A little Christmas miracle

Our family has been blessed this Christmas season many, many times over. There is one thing, however, that we as a family have been praying for non-stop for about two months. Our sweet noonie has been suffering so terribly from congestion that we have been led to our pediatrician countless times, an allergist, and eventually an ENT. He was diagnosed with RSV, bronchiloitis, acute chronic sinusitis, allergies, and reflux...and probably a couple of other things I can't remember. We were given sprays, drops, and pills to give our sweet baby to help him breathe better. We gave away our cat. We tried everything the doctors told us to, and knowing they weren't helping, we quit all of the medication. When we visited the ENT they took a culture of his...well...snot, and sent it to the lab to see if there was any bacteria growing (this was immediately after he finished his second round on antibiotics in one month) and it came back that there was indeed a small amount of growth. He wanted to put him on antibiotics again (to which I said a polite "heck no"), and give him an antibiotic ear drop in his nose. We agreed to the drops since it is so localized and it wouldn't give him the horrible diarrhea and diaper rash that systemic antibiotics give him that just add to his misery. Well, whadda ya know. About 4 days ago I noticed something when I was nursing him that I hadn't heard in so long...nothing. No snot, no boogers, no string of goo between his nose and my boob (it was ALWAYS there...gross, but true!), NO CONGESTION!!! I suppose we have no way of knowing whether it was the drops, the lack of Mila, lots of prayer, or the combination of all of these things, but we are SO GRATEFUL to have a clear-breathing baby again!!! I haven't used saline, a snot sucker, or a tissue in FOUR WHOLE DAYS! (As fun as the snot sucker is, I was ready to put it away!) YAY for our silent-breathing noonie, and our own silent nights for which we are so grateful.

Family Photo Shoot

We had our family pictures taken yesterday by Wendy Updegraff, an AWESOME photographer here in Jax. We are so happy with how they turned out, and we haven't even seen any more than these six! We will post more when we get them! Thanks, Wendy!

Goodbye, our sweet girl

On Wednesday of last week, we gave our sweet baby girl away in hopes that it will help our noonie breathe a little easier. It was SO hard and I have cried many tears, but I know that she is in a GREAT place and that she is being well cared for! Mila has been a member of our family for about two and a half years, and she has brought us so much joy. She is playful and sweet and has such a funny personality. We miss her so much already! I think I see her all the time, and I close doors and wrap my Q-tips in toilet paper out of habit. I hope one day Porter will outgrow his allergy (or we find that the Dr. was wrong, which may be a real possibility) and we can get her back!

Krissy and her friend Sara drove up to Jacksonville Tuesday night to pick up our little kitty. She and Sara hit it off right away! I think it may have had something to do with the fact that Sara was crocheting and she desperately wanted that yarn! Sara loved her right away, and I hear her husband Dave really loves her, too. She has a sister now, so she won't be the only cat in the house, but apparently she has been walking around Sara's house like she owns the joint. That's our Mila.

Porter and I spent lots of time saying goodbye. He sure did love her. He was starting to laugh at her, and she was comfortable enough with him to let him pet her. He even grabbed clumps of her hair a couple of times and she never minded.

Here they are on their way to her new home! (This was the point just before I completely lost it.) We are so grateful to have been able to send her home with someone who we know so that we can visit her and we know that she will be safe and cared for. It's harder to find a good home for a cat than you think! Thanks a million, Sara and Dave. We appreciate it so much!

P.S. She totally shredded her way out of that carrier on their way home in total Mila-fashion. That kitty is nuts sometimes!
We love and miss our Mila girl! I can't wait to pet her sweet head again!

Our new guy

A couple of weeks ago I started watching a precious little man named Jackson. He is just too cute! He is such a sweet baby with the most delicious dimples I have ever seen! He has the sweetest family, and we are really enjoying getting to know them. Jackson and Porter are exactly 3 months apart. Isn't he yummy?!

Jackson and Porter playing. They are best friends already!


I have to say how much I miss my sweet Brookie and Christopher, and I think about them ALL the time! I was lucky enough to be able to go over last night and spend some good quality time with them and get a fix of my sweet kiddos! I was with their family for three WONDERFUL years, and Craig and I have been SO blessed by having them in our lives. They will always have a special part in our hearts and in our lives. I know we will be a part of each other's lives forever! I miss them so terribly, but it has been a good change for our family to have me at home. We love you Jen, Chris, Christopher, Brooke, and Bailey!!!!!

Here is one of my all-time favorites of the three of them. They REALLY love Porter and they always have, and this picture shows that so clearly. They love to snuggle him! Christopher was always randomly going over to him and giving him kisses. What a sweet boy! Brooke LOVES him so much. When I went over to their house last night Porter was asleep in the car and when I came through the door the first thing out of Christopher's mouth was "Where did Porter go?!" They were always so sweet and loving to him. I hardly ever had to remind them to be gentle. They just always were. I am so blessed to have been part of their sweet little lives! I love you forever, my babies!

More Thanksgiving pictures

A couple more pictures from our Thanksgiving holiday!

Seriously loving on Aunt Krissy.

His new bestie Jordan! They were SO cute playing together! Jordie taught him how to sit up!

On our way back to Jacksonville, we stopped at a rest area so I could feed Porter and let him get out of the carseat for a few minutes. He LOVED sitting in the driver's seat with Daddy! Don't worry...we were parked so we weren't Britney Spears-ing it.

Thanksgiving

Okay, I know this is late, but I wanted to share some pictures from our Thanksgiving trip down the Bradenton. We had a blast!

Maddie and Ella loving on Porter

Porter and Grandma Claudia (my best friend Krissy's mom)

We did our family Christmas while we were there since we will be going to Denver for the holidays. Aunt Brianne is in school for dental hygiene and she got him his very first toothbrush!

He loved his Aunt Suzanne! He hung out with her at the fish tank and was happy as can be.

Porter loved hanging out with Grama and Aunt Joni! The kisses were plentiful!

This is Porter enjoying a sweet potato in his little net feeder. He LOVED it and practically sucked it dry, but unfortunately was up all night with a tummy ache. This boy and sweet potatoes just don't get along!

He fell asleep while Aunt Brianne was holding him. How sweet is that?!

Playing in the wrapping paper. Pure bliss for the paper monster.

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Porter has really found his voice lately and is constantly talking! His favorite thing to say is "blah, blah, blah." That's probably his interpretation of what he hears Mommy saying to him all day. "Yeah, mom. Blah, blah, blah. I hear ya." He is such a joy and he keeps getting cuter by the minute. He is the most wonderful and constant blessing in our lives and we fall deeper in love with him with every day that passes.

I have some serious blogging to do about what has happened in our lives recently, but to be honest it's all a little overwhelming, so I feel like I need a 6 hour blog session to be able to catch up. I will try my best in the next week or so to get caught up so that I can tell you all about our trip to Colorado for Christmas when we get back!

Stay tuned for some updates on what we've been up to. Love to all.

Mom is so funny.