So long 2008.....FINALLY

I think my title would sum it up really well however, in case in doesn't for some of you let me just say. I am SO glad to be able to see 2008 leave. While this year had some good memories it also seemed to have more difficult and bad memories for us as well. let me give you a brief synoposis.

Nothing big happened in January except that JLO and I celebrated our 8 year wedding anniversary. Good grief where did that time go? January through May brought about school for me and little time to relax for us as far as the girls playing softball and just being busy. KAO finished first grade and LKO finished Pre-K. June brought to us an OKelley Family Vacation that was beyond awesome and relaxing. We haven't been on vacation with JLO's parents since 2003 and this was well worth it and I am already trying to plug a trip for 2009. Also in June brought to us a surprise birthday party for JLO since he turned 30. In July, some of closest friends experienced a crisis when the husband was diagnosed with cancer.....however, he is doing awesome

In August I had a spinal tap at Piedmont Hospital to relieve spinal pressure build up and relieve me of migraines and I am happy to say I have only had maybe 2 since which in awesome since I had them EVERYDAY for 11 months before then. KAO started 2nd grade and LKO started Kindergarten. In October I crossed the 30th birthday mark with 2 awesome dinners....one with my brother and his wife at Two Urban Licks in Atlanta and one with 25 of my closest friends at Johnny Carino's (the place closed its doors for good right after we left). In November I decided I decided that getting my teaching degree wasn't for and I plan to finish my degree with Management and will start pursuing that in January. Also, in November KAO performed in our church program for Kids Express.

In December we learned of our new life and way of living for MEO's sake when she was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. JLO played in our Christmas program and we celebrated Christmas and celebrated a dear friend's 3rd birthday and her little sister's dedication at church. However, in December we learned that some of our other friends daughter was diagnosed with cancer which has been been diagnosed as brain cancer and it usually only has a 10% survival rate. This is even harder since they lost their first daughter to cancer in 2004. Another set of our close friends lost a dear aunt just this morning.

So it has been marked with happiness and sadness but with everything that has happened in just December it seems that it has been a hard year so 2009 has got to be better,

While I typically don't make New Years resolutions one of my friend's on her blog asked what were mine so I figured I would name at least 3 that I would like accomplish....I plan to lose weight with her----haven't able to be at the gym in a couple of weeks so January 5th looks like a good day to start up again. I hope to be more successful at school and finally to get my house in the order that I would like to have it and keep it that way.

So what are you going to try and accomplish in 2009...let me know.

FINALLY Relaxing

So did you all have a great Christmas like we did. I hope so. We were truly blessed this year and look forward to another year so being parents to some busy little girls.

Christmas at our house was nice and a "little" messy. Santa was good to the girls as you can tell in some of the pictures that I posted. He brought K-Bear and Lilo a puppet stage with 2 puppets and brought Miss M a train table with a train. Our house was a mess and it is still in the recovery process 3 days later. AHHHHHH!!!!

Later that day we ended up at Mimi and Papa's and boy you talk about gifts galore and a mess that takes 4 trash bags to accompany the mess out of there house. But hey when you have 11 people opening gifts I guess a mess is expected.

We look forward to seeing what 2009 has in store for all of us and look forward to updating you about our fab five in 2009.

Realization

I have had some moments of realization over the last week, you know those type that hit you square in the face when life throws you or ones closest to you a curve ball. Let me explain.

You see while I am a mother of three little girls that I adore with all my heart there are those days that I wonder and think was I meant to be a mother. I have days where they are the light of my world and days where I am so irritated I am sorry that the day ever started. Then all of a sudden life slaps you with a realization of how truly greatful I am to have three healthy (Diabetes aside) little girls that adore me and their dad.

My realization came last Sunday when I got home from spending time with friends to learn that some of our friends were facing another heartbreaking time in their lives. We have known Kirk and Natalie since we were all in the newlyweds class at First Baptist Smyrna in 2000. In 2003 they welcomed Madelyn Grace and within 4 months learned that she was suffering from cancer. Madelyn would go on to pass away in 2004 at 13 months old. They would welcome a healthy little boy Grant in 2006 and then 10 weeks ago welcome another little girl, Annette.

Last Sunday, they found out that Annette has a tumor covering a portion of her brain and on her spine. This past Friday 95% of the tumor on her brain was removed and now the recovery game begins and the waiting game to have the tumor removed from her spine. It will be a long hard journey for them and as we continue to pray for them and their little family I learn that my life isn't all that bad and I am thankful for healthy kids.

So the picture above is of Little Miss Annette please continue to pray for her and her parents during this time.

The O'Kelley Family wishes you a Merry Christmas.

See I Can Do This

Now that I know how to make my blog pretty I might be prome to keep it up. :) Thanks to my friend Jessica at fosterhome5.blogspot.com for the help.

Take Two

You know what they say.....make memories...treasure time....never miss a moment with the kids.

I have attemped this blogging thing before and haven't been able to really keep it up but after nagging from my friend....Mrs Foster, I thought I would try this again.

December has been extremely crazy for us. It all started on December 1st when I took Morgan in to the doctor for what I believed was a typical UTI. Since she is NOT potty trained they had to do a catheter on her and when the results came back negative they wanted to prick her finger to find out why her sugar levels were so high. In case you don't know normal sugar levels are suppose to be at 130 or below. Upon pricking her finger...her sugar levels came back at 437 so we were immediately sent to Cobb Hospital for more blood tests. After the blood tests we had to play the waiting game for the results. About two hours later our pediatrician called and said that her sugar levels hadn't changed much so she wanted us to go to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite for more testing. So off we went.

Upon arriving at Scottish Rite we were pushed above everyone that was waiting to be seen and work ups immediately started on Morgan. By the time they got her workup done her sugar levels were at 589....FYI we were told that 600 is a diabetic coma. So we were admitted to the hospital. We started our journey of learning everything you need to know to treat a diabetic child and care for that child. Through our training we learned the signs of a diabetic and were surprised to learn that Morgan had 5 of the 7 signs. We were in the hospital until December 3rd and have been trying to learn anything we can about Diabetes ever since.

Our pediatrician's kids are both diabetics and she has taken us under her wings. Morgan has adjusted well to the changes as have the other girls. Morgan tells us which fingers she wants pricked and where she wants her insulin shot at. She currently has to have her fingers pricked 3-4 times per day and she to receive insulin after EVERY meal.

After we made it home it was time to get ready for the Christmas program at church for Jason, Liv has been busy with her new Daisy group (we will have cookies for sale in January) and Kerigan has been preparing for a trip to Ridgecrest NC with the kids program group at church.

We look forward to the Christmas season and we will love sharing our Christmas memories with you soon.