Our Gingaw

A few weeks ago when we made a trip to Tupelo, we stopped by my grandmother's house.  We affectionately call her "Gingaw" thanks to my inability to say "grandma" when I was a little girl.  Since then, she's always been my Gingaw.  She's also "Gingaw" to my friends from school, and Tyler and his family.  Aaden and Savannah know her by no other name.  I love hearing Aaden's sweet little voice ask about his Gingaw. 

A few months ago, I called her one night to check on her and she mentioned that she had not been feeling very well.  She had been throwing up and was very, very weak.  I knew something was wrong.  She has never been one to complain about anything.  I urged her to let my dad or aunt come get her to take her to the ER.  I figured she would get a bag of IV fluids and be sent home.  She refused and assured me that if she still felt bad in the morning, she would go.

The next morning, I get a call from my dad saying that she was being admitted to ICU with sepsis.  Her white count (WBC- cells that signal infection) was critically high.  They placed a central line and did an MRI.  The MRI showed that she had some kidney stones and was so severely infected that it sent her into renal failure.  Her blood pressure was also severely low.  We almost lost her.

After round the clock antibiotics and a week and a half in the hospital, she was finally allowed to come home.  We are so thankful that God healed her and continues to be with her while she gets some strength back.

We were so glad to be able to come visit her on this particular day.

Aaden loves visiting her because she has so much fun stuff to get into.  She has kept all of my toys from throughout the years, and he loves dragging them out.

This picture makes me smile.  I've spent many days standing at this door looking outside.

 Savannah and Gingaw having a little conversation :)

Aaden looks thrilled to be taking a picture!

Sweet sleeping babies had so much fun.  They were so tired!

So thankful to get to spend time with her.  We love you so much, Gingaw!

Pool Fun

In 2007, Tyler and I bought a pool similar to the picture below.  The instructions said that the pool must be placed on flat, even ground (obviously) and was a cinch to put together.  Our backyard at the time looked pretty flat.  Apparently it wasn't. 

Gallon after gallon, the pool filled up but one of the sides was tipped over causing water to drain out when the other side wasn't full enough.  We also had problems getting all of the wrinkles out of the bottom of the pool.  We eventually decided it wasn't worth our $350 so we took it back.  We (as in Tyler) loaded it up in the back of Tyler's dad's truck and they took it back to Wal-Mart still dripping with water.  I am SURE those customer service ladies probably didn't have many nice words to say about it, but it's something I still laugh about whenever it comes to mind.

Needless to say, when we decided to buy Savannah and Aaden and little pool for this summer, we bought a smaller, cheaper pool.  We filled it up in no time and they were happy as clams!  It was Savannah's nap time, so she didn't last too long, but loved it while she was in there!

The only time you will see her wear this bikini.  I bought it last winter at Old Navy for $0.97.  It's a size 6-12 months and is just about too small, but I couldn't pass that price up!  Plus, I'm sure I can consign it for a good bit more.

Aaden is a little fish.  He absolutely loves the water.  We are signing him up next year for swim lessons.  I know he'll do great because he's fearless!  He scares me to death in a regular pool because he'll get out and without warning try to jump in.  I already have nightmares of his teenage years.

Even Tyler got in on the fun! Ha! Love making these sweet memories!

Shutterfly's Long Live Summer Photo Contest!

Shutterfly currently has a contest going on where you can submit your summer photos based on the theme of the week. This weeks theme is the great outdoors. I know I tend to take more photos during the summer with pool parties, vacations, t-ball, and all the fun holidays. Why not try and enter to see if you can win?! Here are the details...

Long Live Summer – Facebook Photo Contest details - 7/9 – 8/12 Multi-week summer themed photo sweepstakes with instant win prizes.http://bit.ly/sweepS

Win a trip for four to The Bahamas and a professional photo shoot so you’ll remember your vacation forever. All you need to do is upload your favorite photo and caption based on the theme of the week. Get a gift from Shutterfly just for entering! You can enter at any point during the 5-week sweepstakes period.

PHOTO THEMES

• Week 1(7/9): Americana

• Week 2 (7/16): Great Outdoors

• Week 3 (7/23): Water Fun

• Week 4 (7/30): Sports & Activities

• Week 5 (8/6): Parties & Celebrations

PRIZES

•Instant win prizes just for submitting a photo!

•Weekly prizes (contestants can enter one time/week)

•Weekly featured photos: up to 5 weekly entries will be selected from the gallery and featured on the Facebook fan page and awarded a $500 gift card on Shutterfly and a copy of the new Lonely Planet travel photography book.

•Grand prize: trip for 4 to Bahamas, 4 nights, family photo shoot

•Shutterfly Sweepstakes - Official Rules

Birthday Fun

This past Friday on the 15th, we celebrated our sweet Savannah's first birthday at Dewayne Hayes Campground. What a blessing this girl has been in our lives this past year!  She was surrounded by family and friends that love her the most and she had a wonderful time!

The gift table.  Everyone was so thoughtful and sweet.  She received some of the cutest things!

Since her party theme was in ladybugs, my mom made these cute ladybug pops.  Courtesty of Pinterest, of course!

A banner we made to display her monthly pictures.  It is crazy how quickly they grow! 

Digging into her birthday cake.  She loved it!  It was made by Creative Cakes in Tupelo.  They always made my birthday cakes growing up, and I wanted her first one made by them, too.  They are seriously the BEST!  Aaden's cakes have always been from Creative Cakes, and we will be ordering another one soon when he turns 4 in August.

They have an awesome little spray ground next to the pavillion we rented.  Aaden had so much fun playing in the water.  He basically had it to himself.  I wish we could install one of these in our backyard.

Savannah, my mom (Di Di), and my Mammaw (G.G.)  Savannah has her hand stuck down in the cup because she was shoving handfuls of Sonic ice in her mouth!

Girlfriend did some damage on that cake.  Loves sweets...just like her Mama!

Savannah and Mrs. Haley.  Mrs. Haley keeps her in the afternoons at school.  We love her so much!

Savannah and my dad (Peepaw).  Bad picture...sorry dad!

Aaden and Tyler's dad (Peepaw).  Aaden has THREE Peepaw's.  One day we will have to rename two of them, but for now all of his grandfather's are called Peepaw.

We ended up opening gifts up at home.  Savannah was exhausted, it was getting dark, and mosquitoes were biting like crazy.  We got home, changed our clothes, and settled into the living room to open gifts.  Aaden opened most of them.  He's a pro!

This is Ben, Lacey, and Mrs. Naomi from Aaden & Savannah's school.  Mrs. Lacey taught Aaden's class when he started at Kid's Point, and now has Savannah's class.  Lacey and Ben are expecting a sweet little girl in August.  Mrs. Na is Lacey's mom and is the director of Kid's Point.  They are so special to us and we're so glad they were there to help celebrate our Savannah's birthday!

We had a great time and lots of fun!  Savannah is so blessed to have so many who love her.  Happy birthday, sweet girl!



Baby blues

About a week before Savannah turned one, I got in contact with Julianna at Shuttered Smiles Photography to schedule a session.  My friend Leah from work knew her and she has taken some precious pictures of her little girl Abby.  Julianna has been so sweet and so incredibly easy to work with.  I got the CD of pictures in the mail today and I am in love with them!  Even Aaden was able to sneak into a few of them. Thank you so much, Julianna!  Here are a few of my favorites...

Don't your just love those blue eyes?  I keep waiting for them to change, but so far they haven't.  My grandmother and Savannah are the only ones in our family (that I know of) that have blue eyes.  I love that she shares that trait with her great grandma.  We are so thankful for these sweet babies.
Thanks again, Julianna!

Happy (almost) birthday, Savannah!  We love you so much!

A Year Later

We are deep in planning a first birthday party for our sweet girl.  I can't believe she's almost 1!

June 17, 2011

(almost) 1 year old

I probably don't need to say this (see pics above!), but a certain big brother is totally in love with his little sister.  And, little sister thinks Aaden hung the moon.  What in the world did we do before these two sweeties?