HAPPY 5th BIRTHDAY

Today is the day! We are at a milestone birthday!!! Brodie is 5 years old today!!! He has had such a wonderful day! He went to school, had McDonald's Day and then a Birthday Party!!! It was GREAT!!!

It is hard to believe 5 years ago we were sitting at Baptist Medical Center awaiting a 1 pound baby! My how God can pull you through. With every birthday comes memories of that time but I think especially the first birthday and this one! It truly has been a day of praise to God today simply for many reasons: most of all that he gave us Brodie it has been a journey and I am sure that want change, but also for the fact Brodie blew out 2 of his 5 candles today, Brodie sat at a table surrounded by friends and ate his cake with his own fork by himself, He really tried to open his gift and he knew it was "Elmo", he knew he was 5 and can tell you, and he actually colored a scarecrow!

Today has been a great day for ALL of us and we are so thankful and blessed to be called parents to this little boy! God truly is showing all of us what miracles really are and that they still exist!

Brodie donated all of his gifts to Blair E. Batson Children's Hospital! We had a great time at his birthday party at school and at home! Of course it was a golf party! He did however get a few gifts to keep for himself like a jumping thing from mom and dad, golf cart from MeMe's to stay at MeMe's, golf clubs from Nana and Papa, and a savings bond from Granna and Papa! Thanks so much to everyone who donated a gift to the Children's Hospital on my behalf!!! We have a video of all of my birthday celebrations!


Happy 5th Birthday

EMALEE IS 1!

Today Emalee turned one!! THE BIG ONE!!! She had a birthday party yesterday and we had an awesome time. We hope you have a great birthday!

Playing with Bailey!!!

CIRCUS WITH THE FAM

Me, Mom and Dad actually went back to the Circus on Thursday Night with The Freeman's, Andrea, and Shane! We all had a great time and I got to ride the horse but then at intermission I turned into an ugly kid~ so my mom made me leave the Circus while everyone else finished the second half!!! Oh well had fun while it lasted!!! I will get those pics up soon!


What is more fun than getting to eat popcorn and riding the horse!!!

CIRCUS WITH FRIENDS FROM SCHOOL

Our school went to visit the Circus animals today! We had a blast! Firs of all because of the long walk over to the stadium~ You know I love to be outside!!! Second, because I got to see a HORSE(HOR HOR) and an elephant (BIG HOR HOR)!!!

This is my class!

This is most of our school!

We all love The Children's Center!!! By the way if anyone is interested in coming to The University of Southern Mississippi Symphony Orchestra Holiday Spectacular featuring Sandi Patty, it will be held on December 2, 2008 at Temple Baptist Church. Just call me for tickets! Some of the proceeds benefit The Children's Center so please come!

What's New

These past few weeks have been crazy!!! We have been going to school and therapy and doing really well. Brodie actually took 2 steps by himself several times on Monday and 3 steps by himself 2 times. We were nso so excited.

Chris has Brodie this weekend while Mom is out of town for a friends wedding. Congrats to Andrea and Cooper. We are staying at the Opryland Hotel and hope to have a blast!Chris and MeMe are taking Bro to eye doctor today and hope everything is going well!

SARAH PALIN ROCKED last night!
Bill passed today to help the economy!! Hopefully everything will start to relieve everyone!

FABgrills.com is up and running and we are so excited for the future!

That is What is New in our life!
Happy Fall and have a great weekend!!!

HOSPITAL AGAIN

Yes Friday Morning we woke up with a 102.5 fever and did not feel good at all. Called the dr. go in and they send us straight to Jackson since we were just 2 weeks out from replacing the shunt. We went through the whole work up and end up in a room for observation. He is still have fever spikes. Still have no reason why???? Anyway they discharged us this morning with 100 fever and then took some tylenol and was on our way. Then this afternoon around 6 we had a spike again of 102.4 under arm so that means probably around 103 or more so where do we go from here????

BACK TO SCHOOL~FINALLY

We are so excited for tomorrow to get here!!! We are going back to school and therapy tomorrow. We are not stay at home people!!! Actually Brodie has been saying GO TO SCHOOL since last Monday!!!

On another note~ we are definitely have some Discipline ISSUES!!!We are biting, pinching, slapping and saying NO to everything. Not sure if anyone else ever feels this way but sometimes this whole parenting thing is not all it is cracked up to be!! Just the thought for the day! I hope everything will get better once we get back into our routine we will see!

HAIRCUT DAY

Well first thing my mom took me outside to ride on the golf cart because she knew it was going to rain for several days and then uncle zach, aunt ashley, and emalee (EE) came to see me!They brought me 2 really cool DVD's!

Then NANA and PAPA arrived. It was that time again....

TAH~DAH!!! IT IS THE MR. CLEAN'S

Then me and EE rode in the wagon!

HOSPITAL STAY

As soon as I wake up from surgery I AM GREAT!!! BACK TO NORMAL. IT IS JUST AMAZING TO ME! Thanks so much to everyone who was in prayer for us and a special thanks to all my visitors~MeMe, Aunt Kathy, Uncle Trey, Nana, Papa, Granna, Papa, Bro. Brandon and Sonya Sue.

Had a good nights rest and then MeMe and Aunt Kathy were there to play with me.

After that we were just strolling around in the wagon. We were going to pet therapy in the lobby but it got canceled so we just walked around the hospital

After that Nana came to play with me!

AND THEN WE WENT HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HOME SWEET HOME

Nothing BETTER than coming home and taking a HOT bath after being in the hospital for several days! Well as you have probably guessed it OUR SHUNT WAS MALFUNCTIONED!!! We went in to the dr on Thursday Morning and she sent us to get some scans done and it showed the ventricles were enlarged so the SHUNT WAS MALFUNCTIONED. We headed to Jackson to sit in the ER for several hours for them to tell us that are SHUNT WAS MALFUNCTIONED!!! Anyway after having 3 people hold him down to get his IV started and morphine and 4 people to hold him down to do a shunt tap they discovered we would need to do surgery as soon as possible. So Thursday afternoon we went in had the Shunt revised and Thursday Night he was eating crackers and telling us all about it. The night went well and on Friday morning he had some pain but it was gone after a few minutes and we rode in wagon and played until they said GO HOME!!!! So we were discharged at 9:30pm! Just got home had a shower and now we are going to BED! We have pictures of the new hair cut that they gave us. Tomorrow Papa is coming to get the rest!!! I will update you as soon we get up!!! GOOD NIGHT AND GOD BLESS!!!

NOT FEELING TO WELL

We have been sleeping in our BIG BOY ROOM for about a week now but while doing this mom got a little cold and so we thought that is what was going on with Brodie but just not sure!!! Anyway Saturday he was a little tired and not feeling up to par but was ok~ same thing Sunday. Monday didn't want to get dressed to go to school but was fine once we got there. Had a great day and was tired that afternoon. I gave him some medicine on Monday night before we went to bed and he woke up the same way on Tuesday (just didn't want to get up and go~very unusual for Brodie)!Got upset when it was time for him to go to class but was ok after a few minutes and all of the sudden it was lunch and he fell asleep at the lunch table.

This is Brodie in back on room with his head down!

We got him to wake up a few minutes for a birthday party!

then I took him home early slept awhile and then was ok for a couple of hours and then out again. Took him to dr. this morning and treating him for sinuses but can't find anything so we are to call back tomorrow to let her know how he did today which was more the same. Up 2 hours down 2 hours. Anyway we will see! She commented that it maybe an intermittent shunt malfunction so if you will all be in prayer for us. Thanks so much and we will keep you posted!

In the NEWSPAPER

Brodie was featured in the Hattiesburg American on Tuesday with Excelerated Rehab and Fitness. I will try to post the link so all you should have to do is click on the Title to get the article! Anyway this is one of the pictures they took but was not posted in paper just on website!

School is GREAT!

Brodie is loving school! They have been staying all day since last Wednesday and he has done really well. Of course, he is so TIRED when he gets in the car but he catches the 2nd wind and makes it the rest of the day!

This is McDonald's Day. Is that not awesome that they have a McDonald's Day! They all pick their favorite happy meal and have that for lunch along with being able to watch a movie on Thursdays.

1st DAY OF SCHOOL

Today was the big day! This is me first thing with my back pack, lunch box and my parents!

Getting out at School!



Leaving our mom's~ of course all the mom's are chewing their nails off nervous it is the big day, crying because they are so excited but their babies are growing up~anxious wondering how they are going to do!! We got to ride in wagons to go from the drop off door to our classroom!Mrs. Ladell is so smart~ the kids never knew they left their mom's!


In our classroom singing and learning about pets~ we went shopping!

We ate lunch!

Singing GoodBye and Ella giving me a bye hug

Walking back to find mom School is out for today and we will return tomorrow!

Guess who I ran into???? Mrs Sa-Sa

He had a blast. They sang, and learned about pets, went on a walk, made kool aid, ate lunch, and said goodbye! It was a busy morning! If I had to guess Mrs. Ladell and Mrs. Melissa need a nap! They all did so good and we thank you so much for all your prayers and ask that you will remember them this week as they all begin to get acclimated.

BTW~This is about 10 minutes after getting into the car!

We hope you have a great week! We will keep you posted!

TOMORROW'S THE BIG DAY

Tomorrow is the First Day of Big School for Brodie!He is calling his new teacher "ms dell". When we talk about all of his new friends and try to name them he just continues to scream out the kids from his old class so this should be interesting tomorrow. I am really excited. I have his back pack ready along with his lunch box minus the sandwich!!! So I will get you some pictures and try to get them up tomorrow! Please be in prayer for all of the students as well as Mrs. Ladell and Mrs. Melissa!!! We hope you have a great day!!!

Dr. Veda Appointment

We are headed to see Dr.Veda today! I guess that is why I am up blogging at 3 and 4 in the morning! Anyway just please be in prayer for us today and we will let you know what happens!!!

Well the appointment went well we do not have to go back for 6 months! He says that if for some reason these are seizures that he would not treat it right now with meds because of all the side effects from meds. So .....

SCHOOL ORIENTATION

Brodie is officially moving up to Mrs. Ladell's Class and it is going to be Exciting! He has had Mrs. Sarah since he was about 9 months to a year old. It will be a good change for both of them but interesting all the same! Brodie has been asking all summer to "go school" and we have been talking about going back but we would have a new teacher and learning her name. So we pull up at school today and I said where are we bo and he said "Mrs. SA SA's"(Mrs. Sarah's)! Not sure if we have the whole concept just yet but we will in just a few days. We did get to see Mrs. Sarah today and we walked past her room(tried to go in of course) to go to the BIG BOY ROOM! We learned all about there routine and talked with Mrs. Ladell. It is going to be a fun year! There will be 8 children in his class and they will go to school from 8:45 to 2:30 with no nap! I LOVE IT!!! Please be in prayer for this class as they are all new to Mrs. Ladell Class. We need prayer for Mrs. Ladell and her helpers as well as the kids all adjusting.

Dad's Birthday

Dad is a whole year older now!! He is 35 and of course he is all depressed! Not really we are just thankful and blessed to be celebrating another year! I tell him it is better than the alternative! Mom and Brodie took him eclairs with candles to wake him!

St.Louis Trip

We have just recently gotten back from St.Louis for our follow up. It was a long trip but a good visit. We orginally thought they would release us this visit but they didn't we will have to go back in a year but that is ok. The doctor says that he still thinks Brodie will walk independently it may take a year or two but just keep doing what we are doing!Practice on lots of walking walking walking, going up and down stairs and work on balance.

While we were visiting in St.Louis we decided to take a HIKE over to Forest Park to go to the St.Louis Zoo. Well 3 hours later we arrive at the zoo and are to tired to visit very much of the zoo but we did see most of it. I really liked the HORSES(Zebras) as well as the Giraffe's(I learned about these in school last year and have liked them ever since because they have dots dots dots)!

We also decided on the way back to stay at the Peabody in Memphis! If you have never done this it is something you should all do once~but after a one night stay and breakfast you want be able to afford anything but McDonald's for a week! I had to throw that in for Chris! It was really nice and Chris really enjoyed having breakfast in the room for his Birthday!

UPDATING ON THE SUMMER

INTENSIVE THERAPY

We have completed our 2nd round of Intensive Therapy and GUESS WHAT???? I can now walk with quad canes! We are really excited about this new step for me!

GRAHAM'S ALL STAR 7 YEAR OLDS

My cousin, Graham, was on the 7 year old All Star Team for Laurel. They had a great season. They actually cam in 3rd in the state. I was so proud of Graham and his team!!!

PAPA'S WATERMELON'S

Papa Rudy grew these BIG watermelons. Me and Emalee had some pictures taken with them and Papa but we were not happy campers that day! Of course Brodie had just got up from a nap and was mad and then Emalee wanted a nap! But u get the picture they were BIG watermelons! Actually one of them weighed 82 pounds!!!