A Mommy's Mission

When I was growing up, all I wanted to be was a physician. I always thought I would follow my father's footsteps and take over his practice in north Alabama when he retired - although I also had grand plans to move it to Vermont...both plans fell through after (1) one year of pre med and (2) I realized the practice is made up of the people that live near the office. (Thankfully, I figured one out much faster than the other!) Life moved on, I went to law school, I married and we had children...the latter finally let me fulfill my dreams of practicing in the medical field! If you have children, you know that inevitably you will be the family doctor, midnight nurse, temperature taker, medicine giver, booger grabber, rocking chair and anything else that will make your child feel better. Ten days ago, we noticed that Reagan had a few red spots on her face. Within 48 hours, we were in front of two pediatricians hearing "Yep, it's going around Dothan hospitals, nurseries and day cares but this is the worst case we've ever seen." Reagan was diagnosed with Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease, an infection from the virus and a secondary virus on top of the original. Two days later, we were treating Blaire for the same (minus the infection thank goodness). And we use the term "treating" loosely since there is no treatment for the virus - other than sit back and wait it out...far away from anyone else since it is so highly contagious...to all children and adults but specifically to anyone under the age of 5. As of now, (ten days since this all began), Reagan and Blaire's bumps, spots and rashes are healing. No fevers. Sleeping, napping and eating normal. But the spots in their throats are healing and there's been a lot of coughing and congestion. We're hoping that will clear up in the next couple of days as well. Tons of you have emailed me, called me and ask how the girls are doing and if you could do anything for us....thank you! Just to know you were worried and concerned was enough. I appreciated all of the prayers for their health as well...keep them coming! And as for me, I'll continue to be all the girls need me to be, but the people in Vermont are on their own! Ha!

Happy Birthday, Gramercy!

Today was extra special for two reasons...not only did Abby come home from her weekend away (full of fun, pedicures, meals out, arts-n-crafts, swimming, and lots and lots of shopping!), it was Gramercy's 64th birthday! Before leaving our house on Friday, we asked her what kind of cake she would like when we celebrate...she asked for Italian Cream Cake. Since apparently none of the bakeries around here know how to make that cake, I started one from scratch and it ended up being a success! (Betty Crocker, watch out, ha ha!) The cake, the presents, and lots of snuggles from her favorite granddaughters, lol....it was a nice celebration! Happy Birthday, Gramercy!

Panther Nation

After this morning's trip to the pumpkin patch, Gramercy and Papa Doc headed back to Florida...but weren't alone! A certain 4 year old (excuse me, a certain four and a half year old, ha ha!) jumped into the back seat of the car and made the trip with them. Abby is going to spend the weekend in Sandestin with her grandparents while the twins get to rule the roost here at the house. After a great afternoon nap, we got all dressed up in our black and gold and headed to the Wicksburg football game. Since the game was in Dothan tonight, we met Eric for dinner at one of our favorite places - Zaxby's. After dinner we headed over to the stadium where the Mills family was waiting! We love going to football games and especially love sitting with this family. And once again, the twins loved cheering, dancing, and even checking out the other team's Homecoming princess and court.

P.S. Guess who's 17 months old today?!?!?! Yep, our two littlest princesses hit another major milestone. In the last month they've started talking, are running, Reagan figured out how to walk backward (on purpose, ha!), they are learning how to share, can dance to music, can do the motions to "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and much much more. They are growing like weeds - Blaire is a little over 23 pounds and Reagan is a little over 22 pounds. If their blue eyes don't melt your heart, wait until these little princesses blow you kisses. The sweetest sights you'll ever see.
Love love love girls....
happy 17 month birthday! XOXOXOXO

My punkins and their pumpkins

Today was Abby's October school field trip to one of our favorite seasonal places - Aplin Farms! If you haven't ever been there, and live in the Dothan/Enterprise area, you need to put it on your list of things to do! It was a blast...there is the tractor trailer ride to the patch, pick your own pumpkin, sunflower fields to pick flowers from, corn maze, toddler maze, learning barns (picking apples, finding eggs, digging for potatoes, milking cows), petting zoo area and much much more. This is Abby's 5th year to visit the patch, and the twins second. Since Gramercy and Papa Doc were still in town, we invited them to go with us and they loved it.

It's all about art

In June 2008, on a trip to Florida with our favorite Payne girls, I helped Abby paint her own cereal bowl - complete with her hand print in the center of the bowl. She had a blast doing it, as did I!

Fast forward to October 2011, and I desperately was wanting to do this again - this time with Reagan and Blaire. A couple of times our plans got changed and I was afraid it wasn't going to happen. Until Papa Doc and Gramercy came into town and offered to be the helping hands I needed to have to make this happen! We were off to All About Art here in Enterprise - one of our favorite places to go! An hour after entering, the girls had painted (complete with hand print inside) their own ceramic bowl. Stay tuned for a future post to see the finished products!

"Wordy" Wednesday

I couldn't help it...there was no way today could be a "Wordless Wednesday" post when I saw this little tid bit on line. I love it the way this sums it all up.

And in case you missed it...."Let them bang on pots and pans"...and favorite past time in the afternoons at the Wade house!

What's in your shoebox?

Every year, Eric's firm (Carr Allison) not only works throughout the southeast's legal courts and system, they work with different philanthropies and charities. This year, they teamed up with Samaritan's Purse - a non-denominational evangelical Christian humanitarian organization that provides missionary work worldwide. The organization was started by Franklin Graham, the son of Billy Graham, and is based on the parable of the Good Samaritan which teaches how to love your neighbor as yourself. Part of Samaritan's Purse is a project called Operation Christmas Child. It is a global Christmas gift exchange where people spend the month of November collecting shoe boxes and filling them with toys, school supplies, personal items, etc. and then distributing them as Christmas gifts in more than 130 countries. This year, Eric picked 2 boxes to fill...and with a family of three girls, we of course chose each box to go to little girls, ages 2-4. I took Abby and the twins shopping for the items to fill the boxes with and we had a blast! It was a great opportunity to teach all three girls about helping out the less fortunate, which includes little girls their ages. This project is helping us teach that no matter where we go or what we do, we offer more than help. We offer hope. To suffering people in a broken world, we share the news of the only One who can bring true peace—Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.

Fulford Family Time

Today was the annual Fulford family reunion. Every year, on the second Saturday in October, anyone that is part of the Fulford family is invited to Uncle Lomax and Aunt Julia's barn to enjoy some great lunch and fun with family. This year's reunion was a bit slim since a lot of relatives were traveling, already had plans or were sick and unable to come. But....for those of us that were there - we were invited to a special celebration at the reunion - Aunt Julia and Uncle Lomax's 50th Anniversary celebration! Although it isn't until the beginning of November, their son (Randy) brought a scrumpdidliumpcious cake and we all toasted them with cards, hugs and well wishes. Congrats you two! And thank you again for hosting this year's luncheon....love yall!

Friday Night Lights

As you know, our girls LOVE football....whether they are watching in on television or in the stands, they love a good football game and it's too cute not to enjoy it with them! Abby and Eric have gone to a few Enterprise games this year, and the twins and I have gone to a few Wicksburg games as well..but tonight was the first time all five of us went to a game together - and we brought in back up as well, ha! We invited Nana and Papa (Eric's parents, Will and Angie) with us to the game. They have sat through many games watching Eric play when he was on the high school football team and were thrilled to go back with us. We all met at our house for a yummy pre-game meal and then packed up in Nana's van and headed over to the school. It was a new experience for most of us - the first time at the new stadium. Abby and Eric new the way and all the fun stuff the stadium had. We all found the perfect spot, took a quick pregame break for face painting, and then cheered on our Wildcats - and the Big Blue Band (yea Sean and Nick - yall are awesome!). It was a fun night, and even though EHS lost by a touchdown, we had a great time cheering, dancing and enjoying the fellowship!

Wordless Wednesday

On the road again

Today was the perfect day for a little bit of fun...which around here, sometimes means ROAD TRIP! We packed up and headed down to Florida for a visit with Gramercy and Papa Doc. We kept the trip hush hush so we could surprise the two of them and boy oh boy did we! It was a fun day with them, topped off by a great dinner out and then a nice trip home. A whirl wind day but completely worth the whirl!

Tricks or treats...we chose treats!

Knock knock!
Who's there?
Phillip.
Phillip who?
Phillip my bag with candy - it's trick or treat time!

Yep, it's that time of year...October means HALLOWEEN time! And we love Halloween around our house. From the costumes to the candy, from the parties to the pumpkins, from the festivals to the fun...it's a blast for us and we look forward to it every year. This year, we started the month long celebration off tonight with lots of treats from Gramercy and Papa Doc. The girls each got a bag full of fun Halloween swag and are looking forward to having a great time with it all for the next few weeks! Thanks G and PD! Love you both!

Update on Reagan....

...she is feeling MUCH better! For the past two days she's weened herself off breathing treatments and is sounding like her normal self! She's been all smiles today and we are so very thankful for all of the prayers and concerns of our family and friends! Thank you!