The Darby Family

Trip to Bentonville - adventures with ABCDE, November 11-13, 2011

2012-01-19T09:15:00.001-06:00

Reason number 1,285 that we love living in Little Rock = we live closer to ABCDE. We hate not being close to our Texas family, but at least we still have family to visit on a weekend! Nathan has never EVER visited his brother’s home (I’ve been there several times), so we were due to for a trip to Bentonville to visit Andrea, Brandon, Caden, Dru and Eston (ABCDE). We loaded up the kids after work on Friday and had a good and easy drive. We were so excited to get away for the weekend and Alex was over the moon about getting to hang with her cousins.
As we hoped and expected, it was fantastic time! The kids were in heaven playing together. It was really nice for us because the kids were amazing with Carson and we didn’t have to step in much. Caden, Dru and Eston are unreal with Carson – they are the experts! A few highlights from the weekend:
1. Nathan finally “experienced” ABCDE’s home (it’s beyond incredible – wow!)
2. Darby cousins played outside for hours.
3. All the kids are gluten free so the cooking was easy.
4. Andrea and I were able to sneak away for a girl’s night out – dinner at PF Changs and shopping. We shut down the restaurant catching up!
5. The guys were able to watch the Razorback football game in B’s media room.
6. We got to visit their church – Fellowship in Bentonville. The sermon was on “healing.” I was a mess because it hit home with Carson but was very encouraging – loved it!
7. We got to experience “Mellow Mushroom” – auhhhmazing food!
8. We were even able to squeeze in a surprise photo shoot of the kids. Andrea is such a talented photog – score! We kept this a secret in hopes of surprising the Grandparents with pics.

The pictures can tell the rest of the story. I am so blessed to have such a fun and loving sister (Aunt Onnie to my kids) and Nathan loved hanging with his brother. The kids weren’t ready to leave…in fact the oldest Darby kiddo, Caden, said, “This was one of the best weekends I’ve had in a really long time.” That speaks volumes b/c the kids are all younger, yet he still had a blast. I love these boys with all my heart. Okay, okay I’ll stop – here are the pics from our weekend!

Happy, happy boy!

Did I mention he is always happy?

Dru - the Carson whisperer

Nathan is having a blast with our "twins"

Sweet Carson gives us a cute face

Our kids loved the backyard and played so well together

Funny, funny brothers made fun of our excessive picture taking...here are a few examples :)

Example :)

Um yep, example :)

Okay, I *think* maybe they are trying to behave and take a real pic

Ummm nope, absolutely not! Really boys?!?

Okay, thank you for finally cooperating!

Eston, Dru & Caden (gorgeous, amazing, men of Christ...yes, they are little men!)

Alex & Onnie hammed it up for a few pics

Sweet lovin'

These have to be my favorite - love it!!

Goofy girls

I think this is a magical pic...because Onnie & Carson have magic together...and you can tell.

More magic

Aunt Missy even gets a few pics in with her stud nephews

These boys fill my tank!!

Onnie has a blast with my kids on the playground

Okay, so perhaps I spoke to soon...this one is my favorite. GORGEOUS!

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Saving the best for last - here are the photoshoot pics at the deserted railroad/factory:

If Gymboree is looking for a few models, I might know where to find them!

Aren't the kids precious? I can't stand it - ridiculously blessed!


My sweet girl is growing up - she looks sooo big here!

Thank you, ABCDE for an awesome weekend! Can we come back now?

Deep thoughts

2012-01-11T08:33:00.000-06:00

I loved my morning devotional...hopefully someone will read and be encouraged as I was:

"Let me prepare you for the day that stretches out before you. I know exactly what this day will contain, whereas you only vague ideas about it. You would like to see a map, showing all the twists and turns of your journey. You'd feel more prepared if you could somehow visualize what is on the road ahead. However, there is a better way to be prepared for whatever you will encounter today: Spend quality time with Me.

I will not show you what is on the road ahead but I will thoroughly equip you for the journey. My living Presence is your Companion each step of the way. Stay in continual communication with Me, whispering My Name whenever you need to redirect your thoughts. Thus, you can walk through this day with your focus on Me. My abiding Presence is the best road map available."

Exodus 33:14, John 15: 4-7

Those of you that know me well have heard me say (more than once) - I just wish I had a map to navigate this journey with Carson. Thanks for the reminder, Daddy!

Merry Christmas from the Darby Family

2011-12-16T10:00:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas from the Darby Family. Christmas card, 2011

Our first snow in Little Rock

2011-12-12T22:42:00.001-06:00

We experienced our first snow in Little Rock and wow, it was gorgeous! It was the "perfect snow" because there was just enough snow to cover everything, but the roads were clear. Sparing you all of my cheesy Hallmark sayings, I'll just leave it at this. As I drove to and from taking the kids to school, I talked to God. And He talked to me. I kept pulling over to take pictures...it was a beautiful, spiritual morning for me. And in that time, I was reminded that in just one night God can change everything. One snow reminded me that seasons come and go, that times changes and no matter where we are in our life, time continues to move forward. And that, it a beautiful thing.

Speaking of beautiful:

Our front porch

Backyard

View from our porch

Our yard

Our home

Golf course

Pleasant Valley

The park

The street sign I pass every morning

Look at all the snow - gorgeous!

Street view

Beautiful trees

Santa's beautiful little helper

2011-12-12T21:46:00.000-06:00

Alex has been so excited to have her picture taken with Freddy the Elf at her elementary school. We talked about it a few times and I marked my calendar to make sure she was dressed appropriately for the "big event."

Alex has an adorable Santa dress and she chose to wear it for her pictures with Freddy. I got her all dressed up and we took pictures by the Christmas tree. It was a warm and fuzzy moment. Nathan's precious comment to me was, "Are you sure you want her to wear that Santa dress? Kids might make fun of her." And I said, "She is adorable and she chose it."

We all went about our days as usual...and then at about 2:30 I get a reminder on my calendar that says "ELF PICTURES TOMORROW AT ALEX'S SCHOOL." OH NO!!!!!!
I was laughing hysterically at myself for being an idiot and worried about Alex all at the same time. I wasn't sure what her response was going to be getting off the bus. With Alex, it's black or white..no gray. I was dreading pick-up and grabbed my Barbie Christmas DVD I had in my super secret stash spot for an occasion such as this. Sure enough...the bus pulled up and Alex comes off the bus crying. I feel like the worst.mom.ever.

Fortunately, she just got her conduct card pulled for talking during reading time. It took me a few minutes to get through drama, but I was so relieved I wasn't in trouble. Once things settled down a bit I asked, "So, did you take pictures with Freddy the Elf today?" She said, "Oh yeah - Mom, the pictures are tomorrow you silly! But guess what? I got lots of compliments on my dress so I think I'll just wear it again tomorrow." WHEW!

I told DeDe about the incident and being the magic elf she is, she went home and made a special Christmas shirt for Alex to wear to school the next day. Who can just crank out a home made Christmas shirt in a day? Seriously, she's too much!

Alex didn't have to wear her dress two days in a row...and I am not the worst mom ever (yet). Here are the adorable pictures from day one...and day two :)

Day 1 - Santa dress


She is such a beauty (inside and out)

Day 2 - DeDe's Christmas shirt


All ready to go!

Alex actually believes that Criddle, her elf at home, went back to Santa's workshop that night and told Santa about the dress...and she thinks she earned "extra Christmas spirit credit" for dressing up two days in a row.

Riiiiight :)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

2011-12-07T15:05:00.000-06:00

Blessed beyond measure...
I've had a blast decorating our new home. God is good. I just look around and say "is the real" and "wow, thank you."

Living room

The mantle (my favorite)

Our new 9 foot tree

Porch decorations

Stairs

View from the top

Formal Dining Room

We hope you enjoy the holidays as much as we are!

A day in heaven...

2011-11-29T09:13:00.000-06:00

Heaven's Seven Ranch - Farmersville, Texas

As I mentioned last week, we loaded up the family for a quick trip to Texas. We were fortunate to stay with the whole clan out at "Heaven's Seven Ranch." My parents are living here and enjoying it so much. I love hearing them talk about "country living" and all of the excitement that comes with it.

We had a fantastic visit and man, did we eat like kings (and queens). Kelley was amazing in the kitchen - and we had a wonderful time catching up with everyone. I loved that Grandma "Granddam" got to see my babies and I LOVED getting to hug my CANCER FREE Aunt Genie. God is awesome and faithful. We had a lot of blessings to celebrate this year. Alex and Carson had a blast playing with Scott & Kelley's kids - fun was had by all.

Back to the ranch...The family just got a new horse, Houdini. YaYa (my mom) was in heaven (literally) as she took us out for a ride. I think it's the happiest I've seen her in a few years. Especially in that moment. The pictures explain much better than I can:

The girls in action

Beautiful Mom

Happy, happy girl

THIS IS HAPPINESS. Mom, I adore this photo of you!

Did I mention Alex rode bareback?!? STUD!

Amazing! So proud of my daughter

Alex was patient and sweet - careful and cautious

I even got to take a turn riding bareback - amazing experience! I grew up riding and man, I miss it.

Interesting clothing choice, eh? LOL! PJ's :)

Happy girls!

Alex loved leading me...

Doesn't get better than this. Ever.

YaYa and Sissy show Carson how to pet Houdini

Carson was incredibly responsive and thought the horse was "awesome"

The boys loved watching us girls play

Hieee! Am I precious?

Running, running, running

Look at my mom's face - precious moments

"Nice job, Carson" - he said that to himself after petting Houdini

Kids and animals - one of my favorite combos

Sweet girls - Natalee Grace and Alex

Carson actually fed Houdini too!

As you can see, it was a special, magical day for our family.

A few of my favorite things

2011-11-27T17:21:00.000-06:00

Carson is at the most adorable stage ever! I truly can't imagine him being ANY cuter, sweeter or more precious. He just turned three back in September and we are loving every minute. I wanted to make sure and capture a few of our favorites so they are not forgotten:
1."Dank you, Mommy"- he's so polite and always says thank you for things
2. "Quiet mouth" - when he's being too loud, he covers his mouth and says "Shh, too loud, Carson needs a quiet mouth."
3. He sings Happy Birthday to french fries. "Happy Birthday dear French Fries..." at least once a day. Too cute!
4. He loves to "take a bow" anytime he does something good. "Carson take a bow." "Daddy, take a bow..." you get the idea. Everyone in the house takes bows daily.
5. "Mommy sad - mommy cry" - he loves it when we "pretend cry" so he can run into our arms and tickle us and cheer us up!

Precious, angelic child! I want to eat him up!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T10:52:00.000-06:00

Enter His gates with Thanksgiving and His courts with praise! Give thanks to Him; bless His name. For the Lord is good; His steadfast love endures forever, and His faithfulness to all generations.

I am most thankful for God's grace and salvation offered through Christ's sacrifice on the cross. His righteousness covers me though I do not deserve it.

Family Photo Shoot: October 29, 2011

2011-11-22T08:46:00.001-06:00

Our friend, Mitzi Penick, is a fantastic photographer and we had the opportunity for her to work with our family several weeks ago. Mitzi has such a calming, peaceful spirit. I have to say, it was the easiest, most relaxing photoshoot our family has ever experienced. This was a "mini-session" so we were only there for 30 minutes (we usually shoot for an hour or longer), so the kids had a blast. The location: Two Rivers Park, a hidden treasure to us! It was beyond gorgeous. We shot right at 5:00 (just before sunset). The weather was perfect, the shoot was perfect...I was a happy Mama.

I will post about this entire week soon, but you will see that my sitter from Texas, Gabby, is in several of our photos. Gabby flew in from San Diego and stayed with our famiy for two weeks. We had an amazing time with her and she is truly a part of our family, so it was special to include her in the photoshoot. Gabby is incredible with the kids and one of the reasons the photoshoot was such a success!

To see more from Mitzi, check out www.mitzipenickphotography.com. Here are a few favorites from our special day:

Daddy with his favorite girls

I LOVE this one!

The whole family with Gabby

Alex and Daddy's yearly "Sic 'Em Bears!" photo

Carson, 3 years old

Mommy's masterpiece

The "Christmas Card" shot

Handsome man

Beautiful girl with her best friend, Macy

Our precious babies!

She melts me - I love her smile!

The Darby Fam, 2011

Carson had the best time! He ran and played and was such a happy boy.

Sweet moment

Kisses from my man! :)

Precious moments captured
We are so thankful to have these photos - now it's Christmas card time.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-18T10:10:00.002-06:00

How is it November 18? It feels like September to me and that the kids started school about 3 weeks ago. I can't believe they have been in school for three months and it's time for the holidays. Clearly, I am in a time warp.

We are SO excited about this weekend! Tonight, we hired a babysitter and we are having a date night. Woo-hoo! Then, first thing Saturday morning, we are loading up the Darby crew and headed to TEXAS to celebrate Thanksgiving with my entire family! My grandmother will be there, both of my aunts, my cousin with his wife and children, my parents, and Ben and Noelle have flown in from Thailand to join! There will be a million kids, pets and people! We can't wait to come home and see everyone.

Next week, my parents are coming for the whole week! I am sooo excited to have them up here and staying with us. It will be a precious time for our family.

To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant,
to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven.

Today, I am thankful for everything...every.single.thing.

Autumn in Arkansas...

2011-11-14T14:20:00.000-06:00

is breathtaking. This is the view from our porch. Wow! This picture doesn't begin to depict the beauty.

November 2011

2011-11-14T14:16:00.000-06:00

I've decided that the only way I won't throw in the towel on my blog is if I go back and blog by month rather than by individual posts. I am too far behind to ever sit down and start and I don't want to stop blogging because I really enjoy it....so here is the start to November 2011. (And yes, I will eventually go back and update March - October):

Sunday, November 13: This weekend, we had the opportunity to go visit Nathan's brother, wife, and three sons. We had the BEST weekend and so did the kids. Here are a few pics I snapped after church on Sunday. My sis has the rest from our weekend so hopefully I can go back and add to this post soon. In the meantime, look at my grown up daughter. She is getting so so big:

I love, love her sassy face in this pic!

Alex is 6 1/2. I can't believe she will be 7 in February! She melts my heart with her loving personality and contagious spirit. I love you, Alex Darby!

More soon...promise!

Pinnacle Park - Saturday, October 8

2011-10-10T19:19:00.002-05:00

We had such a chill weekend! It's been pretty non-stop over here with the move, getting settled in, new job for Nathan, Carson's steroids, new schools for kids...you get the idea. This Saturday, we loaded the kids up and took them to Pinnacle Park. It was literally a perfect day. Can you believe we live roughly 5 minutes away from this?

We can't! It's so incredibly beautiful and natural here. We see deer regularly - the hills are breathtaking. I cannot wait to see all of the leaves turn this Autumn.

I wanted to journal this trip because it was one of those family memories I don't want to forget. The four of us started playing at the park. Alex made friends, it was a blast...and then I noticed a hiking trail behind the park. I've always wanted to take Carson for a nature walk, but I feel intimated to take both kids alone (mainly because I don't ever know what to expect from Carson). Today was the day we decided to go for it. I asked Carson, "Do you want to go for a walk?" And he said, "Yay, a walk, load up - let's go!" Too cute.

He and I had the best time together. He stayed by my side for every second. I imagined he would run off or get scared and start screaming - it was the opposite. We talked about things we could see, hear, smell and touch. We stopped and looked at the leaves - identified their color, talked about their size. We picked up pine cones (a sensory nightmare!) We touched pine needles (he even tasted one!), we played with a rolly-polly, we listened for birds and imitated the sounds. We watched the squirrels playing and I remember asking Carson how big the trees are and he said ,"to the sky" and put his hands above his head. As people would walk by he would greet them by saying, "Good morning!" He kept asking to "hold hands" too. Melt my heart!

I'll never be able to put into words how special this time was for me as his mom. I remember I stopped and just hugged him forever. I was trying to hold back the tears. I just loved this perfect moment in time. I wish I could have that walk with him everyday. In that moment, I didn't see a little boy with Autism.

I got to take Alex for a walk next. As you can imagine, it was a very different, but equally fun "adventure." We stopped under the bridge and listed to cars, we found a HUGE snake in the water, we climbed a tree, etc. At one point she said the funniest thing to me. She said, "God is so bizarre! He turns tadpoles into frogs and caterpillars into butterflies. He is full of magic tricks." I agree, Alex. And I just love the way she thinks and takes life in. BTW - bizarre is her current word of choice.

It was such an awesome day! I don't want to ever forget how much I absolutely cherish my family. Nathan and I both stopped and had a "Hallmark moment" together. Precious times.

Today is Thursday, September 29th and this is where we are in our life...

2011-09-29T09:06:00.000-05:00

Hellllooooo,

I am so so far behind on the blog. I am hoping in the next two weeks to start back in April and catch up, but I decided I should take a quick moment to show you where we are today because I am afraid I will forget about this cuteness. So, I was out with a friend late last night and when I got home Nathan brought me the video monitor and said, "Houston, we have a problem." This is what we saw:

Mr. Nudie Bootie in da house!

How cute and funny is our little man? Granted, he does look very comfy, but REALLY? He makes us laugh and brings us so much joy.

I am sipping on my pumpkin spiced-latte (my favorite coffee drink) and reflecting on just how much has happened since April and it blows my mind. God is GOOD!

On a final note, yesterday we reached day 60 of Carson's steroid treatment. WOOT! I can't believe it's been 60 days of steroids x3 doses daily. WE DID IT! We speak to Dr. Krigsman on Monday to get a game plan. Everyone is in awe of the vast improvements seen in 60 short days (that maybe felt like 600 days to us). We estimate he has "caught up" 9 months verbally. In 2 months?! Can I get an AMEN :)

Love to all. More soon, I promise. Come see us. It's beautiful here!

So behind, I can't even start ;)

2011-08-12T12:53:00.000-05:00

I still haven't blogged Disney World, our move, or any of Carson's amazing news! I promise I'll get there. The kids both start school on Monday, so I'll get back on the wagon shortly.

A recap of how I feel:
- One Republic's "Good Life" - off the WakingUp album

Good life, feeling blessed beyond measure.
xoxo miss you all!

Bye-Bye Boyd Court

2011-06-05T10:11:00.003-05:00

I can't believe that one week from today, we will have moving trucks here and we will be saying goodbye to 1833 Boyd Court. Wow. This has been our one and only home. For nine years we've made fantastic memories here and experienced our two biggest moments - we brought both of our babies home from the hospital here. We love and cherish this home and it will be bittersweet to say goodbye. It's time for new beginnings and we are so thrilled to be taking that next step. I found one link online that still shows photos, etc. Check it out:

1833 Boyd Court

This has been the biggest "leap of faith" journey in my entire life and I know Nathan feels the same way. We are walking away from everything we know and love - our church, my family, our incredible friends, etc. We still haven't been given the formal acceptance into Access School for Carson and won't until later this summer. We won't know about our offer at 2801 Shadow Creek until June 17th. So at the moment, we are 1,000,000% trusting in God and God alone. And, I must say...it's an incredible feeling. I am peaceful and content. You guys know me - I am high strung and get stressed out when the going gets tough...and it's evident that I have God's peace. It's moving week and I am all smiles. Is it odd or is it God? Please come visit us in Little Rock! We would love to have company. I'll let you know once we have a place we can call home :)

"Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." ~ Hebrews 1:1

AHH! Moving!

2011-06-02T16:00:00.000-05:00

Please don't give up on me...I promise I will continue to keep blogging, life has just been CRAZY here and will be for a while.

We are MOVING next week to Little Rock! Ahhh! God is awesome and we are so crazy excited for this new chapter in our lives.

More soon.

Blog slacker

2011-04-30T21:48:00.001-05:00

Hi guys,

To say life has been hectic lately would be a huge understatement. The blog has been my last priority, but I'm trying to catch up. I wanted to get Carson's doctor update out ASAP, so I am just now getting to the Feb-April posts. See below for Alex's birthday details.

Alex's 6th Birthday: Diva Glam Birthday Jam

2011-04-30T21:45:00.002-05:00

Alex's 6th birthday party was on Saturday, February 19th. It was all girl and over the top pink, glittery, make-up fun! We invited a small handful of friends and decided to have the party at our home this year. GASP! I've avoided house parties for 6 years. With Disney around the corner, we decided to save some cash and have a little party at the house. DeDe came in town a bit early to help me prep for the day...and so that means that a "little house party" turned into a diva glam birthday jam :) Thanks DeDe!

All 7 girls showed up in their favorite princess outfits. We had a make-up station, nail polish station and a hair station. As a gift to Alex, our sitter (Miss Gabby) offered to do all of the girls hair. She did a fantastic job. The girls loved getting all dolled up and the mom's loved watching, taking pictures and helping!

After the girls got decked out, we had a brief but mostly unsuccessful attempt at Princess Karaoke. Of course, Alex had to entertain the crowd with one song. It was too funny. I know I've mentioned this a thousand times - but she really does have a great voice!

After the karaoke mishap (I am kidding - the girls were shy and I ended up on the mic), the girls made a craft and then ate cupcakes and danced. The mom's had a great time visiting and the girls were in heaven. I love how well the decorations turned out too. Carson and Daddy busted on the scene towards the end of the party which was too cute.

Honestly, it was just a fun, easy, laid back day. Ahh, I love those kinds of days. Our sweet YaYa had to work and was very missed (sniff, sniff). Alex and YaYa got to share a special day just to themselves though, so it's all good.

The memories made will last forever...at least for this proud Momma!

Yummy - cupcakes

The "pre-hair" train - Katie, Gabby and Alex all line up for glamour time

Coloring station

The one and only, Alex!

Beautiful Kaitlyn

Sweet Evelyn

Grace gets glammed up by Miss Gabby

"The stage"

The loot

Kaitlyn & Alex posed pretty much anytime they saw the camera

Precious Katie loved getting her nails painted

Snacks and more cupcakes

Alex's big debut on the karaoke machine

Abbi & Alex have fun doing crafts together

The whole crew enjoying cupcakes and sharing the cutest stories ever

Poor Katie - Alex was sugared up and on the prowl

Alex loved all of her awesome gifts

Ev & Al pose with her gift

"Yep - here's another Barbie"

The most beautiful girls in the world

7 princesses

Aunt CiCi got some sweet lovins

Jaime, Me and Erin (Baylor Tri-Delts)

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AJ, Me and Deb (they are sisters)

It was such a special day for our girl. I still can't believe she's 6 (sigh).

Princess prep

2011-04-30T21:07:00.000-05:00

DeDe came to town to celebrate Alex's birthday with us. Just like her 4th birthday, we surprised Al with a trip to the nail salon. She was in heaven. Check out our little beauty:

Assuming the position

cuteness

She chose a different color for each finger and toe

Our girl - so excited

Sweet moment with Mommy

DeDe gets some lovin too!

Alex's 6th birthday

2011-04-30T21:06:00.001-05:00

I can't believe our princess is 6! I've had an odd reaction to Alex turning 6 - I am usually giddy at the thought of a birthday for my girl. But this year, it hit me that turning 6 means that you are officially a "kid." I think 1-4 is still "little", 4-5 is the bridge, and turning 6 is full on kiddo-hood. Of course I was excited with and for Alex, but it's just hard watching her grow up so quickly.

I only have a few pics of her actual birthday, because her party was the following weekend. She was so excited to go to school on her birthday. I had a special birthday shirt made for her and she had a class party. She said it was the "best day of her life." What she didn't know is that we had a HUGE surprise for her later that evening.

Miss Gabby (Alex's babysitter), YaYa, Nathan, Carson and I threw Alex a birthday party at home after school. We got gluten free pizza, cupcakes and decorated the house. She had a few small presents to open from us, an amazing Rapunzel tower from YaYa and B.B., and then we had her open a special card that was from her Fairy Godmother.

I helped Alex read the card and watching her face was such a priceless moment. I was so happy YaYa got to be there to see it all! The Fairy God mother sent Alex on a scavenger hunt throughout the house leaving her clues and presents. She got a princess tiara, wand, three DVD's and finally there was a treasure box waiting for her in her bedroom. She went to her room and read the final clue, explaining that she was GOING TO DISNEY WORLD FOR HER BIRTHDAY PRESENT! We told her we are going May 8-13 and that it would just be Mommy, Daddy and Alex. Carson is staying back because he is too young. She just sat there a bit overwhelmed and perplexed (which is very hard to do!) We could tell she was incredibly excited but she was very worried that Carson wouldn't be joining us. After we showed her a video of Magic Kingdom, she was bouncing off the walls with excitement.

Finally, her Daddy made her an awesome Disney countdown calendar so she could start counting down the days until our vacation. The calendar has a sticker box for each of the 80 days to countdown. It's such a fun and great idea. She said," 80 days...that's going to take forever and ever!"

Needless to say, it was so much fun to finally get to share our big secret with her. We've been planning the trip for a while and the thought of spending 6 days with our 6 year old Alex in Disney World, is almost more than I can handle. Happy 6th birthday, baby girl! We only have a few pics...we were having way too much fun!

Our sweet 6 year old wearing her new t-shirt

The card sent by her Fairy Godmother

Alex, Macy & Daddy get some sweet cuddle time

The Darby fam celebrating Alex's special day

An informative article on EE

2011-04-15T11:05:00.001-05:00

Here is a great article that explains one of the two diseases Carson was diagnosed with. EE is rare and there isn't much written about it - so this really helped me:

http://www.livingwithout.com/issues/4_13/Life_Without_Food-2400-1.html

Dr. Arthur Krigsman, GI Specialist - April 11, 2011

2011-04-12T16:50:00.009-05:00

“But when the multitudes knew it, they followed Him; and He received them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who had need of healing.” (Luke 9:11)

My eyes are filled with tears as I write this blog entry (tears of joy, peace and relief). After eight months of waiting, we were finally able to take Carson to see Dr. Arthur Krisgman (Arthur Krigsman, MD, is a pediatrician and gastroenterologist specializing in children with autism and gut related disorders). I have been aching to see this doctor. He is out of network with our insurance so we decided to try the doctors in our area that were covered with the promise (from Nathan) that if I was not satisfied with the treatment plan offered, we would bite the bullet and head to Austin. When the last specialist suggested that we give him "more supplements and vary his diet to get the gut adjusted" I knew we were on our way to Austin :) Bottom line: I MUST trust and agree with the physician leading the path. We have heard the doubts from the multitude of doctors Carson has seen, "I just don't know what the problem is. This is beyond me, and I can't even point you in the right direction. You just need to accept this and start embracing your journey." Anyone who knows me know that I am not going to sit back and "embrace this" - I am a fighter! If we won't fight for him, who will?

Our "village" of prayer warriors is strong and dedicated. Many have known the importance of this appointment, and wow, did we feel like we were being carried through this process! I have had so much peace in my heart about going to see Dr. K. Don't get me wrong - it was long and exhausting and difficult, but when you know it's right, you just know. Thank you for all of your prayers and support. I cannot express how much it means to our family. Each prayer was felt. We all talk about God's timing and how He always sees things from a different vantage point, but let me point out a few "wow moments:"
- Nathan just started working in Austin with his Whole Foods client a week ago. Hmm, interesting that he just happened to be in Austin so he could be at the appointment. Dr. K is only in Austin once a month (his primary office is in NY). It was a miracle we were able to get a slot in April.
- We were able to stay as a family in Nathan's hotel and spare the expense of a room.
- Rachel (one of my best friends) lives in Austin and was able to spend the morning with us. Carson had two playmates and we were able to get out and have fun instead of stay in a hotel all day long.
- My mom and dad were able to come and stay with Alex the entire time we were gone. They took her to school and handled all of the details so I didn't have to stress.
Sorry, I digress, but there is a lot to share and celebrate.

We waited in the waiting room for over an hour to see Dr. K. Carson didn't fall asleep until 11:00pm the night before and had no nap the day of appointment because of the timing (3:30pm). So you can imagine he was a mess by 4:30. Thank goodness Nathan was with me. I could NOT have done this without him. While we were waiting, Dr. K peeked out and said hello to our family. I just KNEW we had finally found our man. We visited with a family in the waiting room and the father was a physician. It gave us comfort to know that a physician chose Dr. K to treat his own child. The entire staff was so accommodating and friendly. It felt good to be "home."

Dr. Krigsman sat us down and said, "I have all of his labs and tests right here. Even though I believe I have a diagnosis for him, I want to start from day one and hear everything that has brought you to this day. I trust moms more than any lab result. I am going to push you and make you uncomfortable, but we will create Carson's story today." He had an incredible bedside manner. I had read some interesting things about him to say the least but it didn't change my mind about him and I am so glad it didn't.

After we went through his entire history and looked at the labs he explained that based on the symptoms, it seems that Carson has two disorders/diseases: Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EE) and Autism Enterocolitis. What does that mean?
1. EE is an autoimmune disease. This disease causes his gut immune system to turn on itself and attack the lining of the gut. The biggest question I had for Dr. K was finally answered. Carson has a very high IgE level but tested negative for the typical food allergies (his IgA and IgG levels have normalized) - so it's puzzling to see an elevated IgE reading. Dr. K explained that he has a large number of eosinophils in his esophagus caused by elevated white blood cells attacking the wrong tissue. Bottom line: he gets sick so easily because his army is attacking the wrong enemy. Instead of fighting colds, it is attacking his gut lining. Not only is it attacking the wrong enemy, it is creating holes and gaps along his entire intestinal lining. This causes the intestines to swell and creates a very inflammed gut (this is why he looks pregnant). EE is fairly rare and there isn't much published on the disease. He was not born with EE. There was a trigger that caused it. The cause is unknown.

2. Autism Enterocolitis is a GI disease that damages the large and small intestines. These digestive issues could exist in up to 50% of children with Autism. The link between enterocolitis and autism is too large to ignore. The enterocolitis interferes with proper absorption of food and causes the bowels to create irregular stool. We know this is a fact. :)

Needless to say, I was excited to hear that Dr. K believes that there is an undeniable link between these GI issues and autism. I have always believed that his gut issues have contributed or created the ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder).

What happens now? On June 21, we are scheduled to go back to Austin for Carson to have a Colonoscopy, Upper Endoscopy and a Wireless Capsule Endoscopy performed. The doctor will use The Wireless Capsule Endoscopy "pill cam" which is a non-invasive method for imaging the entirety of the small intestine. How cool is that? He is going to study every single inch of his GI tract!

His diagnosis of EE and Autism Enterocolitis are speculation at this point based on Carson's symptoms. He said it is crucial to visually study the damage in the intestines in order to treat his condition properly. He may have more diseases, he may have less. If his current diagnosis is correct, Carson will be given Prednisone. Prednisone is a steroid that reduces inflammation. Seriously?! A PILL?! No cutting, no major surgery...um, that's amazing! I am surprised that he has more than one disorder. Thankfully, I am very pleased with the treatment plan.

He said that he will be able to "heal his gut" over time and that Carson should even be able to eat regular foods again someday (with the exception of gluten). He made it very clear that even if the gut is healed, the autism may still be present. He could make no guarantees about the ASD. He simply said, "I've seen autism completely vanish when the gut is healed and I've seen the gut heal but the autism remain present. We won't know about Carson until we treat him."
The most encouraging thing he said to us was, "Carson is a textbook autism GI pediatric patient. His timeline and story is the same as hundreds of children that I treat. There is one huge exception - HIS AGE. Carson is a dream! Parents do not typically come to me until 6-13 years of age and by then, the damage is substantial. The longer the body is distressed, the harder it is to correct. I am honored and excited to get to treat Carson. His age gives him a huge advantage. Way to go Mom and Dad for being proactive and fighting for him. You are changing his life forever." Nathan and I high fived each other. What an amazing thing to hear.

Please start praying for June 21 now. I have to be realistic and know that the ASD may not ever be cured, but I do finally have hope that his gut can be healed. I am a very hopeful Mommy. I DO believe he will be cured completely. Call me crazy, but I just know it!

"I sought the Lord, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears." (Psalm 34:4)

Casey Weigand Art Giveaway

2011-04-10T22:28:00.001-05:00

Art giveaway by one of the most talented artists I know:
www.elizabethannrecipebox.com

Catching up

2011-03-29T20:14:00.001-05:00

I am playing catch up still and got anxious and blogged out of order so scroll down to February posts for updates. xoxo

Nathan's Big Weekend - March 19-20

2011-03-22T09:37:00.002-05:00

Nathan was asked to sing front line this past weekend at Fellowship and he did an incredible job! He gets better and better - he was so confident, handsome and natural on stage. I get overwhelmed with emotion when I see him serving the kingdom in such a passionate, beautiful way. I am clearly a proud wife. My mom came with me and she was equally proud. At one point she leaned over to me with tears in her eyes and said, "Baby, I am so happy for you - you deserve this man." Aww, how precious is that? I don't know about "deserve" - but I am certainly thankful!

Check out the video. I wish I had more to share. A video or picture doesn't begin to capture the experience. Please come and join us next time!

Nathan - I am ridiculously proud of you today and everyday!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZO63srRn8L0

Senior Year Cruise

2011-03-22T07:23:00.000-05:00

Haha - throw back to 1997! Love you guys - such fun we had! Dad, the hair?! ;)

Progress!

2011-03-21T14:06:00.003-05:00

I am thrilled to report that we have an appointment on the calendar to see Dr. Arthur Krisgman in Austin on Monday, April 11th at 10:30! This has been a six month journey in the making. The testing required to see this doctor says enough - I am believing this will be a great path. If nothing else, it will finally shut my mouth because I have been hard-headed and determined to see this doctor. He is a pediatric GI specialist with a focus in ASD due to GI disorders. I am hopeful and praying he is the man. He offices out of New York but comes to Austin three days a month...and we happened to snag the last slot in April. Did I mention Nathan is working at the Whole Foods client site in Austin starting next week? God's timing...love it!

Pray, cross your fingers, stand on your head...whatever it takes, just be rooting for us please!

Alex + Music + Mirror = ?

2011-03-19T14:40:00.000-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUbIYVQVlwY

Valentine's Day - Kindergarten Party

2011-02-14T21:00:00.002-06:00

I was sooo excited to be a part of Alex's fun day. I volunteered to throw Alex's Valentine's Day party at Coyote Ridge. Linda, the class mom, was a rock star and did so much to make the party perfect. It's so hard letting go - I mean, she's away more than she is home now. I always want to go and peek in at her and see how her day is going...so being there and throwing the party was so much fun as you can imagine. How could 20 kids + pounds of sugar + a sundae bar + arts and crafts + games + prizes = anything other than amazing fun?!

First of all, it was the fastest two hours of my life. We crammed so much in to the party! That was good planning because 20 kids hyped up on sugar-crack can get out of hand in a flash, so having an agenda was essential. We played bingo, box-in-a-box, made take home crafts for the parents, and had a fully supplied sundae bar. At one point I saw a child just flailing about - they had so much candy they literally couldn't control their body at all. I wasn't responsible for the food. If you know me at all, I avoid sugar like the plague with Alex, so this was a lot for Mommy to process. Hey, it was a party...you gotta let them be kids!

Alex was a very proud kiddo - she loved introducing me to all of her friends. She made sure I met each and every person. I enjoyed getting the scoop on each friend. It was adorable. I really do wish I could be there everyday. It was so much fun to be a part of kindergarten for just a day. Here are a few pics. I wasn't able to take many because my hands were full the entire time.

Our sweet little Valentine - she had a t-shirt made that says "Alex"

Kiddos prepping the crafts

Linda helps the blue table make heart pendants Alex was diligent and wanted to make Mommy a very special gift

Finished product - nice work, Alex

The girls helped set up the sundae bar

Alex was trying to quiet the class - shocker! Too funny!

Box-in-a-box game

Alex was chosen to unwrap one of the layers. Check out that cuteness.

Mommy made a picture!

Alex, thank you for making every single day of my life fun. I am your biggest fan!

This is how we roll...

2011-02-11T20:59:00.001-06:00

So, I'm in the kitchen cooking and Alex shouts from the playroom, "Mommy, can I have a picnic with a few animal friends?" Of course I say yes. This is what I turn around and see: Our girl is such a trip! And the birds...are we ever going to stop loving birds? I think not. She's quite a hostess, don't you think?

Dancing Diva - February 2011

2011-02-10T17:59:00.004-06:00

Our little dancing queen is back at it again! She loved ballet so much last year and has been telling us that she really wants to start classes again. We already have her taking gymnastics on Tuesdays and she isn't willing to give it up, so what do we do...cave and sign her up for both! Did you expect anything less from me, really? I would take her everyday if I could! I love dance, cheer and gymnastics so much - it was such a huge part of my childhood. I am thrilled that Alex is enjoying it like her mama. And can I just say wow, thank you, to my mom and dad?! It's not cheap! Once again I am learning to appreciate my mom and dad from becoming a parent. What an investment. This year, we signed her up at Diane Cole Johnson again, but this time she is taking tap, ballet and tumbling. It's a one hour class. I still think her favorite part is dressing up though. I had so much fun watching her put on tap shoes for the very first time. Priceless entertainment. She gets the "sass" face going and puts on quite a show for me, the dogs, the wall - really, anyone or anything that will watch. Mark the calendar for June 20th: Alex's big recital. So far, so great! Here are two pictures before her first class:

Brrrrr in D-town: February Snow Days

2011-02-04T17:52:00.006-06:00

Wow have we had our share of snow this winter. We've missed a record 5 school days in February due to the massive arctic tundra that is known as 1833 Boyd Court, Carrollton, Texas.

I found this article and thought it would be cool to note: This past weekend, Dallas got its largest snow day ever as 9.8 inches of snow was recorded to have fallen on Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport as of 10:00pm Dallas time and it's still coming down. That is the most snow in Dallas ever, at least since it started collecting weather data 111 years ago. The previous record was 7.8 inches in one day set in 1917 and again in 1964.

Unreal, huh? Here's the kicker...Dallas wasn't prepared at all. Over 150,000 residents lost power. And of course, we are ALWAYS a statistic. Um yeah, we lost our HEAT! Super fun! If you can imagine a 2-year-old and 5-year-old stuck in a small living room with a fireplace and space heaters for 72 hours, you can imagine it was GOOD TIMES. The kids handled it pretty darn well considering, but seriously, I can vouch: it was misery!

Poor Nathan was camped out in the office - shivering and trying to work. I was whipping up as many batches of homemade baked potato soup as possible and trying to stay sane and warm. I don't think I did so well on that goal, but we did survive! We finally got the heat working again, and then we were able to have some FUN! It was simply too cold to want to play in the snow when the heater was non-existant, but as soon as we warmed up, we piled on as many layers as humanly possible and headed out. Here are pictures from our awesome snow-filled adventure in Oakwood Springs (our 'hood):

Our cutie trying to accessorize even in the "arctic conditions"

Our backyard - day one

Prepping for snow ice cream

Cute snow bunny

"Baby on the Loose" - B on the L as we say

He loved the snow

Our little Eskimo was all over the place

Snow angels

Carson is scoping out Daddy's Jeep

Alex was in heaven

Our casa - pretty with the snow

C is headed for trouble

"Pee-a-boo" as Carson says

Darby sandwich

Yum!

C's favorite activity by a mile - splashing over and over again in the water

Fun times with Daddy

My 2 favorite men

Seeing this melts my heart

Interesting snow lady

Precious snow bunny

My loves. Aww, I want to freeze this moment in time.

Alex's 100th Day of Kindergarten

2011-01-28T21:11:00.001-06:00

Alex was assigned a project to represent her 100th day of kindergarten. She did such a great job decorating her t-shirt with exactly 100 stickers. She did the entire project herself and was oh so proud of her masterpiece.

Carson: The Master of Going To Bed

2011-01-15T14:20:00.001-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwXUmSbVI1o

January visit to Little Rock

2011-01-11T23:49:00.015-06:00

Nathan and his buddy Ben decided to head to the cabin for the weekend for a little duck hunting action. Ben's dad and Nathan's dad joined the crew, so I decided to pack up and head to DeDe's! Nothing like a fun weekend away (especially while Daddy is gone). We had an action filled weekend that went waaaay too quickly. Let's just jump in (no pun intended).

We started the fun by taking Alex to the McCain mall to brave the Spider Jump adventure. Deb has a friend that owns Spider Jump, so we thought it would be a blast to watch Alex. But noooo, peer pressure strikes and I am suddenly wearing a harness in the middle of the mall! Are you kidding me?! At least I don't live there and no one knows me...and let's face it, if you know me, you know I was allll over the idea. Here are a few pics from our Spider Jump adventure:

I am locked and loaded

"Whoa, this is higher and harder than I expected"

Back flip -1

Back flip - 2

Back flip - 3...double back flip!

Love this pic because you can see Alex and I jumping at the same time

Look at my brave lil peanut

Beautiful and graceful "le frog jump, elegant"

Alex attempts a flip and as you can see is all smiles

Big jumps

Happy girl

A few key points to note:

1. While we were gone, Pops stayed home with Carson. It was awesome to have solo Alex time. While we were at the mall, my cell phone rings and it's Pops. He says, "I am calling to inform you that we have a situation on our hands. Did you know Carson can climb out of his pack-n-play? I was sitting at my desk and all the sudden I saw a blur running by the door." AHH! He's such a two year old toot. I love it!

2. Um yeah, I was NOT okay after the Spider Jump! I was soooo sore. They said jumping was the equivalent of a 2 hour cardio session. My abs and arms were killing me the next day. I am not 18 anymore (and yes Deb, I am leaving that part of the story out. When you dish on the pup I will share my story. HA!)

Back at home, Pops enjoyed time with his princess while Deb & I had a GNO.

This is their happy place. Can't tell who is having more fun...

Alex makes Pops smile in a way that I've never seen. It's beautiful. It reminds me so so much of my Boompa.

After a long night of Alex boot camp, Pops is a fried puppy. Sweet Alex tucked him in with her lovies and gankie.

Deb & I are dressed and ready for a night out (this was my thank you gift for watching the kids in Atlanta.) We went to Bravo for dinner and saw The King's Speech. FUN! Dinner was perfection.

Darby women represent

Doesn't she look so grown up here? I can't believe she is about to be 6! 6 going on 16!

Alex was incredibly independent and well minded on this trip. She spent hours in DeDe's office on the computer and doing arts and crafts.

Score! USA Pizza makes gluten free love. Yes!!!

DeDe and Alex at lunch

The girls at lunch
--

After lunch, we braved it and decided to head to Chuck E. Cheese. As sad or crazy as this sounds, Carson had never been before (I think he went once as a baby) but this was his first "real" time to experience the Chuck. He was in awe. Flashing lights, spinning toys and numbers everywhere = heaven for our special little guy.

Alex tried hard to earn tickets. I hit 100 tickets on a game and that made me "super cool" in Alex's eyes. I felt honored.

Alex is all about using the assets she has. Whatever it takes!

Sweet Carson was overwhelmed but loved riding the rides. He is almost 2 1/2 years old.

Carson scoping out the ticket grabbing machine

I don't know if he was a "record breaker" at Chuck E. Cheese as his t-shirt suggests, but he certainly is a heart breaker. Cuteness!

We had so much fun as always. Sigh, can we come back again soon? Thanks for making what could have been a lonely and hard weekend a super fun one with memories galore!

While Mommy was away DeDe came to play

2011-01-11T15:45:00.000-06:00

Here are the pics DeDe took while I was in Atlanta for the work conference. As you will see, she was a trooper and pretty much stayed home the entire time I was gone. Carson's chin was in the early healing phase and we didn't want to risk stitches, so I really appreciated everyone staying tucked in for a few days. The kids seem to be most happy at home, so it was a win-win.

Snow bunny, day one

Snow bunny, day 2

So clearly, we aren't prepared for "real" winter weather in Texas. May need to invest in some better clothes next year!

Alex was in heaven making snow ice cream

Our little snow angel

Bubble bath queen

Carson's favorite chill spot

Alex braving the pit at gymnastics class

Attempting the high bar solo

Fun times in the puppy tent. I love this picture of our kids playing together.

"Can anyone see me?!"

"Workin' on my bikini body"

Macy was soooo happy there was a new puppy in town

Carson + iPhone = Happy 2 year old!

Thanks again for the wonderful week. The kids had the best time!

Mel goes to "Cold-Lanta"

2011-01-10T01:05:00.001-06:00

I know Atlanta is known as "Hot-lanta" but it certainly did not live up to it's name on this trip! I was invited by the Ciena marketing team to join the "All Hands Marketing Meeting" that Ciena hosts annually. The purpose of the trip is for a few select vendors to give a presentation about their company and how they have contributed to Ciena's success and it also gave many Ciena executives the opportunity to give presentations in their area of expertise.

After all of the hospitals, drama and chin busting here at home, I was ready for a breath of fresh air. Don't get me wrong, I never want to be away from my fam, but it was time for Mommy to be an adult for a couple of days :) Fortunately, DeDe was able to come in from Little Rock to help watch the kids while I was gone. They ended up shortening and delaying the conference by a day, so I was only gone for 2 days instead of 3 full days. A special thank you to my Mom for taking the reins on Thursday and helping with the kiddos. YaYa and DeDe - thank you for always being there for me! I can't live without you!

Once DeDe arrived, so did the snow, sleet and ice. School was cancelled and the Atlanta airport was shut down entirely. I honestly didn't think there was any way I would actually make the flight. They were cancelling flights left and right and when I went to bed on Monday night, I knew I wasn't going to go most likely. I went ahead and packed up just in case, but needless to say, I was disappointed. I really was looking forward to connecting with my team members and learning more about Ciena.

Sure enough, I get the call from Cory that we are a go! I was shocked but prepared and very excited! The flight was smooth, but all of us were amazed that they flew in the snowy and icy conditions. In fact, the weather was so bad that the entire Boston group was unable to attend. 30% of the expected attendees were unable to join due to the weather. Crazy!

After we landed we picked up the rental car (it was me and three other men that I work with). We all looked at each other and realized, "Oh NO - we have to drive to the hotel!" The drive was about 15 miles from the airport, but it felt like an hour. There were cars sliding all over the road. The guys joked with the "prayer warrior" (me) so I made sure and sent a few prayers of protection over our car. Fortunately, we made it unscathed.

We stayed at the "W" - Midtown. The hotel was awesome. I was incredibly happy to be there. We had a wonderful dinner at the "City Kitchen" and enjoyed good ole' southern comfort food. The fried chicken was off the chain! The company was great and I had an awesome night. The next day was a non-stop meeting day. I hit the rack super early that night and we worked the next day and made it home safely by Thursday night. DeDe had to leave early to make it back in time to meet up with Andrea and the boys, so I was really happy YaYa was able to step in and help with those last few hours of childcare. Fortunately, everyone did great at home! I was so relieved and came back a better version of myself. It was a great little getaway.
Here are a few horrible cell phone pics:

The weather was delightful
View from my hotel window

My awesome room

The chandelier in the main lobby

The "hidden seating area" - we all came back after dinner and hung here for about an hour and chatted. It was a really cool vibe.

Good times in Hot-cold-lanta! I hope they ask me to come again next time.

Baby Genius - Carson at 28 months

2011-01-07T09:33:00.002-06:00

It's been a while since I have written a progress report about Carson, so I thought I would give you guys an update:
- He can count to 50. Yes, 5-0. Not too shabby for two years old.
- He can count BACKWARDS from 20 to zero unassisted. We think he may be a numeric savant ;)
- He knows all of his letter and shapes (even the "gons" - pentagon, hexagon, decagon).
- He knows every single musical instrument and can identify which family they are in(i.e. timpani is in the percussion section). I am not making this up. I didn't know what a timpani was. Thank you, Baby Einstein! He knows tuba, flute, cello, xylophone, harp, viola, bass, bassoon, etc. It blows us away!
- He finally started pointing two months ago. I know this may seem strange - but the mind of a child with autism is complicated. He can count backwards but isn't pointing at 24 months?! Interesting! But now he is pointing and can recognize each family member by name.
- He knows all of his colors.
- He has all of his teeth including all of his molars (yippee!).
- He is still on a crazy limited diet - no progress on the GI front at all :(
- He knows most of his body parts (his favorites are his "bee-butt" aka belly button and his beloved "tee-tee").
- He loves to point to each food on his tray and "teach us" what he is eating.
- He knows all of the upper case alphabet and quite a few lower case letters too.
- He remembers EVERYTHING you tell him. You show him something once, and he knows it for life. This makes teaching him so fun and it is incredibly rewarding.
- He loves to dance and bounces up and down and grins for your acceptance when he jams.
- He is ALL boy! His favorite activities are throwing iPhones in the toilet, dumping bags of chips everywhere and pouring entire boxes of cereal in our clean sheets. Super fun.

Most importantly he is stealing our hearts more and more everyday. We may have intense struggles in the medical department, but I wouldn't want any other kiddo on the planet. He rocks my world and he is worth the fight. Carson, you make my life better!

Priceless Treasure

2011-01-04T10:36:00.001-06:00

My mother-in-law has many creative talents. There isn't anything she CAN'T do - she can make, paint, sew or bling pretty much anything. She knitted blankets for both of my children (and both sleep with them every night still).
Deb, aka "DeDe" made quilts for all of Andrea's boys, so I've been hounding her to make one for Alex. She has always promised to do it and I knew she would, but understandably, I've been anxious to see the finished product.
The day finally arrived and she exceeded all expectations. The quilt is perfection. There is so much love, color and girl exploding from this quilt. You can look at it and tell that it was made with TLC for the one and only girl in this family. I love it soooo much there aren't words!
--
DeDe,
Thank you so much for taking the time, making the incredible effort, and the huge financial investment to create a treasure our family will always cherish. It looks absolutely perfect in her room! I've been dreaming of this quilt for years, and man was it worth the wait! Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I know Alex will love it and treasure it as much as I do.
Sooo...are you ready for quilt #5?
Love you,
Mel
---
Before I show the photos, I'd like to explain a few of the special qualities about it:
1. She used a diamond pattern throughout the quilt. This is very special to our family of four because: my wedding ring and necklace Nathan gave me during Alex's birth are both "diamond" shaped stones. The diamond has 4 points - each point represents one of our four family members.
2. She used black in the trim and in the stitching. I love this! Alex's bedroom furniture is black and using black in the quilt gives it a more mature look. It is still all girl but I love that it has the black - it's one of my favorite things about it.
3. She used butterflies. Butterflies have been Alex's theme even while in the womb. Her nursery had a butterfly theme - and she still has butterflies floating above her bed. To me, butterflies signify beauty, grace, growth and change. I know that my little girl isn't always going to be at home in "my nest" but I know while she is with us, we will do everything we can to give her the wings to fly on her own. I know - sooo cheesy, but that is what it means to me. I am the mother of a daughter, so I reserve the right to be cheesy on occasion...and this occasion is worthy of a little cheese. She is our beautiful butterfly.
4. The use of color - I love bright color! The colors tie in beautifully with the table and chairs and trunk that DeDe already painted for Alex.
Everyone needs a DeDe that is this incredible, but I thank God everyday she is ours!

Drumroll, please...here it is!

The entire quilt on Alex's bed

A close up of the diamonds and butterflies

The corners are adorable - hot pink, polka dotted flowers

The final result = a happy princess!

Awesome pattern on the back of the quilt

And finally, a signature - "With love from DeDe" 2010

NOOOOO!

2011-01-03T12:33:00.001-06:00

This isn't real. This isn't happening. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! We hadn't even been home from the hospital for 24 hours and Carson busted his chin open in the bath tub!!!!

I felt so bad for our precious babysitter, Gabby. I left for literally an hour to get groceries. Of course we were out of everything after being gone for a week, then going straight to the hospital. I had our sitter come over to watch the kids so I could get food and while I was out I got a phone call saying, "Mel, it's Carson. He busted his chin open in the tub. I mean, it's really bad. You need to get home now." NOOO :( I can tell you that at this point, I just started bawling. I knew in my heart I was coming home to a child that needed stitches. NOOO! No!

Sure enough, I came in and saw this:

It was a very bad gash. I ached in a way I can't describe for my son. He had been to the ER twice and stayed in the hospital just in the past week...and now THIS?! You have got to be kidding me. I was beyond a mess.

Fortunately, God is good and gave me the clarity to remember that there was a pediatric ER in Flower Mound. It was at night and after office hours, so I was calling urgent care facilities. After I heard from Care Now, "We have a 2 hour wait and we will have to hold him down to give him stitches," I was begging for a miracle. When I called Acute Care for Kids, I was trying to keep it together on the phone and the sweet nurse was so wonderful. She told me they could take care of him immediately and if we came now, we wouldn't have to wait. SOLD!

Acute Care for Kids was a gift! The doctors and nurses were incredible! They gave me a huge hug when I arrived (of course they knew we were coming off of a hospital stay as well) and instead of stitches they were able to administer Derma-Bond. WOW! There was never a thought of anything in my mind other than stitches and misery. Although it was still awful and he was a total wreck, the Derma-Bond took 2 minutes and that was that! I still can't believe he was able to walk away without stitches. Whew.

A big shout out to Kristi DeWall for meeting us at the clinic and taking Alex while we were there. We clearly need a village. Lord help us!
If you do the math that is one ER stop in Arkansas, one ER in Plano - then admitted for 38 hours in the hospital, home for 24 hours, and back to the pediatric ER...all in one week. Too much for any family, I think! They say things happen in groups of three. If that's the case, we should be done with medical facilities for the year. Good grief!

Rough Start to A New Year

2011-01-02T11:36:00.001-06:00

I proclaimed 2011 is going to be a great year, and I still believe it will be, but man are we off to a rough start.
As soon as we got back from the cabin, I knew we needed to get Carson to the pediatrician ASAP. He had been vomiting for 5 days, had absolutely no appetite and was sleeping for hours on end. None of us have ever seen Carson act so lethargic and I have to admit, we were all very concerned for our little guy.
I got up and took Carson to the doc the very next morning. Our doc agreed that he was incredibly weak and get this....he lost 5 pounds?! Wow! Considering he's only 27lbs, that is way too much weight to lose and given the limited diet, we have a difficult time as is keeping his weight up. We felt okay because he ate a huge breakfast and seemed to perk up a bit, but the doc said if he made any digression at all, to take him to ER immediately. I remember this kept echoing in my head, "Carson is tougher than the average child. He doesn't tell us when he is in pain. To see him this lethargic makes me believe he is much sicker than we may even realize." And I am sad to report, this was absolutely correct.

I took him home from the doc and he started to tank again. He was refusing all food and kept throwing himself down on the ground and was just laying there. It was so pitiful. I went to the restroom and when I came back and found him like this, I knew it was time to go to the ER:

How sad and scary is that? He is wide awake just laying there staring at the ground. He didn't even have his paci. Umm, it was a no-brainer at this point that he needed help and quickly!

Once we arrived at the Emergency Room and met with the doctors, I assumed we would get Carson an IV, hydrate him and head out. Unfortunately, that was not the case. They did give Carson an IV to help rehydrate him but his electrolyte levels came back very abnormal. They said he was experiencing hyponatremia and hyperkalemia. He had a very high level of potassium in the body and a very low level of sodium in the body. They admitted him to the hospital for the night so they could evaluate and test his levels to make sure he was starting to regain balance. They were concerned with his heart rate, liver function and wanted to keep an eye on breathing. Lovely. Scared mommy, scared daddy, sacred every body. We were a bit surprised he was so sick - but again, the pediatrician nailed it - he doesn't indicate when he is distressed.

Here is a pic of Daddy and Carson in the ER before he was admitted:

When we arrived to our room, I immediately realized we were in the exact same room during Alex's tonsillectomy nightmare. You can imagine the deja-vu. Crazy! As usual, Carson was a trooper, but of course he was scared and disoriented. He hated the IV and wanted to walk and move around and he was unable to do anything. Mommy and Carson had a very rough night - nurses and doctors came in every five minutes (it felt like it anyways) to check vitals, turn off the machines, etc. Here is what I saw that night:

There was my precious baby - in a hospital crib. There isn't anything more heartbreaking as a parent to see your baby connected to all kinds of tubes and stuck in a metal crib. Boo! Mommy was a little fragile. Daddy was amazing and tried to keep us together and strong. He is always our rock. The next morning was Mommy's (me) personal low. I was still sick and trying to recover and was alone and exhausted from a terrible night. The doc came in at 6:45 and told me his levels were still pretty bad and until his tests looked good AND he was eating, we weren't going anywhere.

Daddy showed up as soon as he dropped Alex off at school, and that was heaven for me. I needed a breather. I actually slept for an hour with doctors coming in and out. Nathan said it didn't seem to phase me. HA!

We started to see some progress -he started drinking on his own around noon. Thank goodness! How sweet is this little man?

Finally around 7:00pm, his levels bounced back to almost normal and he was drinking and eating a little bit. The doctors felt ready to release him. Praise the Lord! Here is a picture of us soooo happy to finally get to go home:

Thank you to our village for your thoughts and prayers during a very scary time. A special thank you to Monica for coming to pray with me at the hospital and a big thank you to my mom, YaYa for helping so much with keeping Alex calm and okay during the entire experience. I know she was a worried big sister. Okay...no more drama, please! Oh and when we walked into the house, Carson said, "We home!" Melted our hearts.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T23:02:00.003-06:00

Happy 2011! I can't believe another year has gone by. It's amazing how the speed of time can differ so much depending on your stage of life. As a child, you are excited to grow a year older, beg for graduation and think an hour feels like a month. As a young adult, you have more time than you realize and absolutely don't appreciate it. Okay, I am really referring to adults without children. As a parent, you can experience the loooongest days of your life and cherish every moment of it at the same time - even aching to hold on to the precious moments because you know time is moving way too fast. I am a hoarder of precious moments, if you will. We are in such a magical stage of our life. This year is going to be an awesome year, I can tell. Alex is turning six and finishing her first year of elementary school, we are celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary and Carson will turn three in September. We have set the bar high and have some huge plans. We are hoping to sell our home (we are still in our first house) and I am praying and hoping to see some amazing things happen with our baby boy- hoping for answers and healing. I am believing great things will happen for my parents, too!

I am all over the place in this post, but I wanted to stop and appreciate this moment in time. In a society where divorce is common, faith is lacking and "family" is undervalued, I am so so incredibly thankful for my life. I am so thankful to be married to a husband that treasures time with me, believes in me and keeps me young at heart. I am so thankful that we have chosen "forever" as our married status :) I've never laughed more with anyone else.

I am so thankful for my two beautiful children - they give me so much purpose and passion. I have the best family in the world. I have an amazing "village" with two sets of grandparents that are involved in our children's lives. I am truly, truly blessed.

I look forward to another year in the Darby nuthouse. I know one thing is for sure...we NEVER have a dull moment around here and I wouldn't want it any other way!

May 2011 be full of fun, passion, accomplishments, joy and love to you and yours!

Christmas Part 2 and New Years at the Cabin

2010-12-29T15:47:00.000-06:00

Over Thanksgiving, we did a great job capturing beautiful family photos. This time we decided to give each other a huge break and just stay in expandable pants and Woot t-shirts for the entire week (I am sooo not kidding). It was heaven! After the go-go-go of the holidays it was wonderful to get away from all the "noise" at home and escape to one of our favorite places on Earth....the Darby Cabin!

Everything was going well on our drive to the cabin until we stopped at McDonald's for dinner. We were about six hours in and Carson started fussing in the car. We thought it was from being trapped in a car seat for hours. He is such a trooper and rarely cries. When I picked him up from his car seat, I immediately noticed his left ear was "oozing." Carson has tubes from his recurring ear infections as an infant, so we have dealt with our share of ear infections...and still, we had never seen this before. I got worried and called our pediatrician. Of course it was a holiday weekend at 5:20pm so I had to leave a message on the nurse's line. They called me back and said we needed to take him to a pediatric urgent care facility to verify if he indeed had an ear infection. Ear infections require an antibiotic so we quickly starting researching to find a facility in the area. The "area" was Boondocks, Arkansas, by the way...fun! We realized nothing was open except the Children's hospital in Little Rock, but they couldn't see Carson for two more hours. After calling Deb and discussing our options, we decided to drive to Stuttgart (about 20 minutes from the cabin) to take Carson to the Emergency Room. Pops was amazing and met us there and took Alex home so she didn't have to stay with us. That was a blessing in more ways than one. Without getting too graphic, let's just say that we saw waaaay too much blood and some very scary people there. Fortunately, the doc was great and Carson was in an amazing mood. He was running around saying, "Hiieee! Howauuu?" to each and every person he could find. The doc said that he had a severe ear infection and would need antibiotics, as we expected. He was amazed at Carson's temperament...like we said, the kiddo is used to pain. This didn't seem to phase him. We got our prescription and we were on our way! No more drama, s'il vous plait!

I (Mommy) had a nasty cold too, so we weren't in tip-top shape, but we didn't let sickness get in the way from an awesome week of presents, family, food and fun! As always the kids were in heaven together. Alex had the best time with her cousins. Carson kept getting sicker and sicker so you will see many pictures of him sitting in laps (he pretty much sat on laps for 5 days straight). I was thankful for many willing hands! The girls had a great time cooking, knitting and catching up. The Dad's went out hunting each and every morning...the agenda was to rest, play and enjoy the family. We did just that!

We have 60 pictures that tell the story much better than I do, so here they are:

Lots of lovin' to go around... a sweet DeDe and Pops moment

Brandon and Andrea didn't shy away from the love either

There was more good food than anyone could handle...

The sisters bonded in the kitchen more than anywhere else - especially sharing Gluten Free cooking tips

The Gluten Free pizzas were a hit
(the regular pizzas caught on fire...oh how I wish I had a photo!)

Aunt Missy and Caden bonded over toffee, once again
(Caden was allowed to stay up extra late to assist)

We all got a bit nutty from time to time... presents would certainly do the trick!

Caden's new iPod shuffle was a huge hit

Dru was amazed with his Lego projects and Transformers

Alex had no idea her life was about to change...

A KARAOKE machine...NO WAY?!

Alex was given a special gift from her cousins - silk pajamas from China. She thought she was Mulan!

Alex couldn't contain her excitement...she was hysterical!

Alex's favorite of the evening - A "Barbie Be-Bridal" set. The boys couldn't understand how she was so excited over a Barbie doll and she didn't get what was so great about a Transformer. Mars vs. Venus, I suppose.

Andrea was given a very special gift - a magazine featuring our DADDY on the cover - and she was the recognized photographer. Pretty amazing!

The kids loved doing crafts

Uncle N8 wins the best uncle award - he played with the bridal set with the kids (maybe the boys see why Barbie is cool now?! Umm...probably not!)

Master fort builders

The kids spent every moment outside they could

Such a precious Daddy-Daughter moment

Uncle N8 and Dru had a blast with the Legos...you should see what all they build together

Aunt Onnie spoiled my kids with a puppy tent - a HUGE hit!

Eston & Alex, our "twins" - they love each other so much

Sassy as always

Aunt Missy (me) enjoyed a personal highlight of the week - taking Alex, Eston and Dru on a big walk! Great pics too...kids being kids

Eston attempted to keep Alex on track (ha - good luck with that)

Alex points to a new discovery just around the way

The kids enjoyed a rock skipping contest

This may be my favorite picture of the bunch - I love Skeeter (Darby's lab) in the background fetching a stick. Sweet innocence and love here.

So much for sweet and innocent...ha!

Dru tried to carry the crew

But in the end, ladies win :)

Tublin' down the hill...having so much fun

I know they never wanted this day to be done

Of course I had to capture a Kodak moment - how sweet are these kiddos?

Once again, Dru leads the crew uphill

These tired kiddos were sooo happy to find Mrs. Scruffy along the path. They finally had a reason to stop and relax.

Aunt Onnie stayed behind with a very weak Carson :(

You can see the progression - he is getting worse

Thank goodness for technology - um yes, he has an old iPhone (it's OLD, no judging - it keeps him happy!)

Even sissy tried to cheer him up, to no avail

Uncle B held the key - a fancy iPad saved the day

Mommy tried to cheer him up - she wasn't feeling so great herself

Daddy sure hit the spot!

I love watching my sweet boys snuggle

A sweet overhead shot of my favorite boys - massive amounts of cuddle time

Our little sickie started vomiting and sleeping around the clock - we finally realized he was given way too much antibiotic - OH NO!

DeDe's always have the magic touch. Carson is feeling rotten but still has a smile!

One day Carson literally stayed in her lap for 5 hours straight! She didn't like that one bit ;)

Even on New Year's Eve, Carson tried to party with the gang...pretty pitiful

The last hunt was the best one of all...check out all of those ducks

Brothers had awesome bonding time together

Pops couldn't have been happier anywhere on Earth

Finally, it's New Year's Eve - a super fun night ahead

Our NYE dinner tradition - fondue! It was divine!

We wrapped up the week with a Texas Hold 'Em Tournament. It was a blast. Brandon wanted to lose so badly because they had one morning left to hunt. He just wanted to go to bed. The harder he tried to lose, the more he won. He was declared the Hold 'Em Champ!

A final wrap on 2010 - a wonderful year that I wish we could do all over again!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Darby Christmas Card 2010

2010-12-25T18:12:00.001-06:00

For some reason, I just love Christmas cards! There is something wonderful about opening all of them in the midst of bills and hectic holidays - they just make me happy. Here is our 2010 Christmas card:

Front (click on photos to enlarge)

Back

A special thank you to Rachel Kirkland for the incredible photography and to Erica Wink for helping me put together such a memorable card. It's one of my favorites. I hope they get better every year but this one will be hard to top!

Darby Christmas 2010

2010-12-24T15:26:00.007-06:00

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other. ~Burton Hillis
---

It was a very Merry Christmas here at the Darby casa. We had the honor of hosting Christmas Eve in our home and I loved every minute of it! We don't get the chance to bring the entire Cottier side of the family together often, so when we do get together, we make it special.

First, I'd love to thank my family for making the hike to Fellowship Church. Nathan had the privilege of singing in the candlelight Christmas Eve service. It was incredible. Our church is amazing and it was special watching him on stage. All of our kids were in the sanctuary and got to watch Daddy/Uncle Nathan sing. It was a highlight.

After church, we all piled up and headed back to our house for dinner. We had the world famous "Cashew Chicken" and it did not disappoint. My dad has got the magic touch. It was divine. I don't think any plate had a bite of food remaining.

After dinner we got a surprise visit from THE ONE AND ONLY SANTA! That's right...Santa came to our house on his busiest night of the year. Pretty amazing, don't you think? Needless to say the kids were freaking out and squealing and in total shock. Alex was awesome with Santa. She was a gracious hostess and offered him a drink. She asked him so many cute questions such as, "Santa, why is your beard all wet (it was raining at the time)? Why didn't you just come down the chimney? Your belly is bigger in real life than in the pictures, did you know that? Why do you send so many other Santas to the mall to take pictures? Santa, can you really know if I am bad or good ALL the time, or just during Christmas?" Ha! I just love our Alex. She brings life to any party.

Santa was a trooper and stayed while the whole family opened presents. It was so much fun to watch the kids tear through their gifts. We all gave Grandma gifts too (she just moved to a nursing home so it was truly special having her with us). One of my personal highlights of the evening was when Grandma asked Nathan to sing to her. There are many things I treasure about my husband but his voice and musical talent is high on the list. We had 18 family members in our living room area when she asked and we all stopped and listened to his fabulous concert. I love that he is bold with his voice, is unafraid to use it, and I loved watching my Grandmother MELT while he sang to her. We all melted to be honest. It's a precious memory that I will cherish forever.

After presents, we watched the kids play with their gifts (and each other). The adults had a wonderful time catching up. I stopped several times during the night to "take it all in." I hope and pray we will have many more Christmases in our home. This was one of the best yet, I believe.

Here are a ton of pictures from our evening:

Alex greeting Santa

Alex leading the way

She was beaming

You can see that Alex was "all in" for Santa!

Santa loved having Alex & Natalee in his lap

Alex took every opportunity possible to get a Santa hug

Alex opening her "Barbie and a Fairy Tale Fashionista" doll. Her reaction was priceless - she said, "Santa, OH MY GOSH! This is the Barbie I have been wanting all of my entire life! Thank you, this is the best day I've ever had!"

Santa giving Thomas his goodies

YaYa and B.B. hit the jackpot - a princess castle! Nice job.

Alex with her new Barbie she got from Santa

Timothy gives Santa a thumbs up for his iTunes gift card

I love this picture! Even Grandma got some love from Santa. Priceless!

Such a sweet picture. Kelley is 37 weeks pregant and in Santa's lap. She was such a trooper coming all this way.

Santa had room for all the ladies :)
(I had a coat on, I just got hot from running all over the place hosting.)

Love this picture of the Cottier sisters

Natalee Grace with her new baby doll and accessories

Alex was giddy that she got "Tangled" hair...and it got very tangled indeed

She pranced around the house and gave us all quite a show

"Rapunzel" had to get a photo with Santa of course

"Rapunzel" with Aunt Genie

Princess Rapunzel with her fairy dog, Macy

Timothy (a senior in high school) is such a good sport. Macy on one shoulder and a barbie on the other.

Adorable parents feeling the holiday love

After everyone left, Alex wrote notes for Santa and the reindeer (he promised to come back and leave even more presents). I wish you could see the notes she made - they were precious. We love this picture of her...it doesn't get better than this!

Chrismas morning: the kids woke up to find a huge ball pit in the middle of our living room. Santa rocks!

Merry Christmas to you all!

Backyard Camp Out

2010-12-23T19:05:00.005-06:00

With Alex out of school for Christmas Break, we have been staying busy and enjoying our time together. We love having her home and I know we will all be sad (Carson included) when she returns to kindergarten come January. YaYa (Alex's grandma) has been taking advantage of her Alex time too! She has been over several times this week and has already had one slumber party with us. While she was here, she announced to the family that she wanted to host a camp out in our backyard. What YaYa wants, YaYa gets - therefore, we had a camp out. We got amazingly lucky - the weather was gorgeous and actually even a bit warm. We were also blessed to get the coolest tent ever from Uncle Stuart. The tent sleeps eight and has a doggy door - seriously!

When Daddy came home from work we told Alex we had a big surprise for her. Daddy was wonderful and went outside and took care of the tent assembly (not a minor feat). Meanwhile, Mom and I had to keep Alex occupied. When the tent was ready, we all took her outside and covered her eyes. When she saw the tent, she squealed with excitement and said, "Oh my goodness! It's a for real camp out in my very own yard. This is the best day ever." And we aren't sure what all was said after that, because she went into freak-out-girl-mode and was yelling so loudly and so quickly that we were cracking up. I do remember her telling us how excited she was to tell really scary ghosts stories, make s'mores, read books, and have the puppies join the slumber party....so she clearly had an agenda in her mind. One of my favorite qualities about my mom is that she is a dreamer...and she makes things happen. So, she made sure Alex had everything she wanted on the agenda. They had a ball! They packed up all kinds of flashlights, snacks, toys and and set up camp. The girls also created quite a puppy resort for the three Yorkies. Emmy, Macy and Baylee loved the tent. It was really more like a house. We brought Carson outside to check things out and little did we know, this was an ingenious idea. He was CONTAINED! Ha! He absolutely loved the tent. He ran around in circles and thought crashing into the pillows was the best game ever. We were laughing and having the best time. I had to stop and try to take it all in - we are in such a sweet spot with our kids. I love our family.

Many thanks to the great and wonderful YaYa for being cool enough to want to camp with a 5 year old, loud-mouth, hyper-diaper, at the end of December. You are crazy...crazy cool! Thanks for the awesome memory! We didn't do great about taking pictures, but I got two at least.

Alex and YaYa first thing in the morning. You can see the puppies in the background too.

Check out this tent -pretty amazing, I think.

Alex cried when we had to take it down. If she had it her way, we would all just live out there together in one little tent. Ahh, the mind of a five year old is so innocent and precious. And totally nuts!

Santa picture

2010-12-22T18:04:00.003-06:00

Every year I take the kids to get their picture taken with Santa. I love looking back on each year to see how much the kids have grown and changed. Last year, Carson was throwing a huge fit in Santa's lap. What a difference a year makes! I am so proud of them both. The line was quite long and they were both patient and well minded.

This year, Alex told Santa, "I need you to come to my kindergarten class. There is a girl in my class that is not very nice to me. She really hurts my feelings and I feel left out. Can you come tell her she isn't getting any presents this year. And I really want the Barbie Fashion Fairytale doll that lights up. I've been wanting it my entire life." Needless to say, Alex never ceases to amaze me. You just never know what she is going to say. I love her so much I can hardly stand it! Carson was just along for the ride, but I was glad he wasn't so traumatized this go around.

Christmas 2010

Alex 5 - Carson 2

Alex's Christmas Tree

2010-12-21T17:46:00.000-06:00

Although our family Christmas tree is looking rough this year, Alex got her very own pink tree for her bedroom. How cool is that? When I was five, I would have loved having my very own pink tree. Alex was incredibly excited to decorate the tree but I haven't had the time to buy any decorations. Alex took matters into her own hands and said, "Mommy, I have just the perfect thing." She ran to her playroom and came back with a princess crown. We both agreed that using her jewelry would be a fabulous idea (and a free idea - wink, wink). We immediately got to work. We used her feather boas as garland and decorated the tree with sunglasses, rings, bracelets, necklaces, earrings, etc. She had wanted to use the crown for the top of the tree, but of course that didn't fit. Mommy had the idea of adding a Barbie at the top for our crowning jewel. We even put her arms up in the "ta da" position. Hilarious. I have to say...it is awesome! Truthfully, I love it a million times more than if we would have gone to Hallmark and spent a fortune on ornaments. I love that it was an idea that just came together...and came together well. This was a special memory and moment for Mommy. I love having a five year old little girl. Sigh. Here are a few pics of her fabulous pink diva Christmas tree:

Alex was very delicate and deliberate with her decorations

As you can see we loaded this tree up with all sorts of goodies

The Island Princess Barbie tree topper

The pictures just don't do it justice. I wonder how we will decorate it next year? I love you Alex Darby!

Holiday Happies

2010-12-20T09:26:00.000-06:00

2010 Holiday Happies - special edition. Although the holidays are a hectic time of year, there are many things that bring our family joy. This year has been magical with a five year old and a two year old. Alex believes in every special tradition and story we share with her. When Carson sees a Christmas Tree he yells at the top of his lungs, "teeeeeee." I wish we could freeze them both and keep them at this age forever. I really do mean that. Here are a few fun holiday happies that have made this year particularly special:

Criddle, our "Elf on a Shelf" made his yearly appearance. As you can see, Alex was buttering him up with a note to take back to Santa assuring him that she has been an angel this year and she also made Criddle a cup of water and a snack pack filled with broccoli, mac-n-cheese and cashews.
Jaime and I took Alex and Kaitlyn to the Nutcracker at the Performing Arts Center in Plano. The girls had a blast! They were darling and asked the cutest questions. Alex just didn't understand why they couldn't be up on stage with them. It was such a fun day!

Check out out decorated gingerbread Christmas village. Alex loved decorating it and I think she did a remarkable job. She decorated the middle house completely on her own.

Nathan was awarded daddy of the Year (once again) for helping host Alex's kindergarten Christmas party at school. The kids all adored having him there to help and I know Nathan enjoyed getting to participate. Here is a photo of Alex, Mr. Orr and the rest of her classmates.

These two gorgeous men make me soooo HAPPY! How precious is this pic? Carson's shirt says, "Dear Santa, I can explain..."

And finally, the best holiday happy - our ghetto fabulous Christmas Tree! Check this bad boy out. Can you tell we have a two year old boy running around like a wild man? After losing several of our favorite ornaments last year we decided to walk Carson around the tree with his arms extended to find out exactly how high the ornaments should go. Too funny! I love this phase of our lives. I know that someday we will have a beautiful, perfect Christmas Tree....but to be honest, I like this one just the way it is. It describes our stage of life perfectly - a mess, but a fun mess!

Kaitlyn's 5th Birthday - Saturday, December 4, 2010

2010-12-18T09:06:00.001-06:00

Happy 5th birthday, Kaitlyn! KK is one of Alex's best friends and now that Alex is in full time school, the girls hardly see each other anymore. We've squeezed in a few slumber parties but it just isn't the same. When we found out Kaitlyn was having a princess birthday bash, we were soooo excited!

The party didn't disappoint. Alex thought she died and went to princess heaven. She had the best time with all of the sweet girls. Alex was incredibly well behaved - patient, sweet and used lovely manners. It was such a fun day. It was great for Mommy too because I don't get much 1-on-1 time with Alex these days. I miss her so much. We had a great time singing in the car and I loved watching her get all dolled up.

Kaitlyn looked like a little bride. Sweet Jaime teared up several times. KK's little sister, Sophia (our God daughter) was perfect. She was in the middle of the action for most of the party and loved it. I got to hold her for quite a while at the end of the party and that made my day.

As you will see from the pictures, we all had a blast. Happy, happy birthday to one of the most precious little girls I know!

Alex picked her dress

Princess getting prepped

Can you tell she was having fun?

Our little diva

She looks like she is 13 in this picture. STOP growing up so quickly!

The precious birthday princess, Kaitlyn

Alex taking her down down the runway (she took a bow for everyone - too funny)

Sweet birthday girl

She's quite the little poser

My absolute favorite picture of the group. Alex (almost 6), Kaitlyn (5), and Katie (4). Future Baylor friends and future bridesmaids we hope!

Kaitlyn + Alex = BFF

This is why you wake up at 4am

2010-12-17T22:05:00.003-06:00

Nathan captured this beautiful picture on the water...

Forked Lake, White River Reserve - The Darby Cabin 2010

Thanksgiving at the Darby Cabin, November 24-28, 2010

2010-12-14T09:34:00.105-06:00

It was another fabulous holiday at the Darby cabin. We spent five glorious days with DeDe, Pops, ABCDE and Barb and Darrin (Andrea's mom and brother). The anticipation of the trip had been long building with me working and Alex in school...we were both anxious to take a break from reality! Nathan was super excited to get some male bonding time in with his dad and brother and we were all excited to show Carson off to everyone. He has progressed so much since the last time we were together. We were especially excited for the boys (CDE), Aunt Onnie and Uncle B to spend quality time with Carson.

The drive was long as usual, but the kids were such troopers and made the trek bearable. After we arrived and unpacked every thing but the kitchen sink, we all visited and shared stories. The kids were up and at ready to party at the crack of dawn every day - they were just so happy to be together. This was Carson's first "real" visit where he could participate more with the big kids...and it was so fun to watch everyone interact with him. Dru was (as always) Carson's sidekick. Dru has always shared a special connection with Carson and this visit was no exception. He took Carson for a walk and spent hours playing games with him (and drew numbers, letters and shapes for hours). He never seemed to mind. Of course Alex was in heaven with her cousins. She was "all boy" - so she thought. I asked Caden if she made a good tom boy and he said, "She would be an awful boy...but she is great being a girl. We should have at least one in the family." The kids built wonderful forts, made art projects with Onnie, baked with Missy (that's what they all call me), and got loads of Pops & DeDe lovin.

The guys got up at 4am every morning and went duck hunting. Nathan had a blast and hasn't stopped talking about it. I know he is super excited to go back for New Years. One of our highlights was waiting for the guys to come home from the hunt each morning. We would all go outside and listen to their heroic stories and take pictures of our huntin' men.

Andrea was a pro and took amazing family pictures for all of us. I was really pleased with them - we finally got some great sibling photos. I've been trying to get a good Alex & Carson picture for over a year, so thank you Andrea for being the alpha and doing such a great job! I loved our super late night chat, by the way. I love having you as my sista!

DeDe and Barb spent hours in the kitchen and made the ENTIRE Thanksgiving meal gluten free. Nathan thought he had died and gone to heaven. We all did, actually. As usual we all took a turn sharing our blessings for the year and it was very special time for our family. I love Thanksgiving! I mean who wouldn't - you have family, fellowship, fun, football and food...does it get any better than that?

As you will see from the 67 pictures attached, we had an absolute blast. I am so thankful to be a part oft his incredible family. God exceeded my prayers and wishes for a family like the Darby's. Every single day I thank God for this family.

Dru's Thanksgiving welcome note

A picture from our patio

On old abandoned home

Silos around the corner from the cabin

My three handsome nephews

Another view of the silos

Awesome Jeep!

V-formation that looked like a mountain

The boys found an opossum. Gross!

Precious picture of Eston and Dru

I love this one of the three boys - classic

Could they be any cuter

I love that Dru our "firecracker" is standing under the reward sign - very appropriate

Hunks

Caden (10), Dru (7), Eston (6)

Nice spiral, Eston

Alex & Mommy share a sweet moment

Aunt Onnie got a lot of Alex lovin'

Precious Darby girls

Carson woke up from his nap and immediately jumped in his feeding seat....because we never feed that child. He is so deprived.

Alex & Daddy Sic 'Em

Eston & Uncle N8 stunt too
This is as good as it gets for a 2 year old stunter in training

Such a rugged chick making s'mores

The kids anxiously wait for their s'mores and pizza sandwiches hand made at the fire pit

Aunt Missy loves on the A & E

This is what happens when my girl is with 4 boys...

Pops was so so happy to have his boys and pup, Skeeter

Daddy was so proud to share his stories with Alex

Wow

You can't fake a smile like this - Pops is in his element

The Darby Hunters

My kids were not cooperating!

All of the boys

A very proud papa

Ghetto child....she looks homeless.

Ahh, that's better. The Irish twins.

I love this picture of Alex, Eston and "Ms. Scruffy"

"Hieeee"

Onnie got lots of sweet loving

Sweet "Oooooonnnnieee"

DeDe got a lot of lovin' too...

And so did Uncle B...

And so did Drew. He was amazing with Carson!

Aunt Missy and Caden made Toffee and Puppy Chow - yum!

Caden & I shared some sweet memories together in the kitchen

These girls CAN cook

The Darby women

Sistas

Mel * Debbie * Andrea

ABCDE (I love, love this picture)

The whole Darby Crew. And that's a lot people looking at the camera all at once.

Good looking family, I must say

My babies posed for pictures together - miracle!

Alex - 5 / Carson - 2

Sweet sister & brother

Cherished moments

Our little family of four

Father & Son

THIS is the reason I wake up with a smile everyday

Oh yeah, baby. Almost 10 years of marraige and we still got it ;)

And I saved the best for last...here is our best family shot. It's perfect because we have our little mini me's. Nathan and Carson have on button ups, distressed jeans and spikey hair. Alex and Mel have the long hair, sweater-jeans combo and funky boots. Such a happy moment in time!

"Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough."

Thank you...

2010-12-08T21:53:00.000-06:00

Elizabeth Edwards for sharing this brilliant quote:

"The days of our lives, for all of us, are numbered. We know that. And yes, there are certainly times when we aren't able to muster as much strength and patience as we would like. It's called being human. But I have found that in the simple act of living with hope, and in the daily effort to have a positive impact in the world, the days I do have are made all the more meaningful and precious."

Carson knows his shapes

2010-12-01T19:43:00.002-06:00

Wow, our little man is really blowing us away. It was just two months ago that Carson was only saying "banana" and "ut oh." Here he is at 26 months. He knows the entire alphabet, can count to 20 (we counted to 30 today) and here is a video of him showing us that he knows his shapes:

If you can't view the video, click here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc7o1RCWbVw&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Words from an amazing father

2010-11-23T12:08:00.002-06:00

I tend to brag on my father quite a bit...now you can see why. Look at what he shared with me today. In the midst of financial crisis and burden - he writes THIS. Here is a man that is working two jobs and busting it yet found the time to send a word of encouragement. Needless to say, I am so proud of him. I will always treasure this note and we too, will make sure to always keep our family the priority.

--
I feel privileged to have such a caring, funny, wise and beautiful daughter. Raising you was the best part of my life and I'm so thankful I chose to accept the prosperity we experienced with my clients allowing me to have time for serving "the most hot chocolate ever made and served at a single football game", making every game you cheered, every meet you competed in for gymnastics, volleyball & talent shows, art projects, major book reports due the next day I found out about the evening before (we got an A+ by the way!), creative napkin composition 101, snorkeling and scuba diving, limbo dancing, skiing (H2o & snow), granny shots at basketball, tramp-lo-een from Santa, your taco salad, spaghetti/ Betty Spaghetti, all of the island and mountain adventures, sandcastles and walks on the beach...I would have missed so much of that if I had decided to expand my advertising business. I made one of the wise choices in my life. As I've told you many times, you are my masterpiece...my greatest work of art. Thank you for keeping me young and making me a BeBe and a Best Bud.
I love you tons!

Thanks a lot Dad, I am a mess over here :) Tissue!

Our little pirate

2010-11-22T23:55:00.005-06:00

We are a little late on this post, but such is life when you are the second child. Look at our precious little pirate! He's too cute for words. He hated his hat and kept throwing it on the ground but once we let him loose, he was wheels off. He was running all over the house with his sword just laughing over and over. Alex was chasing him around too and they both had hiccups. It was such a cherished moment. Hysterical.

Carson, 26 months

Captain Morgan

I hate this hat, Mommy!

Arrr! I love being a pirate.

"W" has never sounded this cute!

2010-11-20T19:14:00.001-06:00

How cute is that? Ohhhheyohheeeo! He really does know every single one...which makes this even better. Cuteness!

Happies

2010-11-15T17:26:00.003-06:00

*Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks. This is some fall lovin. Don't skimp on the whipped cream. Just do it right.

*Thanksgiving at the Darby Cabin - I can't even begin to express how giddy I am to pack up our family and go to our cabin in the woods! The boys will hunt, the girls will cook and the kids will play. No technology, no cosmetics...just unplugged family bonding time. I can't wait!

*Music:
- Silversun Pickups: Lazy Eye
- Matchbox 20: The Difference
- U2: In a Little While - All You Can't Leave Behind
- Classical: Too many to list...but it grounds and relaxes me and I thank my Daddy for getting me hooked years and years ago

* Funny, funny moment here:

Story: So when Uncle Jason or "Mister Uncle" (an old Baylor Yell Leader) was in town for Homecoming, we had a minor trampoline rip..well, hole really. Does this stop us from having fun? Oh no! Nathan came outside to this - and yes, I am still dressed for church. I have to say that being right at Carson's eye level worked out quite well. HA!

*Last but certainly not least...it's Toffee time! My aunt taught me to make this when I was 7 years old and there hasn't been a year without it since. It's heavenly-love-deliciousness. I'll make you some if you just ask.

Here's to HAPPY!

Hope for Haiti

2010-11-15T15:39:00.002-06:00

I don't know if many of you will remember this but I posted a note earlier this summer saying that I felt an overwhelming need to go to Haiti and help the children there. I had not been persuaded by anything - it was just one of those powerful moments that I decided to capture on paper in the event something ever came of it.

Little did I know our church, Fellowship Church, has a huge outreach in Haiti. In fact, we are sponsoring and building an orphanage there as we speak and they are looking for people to come and help. Umm..okay, where do I sign up? Please keep this in your thoughts and prayers. I have joined the Mission Team and there are several dates this year...so cross your fingers and let's see what happens.

Please listen to this beautiful song performed by our church that I just so happened to find today. Goosebumps. Is it odd or is it God? Just sayin...

"You Can Have Mine" - Hope For Haiti Campaign from Envision Designs on Vimeo.

I'll keep you posted.

Halloween 2010

2010-11-09T22:20:00.012-06:00

On Hallowe'en the thing
you must do
Is pretend that nothing
can frighten you
An' if somethin' scares you
and you want to run
Jus' let on like
it's Hallowe'en fun.
--
We love Halloween at the Darby casa. Halloween has always been a huge holiday for my family and now that we are parents, it's a blast to experience with our children.
The week of Halloween, Carson went to visit DeDe and Pops in Little Rock. This gave Mommy a chance to work and catch up and it gave us the opportunity to spend some quality time with Alex. She said, "I love being a big sister...but it's also really nice when it just gets to be me. I love my special time with you guys."

While Carson was in Little Rock, Alex got to go to the Pumpkin Patch, spend a day with YaYa and go to the movies with Mommy & Daddy. I was really anxious for DeDe and Pops to see Carson because he has progressed so much in just a few short weeks. It was thrilling to get a call from DeDe as she shared in the excitement of his progression.

On Friday, Nathan took a 1/2 day off work so we could hit the road and join his family on the Darby Mountain in Little Rock. We had a fantastic weekend! We carved pumpkins, made Halloween Rice Krispy Treats and went to the Promenade for a Halloween celebration. We made it home just in time for Alex to dress up and trick-or-treat. Poor Carson got a little chest cold and didn't nap at all on the ride home, so he was french toast by the time we finally got home. He didn't even know what he was missing and he couldn't eat the candy, so we didn't feel too bad about putting him to bed. I do need to get photos of him in his costume - it's too cute. Hopefully those will be up soon.

Here are photos from our Halloween, 2010:

Alex at the Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch

Huge haystack
She's got the sass conquered
In the patch

Alex prepping for the huge slide

Carson clapping in excitement to be with his DeDe and Pops

He loves bath time...clapping here too

DeDe took Carson to the Wonder Place and he enjoyed exploring

Checking himself out...yep, lookin good (not so sure about the sandals though...hehe)

Our "chip bandit"

Carson and Mommy were so happy to be together again

Pops was thrilled to finally get his princess - they cuddled like this for almost 30 minutes

Daddy and Pops took Alex on a 4-wheeler and she loved it - she gathered many treasures on her "adventure"

DeDe and Alex made pumpkin Rice Krispy Treats with chocolate chips

Alex wanted to smile but she was too busy enjoying the fruits of her labor

Daddy was a patient coach and let Alex do all of the carving

Daddy shows Alex how to design the mouth

Mutual adoration

The final product

Alex loved her masterpiece

Alex and Daddy showed off for the camera - precious moments

Alex is dressed and ready for the Promenade - I love that she can go 4-wheeling and collect rocks, cook in the kitchen and then dress up like a sass - she's the total package

The Darby girls are ready to party

At the promenade - Alex gets a butterfly painted on her face

Alex & DeDe enjoying the hayride - sweet girls

Mommy gets a snuggle

Halloween morning...just chillin' on the porch - love this pic of our family

Our little fairy, Silvermist - she racked up the candy love

Halloween 2010 was a huge success. DeDe and Pops, thank you for making it so special. Thank you so much for watching Carson for a few days and having us up for the weekend. We loved every moment...as usual!

Spoiled rotten girls

2010-11-05T19:40:00.002-05:00

Monday and Tuesday were two of the roughest days I have had in quite some time. Any and everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. My dog even managed to ravage the trashcan and devour a tube of super glue (really, Emmy?!) From having a sick son out of school all week to missing Alex's bus in the rain...it was just two really lousy days. I could list 15 more things but I will spare you.
On Tuesday, I had just gotten back home from taking Carson for a blood draw (5 tubes of blood for his IgG testing). He was sick and exhausted and done and so was Mommy. I was rushing to get him in bed so I could go pick up Alex and not have to take him (it was pouring rain and I just wanted my little guy to get some rest). I ran out to get Alex at the bus and the kids all explained that I had missed the bus. AHH! I've never missed her before! Fortunately my mom was on her way over to take Alex to gymnastics and was able to help. When we got to her she took a nasty spill down the stairs and was in hysterics from falling and being left. Good times. When we finally got back home, Carson was sleeping and we were all trying to recover. I heard the doorbell ring and of course the dogs went nuts. I was rushing around trying to quiet them because I knew they would wake Carson and when I went to the door I saw a box from ProFlowers. Hmm?! My amazing husband just happened to send me two dozen roses and chocolates as a "just because." He had ordered them the week before, not knowing that this would be a disastrous week. He just wanted to tell me thank you for working hard and he was encouraging me through all of Carson's struggles we've been dealing with. He took the time to express that he "gets it" - and the timing was absolutely perfect. It was like a fairy tale!
Alex saw the flowers and kept asking to take them to her room. She wanted them all to herself! Little did she know...there were two dozen roses coming to her on Friday. Here are a few pictures:

Alex with her flowers

She has her daddy sooo wrapped, it's ridiculous

Nathan, I don't have the words to express how loved, cherished and needed you are. Thank you for showing our daughter that she will never have to settle for anything less than a gentleman. That was such an epic moment...in tears getting flowers ;) I'll never forget this. I love you!

Go BU!

2010-10-31T23:14:00.002-05:00

Thank goodness Aaron Smith grabbed a shot of our fam. I had to leave my camera in the car because of all the rain but at least we got one family photo.

Darby Family at Baylor Homecoming, October 2010

I can't believe we beat Texas this weekend! I remember it like it was yesterday. Fall 1997- I was a Freshman at BU in the Baylor Line and had just made White Squad. I was just getting started...I remember we tore the goal posts down! Wow...good times. Let's see what happens when we play UT for Homecoming next year.

3-D Baby!

2010-10-29T13:29:00.003-05:00

Sally, one of my college roomates, just sent me this picture from Homecoming. I love this picture...so much history! The three of us (Mel, Rachel and Sally) were roomates at the Centre, in apartment 3-D (free deee!). I love you girls. I can't believe we have five baby boys and one little girl from this group of mommas. Ah, the memories! Thank you for still being such incredible friends to me after all of these years.

Baylor Homecoming, October 23

2010-10-29T09:13:00.007-05:00

I can't believe it's already been 9 years (for me) and 10 years for Nathan since graduating Baylor University. As I look back, I have such fond memories and amazing friendships...it really was a golden time in my life. I was most excited about bringing Miss Alex to the festivities this year because she has never been down to Baylor. She has heard quite a bit about it so she was ready to go! She asked me if she was going to meet her prince there just like I did. I told her, "Not today...but maybe someday." Too cute.

My mom was awesome and watched Carson for the day and we headed to Waco as a family of three. As soon as we got to Floyd Casey Stadium, we heard that the game was delayed due to lightning within six miles of the stadium. The sky was dark and the wind was blowing...we were just hoping to stay dry. Ha! Not so much - we got stuck in a 30 minute torrential downpour. A group of us were huddled under a makeshift tent and the rain got so bad we even saw a student run and jump in the dumpster to hide. GOOD TIMES! We were absolutely soaked. Alex was such a trooper - in fact, she was throwing her head back trying to collect rain drops. That's my girl! The rain finally subsided and we were able to make it back in for an awesome, awesome football game. Alex kept shouting, "Let's watch some football!" She is sooo cute!

At halftime, Rachel and I went to the locker room to stretch and get ready to cheer. Every homecoming, the spirit squad alum are invited to come and cheer for a quarter of the game. We had a good group of people this year. It is such a blast to reconnect with everyone and catch up...and most of all, stunt! Having my best friend on the field made it a perfect day. Rach, I had the best time with you! I am always surprised we are still able to fly, especially after cranking out two kids. Just sayin'. We certainly weren't perfect and I definitely biffed several times (um, you know who you are-- hehe), but it was absolutely worth it! Ronnie (one of the alumni cheer guys) came up to me said I had a "joker grin" I was so happy. He was right - there is just nothing like it. Stunting keeps me young. I sat on a happy cloud for the rest of the day and for several days following. Stunting will always hold a special place in my heart - and the people are what make it so addicting. Say what you want, but I adore it and always will! I ended up with a broken rib as a souvenir...but there is always a hangover for a good party, and this one was certainly worth it.

I look back and see miles of memories....very special ones that I will always cherish. And I look at where we are now, ten years later with two beautiful children and thank God. We are abundantly, ridiculously blessed.

Here are a few pics from our weekend:

Stunt practice in Dallas to get ready for the game - Mel and Jason Smith

Mel and Jason Maggard

Mel with Mike Martinez (the man that taught me how to stunt...many moons ago)
Nerds
Mel and Jason
Alex & Kaitlyn - our future cheer squad

The entire alumni crew

My girl doing an awesome - ahh! This is a memory I'll never forget. Look at my expression in the background :)

Paper Dolls

Can you pick the two cheerleaders that don't have kids? Ah yes, the two that can still grab their foot! LOL!

Baylor football rose to the challenge, making Homecoming a Baylor Bowlcoming with a 47-42 win over Kansas State. With the victory, the Bears improve to 6-2 on the year, reaching bowl eligibility for the first time since 1995! I think we were good luck, don't you? Way to go, Bears!

We found our man!

2010-10-25T22:23:00.010-05:00

I'll be honest..I was not in the mood to see another doctor today. I usually wake up energized and hopeful that "today will be the day we get our answer" for Carson's gut issues. I usually feel anxious and excited to meet and share all of our latest discoveries, but frankly I just wanted to be Mommy today. Carson and I had a fantastic morning. We started our day at the park and he was connecting with me so well. He learned to say "again" and I felt like everything in that moment was right. Why would I want to get a sitter to leave my kids and go "wah wah wah wah" to yet another doctor about our issues that no one seems to have the answers for. "FINE! I'll go, but I don't have to like it."-- I was actually in a great mood today, I just wasn't sure that this doctor would be "it" for us.

When I met Dr. Cavasos, he greeted me warmly and was impressed with my "large medical binder" full of lab results, records and notes I've taken along the way. I said, "Well, that's the good news. The bad news is that I didn't have the energy to fill out the eighth patient intake profile (it was 30 pages), so the binder and my loud mouth will just have to suffice." Needless to say, I appreciated that he was cool with just letting me share our story from day one.

I'll try to spare you from the nitty gritty details but the bottom line is that he agrees that all of Carson's symptoms are due to his GI issues. He believes that Carson was born with "leaky gut" aka "secretory vesicle swelling." His issues started at birth but several doctors have suggested this was an environmental trigger, so I was pleased with his explanation.

There is way too much to cover...in summary:
We are going to have IgG testing conducted to determine which foods are triggering an immune reaction (we have already done IgA and IgE testing and he strongly believes Carson's issues are IgG related and I do as well.) This test will show us how his body reacts to 96 foods. We have done extensive food allergy testing in the past and we know that his immune system is reacting. This is not a true IgE food allergy. I am excited to find out what the test reveals. As most of you know he is only able to eat five foods. It would be thrilling to expand his culinary resume a bit.

He went through the entire comprehensive nutritional evaluation with me and was able to explain every single detail! The other doctors have basically just said, "These are horrible test results and you need to find an expert." So, to have a person sit with me one-on-one for two hours and go through all 52 pages is my hero! I learned so much today. One of the issues I am concerned with is the outrageously high level of ammonia is his bloodstream. Dr. Cavasos explained that Carson is unable to break down protein, causing huge levels of dihydroxyphenylpropionic acid (that was fun to type), ammonia, etc. to invade his blood stream and on top of it, his body is unable to detoxify properly. It is nearly impossible for his stomach to function in these conditions. He said in just about every way imaginable his GI system is shut down. After he handed me a tissue, he asked me to look at his computer screen. He pulled up an identical test of a previous patient. "JJ" has levels that looked just like Carson! I was shocked to see that he had the exact same test available...and that he had treated a patient like my son. He told me that when "JJ" was four years old, he was an Autistic child that was unable to speak and was a "gut kiddo" just like Carson. Then he pulled up a screen shot taken 11 months later...THE LEVELS WERE NORMAL! I saw it with my own eyes. He just looked at me and said, "We can fix this. It is not going to be easy and it will not happen overnight, but we will correct your son's gut dysfunction."

Finally, he addressed the supplements. He agreed that the supplements we were giving him are necessary for Carson because he is hugely deficient in so many areas, but he explained that we are basically throwing the supplements in the trash and irritating a wound by giving them to him with his gut in this state. He said that once we are able to establish balance and proper digestion his body will be able to absorb these supplements as needed. That made perfect sense to me! I loved knowing that taking him off the supplements (for now) is indeed the right decision. We have seen such tremendous progress, I can hardly imagine what he will be like after we get his gut healed up. I believe the lingering Autistic behaviors will disappear with time. I do think we will have to remain on a gluten free diet and make permanent dietary changes, but I can live with that.

Long story long, he gave me a treatment plan to address the acids and toxins in the blood and we will wait and get the IgG tests back to see where we need to make adjustments in his diet. We will see Dr. C again in four weeks. I absolutely know we found our man! I sent an email to a group of prayer warriors today even admitting my hesitations, but also said that I wouldn't limit God and I would give this guy a chance." I am very thankful for this day. I'll keep you posted...

"I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."- Matthew 17:20

And all God's people said, "AMEN!"