A Gingerbread House

On Christmas Eve, Emily (Sophie and Amy call her Lou Lou), Amy, and Sophie assembled and decorated a gingerbread house.  Lou Lou and Amy were very patient with Sophie and let her do most of the decorating.  It was so sweet to watch, and if I haven't told y'all, Sophie LOVES to help me cook, so this was right up her alley! 

The gingerbread house stayed at Nana and Pawpaw's house until just recently.  Pawpaw said that he slowly disassembled the house by eating the candy treats from it.  He finally through it out, only to find it buried all over the yard by Speck, their dalmation.  He is very protective of his food and tends to bury it very quickly before the other dogs, Dixie and Chucky, have a chance at it.  Sort of reminds me of this Traveler's insurance commercial.  Pawpaw said that Speck woke him from a peaceful night's sleep to go check on his buried treasure, only to find that his nightmare had come true.  Dixie and Chucky must have been watching!

Christmas 2011 - Fun with the Rigbys

The first get together we had at Christmas was with Lee, Regina, and family in Millbrook.  There house is alive with activity these days, and it is so much fun to see two little miracles running about.  They are all precious, indeed!  We never did get one picture with everyone in it, but there is always next year!   

The second get together of the season was with Michael, Jessica, and Merrill.  We opted for a mid-morning visit, which worked out great!  Everyone was refreshed from a good night's sleep, and Merrill and Sophie had lots of energy to play dress-up while we all visited.  As a matter of fact,  we were so busy talking that I forgot to take many pictures.  I'm a bit embarrassed, but given the happenings of the weeks before, I should be glad I have any at all!  I will try to do better next Christmas!

Calendars were so full, as is not unusual in December, we celebrated the holiday with Tim, Michele, and family on the Monday after Christmas.  Things were winding down and a bit more relaxed by this time, so my memory and camera were beginning to work better.  Sophie and Anna Kay both loved their Baby Alives, and Nick quickly went to work on the Lego boat and truck that we gave him.  He had it almost completely done by the time we left that afternoon.  He is one smart little guy!  Again, I have to apologize that I have no pictures of Mack, the newest addition of the Rigby family, and little brother to Nick and Anna Kay.  I'm sure he could care less, but I am disappointed that I do not have picture from his First Christmas.  I guess I will have to scan the picture from their Christmas card and post it here. 

Mack, Bebe is not always this scatterbrained!

Christmas 2011 - Fairhope Christmas Parade

Christmas was a total blur this past year, but I will try to piece it together as best as I can. To kick off the 2011 Christmas season, we decided to go to the Fairhope Christmas Parade. Downtown Fairhope is beautiful on a daily basis, but it is especially pretty during the holidays. We met Tim, Michele, and the kids, as well as Michael, Jessica, Merrill, and Brenda. The weather was perfect and the kids had a great time catching candy, beads, and toys and watching the bands and floats pass.

Having fun!

Throw me some candy!

Surgery #4 Update

On December 12, Sophie had her 4th surgery with Dr. Bauer, removing her second set of expanders.  She did great again, and we are so blessed.  Dr. Bauer was able to remove a significant amount of nevus.  Sophie had 4 drains, 2 on the front and 2 on the back.  She has healed remarkably well again, and we are scheduled for suture removal on Tuesday.  For the last surgeries, we were able to remove the sutures ourselves, but Sophie is more aware of what is going on now and is having no part of our removing anything.  That is fine with me because it takes a lot of stress off of me! 

Our next surgery is scheduled for April 23, so we get a much welcome break from all things nevus removal related.  We are very thankful for that!

Below is a photo that shows what Sophie's back looked like when we started (top left), after her first nevus removal surgery (bottom left), and after her last nevus removal surgery (right).  It's remarkable, isn't it?  We are so blessed!!

Thankful

Yes, I know that I have already done a Thanksgiving post, and yes, I know that it is mid-January, but I have to say that I am so thankful on so many levels. 

My sweet Mama won her battle with renal cell carcinoma and went to be with our Heavenly Father on December 10, 2011.  This was so unexpected, and the most difficult thing that I have ever experienced in my entire life, but I am thankful.  Thankful?  You wonder how I can be thankful when I just lost my mother? 

My mother was one of the sweetest, toughest, most precious women that I have ever known, and I am thankful that she is my mother.  I am thankful that Sophie got to know her Nana and spend so much time with her in the short year and 9 months that they had together.  I am thankful that God allowed us to have 6 years with our Mama after she was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.  I am thankful that Mama used that time to glorify Him and was such a strong example for all of us, even when she was so sick.  I am thankful that we took advantage of the time we were given with our mama to make special memories that can never be erased. 

I am thankful to be part of a family that is so close and supportive of each other, even during the toughest of times.  I am thankful that when difficult decisions had to be made, we all knew what needed to be done, and we all wanted the same things.  I am thankful to have a family that can pick up and move forward during the most difficult times, even when all of us cannot be there to carry our weight.

Lastly, but certainly not least, I am thankful that I will see my mama again one day in heaven.  That, people, is a comfort that can only be found in Jesus Christ.

Thank you so much for your many prayers for us during this difficult time.  We have felt each and every one. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

What a wonderful day!

I am so thankful to have everything I could

have ever wished for.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sometimes....

you just feel like you've been kicked in the gut when you get through dealing with all you have to deal with when your child has expanders.  So much changes with them so quickly, and when they have a bad night or start reacting differently to very normal things, like putting them in the bathtub, you have to wonder if they are just having a bad night, or are they reacting differently because their skin is more sensitive to the water because of the expansion, or are they just being a 3 year old.  Then you top off the night by trying to clip a suture that is getting irritated and festered from skin that is already stretched so tightly on the back of your very upset child, who doesn't understand why you are doing what you are doing even though you are explaining it to them the best you can.  All they know is that it hurts.  Whew, will I be so glad when we have this behind us - when we can have a normal life, without surgeries, expanders, fills, and more surgeries. 
Don't get me wrong.  I am very thankful that we have the option to remove Sophie's nevus, and I am so very thankful that Sophie is otherwise healthy and that this is only temporary.  I realize that we have it so easy compared to what other children and families are having to deal with.  This is what makes me continue to push through this, to be able to do these things week in and week out.  But, I'm not going to lie.  It is hard, but we are so blessed that Sophie is doing so well with this.  She is a trooper.  I, on the other hand, not so much sometimes.  Tonight is one of those times.

On a positive note, we are less than 4 weeks out from Sophie's next surgery. The time is flying by so fast!Below are the latest pictures of her with 400ccs in each back expander and 315 in the one on her tummy.  She thinks the expander on her tummy is so funny.  She laughs and says, "Look at my big ol' tummy, Mama!".  That makes all of this so much easier for all of us. 

Thanks so much for your continued prayers!

Halloween 2011



Halloween 2011 was quite a treat...for all of us!

This year, Sophie had a blast on Halloween.  Since early October,
she would come home singing Halloween songs, some I
remember from a long, long time ago.  I was surprised that they
were still being sung, and that I could still remember the words!

We began talking about what she wanted to be on Halloween. 
She decided that she wanted to be a princess.  We looked
around at different princess costumes, many of which I did not
really like (and she did, of course).  Finally, we decided that she
would be Snow White.  Sophie has Snow White's hair,
so it was perfect!

On Thursday night before Halloween,

Sophie's school held their annual Trunk-or-Treat.  The

weather was perfect, and everyone came out to

enjoy the evening.



We ran into our neighbor, Lauren, there. 

She plays with Sophie a lot on the weekends,

so Sophie was really excited to see her.

Sophie's friend, Lily Kate (aka, Spider Girl), soon

joined us, and they jumped right into the festivities! 

They quickly filled their buckets with LOTS of candy,

so much that Sophie was soon asking me to carry her's

because it was so heavy.

As we were making the last round, Sophie and Lily Kate

ran into their classmate, Cooper (aka, Luigi).  I slowed them

long enough to get a quick photo before they were

off and running again!

The night was great, but we had to hurry on home so that

the sugar high could wear off  we could get a good night's rest

before Sophie's class party the next day.

Here we are, ready to go again! 

When we got to school,

Sophie's teacher, Ms. Cindy, was very surprised to see

Sophie dressed as Snow White.  Apparently,

Sophie had been telling her for two weeks that she was going

to be a bunny!  I'm glad I did not have a rebellion on my

hands while trying to get ready for school!

Here is Sophie's sweet class, all dressed in their costumes.

They are always smiling and laughing!

Birthdays and Ballgames

So far the Fall has been very busy!

Our twin grandchildren, Bailey and Wyatt, who are walking miracles, turned 2.  They celebrated a few weeks ago with a Minnie and Mickey Mouse birthday party.  They are both growing so quickly and

going everywhere!  They had lots of fun playing on the jungle gym outside on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

Sophie got to go to her first ever Bama game, where she cheered and shook her shaker

as if she had been to numerous games before. 

She only made it to half-time, but we thought that was

great considering all of the excitement she had

experienced that day!

We also went to see Nick play soccer.

I think we may have a World Cup Soccer player in the family.

He loves to play, but he's really looking forward

to the day he can strap on some pads and play

American football!

 During Nick's game, Anna Kay and Sophie played their

own soccer game.  They had a great time and ran off a lot

of excess energy before crashing for the night.