On our way to Destin, FL!

Last week and weekend

Last week we took a trip to Elliot farms to pick strawberries. We went with Jon Eric, Kim, and sweet Matthew Dodd. We had so much fun....Liza loved 'pickin' the berries......After we got a basketful we finished up the night with homemade strawberry ice cream. Yum yum.


She kept going for the green ones....







Thank goodness for Oxyclean...









Sweet friends....

What a gentleman Matthew is....he holds her hand to help her walk....and even takes his hat off for her.... :)



Swinging and enjoying ice cream...









Happy Birthday Liza!!! ROUND #1


This past weekend, my dad and Sheila, and big bro Matthew and Jessica came to visit us. We had so much fun!


Because of everyone's schedules.....and the small fact that we live 8 hours from family.....we couldn't really get a date close to Liza's birthday for everyone to be able to make it. SO....Lucky little Liza will just have to have 4 birthday celebrations. I am sure she will just be sick of all the cake, presents, and attention. haha....


Here are pics of our fun weekend and Liza's 1st, 1st birthday party!



Enjoying time with Uncle Matthew. She had a perfect little seat between his feet.



Please check out her sweet dress. Jessica made it for Liza's birthday (along with another brown one that she had monogrammed)....so incredibly thoughtful and talented! Thanks Aunt Jess! :)


Birthday cupcakes: Strawberry cupcakes with cream cheese icing....topped with fresh strawberries from the strawberry patch!



Not so sure what this is coming towards me....


Now I get it!



(Which by the way: Happy Birthday to Pops, too!!! Dad's birthday was just the week before.....we were really having a double celebration!)



Yiiiippppiiiiiiieeeeeeeee for cake!!!


mmmm.....


All gone!



Getting some lovin' from Pops....


My sweet girl...


Everyone enjoying homemade ice cream....


I love my Uncle Matt and Aunt Jess!


Our little family of three:


Soon to be four!!!

Liza LOVES standing at doors to look outside. She does it at our home all the time. This picture is from playgroup one week at Katie's house. She and Garner are looking for Saint (the Hinson's dog). (Which by the way....our sweet friend, Garner didn't have the best week either....he went through the same stuff as Liza....see next posting....only he had to have his cath and blood done several times because they just had a hard time getting it all!!! Poor thing....and I can only imagine that a catheter is much worse on a little boy!....and I guess I should also mention another one of our sweet playgroup friends, Camden, went through the same thing, too! We would blame it on being around one another....but none of us had actually seen each other for 3 weeks!)



There's Saint! Now where is Garner???


One day, while Liza was standing at our door, Lee was outside doing yard work. She could see him and so she just stood there and watched him for several minutes. When he came up on the patio to blow it off....he didn't see her watching him....and certainly couldn't hear her....but what I saw was just so precious! She started ferociously banging on the door and yelling, "DA.......DA.......DA!" She loves her daddy.


Speaking of loving Daddy.....

I love the concentration in this pic....we were at a Japanese steak house sitting at the hibachi grill....(PapPaw, don't you wish you were with us?.....haha)

One last thing....CONGRATULATIONS to Reed and Caroline Hogan on the birth of their sweet little girl, Raney Bess Hogan. Caroline is one of my best friends from college.....this is their 3rd precious girl......see the link to the right: hogancrew.com to look at pictures of their precious family and new arrival.

mom's intuition....

So, if Liza could talk, she would tell you it definitely was not the best week of her little life so far. Starting around Saturday, I could tell she was not herself. I suspected another ear infection....and a trip to our clinic Monday morning confirmed that. However, by Monday afternoon I felt like there was something more. I called my clinic back that afternoon....and again on Tuesday....but kept being reassured that all I was seeing was normal for an ear infection....but I knew it wasn't my child's normal ear infection. Let me say now, though, that one of my fears and goals in life is to never be "that mom." I never want to over-react or make too big of a fuss over my children...even if I am doing so in my head and heart....besides....I blog so I can make a fuss over her....hahaa! :) So, I waited it out against what everything in me wanted to do. Wednesday she had a fever of 103.5 and so finally I was told to come in. After a finger prick we learned her white blood cell count was high....they had to find the source of that, so they needed a urine and blood sample. How do you get urine from an 11 month old??? A catheter. :( And as if that wasn't enough....finding a vain in her little arm was just the icing on the cake....and the icing on the icing was the final big shot of antibiotics that they gave her. It was a rough day.

The end of this long story....if I haven't already lost you.....is that she was fine. It wasn't even a bacterial infection....simply something viral. Today, a week later, she is finally completely fine and back to herself. My reason for writing this is to say: always trust your momma instinct. Would it have changed what happened? No....but it probably would have given her that great shot of antibiotics a little sooner. Also, I love love love my clinic and all the nurses that I spoke with this week.....they are wonderful and were completely accurate in what they were telling me...but they don't know my child. I do, and it is my responsibility to trust what I feel inside. I am sure I will get it wrong many many times.....but with prayer and the Holy Spirit's prompting, hopefully I will get it right more times than not. I know the older she gets it will turn from physical decisions to emotional decisions.....that will really be tough!

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (New International Version)
4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. [a] 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Baby Will's Name Announced....Lots of Picture Updates from April and early May....and, Liza's first steps!

Yay! We finally decided on a name! Our baby boy is going to be William Lee Parish.....we are going to call him Will. Here is Liza loving on baby Will. :)

Judah Hinson came to play yesterday! They are almost exactly the same age....he is about 3 weeks younger than Liza.....but they match in size.....thank goodness for a big boy! :) He will have to be her date to dances in the future....hhaha....

He sure does make Liza laugh! :) We love our friends!

We had a party this past weekend at our house for one set of our neighbors.....Walt and Laura Jones (in the middle)....they are due in June and we are just praying that sweet Annie Louise can hold out that long! Chris and Amy English (left) are our other neighbors who gave the shower with us. They are also expecting a boy in October! Lots of babies on our street! :)

One of my sweet students from last year, Nicole Parrish, came to visit last week! She has grown a foot.....I have missed all my kids so much this year! :) Liza loved her!







Eating an orange at Daddy's softball game! (I did peel it for her after I took the pictures!)

Don't you just wanna squeeze that hiney????

Mom and Joe came to visit.....unfortunately I didn't get more pictures.....this is really the only one I got all weekend. We were at another one of Lee's softball games.

Out to eat at Jim Shaws!

Happy April Birthdays.....our neighbors: Laura Jones and Chris English.

FIRST STEPS! :)

Liza took her first steps a few weeks ago.....I am a bit behind in posting it. This video does not show very much....she was so sleepy....it was already 30 min. past bedtime. :) She is good now at standing alone, but still doesn't love to take steps on her own. She will take a few diving steps towards someone if they make her....like she does in this video. But, one time a few weeks ago, she did take some steps ALL on her own....without me provoking it! I think we are still far away from being an actual walker....but it still tickled me to pieces! :)

(To hear better, you might have to scroll all the way to the bottom to where the music box is and push pause on the music).

Spaghetti Anyone???

"I just dare you to take Spaghetti from me!"