Thanksgiving Part 2

Friday we got up and did Thanksgiving all over again only with Chris' parents at our home. We are so glad that they could come to see us for the weekend and help get everything ready for Christmas - because that's what we did :)

Thanksgiving lunch with all the fixin's and a curly-headed little girl!

I'm so glad that Mom and Cindy were around to help with the decorations because seriously, I probably wouldn't be decorated if they hadn't been here to help (and basically do it all)

Cadence decorated her tree - and has redecorated it daily since we put it up!

Thanksgiving Part 1

For the actual day of Thanksgiving we went to the Callaway's house with mom. We had such a great time and for me, it was the first T-day in a long time that I spent with extended family! We're always with my immediate family or in Ohio with Chris' so it was very fun to be with different people. I have no pictures of the meal itself but if you want to see some you can go HERE to Christa's blog :) Here are the pictures that I took of the day

Happy Babies!

Kagan, Cadence and Rylee had a great time taking turns riding the motorcycle.

Rylee is a great big cousin and spent lots of time playing with Kagan and Cadence and reading books to them.

A Night at Home

A few weeks back, we had a rare Friday night at home with nothing to do. So, we thought it would be fun to have a fire and play outside.

Cadence wanted a hot dog but Chris and I thought that steaks would be good.

So, we cooked both :)

Cadence pulled out the chalk and then it got really fun! Her and Daddy spent some time drawing a house with all our family in it. A bed for Saiah, Tyler, Mary, Kagan, and even Parker! Then we drew a hopscotch and we all got in on the fun! and just so you know, hopscotching is harder when you're big than it was when we were in school!

Shaun got to hang out with us too and just chilled in the stroller the whole night

A little catch-up before the holidays

I found these 3 pictures in iPhoto and while I have many other things to blog about (Thanksgiving, GiGi and Mimi and PopPop coming, Seeing Santa, etc) I didn't want to pass these by.

We're still working to get a picture of Cadence holding Shaun with Shaun not crying. This is another unsuccessful attempt.

Cadence wanted to be jasmine for this whole day :)

A little girl that I teach piano to often comes with her hair in pony tails down at her sides and Cadence likes it. So, she had asked me for several days for long ponies - which I didn't understand - and then once I did and we fixed her hair she was really happy.

YEE-HAW!

Last Sunday night we decided, along with some friends, to go to the rodeo. We've talked about it for a long time and driving by the arena on Friday saw that it was the finals weekend and decided that we HAD to go! So, we loaded up the kids and off we went - along with the Kales and some teens from church.

Here are Cadence and Shaun all ready to go! Check out his overalls :)

It was actually a bigger nicer place than we expected from the signs and considering that I'm pretty sure it's in someone's back yard - seriously. This was our view from the stands.

Cadence and all her big friends

Yes, Katie did kiss that horse! Cadence loved the "hursies" too and wanted to know why the people only rode "tows" and sheep instead of the "hursies"

What I've done this week

These words are more for my documenting purposes than your reading enjoyment so don't feel like you have to read it :)

Monday, Nov 16th, when I went to bathe Shaun I noticed a blister on the bottom of his incision from his heart surgery. The home health nurse was coming over so I had her look at it. She called the cardiologist who said for us to watch it for the day and for her to check it again on Tuesday morning. As the day progressed it went from being a watery blister to being filled with puss and really red.

Tuesday morning she came back and sure enough, it was infected. She called the cardiologist again who said to bring him in for them to look at it. We took his pulse/ox levels and they were in the 60's instead of the 80's so I figured that it wasn't looking good for little Shaun. I took Cadence to Jenn's and headed to Winston-Salem with Shaun.

Dr Cook, the cardiologist, looked at it, popped it like a pimple - which was really gross - and said that he needed to be admitted :( We went thru the admissions process and they put us on the 6th floor of Brenners CHildrens Hospital.

Things I'm thankful for in this process:

That I have family close enough to help out with Cadence without thinking twice about being inconvenienced

Nurses who were believers and told me specifically what they were praying for for Shaun.

Sweet friends who clean our house even tho it was DISGUSTING!

the nurses who were so nice and sweet and never left the room without asking if I needed anything

Karen coming to take me shopping

That my windows looked at the helicopter pad so at least there was something to look at as the helicopter came and went

SCC's Beauty Will Rise album that kept me in perspective as I watched our sweet boy have to lay in a hospital bed

Hospital towels that exfoliate your body with their sand paper-like qualities

SCC's song "One Heartbeat at a Time" that reminded me that it wasn't a waste of my time to sit in a hospital room for 6 days straight consoling a baby.

Cadence and that fact that she can go anywhere with anyone and find fun to be had in the situation.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE WEEK

My MRSA education since Shaun tested positive for it

the fact that hospitals have WIFI

maybe that's all for now :)

Random pics too cute to not post

This is definitely one of my favorites of Chris and Shaun

Look at our 2 babies each enjoying the play mat 3 years apart :)

Shaun has started smiling in the last few weeks and really responding to the things we say and do. It absolutely melts our hearts. Here are some pics that Mama got of him smiling.

all ready for church! Outfits compliments of Aunt April and Grammie!

I'm still on a quest to get a picture of Cadence holding Shaun where he's not screaming. it just may happen one day :)

Cadence put one of her babies bibs on Shaun

Loving this lollipop that came in a Halloween package from Aunt Debbie aka Kagan's Mimi (kagan's in the pic below)