2nd Annual Petty Pumkin Day

Well, we were supposed to go to Gentry's farm a couple of weeks ago with our life group from church, but Ty ended up in the hospital that weekend. So we finally got to go today. It was so fun taking Ty this year since he could really appreciate the activites. He loved the hayride and especially seeing the cows up close. He just kept saying "Moo" "Moo" over and over. Once we got past the cows he was emphatic that he wanted more, but I could not oblige him. I of course had in my mind that it would be a perfect day of family fun and beautiful, well-posed pictures. However, with 2 children under the age of 2 that was a pipe dream and the day involved pacifiers and threats as well. The pictures are only so-so, but I wanted to post them anyway. And, yes, Ansley is sitting up by herself in some of these. She just started that a couple of days ago. She hasn't mastered it by any means, but she is well on her way. Hard to believe. After the farm we went and ate at Puckett's grocery in Leiper's Fork. It was a fun day overall. Ty picked out little pumkins for he and Ansley and was so proud to carry his to pay for it. This is a really fun tradition for our family. Scroll down to see pictures of my beautiful new neice!

Fun Pictures

I felt the need to take some pictures the other day, and some of them turned out really cute. Ty and Ansley are really starting to interact with each other. He even tried to lay on her this week and she reached up and got a handful of his hair. She is already fighting back! That a girl! They are so cute together. Ty rarely looks at the camera anymore so some of these were a pleasant surprise. The one of Ansley food covered is her sweet potato experience. It was obviously followed by a bath experience! Enjoy!

Sophia Grace Dixon

My sweet and beautiful new niece, Sophia Grace arrived into the world around 2:45 AM on Tuesday. She weighed 8lbs 7oz and was 20 1/2 inches long. She is such a cutie with cute little cheeks and a dimple. I got to meet her on Tuesday night, and the kids and I spent the night in Cookeville. I am already dying to see her again! Everyone is doing well. I wanted to share some pictures of the first niece on my side of the family. Brian and I now have 9 nieces and nephews and a few others that seem like it! How blessed we are are with all these precious, healthy children. Praise God!

Pee Peed in the Potty

I just wanted to share the exciting news that Ty has been pee peeing in the potty for a few days. Unfortunately I missed the first time. Brian was home with the kids Thursday night while I was at my Joy group and Ty sat on his training potty and pee peed. He had been sitting on it every night before his bath, but nothing was coming out. That night he actually did it. He is so proud of himself. He calls it "pot". He has done it at least once a day every day since. I can't believe my big boy is learning to use the potty, but I will be soooo happy to only have one in diapers before too long. The budget will thank him too! By the way, I just have to point out that this post is in yellow. Get it? :)

Ansley's First Solid Food

Ansley turned 5 months old today! Crazy! She had her first try with baby food tonight. She has been having cereal in her bottle for a month (doctor's advice) so I decided to go straight to peas. It doesn't get much messier or much healthier so why not?! She loved them! She ate almost a whole jar and of course wore a lot of that. She was so cute smiling and loving it. Ty was not too happy that Sissy had taken a seat in his highchair, but he will get used to it I'm sure. He will soon be permanently promoted to the booster seat. Here are some pics from the big event and a couple of cute after photos.

Weird Weekend

Well, it was certainly a strange weekend at our house. After welcoming Bennett into the world Thursday night and getting home after 1:00 AM, Friday proved to be a rather eventful day. Ty slept normally Thursday night and woke up Friday morning with a little bit of a rattle in his throat. It sounded like he just had a little drainage, and I wasn't the least bit worried because he seemed fine and had no other symptoms. We even went back to the hospital to see Bennett and had lunch with my mom, aunt, and grandmothers. Thankfully I didn't take Ty into the room with Bennett. Ty's breathing got a little worse as the day went on and after his nap (during which he slept normally) he sounded like he was struggling to breathe. You could hear him easily across the room and over other noises everytime he breathed. We happened to be babysitting Friday night for Brian's cousin Janet(who babysits for me often!), but I had to leave Brian with Ansley and the 2 boys and take Ty to the doctor at 7:20. At 6:00 he had no fever. He had no other symptoms. I felt silly even taking him in but he could not breathe right. Anyway, when we got to the doctor his temp was 99. She listened to him, gave him a breathing treatment and sent us straight to the hospital. Sidenote, the doctor I saw Friday is one I have only seen one other time when Ty was a newborn and we got sent to the hospital for jaundice. When they took me into that same room I got a bad feeling that we were headed to the hospital. So we got to the hospital and his temp was 103. He was very tired of being messed with and it was past his bedtime. I had left our house completely unprepared for anything like this. I had only one extra diaper, no extra clothes for Ty, my honey mustard from lunch on my shirt, an almost dead cellphone, etc. A few hours later Brian was able to come meet me and bring all the stuff we needed in order to spend the night. They gave Ty a stronger breathing treatment and didn't see enough improvement to send us home so they kept us all night in the ER and gave him another treatment along with a chest X-ray. The whole thing was just very strange as he showed no other signs of croup which is what they diagnosed. After getting basically no sleep friday night we got to come home around lunch time Saturday. We napped and then got up for a while and went back to bed. Mom and Dad kept Ansley overnight while we were at the hospital. I was totally unprepared to be away from her all night, but so glad to know she was being well cared for. Then on Sunday Brian's mom and dad and his sister Kendria kept us fed. Ty seems to be coming out of it. His fever is gone and he is breathing much better. All this to say (if anyone is still reading) that I feel very thankful after this weekend for several things:

1. We have so many family and friends who will do anything for us. 2. I got to spend hours loving on Ty. 3. We have health insurance. 4. I have a husband who stands by me and loves our children. 5. We live close to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. 6. I have generally healthy children. 7. I don't have to sleep on a stretcher every night. 8. I am short enough to sleep in a hospital crib with my toddler so he will go to sleep. 9. Most of all, a God who provides all of these blessings and never leaves me.

Welcome Bennett!!!

Bennett Miles Ezell graced the world with his presence on Thursday, September 27th at 11:45 PM. He weighed 8lbs 4 oz. and is absolutely adorable. I am definitely in love with this newest addition to our ever-growing family. Praise God for a healthy baby boy!!!

Cookeville Visit

Saturday before last Ty, Ansley and I went to Cookeville with Mom and Dad to see Noah play in a soccer game and the celebrate Jenny's 30th birthday. We had dinner at Outback to celebrate. Ty had a lot of fun with his cousins and Ansley enjoyed all the extra attention as well. Here are a few photos of the day. As is typical once you are a mother I have no pictures of the birthday girl. However, being 36 weeks pregnant she might be happy about that. But please note that she looks exactly the same except for a round belly.

Zoo Fun!!!

Last Saturday we celebrated Noah and Micah's birthdays at the zoo. Noah turned 7 and Micah turned 2. It was an absolutely beautiful day, and we had a great time. Fittingly the party had a Diego motif. Ty especially liked the Diego suckers or as he calls him "De" and the cupcakes as you will see in the picture. I promise I feed him veggies at home! To incriminate myself more I must admit that Ansley got a very slight sunburn on her nose and cheeks and I felt like I was going to be on the news with Brittany Spears this week. Oh well, I'll do better next time. I wanted to share a few pics from the day. As you can see Ty and Ansley were out cold in their car seats on the way home. It was pretty cute.