Happy Birthday to my LITTLE brother!

Okay, one day late isn't bad! Happy 27th birthday to Eli (yesterday)! He is quite the old man now. I have an awesome brother who makes me almost pee my pants laughing all the time. You kind of get attached to someone when you have been around them for 27 years. Eli is such a blessing to me and everyone he is around, I'm so glad I get to call him my brother (and that Camille will get to call him "Uncle"). Love you, Eli!!!!!!

26 weeks

Now, friends, let me explain the lack of belly pics. I have recently changed computers, and have not had the chance to download my camera program onto the new computer. So, sorry! I know I will have to get on the ball before this baby comes (in 98 days, yikes!). We have been busy and I'm looking forward to a break from work--it is too hectic being the only counselor for 750 little ones. I'm excited about eating over the holidays in maternity pants--no unbuttoning necessary! Have a great Thanksgiving week!

I've Joined the Knocked Up Club!

Well, it has happened...Andy and I have joined the Knocked Up Club! I am 20 weeks pregnant with a healthy little girl--it is so hard to believe! Our due date is February 25th--so we are half way there. Everyone has been asking for belly pics, and once I get up the nerve to post these on the Internet, I'll share with you! Please keep us in your prayers! Love to all!

Happy 30th Birthday to Andy...

...this Tuesday! Andy is a St. Patrick's Day baby! I cannot even begin to write how blessed I am to be married to Andy. Even in the midst of all the tragedy we have recently experienced, he has been by my side the entire time, taking care of me. It is such an amazing thing to be able to say that I love this guy more and more every single day. I'm blessed!

Catch Up!

I have been downloading these pictures over the past couple of weekends, and keep forgetting to post this blog entry. These pictures summarize our wonderful Christmas break that we had. We spent Christmas from Gainesville to Dalton to Nashville. Now, we have been back to work for about 3 weeks, and we are leaving for a cruise in February with Chris Anne and Dave! Whoo Hoo! It is going to be awesome! I don't have much to say, so just enjoy the pictures!

The Sciortino family at Andrew's birthday party

Andrew and Campbell


Close up!!

Callie and her pseudo-puppies--we gave them as presents to Andrew and Campbell, but they looked so much like Callie I had to take her picture with them!

Our family

Bros and Sis-In-Laws

Eli & Dad

Carrie, Lauren, and me at our shopping excursion to Green Hills mall

My awesome hubby

Callie discovered her stocking and stared at it and cried until I put it somewhere else!

Family Christmas in Dalton

At Junior League Charity Ball with my friends Tess & Kelly

Charity Ball photo op

Christmas at Maw Maw's

Stunned over Thanksgiving Break!

My dad has taken up SCUBA diving as his new hobby. Over Thanksgiving break, he shared lots of stories and pictures of his training and certification test dives. Very interesting! But, imagine my surprise when he told me about the new bumper sticker he has on his truck to show the world his new hobby. I could not find the actual bumper sticker online, but below is a coffee mug with the picture on it. Please read carefully: OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!!!!!!!!! Unfortunately, my dad did not realize exactly what this meant--and he had made the mistake of asking my mom if it was okay to put on, and she told him it was fine. Imagine the horror of having to explain to your parents why this was not an appropriate bumper sticker for one of their cars! Eli, Andy, and I laughed until we cried over this! Sorry I had to sell you out on my blog, Dad, but it was too funny of a story not to share!! Needless to say, we had a great Thanksgiving break with our families. I hope all of your Thanksgivings were wonderful as well!

New Pictures

I've been neglectful when it comes to pictures on my blog posts. Many apologies. I am now on Thanksgiving Break, so I have some extra time! Here is a random montage of pictures. Happy Thanksgiving! Andrea, Alesha, and me tailgating before the UGA/Bama game. It wasn't a great turn out for our Dawgs, but we did have fun!

Dre and Me

This is Perry, daughter of our friends Darrell and Celeste. They were over at our house for our Sunday/Wednesday class get together. I had to take Perry's picture with Callie because they have the same hair! Plus, they absolutely loved each other!

Can you tell where Perry's hair ends and Callie's begins?

Family picture at my mom's birthday party

Andy & his cousin, Scott, after Scott's wedding

Here is a shot of a beautiful rainbow that appeared at our house after a rain shower!

Stuff -n- Things

I have had a great week! I began my week by going shopping with Kate Hazlewood at the outlets (which is exactly halfway between my house and hers!). It was so good to be able to hang out with Kate, and we only had to drive 20 minutes to meet up! I didn't get much Christmas shopping done, but the company was completely worth it! Of course my week at school was as interesting as always: dealing with kids saying inappropriate comments about their teacher (I don't even want to type any of them out), helping kids, organizing our Secret Santa program, and getting ready for our annual school counselors conference. Carol Ann and I headed to Augusta for our conference and learned lots of fun new things that we can implement. One of the presentations we saw that sticks out in my head was a presentation from the Feingold Organization (http://www.feingold.org/). The presenter talked about how all the preservatives, artificial flavorings, and dyes in our food can affect children's (and adults!) behavior. They are hearing great success stories from parents whose children have a spectrum of medical diagnoses (autism, AD/HD, bipolar, etc.) and from parents who just want to remove this stuff from their diet. I would encourage you to check out their website and do some research of your own to see what you think! It is very interesting. Whitney, this is right up your alley!
When I returned from Augusta, I had a date planned with my sister-in-laws and a friend from church, Emily. We journeyed to the movie theatre for the opening night of "Twilight". We were surrounded by teeny-boppers galore, and they kept us laughing, because they would freak out and yell when one of the main characters, Edward, came onto the screen. I'll admit that my heart did go pitter-patter as well, but I kept my "Whoo Hoos!" to myself. We enjoyed the movie, but as always, the book was better. I won't bore you all with my critique of the movie, but for my fellow fans, let me know what you think when you see it! I hope your Thanksgiving week is great!

Blog Facelift

I've been playing with this blog for the past hour, and have given it a major facelift! I've added a new fun background, picture, and if you check out the right side of the web page, you can see all the people I check up on/stalk on a regular occasion!

Things have been fairly boring here--which is absolutely wonderful, if you ask me. I thought about borrowing a kid from my across-the-street neighbor to write about. She has 4, so I thought she wouldn't miss them if I borrowed one for a while, but I guess that is not a great idea, huh? Oh, well...maybe next post! I hope your November is wonderful!

Reader's Digest

I am at my parents' house this weekend, and picked up Reader's Digest (I love how I can chill here!). The article, "Get a Great Deal on Anything" caught my eye, since Dave Ramsey rules my life. The author had some great tips on websites that can save you money! I have been surfing around looking at some of them, and thought I would share them with you all. Here they are: here's to cheap and close-to-home shopping!
www.retailmenot.com : This is the website where you get all the discount codes you can put in at the end of checking out online and they have lots of printable coupons!
www.dealcatcher.com : More coupons!!
www.pricegrabber.com; www.shopping.com ; www.shopzilla.com : comparison shopping to see if you are getting the best price--or to find the best price for you!
www.freepeats.org : Alright all you mamas who love the hand-me-downs! This is a website which gives you access to people to swap baby, kid, and maternity finds in 25 cities for a onetime charge of $4.95.

Happy Birthday to Mama Jan!

Happy Birthday to my awesome Mom (on Friday)! She is absolutely the best in the whole wide world! Love you mom!

Here is a great picture from our beach trip!

I've got good news and bad news...

...Let's go with the good news first! Sandra's neurologist called with the awesome news that the only thing that her latest MRI shows is a little arthritis in her spine (no big deal)--so all is clear! I know she feels like the weight of the world is off of her shoulders and she will go back to the neurologist for an appointment at the end of October. So, we still don't know what caused her episodes, but whatever it was, it is gone now! Isn't that awesome?!

Now, for the bad news. My Georgia Bulldogs got a good old-fashioned butt kicking by the Crimson Tide on Saturday night. We were there for the game, and the only fun part was the third quarter. But, the Dawgs did not give up, so that speaks for something...right? We had a great time with Andrea and Hunter (who came down for the game)--and most of the day was a blast! SEC football is crazy!!! Everyone was impressed by how nice and polite the Bama fans were--but I knew that anyway, since half of my friends Roll with the Tide.
Kudos to Alabama...I suppose.

Junior League and The Women

In an attempt to spread my wings out further in Gainesville--well, actually, to get completely out of my comfort zone, I have joined the Junior League in town. For those of you who do not know what Junior League is (or if you have preconceived notions)--let me tell you a little about it. It is a service organization for women, which requires a 7 year commitment (yes, 7 years, folks!). Each year, each member must volunteer in a charitable organization for a minumum of 40 hours. The first year (my provisional year)--we are not placed, but learn all about "The League" as some people call it in several different meetings. I am really excited about it, and I have met a lot of new women in the community. Our provisional class has about 36 women in it, and I am feeling a little bit like I am back in the pledging world--but a little more grown up. I always thought Junior League was made up of people that could be kind of snotty--but that before I had ever met anyone in it:)! So far, there is not a snob in the bunch! Thanks to Carol Ann for opening my eyes!

Back in the summer, I recommended the "Twilight" series of books--and many people have now gotten addicted to them. I apologize to your husbands and children if you were one of my victims--but they are just that good. Now, I am going to recommend a movie. Last night, I went with a bunch of girls to see "The Women" starring, well, basically half the famous women in Hollywood: Meg Ryan, Annette Benning, Jada Pinkett Smith, Debra Messing, etc. You have to get a group of girls together to go see it--it is a total chick flick--and there is not ONE man in the entire movie, I guess that is why it is called "The Women". We all really enjoyed it! Well, I'm off to eat supper, then watch UGA take on Arizona State--GO DAWGS!! You've gotta love college football season!

Still No News

Sandra had her MRI yesterday afternoon--but her follow up doctor's appointment is not until the end of October! Yeah, that is ridiculous! We had another family friend who had the same MRI done, and found out the results by the end of the week, so we're not sure if the doctor's office will call with the results, or just try to move her appointment up (both options would be good!). Thanks for all the emails and prayers--keep going with those. I'll keep you updated!

Not much of an update

Well, I guess no news is good news so far. Sandra went to the neurologist on Friday, and he said that her MRI looked better than his personal MRI:). She is scheduled for a more in-depth MRI on September 15th. She continues to be episode free, so that is great news, but we are still anxious for the doctors to figure out exactly what is the cause of all this stuff. Your prayers are much appreciated!

On a humorous note, I had to take Callie to the vet on Tuesday because her ear was swollen to about 3 times it's normal size. The diagnosis? BUG BITE!!! I'm not even kidding! The treatment was either a cortisone shot, or Benadryl at home...I chose the Benadryl route. Andy says that she is having sympathy bug bite swelling because of my fire ant episode. Like mother, like doggie-daughter!

I know many of you prayed for my friend, Katie, when she was going through her sickness at the end of last year--and that you continue to pray for her family. A fund has been started in Katie's memory. I have been meaning to post the website so here it is! It's main purpose is to spread the gospel! Please take some time to check it out:
http://khwfund.org/

Love to all!

A New Family Tradition

It seems that the Nix family has come up with a new tradition for Thursday nights, visits to the emergency room! I don't recommend trying this tradition for your family, since it can be quite tiring and costly, but you do get to see a much different group of people than you ever have before! Two Thursdays ago, I was leaving a dinner at someone's house, when my toe began to burn. I realized that I had been bitten by something, but did not think much about it, until I got home and was itching from head to toe! Everywhere I scratched, hives started to break out, until I was covered in them, and my entire body was beginning to swell! I quickly downed a Benadryl, and picked up the phone to call Andy, who was walking in the door (fortunately). To put it mildly, I was freaking my freak, and looking more and more like Will Smith in 'Hitch' by the minute. I downed another Benadryl and headed for the ER. Apparently, Acute Anaphylactic Shock is not a good enough excuse to be seen in the ER before a 2 hour wait. The nurse told me that if I began to be unable to breathe, to let her know, and they would take me back. Well, I could breathe, but the wait in the ER made me wish just a teensy bit that I couldn't. There were people coming through high and drunk off their rear ends, people with 2 year olds that were not sick, and then there was me, the swollen-blimp-head, who waited patiently. When we were finally taken to the back, I was looking much better thanks to the overdose of Benadryl, but the doctor was shocked and upset that I had to wait--I hope someone got their booty chewed out for that one! So, one EpiPen and IV drug later, I was headed home with a prescription for steroids and an EpiPen. I now have to carry an EpiPen at all times, just in case another ravenous fire ant bites my toe. You read it right, folks, FIRE ANT! Andy wants me to pretend that it was some killer African wasp that got me, he thinks that sounds cooler, but "cooler" is not the story of my life! I have never even been stung by a bee, wasp, yellow jacket, etc., but a fire ant is now my undoing!

Now on to the next Thursday night, and this visit was much more serious: All of Andy's brothers and wives were hanging out watching the opening college football game of the season, when we received a phone call from Chris, Andy's dad. My mother-in-law, Sandra was having a conversation with my father-in-law at home, when she started to have trouble talking and began choking. Chris called an ambulance, and they transported her to the ER, where we all met them. Her vital signs were good, and by the time she got to the hospital, she was able to communicate and breathe with no problems. When Andy and his brothers were in the back talking with her, she had another episode of being unable to communicate. The ER did a CT scan which came back negative (no tumors, bleeding, etc.) so the doctors put her on a blood thinner to keep her from having any more of what they were calling “mini-strokes” and admitted her to the hospital. On Friday morning, she had another episode right before she had an MRI done. The MRI came back clear, the only thing on there was a small bit of calcification and plaque on some random blood vessel. The doctors did not appear concerned with this, and still do not know the cause of her episodes. She was dismissed from the hospital on Saturday morning, and will see a neurologist this Friday to see if they can figure out what is causing all of this. To add to everything, Andy's dad had sinus surgery a few weeks ago, and towards the end of last week and while Sandra was in the hospital, his nose would start to bleed and he couldn't get it to stop. He had to go to the ER Saturday morning, and my dad took him to the doctor on Saturday afternoon to have it cauterized (sp?). My parents and Eli came down this weekend, and Eli went to the UGA game with all of us and my parents stayed with Chris and Sandra to watch the game on TV. We wanted to stay with them, but Chris and Sandra wanted us to all go to the game and get away for a little while. As of this post, things are still going well, we're just up in the air about what is the cause of Sandra's episodes, so we would appreciate your prayers!

I'm going to try to post some promised pictures if Blogger will let me! Have a great week!

Here is my best picture of all The Ones from our weekend in Chattanooga

We had to wait in the boiling heat for everyone to return to the car, I made everyone look ill so that I could take a funny picture!

Annie, Shane, Keyla, and me!

Annie, Maggie, and Merriwether at the shower

The hostesses and Annie (Jesse, Whitney, Annie, me)

Keyla and her baby boy, Cal

Maggie & Merriwether "Cheese!"

Annie and I at the reunion

Andy, me, and Eli at the UGA game

Me and Eli!

Me, Alesha, and Sherry

At the game, the newest UGA mascot, UGA VII, was introduced to much hoopla...here's a close-up

Here is where he stays during the games, in his air-conditioned, iced-down dog house--Jillina, please show Mark these pictures!

Here was our view of the 'dog'-arazzi taking pictures of UGA VII--we were really far away!

The End of Summer...

Of course, the end of my summer is marked by the beginning of school. We are beginning the third full week of school, so you can say that I am back in the swing of things. Since my last post, I have had many out-of-town experiences. I headed to Chattanooga at the end of July to hang with The Ones, Lauren, Laura, Carrie, Andrea, and Brooke. We had the greatest weekend hanging out around town and bonding with lots and lots of girl time! We even had a little surprise shower for Laura and her soon-to-come bundle of joy, Ella Tate! When I returned home on Sunday, Andy asked me where I wanted to go the following week (my last week of freedom before school was out) because he had taken the week off of work...SURPRISE!!! I was so excited, I couldn't stand myself:)! I decided that I wanted to stay close to home, so we had a "Staycation" at home and in Atlanta. We spent the week alternating between the pool (my fave) and the golf course (his fave), then we went to Atlanta for a long weekend. We stayed at a nice hotel, ate unbelievable food, and did all the touristy stuff we never do (Hard Rock Cafe, High Museum of Art, Atlantic Station). We had a blast, and were only an hour from home. I didn't take any pictures of our staycation, but maybe I can find some on the internet from the places we went. Moving on...last weekend, Andy, Callie and I headed to Dalton for my 10-year high school reunion, and a shower for Annie. My high school reunion was a lot of fun--it was so great to see so many people I hadn't seen in ages! I was so glad all of our girlfriends could get together for the shower for Annie and Katie Charlotte, the newest addition to her family who will be here in a couple of weeks. Blogger is not letting me download pictures--but I hope to have some soon!

Nashville, Florida, The Shack, & Twilight...

The title of this blog is a summary of what I have been up to over the past week. The weekend of the 12th, Andy and I headed to Nashville for golf (him) and picnics (me) with friends. When I returned from Nashville, after a retreat with school, I headed to the beach with my mom, Eli, and my little cousin, Parker. We hung out on the beach for a few days, before visiting my cousin, Heath, his wife, Kate, and their son, Carter, in Jacksonville. We had a blast! While I was gone, I discovered (through the help of Eli and friends) some great new books: The Shack (Christian) and Twilight (young adult Harry Potteresque, except with vampires). Eli let me borrow The Shack and he was also the third person to say something about Twilight, so I had to read it. Both books are a must-read--and Twilight is a series, and I have just finished the second book, New Moon. You have to get them! Two very different genres, but both very good! You can probably tell that I am not much for details in this blog, I just wanted to post some pictures so you can see what has been going on! Enjoy the rest of your summer--mine is ending all too soon!

Our lovely hosts in Nashville: The Sciortinos! Thanks for letting us shack up once again! And right below, Andy and Andrew

Here is Campbell singing "Seek Ye First"--do you think he is listening in church? I think so!

My cousins: Kate, Carter, and Heath Perkins--we had a great time in Jacksonville!

A beautiful sunset

Parker!

Eli and Parker with some short fisherman outside Down The Hatch

Everyone but me (someone has to take the pictures!)

I made Eli pose for this picture--I think it needs to be his new Facebook profile shot. I told him that I put the book in it so everyone can see that he is academic-minded:)!

Summer Fun!

To borrow a term from Lauren, I have been a total "blog-stalker" and not an actual blogger this summer. I feel as though I don't have as much to contribute to the blogging world (I have no skunk stories or babies stories to tell you about). I'll do my best, though! My summer has been filled with, well, nothing until last week. Callie and I have been lounging at the pool the entire summer, but last week, I headed off to Camp Wetoga, the Bible camp that I grew up going to. I was one of the counselor's of the "G-3" cabin--I was partially in charge of 12-14 year olds, and before I went I was a little nervous. There is a reason that I am a counselor in an elementary school, I don't feel confident enough to deal with middle school girl drama--but ready or not--it was there! I had no expectations of the week, but even if I had had some, they would have been blown out of the water! I was blessed by each and every one of the 21 (yes, count them) girls who were in my cabin. I was even more blessed by the Bible teacher and counselor I was with, Susan Davis and Ashley Perry--we had a blast, even when we had to tell the girls 17 times a day, "You need to go change", "Please don't wear that", "I know it is a song, but you cannot wear the shirt here", and my favorite: "Get your head out of his lap, hand-holding only, please". We were blessed to have 4 girls in our cabin dedicate their lives to Christ--what an amazing week! I could go on forever, but I'll just post some of the pictures from camp and ask you not to judge any of us by how we look--it's church camp!!!!!

This picture is for Whitney, Heather, and Brooke--it's Cornerstone, baby!!!! I tried not to scream like a teenage girl when they performed:)!

Our cabin picture for the week!

Ashley, Susan, and me on Thursday night, I miss you girls already!!