Christmas Cards

I love Christmas cards! I love getting them in the mail and I love sending them out to friends and family. They are one of my many favorite things about this time of year, but this year I haven't sent one single card YET. We have had a hard time trying to get a family picture. We finally had some made while we were in Fayetteville, but I don't have them from the photographer yet....so it looks like I will be sending Happy New Year cards this year! :) In the mean time, enjoy a few pics of my little man walking around his grandparents front yard.

Finally....

I have been fighting with blogger to get pictures uploaded for the last few days and I finally had success! We have had a great last few weeks. It has been wonderful to be with family. We have been on the go since we landed in Fayetteville! Drew started walking last week.

Hal's dad is in the hospital this weekend for his 2nd round of chemo. He is hoping to come home again on Monday. Both treatments have gone great so far! Thank you so much for praying for him.

Drew is back from a trip with Dad and Uncle Ed to the donut shop....gotta go! Enjoy the pics.

Courtney, Kennedy, and Landry

On the square

Trying so hard

Grammy and I have created a monster over the last few days. Little man has had a rough few days. He has several molars that are coming through and really giving him trouble. Mom and I have had to work hard to keep him happy and entertained. Yesterday we took him outside for a "walk." Now he wants to walk everywhere! The only problem is he needs a finger to hold on to. He did take 4 or 5 steps on his own last night...so we will see!

Busy Morning

Here are a few pictures of Drew's busy morning playing in the front yard and eating a Rice Krispy treat with grammy.

Tour of the South

It is harder and harder to get a picture of little man these days. Not only is he never still, but he always wants the camera! This is about as good as I have been able to do this week.

My mom is here this week and we are loving having the extra help. Drew and I fly to Arkansas with her on Sunday to begin the Ramsey family tour of the South! Hal will join us in Arkansas on the 19th. My parents will then drive us to Mississippi on the 22nd. We will spend Christmas in Laurel and drive home to Florida later that weekend. We may be crazy to do this with a 1 year old, but we are looking forward to spending time with both our families this Christmas.

Randy has done well the first few days of his chemo. Today he gets a treatment the doctor has warned will be tough. Please pray for strength for him today

Praying for Paw Paw

For those of you that we haven't talked with over the last few weeks, we ask that you please pray for Hal's dad, Randy Ramsey. He has been sick for quite some time and in the hospital since last week. After multiple blood tests, a bone marrow biopsy, and surgery to remove a lymph node, they determined that he has lymphoma.

Earlier this week they were able to confirm the type as Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma. This type of lymphoma is extremely rare and aggressive, but Randy's doctor feels that it is treatable. They inserted the chemo port earlier this week and he will begin chemotherapy this morning. The doctor let them know that this first round of chemotherapy is quite tough.

Please join us in praying the following:

*Pray for Randy as he has his first chemo treatment begins today. Pray for strength and that his body can handle it.

*Pray for Hal's mom, Nan, as she cares for Randy. Pray that she will get rest.

*Pray that they both maintain a positive attitude and trust in God's care.

Thank you so much for joining with us in these requests.

Love,

Hal & Lindsay

Go Gators?

My friend Kristen got Drew a Gator shirt for his birthday. It would be okay with us if he wanted to follow in Tim Tebow's steps! :)

I totally wimped out on a Christmas tree this year. We are only going to be here two weeks in December and I didn't want to spend the entire two weeks saying "No Sir!" I put up a small tree yesterday and he hasn't noticed it yet.

You can really start to see his top teeth. Look at my big boy!!

Mia and Mary Allison came to play with Drew today. They had a great time playing in his tent!

Whirlwind Thanksgiving

I feel like the last few weeks have flown by and the next few are going to go even faster! After having my mom and dad here for Drew's birthday, we went to Laurel for Thanksgiving. Hal's dad is in the hospital and we really just wanted to be there, so we headed up there on Wednesday. It was great to see his dad and mom and we had a great time with Ed, Jess, and Madison. The girls helped me cook Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday and Saturday morning we randomly decided to hop in the car and head for Starkville. I loved getting to see a place that means so much to Hal and Drew got his first cowbell and SEVERAL other things. :) And State came away with a win over Ole Miss!

Please join us in praying that the doctors can specifically determine what is going on with Hal's dad and determine the best course of treatment. We are hoping to get some results today.

It was a great weekend and I am so glad that we went. I will just choose to forget the 10 hour car ride there and back. :)

Ed and his girls

Drew wasn't very cooperative for pictures

Helping Madison post to facebook

In Starkville with Uncle Ed

Little man was exhausted. The Paci was the only way we could get a picture without him screaming!

At Little Dooey's with Daddy

Watching the game

In his State Jersey. I think he looks good in maroon & white!

Hal & Madison

In the front porch swing before we left.

Lots of Birthday Fun

We have had several days of birthday fun! Hal waited to go to work on Thursday so he could be here when Drew woke up. Then we took him to a birthday lunch with Hal and that night let him have a birthday cupcake. He tore into it quickly! Today he had his 12 month wellness visit and his birthday party was this afternoon. I think all the birthday fun caught up with little man! He wasn't to into his cake today!

To say the last year has been amazing is an understatement. It has been filled with many challenges and frustrations, but has also been filled with laughter and full of joy. I think about how terrified Hal and I were the night we brought Drew home. We felt so ill equipped, but in His grace, we have made it through little man's first year! I am grateful to have Hal who has encouraged me every day this last year and told me more times than I could ever count that he appreciates what I do and that I am a good mom. What would I do differently? I remember my friend Kim saying, she would slow down and not worry. I agree. I wouldn't worry about how much I held him when he was so tiny. I would worry about messing up.

Now to the pictures...that is what you want to see anyway. :)

Birthday morning with Daddy!

present from Grammy and Grampy

Birthday cupcake

Reading books from Paw Paw and Maw Maw (notice he is sitting in the box they came in)

Present from maw maw and paw paw

Ready for the party!

Oh...what is this??

The crying begins. I think he was mad because we blew the candle out. He is holding on to it in this picture.

Phone time with Daddy

I really need to take a video of this! The last few weeks Hal has left for work before Drew gets up, so they have been having a morning phone call. It really sounds like he is trying to tell his daddy something important. He will just jabber on and on and he MUST hold the phone.

Weekend

We had a great weekend! Even though Hal had to work until 2 on Saturday we were able to squeeze in some fun. :) Friday afternoon Drew's first birthday present arrived. We waited until Hal got home and then let him open his gift from Hal's brothers family. He was more interested in the bows on the package than anything for a few minutes, but then started loving his new truck.

Saturday morning Hal had to work. I took Drew to get his H1N1 shot as well as a seasonal flu shot and then we headed to a birthday party.

Sunday we were off to church and then to lunch. After Drew's nap, we headed back down to the park in Sarasota where we had been for the bday party. There was a neat play area that Drew really enjoyed.

This silly face cracks me up!

How he as grown since the last time we took a picture in this spot!! The picture below was taken in late January.