Save The Date

This November we will be having our 2nd Annual Ladybug Fundraiser to benefit The Bell Center for Early Intervention. Last year we thought of having a fundraiser in honor of Edie and as a part of our marathon PIT fundraising for The Bell Center. So we came up with the "Ladybug Fundraiser". Why Ladybug? Because that is what we call Edie. Why you ask? Because Ladybugs are a sign of luck and fortune and that is exactly what Edie has brought us. We are lucky in love and so very fortunate to have been blessed with such a beautiful, wonderful little girl.

Last year we had over 100 people to attend and we raised over $7000.00 the night of the fundraiser. We had entertainment, food and a silent auction. This year we hope to have even more to attend and of course we hope to raise even more for The Bell Center. Things have certainly gotten off to a great start. My wonderfully sweet and talented friends Stacey Day http://www.rocpaper.com/ and Grethel Vann Epps of http://www.gvephotography.com/ donated their time and talents in creating the Save The Date card. I love and appreciate both Stacey and Grethel for helping us with our great cause. Above is what we actually had printed and the header photo was mine and Scott's 2nd choice of our favorite photo. We just love Edie's smile in it. It was too cute not to share. (Grethel I hope you don't mind).

We have pinned down date, place, time and entertainment thus far. We have donations for the silent auction coming in already including, a photo session and CD of photos by Grethel Vann Epps http://www.gvephotography.com/, UA Merchandise and several getaways - out of home, out of town and out of state. I am so excited to see things in motion and I can not wait for it to all come together. We have a long way to go and so much more to do. If you or anyone you know would like to donate a talent or item to our silent auction I would love to hear from you! Also if you did not receive a Save The Date or know someone who would be interested in coming I would also love to hear from you so I can get it in the mail. michelleandscottshunnarah@yahoo.com

Mark your calendars!! We hope to see you there!

So Much to Say.......So Little Time

Man. I am so behind! So much has happened and most so long ago I am going to try and remember it all for you.........

We went home to Billingsley for the Davis Family Reunion last Saturday. This was Edie's 2nd reunion. We had family from FL, MS and all over AL to attend. It is always great to see everyone and catch up. There was actually a lot of the kids (I am referring to myself too) there this year. It never last long enough and with Edie needing a nap it was cut especially short for us. We all had fun and ate a lot of great home cooking! There was some buzz about having it in Piedmont, AL next year which will be a nice change and a lot of fun. I am looking forward to it!!

A few weeks ago Edie visited Dr. Cortopasi for her checkup. She got two shots HEP A and a flu shot. She also had blood drawn for her yearly thyroid test. Things did not go so well this visit. Dr. Cortopasi was running behind due to the overwhelming amount of sick kids on a Monday (note to self - never schedule an appointment on a Monday again!) Because of the delay Scott had to go back to work before the shots were administered which threw me into a panic since he is the one who always holds Edie's hands and body while I look away because for one I can not stand needles and for two I especially can not stand seeing my baby cry. I did step up to the plate to hold Edie and practally cried along with her. She was so pitiful. The nurse had a little trouble finding a good vein and by the time she inserted the needle Edie was already in tears. She laied there looking up at the nurse crying to the point that she started making this "ooooo...ohhh....ooooo" noise. It was the saddest, weirdest, cutest noise all at the same time. Man I love that baby girl and I hate to see her hurt. After the nurse was done she quietened down a little but then when I laied her back down to put on her clothes she fell apart. I finally got her to calm down to a few sniffles when she saw her big, pink, camo band aid on her arm and started to scream again. Poor baby cried herself to sleep on the way home holding on to her big, pink, camo band aid.

The good news of the visit was they thyroid test came back normal. Edie is now 20 lbs 3 oz. She is 50th percentile in weight which is great! And 90th percentile in height on the DS chart which is great too! Dr. Cortopasi said she may just have her Daddy's height!!

Stuff Your Face Tailgate Party

This past Sunday The Bell Center hosted a "Stuff Your Face" Tailgate Party at Sloss Furnace. It was the first year for the fundraiser and it really turned out to be a lot of fun despite the rain earlier in the day. They had around 8 team tents set up under a covered area representing different university's. Each team decorated their tent and offered food with a "Team Spirit" flair. We definitely "stuffed" our faces with good food and drink. They had prizes for teams with the best spirit, most creative tent and most creative food. The turn out was good and I think they raised a good bit of money too!! Edie had fun seeing all of her buddies, dancing, eating and petting the "look-a-like" Georgia Bull Dog. There is already a lot of buzz on what they are going to do next year!!

I'm Lake'n It!!

During our fundraiser for The Bell Center last November Mr. Chuck was kind enough to donate his lake house on Smith Lake as one of the silent auction items. Our neighbors, the Adam's family, won the week but he also doubled the donation and offered it to another group that really wanted it as well. This group was four of my girlfriends and their families. Scott, Edie and I were lucky enough to be invited by them to come along as well.

Edie, Ziggy and I went up early and Scott commuted to and from work so he could be with us too. Most everyone trickled in by Friday and the fun began. There were 10 adults and 5 babies eating, sleeping and playing all under one roof by Saturday. We had a Mexican Fiesta one night for dinner and a shrimp boil on another night. We ate like kings!

The kiddos had a blast as did the parents. We played a lot of Phase 10 and wii. Scott and I had never played wii before. It was so much fun! I have never really been a video fan, but the wii is a whole nother story. We must have one of our own now! Maybe this will be a Christmas gift to ourselves this year. The rain finally stopped by Saturday and the day was perfect!! We swam, rode the boat (Merritt and Edie's and Ziggy's first boat ride) and had a blast as you can see from the photos we had a lot of fun.

Thank you so much to Chuck and to my friends The Bailey Family, The Wildsmith Family, The Sanders Family and The Peterson Family for many great memories. We love you all so much!!

Texting While Driving

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGE8LzRaySk

I know most of you may have seen this already as it is being passed around. But I thought it was so worth sharing too. I am guilty myself of texting while driving. Once Edie was born I said that I would never text or email while she was in the car. I am guilty of this too. But after seeing this it reminds me of what a stupid thing texting, emailing, twittering (i do not do this for sure) is while being behind the wheel. I make a promise never to do this again. There is no matter out there in this world that is more important than the safety of my daughter, my family, my self and others. From now on it can wait.

Beautiful Broadmoor

COLORADO

Scott and I took a last minute trip to Colorado last week to visit a client of mine. We started off in Colorado Springs, CO at the world renowned Broadmoor Resort. I sold furniture to them a while back and due to some mistakes we had to visit the site to help with re-installing some products. Believe me - we were not disappointed in having to do this. It was actually a dream come true. Scott and I had a wonderful time while in Colorado Springs at the Broadmoor. Although we were not lucky enough to stay on site due to the resort being booked we were lucky enough to get a lot of one-on-one time with the staff and receive a personal tour of the hotel and grounds. During our visit we saw so many deer!! They were just running around like pets! Above is a photo Scott took with his phone. The largest rack I have ever seen in person for sure. It even still had fuzz on the horns. The resort was breath taking. i look forward to a return trip.

After we finished up at The Broadmoor we headed to Denver where we spent the remainder of the weekend. Scott's sweet cousin, Kelly, was kind enough to get us tickets to see the Rockies and Cubs game. The stadium was beautiful. the weather was perfect and the seats were great. We had a wonderful time at the game and all weekend for that matter. It was nice to really experience a state that I visit frequently but really never take the time to enjoy. I am so glad that Scott and I had this opportunity to be together and enjoy the weekend.

While we were away - I feel we were gone forever! Edie made some really great progress. She has become so strong with her standing and cruising around furniture. She stands very well at the fridge, sofa, ottoman, doors, hanging on our legs, etc. I am excited to see her having such confidence but with confidence comes bumps and bruises. We have experienced a lot of falls in the past few days. I want to protect her from everything - but I guess some things are to be expected and I am sure there are more to come. She has also started to open kitchen cabinets making it obvious that soon we will need to baby proof everything. I really think she will be walking soon. I can't wait and I can wait all at the same time!

My Pretty New Dress

We were told by Nan a while back that Ms. Jackie had made Edie a beautiful smocked dress. However.........Nan never could remember to bring it with her when she would visit. So after a much overdue visit to Billingsley Edie finally received her beautiful handmade dress. I can not tell you how special this is to me (and Edie). It has a little red pomegranate vine pattern in the material and a smocked collar. The smocking detail is phenomenal. It has a heart shape border on the bottom and solid hearts in the center. To top it off it has handmade lace in a cream color. There is a word for this type of lace made by hand - but since I am not gifted with such sewing talents I have no idea what it is called. Edie is so fortunate to have such loving people such as Ms. Jackie in her life. We are as well. Anyone who knows me knows just how much I LOVE handmade treasures and this dress is nothing short of a treasure.

Ms. Jackie you, once again, have outdone your self. This will be a perfect dress for the fall and beyond! I love it and Edie looks so precious in it. Thank you so much! We love you! Edie sends you sloppy kisses!!

My Toys

Edie is so proud of her pink doll house and Noah's Ark. She will sit and play for hours (not really - about 10 minutes) with them.

Six Steps

While I was out of town over the weekend visiting with friends Scott sent me this video he had made with his phone. It melted my heart and brought tears to my eyes. We have been working with Edie all summer on walking with a push toy. Most days she wants nothing to do with it while others she will give it a try. We started by holding her entire body up while she pushed. After a few weeks we moved to just holding her under her bottom while she pushed. And now look at her! Six steps! If you listen closely you can hear her say "Da Da" while she is walking.

Of course once I got home I tried to see her do this in person and again she wanted no part of it. Each time we tried to stand her up to the handles she would literally hold her knees up in the air so that her feet would not touch the ground. She would dangle in that position for a while and start to whine. I think all she really wanted to do was be left alone to play with her new doll house.

She is so fun to play with and now she has really began to "play". Don't get me wrong she still likes to pull out everything from her toy box and throw it on the floor. But she has now also started to concentrate on one toy and actually play with it for a period of time. We bought her a Little People doll house complete with daddy, mommy and baby. Right now she likes to put the people through the door and close it, through the windows and peek in then she pulls them out and does it over and over. She lays on her belly so she peek through the door and see where they fall. Last night I was playing "daddy" and I would hold him outside of the door and play like he was talking to her. While I was doing this I would make him wiggle back and forth. She looked at him and studied his moving. She then took mommy and placed her on the floor - held both of the mommy's hands with her little fingers and wiggled mommy back and forth just like I was. It was so cute. She is so observant and is constantly trying to mimic what we do and say.

On Friday she even tried to hold up just three fingers. For what ever reason I have been stuck on the number three and showing her three fingers while saying three. I am always saying things like....."Edie has 3 crackers", 'Edie has 3 books", etc., etc. Friday while at her changing table I told her "Edie has had 3 dirty diapers today" and I held up three fingers. I promise she looked at her hand, looked back at mine and spread her fingers, then pushed down her thumb. She was trying to say 3!!

It is the little things like this that make me love her more and more each day. The video is a little grainy and her pants are falling down - but who cares. Our baby is WALKING!!!!

Let Me Catch You Up..........

First Time for Everything

I have only seen this on TV in the past but today I actually saw it first hand in my kitchen! My little Ladybug was so exhausted after eating her dinner that she literally passed out in her chair! I turned my back for a seconded and when I turned back around she was asleep. She was so funny and cute I just had to get a few photos. Even after I washed off her hands and face and removed her tray she still never woke. Poor baby. She slept for three straight hours (in her bed). She has had a big, busy week and she deserved the rest.

Welcome Wylie

Edie has a new niece! Wylie Christina Smith arrived Wednesday weighing 7lbs 11oz and 20". Edie could not wipe the smile off of her face when she saw her. She is really curious about this teeny-weeny baby. We now have to teach her that she is not a toy baby. Wylie's Bubba and Sissy are also very curious and VERY excited. Aunt Kelli is doing well and they will all go home on Saturday. Welcome to the world Wylie. God is truly amazing!!

Doctors, Doctors and More Doctors

waiting......waiting.......and more waiting........

I feel like we have spent the past month in the Dr.'s office. Our most recent visit brought us some good and not so good news. Dr. Johnson, Edie's cardiologist, informed us that her VSD is still looking good which is - it is still there but so small at this point he does not feel it will have any effect on her. FANTASTIC!! We were excited to get this news and for an instant we saw the light at the end of the tunnel. Then we moved on to the new condition.

It was recently discovered that Edie has a cleft in her right valve. This cleft is allowing blood to leak in minimal amounts basically in the center portion of her heart. The only explanation for not seeing this earlier is that it has always been there but as Edie grows and her heart grows the cleft, which is a tear in the valve, has gotten larger and larger and is now showing. There are two ways of correcting this condition and both would require surgery. One would be going in and stitching the cleft closed. If this is not possible she would need to have the valve replaced which would lead to repeat surgeries to replace the size of the valve as Edie's heart grows. We choose to focus on scenario #3 and that is it will remain small or even better close on its own as her Partial AV Canal did and just as her VSD is trying to do.

We will go back again in 6 months for an additional EKG and ultrasound. We have been STRONGLY advised that this is not something that would cause Edie complications over night. She could be 2, 3, 5, 25 and still be able to thrive with a cleft in her valve. The size of the valve is what determines the steps to take. We know the power of prayer. Edie has so many Prayer Warriors we know that God will see her through. We are so incredibly grateful to be surrounded by so many people who love and care for Edie and our family. We love you and we thank you for your continued support.

4 Years

Scott and I celebrated our 4th Wedding Anniversary last week - July 16th. Above are some of my favorite photos from the (first) best day of our life. We celebrated the following night by having dinner at 26 a "hip" little restaurant downtown. The atmosphere was fun and the food delicious. Looking back on these past 4 years I am amazed at how much we have grown, how much we have learned and how much we have to be thankful for. I am so thankful for my husband. Scott is an amazing husband, an even more amazing father and my best friend. But most of all he puts up with me!

We did go out for a bit after dinner but not for long. We were due to arrive the following morning at Kids First Adventure which is sort of like a Safe House for the children in the Sims ville area of Alabaster. As a community outreach project through our small group at church we installed a fence, packed a gravel basket ball court, cooked hot dogs and held lots of activities for the children who attend this facility. It was a fun day and it felt good to see so many smiles on so many faces. Young and old.

My Friend Merritt

Edie and Merritt had a great play date as did the Mommy's. They played with toys, ate some lunch and played in the pool. Merritt was not up to a photo shoot by the end of the day. They were pooped from all of the fun!

First Dentist Visit

Edie had her first trip to the dentist to show off all 7 1/2 of her teeth. It was a pretty easy visit. After Edie entertained everyone in the waiting area with her toothbrush skills (she loves to chew on her green toothbrush) we headed to the back. We had fun with the hygienist just playing with all of the gadgets (she will one day cringe at). But today it was all about fun. She got a gum massage, water shots, tongue suckers and all kinds of goodies to take home.

After all of the playing the Dr. came in to assess Edie's teeth. As we already knew Edie's teeth are coming in - in a random pattern which is not uncommon for DS babies. However, he said that her pattern is even more random than the norm for DS. Everything about Edie is unique which makes our life all that more interesting.

I was advised that she may never even get all of her baby teeth which may lead to not getting all of her adult teeth - while in another case she may have too many teeth!! It makes my head spin! So we decided not to even think about the unknown right now. She will go back after her 2nd birthday and at that time if all of her teeth have not appeared we will then have x-rays to see what is going on. But for now she is looking good. She is getting her molars which is making eating easier and more fun because we get to eat all kinds of things now!

Edie's favorite foods are fish sticks, mini corn dogs, Gigi's Mac and Cheese, sauteed squash (on her good days), green beans, carrots, grilled cheese and ANYTHING bread related especially when it has syrup on it. Desserts are cooked apples, mini vanilla wafers, pudding and cool whip. Tonight we had a chicken pot pie which I just knew she would love. Not so much. Edie is just too smart! She knew it was not homemade like Gigi's so she fed most of it to Ziggy. At least Ziggy left the table with a full belly. I guess experimenting is what it is all about - right?

4th of July

We had a nice relaxing holiday weekend. Friday even felt like a holiday which is unusual. I did not touch my computer or go near anything work related and Scott was able to take off after lunch and join us at the pool. To sum up our weekend we swam, ate, slept then we swam, ate and slept some more and it was WONDERFUL! Edie was pretty water logged by Saturday night. She got to bed early and Scott and I sat outside on the patio and watched the fireworks in downtown Helena. It was a great show - long and full of beautiful bangs!

Photo Contest

Grethel Van Epps is celebrating her 2nd year as a "Professional" Photographer. And in doing so she is having a photo contest of some of her favorite photos she has taken over the past year. And she chose one of Edie's!! The winner of the contest will get a 16x20 of the photo. So go to http://www.gvephotography.com/blog/the-2nd-anniversary-with-a-contest/ and vote for Edie!!

Edie is #3. It is quick and easy to vote. Just scroll to bottom of link and cast your vote! Hurry - the contest ends Friday July 3rd!