Eight.

The day you arrived, my soul came alive.

Then at age one, life was joyous and fun!

At two, without you, didn't know what I'd do.

And then you turned three - life was a party!

At age four, you were absolutely adored.

When you turned five, my heart burst with pride.

And in your sixth year, I adored you more, dear.

At seven years old, your heart was pure gold.

And now you are eight, and isn't it great:

        You love others so hard

        Still play sports in the yard

        You work hard in school

        And make all kids feel cool

        You'll make the right choice

        Have a great singing voice!

        You take care of your sibs

        And are such a GREAT kid

So, while years zero through seven were fun

I think that your eighth will be your best one!

My sweet, smart, handsome, kind, amazing Banks: How in the world you are eight today, I just don't know. We have had so many adventures together, you and me, and I don't know how it's quite possible, but I love you even more today than that day when your 9-pound, 15-ounce body was placed in my arms. Thank you for your heart, your grace, your kindness, your forgiveness, your sweet soul. Thank you for making me a Momma, just before 6:00 pm, exactly eight years ago today. You will always be my sunshine. 

With All My Heart, 

Momma 

Cheers to the Weekend, Hello Fall! Edition

Okay, I know we all (or at least I) think of September 1st as being the start of Fall, but today it is the official first day; so, yay! Hello, Fall! Cheers to you! I don't necessarily appreciate the 80-degree temperatures you have arrived with, but I know you'll make up for it with some lovely, comfortable weather soon. So, we're still good, Fall. We're still good. 

Anywho. This was a DOOZY of a week. And before I go any further, I would love to ask for some big time prayers from all of you. As you are reading this, Bella and I are headed to the children's hospital to have some important scans done. We will be there all morning and part of the afternoon. She will be sedated for one of them, and I can hardly talk about any of it without crying. So, please, please, please can you take a quick minute and say a prayer that (1) there will be no complications, and (2) the results we get are great ones? Thank you so, so much.

Okay. I need to distract myself from all that scary-ness for a few minutes; so, let me focus on some positive things from the last week. Here are some things we're saying CHEERS to today:

Appointment overload. Like I said, this week was a doozy. And while I'm not saying cheers to all the appointments we had, I am saying cheers that with each passing day we are better understanding how we can best help our beautiful Bella. For anyone who's interested, this week, just for Bella alone, we had a speech evaluation, a physical therapy evaluation, a separate session with our physical therapist, a session with our early interventionist, an orthotics appointment, and now, these two scans that are being done today. We also received the results from last week's occupational therapy evaluation. So. My littlest lady had quite the busy week. But I am SO, SO PROUD of how well she is handling everything. She is amazing, our Bellaboo. AND I was so excited because on Wednesday morning, she and I finally had nothing on our calendar - not a single appointment or session or anything! Since the Big 3 were in school that morning, we took advantage of our time together, taking a nice, long walk around the neighborhood, doing a little shopping, and then doing a few informal therapy exercises. It was great. <3

Momma Dates. As I mentioned last week, our pastor often says that children spell "Love" T-I-M-E. So, last week I took Banks on a Momma date and this week it was Raleigh's turn! It is so nice to get back in the groove of having these individual dates with my kiddos. I told Rals we could do whatever she wanted and she asked to go to the exact place I took Banks have the exact same chocolate cake for dinner. Twist my arm, why don't ya, Rals! Done and done. :) Gosh, I just love this little girl so, so much, and it was so fun to have such amazing, uninterrupted conversations with her. 

Block parties. I know I have gushed about this before on here, but I just love our neighborhood. We have made so many of our closest friends here, as have our kiddos. We feel so lucky to live in such a supportive, friendly, FUN neighborhood! Last weekend, there was definitely fun to be had as we went to a block party on our street. Everyone dressed in their favorite team colors and we dined on BBQ and tons of sides and apps and desserts. There was music playing, a big projector screen for football watching, and the kids ran all over, playing on swingsets and riding scooters and bikes and popping popcorn and making snowcones, all while we grown-ups got to chat, sip bevs, and catch up. It was a blast!

Family football fun. I am so, so thankful that one of my sisters/(co) best friends and fam moved to the Mill over the summer. Last night, they came to Banks' flag football game to surprise him, and it was so fun just getting to hang on a random Thursday. I am so excited we will be able to cheer on our kiddos together for years to come. <3

And now, we look forward to a pretty low-key weekend. Aside from dinner with friends tonight and a cookout with my sister on Sunday, we have virtually nothing on the calendar. You know what that means - we'll be outside, watching football, and enjoying the official start to the Fall season (and all, and I mean ALL, things pumpkin. :) 

Have a good one, friends. And thank you again, for your prayers for our girl. We know that God is with us all the way. <3

Confessions

Why not kick off a new week with a good old fashioned round of confessions? Although I try to keep things real here on my little ol' blog, I am well aware that sometimes the "highlight reel" of my life is showcased. So. Why not shed a little light on my very own crazy? Here goes:

• Over the weekend, I ordered the outfits my Crew will be wearing for our Christmas card photos since they will be taken sometime in the near future. But I confess: I spent hours, and I mean hours, agonizing over what I wanted us to wear for these photos. Like, an embarrassing amount of time and obsession. I was trying to figure out what colors I wanted us to wear and then specifically what each person would wear. I finally just had to order some things so that I would stop thinking about obsessing over it. I mean, it was bad. #firstworldproblem (insert me rolling my eyes at myself). 

• I used to be so good about making our bed each morning, and I loved feeling like the day was starting off on the right foot. But, towards the end of last school year, as the organized, structured routine wheels starting come off (as they do towards the end of any school year), my bed-making-ritual went straight out the window as I was trying to just will myself out of bed, bright and early, yet again. My new goal is to start making it again every day...starting tomorrow. ;) 

• For the last six weeks, my dining room table served as the catch-all for all the lovely gifts that arrived while, and after, we were in China; for baby clothes I needed to consign; for sodas that wouldn't fit in the pantry; for the welcome home signs my kids and friends made for Bella; etc. It was our very own chaos waiting to greet anyone who stepped foot into our home. Luckily, over the weekend, I finally cleared it off so that I could Fall-ify our home and put every most some things away. The rest is now housed on the floor next to the dining room table. I think I just thought of another new goal...

• In sticking with the home theme, our house is in major need of updating. It was built in 2007, and while we love it, we haven't had the time nor energy to really put into making it our own. In fact, despite living here for five years now, there are still walls that are bare of decor. The walls are in need of new paint thanks to, well, kids (but also because I think the stock paint that is on the walls is probably pretty cheap). One of our couches is 13 years old (yes. 13) and in desperate need of replacement. And, well, you get the drift. We need rugs and new curtains and blah, blah, blah. But here's the thing: I get so overwhelmed with how many things we want to do/change, that I sort of panic and then don't do anything. The good news is I have a good friend who is a very talented interior designer who will be helping us get our act together here soon. :)

• I have a real dental phobia and am long overdue for a dental visit. I may take the kids every 6 months for their appointments, but I put off mine as long as I possibly can. Ugh.

• If you are ever in a one-mile radius of me when any of my kids is playing an organized sport, I am SO sorry. I honestly can't help myself. I didn't realize how bad I was. And then, I watched back a video I took of Banks in his flag football game last week. It was a huge play - he scored a touchdown in the last seconds of the game to win! And I went nuts! And by nuts, I mean I was the loudest, most obnoxious, redneck cheerleader of a mom you ever did hear. Am I exaggerating? No. Ask my hub. It was BAD. My voice gets all deep and loud and just AWFUL. So, I am sorry. I really am. I will do my best to refrain (but no promises).

• I need to pray more and worry less. 'Nuff said. 

• I have bins and bins of children's clothes I need to consign. But, much like the whole house project problem I mentioned above, I get so overwhelmed by the whole process that the clothes continue to pile up and my wallet remains empty. This Spring. This Spring I WILL consign. I WILL.

Is that enough of my crazy for now? Still want to be friends? If not, I totally understand. And if I'm missing a few (I am. I'm just too tired to think any harder ;) ), then feel free to let me know about those so I can try to reign them in.

Cheers to the Weekend, Mid-September Already?! Edition

Shooey! It's Friday and I ain't mad 'bout that one bit. Because we were off on Monday and had a 2-hour delay on Tuesday #Irma, this week has felt a little wacky. Plus, my hub was gone Wednesday morning through Thursday afternoon for business and then left again at 2:00 am earrrrrrly this morning for a separate, unrelated trip and won't be returning until late Saturday night. <3 So, TGIF indeed! After not so great sleep this week (I'm lookin' at you, random bouts of insomnia), I am definitely glad it's Friday. I see early bedtimes in our future. :)

Anywho. Here's what we're saying CHEERS to now that the weekend has arrived: 

Apples and donuts. Last Sunday, after my hub had returned home from the Clemson game (Go Tigers!), we made our annual trip to our "local" (a good 40 minutes away) apple orchard. Due to a poor harvest this year, we weren't able to pick our own apples, BUT we did buy three dozen of the apple cinnamon donuts we loooooooove, grabbed a bag of freshly harvested apples, and hung out there for awhile. It was fun!

Tiger football. I think it's pretty clear that we are hardcore Clemson fans around here. Last weekend, we had a big game that my hub went to with our friends. I, however, stayed home with my s{quad} and we had a great day together, traipsing all over town in our orange and purple before settling in for the night game. And we were so excited to come away from it with the W. Whew! Go Tigers! 

At-home fun. Since we were home all day Monday and the weather was nasty, we tried to make the most of it! We made "Goo," made our first-ever homemade pie (thanks to our loot from the apple orchard the day prior), watched a movie with popcorn (Bella LOVES popcorn. Who knew?!), did some spelling homework and informal OT exercises (can't be all fun and games all the time), and just enjoyed each other's company. :)

Fun Run. Our elementary school does just one big fundraiser the whole school year, and it is always scheduled at the start of September: the Boosterthon Fun Run. Banks and Raleigh were lucky to get some great pledges from family and friends this year and ran their hearts out, all 35+ laps! Harrison and Bella accompanied me to the big event since my hub was out of town, and we had a great time cheering on our runners in their runs. 

Flag football. Last night was Banks' first flag football game of this, his fifth season playing. The kid eats, sleeps, and breathes football; so, he was SO excited for his game, even wearing his jersey to school that day. :)    

Throw in early intervention and occupational therapy visits, a dinner out with our Life Group, my Momma Date with Banks, and football practice and it made for a busy, wonky week! And now, it's just my s{quad} and me this weekend. We've got a fun block party on our street tomorrow and, of course, we'll be cheering on our Clemson Tigers as they take on Louisville tomorrow night. Other than church and a birthday party on Sunday, we don't have anything else planned, which means we'll be able to get a little rest and complete a few projects around the house. Have a GREAT weekend y'all. 

P.S. We have some BIG appointments next week. Would you mind including my Bella in your prayers if you have a moment to spare? We'll take every prayer we can get!! <3