Fa la la la la... la la la la!

Hello ALL and Merry Christmas to you! I am so happy to be doing the tour of homes this year! I have been wanting to do it ever since last year when I found it and read just about all 800 post! I also got some great ideas from the tour last year, so I thought I would give it a try this year.

As you can see, my style is very modern and as my very traditional husband would say... "festive". I decided to go with all the bright bold colors this year. Plus, anything I could find with glitter was a MUST!

I will start you off with my kitchen table.. probably the most traditional part of the house..

Here is Brady's very first picture with Santa Clause last year... What a difference a year makes.

I love the floor mat here.. found it at Lowe's last year...

Here is a picture of my TREE! Oh, I just loved how this turned out!!! The red mesh and the glittery curly sprigs just make it, don't you think?

Here is a full body shot... no presents yet :( But I just got that tree skirt in last week, it matches the stockings we got last year.

Here are some of my favorite ornaments...

The purple peacock came from Michael's.. it is sorda my inspiration for all the decor. There are several of these hiding through out the house...

Here is our mantel and stockings! Love them! They are pretty traditional too, red and green...

And here is the wreath above the mantle where my husband's Christmas present will be soon :) Bet you can't guess what that will be, huh?

Here is the Garland above the cabinets in the kitchen... I love how every strand of garland looks the same in the house. It really ties it all together...

Here are the dogs stockings...not on the mantle because they don't match... and that would drive me crazy. So we found them a home on the bookshelf...

In Brady's room we have a small tree with special ornaments we have received so far. We got this set from my mom for our first Christmas married...

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you loved it as much as I do...

From my family to yours... Merry CHRISTmas! May you be truly blessed this holiday season.

Jenny

O Christmas Tree... O Christmas trees...

Its almos time for The Nesters Tour of Homes 2009, but before I do that, I will do the Kelly's Corner Show us how you live: Christmas Trees!!!

I am real excited about this one because I am real excited about my Christmas tree this year.

This is my Christmas tree this year! I have had the tree but last year I did a silver and pink color scheme and this year I went with all bright bold colors! It is FABULOUS!! I haven't got the tree skirt in yet, but it has been ordered to match my stockings so hopefully SOON I can show you a picutre of that too! Next year I might just have one in every room. They are so fun to decorate!! See you soon for the full tour! Jenny

Its beginning to look a lot like.... fall!!

Today was my first trip to Hobby Lobby for FALL DECOR and I was like a kid in a candy store!! I love decorating my house and every year i accumulate more and more.. but I wish I could do it all at one time, oh well. So here is my haul: Grape vine wreath: $4.95 Fall Swag: $39.99 (50% off) so only $20.00! Sunflowers (x2): $3.00 each after discount Pumpkins (x3): $1.50 each after discount so all in all I only spent $37.00 for my fall wreath! Brady hiding behind the wreath...

Katie working on tying on these pumpkins

and straightening up the leaves... i swear I helped, but someone had to take pictures

and the grand finale.....

I absolutely love the final outcome! Cant wait to get to the mantel and centerpiece!!!!!

Whats for dinner Wednesday?!?!?!

CREAM CHEESE RIGATONI

Ingredients:

-1lb Rigatoni Pasta

-1lb ground beef

-1 jar of Prego (I didn't use the whole thing)

-1 Tbsp Parsley

-1 cup sour cream

-1 cup softened cream cheese

-1 egg

- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil (not sure where to use this but i coated the baking dish with it before baking)

-2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

-salt and pepper to taste

*Preheat oven to 375 degrees... cook pasta and drain... brown beef in skillet, season with salt and pepper, reduce heat to low, simmer for 10 mins...

*In a bowl, mix sour cream, egg, cream cheese... stir in spaghetti sauce... add one cup of shredded cheese.... stir in ground beef... place in casserole dish (first pasta then cheese sauce on top)...*sprinkle the top with the rest of the cheese and parsley...*Bake 25-35 mins ... I served with garlic bread! It was very very very good.... but it makes a ton... make sure you are feeding more than two people (unlike myself) we will have leftovers for a week! Tomorrow will be a chicken dish... Meat Monday, Chicken Tuesday, Meat Wednesday... so naturally we will be having a chicken dish tomorrow night.... stay tuned!

Whats for dinner Tuesday?!?!?!

CHICKEN PARMESAN

Ingredients: 1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast 2 eggs beaten 1 cup seasoned bread crumbs 2 tbsp veggie oil 1 1/2 shredded mozzarella cheese 1 jar of prego (that is my choice of spaghetti sauce) Preheat oven to 375 degrees -dip chicken breast in eggs then bread crumbs ( see picture)

then into the frying pan... heat oil on medium/high in large skillet....brown chicken on each side then drain on paper towel... in baking dish, arrange chicken breast on spaghetti sauce...then cover with remaining sauce and cheese...bake 25 mins or until chicken is no longer pink... then serve!!! I served with salad and roll.

This one was one of my all time favorite meals! So good and so easy to make. I will be making it again! See you tomorrow with cream cheese Rigatoni!

Whats for dinner Monday?!?!

So I am going to cook supper every night this week starting last night and I thought it could be intresting to make a dinner blog... so here we go...

MEAT MUFFINS (not sure if that is there real name or not but it fits)

-3/4 ground beef

-1/2 cup of ketchup

-1 tbsp mustard

-1 tbsp brown sugar

-1 can biscuits

-1/2 shredded cheese

preheat oven to 400 degrees, brown beef and drain,

mix ketchup, mustard, and brown sugar together to make a bbq sauce

add that sauce to the beef

seperate dough into biscuts and put them into cup form in a muffin pan

add beef to the dough cups

bake 10mins until the biscuts start to brown

sprinkle the tops with chees while hot

*chris said i could have sprinkled more cheese but other than that they were pretty good... and very easy to make. I served with shells and cheese! Yumm-O... dinner is served!

August Catch-Up Blog...

Yeah Yeah.. so I go for a while with out blogging, then I try to catch you up on what you missed... So here is my best... Brady is a crawling machine right now.. well, he is up then down, belly crawling, scooting, whatever! He is getting where he needs to go and he is doing well! Another development step that we have achieved! He is doing therapy every Thursday and that is going well. She comes out to the house and works with him for about an hour so that is GREAT! I have been trying to get more into my new hobby..."paper crafts"... cards, tags, labels, gift wrapping, etc.. I realized that you can go as deep into this as you want to.. you can spend as much as you want to too! I am addicted to Hobby Lobby and Michael's right now... but the want list is endless... so I don't dwell on it. Chris put a shelf over my "craft desk" so I have more storage (but nothing to store). Oh well, It will come... Just know that if you will be getting a card from me, it will be hand-made.. and right now, they are not tooooo good! But hey, I'm learning. I have recently started walking... and I have been everyday this week! GO ME! I tried the 6:00 in the morning thing, but that ain't working... Plus the weather has been too perfect in the afternoons not to! Brady enjoys it too, of course I am doing all the walking! Mom and Katie just got back from Nicaragua with a fabulous story about a 5 month old baby that they saw in their "make shift" clinic... out in a village deep in Nicaragua... The mom brought in her baby girl and complained to them of "nerve problems". You have to understand that when anyone within a 100 mile radius gets wind of a FREE medical clinic coming to the village of Nicaragua...everyone shows up!!! It doesn't matter if they are the spitting image of health.. some of them have never seen a Dr. in their lives, so they come and bring the whole family to see one. Back to my story, the mother was saying that her baby had nerve problems. Well, it just so happened that she gave the baby to Katie (sister). And after a few moments of holding her, Katie witnessed what she surely thought she would never... the babies legs went stiff, her eyes deviated, her head dropped.. the baby thousands of miles away in Nicaragua was having an infantile spasm. Katie immediately called for my mom to come over there and see what she had just seen. She also called for Teresa, the Nurse Practitioner that works with Brady's Neurologist (coincidence... don't think so) to come over. That sweet baby was in fact having infantile spasms... Something someone else might have overlooked if they were not introduced to it because of Brady's story. That baby was sent to Katie, Momma, and Teresa.. 3 women from Mississippi who just so happened have been affected by infantile spasms months earlier. I believe everything happens for a reason. And , as far as I am concerned, this could very well be the reason that my Brady was ever affected by them. Had he have never had his spasms, that baby girls spasms could have never been diagnosed and treated. This reminds me that God has a plan, even if you don't know what it is today, be patient and let him show you. Just thought I would share that information with you.. Maybe you needed to hear it. Maybe you could use good news, or proof of Gods Plan. I hope it does you good, maybe even strengthens your relationship with God, as it has mine... as this whole adventure has. He will never leave us or forsake us.. that is his promise. Here is the first footage we got of Brady crawling. It was at Mrs Patty, Sissy, and Didda's birthday party.. he did not think we were watching him, but he was going after Sissy's laptop...

Happy birthday to all of them by the way!

I am trying to get the finishing touches on Brady's birthday party. Can you believe he will be a year old in a month!!! What a year! Man, it sure flys by fast. Of course, I am hand making the invites (half way done). It will be at the ZOO! I love the zoo! oh, and of course Brady will too :) Chris is not too sure about it, but it will be fun!

We also went on vacation this month!! Gulf Shores! It was a great get-a-way for Chirs and me. We left the baby with mom and dad and they had a blast with him! We ate so good! It was great spending time with Chris' brother and sister and her family. We don't get to see them enough (well, Ryan we do, but not Trisha) It was great making family memories with our niece and nephew! They had a ball at the beach! Thank you to Mrs Patty for that!

Ok, I think your caught up through August. I will try to do better next month :)

Love,

Jenny

What a day, What a Testimony

Today we went for Brady's "swallow study". Because he has been on bottle strike for 5 weeks now, we needed to check and see if when he does get liquids, its going down the right pipe. He had the "hand, foot, and mouth" virus the first week of July and he has not taken a bottle since then. Its been pretty aggravating because a baby has to have fluids, even I know that, but my baby refuses any type of liquid!! I have been syringing him fluids for the past month so he doesn't dehydrate and let me tell you, its getting old! We put him behind this x-ray machine and had him take different consistencies of liquids from the spoon and everything seemed to go down right but when I did it with the syringe, it went straight down to his lungs!! So needless to say, we will NOT be syringe feeding him anymore! After that test I went over to the Medical Mall (not in the best part of town) to turn in a application to get him in with the feeding specialist to see if maybe she had any suggestions. Well, we walked in and the feeding specialist was in the lobby with another specialist and the lady who authorizes applications so she asked if we could just see her today! "Are you kidding me?? Can we? I have been force feeding my son for 5 weeks! Yes we can see you!!" So we did. (and it just so happened that the application got approved right away! (which normal takes a couple of weeks) Isn't God Good? So we had a long visit with her. She watched him eat and watched what he did when I tried to give him a bottle and she said he just associates liquids with pain. He had soars in his mouth during the Hand foot and mouth virus and it hurt to eat, and since then we have been traumatizing him with a syringe!!! So, naturally, he doesn't want anything to do with a liquid. But we are gonna thicken it up and see if that doesn't work any better. It did while we were there, so I am very encouraged! This has been a very frustrating few weeks! Probably the most frustrated I have been as a parent so far and to know that there is now someone with suggestions ... that is such a relief! Oh yeah, after we left the "swallow study" we got a call from the Neurologist saying that Brady has a perfectly normal awake EEG yesterday. And he no longer has the diagnosis of "infantile spasms"!! This catastrophic, devastating, seizure disorder did not win over my Brady. We have God on our side and there is nothing that can't do, no sickness that he can't heal. I give God all the glory for this one and one day Brady will to! What a testimony he already has. Thank you all for your prayers! They were heard. He was healed! Jenny

Scared of the Cookie Monster!

Well, I have finally found something that Brady is not too fond of! The moving, laughing, vibrating, cookie monster! It freaks him out!! You have to watch this.. I took it away as soon as I made this video.. but it was too cute not to share.

By the way, I believe this was a gift from Nana and Poppy! HAHA.. dont worry, I wont tell him who its from...

First day of Occupational Therapy

Today was our first day of O.T. ( it was more like an evaluation to see what we gotta work on) either way, Brady did great! He just loved Ashley! He is a big flirt!! She is going to start coming out weekly to get Brady doing things that he shold be doing at his age and hes not.. We have noticied such a big improvement since we have taken him off all his meds already. In the past month alone we have stopped Topamax, Phenobarb, Hydrocortizone, Prevacid, and ACTH! So even without the therapy he has already come so far. So this should help even more.

We also saw Dr. Parker today! We love seeing Dr. Parker. She absolutely loves Brady (who wouldn't?) and he absolutely loves her. Our bi- weekly visits are now going to be every 6 weeks! We will miss seeing her as often, but we are glad that Brady man is improving so well! She is very pleased with his progress and has scheduled another EEG just to make sure everything is as good as it seems to be! She seems to think that the reason for Brady's all the sudden panic at bedtime is seperation anxiety!! She said 9-12 months is when they start this and that is right where he is. So now I dont feel like there is anything wrong with him when he just all the sudden starts crying when I put him down... and I can finally explain to Chris that he is not spoiled.. He is supposed to be doing that! He just wants his mommy! and there is nothing wrong with that!

Tonight Chris has invited all his family over for supper.. His sister and her kids are down from Southaven and his Aunt is back in town from work so it will be a good reunion. It will be the first time that we have all been together since the funeral (Chris' dads). I think it is good to keep in contact with your family so I am glad we are doing it! Chris and I just got back from Bay St Louis with my family. We went to the MS funeral Dirctors Association convention. We had a great time! The first night there, all 5 of my siblings and their significant others were there and my Memaw and we had a great time at dinner then at the Casino! It will take Brady weeks to get back on a schedule but we had a good time. So did he!

Till next time,

Jenny

PS- T minus 6 days till my 25th birthday!! Just a reminder!

Here is Chris and Brady in the hotel hanging out-

Today is all we have

Tonight Josh and Katie are keeping Brady so Chris and I can meet Trisha and Ryan and see Harry Potter!! I am super excited! I am also missing my baby already. Which has me thinking, what am I going to do with myself when my baby is healed, fixed, recovered, back to normal, just a typical child and I have to put him back in daycare. Now, I know this is what all mothers of babies go through when they first put their little ones in daycare for the first time.. but I'm not "all mothers" and brady is not just"any child". He is ...my baby, he is funny, he is laughing at things for no reason now, just out of the blue; he is smiling at me and bouncing at me when I walk into his room to get him out of his crib EVERY time; he reconizes me as his mom; he clapps his hands and smiles when I shout "YAY"; he is rolling around everywhere, until he hits a wall, then he rolls back; he is up on all fours rocking, just trying to crawl, he is sitting up all by himself, then just crashes back for no reason; he loves the water, bath tub or pool; he jumps in his bouncer all the time! I think he would stay in it all day long if I let him; in the middle of fussing, he laughs; he never cries.. i mean NEVER cries! He is a happy child. He is my child.

Now, for those of you with children, you know these are normal things. But when something happens to your child, your infant child, and there is a possibility that none of those things could ever happen and they do... that's amazing. Every little thing that Brady does is amazing to me. Every little milestone is amazing. Every new thing he does is another reason (on the ever growing list) to give thanks to Jesus Christ. We thought there was a chance he wouldn't see, and he sees; we thought he might not develop, and as you read, he is doing great; Now we don't know what the future holds but I know who holds the future. God hasen't promised us tomorrow yet we are so quick to make "plans". I have never really lived for the day until I became a parent and now I live for every single minute. I cant wait to watch Brady grow and Prosper, but first I am going to enjoy every second I have with him. The same way I should live every single day of my life. We are not promised tomorrow.. Live for today! Rejoyce for today! Be amazed everyday! Life is too short and too fragile and too precious not to take it all in. If your not happy, get happy! If your sad, get glad! If you depressed, snap out of it! Today is all we have.. Today is all we have. Why dont people get that? Be thankful for what you have, be grateful, be compassionate, be pleasant, be respectful, be positive... Love your neighbors, Love everyone.

By the way, I think I must be suffering from PMS .. this just came out of nowhere! I guess it needed to be said. I'm glad he used me to say it.

Because he lives, I live.

Jenny

Home from Memphis

We got home Friday from Memphis (earlier than we thought) and Brady is doing great! He was hooked up to his EEG leads fror about 48 hours and was recorded the whole time, (VEEG). That crazy kid of mine did not have the first spasm or siezure the whole time he was hooked up! But they played with his medicines and we even cut some meds out completely! Dr. Wheeles took him completely off his Phenobarbatol and Topamax and started him on Depakene (the liquid form of Depacoat). He also gave us a new ACTH schedule that will have Brady getting off his ACTH in 2 weeks!!! We should also be getting off the Hydrocortizone and Prevacid at that time too! So that will be a total of 5 medicines that Brady will be off in 2 short weeks if everything goes to plan! What a blessing!!! I dont know that I am going to know what to do with myself if I dont have to give him medicine at breakfast, lunch, and dinner! I hope this works and the Spasms go away forever and never come back!! I pray they dont evolve into another type of seizure also! I Pray this is it for all of that!! I pray he gets his personality back, he gets his developement on track, and he continues to grow and develope normally as a health boy would. We will follow up with our neurologist Dr. Parker Thursday but we will go in to check his levels monday and again the following Monday. We should go back to Memphis to follow up with Dr. Wheeles after we take him off the ACTH. I pray we go back with a different child.. completly healed of IS forever! In Jesus' Name.. Amen!

Here is Brady when they were taking him down for MRI.. he is about too big for this little newborn bed, dont ya think?

And here he is in his room.. EEG leads on his head, and IV in his foot.. sitting up in his stroller!

Memphis Bound tonight!

Here's a quick update on my little man ...Well, he has started having the spasms again. They have been gradually getting worse over the past couple of days so we have gone back up on the medicine that we should have already stopped!! (little frustrating) We are back up to the starting dose and everyday again. Our great Dr. Parker sent in a referral to Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center in Memphis, TN yesterday morning and we got a call this morning saying that they just happen to have a cancellation for tomorrow and asked if we could come on up... oh, by the way, the next appointment was not till late July, so this was a big deal. Oh yeah, and it just so happens that the Doctor on call all week just happens to be world renowned in his field of Pediatric Epilepsy and he come highly recommended from or Dr. here. And Chris' mom has offered her van for us to take up there to make the ride and loading and unloading much easier and Chris' cousin Katherine has offered us a place to stay tonight when we get there... (Coincidence ??? I think not) It seems like God has his hand in this one big time. It is obvious that that is where we need to be this week so we are packing now! We have to be there at 5:45 IN THE MORNING!!! for the start of many test.. MRI and EEG tomorrow morning. We will be staying in the room with him all week (4-7 days). The rooms are equipt with beds for 2 adults, a fridge, and microwave so we dont need to rent a hotel or anything. Chris will be taking us up there and getting all the info tomorrow and then my mom will come up to stay with us to help out with Brady.. He will be hooked up to his EEG leads for a while and I am not to sure how that is going to work.. now that he is rolling around and pulling at things. We are hoping to be back Sunday with some new Plan of Action. So please keep us in your prayers, expecially my Brady. We want these siezures and spasms to stop!! Pray for us as we travel, my mom too! I will keep you updated with any news as soon as I get a chance. Pray Pray Pray!

Jenny

Dancing Queen!

This is my niece Arrington dancing away to Luke and Savannah singing YMCA on American Idol Karaoke! This video is going to be about the same for her as my perm video was for me! Enjoy...

Here are a few more of Arrington trying to get Brady up to play with her.. He is just as big if not bigger than she is now and she dosent understand why he wont play!! :)

Bitter Sweet

So it seems I have let my blogging get behind so I will attempt to catch you up with this one. This has been a very up and down month already! Up in the fact that Brady is doing better. No spasms, had a much improved EEG taken on May 13, only 3 weeks left on this medicine. Down in the fact that also on May 13 we lost Chris' dad, my father-in-law, and Brady's pawpaw to cancer. He had been battling and I do mean battling this cancer since the week of our wedding a year and a half ago. Mr David gave it all he had. He did what the Dr.s said, he did every kind of chemo they had to offer, but after all that chemo he still lost a very long, hard, courageous battle. We are so happy with the memories that we have with him. (Chris' 29 years, my 8 years, and Brady's 7 months of memories) We are also so very glad that we have great pictures of him with Brady. Mr. David will never be forgotten. Brady will know all the great things he did, and how much he loved him.

This is Mr. David with Brady and Wyatt (Brady's cousin) the day after Brady was bornMr. David, with Chris and Brady Thanksgiving 2008Brady with PawPaw in February 2008The last pictures taken with them together 18 days before Mr. David passed away.

These are great memories for Brady and for our family. Mr. David truely loved Brady and we are truly appreciative of the time we each got to spend with him. He will be missed greatly.

In another note, Brady is doing extremely well with his treatment. Like I said before, no spasms! His EEG was not 100% but it was much improved. They are still seeing some spikes in different areas of his brain but his neuroligist says that is to be expected. We have taken his dose down yet again to .12 (from .37 to .30 to .24) and next will we will drop it to .6!! which is just a drop! He is truely a miracle baby. The Doctor's had told us at the beginning of this journey that we could expect some REgressing in his development, loss of muscle tone, and just an overall not developing on tract with others his age. Well, I am here to tell you that Brady has started Rolling over!, he is trying so so very hard to crawl and sit up! He is doing everything that he should be doing and we couldn't be happier! God is in controll of my son, not the medicine! Continue to Pray because HE is hearing your prayers, and HE is faithful to answer them. Here is a little more about what all has gone on this month.. in pictures...

Brady getting pushed around (already) by his cousin Arrington

Brady's first 4-wheeler ride with Poppy! He is out like a light!

Brady's first time in the pool and he LOVED it!

Brady with his GeeGee and Aunt Didda

Brady with "Cole" and Katherine

Brady in his Daddy's old high chair at his GeeGee's house

Chris, Brady and me Mother's Day 2009 at his Baby Dedication service

Happy Mother's Day in deed!

Brady with Nanna and Poppy at lunch after church on Mother's Day

All the children (except Josh) Mother's Day 2009 with Mom and Memaw

Brady with his Best Friend Forever Sawyer!

Brady and me making Chris a meatloaf .. I hate meatloaf and I have never tried to cook a meatloaf, but we wanted to make daddy a special supper and I think we succedded!

Brady had a hand in preparing the meal too!

And here is the end result! Love my bowls?!?!? Me too! thanks GeeGee!

Chris and Brady in a stare-off! Wonder who will win?

As you can tell, it has been a crazy few weeks. We will go back to the Doctor the first week of June, but I will try to keep you updated on what goes on till then!

Take Care till then

Jenny