The Harwell Family

October has been a nice quiet month. Madeline spent a couple weeks with Nana in Alabama for Nana’s birthday and got to go see Disney on Ice with her cousins. She is enjoying her “HIPPY” (Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters) lessons. We had a group HIPPY meeting last night - all the families get together and do activities. They also give door prizes - two for each coordinator - and Madeline won a Turkey with a box of all the “fixin’s.” Pretty cool, as now we can enjoy a nice Thanksgiving dinner without worrying about the cost.
Jeremy’s walking has improved to running. He runs just about everywhere and just last week he learned how to jump at a play-date. He’s starting to talk a bit. He’ll say some words when I tell him - Please (Pwee) and Down (Dow). He talks when Dora says to say something - Backpack (Ba-pa), Map (Ma), Diego (Dieo). He also has a couple words he’ll say on his own - Jump (Dum, Dum, Dum), Boo (boo).
We got some really good pictures made of the kids for Christmas. We did these over at Friendship church just a couple Sundays ago. The kids cooperated pretty well.
Phil is still enjoying his job. They have recently changed the way the work on projects so that now one team stays on one project till it’s done. Phil likes this arrangement much better as he’s not having to figure out what another programmer did or how something was done, etc.
I am still looking for work and quite frustrated. I’ve never had this much trouble finding a job before. I interviewed with Yarnell Ice Cream for a position a couple weeks go and hoping I’ll hear something from it soon. I should also have an interview next week with Downtown church of Christ. I’m also filling out applications with the big companies in the area (Walmart, Staples, UPS) just hoping something will come through soon. I’m keeping busy at home in the meantime. Nancy and I put up plastic on several windows to keep out drafts. I’ve been doing a lot of thread crochet lately. Making doilies, etc, don’t know why, just in the mood. I’ve put them up for sale on my Etsy website  and I just finished a cute pair of lacy fingerless gloves.

Jeremy is now walking and running everwhere. He started actually taking steps the week before Madeline’s birthday and got the hang of it pretty quickly. He runs everywhere and gets into everything. He is claiming his independence and wants to do everything on his own now. Here are a couple of videos we got of him walking.
video of walking in park

video of jeremy playing catch

Madeline had her 4th birthday. She got to spend a whole week with Grandma & Grandpa, but not in Memphis, they went up to Minnesota with some friends for Flaming Pines Bible camp. She had a nice birthday party with her friend Patrick & Grandma in Memphis. The next week, Nana and Aunt Holly (and kids) picked her up in Memphis and brought her back home to us and spent several days here and we had another birthday party here. I took advantage of the quiet while she was gone & Jeremy was napping each day to do some painting. Here is a link to pictures from July.
pictures from July

August has been pretty slow, not much exciting. We did get a bit of work done in our back yard and got swings up on one of our trees.  Harding students started back to school and 4 of my cousins are in school here this year.  I’ve been looking for a part time job or work that I can do with the kids to get some more money coming in so we can pay all of our bills. I usually don’t have trouble finding a job, but nothing seems to be coming through here. I have some of my crafts up for sale on Etsy - see link below. I’m also trying to find alternative forms of work - housekeeping, laundry, etc. Keep us in your prayers.

Pictures from September

Serena’s Etsy Shop

Wow, it’s been several months since I posted anything. But it’s been a big change for our family and it’s taking time to get settled in to our new life. April 1, Phil accepted a job with Aristotle Internet in Little Rock, AR. We began frantically searching for a place to live and found a beautiful home in Searcy. We got the house and moved in (before closing) on April 26. We closed on the house May 7. It’s a beautiful 4 bedroom house with a gas fireplace, sunroom, deck and big backyard, and it’s in a nice quiet neighborhood. We have lots of room - phil has a room to himself for his music/office and i have a room for crafts & sewing although it’s still being unpacked. The kids each have a room to themselves and we have two bathrooms. No more waiting in line for the bathroom is very nice.

Feel free to drop in for a visit and if you’re coming through Searcy and need a place to stay, we have a guest room.
Phil is really enjoying his job, I haven’t once had to drag him out of bed in the morning. He usually wakes me up to say goodbye in the morning. I am currently a stay-at-home mom and enjoying it, although I am looking for a part time job to help supplement the income. But I am definitely not going back to full-time.

The kids have adjusted well to the move. Most of the time we are enjoying spending time together and not missing grandma too much. Madeline spent a couple weeks in Alabama with her Nana (phil’s mom) in June and we went to go pick her up when the new nephew arrived. She is currently in Minnesota with my parents at Flaming Pines Bible camp for a week and Jeremy and I are planning to enjoy the vacation also. Jeremy has cut three molars this past month and we’re waiting on the fourth. He is almost walking. He climbs up and down everything he can and he has figured out that walking on his knees enables him to carry things. He cruises a lot and will walk with us holding his hands. He has taken a step accidentally between handholds but isn’t ready to do it on purpose yet. We’re waiting patiently.

Well, i think that catches us up. I’ll try not to wait so long between posts.

Jeremy got his casts off Tuesday morning. He sat nicely in my lap while the nurse used the saw to cut them open. At first it tickled him but the last couple cuts he started fussing. It only took a couple minutes. Then they use a little tool that pops open the cast where it’s been cut and then they cut the cotton padding. He thought his legs looked kinda wierd. He’s got a big scar going around the back of both feet. It’ll take a few days for his feet to not be so sensitive and his knees to not be tender, but i’m sure he’ll be running around again soon. I took some pictures of his feet while we were waiting to see dr. Beaty and after i’d cleaned out some of the toe jam.

http://picasaweb.google.com/philandserena/JeremySNewFeet

We had a great birthday weekend. Some of Phil’s family came to town to celebrate Jeremy’s !st birthday. We had a nice party on Tueday lunch with my mom and brother (dad was in jury duty), Phil’s mom, brother Bryan, his wife Holly and their kids Megan & Steven. We also had one of our friends Anne Little and 4 of her grandkids. It was a lot of fun. Jeremy got a car to ride in with a handle on the back for us to push him around. He loves it and rides around in it alot. He also got a couple of trains, a little car, some balls and some books and a couple of outfits. One shirt from Daddy with “Input” on the front and “Output” on the back. Another shirt from Uncle Bryan that says “I’m the smart one”

Here are pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/philandserena/JeremySFirstBirthdayParty

It’s been a whirlwind month that has just flown by. Jeremy had his first sedated cast change on Jan. 30 to turn his feet out to the correct position. They had to leave his feet turned in for two weeks after surgery to let the sutures heal. He was sore for a couple days but recovered quickly. He is zooming around everywhere. He hits the floor running (on hands and knees). His particular method of crawling is primarily upper body. He pulls around with his arms and scoots his legs to keep up. He moves very quickly especially on hardwood or tile floors. Carpet slows him down a little. He pulls up on his knees but hasn’t quite figured out how to get up on his feet. He’s just starting to put up one foot but not yet putting any weight on it. We go back for the 2nd cast change & pin pull on Feb. 27.

Madeline is doing very well. She loves going to mother’s day out once or twice a week with her friend Hannah. Her vocabulary is constantly expanding. This week while driving home, Madeline asked me what a “predicament” was. I told her it’s when you’re in trouble and she made up a song about “if you’re in a predicament, tell me, i’m a doctor”. She’s always singing in the car and at home. Not so much at church - she’s more of a soloist/song writer. Jeremy is now her backup yeller and percussionist - he loves banging on things.

Check out our christmas pictures and other recent pictures.

Picasa web photo albums

(If you already read this on Facebook, it’s the same note)

We made it through surgery, Jeremy is doing well. We were originally scheduled for this surgery (bilateral clubfoot complete release) Dec. 3 but had to reschedule as Jeremy had an ear infection and was too congested to go under anesthesia for 3 hrs. Since then I’ve had bronchitis, Madeline had bronchitis with a little walking pneumonia, then Jeremy & Madeline both got an ear infection and finally last weekend Phil got the flu and now bronchitis. That’s been the month of December, it’s not been very fun, we’re all stressed out.
So we’ve been very worried that Jeremy wouldn’t be well enough again for this surgery. But anesthesia cleared us at 7am this morning and he went into surgery at 8am. He got out of surgery and into recovery at 11:15 then came back to the room at 12:45. They started us out in the same day surgery unit and then transfer to an overnight room after surgery. However we didn’t get a real room till 6:45. Those same day rooms are tiny and no comfortable seating, ugghh. So glad we finally have a couch, nice chair and our own bathroom.
Anyways, the hard part is over now. Jeremy was running a little bit of fever but is sleeping peacefully now. He’s in casts that are sliced and taped together to allow for swelling.
We come back in two weeks (30th) to recast and put the feet in correct position (they are currently left turned in to allow sutures to heal) and then in 6 weeks (feb 27) we return the final time to remove pins and recast for 4wks. So in total he’ll be in casts for 12 weeks. After that he’ll wear braces at night to train the muscles.
Sorry this is so long. You get a prize for making it through this long book.

Sorry it’s been so long since I posted anything. I haven’t been getting much of anything done lately. I’m trying to get caught up with stuff that I’m supposed to be doing - like cleaning house and keeping up with family. 

So anyways, Jeremy is now 6 months old and Madeline is 3 yrs old, still loving her brother and he is entertained by her often. This month he has almost mastered sitting up on his own. He still tips over occasionally but not too much. And just last night he produced his FIRST TOOTH- it’s still just a little nub, but it’s there and doesn’t seem to be bothering him too much - he’s just drooling massive amounts.

We are waiting for his final surgery to be scheduled. This will be one last big surgery to correct his club feet. The casting would only get them about 60% corrected and wouldn’t go any further. So they will have to open up his feet and lengthen the tendons and reposition any bones that are misplaced. We will be in the hospital overnight for that. He will be in casts with his feet left turned in for two weeks to allow the sutures to heal. Then we go back to the hospital and under sedation they will put his feet in corrected position and back in hard casts for 4 weeks. Then we go back to the office and they remove some pins and back in casts for another few weeks. So about 10-12 weeks in casts and then just braces to wear at night and a once yearly checkup to make sure everything is growing correctly. It’ll be rough for us, but it’ll be done by the new year and he’ll be ready to start walking.

Madeline is enjoying going to “school” at mother’s day out once a week - they do art and letter and numbers - preschool stuff. She knows all her letters and numbers and colors. She can write A, M, X and sometime some other letters. She likes to spell out the words in books and is starting to learn their sounds. She sings and talks almost constantly except in bible class. Her teachers don’t know she can sing but she knows all the songs. She’s been seeing an opthamologist lately and has had her glasses prescription adjusted a few times. She goes back at the end of October to see how this latest prescription is working and hopefully we won’t have to do any patching.

Phil and I are both still working hard. Phil is getting involved in the college ministry. I’ve been dabbling in finishing up different projects. After the kids go to sleep I do crafts for a little while. I’m finishing up a knit camel, a crochet wrap, paper beads and some other beading projects. I’ve got some fabric to make a couple skirts and a shirt. I really need to get working on Christmas presents. I’m thinking about making up some baskets this year. We’ll see if i get it done.

I’ll try to get some pictures up soon.

Came across old baby pictures and was astonished at how much it looked like Jeremy. What do you think?

Phil’s baby picture

My baby picture

Jeremy at 4 months

Madeline & Jeremy had their checkups yesterday. Madeline for her 3 year & Jeremy for his her birthday and she went back to Athens with them. She had a very fun week with cousins and we had a relaxing week without her. Phil, Jeremy & I headed to Athens on Friday that week and had a nice weekend visiting. We had a birthday party for Madeline and went to the kiddie carnival. We left Jeremy at home with Nana and we all had a great time.

We returned to Memphis on Sunday afternoon and had dinner out with my parents & brother for Madeline & Mom’s birthdays.

Jeremy is 19 lbs 2oz, and 26 inches long. We were able to get an accurate weight this time as Dr. Beatty has released him from the casts. His feet are about 60% corrected and aren’t making any further improvements with the casting. So we are planning to schedule surgery in the fall to complete the correction. Meanwhile, we are all enjoying his bare feet.

He is starting to sit up on his own. He can sit for about a second unassisted, longer with a little support. He likes to “talk” alot and we enjoy talking to him with his toothless smile.

To see pictures from her birthday party and Sunday afternoon click here