slept the entire way home which was really nice! :-) They woke up just as we rolled into town and were hungry. And because I only had about 1 million calories and fat grams over the weekend~we decided to meet daddy for dinner over at Pizza Pro in Helena. YUMMY!
So now we are TOTALLY stuffed! But we are home, unpacked, and ready for bed. It is good to be home.
And I must say that a great time was had by all! Thank you for letting us share your special birthday weekend Miss Ava...We look forward to watching you grow and my prayer for you is that you will never remember a day in your life without the love of Jesus in your heart!

No Bugs in My Teeth!

We had another big day in the Bullock household. This morning we started packing up for our weekend trip and then went out to lunch with some friends.
After lunch, we headed over to Medplex Pediatric Dentistry where my big girlie finally had her first visit to the dentist!
We have been reading "Dora Goes to the Dentist" for months now and Brooke has been wanting to go to the dentist. But today, she kept going back and forth. One minute she was going to go and then she would say, "I'm not going to the dentist today." She seemed a tiny bit anxious of the unknown. Thankfully at the time we arrived for her appointment, she was in an "I'm going" mood!
When we arrived in the waiting area, I could hear a child screaming hysterically in the back, so the receptionist suggested that we wait until the crazy kid calmed down. They didn't want Brooke to witness the drama~it being her first time and all.
After a while, we headed to the back. In the back, they had 3 different stations for 3 different hygienist to clean teeth. Each was a different color. Brooke got the green chair. Well...it was actually more of a bed type thing where you lay down and can watch TV in the ceiling, but Brooke was more comfortable just sitting up. She was very cooperative and she got along great with her hygienist. The hygienist cleaned and counted her teeth and found out that she still had 20, just like the night before when we counted at home. Her good behavior landed her tons of prizes and a new t-shirt. They give one to all their new patients. Of course, Brooke picked a hot pink one!
And then...the Doctor came by. Penn flosses, brushes, and administers fluoride drops to Brooke each night (he's a total oral hygiene nerd), so I knew that she would have a good report from the dentist. And yes, Dr. Baker said that everything looked great!
The only concerns I had were "the grinding of her teeth at night habit" and "the spacing issues of her baby teeth" (they are close together which means when the big teeth come in, she may have a problem with crowding.) He said not to worry about it quite YET!
It was a great experience. Brooke says she wants to go back TOMORROW! It don't think that we will go back tomorrow considering that we are headed to Tennessee, but we will go back in 6 months.
Tonight, I went out to La Paz with friends for a girls night out birthday celebration. It is really late and I still have MORE packing to do before tomorrow, so I better gooooo!!!!
I am just really happy that my little girlie loved going to the dentist and that she has,

NO BUGS IN HER TEETH!

(That is what a friend of ours calls cavities)

She Does Not Eat the Bread of Idleness...

It seems like ages since I was either pregnant, nursing, or recovering from surgery and I have not felt up to it, but y'all...lately I have been getting some stuff done around here!

I am caught up on my laundry. I don't know how I got so many loads behind, but just the other day, I did about 6 loads of washing, drying, folding, and putting away~all in one day! Whew!

I have been cooking some delicious garden fresh meals! (I'll post about my new favorite dish later.)

And I have been organizing like crazy.
I am cleaning out drawers and closets and actually trying to get rid of some stuff. I have a tendency to hoard,(like those crazy ladies on Dr. Phil;-), but I have recently raided my closet of ANY and ALL maternity clothes (woo hoo), I have put away all winter stuff (upstairs), and have reorganized my closet back into a normal condition. After two big loads of "stuff '' for Goodwill you can actually see the FLOOR of my closet. (Mommy, aren't you proud!)
I have it back to my usual arrangement of cover ups, then sleeveless prints, sleeveless solids~grouped by color, short sleeved prints, short sleeved solids~groups by color, Capri's, pants and then dresses. On the other side, I have ALL my tanks and t-shirts up top and bathing suits, skirts, and handbags all color coordinated on the bottom.


The girls have also been such big helpers lately. Brooke's favorite "chore" is using the swifter sweeper vac.
If you don't have one, scrounge up 30 bucks an invest in one. It is AWESOME! It is like a broom, dust buster, and a dust mop all in one. We love ours and use it EVERYDAY(I think Brooke actually throws crumbs on the floor just so she can sweep them back up.)

It has been great feeling up to doing chores again.(well kinda sorta~you know what I mean)

The Proverbs 31 Woman:

An excellent wife, who can find?
For her worth is far above jewels.
(rare, precious)
The heart of her husband trusts in her,
And he will have no lack of gain.
(trustworthy)
She does him good and not evil
All the days of her life.
(kind)
She looks for wool and flax
And works with her hands in delight.
(works joyfully)
She is like merchant ships;
She brings her food from afar.
(goes extra mile to get choicest goods~Do you think the king's mother meant going all the way to Whole Foods? And with the price of gas?)
She rises also while it is still night
And gives food to her household
And portions to her maidens.
(disciplined)
She considers a field and buys it;
From her earnings she plants a vineyard.
(enterprising, prudent with money)
She girds herself with strength
And makes her arms strong.
(energetic)
She senses that her gain is good;
Her lamp does not go out at night.
(good steward)
She stretches out her hands to the distaff,
And her hands grasp the spindle.
(diligent)
She extends her hand to the poor,
And she stretches out her hands to the needy.
(compassionate, generous)
She is not afraid of the snow for her household,
For all her household are clothed with scarlet.
(provident)
She makes coverings for herself;
Her clothing is fine linen and purple.
(elegant)
Her husband is known in the gates,
When he sits among the elders of the land.
(influential)
She makes linen garments and sells them,
And supplies belts to the tradesmen.
(industrious)
Strength and dignity are her clothing,
And she smiles at the future.
(poised)
She opens her mouth in wisdom,
And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
(wise)
She looks well to the ways of her household,
And does not eat the bread of idleness.
(manages her home)
Her children rise up and bless her;
Her husband also, and he praises her, saying:
(praiseworthy)
"Many daughters have done nobly,
But you excel them all."
(distinguished)
Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain,
But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.
(God-fearing)
Give her the product of her hands,
And let her works praise her in the gates.
(honored)
~ Proverbs 31:10-31

OK so I pretty much managed to get my home in some type of order lately...now what about the other 20 characteristics of the Proverbs 31 lady? I guess I better keep trying.

Anyway, let me know what cleaning aids you have around and can't live without???

The Leper and the Sand Hater Go to the Beach

We arrived in Gulf Shores without much of a hitch. The weather was beautiful and the traffic was minimal.

I have GOT to eat Shrimp and Donuts at the beach, so we decided to eat dinner over at Lulu's! The wait was supposed to be 45min.-1 hour, but we only had to wait about 20 and then were seated in the VIP section. YAY! Weeellllll...maybe this trip was gonna work out after all. We had a nice time sitting by the water watching the boats and feeding the fish. Brooke even got to see a tug boat up close!

Oh, and our food was super yummy! Penn and I split the seafood basket for 2 and it came with all kinds of seafood, fries, hush puppies and a salad. Brooke had the chicken fingers, and Bailey had some sweet potato baby food with a couple of salines. The crackers were a new treat for her and she LOVED them. Bailey had just as much fun eating at Lulu's as her sister did on her 1st trip there a couple of years ago.

This is Brooke on July 4th, 2005 on her 1/2 birthday at Lulu's.

And here is Bailey on July 2nd, 2008 at 8 1/2 months.

After our delicious food and fun, we headed back to the car. Before I put Bailey back in her car seat, I changed her diaper and noticed that she now had a rash all on the back of her. I thought that we should maybe take her to a walk in clinic. Penn said it looked like a heat rash and not to worry about it.
We headed over to Walmart to get some groceries and most importantly some DONUTS!
Later, we arrived at our condo and were quite surprised by it. Yes...we all (except Brooke) agreed that it was quite small and kinda dirty~pretty much a DUMP. Don't ever stay at the Gulf Shores Plantation~5801. YUCK! Bailey crawled around and explored every nook and cranny. It didn't take long for her to show us just how dirty the floor was. We picked her up and she had old chips, bugs, and sand stuck to her grubby little paws. We called maintenance to get them to come and clean. Brooke on the other hand, thought it was lovely because in her words "it has an up bed and a down bed."
In an effort to get out of the room, we headed down to the pool for a dip and some drinks. It was going to take quite a few drinks for me to be able to go to sleep in THAT room. We did have fun swimming and visiting around the pool with all of our friends from Birmingham.
The next morning, we rose to the sound of the waves crashing against the shore! I just love being at the beach! (Even if the room sucked.) The sky, the sand, the water, and the smell just remind me of our summer trips to the beach growing up. In my opinion, the beach is just an awesome place to vacation. Brooke enjoyed the view~complete with dolphins swimming and all as she had her breakfast out on the balcony. As I dressed Bailey for the beach, I discovered that the rash was yet again~worse! It now covered her entire body and was starting to look a little angry and raised. Hubby thought maybe the sun and saltwater would help dry it up, so we decided to trot on down to the beach.
As we approached the end of the boardwalk, Miss Brooke started to panic and then had a full on tantrum. She was absolutely freaking out that the sand was about to touch her toes. And being the mean mom that I am, I refused to carry the sand hater and made her throw a fit all the way to the tent that housed our friends. When she saw her friends she settled down a bit, and decided that it wasn't THAT AWFUL. She played around a while with us in the water and with her friends in the sand. Bailey was completely opposite. In fact, she liked the sand (it was good enough to eat), being in the water, and playing in the ocean too. Poor little thing didn't get much attention on her 1st beach trip. I warned everyone of her condition and so people stayed about 10 paces back.
It was pretty hot and before too long, both of the girls were fussing and their mama and daddy were a tad frazzled. We were really worried about Bailey's rash. We headed to the pool to cool off for a while and then up to the room for some lunch and a nap.
We all woke up refreshed.

I bet you can guess what happened next? Yes, AGAIN Bailey's rash looked even worse! So, I called the pediatrician and the after hours nurse thought we should go ahead and take her to an urgent care place (like I had been saying since the day before, but whatever!). Penn decided he would be a super sweet hubby and take her for me~Praise BE! Here is a pic of the happy leper girl (thankfully she didn't seem affected by the rash) and her not so happy daddy!
While they were gone, Brooke and I decided to go back to the beach for some sand therapy. By now the sand had cooled off quite a bit. So, Brooke decided that it wasn't that bad. In fact, she now giggled as we made our way to the water. We went for a really LONG walk along the shore and found lots of sea shells. After our walk, we went back to the room to wash off her beautiful treasures.

After witnessing a child throwing up and a boy with a badly broken arm at the clinic, Bailey and daddy returned. The official word on the rash was Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease. (We pretty much thought that because we knew 2 babies that showed symptoms before Bailey although hers seemed quite different because it was all over her body, not just on the hands and feet.) It was a pretty long and stressful day, so Mama fixed some strawberry daiquiris. A non-alcoholic for Brooke and a super strong pitcher for me and dada. Bailey just had a big bottle of milk. ;-) We hung out by the pool and had a great time. The next day things were much better. Bailey's rash started to fade and we had a great 4th of July celebration.
The 4th of July is Brooke's 1/2 birthday, so she always loves it...We played at the beach, saw a huge snake on the boardwalk~YIKES, swam in the pool, and then had a yummy cookout with all our peeps. At the cookout, the girls got red, white and blue, flags, necklaces, and tattoos. They all looked so cute in their patriotic colors! Later, the town had a firework display on the beach and one of our own daddies even put on a fabulous fireworks display for us too! We stayed up late swimming again. A good time was had by all!
On Saturday, we slept in a bit and then met Kim, Chip, Caroline, and Meredith from Louisiana for an early lunch.

Caroline (left) and Brooke (right) at Gulf Shores on July the 4th when they were babies.

Here they are all "grown up & big" now!

We met them at the Hang Out . The restaurant is new and has a fun atmosphere~live music, dancing, and a big sand pit for the kids to play in, but our server was really bad and made our time there not so great! After paying the the bill, we decided to go to the beach for some sun and surf. At the beach, we had a really great time!
The girls "raspberried" (that is how Brooke says buried) Daddy in the sand while Kim and I had a beer drinking contest! ;-) Kim won.
The most fun was having some big girl time. Brooke, Caroline, Kim, and I went for a walk to sun our backsides and to find more sea shells.

I love that we are able to keep in touch even though we live so far apart. Looking forward to seeing y'all again next weekend in TN at Ava's party!
We went back to the room, had some dinner, and went over to Kim and Chip's place for a boat ride. We stayed a while and then headed back to the condo. It was getting late and we needed to start packing up.
Hubby was ready to bust out of there, so we checked out and drove home this morning. We love breakfast buffets, so we stopped at Shoney's. We all ate WAY too much! As we got back into the van Brooke said, "My belly hurts! It hurts cause I ate all that JUNK!" She is so smart and funny! Back on the road, she asked, "Are we going back to the room now~you know the one with the up bed and the down bed?"
We explained that we had to go back to Birmingham. She was so sad. Our little sand hater now LOVES the beach and EVERYTHING about it!
It really is a great joy to spend time with family and friends on a little vacation. The trip didn't work out exactly as I planned (Does it ever?), but I am sooo thankful for the experience and I am sure we will all laugh about our little leper's 1st trip to the beach one day. Hopefully, we will get to go back really soon, although it will probably not be on the 4th of July, we will definitely not stay at the Gulf Shores Plantation~5801, and we will hopefully NOT have a baby with HFMD!

Hope you had a great 4th of July weekend!

Brooke on her 1st trip to the beach! (6 months)

Bailey on her 1st trip to the beach! (8 1/2 months)

So I am off to finish the mounds of beach laundry and unpack the 20 pair of flip flops that I didn't even wear at the beach! Why do I insist on packing so much??

You won't believe this!!

About 12 hours after my last post, both of the girls got sick!!! Yes...can you believe it! Bailey got a mysterious bump on her tongue, so I brought her to the doctor. I wanted to make sure it wasn't too contagious. And that we could go to the beach and be around our friends. By the time we arrived, I noticed a rash on her knee. He said the bump was probably just herpes simplex or maybe coxsackie or just some little virus and not to worry about it. That it could be just from an allergy to a food or from stress. Yes stress! What my baby has to stress about is beyond me? He (Dr. Goldblat) wasn't concerned about the rash on her knee and (20 bucks later) sent us on our way. He actually said, "Go to the beach and have a big time!"
We arrived back home and continued packing.
Brooke took a nap and then woke up complaining that her legs hurt. She didn't eat dinner and refused cookies. She snuggled with me on the couch. She felt warm and her temperature continued to rise until it hit 102. It finally broke. We showered and and then she went to bed.
Still packing and hoping and praying for well girls and a fun trip!
This morning she woke up with no fever! Yay! But she complained of a sore throat. Penn took her to the doctor and (20 bucks later) she said (Dr. Byers) that it was just a not descript virus. She said head on to the beach.
So that's exactly what we are going to do.
To be continued...

Stealing my Joy

Sunday night, I was really starting to think about our beach trip. Sunning on the beach, dipping in the pool, and eating lots of good food are all at the top of my to do list! I was thinking about how fun it would be to have so many friends there to visit with, all of the fun we would have as a family playing together, and then it hit me. When you get that many people together, things go wrong. It never fails! Will somebody get hurt or sick? Will somebody be sad? Will there be bad weather? Will somebody have an accident? Etc. Etc.
My mind started to fly off in all directions and fear and anxiety started stealing my joy. I prayed about it and went to bed.
The next morning I woke up and read my daily devotional. Here is what it said:

Author: Elisabeth Elliot
Source: A Lamp For My Feet
I Will Not Be Afraid
News reports come every day concerning economic and political calamities about to befall us all, not to mention famines, tornadoes, earthquakes, and volcanoes, things which may at any moment strike us or people we love. There are always plenty of good reasons to be afraid--unless you know that things are under control. A Christian has this "inside information." Things are, in fact, under control. God is our Refuge, our Strength, our Mighty Fortress. Nothing will get by the moat of his protection without his permission. To be afraid of what happens today or what may happen tomorrow is not only an awful waste of energy, it is not only useless, it is disobedient. We are forbidden to fear anything but the Lord Himself.
When Christians in China were being hounded to death in the 1930s, one of them (I am told) wrote this simple song, which has helped me in countless times of fear ever since I learned it as a high school girl:
I will not be afraid.
I will not be afraid.
I will look upward, and travel onward,
And not be afraid.
Will power, of course, will not always overcome human emotions. But willed obedience to the One who is in charge, coupled with prayer for his help in vanquishing our natural fears, is something else.

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Ya'll, Isn't that amazing how He knows just what to tell me just when I need it most!
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for knowing me so well! I pray that our trip will be a time of fellowship, fun, and free of any trials. I pray that my words, actions, and the meditations of my heart will be pleasing to You and bring glory to Your name. When I am afraid, I will trust in you. Psalm 56:3 I love you so much!
In Jesus name,
Amen