Eyes Straight Ahead...

Brady had his long awaited eye surgery yesterday and has been GREAT all day long! His surgery went well too... We had to be at Blair E Batson at 6:00am yesterday (which made for a long day). Nana and Poppy came by to wish him well. Nana stayed for the duration but Poppy, of course, got a death call and had to go... Some things never change :)

He got to wear the baby blue gown for his surgery. Every time we have stayed there we got the mint green or yellow, but never the blue... it made his eyes look even more beautiful than they already are.

Chris and I got to go back with him to see the Doctors and the "put you to sleep" Doctor... I can never spell that, so I won't try... By the time we got back there, his "verset" (loopy medicine) started working and he looked as if he was floating on a cloud. He was so fascinated with my hair, and he would just laugh. He flirted with the lady nurses too! What a stud!

We handed him off to the nurse with the promise that she would take good care of him. I believed her. Not once did I feel uneasy about this surgery. I wasn't nervous at all. Either I am getting hard to all this sick baby and hospital stuff, or I have complete faith that the Doctors will do what they do to the best of their ability and if they can't Jesus will step in... Either way, I had a peace. A peace that I firmly believe I would not have if I were not a believer. And that peace comes in many circumstances, not just surgery. Its good to know you always have someone on your side.

They called the waiting room a little after 8:00am and said that Dr. Carron had already clipped his tonugue ( just something we thought we would go ahead and tackle while he was under) and Dr. Mungan was about to begin his eye part. After 45-50 mins the nurse came and got me so I could be with him when he woke up. He was so swollen and his right eye was bleeding and oozing a little more than the left so they patched it up. He looked like he had just gotten mugged... so pitiful. I hated to see him hurting like that. No mother ever wants to see her baby hurting.

After an hour in recovery and a few sips of water later, we were gone. They gave him morphine after the surgery so he was really hard to wake up.. he just wanted to sleep and not be bothered. He slept the whole way home and until 3:00PM that evening... (so did momma and daddy) So naturally he was up last night!! YAY for us!

He is doing great today, you wouldn't even think that he just had surgery yesterday... he is so resilient. He is so strong, brave, happy... There are not enough words I could use to describe that son of mine. What a year he has had! We are at the 1 year marker from our IS diagnosis and this is a much better place than we were in a year ago... this is no where near where we thought we would be today. He is truly a miracle! Ask any Doctor who saw him then and now... We still bring our Neurologist to tears.. she is so pleased with is progress!

Thanks to everyone for the year of prayers! Hard to believe its been a year, but TRUST ME, it has!

Until the whole world hears,

Jenny

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...