Body Parts

Just a little photo shoot with my boy in the hopes of never forgetting the little baby parts that make him mine.
Those legs. Oh, those legs. This close-up would be a right thigh. He's actually not that big of a baby and usually falls in the 50% range for his age based on weight. However, those thighs are pure fatty goodness. I could pinch on them all day. He even has fat on the front of his leg. We call it his "knee pads."

The hair? He got from his Daddy (or was it Granna?) At first, we thought the wild mane came from his Dad. However, since my Mom's hair has started growing back after chemo and revealed a plethora of cowlicks, we aren't sold it's Daddy's fault. I call this his "Hurricane Katrina cowlick." I mean check out that rotation.

Those fat hands. They are constantly reaching for something. I have long fingers, good for basketball and such. His Dad's are short and fat, good for...um....massaging my back. Yeah. Anyway, the boy's got his Daddy's hands. Hope he likes soccer because a basketball star is not likely in the cards.

Chin decor... There's always something hanging on that little fat chin. It might be spit, carrots, pears, milk, etc. but it's always something. It's like a dog's tongue. If it ain't wet, he's probably sick.


Those yummy cheeks. I've often wondered if he had a "kiss counter" attached to them what the tally would be daily. Who would kiss him the most when I'm working? His Dad? Grandma Patty? His total has got to be in the millions already. Oh the things those cheeks have seen.

Mom

For those of you that don't keep up with my Mom's caringbridge site...
After 29 days of believing this monster named cancer was gone, we got confirmation that there were about 5 "enlarged mediastinal lymph nodes." This is basically medical jargon for, "Crap, the cancer is likely back and has now spread to her lymph system." We met with Mom's oncologist in Oxford a few weeks ago and he recommended biopsies. So there she and Bert go again to Vanderbilt. She will have a bronchoscopy (camera down her throat) to visualize and biopsy the nodes. Ugh.
It's crazy for me to imagine a life without my Mom. We talk several times a day. She is the model of the Mother that I want to be and, with her gentle guidance, think I have been in Everett's 9 months. She is the most influential person in my life. Literally, from when I was born and she gave birth to 9 lb, 8 oz ME with no drugs. She claimed"it wasn't so bad." Thus, began my quest to labor drug free. While Ev was 7 lb, 5 oz, it was the most beautiful 10 hours of my entire life and I would do it again in a heartbeat. She kissed all of my bobos and spanked me when I deserved it (yes, Mom, I DID deserve it.) I can't imagine my children (future, god willing, and present) not knowing her. The tears have dried since the most current news as they always do. I cry for days and question how the body can lose so much water and not just shrivel up. Then, we accept the news and come up with the next plan. This is the bearable part...having a plan. Please keep my Mom and Bert in your prayers tomorrow as we start another phase of this horrible journey.

10 things...

We've had quite a draining few weeks in the Watts' household so I've been thinking of 10 things I am especially thankful for today. I encourage you to do the same!

1. My son is 8 1/2 months old and still does not have a tooth in his head. Why am I thankful for this? I still nurse him about 3 times a day and, since before he was born, have been dreading that first bite.

2. My Mom is alive today. It's been a roller coaster 18 months and it isn't over yet but, for today, she's alive and well...and did I mention that she just closed on a house 1.5 miles from me? Whoop whoop. Driving to Oxford was getting old since Everett can make it exactly 2 hours in the car before totally losing it and Oxford is right at 2 1/2. Not a fun last half hour.

3. My husband, my Homie. We met under the strangest of circumstances but he is the most perfect person for me.

4. The hours 8pm-10pm. I love my boy but I totally cherish when he crashes around 8pm every night. Wade and I have two hours of quiet bliss. We can have a glass of wine and talk, watch TV, or even hang from the chandeliers. The world is our oyster...for two hours.

5. My Dad is finally getting his house built on his land. I am ridiculous proud of him. He's been planning this for 3 years and is finally making his dreams come true.

6. My in-laws. You know, I've realized not many people are crazy about their in-laws. I love mine almost as much as my own parents. They are so wonderful to me and treat me like their own. Also, I am so thankful for the way they raised their boy to be the man he is to me, Dad he is to my son.

7. The heat. Yep, I said it. I love summer so much. I hate cold. During the winter, I always tell God that I'll never complain about the heat if he'll just make winter shorter and milder. During the summer, when it's 100+ for 12 days straight, I keep my little mouth closed and thank God for the sun. I think, "It could be worse. It could be 31 degrees."

8. This sounds so lame but I am thankful for Facebook. I live 3 hours from most of my family. I love that I can keep up with my cousin's day-to-day activities. Before, we would see each other about twice a year and they always felt like lovable strangers. Now, I know that my cousin's middle boy, Carson, graduated from kindergarten and saw the adorable pics to prove it. I would have never seen that a few years ago.

9. My job. Oh, don't get me started on how much I love my job. I'm an RN in the Pediatric ICU at Batson and have been for over 8 years now. It is what I was born to do. This sounds so strange but I LOVE to be the support to families going through the worst times in their lives. I leave most days feeling like I eased a little of the pain they were going through. Plus--you should hear some of the stories I have witnessed over the years. Here's a nugget from last week:
Me: Oh I love your baby's chunky legs! (as I squeezed on those adorable baby fat legs. you know the ones.)
Mom: Yeah, he got those from my Mom. She got fat thighs. (Dad nodded in agreement beside her but kept his trap shut.)
Niiiiccceee.

10. My gym nursery. It took me over 6 months to get okay leaving Everett there but, now, oh the freedom! I can go work out for 2 hours without a care in the world. It's especially nice now that it's so hot outside (not that I'm complaining) but it was getting almost impossible to run in 100 degree weather. Not to mention, I didn't want to take Rhett out in that heat.

This is just 10, not my top 10. God's up there somewhere but he needs no elaboration. What are 10 things you're thankful for today?

Seven

Our boy is seven months old and scary close to crawling. Ugh. How did this...

happen so fast?


Zerbert=blowing on baby's belly/side/anywhere else that might be ticklish that day, baby laughing hysterically, Mom snapping pictures furiously, rinse & repeat. Why does this never get old?

Rhett's Freezer

This is just ridiculous...

The top shelf would be the result of a Marathon Baby Food Making Day Wednesday. My dear friend, Mollie, came over and held my Boy so that I could focus on peeling, steaming, and food processing. I now have over 50 servings of pears, apples, zucchini, carrots, squash, peas, green beans, and sweet potatoes. I did all this in under 3 hours and for around $20. Not too shabby. The bottom shelf is only God knows how many packages of breast milk. Since Everett's eating 2 meals a day now, I have alot more to save. Also, I'm having surgery in July and can't feed him for at least 2 days. I'm not supposed to hold him for 2 weeks after either. We still have 6 months until my year goal. Thus, I'm now a breastmilk hoarder.

Baptisms, Tornadoes, and sitting up

Here are a few pics from recent (major) events in our family...
Everett's Baptism...


We were delighted to have our two FAVE preachers involved in Everett's baptism. These two are really important to us because they have helped our family through so many things. Richard (on the right) was my preacher in high school. He was the solid rock during my crazy senior year and was usually one of the first persons at my side during the hard stuff. Eight years later, I asked him to be a part of the happiest day in my life (since he'd helped me through the worst days), November 11, 2005...the day I married my Homet. He also did all of our pre-marriage counseling. Two years later, we joined his church in Madison, Parkway Hills UMC. He will retire this summer which saddens me deeply but makes me happy for him. The one on the left is my one and only stepdad, Bert. He's married to my Mom and is the other preacher that married Wade and I. I don't even know where to start in how much he means to us. He's already retired but came out of retirement this one day to baptize his grandboy.

Don't know why my eyes are closed. Maybe I was praying that Everett wouldn't throw up on Richard's pretty robe.

Rook's fan club!

The next day, we found this at Dad's land. This was the path of the 2 mile wide tornado.

Dad's new barn. He just completed this project about 8 months ago. There was only half a wall standing.

Fragile, yeah right. Gwendy had started moving her china and dishes to the barn since they had already almost filled a storage unit.

Dad's "home." His bedroom and closet was to the right. This is what his neighbor saw when he thought my dad had been home. You can see why he thought he'd find a body. Dad's future home site is on the hill in the background. Another blessing is they hadn't started to build yet.

My uncle's camper was parked there too. They were supposed to start on the home this week and my Uncle was going to live down here (from TN) to help build.

Our 6 month old boy is sitting up unassisted which scares me. Why, you ask? Guess what's next?...crawling. NOOOO! Wish he'd stay small forever. At his 6 month check-up, he was 50% (17 pounds, 4 ounces) in weight again and 75% in length (27 inches).

Life

I will never apologize for not blogging because I have been too caught up living life to actually sit down and type about what we're doing. So if you're one of these Generation Y people that gets their feelings hurt because you aren't coddled nearly enough...here's a snapshot of our life in the last 3 weeks since my last blog:
--Rhett attended his first and second crawfish boil. We were eternally grateful for the first because it was at my Dad's land and I'll get to that. We fished, ate, laughed, and planted 5 magnolia trees symbolizing Dad's grandkids (Rhett has two step cousins--the other two trees don't have kiddos attached to them yet but we're holding out that their will actually be two more. If not, Dad figured he'd plant a few extra in case a couple die, the kids won't think "their" tree died...He'll just reassign who's tree is whom's.) It's called Grand Avenue and is fabulous.
--Dad finally married my wonderful stepmom, Gwendy, after 10 YEARS of being together. We are super fired up about it being official now. In fact, I dropped them off at the train station this morning so that they could begin their honeymoon trip to NOLA!
--Dad's land got destroyed by the tornado. This was quite a surreal experience and one I wouldn't wish on anyone. Dad has worked on this land for over 5 years now and all his blood, sweat, and tears has poured into it. See Dad's a bit of a minimalist and when he sold his Vicksburg house after being on the market one day (during the housing slump), he didn't really have a living situation back-up plan. Thus, he moved to his camper on his land in Ebenezer. He has finally finalized house plans and was supposed to begin last week. The camper is in pieces as is my uncle's who had left his there (he lives in TN) because he was going to help Dad build. Both barns were nearly destroyed. One of which he just finished building about 8 months ago. His canoe that he's had since he was a teenager was found hugging a tree about 15 feet up and riddled with holes. The hundred year old trees....don't even get me started. Luckily, Dad was in Oregon on business. His neighbor came to check on him and told Dad, "I'm glad to get in touch with you. I walked into your place, took one look around, and turned on my heel to head back to my place. I just knew if I even tried to look, I'd have found your body." Ugh. PS--Grand Avenue survived because the trees were so small! Glass half full.
--Rhett was baptized the day after the storm and we had so much to be thankful for. Namely that we were celebrating a baptism instead of burying his Paw Paw.
--Mom retired from the Ole Miss School of Nursing after over 20 years. She's now a full-time grandma and we are all happy about it.
--The last three weeks, Everett has been waking up a few times a night to eat which he hasn't done since about 2 months. Let me tell you, it's one thing to wake up and function several times a night when on maternity leave. Everyone expects you to be in a fog. However, when I have to wake up and work a 12 hour shift the next day, it's almost scary. Thank God I only work 2 days a week or there would be some serious kid's lives at risk.
--E got his 6 month shots and check up. He's 17 pounds, 4 ounces (50%). He's 27 inches long (75%).
Anyway, that's all that's going on here. I'm not even going to try to download pics because I'm flat out exhausted. To you Generation Yers--will try to update sooner next time. To Generation Xers--don't hold your breath.