Happy 2012!!!!!!

I hope you all have a happy, safe,

and blessed New Year.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

May your troubles be less
and your blessings be more
And nothing but happiness
come through your door.ღ

 ~Irish Blessing for the New Year 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And

Happy Birthday

to our oldest daughter

Samantha!!!!

I hope you have  the

best birthday ever.

We love you very much.

 

A little of everything POST...

I guess this post could best be called "A Little Of Everything". This is not a well thought out post at all, most of mine aren't. I am better at just sharing random things and daily happenings. So where should I start?....hmmmm...

RSV Stinks!!!!

First off, I want to do an update on my little sweetheart "Z". He is not that much better tonight. His RSV is at full force and the xrays today showed he has  pneumonia in one lung. He's one sick and very fussy little boy tonight. The steroids are making him so irritable.  Nothing is making him happy. He has spent 2 days doing nothing but crying. Normally he is the most happy & smiley baby ever. I will be so happy when he gets to feeling better. Please keep my little man in your prayers.

Did Someone Say New Year?!?!...
I can't believe that it's almost a New Year already. It seems like Easter was just here yesterday...lol It feels like every year goes faster than the one before. Does it seem that way to you too? Maybe I'm just getting old:)

I'm looking forward to a brand new year. I am so ready to say goodbye to this one. 2011 was one of the saddest years of my life, so telling it goodbye feels good. I am looking forward to 2012. I just pray that it will be a much better year for all of us. I'm hoping to do a "look back" on 2011 (only the good things) post ,because we did have some good times too.

I was reading a friend's blog earlier and she posted her two words for the New Year. After much thought, I decided my two words for 2012 will be "Live" and "Love". I plan to live every day to it's fullest... I have already been working on this one. I know to well how fragile life is and I know better than taking my life or the people I love for granted. I plan to show more love to all of my family & friends. I want to make sure that they know how much they mean in my life and I want them to feel my love. Yes, I plan to throw that "laugh" in there too. You know, "Live, Laugh, and Love". Ladonna's blog said two words, but I think I may go with three:) I plan to "laugh" as much and as hard as I can.  Life's to short not to be happy.

This may be my quote for the new year...

Promise Yourself:

Dear Sandy,

Promise yourself...
 ~ To be so strong that nothing disturbs your peace of mind.
~ To talk only positive to every person you meet.
~ To make all your friends feel like they are special.
~ To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
~ To think only of the best, to work only for the best and to expect only the best in each day.
 ~ To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
~ To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.
~ To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
~ To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble." 

We are in wedding mode...

 As I posted before, our Katie Bug is getting married....this Spring...yes really. My girls LOVE to pop these things on me and they never want to wait a year or two on it (like mom always suggests). So, once again ,we are putting together a speedy wedding. We did it before and we can do it again. She got her wedding dress yesterday. It was originally $400, but she got it on sale for $200 and it was exactly what she wanted...yay!!!! She's one happy girl. Maybe the rest of the planning will go just as well.
My Grandbaby Rocks!!!!
I can't believe my precious little grand "Brookelyn" will be turning 2 in 2 weeks. I love the little girl that she is becoming. I love that she can actually carry on a conversation with me now. She acts so much older than 2. I love that she's so prissy & so very girly. I love how she loves babies and animals. I love how she is so loving toward every one and every thing. I love how she is friendly and happy all the time. I just love her so much and I have LOVED watching her grow every day. Come to think of it, I can't think of a single thing I don't love about her:) When she says "I'm my MeMe's girl"...it just makes my heart swell...really.
I've been birthday shopping too. I found this adorable little birthday outfit and just had to have it for my little birthday Princess girl.

And a friend of mine is making Bookie Shae (that's her nickname)

 this adorable Valentines set.

Little girls are just so much fun and MeMe sure is enjoying Miss Brookelyn Shae.

Oh, one more thing...

My blog is going to be printed!  I've been wanting to do this for some time,so as soon as the last post of 2011 is posted, I'm sending it to Blog2Print. I'm really excited about this.


Well, I guess I better run. My wee little Z really needs to be cuddled right now, by me:) Oh how I love him.

We have a new year just ahead of us and I have a feeling that it's going to be a wonderful one.
But for now, I am just going to keep putting one foot in front of the other until 2011 is far behind me.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him,and he will direct thy paths. ~Proverbs 3:5-6

RSV again!

What is the chance of this happening? Our sweet little Z has RSV ...again. What is so strange is this same day (Dec 28) of last year Z was diagnosed with RSV. They sent him home, but we ended up taking him back the next day to be hospitalized with it....grrrr He was so little and so sick and it was so scary.

Yesterday, Z started wheezing & rattling in his chest. It's not that uncommon for him ,because he has asthma. So I started his breathing treatments and called his doc. I took him in today and he tested *mildly* positive for RSV,so we are just at the start of it...grrr It takes about 4-5 days to peak. So we have a few days of yucky ahead. Thankfully, I know more about it this time and we caught it early, so maybe it won't get as bad as it did last year. Please pray for my sweet pea he's sure not himself today.
Z is almost 16 months now. He is 22.8 pounds & 29.5 inches tall. He is a chunky monkey:)

I took this from the post last year...

So what is RSV?

RSV is Respiratory Syncytial Virus. It is a type of cold virus. It is very easy to catch and infects most children during their first two years. Most children with RSV only show cold symptoms such as:

*Coughing

*Fever

*Runny nose

*Wheezing and fast breathing

Adults & older children may have or carry RSV but have no symptoms or very mild symptoms, like a regular cold. They may have RSV and not even know it ,but to an infant RSV can be very serious and even fatal.

A test of the mucus from your child's nose can be done to determine if your child has RSV.

*A child can have RSV for several days up to a few weeks.

*RSV is most common in Spring, Fall, and Winter.

How is RSV spread?

RSV is spread mostly by coughing & sneezing. The virus can live on any object for hours which makes it easy to pick up and spread.

Ways to help stop the spread:

1.Frequent hand washing

2.Washing all items child has had contact with.

3.Limit contact with others.

4.Cough & sneeze into the bend of the arm instead of into hands.

How is RSV Treated?

RSV is treated by:

*Giving extra fluids by I.V if child can't take or hold down fluids.

*Using breathing treatments

*Giving oxygen,if needed.

What to expect after treatment?

After treatment, your child may:

*Cough for several weeks

*Have more coughing than expected with colds for weeks or even months after RSV.

Please keep little Z in your prayers.

We are praying for a speedy recovery.

Christmas Memories 2011...

Christmas Eve with my family...

My Mom & Dad

She will ALWAYS be Aunt Sandy's girl.

It was Carter's 1st Christmas.

PawPaw & The Princess

My Twins

PawPaw & The Peanut

Spiderman is JJ:)

He was so proud to get a new suit.

He wore his other one out.

Christmas Morning...

My boys...

Jacob, JJ, and Z on Christmas morning.

JJ was so excited.

He got his very 1st bike.

 

Christmas breakfast at Anna's...

Anna cooked breakfast for us.

Sausage, biscuits, eggs, pancakes,

and even chocolate chip pancakes

for the kids

 with whip cream...mmmmm

Thanks Anna!

Brookelyn got BIG girl undies

and she was so proud of them...lol

She wore them over her

PJs...:)

Brookelyn loves babies

and she loves changing her doll's diapers.

She is going to be a good mommy

some day:)

Somone got engaged:)

Showing her daddy the ring...hmmm

The face says it all.

Well, not really,

we are happy for the new couple

Overall it was a good Christmas.

It was hard without my Nanny & brothers here,

but they spent Christmas with Jesus this year.

We also said goodbye to out Little "Elfie" friend.

The kids sure are going to miss him.

I hope you all had a WONDERFUL Christmas

and I hope the New Year is a HAPPY one...

for all of us.

From Our Family To Yours...

Dear Friends,
I would like to wish you & your family a CHRIST filled CHRISTmas this year. My prayer is that God's love will surround you and your family and that the peace and joy that only God can give will be yours this year. I also hope that you will be surrounded by the people that mean the most to you and that your CHRISTmas will be a safe, healthy, and blessed one. May God bless you and yours.
With Love, The Howell Family

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Remember Jesus Is The Reason For The Season

and

Let's keep CHRIST in CHRISTmas

The Santa Tracker...

For the last few years we've enjoyed tracking Santa

with the kids online and once

 again NORAD is keeping

an eye out for the Jolly one.

We use the tracker to help us get the kids in bed

a little sooner on Christmas Eve ;)

It works every time.