My Forrest

7:02 AM Posted In Edit This 0 Comments »

My Forrest is an enigma: a very special and unique riddle that must be mulled over and considered very carefully. Just whenever you think that you've arrived at the answer, it's suddenly obviously different and you must begin again. He is charming and sweet, cranky and temperamental, and fluffy and iron all bundled up in a package sealed with smiles and giggles.


He has been with me for four glorious years full of emotional soaring. He was the answer to our prayers from the beginning: a baby boy who could pass on my husband's proud family name, a little angel to fill our pink and cuddly doll filled home with trucks and cars and bring a sense of reality and balance to a young family totally engrossed in our 1 year old blossom.



Of course, our Forrest didn't come to us alone. We knew very shortly after his conception that he brought another soul with him, his twin sister Regan. No matter what order they arrived in or the manner of their arrival, we had our first-born son and we were ecstatic. Our joy was only impossibly doubled by the realization that with our son we received another daughter to pamper, but Forrest was the child we had prayed for and Regan was a joyfully adored bonus.



In the first few weeks of his life, Forrest was a colicky baby, always seeming to be sick from one infant infirmary or another. I joked my way through the time, telling everyone "He's managed to make me worry about him every day of his life so far, I may as well get used to it!"

As it turned out, Regan was afflicted with a much more serious and chronic health condition: a spinal column injury in her brain from the overdue vaginal birth of six pound twins. Her condition would manifest a mere six months after her birth, but we would have to wait three long and heart-wrenching years of watching our little angel suffer through her physical disability before the doctors would make a prognosis and decide on a course of action.



In that time, as much as we doted on her, it was her big brother who was her steadfast shoulder, her rock that she leaned on. When Regan was chemically burned with bleach while visiting her grandmother, it was Forrest who could cuddle beside her and give some peace to a aching 9 month old. When Regan would fall down crying after trying to keep up with their friends running and playing, it was Forrest who would always reach her first, helping his 2 year old darling up, wiping away the dirt and tears and bringing a smile back to her face.

Forrest would take no teasing his little sister, even at a young age, and would often have to reprimanded for beating on his toddler and pre-teen cousins for their careless remarks about his precious sister. His protectiveness hasn't lessened since Regan had her surgery, just changed as his sister is able to run and dance with the best of him.



When Forrest was a little over two years old, I had Gabriel and Elijah by c-section. Two days after I came home, I was still on strong medication from the pain and had a houseful of family and friends helping care for my older children. One member of our family was left to watch Forrest and Regan playing in the backyard, and walked inside to make herself a drink.

Forrest tried to follow her up the back steps and fell the 15 feet down to the hard packed and rock fulled Tennessee ground beneath it. He didn't cry. She didn't notice. Regan's screams of terror and sympathy woke me from my chemical and fatigue inspired sleep in my bedroom beside the back door and I dashed, confused and almost blindly to the door, where I found him laying, stunned, his head swelling and blood pouring from his mouth and nose.

I screamed for my husband and almost fell the same distance trying to get to him through the haze that had almost cleared when I saw my son laying there unmoving. Josh rescued me from falling and Forrest, it seems in the same instant and we rushed him to the emergency room, calling my mom from her room where she was watching the new twins and completely unable to speak to the woman who was supposed to be watching Forrest and Regan.

Thankfully, God protected Forrest that day, and he suffered only a mild concussion. Later his teeth turned black. The dentist says it was from the impact, which killed the baby teeth and may have scarred the permanent ones. But it's a small price to pay for my little prince's life, for which I am beyond grateful because the day could have turned out so much worse.



Next week, we will face one of the scariest days of Forrest's life, for me and Josh anyway. He has recently developed a lump on his neck that is very painful to touch and is often warm with fever, and he will go to his doctor to discover what it is. My husband, Josh, had a very similar lump on his neck whenever he was about Forrest's age and it turned out to be lymphoma and had to be surgically removed and monitored for a long time. We will pray and trust God in this, as in all things, no matter how scared we may be. We know we all are blessed beyond belief with this wonderful boy who brings life and light to whoever he meets!


I'm Putting My Foot Down: My Ode to Cliches

5:41 AM Posted In Edit This 0 Comments »

There will be no gilding the lily here: keep your fingers crossed because I am going to jump in with both feet! I am not some fly by night, here to tickle your fancy... I am down to earth and cute as a button. *wink* I may not know you from Adam's housecat, but the proof is in the pudding and I just might cut you to the quick! My momma always says curiosity killed the cat but my daddy says that you don't do the crime if you can't do the time.

I may go down in flames, burning my candle at both ends, but I am chomping at the bit to spread my wings and think outside the box. When push comes to shove this may be just the calm before the storm.

Let's get the cat out of the bag: Cain't never could, and could never would. After all it's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog... and right now, I'm the big dog around here.

Buckle up and hang on, because this is going to be one crazy ride. It's my last ditch effort to make a name for myself. Let's leave no stone unturned. Time to put our noses to the grindstone. We may as well bite the bullet because there is no time like the present! In this game, the early bird gets the worm! I'm not the biggest fish in the pond, but for my two cents worth: no pain, no gain and no guts, no glory!


I mean, after all, if a frog had wings, it's butt wouldn't hit the ground so hard!





(Post script: I am sure that Amy at Raising Arrows had exactly opposite of this in mind when she wrote her post: Choose your words wisely! Part A about avoiding cliches in your writing but, being from the Deep South, cliche's come as naturally to me as flowers in spring. We cling to them dearly down here, and our everyday speech is sprinkled heavily with the sweet sugar of our beloved cliches! Come to think of it, perhaps that is why, when one of our Yankee cousins (hahaha-sorry, I had to say it!) come visiting, they find it so difficult to understand us- what with our slow drawls and Southern wisdom decorating our speech! But it's as natural as breathing to most of us, and we really have to catch ourselves to avoid sharing with the rest of the world!)

I've Had Enough!

6:09 AM Posted In Edit This 0 Comments »



As I am walking through the store yesterday, I think I know what the surreptitious glances from a harried looking man meant... Here is a young woman in a brown floor length skirt and a plain button up shirt. She has a baby on her hip, two toddlers in her buggy among her purchases, and three preschool and kindergarten aged children walking quietly beside her... 'She's one of those people.'

You know the people I mean: they're crazy, off the wall, those types that think all children are blessing even if she's having to flip through a coupon book to make sure she has the cash to cover all her purchases. The people who gladly say "I wish I had six more!" while they are groping at the hands of three and holding two cranky babies in their arms while blocking juice packages being chunked with full force at the cashier.... The weirdos....

I wasn't looking for snide remarks. I wasn't in the mood for questions about how many children I have (I know it takes a couple counts sometimes- but do you really have to ask?), how many are twins (*sigh*), how full my hands are (isn't it obvious?), or if I know what causes that (Ummm, I think so... it's the water, right?). We'd been out and about for several hours at this point and only the promise of a visit to Nana's was keeping my children from bouncing off the the shelves, and I wanted to hurry through this last stop.

As we made our turn onto the last aisle we would have to traverse before we could finally leave, my eldest son accidentally knocked several toys off the end-cap. I was almost in the mood to pretend that it didn't happen, but my son's conscience wouldn't let him pass it by. So we stopped to try and repair the damage. His sisters ran to his aid and the three of them attempted to rehang a dowel and put the toys back where they belonged.

I tried to move the buggy out of the walking room but still, when the man needed to get by, he had to squeeze between the buggy and shelves. I was bent down beside it, auspiciously to assist the children who had everything under control and thankful that he didn't utter a word as he passed.

We (ok, THEY) finally, after a bit of figuring, returned the fallen toys to their rightful place. As we finished up, the man walked by the end of the aisle again, and I literally sighed. I just knew what he was thinking, the inner reaction and the curiosity that drove him for one last glance of my insanity.

As my miniature helpers placed their items on the checkout counter (thankfully, they were gentle), I shot a glance around; a subconscious count of my children and an appraisal of the strangers close to them. Next in line behind us was That Man.

I had to look twice because on his face was a huge smile! He saw me looking at him and somehow managed to smile even bigger! I half smiled back, thinking to myself, "Oh NO! Here it comes!" I braced myself for the repressed ridicule and looking-down-of-the-noses that usually assails me when people are brave enough to look at us squarely.

"Surely, these are not all your children?!?" The Man asked. When I nodded that they were indeed all mine, his eyes twinkled. I stifled an inner groan.

"I bet bear hugs are the best in your house! You call for a hug and have all these wonderful babies pile up on you!"

All I could do was plaster a huge grin on my face and agree.

New Pictures from Yesterday

5:42 AM Posted In Edit This 0 Comments »
While we were running errands yesterday, specifically paying the water bill and buying our 500th plunger (because somehow, we can never find one when we need it!LOL) we decided to go and pay my mom a visit. She suggested we take some new pictures of the kiddos, and so, yes, we did arrange the flowers and have the kids pose (something that I am usually against!) but here are our newest pictures of my babies!


We ended up staying far later than I had planned, an before I was finished helping my step-father with his webpage, the children were bringing me their shoes and saying "OK Mom! We are ready to go now!

So we finally did. Once we got home, I cooked Spaghetti for supper, and Regan and I decided we were too exhausted to stay up one more minute! Everyone else was looking forward to the new episode of MythBusters, and decided to stay up. Apparently they didn't make it though, because my husband didn't come to bed until after 2am! They had all fallen asleep on the couch!

Now to see if I have time to catch up on the Creative Writing!

Updating on the babyshower!

5:10 AM Posted In Edit This 0 Comments »



Hello! How funny that I post something full of pictures and Lynette posts a blog about posts with lots of pictures! I just thought it would be fun to link up to her Getting to Know You for this one!


I have not been able to get online very often the last couple of weeks, and have missed out on the creative writing course! Yes! That's what I've thought about!! I will be wondering around the house trying to get my day accomplished wishing I could find a half hour to blog about it! I don't know if that's sad or not! lol I should probably just be happy that I am living my life instead of wishing I could blog about it!

I thought I would steal a few minutes this morning and post some pictures and share from my sister in laws baby shower last weekend and share how it went...

We didn't get a newborn, but we did get London!


Not everyone understands how truly beautiful diapers can be!
(BJ deciding on game order and my diaper cake in the background!)

All the necessary people showed up!
(My inlaws/BJ's cousin, aunt, granny, and mom!)

And the other side decided to make an appearance as well!
(In-laws from the Daddy to be's side)



We even had a guy to embarass with our baby shower games!
(Heather and her husband, Justin!)


There was love all around!
(Granny and my mommy)

We played games and the girls enjoyed poking fun at BJ's very pregnant belly!


We knew that having a big strong man would come in handy!






So that's it, in a condensed version! We'd been planning it basically since we found out she was expecting, and even though it was fun, I am GLAD ITS OVER! :)

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