WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?!

Today my baby boy turns 5.

I cannot believe my sweet Andrew is 5 years old!!

You'll just have to indulge this proud mama as I do a whole post, with lots of pictures, dedicated to my boy.

On October 13th, 2003, my water broke..during Monday Night Football no less! :) Since my water wasn't gushing out of me and I had yet to have a contraction, we didn't feel like we needed to race to the hospital...of course we didn't dilly-dally either, but it was nice to finish packing, getting ready (straightened my hair and put make up on cuz now I KNEW I was going to be in pictures!), called family, and had time to pray before leaving the house.

At 1:48am on the 14th, Andrew Floyd was born, via c-section. He was 18 inches and 5lbs. 15 oz..and 12 days early. :) He was breach, which is why the c-section. Poor little guy, his buns were wedged in my pelvis and so he was a perfect V in my belly...but being this way for many months made it so that when he came out, his feet were above his head. Because it was very painful for him to straighten his legs, he kept them flexed but bent at the knee..so he looked like a little froggy. you can see it in the 3rd pic down.

Isn't it funny, at the time everything happened and it seemed like such a blur, but now I remember it so clearly...like it was yesterday!

Here are some pics of Andrew: a few from his first days and then the others were all taken in the following Octobers.

holding daddy's finger

see the froggy legs?!
finally home and in the cradle my dad made -he looks so stinkin' tiny in that!!!

Andrew at 1 year old -loving his Chee*tos!

1st b-day cake


you lookin' at me?! Oct. '05
October '05


Bathtime in October '06

bedtime in October '07

Andrew today -October 14, 2008

Isn't he just so handsome?!

Andrew Floyd,

I love you so much. You are such a joy and delight to have in our family and I cannot imagine life without you.

I love how sweet you are with your sisters. I love how you genuinely enjoy playing with them and helping them do things they can't do yet.

I love how you admire and want to be just like your daddy. He is a wonderful man and you are wise to want to be just like him.

Andrew, I love how you love Jesus..and how you long to go to Heaven. I love that you are so upset that God hasn't taken you there yet and say "but it's taking forever mom..when will I get to go?!"...and yet I'm glad He hasn't, I'm glad He still has you here with me for the time being. I love to hear you say your Bible verses and even more, I love knowing that you don't just know them , you're starting to understand them.

Andrew, my hope and prayer is that you grow up to be a man that follows hard after Jesus. That you will be a light for Him and that He will use you to point others to Himself. I pray you will be a man who is kind and compassionate and one who seeks to live out Micah 6:8

"He has shown you, O man, what is good.

And what does the Lord require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

Andrew bug, Happy Birthday Son. I love you with all my heart.

love-mom

THEN AND NOW

FINALLY Fall has come to our neck of the woods! -So I decided to dress the girls in "fall" dresses for church today to celebrate. :) When I laid out the outfits last night, I realized they were going to wear the same dresses they did the very first Sunday we had Elizabeth home with us, November 18, 2007. (yes, my girls still fit those dresses-they're slow growers!)

of course I just HAD to take a pic this morning so I could compare how they looked in the same outfits nearly 1 year ago so thought I'd share with y'all too!

Becca had a sweater on last year-but she looks about the same-just a little more grown up. :)

As I knew, Elizabeth has changed SO much! I remember BARELY being able to get her bow to stay in her hair last year...and today she had long piggy tails!!

A year ago, she had been up nearly all night long crying (I'm surprised John and I looked as good as we did in the first pic cuz we were beyond tired that morning!)..and you can tell she's not all that happy in the pic...but this year she's all smiles..and she slept soundly thru the night. :)

side note:what's funny is I just noticed I wore the same dress today too! hehehe! didn't even realize it until I posted these pics.

check back later this week for more "then and now" pics cuz someone around here is turning 5 on Tuesday!

VERA BRADLEY PURSE ADOPTION FUNDRAISER

There is a family trying to raise money to bring home their 3.5 year old daughter from China. She was born with spina bifida and is also deaf, has a clubbed foot, and strabisimus. You can read about Brighton HERE

The fundrasier is a raffle type thing. For a simple donation of $15 you will be entered in each drawing -there are 15 Vera Bradley purses! and other adoption related items. You can read about their fundraiser HERE .

I know finances are tight for all of us...especially with our economy crumbling around us :) but please take a moment to consider helping this family out...and winning a new purse!

ELIZABETH'S SURGERIES

Yesterday I met with a craniofacial surgeon at our city's top hospital (the craniofacial center is world-renowned..thank you God!) about Elizabeth. Back in January, Elizabeth was evaluated by several specialists and the main doctor wanted to continue to see Elizabeth 1-2 times/year just to keep tabs on her. This doctor will be doing the first of many surgeries on our baby. Thankfully, the first surgery won't happen until Elizabeth is closer to 5 years old! That's a huge praise!!!

What will her first surgery be? Distraction Osteogenesis of the Jaw. In total layman's terms, Elizabeth will have a metal piece placed into her lower jaw past her last molar (does that make sense?)...there will be a "turn key" for lack of a better term, that will extend out of her jaw. Every day for 2-4 weeks, we will have to give that key a turn. This will cause a small space in her jaw bone (one turn is 1/2 mm) each day..and our hope and prayer is that her body will fill in that space by generating new bone. If it does not, then bone will have to be harvested from her ribs. The spacing will only be done for 2-4 weeks, then allowed to heal, and then several months later the metal will be removed.

This surgery will be to lengthen her jaw so that her face will be more symmetrical.

The surgeon was so very nice. She said that usually she isn't able to decipher whether kids will need more than one of these surgeries, but unfortunately, with Elizabeth, she could say with certainty that she would. So Elizabeth is looking at jaw lengthening surgery around the age of 5, probably again around 12-13, and then lastly -when she stops growing -around age 18-20.

And that's just for her jaw.

Her ear reconstruction surgeries will begin around the age of 7. We are currently trying to get Elizabeth signed on as a patient of the top ear reconstruction surgeon in the country, maybe even the world -he is based out of CA. Thankfully, we have a few years before the ear surgeries start! Those will take 1-3 years to complete -in what we think will be 3 stages.

BOATING

Between selling the house, looking for a new one for weeks on end, moving twice..and setting up house-we've just been too busy to take the boat out. I feel so bad for John cuz he LOVES his boat. :) We took it out on Sunday -not just to have a good time, but to winterize it too.

The weather the day before was cool (in the 80's -that's cool for out here!) and rainy and we were so afraid Sunday would end up that way too -but Praise God it was a beautiful day. A bit chilly out on the lake but not bad at all.

here are some pics from the day -as you can see -all 3 kids had fun taking turns "driving" the boat. :) And Elizabeth did awesome for her first time out. She is truly the most adventurous of the 3. :)

I thought the above pic was cool -shows 3 different species of cacti right next to each other: saguaro, ocotillo, and cholla
huge canyon walls!

sometimes the desert really is gorgeous!

WIN A FREE HANDBAG!

Handbag Planet is giving away 24 handbags on October 15th to celebrate their launch! 1 handbag each hour for 24 hours!

Click HERE to enter..and win!

HAPPENINGS

I'm actually out on a trip right now, but had enough time to load up the pics and video so I could work on this post while away! :)

I'm in Detroit right now where the high today is 56. 56 folks, is what is usually the high in WINTER back home. it's chilly for this desert girl! :) we could see our breath in the jetway when we got off our plane late last night. I forget that some parts of our country are actually experiencing Fall weather. :) It's still right around 100 degrees at home. lucky us.

here's just a snapshot of our lives the last couple days:

Becca is obsessed with babies. really. she is obsessed. She ALWAYS has a baby with her. Lately, her and Andrew have been playing house. They pretend they're John and I -it's hilarious -even calling each other "John" and "Jeanette" or often times you hear them call each other "honey" while they're pretending. :)

Since they are the mommy and daddy, they have elected Elizabeth to be the baby. At first she REALLY resisted...she DID NOT want to be "the baby". but lately she seems to be loving it. I've caught Becca making her lay in a big basket, covering her with a blanket and then giving her a bottle. Elizabeth will giggle and then pretend to cry and Becca will pretend to "soothe" her. It's weird in a way, cuz I will hear Becca talk to Elizabeth the way I do -she'll even use the Chinese term for comfort with her, just like I sometimes do. Becca is learning to be a mommy from watching me (a very good mirror for me!) and Elizabeth is loving the extra attention. I think this is good for Elizabeth because I don't think she ever received this kind of attention when she really WAS a baby.

for those attachment/bonding people out there..yes, I do hold her and cuddle and cradle her "like a baby" too. :) that's where Becca learns it from! :)

the above pic was taken the other day...they had been squirreling around on our bed -lots of belly laughing! and then Becca decided to be "mommy" again...she gave Elizabeth the pacifier (notice it's in upside down and frankly, E doesn't even know what to do with it!) and they just sat there like this for a few short moments...and then the playing began again.

flowers from John. :) the other day was an especially hard one. the kids had really acted up. I was NOT a good mommy that afternoon and really had a hard time just getting thru the day. John had run to Costco to pick up the girls' Christmas presents and came home with 2 dozen beautiful pink roses. ahhhh -how sweet.

and this short clip gives you a quick glimpse into how sweet and fun the kids can be when they're getting along. :) we were out running a ton of errands on Sunday and realized it was way past lunch time. We stopped in at Tac*o B*ell and John ran inside to get our food while I waited in the van with the kids. Andrew got out of his seat to get something that fell and then he and E decided to play around.

Guess I'd better get ready to go to work huh?! :)