Memorial Day and My Family

I was watching CNN, the John King, U.S.A. special, he interviewed a set of parents that had lost their son in Afghanistan in 2008. John King asked them what they would like people to know about Memorial Day. Their answer, "Memorial Day is not just about beer and barbeque. It is about the men and women that serve and often give their lives for this nation. So take a moment, big or small, to pay tribute to that heroic deed on this day." My eyes welled up at their story and loss, which I take even harder now that I am a parent.

Today our family will pay tribute to the men and women that serve and to the precious souls that leave this earth too soon so that my sons can thrive in this democratic country. And I will also pay tribute to the military in my own family. Thanks to my Uncle Jimmy's hard work we have information dating back to the Civil War.

To P&K: This list reflects their relationship to you.
Great Uncle- Lt. James W. Tucker-Army
Great Uncle- Major Carlos Larry Tucker – Army -Veteran of Vietnam War
Great Uncle- Tim Hardin- US Marines
Cousin- Jeff Ellis US Coast Guard
Your Great-Grandfather’s side of the family

Great Great Uncle Eulice “Buster” Tucker served in the Merchant Marines - Veteran of WWII

Civil War Veterans’
Great Great Great Great Great Grandfather Charles W C Tucker – Private with “Pirkles Rangers” 4th Regiment, Georgia Calvary, State Guard

Great Great Great Great Great Grandfather James Madison Maise- Sergeant with the 48th Alabama Infantry. Died from wounds from the Battle of Bull Run near Mannases, Va. Sept 3, 1862

Great Great Great Great Great Grandfather Isham H. Sitz-Private 48th Alabama Infantry. Fought in Petersburg, Second Mannases, Battle of the Wilderness, Gettysburg and ended the war at Appomattox.

Great Great Great Great Great Great Grandfather –Born in Germany was sold by the Hessian Count Frederick II to Great Britain to fight in the American War of Independence. He deserted the British and fought for the Americans. He made his home Lincoln County, North Carolina

Your Great-Grandmother’s side of the family

Great Great Uncle Marion Norton Cothran Army- Veteran of WWII

Great Great Uncle Roy Linley Cothran – Veteran of WWII, Korean and Viet Nam

Great Great Great Great Great Grandfather - Wylie J. Cothran—Sergeant in the Confederate States Army 19th Regiment, Alabama Infantry

Great Great Great Great Great Great Grandfather Julius R. Bates-Major General – Army-7th Division of Georgia Militia--Resigned in 1852, before Civil War. Resigned because he was against the way the American Indians were treated!

Great Great Great Great Great Great Grandfather John W. Cothran-Major- Army

Pics of Pax with Peanut Allergy

Here are some pictures, all but the last one is from yesterday. The rash that you can see on his face, chin, and neck is now covering his whole body. Just breaks my heart.

A picture from this morning, after a dose of Benadryl. His right eye is still swollen, but looks much better than it did when I found him in his crib this morning. I think that side of his face is worse because some of the peanut butter had gotten onto his finger and he wiped it on that side of his face. Apparently kiddos can be allergic with just skin contact.

Peanut Allergy & Pirate Ship

Ok, moms...who knows anything about peanut allergies? Our sweet Paxton had an awful reaction to peanut butter yesterday, the second time ever eating it. We did Benadryl last night (and now every 6 hours), per doctors instructions, woke up this morning with eyes almost swollen shut, mouth swollen open, entire body covered with fire red skin and a bumpy rash. We were off to the peditrician this morning, and are now owners of 2 epi pens. SO stinkin' SCARY. Any tips? Anything I need to avoid? Trying to do research on allergies to peanuts or peanut oil. I have pics that I havent uploaded yet, will do later. Just hugging on my guy today. BTW, Kellen ate the peanut butter on wheat bread with no problems. Pax only had one bite.

Pre-peanut allergic reaction our afternoons were filled with this new toy in the backyard...a water table pirate ship. The boys will literally pound on the door in our sun room to go outside, becoming soaked in a matter of minutes. Clean-up...well, that takes much longer!!!

Kellen's little wet feet!

Paxton's little wet feet!

Lovin' on some sugar-free popsicles!

I'm Just Sayin...

Paxton after eating blackberries for breakfast. Kellen after eating blackberries for breakfast. I'm Just Sayin...these kids are definitely different!!!

Brotherly Love:

Playin' with Papaw

Papaw (my dad) came to visit from Tampa this weekend and we all had a blast! The boys were so worn out by Sunday they took a 3.5 hour nap! We had not seem him since December, but the boys seemed to remember who their Papaw is...even shy baby Kellen went right to him! My dad and the boys look so much alike, it is crazy!!! They both fought over sitting with him the whole weekend. We cant wait to come visit in Tampa!!

Kellen always wants the camera...instead of smiling for it!!! It was cute after I took the pic, Kellen kept leaning his head into dad...how dad had leaned into him for the pic. That Kel is a cutie!! Sweet Kel at the playground in our subdivision. The playground is literally a couple of houses away from ours and we take advantage every day!! Paxton cracking up, always cracking up!! Boys on the move!

See you soon, Papaw. We love you!

For Your Viewing Pleasure

Is there anything cuter than babies just after they wake up from a nap? Not in my book!!!

And can I just re-confirm how much I love their very different eye color. I would be lost without my doe eyes and baby blues.

Question for Twin Moms via IVF

***Update***
Thanks for all the comments, I really appreciate all of the different viewpoints. We all know there is nothing about IVF and the outcome that is a sure thing, quite the opposite. During our IVF cycle I only had 5 eggs, 2 made it to transfer, and 2 became Paxton and Kellen. If I only had 2 embryos, I would probably transfer the 2. And I say "I" because the hubby may have a very different feeling on the subject!! However, I would need to take a big deep breath before that transfer!!! And if God thought we could handle twins again then we would get ready for the circus!!! My heart aches to try one more time, but I am not sure if IVF is in the cards. But I will keep you posted!!!!!

*************

On Mother's Day we went to brunch at Bosco's and as we turning into the parking lot I saw this cute mom with one carseat on each side of her. I just had to talk to her! So as we were walking into Bosco's I went up to her and googled over her precious baby twin girls. The dad was standing beside me and said, "well, these twins are 8 months but those twins (pointing at two toddlers running in the grass) are 4.5 years old." I lost words, but uttered something like oh my gosh your hands are full. The mom said, "it's easier the second time." And the dad quickly followed with, "no it's not!"

So this brings me to my question. Moms with twins conceived through IVF, are you gonna try again? And would you still transfer two embryos? Do you want another set of twins, maybe triplets? Or are you going to wait on a miracle and be done with fertility treatments? Okay, so that was way more than one question but feel free to answer any or none!

I think having the diagnosis of diminshed ovarian reserve coupled with turning 31 yesterday has led me to writing this post. These questions are discussed every so often in our home, how about yours??

Happy Mother's Day!

Hope all the mommys out there have a wonderful, pampered day! Mine was great, and the celebration continues with my 31st birthday tomorrow. And my day was topped off by a pretty decent pic with my babes!!! Every twin mom out there knows that is no easy task!!

I could...

stare at

these baby blues all day!
Lucky me, I get to!!

Kellen and His Best Friend

His Daddy.

How About Some Pics?!

Sorry, I havent been posting many pictures lately. I have fallen so behind because nap times have been consumed with working on the new house. But here are some! The boys are now 16 months, time flies when you are having fun!

Nashville Flood

Count your blessing blog readers. The greater part of Nashville is totally under water. It is a terrible, terrible sight. I can not believe this is hapenning in our city. We received 18 inches of water in a day and half. 11 confirmed deaths, 2 college age boys are still missing after deciding to intertube a flooded creek. We have friends that have lost everything from cars to their entire homes. And the majority of Nashvillians do not have flood insurance because they were not in a flood zone. So they have literally lost everything. Say prayers for the families whose immediate future is in question. We are very fortunate our subdivision is new and provisions for flooding were in place. The home we just moved from I am being told had water up to the front door, all of the homes across the street were flooded chest high. Be thankful for life and family...because 'things' can we washed away in minutes.

Before I was a Mom

Before I was a Mom,
I never tripped over toys
or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not
my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind
and my thoughts.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held down a screaming child
so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night
watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held a sleeping baby just because
I didn't want to put him down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces
when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small
could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom,
I didn't know the feeling of
having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel
to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond
between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small
could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night
every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth,
the joy,
the love,
the heartache,
the wonderment
or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much,
before I was a Mom.

~Author Unknown

Laughter

Our home is filled with a lot of laughs these days. The boys have all kinds of laughs, but I think the cutest is the laugh I hear when they are laughing at one another. But there are mischevious laughs, surprised laughs, belly laughs, laughing so hard the laugh is silent laugh and I just love them all. Even better, the boys have totally different laughs so from another room you can hear each distinctive personality. Probably two of my favorite things, laughter and sunshine!! Both are good for the soul. A laugh with our spouse or our best friends, dont they just feel good?

This reminds of a very special moment in my life. My grandmother suffered from Alzeimers before her passing. The last time I saw her was at Thanksgiving nearly 10 years ago. We were sitting on a couch side by side. I dont remember what it was, but I burst out in laughter. A good, loud, eyes tearing kinda laugh. My grandmother touched my arm and said, "your laughter reminds me of someone." I said, "who is that?" She responded in a sweet, child-like voice, "my granddaughter Courtney." An ugly disease had stollen her ability to remember my face, but in that moment she remembered my soul. And well, that just meant the world.

What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul. ~Yiddish Proverb

Scariest day.of.my.life

I had taken the boys to music class at Davis Kidd, and had parked in the Macy's garage because it looked like it was going to rain. After music, the boys ate lunch, I shopped a bit, and then headed for the parking lot. I was having a bit of a trouble getting the stroller out of the double doors, and noticed two African American females leave out of the double doors to my left. And there was about 20-30 seconds between them, they were not walking together. Just as I got the stroller out of the second set of double doors a very large security man (didnt realize this at the time) came running out and grabbed the second girl. He grabbed her bags and held them in the air, it was now clear she was being caught for shoplifting. The first female had gotten away, at the time I thought she had just ran off. The female that was caught was putting up quite the fight and I just froze. I stood there for a few more seconds and thought I better continue on to my car. I was about 4 or 5 steps away from the doors when I heard a car come barrelling down in the garage. The security guard attempted to stop the car by jumping in front of it. Im not sure why he did that because she was driving so fast. When he jumped, the female driver swerved to miss him and came within 1 foot of hitting the boys. I write that sentence with many tears in my eyes. I pulled the boys back and my knees just collapsed. I was shaking so bad. An older woman helped me get the boys back into the store and I screamed that the security officer needed help, he was still outside trying to gain control of the second female. Security was everywhere and acted quickly, and I was able to get her tags as she sped out of the garage. My hope is she was caught.

It is truly amazing how something terrible can happen in a blink of eye. Thank you God for giving me 1 foot between her front left wheel and my precious babies.

At Second Glance

The boys are becoming less fond of veggies, and that is putting it lightly! So you can imagine how pleased I was last night when at least one child finished his peas. Kellen left every single pea on his plate, but Paxton had only a few...and I declared that a victory!! Until I took him out for his bath and realized he was very neatly stacking the peas to his right. UGH!!! I give up, not really but you know what I mean!!! We have been trying very hard to stop food from being thrown off the trays, so how I could be mad at this sneaky (yet neat) trick my little trouble-maker toddler developed?? I didnt, I laughed so hard, took a picture, and left it for the morning to clean up!

Easter Week

If you could see through this computer you would see me jumping for joy that winter is officially over. We had a solid week of beautiful weather, and loved every second of it. The boys' Nana came into town on Sunday, and I ran errands all day Monday. Which is probably one of my favorite things to do! I also picked wallpaper for a half bathroom and a grasscloth for our study. Maybe I will post pictures when we have it installed, but no mean comments about it being ugly!!!!! Tuesday, my mother and I took the boys shopping at Opry Mills (an outlet mall), and ate at Rainforest Cafe. The boys loved the restaurant, all the animals go off every 15 minutes...it was really funny. And they loaded up on some new summer clothes...thanks Nana. Wednesday, we spent all day at the Nashville Zoo with Scarlett and Ethan, Kelly and her adorable b/g twins Hutch and Anniston. They were born a day before the boys, so it was a real treat to meet her! Thursday, we played with Catherine and Cain and went to Phillips Toy Mart to see the bunnies. Phillips is an old toy store in Nashville, it is legit...and it is lovely to buy toys from a family owned business. The boys, however, could have cared less about the bunnies, but they LOVED the train set. They pushed all of the buttons, making the railroad crossings come down. I think one of those sets are in our future!! And today, we took a long walk in the BOB and the boys ran all over the place. I am pooped, but still jumping for joy!!!

Just finished having lunch at the zoo. Sunscreen and sweat doing funny things to my Pax's hair!!

Loving the train set!! Here it comes!
"Mama, can I press the button?"
"Mama, I will press the button without asking first!" Gotta love how different these kids are!
The real life Easter bunnies!

And these are two faces that could care less!


Have a wonderful Easter and Passover, everyone! We have a big day of events planned for Easter and then are heading to Atlanta on Sunday. We have tickets to the Masters in Augusta. This will be Tiger's first tournament back...ladies, what should I yell at him in his backswing?!!!!

Sneak Peek

Ummm, now that is Cute with a capital C. Thanks Brandi, cant wait to see the rest!!

Color Me Happy...

...Springtime has ARRIVED. We have been so busy. As I mentioned before we have been moving. We are finally in the new house, not settled but we are in. More on that later. I will be updating more frequently now too, I have been drowning in boxes. We have been enjoying the outdoors. Here are a few pics that include an afternoon spent eating whole strawberries...which caused an awful mess but was pure sweetness!!!

Playing with Laura's (neighbor) Golden Retriever

The boys held hands for 30 minutes on a trip to Alabama to see our cousins. So SWEET!
The best big cousin to the boys ever, Jo.
Ate our first popsicle! Grape for Kellen, Banana for Paxton.

And the boys fed ducks, with lots of help from Wendi and Jo, at Guntersville Lake
Strawberries for Dessert, Please!

CRIME: Enjoying a whole strawberry VERDICT:GUILTY!!!!!