~Uncle Mark is Home~

Mark returned from his job in Arkansas a little over a month ago...and we have missed him so!

~Bowdre 12 Month Sneak Peek~

We took Bowdre's 12 month pictures, as well as some family shots, at my parents house a few weeks ago. Here is a sneak peek of the shots. To say I love them is an understatement!

~Our Mini, Much-Needed Hilton Head Weekend Getaway~

Even with Bowdre feeling a little under the weather, we still decided to keep our weekend getaway trip to Hilton Head on the agenda. We just figured if she had to be sick, the beach and the fresh-salty air might do her some good. Turns out we were right. By Saturday morning, she was back to normal.

Bowdre singing at breakfast!

We rode bikes, lounged around, and of course frequented the pool with watermelon...lots and lots of watermelon.

We ended our getaway with a super delicious dinner out at Carolina Crab Company, a new restaurant in Hilton Head. Really great boiled seafood!

We are going to try to do these mini-getaways more often. They are just good for the soul, and apparently "needed" when trying to get over being sick!

~Our 1st Sickly Experience~

Thankfully, during Bowdre's 1st year, she hasn't been sick, really ever. She had the one trip to the hospital, but that was technically caused by an outside factor (pollen), so I don't really count that in the "sick" experiences, moreso the "panic" ones. She has never had a fever, and has really only had random congestion/coughs due to teething.

One morning a few weeks back, Bowdre and I were enjoying our time together. It was a Thursday, so there wasn't anything to rush to since I don't work on Thursdays. Bowdre got up acting totally normal. She ate her normal breakfast: scrambled eggs (lots of them), oatmeal and some fruit. She seemed fine. After breakfast, we headed into the den to watch some cartoons and play before we got dressed for the day. Here are a few pictures of Bowdre that morning.

Looks pretty happy to me! Well...about 20 minutes later, I picked Bowdre up to go get dressed, and she was piping hot. I immediately panicked. I took her temperature and it was 103. I called the doctor's office as quickly as I could and asked what to do. They told me to bring her in and they would check her out. Literally, within 5 minutes I was out the door headed to Sylvania to pick Warren up. We rushed to Savannah. Warren and I were so worried. How could our healthy happy baby have a 103 degree fever that was steadily climbing. I think I cried the whole way.

Once in Savannah, they pricked her finger and sure enough her white blood cell count was pretty high (probably due to the high fever). From a glance, Bowdre didn't have any other symptoms. She was eating fine, drinking fine, and outside of being a bit more cranky than normal, they couldn't find a problem. They decided that it was best to take her home, make sure she was getting plenty of fluids, use elderberry and garlic drops, and come back again the next afternoon. It was a hard experience not knowing exactly what was going on, but Warren kept reassuring me that with Bowdre being in school now, this was bound to happen. Matter of fact the doctor said, "You are so blessed that this is your first experience with this. Most babies get sick way before they turn a year old." Well...that didn't help me any because my baby was sick NOW!!!!!!!!!!! After a lot and I mean A LOT of reassuring words, we headed home.

Bowdre was so sweet and cuddly the rest of the afternoon. She is pretty much always a sweet baby, but the cuddly part doesn't happen until she is ready for bed. She is WAYYYY to busy to be cuddly. However, this mama decided to make the most of the cuddliness and snuggled all day. Here is a picture of her later on that evening...seeming to feel a lot better!

The next day, we headed back to the doctor. Her white blood cell count was still high and so was her fever. That doctor's appointment was the worst one yet. Not only did she have a high fever and wasn't feeling well, they had to prick her finger twice, and also had to cath her to check for a UTI. AWFUL. Poor baby, but I have to say, thank the Good Lord for my hubby, who stayed in there with her while I sobbed in the hallway.

No UTI...no other symptoms except for this fever and high white blood count. They decided since it was a Friday afternoon to go ahead and give her an antibiotic shot. After the shot, we headed out and decided to keep with our original plan to go to Hilton Head for the weekend. By the time we left the doctor's office, Bowdre's fever had gone away completely.

Once Saturday morning rolled around, we could tell Bowdre was getting back to her old self. No more fever.

We still don't know exactly what type of infection she had, but we assume it was some sort of either bacterial or viral infection and the shot they gave her definitely helped.

All I have to say is how hard it is dealing with your baby being sick. I am so blessed that Bowdre is a happy and healthy baby most of the time. The doctor (and others) were right. I hate that Bowdre was sick at all, but I am so thankful that she never got this sick during her first year...that would have really been scary.

We are still dealing with the cough, snots, and general crud that I assume comes from daycare, but Bowdre doesn't seem to mind it one bit.

~How Can Our Sweet Elle' Be 8?~

Our sweet loving Elle' turned 8 on August 27th. It's so hard to believe we got her over 5 years ago. She has been such a joy in our life as our "first baby," and is such a great big sister to Bowdre. Speaking of Bowdre, she certainly adores her "Ehhhh." Every time she sees a dog, she calls our for her "Ehhh." Life long best friends for sure!

Happy Birthday Sweet Elle'! We love you so!

~Bowdre School-Week 2&3~

Bowdre's 2/3 week was interesting.

Well, Week 2 she got sick, so we had to deal with that, which was rough.

By Week 3 she was feeling better and actually took her first tumble. She fell on the concrete walking to the playground...I guess the sweet baby got too excited about going outside, got going to fast, and tripped. She got a pretty bad battle wound on and under her nose...

We also took our first Mommy/Daughter trip to Chick-fil-a after school for some ice cream...Bowdre loved it, and telling my the outfit she has on...she loves wearing paint too!

Here is one of the many pieces of her artwork that she did during these 2 weeks. I cherish each and every one, but I have to say, her little hand print just makes my heart jump!

So grateful for a school that spends time with my baby creating masterpieces that I will always cherish!

~A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes~

My family's life has been quite a busy one over the past year. A new baby, Warren's new job, selling our house, moving, looking for new houses, a new job for me in January, living with my parents, Bowdre starting school, etc...I could probably go on and on! I really think despite all of the crazy, we have managed well and despite everything going on in our lives, we have somehow managed to get into a routine and things just seem to work.

However, the one thing that I struggled with daily was Bowdre starting school. I was so comfortable with her being with my mom everyday, and I felt like some beast sending her off to school where there were rules and naps and this and that. It also made me feel more guilty that I wasn't at home with her. I cried everyday about this. I knew I didn't want to stay at home full-time, but I also didn't want her to be in school all day, every day...not just yet. I do want to add though that we absolutely LOVE First Methodist school. I know Bowdre needs the structure and they are teaching it well. She is doing fun arts and crafts, and is ACTUALLY taking a 1 1/2 hr. plus nap each day...which she very well needs. Most of all, she loves her friends.

I think deep down I just wanted the best of both worlds...I wanted my cake and ice cream too.

I just prayed for God to somehow ease the pain I was feeling and the struggle I was dealing with.

God answered my prayers very quickly, and for that I am so grateful. For those of you who don't know, I graduated with the Master's Degree in English from GSU over 2 years ago. I ended up having two years of French classes that I had to take to ultimately receive my diploma. Trust me, it was a major dapper in my spirits. But the Lord provided once again and put me in a place where I could finish up the classes this summer. I decided, with only two weeks before the fall semester began, to email the Department Chair of Writing at Georgia Southern to see if there happened to be a last-minute need for writing professors. By God's grace, there was. To make a very long but awesome story short, 2 weeks later I was starting as a writing professor in the Department of Writing and Linguistics at my Alma Mater teaching First Year Writing. My teaching schedule is Monday/Wednesday/Friday, so I have Tuesdays and Thursdays to spend as I choose, which means MORE TIME WITH BOWDRE!!!

I am so humbled by this experience, and I am loving my new job and career each and every day. I have found my professional passion, and I am so happy and grateful. I have finally achieved a goal I have worked so long to reach. My dream has become a reality.

Flowers from my wonderful husband!