Haygood Christmas Party

Here are some pictures from the Christmas party we had this weekend. This is our neice Marissa and Bug.




Abby Grace and Ally, who is Uncle Brian's girlfriend. We LOVE LOVE LOVE her. Did I mention we love her? She is so great, and we are so glad she is close by so we can spend time with her while Brian is away with the Army. The kiddos are crazy about her too, especially Abby Grace.




I love this picture!!! This is all the grandkids on the Haygood side of the family. They are all looking so old lately.

When they have on these pettiskirts, they feel the need for much twirling about. It is so precious.

Is this not such a sweet picture?

Miss Priss sitting still for one tiny second.

I know it looks like he is choking her here, but she really did walk up and give him the sweetest hug. Ty just held on a little too long for a picture!!

Her hair is starting to look SO red!!!

Abby Grace loves her Uncle Brian SO much. Anytime he is around, he has ALL of her attention, unless of course Ally is there. :)

It breaks my heart to think about how big the kids are gonna be when he comes home.

The most favorite Nana and GPa!!!

Uncle Brian and Ally

She was being such a little ham!!

Me and my girls

A quick family picture before we left. Look at the baby bump............it's growing and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!!!!!!!!!!!

As you can tell, everyone had a great time at the party.

Local Family Needs Help!!!

Hey friends. I am going to apologize now for the "all over the place" feel to this post. I have pregnancy hormones apparently and a totally scattered brain, but I need to get out a few things.....Please read to the bottom, its the most important part!!!!

First off, I went to the doctor today and everything still looks great with the baby. Heartbeat was strong at 160 bpm and I am always so relieved to hear that sound. I don't know why, but I always have this horrible fear on the way to the doctor that the heartbeat will be gone and something will have gone terribly wrong. Hearing news like that changes you forever I know that much. BUT, we get to find out the sex of the baby on Jan 13!!!! I cannot believe I will already be 5 months pregnant at that time. Thank you Lord for this healthy pregnancy...

Moving right along........so I have really been stressed lately about Christmas and finances. Don't get me wrong, our bills are all paid and there are groceries in the house, and we have absolutely nothing to complain about. I just always put so much pressure on myself about what gifts we will give the kiddos. UNNECESSARY PRESSURE........So, since I am staying home now, we obviously will be downsizing a bit. Anyway, I have really gotten caught up in this whole stress situation that I have completely brought upon myself, and I really couldn't get ahold of it...........

Then today, I got an email from a friend about a close family friend. Her family lost everything they own in a house fire last night. They have 4 young children and absolutely nothing. Praise Jesus that nobody was hurt, but can you imagine not even having a toothbrush or a pair of socks or any for your kids for that matter?? My goodness, I have just cried and felt so terrible about all the belly-aching I have been doing. I really want to get some items together for this family to help them out while everything else is so unsettled.

I am going to post some things that the family is needing, and clothes sizes of the children. Maybe your kiddos have grown out of some things and you could donate.

Kaitlyn- age 10 size 12 girls
Dawson- age 7 size 8 boys
Joshua- age 5 size 6 boys
Brandon- age 4 size 5t pants and size 6 shirt

I do not know shoe sizes yet, but I am trying to find out. I also do not know any sizes as far as Mom and Dad are concerned either.

Other items that have been requested are bathroom items such as toothbrushes, shampoo, conditioner, etc... clothes, shoes, toys, are all also on the list I have. Other things I can think of are gift cards to Wal Mart, or for gas, socks, jackets for the kids (I have one for Kaitlyn already). Anyhow, I cannot think of anything else right now, but I'm sure you get the picture.
(I know the children's school is going to replace their backpacks with school supplies, so that has been covered.)

If there is anyone local that can contribute, they would be so thankful. I know that everyone is financially strapped right now, but maybe you have some gently used items, that would be fantastic. If you can not contribute, please please remember them in your prayers rights now. Pray for comfort for those sweet babies, and for mom and dad to feel peace. Pray that all of their immediate needs can be met soon and that the community will rally around them with love and support. My heart just breaks for her family and I really want to help out. Please email me at something_sassy123@yahoo.com and we can make arrangements to get the items to this sweet family.

Goodnight,
Amanda

Snow in Texas!!!

So, Friday, we had a beautiful, VERY cold addition to our day........SNOW!!! The kids were beyond excited. Here are some pictures of their glorious snow day in Texas.

They absolutely had a blast and it was so cute to hear all their laughter from the backyard.

On a more serious note, please be in prayer for us and the rest of David's family right now. We just found out that his brother Brian has received his orders from the military to be deployed AGAIN. He leaves right after Christmas and we are just devastated. We are so sad he won't be here when the baby is born. (He was deployed on his first tour when Abby Grace was born as well.) It is heartwrenching for us to think of him being gone for so long again. Please pray specifically for his protection and that of all the other soldiers. Also remember the other wives and children who are hearing this news right now about the soldier in their lives. Expect many more updates in the coming months, so Uncle Brian see how everyone is doing while he is away.

We love you Brian and are heartbroken to see you go, but cannot wait until you are home safe again!!

Learning To Cook

Honestly, I have always really wanted to be this fabulous cook and if I'm going to be honest....I'm really not good at it. Well, let me take that back......I have always really wanted to be a BAKER and make all these glorious little desserts and serve them at parties (that I rarely have). Nonetheless, seeing how we just celebrated Thanksgiving, the season of food always brings out that desire in me again. However, it makes me feel better to blame my oven for being defective, rather than the chef herself of course!!

However, I did make a brocoli rice casserole and a sopapilla cheesecake for Thanksgiving. You do technically BAKE the cheesecake in the oven, so I guess that makes me a baker after all.......I am now officially on a mission for a very cute and sassy apron!!! LOL

Anyhow, tell me what did you bake this Thanksgiving? Was it a hit? It's okay to blame your oven if it was a flop......it works for me HA!!!

And speaking of cooking, I might not be the world's greatest chef, BUT the Lord did certainly bless me with a much more adventurous cooking project, that I will be working on for the next few months...............

SOOO...................

YEP, you guessed it!!!!!!! That is the newest little punkin that's COOKIN around here these days. We are so very excited for baby #4!!! The battle of boy or girl is already on in full force!!! Please pray with us that our newest miracle will be HEALTHY whether we will be shopping for pink or blue!!!!!!

I hope you all had a safe a wonderful Thanksgiving. We certainly have much to be thankful for in our house this year.

Amanda

Long Over Due Pictures

Okay so since I keep promising some recent pictures, here they are (better late than never!!!)

Ty and his best bud Bryce on Halloween.

Okay, can you tell that Abby Grace wanted NOTHING TO DO with the donkey?? Look at her eyes! LOL, it was SO funny!! You should have heard her squeal when I put her on to ride it. LOL, I know I am terrible.

I still cannot believe he picked up this Rabbit. None of my kiddos are really into barn animals. Right after I snapped this picture, he totally dropped the rabbit when it started to wiggle. Kayli would not even go in the petting zoo.

Yeah he looks a little nervous.

There they are riding the train.

Kayli's Nana made her costume, isn't it beautiful???

The little purple fairy. She even had on purple sparkly shoes. It was so stinkin cute!!!

Okay moving on to softball.......

This is Caeden, one of the little brothers on the team. He and Abby Grace are pretty close in age and he is just smitten with her. So cute.

She always acts so shy when he kisses her.

Here is Bug sporting her sunglasses.

Again, our famous #3

She has always been such a serious ball player. It's funny to see her mood change from on the field to in the dugout.

Is he not so handsome?? Just like his daddy........

These are the best buddies from the team. JT, Ty, Bryce, and I accidently cut off TJ's face...... They have played together for a few years now, and really become great friends on the team....








After the game, play time with the boys. There was usually a coach at the bottom of that pile!!

Team Picture......Tyler is acting tough and won't smile.....he is getting too old to smile at the camera for mom I think!!

So here he is again, my handsome #4!!!




















Sorry I have been such a slacker with pictures lately. I am going to try and post a lot more since I am home now and all!! Alright friends, I hope that you all had a great weekend and I will update again soon.

Amanda

Long Long Day

So I am finally sitting down to unwind a bit and think over our day. We ended up being at the hospital ALL day long literally, so we are exhausted.

MRI this morning was LONG it felt like, but she had no breathing complications. She did however have a reaction that she has never had before to the anesthesia. When I went to her in recovery, she was already bawling crying and her eyes were all swollen and red. The right side of her face was drooping and it was not a pretty sight. The drooping cleared up quickly, thank you Lord!!! However the very red, swollen eyes stayed for the rest of the day. They also would not stop watering like crazy, it was like she was really crying. And her nose was running like crazy. Nonetheless, it's over and I'm glad.

We saw Dr. Jea this afternoon and he went over in detail her MRI results. We saw video clips of what her brain looks like while sleeping, and it is amazing actually. I love it when a doctor takes the time to be thorough and make sure that you understand everything. Anyway, he said he is very pleased with the "picture part" of her brain. In the live video you can clearly see the fluid flowing ALL around her brain, which is night and day from before her surgery. (She was 100% blocked before her operation) Looking at Abby Grace and talking to her, he is also very pleased with her recovery thus far. However, there is one thing he is not happy with and he is going to be keeping a close eye on in the near future. ..........

Given the persistence of her central apnea and it's frequent nature, Dr. Jea and Dr. H (sleep doctor) have come to the agreement that something must be done and it can't be left like this. Right now the tentative plan is to repeat her sleep study and MRI in 3 months. If her central apnea has not subsided by that time, Abby Grace will have another major operation.

This surgery will involve Dr. Jea and his team actually operating in her brain itself. In her first surgery, they were in the area, but basically just removed a lot of bone. This time they will go in and actually shrink the malformation (which is essentially part of her brain). I will share more about this tomorrow, as I am still trying to process all of this myself. Thank you so much for all your prayers today. We are so grateful.............

Amanda

Tomorrow's Appointment

So I meant to post this for you all yesterday, but forgive me as I have been horribly ill. I STILL have Halloween pictures to post, the kids were so precious. But I have hospital bags to pack for AG so it's down to business tonight......


We have to be at Texas Children's first thing in the morning for AG's lengthy MRI of her brain and spine. Then we will meet with her neurosurgeon and get the results from her MRI right away. The big question we are trying to answer with this MRI is whether her surgery from July was a success or not. From what I understand, if her surgery WAS NOT a success she is possibly facing another operation. If her surgery WAS a success, then they will start looking for something else on her brain that could be causing all this central apnea. However, I cannot possibly imagine anything else being on her brain that would not have been found with all the MRI's and scans she has already had, but I am no doctor.

So right now we are praying for a few things:
~There is no problem with the anesthesia, and she has no breathing complications.
~We can make a plan of action on how we will best handle her care from here on out.
~Whatever we learn tomorrow, we will remember to be grateful and praise God, even if tomorrow brings a storm for us.

I will update you all tomorrow night on her appointment. Thank you so much for all your prayers.

Amanda