Kid Pile!

~ Livia & the Triplets ~

My Happy Day

Oh, so much has happened over the last week or so...! I'm not even sure where to begin, so I'll just focus on the most recent wonderful thing. God has blessed me with another year to add on to my life. And more importantly, He blessed me with a wonderful family to spend it with (after work of course).

Perry, Liv, & I went out to eat with my Mom, Dad, and Sis at Shyler's (Michael had to work, unfortunately). I was spoilt rotten with all sorts of lovely gifts! And not that I didn't love everything, but I think my husband's gift took the cake...

A beautiful Blue Topaz ring!

Happy Birthday to Me  :o)

Persimmons & Playing

A couple of weeks ago out in the country, Laura & Michael, the triplets, and Liv & I were out at my parents. While Liv was napping, Mom thought we should all go for a walk on such a beautiful day, so we took the triplets (and Michael) to the persimmon tree. We all had lots of fun, and here's just a few photos from our afternoon...

Michael just couldn't resist jumping on the hay bales on the way!

And the kids loved throwing rocks into the creek.

Below:  Everyone looking around for persimmons

I wish I would have actually taken a picture of a persimmon for those out there who don't know what they are... I will try to explain though.

It's a very small fruit roughly the size of a buckeye (sorry, there are no other fruits that I can think of even close to the size of a persimmon!) They grow on persimmon trees and ripen in late fall. The very best tasting fruit will be on the ground. Unless you want to taste the most bitter thing you'll ever put in your mouth, DO NOT pluck them from the branches! The persimmons are loaded with seeds, and the fruit is just a bit stringy -- it almost feels like cooked sweet potato in your mouth.

Most importantly, they remind me of my Granny. The first time I vividly remember trying them was with Granny, out in the field behind the milk house. I remember her telling me that the ugliest ones tasted the best. But being a head-strong little girl, I just had to try a pretty one for myself... Boy did I regret it! But twenty some-odd years later, I still remember that day. Granny helped wash out that bitter taste in my mouth with the sweet persimmons she gathered, and with a glass of milk when we got back to the farmhouse. I miss my Granny so much sometimes... But it would be selfish of me to want her back here on earth; she and Pa are both in Heaven. And we will always keep them close in our memories and hearts.

After the persimmon tree, we headed back towards my parents

Laura hand-in-hand with Sam & Meg

Meg & her best friend

But before our adventure was over...

Michael just had to climb a tree

 So off he went to climb to the sky...

 

Most literally!

He made us all so nervous!

Thankfully he began descending

And finally...

Down...

On solid(ish) ground!

*Whew!*

We would have hated to have to call the fire department to help get him down! Not just because it would most likely take them more than an hour to arrive, but how awful would it have been for a fireman to have to be rescued from such a silly situation!

Michael's escapades didn't come without ramification though. Besides a sore arm shortly after getting down, he also ended up with a raging case of poison ivy all over his legs!

All that mattered for this moment was that my sister's husband had safely made it back to earth...! And as of yesterday, they have already been married for 4 months. I pray for them daily as they've really just begun a long, wonderful journey together!

~Oh, it is Love~

Little Jumping Bean

My daughter never ceases to amaze me! A couple of weeks ago out at my parents house, Livia decided to play with my sister's Tigger. She's loved that Tigger for most of her young life.

When Tigger is placed hard enough on the floor, he says "I'm gonna bounce!" followed by:  Boing-boing-boing-boing-"Woo Hoo Hoo Hoo HOO!"-boing-boing-boing-boing-"Bouncin's what Tiggers do best!"

Liv used to LOVE jumping with Tigger!

Well, now she's taken it to an all new level...

Jumping OVER Tigger!

Again...

And again...

And again!

My parents and I got a huge kick out of it, and I'm sure our reactions encouraged her to do it even more. Mine in particular -- I was getting some fantastic photos! So she kept jumping...

 

 

She had a spill or two...

 

But I don't think she minded too much!

She also didn't quite clear Tigger a couple of times.

See him getting knocked over?

But Livie made sure to always pick him back up!

Such a sweetie  :o)

And just a few more...

 

 

Livia makes life so fun!

She makes our world a better place  :o)

Happy Birthday USMC

Today is the United States Marine Corp Birthday -- 234 years and still going strong! So this post is in honor of both the USMC, and my husband who honorably served our country in the USMC for 5 years (from 1996 to 2001).  In honor of my husband's stint in the Marine Corp, here are some scanned pictures I'm blessed to have archived (Enjoy!):

Is there any wonder why I love my Marine?!  *swoon!*

My husband & his father

 

Matt, Perry, & Trilby

 

Matt, Bill, & Perry

 

The whole family

 

Perry & his parents

And more pictures of Perry & others in the Marine Corp:

 

 

 

 

I hope these photos will bring back some wonderful memories for my husband... Perry will always be my Marine. He's said many a time to me, "I'm not as mean, not as lean -- but still a Marine!" Here's to you, Perry! Thank you for serving and protecting the United States in the Marine Corp.

And Perry, here are just a few images I found that made me think of you.  I love you more than all the Birthdays the Marines will ever have!

 

 

On a side note:  I'm happy to report that Livia is finally starting to feel like herself again! She's still coughing, but not nearly as much as days prior.

She did go to Day Care both today and yesterday -- they noticed that she just wasn't quite herself yesterday. A little whiny, clingy, and congested; but no fever and nothing else worthy of sending her home.

Today, they said she was much more like herself! I noticed it first thing this morning, and she was just as sweet when I picked her up after work. I made some homemade Chicken Picata with pasta for us, and she loved it! Too much I think -- it ended up all over her! Nothing a warm, bubbly bath wouldn't fix though.

Tomorrow, I'm off work thank to Veteran's Day! Lots that I hope to accomplish. We'll see how it goes  :o)

Livie's Bug (Continued)

It seems that Livia still isn't entirely over her "bug". She ran a fever late in the middle of the night last, and did today as well...

It was a very busy day, and I was SO blessed to have my wonderful parents to help to look after Livia while I took pictures with my Aunt Tanya. I had lots of fun, but Liv was in the back of my mind all day.

Just before I put her to bed tonight, we gave Liv another dose of Tylenol to get her fever down. I also put Vapor-Rub on the bottoms of her feet in hopes that it really will help to relieve her coughing and congestion a bit. (Guess we'll see if that e-mail is true, Huh Mom?) Oh, and I put a vaporizer in Livia's room as well.

I'm just going to pray that those things will help her to feel better tomorrow... If she still has fever, I fear we won't be going to church -- again! Last week I just couldn't drag either one of us out of bed in time. We were out until almost midnight Visit-Treating, and even with the time change we just couldn't get up early enough for church.

As sick-ish as Livia has been, she has thankfully been in great spirits. She ate really good yesterday & the day before, but it sounds like not as much today.

I just pray that my daughter will get to feeling better soon...

Halloween Pics (Outfit 2)

Livie-Bug the Lady-Bug!

This was the outfit Livia actually wore on Halloween to go Visit-Treating. We are so blessed to have so many family and friends close-by, that it would be silly if not selfish to just take Liv door-to-door to do the typical trick-or-treating. And it's not like she didn't get plenty of candy from all our visits!

So our first visit was to her Uncle Michael. He had to work on Halloween, but I like to think that we made the day a little bit fun for him  :o)

 

And Livia LOVED the Fire Trucks!

She's so lucky to have her Uncle Michael!

 

Livia got to be in...

And on the Fire Truck!

 

So then it was on to see...

 

Aunt Laura!

Liv and I both received treats from my sweet sister. Livia got candy & Laura's homemade pumpkin bread, and I got the jewelry I ordered from her just over a week before! Laura is now an official Premier Jewelry dealer, and I attended her first party was the previous Thursday. I just love the pieces I bought!

Our next stop took us to Anne & Jack Powless' house. We saw not only Anne & Jack... but Heather, Terry, Lexi, & Zane... and Warren, Jamie, Olivia, & Lincoln!

 

 Lexi, Olivia, Zane, & Lincoln

If it's not cool enough that Livie & Olivia share a very similar name, they also shared a cute little lady-bug theme for Halloween this year! (Note:  Jamie and I did NOT plan this! What can I say? Great minds think alike in so many ways!) We've dubbed the girls "O" (for Olivia) and "No O" (for Livia) when they're around each other. Luckily, the similarity of their names hasn't seemed to confuse them thus far.

 

Pictured above: Liv, Olivia, & Lincoln

Below: O- and No O- sharing a sweet kiss

 

And Liv decided that Lincoln shouldn't be left out

 

Then it was off to Livia's Grandma Trilby & Papa Bill's

 

Livia just loves her grandparents -- and Sugar

Livia keeps not only friends & family in her nighttime prayers, but animals as well. This particular moment, Sugar was outside due to all the excitement in the room! Laughter & squealing definitely rowls Sugar up.

After our visit with Livie's grandparents, we headed out to the middle of no-where. Our first stop out there was to Uncle Don & Aunt Bonnie's

 

Can't you tell how much she loves them?!

And as our good luck would have it...

 

3 Blind Mice were there as well! (ie: The Rat Pack)

 

Liv really enjoyed counting all her candy for Meg

Then it was off to my parents, where I got this wonderful picture:

 

And this one:

As much as she loves her Papaw and Nana, it was starting to get very late. So we made it a pretty quick stop.

And we made just 2 more quick stops for the night -- Livia's Aunt Kendra & Uncle Matt's, and my good friends Kellee & Marcus. I didn't really get any good pictures from Kellee's, but I did get some great ones of Liv's cousins:

 Maggie the Pirate

And Wolverine-Man, Nolan

 

Are they not the cutest?!

And Liv just adores Maggie...

 

As do I...!

So, that's our Halloween for this year! We had such a wonderful time, and I pray that I'll always be able to take Livia Visit-Treating -- she still got to say "Twick-owr-Tweet!" plenty  :o)

Much love and God's Blessings to everyone!

Halloween Pics (Outfit 1)

After finally making time to download and edit some wonderful Halloween pictures of Livia, I thought I should share some of the loveliness! Now, Liv actually had 2 outfits -- one that was only worn around the house, and was far too big for her. She just loved it so! And I couldn't tell her "No." So here is her Abby-Cadaby outfit, that she'll surely be able to wear for years to come...!

In our front yard

 

 

On the sidewalk just beside our house

 

 

She just loved her wand!

 

 

And in our own back-yard.

I was fortunate enough to get the day off the day before Halloween (I still managed to get in 39 hours for the week though!) so I got so spend all morning with Livia, and she just loved dressing up and showing off for me!

More to come very soon featuring Liv's 2nd outfit on Halloween Day!

Livie's Bug

I often call my sweet little daughter Livie-Bug, which was quite fitting over the past weekend (which I'll post about very shortly!) and over the last couple of days as well...

When we put Liv down to sleep Wednesday night, she felt just a little bit warm... Then Livia woke up in the middle of the night (around 3:30am) with a temp of over 102 and really raspy breathing. I gave her some Tylenol to get her temp down, and called the on-call office for her Doctor to see if I could possibly get her in the following day.

The next day, Livia's fever was down, but her breathing wasn't any better. Thankfully the Dr's Office called back to let us know that they could get her in later that day. Liv ate, drank, and pottied well all day with no symptoms other than the fever & respiratory issues. Her fever began to climb just an hour or so before we left for the doctor, so I held off on giving her more medicine. I had no clue what Livia might have...

So when we arrived for her appointment, I took no chances on getting other kids sick. I put one of those little mask things on her, and took her over to the side where no other children were. Within several minutes we were called back & her vitals were taken.

Her temperature was up to 103.7, she was still breathing really raspy, and you could just tell that she wasn't feeling worth a darn. They were extremely concerned about her breathing -- I was told upfront that if Liv didn't make enough improvement quickly, she would need to be admitted into the hospital. (How scary!)

They gave her some Motrin for the fever, and the Doctor said that they needed to immediately get started on Livia's breathing issues. The nurse gave her a steriod shot (which Liv just hated!) and before her sobs had subsided, she was started on a breathing treatment. She cried for the first several minutes of it, but soon began to doze off as she lay against my shoulder. Soon I was holding the full weight of her sleeping body in my arms as the breathing treatment continued for the next 15-20 minutes.

Just a few minutes before the nurse came back in to check on her, Livia began to stir. She was so glad to get that little breathing mask off her face! I noticed after the little machine was shut off that my daughter was breathing much easier -- the raspiness was almost completely gone!

Livia's Doctor came in but just a few minutes later, and was very pleased at how much Liv had improved. She asked that we stick around for just a few minutes more to make for sure that Livia was in fact in the clear.

About 15 minutes later, we were given the go-ahead to head back home!

I know that we dodged a very big bullet. Liv's doctor said that normally, a child coming into the office breathing as bad as Livia was would end up being admitted into the hospital. We were very lucky, and if Livia were to have any trouble breathing again, we'd need to take her right in (no waiting at all!)

Luckily, Livie-Bug seems to be doing better and better. No fever all day today; she did feel just a little tiny bit warm before we put her to bed. I'm just going to continue to pray that God watch over her & bring her health back up to 100%. Hopefully her 'bug' will be completely gone just as quickly as it arrived!