Home at Last

Sam is home! After one last dose of antibiotics, Sam was able to come home this afternoon. We are thrilled to have him in time for Christmas. He is feeling well.

Hospital Day 3

We went and visited Sam after dinner today. We played a game of Sorry and Sam read the kids stories. They also made Sam’s bed as high as it could go. Sam’s doctor told him that he might be able to go home on Monday! The redness of his rash hasn’t gone away, but it isn’t as inflamed and bumpy.

Hospital Birthday

Sam doesn’t have a fever any more so he is feeling a lot better. Sadly, his cellulites hasn’t improved much. They upped his antibiotics so I am hopeful that he can come home on Monday. His biggest complaint is that he is really bored, so phone calls are appreciated.

I took the kids over this morning so we could celebrate his birthday. We brought cupcakes and presents. In the confusion of getting the kids and the stuff out of the van, I locked my keys in the van. The hospital police spent 45 minutes breaking into the van for me. That police man’s help was really a blessing for me. I don’t think I could have dealt with much more.

Our babysitting co-op was this evening so I brought take out to Sam and was able to visit with him for a few hours alone. This will probably go down in our family history as his worst birthday ever, or so we hope. Sam hadn't showered yet, so he wouldn't let me take his picture. Here are the kids eating his birthday cupcakes.

Sam's Phone Number

817-250-2622

Sam Update

Thank you for all the well wishes for Sam. He is improving at the hospital on IV antibiotics. There is no talk of when he can come home, but I think he is feeling a lot better now that he doesn’t have a fever. I was able to visit him this morning thanks to friends who watched my children. This afternoon I took Renée and Gavin to see Sam. Unfortunately, Renée threw up all over Sam’s hospital room. On the plus side, I didn’t have to clean up the mess. The down side what she threw up in my shoe. Renée is already feeling better. I tried to give her crackers for dinner but she only wanted green beans.

Tomorrow is Sam’s birthday, so we are going to have to make things special for him at the hospital. Thanks again for the phone calls and emails.

Sam in Hospital

Sam was admitted to the hospital for cellulites. I am not sure how long he will be there. I will keep you posted.

Birthday and Babe's

Poor Susan has a Christmas birthday. We decided to take her out and celebrate her birthday a little early this year. We went to Babe’s with our birthday tiaras and blowers. It was a really fun night.

Going around the table: Susan, Michalann, Sharee, Michelle, Me, and Lisa.
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Gratitude

Gavin received this award from school. We are so proud of him.

Santa Comes to Crawford Farms

Santa came to our neighborhood Christmas party. Carter wasn’t interested in sitting on his lap, but Renée and Gavin hopped right up. Santa was played by our HOA president Jeff Lederer. He was a great Santa.

Bath Time

Carter was so cute splashing around in the bathtub. I took some videos but they aren’t fit for my G rated blog.

Kychelle's Shower

Rene'e, Carter and I drove up to Frisco to go to Kychelle’s baby shower/farewell party. It was fun to see all my old friends. I will miss you Kychelle and wish you the best of luck in Utah.

Holy Family

Our church puts on a Nativity exhibit each year where people loan their nativities and they are arranged in a display. They even have a part where they will dress you up to have your picture taken. Carter was supposed to be an angel, but he didn’t want to get off my lap, so he ended up being a big baby Jesus. Gavin was a shepherd boy at his request. Renée was an angel after dressing up as a donkey, but changing her mind. Sam was Joseph, while I was Mary.

More Sheppards

Sam’s brother and his family came to stay the night with us. They got here on Friday evening and we stayed up way too late talking. On Saturday, Tera and I went shopping. The kids had so much fun playing with their cousins, Bennette, Emma, and Cooper. Bennette was especially great with my kids. He would read to Gavin and play with him. Since Bennette is 12 and Gavin is 5, it was very sweet of him. I am not really sure what Sam and Christian did besides talk, but they seemed to enjoy themselves. After dinner they headed home to Austin. Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures and this was the only one Sam took. Thanks for coming.

Four Stitches

Carter pulled down a stocking from the mantel and the stocking holder fell and hit him in the head. I was teaching preschool and Gavin ran upstairs and said, “Carter has blood right here.” (Holding his had to his head.) I ran downstairs and all the kids followed. Carter wasn’t even crying but I knew right away that he would need stitches.

Carrie came over to stay with everyone until Amber and Alycia came. There were only 15 minutes left of school. Alycia took Gavin and his friend to school and then stayed with Renée.

I stopped at Carenow first, but because it was a head injury and he had blood under his nose, they wanted me to take him to Children’s Hospital in downtown Fort Worth. I called Sam on the way, and he met me there. It turned out that the blood under his nose was from him touching his head, and then putting his finger in his nose. They did a CT anyway just to make sure, but he was okay. He got four stitches and was pretty mad about being held down but is doing fine now.

Birthday gifts for Rene'e

After dinner, Renée opened the gifts from family. She got pom-poms and a My Little Pony coloring book for Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Charlie, $5 from Grandma Lil, two horses from GG and Pap-Pap, and a Diamond Castle Flying Horse from us. She loved all of her gifts. Thank you for thinking of her.

Horse Party

Renée had a horse birthday party. She invited Sydney, Blake, Clair, Ava, Cameron, and Tyler. Everyone dressed up in their cowboy or cowgirl attire. We ate lunch and then played a lot of games. We played a rolling dice horse game, horse bingo, stick horse races, hot horse (like hot potato), and musical heart sharing. It was a crazy two hours, but Renée had a wonderful time. We hope everyone is enjoying their stick horses and the whinnying isn’t driving any mom nuts.

Birthday Pancake

My little girl is four. Here she is with her birthday pancake.

Rene'e's Second Hair Cut

I went out for a run and when I got home, this is what I found. Apparently Sam found some hair upstairs in the gameroom. He thought it was Gavin’s so but couldn’t find where it was cut out of. While he was searching Gavin’s head, Renée came over holding up her braid and said, “Look, they match.” When Sam got mad at her for cutting her hair, she collapsed to the floor and didn’t stop crying until after I got home.

Her story was that Carter cut it with the pink scissors. While the pink scissors are sharp, I have my doubts that Carter could really do the cutting. Alycia tried to trick her into telling us the truth, but she is sticking to the Carter story. Who knows?

I had to trim two inches off her hair which made me sad. Last month she had her first hair cut and they took about five.

Thanksgiving

We hosted Thanksgiving this year for Alycia and her family and Nick’s parents, Glade and Marie. I didn’t even have a table cloth, so with the help of Walmart, I thought my table turned out pretty. The food was great and we had a fun day together. The kids played and played. I am not sure why Renée and Sydney thought taking off their shirts outside was a good idea. It wasn’t that warm, but I think they were doing karate. We played games, scoped out the sales in the newspaper, and watched football. Blake cut out the time that the Cowboy’s were playing to show to Sam and then asked him every five minutes if it was 4:30 yet. Nick talked us into playing Risk. I was out pretty quick but Alycia took over the world. We are blessed to have family so close.