The Journey continues............

This little cutie pie is about to embark on the 2nd stage of his journey towards fixing his ear. We leave in the morning for Atlanta. Tomorrow we will do the normal pre-op appointments and take care of those sorts of odds and ends. Hopefully making our way on to more fun things for the remainder of the day.Tuesday morning, bright and early (5:30, est. time) we will make our way to Piedmont hospital for the 2nd stage surgery of Nate's reconstruction. In speaking with other mom's who have been through this with their kids, this is the "easiest" of all of the surgeries. Whoo-hoo, because right now, I need easy. Surgery is scheduled for 7:30 (est. time) that morning. It is done strictly as an outpatient, so we will be back to Auburn by Tuesday afternoon sometime.

For those of you who haven't seen Nathan's ear in a while, the pic below shows you what it looks like as of today.

The surgery Tuesday is called The Earlobe Repositioning stage. I'll share with you a little about what is going to happen on Tuesday since some of you may not know. Nathan's "little" ear will basically be removed and placed into a normal position (that of an earlobe). It will be "spliced" into place upon the previously constructed ear "foundation". This operation is detailed technically with many little stitches involved, but Nathan should have very little discomfort afterwards. (we will see about that, remember he is my low pain tolerance kid) This surgery usually lasts 2 1/2 hrs.

Even as "easy" as this surgery may be, I am sure you can imagine the emotions I am having tonight. Please pray for Nathan's comfort, pray for Rod and I to prepare him the best we can before Tuesday, ask God to guide Dr. Jones throughout the surgery, ending with the best possible outcome. Pray for our travels and for our worries/anxiousness.

After this surgery is over we will be done for a few months. The next operation will most likely be in December.

FINALLY............

One of my kids are in school!!!!!!!! And it happens to be this little guy. Doesn't he look excited? He was so happy to be returning to school yesterday, since mommy has become a little boring to him. He was ready to see his friends and play with other people besides me and Nathan.
Nathan doesn't start until Sept 11th...can you believe that? But I will say it's good for us, since his 2nd surgery is next week (more to come on that soon). That gives him a good amount of time to heal. :)

When we got to school we found our favorite cousin, Stirling (Bradley is in a close running, but she doesn't do much right now). They are in the same class and love to see each other, all though they sometimes act more like brother and sister than cousins (arguing that is).

First thing he did when he got to his room was go straight to the books......maybe that is a sign he will be my studious one :). Yeah right, if you know Wilson you know he is going to be my wild, rebellious one. Love him though!
Little Miss Stirling just took in everything when we first got there, but when we went to pick them up she was having a blast. Already singing "Jesus Loves Me"......she is such a cutie!
And then there is this little cutie....Claire-bear as we call her. Wilson is in LOVE!!! This is his little "girlfriend", and I promise you if you ask him "who is your girlfriend?" you will get the response of "care-bear"!

My Newest Love......

Bradley Alexandra Wilson......7 lbs. 12 oz. 21 in.

Isn't she absolutely the sweetest thing you have ever seen?!?!?!??!? My brother, Brad, and his wife Ali (who is one of my best friends) had Bradley this past Friday. She is so stinking cute!!! She is looking a lot like her sister, Stirling, at the moment but I can't wait to see her transition over the next few months.



My boys could not wait to meet their newest cousin....Nathan of course was sweet as usual and Wilson really surprised us. I think he was more taken back by her than any of us.

The introduction

Nathan and Bradley

Wilson's turn....he kept saying "I hold it, I hold it". Too funny. We have got to work on his "her"!

And lets not forget the other lady love in my life....STIRLING!!! She spent the morning with us on Sunday at the pool while her parents prepared to bring home her new baby sister. She is so excited about Bradley, she loves on her just like she is one of her baby dolls. Too sweet.

Nathan's Beach Trip

This year we didn't get to go on our "annual family" trip to the beach. With surgeries filling our calendar and a new addition to our family (our niece -more to come on that later) we just couldn't pull it off. BUT..........Nathan's one request was a beach trip and after what he endured at the beginning of the summer we felt like we had to make it happen. So along with some dear friends of ours, the Holmes family, we made our way down to Destin for a long weekend. It was soooooo much fun and relaxing (Wilson didn't make the trip.. I will explain later).

The Holmes have 3 boys of their own, so you can imagine when you put them all together a fun time is to be had by all. We even got together with a dear friend of ours little boy (Cole) we hadn't seen in quite a while and loved catching up with him too.

Making our way to the beach for the first time!!!!

Me and one of my handsomes before dinner!!!

Nathan and Luke taking a break!

All the boys...L to R: Luke, Ryan, Matthew, Cole and Nathan

Back to the pool!!!!!

This is what Rod spent most of his time doing...with ALL the boys!!!

Getting his workout in for the day :)


Nate's "Baywatch" picture!!! hee-hee

Having the time of his life!

What's a beach trip without sandcastles!!!

We missed this little guy below........but since he is still on a "schedule" of sorts, it was alot easier with 4 bigger kids to just leave him in Auburn with my parents. We could skip nap time, eat out as late as we wanted and stay out as late as we wanted. Poor thing doesn't know what he missed! BUT don't think I didn't make up for it when we got home......he got to spend a day at the water park when we got back...pics from that coming soon.

Sorry little man....WE MISSED YOU!!! And I have to share this, the day we were leaving to come home, Nathan looked at Rod and I and said "I had fun, but I never want to go on vacation without Wilson ever again!!! I miss him!" Now isn't that sweet!