Jerkins Family Reunion 2009

The morning that Ben got to take his cast off (he actually got to take it off himself. It was kind of like a very firm ace bandage. He thought he was pretty cool.), my parents, grandparents and whole extended family came in town for our annual family reunion.

But before we could head over to the festivities, we had to get a couple of shots of our apple tree with Papa. Ben and Drew had been waiting to show it to him, since they know that he grows just about everything at his house. They actually asked Nana if she could make them some jelly from the apples. She just didn't have the heart to tell them no (Great Grandparents are even bigger suckers for the grand babies!), so she told said 'maybe when they get ripe.' and then leaned over to me and said she'd bring some apple jelly she already made next time she came. So sweet.

My Papa and his brother (who lives here in town) are the last two remaining siblings living of the original four. So about 6 or 7 years ago, they decided to get everyone together. Since then we've done it almost every summer, and we always enjoy it so much. Since many of us live here, and it is kind of the middle for the rest of the family, we have the reunion at Gary and Karen's house every year...they are so kind and so hospitable to open their home up to all of us. Gary gave each of the boys a really cool soccer ball that they ran around with the whole time. Michael was pit master on the grill, we churned lots of homemade ice cream and the boys rode their hot wheels all over the tennis courts.....they really loved that. Drew, Ben and Baby Thayer were definitely the center of attention and we basically all just had so much fun catching up and hanging out.

The proud Aunts and the three nephews:

All the Mamas cooking away:

Relaxing on the patio:Grilling on the other patio:Drew and the other Brittney...they really bonded over their shared love of Little Bear:Ben and Cousin Becca:Aunt Geraldine, Stephen, Nana and Cousin David:

Eating ice cream:What the end of the day looked like at our house:

Ben's Surgery

We've known for quite some time now (like about a year or so) that Ben would need surgery on his thumbs. He developed trigger thumb, which basically means that he didn't have mobility in the middle joint of his thumbs. It usually didn't bother him at all, was never swollen or red, and he was still able to use it. So - under the guidance of our orthopedist - we opted to wait till the middle of this summer to correct it so that it wouldn't hinder him during the school year.

Well the time came, and we headed to Vandy early on Monday morning to have the surgery. George (his monkey) and Lammy (his lovey since birth) went with us, and even got matching hospital bracelets to match all of ours.

Ben did great while we were getting ready for surgery...but then again, we had been talking to him about getting his thumbs fixed for a while now. We'd been to see doctors, we'd read kids books about hospitals and played with our doctor kit to "fix" all of our stuffed animals thumbs. I felt good about how he did going into it because I knew he was prepared. We got a great surprise in that we were fully prepared to have both thumbs operated on, and once we were checked out that morning by his surgeon we only had to do one! The left hand thumb had corrected itself! Here he is in the holding room while we met every person that would be with him:

Showing me his thumb before:Playing with some glow in the dark bracelets:

So they gave him the "happy" medicine and he and Lammy went back with the doctors all by themselves, leaving a tearful mommy and a quiet daddy to wait together in the waiting room. They took him back at 7:45 and we met with the surgeon for a report at 8:50. At 9 he was in recovery coming off the anesthesia and we were holding him and crying happy tears of joy and thankfulness by 9:15. None of us were prepared for what would happen as he came to: he was scared beyond what I thought he'd be, he didn't remember where he was, he didn't remember that he would have a cast on one hand, he was very uncomfortable with his IV line, he was groggy, his voice was raw from the breathing tube and he was not quiet at all in letting us know all of this. There were lots of tears and screaming for what felt like an eternity for Michael and I.

But we made it! We finally got him calmed down (with a little help from some meds) and we were able to take him home by around 10:45 - MUCH sooner than we'd planned.

Mimi and Pop were gracious enough to come up and have a special day with Drew while we were at the hospital. They took him to do some really special things: breakfast at McDonalds, a trip to the park, and a trip to the Dollar Tree to get some special get-well presents for his best buddy. I couldn't be more proud of how he handled the whole situation. He really is such a loving boy with a sweet heart and spirit. My mom said that all day long - even though we had prepared him just as much as we did Ben for what would happen - he never really did act like himself, and kept asking where Ben was. This was definitely one of the longest stretches they've ever gone apart.

They were so happy to see each other once we got home. Ben -though still a little woozy and out of it - was excited to show off his cast, and Drew was so happy to give Ben all the balloons and other presents he'd picked out that morning. Here are the boys watching a movie in Mimi's lap:
Later that day we got some more balloons from MawMaw and PawPaw, Aunt Chelle, Uncle Dan and Dresie. So they both had a great time using those as punching bags and eating all the candy they could.

After all of the drama of the day we were all exhausted, both physically and emotionally. So the boys just chilled on Daddy for most of the evening after dinner and we all headed to bed early.

So the next day he woke up feeling great and back to his old self. He even felt good enough to wrestle his brother (try as I might to stop them, it was useless) and he quickly learned how to use that cast as a weapon. I needed to get them out of the house and stay busy without using his hands, and without getting his cast wet. So we headed to the zoo and BeBe met us there for some fun. Here are a few pictures:

And finally, here are the only pictures we got of Ben unraveling his cast at the end of the week. He only had to keep it on for 7 days, and it wasn't the kind that had to be cut off. It just slowly unraveled, and he was feeling pretty proud of himself for doing it like a big boy.

We are so blessed to have been able to go through two surgeries (the first when they were both three months old) and come out perfectly each time. God was surely with us and we were covered in prayer. We cannot say enough how thankful we are to Him for these boys and the fun we have by getting to spend every day with them. Thanks to everyone who walked with us through this...from the friends who prayed with us and over us, to the family who was and always is there for us, to the friends who brought us dinner: you are so loved and appreciated...we could not have made it without you!!!

Now that that's all over with maybe we can set a goal of staying out of a hospital for at least 6 months. I mean, a whole year without going to a hospital would be great. But I won't push our luck. We'll just hope for 6 months! ;)

We're Back...

....from a wonderful vacation to Puerta Vallarta, Mexico with our good friends Rusty and Andrea. Though it started off with a few snags in getting there due to missing connecting flights and being without any of our luggage for the first day and a half, we rolled with the punches and had such a great time. Every morning when I woke up, I would look out off of our balcony to the left, and this is the sunrise I saw!And when I looked down and to the right, this is the pool and ocean I saw...Pretty hard not to have a good time when you're surrounded by so much beauty. We went into the downtown part of the city on the boardwalk and took a few pictures.But mostly just laid by the pool, soaking up all the sun and relaxation we could stand. It was a perfect getaway. One of the coolest things we did (though we didn't get any pictures for fear of dropping our camera off the mountain) was to go down 13 zip lines through the Sierra Madre mountain range. Even in that dry, humid heat the mountains were so green and beautiful. It was definitely one of the funnest adventures we've ever been on. But definitely the best part was getting to spend some quality time with each other and some really dear friends. So we got home on Tuesday evening, and tried to get everything back in order pretty quickly because Friday was a really big day at our house for two reasons. First because we got to spend the weekend with our niece Dresden, and Aunt Chelle and Uncle Dan as they were passing back through town on their way home from vacation (more to come on that).

But secondly, because we met with the home health nurse and began Ben's growth hormone therapy. Honestly, I've debated about whether or not to even post that information here. But I've decided to share that with all of you out there for two reasons: 1) because one day Ben and Drew will look back on this blog and I want them both to know about all the good and fun stuff that happens in their lives, but also about the hard stuff and the paths that we've walked together that have been a little bit tougher to go down; and 2) because we covet any and all prayers that anyone offers up on our boys' behalves. I guess I figure if you're reading this and care enough to keep up with our family, then surely you wouldn't mind praying for our sons. There's no such thing as too much of that.

So, having said all that, we began what will at least be a six month journey. It was something that both Michael and I have been dreading doing for a while, and have been praying about for months. We were very scared of the unknowns of it all, and subjecting him to something that we'd wrestled long and hard with doing in the first place. It just seemed like the kind of thing that other people deal with...not us, with our boys who seem - in every other way - happy and perfectly healthy. But we trust his doctors and we've submitted it to the Lord. So, we began. Before anything else, I have to take a minute to get on my knees in praise. Ben did great!...of course he did! And Drew was jumping up and down hugging him saying "you're so brave! you did great buddy!" and it was almost more than this mommy could take to watch these two little three year olds be there in a big way for each other. So we all had our own little celebration. We didn't tell him beforehand what was going to happen....we didn't want to give him too much time to process it all and get upset about it. And we really thought it was important to downplay it all since they always play off whatever our emotions are. All we said that morning was "a nice man is going to come over and show mommy and daddy how to give you your 'pinch' so you can get some medicine to help you grow big and strong. No big deal." Inside we were pretty nervous since we didn't know if it would hurt or not. Basically he gets an injection once a day, six days a week. So far, he doesn't even act like he feels it. There's no crying, no fussing over whether or not to do it, or where to take it. He's been so big and brave, and I can't help but feel that this is both an answer to prayer and a response that will help him through life as he deals with things that are out of his control and maybe less-than-pleasant to endure. And I also have to take a minute here to brag on how big Drew has been through this. All of the attention has been on his brother for a while now (hard for a boy who loves being in the spotlight), and the whole time he was focused on being encouraging and loving on his brother. For sure, it is our privilege to have these boys in our lives. They continue to teach me so much.

Anyways enough with all the heavy stuff, we made it through and an hour or so later, Dresie was here and all was right in the boys' world! They enjoy each other so much, and we had so much fun with Dan and Chelle. We were able to grill out, go to the pool, play water balloons and even make a trip to Chuck E Cheese (the bane of all adults existence). Here are just a few of my favorite pictures:Playing with Myrtle, Dresie's new hermit crabFilling up water balloons with DaddyPlaying games at Chuck E Cheese

Phew...and after all that, we're worn out! It's been great, but now we're ready for our first down weekend out of the last five. Sounds like we'll be hitting the pool!!!

Time with MawMaw and PawPaw

What a great time we had with MawMaw and PawPaw! This past weekend they came for a long weekend to have some fun and spoil the boys. We put poor PawPaw to work, and he helped Michael stud the walls for the attic behind our bedroom. We've been in the process of finishing it out as a sitting room/art studio for a couple of months now, and I'm really excited about how it's going. He and Michael are both so good at this kind of stuff. The hundred-year old house we used to live in down in East Nashville was gutted and re-done by the two of them, and Jim's been building or remodeling houses since he was old enough to hold a hammer. So not only are they both really handy with these kinds of projects, its really fun for them to do together. Here is one of the two walls they studded. I did try to take some pictures of them with Ben and Drew "helping" with the wood and the nails, but none of them seemed like they really wanted their picture taken. So the few I got weren't very good. At least I tried, right? We took them to eat at some of our favorite Franklin places, and took them to all of our favorite antique stores for some shopping. At least Shari and I had fun looking around for some new things for our room, even if that's not any of the boys' idea of a great time.

MawMaw and PawPaw surprised the boys with a set of big soccer goals for the backyard and a few other fun toys for summer, so we've managed to be outside even more than normal now that we've got new toys out there.

PawPaw tried his best to take a little rest after working so hard in the attic. But in our house, if you're on the floor, you're fair game for a wrestling match. Its a good thing he's pretty tough because these boys love to tackle.
We also grilled out, played in the slip and slide, and made some of our favorite ice cream. The weather couldn't have been any better, so we were outside almost the whole time. Thanks MawMaw and PawPaw for a fun weekend!!! We love you guys!

Fun Time in Montgomery

We just spent last weekend at Mimi and Pop's house. As usual, we all had lots of fun and all got a little bit spoiled. We crammed lots into the weekend: the zoo, grilling out, playing in the water slide, swimming at our friends' pool, the sandbox, golf and even churning ice cream. Here are a few of my favorite pix of the boys:

Michael captured these awesome shots while we were on the train at the zoo...he really should be in charge of the pictures more often because I just love these.Standing like flamingos while watching the flamingos: The slip and slide:

Thanks Mimi and Pop for everything!!! We had so much fun!!!