A Walking Maniac!!!

Yes...Noah is doing it. He is walking on his own two feet. It seems as if the shoes were what he needed. It is so funny to watch him try and keep his balance as he walks. He is a very noisy walker. He is also very proud of himself!!! For him, this is just a step closer to being like his big brother.

A Must Read!

I am currently doing a Bible Study with a group of ladies using the book, "When Women Say Yes to God." It is by Lysa Terkeurst. She is the president of Proverbs 31 Ministries. You should check out the website at proverbs31ministries.org. The book is short and easy to read. It gives encouragement to women about ways we can experience life in extraordinary ways and receive blessings that can only come from God when we are obedient to Him. I finished it in just a couple of days. I am way ahead of myself now with the Bible Study part of it, but I could not put the book down. It is another book on my list of must reads. I have ordered a couple of more books from the Proverbs 31 website.

I took Noah to his first Physical Therapy visit last week. I know I have not posted about this, but thought that I should. This blog started out as a place to post updates on Micah's progress. Well, I guess Noah is wanting a little of the spot light now. Noah is over 15 months old and is still not walking. His feet turn out when he cruises. His left one is at a 90 degree angle from the rest of his body. When I took him for his 15 month check-up the doctor was concerned about it and said that she believed the problem was coming from his hip. She made an appointment for him to start Physical Therapy. I begin to research hip problems in toddlers and was starting to get a little anxious about what I was reading. If it truly were a hip problem, we might be looking at a full body cast for months and possibly even surgery.

The Physical Therapist said that she thinks his problem might just be in his ankles. Both ankles were super flexible, more like that of an infant. This means that his muscles are weak. This is something that years ago would have called for the big bulky braces, but she just asked that we get him some special high top walking shoes that he can't get off and that will give his ankles support. Saturday, we took a trip down the Buford to get his shoes from Stride Rite. I spent $50 on his shoes! I don't even spend $50 on my shoes, but I will take spending that any day over a full body cast. He has not made much progress with the shoes yet, but the next few weeks should tell if his ankles are truly the problem. Please pray for little Noah that this be a simple fix.

Just in Case You Need a Laugh...

I met several moms from our MOPS group at Monkey Joes in Gainesville this morning. Monkey Joes is a huge indoor play place with lots of huge inflatables. It is a kids dreamland! I was just getting ready to leave and telling Micah we had 5 minutes left and turned around to engage in the following conversation with a 10-year-old little boy:

Little boy: Hey, I wanted to tell you that my friend has a crush on you.
Me: Oh really, how old are you?
Little boy: I'm 10!
Me: And how old is your friend?
Little boy: He is 10 or 11.
Me: Wow, well that's interesting!

I thought about telling him that I was old enough to be his friend's mother, but I did not want to break his little heart. I guess he went back and told his friend. The rest of the time we were there, they were spying on me. Whenever they would catch my eyes, they would run off giggling. My mom friends and I got a good laugh out of it!

Bath Time...Crazy Time

Noah no longer sits in his safety seat in the tub, so bath time is always interesting. He likes to stand up and then let go, fall down and make a big splash. He has taught Micah how to do this as well, so lets just say there is some times more water on the floor than in the tub.

House For Sale

Our house is ready to be put on the market. It does not feel like my house anymore. The rooms are all painted back natural and there are not any pictures on the walls of my sweet boys. I am a little nervous about the entire process, but Charlie has a complete peace, so we will trudge ahead. We will put a For Sale by Owner sign up on Saturday. Please Pray!!!

I would have two more children if.....

my labors were as easy as my sister-n-laws!!!! Some things in life are just not fair. My sister-n-law, Kiley gave birth to her little girl last night. I was there the entire time and got a bird's eye view of the delivery. It was incredible! That type thing it so interesting to me, I knew that I should have been a nurse. The craziest part was that she pushed two times and that little girl came sliding out. I was amazed! I pushed for an hour with Micah and he still needed assistance making his way into the world. I envy women that have easy pregnancies and deliveries. In my dream world, my pregnancies would have been perfect, my deliveries would have been quick and natural and I would have had 3 or more natural children. My body has not been built for such and so two is enough for me. Seeing that little baby girl made me have thoughts of having another one, but those were short lived when I thought about having to get up several times each night.

Where Has the Summer Gone

We have been so busy this summer that it has just seemed to have flown by. We are in the process of getting putting our house on the market. We have been doing home improvements and cleaning every spare minute. We are looking to find our bigger house while it is the time to buy and the interest rates are low. We should have it ready in just a few days. Please pray for us!

On top of all that we have been still fighting different sicknesses. The week of VBS we had a weird virus in the form of a severe headache. Right after VBS, we all caught a bad cold. We are now just getting over that.

I took Micah back to the Urologist last week. Everything was fine with his ultrasound...Praise the Lord. He is just experiencing some symptoms that should subside as his body grows and matures. I am currently being treated for a pinched nerve in my neck. The last several months it has been very painful, but is doing much better with current treatment.

Noah has become our little comedian. He loves life and enjoys getting everyone to laugh at him. He will be 15 months old this weekend and is still exploring his world on all fours...Talking about a late walker!!!!

We went to the Atlanta Zoo last week with our church group. Micah loved hanging out with the older children.

I have done some research on water slides. I really wanted to buy one to have here at the house and then use at preschool, church, socials, etc. I purchased one online and got a great deal. Here is a picture of Micah and his friends having fun in our backyard.

VBS Pics

I'm Back!

It has been a couple of weeks since I have posted. I don't like missing weeks at a time, but the last couple of weeks have been crazy. We have just gotten finished with a week of Vacation Bible School. My niece who is 8 stayed with us for the week of VBS. We had a great time with her here and stayed busy doing things that she would enjoy as well as something that our boys liked as well. Her and I got to spend some quality time together playing cards after the boys went to bed. It was neat talking and playing with a child that can actually understand and play games that I like to play. It makes me look forward to my boys getting older, but I also don't want to rush their toddler and preschool years away.

We had a great time at VBS! We had 24 kids that made decisions for Christ and it was overall a lot of fun! I will post pictures tomorrow.

We have also all had a weird headache virus. I got it last Wednesday night at church and had to have my friend drive me home. My head was hurting so bad that I could not even open my eyes. I was so sick that I was about to have Charlie take me to the emergency room. The next day, my friend had the same symptoms. A few days later another one of my friends had the severe headache. Then, right in the middle of VBS week, Charlie and my niece Kaitlin got it. It was stressful there for about a day. Taking care of VBS responsibilities as well as two active toddlers, one sick husband and sick child (who is not my own). The main symptom for everyone was just a severe headache. How STRANGE!!!!

We take Micah tomorrow for a follow-up visit with the Urologist. He is still having the same problems.

Another Specialist to Cross off the List

ENT - check
Cardiologist - check
Opthamologist - check
Neurologist - check
Neurosurgeon - check
Physical Therapist - check
Speech Therapist - check
Urologist - check

We took Micah to the Urologist today to further investigate his weird bladder/kidney symptoms. He has a list of symptoms that Charlie and I have been concerned about and his pediatrician did not have an answer for either. We had his appointment at 3:20 in Athens. It took us an hour to get there. We woke Noah up from his nap and Micah did not have time to take a nap. You know you are in for an interesting visit when you arrive at the office and there is a sign on the counter that says, " Dr. _________ is running 45 minutes behind schedule. Thank you for your patience." Patience may be something that is easy for a 80 year-old widow that is there by herself, but not for a young family with a 3 and 1 year-old. We waited for 1 1/2 hours to see the Urologist who was in the room with us for all of 6 minutes. He did a short physical exam, which invaded Micah's privacy. Micah was not very happy about that. He screamed and fought it. I guess I can't blame him. A guy comes in the room, does not even acknowledge that you are there and has you get on an exam table so that he can prod different parts of your body.

The doctor's guess is that everything is fine based on his physical exam. He thinks that Micah might be going through a stage that some small children go through. He believes that he is having some type of spasms and suggested giving him medicine for it for about 8 months. Spasms explain most, but not all symptoms. He has scheduled an ultrasound of his kidneys to rule out other issues that could also be causing his symptoms. I have a prevalent history of kidney disease in my family, so the ultrasound is necessary and will help put our minds at rest.


Micah has seen many specialist in his 3 short years of life. We are thankful for great medical resources and care that is available today. Charlie was saying tonight that we are blessed that he has undergone lots of testing and seen many specialist, but overall he is a healthy little boy. He has developmental delays in a few areas that can make things challenging, but things could be much worse.

Noah is BETTER!

I took Noah for his follow-up visit with his ENT today. He is doing so much better! What an answered prayer! That is one person in our house that has finally overcome the plague. Charlie's poison ivy is also getting better. Now the tables shift to myself and Micah. Micah is going to be seeing a urologist next week. He is showing all the signs of a kidney or bladder infection for about two weeks, but all of his test are coming back normal. Charlie and I are both stumped by his symptoms and are just praying that everything checks out okay. I am also going to the doctor next week to get my excruciating neck pain looked at, now that is now occurring more frequently. There is always some type of drama in the Kelly home. :)

This week, Micah has been going to VBS at Level Grove, the church where I direct the preschool. He is having a wonderful time. I guess this is actually his first time going somewhere like this all week with his mom not being in the same building. We have been practicing his memory verse today. We have his down to 4 words and if he says it tonight, he gets a special price.

My summer job started this week. I am working as intern to the children's minister at our church. I am going to be working on Tuesdays and Thursdays, plus on days that we do trips. Charlie will have the boys all day Tuesdays and Thursdays. I know they will have a great time!!!!?????

Camping Take 2

We took our 2nd family camping trip this past weekend. We went to Tugaloo State Park this time with our friends The Hagertys. They have four children and Micah absolutely loves playing with them! He had a great time! It was fun watching him run around after them. It was much hotter this weekend, so it looks like we are going to have to do the rest of our camping trips for the summer in the mountains. Just Chillin...as always!

Micah got to touch a snake

And Noah got to touch a baby opossum!

Craziness!

What a day! Charlie had a doctor's appointment at 8:30 this morning for poison ivy. When he got back Micah's doctor's office had me take him to the hospital and have him pee in a cup. We thought that he might have a kidney infection, but it turns out that he is just majorly constipated, so we are going to be cleaning him out this weekend. What fun! I took Noah to the doctor this afternoon, because he is 10 days out of surgery and he is sick again. So much for having a little extra money this month.

Moutain Laurel Festival

We went to the Mountain Laurel Festival in Clarkesville on Saturday. Micah enjoyed running out to collect candy during the parade and Noah enjoyed eating the candy!

Noah's Surgery

We left the house at 6:00 this morning to take Noah for his surgery in Gainesville. He did very good on the way down and while we waited, considering he could not eat or drink anything. He even did good when the took him from my arms and walked him back to the operating room. The procedure went well, but he had a reaction to the anesthesia. He freaked out on us for about 30 minutes with his eyes closed. Nothing we did calmed him down or pulled him out of it, so they gave him a couple of medicines through his iv to help counteract the anesthesia. He did not take to the surgery as well as Micah did. It took him until about 2:00 this afternoon to actually be consoled and start playing. It was a rough day, but we made it through and he is in the bed for the night...I HOPE!

Our First Family Camping Trip

I have been wanting to go camping for a while. We have been wanting a pop-up camper, but do not have anything to pull it with or the money to spend on a camper, so we had no other choice but to start out with tent camping. We packed our family van full and headed to Unocoi State Park for the weekend. We were not sure how we would like it, but knew that we did not have a lot of money invested in it if we decided not to go again. We ended up really enjoying our time together away from phones, television and internet. The boys really loved it! I can't wait to go again. I think next time we will probably go with my parents or with some friends of ours. I am sure that one day we will upgrade and get a camper, but for now I think our WATERPROOF tent will do! Making his first smore!

The Wonderful Waterproof Tent!

My Parents visited us on Saturday afternoon

Fishing with paw paw and dada

Gorgeous view!

Enjoying his first Oreo!

A Day Out With Thomas

We have just gotten back from our big weekend in Chattanooga and I am tired! I am going to need a couple of days to get caught up on rest. When we left the house, everyone was well. Noah is as well as he is going to get until he has his tubes and adenoid surgery on May 12th. On the way, to Chattanooga Friday night, Micah had diarrhea and I had to change him about 5 times before we even got to the hotel. That just came out of no where. I am not sure if it was something he ate or a short stomach bug. Things got better on Saturday and we had a good time seeing Thomas the Train and visiting the Aquarium and Children's Discovery Museum. We even got to spend a couple of hours at a big mall in the area that evening. Saturday was a busy, packed day and we were ready to call it a day. I finally got both the boys in bed and dozed off to sleep myself to be awoken not 10 minutes later by Noah throwing up all in his crib. It would not have been that bad if we were at home, but we only had a limited number of supplies since we were at the hotel. I was holding him while Charlie ran for a new sheet and changed his bed. About that time, he threw up again and this time a good bit of it hit me. I was hit with a sudden headache and sick feeling myself. At that very moment all the sickness of the last 3 months were flashing back in my brain and I just wanted to scream or cry. I was not quite sure which one would be more appropriate. All I could think was, "When will we get some relief from all this sickness????!!!!" It took all that I had in me to stay focused and not vomit myself. With Charlie's help I managed to make it through without a major break down. After that, he felt better and we were all able to get some rest. Thankfully he is fine now. We had to overcome some minor set backs, but we did have a good time. It was worth it all just seeing how much fun Micah had. This will probably be one of those things that he will talk about for a while.

Micah talked about riding Thomas for a while and then was not so sure he wanted to get on when it was time to board. He got over that quick though.

Two handsome engineers!

The following pictures were taken at the Children's Discovery Museum. This was probably the highlight of the trip. I highly recommend visiting this museum if you ever visit Chattanooga.

Cool Picture!