Ready to go...

To the coldest Holidazzle Parade of the year!

Day after Thanksgiving

Cousin Levi

Baking cookies with grandma before we have to go home.

Thanksgiving

Before the hospital stay, we were able to spend Thanksgiving with my sister and her family, my mom and dad and my grandma.  My kids always love to see their cousins!

They let me take some family pictures while we were there!

Helping grandma set the table.

Hanging out with great grandma.

Playing cards with the grandmas.

Decorating for Christmas

Fall catch-up

Here are some pics from this fall that I haven't had time to blog about until now.  Enjoy!

True joy

Yep, I like to use my sister's chari to climb up onto the kitchen table!

Fun in the leaves

My Daddy is my prince!

There's nothing be

Update

Sorry it's taken me so long to update our blog!  I'm going to attempt to catch up on the last month. Ato T ended up spending  a week in the hospital, after refusing to eat for 5 days.  They placed a feeding tube, and he had lost 4.5 pounds by the time the placed it.  Below is a photos that shows just how skinny he got.  But I'm happy to report he is doing much better now, he is eating MORE than he was before all of this, and we have decreased his tube feeds to once a day. 

Spending a day with mom and Ato T at the hospital.

 Waking up after surgery is not a lot of fun.

 Back home, still not terribly happy, but on the mend!

We felt incredibly blessed to have the support of friends the week Ato T was in the hospital.  Our home school group set up meals for us and a couple friends offered to take the kids if we needed them to.  It was such a blessing!  We are thankful that Mike's job is so flexible.  He was able to take some time away from the office and either work from home or the hospital, and the big girls came to spend one day at the hospital with mom and Ato T while dad went to work, and we had a babysitter for Little Miss.  (During RSV season, children under 5 are not allowed on the hospital floor.)  Our church was also incredibly supportive during this time.  We are blessed!

Please join us in praying...

...for our dear Ato T.  This is what he has looked like for the majority of the past 2 weeks.  He is "plugged up" internally and can't "go" without an enema.  He is having tremors, that look like tremors people suffering from Parkinson's Disease have, his appetite has been steadily decreasing, and this morning he absolutely refused to eat.  We are watching him lose weight in front of our eyes, and he's just not himself.  Most of the specialty docs we go to have been taking turns passing him to a different specialty.  We decided last night with his Developmental Pediatrician to take him off of one of his meds, in the hopes that it's what has been causing everything.  I am praying with all my heart that's what it is, and he is happy and back to "normal" in a couple of days.

National Adoption Month

A fellow Hydranencaphaly mom, and founder of the Brayden Alexander Foundation for Hydranencephaly, has been posting adoption stories this month, in honor of National Adoption month.  We feel blessed that she chose to share Ato T's adoption story!  You can read it here http://braydenalexanderfoundation.blogspot.com/2011/11/bee-ography-adoption-story_22.html
as well as other incredible stories of adoption.  Thanks Alicia!!!!

Birthday Party for Little Miss

Cousin Samuel

Cousin Ray

Uncle Jose and Samuel

Grandma and Little Miss

Uncle Scot and Simon

Cousin Keegan

I got to go shopping with Sophia at the end of the party!  She's so fun to spend time with!

Levi and Keegan playing the WII

Gabe holding the new puppy!  (For the cousins, not for us.)

I can't stand all this cuteness!

Okay, I admit that I may be the teeniest bit biased - but I believe we have absolutely the cutest kids in the world!  One picture of each kid in October.

Miss O loves loves loves her bonnet that Lisa made for her.  She wears it EVERYWHERE, all the time.  She thinks she's Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Little Miss just gets cuter every day.

When Ato T breaks out his smile, it's all over for me.

Miss I and mommy went on a special shopping trip together.  We ended the day by eating supper at Perkins.  It happened to be kids night, so she ate free AND got her face painted.  (Spider Man rules, by the way.)

Happy Birthday Little Miss!

Not a big fan of the cake

Family Photos