Hannah's 1st Day of K-4

Hannah Beth has been SO excited about going back to school.  She has been asking when she starts back for weeks.  Her teacher came to our house for a home visit in early August. We love that our preschool does that.  Hannah felt so special and loved that her new teacher got to meet her sisters and see her toys. 

Her teacher this year is Mrs. Wentzel.  We've heard great things about her and we're super excited that Hannah has her!! 

During orientation our preschool has a meeting for the parents upstairs in the church's fellowship hall while the kids stay downstairs with their new teacher and classmates in their new classroom.  Hannah was about to burst all day because she got to go to her school that night.  

Mrs. Wentzel texted me this picture later that night of Hannah talking on the phone during orientation.  I love that she has her hip popped out.  

Her first day finally arrived!  The kids usually get dressed after they eat breakfast because we still experience many spills around here, but Hannah was dressed and ready before we were even close to eating breakfast.  She was so excited!  

When I asked her what she wanted to be when she grows up she hesitated for half a second and said "a mom! I want to be a mom!"  

Bert snapped this picture of her just as she was walking in her room. Cutie!  

When I picked her up from school after the first day and asked her how her morning was she said "It was GREAT!!  I even got a sticker!"  

Hannah, I love that you are so expressive and get so excited about things!  We're SO proud of you and praying you have such a great year in K-4!!

Abby's Eating

Abby's been waking up earlier the last several mornings and I was planning on starting rice cereal any day anyway, so I decided to go ahead in hopes of it helping her to start sleeping until 7am or so again. It was a Watts family affair. Monday night after we had all finished eating dinner we put Abby in the high chair (we have seriously gotten our money's worth out of this item over the last 6-1/2 years....still in great shape), which Claire just passed on to Abby, and we all 5 cheered her on as she got ready to take her first bite!

She was excited to be sitting at the table with all of us!  This was her "before." 

Below was after her first bite.  She was concerned, confused and less than impressed.  

Emily and Hannah both wanted to give her a bite.  You can see that they were way more excited about it than Abby was.  

Abby's thinking "I may not can win against mom, but you're just 4 and you're not putting that in my mouth."  

These little facial expressions cracked me up.  This was basically how she felt the whole time.  

She never cried but she did not enjoy it.  Ha! 

We'll do rice cereal for about a week and then start introducing one new food a week starting with veggies.  She'll be eating what we eat before I can blink.  We love our little 5-1/2 month old! 

These Days

We're enjoying our last few weeks of summer! We've done a good bit of traveling over July, but we're settled back in now and ready for the start of school.  

I got this cute picture of Hannah and Abby a couple weeks ago. All three of the older girls are good with Abby (although Claire has to be watched like a hawk).  They love her to pieces, get so excited about holding her, ask where she is, try to make her smile and don't like it when she is crying.  But right now Hannah is the most "motherly."  I'm not sure if it's her age or her personality (too early to say), but she is SO sweet with Abby.  She asks to hold her often.  When Abby is playing in her exersaucer Hannah is the first to go sit on the floor and play with her.  She'll do it for long periods of time and it's especially helpful when I'm trying to get things done and Abby wants my attention -- Hannah will usually keep her happy without me even asking her to.  When Abby wakes up from a nap Hannah is usually the first to run to her crib (after asking permission).  She just generally pays very close attention to her and it's so sweet. I'm thankful for my happy little helper.  

We headed down for a trip to Jackson a few weekends ago.  Jeff and Linda treated us to a yummy dinner at a restaurant on Lake Jackson when we got there. And then we all enjoyed watching the Opening Games of the Olympics together.  

I got this picture of Pawpaw reading to E and H on Saturday morning.  Sweet! 

We went to Fresh Air BBQ for lunch on Saturday, which Bert believes to be the best BBQ on the planet.  I'm not sure if it's the best ever because I wouldn't call myself a BBQ connoisseur but it is really good. After lunch we headed over to a park and let the kids get some energy out before naps.  

Grandmama and Pawpaw with the girls!  

We had a fun visit and really enjoyed our time with Grandmama and Pawpaw!  When we were leaving our tenderhearted Hannah cried and cried.  She just kept saying how much she was going to miss them.  They love their grandbabies so much and our girls feel it.  

Abby turned 5 months old this month.  And I think she's about as cute as they get.  She's rolling all over the place now.  I don't bother putting her on a blanket because she'll roll off of it in 2.5 seconds. She sleeps on her stomach in her crib, in her room (that she shares with Emily), in her sleepsack from about 9pm to 7am...give or take a little.  She naps 3 times a day.  

We're going to start solids soon, but haven't yet.  She nurses 5 times a day. It is easy peasy to get this girl to smile right now.  You just look at her and talk to her and she is delighted.  We get to see lots of smiles because this girl gets lots of attention.  

She really likes bath time as you can see from the picture below.  I remember Claire used to scream and cry when we would take her out of the bath (because she liked it so much).   Abby doesn't do that....she doesn't cry when we take her out, but she is as happy as a lark while she is in there. Perhaps that is an indication that she is a smidge more laid back than our third little angel.  We'll see!:)  

In the last couple days (she's five and a half months old now) she has started getting on all fours and rocking.  Our other three all did this just before they started crawling, but it wasn't until they were about 9 months.  It will be interesting to see how long it takes her to take off.  I for one am definitely not ready for her to become mobile quite yet, but I don't think she cares.  :)

We had a fun tea party play date with some friends from church.  The kids all dressed up and Melissa let them drink tea out of her grandmother's china and had dainty desserts to eat.  It was adorable!

After the tea party they gave us a concert, which we enjoyed!  Bella is one of Emily's very best friends....they have so much fun together.  I love Claire's pink wig and Hannah's guitar playing skills! 

Last weekend I got to get together with my Clemson friends to celebrate Sara's upcoming wedding in two months and Angela's baby due in a month.  We had a joint shower for them at Kristin's house and then went out to dinner at Southern Culture.  I get to seem them all once a year at our annual girls weekend, but it was so fun to all get together mid year.  

Sandy brought her 3 month old, Sara Kate, who we all loved meeting!  

Jennifer (far left in the picture below) just had a baby 2 weeks before our get-together.  We were SO excited to see her and also SO impressed.  I'm hardly organized enough/together enough to run get something from the store at that point postpartum.  

Maybe one day we'll be able to get Abby, Sara Kate, Anna James, and Annslea together.  They are all four less than 6 months apart and would have big fun I'm sure.  

We took a quick overnight trip to visit my aunt and uncle at their lake house on Lake Hartwell.  Uncle Bud took us on a pontoon ride after dinner and it was sooooo relaxing and beautiful!  

This was Abby's 1st boat ride and she enjoyed herself.  She ended up taking a nap on Mimi for most of it. 

Hannah and Claire liked helping Uncle Bud drive the boat.  

In other big news we have moved Abby out of the pack-n-play in our room and into her crib in Emily's room.  So now Emily and Abby are sharing a room and Hannah and Claire are sharing a room.  Emily and Abby go to sleep within minutes of laying down and sleep all night. It would be appropriate to refer to Hannah and Claire's room as the "rowdy room."  Hannah is soooo much better with bedtime these days.  She only gets up a couple times when we put her down, if at all, and almost never gets up in the middle of the night, although it does still take her awhile to fall asleep.  Claire, on the other hand, is enjoying her new found freedom.  She gets up about 800 times at night and sometimes gets up in the middle of the night and has trouble going back to sleep (although to be fair she hasn't done that the last two nights). It's special.  It's only been about a week since we moved the rooms around so we're hoping the "rowdy room" (Claire specifically) settles down a little in time. :) 

It's been such a great summer!!  We're thankful for these days! 

Emily's 1st Day of 1st Grade

Emily had said all summer that she wanted Mrs. Poe as her 1st grade teacher.  I had heard great things about Mrs. Poe too, but I didn't say much about it because I knew she had a 1 in 5 chance.:) When she got her letter in the mail saying she had gotten Mrs. Poe she jumped around the room and screamed and then ran around the house and screamed and jumped some more. She was so excited and it was the sweetest.  I wish I had videoed it.  

We went to "Meet the Teacher" last Friday and while we were there the music teacher pulled Bert and me to the side and told us (with tears in her eyes) what a blessing Emily is.  She said she is a believer herself and said that Emily was a light and an encouragement.  It's humbling to think that God is using our messed up attempt at parenting to encourage others through our kids.  

Here is Emily with Mrs. Poe during Meet the Teacher!

Emily was all smiles for the 1st day of school!  

She told Bert on Sunday that she wanted to be a principal when she grows up and she told me Monday that she changed her mind and now wanted to be a teacher.  I have a feeling she'll change her mind again, but it's cute to hear her plans.  

She has 3 kids in her class from last year. In all, there are 10 boys and 8 girls in her class.  She is most excited about music and art. 

The book bag is about as big as she is.  

She had such a great first day.  Hannah, Claire and I were SO excited about picking her up (Abby, of course, was indifferent).  When she got in the car I asked her how her first day was and she said "it was A-mazing!!! It was so much fun!"  She told us about her new friend named Anna and said they are already such good friends they "just wanted to stay together!"  We had one of her favorite dinners of tilapia, mac and cheese and broccoli to finish out her 1st day celebrations!  

Emily, we couldn't be more excited for you!  We are praying that you have such a great 1st grade year!! 

Hannah's Hand

Our sweet Hannah has had some hand issues over the last couple months.  One morning in early April (April 10th to be exact) she came to me and showed me a spot on her hand.  I didn't think much about it, but when I looked at her hand a little closer she had a very small red spot and a very small knot under her skin. Bert checked it carefully for a splinter, but couldn't find anything, so we decided to just watch it. There wasn't much change in it over the month of April and it didn't seem to bother her at all.  I took her in for a well check about a month after it appeared and showed it to our doctor (that was early May).  She said to watch it and if it wasn't gone by the end of May to come back.  By the middle of May it was beginning to get bigger and more red so I decided to head back in.  

The picture on the right was early May and the picture on the left is mid May. 

We were referred to a hand specialist who told us he believed it to be a wart, to continue watching it, and to come back in 3 weeks. During that time it busted, so the doctors had her start on antibiotics due to the infection that grew back from the culture they took.  

This picture was taken on June 7th right after it busted for the 1st time.  

Before we realized exactly what we were dealing with I got a spot (a knot) half an inch from my right eye causing my right eye to start to swell.  I had obviously touched that spot near my eye some point after touching her hand.  Doctors confirmed it was the same infection that Hannah had on her hand.  I started antibiotics and mine cleared up quickly.  We were very, very careful to keep Hannah's hand covered after this and not let it spread to any others in our family.  It was a little stressful, especially with a 3-month-old in the mix. Thankfully it never spread to anyone except me and my spot was resolved quickly. On the other hand (no pun intended), Hannah's saga continued.  

We were told to go have x-rays if it wasn't better by the Monday after it initially busted.  It was not, so off for x-rays we went.  She was a brave little thing!  

One day her hand would look slightly better and the next it would look worse.  It was maddening.  I took a picture of it most days for months because it was difficult to determine if it was getting better or worse without them.  During those 3 months we tried oils, special honey, soaking it in warm water 3 times a day, and other home remedies. Over the course of those few months she had started calling her right hand her "bad hand" and her left hand her "good hand."  Poor thing!   

After the x-ray came back clear and the spot had started to fill back up with fluid again our pediatrician referred us to a pediatric surgeon in town.  We went to him once a week for 3 weeks and it was difficult for them (both the Doctor and the NP we saw every time) to decide exactly what was going on.  They initially agreed with the wart diagnosis, but then later started thinking it was a foreign object that had gotten in there and caused the infection.  At that point, it didn't really matter what had initially caused it -- after our 3rd visit he decided it was time for surgery and it was scheduled for July 1st.  None of our kids had ever been put to sleep and we were nervous about them doing that to our baby, but we felt confident in his decision and in his ability to get this spot drained and cleaned out.  

The morning of her surgery Grangy came over to stay with Emily, Claire and Abby and we woke Hannah up and headed out the door.  She didn't totally understand what was going on, but we felt like that was best.

Hannah was so brave! 

Mimi and Papa got up early that day and made the drive over for it too.  Even though they live an hour and twenty minutes away Mimi was very involved in the hand ordeal and helping us to get our girl better.  She received most pictures I took of it and did hours and hours of research for us.  Thanks SO much, Mimi!! 

This was right after her surgery when she was coming out of her anesthesia.   I was so relieved to have her in my arms.  

Dr. Abrams said that there was a chronic abscess inside.  He drained it and cleaned it out really well. He never was able to find a "foreign object" but believes that she must have had a splinter or something similar get down in there and then get infected and her body wasn't able to get rid of it on it's own.  

We kept her entire hand wrapped and covered for about 5 days after the surgery.  We continued soaking until the hole was entirely closed up.  We went back to see the pediatric surgeon two and a half weeks after surgery and he gave her the all clear.  He said the redness that we still see is just scar tissue.  

Here is a picture that I took of it this morning.  

I have approximately 85,000 more pictures of her hand and I spared you the worst of them, but you get the general idea of our journey.  It was filled with doctors visits and washing her hand every time she turned around and band-aids/wraps and me worrying and oils and hand soaking and praying.  We are so thankful to have this crazy thing behind us, and we're so thankful that God used our wonderful doctors to take care of our girl's hand! 

Water Park, Race Cars and Pier Park

One of our favorite things to do in Panama City is go to the Miracle Strip at Pier Park and let the kids ride all the fun kiddie rides, the Ferris Wheel, and last year Emily and Jacob were tall enough to ride the roller coaster.  We were excited about our Pier Park night.  We hurried (as fast as you can hurry with a group our size) off for an early dinner at Five Guys at Pier Park and then headed over to Miracle Strip only to find out it had closed--as in, closed for good!--sometime during the year.  All the rides were gone and everything was overgrown.  I think the adults were as disappointed as the kids.  We decided to head back to a spot in the middle of the Pier Park shopping area that had a few rides so that the kids would at least get to do some. 

Bert rode with Em and Stanley rode with Jacob on the ride below.  Hannah was tall enough for the ride but didn't want to ride.  It spun around in circles so I didn't want to ride either.  Spinning rides are NOT my idea of a good time.  

We all had fun on the carousel!  

We went to Shipwreck Island water park on Tuesday.  We mostly spent the day in the kiddie section, although the adults that wanted to got to ride a couple rides each.  They have an awesome kiddie section with so many fun slides for the kids.  

Mimi and Papa in charge of the littles.  This boat had a good bit of shade around it so if Abby was in the water she was here.  

Abby took a really good nap while we were there.  She was re-laxed, under the cabana, snuggled on Papa's chest.    

These cute kids had fun and were worn slap out at the end of the day!

Race cars is another fun yearly activity.  This was a picture of the cheering section.  Claire kept saying "I want ride wase car."  We didn't think she was tall enough but Katherine decided to walk her over to the measuring stick to make sure.  We were surprised to find out that she just barely made it.  She was excited!  So Claire and I jumped in line and waited with the others.  She felt like a big girl!  

Hannah and Bert were partners.  

Claire was the cutest little rider. I heard a couple people talking to each other saying "Look at that baby riding the race car."  Ha!  Good thing Claire didn't hear them call her a baby.:)  Uncle Stan and Jacob were behind us in the blue car, which is the color Jacob was wanting.

Papa and Emily had fun too!  

We had a fun week packed with fun activities!  See ya next year, PCB!  

Panama City 2016

We had a really fun week down in Panama City this year!  Hannah asks often if we can go back "tomorrow?"  My Dad's sister Renea came with us this year and we LOVED having her!  She lives in New Mexico and we get to see her about once a year, but that's not enough.  We were all so thankful she made the trip happen!  Brett and Katherine had already gone on vacation with his family earlier in the summer so he wasn't able to take off another week, so we missed him this year, but were glad that Katherine, Jacob and Ressie could come!  The kids got along so well and had so much fun together!!  

This was from our first night there. We enjoyed taking a dip in the pool after a long day in the car.  

Two years ago, when Claire was Abby's age, she used this float and would take her morning naps in it.  It was the cutest to see her so relaxed just floating around the pool with one of us, while still totally in the shade.  I thought Abby would go along with that morning nap plan too, but alas, she refused to nap while in the float.  It didn't matter how exhausted she was....if we tried to lay her back she freaked out and begin screaming like a wild child.  She didn't mind the float, but I think she preferred to just be held.  

We claimed this as our corner of the pool.  With six kids, we don't need chairs to lay out like a lot of families there....just give us a little shade and we're happy.  

Nea taking Emily and Hannah on a train ride around the pool.  

Love this smile! 

They have a splash pad beside the main pool and this was Claire and Ressie's favorite thing.  

They had so much fun playing together!  

Cousin pic before we headed out to have some fun at Pier Park! Abby wasn't happy, but look at Jacob kissing Ressie...sweet things!  

One night we took the kids out on the golf course and Stanley and Bert gave them some golf tips.  

Caught Hannah rolling down the hill...Jacob was running to the top because he thought it looked like fun. 

Nea, Abby and I supervised.  I was a beautiful night!  

We had a couple of fun beach days.  It is utterly exhausting to get everyone ready and to the beach with all the stuff we need to bring but it is so worth it! 

Mimi and Uncle Stan helping Emily boogie board.  

All the kids had fun in the sand, but especially Hannah, Ressie and Claire.  Hannah refused to go to the water until the last 5 minutes of our last day on the beach, but once she got in she loved it.  

This girl loved the water!  She was happy in the sand too, but if an adult was heading to the water, she was with them.  

Papa Stan let the kids bury him in the sand  and they thought it was sooooo fun!  

She was 4 1/2 months on this beach trip.  4 1/2 months of pure sweetness!  

Nappin' with Papa

Love bug.  

Team Watts' silly beach picture!

Ressie called Abby "Abba" and it was the cutest.  Ressie liked to help Abby play with all the toys on her exersaucer.  

Several nights after dinner we would just go down to the pool right outside our condo door instead of walking across to the big pool.  Two of  those nights we had the whole pool to ourselves, which was fun!  Mimi was telling the kids a story while they waited for the grown ups to get ready for the evening swim.  

On Thursday night Daddy, Stan, Kate, Bert and I headed to the movie theater to watch the new Jason Bourne movie.  Nea had left for New Mexico that morning and Mom stayed back with the sleeping kids. Bert and I don't get a lot of chances to go to the movies these days with such small kids, so when we get the opportunity we jump at it. We all enjoyed the movie...it was a fun night!  

Sibling love!

Uncle Stan reading to Ressie Roo and Claire Bear.  

Renea brought this huge roll of paper and the kids got to work on a mural all week.  They had so much fun with it!  Emily was the most dedicated artist, but the other kids loved drawing on it too for shorter periods of time.  

Mimi bought the kids shirts and had her friend Tomi embroider their names on them.  The shirts turned out so cute and I think the 6 kids in the picture below are pretty amazing too!  

Love my babies! So thankful for weeks like this!  I have a friend with a two year old and she said about their beach trip that there is nothing relaxing about taking a toddler to the beach.  Sometimes during the week I would dream of when the kids could get themselves ready for the pool (put on their own bathing suit and sunscreen), swim on their own (right now, we can't take our eyes off them for more than one second) - I find myself thinking that those days must be so great.  So relaxing.  But, even as those thoughts pop in my head, I know that I will miss these days of having a 6, 4, and 2-year-old and a 4 month old.  These days when they're are so little and needy.  These days are tiring, beautiful, stressful and fun.  And I wouldn't trade them for anything.  

Our family of 6.  

The whole gang minus Brett!  Thanks so much to Mimi and Papa Stan for making this week happen! 

So many great memories were made this week!  Thankful for these people and our week together!!