Santa!!

I think Santa dumped the sleigh at our house on Christmas! McKade racked up! Santa must have arrived early because when we came home from Christmas at Heath's grandparent's house, he had already stopped by! He left a toy box, Hot Wheels cars, a Wall-E bean bag chair, a Cars table w/ chairs, a plastic bowling set (Santa must have known that he ATE the last one!), movies: Wall-E, Barney Best Manners, & a Penguin movie, a Cloud B seaturtle, Barney (the 20th anniversary plush that sings), a dinosaur towel, moose pajamas, broom, dustbuster, and 2 oranges!!!

McKade is terrified of putting the towel on his head. He thought the oranges were basketballs. `He had to wear the moose pjs for about 48 hours. Our living room is a wreck! On Christmas day, McKade & Heath went to eat breakfast at Sandy's. My parents took him home from there. At around 2:00 they noticed that he had fever! They called me at work when it was 102 & they couldn't get it down with Tylenol! We alternated Tylenol and Motrin until I could get Mc to the doctor (we had to go to the stinkin' pediatric clinic) on Friday. We were all up most of the night Thursday night. Friday his diagnosis was bronchitis & they increased him to 4 breathing treatments per day, cough meds 2x per day, an oral steroid, antibiotic, and Tylenol/Motrin for fever! ARGH! Anyway~ back to Christmas...

Heath got some shirts (he hated the Ed Hardy knock-off... oh well- he got one!), some Wii games & accessories, Ed Hardy cologne, and some boots. Heath killed a deer on Christmas day!! He said the boots I bought him were lucky!

I got new Paula Deen cookware in red, underwear, a Wii game, New Balances, and a Garmin.

We were most definitely blessed this holiday season!! Heath now knows that he has a job! I think that is the best thing of all! Here are pictures from our holidays with my family, Heath's family, Santa, and the dead deer!

We had some last minute Christmas photos made in spite of McKade being sick and the weather being yucky. Our friend Jessica made most of these pictures. One is of McKade and I being silly! The dog bite is actually looking pretty good. We can still see it, but we've decided it adds character to McKade's face! (Not that I'm glad it's there, but we might as well make the best of it!)

Got my pumpkins out!

Hey everyone! I just wanted to get online for a quick update!! McKade started daycare last Monday. He was already sick by Friday. (I think he got red throat from my sister though, so I guess that doesn't count.) He has been AWFUL. His behavior every morning/night is getting progressively worse. He is clingier than ever & throws horrible tantrums. I can't count the times he banged his head on the floor throwing fits this weekend. Last night was better at home, until he dozed off at 8 pm, gagged on phlegm, and puked mac-n-cheese, milk, chips & who knows what else all over me & our good chair! It went downhill after that, as you can imagine! Today his granny is picking him up from daycare. He has actually eaten for them this week & napped yesterday. This IS only Tuesday though.

Tonight we are going to the March of Dimes Signature Chef's Auction. I'm excited, even though I'm not thrilled about having to play dress up. The event calls for cocktail attire. Do you know what I look like in a cocktail dress? I bought new makeup for the event, so tonight I may look like I belong on a street corner. LOL. I am going to use this moment to apologize for any typos that I may make due to long fake fingernails with french manicures... I'm sure the french part is what is causing the typos... ha!

Delta Grace is walking!! I can't wait to see her! I'm so excited for them! Walking is a new adventure for everyone involved! You get to baby proof things... I could go on & on. McKade dyed his mouth blue one time when Becky came by. That was fun. The poison control center was really nice to us.

A friend of mine from work was diagnosed with high grade metastatic sarcoma & is currently undergoing treatment at Tupelo (who doesn't treat sarcoma) until he is stable enough to go to MD Anderson in Texas. If you are interested in keeping up with Jordan, reading more, & HOPEFULLY sending up a prayer for him, there is more information here www.caringbridge.com/visit/jordanlindsey.

Halloween is coming up! McKade is going to be a cowboy. I am going to be Elvira (for a grown up party we are attending).... and I will just wear clothes (go me!) and a mask at the kiddie party. Don't worry- I won't scar your kids for life! Anyway! Since I am actually off work for Halloween & I LOOOOOOOVE IT (been watching Dragon Tales), we are going to have a little Halloween party for the kids. I think we will start it around 7:30 on Halloween night, that will give everyone the chance to take the young'uns by their grandparent's or wherever ya go! Let me know if you plan to come that way I will have enough treat bags. I've already made up 16. I didn't want to get too carried away just yet. I thought the bigger kids could bob for apples, we all know how to eat- so we will do that, and other than that I thought the kids could be kids & run wild (it's Halloween!) and the grown-ups can talk, eat, yell at kids.... you know... visit!

That was longer than I planned... Sorry Shea if you get stuck reading this! I have to go now & bathe myself for the fun and enchanting evening ahead. See I bathe! Congrats on walking Will! Pictures another day guys....

NICU Reunion

This past weekend was busy! Saturday, Sept 6 (I think) was the NICU reunion! It was from 1-3. We showed up late, I forgot my camera (oops)... BUT our great friend Lauren took some photos of the Mc Attack on the NICU reunion! Here are McAllister & McKade getting their footprints made for the reunion quilt.

As you could see, they were both really thrilled about it. Almost as happy as I was about the clowns.

After the reunion, we bought groceries at Kroger, delivered them to the house, & hurried to go to a church supper. We really enjoyed it! Sunday we began our new couples Sunday school class. McKade stayed in the nursery!!!!! WHOO HOO!!! Then we went to Mom's for lunch.

The weekend was busy, but good.

August was busy! McKade learned about ducks at Veteran's Park!
We played in the rain!

Heath had a birthday! I thought the cake was going to explode!

Glad August is over! But now September is here! School just started for me. Mc is STILL not in daycare! He has learned what pens are for - chewing! AND he repeats everything that we say! Yesterday he picked up the word CRAP. OOPS! my fault.

EVERYONE has bdays this month! Happy Birthday Hunter, Will, Delta Grace, & Rylie!! I can't remember anyone else right now, but I know I will as soon as I hit submit!

If anyone is exceptionally good at parts & functions of the brain CALL ME! I'm struggling & I'm barely on Chapter 2!

DirecTV vs. Dish

I recently learned from a friend that Dish Network is a much better deal than DirecTV! So... I called and switched tonight! We picked the programming that we liked the best & were going to have 2 DVR's - yay! Then after I set up the installation for Friday, I realized that Sprout was not part of our channel lineup! OH NO! SO then I called and cancelled everything! I was going to be saving over $10, not to mention STARZ & HBO free for 3 months, 2 DVR systems run 4 tv's, and like 250 channels. GAH! BUT we can't live without Sprout. Oh well!

Buffalo Park Adventure

We took Mc to the Buffalo Park! We had a great time and sustained minor injuries. McKade got pecked by a bird when he stuck his hand inside the fence & got his head stuck between the bars at the giraffe platform. I got bitten by a goat, spit at by a llama, and licked by the giraffe. I guess the last 2 don't count as injuries. I didn't know giraffes were so slobbery. Here are some photos.

Nard & Steph's Wedding

8/9/2008 - McKade's 1st Wedding!

McKade & his Daddy were in our friend's wedding this weekend. The wedding was beautiful, but McKade stole the show! He walked down the aisle with a bridesmaid, then walked back up the aisle to meet Stephanie (the bride). She carried him back down the aisle to me. He continued to wander around, but was quiet. I couldn't catch him without running up in front of the entire crowd. He sat next to the other ring bearer who gave him hickory nuts. McKade stood up and announced that he had a ball! Then he brought it to me and handed it over, collapsed in the floor and had a temper tantrum. Heath motioned for me to take him out, but when I tried to pick him up he kicked and screamed worse. I just let him go and he rolled in the floor and was quiet again. Then he got up and walked up the aisle again and a complete stranger went outside with him. As soon as I could, I slipped out the side of the chapel. The girl that took him out was Jonathon's cousin & wanted to stay outside w/ him. Here are some pics!

Cinderella & Prince Charming

Prince Charming
Playing in the bushes...
Smashing "balls" with Trace (the other Prince Charming)
Walking down the aisle.
At rehearsal with Mommy
What a hunk!

Ok! So I'm horrible at blogging on a regular basis! What has everyone else been doing lately?? I have successfully enrolled in classes at Florida Hospital College & ordered books. I will be taking 2 classes this fall. #1 - Sectional Anatomy - it runs 14 weeks, #2 - Technical Writing - 7 weeks!Yuck! It just doesn't sound fun! I am looking forward to my new adventure!

McKade is such a big boy! He seems so grown up when he isn't having tantrums. Tantrums are awful! If he doesn't get his way about the tiniest thing, he will lie down in the floor and scream!

Today we went to the mall and bought brown dress shoes, then picked up Mc's tux at Kay's. He will be in a wedding on August 9th. Wish him luck!! I have got to find a dress or pant outfit to wear!

It is thundering & lightening outside & the power just blinked!! I hope this blog posts!!

McKade turned 18 months on the 10th of this month! WOW! He is coming up with new words almost every day now. The past day or two his word is MOOOOOO COW. Last night he said it in his sleep! Today he recognized a MOOOOO COW on TV! It's amazing!

Mc had Father's Day pictures made on Friday. They are so great! The one above is my absolute favorite! I (of course) had to order it. It will be totally in black & white EXCEPT for the tie. Yeah, I know! It looks like 4th of July! OH WELL!

Last week I decided (officially) to complete my degree. It may just be my urge to learn something new. (Why couldn't I just learn to sew?) I checked into a couple of Bachelor's programs & settled on Florida Hospital College of Health Sciences. I have completed the application and the financial aid stuff. Tomorrow I will make copies of my ARRT registration card and fax the application down to Orlando. Maybe when I graduate in 15 years, we can actually go there! It would be perfect. McKade is almost 2 now, so *if* I can finish this program in 2 years-ish, he will be 4. Maybe we CAN go to Orlando. I guess we'll have to see about that. FIRST I have to secure a student loan to PAY for going back to college. Call me if you are interested in donating! LOL- just kidding! With any luck in a couple of years, I will have my Bachelor's in Radiologic Sciences... or I could just be in a mental institution!

Yesterday was Father's Day. We made a weekend out of the holiday. Friday Heath was convinced that I hadn't planned ANYTHING... he got mad Friday night and those cooking & renting a movie plans went right out the window. Hope he had a great time at his friend Ty's! Saturday Heath & McKade had to get measured for tuxes. While they did their man thing & went to the flea market, Mom & I went shopping for a retirement gift for Mr. Dale Martin. His retirement reception was on Saturday night. Since we had a babysitter, we took advantage of the situation. After the reception, we went to Tupelo and ate at the Olive Garden then went to see Kung Fu Panda. YES it is a kid's movie & it is HILARIOUS! Sunday we went to church at Southern Hills with Heath's family. McKade actually lasted 5 minutes into the service before he jumped off of the pew and hit the pew in front of him & blacked his eye! He didn't cry long- yay! Then he was back in church yelling "budddn, buddn" during prayers. I tried to cover his mouth and the only good that did was to make him Indian yell! Then there was the high pitched scream when I told him NO to throwing cars across the room. I took him out and spanked him. He crawled under the pew and LAUGHED at Heath, ate about 1/2 a gallon of gold fish, drank some blue kool-aid, then rubbed goldfish all over my white sweater! I finally just spatted his leg in church after he tried to kick the man in front of us in the head - repeatedly! Then the screaming began. We had to leave. It was bad. Alltogether McKade did pretty well. We made it through 1/3 of the service. Eventhough I have NO idea what was being said! WHAT DO I NEED TO DO!? We had lunch at church, then came home and took an afternoon nap. Heath got an AWESOME watch from us. It came from HourPower. The inside of the watch opens up to a picture of McKade and an engraving that says "Daddy's Superman"... that's what Heath called McKade the entire time he was in the hospital. I think the weekend turned out pretty well!

Well! I'm dark again!! I cut my hair off & the lighter color looked HORRIBLE!!! So, I went to Walmart, bought some dye & colored it dark again! Or at least I thought I was coloring it a slightly reddish tinted brown... ACTUALLY it is a slightly brownish tinted red!! LOL! Oh well, it looks better than whatever color it was!

I promised flowers...

Heath & McKade sent me a beautiful arrangement of flowers after my surgery. I finally got around to taking a picture of them.... UNFORTUNATELY they became a little top heavy and fell off of the table before I got the chance to take the photo. After trimming the broken ones up a little, throwing some away, and breaking the tops off of the big long pink things, I managed to stuff most of them into another vase and take this pic! I now have them on another table so there is no way they can fall off the back of it!

I'm SO SLEEPY!

That cake over there looks yummy doesn't it? Don't worry! I didn't make it! Maybe I will do one next week for the folks at work. Nah, probably not. That icing would be really good about now!!

I'm exhausted & have done absolutely nothing today. My head aches!!!!! I guess that is to be expected though- right?? I take it back! I have done something this week--- GAIN WEIGHT!!! I HAVE GOT TO LAY OFF OF THE ....

EVERYTHING!!!!!!

Monday I had sinus surgery. DUH. Like I haven't mentioned it 30 times to everyone! It was scary. I figured my blood pressure would be high, but NOPE! It was 68 on the bottom!! Yay for me!! After I came out of surgery, guess what? It was high!! I had to have 2 doses of labetolol before they would let us leave the surgery center. So much for my blood pressure behaving, huh?

I have had very minimal pain until yesterday when I felt like my eye was going to pop out of my head. Minor discomfort today! I'm not taking my pain pills!! Haha!! That's probably why it started hurting! I am going to save them for the night because that is when people are SUPPOSED to sleep & they knock me totally out.

McKade came home last night for a few hours then Mom & Dad came back after him. He got to visit!! Yay. Tonight I'm not sure if he is staying home, with Mom, or Sandy. He has a big day planned tomorrow already- going to the Itawamba County Library with Hunter for a book reading! I'm sure he is going to listen!

Heath & McKade sent me flowers on Tuesday. They are pretty and they have a big zebra print bow. I love them. Heath has to go to work tomorrow, but I guess it won't be any worse than the rest of the week. He was outside all of yesterday and today. Now I think he is in the bedroom watching TV. I've not run the TV all day!! It was on my nerves. I think I might be freezing him out of the house too. Hmmm... oh well!

I plan to get the energy later to get out of this chair and find the camera. Then I can photograph my flowers for the world to see. I know- you're just counting down the minutes aren't you?

Here we are at last!

Ok Sarah! Here goes nothing!! I'm gonna give this blog bit a try!

Tonight I want to share with everyone a little of our past, present, and future.

Heath and I were married (the 1st time) in February 2003. Things were great at 1st. We built a house near Mooreville. We lived there together until August 2004 when we went our separate ways. The divorce was final in December 2004. It didn't last long though! We were back together again by late spring 2005. We kept it hush, hush until we knew things were going to work! We told our secret in June/July! Hey everyone! We're back together!! We remarried on November 4, 2005. Heath & I went on our 1st REAL vacation in June 2006. We traveled to Cozumel, Mexico.











When we came home from vacation... we were just settling into our NEW HOME in Fulton, MS. Within weeks we figured out that we were expecting. NO IT DIDN'T HAPPEN ON VACATION!





We were on top of the world! The above sonogram pictures were from around 9 weeks!! We found out we were having a boy a few weeks later! I continued to work my 7 on/7 off schedule. We assumed life paying our bills, working, preparing for our family. I prepared a little more than Heath did. Throughout my pregnancy I was set on getting things done. I wanted the baby room completly painted. I FINALLY showed out and told Heath that things could happen & I wanted it done. It was like I knew from the beginning that I would not carry the baby full term. We decided on a baby name. Gregory McKade Morris. Gregory was my grandmother's maiden name. McKade was found on a book by my friend Jessica. She is the one who put the name together. We just fell in love with it.

I started swelling in November. Up until that point I had only gained a few pounds. One day I was portables and didn't get my water in for that day and it was down hill from there. That afternoon I had cankles. We went to the mountains that weekend. It was great. We shopped, I puked. We came home on Sunday because I had a Dr's appt. on Monday. I had gained 13 lbs in fluid!! The next week at work, I had thankles (that's when your ankle is the same size as your thigh).

On December 3, 2006 (Sunday) I started to have pain in my abdomen. At first I thought I had just lifted Amy's son, Chase wrong. I had picked him up from a funny angle while sitting on a tall barstool. Monday the pain hadn't gone away, I took the list of meds that the dr's office had given me. I tried the whole list. Tuesday I called the Dr's office. The nurse told me that my body was changing and I was about to grow outward. I was having muscle spasms. Take an xtra strength tylenol & a warm bath... Why didn't I think of that?? Wednesday, Thursday... pain, pain... sudden onset pain... it sucked. It felt like McKade was trying to kick out my liver most of the time. It must really be my gallbladder. I made myself NPO Thursday night, had my gallbladder checked on Friday morning. Nope. Saturday the pain went away. My father-in-law invited me over for pizza. Yep I was gonna know for sure now! I was hurting by midnight. I took the list of meds, called my mother-in-law at 3am needing mylanta, took 2 warm baths, & it was time to go to the hospital. I was out of options. We called Dr. Ray (yay! he was on call & could diagnose my gas right?)... he said to get to the hospital. I really listened. I got in the shower to shave my legs, but was too dizzy to accomplish the task. Sorry nurses! I managed to wash my body & my hair though. My MIL had called Heath & he was making a mad dash home. I called and woke Mom up- she insisted on coming with me to have my gas diagnosed too.

We arrived at the North MS Medical Center Women's Hospital at about 5:30 AM. Everyone was so nice. Everything happened so fast from that point on. I was taken to an observation room almost as soon as we walked in the door. Mom arrived. At some point they figured out that my blood pressure was extremely high. 202/113. They made me lie on my left side and stay quiet. Yeah right. I think I called into work like 3 or 4 times. At 1st I told them I was going to be late, then I told them I wasn't going to make it that day, then my story went to I have to stay in the hospital, & the last call was "I'm having McKade today." It couldn't be happening. I was only 28 weeks. There was no time for shots to develop McKade's lungs.

I refused to go to surgery until Daddy showed up. McKade was delivered via C-section at 8:55 AM on December 10, 2006. Our baby boy was in the world, not as planned, but here! He weighed 1 lb. 13.6 oz and was 13 5/8 inches long. I don't know how he made it. I don't know how I made it. The doctors told my family that one more day and it was likely that we would both have died from a stroke. McKade was 1 day old before I got to see him. My blood pressure was through the roof, but I had to see my baby. At some point visitors had been there. Someone fixed my hair in french braided pigtails. Thanks for that! These are some of our 1st photos of McKade.









After an 81 day hospital stay, a multitude of tests, vents, oxygen, CPAP, and other things, McKade came home with us. And he grew!


Above: Just one bite??

Below: McKade & Khaki




Below: Bad to the bone...



He's had colds, rashes, and things other babies have. McKade has also had synagis shots to help his body fight off RSV every month of flu/RSV season (October-March) since he came home from the hospital. He is very good in the Dr's office. We made it through his 1st outpatient surgery not long after he came home from the hospital. (Inguinal hernia repair) 1 year after coming home from the hospital, McKade had tubes put in his ears. Now if we can just get rid of the rashes.

McKade walks, he talks, he runs! He is everything we ever dreamed of and more! We are soon to start the bad business of potty training because we can't get rid of the diaper rash. Dr. Hilbun says that getting rid of diapers is the answer. (That & Gold Bond Infant Powder)... We'll see. I'm glad I have stained concrete floors!



Above: Who is that cutie in the mirror?
Below: Look who's 1 year old!




Above: McKade showing out in his jammies!
Below: McAllister & McKade - cool dudes!



Can you tell I miss him? He is spending the night with my mom while I get over my sinus surgery. I'm not supposed to lift him. It's only been 24 hours since I saw him. I'm a mess tonight! Tomorrow he'll be so excited to see his Mommy! That's the best name in the world!

I want to have more kids! I can't wait, but I have to for a while. We are saving money back up and building up time just incase I have another 28-weeker. Dr. Ray is hoping for a 36-weeker next time. I'm not quite as positive about going that far. My goal is 32 weeks, then we'll work from there. I don't want to set myself up for disappointment.

This has been a long blog. I will post more soon. But for now, I'm exhausted and my nose hurts. Almost time for meds. I'm so ready to be WELL!!! I hope the sinus surgery worked! More details on that at a later date!