"Tink"

So, Miss Olivia woke up at 2:30 this morning having "one of those nights" and just couldn't sleep so she decided she wanted to dress up in her Tinkerbell outfit.. We haven't had one of these nights in a while, so it was a bit depressing, but we'll be fine. So, when she asked if I would let her dress up in her Tink outfit, I was all for it. I knew it would bring smiles to our faces, and it did. I just love her. By the way, thanks Sally for the outfit!! What would we have done without it tonight???

Please remember Olivia in your prayers tonight. She goes for her MRI tomorrow and they are going to put her to sleep, and this just petrifies me. This is when all our trouble began in the first place (after her surgery). But, it must be done in order to try and figure out what is wrong with her..We just have to have faith that everything will go smoothly. The EEG came back somewhat normal on Monday. He said she didn't have any major episodes on the EEG, but there was more "generalized slowing" on the EEG than he would have liked to seen. (Whatever that means) He didn't seem too concerned and told me to keep her on the seizure meds and we would see what the MRI showed...I just feel in my gut it has something to do with the surgery. Mothers intuition!!!!! Please just remember her in your prayers... They are working!!!! I hope everyone has a wonderful day and weekend.....

An update on the Jones family

This is a picture of the baby she got to pick out after her procedure yesterday..I told her if she would be brave and do good I would let her pick out a present after we left.. (She got one anyway, hint, hint! :-)

Isn't this pitiful??? Well, I guess it is time for an update on Olivia and what the Jones household has been up to here lately..

Olivia had surgery on May 12th (I think) to have a brachial cleft pit removed just below her clavicle, and an auricle pit removed at her ear. (Please see previous posts if you do not know what these are) At any rate, surgery went well and Olivia recovered remarkably! BUT, within the week, I noticed this weird jerking and rolling of her eyes when she was trying to go to sleep. Now, luckily, Miss Olivia has always loved her sleep, or I might have mistaken it for "fighting sleep"... But I quickly realized she was having mild seizures as she was drifting off to sleep. We are not sure yet what has caused them, but we are doing lots of tests right now to figure it out. Yesterday we had to go to Franklin to have her hooked up to an EEG machine to wear home and video her last night as she slept. It was not a pretty day, I must say.. She was VERY ticked at me... No lie. I was getting some mean Chinese looks. Anyway, we go today to have it all removed. Then, next Friday, they are doing an MRI at Vanderbilt. The good news is that they have showed up in early childhood, (which they say is a good sign and that it is very possible she will grow out of them). It is heartbreaking though to watch her go through this, although, I know it could be worse. I was VERY mad and upset about all this at first because Olivia has been through so much already, but we are relying on God to get us through and knowing there is a reason for it. It is the only way we can cope. She doesn't really have problems during the day, it is mostly at night when drifting off to sleep or when she wakes in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep. So sad....We have started seizure medication and it has helped, I guess we are just still praying for a miracle...She will be starting a new school (Westwood) in a few weeks and she is very excited, as are we. Whew, at any rate, that's what our Miss Olivia has been up to...

Me, well, I have been trying to take care of Miss Olivia, and getting stuff ready for nursing school and praying that we have this situation with Olivia resolved somewhat before school begins, because I will be honest, I do not think I can handle the stress of both. I am obsessed right now with Olivia, and I am really worried about school. At any rate, I have bought uniforms, had tuberculosis tests, physicals, tetanus shots, hepatitis shots, varicella titers, background checks, bought books, purchased liability insurance, signed up for my CPR course, drug screened, and the list goes on and on.... Sooooo very excited, yet soooo very nervous. Don't want to let anyone down (including myself!)

Now Jason, poor guy... He is working himself to death, but it has all paid off. He got a promotion last week at work and he is now a supervisor at work...Yay! Go baby go!!!

And that will conclude my post today.... I will try and get Olivia's birthday pics up soon... I hope everyone has a fabulous day!

Our vacation in the Smokies.......

So, we left on Monday the 13th of July for Wilderness at the Park in the Smokies and came home yesterday (Fri)... We had soooo much fun. We went with my sister and her family. We take a vacation with them every year. I do not have a lot of pictures of the water at the Wilderness on here because a lot of my pictures include either me or Jason and I am not going to post pictures of me in a bathing suit on here :-),,, thus, not many Wilderness pics on here. At any rate, I did get a lot of other good pics. Also, for those of you who have asked :-), I have some pictures of Olivia's birthday party to post when I get the rest of the pics from friends and family.... Her party was last Saturday night at the Manchester pool outside and it was fun as well. We have had a busy week!!!

A picture of Olivia, Charlie and Rylan when we first got into our rooms at the Wilderness. They loved playing on this bunk....



Olivia and her Uncle Ryan sitting at the wave pool catching some rays....



Our sweet baby in her bikini....



Olivia going down the slides at the Wilderness...



Charlie doing a little surfing......



Olivia painting some pottery..This place was in the hotel where we stayed. The kids had so much fun doing this. Liv painted a ladybug.



Olivia and her cousin Rylan (Notice the orange mustache??? She had drank some orange Crush before we left and I could not get that mustache off! She wore it all night! Anybody know how to get that off for future reference?)



Another picture of Jason and I that Miss Olivia took....She hasn't mastered the zoom on the camera yet, she's still learning.....



Here is a picture of Charlie, Olivia and Rylan on the steps in the front of the hotel..



Me and Olivia riding the elephants at Dollywood. She got REALLY mad at me when I made the elephants go up and down...(Erica told me to do it.. I am blaming her!) Erica and Rylan are behind us...



Here we are on the lemon twist..(Me, Olivia and Rylan) I'm not sure why I am smiling like that.. I think we were acting silly as usual!!!




And here is our baby on the ducks, by herself, for the first time... I about cried.. She loved it... We rode these ducks, over and over.... She has come sooo far in 2 years.. She is still VERY cautious of everything though.





And here she is on the pigs (by herself again I might add).. We rode these piggies several times too...




Olivia trying really hard to watch Dad and Rylan play some shooting game at Dollywood...

Olivia taking a little cat nap at Dollywood while dad, Rylan and Charlie ride the Scrambler..

Jason, Rylan and Charlie getting ready to ride the scrambler (I think):-)

Uncle Ryan, Erica and Olivia waiting on Jason, Charlie and Rylan....

Olivia enjoying her lollipop at Dollywood......

An update......

Well, Miss Olivia will be turning 3 this coming Sunday. Time is going SOOOO fast... It seems like it was only a few months ago that we got her. This little girl has brought so much joy and happiness into our life, so much she will never know. I always kid with her (well, I am not kidding, but she thinks it's hilarious) and tell her to come here, I need to talk to you.... Then, I take both of her hands in mine and look into her eyes and tell her "I love you so so much sweet girl!!" Well, at first, she told me the same thing back, now she just starts dying laughing and takes off running because I do it soooooo much... As soon as I tell her I need to talk to her, a grin comes across her face and she comes and puts her hands in mine to see if that's what I am going to say, or if she's in some kind of trouble. Too funny! I love her soooo much... We rented the outdoor Manchester pool for Saturday and she is so very excited...It's all she talks about (especially since we have been to 2 birthday parties within 1 week. It was supposed to be 3 parties, but we didn't make it to one of them) We have had one busy week (and summer).. I will leave you with some random pictures from our busy weekend.....

By the way, Happy Birthday to Jared Lee Martin!! We are sooo sorry we missed your birthday party Saturday!! We love you bunches and bunches....

This is my nephew Dyson fixing to blow out the candles on his Pokemon birthday cake Sunday afternoon. He is 6 years old this year! Happy Birthday sweet boy!



I absolutely adore this picture!! This is Olivia and her Peepaw being silly at Dyson's birthday party... Sooooo sweet!!!!!



Dyson patiently waiting to have his turn at the pinata...



Olivia having her turn at the pinata!!!



Olivia and sweet Camden!



Happy Birthday Dyson!!!!!



Saturday afternoon, my grandmother had a small July 4th/birthday party for Olivia and her cousin Rowan..Her birthday is the 12th of July, and his is the 11th. It was so sweet..She had horse shoes, jump ropes, teeball set, tennis set, bubbles, hula~hoops, etc all set up in the backyard when the kids got there... They had sooooo much fun! Thank you granny... We love you..



They LOVED the bubbles... Here is granny and Uncle Matt showing them all the MANY, MANY bubbles my grandmother purchased.....




Here is Olivia blowing bubbles in Rowan's face!! How nice!



Olivia enjoying that cake!



Rowan and his mom Morgan....



Olivia and Daddy sitting around our campfire. We built a campfire, roasted marshmallows and then shot off fireworks Friday night. Olivia was scared of the fireworks at the beginning, but she started liking them "somewhat" at the end..



Daddy's fire pit!!! We love it!!! (and the marshmallows!)



These are some pictures of me and daddy that Olivia took. She is getting good with the camera... I am pretty excited.. Me and Jason are going to start actually having pictures of ourselves!! Olivia is always wanting to take our picture.. Too sweet!



Our sweet baby girl at the campfire!!




Olivia and her cousin Shelbie McCormack.. Shelbie and her brother Brady had their birthday party at Hot Wheels Skate Center last week... It was super fun!!



Birthday boy Brady!!


Miss Olivia trying to skate... This didn't last very long at all... She has no patience...


And, there she goes, she is done......By the way, I do not normally dress this way at a birthday party, I had to leave and go play ball :-)