Fries Family Four

Today is Officially My Day!

2011-11-07T23:09:00.003-06:00

...well at least in the City of Johnson, Arkansas! Seriously, it is! Let me explain and overload you with pictures to prove it!

Pat and I have a Springdale address but vote in Johnson (don't ask me for an explanation!). Johnson is a small town separating Fayetteville from Springdale.A member of the Johnson Area Fire Department (JAFD), Danny Farrar, attends CrossChurch with us. He has been so amazing through all this by giving us his personal cell phone, adding me to the JAFD prayer list, and we all remember the fire truck making a personal visit for the kids! Well, he out did himself this time! The JAFD and Mayor of Johnson held a little ceremony for me last night. I received the 2011 Honary Fire Chief for Bravery award! This is the first time JAFD has ever done something like this. Here's the Fire Chief presenting me the award:

Now you might all want to sit down for this one! The mayor then presented me with an award that I had no idea about! I quote "Proclamation of the Mayor of Johnson, Arkansas Be It Known To All that Tuesday, November the Eighth, Two Thousand Eleven Shall Be Known as Sarah Fries Day in the City of Johnson, Arkansas." I kid you not, this is for real!

Oh and how can I forget to mention I was awarded with an actual fire jacket and helmet!

Here's a picture of me with the Fire Chief and the Mayor with my sweet awards!

Now go ahead and laugh but here I am giving my acceptance speech! I totally wasn't expecting to do that, but I made my way through it (ugly cry face and all!!).

A prissy firefighter and a cowboy firefighter having a blast in the fire truck!

Now for all the pictures in front of the fire truck! Here's the mayor and his wife!

My family support! My dad hated missing but he was out of town for business. Additionally, Pat's family wasn't able to make it due to his Grandma going to see Jesus yesterday. Keep them in your prayers if you think about it.

The AMAZING Johnson Area Fire Department!!! Seriously some of the sweetest guys I've ever met! We are truly blessed to have this team protecting us!

Danny Farrar is the man on the left with the white shirt. I forgot to mention his wife made our family one of the best meals we had (chicken and dumblings)! These people are truly who make this trial in my life so much easier to cope with. And I mean how special can they make a girl feel?

That was truly the experience of a lifetime!

Update and Video

2011-10-21T11:01:00.007-05:00

(iPhone pic so quality isn't great but I know some of you just want to see me to know I'm doing as good as I say I am!)

So we just got back from Houston for our latest report. The MRI showed that the tumor is stable, meaning it isn't growing or reducing. While I would have preferred some reduction, the Neuro-Oncologist persisted that stable is a good thing and a good place to be right now. He explained that the cancer cells are slow growing so we should expect them to take some time to reverse the growth. They thought I was really doing good symptom-wise, so they went ahead and increased my chemo dosage. I was only getting about 75% of the recommended dosage, so hopefully this will help reduce the tumor at a more timely pace (in my impatient eyes!). Additionally, the doctor told us that I could be on chemo for a year or even two. We haven't really heard that yet, so it was a bit of a surprise but honestly if it is working lets keep doing it! With this increase I could use some more of your awesome prayers! Please pray that the increase dosage doesn't mean an increase in symptoms! And also pray for the chemo to be doing it's job (preferably in a timely manner!). I'm actually starting the 5th round of chemo tonight.

So an upside to this new life is that I have a new platform! I get many opportunities to share how I can still have joy in a time that should bring so much pain. Also, how faithful and present Jesus is in ALL times of our lives. I have shared with individuals, audiences, and TV cameras! I can relate to pain and suffering in others lives like never before. Here's a link to a video that I did resently. It's a video I did for an organization called Laugh for Healing. They help people and families going through major events in their lives.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhZ6M782G1c&feature=share

I also was nominated by my amazing SIL for a makeover that local news station partnered with a company. Here's the video for that:

http://nwahomepage.com/search-fulltext?nxd_id=264297

Thanks for your support and hopefully I can get Pat to write something beautiful soon! Also I will load some pictures and get back to a semi-normal blog!

Support & Love

2011-08-19T11:32:00.003-05:00

I stumbled upon a Good Morning America video this morning that left me a wreck (in a good way)! I sent it to a few people, but thought it could touch more people too!

I was struggling with how to blog it and if I should wait for Pat to blog it since he's so good with expressing himself with words! Then low and behold, my dear sister-in-law, Angela, put it into words for me! Click here and read what she wrote (which also left me a wreck!). I'm warning you grab kleenexes even if you don't think you are a crier. Click on her video link and be sure to watch all three videos. They should just play right through.

This is a good time to thank all of you for following along with our journey and especially sending those prayers up for US. No words could express what that truly means to me.

As Sheryl Crow says in the video "when you're diagnosed with cancer everybody around you is diagnosed as well." Additionally another lady in the video tearfully expresses that "they always loved on me and never made me feel like a burden." Those two quotes really spoke to me, but the entire video is spot on!

Thanks for loving me through it!

Update 8/2/11

2011-08-02T15:16:00.004-05:00

Just wanted to give a quick update on how Sarah is feeling.

We've spent the last week in and out of doctors' offices seeking diagnosis for Sarah's nausea. Long story short, all the gastronomical tests were, essentially, uncircumstantial.

The good news is that Sarah has felt marginally better the past few days, and has been prescribed some medication that seems to be helping.

We take another visit to Houston at the end of August for a standard two-month follow-up. Hopefully, Sarah continues to feel better, and we have a great visit/report.

On a side note, something really cool occurred this afternoon. Sarah absolutely loves her primary care physician, Dr. Furlow. He has prayed with us in his office, and has spoken countless words of encouragement to her and I since her diagnosis.

Though they have never met, Matt Chandler, a pastor in Dallas, has significantly challenged Sarah's faith through his faithful fight against brain cancer.

We were not able to see Dr. Furlow last week, when Sarah first began feeling sick. He was on vacation. When we finally got to see him today, he (again) had many encouraging words for Sarah and I. While on vacation, he was able to spend time with Matt Chandler at Camp Kanakuk family camp, and brought with him countless stories about the energy, faith, strength, and normalcy of the life he is able to lead.

This type of connection between two people who have encouraged Sarah, independently, is unexplainable apart from the providence of God. Good stuff!

Good Grief

2011-07-26T22:35:00.010-05:00

A good night's rest has been hard to come by lately at the Fries house.

For about two weeks, Sarah has been very nauseous. So nauseous, in fact, that she has not had more than a daily popsicle or snow cone since her nausea commenced.

Please pray for her. The onset of this recurring sickness is a bit unexplainable since it began prior to starting her second round of chemo treatment. Of course, her symptoms have been exacerbated by her treatment over the last four days. Fortunately, she takes her last second round dosage tonight. We are praying for relief. Please join us.

Times like this are tough, very tough. There's no getting around it. I'd like to say that she, I, and the kids are able to breeze through it, unscathed. We're not. This stuff can keep us at night. Whether she can't kick the physical side effects of her treatment, or my mind is racing trying to figure out what to do, there's quite a bit of tossing and turning in the master bedroom!

Fortunately, we've had a few things to celebrate during this time. Since we first learned of Sarah's preliminary diagnoses in February, we've asked that God use us for His Kingdom purpose. Over the past two weeks, we have been able to share our perspective of Sarah's trial with a young couple, with students, with a friend whose job is at risk, with group of young men, and with a couple of men with a vision to find stories that can be communicated to encourage others in our region.

It's been encouraging to reflect on how this prayer has been answered, and we look forward to more opportunities like these.

I've been asked recently, "If you had four minutes to drive home a message about what you've learned through this trial, what would it be?"

I'm going to give myself literary license to ramble for a moment. I hold old man hours. The only reason I'm up this late, anyway, is because I can't keep my mind from racing (and Sarah told me I needed to update the blog). I'm hoping this helps to settle me down.

When we talk to people about the last few months of our lives, I think it is easy for people to begin putting themselves in our shoes, specifically Sarah's shoes. But, we didn't ask for opportunities to share this story so that people would have pity on her, or us. We hope that God uses our story to change lives, and that it gives hope to people in the midst of any type of trial.

More than once, I've asked myself the question, "What good can come of this? How's this good for Sarah? For the kids? For me?"

There's a great promise 1 Peter 1: 3-9. It's worship-inducing stuff. Read it for yourself. Here's what I hear when I read it:

"Pat, you have a Father in heaven who loves you so much He sent His son to die for you. And, because of Jesus' resurrection, you have hope. By His mercy you are promised a perfect inheritance in heaven. God knew that you would face trials in this imperfect world, and that those trials would lead to grief. Grief is fine; it's even necessary. God knew that, through your grief, your faith in Him would be tested. He knew that you would ask questions like, 'What good can come of this?'. But, grief produces genuinely tested faith. And, genuine faith is more precious than gold, more precious than your health, more precious than your wealth, and even more precious than your family. Whether you live to be 8 or 108, your time on this earth is just a 'little while.' By your faith, you have an eternal promise that is untouchable. It's imperishable. Rejoice! No matter is taken from you (health, job, whatever), you have not lost your most prized possession! Encourage others to take the step of faith to obtain the salvation of their souls, and love for their Savior."

There's no guarantee of health, healing, or even personal well being. There is, though, a promise that our faith is refined through our trails. That imperfections in our faith come to surface, and we have the opportunity to respond. Our perspective is shifted towards eternal hope.

If you are in the midst of a trial, I hope these verses, and this message resinate with you. Please pray with us, that we would have more opportunities to share this message with others.

Now, I can sleep.

Houston Report

2011-06-17T12:57:00.000-05:00

We just left Sarah’s consultation at MD Anderson. The big news of the day: Sarah will have chemotherapy for at least six months. This is a good thing! In fact, it is a great thing! Let me try to explain.

As you might remember, surgery removed 90%-95% of Sarah’s tumor. The goal of the 30 days of radiation was to reduce the amount of residual tumor that remained. Sarah’s oncologist, Dr. Conrad, estimated that the amount of residual tumor was reduced by 50% through the radiation therapy. So, for the math majors (Angela), this would mean that approximately 95%-97.5% of the tumor is gone.

The tumor’s response to radiation therapy is a good sign that it will respond just as well to chemotherapy. This is considered a mild form of chemotherapy that Sarah will be able to take at home by mouth with very little side effects. She will take 5 pills a month over a 6 month period. Ultimately, the goal of chemotherapy is to further reduce the amount of residual tumor. She will certainly be on it for 6 months, and will later be determined whether another 6 months treatment is beneficial. During this time, she will go back to MD Anderson for a MRI/check-up every two months.

A few people have already had questions or concerns about Sarah’s upcoming chemotherapy. We want to make certain that you know that this is a good thing. This is the next step towards Sarah’s recovery. Dr. Conrad is still very positive about Sarah’s progression. He suspects that after chemotherapy, Sarah will be on a very easy maintenance plan of Accutane. Sarah thinks that’s pretty funny and looking forward to great skin!

All is well. Thank you for your prayers. God is sovereign through all this!

Doing Great

2011-06-10T13:54:00.003-05:00

Everyone has been asking how I'm doing and I realized it's been a while since I blogged! Honest answer is I'm doing great! I feel really good and I'm getting most of my energy back. Most of all I'm loving being home with my family! I return to MD Anderson on June 16th-17th to figure out prognosis and future. I will be sure to update then too. The love and support I feel right now overwhelms me and takes my breath away often! Short and sweet blog (like me, wink wink) but wanted to catch everyone up on how I'm feeling. Praise Jesus!

You Are For Me

2011-05-17T22:21:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to share a song and artist that have really been encouraging me through this time. Please take the time and give this song a shot! It's a great reminder.

Radiation update: Almost done with the 5th week which I was told today is usually the hardest week. Umm...yes it is! Nausea has really been such a struggle. I haven't been able to eat or drink or even smell or look at food much the last 4 days, BUT today I got a new med that will hopefully do the trick. Thanks for the prayers! I'm on the home stretch!

Love to all!

Gifts!

2011-05-03T10:45:00.005-05:00

Many things have surprised us through this journey so far to say the least! If one thing has stuck out the most to Pat and me, it is how generous people have been to those of us who are suffering. It has definitely hit Pat and I hard. It has taught us how we can use our resources better to help others in need. Literally, almost EVERY single day we receive some sort of surprise from people we know and even those we don't know. We are so grateful for every single gift. Here are just two examples that can help brighten a friend of yours in time of need!

First, this gift many of you contributed to. I'm still reading through them (I can't make it very far without crying!!). My amazing SIL, Angela, organized this gift and put a lot of hard work into it! She asked you all to leave a comment for me on her blog so she could put together a scripture/encouragement ring. She also consolidated comments that my mom received from Facebook. She made it look so pretty and bright. Here's the finished product:

The second gift I want to share is one from my maternal grandma, Granny Pat! Let me just say that she has given me a special gift every time I left NWA for Houston, which has been at least 5 times! She even bought Pat some fancy after-shave to impress the nurses because I got a pedicure to impress the doctors!

Here's her latest gift idea. She made me a cute reversible bag in bright colors and filled it with 30 individually wrapped gifts. The premise of this gift is that everyday after my radiation treatment I get to open one gift. This gives me something to look forward to after I finish my treatment for that day. Is that not a great idea? So far I have opened lip glosses, kitchen gadgets, fingernail polish, fancy chocolates, pj's, slippers, etc. So much fun! Here's a picture of a 1/2 empty radiation goodie bag:

Like I said, these are just two of the many gifts we have received over this 3 month journey. We are so so so thankful to everyone for helping us out and brightening our days!

Quick update on me: Sort of started out as a sad day because I found my first patch of hair-loss from radiation. Bummer! But still praying that I don't lose anymore. I can still cover this patch up for the most part. It is pretty close to my scar which still doesn't have much hair on it yet. I will try to get up enough courage soon to take a picture (it has more to do more with my chubby cheeks than the hair!!). I have also been hit with more nausea and tiredness these last couple of days. Tomorrow I will be 1/2 way through my radiation treatment, so this is about the time I should expect to get these symptoms. Still trying to remain positive and get plenty of rest!

Thanks again for all the support and encouragement. My mom and I miss you all and are ready to be back in NWA!

Hooked Up!

2011-04-19T20:47:00.010-05:00

Everyone has been asking how I'm feeling, so what better way to tell everyone than to blog!

I have 9 radiation treatments under my belt and 21 more to go! So far I feel about the same besides occasional nausea and fatigue. The doctors say I could possibly see hair loss, skin reactions, loss of appetite/nausea, etc. closer to 3-4 weeks into the treatment. EVERYDAY (except Saturdays and Sundays) at 8:45 I get my radiation therapy and I have the same 3 extremely nice and bubbly radiology therapists at each of my treatments! The treatment only takes approximately 15 minutes. I counted today and I get "zapped" with what appears to be a purple light 76 times every treatment. No worries, I can't feel it!

The questionable part of the treatment is the mask! I think it might make some people cringe. I have this plastic, netted mask as tight as possible over my entire head. If that's not bad enough for most people, then they snap that mask with my head in it to the table! So yes, I'm attached to the table by my head and couldn't escape even if their was a fire in the room! Here's the weird thing....I kind of find it relaxing! I think the Lord knew what he was doing when he made me weird!

The purpose of this lovely tight mask is to make sure I'm in the exact same position for every treatment. You can see masking tape and marker on my mask, that is where I get the radiation. I think it's pin-pointing a small area. I have the tape on both sides like you can see and then another one right over my right eye brow.

Hope that helps everyone understand a little better into my new temporary life! I know the Lord is continuing to work on me through this so keep the prayers coming! Also, keep praying for the family members that have to put up with me!!!

Treatment to Start Thursday

2011-04-08T20:41:00.003-05:00

I have to make this very quick because this laptop is about to run out of battery, and I left the power source at home.

Here's the skinny: We met with the radio-oncologist today. Sarah's radiation treatments will start on Thursday. We still don't know if chemotherapy is necessary. All the additional testing is complete, but the neuro-oncologist is out of town. We plan to get a hold of him next week to learn whether or not chemo is in the deck of cards. Regardless, radiation starts Thursday. Sarah was fitted for mask that holds her head still during radiation.

Sarah's last day of scheduled radiation is May 25th. She will remain in Houston until then.

We continue to receive many cards and calls of prayer and encouragement. Thank you very much. I'll have to elaborate a little more when I get this plugged in!

Goodnight.

March Madness

2011-03-27T12:33:00.007-05:00

This is, typically, one of my favorite times of the year. Daylight extends further into each evening, a round of golf becomes more plausible, and of course, it doesn't get much better than four weeks of tournament basketball.

With certainty, though, you can expect a March shower to ruin a day of golf, a cold front to disrupt an outdoor family event, and only one team in the tournament gets to win their final game of the season. This is the madness of March.

This weekend's visit to the hospital epitomized March Madness. We were thrown a curve ball. After believing, for weeks, that Sarah's tumor was a Grade I or Grade II Astrocytoma, we learned that it is Grade III Anaplastic Astrocytoma. Our neuro-oncologist did explain that, while classified as Grade III, it seems to be low on the Grade III spectrum (a few tests are not yet finalized). Nevertheless, Sarah will begin a six-week radiation regiment in Houston in a couple weeks, and chemotherapy is a real possibility.

Regardless of the classification, it's still only 5% of the size it used to be. For that, we are very grateful.

Each year, I fill out a bracket. Back in the glory days of Arkansas basketball, I would spend an inordinate amount of time conducting a thorough research on every team in the tournament. This may surprise you, but, despite all the research, I never had a perfect bracket. Nobody ever does. We never have all the answers.

Nor do we know all the details of this diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment plan. I doubt that a selection committee would make us a top seed.

Not many miracles start with great odds. I'm convinced God, (like Lynlee), loves a Cinderella story. We have faith that He can heal Sarah's cancer. Stories like ours give Him "One Shining Moment".

Update from Sarah!

2011-03-15T19:53:00.001-05:00

Hey everyone! Thought I would stop by and give Pat a break from the blog updates! Just be prepared for a little less creativity and a less fluent way of putting thoughts into writing! He's a tough act to follow, but I figured everyone was ready to hear from the patient herself!

So to answer the question I'm asked most...How are you feeling? That's a complex answer and I looked really hard on Google to show you a picture, but it's not really a search friendly explanation. In a nutshell...I feel like a sausage that someone packed too tightly into the casing! Funny but so true! Steroids are my newfound enemy (even though I know they are helping me get better day by day)! If the steroids have a side effect, I got it (all 20 of them). But the good news is that they are slowly fading me off of them and there is a light at the end of the tunnel!

It’s crazy, but I rarely think about the actual incision until Owen (at 2 years old) asks me to put a hat on. He does this every hour or so! He also makes comments about the choo-choo train tracks on my head! I love the kid's honesty! I got my staples out today, so we will see if he still thinks they look like choo-choo tracks!

So, the incision isn't that bad. It goes from the top of my right ear lobe right, behind my hairline, to an inch past the midline of my head. I'm not really taking any pain meds anymore. I get a slight headache on rare occasions when I over-do it a bit, but that's it. Awesome, and praise the Lord for that!

So what I can and can't do? I still have kept a pretty laid back schedule. I fatigue pretty quickly. I'm still not supposed to lift the kids or anything over 5 lbs (challenging!). I haven't driven since the diagnosis (Jan. 31st) due to the pressure the tumor was putting on my optic nerve. I haven't had the visual disturbances since the surgery (Praise the Lord) so I probably could drive, but I'm not sure my "sausage link-like reflexes" are quite up to speed with the other drivers! I mean when your neck is a similar size to your shoulders and cheeks, it's hard to turn your head in a split second! I know you are all thinking, "Sarah, you are being so hard on yourself." I know because everyone has said that, but trust me...it is pretty close and if you know me well you know I have to find humor in everything! It's my best coping mechanism!

I know people are also wondering if I lost any skills when they removed some of my brain tissue, good and bad. Well, so far, no. At least no one is telling me! I know some of the functions of the frontal lobe from school, so; of course I've been testing myself on some of those skills. They typically include high executive functioning skills like organization, memory, behavior, personality, and problem solving to name a few (we are in the clear because these haven't been strengths of mine for quite some time now!). So, am I normal? Probably not, because I don't think God ever intended me to be "normal”. Am I still quirky Sarah who laughs at everything? YES! Also, a plus is that the tumor on my right hemisphere which is likely most people's non-dominant side of the brain.

Emotionally? I'm doing pretty well. Do I have my bad days where I just beg and cry to God? Yes, not very often, but they do come around. Emotions have been very interesting during this journey. For the most part, I haven't dwelled on the situation (which is another coping strategy of mine). I just ignore it until I can actually take a step to fix it. We have been keeping life as normal as possible around here, which has been beneficial for me in this area. I think I've been pretty strong, but I'm still reminded of my weakness, too. Overall, I'm hanging in there just fine and KNOWING the Lord is going to do great things through this. I was telling the Lord today that I'm not sure how he's going to use me through this, what I'm supposed to be learning, or even if I'm ready, but every ounce of this pain is so worth it to know that just one person could benefit from my story and possibly grow closer to Him or even better yet know who HE truly is for the first time. So. Worth. It.

I would also like to sincerely THANK every single one of you. I cannot tell you how awesome it is to feel all the encouragement and support from so many people. A day still does not go by that we do not get a card in the mail, facebook/twitter/blog message, flowers, dinner, money, gift cards, fruit baskets, text message, voicemail, etc. encouraging us in our journey and letting us know we are being prayed for. I want you to know that we have read and cherished every single one of them. We are so humbled by everyone's responses and concern. It truly takes our breath away and has helped us fight this battle even stronger. Thank you doesn't seem like enough words to say, but from the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU!

I'm ending my novel with this: I am truly a blessed woman to be surrounded by an amazing family. Most of you know how great they are without me even going into details, but they have surrounded me and not let me fall even one inch. Parents and siblings, you all know what ALL you have done for us, and again forever thank you. Now to Pat...you have all gotten to see an amazing side to my "beyond perfect in my eyes husband" through his blog posts. And yes, he is that amazing. It is breath-taking to me that God could and would create such a perfect person for me and then make sure I found him! I did. I found him and tricked him into marrying me, and I'm so glad I did. You have been a rock babe, and thank you for carrying me through with you. We are going to make this great!

Love to all and we are still praying for a great pathology report from Houston. Our next appointment is March 25th. It's going to be good!

Still Waiting

2011-03-11T12:47:00.003-06:00

No news is typically good news. In our case today, no news is, likely, postponed good news! We arrived in Houston today, only to learn that official pathology is not yet available. Long story short, we have to come back in two weeks to get the OFFICIAL report.

Typically, pathology is available tens days after surgery, but the pathology team wanted to do a few more tests on Sarah's tumor. It sounds like the pending tests are usually reserved for low grade tumor cases.

They did affirm, again, that Sarah's tumor looks to be low grade. A few times, it was even referred to as "very low grade".

So, we still don't have anything official, but the feedback sounds like we can expect good news soon.

Back in Houston

2011-03-11T10:07:00.002-06:00

We just arrived in Houston. I've failed to mention that we were coming back today to meet with the Oncology team. We're currently waiting to be called back for Sarah's first appointment, and the second one is at 1:00.

We hope to leave these appointments with a very clear understanding of the official diagnosis and prognosis. We are, of course, praying for an exceptional report.

Acceptance Speech

2011-03-07T21:06:00.023-06:00

Thousands of people have made the month leading up to Sarah's surgery not only easier, but memorable.

Friends, family, complete strangers, neighbors, and co-workers have prayed for Sarah, offered all help imaginable, delivered gifts, and spoken endless encouraging words to Sarah, me, and our family.

A couple of weeks ago, we wrote our pastor, Nick Floyd, a note that he shared with our Cross Church Fayetteville family. In it, I mentioned that we are overwhelmed by the response of our church family, but not surprised by it.

That sentiment remains true. Thank you, Nick, and church family, for walking through this with us!

I don't know how many times I've thanked Damon McDonald, but he deserves another one just for being Damon. (Shameless plug: Buy your next vehicle at Everett Maxey.)

The best part of our two trips to Houston was that we, never once, worried about our kids' well-being or state of mind. I hope this isn't overly sappy, but Michele and her family mean the world to us. This month has reminded us how special their family is.

Upon our arrival on Sunday, we immediately noticed a clean (and organized) garage and a manicured yard.

These two acts of service, alone, were absolutely awesome! Sarah raved about it all the way to the front door!

Then, she raved some more when she opened the door and saw this:

This is all the handy work of our great friend, and talented designer, Kirsten Blowers. Check out her store, Rifraff, on the Fayetteville Square.

We watched the Academy Awards a few nights ago. I'm pretty sure that if I knew, for months in advance, that I had a 20% chance of winning the most prestigious award in my profession, I'd have something put together. Not many movie stars do. What's the deal? No time to jot a few words down between sets? Maybe call up your favorite script writer, and ask for a favor? At least scribble down the 20 people you want to make sure to thank on the napkin of your favorite 5-star restaurant...

Some of the fumbling around can probably be written off as a lame attempt to show a little humility. "I can't believe it!" Yeah right.

Well, we can't believe it. We never left for Houston thinking we would come home to all this. There wasn't a 20% chance of this happening when we left. We don't know what else to say accept, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" (Sound familiar?)

We don't know who to thank, either. We've tried to put all the pieces together, but it seems that a few people may be too gracious to let us know they had a part in it. So, thank you Kirsten, Elaine, Michele, Angela, Rachel, and whoever else had a hand in our little home makeover.

Coming Home.. For Now.

2011-03-04T14:15:00.006-06:00

Wednesday and Thursday were two steps forward, but today started as a step back. Sarah was dealing with a bit of pain last night and this morning.

A doctor removed her turban around 7:00 A.M., so we have full view of Sarah's incision. A few staples are covered by a scab, so we don't have an official count. Preliminary estimate is about 38 staples.

Sarah's surgeon stopped by about an hour ago. Dr. Weinberg has been a huge blessing. Not only did he remove 95% of the tumor, but he has also been very encouraging to Sarah. (His name is Dr. Jeffrey S. Weinberg, and he is the most impressive doctor I have ever met.)

Physically, Sarah is recovering very well. They initially told us that we would be here 3-5 days. Since Sarah is recovering so quickly, he said that we could leave tomorrow morning. We will still be coming back next week to meet with Oncologist and Radiation Oncologist.

The removal of the turban brought with it a wave of emotion. We've had to convince Sarah that she doesn't look like a monster. Dr. Weinberg reminded her (and us), again, t0 expect a long recovery process that includes good and bad days.

Since we learned of Sarah's diagnosis, we have prayed that our lives do not return to "normal". We expect things to be better than before. The old "normal" was just that... "normal".

Our expectation is that this bump in the road propels us into exceptional living.

She Really Is Okay!

2011-03-02T17:27:00.004-06:00

We were, finally, allowed to see Sarah at 4:00 today. She is going to remain in the holding room until about 7:00 or 8:00.

We'll laugh for a long time about the first couple of things that she said to me. I'll keep the first to myself, but the second was, "Did I miss any good fights?" I'm pretty sure she was talking about her VERY innocent parents... maybe not. Either way, we're in trouble. She was out for half a day, but she hasn't missed a beat.

She's asked that I take pictures to document the day, but I'll have to wait to post those until she gets her private room. No cameras allowed in the holding room.

When we get in the private room, I'll try to wrap it all up.

Out of Surgery

2011-03-02T15:20:00.002-06:00

Sarah is out of surgery, and in a post-op holding room. She will be there for another hour until we can see her, but she is "awake".

There was only one surprise during surgery... and it was good. Going into surgery, our doctor thought that he could get 80% of tumor out. It turns out that he was able to get 95% of it out!

Preliminary diagnosis is still Grade 2 Astrocytoma. Official diagnosis will be determined by March 11th.

More details to come, but that's the skinny. We hope to see her around 4:30.

Thank you all for your prayers. It has been a pretty taxing day for us, but your prayers, and the company of our friends and family here at the hospital made it MUCH easier.

Day of Surgery - Update 1

2011-03-02T07:22:00.003-06:00

I just left Sarah's side in the surgery holding room.

She is still in great spirits. The anesthesiologist had just visited her, so imagine she'll be feeling extraordinarily well very soon!

We will get updates every couple of hours. The medical staff here is amazing.

Here is a link to a picture of the operating room, and Sarah's surgeon (Page 4 and 5). MD Anderson

Pat

Contentedness

2011-02-26T21:46:00.011-06:00

Do yourself a favor, and read Philippians 4:10-13. Really, do it. The rest of this won't be very good in comparison. After you read it, listen to "The Secret of Contentment". Even if you have no interest at all in this "stuff", take a chance.

Here's a summary of 90% of my conversations:

"How's Sarah doing?"
Me: "She's doing fine/good/great/well?"
"Good, good, how are you?"
Me: "I'm doing fine/good/great/well."
"Good to see you. You're in our prayers/thoughts."

I like these conversations. It's good to know that people are thinking about Sarah, and lifting her up in prayer.

But, this exchange, very rarely, goes much deeper. I walk away with a multitude of thoughts: "He thinks my head is in the clouds." "She doesn't believe that I am feeling okay." "Am I really okay, or am I just numb?" "I wonder if this is a denial phase, and all my thoughts will change in an hour, a day, a week."

I have a friend, and co-worker, who doesn't allow surface conversations. He always digs deeper. We had some meaningful dialogue one day, each of the last two weeks.

I also have three brothers who are absolutely incredible, and have each influenced my life, whether intentionally or accidently. A few years ago, a brother and I had a lengthy conversation about life, in general. At the end of the phone conversation, he encouraged me not to let another year pass whereby I did not pursue that which makes me happy. He said that I could figure it out now, or wait until I was much older... better sooner rather than later.

The next day, I started reading about contentedness. I've spent more time reading about contentedness than any other aspect of faith over the last four or five years.

I hope you took time to read and listen to what I recommended above. It's a life changing perspective.

Reflecting on this passage, and talking with my buddy at work last week, I realized that, at times, I may be confusing contentedness with stoicism. Being stoic is not liberating at all. It doesn't bring joy in the midst of trial, and it doesn't allow to you to love, care, and sympathize for someone who is suffering. I know because I slip into that mode very easily.

True, biblical, contentedness does bring freedom. It does bring joy. It's comforting to those who are suffering.

Sarah's diagnosis has detached us more from this world than any other time in our lives, and caused us to focus more on the things of heaven. That breads happiness.

Chalk one up for "Good Things coming out of Unfortunate Circumstances". Let's chalk up a couple more.

Please continue to lift Sarah up. Her surgery is at 7:30 on Wednesday morning.

Sarah and "O"

2011-02-10T15:43:00.003-06:00

We have a date. Sarah will have surgery on Wednesday, March 2nd. We have to be in Houston a couple of days early for testing.

We did learn a couple of things while at MD Anderson today. Dr. Weinberg showed us the MRI images. While Sarah's tumor is on the right frontal lobe, it is a little further back on the lobe than we first thought. Better said, there is brain tissue between Sarah's skull and the tumor. We also learned that they would not be able to remove 100% of the tumor because blood vessels have infiltrated the backside of the mass. Any damage to those blood vessels could result in a stroke, which could lead to paralysis, etc. If the mass is as slow growing as they believe it is, trying to get it all out is not worth the risk.

I am not sure what this means, or how/if it changes Sarah's prognosis, but we will know quite a bit more after post-surgery pathology is available. Depending on the biopsy results, additional treatment could follow. We pray that such treatment will not be required.

Sarah will have a pretty sweet scar that will span from one ear, across the top of her head, to the other ear (about an inch inside her hairline).

Typical of a mother, Sarah might be just as concerned about missing Owen's 2nd birthday as she is about anything we learned today.

(Insert "my son is the best" prose here). It's crazy to think that Owen is two years old. It's definitely been a happy two years. I could go on, but if you know "O", you know exactly what I'm talking about. He is, hands down, the best (no bias; if he looked like a baby ostrich and screamed like a peacock, I'd say so).

We can't wait to see him and Lynlee! Hopefully, we'll make it home tomorrow. Those kids, and their mama need some lovin'!

Thanks again for everybody's prayers and well-wishes. Special thanks to all who have helped get us in and out of town, watched our kids, watched our house (get hammered with snow), fed us a meal, watched our dog... the list goes on. Thank you,

Pat & Sarah

The Skinny

2011-02-07T15:11:00.002-06:00

We are leaving for Houston tomorrow morning to ensure that we beat Artic Front #2! Sarah's consultation at MD Anderson is scheduled for Thursday morning. We still don't have a surgery date, and we will not have one until that consultation.

There's quite a bit going on around here. Otherwise, I would elaborate a little more. The reality is that we do not know what to expect (in terms of timing) until we are down there.

My apologies for the matter-of-fact-ness of this update.

I'll do better next time.

Quick Update

2011-02-04T22:21:00.002-06:00

They discharged Sarah from Washington Regional on Wednesday after all the CT scans came back negative. That was good news! Discharge instructions were for Sarah to rest and take life easy until MD Anderson gave us a call to come to Houston.

A MD Anderson scheduler called today. They are just waiting on MRI & CT scan images from Washington Regional, then they will schedule us. We had hoped that these images were already there... but they're not. Bummer.

Those images should arrive at MD Anderson on Monday, and they think that we will know our surgery date Monday night. The surgery date can't come soon enough!

We appreciate everyone's prayers and well wishes.

Sarah is still doing very well. We got out and celebrated a couple of birthdays with friends tonight, and had a great time.

Keep the prayers coming!

Pat & Sarah

The Uncommon

2011-02-01T19:24:00.001-06:00

Common: Headaches, migraines, fatigue, nausea, dizziness, moodiness (I might get in trouble for this one), aggressive behavior (and this one), physician appointments, MRI, CT scans, emergency room visits, diagnosis, prognosis, and even tumors.

The Uncommon:

A Divine Appointment. We've been praying for an answer to migraines that Sarah has battled for the last couple of months. After a visit to a neurologist and a little vision trouble, Sarah decided to schedule an appointment with our optometrist. Not an optometrist who we bat our eyes at every six months, snag a box of contacts from, and never see again. An optometrist who God put in our life years ago, even before we ever visited her for an eye exam. Who knew that Dr. R. would be the first to discover abnormal pressure on Sarah's optic nerve. That was Friday.

Answered Prayer. With Dr. R.'s help, we scheduled a MRI on Monday morning at 11:15 to figure out exactly what was going on. We were operating under the old adage that "no news is good news", so we felt pretty good when 5:00 rolled around without any communication back from the neurologist. Five minutes later I learned that Sarah had a "mass" on her right frontal lobe. After weeks of prayer, though, we had an answer.

Crazy Peace. Sarah is a champ. My sister-in-law, Ang, describes Sarah's current state much better than I can. Please read. Granted, we have had our moments (and will have more), Sarah has been incredible. I called her at 5:15 on Monday to let her know about her mass. When I arrived at Lynlee's gymnastics practice at 5:45, I found Sarah giggling with another mom (who we love very much). Truth be told, I heard her before I saw her! Those who know Sarah know how that works. We followed doctors' orders, and headed to the ER.

Amazing Friends. We were greeted at the ER by three great friends (and pastors of Crosschurch Fayetteville). They were there before us... waiting on our arrival... ready to give us hugs, laughs, and smiles... ready to love us. More friends and family arrived. Before we were admitted, we had an entourage.

Diagnosis. After a couple of hours in the E.R. waiting room we got to hear Sarah's (tentative) diagnosis. Chances are, Sarah has a low grade astrocytoma. These are, typically, benign. This could all change, but that's what we know now. Very soon, we will take a trip to MD Anderson to have the "racquetball-size" tumor removed.

Here is what we know the future holds: an ordained day, followed by an ordained day, followed by an ordained day. In the backs of our minds, we definitely have expectations. Like many of you reading this, we have prayers that we lift up throughout the day. It's easy to get wrapped up in all the medical stuff. All the facts. We believe the power of prayer, faith, and trust are just as real.

Lift up the prayers of your heart. We definitely pray for the wisdom of medical staff, peace, comfort, healing... you name it.

If you can't think of anything else to pray, pray that we have MANY more opportunities to experience the uncommon as I have described above. That's when we feel the presence of God. Our prayer is that many of you experience it too.

Pat & Sarah

4 years ago today!

2010-07-07T15:50:00.005-05:00

This cute little button decided to show up while I was shopping at Dillards! No, I didn't have her at Dillard's but my water broke there...alone! This is one of the rare pictures of my little baby not crying.

Then this is her at her 1 year birthday party! Her sweet "razorback" birthmark has nearly faded to nothing now.

Now she's two! I love those cubby cheeks. They have left us for now :(

These were from her 2nd birthday party. She's such a dare-devil!!

This was her at her 3rd year bday party. She's about to make some serious tie-dye!

This is her not too long ago. We will have pictures of her posted from today soon!

Funk

2010-07-07T14:38:00.003-05:00

Let's see if I can remember how to do this! Sorry for my absence, I've been boycotting blogging for quite some time now! Just for 2 main reasons: 1. Takes too much time out of my day and time has become very precious in our household lately and 2. I feel like you need a talent or something interesting to really be a good blog and I feel I lack in both categories. I guess if absent-mindedness is a talent than I'm really good at that! Oh and let me add 3. My writing abilities are let's say below average and eventually lowers my self-esteem.

Just wanted to apologize to the 3 people that used to read my blog and hope you eventually come back to read again! I thought I would get that all off my chest before I had to blog for Lynlee's birthday which is tomorrow!

I will end with a picture of what our summer has looked like so far! Sorry back-door neighbors!

World's Best and Worst

2010-05-05T23:19:00.003-05:00

This could turn out terrible.

I used to get nervous before middle school basketball games. The first stall in the men's restroom was MY locker. Unfortunately, my efforts in that stall never untied the knots in my stomach. My first missed shot always did.

That same feeling resides as I attempt to write about my bride, the mother of my children, and my #1 fan. If I could admit a shortcoming before continuing, I think that I could proceed with a little more freedom.

I am the world's worst giver of gifts. I put Scrooge to shame. I'm pretty sure that Lynlee quickly unwraps her gifts and throws them into her closet, fearing that I would take them back to the store if given the chance. I've definitely missed it.

Somehow, (maybe divine appointment) this world's worst giver of gifts fell upon the world's best.

I love that Sarah is such an impressive giver. I often wish the world could see the depth of her generosity. Specifically, her generosity with TIME.

I'm reminded, almost daily, of the sacrifices that she makes for Lynlee and Owen. More than that, though, I stand impressed by the generosity she shows in spite of raising two kids. What a model our kids will have! They will have no doubt that mom loves them. They will also know that the love and generosity that we show each other is not reserved for each other.

Sarah, you are amazing! I love you! Happy Mother's Day.

Pat

I'm still not so sure that you are going to get a great gift. I may have to work with Matt on that. He seems to have the market cornered.

Look who's 1!!!!

2010-02-10T22:33:00.002-06:00

So I know I've been a real slacker lately, but I just can't seem to catch up with life so some things have to be put on the back-burner. But a statement about this occasion had to happen!

My baby (and as of now, last baby as far as 'our' plans go!) has turned 1. Man where did life go?

He is such an amazing child and I can't wait to see the man he grows into. I have not found a person that doesn't fall in love with him immediately!

He's pretty much a walker now. Within the last few weeks he's been taking 10-14 steps everywhere. He's about to show his sister who's boss also, since she still attempts to carry him around the house.

Owie, happy 1st birthday! We love you so much!

Oh and if you are wondering about a party...well I'm sort of slacking on that too. I did order a cake today! I haven't really called anybody yet to invite them, so lets hope some people besides his parents show up to watch him eat his cake! Sorry for all those moms who find that disappointing. We do make him feel special in other ways....I think :)!

Family Photos

2009-12-07T22:13:00.002-06:00

So I know I've been gone for a LOOOOONG time, but you have to check out our family photos. Rachel did an AWESOME job! I cried when I looked at them.

Click here to go to her blog.

She actually gives me a lot of credit for the outfits which is really sweet, but we all know better than that. Kirsten had absolutely everything to do with it and I'm forever grateful to her. She's definitely got it!

Thanks so much Rachel. We think you are so talented. God bless you!

Oh Honey!

2009-11-01T21:38:00.003-06:00

If you haven't figured it out yet Lynlee was a honey-bee and Owen was honeycomb! Last year I made Lynlee's peacock costume, so this year I made it easy on myself and ordered one from Gymboree. It was a great idea I might add! I did make Owen's costume, but it wasn't too time consuming. I just took some old khaki clothes and painted hexagons with honey on them with fabric paint.

I can't look at this picture without cracking up! Notice under that extremely large chin of Owen's is a turtle neck. We have a family joke that it's hard to wear turtle necks or collars if you don't have a neck! Point proven.

Now poor Owen can relate to me when I wear Spanx! I searched for tan clothes for about 2 months and couldn't find a shirt to save my life. So poor guy had to SQUEEZE into 3-6 month clothes. Notice the hexagon pattern is really stretched out around the tummy area and the pants are almost capris!

All the grandkids! Belle and Dru were darling cats and Jeb was a rock star. Owen loved his guitar. Side note: Jeb lived up to his costume! That booger was so hard to get in a picture even though you can't tell here!

If you look closely, you can see his "piercings." He had one on his nose and a variety on his ears. He even had a sweet tat on his arm!

The whole trick-or-treat gang! The Kennedy kids were the Wizard of Oz clan! I can't believe Erin had enough time to get the cutest outfits for all 4 of the kids since they have only been home from Africa a few weeks.

Here are Gi and Papa with their Fries' great-grandkids! We have gone to visit them before trick-or-treating for several years now.

Don't those tights just make the outfit? She had a great time with Halloween. She was a little confused because if you asked her where she was about to go, she would answer "I'm going Halloween" instead of trick-or-treating. She just thought trick-or-treat was what she said to get candy! I spent 20 minutes trying to explain it and just gave up! I need Pat's logic, but he was too busy cheering on the Hogs at the game!

The honeycomb crawling away from all the crazy people! Don't worry he didn't have any candy. Or at least not while I was around...he stayed with GiGi and G-pops while Lynlee and I went trick-or-treating!

Creativity??

2009-10-26T19:59:00.003-05:00

Okay, I know most of you have seen the movie Big Daddy with Adam Sandler. If you are anything like me you loved when the little boy dressed himself. He was so creative and his crazy attire choices made him even more adorable. I always thought that Adam's character handled it so well and pretty much went with whatever the boy put on. Plus, I thought I would handle my children's clothing wishes in a similar manner. Then it happened to me...THIS happened to me:

I know what you are thinking. "Sarah it is not that bad. She looks adorable." And all I have to say to you is that you didn't see her in person. Her polka dot dress is size 24 months (barely hits her thighs and looks 3/4 length), her purple leggings do not match a single dot in her dress, her leggings are too short, her pink socks are rolled below her purple leggings, her shoes are glittery silver which is another color not found in her polka dot dress, her polka dot jacket totally does not match her dress, and her shiny NAVY blue head band looks so dorky and did I mention it was navy? Whew, that was a lot and who knows if I even got it all!

Is it just me or is it so much cuter when someone else's child is dressing like a crazy child?

Happy Fall Y'all!

2009-10-18T21:24:00.009-05:00

I'm loving the season changing! I love Razorback football, comfort food, and sweatshirts! Life is great and we are very blessed and busy! We took our annual trip to the pumpkin patch with the Slaughter's this weekend. It was crazy and cold. Owen was a little concerned about the weather and failed to smile or much less look at the camera, but we got some cute pictures anyway.

Here are all the cousins. Lynlee LOVES spending every moment she possibly can with those kids. I hope they continue to stay close as they grow older. Nothing better than someone you love looking after you as you grow up! Definitely a prayer of mine.

Cute little bundle of harvest joy! He loved chewing on the hay and chewing on the small baseball sized pumpkins!

Pondering why in the world these crazy people that God so happened to place me in their home are putting me out in the cold in the middle of these hard orange things!

A smile only a mother could love...and everyone else can laugh at!

Now that one is precious...I don't care who you are!

Here's the only picture that actually turned out with the two siblings! I'm not complaining though.

We can't forget about the corny bear/pumpkin cut outs! Oh yes we did!

We will end with the two Fries hunks! Really could life be any better?

8 Months...well yesterday!

2009-10-11T22:12:00.004-05:00

Look who is 8 months and yes it was yesterday, but I'm just now getting around to it!

He is truly as sweet as he looks! He is really starting to do a lot! He officially has 2 teeth. Both Fries babies were late in getting teeth. He's sitting up like a pro. This past week he has gone from laying on the floor to the sitting position! It's funny walking in and seeing him sitting up in his bed just looking at us.

Here is the biggest milestone that has been brewing the last few weeks.

Yes, we have a crawler (well sort of) on our hands! He has gotten 2 steps/crawls in a row and then busts down on his belly. He can make it easily across the room in a very eclectic way. Here's a picture of one of his methods:

I call it the shoulder scoot! Hey whatever works right!

He has also started eating Puffs and crackers! He loves it!

Don't mind that little piece of puff on his mouth. He sure doesn't care.

We can't forget about Miss Priss herself! Here's her new glasses and super-cute Kicky Pants dress from Riffraff. J-Lo watch out!

We hope everyone has a wonderful and blessed week!

Were Back!

2009-10-05T22:57:00.002-05:00

We are still going strong here at the Fries household! I'm just slacking big time on my blogging! I decide to take some random pictures of the kiddos right before bed time.

Both kids are doing great. Owen's ear is healing and looking pretty good. Hopefully with time it will look even better. Lynlee Kate is SOOOO much fun right now. She is talking our heads off and saying the funniest things.

Surprise! Someone is finally talking to me! It seriously looks like no one ever talks to this booger!

Thanks for stopping by! I will be better at blogging I promise! I've actually been spending most of my time cleaning my house! Surprising I know, but we are having a home group with our church every Wednesday night at our house. Plus, we put our house up for sale. So I have a few things motivating me! I might also get my almost 8 month old baby's room almost put together! I'm really taking big steps here! Watch out...I might even start working out (keyword: might)!

Successful Surgery!

2009-09-22T21:51:00.004-05:00

Owen had surgery last Friday. He had a cyst on the back of his earlobe. It was about as big as the tip of my pinky finger. I was a little nervous because he had to be put under anesthesia. It lasted about 45 minutes and then he came out all fussy and confused! The picture above was taken at 6 a.m. and you can't tell that guy hasn't had a bottle since 10:30 p.m. Pat had an interview at work, so my mom tagged along with Owen and I. I was really grateful because she remembered everything and asked all the right questions! I think I was a little uneasy due to Lynlee's last hospital visit.

Here's some pictures of the cyst. Sorry these pictures are blurry because I had to take my flash off. Needless to say he didn't stay as still as you need to when the flash is off!

The hole or pierced-looking thing is some kind of pit that the cyst is attached too. It would puss out really stinky stuff, so that's why we had it removed so early. They didn't want that to get infected, because an infection in the cartilage is really hard to fight (or so they say).

Side view. Really hard to see, but I guess that's what happens when your camera is facing up towards the lights!

He loved all the cords and strings attached to him! It definetly kept him busy.

I don't think any other chubby legs have ever looked so cute in a hospital gown! Hopefully we will not have to see either of our kids in a hospital gown again. Once is enough for the both of them. His ear is looking pretty good now. It is still swollen and a little bruised, but he has really been acting about the same.

That morning was eventful for Owen and I starting at 3 a.m. because he just wanted a bottle! But we both had a few naps and felt refreshed for our out of town guest coming in for the Razorback game!

It was Kimberly's birthday Friday. She wanted a spa day for her birthday SO I just had to tag along. Being a best friend is really hard work people! We went all out with a massage, facial, pedicure, and manicure! Does it get better? By the way...if you want a great facial and massage you need to go to Glo in Fayetteville! They were great!

Goofy, greasy picture but HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIMBERLY!!!

Sister Pains

2009-09-14T21:58:00.006-05:00

How does someone's older sibling go from a sweet angel to a crazy daisy in just a matter of months? Here's a small collection of pictures of what all the little man has endured thanks to his sister.

He seriously doesn't have a clue! He's just so excited everyone is paying attention to him! His older girl cousins might of had a hand in this one so Lynlee can't get all the blame!

Just another chew toy to him...not a sparkling princess fairy wand! And don't worry all you good moms, I kept a good eye on him to make sure a princess jewel did not fall off into my little prince's mouth!

So on this day, I thought I had a few seconds to put on my make-up. Everyone was being really quiet (which I'm learning is a bad sign!) so I decided to check on them. Looks like Lynlee found an alternative use for post-its!

Seriously...he has no clue! He didn't even attempt to put up a fight!

I'm starting to worry about when this little guy goes to school. Will the mean bullies just automatically see him as an easy target??

No clue that this could have been a bad idea...

Lynlee also thinks EVERYONE loves hide-n-seek.

And for some crazy reason...he does!

This is what occurs if you ask Lynlee to get Owen a few toys to keep him busy. Once again he loves it!

Slightly concerned, but definitely not complaining because his smart sister figured out the paci will hide almost every cry!

She just loves him so much she wants to squeeze the fire out of him!

I think a cry was about to occur on Owen's part!

Okay, so you can see his polly pocket car and princess horse BUT can you see what he has in his mouth? He seems to think it is a paci, but it isn't. It is a pretend medicine dropper from one of Lynlee's doll doctor kits. And yes it is pink! If Owen gets any where near this toy it goes directly into his mouth and he will suck on it for a good 20 minutes! No Clue.

We will end with Owen's first experience of food! I had it all planned out, but mini mom decided she had everything under control!

I promise NO babies were injured during these events despite what it may look like!

Still Here!

2009-09-09T22:16:00.002-05:00

We are still here...I'm really going to have to adjust to this working and blogging thing! I have a ton to say, but not many pictures to support it! Plus, you all definitely do NOT want to hear me talk about my job! At least not at this point.

If you look really closely at Owen's chest you will see a bungee cord. This is now a must when he is swinging on the tire-horse! For some reason my dad thought it would be a great idea to push Owen a little higher while yelling at me to look. So I looked to please him and then turned back around. As I was turning I heard my dad yell "Oh my!" I turned to see Owen's head 2 inches from the ground with my dad holding him by a foot. It could have been really really bad and of course Owen only squeaked in disagreement once! Oh my it is a wonder my brother and I turned out somewhat okay!

Hopefully you all will see me sooner than later!

When should I interfere?

2009-08-30T21:40:00.002-05:00

This is the conversation at our dinner table tonight:

Sarah: Pat look at her glued to this commercial (yes we were watching TV while having our family dinner and it was a tylenol commercial).

Pat: I honestly will not be surprised if she goes into medicine (as a profession)

Sarah: Hey Lynlee, do you want to be a doctor when you grow up?

Lynlee: No...

Sarah: You don't want to help people feel better and give them medicine like Dr. Lovell?

Lynlee: (thinking really hard about it) Um....no I just want to be a clown when I grow up!

That might not be as funny if you weren't here or know Lynlee very well. I'm pretty sure if she saw a clown in person she would be terrified! PLUS, she has never seen a clown or a TV show with one in it. Random. So much for our dreams of having a doctor! I guess we will have to start working on Owen!

Percentile Failure

2009-08-24T22:07:00.002-05:00

So Owen had his 6 month check-up last week. He weighed 17 1/2 lbs and was 26 1/2 inches long. Still growing, but was ONLY in the 50th percentile in both. I know, I know most people would love their kids in the average range BUT I have been conditioned (like most people) to shoot for 100%. I felt a little disappointed, BUT then I soon realized I AM A HUGE DORK! I guess I just really love little fat nugget babies!

I thought a would pull out a oldie, but goodie picture of the nugget himself!

This by far has been his most talked about picture. Now does that look like a 50%-er? Can you truly have man-boobs and be 50%? Go figure...I'm still puzzled but at least I got it off my chest!

Exhausted and What time?

2009-08-20T22:51:00.003-05:00

Where has all my time gone? Looks like I'm going to have to really step it up when it comes to blogging! How do you other working mom's do it (that includes stay at home moms which in my book is THE hardest job out there...really I'm not just trying to sweet talk you, I'm horrible at it)?

It has been a whirl-wind of emotions this past 2 weeks.

Work is fine, crazy but fine. I'm really trying to start off on a good note even though it seems like so many things are already trying to knock me off my feet. The craziness will pass and routines will be set. The kids are doing GREAT with the transition. They love Mrs. Kathy's and play their little hearts out. Plus Mrs. Kathy is so good at routines and schedules (which every kid thrives with...example of why I fail at the whole stay at home mom thing. If you know me you would agree! Flexibility is my middle name!!) The whole family is a little tired at night, but so far the family is doing great.

My emotions are a little uncontrollable right now. I have a handful of friends/coworkers that need a lot of prayer. So many people that are close to me have been hit with tragedy that no one would ever wish upon another person. One of these friends has a blog. I really encourage you to check out Jason and Katie's story. My stomach gets so upset and I find it hard to breath just thinking about their situation, but they are so strong. It is so encouraging to see how faithful people are to God's call on their life. I know Katie has reached so many people with her faithfulness and obedience. I will never forget the words she spoke at her baby's memorial service.

One thing Katie said that will be forever in my heart and I will even be able to hear her voice and exactly how she said it was "God is EVERYTHING He says He is or He is nothing at all. I can't believe He is nothing. He must be enough." I honestly do not understand how anyone could have left Reese's funeral with out knowing Jesus as their personal Savior. Truly. Powerful.

So these past few weeks have been filled with a lot of thinking and priority checking.

6 months!

2009-08-10T14:46:00.003-05:00

Owen is 6 months today! Enjoy the pictures of my cute little nugget!

Yep, he's sitting up on his own (with the occasional face plant)!

Hope you all think he is as cute as I do!

I start back to work this week, so pray we all have a good transition! I have definitely been blessed to stay at home with the kids as long as I have!

Happy Birthday Estella Dru!

2009-08-05T15:15:00.003-05:00

Someone very special turned 5 years old today! We love you very much Drusie and hope you have an amazing day today! And Lynlee Kate thinks this girl and her sister hang the moon!

So beautiful, isn't she? She is definitely going to break some guys hearts when she gets older (that is if my brother ever lets her date)! And don't ask my why she is posing with so many props! I honestly have no clue! When they stayed with me, the girls thought they needed to hold something up when I took their picture!

We love you so much Estella Dru!

Home Sweet Home!

2009-08-03T09:39:00.004-05:00

We made it home! We had a great time in Florida with some great friends! We had 4 children under the age of 3...we are definitely crazy! But overall, all the kids were really good. Here's the final round of Florida pictures.

Here's Kimberly and I with our two leeches! Okay so they are much better then leeches, but it seemed like the whole trip we had these two glued to our hips!

Here's a close up of Lila Bean! That's her nickname! It stems from lima bean! Cute, huh?

Warning: No babies harmed during this photo shoot! This was our best attempt to get all four kiddos!
This was our last night and Lynlee and Emme finally decided they could really have fun together! Go figure? They weren't bad the whole week, they just had limited interaction!

Mommy and daughter!
Brother and sister! Again, no babies were harmed! He might have just consumed more sand than a normal almost 6 month old should have! We took about 10 pictures like this and ALL of the pictures Owen has this really worried look on his face! I can't seem to figure out why?

Our best family shot!
Lynlee absolutely loved the beach. She would play great in the sand and then run into the waves. This was a great age for the beach!

Times have definitely changed from a few years ago! I would just sit in a chair, read a magazine, play paddle ball with Pat, and occasionally cool off in the ocean! But not anymore! This time, I would go between playing in the sand to sitting under the umbrella to keep Owen out of the sun. You know what though? I wouldn't change it for the world. The boys would actually let Kimberly and I go lay out during nap time, but I got SO bored and found myself just wanting the kids back down there to play with me!

We are glad to be home, but can't wait to go back next year!

Beach Bums!!

2009-07-27T23:35:00.003-05:00

Still just hanging out on the beach! Here is Owen and Lila doing what they do best...nothing!

And sleeping!

Here's the beach bunny herself chasing waves!

Priceless!

Precious little Emme! She is 22 months old and loving her some Patdog (a.k.a Pat!). Lynlee and Emme are having a great time together!

We drove into Destin tonight. It is only 5 minutes away from Okaloosa Island. We ate dinner and then headed to the Destin Commons. Lynlee had a blast. We built a bear/unicorn! I think it was the ugliest stuffed animal they had, but it was her favorite! It has already had 3 names: Sleeping Beauty, Auroa, and Tinkerbelle! She's really creative!

Next we headed to the sprinkler/fountain thingy! I was chasing Lynlee around the perimeter trying to get a good action shot. All of a sudden, a man came out of no where and grabbed my camera as he ran off. I screamed and looked at my prince charming wondering why in the world he wasn't chasing and form-tackling the bandit. Then I looked and saw that it was Trent, one of the boys I nannied for years. Whew-sigh of relief! I was already having flash backs off all the cute pictures I took today and would forever miss! So of course, we had to take pictures with the stinker!

He is 17 and I started babysitting him when he was just 10! I love that guy so much and he is turing into an amazing man! All his future girlfriends are going to have to past the "Sarah Test" before they can continue dating!

Crazy sprinkler girl! She is being sooo good and having an amazing time!

Me and the newest man in my life! He has also been so good! We are truly blessed with a happy, easy baby!

The three amigos! Look at Owen looking at his sissy! Lynlee Kate can get that boy to belly-laugh better then any of us! I really think he thinks she hangs the moon!

We will end with that amazing leg shot! I know you all want to kiss on that!

Warning: Cutest pictures ahead

2009-07-26T23:24:00.002-05:00

Ladies, get in line! There is enough loving to go around!! He's resembling his G-pops more and more every day...wild glasses, goofy hats, and an impeccable physique (ha just had to say that you know I love you dad...you also know who I get that from)!

I mean seriously...talking about melting a mother's heart! I know his future wife is going to love this picture.

A face only a mother could love! Eating prunes to be sure he stays "regular" on the vacation.

Now this hunk is all mine! We are having a great time. Both kids are doing really good on the beach and sleeping good too! The water had a little bit of seaweed today, but that's not slowing us down.

Beach Bound

2009-07-26T07:49:00.002-05:00

We have made it to the beach! Today is our first full day at the beach and we are so excited! We are staying at Okalossa Island near Destin, FL at an amazing condo with some amazing friends! Here's some pictures of Lynlee exploring the beach and pool! There will be more to come!

Most shots will be action shots because she is already dodging the camera!

Belated

2009-07-15T12:58:00.004-05:00

Happy belated Birthday to my parents. My mom's birthday was July 10th and my dad's on July 13th!

This picture is blurry b/c dad is by a fire watching tree limbs fall during the ice storm! I have 2 amazing parents and I am their biggest fan! I haven't been able to get their gifts all together yet, but I was able to make their favorite dessert.

Coconut cupcakes! They are super delicious and easy even though they are made from scratch!

Also, while I was out of town Owen turned 5 months! He is getting so big and usually really happy! We have started some veggie-baby food, because he has been acting really hungry. He has been doing great with the baby food and LOVES carrots!

This is the big man enjoying his exersaucer! I will have more pictures soon!

Meagan's Wedding Weekend

2009-07-13T10:58:00.005-05:00

Last Thursday I headed to Benton with Michele for our friend Meagan's wedding. Meagan and I were sorority sisters and roommates in college. Meagan also babysat Michele's kiddos with me throughout college!

Here's Meagan and I at her Bridal Luncheon.

Michele and Owen at the luncheon! Owen is getting pretty used to all these weddings, showers, luncheons, and bachelorette parties! Yes, when he was just barely 2 months old I took him to Hot Springs with me for a bachelorette weekend! He's going to be scarred for life!

This picture is of Meagan, mother of the bride, and all bridesmaids except one...plus Owen!

This was the night before the wedding. We all tried to calm Meagan down before her big day! She was so stressed and we all laughed b/c she couldn't pin-point anything to actually stress about! Her husband-to-be actually broke out in shingles on his face Thursday before the wedding. I think they both are anxious people! Poor guy, they put him on antibiotics b/c he had a red, bumpy, goose-egg on the middle of his forehead. The swelling went down a bit and a little concealer goes a long way! I'm sure their photographer can work some magic! There was A LOT of laughing that night and some great memories!

Here's Meagan and I on the big day! I was so thankful her dresses were black! The baby weight looked much better in black! Meagan looked so beautiful. I wish I would have taken a full body shot of her, but of course I didn't think of that in the moment! Also I totally didn't get a picture of Todd :(. You can click here if you want to see their engagement pictures. They have an amazing photographer so check them out!

Those handsome Tollett boys! These are Michele's boys and the boys Meagan and I babysat. From left to right: Travis (15), Trent (17), Truitt (7), and Turner (9). I started babysitting for them when Turner was 4 months old so they are like my second family!

We all left the wedding wondering if Meagan and Todd were going to make it to their honeymoon. They were going to fly to Hawaii the next morning. The funny thing is they BOTH started FREAKING OUT the week of the wedding and even tried canceling their flight b/c they were very nervous about being on an airplane for 8 hours! I mean they pulled out "a death in the family" card but the airlines wasn't having it! They are a hoot...surely they knew that when they booked the trip! And no worries they made it to Hawaii!

It was a great weekend and a beautiful wedding!

Birthday Celebration #3 and #4

2009-07-13T10:03:00.006-05:00

Sorry I have fallen behind. One of my best friends got married this past weekend, so I wasn't able to continue Lynlee's bday/week celebrations. There will be pictures of my friend's wedding soon too!

So celebration #3 was at my parents house with my immediate family. Warning: a ton of pictures to follow!

I finally got Lynlee the cake she had been asking for! In case you don't know the little doll is Rosetta (one of Tinkerbelle's pixie friends...go figure). Who knows why Lynlee wanted that specific cake, but she got it!
First, we started the evening off with the best investment my parents have ever bought...the blow-up water slide. It has lasted 3 years!

Then a little bike riding!
Lynlee couldn't wait any longer so we had to go straight to presents! Lynlee thinks the WORLD of her two cousins!! Those outfits are some of my parent's dress up clothes! The girls go straight there when we get to their house.

When I got to my parents house Lynlee wouldn't stop talking about party hats and how birthday parties needed them so Matt and Ang brought these cute party princess crowns! Anything the birthday girl wanted...she got! I'm still doing damage control and I imagine I will be helping her with reality for some time!

What a dorky but cute little face! She is testing out her new iPod nano!! Pat and I got it for her b/c I'm tired of buying a new portable DVD player ever 6-12 months. Matt got his girls these so I copied. She loves it. She also got a petshop fitness house, an outfit, gap giftcard, princess cashier register, princess leapster2 (an educational gameboy for girls!), 2 leapster games, and a swimming baby doll! We are still slowly opening all the boxes!

Blowing out the 3 candles! And yes Jeb has a diaper on in the background even though you can't really tell!

Aunt Ang just had to do this. Owen looks a little concerned!!

Birthday Celebrations #4 at Mrs. Kathy's house! Mrs. Kathy is Lynlee's home daycare provider. WE ABSOLUTELY LOVE HER! She only takes 5 kids and Lynlee loves all of them. Owen will be going there also. All the other kids are around 2 and 3! The summers are pretty slow b/c some of us are teachers and keep our kids at home with us most of the time. So Z was the only kid at Kathy's for Lynlee's bday celebration. It was good though b/c I was able to really splurge on their goodie bags!

And there is Mrs. Kathy!

They also had lots of sugar to work with! We had bought some sugar cookies and then gave them our left over cake since we were heading out of town!!

Birthday Celebration #5 will be happening sometime this week so more pictures to come!

Birthday Celebration #2

2009-07-08T23:34:00.003-05:00

Today was officially Lynlee's 3rd birthday! Man does time fly. So for celebration #2 Mommy and Lynlee had a girls only day! We took Owen to Mrs. Kathy's and headed off.

First, we had a Starbucks. Yes, my 3 year old has loved the taste of coffee since she could sip off a spoon. She will drink it black, but she really likes it the way mommy gets it...with lots of sweet yummy goodnes (cream, sugar, etc.). We both ordered tall iced vanilla lattes! Before I get a lecture, Lynlee's was decaf! (Don't worry there are plenty of bad decisions on my part come up...many of them to do with nutrition and sugar. I probably shouldn't mention she had Ritz crackers and Pez for breakfast! I know you all would like to nominate me for mother of the year!)

Starbucks, I know you want to steal that picture!

So where next? Why of course...to get a mani and a pedi!! Ha, this was Lynlee's first ever professional nail experience. While I got a pedicure, a lady painted Lynlee's toes and

fingernails. Lynlee picked purple, her favorite color of the month.

Sorry this picture is so blurry. It was the best I could do. I was so proud of her. She sat so patiently and was talking to the lady. I could not understand a word the sweet lady said, but Lynlee was sure shaking her head yes and no. Once I looked over and Lynlee was in about a 3 minute monologue. I had no clue what she was talking about, but I'm pretty sure the lady didn't either. Who knew a language barrier wouldn't stop Lynlee Kate!

Finished product. The lady drew some kind of white design on her big toes and put glitter on them too! So cute!

So here's a picture of me...I keep getting asked why I don't post any pictures of me. The answer is "I'm at least 20 lbs over-weight." I know Lynlee looks awful in this picture but this is the only one my cheeks didn't look filled with marshmallows and my four other chins weren't showing!! Seriously.

Next on to the mall where we met one of my bestest friends, Michele (Lynlee says "Chele").

As expected, Michele spoiled her rotten. She took her on a shopping spree in Melody's Choices. Lynlee was fixated on the Thomas the Train set up, so Michele got her a couple of trains. She also got her an art easel, which I am super excited about. It has a chalkboard, white board, and rolling paper! Super cool. Of course Michele got her the art accessories that go with the easel. Lynlee was so hung up on the trains that I still don't think she knows she got the art stuff. Toy stores can be so over-stimulating!

After a nutritious lunch of taco bell nacho cheese and chips, we headed to candy craze!

I just let her fill her bag with whatever in the world she wanted. I mean you only turn 3 once, right? You know it is bad when your 3 year old looks up at you in the middle of a candy store and tells you "I think that's all I want!" And within the next hour she demolished most of the bag.

We ended our girls trip with a ride on the mall spinny thingy!

I would say we had a successful day! We headed to Target after the mall and spoiled Lynlee some more! We also had her 3rd celebration tonight, but I will have to post about that later.

Birthday Celebration #1

2009-07-07T09:10:00.006-05:00

This week is Lynlee Kate's 3rd birthday/week!! I was going to throw one big party because she is really getting into the birthdays this year...but I wasn't on top of my game. It is hard to dodge all the July 4th parties and summer weddings. So instead of 1 big party she is having approximately 5 little celebrations. So get ready for a picture overloaded week of birthday posts!

Celebration #1 was at Pat's parent's house last night. We had a blast and Lynlee was on cloud 9!

Lynlee started off her night with a wagon ride from Papi Fries. He really wanted to be called grandpa but Lynlee had different plans! They bought this wagon so we could all take walks on our weekly Fries Family dinner nights.

And of course Owen got lots of love. Here he is with Pat's mom, Noni.

Lynlee and Uncle Joe eating some salsa! And Uncle Joe is a handsome, available man with a great job!! Just thought I would shout that out for any single ladies out there!! I won't mention that he and Pat talk not stop about fantasy sports...oops I just mentioned it!!

Time to open presents!! We could barely finish dinner to get to this part!

Lynlee got some petshop goodies from mommy, daddy, and Owen.

She also got some cute books and clothes from Luke and Kirsten!

And we can't forget the gianorm0us collection of princess pez dispensers from Papi and Noni! They know a way into a girls heart!!

Lynlee also experienced pop-rocks for the first time. Surprisingly, my sensitive child didn't mind the pops in her mouth (probably had something to do with the sugar).

Then cake. Needless to say Lynlee had a sugar high for the remainder of the night. This cake was an ice cream cake from Cold Stone. It was pretty good and I guess the sprinkles made up for the lack of icing decor. In case anyone wants to know most cake shops were closed yesterday! Hopefully I can redeem myself for some of the other celebrations.

Poor Trinity has to sing happy birthday at every celebration. To be honest it sounds like someone is being murdered! Seriously, Kirsten has proof!

Here's Owen with Luke's girlfriend, Kirsten. We just love her and can't wait until she becomes a part of our family (no pressure guys!!). She claims she is not good with babies, but by the look on Owen's face I would say she's wrong.

Group shot! BTW the one on the right is single!! Haha Joe is going to kill me ;)

What a lucky gal getting to sit with such handsome brothers!

Ended the night with sparklers! We bought a few too many this past weekend, so they might show up at more than one party!

Another item that you might see at multiple parties is this balloon! Creative moms please don't be disappointed in me...it really is a huge balloon and it plays music! Lynlee loves it so I guess that's what really matters, right?

You might be a redneck if....

2009-06-26T13:27:00.003-05:00

this happens on a regular basis!!

Yes, that's right. Welcome to the Fries Family pool! Plastic but just enough room for the whole family (minus baby Owen and momma)!
Here's a precious picture of Owen watching the chaos and wondering what on earth he has gotten into!
Hope everyone can find a way to stay cool in this hot hot weather.

Can I get an AMEN?

2009-06-22T10:12:00.003-05:00

Okay, I admit that my hubby is as close to perfect as they come. But if there is one flaw Pat has it is finding things. I know many of you are thinking this cartoon is an exaggeration and maybe it is a slight exaggeration, but it is pretty close to spot-on in our house!

Here's one of our recent scenarios. Scene: Lynlee in the bathtub wanting a bath toy. I told Pat the bath toy is in our bathroom closet in the blue bath toy bucket (it sounds like I have my act together, but that is really just a fluke that something actually has a specific place in this house!). So I heard Pat rummaging through the toys for a good 30 seconds (the bucket is only a one or two gallon bucket so not too big). He comes out empty handed and told us that the specific toy Lynlee wanted was not in there. Lynlee looked at me and said she would go look. Seriously, 3 seconds later Lynlee was back in the bath tub with the toy she was asking for which was located in the blue bucket. I was almost in tears laughing so hard. I mean a 2 year old can beat Pat in the finding things department.

Can anyone relate?

Oh yeah, I do know this probably isn't the best timing for a post making fun of Pat since yesterday was Father's day AND I didn't write anything mushy telling him how wonderful he is at EVERYTHING! But believe me, he knows I don't like serious moments and usually cover them up with a funny joke...that's just how I roll!

5 Years Down...Forever to Go!

2009-06-12T15:51:00.004-05:00

Today is our 5 year wedding anniversary! I feel like I'm officially in the older person category (like the 2 kids weren't enough)!! Here's a picture from our 1st anniversary trip to Scottsdale, Arizona (pointer: never visit Arizona in July!).

We had a blast and promised we would take a yearly vacation for our anniversary. Well lets just say we are 4 years behind! Kids and pregnancies add an extra element!

I am truly blessed and married to the best man in the world. I could give you all a million mushy reason of why, but I will spare you. Just believe me that he's pretty darn close to perfect and good looking too!

Here's a picture of the beautiful flowers I came home to after a lunch with a friend! They are gorgeous and so thoughtful. He told them our wedding colors and even specific flowers we had at our wedding. So sweet!

Okay, I'm done with the mushy stuff! Have a good weekend!

4 Months!

2009-06-10T15:53:00.006-05:00

Guess who's 4 months old today (yes I doubled checked and I actually got the date right this time!)?

4 months is fun because you can legally start feeding your baby rice cereal. By legally, I mean the pediatrician tells you to try! I know...surprisingly I follow the rules sometimes. I always have chunky, healthy, good-sleeping babies so I never see a need to try earlier. Here's some picture of Owen's first cereal experience!

I know all you neat mom's are wondering how I let his face get this messy. Just keeping scrolling, you'll figure it out!

Keep scrolling!

Almost there.....

You guessed it...the mini-mommy herself took control of Owen's cereal experience. I only was "allowed" to give Owen 2 spoon fulls. Let's just say she emptied the bowl of cereal, but I'm not too sure much of it got in his mouth!

She did take occasional breaks to wipe his mouth (or nose as the picture shows).

Is that face not screaming "SAVE ME MOM" or "GOD, WHY ME?"

I bet this face sums up Owen's cereal experience! On Lynlee's defense, he really isn't adjusting to the spoon thing! And yes, I follow the doctor's orders on introducing cereal with a spoon not a bottle. I can't remember why he told me not to give it to Lynlee in a bottle, but I'm going for Owen's check-up on Friday and I'm sure my memory will be refreshed!

I hope everyone has a very happy Wednesday!

Busy Weekend!

2009-06-01T13:19:00.003-05:00

We had an eventful weekend full of swimming, parks, sno-cones, face painting, a wedding shower, family, friends, fixing toilets, fixing light fixtures, church, cookouts, and more parks! Here's a few pictures I put together in a collage to spare you all the longest post ever of just pictures! I think you should be able to click on the collage to see it in a bigger window!

Notice Lynlee is swimming and jumping off the diving board all by herself. Of course she has on a floaty-bathing suit thingy!

Wedding

2009-05-27T11:58:00.005-05:00

Here is are some quick pictures of Lynlee and me at Stephanie and Elliott's wedding a couple of weekends ago. Lynlee was a handful and her cute tulip basket was completely destroyed before she ever walked down the isle, but my friend Meagan was awesome with her. Lynlee would let Meagan do anything, but just would fuss when I walked around. We wore out the princess card. Everything we wanted her to do we just put the word princess in front of it and eventually she would do it or somewhat do it!

Her little flower girl dress was made by Stephanie's mom. It was so precious. Her ribbon matched our dresses, the bottom of her dress had a pleated ruffle thing that matched Stephanies dress, AND her mom monogrammed the inside of the dress with the date and event. So special!

Here is Lynlee (a.k.a. flower princess) and her "boyfriend" (a.k.a. ring bearer Sam) dancing to the band. Lynlee just spinned in circles to the music. We later figured out she was following the fancy light show on the floor. I would try to get her to stop and "shake her booty," but she would just look at me and keep on spinning as she was stumbling from being dizzy! And if you can't tell Sam is break dancing! He crashed about 20 minutes later. They were precious.

This is a really blurry picture, but you can see how beautiful Stephanie looked. Her dress was rocking on her perfect body! Hopefully we will get to see better pictures of the wedding soon.

Rollie Pollie

2009-05-26T15:50:00.002-05:00

Guess who's rolling over? You got it...Owen! He rolled over last week on Wednesday but I just caught the end of it and I wasn't sure it was the real thing. Well he did it in front of my mom and Pat yesterday, then again today so I guess it is official. So far he is just rolling from his belly to his back, but I think the other direction is coming real soon.

He is such a boy, he can hardly contain his excitement for a picture! And yes he is as squishy as he looks!

Here is the cute siblings! I know Owen looks a little frightened, but I promise no babies were harmed during this photo-shoot!

Weekend Zoo Trip

2009-05-20T15:11:00.005-05:00

Last weekend Lynlee and I were in a wedding in Little Rock. Pat and my Dad took Lynlee and my niece, Estella Dru, to the zoo! It wasn't that great. Apparently most of the exhibits were empty and Lynlee got scared by a goose right at the entrance gate, so needless to say the rest of her trip was a waste! But they did enjoy the train ride so here are few pictures.

Lynlee and her G-pops. My dad loves this kind of stuff. He will often call us in the morning and want to take all the grandkids to the Gentry Safari Zoo. I can go like once a year, but my dad loves it and takes the kiddos close to 10 times a year! They kids love it!

Here's some really cute shots of E Dru! Isn't she just gorgeous!

This one looks like a model pose with the wind blowing in her hair!

Now that's a pose! Will she ever grow out of this?

Have a good holiday weekend!

Fierce

2009-05-12T21:39:00.003-05:00

Look at this pose...FIERCE is the only word to describe it!

And this one is just as good!

Ha! I'm pretty sure a modeling agency is going to contact me ASAP once they see these shots! Lord help us!! I have no clue where she got this prissy side...honestly it's not from me. And BTW those are really her poses, that is not an action shot!

My sister-in-law and I went to the promenade on a rainy day with Jeb, Dru, Lynlee, and Owen. We got a lot of crazy looks, but overall the kids did pretty good. Lynlee and Dru were starting to get tired of each other towards the end. I'm not sure if Ang will ever go shopping with me again! Hopefully she will. We obviously went shoe shopping and the girls were all over the place. I'm sure Dillard's is still finding shoes that they took off the shelves and tried on!

3 months/Baby Dedication/Mother's day

2009-05-10T22:39:00.003-05:00

So today is Owen's REAL 3 month birthday! Happy 3 months Owie! He is really a great baby and I think he will forgive me for the mathematic calculation error!

Today was Baby Dedication at our church. Both Lynlee and Owen did very well. Lynlee climbed up and down the stairs during the prayer, but that was it! She didn't even try to talk to us! Owen also did good! Here's a few pics that my brother and sister-in-law took for us.

Here's the best picture of all of us looking towards the camera. Owen didn't have his paci in the whole time, just during the end of the dedication. Apparently, Pat didn't know to look at Matt and Ang taking our picture. He didn't know if they were supposed to be action shots or not???? Men and pictures just don't mesh! What's so hard about it? Smile when someone is holding a camera your direction. I guess standing in front of the entire church flustered him! See what I have to deal with...Pat and 2 moving targets. Can we say mission impossible?

Miss Priss herself! I honestly have no clue how she got so prissy. She DEFINITELY did NOT get that from her momma. I just knew if I was going to have a girl that she would be athletic and love to be active and get dirty....NOT play with barbies and talk nonstop about princesses! She is a firecracker so maybe she will surprise me! But yes she has on a necklace, hello kitty watch from McD's, and is carrying a princess purse jammed packed with lip gloss and lipstick (all from my make-up drawer, and I didn't notice they were in her purse until we got to church).

Here's my niece Belle pointing to Owen's picture in the bulletin today! Isn't she precious?

Lastly, Happy Mother's Day to all the momma's! I got a cute necklace with a "O" and "L" charm on it. I'm so excited about it and it is really special to me! Thanks Pat, Lynlee, and Owen for making this a great and memorable Mother's Day!

Brain please come back!

2009-05-07T11:30:00.002-05:00

Okay...completely embarrassed I have to admit one of my MANY mistakes!

In my previous post, I wished Owen a happy 3 month birthday. WELL he's not 3 months yet! Thanks to my Granny for pointing that one out to me. Owen was born on February 10, 2009 which would make him 3 months old on May 10 ,2009 (not May 5, 2009). Minor mistake, right?

So as with most things I say, I have to give you my explanation of what in the world I was thinking! Every Tuesday I add a week to Owen's age since he was born on a Tuesday. So this Tuesday Owen was 12 weeks old. In my mind 12 weeks = 3 months. But not in this case!

At least I made fun of myself in the same post for not being able to count months!!! Little did I know I was making the mistake in the same post! I guess that means another post on the 10th with new pictures for everyone, shucks!

Sorry all, I will try to get my act together...no promises but I will try! Please pray for Pat and the kiddos, they have to live with me and hear me talk on a daily basis! Now everyone knows why my children will never be home-schooled! I guess I can't blame my absent-mindedness (I had to ask Ang how to say/spell that word!!) on the pregnancy any more :(.

Happy 3 month Birthday Owen!

2009-05-05T12:53:00.004-05:00

The big man is 3 months old today! I can officially change from weeks to months when I talk about his age. That also means I will probably call him 3 months old for 2 more months. I'm not the greatest with numbers especially month calculations! Here's some pictures I took today! He's starting to hold his head up more, so I can get cuter pictures without the carpet as the background!

Both of my kids make really serious faces. I just tell myself that they are thinking a lot and are going to be really intelligent like their mom (ha we all know that was a type-o).

Still serious...

Look at that cheeky smile! PRECIOUS!

Here's our little-big man! These are some names that he is called at this point in his life (mostly by his loving big sis): little Owie (thanks to Emme), little who-who (created by Lynlee and we have no clue why she started this!), chubby wubby or shubby wubbers depending on her mood, little chub, Owe-nen (thanks to Isabella), fat-man, and Mr. cheekers. That all I can think of at this moment, but I have a feeling there are a few more!

DeQueen Trip

2009-04-17T21:23:00.003-05:00

My bestfriend, Kimberly, lives in the big town of DeQueen, Arkansas and she had her 2nd baby 2 weeks ago. I couldn't find a free weekend this month to go visit, so I got brave and loaded Lynlee (2 1/2) and Owen (9 weeks) into the car for a 3 1/2 hour drive by MYSELF! I don't know if that's bravery or insanity! But we had a great time! I'm sure Aunt Kim and Mic-dog (A.K.A. Micah) are glad that we are back in Springdale, but we already miss them. Here is a visual of what Kimberly and I did the past 2 days. We both sat nursing our newborns talking for hours while our 2 1/2 year old and 18 month old DESTROYED the house! It was fun though, at least for me!

Here's Lynlee and Emme! I know Lynlee has a mouth full of banana Laffy Taffy (yeah I know I'm a great mom for giving my child candy on a regular basis...no need to tell me!) and Emme almost has a toy covering her face, but this is the ONLY picture I got of the both of them looking at me at the same time and believe me I tried more than once!

Here's Lynlee reading a book to Emme. SO CUTE. Emme was actually looking at the book too, but I distracted her!

Now Lynlee is looking but not Emme! See I was telling the truth!

Once again...only one girl looking at me!! I have several bath shots and it is crazy how those two stinkers would not look at the same time. Oh and I promise Lynlee is not drinking that nasty bath water! She's just about to poor it on her head!

OKAY...now prepare yourself for some of the cutest pictures you will ever see in your life!!!

OWEN IS SMITTEN OVER A GIRL!!!

Is that not the cutest? Just wait they keep getting better! Owen has his arm around Lila and Lila is resting her sweet head on his shoulder! As you will see Owen LOVED it and couldn't stop smiling! Kimberly and I were cracking up too! Kimberly and I put them in the bouncy chair together to make fun of Mic-dog b/c he has already laid strict rules in the Martin house! No boys can sleep in the girls bed!

He is loving it! Another funny note, they both kept hitting each other in the head with their uncontrollable arms!

This was the reaction after we discussed the arranged marriage!

How cute will this be on the slide-show during rehearsal dinner the night before their wedding day! Ha, so I'm totally joking, but it would be funny! Doesn't Lila look so safe and sound in the arms of a real man??? (that's a one liner courtesy of one of my grandpas...EVERY time you give him a huge he says "I'm glad you now know what it feels like to be hugged by a REAL man!" It still makes me laugh even though he has said it a billion times!)

Hope you all enjoyed! Sorry for the abundance of pictures! We miss you Aunt Kim, Mic-dog, Emme, and Lila! Thanks for letting us crash at your place for a couple of nights!

Easter Baking Challenge

2009-04-10T22:42:00.006-05:00

My sister-in-law, Angela, put a baking challenge on her blog earlier this week. She was really encouraging us to cook an Easter treat with our kids. Lynlee loves to cook with me so I thought this was a great opportunity to get in the kitchen with her. So with my competitive spirit, I searched for the best, most unique recipe. As I was making it yesterday (all day event with a baby that needs to be fed in between), I decided to look and see if anyone has posted their baking pictures yet. Low and behold, there was a family who was making the same thing I was :(. Oh well, the prize is a cookbook that I already have anyway!!

So here's our adventure yesterday. Be prepared...there are a lot of pictures!

We made something called cakepops. You will have to check the blog that I stole them from, Bakerella. She is extremely talented and her cakepops look amazing so don't judge mine. Basically, a cakepop is crumbled caked mixed with frosting, rolled into a ball, placed on a stick, and then dipped in chocolate/vanilla coating.

Lynlee mixing the frosting into the crumbled cake.

Posing for a picture as we prepare to dip our cakepops in pink vanilla coating. And yes she is wearing her princess PJs with her peacock tutu! We like to keep things interesting at our house!

Lynlee helped dip the cakepops. This was a tricky task because the cake would start falling off the stick, but I did learn a neat trick if you are ever dipping things in chocolate. Slowly turn the object in one hand while tapping your wrist with the other hand. It made the excess chocolate fall off while not putting too much pressure on the cake. I will definitely be using that trick again.

Lynlee starting to decorate her cakepop. We put a small amount of light corn syrup on a paint brush to use as a glue for our sprinkles.

Still decorating...look at that set up she had! I used to make sugar cookies for everything when I was in high school, so I had an abundant supply of sprinkles. So it was easy to give her free-reign...I needed to weed through those sprinkles anyway!

Another big helper! This was Owen's position most of the day, because those cakepops took Lynlee and I most of the day.

Just precious, right? And yes I kiss his cheeks a zillion times a day!

This was his reaction after Lynlee fed him a bite of a cakepop. Totally just kidding, the boy was so deprived yesterday that if you just looked at him this was the face he would make!

Lynlee's beautiful finished product! I was so proud of myself for not intervening with her creativity! I'm a perfectionist when it comes to baking, so I usually try to make her creations look a little prettier, but these babies were all Lynlee!

Notice the bite out of the top left one! She's such a sneak!

Here's my finished product! I know I wasn't too adventurous, but I did try a few other designs and they totally failed. I figured I would stick with what worked!

Another view!

So I got tired of glueing every single sprinkle on! I resorted to my old standby...just squiggle coating all over the place!

Finished product! I guess not too bad for our first try! Now for the taste verdict. Kind of weird if I was going to be honest. It taste like soggy/wet cake covered in a hard chocolate/vanilla coating. I'm thinking I added too much frosting, I would not recommend adding the whole can if you try it.

R.I.P. fallen cakepops!

THE MESS!!! Can you tell which sprinkle plate was mine and which one was Lynlee's? I promise I gave her FREE-REIGN with the sprinkles. I think her only goal was to empty all the sprinkle containers. I would keep telling her that she would use all the sprinkles and we wouldn't have anymore. Here's her response "it's okay mommy, we just go to tore (store) and buy new ones!" I guess I have trained her well! Sorry Pat :(.

The sprinkle bottles that Lynlee single-handedly emptied! Like I said, most of these I had in high school so I promise I am not throwing money down the drain here! I'm sure sprinkles probably expire anyway!

Sunny Weekend!

2009-03-24T15:30:00.004-05:00

Since today is rainy and cool I thought I would post some pictures of our beautiful sunny weekend!

This is Owen's reaction when we told him we were going to the park.....okay not really. That is just what he does when someone finally decides to talk to him (besides his sister who gets all up in his face and can't figure out how to control her volume level).

Here's Lynlee enjoying the slide at Lake Fayetteville.

Tina Turner watch out. This wind-blown look is really becoming on our precious 2 year old!

We took our stroller and walked across the bridge to the other playground in the Lake Fayetteville area. Lynlee loved watching the ducks dive under water. As you can see, Owen is just full of excitement!

Owen finally woke up during hour 2 at the park! He got to get out of the stroller and sit on the playground while sissy jumped and screamed all around him.

This picture was not taken at the park, but this is our lip gloss queen. I know my parent are cracking up at this picture because they used to worry that my future husband could not afford my lip gloss habit....I guess like mother like daughter. She pulls out approximately 5 of my lip glosses on a daily basis and generously coats her lips with all five colors. She has been doing pretty good on the application of the lip gloss lately, but she had a minor set back on Sunday.

Love that smile!

2009-03-13T15:26:00.003-05:00

Here are pictures of my 2 precious children at about the same age (approx. a month) with the same SMILE! I love it! They definitely have some similarities, but who knows if they will end up looking like each other?

Lynlee Kate

Owen Patrick (I would say he's the winner in the cheek department!)

Tired Daddy

2009-03-12T13:29:00.006-05:00

So, I guess I'm not the only one sleep deprived at the Fries' house! Of course we have a newborn, so it's expected to not get much sleep, but we also have a crazy 2 year old. I can't wait until March 26 because we go back to Lynlee's pediatrician and HOPEFULLY he will take her off of the Albuterol (asthma med that's helping her lungs get back to normal). Like I have mentioned before, the Albuterol is liquid adrenaline and she has not been my good sleeper like she used to be since she has been on it. I had a friend, Heather, tell me that when she was younger everyone thought she had mono. She slept all the time, but it turned out she had asthma instead of mono. She slept all the time because she wasn't breathing well while she was sleeping. So who knows that could be true for Lynlee too, but I hope she returns back to her normal sleep schedule after we get her off the meds. Here's an example of our night with her. We put her down between 8-9 and at 11-12 when I feed Owen we usually still hear her talking/playing in her bed. A good thing about Lynlee is that she doesn't get out of her bed, just will play for hours in it! Well I said all that to show you a picture of Pat.

Poor guy feel asleep on the couch and if you look real close you can see one of Owen's clear pacifiers in his mouth!!! And no he's not sucking on it, he must have fallen asleep while juggling little Owen! He's biting on to the handle of the paci! You never know what you are going to find us doing around here!

Tonight I'm very excited. Pat and I (along with his 2 brothers and Kirsten) are going to the Martin Sexton concert at the Uark Bowl. Martin Sexton is one of mine and Pat's favorite singer/songwriters. Check him out on iTunes. He's got a folky-soulful sound (if that's a possible combination!).

I hope everyone has a great weekend and hopefully the Fries Family will get some sleep!

Finally a few Owen pics!

2009-03-12T13:12:00.004-05:00

Just a warning before you look...He has gotten CHUNKY! He has already outgrown most of his 0-3 months clothing. Those Fries kids are good eaters.

Isn't that face irresistible? Full of cheeks with a slight smirk! I love it and I know you all want to kiss and pinch those cheeks!

I know he probably was just passing gas, but I truly believe he was smiling at me! I need to check in the baby books to see when babies are supposed to start smiling purposefully, but I'm convinced he's there.

We get a lot of crazy faces from him right now. This is just one of many.

Awe so soft and cuddly. He is now a month old. He is still a great baby. He does love to eat as you can tell. He usually wants to eat about every 3-4 hours, which I think is pretty average for small babies. I'm ready for him to extend that time at night, I'm getting pretty sleep deprived. Anyone have any suggestions of what worked for your baby this little. I want to start cereal or something, but I know that's probably not what the Dr.'s and books (that I obviously don't read) suggest. I hope you all enjoyed Baby Owen!

Crazy Lynlee

2009-03-08T15:19:00.004-05:00

I have a funny thing to share! Pat and I were sitting in the living room watching the Razorback basketball game and Pat told me to look at Lynlee. This is what we saw her doing....

Just in case you can't figure out what she is doing she is feeding her babies! Not with a bottle, but with her belly button! I guess she thinks that's what I am doing when I'm feeding Owen. Also notice that she has the Boppy pillow on her lap just like mommy (except I tend to turn it the other way and actually lay the baby on the pillow!).

I have always heard about siblings feeding their baby dolls this way, but I wasn't sure if Lynlee would because we give him bottles too. It was just too funny to look over at her and see her doing it randomly! Sorry Aunt Angela if that embarrasses you, I promise I didn't teach her to do that (or at least not intentionally)!!

Like everyone else this weekend, we went to the park about 5 times while the weather was nice. Here's a few pics of Lynlee at the park. Sorry I don't have any of Owen. That cuddle monster was in my arms the whole time, which can make getting a 2 year old in and out of the swing rather tricky!

Here's our Sit-n-Stand stroller that we ALL love! Lynlee thinks she is such a big girl because it has a bench for her to sit on or a small platform for her to stand on! There is a small park near our house so we just load up in the stroller!

I promise I will take some new pictures of Owen this week for everyone to see how fat he is getting!

The Asthma Attack

2009-02-25T22:04:00.010-06:00

Sorry it has taken me so long to write about what happened to our family this past Friday. Needless to say our life has been extremely hectic lately!

So Friday, February 20th started out pretty normal for the Fries Family. Owen, Lynlee, and I were all at home taking life easy. Around 10:00 a.m. I noticed Lynlee started coughing, nothing alarming. I checked her temperature and she had a mild temp of 99 degrees. So, we laid on the couch together watching Thomas the Train (thanks Michele). Slowly, she started get fussier and clingier. Again, nothing out of the norm. She always reacts that way when she isn't feeling 100%. So Pat came home for lunch, she just got fussier and her cough became more frequent so he stayed and helped me put her down for a nap at around 1:00 p.m.

She slept for only an hour which is unusual for Lynlee. While she was sleeping she didn't cough at all, so I was thinking that nap was exactly what she needed. She woke up even fussier. Every time she coughed she cried, which was really often now. I couldn't get her to stop crying. My mom came over close to 3:00 p.m. with some of Lynlee's favorite things to make her feel better. She still cried and didn't respond positively to any of GiGi's surprises. GiGi started trying to convince me to call the doctor. So I finally gave in and decided I would call my friend Lindsay who is a Nurse Practitioner. I left a message on her cell phone and decided to call Pat at work. I knew I would need him to take Lynlee to see Lindsay, because Owen is still to young to be hanging out at a doctor's office and we had friends bringing us dinner.

I finally got a hold of Pat and he came home around 4:00 p.m. and took her to Lindsay's office in Fayetteville. Pat mentioned he was worried about her breathing. Right when Lindsay saw Lynlee, she immediately took her back and did an up-draft on her which shots albuterol (asthma med) into Lynlee's system through an oxygen type mask. Lindsay said her blood/oxygen levels were in the 80's and normal levels are 98-100. Lindsay also noted Lynlee's blue coloring and labored breathing. Lindsay suggested for Pat to admit her to the hospital. So both Pat and Lindsay called me and inform me of what was going on. I'm still at home with Owen (who is just 10 days old) and didn't want to go to the hospital with him in case Lynlee had RSV or something that could be harmful to him.

Once Lynlee was admitted to Washington Regional, they starter her on a continous albuterol treatment. After Lynlee was on the continious albuterol for about 2 hours a pediatrician came in to check on her progress. The problem was....she wasn't progressing. Her blood/oxygen levels were still really low and she was still laboring on every breath she took. I'm really glad I was at home ignorant to what was going on, because everyone that saw her at this stage was completely frightened. My mother-in-law informed me that the next step if Lynlee couldn't keep up with that breathing pace, they would of probably put her on a ventalator.

The pediatrician immediately called Children's Hospital in Little Rock and informed them of Lynlee's situation. They decided that she would be treated best at Children's plus they told the pediatrician to add some things to her treatment while we waited on the flight crew to get to Washington Regional.

Talk about one of the hardest phone calls a mother could get. The pediatrician called me directly. I'm pretty sure I wasn't able to speak. The doctor stayed on the phone with me for a fairly long time explaining everything. While I was on the phone with him, my dad showed up and started helping me pack. Just for the record, I didn't pack much that was really needed! I could hardly see through my tears much less think through all the thoughts that were going through my head. Was this really happening?

I started heading to Little Rock right away, thanks to my dad who tried to grab stuff that he thought Lynlee, Pat, Owen, and I would all need. Pat stayed with Lynlee and was planning on driving down with his mom once Lynlee got on the helicopter. It turned out that they flew in an airplane instead of a helicopter, so Pat was able to ride with Lynlee. Thank the Lord, because I couldn't imagine being 2 1/2 on my first airplane ride with tubes and wires coming out of me.

So we got to Little Rock and Lynlee was placed in pediatric ICU for 2 days, then moved to a regular room for the 3rd day. She was on continuous albuterol for at least 36 hours. That means our 2 1/2 year old little girl had to have an oxygen mask over her face for that long. Not only that, but the albuterol was like a form of speed for Lynlee. So here we have our 2 1/2 year old confined to a bed having to keep a mask over her mouth and nose with tons of wires coming out of her body AND she is hyper because of the meds that are CONTINUOUSLY going into her body. Oh and did I mention the albuterol makes her shake and sweat. ALSO, when she ate, she scarfed it like she hadn't seen food in 10 days. It was definitely an experience I never want to go through again. We could have done some great "say no to drugs" commercials just with Lynlee's behavior.

The final diagnosis was that Lynlee had an acute asthma attack. Another ignorant moment for me that probably kept me semi-sane. I thought that "acute" meant small because in Geometry the acute angle is the smallest angle. Turns out that it means something more like severe! The pediatrician at Washington Regional said for her 1st asthma attack she had about a 10 out of 10.

They don't really know what triggered the asthma attack. The consensus was that she had a cold that triggered this one, but it could also be something that she is allergic to. We are going to get allergy testing for her in the near future to see if we can narrow anything down. They won't necessarily label Lynlee with asthma because that was her 1st recorded attack, even though it was a doosey. It's a long-term diagnosis, so they don't always give it to kids. Now that I know what was going on, I can nail down at least 2 other attacks, which were obviously not as severe.

She is still doing albuterol treatments mixed with steroids. Those will be over in a few days, but she will have to continue to take a steroid in the form of an inhaler indefinitely.

I appreciate everyone's concerns, prayers, and encouragement. It was unbelievable knowing the amount of people out there praying for Lynlee. Praise the Lord that the episode is over and everyone is okay. I'm sure it will take Lynlee some time to get back to 100%, but it is great being home. We have a follow up appointment tomorrow with our pediatrician. By the way, Owen was a completely great baby the whole time. He was raised by a village while we were in Little Rock, because one parent had to be with Lynlee at all times. Thanks to GiGi, G-Pops, Noni, Aunt Kathy, Brooke, Michele, and Meagan plus all the people back at home offering to help and praying.

Here's a ton of pictures to show you what life was like for us!

This picture was taken at Washington Regional right before the pediatrician saw Lynlee. This is the moment I'm glad I was not at the hospital.

This is still at Washington Regional. Poor Pat, this is what the 4 days looked like for Pat. Between Owen and Lynlee, I bet he is ready to not be sleeping in the hospital "chair/bed."

This is my pitiful baby and her "July bear" in the PICU at Children's.

Here's a close-up of the mask we had to keep on her for approximately 36 hours straight.

Here is how my dad found Pat and Lynlee in the morning. She's still in PICU, but she got her mask off in the middle of the night. Her blood/oxygen level dropped again here, so they had to put oxygen on her. At least the mask was off! Later, Pat informed me that around this time Lynlee pulled her IV out. She had just woken up and had the crazy shakes. So she started pulling all the stuff off of her. It turned out okay, because they decided to leave the IV off, which made her mobile!

Starting to feel better wearing Noni's glasses.

Now wearing GiGi's glasses!

This is an awesome thing about Children's Hospital....they have wagons! When Lynlee was off all her wires and out of PICU, she was able to have a little freedom. Pat took her on a few wagon rides which she loved. Notice the blueish stuffed helicopter in her lap. That was a souvenir she got from the flight crew.

Daddy and Lynlee in front of a waterfall in the hospital. Did I mention I have the best husband in the world? He is the strongest, smartest man I know not to mention he's an AMAZING father. He never let me on that he was worried...now I know exactly how worried he really was. Plus, I had several moments that I couldn't hold myself together and he stayed strong for me and Lynlee. He was with Lynlee a majority of the time, and I could hardly last an hour with her. It was just so physically and emotionally draining for me to see her like that. Pat and Lynlee really bonded during that time. She has already told me that daddy is her best friend not mommy :(. I seceretly love seeing her being a daddy's girl!

This is my favorite picture!

They found a play center while they were on one of their wagon rides! My cousin Brooke, Lynlee, and daddy all painting pretty pictures.

A close up of the future artist! I can see a future career!

Sorry for the novel...there was a lot to say and I still left a lot of details out!

Watch out Project Runway!

2009-02-18T13:36:00.006-06:00

While we were in the hospital, Pat and Lynlee had an interesting way of passing the time! Lynlee was getting a little restless and there were only so many times Pat could walk her down the hall to see all the babies. Needless to say, he got creative. I'm pretty sure Pat could have a shot as a designer on Project Runway and Lynlee definitely has a shot at modeling!

I know she is missing some key components to an outfit, but use your imagination! She is really working the cat walk here!

Look at that pose!

This is one of Pat's finest designs. Please ignore the fact that he was in a fraternity in college and that he dressed our 2 year old precious daughter in an outfit similar to a toga! She had no clue and was having a blast with her daddy!

I also need to send a shout out to my favorite nephew, Jeb Sullivan. Today is Jeb's one year old birthday! Happy Birthday big man!

One Week Old!

2009-02-17T16:05:00.004-06:00

Today, Owen is one week old! So far he is a wonderful baby. Unlike his precious sister, Owen does not scream 24/7. He actually sleeps a lot. Plus he opens his eyes without crying or wanting to eat! Don't get me wrong...We LOVE Lynlee to death, but never want to experience a baby with "colic" ever again! Here's some updated pictures of our little man.

This is the image we see most often! I'm not complaining though.

His eyes aren't open much, so it is hard to capture an awake picture. This is the best I could get this morning! He's starting to stay awake more, so hopefully I can get more awake pictures soon.

We can't leave big sister out! She loves laying right next to him (sometimes on top of him!). She's teaching him about life already. She loves me bringing him into the bathroom with her when she goes potty. She gives him a play by play the whole time of what she's doing. The other day she said "see baby brother, tell big sister good job." It was a priceless moment!

Lastly, he loves to be swaddled just like his big sister!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

2009-02-14T15:55:00.002-06:00

Just a quick HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the best husband in the world! Pat turned 27 today. Here is a precious picture of Owen and daddy having their 1st male bonding moment. I'm sure they are talking about the Razorbacks! Everyone else enjoy Valentine's Day! And no I'm not a very good wife and did not plan ahead in enough time to even get Pat a card :(.

Sneak Peek!

2009-02-13T11:41:00.003-06:00

Owen has blessed our world! He came 2/10/09 at about 1:30 p.m. weighing 8 lbs 5 oz. Sorry I'm just now introducing him and I promise more pics are coming. I just have to get a nap in while Lynlee is at daycare and Owen is sleeping.

Lynlee loves him so much and slightly over-protective already. She's having a hard time adjusting to sharing the attention, but we will soon get all the kinks worked out! I'll post more pics and stories soon...I promise!

Amazing Co-workers!

2009-02-08T21:19:00.004-06:00

On Friday, I was working away minding my own business when my co-worker beeped into my room asking me to come to her room when I got a chance (not that unusual). So I took my sweet time and walked to her room. When I got there....SURPRISE!!! They threw me a surprise baby shower. Michelle White and Kim Oliver are amazing co-workers and friends. They invited all the women of Har-ber High behind my back and even got my students involved. It was a great day and I still can't get over how kind everyone was. Sorry I don't have any pics because I didn't know about it but Kim has some pictures of it! Just ignore how HUGE I am!

Baby Owen update.....STILL not here! I will be 38 weeks on Tuesday. The doctor said he would be surprised if I made it to my next appointment which is Thursday the 12th because I'm progressing pretty fast. We will see and I will be sure to keep everyone updated.

Connection Group Baby Shower

2009-01-26T16:21:00.007-06:00

On Sunday, our connection group (a.k.a. Sunday school class!) took us to lunch at Jason's Deli and showered baby Owen with gifts. Lynlee was so excited and took total control. She unwrapped every gift at lightening speed! Here are some of pictures from our lunch. Thanks again to everyone. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful support group!

Adam and Helga Coleman!

Cody and Shannon Davis! Sorry Shannon, but this is the only picture I got with Cody in it!

Ian and Lauren Hardaway, plus Helga too! If you look closely you can see baby Hayden in Lauren's Moby wrap. She is only a week (or two) old and doesn't Lauren look amazing!

Jill and Mark Robertson sitting by Mark and Abby Milbrodt! Abby is 20 weeks pregnant and finds out Thursday what they are having.

Jason, Katie, and Zach Rowe! BIG thanks to Katie because she organized everything!

Jon and Kristin Bodenstein! She is also expecting a baby boy in March.

Here's a big group pic.

Lindsey and Jon Richey sitting by Joni and Cody Crawford. Joni is expected a baby boy in just a week or two.

Jennifer and Josh Francis! Big thanks to Jennifer for sacrificing her lunch to write down all our gifts. We were both having a hard time keeping up with Lynlee!

Here's the princess herself! She is attempting to "read" the card!

Thanks again to everyone! It was a great lunch! Sorry I don't have any pictures of the presents, but let me assure you that they were all super cute!

Package

2009-01-24T14:43:00.005-06:00

Yesterday we got home and our mail box was overflowing with mail. Little did we know there was a package stuffed in there! My dear friend Stephanie Wood sent Owen AND Lynlee a little surprise. Lynlee was so excited. Here are pictures of Lynlee holding the precious gifts. Note she still has that dorky smile!

This is a cute princess purse. Lynlee loves princesses so Steph nailed that one perfectly!! She's been playing with it all day. I'm still convinced this is just a stage and my daughter will not be prissy all her life! She's got to be sporty like mom, right???

This is a precious monkey for Owen! For those that know me really well....you also know Babar!! Steph's card said that she searched everywhere for the real Babar, but since my Babar is just a bear she thought any animal would do! It's perfect and that comment makes it so special!

I was on the floor laughing at Lynlee's smiles. I don't know if you can even call them that! The last picture reminds me of myself when I had Bells Palsy!

Weekend Visitors

2009-01-11T21:19:00.000-06:00

This weekend our friends Nick and Sara Allen with their two four-month old bundles of joy, Bailey and Brody, came to visit! Lynlee was on cloud nine. We have a Dora DVD that is all about Dora's mommy having a baby. The surprise ending is that Dora's mommy has 2 babies, a boy and a girl!! (Hopefully she's not expecting that from me!) She also asked Santa for a girl baby and a boy baby, which of course she got. So needless to say, these babies are Lynlee's dream and they blessed her with their presence.

What a precious family!

She couldn't contain her excitement!

We are willing to take any advice on what in the world to do about this crazy smile!! This is the face we encounter every time we get our camera out! I know one day we will look back on this and miss this "precious" face.

Hanging out with Cousins!

2009-01-04T21:40:00.000-06:00

We spent a day at GiGi and G-pop's house with Lynlee's cousins, Belle, Dru, and Jeb.

Here is a super scary scene. Yes, that is Lynlee DRIVING a Barbie Jeep with Jeb as her passenger! Remember Lynlee is 2 and Jeb is 11 months!

Here are the girls in their matching princess nighties! Lynlee is on cloud 9 because she loves doing everything her cousins do and she also is obsessed with princesses!

Boys watch out! These are the fiercest super model poses you will ever see! This is not just an action shot...Lynlee is actually posing! I think she has a future!!

Welcome the new blogger!

2009-01-02T18:05:00.001-06:00

I finally did it! I took the leap and I'm creating a blog!! Those that know me know that I'm not the best with time management! I'm hoping I will actually be able to keep up with this project. A lot of you also know that my sister-in-law, Angela, has an amazing blog. We are related, but not by blood so understand that I cannot write anything like her. And I can almost guarantee that nearly every sentence I write will probably be grammatically incorrect!

Here's a little bio: Pat and I have been married for 4 1/2 years. He works for Tyson Foods and I work for Springdale public schools as a speech-language pathologist.

Then we decided to get a dog! Meet Oxford. He is our 100 lbs chocolate lab!

Next came our precious 2 1/2 year old daughter, Lynlee Kate. She keeps us laughing and busy!

Lastly, Owen Patrick will be joining us on approximately February 25th! I'm doing you all a favor by not providing a picture of my 8 month pregnant belly!