Photos of Ray :)

Ray, shortly after making his entrance:


Ray with his mommy:


Ray with his daddy:


Ray all decked out in his cammies:


Ray, 2 days old:


I think we're gonna have to get him bigger clothes already:




If my dad were still here, I'm thinking he'd say Ray looks like another Magoo:


I love you little man! Congrats to your mommy and daddy :)

My Precious Grandson Is Here!

Ray James arrived this morning at 5:04am CST, weighing in at 9lbs 8oz, and 20 inches long. Both baby and mom are doing great, and daddy was able to make it home from Afghanistan for Ray's arrival :)

Baby Shower

We had my daughter's baby shower yesterday, what a fun-filled afternoon! She got a lot of lovely gifts. Thanks everyone for joining in on the celebration!

And that means.... I can now show off the Diaper Cake and the Sock Rose Bouquet I made :) I've been wanting to show these for a few weeks but waited till she saw them at the shower LOL I'm really proud of them because this is the first time I've made them!

Diapers and pins means a new life begins

My youngest daughter is here visiting! She's 7 and a half months pregnant, with her first baby. Can't wait for Raymond James to grace us with his presence! I've been busy planning her baby shower. I can't wait to show off some pictures of what I made! But you'll have to wait.... she gets to see them first at her shower LOL

Back from long absence

It's been a very hard year. Dad's lymphoma of the brain came back again after we thought the chemo nipped it out. I visited with him in late January and helped him explain to the family that it was his wishes to stop all further treatments :( I wish I could have been with him the past few months, to hold his hand, to look in his eyes, to hug him when I told him I loved him, and to be with mom to give her comfort and hugs as she watched her soulmate slowly slip away.

Dad passed away on June 29th. I thank God that we were able to be by his side, and that he knew we were there. And now that all the services are over, and we are back home, I'm sitting here wondering.... how do I pick up the pieces and continue on when I feel so empty? I know that time heals all wounds and that he's in a much better place, so please don't tell me that, even tho you say it out of kindness. Instead, call me, hug me, cry with me.......

Daughter's Home From Iraq :)

Woohooo!! It's a fantastic day!! My daughter is safely home from Iraq. Words can't describe how great it felt to be able to wrap my arms around her and give her a huge hug!! I am so proud of her, and all of our service men and women!!

And on that note.... I'll still be on the scarce side for awhile as I enjoy spending time with my daughter :)

Daughter's Deployment to Iraq

Today I said goodbye to my daughter, Whitney, as she begins her deployment to Iraq. Never in my life did I think it was possible to feel your heart aching with so much pain and yet burst with so much pride. I wish it was easy to find the words to describe how proud I am of the young woman who stood before me today.

The following photos show our journey today. I thank you all deeply from the bottom of my aching heart for stopping by and being a part of our day. (You can click on the individual photos to see the larger photo)

I Am A Blue Star Mother
Author Unknown

I am the mother of a United States Service Member. My child gave me this title. I will give him a heart full of wonder at his accomplishments and a voice that praises his desire to serve. I will place my faith in his military training and in God’s protection I will give him the prayers that will follow him where I cannot. I will be strong when I want to cry and brave when I want to cower. He will know that I am behind him every step of the way. Because I bear the title of Mother of a United States Service Member.

Thank you all so much for your prayers, comments and well wishes. We appreciate them so very much!!

Graduation

Helena's graduation was super! Her graduating class had 523 seniors... wow! If I remember correctly, when I graduated, my class had approximately 150. During practice earlier in the week, the principal had told them that practice went so well, they were the best graduating class in 9 years! I wonder if that had anything to do with any of the 63 beach balls, silly string, bubbles, and streamers that were a part of the ceremony? LOL It was fun to watch the faculty try and confiscate the beach balls as they were batted back and forth. Just a little harmless fun, let the kids enjoy their night :)

Here's a LO I made with one of the after ceremony pics. (click on LO for full size).

credits: Papers, flower and gem from My Sunshine Kit by Sweet Genevieve Designs; frame from Funky Floral Freebie by Leah Riordan Designs; bow from Amazing Love by Rhondogg

Graduation

My youngest is graduating from high school tonight. Hard to believe that it won't be long before she leaves the nest :( Congratulations Helena!!

Will post an update on my dad later tonight or tomorrow.

News on Dad

I made it to Lubbock yesterday morning. Before I got to see dad, mom sat down with me and told me more about what is going on. Dad has an aggressive, inoperable tumor. The docs have told mom that if they attempt to remove any part of the tumor, it would leave my dad in a vegetative state. Tomorrow (Monday) they will be doing a biopsy to get a better idea of what they are dealing with in order to see if there is any medication out there that they could possibly treat it with, but were very clear that my dad will die from this.

We are not dealing with this info very well :( Please continue to keep my dad in your prayers. Thank you.

More news on dad and a greeting card layout

Neurologist spoke w/ mom a little while ago. Dad did not have a stroke; it's definitely a large brain tumor on the left side of the brain. They've moved dad to the acute care wing in the hospital. They will be doing bloodwork to check his PSA level and not sure when, but they will be doing a biopsy as well as a bone scan to see if the prostrate cancer has metastasized to the bones. He's on medication to try and reduce the swelling in the brain as well as medication to prevent seizures.

At this time, I'm not sure how soon they plan on doing the biopsy but I do know that things are moving at a very rapid rate. With the new medication, he seems to be more alert now than he was 24 hours ago. I spoke with him on the phone very briefly as I didn't want to upset him, but it was still a very upsetting phone call for both of us. With a lot of struggle, he was able to tell me he loved me and other than that, he just kept saying "yep" to acknowledge what I was saying to him.

Knowing all this now, and looking back to the level of care he got at the original ER back home, there are ALOT of questions that these ER people better be prepared to answer..... GRRR!

Thank you all so very much for your continued prayers and support. I'm at my wits end and your support means the world to me; it's pretty much the glue that's holding me together at the moment.

Couldn't sleep last night so I threw myself into a greeting card layout challenge over at CLD. The original is perfect size to fit into a standard invitation envelope that can be picked up at a store like OfficeMax. (stop by CLD and see how you can pick up the original, plus many more). Please remember, this layout below is not snaggable as per my TOU's. Thank you!

Dad - not so good update

Mom called again this evening after the neurologist spoke with her. He reviewed the CT scan and the news is, my dad has a brain mass. It is unknown at this time what the mass is and if it caused the stroke, if the stroke caused the mass, or if the mass is the prostrate cancer that has metastasized. They were going to run more tests tomorrow but decided not to wait and are running an MRI and MRA now.

She also said that she was helping him eat tonight and he didn't realize that he had food in his mouth to chew and swallow (hence the choking). Because he isn't processing that he's supposed to swallow, he's unable to take his meds so they've started an IV, and nurishment. They are also talking about taking him out of rehab and putting him back in the regular part of the hospital but so far no mention has been made about the possibility of putting him back into ICU.

Thank you again for your prayers for my dad, it is greatly appreciated.

Update on Dad

Mom called a little while ago, dad is not doing good at all. She says he's gone backwards since I spoke to her last night :(

He's wanting to sleep all the time; they wake him up and he falls back to sleep 30 seconds later. He's not eating at all, and the paralysis on the right side is much worse now.

They repeated the CT scan and compared it to the original scan done at the original ER in New Mexico to see if they can find out what's going on. The only difference that was noticeable was the Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM) showed up on this second scan where it didn't show up on the original. The AVM was diagnosed over a year ago and is located behind his nasal cavity. The neurosurgeon he saw said that it was something he was born with and that there was no surgery available to correct it, but also said that since he was born with it, he would probably die with it but not from it. They are finally going to bring in a neurologist to see him (which, in my opinion should have been done from day one last week).

I'm scheduled to leave Thursday morning via Greyhound (it was the only way I could afford to get down there). It's going to be a 42 hour bus ride so I won't make it there until Saturday morning. I pray that I make it there in time to see my dad and in one piece.

Please continue to keep my dad in your prayers; thanks!

Dad's in Rehab, New Photos

Dad is settled into his rehab room now. My aunt and uncle have gotten there, tho it would have been nice if they called and told me they got there like they said they would. Mom is gonna make a trip back home today to take care of some stuff and grab some clothes and make a return trip to Lubbock tomorrow. And I just took some tylenol PM to see if I can get some non-nightmarish sleep so I can function halfway decent at work tonight. I took some photos yesterday while I was out walking the dog and thought I'd share a few. As always, my photos are not for snagging as per my TOU's.

(click to see full size)

Another update and layout

Dad was moved out of ICU today into a temporary room until they can get him into a rehab. Mom can't leave him alone unless one of the therapist's (speech, occupational, physical, etc) is in there because they don't want my dad attempting to get out of bed unattended. When she does leave, she's got to be super fast as well as let the nurses know so they can put the side rails with the alarms up.

As the swelling is going down, they are seeing more and more of what's been affected besides his speech. There's some signs of cognitive damage as well as the portion of the brain that controls the bladder, which I'm sure him not having his prostrate doesn't help that either. He has a lot of trouble with chewing and swallowing. When the nurse had asked him if he struggled and was eventually able to communicate "Chicago" and when she asked if he knew what year it was, he struggled to get out "1965" :::sigh:::

Hopefully Matt can get down there tonight after he gets off work and sit with dad for a bit to give mom a break. I really need to get down there to help out :(

So, yep, I'm stressing out again and did another layout while I was waiting for mom to call with some news. Nothing elaborate... just a pic I took when I was down there last summer.

(click on layout to see full size)

Credits: Papers from Jonathon Kit by Flutter Expressions; Papers from ilétaitunefoi kit/Bow and flower from Marvin Kit by petit moineaux; Template by Red Leaf DigiScrapping.

Waiting for an update, another layout

While I'm waiting for an update from my mom on how dad did thru the night so I can start making phone calls and passing the info along to family members, I thought I'd put together another layout from a template challenge over at CLD...... Especially since I can't sleep, cuz every time I fall asleep, I wind up having a nightmare that I can't find my dad and I wake up in a panic/cold sweat :::sigh:::

(please click on LO to see full size)

Layout Credits: Little Miss Kit by Misty Cato, Template by Tanyia Deskins

Update on Dad, New Layouts

Dad has 2 separate areas of his brain that has been affected by the stroke and they are still unsure as to how much permanent damage there is. They are waiting for the swelling to go down. The most noticeable damage up to this morning has been his speech - he has none. Mom put the phone next to his ear last night so I could tell him that I loved him and it broke my heart to him grunt a few times in response. As of this evening, Dad was able to get out of bed for a bit and the physical therapist had him walk around. His assessment with the speech pathologist was rough and he got very frustrated, but we understand that she had to push him so she could get the best assessment possible. They are also having a hard time keeping his blood sugar level within a normal range as it keeps dropping, and they are keeping a very close eye on the enzymes in his urine because something is pointing to possible kidney problems.

I've been trying to throwing myself into doing some scrap layouts as a way to not completely stress out in between phone calls with my mom, my son, and my aunt and uncle (dad's sister and brother over in Austin). Please continue to keep my dad in your prayers, it's greatly appreciated.

(click on image to see full size layout)

Layout Credits: Treasured Ones Kit by Misty Cato, Template by Kellie Puddy

Layout Credits: Jessica Kit by Booland Designs, Template by Tanyia Deskins

Layout Credits: Papers and overlay from Digital Diva Mysteria Feb Collab Kit (Ashley Bailey and TinaMC), Flowers from Booland Designs, Ribbon/Bow by Annie Manning/Paint the Moon Designs, Template by Tanyia Deskins.

My Dad Had A Stroke Today

I've been wanting to get here to my blog all day today to post a layout I made early this morning with pics I took of my dad and Evelynn while I was down in Lubbock. Little did I know that by the time I could finally get here to post, I would be posting about my dad having a stroke :(

All I know is that he left for work this morning and all seemed fine. Mom says the police showed up at the house looking for dad because they couldn't find him while he was on duty. Took awhile, but they did finally find him, he was at his doctor's office, at which point they rushed him to the ER. I've been on pins and needles all day waiting to find out what was going on. Mom finally called about an hour ago and said from what the ER doctors could determine, it appears that my dad has suffered a stroke, but they can't say to what extent. He is now on his way to Lubbock via ambulance (it's a 4 hour drive, which if they're running code, they should be able to get him there in a little under 3) and will admit him to intensive care.

The hospital there where they live pretty much sucks and my mom was pushing to have him taken to Lubbock right away but the ER docs wouldn't do it until they knew what they were dealing with and if there was even reason to send him. I pray that this wasn't wasted time!!

Matt is going to be at the hospital waiting for them to bring my dad in; mom is driving herself so she'll be about 2 hours behind the ambulance and I'm so extremely upset because I have no way to get back down there to be with him :(

Please, keep him in your prayers and please, don't let these be the last pictures I have of my dad :(

Layout Credits: Spring Morning Kit by OneScrappyMom, Template by Tanyia Deskins

Meeting Evelynn

Whitney and I are back from our trip to meet the newest member of the family. Evelynn is a precious lil' angel and I did not want to leave and come back home! And I sure can't wait to go back. Which may be sooner than later, and for an extended period of time.... still need to work out the details a bit more.

Here are a few pics from our trip. Thanks for looking!

My Baby's 18th Birthday

This coming Thursday will be my baby's 18th birthday. Unfortunately, I'll miss it cuz I'll be in Texas visiting Lizzy, Matt, and sweet lil Evelynn Skye.

I really wanted to do something special to mark the occasion so last night I took her to go see her favorite country singer, Jason Aldean, over at Penn's Peak. We had a blast and she's more in love with him now than she was before the concert LOL. I will admit (but not too loudly tho cuz I'm a grandma now and he's probably young enough to be my son LOL), he is a cutie!

Here's one of the pics that I took.... was thinking about doing a layout it if I can find a suitable scrap kit ROFL! Music and cowboys themed would probably work. Anyone seen any kits out there that would go good with this pic? As always, click on the image to see the larger one.

Hope everyone has a good weekend!!