When it Rains it Pours!

This week has been rough for the McKinney family. Unfortunately my mom has had another bout of sickness and ended up back in the hospital at 3am on Monday. This has been a hard year for her with her sickness and the doctors are still confused as to what she actually has. Hopefully we will get some answers soon...she will be going through extensive testing this Friday and she got released from the hospital yesterday at 6. While in the hospital with my mom on Monday morning we got a call from my Aunt Gail (mom's sister), she had received a call from my grandmother that my grandfather (Poppy) was un-responsive (couldn't talk, couldn't move etc.). My Aunt high-tailed it over to Poppy's house and they called 911 immediately. Absolute CRAZINESS since my mom was also at St. Mary's Hospital and now my grandfather was also being admitted to the same hospital. After tests, it was determined that Poppy has pneumonia and congestive heart failure. I'm devastated about Poppy, I've been trying to spend as much time as I can with him these last couple of days. I would bounce from my mom's room on the 6th floor down to ICU to visit him. The doctors have told us the end is probably near so please be thinking about our family. I will update more when I hear more.

On another note Pierce had his appointment on Monday at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta for his head scan. Obviously Monday was a super intense day for me so my husband and Nanny (Matt's mom) took Pierce to the hospital for his appointment. Luckily the head scan went well and at this time the doctors feel what ever we are doing at home is working and his head is slowly improving, so at this time we will not be getting a helmet...YAY! However, we will have a follow-up with the doctor in one month to just make sure the head is progressing in the correct direction.

Thanks for all your thoughts! XOXO!

TRI 2 Beat Cancer Triathlon

It's OFFICIAL...I am a TRIATHLETE! This past Sunday I competed in my first triathlon...and I didn't die, lol :). Although, there are definitely times I felt like I was going to. I have so much more respect for Triathletes after competing in this event because man it is hard. But, I must say, I'm kinda hooked. It's hard for me to explain the feeling of running across the finish line but it was exhilarating and amazing to know I completed something like this 4 months after having Pierce. Last year I volunteered for this event and it's a wonderful event that raises money for local area cancer patients. My good friend Kimberly puts this event on...to say she is amazing is an understatement. She pretty much raised $75K on her own. Wow, I can't even believe that one woman can raise that kind of money in this economy by HERSELF! I'm so proud of her and so happy to call her a friend. Now back to the triathlon. I did train some...definitely not enough. I made the most effort of training in the swim portion. Going into that part I felt the most confident even though everyone told me that was the hardest part. I could easily get through 400M in the pool but open water with 150 women surrounding you is COMPLETELY different. I literally thought I was going to drown. I got kicked in the face at least 3 times and pushed under twice...all in the first 100M. I ended up drinking about a gallon of water and it took everything in me to keep going. The hardest part was getting around the women in front of me who were blocking my way to the "open" water. Once, I broke free from some of the people I got into a rhythm. It was about that time that I heard my name being shouted. I looked up and there was my super cute hubby in the canoe. He decided to volunteer this year and he was canoeing around a lifeguard. Hearing and seeing him was all I needed at that point to turn it up a notch and finish that portion. Next came the bicycling portion. Right out of the gate there was a huge hill...ugh...I was still trying to get my heart rate back down from the swimming. About 2 miles into the ride I got comfortable on the bike. The bike portion is NO joke however. There were hardly any flat parts of the ride. I felt like the majority of the ride I was going uphill...however I know there must have been a down hill at some point right? It was cracking me up because I have a hybrid bike and most triathletes have road bikes. I had 55 year old women FLYING past me on the downhill. The only time I could pass people was on the uphill portions. Next year if I do this again, I guess I'm going to have to invest in a road bike (sorry honey). The running portion was just plain out crappy. I hadn't practiced getting off the bike and running so I had no idea what to expect. Well, I will tell you this, that part is BRUTAL. I felt as if my legs were complete jello. I could barely walk, so to run was extremely hard. I think I may have re-injured my left knee during the run or during the transition. I ended up limping/walking most of the run. But I got through it...nothing was stopping me at that point, I was too close to the end. And then, I saw that finish line and I just started sprinting (and limping) my way to the end. I'm so excited to actually begin training for doing another one of these...like I said earlier...I'm hooked!

News about Pierce

Love love love our little Pierce man! He is such a joy and such a blessing. I'm not quite sure if he is just an easier baby or if I'm just a better mom but it definitely seems easier this time around.

Recently our little guy got diagnosed with Torticollis and we had to start therapy at St. Mary's Wellness Center for therapy on strengthening is neck muscles. He has come so far!! See the pictures above? He just started being able to hold his head up. In addition to the therapy we've been constantly watching his head because he had a pretty bad flat spot due to the torticollis. Unfortunately we got word last week that we have to get him fitted for a helmet at Children's Hospital of Atlanta. It has just broken my heart. I don't know what to expect and I know that this is just a blip on the radar but no mommy wants to see their baby have to go through something like this. To ease the pain of the helmet, which I'm sure is not only going to be hard on mommy and daddy but probably Collin too, we were thinking of getting some fun stickers to decorate his helmet with. What do you think? Sadly, he could be in that thing anywhere from 1 to 4 months (maybe longer) and has to wear it for 22 hours a day. Please be thinking of our family during this time. Much love!

What a week...what a past couple of months!

Fun, Fun, Fun! That is what this summer has been so far.

Collin had his first tubing experience on Lake Sinclair a month ago and he had an absolute blast. He is so adorable and so gutsy when it comes to trying new things...hmm, I wonder who he takes after in his risk-taking (probably both his mommy and daddy, however, I'm partial to think it's more me, hehe). Pierce also had fun on his lake trip and fell right asleep every time we got on the boat. I just love snuggling my little guy. Last weekend we went back to the lake for the second time this summer and Collin's cousin Braz also got to ride the tubes. We had so much fun and the boys were completely worn out after a day on the water.

I hope we can continue to go to both the McKinney's and the Griffin's lake house for the remainder of the summer any chance we can because I hope Collin can get comfortable and love the water as much as his mommy and daddy do.

We also went to the beach a few weeks ago and we had an action packed time. We played on the beach and went to the water park almost every single day. One of the days, Collin went out in the water at low tide with his daddy and they caught a SHARK. It was so neat to see Collin so excited about it. I hope to create many more memories down at St. Simons Island.

Cars 2 came out this past weekend and to say that Collin is obsessed with it is an understatement. In the last 2 weeks, we've watched the original Cars movie every single day, so when it came out this last Friday we knew we had to go. I want to thank Aunt Sissy and Bee Bong for watching Pierce for us so we could take Collin to the movie. He loves the movie theater...maybe it's the popcorn and coke (I know, I know kids shouldn't have coke... but it helps him stay in his seat for most of the movie, so I don't want to hear about it mommy friends) and LOVED the movie. He hasn't stopped talking about "Mater" or "Liking McQueen" (as he says it) ever since. He also carries around a Mater and Lightning McQueen car every where we go. I guess for his 3rd birthday we will have to have a Cars themed party :).

Until next time, take care!

And family makes 4...

Well, I know it's been quite awhile since I last blogged and for that I apologize. I'm definitely going to try and get back into the blogging. Since I last blogged A LOT has happened. Matt and I struggled for 14 months to get pregnant and in August right around Collin's 2nd birthday we found out we conceived our second child who was born on April 17th, 2011 (2 weeks early). His name is Pierce Dwight McKinney and he is such a blessing in our lives. I went into labor at noon on April 16th...I "labored" until 4 am and finally my midwife Meredith told me the wonderful news..."You are 10 cm...and actually the baby's head is already halfway out," un-beknownst to me since I had an epidural at midnight and couldn't feel anything from chest down, lol. I only pushed twice and then my little miracle baby was completely out and laying on my chest, which is the sweetest feeling in the whole world. Not many people know this but Pierce was actually born on the day my father passed away exactly 6 years ago. In the moment that I was holding Pierce for the first time I had such mixed emotions...I was so in love and so happy to be holding my precious baby boy but I couldn't help but have all the grieving and sad emotions run through every part of my body thinking about my father. Then my sadness turned to a sense of awe because I knew my dad had a part of my son Pierce being born on that day. I looked at my mom and we both said that my daddy is looking down on us now and wants April 17th to be a happy day. Pierce's middle name Dwight is also my father's middle name and it's crazy that we picked that name out many weeks before he was born. Everytime I look at Pierce or think about the day he was born I think about my daddy too. So here he is world...Pierce Dwight McKinney.

I think I'm completely out-numbered now...what do you think?

Until next time, xoxo!

It's been awhile...

This has been a wonderful year watching Collin grow up. He's really starting to talk a lot, he's running EVERYWHERE and he's extremely fond of balls and cars. He's been attending Rocky Branch Academy and both he and Matt and I really know it's such a wonderful fit. He gets excited every morning when we pull up at the day care to see and play with his friends. For a long time Collin had a problem with sharing and being away from mommy and daddy but day care has definitely seemed to cure this. Our family is about to join the Georgia Aquatic center and we hope our little man will be swimming like a fish by the end of summer. We have a few beach trips planned and we are excited to let him play in the sand and the surf.

My little nephew Braz is also doing really well and he and Collin are definitely PIC's. They still are living up at Fort Bragg but we hope they are going to get to move sometime in about a year or so. Brandon still has many years left but we hope they will move back home once he's finished serving his time in the military. Braz is just like Brandon and my Daddy...such a social butterfly :)

Collin's grandmother, Honey, is also doing really well. The bank is, thank goodness, doing wonderfully despite this horrible economy. This past April was my dad's 5 year anniversary and although we thought time would heal everything it seems to get harder as the years pass and as Collin gets older. I know Collin would have learned so much from his grandfather, Bear, but we love to talk about him and tell him stories.

Nanny and Pops, Steve and Stephanie, are also doing great! Pops is loving retirement and living at the lake and Nanny is working super hard to make some "play" money for her and Pops. They have really helped out and stepped up with Collin so much this year and for that we are forever grateful.

I promise I won't wait another year to do another post...until then, take care!

Christmas 2008

Christmas 2008 was so much fun! Collin got great presents from his Honey, Nanny & Pops, Uncle Brandon & Elizabeth and Unkie Adam. We are already looking forward to next year because we know it will be that much more exciting and Collin will be much more involved in opening his presents.

Matthew and I went on our first vacation away from Collin over the New Year. We had a blast in Orlando, Florida at Disney World, Universal Studios and the Capitol One Bowl, but we missed our son terribly. Lucky for us, we have amazing Grandparents who had so much fun getting to keep him.

We hope everyone has an a great time in '09 and we look forward to getting to spend more time with all of our friends and families!