First ER Visit

Just a couple of pictures of my beloved little girl....she just makes my heart smile!

Let me start at the beginning. Tuesday night Claire went to bed around 8:30, I went to check on her and she was obviously running a fever, which was 102.8. I gave her tynelol and check on her several times throughout the night, fever goes down only to come back up. Wednesday morning fever is still acting like a roller coaster going up as high as 103.7 but we were always able to get it down, then the wheezing started. She saw her doctor around 2:00 that afternoon, received a breathing treatment at the office, which worked great and was given several different meds including an inhaler; being diagnosed with bronchitis. Nick and I both needed to work on Thursday so NeNe (Anna) came to keep Miss Claire on Thursday. Well as Wednesday went on the wheezing got worse so we set in the steaming bathroom, in hopes of helping her to breath easier, the inhaler was not helping. The fever kept rising and got up to 103.8...after taking two cold baths, more medicine, cool wash clothes, eating popsicles, drinking ice cold water, and even sitting in the baby pool outside (trying to make sitting in cold water fun) her fever went back down!!

Then around 1am we woke up to Miss Claire (she was in bed with me) breathing so hard and fast, her temperature was back up to 103.7....gave her more meds, tried the shower thing again to help her breath, but being very careful not to make her hotter. When Claire was 3 months old she had RSV and the doctor told me all the signs for when its time to go to the hospital...breathing fast and so hard the rib cage sticks out...well with every breath Claire took it looked like she was sucking in her tummy as much as possible. Then she threw up, temp was 103.9 about the time we got the throw up cleaned up, she threw up again. I told Nick and Anna it was time to go to the hospital...and out the door we went. They got us back immediately (there was no one else waiting) Claire's temp was 104.2 by now, they did a chest x-ray, a breathing treatment, and unsuccessfully attempted to draw blood...let me say the attempt to draw blood was a nightmare!!!! (4 adults trying to hold down a baby when a lab tech can't find a vein, thinks she does and then proceeds to sit there and dig around until Claire's arm was blue, Nick had to leave the room, me and Anna told the lab tech enough was enough and she had to stop)...all of this with my baby crying big huge tears, which led to a crying Momma! I know her fever got much higher during all this, she was so stressed. The respiratory threapist gave her a breathing treatment and compared her breathing to whooping cough. The x-ray showed her lungs were clear...thank you Lord....we feared full pneoumina had already set in. The doctor diagnosed her with a viral throat coop and bronchtis and said to continue all the medicine and sent us home. I borrowed a breathing treatment machine from a friend and we continued breathing treatments.


Fever finally went away midday Thursday and we have not done a breathing treatment since yesterday. Claire slept great last night and is wanting to play more today! Thank you Lord!


I am so thankful to have my healthy little girl back and I can't explain what a new found respect and compassion I have for the parents and grandparents of sick/special needs babies. Going through all those tests, sticks and pricks, and all along the baby not bring able to tell you what is wrong or where it hurts. My BIG prayer is that all the children's hospitals in the world will have to close there doors because there are no patients!!!! God tells us to pray BIG and that is my new BIG prayer....and of course all the workers will find jobs very easily because the Lord will provide:)

These boots were made for walking

Jump!

Miss Claire is fearless when it comes to swimming and the water. She is already jumping off the diving board...with assistance of course. I have a feeling we are going to be spending a lot of time in the pool this summer!...excuse the mismatch of her swim suit:) Ready set JUMP!

Hi Momma!

Cheese and ready to jump again!

Swimming to the steps

Taking a break from jumping

Eden Isle

Memorial Day weekend 2010 we made our way to the lake house at Eden Isle to join my family. Oh, how I love this place! I have so many memories of growing up on this lake and playing at this house and I hope to share all this with my Claire for a very long time. I will say the island is much more crowded than when I was a child and the houses are way "too big" for lake houses. Back in the day there were very strict code restrictions for the properties on the island well now, not so much.....I wish there were still restrictions. I am not one that wants this place to change. It's a little piece of heaven amidst the crazies of everyday life. I remember being the only "kids" riding around on golf carts and the security guard calling my grandfather because his grand kids were, well acting like kids I guess???.....now there are way more golf carts, mules, four-wheelers, than cars. Oh how the times are changing....guess I better go along for the ride! Miss Claire loves shades

Swimming in her pool...she decided she needed to take off her suit. Ha!

Mae even got to go for a walk around the block

The birds...and squirrels got fed

Enjoying the rough waves of the lake

Hanging out on the tube with Daddy

Cheesin' with Auntie Elizabeth

Hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day!

Happy Saturday!

What a beautiful day the Lord has made!

First Parade

Claire was in her first parade this weekend. The bank had a Flintstone's theme and Miss Claire got more compliments then her little head could handle...Ha! She was literally dancing down Main Street and when it came time for the judges she ran full speed ahead in front of the float. Then proceeded to go stand in front of the float and dance while everyone else did a little skit. She did awesome considering the parade lasted nearly 2 hours! Gotta love small town USA! I have many memories of riding on floats with my dads bank and now I am sharing the same with my little girl...sweet memory! Sweet day! Sweet little girl!

Please notice who is front and center...this is in front of the judges! Ha!

Don't Worry Be Happy

Why do we worry so much? Why be anxious? I feel like my "worry world" started when I got pregnant with Claire and has been one thing after another. Or is this just life and what being a grown up is all about?? This is not intended to be a poor pitiful me post, I do know that everyone has their own battles and no one's life is perfect...it's true, know matter how it looks from the outside...no one's life is perfect. I am sure this no news alert to you. Obviously, I am not the only person in this world that let's things beyond our control drive them to near nuts, take hold of your mind so much you can't focus on anything, sleep, think...and why do we let this happen?? I mean the drug companies are making a killing over anti-anxiety meds...no I don't take any of them but there are days I think I need too. Every time I find my mind wandering to the anxious side of life I try to remind myself that the Lord tells us to be anxious in nothing except Him. But yet I still find my mind spinning with worry and the only way I get out of that place is to stop dead in my foot steps and pray. This week has been one for the books and then out of nowhere I realized the Lord is going to take care us, He is going to work all this out, He's got this....then I hear other people's stories of sick babies, loss of a baby, failing marriage and I think WHAT IN THE WORLD AM I COMPLAINING ABOUT!!! My child is healthy, my husband is healthy, we both have jobs, food on the table, a roof over our head, loving family, and so many other things to be thankful for.....

Here's the even bigger problem I have with "WORRY"....I have heard it said many times that 90% of the things we worry about never come to be. The BIG solution?, Why in the world would I ever believe that the Lord is going to leave us...He hasn't yet, He has always been there and always provided!!!

NEED PROOF:

• 11 weeks pregnant, working in Washington DC, wake up in the middle of the night bleeding, think I am having a miscarriage, take a cab at 2am to the ER, crying, scared, alone and have no idea what's going on, did I do something wrong?, just praying for my baby to be ok....an ultrasound of a loud, healthy heartbeat,....worries calmed, prayers answered!
• The birth of Claire, My job required I traveled a lot...must find a new job, worried, prayed!! I was determined to breastfeed my child and be there for all the simple things in life, but finding a job at the height of a recession was a task....maternity leave came to an end and I had to go back to my old job, the travel the first week was to Little Rock, so I took Claire with me since my family lives there...that Friday I got a job offer!!!....prayer answered!
• The job offer required we move to South Arkansas, given that we are a dual income family, guess what the next worry was about???....finding my husband a good job in small town USA...another challenge, another worry....several weeks later...another job offer!!!...prayer answered!
• Put the NWA house up for sale, find a place to live in our new town,...again all at the height of the recession...after 6 weeks of commuting an hour everyday each way, we found a new home, 2 new jobs,....prayers answered!
• After about 6 months we realized Nick's job (talk about stress)was not the best fit for him and it was in every one's best interest if he explore other job opportunities.....so we find ourselves with 2 mortgages and 1 income....hmmm, not sure how this is going to work....but God did....our labs decided they needed to have some puppies and the Lord provided buyers for each of the pups at top dollar, thank you for champion bloodline Labs...prayers answered!
• The road for Nick finding a new job was a little longer than anticipated...then one day out of nowhere a neighbor we have only met once, saw us outside and stopped by, he invited us to dinner that evening, after much conversation, he knew the perfect job for Nick... the next week Nick got a job in the perfect place, building custom cabinets!!....the Lord put our neighbor in our way that day, which lead to a new, great job...prayers answered!
• Keep in mind this entire time we still have our house for sale in NWA....lowered price many times, changed realtor, then decided to do for sale by owner....I have hesitated to share the news because I am not one that likes to "put the cart before the horse" but we prayed and prayed to receive an offer on the house and we did but it was lower than we could possibly accept...God does have a sense of humor sometimes...so the prayer was revised...please let us have an offer on the our house before Easter...here it comes, an offer we could accept on March 31...only days before Easter...an offer we did accept!!!!....prayers answered!!
• Now here we are, this week, trying to close on the sell of the house and the appraisal does not come back for the amount we have under contract...what to do?? It's been on the market 16 months, we were already taking a nice loss on the price and now what do we do, take a much bigger, double loss than we thought we were....Monday, the day the news came was a bad, bad day...the day I awarded myself the "worst Mommy award"....then we decided to move forward with the sell, take our losses and move on....then Tuesday the buyers tell us they don't have the money for the additional closing cost (we were already covering a portion) because there plan was to roll it into the equity of the home....more money, really???.....guess what?? we add to the loss again.............then the nice appraiser said repairs need to be made to our back deck, saying it does not meet code?? Really??? it passed inspection when we bought the house 5 years ago....and the deck must be repaired prior to closing!....more money....so today as I write we are waiting on someone to repair a deck that is not broken (according to the man that built our house...yes, I gave him a call),....and make sure it meets the lenders standards, in order for us to close....I am so tried from worrying about this house, I am so ready to move on,.........I am so ready to simply BE STILL in our LORD!!! So, please say a pray for this simple thing to be resolved, for this thing that seems so small but is the new hurdle....

Please let me say it again, I know I am blessed, I know that in the grand scheme of things these are not problems, I know I just need to be grateful for all the Lord has provided and I promise I am!!! I praise the Lord for all the answered prayers and for calming my anxious heart!!

I remind myself often of what I heard one of my friends say about worries or problems..."If money can fix it, then its truly not a problem." Think about it....I think its very true.

The Lord wants us to be happy and cast all our worries on Him. WOW!!! Who would want to carry all the worries of the world!!! So, I guess God's message is pretty simple when it comes to worrying....DON'T WORRY BE HAPPY!