Leave of Absence

I apologize for my recent leave of absence... I got angry with my previous cable/internet provider and changed to a different cable provider. When I called to cancel the cable and ask to keep internet, I was told it would cost me an outrageous price. So I cancelled it all and haven't had internet for almost a month! But I am back and hope to keep you more updated. See below for a post I have had planned for MONTHS!! And stay tuned for a post about my special birthday present! Have a great week!

Lillian Reese VK

So my best friend, Brittany, had a baby girl... Lillian Reese. She is beautiful! Lily Reese was born on December 28, 2009 at 8:36am. She was 6 pounds, 11 ounces and was 19 inches long. I went to visit B&B and Lily the day after she was born and just loved it.

I'm sorry I don't have any other pictures, but this is a precious post about Lily's first month! I am going to babysit Lily for a week in April while her mommy and daddy go to work, and I am BEYOND excited! I cannot wait to spend a week with Brittany first of all, and then to watch Lily for five days straight makes me so happy!

Just a note for Lily...

Lily,
Since the day I found out you were going to be brought into this world, I have prayed for you. I have no doubt that your Godly parents will bring you up into the world right, but I pray that you would come to knowledge and saving grace of our Heavenly Father at a young age and choose to follow after Him. This world is harsh and can have times that are not fun, but with God on your side, all things are possible. We can get through anything because God is our cheerleader and best friend. He walks with us through life and carries us when we need it. I pray that this will be comforting to you. I pray that you will be a shining light for Him with your life in all that you do.
You are so small now, but the Lord has great plans for you. I am in awe of all that He has done. He formed you and made you, and you are beautiful! I know you will grow into a fun, cute little girl with ponytails and bows. And you will be surrounded by God's love and I pray that you will feel that at all times. You will grow into a smiling, active teenager with lots of friends and boys all around. I pray God will give your dad the courage not to hurt any of those boys! But I also pray that God will use you to bring others to Him. You will continue to grow into a purposeful young woman, and I pray that your purpose in life will be to share about your faith. I pray that God will use you in ways that no one can imagine right now.
I pray for your mommy and daddy - that you will honor them and they will honor you. I know they will bring you up in the training and instruction of the Lord. I pray that they would encourage you in your walk with the Lord when the time comes that you are ready to accept the Lord as your Savior. I pray that they will be given the words to say to you so that you come to know Him sooner than later.
And finally, I pray that you will grasp how wide and how long and how high and how deep is the love of Christ.
May He grasp your heart so powerfully and tenderly that you will know without a doubt that He is knocking to come in!
I love you, Lily!
Your "Aunt Allison"

P.S. I apologize for the lack of pictures... this is all I had and had technical difficulties "borrowing" others' pictures from facebook. But there are lots there if you care to see more of sweet Lillian Reese!

Christmas 2009

Yes, I know, I am quite late - I apologize! I got pictures from my sister and am ready to share all about it.

We had a wonderful Christmas and it was all the more exciting with extra family members this year! Of course, H spent Christmas with us and got to participate in all the family Christmas traditions. In addition, Onni, Grace, and Murphy came for Christmas this year. We do lunch with my dad's side of the family on Christmas Eve. So, Uncle Pete and Aunt Linda came down and spent most of the afternoon with us. We then went to the Christmas Even service at church. It's my favorite because it's all music - our pianist and organist play as well as a trumpet player. AMAZING. Then, we came home and enjoyed snack foods with my mom's family. It was very relaxed and fun to eat and chat.

Several years ago, my mom started buying all of us (including my parents) matching pajamas for Christmas Eve. So, of course, that tradition had to continue this year! She passed out the 9 sets of pajamas and we all changed for a family picture...


Onni was truly mortified, but I love it!!

My parents had to wake everyone up Christmas morning at 8am (including my 4-year-old nephew!) to make sure we had time to open presents before breakfast. Here is the tree with the presents before we came and tore it all up!






Murphy had to finish waking up, so he wasn't exactly happy to see everything. In fact, when he saw the dinosaur he said, "I don't want it." We were all shocked but knew better than to laugh because he would get angry. No worries, he definitely came around and got really excited with every gift he opened. It was fun to watch (and listen). My grandparents and our neighbor came over for breakfast, and after that, we just chilled for part of the day.

After H and I got the car loaded, we came home to get ready for Christmas dinner at my aunt's house. We had lots of time, so we laid in the den and took power naps while watching tv. Then, we headed over to Aunt Carla's house. We ate dinner, swapped gifts, ate dessert, and just hung out.




He's so cute, I could just eat him up! He was showing me his game on his new Leapster. It was incredible what that thing will teach kids - I highly recommend it after watching him play and learn! He loved it and I loved that he climbed up into his "Aunt Awesome's lap" and played with me.


We have a family tradition of listening to my Grandpa read a poem called Tippy Toe and Pitty Pat. Precious, and definitely a favorite memory of mine from Christmas.


Those who don't know, my Aunt Michele was my mom's younger sister and she was killed in a car accident almost 18 years ago. My mom made this quilt for my grandparents out of her t-shirts. It was a sweet moment for our family.


Is he not the cutest?! He just laid there and watched those for a good five minutes!


And here is ALL of us: Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle Bill and Aunt Carla, Russ and Keegan, Mandy, Zach, and Michele, Mom and Dad, Onni, Grace, and Murphy, me, Kristen, Heather, and Andrew. (And special thanks for Thomas for taking the picture!) We think this may be the first time we've had a picture of ALL of us together. 3 live in Katy, TX; 2 in Decatur, GA; 1 now in Huntsville, AL; 1 in Auburn, AL; and the rest of us are here in Marietta. We thoroughly enjoyed our time together - it was definitely a Christmas to remember.

The day after Christmas, we made Christmas cookies (yes, it was the day after on purpose because we wanted to make them with Murphy).


Here we are proudly displaying some of our cookies! Almost ready to go in the oven...


Murphy was hilarious with the cookie cutters. He'd pick one and then just plop in onto the dough and push it down. We were trying to cut out as many as possible between balling the dough up and rolling it back out, but we weren't too successful with his method.


Adding sprinkles for some more fun on the cookies!


And then he got bored... PRECIOUS!!!!

So, that was our Christmas in a nutshell (well, sort of, sorry for the long post). It was great overall and I had a blast. I love my family and love the time we get to spend together without interruptions. It was SO nice to spend Christmas with Onni, Grace, and Murphy as well. And I'll leave you with one last picture...

CHOA

First of all, I have to say that my experience at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta with H was WONDERFUL. I am NOT bashing them or putting down anything they did or do - I think they do a fantastic job of taking care of children.

After I took H to her pediatrician on Monday morning, we were sent to CHOA. She was admitted to the ER where her blood sugar level was checked and she was immediately put on an insulin drip. A normal blood sugar range is 70-150 - hers was over 700 when she was admitted! We sat in the ER just hanging out. We had an AWESOME nurse, Barbara that helped to calm everyone down. She made it as fun as possible (I know, how could we have fun in the ER) and made us laugh. It was so comforting just to know that she clearly loved her job and wanted to help ease our minds, which she did. After sitting in the ER for about 5 hours, H was finally admitted to the hospital and moved to the diabetes education floor with a room.

Our first nurse on the floor, Kate, was great. She had diabetes herself, and has had it since she was 18 months old. Unfortunately, we didn't have her for very long because of the shift change. H was on the insulin drip all day, and she wasn't able to eat anything until they got her blood sugar down. Poor thing, she was so hungry! I think Kate only came in when she had to because every time she asked if we needed anything, we both said, "Food!"

Our night nurse the first night was a little on the odd side. H and I were exhausted from the day and hungry, so our view and opinions are a little jaded. H finally got to eat at 11:30pm, so she ate before we thought about going to sleep. Our nurse encouraged us to get a good night's sleep (keep in mind that it was 12:30am when she told us this!) because of the classes we'd be taking the next day. Well, it would have been nice if they'd just left us alone!! I already didn't have pajamas so I was sleeping on the hard-as-a-brick bed, freezing, and wearing jeans, so the odds were against me getting a decent night's sleep. H was still receiving IV fluids, and her machine kept beeping due to "air in line" or "transfusion complete". It was horrible. THEN, I'd just fallen alseep when I hear an old-fashioned school bell ring on the wall with the loud speaker announcement saying "Code Blue on ?? floor, Code Blue on ?? floor. All nurses and available staff please report". It was quite alarming, but I knew H and I were fine, so I rolled back over. I was almost back asleep when the bell rang again with the announcement "Code Blue cancelled, Code Blue cancelled." I was SO annoyed!!!

Our day nurse, Crystal, was great. She was informative and helpful. She talked us through what she was doing when she did it, and immediately started teaching me what to do as far as counting carbs and figuring out the units of insulin. I was thankful for her understanding of how clueless we were!

We also attended diabetes education classes throughout the day on Tuesday. We learned how to use her glucometer and give insulin shots. Later in the day, we went to a nutrition class where we learned more about counting carbs. It was quite overwhelming. Thankfully, we got a book about it with lists of foods and everything. There was more information in that book, and I STILL haven't had time to read it all and filter it in my brain!!

Tuesday night brought a new nurse, Ashley. She was young and cute, and like Crystal, very helpful. She came in to give H her insulin shot for her bedtime snack. She was very informative and seemed to be talking like she had diabetes herself. One of us asked her if she had it, and this was her response: "No, but I wish I did!" H and I were both taken aback. It was kinda funny. She tried to justify herself by saying she was so fascinated by diabetes and was extremely interested in it. She had worked several camps associated with diabetes and just loved it. We didn't really see her much that night (or anyone for that matter), so we slept much better. There were no more IVs, so we had a fairly quiet night. We had figured out that if we left the TV on it helped to block out the noise from the nurse's station since our room was right by it.

Wednesday held one more nutrition class as well as physical therapy. At this point, we were both so ready to go home, we were just doing what we were told and nodding our heads and smiling when they asked questions. This day is kinda fuzzy to me. The BEST part was that we got to go HOME at about 4:30. It was great. So we headed out with the understanding that we had to find a "new normal".

Now that three weeks have passed, I would say we are doing very well at that goal. Our greatest sign that we're succeeding is that H is still alive! Haha. We've even found some laughter through it all. For example, my sister had a friend through middle and high school that was diabetic. His case with the glucometer, test strips, lancing device, syringes, and insulin was called his pancreas. We have now deemed H's case her pancreas. We are constantly asking, "Do you have your/my pancreas?" It is somewhat comical. So, we're just trying to find the funny moments and dwell on those instead of the hard times. Things are a little out of whack now that school has started back, but I know we'll get everything back under control in no time. Please continue to pray for us as we continue to learn the ins and outs and take everything in. Specifically pray for peace for H as this is a difficult adjustment to be making this far into her life and at this point in her life.

More to come later on Christmas - as soon as I get pictures from my sister!!! PROMISE.

December

I do have to apologize for my lack of blogging. I realize I didn't blog at all for the month of December. And this time, it's not because I didn't have anything to say, but rather, I've had SO much going on. I could barely keep up myself, much less keep all of you informed! I don't even know where to begin!!

We'll go back to before Christmas break. WinterGuard started at Sprayberry, and that is where I am working this season. I love it. These kids have a desire to be there and want to do their best. To be honest, it's refreshing. It helps me to love what I do with guard and since it's the only reason I am a guard instructor to begin with, I just love it anyways! Winter is so different from fall - it was definitely my favorite part in high school. I was talking with a good friend from high school about winter guard just a few weeks ago - we had some great memories and honestly, I don't think anything can take those away or spoil them. I will confess that I let a bad experience that led to a terrible ending taint my memories, but it's almost gone now. :) We got all of the drill written for SHS before the break and they even got some work written before the break. I wonder now if everyone will remember that work? We shall see soon enough! I am excited about what this season brings... will be sure to keep you updated.

One weekend in December, I went to visit Brittany and Brent since Britt was on bedrest and helped them get closer to being ready for Lillian Reese to enter the world! On Friday night, Britt and I continued our tradition of "ruining dinner" - but you have to understand that it's not always our fault! For example, Britt wanted me to make potato soup and broccoli cornbread muffins. I set out for the kitchen recipes in hand, but there were no potatoes in the freezer and no Jiffy mix in the pantry! As it turns out, Kroger failed to get all the bags in the cart when Britt had last gone grocery shopping. SO, we ordered Steak Out instead - yummy! I cleaned the kitchen, we talked, and then we hit the sack. On Saturday, I fixed chocolate chip muffins and got right to work. I folded laundry and started washing the mound of baby clothes. Brian and Ashley arrived and we all set to work. The boys were busy hanging pictures and a wall sticker in the nursery while Ashley and I cleaned out the bathroom closet. Ash and I went to pick up lunch for everyone at a deli. It was very good! The boys finished their work while Ash and I put things away - organizing the closet and opening bags and boxes. There was lots of trash when we finished! I was planning on coming back to Mtown on Saturday night, but Britt invited me to stay over and the weather wasn't great in North GA, so I stayed. Brent and I ended up going to buy their Christmas tree. It was very large, and while it is a long-debated topic, I PROMISE it didn't look that big on the tree farm! AND, it didn't look bad in their house - in fact, I think it looked very pretty. We put the lights on and hung the ornaments while Britt watched from her position on the couch. We ate BBQ for dinner that night. Afterwards, I cleaned out cabinets to make room for baby things - bottles and sippy cups. But before I put them away, I cleaned all the pieces and boiled pacifiers. Who knew there was so much preparation needed for a baby?! Haha, but it was kinda fun. On Sunday before I headed back, Britt and I went through all the baby clothes and tried to organize them a little bit. All in all, it was a productive and fun weekend! I am so glad I was able to help B&B prepare their house for Lily.

I was really over work at this point in December - we still had a week and two days left before Christmas break. Ugh! Sunday night I was dreading waking up the next morning to head to work with my kids. I don't know why but this group of kids has been a big challenge for me this year. I'm not motivated to go to work and just kinda over them! It's terrible, I know - I've been praying for a change in attitude. Well, my wish came true; however, I must say that if I had known what was coming, I definitely would have chosen the alternative of going to work!! I woke up and got ready for work. I walked into the kitchen and H was slumped over her bowl of cereal. She hadn't felt good in the previous weeks, but never seemed to want to go to the doctor. We had decided we'd stick it out as long as we could since she had finals that week. I couldn't take it anymore though - I could tell she was just plain sick. But I didn't really know what was wrong! She was nauseous if she didn't eat, but she was nauseous when she ate. Milk and orange juice made her feel a little better. She was thirsty ALL the time, therefore, going to the bathroom a lot - even all through the night. And she had told me that she was getting leg cramps (charlie-horses) a lot at night. So I called in for a sub and called her doctor's office. The news we received there is still a shock to me, and we are still adjusting, but making great progress. We were told that H had diabetes and we needed to get down to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta immediately. She was admitted to the ER and later that afternoon to the hospital. Just to give you an idea of how serious her condition was: a normal range of blood glucose is 70-150 - when she was admitted, she was at 700!! Needless to say, they put her on an insulin drip that lasted ALL day and she couldn't eat. It was horrible, but we survived. We spent the next three days in the hospital learning all about diabetes. She was released on Wednesday, so we took it easy the rest of the week. We met with her school administrator to work out making up her finals, the school nurse to figure out the details of getting her insulin at lunchtime, and a couple of her teachers to get study guides and such. So, I missed an entire week of school, and I have to be honest and tell you that I didn't really miss my kids that much. They had been so crazy, and that just continued when I went back the next Monday! So it was like I hadn't missed a thing. H has been amazingly strong and done VERY well under the circumstances. I am so proud of her and amazed at her endurance. This week will be the true test as she returns to school, but I am not worried.

So, that's early to mid-December... more details to come on the people we met in the hospital - a post I'm sure you'll love!! And more details to come on Christmas as well as the arrival of Lily Reese!!! Oh, and some thoughts on the New Year. Headed back to work tomorrow, but no kids until Wednesday - I will say I am starting to miss them this time. We'll see how long that lasts!

Have a great week and check back for the other posts!

"Productiveness"

Is that even a word?! I don't know, but it's what I portrayed this week while ALSO being incredibly lazy and enjoying my vacation!!

So, I had an entire NINE days off work for Thanksgiving. It was much needed and GLORIOUS. I started it off by helping my high school bestie, Sarah, celebrate her 25 years of living on Friday night. We had so much fun just hanging out with friends. On Saturday, I intended on cleaning my house, but instead, I bought new tires for my car and went shopping while they were being put on. I thought it was a great compromise to go shopping after spending a LOT of money for new tires instead of cleaning as planned. Afterwards, H and I went to see The Blind Side with Sarah and Kaitlin. It was AMAZING. I highly recommend that you see the movie - it was fabulous. We went to dinner at the Marietta Diner (yummy!) and then went with Kelsey to a restaurant in Alpharetta for some great dessert. (Yes, I know, you're wondering why I went somewhere else for dessert after being at the Diner, but it happened.) On Sunday, H and I had to work at the Gwinnett Arena for ALLIANCE. It wasn't terrible, but it was nothing to blog about either. Moving onto Monday... nothing too exciting again, but PRODUCTIVE is key here! H and I went to my school to clean my classroom and put some things away. Then, we took Kay shopping for a suit coat and ran errands. I got a Mary Kay facial that night.

Tuesday started the real fun. H had to get her wisdom teeth taken out, so we were at the oral surgeon's office bright and early. She did VERY well and has recovered nicely... "like a champ" in the words of Kay. We lazed in the den and watched movies all day long. It was great and really helped me to truly relax. I did clean the bathrooms and vacuum the house that night (ya know, 3 days later than I had planned, but at least it got done!!!) On Wednesday, I went over to my parents' house for my sister and I to hang the icicle lights at their house. Then, we came to my house and hung my icicle lights. They don't look so hot right now since #1, they're brand new and not hanging the way they should, and #2, a fuse keeps blowing so they won't stay on, but I'm fixing that this week! That afternoon, my grandma, mom, Kay, H, and I went to see The Rockettes at the Fox. I just love them!

I watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday morning and then headed over to my parents' house for family time. I stuffed myself completely full with turkey, jello, green beans, corn pudding, sweet potatoes, broccoli, bread, mashed potatoes, and a yummy version of pumpkin pie. Of course, it was all fantastic!! And the time with family was nice also.

On Friday, H and I watched some more movies between me working in my front yard with help from my parents and Andrew and watching the Auburn/Alabama game. Sad ending but it was still a great game. It is GREAT to be an Auburn tiger and I am proud of those boys for playing hard! WAR EAGLE!!! We continued our work in my yard on Saturday - we completely took out 6-7 bushes and most of the monkey grass and LOTS of weeds. So, it now just has 7 bushes and a small tree. I would like to plant some flowers and move a couple of my hydrangea bushes to the front of my house. We'll see what the spring brings. :) Today was another relaxing day with another movie and running errands to get ready for this week.

While I dread going to work tomorrow, I feel refreshed. And I feel good about how I spent the last nine days. I was productive, but I also had plenty of time to relax. I watched lots of movies, ate lots of food, but got new tires put on my car, cleaned my house, put icicle lights up, put out some other Christmas decorations inside (including the wreath H and I made outselves!), and got my tree put into its stand. (No, there are no lights or ornaments on the tree, but it's still early too!) So, I go into tomorrow and this week with a clear and relaxed mind. I only hope and pray that my kids will come in with this same state of mind, but I'm not getting my hopes up. I love this time of year, and am excited about all of the projects we will be working on over the next several weeks. While it is also a very busy time of year, I do hope that I have lots of opportunities to stop and reflect on the birth of my Savior, Jesus Christ. I hope that my relationship with Him will deepen and grow from these reflections. I pray these same things for you as well - stop and think when you have the chance and take in this crazy thing called life that we are living!

Little People

I had an epiphany sitting in my classroom on Friday. I've always viewed kids as sweet and innocent, and please don't think I'm noy saying that now, but my view definitely changed after this situation. I was sitting on the rug while all of my kids are on the edges while I was cutting open our pumpkin. Because of the different beliefs that each of my students have, we do not celebrate Halloween, so we talked about what our pumpkin looked like, what we thought would be inside, and so on. While I am cutting it open, my kids are discussing (and when I say discussing, I mean it was an all-out discussion) Halloween and what it means. One student is saying that it is evil, while another talks about how God hates Halloween, others are saying it is just for fun, others are saying everybody participates, others are talking about the candy and costumes, and of course, there are a few others who are just sitting watching me and/or staring into space. Please keep in mind that I teach five-year-olds!! I was completely amazed when I stopped to listen while giving my arms are rest from cutting open this ridiculous pumpkin. I decided to take it all in and kept listening instead of stopping the discussion. As I sat there I realized that these children are not all innocent and naive like I once thought - they have been exposed to so much in this world. At times, it is sad to see that some parents have not done their job and kids have to grow up too fast, but I do not think this was the case. This discussion was kids expressing their views (or rather the views their parents had imposed on them) and actually discussing them in their own five-year-old way. Eventually, I did stop cutting and we discussed that not everyone celebrates Halloween and why it is a "holiday" in our country. We talked about the fact that all children do not dress up and go trick-or-treating, but some stay at home while others go to other events like fall festivals. We did end up carving a face in our pumpkin to experience a tradition of Halloween (just like we will have a Thanksgiving feast, make a Hannukah menorah, and so on). All of my kids had a good time and I don't think I alienated any of them. In fact, I think Halloween is fun. I still remember dressing up as RainbowBrite as a child and going trick-or-treating with my childhood best friend, Jennifer, and our families. You don't have to focus on the evil of Halloween - all it is to me is a night in which people dress up for fun and walk around getting candy from friends/neighbors. So yes, my children will take part in Halloween one day, and I will teach them what people think about Halloween and will tell them my take on it as well. I want them to be educated about it and be able to discuss it like my students did on Friday. After we finally counted the 259 seeds (yes, we definitely counted all of them!) and I had cleaned everything up, I sat and thought about how grown up five-year-old children are - they are not naive at all - they are just little grown ups, little people! As a matter of fact, they know much more than we think or imagine that they know! I am looking forward to going back into my classroom tomorrow and learning from my kids because my job is so much more than kids sitting on a rug listening to me read a book or my kids sitting at a table and working on their handwriting.