Happy Birthday Rhys Man!

My sweet Rhys Man,

You are two years old today!  I can't believe how much the time has flown by and how smart and wonderfully funny you are.  You are talking up a storm and can tell us so many things now.  You are such an easy going guy, most of the time happiest when you have a ball to play with or you can go outside.

You love to laugh and jump all over Daddy.  Since Mommy was pregnant, I haven't been able to play on the floor much or toss you around, so Daddy has taken over for all things rough and tumble.  You like to sit on his tummy and jump up and down, and you laugh so loud when he lifts you high up in the air.  You like to drive your cars around and you love to shoot hoops on the little plastic goal in the living room.  You are actually getting to be a pretty good shot, and even when you miss you just say "Almost!" and try again.

Lately you have discovered that you can have a bit of an opinion, so you tell us "No like it!" and you say "No mama!"  We are still working on manners, but you are pretty good at saying thank you and please when we remind you.  You love to read books at night and your favorites right now are the ones with trains and big trucks.  You also know lots of animals by name and like to make their sounds too.  You are generally a good eater and especially love apple sauce and mac & cheese.  Lately your funniest habit is that you munch on your toast at breakfast and then tell us what shape it looks like.  So far it has always been something different and with your little bites missing, they do actually kind of resemble what you say!  We have had a boat, a chicken, a castle, a boot and a motorcycle!  Your creativity is hilarious.

You are getting so big and strong!  You may not be as big as some other boys your age but you are still just as able to run and play and make trouble.  You do tend to sit back a bit and watch what all the bigger kids are up to which I am actually quite glad for!  I will be happy for you to scope out the situation before rushing right in!  You seem to be easy for other kids to play with and you definitely love being doted on by older girls.  (Not only our friends' daughters but especially the ladies at day care!)

I have loved looking at pictures of you from the last year and seeing how much you have changed and grown up.  You are so handsome and I love your big sweet eyes and happy smile.  I am so glad that soon Mommy will be feeling back to 100% and we will get to snuggle and sing songs together!  I also want to thank you for teaching Mommy and Daddy that we can always trust God's plan.  Now that your brother Beckett is here and dealing with a lot of the same health struggles you had in the beginning, we have felt a great sense of peace and know that the journey with you helped prepare and strengthen us.  Seeing what a perfectly healthy little boy you have turned into reminds us that we only need to patient and wait for the healing that God can provide for Beckett.

We love you very much and are so thankful that God has given us two whole years to treasure you.  Here's to many more!

All my love,

Mama

Happy Birthday Daddy

For Daddy's 32nd birthday, we toughed out the long wait to go to one of the most fabulous places in downtown San Antonio, La Gloria.  They make mexican street food, which means you want to order a whole bunch of individual tacos and appetizers to fill you up.  We invited lots of friends from church and Daddy's school and had a great time.  The food was fabulous and we had a wonderful waitress that was patient with our big group and all the kids!  We even finished off our meal with Gigi's Cupcakes for everyone!

We are very blessed to have such a wonderful man to be the head of our family.  Bo gives his all to his athletes, the coaches and his loved ones.  We are so proud of him and pray we get to celebrate him for many more years to come!

Happy Birthday Little Man

Rhys Man,

Happy birthday to my angel!  I cannot believe what a whirlwind the past year has been.  Your arrival on that day was full of surprises and you apparently decided to stick with what you are good at.  You  have continued to grow and learn and make us fall more in love with you all the time.  Just today, one of your teachers at school was telling me that she doesn't want you to get bigger and have to move on to the next class since she just loves you.  She said you are easy to take care of and a happy boy.

Now that you are a year old, you are starting to eat all kinds of food!  You seem to like everything so far and definitely manage to pack away more than I expect.  You have eaten pretty much anything we give you.  You are starting to drink only whole milk but don't seem to be a fan of any of the sippy cups we have tried.  You usually just throw them on the floor and smile....  But you love to feed yourself and are not crazy about mom still trying to feed you with a spoon!

Today you had your check up at the pediatrician and she said you were still growing and doing great.  You weighed 18.2 lbs and measured 28 inches, so you still have lots of growing to do!  I think you are still down in the 3rd percentile for height and weight, but we think you are perfect.  And very handsome too, so that helps.

Last Friday we had a very small birthday dinner for you with some friends.  We borrowed our friends' backyard so everyone could swim and called it your "Mustache Bash!"  You loved getting to see so many friends and approved of everyone rocking a stache in your honor.  There was even a giant mustache on your cake, which you definitely enjoyed!

You are very blessed to be loved by so many friends!  You got some new jammies, wonderful books, some adorable clothes and a a few new toys too.  We made sure to send them a cute card telling them thanks with your awesome mustache picture on it too.

Here's to many more years of celebrating the wonderful gift God gave our family in you!

All my love,
Mama

Party Girl

Big Sister Cameron,

 What better place to celebrate being four years old than Build-a-Bear?  You were super excited to have some of your sweet girlfriends come hang out with us for the afternoon and Mommy was super excited not to have to clean the house!  Since Grammy was in town for a visit, she was so kind to stay home with Rhys so that Mommy and Daddy could go to the party and just spend time with you.  You loved being the center of attention and were thrilled when the BAB hostess said you got to be first in line for everything. :)

We had invited a few more friends that weren't able to make it, but I think for your age, this group was just perfect.  Everyone had a good time and didn't feel left out.  You were so happy to spend the afternoon with Elizabel, Ainslee, Hattie (who mostly wanted to just hang out with her mom), Jordyn, and Makayla.

First you all got to choose your bear and get it stuffed to your liking.  You chose a very colorful one!

Then you all made wishes on the little hearts that are then sewn into your bear.  Yours was special because all of your friends kissed a heart and gave it to your bear too.

Then your bears all got a quick bath and a good brushing. 

Then everyone picked out an outfit and gave their bear a name.  Yours was named Alice since you are suddenly a big fan of the name.  (We don't know anyone named Alice...)  I think all you girls loved getting to take home your very own bear and get to make all the choices.  Yours had to have a fancy dress and high heeled shoes, by the way.

Fortunately, you didn't seem to mind that Mommy played the baby card and tried to outsource as much of your party as possible.  We ate a snack at Chick-Fil-A and had some delicious non-homemade cupcakes, but the point of it all was that we love you and are so proud of you.  We can't believe how much God has blessed us with four whole years of being your parents.

Here in a Hurry, Rhys Man

My darling Rhys,
You made your arrival to the world yesterday, July 24 at 2:58 pm in what was quite a surprise turn to your mommy and daddy.  You were 18.5 inches long and weighed in at 6 lbs. 2 oz (with adorable little ears and your daddy's long skinny feet).  As much as I had dreamed about your arrival and wished it would be soon, I must say that you made it clear that you needed to get here in a hurry and we are truly thankful for a discerning doctor.

Yesterday I was scheduled for a routine visit at 11:15 with my doctor, and since I wasn't feeling like much had changed, I honestly told my co-workers that I hated to go, be told nothing was happening, and just have to come back in a week.  Our brief visit was almost over when he asked me if I had felt you moving much, and when I thought about it, I realized that I hadn't.  He said just to be cautious that he wanted to monitor your heartbeat for a little while, so we switched rooms and they hooked me up.  For some reason, your heartbeat was difficult to track for very long, and it didn't have as many ups and downs as he expected.  His exact words were, "I am not impressed" and he wanted me to immediately go to the hospital (just down the street) and have a more in depth monitoring where they would do a sonogram to see your movements as well as tracking your heartbeat.

To be perfectly honest, I told your daddy not to worry and that he didn't need to come to the hospital yet.  He was enjoying some golf with some fellow football coaches and I sort of felt like insisting that he come would somehow turn the afternoon into a big affair.  I suppose it was my way of keeping myself calm and trying to be in control of the situation.  So I headed in for the second round of monitoring and hoped that it would be good results.

After 30 minutes of watching you on the sonogram and tracking your heartbeat, both of my nurses did not seem pleased.  My amniotic fluid was low, which was probably restricting your movement and adding stress.  Your heart rate actually dipped very low at one point when I had a contraction (which I didn't feel at all) because without the surrounding fluid it just contracted right on you, sweetheart.  When the nurses passed along the info to my doctor, he was very concerned and came to speak to me in person.   He said he did not think you would tolerate labor and that we needed to get you out immediately.

He was already preparing to do another c-section and wanted me prepped and ready immediately so that he could make sure you were okay.  I felt like it wasn't supposed to happen in such a frantic way and your poor daddy got another phone call and had to drop everything and come as fast as he could.  Even Grammy got a surprise call when I only had a second to explain the situation to her.  All she said was, "Okay, I am coming!"

The nurses got me checked in and dressed quickly and I didn't even get to see Bo before going into the operating room.  They kept assuring me that he would be escorted back as soon as he arrived, but eventually, my doctor didn't even want to wait for my epidural to finish kicking in and they decided to just put me completely under and intubate me.  Unfortunately, when that decision was made, Daddy wasn't allowed to even come in the room.  He said he was so worried, stuck out in the hallway, and only got to see you as they whisked by on their way to the NICU.

But here is the beauty of the story, the truth that makes it evident to me that you are our miracle protected by God.  We were told today that your condition was so serious, that had we not caught onto the problems and taken quick action, even a few more days passing could have resulted in us losing you.  Had I tried to have a standard delivery, your body might not have been able to handle the stress.  It was truly God's hand that orchestrated me having a seemingly routine visit and a stirring in mine and my doctor's hearts to make sure you were fine.  So many things could have been different in a tiny way and had a tragic result.

Here you are, my little bear, fighting and getting stronger.  You had a dangerously low amount of red blood cells due to a rare problem of my antibodies not matching up to yours.  You also had to be intubated and put on high oxygen levels, as well as put under 5 lamps to try to lower your bilirubin count.  It broke my heart to see you with so many tubes and cords stuck all over you because I just wanted to hold you in my arms and cuddle you close to me.  So far, I have only been able to touch you one time.

But in the words of our dear friend Dr. Keith, all the things you are up against are fixable.  Your body is not damaged in any way that you cannot repair, and you showed truly amazing progress today.  Daddy said you were making baby steps, and Keith assured us it was more like a giant leap.  Over the course of the past 36 hours, you have improved so much that they took out the breathing tube so you only have a little one in your nose and are doing all the work on your own.  Your oxygen levels just kept getting stronger and stronger and they were confident that you could keep fighting.

Mommy has been trying to keep a good schedule of pumping all the tiny amounts of milk that I can for you.  It seems like such a tiny amount that I was almost embarrassed to give it to your nurses, but they assure me that very little drop of this early milk is jam packed with important stuff for you and that it is exactly what you need right now.  You seemed really happy when Daddy was there for your evening feeding and went right to sleep after you had those precious few drops.

Right now, we are continuing to pray that you continue to improve just at the pace you should.  Both Daddy and I are anxious about me being discharged and you still needing to be here, so we will see what the doctors say tomorrow.  We want to continuously be thankful for you and trust that God is going to be your healer and strength.  We love you so much and can't wait to kiss your sweet face and hold you close.

Mama

Big Three Year Old Girl

My darling,
I cannot believe you are already three. You continue to do things and especially say things that made me laugh at how grown up you want to be. You keep telling me all the time that you can do things by yourself because you are a "big three year old."

You are usually very happy to go to school each day at Trinity. Even though we are patiently waiting for Mommy's jobs to start, we figured we are just going to keep you on your normal schedule and not worry about it. The three-year-olds class you are in is almost completely full of boys, with the exception of you and your friend Avery (and another little girl that I believe comes 2 days a week). You have picked up a few behaviors that I can tell are from them (like saying, "too bad, so sad!" and "duh." We are working on taking those back out of your vocabulary...) But your teachers say you are very well behaved and smart.

Daddy's sense of humor is certainly rubbing off on you. You love to jump in when Daddy has a funny saying or joke going and you two can keep it up for days. I need to get a video of you doing the perfect impression of Daddy when you hear something and say in your tiny high-pitched voice, "WHAT?!?! That's silly." You love to let him hold you up in the air or upside down like a football. I wish I could say that we still hold you all the time but you are just getting to be so big! We had your checkup with Dr. Beatty (Dr. Baby as you call her) and of course you are growing and developing just right. She has always been very kind and complimentary of you when we see her. She got a good chuckle out of you giving her a turkey high five like Daddy showed you.

We had so much fun having your party at our house and seeing your friends. You loved wearing your Abby fairy costume and were so sweet when you opened your presents. You made sure to say thank you and then you passed out stickers to everyone. You have some very thoughtful friends and got cool presents. You have also spent some of your birthday money on a new dress up costume (the pink Aurora princess dress of course) and some new outfits. You are just the right size for most 3T pants and you just look so tall and slender! I love getting to dress you in more stylish grown up looking clothes than just the basic things you wear to school. You certainly have preferred dresses and skirts alot more lately, especially any chance you get to wear a tutu! You even convinced Emerson to wear one while you two were doing some late night cooking.

Aunt Rachael took most of the pictures while they were here, so we will have to post more later. You had a fabulous birthday weekend that even ended with trick-or-treating with the Mowreys. You got to wear three different costumes in three days! And you could not have been more fun and adorable in each one.



Most importantly, I want to tell you how proud I am that you are showing us more and more that you are kind. You have quite a tender heart when it comes to stories or movies, and with your own friends you are usually quick to share and use nice manners. You are the first to offer a hug and a sweet pat on someone's back. You like to invite others and you don't seem to be shy about talking to friends or grownups. We love that you such a clear speaker because everyone can understand what you are telling them. (Of course, a break every now and then from the millions of questions would be okay too!) We can't believe how fast the time has gone. You may be my big three year old girl, but to me you are still my baby.

Hugs and Kisses,
Mommy

Two Much to Say

Hello Princess,
I am really late in writing this post because you have been keeping me so busy! And maybe because I don't want to admit that you are a little girl now and not even remotely still my baby... You have had a few health issues of late, including a whole four days of fever while Daddy went out of town. You were such a sweet girl, only a little crabby and tired. We watched way too much TV and lounged around at home as much as we could. Thankfully, you rebounded just in time for Daddy and have been all smiles since.

Your birthday has literally been a month long celebration. First we had your early party in Abilene at the zoo, which was so much fun and easy to enjoy. We ordered cupcakes and just relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful weather. You are starting to learn so much about the animals. It is always nice to be out somewhere and remember that you are getting old enough now to have a bit of independence from Mommy and Daddy. It is great to have older, sweet cousins that will hold your hand and take you off to do big kid things.

Then we had your party on your actual birthday at the house, when our new home was overflowing with friends and family that love you. You were so adorable, just going on and on about how excited you were to have your friends come over. I look forward to watching you all grow up together and spend time with each other's family. I know how much I loved having Christian friends to hang out with outside of school, and I can already attest to the difference it makes to have that support network of your extended family.

And to top everything off, you were surprised with another party over Thanksgiving weekend by your Grandpa and Gigi! They invited lots of family and friends to come on a special hayride and have a cookout. You even got some belated birthday presents (tons of baby dolls, some books, and several cute new outfits!) and had your own cake. I guess waiting a whole month to spoil you on your birthday meant that they were even more excited to see you!

In every way, you are so much more than I could have dreamed of. You are off-the-charts brilliant, and are so kind and loving (when you want to be...) You love to read books, play with your baby dolls, pat on Joe Dog, and especially be silly with Daddy. You like to sing songs in the car, and are amazingly good at matching colors, shapes, and letters.

But enough sugar coating. I have to be honest and say that you are at times a bit frustrating. You are really starting to exert your independence and you want to do everything by yourself. No matter how slowly. Or how much Mommy says she needs you to hurry. You have made the last few mornings a bit of a battle because you don't want me to help with putting on your diaper, putting on socks or shoes (even if you have no idea how to tie them) and especially with brushing teeth. It is suddenly necessary to declare an official state emergency in the bathroom if I take the cap off and put the toothpaste on for you, and Lord help us if I flush the toilet for you instead of you doing it. (Usually, you have to flush it again just to prove a point.)

No definite progress on the potty training thing, but you are getting better about going potty first thing when you wake up. I think I am going to really start using stickers as rewards since you get pretty pumped about them. Your teachers are requesting that we send you more Pull-Ups ("Big Girl Diapers" as you call them) instead of your regular diapers. Maybe they will do all the work for us!

But we love you so much. Every day, all the time. Especially when we cuddle in bed and watch cartoons. Especially when you give big hugs and kisses. Especially when you smile and laugh at silly jokes. Especially when you run over, excited to be picked up at the end of the day. Okay, all the time.

You are my best girl,
Mama

Minding Mommy's Manners

How rude of me not to mention one of your most special birthday gifts... Check out Mrs. Cara's blog that has the most adorable picture of you wearing the sweet dress that she made for you.

Please ignore the absolutely true description of how Mommy took you to get shots on your birthday while Mrs. Cara took you to a fabulous indoor playground. Lesson learned, never doing shots on your birthday again...

Thank goodness somebody knows how to treat a birthday girl right! :)

Party On!

Hi One-Year-Old Cameron!
We had such a fun weekend trip to Abilene that Mommy is just recovering on Wednesday night! Our living room is slowly becoming less and less messy. You were a wonderful traveler and were so happy to see so many friends and family while we had everyone together.

After arriving late Friday night, we hustled Saturday morning to get everything ready for your party at 11:00. We rented a really cool mini-park in Abilene complete with picnic tables, a playground, and your own kitchen and bathrooms. Since we had so many people invited, we thought we had better be prepared!

You had a ton of fun playing, opening way too many presents, and getting passed from person to person. Though you did impress everyone with your walking skills! Here are just a few pictures of the fun:

It's Emerson and Zoey! Just getting all three of you to sit on the same slide was a miracle. We weren't going to try our luck with actually getting you to all look at the camera...

Both your cousin Ryan and your Uncle Jordan wanted to carry you around to play!

And you had to give some love to Gigi (or just try to steal her sparkly jewelry)!

We even got everyone together at the end for some family pictures.
Here is your Gigi's side of the family:

And your Grandpa's side, the Kilpatricks:

And Mommy's family:

Then your Sabba and Savta:


Whew, that's alot! We were so thankful to everyone that was able to join us. I am sure you would give a big thank you (now that you know that sign language as well) and some slobbery kisses to everyone for too many generous presents and lots of birthday blessings. It's hard to pick favorites of things because there are just oo many, but you did get tons of cute outfits and fabulous books. Smart and stylish, that's the plan! You are a very lucky girl to be so loved!

Happy Birthday from Daddy

Happy Birthday!! I can't believe an entire year has flown by. You have been such a blessing to both your Mommy and I. We were told by several friends that time would fly by, and boy has it! It's amazing to see how fast you develop and learn new things. From discovering new body parts like hands and feet, to being able to sit on your own, listening to you make new sounds (dada was the best), and finally becoming mobile. It seems like each week you learn something new. Your newest fascination is balloons. You'll point and say "ba".

You have exposed a part of me that can only be reached by having a child. I love you more than you can ever imagine. Sometimes your Mommy and I wish we could slow down time and savor the moments with you for a little longer, but with each day you bring new surprises and more to love about you. I look forward to spending each day with you, playing, learning, and loving. Happy Birthday, beautiful!!!

Love, Daddy

Happy Birthday from Mommy

My Sweet Cameron,
How is it even possible that you could go from this tiny angel...

to this beautiful little girl in just one year?


You amaze me at how quickly you have changed and grown so big and smart! We went today for your one year checkup, and your doctor said your stats and development are awesome! You weigh 21 lbs. 8 oz. and are 29 1/2 inches long, both of which are in about the 60th percentile. You are perfectly proportional!

The end of the appointment didn't go well since you had to get five shots! We got your second seasonal flu booster, the H1N1 vaccine, the MMR (measles, mumps & rubella) vaccine, the chickenpox vaccine and the pneumococcal vaccine. I know it sounds like a ton, and I was so sorry that we had to do so many at once. But with you starting daycare in January, I wanted to make sure that you were going to stay as healthy as possible! I trust our doctor and we have been very blessed to have had a wonderful year of not being sick.

But back to the fun stuff! I wish everyone could see how funny you are sometimes. If you really get to laughing (mostly at Daddy or Ainslee) the sound is just contagious and usually gives you the hiccups right after. You have such a big grin that shows off your six teeth, and you are constantly soaked in drool most days. I think I might start sending you two shirts per day!

Your walking has improved so much! You still tend to sit down once you get off balance, but now you can stand yourself right back up and take off again. You get so excited about taking baths, and you walk to your room immediately when you hear us say "night night" or mention jammies. And we are thankful that you are such a good sleeper. Most nights, we look at you with the video monitor, and you sleep with your little buns up in the air and your knees curled under you, just like Mommy used to sleep!

I can't wait to see what fun we will have in the next year. You will be starting daycare in January, which means we will have to plan lots of play dates for you and Ainslee. I know you will miss eachother so much! But we are hoping that you continue to learn to play and have fun no matter where you are. You just ooze happiness and I know your new teacher will fall in love with you.

Thank you for all the joy and love that you have brought into our lives. You are the best gift I could ever ask for, and I hope that we are doing this incredible responsibility justice - raising you to be a loving, smart and happy girl.

Many blessings today and always! Love, Mama

It's all about the Cupcake

Cameron,
I am so glad that you are not going to be a spolied girl. I mean, everyone has two birthday parties, right? Oh, they don't? Hmmmm. Well, only because you are turning one. Surely we won't have to have two parties forever. Right? (Please tell me I am right.)

Well, this year we will be spending your actual birthday weekend in Abilene with ALL the family. But we didn't want to miss out on all our friends here in San Antonio, so we had a very small party on Saturday. Cute costumes and cupcakes were the order of the day!

Bad news was that your costume apparently made your skin FREAK OUT and break out into a terrible rash. You had it on for about fifteen minutes, we managed to take a few pictures....

... and then Mommy thought that maybe some sunscreen might be a good idea. But when we got inside, we noticed that your skin under the costume was bright red! So we yanked off the Tinkerbell and went with our favorite tutu instead.

We played a few games outside since some of your friends are a lot older. You and Ainslee were mostly amused by the tiny traffic cones that Daddy had out. At least the weather was great and you could relax in the cool shade!

Then we headed back inside for everyone's favorite part - watching you have your very first cupcake.

You are apparently a big fan of chocolate, which makes you a girl after your mommy's own heart! Here you are diving in...

The hot pink icing gave you a fabulous handlebar mustache!

And before we knew it, there were only crumbs left! We couldn't believe how much you actually ate!

Happy early birthday, my little cupcake!