Party at StoneCrest

It's official. We'll be having half of Tony's party here tomorrow afternoon and half at StoneCrest with Gramma. Mom did get her walking privileges back this afternoon, and her blood levels have been good most of the day. They won't draw blood again till tomorrow. All good news. The dr says we'll just have to take it day by day. No estimate of how long she'll be there. Please, if you're still reading, continue to pray for her. Thank you!

Mom again

Mom's surgery went fine. She had a rough day yesterday, just cause she's over all this mess! And I certainly can't say I blame her at this point! Her first blood draw this morning was in the therapeutic zone, so if the next one is, too, then she won't have to have her blood drawn every 2 hrs all day. That would be great! The dr hasn't been by this morning yet, so she's still on strict bed rest. Hopefully she can get up once he comes in. She's still hoping maybe she can be out of there by Tony's bday party tomorrow afternoon. We'll see...

Keep praying for Mom, please!

Dad just called. They let Mom get up and walk a little last night, which surprised me. But when she did she had another episode where she couldn't catch her breath. Dr said more than likely another small piece of the clot in her leg broke loose and landed in her lung. He thinks since the symptoms passed quickly enough that probably it is small again and will be dissolved quickly, so he's not doing a scan to prove it's there. They are, however, going to put a filter in this afternoon at 1:30. Should be a minor procedure (which makes me a little nervous since the whole vein thing was supposed to be a minor procedure, too, and here we are!) with a local anesthetic. Anyway, they will put a filter at the clot in her leg/groin area so that if anything larger does happen to break loose it will be caught there and safely dissolved w/o chance of it causing serious injury elsewhere in the body. Supposedly this will not lengthen her stay in the hospital. But, of course, she'll have to come off the Heparin for awhile before surgery so that her blood is not too thin, and then they'll have to get the numbers regulated again. Please pray that all goes well today!!

Update on Mom

Yay! Mom's blood hit the target range this evening. It stayed there for 2 testings, so now she gets to go all night without having blood drawn! Very exciting! She might even sleep. :) They'll check again in the morning to see if it stays as thin as they want all night with the Heparin drip dosage they've got her on. Plus they're starting the Coumadin tonight. She'll be on that for probably six months (unless they find that she actually has a blood disorder that caused the clots, in which case it'll be unending treatment). So we'll go from here in the morning...

I took the boys out to see her this evening. I'm not sure who was more excited, her or them! Some of Mom's friends from their church small group came while we were there and brought flowers...and those really cool bubbles that you can actually catch without popping. Mom was already taking the boys for "rides" with her on her hospital bed! Uuuuuup, dooooowwn, uuuuup, doooowwwn!! Then they had bubbles to play with, too. It was quite a hospital visit. :) Dad and I just laughed. That woman will never grow up...and it's one of the things we just love about her!

Please pray

Mom recently had what was supposed to be a minor surgical procedure done on some really painful varicose veins in her leg. She had some unexpected complications. Yesterday she had a CT scan which showed blot clots in her lung. My brother and I took her to the hospital last night to be admitted for treatment. (My Dad, despite still recovering from foot surgery of his own, made a super quick turn-around trip from Mississippi to get back here after taking my Mamaw home yesterday. So he got in about 1:30 this morning.) Mom's been on a Heparin drip since last night. So far, they still haven't gotten her blood thinned to "therapeutic levels" in order to dissolve the clots. They found an additional clot today in her upper leg. Apparently a very rare result of the vein procedure and the origin of the clots in her lung. They're having to take her blood every 2 hours to check thickness, so the arm w/o the IV has already been stuck about 1o different times and is all bruised up. Ouch! Originally the dr said 2-3 days in the hospital. He came by while I was there today and explained what all they've found and changed his prognosis to a week in the hospital followed by blood thinning treatment at home.

Please pray that the clots dissipate quickly and safely! Also, pray for her state of mind. Mom's a very positive person. Not much gets her down, so that's always good! But the timing of all this really kinda got her. I had an ultrasound this morning, and we'd planned for a couple months now for her to go with me and see the girls. Then we were going to spend the day out together (since my dear hubby agreed to keep all the kids for me!). When she called last night she was more upset about missing the ultrasound than she was about going to the hospital! Now they're saying she may need to stay at the hospital all week...and Tony's birthday party is Saturday afternoon. She's going to be one upset Gramma if she can't come to the party! We've all learned that when it comes to being with her grandkids, you better just let my Mom have her way! :) Sooo...we may be having Tony's 3rd birthday party at StoneCrest!!

Careful now...

You guys better be careful putting your baby holding skills and volunteering hearts in writing like that! I'm keeping a list, and there's a good chance you may get called up for active duty!! ;) And this is what it could look like...

Mad, mad Tony at 4 weeks old!

Wow!

You guys, I'm so excited! Thanks for the comments. It's great to hear from you all! Feels good to be back on the blog.

Just for the record, at 28 weeks into this pregnancy, YES, I am pretty much still in shock!! Both by the fact that I'm having twins AND by the fact that they are girls!! What on earth am I gonna do with GIRLS?!?! Don't get me wrong, I couldn't be happier. Steve and I were both hoping for a girl this time. And this way, I get to even out the troops all at once! I'm looking forward to not being outnumbered by the boys. Tyler and Tony are both really excited about their sisters, too. Tyler was hoping for a girl from the beginning. Tony not so much. I believe his first response was, very grumpily, "I no like sisters!" He's definitely warmed up to the idea though. I think he's ready to be a big brother. Tyler has taught him well. :)

So far, everything has gone wonderfully with the pregnancy. I was pretty sick for the first 12 weeks, but I guess between having twins AND girls I didn't have much of a chance to escape that this time around. I'm a lot more tired with the twins than I was with either of the boys. And I'll admit I'm beginning to wonder just how enormous my belly is actually going to get!! My official due date is February 5, but my dr said we're shooting for 37 weeks. So, assuming all goes as planned, we're expecting to have the girls around the middle of January.

Time has started to fly by, much like it usually does around here when autumn hits! There's still so much to do. Lisa and Vicky, my wonderful friends, are helping me finish up the nursery. Vicky's doing all the shopping around and hunting for all the stuff we need to finish decorating. And I am sooo thankful. I love, love, love to do this kind of thing. Shoot, I love to shop for pretty much anything. But I'm just worn out all the time! And I knew I should have already taken care of all this stuff, but the procrastinator in me just kept putting it off. Now I'm huge and achy and tired...not to mention a little whiny, huh?! :) Anyway, with their help I'm sure the nursery will be absolutely lovely. That way at least I'll have a nice, cozy, comfy, happy place to sit and pull my hair out when both the babies are screaming at the same time and their big brothers are trying to kill each other as boys often do!! Yep, this is going to be an adventure...

Birthday Camping

Despite my growing baby belly (and the need to go pee every 10 minutes), we went camping again this year for my birthday. It was actually the only chance our family had to camp at all this year. We stayed with Jason and Lisa in their camper. Everyone had a great time! These kids sure were ready for a bath when we got home.

Okay, okay!!

I know, I'm a complete failure in blogdom!

I know this! I can't believe you guys are still checking. Seriously. Well, you win. I'm giving in to the pressure. But not right this minute. Heehee...you have to wait just a little bit longer. My promise to you: a new update by the end of the weekend. A real one. So check back to get the scoop. Right now I've got some preschool teachin' to do!

A Beer

A beer? Huh? My two year old wants a beer? It took a few days, but we finally figured out that Tony's really saying "up here." Then I realized that when I say, "You want up here?" it really does kinda sound like, "You want a beer?" Sooo, any time he sees something interesting up high or wants us to hold him, he kindly requests "a beer." :)

I like the pillows!

Every year at Christmastime, Mom makes the most delicious "trail mix" ever. It's funny, because it's one of those things that's sooo easy to make...yet we wait for this time of year to have it. That's probably a good thing, though, cause I can eat my weight in that stuff. And man, that's a LOT! :)

Anyway, last night the boys and I were snacking on some of that yummy Christmas treat, and I noticed Tony being very careful to only eat the Chex out of it. Typical. I mean, we all have our favorite part of the mix! But then I had one of those sweet moments that only a parent can have, when your kids aren't killing each other and some special little similarity shows itself. Their differences are consistently clear, but I so enjoy the little moments where I can see one in the other...when I see them as...brothers I guess. Duh! :)

But it was nuts. Tony stuck his chubby little hand in the bag to grab a piece of cereal and said with a grin, "pillow." Suddenly my mind flashed back, and it wasn't Tony at all. It was my little, blonde haired Tyler standing there, still with his precious baby fat, saying "pillow." I guess it seems silly, but so much went through my mind when my baby used the same word for Chex that his big brother did when he was a toddler. He'd never heard Ty call cereal a pillow. It was his own word as much as it was Tyler's own word a few years ago. And for whatever sentimental reasoning, it was enough to make me squeeze them both just a little tighter last night. Perhaps it was the thought of how quickly they grow, or maybe it was just one of those moments overwhelmed by love for the little guys. Whatever. It was precious. And I'm still smiling about it today!

Pluck it!

Interesting expletive, huh? :)

What do you do to relieve stress? Do you have a stress plan? I mean, do you consciously turn to a certain activity or ritual or habit that soothes you? Or do you just find yourself doing a certain something in stressful times?

I've noticed over the years that one of my most effective methods of stress relief is the otherwise much dreaded deed of shaping my eyebrows (or, as I mentally refer to it, the completely insane, unnecessary, and incredibly painful ripping out of the hair in my delicate eye area!). Yep. I'm certifiable. It works though. I've never ever actually done this on purpose to relieve stress, but I noticed once that I was just plucking away, and I couldn't even feel it. Normally I'm one of those total weenie girls that can't help but form tears as the hairs are jerked from their rightful home on my brow. I don't actually "cry," of course, but there's definite watering of the eyes. :)

Anyway, I was stressing over something at the time I made this strange observation. Out of curiosity, I did a little digging through photos, and I found that I tend to get a little bushy when the stress level is low. Yet, in the pictures taken at the most tense times of my adult life, I'm sporting some seriously sexy eyebrows!

Now this really only works to a certain degree. I've had a couple of total down and out lows that certainly couldn't be detected by the thickness of my brows, but for the most part if you're wondering how I'm really doing just take a closer look...not into my eyes, but above them!

Party Moments

So, check me out...I finally did a little slide show deal for ya. :) Wanted to share a few of the sweet little moments from Tony's 2nd birthday party. In case you haven't noticed, it's over there on the right. ;) I guess black and white is probably a little odd for a crazy toddler's birthday party, but I think the photography of the day kinda reflects the nostalgia Steve and I were feeling. Still can't believe my baby is two.

I Two!!

This picture was taken yesterday...or at least it seems that way to me! Little Anthony Thomas turned two last week, and he's been busy reminding me of that fact, both in word and deed! :) I'll try to get some birthday party pictures up soon, but since I've been reminiscing over his birth day pictures for a week now, I just had to share this one.

And Finally, Our Halloween Party!!

Sorry for the delay. We've had some computer issues that have kept me from getting the pictures to the blog. Here are a few of the cutest. Hope you enjoy!

We had a lot of fun here on Halloween! Here we are making lots of "music" with our shakers and dancing to the beat...

Spidey-Zach enjoying every last bite of his yummy cookie treat...


Elmo-Nathan making his latest favorite face. How cute is that?!


Our very own collection of Tiggers...
Brianna, who was "supposed" to be Tinkerbell but wanted nothing to do with her costume while she was at my house. She wasn't the only stubborn one though. This is Tony's costume, and he went running and screaming from Mommy at the first request to put it on. Bri made a pretty cute Tigger too though, don't you think? :)



And my dear Tony, the true owner of the Tigger suit. Once Bri had it on, he could hardly wait for his turn! That's Tony for ya!


And yet another Tigger...Dillon came with his own Tigger costume to bounce around in! What a sweet face!


Halloween is just not complete without a superhero or two! Tyler and Zach were ready to protect us in their spidersuits. Those two boys are so much alike. It really fit for them to be twins for the day! :)


Okay, how perfect is this?! I mean really! Garrett's Daddy is a mechanic, and Garrett's already a car guy just like him. Amanda has a picture of the two of them in their "work" clothes. Love it!!


I wasn't able to get a lot of action shots of our day, since I'm pretty much engulfed in the action around here! The kids had a lot of fun seeing each other all dressed up though. And we read Halloween books and did Halloween crafts all day. We practiced saying Happy Halloween and trick-or-treat. I wish I'd gotten some video of that! They were soo cute!

Somehow I failed to get a picture of the sweet little pumpkin, Ian. He was a total doll in his orange and white outfit. Sorry I can't show you. :(

It was a great day for sure. The kids are at a wonderful age now. We just have so much fun. Thanks again to you mommies and daddies who share your little ones with my family and me. We love them!!

To school or not to school...

That is the question! Tyler will be starting kindergarten next year (wasn't he JUST born??), and Steve and I are seriously considering home schooling. I know several of you have school aged children, and even those of you who don't may have a well-defined opinion on this. So I'm asking to hear them. Let me know what you think...public school or home school? And why?? I just want to really think thru all the issues. So maybe you've thought of something that hasn't crossed our minds yet. Please share! If you don't want to make a public display, that's perfectly fine. You can also email me at kristiemknox@yahoo.com.

Thanks for sharing!!

The Beauty of Discipline

Since I just know you've all missed hearing from me on my blog (all 2 of you!), here's something special for you...another glimpse into my ugly heart. I'm sure you can just hardly wait! :)

God's been revealing to me, over and over, and in so many creative ways lately just how serious is my deficit when it comes to self-discipline. Being a disciple of Christ happens to require an enormous amount of discipline. Ever notice how those 2 words are ever so similar?! Yeah, that's probably a clue. :)

Steve and I are participating in a family and parenting class in our Sunday School hour this quarter at church. We're learning how to parent from a strictly biblical perspective. We're realizing just how much of who we are and who we've been teaching our children to be is, at best, cultural. It just blows my mind to think how many things we simply accept as true just because it's what we've always heard or how we were raised. It's been a very interesting class, and though I'm pretty sure I'm known all over the church now as the crazy woman who can't control her children, we're learning a lot! And it's slow going, but the Lord is so faithful to bless us when we truly desire to honor Him through obedience. As we obey Him in our parenting, we pray we'll be teaching the boys to do the same in their own lives.

I spent most of Sun morning thinking about how all these little rules we're learning to teach our children really apply to me and my own obedience, or lack thereof, in my walk with the Father. For example, delayed obedience is disobedience. Dang. How often do I put stuff off, you know? And I don't mean years, but just a moment's delay is disobedience. Ouch! And the biggie for me was that if I do what He requires, but I'm kicking and screaming on the inside, then I'm actually being disobedient. Double ouch. I guess somewhere along the way I deceived myself into thinking that as long as I'm doing what He requires then I'm being obedient. I don't have to like it, I just have to do it. He's been showing me in all kinds of ways lately that I really need to be, I guess, more transformed by the renewing of my mind, as we're told in Romans 12:2. So that my HEART is obedient. Sounds like a no-brainer, huh? But there you have it. My loser confession for the week. :)

The beautiful thing, though, is what God showed me Monday as I continued through this battle with Tony. I decided I should try the advice I'd been given in SS, because I've been having some pretty serious behavior problems out of our sweet little 2 yr old. It was suggested that I require him to verbally respond to me when I've given him instruction. I know, that seems like the only logical way to do it now...but I guess we hadn't thought about how powerful it could be. Remember, I'm already known all over the church as the crazy woman who can't control her children, so at this point, who cares if you think I'm dumb, too! :)

So...after about half an hour in time-out and several spankings (sorry if that makes some of you want to have me arrested!), he finally responded to me. The very first time he said, "K, Ma," it was nothing more than a sad, defeated whisper. It nearly broke my heart along with his will. But by bedtime, when I'd instruct him from across the room, he'd walk all the way over to me, get eye to eye, and say with a sweet smile, "Ok, Momma." Each time was a small moment of total bliss and understanding between us! I can't help but think, as I embrace that little guy, how much joy must the Father have when I come to Him with a desire to please and obey, and no matter the instruction I've received, I say with a smile, "Okay, Father." Beautiful. I'm a visual learner, and God knows it! Seriously though, what a beautiful way to teach my heart what my head already knew.

Evil

Yep, pure evil. That's what it is. What you ask? Well, I'll tell you. It is simply evil to sell grapes advertised as seedless when, in fact, they contain seeds that I must pick out of them before I can send them in my boys' lunches! Evil I tell you!

A Few Sweethearts

Tony takes a break from his story to cheese it up

for Momma with her camera! :)

---------------------------------------------------------------

Night night!

How precious are sleeping children?!?

---------------------------------------------------------------

Ian with Tyler

Ty loves being the "big brother" to all our little ones!

And the little ones love getting his attention!

Wet Chalk = Paint

And LOTS OF FUN!! Sorry for the mess, Mommas!