Christmas Cards 2010

Now that Christmas cards have been sent out in the mail and given time to be delivered to the precious recipients.. I can show you our Christmas cards 2010!!!

To be thankful..

Thanksgiving is a fun holiday for us every year. We either get to sleep in and head to Jeff's family for lunch or get up early and drive to Fort Worth for my family. We rotate every other year and this year was our turn to go to Fort Worth. I think this worked out well since I am not sure how thrilling it would be to drive to Fort Worth next year with a 9 month old, 5 year and 3 year old. The year after.. I think I can handle it.. Ha!
Anyways, Thanksgiving was extra cold this year so we bundled like eskimos and headed East. We made it just in time for lunch and left early enough to make it back before it hit 20 degrees that night. My cousin, Allison, and her husband were there with their two sweet girls. McKinley is 5 and Meredith is 2, only 2 weeks younger then Happy, so the four girls had a lot of fun playing (and destroying the play room.. Sorry, Aunt Bev :)

Jeff and I having lunch conversation with my Granny and Papa. I work in insurance so don't get me started on health care "reform". That is what this picture is all about. My Papa and I could discuss all day long.. and Jeff probably was about to fall asleep LOL Can you see Brittyn in the picture? She is making a large appearance these days :)

 My cousin, Allison, with her husband, Brett and cousin, Jarrett, with his new wife, Crystal

 McKinley, Braelyn, Happy and Meredith in the playroom. This was the beginning of their destruction.. :)

 Granny and Papa with four of their great-granddaughters..

Granny, Meredith, McKinley, Papa, Braelyn and Happy.

They have 6 great granddaughters (Bailey, Peyton, McKinley, Braelyn, Brylee and Meredith) and 3 great-grandsons (Hayden, Hutton and Dylan). Miss Brittyn will be their 10th great-grandchild. Papa told me thanks for evening it out for him :)

Braelyn and McKinley cheesing!!

It was a great holiday! We have so much to be thankful for!!

Bringing up girls..

Add this to my Christmas list :)

Another miracle..Braelyn

As if we didn't have enough things to be grateful for this Thanksgiving, God has added to our list!

Last week, Braelyn had a little bit of a runny nose but nothing serious going on. Both of our girls have pretty bad asthma so when anything happens, even runny noses, I start watching for any other symptoms that this virus is going to move to thier chest and lungs. She was good on Wednesday. Thursday morning, I woke them up, got them ready, headed out the door to work and Jeff headed in the opposite direction to take Braelyn to school.

On my lunch break I had a call from a number I didn't know so I answered. It was the nurse at Braelyn's school saying that Braelyn was in her office and was not feeling very well. Her teacher said she didn't eat lunch and had been crying all morning, which was very un-Braelyn. I had Jeff on his way to the school to pick her up within 30 minutes, although there was no big rush at this point. He picked her up and said she was doing okay, probably just getting a cold and was resting on the couch watching tv. I was relieved.

By 3 that afternoon, he was calling me back that she was burning hot with fever and having a lot of trouble breathing. He made the decision to rush her to her pediatrician's office to be checked and I left work early to meet him there since I could tell Jeff was pretty worried. I was assuming they would give her a breathing treatment, a prescription for her steroid and we would be going home. As soon as I walked in the doctor's office and saw Braelyn I knew this was not good. Jeff's judgment was dead on. Her oxygen level was at 85% (which he normally sends her to the hospital at about 94% and kids go on oxygen around 92%). She was in danger, even after a treatment in his office, and her fever was around 103 degrees.

We rushed her over to the hospital to be admitted and spent the next four days there. They had her on IV antibiotics, constant O2 level monitoring and oxygen for almost 3 days. By the third day, they could get her breathing well off oxygen but when she was asleep her oxygen levels would drop low and the oxygen would go back on. It took 3 nights of trying to get her to sleep without needing supplemental oxygen before she made it all night.

It wasn't fun. It was heartbreaking to see her like her.. connected with so many wires and the awful sight of those oxygen tubes going in her little nose.

It all hit her fast and we were lucky that she was able to get stabilized. Chest xrays showed pneumonia in her lungs, which was really making her struggle with her asthma. Her body was fighting so hard that she literally was throwing up the first day and slept 15 hours, almost straight through.

 Because she is so loved, she had lots of friends and family stop by to see her bring her toys. She spent four days doing puzzles, playing with playdough, coloring, painting, watching movies and playing on her Nintendo DS. I actually think she might have enjoyed the little break, once she was feeling better, because she got great one-on-one time with Mommy and Daddy but we were all missing Happy alot!

Balloons from Nana and Papaw... these pictures were on her third day when she got to wear her own pajamas. That made her a happy girl! :)

 

And finally on Sunday, after a bad long weekend, my little angel was free from all the junk connecting her to that bed, breathing steady and on her way home! Jampa got her a Toy Story shirt for her trip home. It was a good day and we were so excited to see Happy, who had been with Jamom, Jampa and Shanna the past four days. We missed her so much!! It was really hard to be away from one baby but I knew my focus had to be on Braelyn, at that moment, and focusing on getting her well and home!!

And while we are talking about sweet little Braelyn.. look at these cute pictures she draws me everyday on her magna doodle. She is just so smart and I couldn't be more proud of either one of my babies.

Braelyn is obsessed with the idea of baby Brittyn coming and even Happy is coming around to the idea, too!

Thanking you all for covering our family, especially Braelyn, with prayers the past couple weeks. God is good in taking care of our sweet children.

I am counting my blessings this Thanksgiving and every day!!

Baby Loftin #3- Brittyn Hope Loftin

Finally an update on the little bitty angel coming soon! On September 7th, we found out that the newest little Loftin is, indeed, another precious little girl! I have to admit, I was just as excited as finding out the first two were girls! Braelyn has been talking about her new baby sister ever since the moment we heard that news. And the biggest blessing is she is very healthy and very active and for that we are so grateful! I will never, for one second, take for granted that we have healthy, beautiful babies!! God has been so good to us.

 Here is her little sweet foot..

 The "view" we had been praying for.. another GIRL!!

 Her beautiful profile..

 I am amazed by the details you can see! Her precious spine.. she is being perfectly formed!!

And just for laughs, I made this shirt for Halloween! :)

The biggest news of all is this precious little girl finally has a name!! There was lots and lots of debate and discussion about a name at our house for this sweet baby! I am not sure why it was so much harder this time. Of course, it had to be another "B" name because she couldn't be the child that was left out and other than that I knew what I wanted for her middle name since my other girls had the middle names of Grace and Faith. After MUCH discussion, I am happy to say our third little girl will be..

Brittyn Hope Loftin

Brittyn was one of my favorites but Jeff took some talking into it. The secret to winning him over was teaching Braelyn the name and then teaching her to write the name. Now, everyday she tells Daddy about her "baby sister, Brittyn" and writes her name on everything! It's so cute! She draws pictures of three girls and writes Braelyn, Brylee and Brittyn. And how could he say no to that sweet little face?!?! She has become our Brittyn and we can not wait to meet her!!! February 3, 2011 could not come soon enough :)

October 2010

I decided since October was full of so much fun, it needed a post of it's own! We had a lot going on and I had to look for as many reasons as possible to get the kids in their cute costumes!

In the beginning on October, James and Dylan came a for a visit! It was fun. We miss them being close so much. The girls and Dylan are more like brother and sisters than cousins and they were back to their playing, giggling, arguing selfs in no time :)

These were just some of my favorite of the girls in October. I still love matching clothes and it still drives Jeff crazy.. but they are so cute!!

 We also had to take the girls to the pumpkin patch.. I love that fun and the pictures we get to take there!!

 The weekend before Halloween was Boo at the Zoo in Abilene. We almost didn't get to go cause a cold front came through with lots of rain the day of the event but thankfully, it cleared and warmed some right before it started. It turned out perfect! The girls decided to not go with a theme this year, which makes me crazy lol, but they are getting older and have ideas of their own now :) Braelyn was Jessie from Toy Story and Happy was Dora, her favorite!

 The weekend of Halloween I decided to attempt Cake Balls like pumpkins. It was so time consuming but they turned out cute and they are always delicious!

 Then Halloween night, we went trick or treating at Jeff's parents. The kids were cute and got lots of candy! It was a good time.

Excuse my brother-in-law's butt in the last picture with my kids. He thinks he is funny lol.

October was a fun month and once Halloween is over I get excited cause the big holidays are finally here!!!

I promised to catch up..

I did promise to catch up but I think I said something about "soon" and that was in July lol.

Here goes.. 5 months of fun starting with May :)

End of May, my Dylan graduated from kindergarten and look how cute he was doing it! I'm proud! Other than that, I don't think anything too exciting happened. Check out my three cuties below.. Happy, Cowboy and Braelyn.. love 'em!! :)

In June, my two cuties enjoyed the beginning of summer with lots of swimming.. they are expert posers!!

And my niece, Alyssa, turned 8 years old!! When Jeff and I started dating she had just turned 3 years old a couple weeks before. The years have flown by!! She had a rock star party.. she is adorable!

 And just one of my favorites from June.. Braelyn Grace and Brylee Faith... :)

And in July, Lauryn Bailey turned 3 years old.. how cute is she? Love her to pieces!

My sweet newborn baby girl, Braelyn Grace, also turned 4 years old on the 27th. Seems like just yesterday she was born. She is the sweetest child and she loves everybody. The world is a better place because of her (and I tell her sister that, too). Jeff and I are so blessed!

 She wanted a pink pirate/skull party.. and it turned out cute. I ordered custom plates, banners and party boxes with her sweet little picture on them and we all met at the Eastland Water Park for a perfect summer day of swimming!

 And then my favorite holiday of the year.. 4th of July!!

 Nothing too exciting happened in August but we did go to Dallas for the weekend. Jeff and his parents and sister, her husband and kids all stayed at a hotel in Arlington for a night. The girls got to swim and watch a night movie by the pool and the next day we all went to Hurricane Harbor. It was really fun! I didn't take too many pictures since it all involved water but I did get these two at the hotel.. aren't they so sweet? I am loving their summer tans in those bright dresses!!

In September is one of the events I wait for every year.. The West Texas Fair and Rodeo.. so fun! It's a small town thing, I will admit that, but we love going! The girls think they have died and gone to heaven with all the rides and junk food!! :)

 Also in September I got a call that Braelyn got in to preschool!! It was a very bittersweet day for us. The same little baby that just turned 4 years old is now a school girl and she is loving every second of it! She is doing so well and is very advanced for her age.. I couldn't be more proud! She got to pick out her outfit for her first day of school and she was flawless. I am in love!

 Sweet Happy's room is now being turned back into a nursery so we did a room makeover on Braelyn's room so that they could move in together. They are looooving it and it turned out so cute!!

Things have been busy but busy is almost always good for us. I say it all the time but we are so blessed with great family, friends and children. My cup runeth over!!