I Love Being Mom!!!!

Sep. 20, 2009 - Happy Decade, Hank!!!

Hank is so excited, that he is a whole decade, today!!! Ten years ago today, I screamed in relief, "I am done!!" When I realized I had just given birth to our first son. He weighed 9 lbs. 4 oz. and was 22" long. My most difficult birth. He is our only surprise gender birth. They could not tell in the ultrasound his sex, so we didn't know if we were having a boy or girl until his arrival. His due date was Sept. 04 and because I was determined not to be induced he was not born until Sept. 20, when I finally let them induce me. I am convinced that I was going to be indefinitely pregnant. I also did not want an epidural and held out until I was 8 cm until I caved in and let them convince me I needed one. I was completely dilated in 15 mins. and the epidural hindered my pushing. He was stuck. And took about 30 mins. to get out. He was born a blue baby and my hubby did not get to cut the cord, he immediately had to have oxygen. He is my biggest baby! He looks like his daddy, but has my curly hair. He is an absolute doll and all the girls love him. He is very sweet and loving. A wonderful big brother. He has mowed our yard all summer long and it has never looked so good. He is a cowboy. He is a football player. And I am proud to say, "He is my son!" I love you, Hank. Happy Birthday!

• 2 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Sep. 20, 2009 - What I've Learned!!!

This past week, I have learned:

to love every smell of a newborn baby, even the not so pleasant ones

to hold my children a little bit tighter, even when they don't want to be held

to be thankful for all God has blessed us with, we definitely are blessed

never to take one single day for granted-you never know when it may be someone's last

My dear sister-in-law & brother-in-law are suffering a great loss. On Thursday, my sister-in-law had to deliver their precious baby girl. Molly was 22 1/2 weeks pg and Baby Maggie weighed 12.9 ounces. She lived a few minutes and then went to be with Jesus. Please keep this wonderful family in your prayers! They will be having a graveside service sometime this week. Molly developed HELLP and had serious complications. She got to go home from the hospital today, but has a long road of recovery ahead.

• 0 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Aug. 14, 2009 - My Family

front row-Harley, Halston, & Hatton back row-Wes, Harmony, Belinda, & Hank

• 0 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Aug. 14, 2009 - Our Family Portrait

• 1 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Aug. 14, 2009 - Harmony Michelle 6 months

• 1 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Aug. 14, 2009 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HARLEY

Fourteen years ago, I gave birth to my first child--Harley! I'd love to say how beautiful she was, but truth is her head was cone shaped and perhaps my sister said it best when she said, "Oh, she looks like ET!" lol Now, she is beautiful! No longer a little girl, but a fine young lady if I must say so myself. I am so blessed God gave me her first. She is so helpful and loves being the big sister. She is growing up so fast. She is so excited that next year she will be getting her driver's permit. She is still tiny, but has had a growth spurt over the past year. She is very talented, the girl can sing. I am so proud of her personality. So proud of the young lady she is and the woman she is becoming. I love her so much and am proud not only to be her mother, but also her friend!!!! HAPPY 14TH BIRTHDAY, HARLEY!!!!!!!!!!!

• 1 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Aug. 7, 2009 - Getting Ready for School

TF, I miss hearing about you and your wonderful family. I hope you get a blog soon!!!

Summer is almost over and for the first time since Wes and I started dating we did not go on a vacation this year. That is so not like us! But with finances the way they are and the uncertainty of Wes's job, we've stayed put. The oldest three children did go to church camp this summer. I am so thankful for that. They all had a wonderful time and were truly blessed. We have been thinking about going to Six Flags or somewhere for a day or so. I would rather go when school starts back so it is not as crowded.

Monday will officially be our first day of school! Harley will be in 9th grade. This year will be not only her first year of highschool, but we have changed curriculim. Harley will be using Switched on Schoolhouse. She is so excited, I just pray this continues all year long. Her birthday is next Friday, so we went ahead and gave her her present--a new laptop. She is thrilled!! This is for her to do her school. I am praying that she has obtained all those years of Abeka and that she will be able to do this work without any problems.

Hank will be in 5th grade. I will continue to use Abeka with him, except for Bible and Math. He will also be using Switched on Schoolhouse for those two subjects. Unlike Harley, he does not want to do school on the computer. He has never used a computer much and I think that is what is intimidating him. We did the practice lesson Wednesday and he did wonderful. He learned to spell carnivore and characteristic. I think he was shocked, I know I was. Ha ha!

Halston will be in 1st grade. He will continue using Abeka. He did really well last year and I am expecting him to be reading before the year is up. He will be going to public school twice a week for speech therapy. He is excited!

Hatton is 3 1/2 and will be sitting in for most of Halston's lessons. He really picks up quickly. He also loves to watch Sprout. He learns a lot from watching Barney and other shows on Sprout. I also have some Abeka Pre-K and Harley likes to be his teacher. Fun times!!!

Harmony is almost 9 months old. She is growing and learning everyday. She can blow kisses and is waving bye bye. She won't be a little baby long.

I am so blessed! I remember crying out to the Lord as I dropped off a screaming little girl at school for kindergarten. I was told that she would soon quit, to realize that she didn't. Everday for three years, Harley cried when I took her to school. She hated it!!! And in my heart I knew that God wanted me to homeschool her. But we needed my income or so we thought. So I continued working. I watched as my second child was being raised by grandparents and I felt like a part time mother. I prayed!!! I so wanted to be home with my kids. I prayed that God would give me a sign if I was to quit my job. That sign came in the form of me waking up at 7:00 on a Saturday morning feeling my milk coming in, and I wasn't nursing. I took a pregnancy test and it was positive. I knew then. The road has not been easy. Our finances are a mess. We struggle. But we are so blessed! Our children are worth far more than worldly possessions. Thank you God for answering my prayers!!!! I am blessed to have the best job in the world!!

• 2 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Jul. 25, 2009 - Praise Report!!!

Harmony went to Vanderbilt for a check up Thursday. I am so happy to say she got a good report. The doctor was very pleased that the new medicine seems to be working. She informed me that the next step was going to be surgery. So I am so very thankful that God allowed the medicine to help Harmony. She will continue to take both her medications until she turns 1. Then they will begin trying to wean her off the medicines. She is gaining weight and weighs 18 lbs 7 oz. She is 27" long. She is doing so much better. We give God all the glory & praise!!!!

• 2 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Jul. 10, 2009 - Speech Therapy-To Do or Not To Do

As the schoolyear fastly approaches, I am faced with a decision: Speech Therapy for my 6 year old son, to do or not to do?

When Halston was about 2 yrs he had to have his front 4 top teeth pulled. They were rotted badly in fact 2 of them were rotted to the gum line. We were told that he would be without those teeth until he was 7 or so. Never did we think that losing those teeth could effect his speech. Because I am with him all the time I can understand him better than most. But about a year ago, his dentist discussed with me that she felt like he had developed a tongue thrust and needed speech therapy. I contacted our insurance company and we took him to be evaluated by a speech therapist. She was so very nice. She had two young children and told me that she planned to homeschool. I felt like she was honest and upfront with me. She told me that she felt like Halston needed therapy, but that our insurance wouldn't pay because they don't consider speech therapy a medical neccesity. Apparently, it is a luxury to talk plain!lol To make a long story short, our insurance will not pay for speech therapy. One day, I was at my kids' doctor's office and I saw a pamplet for our board of education. While reading it, I discovered that they provide services to homeschoolers. One of those services is speech therapy. I prayed about it, but couldn't decide whether I wanted to go that route. While at my 20 yr high school reunion, a classmate began talking to me about homeschooling. Her husband is a politician. Their son goes to a private school. He is the same age as Halston, and also has a tongue thrust. They paid for private therapy that cost over $2,000.00. She encouraged me to contact the school board. So after much debate, I called them. They were very nice and helpful. They wanted to review the evaluation done by the speech therapist. After reviewing, they have decided that they may be able to help him. They are going to evaluate him in August and then he will go to school twice a week for 30 mins. each for speech therapy.

My concerns are: Will he be treated differently because he is homeschooled? Will the board of education become envolved in my children's schooling? Currently, we umbrella under a Christian school.

Belinda

• 1 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

May. 22, 2009 - Harmony's Test Results

Most of you know that Harmony (6 months) has been sick since she was 2 weeks old. When she was 2 1/2 months, she was hospitalized 4 days in our local ICU and 8 days in PCCU at Vanderbilt's Children's Hospital. They diagnosied her with reflux. She has been on Prevasid and sleeps with an apnea monitor. She has not had any apnea spells while on Prevasid, but still rattles in her chest and keeps a cough pretty much all the time. We took her in April for a followup visit to Vanderbilt and the doctor felt like we needed to do a probe to see if the cough was related to her reflux. They did the probe May 05 and then a swallow test on May 06. We were told immediately that the swallow test looked fine, everything went where it was suppose to. We were told that the probe results would be back in a week, we FINALLY got a call from her doctor today. It looks like the cough is related to her relux. She had 2 acid reflux spells during the 24 hour period she had the probe in place. She shouldn't have had any, because she is on Prevasid. She had 38 non acid reflux spells. 50% of the time she coughed she was refluxing. They have decided she needs to go on a medication that will digest her food faster. This should help her not to reflux so much. If this medication doesn't help or if she has side affects and cannot take it they will do a surgery in which they will go in and wrap something. I'm not sure if she meant wrapping the esphogaus or stomach. I do not want her to have surgery so I blocked that part out! Help us pray for God's wisdom and healing. We are going to be starting the medication in a day or so. She will take it 3 times a day. I have never left her for more than a short trip to the grocery store, and then daddy and Harley watched her. Tomorrow night, I am leaving her with Wes's mom so I can go to my 20th high school reunion. The side affects can be seizures or excess fusiness. Things to do with neurological system. So I want to make sure I can watch her very close when we give it to her the first time. Recently, I have heard about taking babies to the chiropractor for reflux so I am seriously debating taking her. Continue to pray for her. Also, pray that I will be a witness at my reunion. I wasn't going but my BF wanted me to go with her so I am. I am so not the person I was in high school, PRAISE GOD!!!!!!

• 1 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

May. 18, 2009 - Harley is on YouTube!!!

This is going to be a quick entry. Last week, we were contacted by MidSouth Fair Youth Talent that they have put Harley's winning performance from Sept. 2007 on YouTube. Please go on there and check it out. Thanks for your support!!! Harley is still singing and performing. We pray for God's will in her life and future. We want what He has planned for her! If you type in Harley 2007 Jr GAW you should be able to see it or just type her name Harley Morris.

• 1 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

May. 16, 2009 - I'm Back!!!!

For Mother's Day, my hubby and 5 beautiful children bought me a much needed computer!!! I now have internet at my home!! I'm so happy. I plan to blog more, I missed visiting with you all. I will try to type an update on Harmony and all our happenings in the near future.

Looking forward to getting acquainted with you all again!!

Belinda

• 4 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Apr. 2, 2009 - Long Time, No Post!

It has been such a long time since I've posted. I started praying that God would send us a computer, and less than a week later my uncle called and gave one to my children. It is an older computer with Windows 95 and I'm not so sure if it will let me get on the internet. I am still praying for a laptop. I do miss visiting with you.

Harmony is so much better! She will be 5 mos. old on Apr. 09, she weighs over 14 lbs. She takes reflux medicine and still sleeps with an apnea monitor. The rest of the children are doing fine. Harley read Twilight and is totally into that. She has her name on a waiting list at the library for the next book and can't wait until she gets the call to come get it. I'm just happy she is reading!! She has never liked reading and I am hoping this gets her motivated. Hank is growing into a fine young man. He loves being outside and around animals. He feeds our 3 horses every day and enjoys being at the barn. Halston is growing and learning. He is our gamer! He knows more about computers than I do, and he's only 6! Hatton is Hank's little shadow. He loves horses and being outside. He is finally potty trained!!!

We have a new member to our family, a 15 passenger van!! The kids love it and so do I! I'll post the story about how we got it later. It is thundering so I have to go now.

• 5 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Jan. 27, 2009 - HARMONY'S HOME

dixiecajuns here,
Belinda called me today to let everyone know that Harmony is now out of the hospital. Harmony was diagnosed with bronchitis and a severe case of reflux. Harmony will have to take medications for the next year, but that's okay, just so she's getting better and gets to be home with her family. For Harmony's safety they aren't allowed any visitors and are not allowed to go anyplace for the next two weeks. As soon as Belinda can get to a computer she'll update everyone. On behalf of Belinda, Wes and all of the children, we thank you all so much for your prayers.

• 4 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Jan. 26, 2009 - GOOD NEWS Update # 10

Friends and Family,

I apologize for taking so long to update you on Harmony, but it's been crazy and I decided to wait until we had good news!! Praise the Lord, Harmony is much better. They started her on reflux medicine Friday night. They tried to wean her off the oxygen but it takes a while for the medicine to work so they were not able to get her off the oxygen until 3 a.m. Sunday morning. She has been off since then and has not had any spells where she is just laying there and her stats drop and she turns blue. She is still having some coughing spells and still chokes and turns colors, but they are less frequent. So they decided to go ahead and do the upper G I this morning to make sure there were no holes in the tube that connects the larynx and the esphogaus. Praise God there are no holes!! The radioligist told us that she was refluxing like crazy!!! So that is why this baby has only gained 2 lbs since birth, she's almost 3 mos. old, and has been congested and sick since 2 wks. old. She NEVER spits up so I didn't know that a baby can have reflux without spitting up. It sits in her airway, thus the choking and coughing spells. She will be taking 2 medicines a day for about a year, then the doctors think she will grow out of it. She is sick to her stomach from the nasty stuff she drank this morning for the upper G I, but other than that she seems much better. The doctor is suppose to come talk with us later, he had mentioned that we may get to go home tomorrow!!! The other kids are so ready for us to come home, but not near as much as Wes and I. They all came up over the weeekend, but it's not the same.

Thank you for all your prayers , kind words, and loving support!!

Praising God for His healing power,

Belinda

• 2 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Jan. 23, 2009 - Update # 9 on Harmony

Hey!

Today has been another day of ups and downs, but we feel like they may be on to something. They had decided to do a sleep apnea test, but then they consulted with a specialist and he came and talked with us. He thinks she has severe reflux. He explained that it could be causing her spells while sleeping and awake. She does have a spell usually after she eats. Harmony doesn't spit up, but a small percentage of babies with reflux don't have strong enough muscles to get spitup out so it goes back down which explains the nasal congestion. So she really hasn't had a cold for 8 wks. Her peditrician had talked with me about reflux, but her not spitting up had thrown us off. They are going to start her on Zantac and another med tonight and try to take off the oxygen and see what happens. They may do an upper G I on Monday if she isn't better, if the meds cause the spells to stop then we will assume that's what it is and continue the meds. They didn't think doing an upper G I would be accurate, because Harmony has been on Pepcid since we got here Monday. They give it to all babies on oxygen. Now, with that said she still had spells on Pepcid when they took her off oxygen. He said it would take about 24-48 hrs for the meds to start working so she may still have a few spells when they take her off oxygen, so it may be that she goes back on it a few times. The next few days we will just watch and see what happens. She's still on oxygen now and in the PCCU. I feel like they are listening to us and are truly trying to help her get better.

Leaning on the Lord,

Belinda

• 2 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Jan. 23, 2009 - Update # 8 on Harmony

I just checked in on Harmony, they had to put her back on oxygen at 11:30 last night. She had 4 more spells in which her heart rate dropped from 130-150's down to 60-90's and she turned blue again. The nurse said it was better to give her a little oxygen because the spells stop, except when she has the coughing attacks and then she has spells then. She said they had quit giving Harmony the Zithromax when the whooping cough test came back negative, but they will probably start her back on it today. She said they can't figure out why she's doing this. In between spells, she looks like a healthy baby. She's happy and is eating very good, she's a little pig!! But when she has the spells, you know somethings wrong. Continue to pray for her and wisdom for the doctors. Please remember to pray for Wes and I, I really miss my other children and my emotions are starting to get the best of me!

Praying,

Belinda

• 1 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Jan. 22, 2009 - Update # 7 on Harmony

Friends and family,

The results of the echocardiogram is that her heart looks fine. She has had a couple of more spells since my last e-mail. They are thinking she may have to go back on oxygen. They think she has a respiratory virus and maybe sleep apnea. We've been in the hospital a week today and we still don't know why she is sick and why she is having spells in which she turns blue and her heartrate drops from the 130-150's down to 60-90's. Pray for healing for Harmony and wisdom for her doctors. Pray that after 8 wks of her being sick we will take home a healthy baby. Thank you all for your prayers!!!!!!!

Standing in faith,

Belinda

• 1 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Jan. 22, 2009 - Update # 6 on Harmony

Today has been a rollercoaster ride!! They took Harmony off of oxygen at 5 am and we thought she would be going into a regular room, but she has started having the spells where she turns blue and her heartrate & oxygen drop. So they are keeping her in PCCU overnight. The doctor came in a spoke with us. The whooping cough test results are in they are NEGATIVE. She doesn't have whooping cough so now thay have to find out what is causing all this. The doctor said it could be a viral or respiratory thing, but that doesn't explain the spells that happen when she's asleep. The cardialogist will be coming in tonight or tomorrow to do some test on her heart. Please help us pray that the doctor's will find out what's wrong with her!!!! The not knowing is really hard! She is getting to breastfeed, her & momma are happy about that!!!

Belinda

• 0 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Jan. 21, 2009 - Update # 5 on Harmony

Let me start by saying, "You'll never know how much your prayers and kind words have meant to us during Harmony's sickness." She has had a good day, but is still a sick baby. She did not get moved to a regular room, but if she continues to do well with the nasal cannula (oxygen) she will be moved tomorrow. She is still coughing and turning all shades of red and purple, her stats drop, but the important thing is that she is able to recover on her own. The doctors say she will continue to have these spells until the whooping cough is gone. You hear people talk about the whooping cough and the vaccine, but you don't realize that an infectous disease like this can be deadly to an infant. We do vaccinate our children, but you don't receive that vaccine until you are 2 months old, and Harmony got her shot on 01-12, but she already had whooping cough, we just didn't know it. They removed her feeding tube tonight and she got to nurse for the first time since early Monday morning. She has rested a lot today and we have enjoyed holding her and spoiling her. She blew a vain in her arm and they had to put an IV in her head. The nurse called it a "party bow", it goes really good with her mohawk!LOL!!

Wes and I are staying at the hospital 24/7 and are being able to sleep in a sleep room. It is awesome, it has a bed and it's own bathroom. If she is moved into a room we will stay in there with her. Remember to pray for God's will and wisdom for the doctors. Harmony is a trooper and through all this she has been smiling at us showing us those cute little dimples.

Love you all,

Belinda

• 1 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link