Lucas Campbell Bolan

My sister, Diane is now a mommy of two.

Lucas Campbell Bolan made his debut with pomp and circumstance Sunday afternoon.

By way of an emergency C-section due to a decrease in his heart rate, he was taken and rushed to the NICU. After a few days and several various tests it has been determined that Lucas has a brain infection caused by Strep B.

He will be in the hospital for three weeks at least while being administered antibiotics.

Lucas is still intubated and receiving oxygen and morphine for sedation as well as several other medications, though they are weaning him off gradually.

Doctors are optimistic of his recovery and are taking great care of Lucas and Diane.

We are asking for prayers for his quick healing and no other difficulties to arise as we wait on his healing. Pray for Diane as she is a mommy to a sick little boy and a busy two year old at home. Pray also as she will be discharged on Thursday and will be leaving Lucas in the capable hands of the staff at UK hospital.

We know that God works all things together for good for those who love him, and we do. We trust Him through this situation and believe that very soon Lucas will be keeping Diane up for his three a.m. feeding.

Thank you in advance for carrying him to Jesus, the Great Physician who loves all the little children.

Rosalie Road

I measure my life not in years or age, but rather by what state I lived in.

When did I learn to ride a bike?

     When I lived in Ohio.

When did I get my license?

     When I lived in Virginia.

When did I get my first job?

     When I lived in Alaska.

I have also never returned to a state I lived in, until last summer's Williamsburg trip with my husband. I don't have what some people have called roots. We moved and that was life. I loved it and am thankful for it.

I can be very nostalgic too, so when we were only an hour from one of my childhood homes last weekend, we decided to make the drive out of our way to see it.

I remembered it immediately.

We lived in this house while I was 5-10 years old. So many memories.


I had a dog named Jake who played hide and seek with me.
I got a new baby sister at this house.
We had a scavenger hung one year for my birthday where I got a hot pink bike with a radio.
We watched TGIF every week in this home.
We played in the snow, collected rolly pollies, and went to VBS here.
I walked up and down a huge hill to get to school.

This school...or a variation of this school twenty five years ago.

Where I went to Kindegarten.
Danced to a rap version of multiplication facts.
Was a safety monitor. (I know dorky.)
and walked under a see saw where I cracked my head and had to get a butterfly bandage.

God blessed me with an incredible childhood. We had adventures all the time. I want the same for my girls. I hope that there are only a couple of houses in their history, but however many their are I hope they can look back on their childhood with as much fondness as I do.

Sledding, Snowballs, and Angels

We woke the other morning to a winter wonderland.

And we Alabamaians were not ready for it.

We wrapped up in layers and layers and ziplock bags.

 I need to buy some snow boots soon, but her feet stayed dry.

They sled...or at least sat in a storage tub while we pushed them.

They waddled down the hill.

They made angelic beings.

But Mag's most favorite was the snowballs. Rather, the snow handfuls. It was a bit to powdery to form balls, but they had a blast.

Well, it's all fun and games until you get a face full of snow.

Purchasing winter apparrel is now on our to do list.

The Creation Museum

My girls were able to experience a couple more first this Martin Luther King Jr. weekend.

Scott had the day off and we took a spontaneous trip to Cincinnati, OH.

I had heard of the Creation Museum from several different sources and thought it would be a fun advenure. Thanks to the generosity of my mom she gave us tickets for the weekend. The tickets were good for two days and since we had points on our credit card we were able to book a hotel for free as well.

We headed out Sunday afternoon for the hour and a half drive and went straight to the museum. There were not many visitors so we were able to have our run of the museum. As neat as the museum was, it wasn't really age appropriate for my girls.

Following the Dinosaur Feet to the museum

The are several life like exhibits depicting the Garden of Eden, Noah's Ark, Dinosaurs and several prophets from the bible. Maggie tends to be a bit skittish around life like things. She held our hands tightly until we finally convinced her that they were just pretend.

She finally got the courage to touch a dinosaur's toenail.

Most of the time the girl's were more interested in the pillars or the poles.

Mag had a bit of a mishap with a bench. She is so my daughter.

After a yummy dinner and a surprise treat from the Cheesecake Factory we headed to our hotel.

It had rated a three on the website, and that was very generous.

It had the smell of asian food and dirty floors. We were given a room on the sixth floor and when we were about to board the elevator we realized it was dirty. We started the trek up the stairs. Ellie in the lead, Scott taking the caboose.

The girls were thrilled and were wired for the next several hours.

When the lights were out we intended to have a restful night. How silly we were.

Ellie had a been struggling a bit with congestion, which only worsened as the hours went on. Since we were out of town we didn't have medicine.

Being the incredible daddy that Scott is, he made a drug store run at 3 am. Once we were able to get her some help we finally were able to rest.

It was a fun spontaneous adventure and memories were made. Grateful for my little family and the blessings we've been given.

Princess Pirate Mermaids

Since moving to Kentucky, I met the sweetest person ever. Reaching out to me as a visitor at a local church, Dana and I have really hit it off. Being in very similar walks of life, with two small in age kiddos I am so grateful for the friendship we have begun. I was able to attend a mom's group this morning with her and really enjoyed it.

And was a little convicted too.

One thing that really stood out to me was regarding survival. Most days that's what I feel like I'm doing.

Surviving.

Just getting through the day, just making it to nap, or dinner, or bed time. And just like that my girl's child hood is over.

Ok, that may be a bit of a jump, but you get the point.

I have been working and need to continue to work on being more purposeful with my time spent with my girls. I catch myself through the days rushing them from one thing to another, or setting them in front of a television to get a few moments of reprieve for myself.

I was tested on this topic just last night.

It had been one of "those" days. Nothing too terrible, just tiring and a day that I was surviving from. After dinner I got the girls in the tub, and was looking forward to a few minutes of sitting while they played. Until I saw it...

The turd.

Ellie had generously shared a stinky gift in the tub. I quickly got the girls out, drained the tub, and moved them to another bathroom to finish the cleaning process with a quick shower. Unforutnately, the hot water was gone due to another bath being run downstairs.

That, coupled with an intense fear of a shower, left me with a screaming(like a "Your trying to murder me" kind of scream) 2 year old. I cleaned Ellie in 2.1 seconds and decided to wait a few minutes to clean Maggie by putting her in the left over water in the warm tub downstairs.

So, she sat wrapped in a towel while I cleaned the dirty tub.

For honesty's sake, I was not in a very good mood with all the hussle and bussle that the bath turned into. In fact, I was pretty cranky.

Soon after I was able to put Maggie in the tub, which I had intended to quickly clean her and get her out. No playing I just wanted to finally complete the hour long chore that was bathtime.

Until I saw her.

She was in bubble bath heaven.

Swimming around, splashing and laying back she was a beautiful Princess Pirate Mermaid. I'm not sure how that works, but thats what she was.

She changed my mood with her bubble clad face. Her gorgeous blue eyes.

This is her face after I told her there was a shark swimming with her.

It takes me a few minutes to remember to make memories and not rush from one thing to the next. I'm glad I passed the test last night.

Ellie's EKG

Ellie had her 2 yr old well baby visit last week. She is growing well and meeting all developmental milestones. She is in the 90th percentile for height and 60th percentile for weight.

The doctor did hear what he called an innocent heart murmur and recommended we be checked out by a pediatric cardiologist.

Now, typically this would scare me to no end. I tend to be a bit of a hypochondriac, especially concerning my loved ones. However, Maggie had been diagnosed with an innocent heart murmur at her three year old check up and everything was fine. So, I was believing there was nothing to worry about now and it was just routine.

We woke early yesterday morning and headed off to Lexington for her appointment.

We had talked about what would happen and practiced what the doctor may do. Also, thanks to Doc McStuffins, she was well prepared for the visit.

Turns out she was a champ! She got compliments from her nurse and her cardiologist both for being so compliant with the directions she was given.

She was measured and weighed then taken back to a room.

There they placed "stickers" all over her chest, sides and tummy for an EKG. After the placement of each "sticker" she touched each one, but didn't try to take them off.

The doctor then came in listened extensively, moving her around, laying down, sitting up, looking up etc.

Sweet Sister helping her be brave

The final verdict was that she is totally fine.

Evidently heart murmurs are very common in young kids, and it is extremely likely that she will grow out of it as she grows.

As we left the hospital I was complimenting Ellie telling her she did so good. To which Maggie responded, "Yeah sissy, you did so good. I'm so proud of you!" They are adorable.

We celebrated her good news and great behavior with a trip to the mall to play.

So thankful for my girls, and great doctors that look out for them.