"I know but a lot of kids sit and dance to be like brax! He's such a happy boy it could take a lot more than a broken leg to hold him back."

My wonderful bestfriend Jenn sent me this text message today. She sent this message after she had sent me a video of Braxton dancing with his friend at school, while sitting in a chair. The video made me smile, but made me so sad too. I hate the fact that my little boy is sitting in a chair and not being able to run around with his friends. I explained this to Jenn and that is the quote she sent back to me. I seriously haven't stopped thinking about it all day.

Braxton is an amazing little boy. A boy so wonderful other kids want to be like him. He is sweet and caring. He is a friend to everybody and he loves everybody. He constantly talks about his wonderful friends and how much they mean to him. Whenever I walk into school the kids run to Braxton. They look up to him and they think he is just as amazing as I do. It's amazing to see your child thrive and grow. It is something that makes parenthood absolutely wonderful because you are part of it. I couldn't be prouder of the son we are raising. Parenthood is the hardest job in the world, but honestly it is the more rewarding job as well.

Now on to the nothing can bring him down part. Jenn totally made me think. Seriously in the beginning of Braxton's injury he never quit. He had his moments of pain, but the second he wanted to do something he did it. He isn't throwing a pity party for himself, he just deals with it. It doesn't slow him down or make him a different person. He is still the sweetest and happiest little boy. How many times in my life have I just been sad or upset and I let it control me? My three year old doesn't even do that. I have serious stress in my life, but I let it get me down and keep me down. Today made me realize I need to be like my 3 year old. Who knew he could teach me so much!

Seriously though everyday I may teach Braxton something, but he truly shows me what life is all about. With him life makes sense. Man am I lucky or what?

Lastly Braxton has his follow up appointment tomorrow. I am nervous and excited. We are hoping for good news so please keep the prayers coming. We will let you know the news soon:)

Just keep swimming..Just keep swimming - Find Nemo

As you can see from the title, our family is stressed and all we can do is push forward. After missing most of last week because of Braxton's surgery I have been playing catch up. Monday I was at school from 10 till 9 at night non stop. It's been crazy and to top it off my wonderful husband has been gone on business. I am just trying to put one foot in front of the other because really that is all I can do.

On a positive note my little boy is improving each day. He has been sleeping SO MUCH better and hasn't had a ton of pain. My wonderful daycare took him back Monday. Seriously they are the best. He is so happy to be back at school with his friends and it gives me time to get back into school. I swear the girls at Braxton's daycare are amazing and I get teary eyed just thinking about how blessed I am to have their support. They love Braxton so much and it shows. I could never explain to them how grateful I am for them. I couldn't ask for a better place.

We go to the doctor Friday for our follow up so I will have more information about the plan for Braxton. I am hoping for good news. Keep the prayers coming for little man. He is such a trooper and I couldn't be more proud!

Day 2

Well last night didn't go as well as I would have hoped. Yesterday evening Braxton went through a rough part where when he was trying to sleep he had muscle spasms. It was awful. He had all his medicine, and basically I felt helpless because there wasn't anything I could do. Conrad and I tried repositioning him, but nothing helped. I just held on to his hand. This lasted for what seemed like forever. Then at bedtime it happened again. This time the muscle spams were coming seriously every 30 seconds. My poor boy grabbed on to me with the tightest grip just screaming. I had had enough. I ended up calling the surgeon, who told me to try benadryl. That took the edge off for a little bit, but an hour later we were at it again. We made it through the night, but we are both exhausted. I called the doctor this morning so I should be getting a call to see what the next plan is. Hopefully we can find a way to ease my boys pain, because I cannot handle watching it. It seriously breaks my heart.

We are hoping today will be a better day. I told Braxton his cousin Brenna and Aunt Jenn were stopping by this morning and that made him excited. I am hoping visitors will make him happy because sitting around all day is hard on him.

We will keep you posted. Thanks again for your prayers:)

"When he decided to break something..he really wanted to go all out."

Well I think you all know that our family has had a pretty eventful couple of days.

On Monday night, Braxton and I went to my parent's house for dinner since my husband was out of town for work for a couple days. We were relaxing and Braxton was playing with some toys. He loves this wooden train that I used to play with as a kid. Anyways he left it in front of the t.v. We aren't sure exactly how it happened, even though we were all in the room, but Braxton was running and it looked like he stepped on the train and since it has wheels it moved, making him fall backwards. He feel extremely awkward, his leg was basically behind him. When I went and picked him up he immediately grabbed his thigh and was screaming for ice. I sat on a chair with him and every time we moved, he screamed in pain. My Dad said from the very beginning he needed to go to the ER. He kept having these muscle spasms and I knew something was not right.

When we got to ER at 9 o'clock p.m., they moved us pretty fast to x-ray. The nurse told me from the beginning if it is broken we will get you to a room right away. We went to x-ray, which I have to say was HORRIBLE. Moving him around broke my heart, because he was shivering, screaming, and sweating from the pain. Right after the x-ray we moved to the room and the tech said it was broken. My heart broke immediately. Once we got into the room there were two nurses there who started an iv. Everyone was working, but no one was telling me what was going on. At first they said he was going to surgery in an hour, I was freaking out. Here I was without my husband dealing with all this. They ended up moving surgery back to 6 am which was good because it gave me time to get things together. Once Conrad got the call that Braxton was having surgery he knew he had to be there. His job allowed him to come home. THANK GOD for them, because without Conrad there I don't know how I could have done it. I am so grateful for that.

Since he wasn't going to surgery right away they decided to splint his leg. At this point I was told that it was a Greenstick fracture. They gave him some sedation and placed the splint on. This was to help keep his leg in position. Conrad arrived around midnight and we were up to our peds room at 1:00. Braxton and I didn't sleep much at all. About every 20 mins he had muscle spasms that just made him scream in pain. It was horrible. They made sure to give him morphine, but it was still a lot to deal with. I slept maybe 15 minutes, my mind couldn't get over the fact that my child was going to be in surgery. I was so scared.

That morning we took him down and the surgeon explained everything and said the procedure would take 45mins-1 hour. At this point we were told that Braxton had a spiral fracture. Seriously you have to see the pictures to believe it, this kid totally broke his femur. It is actually impressive. The surgeon said a prayer and Conrad and I were bawling. When I let go of his hand, my heart dropped. We sat in the waiting room for an hour and a half. I was freaking out and beyond anxious at why it was taking so long.

Finally they come out and said he did well, but he had some respiratory issues and actually had to be intubated during surgery. Um hello, can you scream scary? Anyways it wasn't for long, but with him having asthma and a cold, he just needed some extra help. We got to see him in recovery and just looking at the cast made me teary eyed. I hate it now and I know I will hate it forever, especially since he will be wearing it for 4-6 weeks. He looked so helpless laying in that bed. He had oxygen on and was so sleepy. It took a lot to get him to wake up, but with not sleeping at all the night before and anesthesia I expected that.

When we got him back up to his room, he started having some pain issues. It took a while to get his pain under control, and I really think he just didn't want to be there. It is horrible to watch your child go through pain like that. I felt miserable for him. I think as a parent you just wish you could switch places. I wanted me to be going through this, not him. When we finally got discharged Braxton changed. He just felt more like himself, which he hadn't been through this whole thing. I have to say though that through this whole process Braxton made me so proud. Even through all the pain he was a perfect little boy. Even the nurses made comments about how sweet he was, even through all his pain. He is so amazing and we are just so lucky!

He did very well on the ride home and we had a successful first night at home. We moved Daddy out into a different room and Braxton and I sleep in my bed. I put a side rail up and made sure he had plenty of pillows. We woke up ever couple of hours, but seriously he did awesome.

This morning Braxton is doing well. He is watching cartoons and I am going to give him a sponge bath. We are hoping we find a good routine for him.

We cannot thank you all enough for all your concerns and prayers. It makes this process a little easier knowing we have so much support. You really have no idea.

We will keep you all updated and we are always open to visitors so PLEASE feel free to drop by. I know Braxton will love to see the people he loves!:)

Busy Busy Busy Bees

Do you ever get so busy, you are always worrying about what you have to do next? Seriously that is me right now. I feel like there is never enough time in the day, especially for my studies. Well last night I also remembered I really have to relax and enjoy my life, because everthing is going so fast. My poor peanut was sick last night, hacking his little lungs out I swear, and the only way I could get him to relax was by letting him lay on me in the rocking chair. In the beginning all I could think was the long list of things I had to do. Then all the sudden I looked at my son and realized that I never use the rocker anymore because he is so big, and we usually don't have to rock him to sleep anymore. I was looking at him and realized how big he has gotten. His legs hang over the edge of the rocker and it took a lot to get him comfortable because of his bigger body. Then I got mad at myself for not enjoying this time. I mean when he is 10 you think he will still want his momma rocking him and rubbing his back? Probably not. I can barley believe he is 3, and to think someday he will be 18 makes me want to cry. It goes so fast. My baby is now a boy. Gotta remember to just sit and enjoy my time with my boy.


Also I have to share a funny story from today, we were sitting in our room and Braxton looked at me said lets be friends momma I love you. It made me so happy and I told him of course and I loved him too. Then he started sniffing me. I looked at him like what are you doing..and he goes Mom you smell gross. Where do kids learn this stuff? He is always making me laugh with what he comes up with.

Last but not least as you all know my hubby is a BUSY working man:) I am so proud, but also VERY nervous because he is traveling a lot. Makes it a tad difficult when you are in school and being a Moma. We will work it out and I have faith we will make it:). But I will always take any prayers people want to give us as we make this adjustment!!!

Thats all for now...Hope everyone is enjoying this BEAUTIFUL Fall Weather. We love it!

Ps I am sure all of you are aware..but the best day of the year is in 9 days..MY BIRTHDAY..Its a pretty big deal!!

WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU CONRAD!

Today is Conrad's FIRST Officially day of work at Crowe!! We are soo proud of him! He was looking so handsome this morning in his new work clothes. I have to say I am not used to seeing him dressed up, but I like it:).

This morning Braxton and I are both sleepy. My brain is exhausted from all the studying I did yesterday, and my poor Braxton has come down with some sort of virus. Poor guy was up at 2am throwing up. Ahh there is nothing worse then a sick baby. So today while I am off to school all day my wonderful mother in law is going to stay with my boy. Thank god for wonderful Grandparents. I don't know what I would do without them.

Well off we go...Hope you all have a GREAT Monday!

Our Favorite Season....

It is starting to look like Fall people and I am soo excited. Fall is my favortie season for so many reasons. I love the weather, the changes in colors, and mostly FOOTBALL SEASON!! Yes I am a big football fan. Notre Dame and the Colts! I honestly don't know anything else. My husband, unfortunately, is a Michigan Fan. You can see where that could be a problem when raising a boy. However, don't you fret because Momma is taking care of business. My son is a momma's boy right now, and I am going to take FULL advantage of it. Just ask him who his favorite team is between the two and you will find a PERFECT answer because Notre Dame is Mommy's team!! As you can see from the picture below I am raising him well:)

Braxton has been loving Pre-School and I am SO proud of how well he is adjusting. He adores his friends and his teachers. He is learning so much and we can already tell the differences. I truly have been enjoying being the one to pick him up from school since Conrad and I have changed roles. It has been a big blessing to me. When Braxton gets home from school we have been loving going for bike rides or running in the jogger. I cannot lie I thought it would be easy to get back on a bike, but I am horrible. Don't worry people Braxton wears a helmet. Anyways we have been loving time together, especially Mommy. Since I am in school and don't have the time I use to I REALLY try to make our time together special and meaningful. That boy means so much to me. Never thought I could love someone so much.

I am starting to adjust to school, but I will be perfectly honest when telling you I had my first breakdown. Yes I am aware I have been in school barley a week, but it happened. I had my first lab for my Anatomy and Physiology class. Lets just say I went home in tears because I was so frustrated. Not to mention I broke a beaker in class. I got over it though, and I take it as a blessing because I have been out of school for over 4 years, kind of need to give myself a break and realize to be a little easier on myself. Lets just say I am a perfectionist and I don't like being wrong even a little bit. Ok I am stubborn you got me. I am loving school though and I find it all so interesting. I am blessed to be at Bethel.

Conrad has been enjoying his last week before work. He has had the opportunity to Golf and help me get adjusted to school, which is wonderful. I am so lucky to have him. Truly has my back and pushes me when I want to give up.

Alright I am off to do more studying..don't get too excited for me:)

It is written on your heart...

I was in class today and got so inspired by this video, I knew I had to share it. I am in a class called Exploring the Christian Faith at Bethel College, and although I have only had 3 classes so far I am so in love with it. I am a work in progress, someone who is trying to find their way in this crazy world. I have been praying to God to help guide me, and he placed me right in this class. It is my blessing and one I plan to take full advanatge of.

My favorite thing from this video is when he says, "The song is playing around us all the time, it's everywhere, it is written on our hearts and everybody is playing. The question isn't whether or not your playing the song, it's if your in tune." Doesn't matter how much you say you love Christ or have faith, it's how you live it everyday. God's wisdom is too beautiful to be thrown away for nothing. God is what we are made for. We weren't made for anything else.

I hope you enjoy this video as much as I do.