Thursday, November 29, 2007

Rylie's 1st Birthday Party Pics

Here she is.....the birthday girl! I finally got around to posting some of the pictures from Rylie's 1st birthday party. We had so much fun! Here she is with her birthday crown.....it was on loan from her cousin Haleigh! She wore it the week before at her birthday party. I couldn't get Rylie to cooperate & wear the "1" hat that I bought her!

This is Rylie's first taste of sugar (well, her first official mommy-approved sugar....her grandparents & aunts have been known to slip her some sweets here & there). She was very girly about it at first, but after she offered us all a bite, she dug in!


Here, Rylie gets into it (note the black icing all over her face!). She ate & ate until she couldn't handle anymore! It is fun to be one! We let her eat all she wanted, because she won't see that much sugar in one sitting again until she turns 2!


Time to open gifts! Rylie got lots of fun things from her friends & family!


Giving good-bye kisses!

Here are a few pics of some of her decorations......we did hot pink & zebra!

Lots of treats, complete with pink M&Ms! I made cookies on a stick...zebra-striped "1"s & pink crowns with edible pearls!


Got Milk?

Rylie's smash cake!

Haleigh, Breanna & Rylie! (Rylie wore her special birthday shirt & tutu!)

Sunday, November 25, 2007

An After-Thanksgiving Thanks

Wow......the past few days have definitely been some of the toughest we have experienced as parents thus far. Little Rylie has been very sick, with her temperature rising to 103.7 on Friday night. We had just gotten home from a great trip to Gadsden, visiting with family for Thanksgiving. We couldn't get her temp to come down, so we decided to go to the pediatric ER at Huntsville Hospital. Everything went smoothly at first, they got us into a room without delay & soon the Dr. came & checked her ears & throat & decided to order tests to check for pneumonia, etc. This entailed several chest xrays & a catheter to check her urine. Both were terrible for Rylie, because we had to basically pin her down, while she screamed, to endure these tests. She was so weak she wouldn't even drink anything & just layed her head on either mine or Stewart's chest. Soon, the Dr. returned & the first thing out of his mouth was "has she had any injuries lately?" We said no & he continued to ask us, then told us that she had a broken clavicle (collar bone). As we stood in disbelief, he said he would show us the xrays, so we followed him to see. Sure enough, he pointed to the alleged break on the film. Soon, he began grilling us & telling us DHR would be involved and that they would have to do full skeletal xrays to see if there was any additional damage. We began to think of any possible scenario that could have caused this, & we asked the Dr. how old the break was & he said at least 2 weeks to 3 months. Stewart tried to see if we could get the xrays done later, because Rylie had already been through so much & it was 1:00 am. The Dr. put his hands on his hips & began to lecture us & tell us (very accusingly)that we would have to do this for DHR & they would be there to make us answer questions & fill out paper work & began to tell us we weren't leaving until we did it. Stewart took Rylie to the xray department & I stayed in the room. I just sat there, wondering how we would get out of this & how this could have happened & why we were such bad parents for not knowing our baby girl had a broken bone. I prayed harder than I have in a long time & asked God to put his hedge of protection around us, protect us & deliver us from the situation. A few verses came to mind....one was on a card in my purse..."Do not be anxiuos about anything, but in everything, by prayer & petition, with Thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God that transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Phil. 4:3). Soon after, God filled my heart with a peace. I was still scared & unsure of what to do or say, but God filled me with his grace & let me know he was there. Stewart & Rylie came back (& Skip....he came to the hospital & was there with us through all of this) and we waited. They were both a bit shaken.....Stewart had to pin her down for the xrays & the technicians had done a terrible job, even at one point saying to one another that they messed up & didn't know what they were doing. We waited for another 30 min., & the Dr. came in. The first thing he said was"Do you want the good news or the bad news?" Then he preceded to tell us that Rylie did not in fact have a broken bone, that the xray "tricked" them. Needless to say, we were extremely upset & proceeded to tell the Dr. exactly how we felt about the whole ordeal, from the 25+ unnecessary & potentially harmful xrays done to our 12 month old daughter, to the threats about the DHR case. The Dr. never really apologized, just continued to tell us very condescendingly how dangerous unexplained breaks were & how they had to follow procedure.....THERE WAS NO BROKEN BONE!!!!!! Then we had to ask him to get back to the reason we were there in the first place...her high temp. He blew it off & said she had a cold & for us to take her to her pediatrician on Monday. We got home around 2:30 am & were drained. After all was said & done, we had to stop & realize that God answered our prayers! He delivered us from a devestating situation....without him we can do nothing. (Thank you, Lord!)We were completely helpless & had to rely 100% on the Lord to see us through & he did! Please continue to remember us in your prayers. Rylie is still sick & we are supposed to take her to her pediatrician tomorrow. Also, we are not sure what is going to happen with this situation. We are supposed to talk to someone in admin. tomorrow. Please keep us in your prayers as we sort out this mess. Thanks for listening & for your prayers!

Monday, November 19, 2007

Rylie's First Birthday!!!

Somehow these pictures got out of sequence it is too late for me to try to figure it out....oh, well! Here is Rylie on her first carousel ride.....she wasn't too sure about anything. She kept her game face the whole time....


Stewart & I gave her a grocery cart & lots of little pretend groceries.....she stayed so busy, pushing the cart around the house & even putting groceries away in the cabinet where I keep my cans, etc. She is too funny!

Here are some pictures from Rylie's actual first birthday (not the day of the big party!)....this is breakfast. I put her "1" tiara on her & got a quick pic before she promptly snatched it off her head!


After a morning of playing in her drawer in the kitchen, she was worn out. She loves holding on to her little spoons & she wouldn't let this one go, even when I rocked her to sleep & put her in her crib!

After lunch at El Palacio with Grandmother B., Papa C, Vickie & Phillip (who brought Rylie balloons & she loved them!), Aunt Lakyn & Aunt Haley,----Rylie & I met up with Daddy & went to Bridge Street to ride the carousel. Here I am in the teacup with Rylie.




Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Some Out-takes from the photo shoot

Some of these are actual pictures that we got & others are just funny ones from the cd.......enjoy!