my bestie!

My bff, Teresa, and I have been friends since we were 4 years old and our families moved onto the same street in Cincinnati, OH.  So far, we have had quite a journey through life together.  We both, unbeknown-st to each other, decided to go to the University of Alabama, we both married Lances within a month of each other and now we both have 2 kids, with our youngest being only 1 month apart.  I'm not going to get sappy, so I'm going to leave it there...all I'm going to say is that you don't meet friends like that every day and I feel so blessed to have her in my life!  We stopped by Teresa's house on the way to Tuscaloosa 2 weeks ago so that we could meet her new baby, Paxton and so we could introduce them to Davis.  I'm not sure how this happened, but we somehow managed to get all the kids to behave long enough to take some cute pictures.  She just sent them to me so I HAD to post them!
P.S.  - the lei's were Harrison & Madelines' idea!

(Teresa, Paxton, Me, & Davis)

(Madeline, Teresa, Paxton, Me, Davis & Harrison)

rollin with the Tide...

As summer comes to a close and fall begins, for the Randolph household, that means a lot of traveling to Tuscaloosa for some tailgating fun.  Its a little different having to pack for 2 kids, but we have had so much fun getting to hang out with my family over the past few weekends.  Of course, I had to take a few pictures to commemorate Davis' first tailgate! 
Since I noticed recently that we don't have a lot of family pictures, I had to make sure we got at least one with the four of us!  say cheeeeeese!

Davis already loves spending time with his grandmommy...

...and so do all the other grandsons!!!

Here is granddaddy "cheersing" Davis to the 1st game of the season!  Roll Tide!

Davis also got to meet my sister's in-laws.  Here is Davis hanging out with Vicke, aka "mimi", Trey & Jacks' other grandmommy.

I'm still trying to decide what Davis is thinking in this picture..."hmmmm....I'm not so sure about this tailgating business"

Harrison has been having fun playing with his cousins over the past few weekends.  Jack & Trey are so sweet to my boys and they love to help hold baby Davis, especially Jack!  Jack noticed that Davis was staring at the tv while the guys were watching football highlights, so he asked my sister, "Mommy, why do babies like to watch football so much??"  ha ha, its just so funny what goes through the mind of a 3 yr old!

My mom's sister Mary also came down and had fun with the gang.  She is so sweet and had fun collecting some new Alabama gear!

A few of my college girlfriends came down for the Alabama vs. Penn State game this last weekend.  I had so much fun getting to catch up and introducing them to Davis.

You just can't beat a fall evening in Bryant Denny with 101,000 of your closest friends!!  Roll tide!

Funny/Random pictures

Since I can't do much beside laze around with this sinus infection, I figure I might as well keep myself busy by updating my blog!  Here are just a few pictures that I've taken lately that I thought were cute.
Harrison loves trying to find ways to interact with Davis.  There isn't much that they can do together yet, so he is always trying to get on Davis' level to play.  Here are the boys playing on the floor...I think Harrison liked this more than Davis:

Harrison & Davis just love spending time with their grandma & granddaddy.  Here is grandma reading a bedtime story to Harrison (Curious George Christmas book - one of his favs).  The book has its own version of "Deck the Halls" and Harrison loves to sing...fa la la la la, la la la la...

Aunt Amanda came up to meet Davis and I got a cute picture of Davis with his thumb in his mouth.  This is only the 2nd time that he has done that...Amanda, you're a natural!
Harrison was so funny, because since his new teacher is "Miss Amanda", he couldn't understand that there were two Amanda's.  He was just looking at her like, "you're not Miss Amanda".  Too funny!

For my 30th birthday, my parents brought down some Graeters ice cream for the party.  Thankfully there were a few pints left, so we are still enjoying it.  Graeters is a signature Cincinnati food and is delish!  Unfortunately, I think Harrison got his love of ice cream from me!! I put the ice cream on the table so that I could make ice cream cones for Harrison and myself and when I turned around, this is what I found....

When we were in high school, my "best friend Teresa" and I used to each buy a pint of black rasberry chip and eat them while we watched movies.  At 21 grams of fat per serving (unfortunately Graeters has the most fat content of any icecream :( ), its amazing that we didn't weigh 500 lbs!!  ha ha!

Davis and his cute hat from Cousin Lin...

Just before illness struck the Randolph household, we took a trip down to the zoo with some friends.  This was my first trip there with both boys and thankfully, it went well!  Here are a few cute pictures from the day...
Harrison, didn't want to pose, but I had to take a picture of him in his choice of shoes for the day. 

Here are Harrison, Mary, & Maddy checking out the flamingos...it is impossible to get all 3 looking at the same time!

Here are some cute pics of the new baby giraffe at the zoo.  Here is mom & baby...

This is the baby with his aunt...

Here are Harrison & Mary holding hands...

There is always a silver lining...

After all of the health struggles that our family has been through over the past few weeks, I thought we were in the clear for a while...until yesterday when Harrison came down with croup cough. He really scared me last night because his breathing was so heavy, but the steroids that his dr gave him this morning already seem to be helping. I now seem to be coming down with something and have been feeling worse by the hour. Hopefully a trip to the dr in the morning will help me as well. After all of this that we have been through, God always manages to provide a silver lining to any cloud. Davis has been a fairly fussy baby so far, and he has been nothing but happy all day long. I even managed to capture this video, that through the pounding headache, put a very big smile on my face...

Here is also a picture that we took last night...a little fuzzy, but too cute not to post!

Answered prayers

What a difference a day makes!  This has been a stressful week of just waiting for answers from doctors and tests and I am happy to report that todays post contains nothing but good news!!  Here it goes:

Aunt Mary - They had her test today and found that she does NOT have cancer!!  The doctors put a stint in her bile duct to open it up and they found an enormous gall stone that will be removed with surgery sometime in the next week or so.  The doctors were all pretty certain going into this that there would most likely not be a happy ending to the story, so we are very thankful for the good news!  My favorite part is that after they put the stint in, she immediately began to feel better.  They only had her under light sedation, so when she woke up, my mom was able to get her back to school so she could participate in her beauty pagent.  They dedicated the pagent to her and since she missed her dance, they let her redo it once she got there!  Go Mary-berry!

Little Jack - After 2 days in the hospital, they never gave my sister a clear answer as to what happened, but they are thinking that it was most likely a bad virus or related to his kidney issue.  All of his tests were clear, but he is going back to his urologist next week.   He is feeling much better than he was 2 days ago so they are all back home sleeping in their own beds tonight.  Granddaddy Koeppe drove down to help cheer him up too.

Mr. Randolph - we visited with him tonight at their house and he is feeling much better.  Doctors orders are to take it easy and stay close to home in case another episode occurs, but we are happy to see him feeling back to normal.  He now just has to schedule his upcoming surgery to fix his heart.

This has been a scary week and has been a big reminder for me to be thankful for all of the blessings in my life...my amazing family, friends, and most importantly, our health!  A lot of miracles working out and we are very thankful for everyones prayers!

What a month!

I have some good news, some bad news, and also still waiting on some news. 

This has been quite a month.  It started out with a trip to Cincinnati for the funeral of a dear family friend.  It was aweful having to say goodbye, but also nice to get to see some family and friends that I don't get to see very often.  While in Cincinnati, I received the news that a co-worker of mine passed away from a sudden heart attack and that my Aunt was having to have some tests done due to turning "yellow" within a matter of hours.  Less than a week after I got back from my trip, my father in law was rushed to the hospital due to a stroke and then my sister called today to say that she was having to take her 3 yr old son, Jack, to the Childrens hospital in Birmingham.

The good news:  My father in law is on his way home right now from the hospital.  It turns out that he had a small hole in his heart where the blood was able to get out and went to his brain.  He was watching Harrison when the episode happened, and I feel very thankful that he was able to think clearly enough to make sure that both he and Harrison were able to get help and stay safe.  He will be having surgery sometime in the next few weeks to "clamp" his heart closed.

The other good news that I need to remember and be thankful for, are for the births of Davis, Paxton and Kate.  All healthy babies that put a smile on your face when you look at their sweet little faces!  A few more are on their way, hopefully in the next week!

The Still-Waiting News:
My Aunt Mary is having a test done tomorrow to figure out what is going on with her.  She has down syndrome and so my mom is going down to Louisville to be with her for the test.  Please pray for some good news!!
Jack is having to stay overnight at the hospital now so they can keep an eye on him.  He woke up this morning and wouldn't get out of bed.  He kept saying that his tummy hurt and he wouldn't walk, eat or move.  Julie took him to the dr and they told her it may be appendicitis.  It sounds like that is pretty much ruled out now and they think it may be a bladder infection.  He has been dealing with kidney reflux since he was born, so hopefully that won't flare up with this new issue.  Please keep this sweet little boy in your prayers!!

I'm not sure what is going on right now with everyone, and while it is difficult for me to understand why so many bad things can happen so quickly to so many of my loved ones, I feel safe and secure in knowing that our God is watching over us and listening to our prayers.  Please keep our family and friends in your thoughts and prayers right now and I will be sure to keep you updated on what happens.
"But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD whose confidence is in him",  Jeremiah 17:7 NIV
In times like these, I am reminded of how blessed I am to have my health and to have such an amazing group of family and friends in which I can rely on!

Last minute Cincinnati Trip

Last week I got a call from my mom that her best friend's mother passed away.  We grew up with their family and they really have been like our second family.  We spend Christmas eve with their family every year, so I was heart broken to hear that "mamoo" was no longer with us.  Because of this, I decided to take a last minute trip home to attend the funeral and be there for my mom.  This was very brave of me because this was my first road trip with the boys by myself.  Surprisingly, both boys behaved!  We took off after Harrison's school on Thursday & managed to drive 5.5 hrs before Davis woke up!

While the circumstances behind the trip were not the best, I was very excited to get home to show off baby Davis to my family.  It was also nice to have so much help with the boys from my parents, my sister and my cousins!  Lance has had a grueling work schedule lately and it has been hard on all of us.  It was a nice break for myself and for the boys to get so much extra attention!  It felt like a "relaxing" week, well, as relaxing it can be with 2 kids! :) 

My parents had been in CA for a work convention so we actually beat them to the house. They had delayed flights and didn't end up getting back until Friday afternoon, so Saturday was our first day to really get to do anything.

On Saturday, my mom and sister had to work a Shaklee event so Harrison, Davis, my dad and I went down for Duck Boat tour.  I'm not sure if anyone has heard of this, but it was so much fun!  A company bought a bunch of these vehicles from WWII, fixed them up, and they now do tours of cities around the country.  The vehicles can drive on land, but transform into a boat and can also drive on the water.  The tour starts driving through the downtown streets, then they drive you into the water for about 30 minutes and they finish the tour back on land.  It was so much fun and Harrison had a blast.  He wasn't quite sure what to think at first, but once he realized the boat wasn't going to sink, he was fine.  He kept telling everyone that the boat fell in the water! ha ha!  We finished the morning with lunch at Arthurs...yumm!

My Aunts and cousins came over that evening to meet Davis and we had fun just catching up and playing with the kids at my parents house.  I didn't get my camera out until after my Aunt Nancy had left, so unfortunately I didn't get any pictures with her, but here is Aunt Carol with Davis.

Harrison was so tired from our big day so he had no problems falling asleep that night.  This picture was so funny that I had to post it.  I went up to check on Harrison about 30 min after he went to sleep and this is how I found him...sound asleep with his legs hanging off the bed

My biggest feat for the week, was finding a swing for Davis.  I have been wanting to buy one because while Davis is a great sleeper, when he is awake, he wants to be held the entire time.  He has not been a fan of the baby papasan chair that we have, so I needed to try something else.  He won't stay in it for too long, but 10-15 min here and there, has been a big help!  This has been a big adjustment for me b/c Harrison always loved to lay down so he could stretch and kick around.

Davis hanging with his grandmommy...

The boys and I relaxing on the couch...

Davis has been starting to be more alert lately when he's awake.  He will occasionally lock eyes with you and this past week, he even smiled at me a few times!  One of my new goals lately has been to try to catch his smile on camera, which is proving to be harder than I thought!  Here is the closest that I've come...

On Sunday night we headed to Pompilios for dinner.  Its one of our favorite Italian restaurants in Cincinnati, and incidentally, where Rain Man was filmed!  Here are Liz & Ben with Harrison.  Harrison just loves Ben, so poor guy, gets stuck entertaining him when he is around!

There was a long wait, but thankfully they have bocce ball courts out back where Harrison could run around.  It was pretty out back so we got the boys pose with grandmommy & grandddaddy...

After dinner, when we were walking out to the cars, we got quite a surprise...there was a blimp in the sky!  This was, by far, the highlight of Harrison's trip.  I think this was his first time to see a blimp and he will be talking about this for months to come!  Here are Harrison and granddaddy looking at the blimp...

The next morning, I wanted to head to the Gap Outlet, so my dad took Harrison down to our little local airport where they keep the blimp when its not flying.  They headed down first thing in the morning and got to look at the blimp and watch planes take off and land.  Harrison had so much fun, and I think my dad has been having so much fun doing all the "boy" things that he never got to do with his girls! :)

My mom bought Davis the cutest little hat...here is the little man showing it off...

The other really cute thing that highlighted the week for me, was that my dad got to put Harrison to bed each night.  For some reason, if I am there, he never lets my parents put him to bed, but this trip was a little different.  My dad would give him a bath and then climb in bed and tell him a story.  His story was always about a little boy and his family and the adventures that they had that day (basically, he would go through Harrison's day from start to finish, in story form).  Harrison would hang on every word he would say, it was so cute!  I never had really close relationships with my grandparents so I love watching Harrison have so much fun with his!

Here are my cousins Emily & Sam with Harrison & Davis.  Poor Emily was around all week, so she was my big helper with the boys...whether she liked it or not! :)  Thank you so much Emily!!

On Tuesday evening we went back down to Lunkin Airport to have dinner. You can sit outside and watch the planes land, so you know Harrison loved it!  The best part was that the blimp was there!  It was the perfect night to eat there...mid 70's with a breeze.  A nice change of pace from the nasty hot weather in Atlanta!  Here are a few pictures from the evening.

The blimp!

Harrison and graddaddy having fun watching planes & helicopters land...

I love this one...

Harrison and his granddaddy were buddies all week and had so much fun.  We were so sad to leave and hope to make it back soon!

We got back last night and we had to be sure to call Granddaddy to get our bedtime story...

We hated to leave, but Harrison was so excited to see his daddy.  He ran outside when he heard the garage door open and wouldn't let Lance out of his sight until he went to bed!