Our girl is 7 months!

Well, here is another catchup post.....since it's December 31, Emery-Claire did turn 7 months about a week and a half ago! I've been so immersed in sickness it is hard to think of all the things she normally is doing. Obviously since not feeling well, she has been more fussy and clingy. She is just a tiny, petite little girl. She is doing well and enjoying her solid foods. We've had sweet potatoes, carrots, apples, pears, prunes, bananas, and green beans. We have been stuck there since she's been sick, and had to lay low on some of the solid foods.
She still needs help with sitting up, and I try not to be concerned because motor wise I feel she is going to be at a slower pace than Reed was. At her 6 month, 2 week old checkup, she was only 12 lbs., 5 oz. (since that has been several weeks ago I feel she had put on some more weight, well, until maybe the virus hit!) So she is just a little girl and feels more like a 5 month old to me. I know when she's ready she'll begin to sit by herself, take an interest to be up on all fours and attempt to move. But most of the time she is a happy girl, and continues to love for everyone to talk to her and interact with her. She loves watching Reed, and laughs and giggles at him, as he does with her. She is just mellow and seems to sit back and soak it all in, babbling some, but I feel is often more quiet than Reed was. And what's funny is I felt worried about Reed's speech development at times!

Some Christmas pictures and Happy New Year!

Well, what else can one on a lovely New Year's Eve (so bummed to miss the party all are friends are at :(--- when your family has been sick for almost a week now?! Stuck out of town and a camera full of pictures, so download and blog of course! So here are some of the pictures we captured before the dreaded Rotavirus struck our family on Christmas day, last Thursday evening. A little out of order, but these two pictures are Reed with his favorite pasttime at my mom and stepdad's house....trains! Donnie loves trains and has a entire moldel railway system he is always working on and building in the basement. Reed asks constantly to go down there and "go see the choochoos!" These pictures are from Monday night after getting discharged from the hospital, so he was so happy to go down there and watch the trains for a little while.
Trying on new boots from Nana.
Reed posing with Grandpa and Grandma (my dad and stepmom).

The adorable newlyweds, aren't they so cute and snuggly!!

Well, after we get moved and settled, hopefully we'll begin some potty training. So here is Reed already making some good practice, as he totally just sat down on his new potty with this book---is this just innate or something?!!

My crazy sisters and newphew, Brody!

The best picture we could get of everyone at my mom's....of course the kids are all looking all different directions, oh well.

Aunt Nee-Nee and Emery-Claire....wish I had been more in front of them as they are both smiling so big, so cute!

The boys having a blast decorating cookies at Gigi's.

Showing Pops his Chick-Fil-A gift card that was in his stocking. Oh and I did do the applique on his shirt, thanks so much for the helpful pointers Em! The ones I've done since then have turned out so much better!

It's been a doozy....

Well, I know I wrote earlier this week about having sick kiddos. Well, since then it has gotten so much worse over the past 4 days. Saturday night about 9:30pm we decided it was time to have Reed see a doctor. He was almost lifeless, so lethargic, practically refusing to drink and had laid on the floor at my mom's all day long in and out of sleep, with constant diarrhea. So off to the ER Mom and I went, leaving Emery-Claire in the bed with my stepdad who was at home. Thank goodness we got there when we did (besides the fact that it was so packed out and we thought we'd wait there forever!) After being there probably 30 minutes the minimal Gatorade we had gotten Reed to drink earlier that day was coming out both ends, as we're sitting in the waiting room! Oh, poor little buddy, it was awful! About that time we were called back to finally see the triage nurse, where they gave us more towels and and a gown, since his pajamas had vomit and diarrhea all over them. Then finally around midnight we were called back to a room. We had wonderful nurses and a great doctor, who were great with Reed! So we were thankful for that! They did some blood work and determined he was definitely very dehydrated and in need of IV fluids. I thought he would freak out with getting the IV put in, but he did great! Though I know he was so weak and out of it, he probably didn't have much in him to fight against it. His labwork revealed he had the dreaded Rotavirus. I listed it as a link because it is a very serious virus that affects so many kids, and another factor he had against that an x-ray revealed an Ileus in his abdomen. So this making it basically impossible for him to digest anything on his own, basically his stomach was so overworked from the virus there was nothing more it could do on it's own! So the doctor felt he needed to be admitted for continuous fluid and be monitored closely to make sure all his stats improved. So up to the 3rd floor we went finally about 3am. The doctor also told us we were all exposed to this virus, and will probably have some form of it. Maybe not as severe as Reed, but some symptoms. Reed continued to improve Sunday, and little by little was drinking more and more fluids. Sunday morning Casey came to be with us as well, so I was grateful to have him be there. I know he was pretty scared that our little guy was so sick. Monday morning they felt they could stop the IV fluids and see how Reed did drinking on his own. Then by Monday afternoon they felt we could leave, yeah! So far he is doing so much better today, perking up more and more as the day went on. He is drinking well on his own, and hardly any diarrhea! Emery-Claire has had a little diarrhea since Friday, just occasionally though, and thrown up probably 2xs in the past 4 days. So the doctor said she may just have a more mild form, which may be due to the antibodies she is receiving in the breastmilk. So I am praying she stays the same and doesn't get any worse.

But as we thought we were overcoming the hump of illness, Casey started vomiting last night. He slept some and acted as if he was better this morning (with his now turning to the diarrhea), but again this afternoon he began to go downhill finally telling me he needed to see a doctor. So my stepdad took him to a walkin clinic, and he practically passed out in the waiting room! So they immediately took him to the back and gave him some IV fluids for his dehydration. He is home now and sleeping soundly.

I am the only one with no symptoms at this point. I suppose the Lord knew I needed to remain strong to take care of everyone! And I am so thankful we have been with my family, because I definitely couldn't have handled all this without my mom's help! So if everyone is doing better tommorrow, we may finally head home. But for now it's a wait and see thing. I am mainly just exhausted, so off to bed I will go soon to get a long night's sleep! Thank you to all our friends and family who have been praying for us and checking on us. We appreciate it and are thankful for you all! This is one nasty virus and has definitely been a Christmas we will never forget!

Christmas Time Events.....

Well, we have definitely had an eventual Christmas week. I haven't downloaded all the pictures so those will be coming soon. It started with last weekend being with my family. We had great family time filled with great food, seeing "A Christmas Carol" play, games, etc. Reed quickly understood "presents" and thinks daily there are some to open at this point. Since Christmas Eve we've been with Casey's family, well, mainly with his mom since my nephews have had a horrible stomach virus and had to quarantine themselves up in their home. Well, unfortunately it hit us late last night......yes, about midnight our little guy woke up crying and I went in to find him in a pool of throw up. So that was the beginning of a long night for Casey and I. It seems to have calmed down some this morning, and we're praying Emery-Claire doesn't get it! So not sure what the next few days will look like, we are supposed to be on our way to the CO New Year's conference tommorrow, but not for sure that will be the case.

We do have some good news....we did found out a house we looked at before we left town we are going to be able to rent! Yeah! It is a little smaller than what we have now, but knowing we are only renting and that it's temporary, and very close to the campus makes it very relieving to us. It is nice and new, so that makes me feel great to have something clean and fresh with young children. And the backyard is fabulous! It is so roomy for the kids to run around and fenced in, which I'm so excited about! So that was the real selling point for me!
Hope everyone else had a wonderful Christmas, and no sickness, which is definitely no fun! Praying ours ends soon! We did have some friends have a sweet baby boy yesterday, so that too was great news to hear their wonderful Christmas gift arriving on Christmas day! We love you and are so excited for you Chris and Katie! Congratulations!

The Willis Family Christmas!

These are some of the pictures from our "Christmas morning" yesterday. Last year we decided that since we travel to see our families, that we'd have our own celebration of waking up on "Christmas morning" a little early. With 2 little ones it starts rather early, so we start with a big breakfast!

The boys enjoying their breakfast of eggs, bacon and biscuits!

Checking out the stockings....

Half family pics; I guess we could have pulled out the tripod to take one of all of us, but we didn't.

A little Christmas news that is a great "present" to us......our house has officially sold! The sign is down!! Our buyers finally did sell theirs and inspections are done, so we are now moving forward to close sometime in mid-January! We are excited that it has finally happened and have madly been searching for a place to live. We are leaning to rent as of now, although the market is prime for buying, but we just feel overwhelmed with our time crunch and not really finding "the house" so we don't want to just settle either. So the past several days have looked at quite a few rentals, and will hopefully make a decision soon. We obviously want to know where we'll be going when we come home from traveling as we'll have to basically start packing up! So we are thankful that God has finally moved and sold our house so we can be closer to the campus!

First Snow!

Well, Tuesday morning we woke up to our first snow of the season! December is already too cold up here in Kentucky, so I can only imagine how long of a winter this is going to be! Reed was so excited to see the snow and kept saying "No" for "snow". I took him out there to walk around and explore, as you can see from the pictures below he had a great time, and did not want to come inside! I guess we'll have more of these days to look forward to this winter I'm sure.

I know you love his "sock" mittens (we have none right now, but these stayed on well and his hands still weren't cold when we went in), and his "Kroger bag boots" (thanks for the tip Sarah Jane:)!

4 years ago today......

Four years ago today was Saturday, December 11, 2004. At 2 pm in the afternoon life changed as I knew it! Being 29 years old, how I had awaited my wedding day for what seemed like decades! And after meeting Casey Willis in October 2003, little did I know that day would soon be ahead us. Four years doesn't really seem like much time at all when you are 33 years old, but yet I don't remember much of what life was like before him either. Through the joys, tears, and hard times I am still so thankful for the man God has placed in my life! Marriage is definitely not easy, but yet I cannot imagine going through all that we've been through with anyone else. God brought us together for a reason, and for that we are so richly blessed to walk through our journey of life, His story of redemption together! It is a privilege to call you my husband, my mate, my best friend.....I love you Casey!

Happy Birthday Nana!

Today is Nana's birthday (in addition to our really special day which I'll mention next) and we all wanted to wish her a very happy birthday! We love you so much and we are so thankful for you and all that you do for us! Even though we don't see you very often we miss you dearly and want you to know that you are a precious blessing to us all! Happy Birthday!

What we've been up to.....

I've been trying my hand at a few projects lately. The first are Emery-Claire's letters painted on canvas' to hang over her bed. Please don't zoom in closely as I know you will see LOTS of imperfections and mess ups. I traced them from some patterns I had, so I like the "w" and the "c" but am not real happy with the way the "e" turned out. Oh well, they are done and I don't think I'm up for doing it again, so for now this is how they will stay.


The next is my sewing.......I finally got a machine for my birthday in October, and have been practicing with little odds and ends before finally tackling my first project--a dress for Emery-Claire! So below are the pictures....I did use a pattern which really helped make it alot easier. But overall (even though I know there are imperfections on the dress too) I feel like it wasn't all that bad! So I look forward to trying some other projects in the near future for her again!

I even did covered buttons! Easier than I thought, and seem to finish it off nicely. I may have it monogrammed with a green "W" in the middle, but haven't done that yet.

Me and my girl! If you are wondering, I also had my hair chopped off! It's not the greatest picture of it here since it's mostly an adorable picture of her, but it's a bob slightly stacked in the back and angles down longer in the front! Very different than my usual long hairstyle, but fun to have something different! And drying and fixing seem to be a little easier because there isn't so much hair! So I've loved it so far.

New month, new season,new background and a couple pictures!

I took a few pictures of the kids last night in front of our newly decorated Christmas tree (from over the weekend). Since I was doing it all by myself and it was before bed, I unbelievably got a few cute ones!

Boggle, boggle!!

Or Gobble, gobble would be more appropriate to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! Reed for some reason wants to say "boggle, boggle." We had a wonderful lunch with our friends, the Terrells and the Duncans. I took the camera with the intention to take pictures of all the kids at the kid table, but amoungst all the craziness never managed to get there. Oh well! After seeing the cute little hats the kids had made over there I thought we'd make a couple for ours to capture a "thanksgiving" picture! This was the best I could get at the end of a long day with little and no naps. We realize we have soooo much to be thankful for, even amongst often hard life circumstances! Today was a sweet reminder of the precious blessings God has provided and given us in our lives! Hope you all had a wonderful and blessed day as well!

2 little snowbunnies

Yes, last night it snowed here! I know it's only November and we already have snow! We had just a dusting on the ground, but still it was fairly covered, and some of the northern area schools were closed. I'm so not ready for a long and couped up winter......especially here in KY, it will be like this til probably March! And April and May still are usually cool, not at all very warm. So here are our sweet snowbunniew in their matching pjs.

Happy 1/2 year old sweet baby girl!

Our baby girl is officially 1/2 a year old today. 6 months has passed since you joined our family, which I sometimes feel like it was just yesterday! She is such a tiny, petite little thing that I want to look at her and think she is only 4 months! But oh no, before I know it she will be crawling, walking, talking, etc. Some of the fun new things we are seeing her do lately........

• She loves to grab at (mine mostly) faces and laugh, giggle, "talk" (lots of vowels, maybe a couple consonants thrown in there!)



• She is so observant and alert, taking in all that is going on around her; especially when it comes to watching big brother



• She is responding to her name, smiling and looking when she hears it



• Smiles and laughs at Reed, it is so sweet to continue to watch them engage with one another; I know he is so excited for her to interact back with him



• Feeding about 4 times a day/every 4 hours......which on the flip side we also started the cereal; I know I have posted before that she has always been such a slow paced eater, but I think lately she is sooooo much hungerier! And unfortunately since the cereal is only in week 2 I can't just add all these other foods to her meals yet, so I'm afraid the hunger/milk demand is not up to par with the supply....so all that to say we've had to occasionally supplement after a feeding here and there with formula----the girl just finally decided she was hungry!!



• still a fabulous sleeper (typically 11-12 hours a night)! and usually a 2 -3 hour morning nap, 2 hour afternoon nap, and sometimes needs an hour or so in the late afternoon, and still ready for bed by 7/7:30!



• she has almost mastered rolling back to belly.....I think I need to put her on the floor more to completely help her master this skill; she has been rolling from her back to her side and almost making it to her belly, but just not quite all the way yet!



• when she is sitting in her bumbo on the table with a toy and then drops it, so cute how she looks and bends down like she is really trying to reach it! makes her look so big!

We love you sweet Emery-Claire and you are such a joy to us each and every day! Our family wouldn't be complete without you!!

Yummy soup, first bites, and sweet faces!

Ok, so now that it's cold we LOVE to eat lots of soup! This has been my staple for about the past month or so, and I seriously can't get enough of it! I think I may have found the receipe in a cooking light magazine some time ago, but for some reason never really made it! So I thought I'd share it because it really is so good!

Nana's Chicken Pastina Soup
1/2 c water
2 (14 oz.) cans chicken broth (I use low sodium)
2 1/4 c prechopped celery, onion, and carrot mix
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp salt
1 lb. chicken breast tenders (I usually boil them) cut up or pulled, whatever you like
1/4 c uncooked pastina (tiny shaped pasta; Kroger sells the brand Acini di Pepe)
3 Tbsp pesto (I have been making it from a receipe from my Betty Crocker cookbook, but you probably could buy some too)
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 c preshredded fresh Parmesan cheese

1) Bring water and broth to boil; stir in celery mix, pepper, salt, and chicken, bring to boil. Add pasta, cook 4 min. Stir in pesto and juice,
and simmer 1 minute. Sprinkle your serving with the cheese....oh it's so good!!

Sunday I bit the dust and started some cereal with Emery-Claire. She'll be 6 months next week, and I finally think she is getting more of an appetite. She loved it! As you can see she is pulling the spoon to her mouth, and was so excited to eat! Ahhh, here we go! I decided it probably was time after her early wakeups 2 days in a row at 6:00 and 6:30am.....and she never wakes up much before 7:30am!

I guess it helps to go down as you suck those fingers in between each bite!

Reed loves sitting in EC bumbo seat???! So he decided to plop in it the other day and enjoy his snack.

So sweet sitting in Daddy's chair! We made Reed's shirt yesterday, thanks to my friend Rebekah's adorable idea! And he can't get enough of his turkey! She used white shirts and they looked so much better to show off the paint colors, but Walmart was out of his size so I got red...fall and festive I guess.

An update and some pics

Not much of a very eventful week at the Willis household, besides I've just slacked some in posting! We did have beautiful weather all week, until the rain and cold started today. So we enjoyed as much outside time as we could! I did get to have some fun women's time....girl's night with our small group Wednesday night....had such a great time hanging out with you Karen and Liz! We definitely need to do it more often! And then Thursday morning I got to work the Henry Brown warehouse sale. If you have never heard of them click on my link to see their website....very cute purses/bags! I did it in the spring and it is such a blast hanging out and being at the sale (and of course the best part...free purses for working!) Our friend, Meredith, who is also in our small group...is the sales and marketing manager, so she has roped us all in to work the sales and get fun free bags and purses!

So here are a few pictures of the kids from the week:
Reed loving the warm weather outside and the leaves! We have several HUGE trees in our yard and leaves everywhere!

If you notice on his shirt (the "punkin" shirt as he calls it) his "I voted" sticker....yes, Reed got to experience voting in the election for the first time! At least we can say our vote counted and helped in Kentucky!

Such a serious girl!

Her favorite, sitting in the bumbo and chewing on the keys, her favorite toy these days!