HAPPY ANNIVERSARY Babe! Thanks for sticking with me through thick and thin. It has been an amazing five years, I can’t wait to see what the next 50 years have in store for us. I love you more than you will ever know.

And happy birthday to Daven. He is officially 18 months old now. Oh how the time flies by. He seems to get bigger and stronger every day. I never thought the day would come when I would anticipate the terrible twos! HA!

LOVE LOVE LOVE

This is what I found hanging out on my sidewalk this morning as I was leaving for work. He just looked up at me with his big eyes and I knew he was asking me “Are You My Mother?” His mother however, was there yelling out making sure that he knew I was not his mother. ;-)

The funny thing is…this little guy isn’t from the nest I have been watching. So I have no idea where he came from and where his home actually is. Guess I just have baby birds hatching all over the house and I love them all!

Have a good weekend everybody.

LOVE LOVE LOVE

For some time now, Daven has had a fascination with beads. He loves everything about them; playing with them, eating them or simply looking at them. Next to spinners…beads are his favorite toy.

After I picked him up from work Tuesday, he noticed I had a string of beads around my neck along with a beaded bracelet. This is a small slice of heaven for Daven. He immediately latched on to those beads and wouldn’t let go.

When Logan picked him up to love on him, he started to play with the beads. Logan was raising them above Daven’s head and slowly sweeping them across his face. Daven was LOVING it. I instantly grabbed the camera to take their picture. Unfortunately the pictures don’t demonstrate the great expressions Daven was making.

He literally looked punch drunk with excitement. I just wanted to share with you the precious pictures of Daven and his daddy playing with Mommies jewelry. Maybe it is just me…but I am beginning to see so much irony. HA!

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As I was enjoying the weather outside this weekend, I remembered my nest. So I grabbed a step stool and checked on my little birdies. I snapped this picture, I am not sure if you can tell much. If you look closely you can see an itty bitty yellow beak in the right side of the picture. So cute hu?

This morning, I thought I would check on them again and see if they have grown any over the past few days. And yes…they already are. Now check them out…there are 2 beaks and lots of little birdie eyes peering out.

I just love them! They brighten my morning and day. Momma bird is taking extra good care of them. I hear her calling out (in a not-so-nice tone) when Roxanne is sitting in the window pestering her. She has to protect those babies at all cost, even if it means going head to head with a cat 4 times her size. My money is on Momma bird! ;-)

As for work, things seem to be going fine. Tensions are still a bit high, only because we are all trying to get to know each other. But all in all, I think everything is going to work out fine. (*An update about his special needs child…He had a daughter who passed away at 20 months old. She had “multiple disabilities” which eventually took her life. His wife has also previously been a special education teacher. So, they both seem to have a passion for special children.)

Well, I just wanted to share these great pictures with you. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. I will keep updating you with more pictures as they get bigger and bigger.

LOVE LOVE LOVE

Well, for a quick update…things with the “new boss-man” seem to be going great so far! He seems to be approachable and relaxed.

As of this moment, we have touched on some things regarding Daven. I mentioned that I had a special needs child and with that comes doctors appointments and such. As I was explaining things, he just slowly stopped me and said…”Then you have the right boss, because I had a special needs child of my own.” I gasped and had to hold back the tears from flowing down my face.

We got interrupted so I didn’t get to finish the story. I think his child has since passed away. But he does understand where I am coming from and the “good days and bad days” that I have. I cannot even begin to tell you how I instantly felt a sense of calm all over. A GIANT weight was lifted off my shoulders and proved to me once again that I am where I need to be.

So, from what little I know so far…I am surprisingly pleased. Just as a friend told me last week, usually the anticipation is worse than the change itself. Maybe this time, the change was a “God Send!”

I will update more as the week goes on. Thanks for your prayers throughout today. I have already felt comfort from them. Happy Monday everybody.

LOVE LOVE LOVE

If you have been reading for a while now, you will remember me mentioning a new boss. That new boss officially starts Monday. Need-less-to-say, I am starting to get sweaty palms about it. I can’t seem to flush away that nervous and sick feeling.

I feel confident in my job and what I do. I know the “ins and outs” of this College. However, things with Daven are just different now. I am not always 100% focused and can easily be distracted. When a big doctor’s appointment is coming or test results on the way…I tend to zone out and panic. I am sure other moms understand what I mean by this. Also, when doctors appointments tend to stack up, this means lots of time off. I have the available medical leave and TONS of vacation time off, but I need for “new boss-man” to be comfortable with me leaving as needed.

I just wanted to see if everyone reading can send good vibes and prayers my way throughout the coming weeks, as “new boss-man” and I get to know each other and get comfortable with each other. My first line of duty is to educate him about my situation and inform him that I can be a great employee while also being a great mother.

Lord, please be with me during the next few weeks. Give me the words to help “new boss-man” understand who I am and who Daven is. Help me to stay strong and focused while at work and be at peace while at home. You have blessed me with a great job, and I know you will bless me with an understanding and compassionate boss.

Thanks for listening and for your prayers. I hope everyone has a great weekend. See you next week!

LOVE LOVE LOVE

Last night I noticed Daven’s little bottom was so red from a diaper rash. Now I understand that this might be a little “too much information” for some of you, but I thought his bottom needed to air out a bit. So I stripped his clothes and diaper off and let him roll around and play on the floor naked.

For some reason, I saw this as the perfect photo opportunity. As I started snapping away, he was just laughing and giggling. He LOVED being exposed and cool. (It has been miserably hot here lately!) While I was so engulfed in the photo shoot, I stopped to look at the pictures again and see what other angles I could get. Then as I gasped and noticed, they were NOT looking very baby-like and innocent but looking more child porn-like. I instantly stopped taking pictures and deleted them immediately! My face got redder with every picture I looked through.

All that to say; I did end up with one or two decent pictures. I will share only the clean pictures with you, of course. Hope you enjoy them…if I could add video I would add a clip of all his giggles. He was just belly laughing through the whole ordeal. HA! Whew knew being naked could be so funny. I have always said he moves and makes gyrations like a great porn star. (Can I say that?) Okay, I am stopping now, my face is once again…RED!

Hope everyone is having a great week.

LOVE LOVE LOVE

• You compare ER’s instead of grocery stores.
• You compare your child’s oxygen saturations.
• You view toys as “therapy”.
• You don’t take a new day for granted.
• You teach your child HOW to pull things out of the cupboard, off the bookcases, and that feeding the dog from the table is fun.
• You cheer instead of scold when they blow bubbles in their juice while sitting at the dinner table (that’s speech therapy), smear ketchup all over their high chair (that’s OT), or throw their toys (that’s PT).
• You also don’t mind if your child goes through the house tooting a tin whistle.
• You fired at least 3 pediatricians and can teach your family doctor a thing or two.
• You have been told you are “in denial” by at least 3 medical or therapy professionals. This makes you laugh!
• You have that incredible sinking feeling that you’ve forgotten SOMETHING on those few days that you don’t have some sort of appointment somewhere!
• You get irritated when friends with healthy kids complain about ONE sleepless night when their child is ill!
• Your vocabulary consists of all the letters OT, PT, SP, ASD, VSD, ISFP, etc.
• You keep your appointment at the specialist even though a tropical storm is raging because you just want to get this one ever with…you waited 8 months to get it…and, besides, no one else will be there!
• Fighting and wrestling with siblings in PT.
• Speech therapy occurs in the tub with a sibling.
• Potty training is complete, you take out a full-page public notice in the Washington Post.
• The doctors/specialist/hospitals, etc. all know you by your name without referring to your chart.
• You keep a DAILY growth chart.
• You calculate monthly statistics for the number of times your child vomits, and did this for more than one year.
• You phone all your friends when your child sits up for the first time, at age two.
• With a big smile on your face you tell a stranger that your four year old just started walking last week.
• His/her medical file is two inches and growing.
• You have a new belief…that angels live with us on Earth.

This was sent out on a WS email list that I am on and I thought it was good enough to pass along. Hope you enjoy and get little giggles out of it like I did.

LOVE LOVE LOVE

Daven’s future girlfriend/wife (Arranged marriages still exist don’t they?) mailed him a big package this weekend. Little did we know how fun this giant package would turn out to be.

Baby Tatum and Auntie Lisa sent Daven a Sesame Street walker because they love him so much. It arrived as Daven was taking a nap, so I kicked it in gear and put it all together for him before he woke up. As soon as he got up I put him in his new toy and it was an instant connection.


Priority was to find the spinner in the toy (Which he would tell you is a GREAT spinner!) then he had to inspect the rest of the toy. Still not realizing what he can do while in the toy, I helped show him how fun it would be to move around. Within 10 or 20 minutes he was cruising all over the house. Only going backwards so far, but all babies start going backwards. So, I am thrilled with the new toy!

As you can see from the pictures, the house has ZERO room for new toys…but if this will help get those legs stronger we will make room. I am also hoping it will help Daven realize how fun being mobile can be, so I will deal with the maze of toys throughout the house. I like to see it as a security system. I DARE a burglar try to come in the house without some toy lighting up and singing! HA, can’t be done. ;-)

Thanks Lisa and Baby Tate! We love you and can’t wait to actually meet you in a few weeks.

LOVE LOVE LOVE

They are finally here. I was starting to get a bit nervous that they weren’t going to hatch…but all four baby chicks are here. The entire household, including kitty Roxanne (back away from the nest, Roxanne!) are all so excited! You can’t tell much by the picture because they are so itty bitty. I will continue to snap pictures at the newest members of the Marshall clan, and show them off as they get bigger. (Which I am sure will continue to make mommy bird furious!)

Along with the new arrivals we had a jam packed weekend o’ fun! Saturday Daven and I ran down to cheer on Auntie Autumn in her 10K (6.2 Mile) race. Daven clad in his “I ♥ Auntie Autumn” shirt and ready to yell and cheer. She did awesome even though we didn’t make it in time for Daven to give his famous good luck kiss. That evening we all got to enjoy a nice dinner with Don and Suzanne.

However, for Father’s Day…Dad, Mom and Daven were all social butterflies. Dressed in the same shirts in honor of Fathers Day (My two favorite boys are just precious, I can’t get enough of them!) we all headed over to Garrett and Micah’s house to help them celebrate Garrett’s FIRST fathers day and ate "finger lickin' good" ribs. Yummy! Here are Cousin Luke and Daven playing together. They are such great friends!


Then Logan, Kyle, Amanda and I all went out to a movie and dinner. Auntie Autumn stayed with Daven for her first official babysitting duties. I guess they were both a little nervous about this; Daven apparently gave Auntie Autumn a true initiation. HA! Sorry Autumn, don’t take it personal. I am confident that he would have done the same for me.

Whew, after that brief (yes that was brief) recap…I am sure you noticed what a crazy busy weekend we had. However, I am already feeling like this week will be a much better week than last. The arrival of the new birds and the great weekend we have had…have really lifted my spirits.

Hope everyone is having a great Monday! (If there is such a thing as a great Monday.)

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First of all, “HAPPY FATHERS DAY!” to all the dads out there.

I wanted to honor you today and try to express how much I (as a daughter, grand-daughter and wife) love you and appreciate all the support you give. Dads have such a special role, and I am lucky enough to have that role played out so brilliantly. Both my grandfathers, my father, my father-in-law, and now my husband are all GREAT Dads! I thank God for that.

Through all these hard times, I have to look back and think of all the great times in my life. And I have to be greatful for all the great times Daven will have in his lifetime. He has so many “Proud Papa’s” on his side!

A special note needs to be said to my precious Logan. I am confronted every day with moms talking about the “dead-beat dads” that bolted when they got word of their special children. However, you have stood tall throughout this entire process. You have pitched in when you knew I was at my limit, you have gone to doctors appointments, swung the car seat (over and over and over), changed diapers, and stood by my side through all the tears. Your love for Daven shines brighter every day, which makes my love for you shine brighter everyday.

Thanks for being the WOLRDS GREATEST DAD! Daven will learn in time, how lucky he is to have a dad that loves him more than life.

And of course we can’t finish out the day without a few “Dad” quotes.

A father carries pictures where his money used to be. ~Author Unknown.

One father is more than a hundred schoolmasters. ~ English Proverb

Fatherhood is pretending the present you love most is soap-on-a-rope. ~ Bill Cosby

I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father’s protection. ~ Sigmund Freud

If the new American father feels bewildered and even defeated, let him take comfort from the fact that whatever he does in any fathering situation has a fifty percent chance of being right. ~Bill Cosby

I talk and talk and talk, and I haven’t taught people in 50 years what my father taught by example in one week. ~Mario Cuomo

I hope all you dads out there have a great day! Go golfing, fishing, hunting, or whatever it is that you boys do to relax.

LOVE LOVE LOVE

Yesterday, Micah, Cousin Luke, Daven and I went to Lubbock to check the placement of his brace and had an xray taken. To make a long story short, the early prognosis is good. While we looked at the xray Richard (brace maker guy) said his spine is looking really good. I have to keep in mind that he isn’t a doctor and the xray was taken with the brace on, so obviously it would look better than if it was off. However, it is nice to hear that something might be working.

When we were driving home, Cousin Luke was talking up a storm. All I could think was how wonderful those baby coo’s sounded. I guess I have never realized that I haven’t heard a true baby coo from Daven. He talks in his own voice, but it has never had that perfect baby coo that we have all heard.

I don’t know if this makes sense to anyone else, but something in my heart wept. I wanted so badly for those precious coos to be coming from Daven. As I was watching Sex and the City the other night Carrie Bradshaw said something that made perfect sense to me…”Sometimes in life, there is nothing harder than to be happy for someone else.”

As happy as I was to get the good report from Richard, the overwhelming sadness was still so heavy. So I started contemplating and wondering why this week has been such a hard week for me. Then with the help of my therapist (she is worth every penny!) it hit me…it has been a year almost to the date, that we truly started noticing a delay in Daven. Middle of June 2005, Daven had is first evaluation with our Early Intervention Program, only to find out that he was 3 or 4 months behind the development schedule. Wow, what a year it has been.

I can remember sitting on my living room floor with the case manager and PT and hearing them say that Daven was just weak and lazy…”Oh, he will be out of this program by the time he turns 1” they said with a smile. Oh how I wish they were right, but instead, he will need PT, OT, and possibly Speech for the rest of his life. What a difference that is.

So I figure, I am allotted a few off days. (Or week, or month, or year!) I want to apologize to those that are so close to me and have noticed a change in my behavior lately. I am happy, but I do fight off the tears on a regular basis. So bear with me and with everyone’s help, I will get through these lonely days.

I can’t thank Micah and Cousin Luke enough for going with us yesterday. What a chore it is to take two babies! Whew, we were both wiped out by the end of the day. I LOVE YOU MICAH! You are an instant “pick me up” and your company is cherished.

On a happier note, we all went to Target while in Lubbock. (It isn’t a trip to Lubbock without going to Target and spending WAY too much money!) Daven did so well while mommy and Aunt Micah shopped our hearts out. (Yes, we went down EVERY isle!) While I was pushing the cart, I looked down to love on Daven and saw this. The look in his eyes said it all…”Mom are we done yet?!” Thanks Bu-Bee for your patience with momma, what an angel you are!

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After such a hard day yesterday, I started to think of what would make me happier. And here are a few of the things I came up with…

• A cookie dough blizzard
• Just because flowers
• Extra hugs and kisses from Daven (and boy did he give me extra! He knew he had some making up to do!)
• Extra hugs and kisses from Logan
• Crying
• Funny emails
• Shopping for new clothes, or shoes, or purses, or jewelry, etc
• Chicken Wrap
• Checking on my birds nest (no update to report as of today)
• Venting it all out to Autumn
• A massage
• Calling a relative and/or friend
• A night of free dinner without having to cook! (Thanks GranZ and PapaT!)
• Planning a trip
• Day dreaming
• Going to therapy
• Realizing that it could always be worse!
• Watching “Friends”
• Watching any girly TV for that matter!
• A Giant Diet Coke
• Skittles
• Singing in the car ♪
• A full nights rest
• A date night
• Riding in Autumn’s new car (CONGRATS AUTUMN!!)
• Daven’s giggles

Whew, I am feeling so much better already! That is only a few of the things on my list. Next time, I will be better prepared to fight off "bad days." ;-)

Since I haven’t added a picture of Daven in way too long…I thought I had better add one today. Autumn’s best friend Chyanne came over yesterday to see her new car and came in to love on Daven. As you can see from the pictures, he loved on her as well!

Thanks for sending the good vibes my way yesterday. I know it helped. Daven and I are both feeling much better today! Have a great Tuesday everybody!

LOVE LOVE LOVE

It is expected of a mom (any mom) to have good days and bad days. Well, unfortunately today is a bad day for me. I am not sure if it is (a) because of lack of sleep or (b) the overwhelming feeling that seems to be weighing heavy on my mind lately. Probably a little of both.

Daven, for some reason I have yet to figure out, didn’t sleep well at all last night. I think I saw every hour on the clock. Need-less-to-say, I am a bit disoriented today. Dark circles and puffy eyes…it isn’t pretty. Nights like last night, make me appreciate the nights when Daven only wakes up once or twice. Those are like a little slice of heaven when compared to looking at the clock only to find that you have slept 45 minutes since the last time you looked.

As Logan and I are trying to figure out how to get Daven to sleep, I suggested “Knocking him out with a mallet” only to hear Logan say…”Never in a million years would I suggest that!” Now wait, before you turn me into Protective Services, hear me out. Of course, I would NEVER actually knock my son out with a mallet, but that doesn’t mean I can’t think about it right? When you are already drained from a long day and dreading a long Monday morning ahead, the last thing you want is to be up every hour on the hour trying to calm a screaming child. Especially when you have NO IDEA why he is actually screaming. I LONG for the day when Daven can tell me or at the least point to me what is hurting him.

As for the overwhelming feeling, this just comes and goes when you are raising a special needs child. It has seemed to me that Daven’s development has halted for a while. I haven’t seen as much growth as I had hoped for at this point in time. In a few weeks, Daven will be 18 months old and I had so hoped that he would be crawling, standing, or walking by this time. When I read of other WS babies that are younger than Daven but farther along in the development process, I can’t help but fell terribly sad.

As I was throwing my own pity party, I thought to myself…as long as Daven hits these milestones, it won’t matter later in his life when he hit them…just that he did. So that seemed to talk me off the ledge. I also try to think of it as though I get to enjoy the “baby” stages longer than most moms. However, this is a lot easier said than done. I can’t begin to tell you how badly it hurts when a mom says “My baby is just growing up too fast, I want him/her to stop growing.” All I can do is sit back and think…Oh no you don’t! Grow, Grow, Grow little one.

I am trying to allow Daven to grow at his own pace. I will stop trying to make him grow at MY pace, but let him grow and develop in his own time. This just forces me to see how precious every little milestone can be. Thank you God for truly opening my eyes.

Sorry for the lengthy downer post. Maybe tomorrow will be one of those “good days” everyone talks about. ;-)

LOVE LOVE LOVE

Good morning to all! I hope you have come back to find an update on this blog...FINALLY. I am not 100% sure that blogger has completely fixed things, but so far...so good. I would have been updating if I could.

Meanwhile, I have a beautiful picture to share with you. No this time it isn't of Daven. Sorry, check back tomorrow. ;-)

My mother-in-law gave me a hanging basket of beautiful plants and flowers for mother’s day. Really very gorgeous. However, I had decided to "kick it up a notch" and give it a little miracle grow to help it get bigger and fuller. BAD idea! Within 24 hours, that poor plant was burnt to a crisp! I was devastated. Turns out, the miracle grow was concentrate. OPPS! Guess you should read the directions before doing something like that; I will give that credit to Logan. HA!

After a week or so of my dying plant hanging on my front porch, I decided to take it down and add new flowers. As Logan and I were talking about it, he looked in the basket and saw this. When he told me what he saw I immediately asked him to hoist me up to see it for myself. I was amazed at the perfectly designed nest and the beauty of the eggs. I knew that I had to document this experience!

The more I got to thinking about what I had seen, I started to wonder. How often do we do that? Make rash judgments based on appearances, without taking the time to take a closer look. I am as guilty as the next person. Sometimes we just need to stop and look at things in a different way. One of my biggest fears about Daven's future is that people will do this to him– make a judgment about him based on how he walks or talks or acts and not take the time to take a closer look at what is on the inside.

I am keeping an eye on our expected arrivals, but nothing is happening yet. I will keep you updated on any new developments. Take a minute to look around your world today. You never know what tiny little surprises you might see.

This morning if any of you need to speak with an elder or would like to come forward...HA! Just kidding everyone, my blog just suddenly started to sound like a sermon. So the only closing I knew was to offer an invitation. ;-)

LOVE LOVE LOVE

I am fairly confident that Logan, Daven and I are all traveled out for a while. Don’t long vacations always make you feel like you come home needing a vacation? Don’t get me wrong, we had an AWESOME time with all the family in Colorado and in Oklahoma, but it has wiped me out! I am starting to think that I will need to take a few days off work so I can recover from traveling. HA!

Okay, sorry…now let me get to the good stuff. Oklahoma was great! No tornados, only tons of fun and fantastic food. (Yes, most of the trip revolved around food…which unfortunately I love!)

This is Aunt Joy (GrandMama’s sister – Logan’s Aunt…Do I need to draw a family tree?) holding Daven on Wednesday. He was beat from the trip and crashed out right in her arms. We finally ended up putting him in the floor because he was cutting off the circulation to her arm. Ha, he is getting so heavy. Especially with that brace.

With Cousin Luke there…we thought “How cute would it be to have them dressed alike?” Da-da-dummmm…here are the little men all dressed alike! How cute is this? Oh, just think how bad it is going to be when/if there are two girls! We snapped and snapped pictures of these boys for a good 30 minutes. They were just so cute that we couldn’t take our eyes off of them.

Thank goodness there were tons of happy helpers to give a lending hand with Daven. He was a little grumpy while we were there. I am not sure it allergies he was fighting with, or just plain tired and wanting to be home. He is such a homebody. (I think he gets that from his GranZ!!) Such great helpers that I even got to take a nice long nap. How I ended up with zero pictures of GrandMama or GrandPa…I don’t know. I am sure you know that they had lots of time with those grandbabies!

Here is Auntie Shayla taking a nice nap with Daven. Aren’t they so sweet? Congratulations Shayla on your graduation! We are all so proud of you and anxious to watch you put your talents to work.

FINALLY WE HAVE AUNTIE SHAYLA!!!

And here is Grandma Gene. Logan’s Grandmother Daven’s Great-Grandmother. (I am really going to have to draw a family tree, aren’t I?)

And finally, here is Uncle Garrett holding both the boys. They are all dressed up and ready to go to Church. Those boys are just so cute…I just want to eat them up.

We were thrilled to go and take a little time off to see GrandMama and GrandPa. They have a nice new house with lots of running room for those grandbabies when they get bigger. I can’t wait for Luke and Daven to get bigger so they can enjoy trips to Oklahoma to play with GrandMama and GrandPa. Oh they fun they all will have. Fishing, golfing, boating…I can already see it. It is truly a little boys dream.

Hope you enjoy the pictures (if you can see them), it is nice to be back home. If Blogger.com will cooperate with me…I will be updating on a regular basis again. (I have updated sooner, but I have been fighting with Blogger for 2 days now!)

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Well, I am sorry that my blogging updates have been few and far in between lately. I have been fighting with blogger.com for about 2 days now. I have the entire update about our Oklahoma trip drafted and ready to post…but blogger.com isn’t letting me add any pictures. [Insert Angry Smiley Here] And, the pictures are so great, that I don’t want to leave them out.

So, at this point in time, I just wanted to let you know that we have returned from Oklahoma and a full update will be posted soon. HOPEFULLY by tomorrow, but I have been thinking that for the past 2 days. My apologies to you and thanks for checking for all the latest and greatest. But today; this is all you get.

I will be back tomorrow and try again.

LOVE LOVE LOVE