Merry Christmas

I am so sorry for the lack of blogs the past couple of months. I am going to try to get back on top of things in 2012. Thank you for all of your prayers and support the past couple of months.
I look at how much our girls have grown this past year, and I feel a lump in my throat. Carly says all kinds of words and even sentences now. One of her favorite phrases is, "Can I have that?"
Some days, Kate is just holding her hand around the house to play with her. I just discovered the other day that Kate can use scissors perfectly! I had no idea! You gotta love preschool. She loves to practice cutting wrapping paper while I wrap presents. They both are in awe of Christmas lights and Santa. I think Christmas is going to be really fun this year!
Please continue to pray for good health and peace for our whole family. I think Kamara and Rod may finally be over this big mountain they have been climbing for some time now. So many of you have prayed for them and they have felt that. Thank you for the encouraging emails and notes you have all given us and them.

May the Lord Bless you all this Holiday Season and New Year. I just have not had the time or energy to do Christmas Cards this year with all that has been taking place; therefore, here is our Christmas Card picture. More pictures to come after Christmas.

Oh, how we love these two girls!

October Fun

I know that I don't have to let all of you know that this past month has been a difficult one. I also want you to know that that does not mean that my days are in despair. Kamara and I both have learned to not stop living. There is still so much to be grateful for. This time in my children's lives is short. Right now they have no idea what is happening in our family. Kate does pray for Baby Cox every night, but she doesn't really understand. My weeks are much more hectic now, but that is ok. My heart is always heavy with what is going on and what lies ahead, but there is also a joy and a peace attached to that. There is still so much joy when I look at my life and my kids. Yes, I am going to remember the pain that this year has brought on, but I also want to remember the good times that I had with my family. I want to remember how I felt God carrying me through this year. I am reminded yet again that we cannot get too carried away with our own plans. I also don't always feel like there is a reason for everything. I think we live in a fallen world and with that brings pain. God does not want Kamara to have to go through this with her baby, but I am completely trusting in him that he will work through this baby's life. She will have a purpose whether she is living or not. God will bring good out of bad things and work in our lives when we go to him. Those were Tami's deep thoughts.

On another note some little things I am enjoying is the cool crisp air right now, Christmas music (yes, I am already listening to it), and peppermint frappachinos at Starbucks. It also warms my heart to see Zack playing and loving on our kids or to see the girls playing lovingly together. It is then that I feel truly blessed.

The fall weather has brought on sickness in my children. Carly is on her second dose of antibiotics for a sinus infection and Kate started antibiotics today for a basically a really bad sinus infection that has her eyes all crusty. It is just that time of year though, right?

Here is a look at Kate's hand now that she has recovered from surgery and no cast.

Painting pumpkins for Kate's preschool.

Which one did Kate do?

They had a pumpkin patch and petting zoo at Kate's school. Carly enjoyed it from the outside of the cage.

We need to work a little more with Kate on how to hold the animals correctly.

It is so hard to get both of my kids looking and smiling.

Kate especially loved the guinea pigs.

Here Kate is with one of her teachers, Miss Lisa. This is during the Halloween parade. Kate is wearing the flower girl dress that my niece wore in our wedding. Now Kate gets to wear it for Halloween as a flower girl. She is holding a basket full of fake flowers.

Halloween party at school

Carly enjoyed sitting at Kate's table like a big girl.

Another picture of the Halloween parade. It was so cute to look at all the costumes and little kids!

Sheri and Chad, my sister and brother-in-law, have a Boo Bash for their church and community every year on Halloween weekend. Here are two of the cousins Aubrey and Isabelle. Notice they are all in pink. I did not put Kate in the flower girl dress for this because I did not want it to get dirty. She is a ballerina.

Here is an attempt at a cousin picture.

Carly was a ballerina too.

Last Sunday we celebrated Isabelle's 4th birthday at Jump Town. Carly surprisingly went down a really big slide after her cousin took her up there. A little shocking! You really pick up speed on those things.

Kate would get all the way up one and decide she was too scared. Sheri got the best Aunt award because she went up with Kate and down with her. They were both going so fast!

Making memories!

Carving a pumpkin with Daddy.

The finished jack o lantern and the girls ready to go trick or treating.

Carly stayed in my arms the whole time. Kate did a great job trick or treating, though. It was a fun family night. We missed our traditional Halloween night with the Hughes and Coxs, but Carly had a sinus infection so we couldn't risk other kids getting sick.

Despite everything we have managed to have some great fun family time in October. It is important to appreciate the great things that we have been given.

Prayer Request for Baby Cox

Good morning Everybody,

I come to you this morning with a heavy and broken heart. As most of you know my twin sister Kamara had her second child at 24 weeks and it was very hard for all of us. Ryleigh is now doing amazing which is a blessing. Kamara always knew she wanted a third child and we were all so happy when she got pregnant again. She is 16 weeks along her third pregnancy. It seemed like everything was going well. Just to be on the safe side they saw a high risk doctor yesterday and got a sonogram. This was suppose to be a wonderful day where they found out the gender of their baby. None of us had any fear or worry because everything was going so well. The Tate family was all planned to celebrate with a dinner tomorrow night as we found out whether she was having a boy or girl. I was babysitting her kids during their appt. and started to get a bad feeling when 2 hours passed by without a call. I was anxiously awaiting the good news before everybody would find out that night. During the sonogram the lady doing it was silent and would not say anything. Then the doctor came in and said the horrible news right away. Their baby has excessive fluid throughout it's body. He said it was one of the more severe cases he has seen and he is a high risk doctor. It either has Turner Syndrome, Downs Syndrome, Trisomy 13 or 18. It is another baby girl. Based on the fluid they feel like the fluid is getting worse not better and are surprised she has lived this long. She has now talked to a couple of nurses and doctors and it seems like it is just a given that the baby won't live much longer. She is going to have to go into the doctor every week just waiting for her heart to stop beating. She will then have to be induced and deliver the baby stillborn. She was already told they will dress it up and let her take pictures with it during this time. This is going to be a very difficult time for our whole family. I don't understand why God has allowed her to have another difficult pregnancy and to most likely lose a child. This seems too much to bare. However, I know that God is good and powerful. Our family has an amazing faith and we will not let Satan crush our spirits. It is going to be hard but God is going to make some amazing things come from this I just know it. Kamara had to endure an amniocentesis and will find the results out on Monday. She will then be told which of the top things her baby girl has. However, it will not change anything or the fact that the baby is not going to live much longer. I know it is hard to know what to pray. I think our prayer is that if her baby is going to die that it happen sooner than later. That way she is not tortured every week waiting and watching as her baby is growing inside of her. She would never terminate the pregnancy on her own. She wants the baby to live out her life the way she is suppose to. She already can feel her moving inside of her and can see her little hands moving in the sonogram. I know I don't have to let all of you know how painful this is for all of us but especially her and Rod. Some encouragement is that her baby's nervous system is not developed and their sweet girl feels no pain. Plus, my Aunt Sandra died about a month ago and will be happily waiting in heaven to greet this precious baby girl. Please lift them up in prayers continuously.

Tami

Abilene, Spiders and Cast

I know that is a random title but I had three things I needed to post about. Let's start with Abilene.We had a great time in Abilene last weekend just spending time with family. We went to a balloon festival but we only saw one hot air balloon from a distance due to windy weather. However, Kate did go on her first horse ride there. She seemed to be having fun but maybe also a little anxious about being on top of a horse. We enjoyed doing some relaxing and good visiting. When we got back Kate had a horrible nightmare about spiders and it brought on a terror Zack and I have never seen in her before. We were up from 2:00-5:00 am with her on Sunday night. Zack slept on the couch and we tried Kate in bed with me. This was a first for us and I don't think anybody slept very well. She had a few more terrors on Monday but it stopped after that. She got upset a couple of times on Tuesday but it was not the panic from the previous days. On Monday she started freaking out believing that a spider was in her cast. She was desperately trying to take off her cast. I wanted so bad to cut it off myself to just to give her a peace of mind. We finally put some more gauze at the top of her cast and told her that it kept the spiders out. I had to go to some creative measures to get her back in her bed that night. I put a Halloween bag on her door with a bat on it and told her it would scare the spiders away because spiders don't like bats. This really seemed to help. We did a lot of praying about it. When she shrieked in terror, she really believed a spider was around her and lost sense of reality. I don't know what she saw in her nightmare but it must have been pretty scary. It would bring chills down our backs when she would panic. Zack said I even screamed one time with her because she scared me so bad. She was really upset about getting her cast off today, but that paled in comparison to the spider terrors. It really took us off guard because she has never been a child to be scared of bugs. In preschool, her teacher said she cried about some crickets in the hallway on Tuesday. We know this is because of her nightmare. She hasn't said anything about bugs or spiders the past couple of days so hopefully this experience doesn't cause her to continue to have a fear of spiders and bugs.
We were very happy to take off her cast today. She overall has done an incredible job with it on. However, she has woken up more in the night needing help getting her blankets back on her. She would ask a couple of times to take it off but it was very rare. She just adapted to it and used it like it was no big deal. In fact, on the way to the doctor today she said she didn't want her cast to come off. She cried while they took it off but was trying so hard to be brave and still. Zack did a good job keeping her calm. Her incision is still pretty open so we have to allow some more time for it to heal. We have to continue to keep a band aid on it for about a week until the new skin starts to grow over the wound. Kate was really upset seeing the wound today. She was better once we put the band aid on. It took her some time today to start using that arm again. She was so scared to move it on the way home she kept it elevated above her head the whole way back from the hospital. Then we went to a play area and she started to use it more and more. We are just so proud of her and how brave she has been through the whole experience.

Zack took some wonderful pictures while we were in Abilene.

Aunt Lindsey and Kate

Dad Dad, Mom Mom and Carly(Isn't the cookie in her mouth a nice touch?)

Kate on her first horse ride. You can see that she is not quite sure what to think.

Another sweet picture

Mom Mom gave Kate a great manicure and pedicure. Kate loved this special time.

One of Kate's favorite things to do in Abilene is for Dad Dad to push her on the swing outside.

One of our new favorite pictures of Carly

I love this picture. Dixie saw a cat outside so Kate was looking out the window with her.

Here is the cast removal pictures in stages.

Kate looking at me in desperation.

Seeing her hand for the first time again.

Good job Kate!

This shows you how long her fingernails got the past two weeks.

If only Mom Mom were here to paint her other nails now. :(

Kate's Surgery

Kate had her surgery for trigger thumb on her left hand yesterday. It was a long day but we are so proud of how Kate handled it all. I am also just so thankful that it was on her left hand and not her right hand since that is her dominant hand. I was also so glad that our good friend Erika took Carly for the day. It made our day so much easier.

Before surgery at home.

Before surgery they gave Kate what they call "silly juice." This helps them relax before going into surgery. They told us it would be like Kate had a margarita. It was quite funny. Kate was so silly and doing crazy things. I will have to see if I can upload a video later.

This was the hard part of them taking Kate away to surgery. There were some tears on my part. If Kate had been crying it would have been much harder on me though.

After surgery and trying to wake up. She was very disoriented. Shortly after this picture she got sick from the anesthesia. She threw up all over Zack one time and a little on me another time. Ironically, I had just given Kate to Zack when she threw up all over him. Zack got to wear a hospital gown for awhile and then they went and got him a new T-shirt. They were all just so sweet. We had to stay at the hospital a little longer to give her some medicine for nausea and more pain medicine. She was also adjusting to having a cast and was a little frustrated. She even tried biting her cast out of frustration. Plus, her cast was rubbing her armpit so we had to get some more protective gauze to prevent that from continuing to happen. I think it was hardest on her that her stomach was hurting. . Poor sweet girl!

We were so impressed with all of the doctors and nurses at Children's Medical Center in Frisco. They were so child friendly and nice. Kate was finally discharged and got to go out in a wagon.

Unfortunately, Kate still threw up in the car twice on the way home. She was also struggling to stay awake. You can tell that she is still a little groggy. You can see just how big the cast is in this picture. They have the cast all the way up her armpit to keep it protected and to prevent her from sticking things in her cast. Kate chose red so her doctor was joking that it really made it look like a punching glove.

Once we got home and got some chicken noodle soup in her she really bounced back. We even went on a short walk and Kate pushed her little doll stroller around. It almost brought tears to my eyes that she was already coping so well with her cast. We are so proud of her! Last night she slept really well. She was in a little pain this morning but luckily we have some pretty strong medicine to give her. I have gotten punched a couple of times accidentally from Kate. Let me tell you it hurts! I hope she doesn't get too mad at anybody in the next couple of weeks. We have been told that she will just have the cast a couple of weeks. Thank goodness!

Some pictures of Carly and Harper on a walk with Erika. She had a great time playing with Harper for the day. Thanks again Erika!

First Day of Preschool/First Time at Movies

Today marks the first day of preschool! Kate was so excited! In fact she did not fall asleep till 10:30 pm last night. I don't know if it was because she was so excited or because her nap went a little late yesterday. Either way, she woke up in good spirits. She was especially happy to be wearing her new dress. We feel so blessed Kate can go to preschool where we go to church. I realized that that now means we will be up at church five days a week between small group, preschool, class and Ladies Bible Study. What a great place to be so often, right?

I kind of a felt a lump in my throat when I had Kate meet her teachers last Thursday, but Kate was so excited we couldn't help but feel joy too. It is amazing she is now in school and will continue to be in some kind of school for many years to come. This is her foundation for all of it! However, I know she will love it and grow so much this year. Plus, I am really looking forward to having some time with just Carly. We had a great morning and I was so glad that Zack could step away briefly from work to come see Kate off and take pictures. He is a good Daddy and husband!

She was all ready to go and kept asking when she could go to class.

Waiting outside to enter the front doors

Putting her things where they go and finding her cubby.

She then picked the table where play dough was to work independently.

Giving Mommy a kiss good-bye. There were no tears from her she was ready.

Then there was just the two of us. Carly loves that baby! I enjoyed some time with just Carly. I think she had moments where she enjoyed it, but she also had moments of wondering where her big sister was. She just adores and admires Kate and wants to do whatever she is doing.

On Sunday, Kamara and I took Aubrey and Kate to their first movie. We saw Winnie the Pooh at the dollar theater. It was a great first movie and only a little over an hour. It helped that we pumped them full of popcorn and candy. That is what movies are all about though, right? It was a fun experience. We now know that Kate can sit through movies and I look forward to letting Zack take part in it next time. We didn't have time to take pictures before the movie so this is after it was over.

Sitting out front still enjoying their popcorn.