Holidays!

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! It seems like life has been non stop since the beginning of November. We traveled to Town Creek to spend the Thanksgiving weekend with Brad's family. It was a good weekend. We celebrated Titus' actual birthday while we were there (Nov 25). I can't believe my baby boy is 2! He has turned into such a little boy and not a baby! Our lives have changed so much since April 2009 (the day we found out we were pregnant with Titus!) We have been through some trials, but through it all our God has been faithful. We are truly blessed.
Emmy is doing wonderful! We went and met with her specialist on Nov 16th. This was the first time we had seen him since she was 3 weeks old. Dr Bock is such a wonderful doctor and we are so thankful that God allowed him to be Emmy's doctor. He was very pleased with her growth and how she is doing! Lets just say she is a big girl. He drew lab on that day and we got the results a few days later. Her level in October was 7.0, which was higher than he wanted. He wants her levels to be between 4-6. Her level on that day was 4.6!!! Did you hear me??? I said 4.6. I cry when its high and I cry when its low! We are so thankful and give God the glory! He has not put her on a diet, just told me to be smart with what she eats. I had really been watching what she was getting and had her on a pretty routine diet, so I have opted to stay where we are for the time being! Why mess with a good thing! Once she gets off formula at 1, we will be more free to add things into her diet! God is good!
This is our first Christmas in our new house and we are loving it. We went to the Christmas tree farm and picked out a huge tree!!!! We had it flocked put it in our dining room! It is beautiful! This was Brad, Titus, and Emmy's first time to go to a Christmas tree farm and have a real tree at Christmas! Brad and I decided it would be a family tradition.
We have so many things to be thankful for this holiday season. We have been blessed more than we ever deserve and hope we never take that for granted. We are thankful for each of you and hope you are all having a wonderful holiday!

                                                                    Missing Poppy!

                                                                      Crazy Kid!

                                                                    Sweet babies!

                                                                  New cousin Lizzi!

                                                                      Cupcakes!

                                                             Happy 2nd! Birthday!

                                           Logan, Titus, and Lane! Three curly headed boys!

                                                               He loved the cupcake!

Busy Weekend!

Wow! What a weekend! The fun began on Thursday afternoon! Deidra was admitted to the hospital in order to start the induction process! Thursday night was just to get her ready with the real induction starting Friday morning! We were all sooo excited to be able to welcome Lizzi into the world on Friday morning at 11:16 a.m.

Brad's family graciously agreed to come into town on Thursday night in order that I may be at the hospital all day on Friday and not have to worry about getting someone to keep the kids. It worked out wonderfully!

Saturday was a great day! It was Titus' 2nd bday party! Although he won't be two until Nov 25, this was the best weekend to have the party. Parties are alot of work, but so worth it to watch everyone have so much fun. I feel like everyone had a great time! I know Titus did! We are so blessed to have so many wonderful friends and family that helped make the day a wonderful one. I can't believe my baby will be 2 in just a week.

Emmy is doing great also. She is 6 mths and growing like a weed. She weighs 17 lb 6 oz. We will see her specialist on Wednesday and get blood work. She has been on a strict diet so we are hoping the levels come down. Pray with us.

Now it is time to start focusing on the holidays! I can't believe Thanksgiving is next week!

The Fair and Halloween!

We have had a busy and fun last few weeks! We started off by going to the Jackson County Fair a few weekends ago. We took Titus to the fair last year, but being only 11 months old, he wasn't really into it. Oh how that changed in a year! He loved everything about the fair this year. It was a constant battle of trying to get him off the rides and try to do other things like eat dinner! He loved riding the cars most of all! Next year will be interesting having 2 kids that will be wanting to ride things!

I started thinking about Halloween around the beginning of October. I wanted them to be something that went together, so it was a bit of a challenge to find something small enough for Emmy. I decided to let Titus be a monkey and let Emmy be the banana! I must say it was super cute and everyone seemed to love it. I already have some ideas on next year!

We are busy getting ready for Titus' birthday weekend. His birthday isn't until the 25th, but because of Thanksgiving, we are doing the party this Saturday. Brad's entire family is coming into town for it. It will be  a busy week of preparation, but well worth it for my soon to be 2 year old!!!!!

New Project!

We are still in the process of getting things on the walls in our house. Just thought I'd share with you the canvas prints I just ordered! So excited to get them in!

Wedding Canvas

Blank Project Canvas Print

Find unique birthday cards and birthday invitations at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Titus Newborn

Blank Project Canvas Print

Creating Christmas cards have never been this easy.

View the entire collection of cards.

Emmy Newborn

Blank Project Canvas Print

Shutterfly offers exclusive graduation announcements and invitations.

View the entire collection of cards.

A few Changes

Brad and I made a decision this past weekend to deactivate both of our facebook accounts. It was something I had been thinking of doing for a few months and then Friday when Brad came home from work, he told me he had decided he needed to delete his account. There is nothing wrong with Facebook, but we just felt it had a place of priority in our life that we did not want it to have. So I say all of that to ask you to keep up with us on the blog! This is where the status updates and photos will be.

Dr Bock recommended this week that we change Emmy's diet. He wants to get her levels down to 4-5. We have decreased her formula intake in order to decrease the amount of protein. Once I feel she is doing well on this diet, we will get labs. Hopefully that will be next week. We are praying that the levels do decrease. Please continue to pray!

Have a wonderful week!

Happy Fall Ya'll!

I love this weather and this time of year! I really love it because it means we are close to Christmas, which is my all time favorite time of the year! We have been so busy over the last 2 mths. Life is good, just fast. I started my job back in August. It is technically a 2 day a week job, but it is so much more than that! I have gone to a staff retreat, conference in Orlando, and done some speaking engagements. My husband has been amazing and has not complained one time that he has had the kids by himself! I am loving this job and this ministry more than I could have ever imagined. It's amazing how much you love your job when you are in the will of God!
Titus is growing sooo much! I can't believe he will be two in just a few weeks. I can because of his attitudes at time, but I can't because it seems like yesterday I found out I was pregnant with him. He definitely has a lot of energy and keeps me going. He loves his baby sister and wants to continuously be beside her and hugging her. She is the only one he will give kisses to! I love watching them see each other in the morning, just huge smiles and laughs the whole time! I am busy planning his birthday party, so check back for pictures.
Emmy is also doing amazing. She is 5 mths now! At her 4 mth check up she weighed 16 lb 1 oz and was 23.5 inches long. She has definitely beat Titus in the weight and height category! She is the happiest, most laid back baby. She is trying so hard to sit up, I know it won't be long!
We had Emmy's bloodwork done this past week. She has been eating baby food (fruits and veggies) for a month. Her levels rose back up to 7. That is not a huge jump, but Dr Bock would like to see them come down closer to 4. We will have a phone meeting with him tomorrow to discuss what we need to do to get the numbers down. It may mean cut out some of the formula, replacing with fruits, or it may be changing formula all together. It was definitely not the report we wanted to get, but we still know the Great Physician and the one who knew Emmy before she was even in our thoughts. I prayed on Thursday morning and I did ask God for a healing, but I also said no matter what I would be content knowing that he was in control. I can't see the big picture and I don't know what the future holds, but I do know who holds the future. Emmy is perfect to us and we know God has big plans for her life!

I will leave you with some pics of this past week. Love to all!

Yay for Good Numbers!

Well once again we have been shown just how faithful God is. Emmy had her blood drawn on Tuesday of this past week. I was dreading it because the last time we had it done the lab tech was not very good at drawing an infants blood. It took a good 20 minutes of her screaming before the tech finally got enough. I know it hurts Emmy and is tiring for her, but it is also emotionally tiring for me. When we got there this Tuesday morning, the day crew had just gotten to work (these are the ones we were used to!). There were 4 of them all crowded around Emmy just talking to her and making over her painted toe nails! They pricked her heel and within about 2 minutes had all the blood they needed! Emmy never flinched, she just talked the whole time! It was such a relief. Those girls are awesome and we will definitely not have it drawn again unless they are there! Dr Bock called me Friday afternoon. As I said in the previous post, we had been adding rice cereal to her bottles to help with reflux and also as a protein challenge to her. Technically, her levels should increase with the increase of protein. Her previous level was 7.0.....this weeks level was 6.5! PTL! Dr Bock was happy with this and said we will just check again in about 2 months! He wants her to have been on baby food for a good 4 weeks before we recheck. I called my pediatrician Friday night and told him the news. He just laughed and said "All I can say is that baby girl has a slew of people praying for her because she's not doing anything that was expected!" So Thank you Thank you Thank you to each and everyone that has prayed for her. Please keep them coming. We are winning the battle so far, but it is not over yet.

Emmy has become so much fun lately. She's really starting to get a personality. She is such a good baby. I love watching her smile and talk to her animals on her swing. She also just smiles at Titus. It's so sweet! Titus becomes more in love with her everyday. He has to be by her 24/7. Bless her heart, she just lays there and lets him mess with her!

Titus has been in swimming lessons this past week. We are doing the ISR lessons. We started them back in March because I wanted to have them done before Emmy came. You have to go everyday for 10 minutes for about 6-8 weeks. We did 5 weeks in Feb/March but had to take a break because of ear infections/teething. We got tubes in April and then I had Emmy, so this has been our first chance to finish. I really wanted to finish the lessons because of mom and dad having a pool. I just wanted to know he had some knowledge of swimming. He is doing so good. He loves swimming under water and he has learned to flip to his back. We probably have about 2 weeks left before he graduates the program. If you have a small child, you should definitely check this program out.

Well gotta get everyone ready for church! Have a great day! Love to all!

Long Time!

I know I know....long time...no post! Sorry it's busy taking care of 2 babies! Ha!
The summer has been great! I have enjoyed being home with Titus and Emmy. We haven't been able to get out much because it has been so hot and with Emmy still being small, we stay in as much as we can. My parents got a pool, so we have been enjoying that in the early evenings and on the weekends. Titus is loving the water!

I know most of you follow my dad's blog or talk to Brad and I so you know what's going on with Emmy, but let me update you just in case you don't. We got a blood level at the end of June that was stable (no increase, no decrease). We were happy with that and so the doctor let us go 1 month with no blood work. This was a much needed break. It wears on your emotions whenever you have to continuously take your baby to get tests performed. We got a level on July 25th and it had increased just a smidge. The doctor was not unhappy with the level, but was not happy either! Emmy is in a gray zone right now. Shes just above what is considered the appropriate level, but just below what is considered needing to be placed on a special diet. Leave it to my baby girl to be difficult! (She gets that from her daddy!) So this is what we decided.....she has battled with reflux since she was born, but we didn't want to add rice cereal or change formulas due to her condition. The specialist suggested we start adding rice cereal to her bottle every time to see if it would help with the reflux. In doing this we would be adding protein to her diet. With her disease, her body doesn't break down protein appropriately, so we have to monitor to make sure she isnt building up to much in her body. The rice cereal worked wonders for the reflux. We will now retest her this Tuesday to see if by adding the extra protein, her levels increase drastically. If they do, we know we need to change her diet. If they don't, then we will just continue to monitor. This is going to be something that takes years to determine just how serious it is. Every time we add something new to her diet, we will have to test her to make sure she is staying in a safe range. Dr Bock is very optimistic still. He has been so patient and understanding with all my questions and anxiety! We are not thrilled that the levels aren't decreasing, but we know that it could always be worse! God is still in control and still has the power to heal!

We went to the beach for a few days with Brad's family. Uncle Eddie and Aunt Sue graciously allowed us to use their beach house! It was great to spend a few days away! The pics are from that vacay!

Another big change we are making in our family is that I have decided to go back to work. I will be working part time as a Women's Health Nurse Practitioner for Women's Resource Center (aka Sav A Life). I am so excited about this opportunity. I have loved staying home full time with my babies, but Brad and I both believe this is God's plan for my life at this time. I love my occupation and have a passion for young women. I went into nursing saying I would use it as a ministry. At that time, I only thought about foreign missions such as Guatemala. While I love foreign missions, I do not believe that is where God has called me. There is a huge mission field right in Mobile County and that is my passion. I start Aug 23rd, so please keep our family in your prayers as we go through this transition.

Hugs and Kisses!
The Huttos

God is good!

We got a late night phone call from our genetics doctor tonight. He wanted to let us know that Emmy's bloodwork had DECREASED! Praise the Lord! God is good all the time! We appreciate the prayers and ask that you continue to lift her up. We will redraw blood in 2 weeks. Our prayers would be that the labs would continue to decrease.

Picture Day!

Taking pictures with and 18 mth old and a 3 week old is definitely a challenge! Titus is a busy busy little boy and will not stay in one spot very long. When we are at home, he is all over Emmy! He tries to kiss her, hug her, and hold her all day. Of course when we go to take pictures, he wants nothing to do with her! He would smile and do whatever until the camera came out.....then he would turn his back and run. So we got lots of good pictures of Emmy and a few of Titus...ha! He is a mess but is at such a fun age!

My parents had a house dedication/worker appreciation dinner at their house last night. It was a great time of fellowship. I am so happy that my parents have been blessed with a home and even happier that we have been blessed with it being right beside ours! They have been married 31 years and this is their first home to own, so I think it was definitely time! We are blessed!

Awaiting results on Emmy's bloodwork. I am hoping Dr Bock will call us this afternoon with the results. I will update as soon as we know. Love to all of you.

Prayers Please!

I will update more next week, but I just wanted to ask if you will please remember Emmy in your prayers on Monday. We will take her to Singing River Hospital to have lab work drawn. Singing River will overnight the blood to Dr Bock in Jackson and we should have the results on Tuesday. We are praying for a lower number than last week so that her diet will not be changed and we can maybe go a few weeks without her having to have blood taken. Thanks in advance for the prayers!

Oh How Life Has Changed!

I started this blog in order for our friends and family to be able to keep up with Titus and watch him grow. I apologize for not keeping it up, but I am going to try and do better! Our life has changed so much since I last blogged, so let me try and catch everyone up!

First off we started our house building on Oct 1, 2010. It was a very fun/exciting/frustrating process! We were blessed to have a wonderful contractor who tried to make it as painless as possible. In mid March 2011 we moved into our dream home. We love everything about our home and definitely know it was worth the wait. We have been so blessed as a young couple and do not take lightly the blessings God has given us. This is our life home and we look forward to having our kids grow up here. For those of you who do not know, our home is on family land. My older sister, Deidra, and her husband, Soy, also moved into their home in mid March, which is also on our family's land! My parents will complete their house this week and will be living between Deidra and I! My grandparents have always lived on this land! So finally, we are all on one hill! I am excited and look forward to our children growing up next to grandparents, great grandparents, aunts, and uncles.

On May 7, 2011 at 1:16 p.m. we welcomed Emilia June Hutto into our family. She came into this world weighing 7 lbs and was 20 inches. She is absolutely perfect and we could not be happier. We are truly blessed with both of our children. I was very concerned about Titus and how he would react to Emmy. For any of you who know Titus, you know that he is a Mommas boy all the way! The first week was a little rough just because of everything being so new. Thankfully my parents took Titus home with them every night that week and paid extra attention to him so he would not feel left out! Brad's mom also got to come down for the birth and stay the week after. She was a tremendous help with Emmy and the house. It was definitely different going from having 1 baby to having 2! We have adjusted pretty well I think! Titus loves his baby sister! He wants to hug/kiss/hold her all the time!

When Emmy was 2 weeks old we got a phone call from a nurse in Alabama telling us that Emmy had some abnormal lab results from the hospital. We met with our pediatrician on that Monday and had the labs redrawn hoping it was just a wrong reading. We then got the results back on Thursday which told us that the labs were still abnormal. Our pediatrician met with Brad, me, and my dad that afternoon to discuss the plan. We were all pretty worried and upset, but trusting God. My pediatrician recommended we see a geneticist in Jackson Ms for further testing. Dr Bock, the geneticist, called me that afternoon to set up an appointment for the following day. After talking with him on the phone, I already felt better. Brad, Emmy, and I went to Jackson this past Friday. We met with Dr Bock for about an hour. He did more lab tests and told us we would know some results that afternoon and others would take a few weeks. We were very impressed with his optimism, expertise, and professionalism. He called us on our way home to tell us that one of the tests was back and was actually a little better than before! Praise the Lord! We were praying they would stay stable and they did! We are still waiting on some results and we will still have to continue to do lab work for the next few months. We ask that you pray with us that our baby girl will be healed! We know that God is in control and all things are possible through him! We also firmly believe that God does not make mistakes and that no matter what Emilia June Hutto is perfectly and wonderfully made! I am usually a worrisome person, but I can honestly say that I have a peace that only God can give about the situation. So again, I ask that you believe with us and pray for a healing.

Well that's a pretty long post, but I did want to catch you up on the major things that have happened over the past year! We are enjoying our Memorial day by doing nothing! We hope everyone is well and enjoying the holiday weekend!