WOW!!!!...
We cannot believe July is almost over and we have been so busy the first half of the summer! While we have had so much fun in the first half of the summer, we are looking forward to a 'bit of a slowdown' in the near future! Let's see.....where did we finish off. Oh, yes, of course, right before vacation! Well, it's not going to take a blog post for us to always remember this summer, for not only was it the summer of our Biscuit's first birthday, but it was also the summer of two very big events, one was the biggest oil spill that our great country has ever seen, which would effect us even though we live hours away in Illinois. The other major event was the great scare that our family recieved in the spring and early summer.....that I will come to in a bit!
So for the month of May and also the beginning of July, it seemed that we lived on the internet, watching and waiting for oil to reach Panama City Beach, where we were scheduled to vacation in the middle of June. About a week or two prior, it was clear that the oil was close, so close that it was in Pensicola. So, in the end, we took a gamble and decided not to cancel our vacation and hope that we missed the oil! Lucky for us, we definitely missed it! It was so wonderful on the Gulf, no rain in sight for the week we were there and Nan and Pop (my Mom and Dad) also went with us. That meant that between the 4 of us, we were each able to relax a bit while still running steady after Little Noa. Our condo was lovely, the beach was wonderful, the water was clear as day and warm.....it was the perfect vacation, which was what we needed after the last couple of months, especially for Nan!
Noa had so much fun on the beach, in the water and also swimming in the pool. Each day on the beach seemed to start with a long nap under the umbrella's for the Biscuit, then followed by play that usually consisted of a refusal to get her feet in the sand....of course in true Diva fashion. Dinner was of course wonderful each night. Our second to last night there was a nice surprise and a lesson learned that Japanese food and alot of ice cream can end up with a child in the emergency room. Of course she was just fine once we got the hospital....I guess she just had some uncomfortable indigestion. So chalk that one up to a lesson learned.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BISCUIT!!!
That weekend after we returned home, we had a Father's Day celebration for the Dad's, that was of course overshadowed by the BISCUIT'S FIRST BIRTHDAY! We had a small little party with Nan, Pop, MeeMaw, Jim, Aunt Amber, Aunt Crystal, and Cousin Ella. And thank goodness we decided to only have a small party this year, because of course Noa got everything she needed and even more! It was so wonderful watching her 'open' her presents and to see her have so much fun with all her new toys, which consisted of a house with those fun little balls, a giraffe pool, a remote controlled dog, an outdoor climber/slide play set, a picnic table and a wagon! It was such an emotional (a good emotional) experience to watch our baby 'dig' into her cake, which again, in Diva fashion, meant that it she didn't make the mess that we thought she would. It was so cute to see her picking the small pieces of cake and slowly eating it off her fingers, as to ensure that she didn't drop any from her hands onto her....which wouldn't have matter to begin with. The cake was wonderful, Nana had the same woman that made our wedding cake bake it...Noa's was chocolate and the large cake was strawberry.....it was wonderful! And a good time was had by all!!
We had so much fun on vacation and with Noa's first birthday, but the scare, that I referred to in the begining of the blog, still hung over our shoulders throughout all our fun. When it wasn't in the front of our thoughts, it was definitely in back at all times! At the beginning of April, a large mass was found on Nan's (Kendra, my Mom) kidney. Long story short, the general consensus was that they felt 95%-98% sure that it was kidney cancer. Unfortunately, they didn't know whether it was a common type of cancer (that was slow growing and wouldn't require treatment) or if it was a more rare, and aggressive type that would in fact require some treatments. It would be a very long wait as the surgeon, we all agreed that we really liked, couldn't get her in for surgery till the end of June. So on June 25 we all assembled at the Vandebilt Medical Center waiting room to find out the final verdict. The surgery was supposed to take 4 hours, but after 2 they were closing her up....we talked with the doctor shortly after, and also had to wait an entire week for pathology. However, by the grace of God, we found some people really do fall into the 2-5% category! What the surgeon found was not cancer afterall, but was in fact what is called AML....which basically means that Mom had a benign tumor and she's going to be just fine! The only thing wrong with her is that she's meaner than a snake, and of course we wouldn't have it any other way. God works in mysterious ways, that for sure, but I've learned to never take anything, or anyone for granted! We are so blessed that Nan's gonna be jus'fine!
With all the great news we knew that it was definitely time to celebrate! The next couple of weekends were free for us and so we spent alot of time on the river....which is great for Noa because that meant that she got to see all her little buddies! We also had a wonderful Fourth of July on the river with great friends, followed by a cookout and fireworks at Sand Ridge! It was Noa's first camping experience in our new camper, and it was a great time!
Just a few updates...Noa just loves all of her books and spends most of the day looking through them and having us read to her. I wonder if she will one day write her own?!?! She's almost walking as well!
After the start of July, Noa (and Momma) went to Krissy's house to see Drew and the rest of the buddies for a playdate! They had so much fun and was a great chance for the Momma's to gab....especially with the time getting closer to Krissy (and hubby Jon) welcoming their second son!
As we haven't been busy enough, we've added a very special day to our weekly schedule, which is just what Momma needs! Our good friend Janice hosts a girls day (+kids) every Tuesday! It's so nice for the Moms to get together and great for the kiddos too! Another great surprise of the summer is that Daddy is going back to dayshift (from evenings)....we are so excited to have Daddy around in the evening!...And Momma is excited for some help with bathtime for the Biscuit!! More to come soon!!!.....
