Amazing Christmas memories!!

Our Christmas was filled with all things wonderful. We have a large family to share all of our Christmas's with and we are very thankful for that. We do a traditional Christmas at our house. We allow our kids to "believe" in Santa Claus but we show more emphasis on Jesus and his miraculous birthday. We went to 6 different Christmas get together's. One included a wagon ride behind a tractor that took them to a house where the kids could see Santa sleeping through a window of the house. This same Christmas get together also hangs stockings for every family member on their mantel I think there is somewere around 30 stockings hung.

See I told you!

My family on Christmas Eve the excitement with all three boys was unbareable at times but somehow we managed to survive. This picture was taken at one of the many family houses we visited. At this particular Christmas get together, Matt's cousin and his girlfriend surprised us all. They have been traveling the Carribean by boat for the last 5 months. We had no idea they were coming. It was truly the highlight of our Christmas. We are so glad that they are back in the states and we hope to make many more memories with them. Welcome Home John and Aly!!

Matt and I, I mean Santa Claus stayed up until 2 a.m. putting all the toys together. I think that just because the box reads "easy assembly" doesn't mean that it really is. It took us forever to get everything put together and the night wasn't complete until we made a run to the store for AAA batteries. The joy on there faces Christmas day is worth every ounce. I almost forgot to introduce our new member, Max. Max was a gift to the boys and he has been so much fun! I hope every one had a wonderful Christmas!

Love y'all!

Shelli

Make a Smilebox greeting

Happy Thanksgiving!

These are the things I am most thankful for! I hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and you too reflected on the many things that God has blessed you with! This Holiday season has been very emotional for me, just knowing there are so many other kids and families who didn't have the same outcome with their CHD child as we did with Dylon. I am so thankful that God had mercy on us!
Love y'all!
Shelli

Froggy Doodles!!

Froggy Doodles is my etsy store, I guess in all my spare time *L* I thought I needed to do something else! The store is actually my mom and I who love to be creative together. We are together almost every day anyways, so why not try and do something time worthy. I hope you guys like what we are putting up, if you have any suggestions about my etsy page please pass it on b/c this is the first time ive done this. I have already sold a stocking and that is really exciting!! I plan on creating some more girly items, however don't be offended, I just have three boys so all I know is boys, boys, boys!!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/froggydoodles just click!!

Enjoy!
Love y'all!
Shelli

Mayonaise, Mustard.....Catch Up!

I would really like to be one of those bloggers who can blog everyday, but honestly that is just not me. However, I really enjoy reading those blogs, actually I envy them a little, I wish I could blog almost everyday and it always be interesting. Instead I just want blog for 2 months and then try and catch you all up on one blog. Ha!Ha!

Maybe when the holidays start and I will have a break from school, then I will blog in shorter intervals.

For starters:

We took a trip to the Georgia/North Carolina mountains with my family, My mom and her husband "B", and my brothers family. Combined there were 5 boys 4 and under. The cousins love to spend time with each other. However sometimes they get a little ruff and accidently hurt the other one. Example: pool table with pool balls and a tooth getting cracked, this happened in the first hour we arrived at the cabin. The tooth is ok and the dentist took care of his toothe.

While we were there, we decided to hike what was suppose to be a 1.2 mile hike to a waterfall, but it was more like a 4 mile hike one way and doing that with the boys was quit adventerous. We were all exhausted by the time we finally made it to the waterfall and back to the car. The waterfall was worth it, it was breath taking to say the least. One of God's many beautiful creations. Not only was the waterfall gorgeous, but also the fall leaves, golds and reds and yellows and orange leaves falling down. I hope to make this a tradition and do this every year.

Even though the foliage was so pretty, the best part of it was spending time with my family. In my opinion there is nothing better than spending time with people you love. God has truly blessed our family.


(creek that runs behind the cabin we were in)

(driving to the top of the mountain, took this from the car)

Don't you just love those pink cheeks? Dylon is doing great as you can see. Matt and I believe he is really starting to feel good. This is another one of God's miracle's.

Houston (hou baby) is one tough dude! I just love his wit and his sense of humor. He loved the mountains and he too can't wait to go back .

Laeton Reid turned two in October but he acts more like a three year old. He is my baby and he always will be.

I love this fall weather, but I am about to go and get our hurricane supplies ready, I mean considering Hurrican Ida will hit sometime tonight. So Go Away Ida, its November so go rest up for next hurricane season.

I have so much more to blog about and I will do my best to get everyone updated!

Love y'all!

Shelli

~Prayer request for a Sweet baby Girl~

This sweet baby girl was born on Tuesday and has been life flighted to Children's Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama she will undergo surgery sometime tomorrow. Please say a prayer for this family, you can check out there blogspot by clicking HERE!
We all know the power of prayer, so please join with us in prayer for strength for Parrish and Katie and for a succesful surgery and a quick recovery for Sylvie!
Thanks!
Love y'all!
Shelli

Houston, we DO NOT have a problem!!

Sorry for the delayed update, but with me sometimes no news is good news! Houston's echo looked great, the cardiologist said he could hear the murmur but couldn't see anything major! I know when we found out about Dylon's CHD it was obvious from the first echo. I am sure that Houston will still see Dr.S in February when Dylon is due back just b/c that is who we trust and are confident in!

I have came across an intersting blog for families who are affected by CHD's if you or someone you know is affected by CHD's send them this link! They have some great information on there, I have learned so much through this blog!

Well this is pretty much all I have to update, I have my first Biology test tomorrow, so I am studying up! Wish me luck!!

Love y'all!
Shelli

Dylon and Houston's 4th B-day!!

It is hard to believe that the twins are already four! Every year lived is something to celebrate, but this year was really special to us. It was 16 months ago that Dylon was diagnosed with his CHD and 3 months have gone by since his open heart surgery. He is so tough! Houston is the sweetest little boy who loves his Dylon so much. Life with twins is such an experience and we are so grateful that God chose us to have them! So four years ago on this day I was released from the hospital after being in there for premature labor for 5 weeks. The doc released me just to have me come back in the next morning (september 14) and actually have the twins. I had a normal delivery and they were both so healthy. Dylon weighing 4pnd15 and Houston weighing exactly 5pnds. Dylon was called the "miracle" baby by our Ob Doc b/c he was barely attatched to the placenta, the Doc said that he was surprised that he even survived. Little did we know that the term "miracle" baby would come back to us three years later when we found out his heart condition. Houston was always our "chunkier" baby, always weighing a few pounds more than Dylon and always, always wanting to rock and cuddle.

We celebrated these wonderful 4 years with a monster truck/race car birthday party. It was complete with hotdog, hamburgers and sweet tea! Oh and not to mention all the kiddos that were running around having a good ole time! Here's a peak at the party....

BIrthday Boys! Dylon(L) Houston(R)

Blowing out their candles!

Monster truck and race car cookies, they were even better to eat, Delicious!

Monster Truck/Racecar cake that a friend did, it is so cute and it tasted to good. It had layers of chocolate and vanilla!

This is our driveway, Smith's Mudd Pitt!
We all had a wonderful time!

It is back to the busy week Monday, Houston has an echo appnt in Montgomery. Please pray that it is nothing. I've asked a few Doctors what there thought on Houston is and they think that he could possibly have a mirrored image of what Dylon has. They are mirror image identical twins! I have a Biology quiz Monday night and a Biology Test on Wednesday!

I will update tomorrow sometime and let you guys know about Houston!

Love y'all!

Shelli

How we celebrated our 5th year of marriage!!

September 4, was our anniversary. It is so hard to believe that it has been 5 years! These have been the best and most exciting 5 years of my life. This past year has deffinantly been a trying time for us but I think that it brought us closer not just to each other, but made us totally rely on God! And we all know a chord made of three strans is stronger than that made of two!

I hadn't expected anything special on our anniversary. About a year ago we had planned on going to the caribbean but due to all of our medical bills and things we decided not to. But I woke up Friday with a dozen of red roses delivered to me, and I had called to thank Matt for them when I realized he was pulling up in the drive way. He had planned a whole night, just us two to the beach. The beach is my all time favorite place to go. There is something about the sand between my toes and the roar of the ocean that brings sanity to my soul. We had a room that was beach front. We spent hours on the beach, played a round of goofy golf, and had a fabulous dinner at Carrabba's! We woke up Saturday to a thunderstorm and some SEC football on tv. It was a perfect 5 year Anniversary. I am so thankful to have a love like ours!

Love y'all!
Shelli
ps Fall time is near, and I am so excited. I have already started decorating it looks like halloween threwup all over my house *L* Ill share some pictures later!

Houston has a heart murmur, just pray that's all it is!

The title says it all, Houston went to the doc today for a tummy ache and the doc told us that he heard a heart murmur on Houston. Houston is the "healthy" twin, but he is Dylon's identical twin brother. We are really hopeing that it is nothing, that it is just b/c he was feeling bad so therefore his heart was working faster so he had an innocent heart murmur. I called Dylon's cardiologist Dr.S to inform him but he didn't seem to worried b/c he had listened to Houston's heart on Dylon's last appnt at TCH. He says that it is common for kids to have heart murmurs while they are sick, but usually when they get better, the heart murmurs go away. Dr.S agreed to see Houston and do a complete evaluation of his heart, on the next appointment for Dylon which is in February But just to ease mine and Matts mind, the doctor that heard the heart murmur made us an appt in Montgomery for an echo. The echo is scheduled for September 14, depending on what they say, if it turns out to be something then we will do the rest at TCH! Please pray for Houston that he will have a "normal" heart, I can't even begin to imagine having to go through this journey again!
Love y'all!
Shelli

Out of surgery

Dylon is out of surgery, doing good. We haven't go to see him yet, but we just spoke to the surgeon who said everything did great. Dylon does have some narrowing in his trachea, but it shouldn't pose as a problem. He also said that Dylons tonsils were abnormally big but not to worry he took care of those. Thank you for the prayers!
Love
Shelli

Dylon before we left for the "big buildings"

Well,

we are here waiting on Dylon to be called back. We were told that they had two more kiddos before him and then it is his turn! Im not sure how long the surgery will be...but I do know that we will be staying the night in the hospital.

The picture above is Dylon and Dr.Dog this dog has been a life saver with all his medical trips and surgeries. Dr.Dog was with him during his heart operation too. I will update as soon as I know something else!

Please pray for a seccessful surgery and speedy recovery!

Love y'all!

Shelli

We have arrived in Houston...again!

Well we drove the long 9 hours today with Dylon. My mom decided not to come so she is staying home with Laeton Reid and Houston. We decided not to bring them for sake of keeping them healthy. The swine flu has been spreading like crazy, so I don't want to chance it! But all in all we had a safe trip, Matt drove the whole way. Dylons surgery is scheduled for 10:45 a.m. we will arrive at 8:45..I will do my best to post updates on his surgery.
We are tired so I am off to bed!
Good Night
Love y'all!
Shelli

Rain, Rain finally went Away!!

The rain has finally gone away, and the mud is here and the boys are loving it. As you can see in the picture above, it has rained, and rained. We had a tropical storm that came and brought us a couple of inches and then we've had Cool front that also brought a few inches too. The picture above is our front yard and No! we don't usually have a pond in our front yard, but we had a storm that brought like 3 inches in 3o minutes so this is what we were left with. Even though all those rainy days were so long and boring, this cool front is so nice. We have been out in it all day yesterday and today.

This is a mud puddle that the boys played in yesterday at Vick Vick and Papa Johns. It was so nice to get out and get some sun on our faces. While the boys played I studied, studied and studied some more. My classes are very challenging, but I am enjoying them. The first night was very discouraging, but it seems to be getting better with time. The boys will be playing outside (weather permits) most of the week to try and burn some of that energy off before we ALL head back to Texas Children's. Dylon's surgery is still sceduled for this Friday, I have to call sometime this week to work out all the details. Im pretty sure that we will be leaving Thursday, surgery will be Friday Morning, he will stay the night at TCH and hopefully be released the next day. We will come back to Alabama sometime Sunday. I am not prepared for this surgery, as a matter of fact I don't think i've completely recovered from his last surgery. I realize that this surgery isn't as complicated as the last, but it is still surgery and I am still nervous about it. We plan on bringing the whole clan to TCH along with my mom. This is the plan right now, but it can always change. Just please pray for our family as we travel to TCH and for Dylon's surgery.

We also found some tadpoles yesterday and put them in a jar so the boys can watch them grow! Ya know this is what us rednecks like to do for fun;)

Cooler weather brings football, and we LOVE some SEC football. WAR EAGLE! We are gearing up for that. This picture is of Houston, he too is an Auburn fan. Actually my whole family is except Dylon. It broke our hearts this week when we were buying new jerseys for this year and Dylon proclaimed that he "is for Alabama" and "war eagle...stinks"! In the state of Alabama you are one or the other...Auburn University or University of Alabama. We have no idea why he has turned on us, who knows maybe during his 9 hr operation one of the nurses was giving him subliminal messages...one of his nurses during that was a graduate of the University of Alabama. ;) So this year will be a different football season for us, not everyone will be saying War Eagle..there will also be some (gritting my teeth when I say this) Roll Tide.

God Bless! and War Eagle!

Shelli

Tuesday night on the River

Tuesday was a long day for us, so coming home to a home cooked meal was fantastic. My mom lives on the "river", but its actually a lake. Crazy I know, but we have called it "going to the river" my whole life. My boys love going up there, because there is so much that they can do! Before dinner Tuesday Dylon caught a fish! I tried to convince him that it was a nice size fish and he replied "it's a baby fish"! Oh well!

While Dylon was fishing, Houston helped my mom and I cook. Maybe he did more tasting than cooking, but he loves to help in the kitchen.

Here is the fried chicken, it was so good! Thanks Mom!

This is a sweet picture of my baby, even though he is not so baby anymore, he will always be my baby!

Post Op follow up!

It was a busy Sunday, Monday week for us. Me, Matt, Dylon and Houston drove 9 hours Sunday to our hotel in Houston,TX! The drive was very long, but those boys love to travel, so that made it easier. Dylon was so excited to have his bestfriend/bubba to come along for his check up. We arrived in Houston around 2:30 and waited for our room to get cleaned and then we all got ready for supper. We took the hotel bus to Pappadeaux and had a fantastic dinner, complete with Alligator and all things spicy. It was a great dinner. We had a great nights rest and headed to TCH for Dylons appointments. He had an echo first which by the way went 100 times better than the last attempt in Pensecola(sacred heart). Houston and "DaDa" waited out in the waiting room while Dylon and I did the echo. Dylon even got a surprise at the end since he cooperated.

After the echo, All four of us went to the next appt to hear the results of the echo. Dr.S (Dyon's cardiologist) gave us the great news that what Sacred heart thought was coarctation was actually the repair that was made on his aorta. I was so relieved to hear this. All in All Dylons heart looks great!

(Dr.S and Dylon, Dr.S and his staff is one of the MANY reasons TCH cardiology is ranked #3 in the nation)

After that appnt we had an Ear, nose and throat appointment to try and pinpoint where the gagging and coughing is coming from. This time Matt took Dylon back and Houston and I waited in the waiting room to see what the ENT had to say. The ENT looked at Dylon throat and tonsils and decided that Dylon will need his tonsils and abnoids taken out. He also said that they would also get a better look at his esophagus and trachea by doing a scope(he gave me the name but I forgot what it is called). The ENT wants to get a better look at where the vascular ring was. Dylon's surgery is scheduled for Aug 28th at TCH. We will go up on a Thursday he will have surgery on Friday, stay the night in the hospital and hopefully go home that weekend. I know that it is such a long ride for a not so big surgery, but it is what we believe to be best for Dylon. I'm not ready for another surgery, but I know that God will carry us through this just like he always has.

(The TRAINS)

(Looking at the trains again, Houston loved them too!)

D

(Dylon and Houston at our lunch break at TCH!)

We are exhausted from the ride, we drove half way late yesterday, stayed in a hotel last night and drove the rest of the way today. We got in to Home Sweet Andalusia around 2:00 this afternoon. We went to my moms to get Laeton Reid. She had cooked us, and my brothers family some southern fried chicken, peas, cornbread and all sorts of good stuff. I will try and post some pics tomorrow! Gotta go to bed, Thank you for praying us there and back!

Love y'all!

Shelli