Seriously, could she be any cuter?!

Thank you Family Dollar for having such affordable, adorable pjs!

...Please disregard 'Behind the Music: Bret Michaels' in the background

Ansley and daddy enjoy a fudgesicle!

Turnin' Circles...Ansley's favorite new hobby

Sorry it's so dark!

For Nee-Cee

Who knew that a baby and a cookie container could provide so much entertainment...she played like this all Saturday afternoon and most of the day today!

Fripp Island

We loaded up and headed to Fripp Island for Ansley's first trip to the beach for a long Labor Day weekend!! Kristen's aunt and uncle own a house there equipped with an elevator and 2 golf carts... ...Our modest accommodations

This is the view from their backyard. The house is on a canal with the ocean right across the street!

Ansley sitting at the bar the first morning...such a big girl
The gang would play Rummy every morning while the kiddos napped...this morning when Ansley woke up she wanted in on the action.

Here you can see our sweet child helping Asher try to get a better look at the carpet on the back porch...we spent most of the week in this room!

We took the golf cart down to the end of the road where Ansley got her first look at the ocean!

The first day we were there we didn't actually make it to the beach in our bathing suits but wanted to walk across the street to the ocean to give Ansley a warm up of what was to come!

...she refused to be put down!

The next day we hauled all of the stuff apparently required to make a seaside trip with children...we all had our hands full! Unfortunately, Ansley spent about 85% of her time crying...fortunately, I only got 1 picture to prove it! For some reason she did better the first day than the second. Once she warmed up to things all she wanted to do was walk around...nowhere close to the water however!

For those of you who wondered what the humidity would do to her hair!

What's a trip to the beach without Beaufort Stew?! Ansley and I reading a book before dinner...we were talking about a frog with his tongue out!

Our nightly stroll to the end of the street to watch the sunset

The last night we were there we wanted to try to get a decent family picture. However, there are some kind of flies that eat your flesh and gnats that swarm and try to burrow in your skin (I may be exaggerating a tad) that made standing still quite a task. It seemed not to be as bad if you were moving around but once you stood still they attacked. They especially liked the kids heads...Here are the few pictures where we aren't swatting

We thought we would have better luck at the end of the road but, as you can see, they followed! The man who lived here told us the gnats were referred to as 'no see ums'

So we tried for a few more family shots the next day...here are some of those!

This is Ansley's reaction to "going home day"

This is mine...

Our car ride home, Ansley's way of saying "Hey guys do you think we could get some sun shades on these windows back here?"

We had such a great time! I don't know that I've ever been on a vacation where I wasn't even remotely ready to get home. I would go back every weekend if it was possible. We're lucky to have such great friends who let us tag along on trips like this...and even more lucky to have Kristen's parents stuff us with such great food while we were there!! I'll carry such great memories from our first trip to the beach as a family of 3!!

Ansley's First Jewelry Box!

Our neighbor, Mrs. Peggy, mentioned one day last week that she had a surprise for Ansley she would be bringing over. Tuesday she came over with this gift...a VERY nice jewelry box, Ansley's first! She is mesmerized by the twirling ballerina and the mirror on the back. She LOVES it!!
Mrs. Peggy gave me very strict instructions that when Ansley breaks off the ballerina I am not to get mad and punish her! Lucky for Ansley, it seems pretty sturdy!

First Big Scare

So here's the deal for those who haven't heard.

Last Friday, 8/21, Meghann called me at work saying that Ansley was sick and that she was running a fever of 103.3. Needless to say Meghann ran her to the Dr. While there she had her temp taken, under her arm no less, and it read 99, right there Meghann and I became a little perturbed. If you were to feel Ansley you would have known that her temp was more than 99. The doctor did a strep test and flu test which both thankfully came back negative. They still didn't know why her temp ran so high so they decided to prescribe her Amoxicillin. What I think bothered us the most about this part is that even the Doctor couldn't tell us why he was doing so. Good Dr. eh? So after the unproductive Dr visit we took her home and gave her some tylenol and laid her down for a nap. Even at this point she felt like she was on fire. Meghann then went out to run some errands. I know for a fact that God had his hand in this whole situation because Meghann did something that we NEVER do. She handed me the portable baby monitor before she left. Well it wasn't 10 mins after she left that I heard something VERY unusual on the monitor. I walked into the room to find my beautiful daughter having a seizure. By far one of the scarriest things I have ever witnessed. Eyes rolled back, throwing up, the whole nine yards. I frantically picked her up, her body as lifeless as a rag and brought her into the living room, stripped her down and proceded to dial 941. That's right you read it right, 941!!!

After gathering myself I fanally called the right number and began to threaten the man on the other end of the phone's life if he didn't send someone to my house immediatley. I called Meghann while on the line with 911 and told her that she needed to come back home right away. I feel bad now that I think about it because I can only imagine what was going through her mind. What felt like a lifetime was probably only 5 mins of Ansley going through this whole ordeal. After laying her down and letting her go thorugh this crap she finally started to come out of it. The paramedics came, I must say shortly after Meghann got there, it's amazing how fast a mother can drive when something is happening to her children, and took Ansley to the hospital where we had to stay for at least 4-5 hours for them to tell us once again that they don't know why the fever got so high. We finally got to take Ansley home about 5:30 on friday and she has not left our sight since. She has not slept in her own bed since the episode and if it were up to me she never will until she's 30.

For those who knew what was going on, thank you for all of your prayers because there was no doubt that Jesus was hugging Ansley the whole time telling her that she would be fine.

I never beleived in the saying that mom and dad always said to me "this hurts me more than it will hurt you", until now. Funny how things come to fruition like that.

Meghann, Troy and Ansley