Busy Busy Busy and Almost 21 Months!!!

Busy Busy Busy..... describes the last month or so. I have been to Gulf Shores again two different times, took Mallory to Alabama to visit John's parents and see his extended family, and also visited John's sister in Jackson and took Mallory to the Children's Museum. I am finally caught up with all the unpacking and laundry!! I have gotten to see My cousin Chris, and His wife Lindsay, and my Aunt Vickie and Cousin Julie for the second time this summer! It is always so great to spend time with them. Ever since my grandparents passed away and they moved to Texas, we haven't gotten to see them as often as I would like, but two times this summer was great!!

Other than all the traveling, Mallory is now almost 21 months old!! I can't believe it!! We are getting way to close to the 2 year old age group!! She is now talking more and more, which is so much fun to listen to!! Instead of Juice, now it's Mama's Juice or Dada's Juice or Pops Juice or Nana's Juice. Everything has a person to it now. She loves to say Mama's Car Car and Dada's truck. She also tells us at night when she ready to go to bed, which is really cute. We have finally overcome some of our fruit selectivity!!! Mallory will eat: Peaches, Grapes, Bananas and Strawberries!! This is much improvement from just eating Bananas! We are still not to fond of most meats, but she has tried more than she would in the past. I even got her to eat a chicken nugget from Wendy's!! She still takes a 2 hour afternoon nap most days, which is great for me!! She can also put most of her shoes on all by herself, but usually they are on the wrong feet. She loves her cousin EE (Ethan) so much and talks about him all the time. She even refers to him when he is not here and says EE's Juice or EE's Car. Its really cute how much she adores her cousin!! She loves to pretend to talk on the phone and only wants to call EE!! All in All she is growing up so fast and I am trying to enjoy every minute I have with her!

I am super excited about all God has in store for Hardy Street Baptist Church. We are starting Awana this year on Wednesday nights and I am going to be the Cubbies Director. I am super excited and have heard what a great program this is for children!! I also love this age group pre-k. I had them last year on Wed nights and they are soooo sweet!! I am so excited to see all God is going to do in these children lives and look forward to the day Mallory with get to participate!

Well this is about all that has been going on.

The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day......

Well yesterday was one of those Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Days for me.

It all started with Mallory waking up crying cause her diaper had leaked all over her pj's and bed, therefor she wasn't to happy. After changing her clothes, we headed down the hall to get Daisy up and feed her. Normally, she is wide awake and going crazy for some food!! However, as soon as I unzipped her crate, I get the wonderful present of some gross white thick foamy vomit!! You can trust me it was quite gross and covered one whole end of her crate!! After much shock, I picked up and set her down in the hall. Oddly enough she just sits there and doesn't even ask/beg for her breakfast. Now if you have ever met our dog and seen her eat her dog food, you know how much she loves to eat and usually eats it in like 30 seconds!! So this was one really big clue that something wasn't right.

Next Mallory, Daisy, and I headed downstairs to eat some breakfast. As Mallory was eating and I was pouring my cereal a frosted flake accidentally fell on the floor. Now normally Daisy is up and under your feet before you can even bend over to pick it up, but once again she was no where to be seen! I finally found her laying next to the couch looking like she didn't feel good at all. Since this was a play school morning for Mallory, I had to get ready and didn't have time to babysit the dog all morning. So we took Daisy back upstairs and went on with our morning routine.

During my shower and while I was drying my hair, I made Daisy stay in the hall and closed all the doors.... I mean who wants to clean vomit up under a bed or other furniture right?? Well, as I went to check on her once again, not surprising she has vomited up again and not only was it the gross white foamy stuff, but this time it had little dime size drops of blood in it!! So after quickly getting Mallory dressed, I attempt to scrub the carpet clean... and trust me BLOOD is not the easiest thing to get out of carpet, but I succeeded thank goodness!!! After texting my sister, a Vet, and calling my Brother-n-law Craig, who is also a vet, we decided that I would just watch her and see how she does. He seemed to think maybe she just ate something that upset her stomach.

Well it's probably 8:40 now and I am trying to figure out what to do with Daisy while I will be gone all morning. My only solution is to crate her, which I could tell she disliked very much due to the barking and whining we could hear downstairs as we were leaving. I left her there anyways, and left to take Mallory to Play school and then went off to the Goodyear store to do a little work. I tried not to worry about her while I was gone, but that wasn't to easy.

After picking up Mallory from Play school at 1:00, we headed home for Mallory to take a nap. She fell asleep in the car as usual and as I am unlocking the door I can hear Daisy going nuts!! At this point she is much louder than she was when we left!! After putting Mallory in her crib and feeling lucky that Daisy didn't wake Mallory up I go open the door to where her crate is..... and to my shock she comes running out of the room!! Now, if you remember right, I told you earlier I locked her in the crate.... well yes you guessed it she chewed a hole in her mesh crate and managed to get out!! On top of all that she also threw up again on the carpet!! Where she is got all this energy to chew like that I have no clue, since all she will do is drink water and was laying around like she felt terrible. Just in case you are wondering... yes this did not help her stomach problem any more... especially since she did swallow some pieces of the crate she threw up....and will more than likly come right back up!

At about 2:00 Mallory decides to wake up early from her nap and is quite fussy... lets just say this was not what I needed deal with on top of a sick dog that keeps vomiting!! A sense of humor got me through to this point; so lets keep it going right?? I mean it can't get much worse??

Well, Since Daisy decided to ruin her crate by chewing a wonderful hole in it, Mallory and I had to go purchase another one. I opt for the hard crate this time....for obvious reasons...

Well it's finally getting close to time for my Dad and John to get home from work and by this point in the day, I have lost count of how many times she has vomited.... and it finally got to the point where she was just throwing up water....I was even nice enough to leave John several spots to clean up when he got home!! He was a good sport about that!! I mean why wouldn't he want to join in the fun of my wonderful day?

Somehow, in the middle of all this I managed to get dinner fixed and a load of clothes washed. Last week my mom and I found a bread maker at this local salvage place in town, that appeared to be brand new and a great deal! John has been bugging me to try it out, so since we had all the ingredients I thought why not... maybe that will make the day a little better! The smell of fresh bread sounded great... After adding all the ingredients in, and pushing start... I realized I forgot to add the salt... but it was to late now so I let it keep going. After, a couple hours it turned off... and looked done on the top, but after cutting it the inside was definitely not done!! So I attempted to finish cooking it in the oven, which seemed like a great idea, but sadly didn't work! The bread didn't taste very good either... hint ... don't leave out the salt!!

So after John got home he said lets try again with a different recipe. So I thought well ok, I mean all you have to do is add the ingredients and it does the rest. Well after adding the ingredients ... and plugging it in.... the Steal Not A Deal we thought we got.... wasn't working!! Surprise Surprise!! I guess fresh bread was meant to happen yesterday! I will admit I tried to keep a good attitude about it realizing that some peoples days are much worse than mine, but at this point I was just ready for bed and a new day!!

After dinner, John and I were watching Daisy and she seemed to be getting worse and worse. So we called Craig again, and he recommends us bringing her in that night or first thing in the morning. I would much prefer the next morning, but much to John's pushing we decide we better take her then.

At this point it is 7:30 at night and to be honest I would much rather be getting ready to go to bed, but I love our Daisy girl, so Lucedale here we come. Right as we are about to leave the house ..... Daisy decides to throw up one more time.... right while John was holding her! I am thinking to my self .. glad she got that out of her before we got in my car and glad he was holding her!! Well I guess I thought to soon and was being to cocky, cause half way down there.... she decided to throw up right in my lap and on the floor board... thank goodness it was just clear fluid or I might have been throwing up with her!! I actually handled it much better than I thought I would. Its all about a sense of humor right?? I kept telling myself our poor dog was very sick and couldn't help it.

After the hour drive, which seemed to last 2 hours, we arrived there to meet Craig. He did xrays,and blood work, and determined she was very dehydrated and needed fluids badly. Also, her blood work levels were not all normal, partly due to the dehydration. The xrays didn't show much except her colon was so full of poop that it covered her stomach, which blocked our view of trying to determine if something was in their that shouldn't be. After sedating Daisy, hooking her up to fluids and some nausea meds, we left Daisy there in hopes she would be better in the morning! We finally got home about 11:30 and I got my wish of going to bed. Better late than never right??

All during this time my mom has been in Gulf Shores with Katy, Ethan, and Baby Caroline,which was probably a good thing cause my mom has a weaker stomach than I do and that's pretty bad!! My wonderful Dad offered to keep Mallory and put her to bed for us, so we didn't have to take her on this wonderful night adventure to the vet clinic in Lucedale, Ms. I am so very thankful for Craig spending his evening helping our sweet Daisy!! We owe him big time!!! This morning he called me and told me that the fluids really helped Daisy over night and she actually wanted to eat some food this morning!! This is major progress and I hope in another day or so she will be back to her crazy self!!

Thankful for a calmer day today, and for a God who gives you a sense of humor even during a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day!

John 16:33 says:
"I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

A new Niece, Trip to Gulf Shores, and 20 months old

Well I have not blogged in a wile so, I finally am taking the time to sit down do it. So much has happened over the last month that it's been pretty crazy around here!

My sister welcomed her newest little girl into the family on July 9, 2011!! Her name is Caroline Leigh Harrell and she weighed 6.6 pounds!! She is so adorable and I love her so much already!! It amazes me how little she seems compared to how little I remember Mallory!! She has a head full of dark hair with most of it in the back and is such a sweet baby!! I just hope she starts sleeping through the night soon for katy's sake!! I mean having 2 kids under two.... has got be really exhaughesting!!! Much to the oppositte of me she never complains one bit either!!! I am amazed by her stregnth!!

The weekend before Miss Caroline Leigh was born was the 4th of July. John, Mallory, Daisy and I decided to pack up the car and head to Gulf Shores to the Bay house. I was a little nervous about Katy having the baby while we were gone, but we went anyway! It was so peaceful down there. We played in the bay, at the beach and just relaxed! I was so sad to head back to reality on Monday.

Mallory has now turned 20 months old!! Gosh we are way to close to 2 years!! Where has the time gone? She is talking even more now. Two times now before we even turned into the Goodyear store she eyes the sign and says da da ... I couldn't belive she actually new where we were!! She loves playing in the tires and pushing the nascar tire around the store while were are visiting pops and dada. She painted John and I her first picture at church nursery wednesday night! I was so proud!!! She just loves taking her shoes on and off and usually puts them back on the wrong feet. She has now told me two different times that there was poop in her diaper-- I guess that means we are getting closer to the whole potty training thing!! Oh and that sure is a scary thought, espicially since according to my mother I was a horrible toddler to train!! I guess we will find out if its payback?? Ha... She will now eat chicken nuggets from Wendys!! Yea another food item added to our list!! She is truly such a joy and I am truly blessed that the Lord put her in our life!!

Well I have lots of laundry I am behind on so that's all for now.

Here are some pictures!

Enjoy.

Always a Daddy's Girl!!

So yesterday was Father's Day. It has been crazy around here with a trip to Gulf Shores last week and then Father's day over the weekend, along with Mallory getting sick. On Saturday afternoon, Mallory's left eye started leaking yellowish stuff, which to be honest was quite gross!! It wasn't red at all so I didn't really think it was pink eye, but what do I know!! So after missing church, two mornings of waking up with a crusted closed eye and terrible sleeping I took her in to the doctor this morning. We ended up having a ear infection, eye infection and one side of her nose was irritated and draining. Poor girl!! No wonder she has been sleeping terrible the last 3 nights!! Our treatment includes Eye drops, a antihistamine, and a round of antibiotics. I am hoping this helps and we don't end up allergic to the medicine. The last round of antibiotics we had a terrible rash develop after a week of taking it, so hoping this new one doesn't do the same.

So back to Father's day....we ended up missing church afraid that Mallory was contagious. Since we were home all morning we ended up cooking a Meal for my mom and dad for lunch. It was great not fighting the crowds trying to eat out!!

I have always been a Daddy's girl since I can remember! My Dad was always someone I looked up to and have thought the world of!! I have always admired his integrity, honesty, and compassion. His work ethic and compassion to help people in his business taught me to be a fair, hard, and compassionate, worker! He taught me that your job title is just a name, but your work ethic, integrity, and compassion towards others will make an impact that could last a life time! Actually today of all days, I found my dad out mounting tires cause a tire man called in sick and we were short handed at the store. How often do you see a owner/boss out their doing those types of jobs?? In my experience not very, but ohh what an example it gives to your employees to show them what real team work means!! After all aren't we called to do our best to Glorify the Lord!! What a Christian example it could be just by stepping out of our so called specific job duties to help out where needed. Isn't that the true meaning of team work anyway?

Another thing my dad taught me was the true value of money. Now if you know my dad very well at all.... you would agree that he is what you call "tight" when it comes to spending money!! I can honestly say, the business and my parents would not be where they are today if it wasn't from being good stewards of what God has given them. After all isn't that what we are called to do? My dad's example, helped me to not make silly financial decisions after I moved out of the house and taught the importance of tithing! After all, everything we have is from God anyway right? I am so very grateful for this simple but oh so important lesson my dad taught me!! It saddens me to see so many young people that just don't understand money and/ or were never taught the true value of it! I thank God everyday for all He has given us to manage and pray John and I will be good stewards of it!

Maroon, White, Maroon, White fight fight fight!! My passion for MSU came right from my wonderful dad who happened to choose to attend this wonder college back in the 70's!! Now the funny thing about this is my dad's parents are Ole Miss graduates and not a single one of their children attended Ole Miss, but two of them graduated from Mississippi State!! My dad's passion for MSU football and the school helped make my college decision very easy!! Without this influnce I may not have met my wonderful husband!! I hope Mallory will love maroon and white as much as we do, after all it's in her blood!!!

The saying "A Daddy's girl usually marries someone a lot like their dad" has been proven to be true numerous times since we moved here a year ago. As most know, John is now working for my dad at the Goodyear store. Most weeks anywhere from 2 to 6 times he is asked if he is Mike's son. He has even been told recently that he is a lot like Mike and even looks like him! Ha ha!! The customer usually asking this laughs when john politely tells them that he is only the "son-n-law". I have to admit I have to refrain from laughing out loud the few times I heard this happen while I was there. I told John next time someone tells him that he is a lot like Mike.... he can just tell them "that's probably why his daughter married me". The longer John and I have been married the more I realize he is a lot like my dad!! Thanks dad for teaching me what to look for in a husband!! Your example and God's timing blessed me with my wonderful husband John!

I could go on and on about my dad cause I think he is one special person, but I will stop here! I am very thankful God decided to bless me with such wonderful christian parents who had such a impact in my life!! Without their love and guidance I would not be the person I am today!

A Daddy's girl who was once so small will always be a Daddy's girl!!