Thursday

Thursday’s kindness is done.  Let’s discuss.

#1  Overpay for a Contributor newspaper.  We love the Contributor and the opportunity and hope it is giving homeless people here in Nashville.  It really is amazing.  Eileen is one of my favorite sellers, so it was an honor to see her smiling face yesterday morning and pay a little extra for the new November issue.

#2  Card for the hubs.  It is so easy to think about others and forget to invest in the ones you are closest to.  I am completely guilty of this.  I want Josh to always know that no matter what, he is the most important person to me.  I want to build him up and make him feel loved and for him to know just how proud I am to be his wife.  He helped make my birthday week happen…especially since Amon could only do car rides and not go into any of the places I went.  Josh Kelley is quite the catch and I never want to take him for granted.  He is truly a blessing.

#3  Tip for drive-thru worker.  I needed coffee and some doughnut holes for #4, so I went through Kristy Kreme.  The lady who was preparing all the coffees and doughnut holes was so helpful and nice.  After getting my order I gave her a little tip and thanked her for the kind help.

#4  Coffee for people waiting on the bus.  I was a bit disappointed to only find a few people waiting for the bus.  Only one person wanted coffee…the doughnut holes were much more popular.

This is what I had left, so Amon and I spent the next 30 minutes driving around finding random people who were out and about to enjoy the rest of the coffee and doughnuts.

#5  Care packs for the homeless.  I bought up some pretty standard items and then let the kids pack some gallon zip-lock bags for some local homeless people we see pretty regularly.  We want the wee Kelleys to never take for granted the blessings which are abundant in our lives and we want them to always help when they can.  When we pass things out or buy Contributor papers, we always talk about treating others as we would want to be treated.  I love that they know Ms. Eileen and Mr. Taiwan and several other Contributor sellers by name and wave and chat with them.  I want them to always see people as just that…people…who God created and loves dearly.

#6  Donations for the Crisis Pregnancy Center.  What a wonderful ministry and the center in Hendersonville is simply incredible.  They do so much good, good work.  We were happy to tote in some baby supplies.

And right after this picture, I dropped my camera on the sidewalk.  It was bad…like real bad.  I may have cried.  I’m a little emotional.  So there’s no telling what today’s pictures will look like since the camera I will be using is about 10 years old.

But today is my big day.  Today is my birthday and I am finishing out my birthday week with my last 6 kindness acts.  I’m ready the spread the birthday love.

These two guys will be perfect companions for the day + another little wee boy who I am quite smitten with.

Oh and Amon had another doctors appointment yesterday.  It went great.  Only a few more weeks of being home bound and then we can show him off to the world.  November 26th cannot get here quick enough…I want everyone to know Amon like we do and to experience his infectious little personality.  He is such a crazy cool baby.

We also started our thankful leaves yesterday.  Each day of November the kids decide on something they are thankful for and up goes our leaf.  I love that the very first thing they chose to be thankful for was Amon.  This kid is going to be ruined…we’re all head over heals for him.

So here’s to a great start to my thirties.  I’m pretty stoked to see what God has planned.  If I had to guess, I would say my thirties are going to be pretty crazy cool.  Have a great weekend.

Happy Friday.

Wednesday

Yesterday is complete and it was quite a full day with Halloween and all.  Here’s our re-cap:

#1  Sticky notes on bathroom mirrors.  I had to get candy for trick-or-treaters, so my sticky notes ended up in the Target ladies room.  I was busted by a fellow lady bathroom user and she didn’t say a word…avoided all eye contact, with me and the hot pink sticky notes with messages like “Lookin’ good hot stuff”…I think I made her uncomfortable…her mirror even already had messages on it.  I’ve found that most people are very skeptical of kindness, but I’m here to prove them wrong.  Kindess can be rad and pure.

#2  Leave change at a laundromat.  There’s a laundromat just right down from our house, so this was super easy to do.  Some Happy Washing & Drying messages with some quarters and crossing my fingers someone decided to do laundry on Halloween.  The place was completely empty when I was there…like not one person…I could have possibly stolen a washer and/or dryer.

#3  Handmade cards to a nursing home.  The kids colored cute little cards and I wrote little messages on the inside.  When we were almost to the nursing home I noticed one of Harper’s cards…it had bunting…she’s a girl after my own heart for sure.

#4  Art giveaway.  This was for you guys yesterday.  And the winner of yesterday’s giveaway is Crystal.  Crystal check your email for a message from me.  Super congrats!  Thank you all for entering…your comments are always too fun to read.

#5  Mustache on unsuspecting car.  So a friend gave me a giant mustache magnet…it’s pretty awesome, but then later another friend gave me the exact same ginormous mustache magnet and what’s a girl to do with 2 very, very large mustache magnets?  Well I decided to spread a little joy and maybe a good laugh with a stranger’s car in the Park-n-Ride parking lot.

#6  Restaurant gift card for a diner.  The day was a bit crazy and I was never able to make it to an actual restaurant, so I decided to give away a Subway card to a trick-or-treater’s parent.  Well here’s the problem…we only had 4 trick-or-treaters…and 3 of them were teenagers who were not dressed up.  Come on now.  The other one showed up without a parent.  So today I will be finding a recipient for some yummy Subway.

Here’s my list for today.  Got to get my kindness on.

And how about a little Halloween wee Kelley drama.  We waited until today to buy and carve our pumpkin.  This was not our plan, but life has just been crazy.  So one pumpkin, three little artists.  What are 2 peace keeping parents to do?  Here was my solution.  I clearly wanted to get in on the face designing of our pumpkin too…I have no artsy shame…so I drew 2 eyes, a nose and mouth, folded them up and let everyone draw from a bowl what they would get to draw for our pumpkin.

And this was Harper’s reaction when she got the nose.  Her artistic heart was not okay with the nose…she had her heart set on the mouth, but when you pitch a fit in our house, you don’t get what you want.

I went in to give Amon his bottle while they cleaned out our pumpkin.  When I came out Harper had worked her sisterly magic on the boys.  They had all come to the agreement that Huddy would do both eyes, Sol would do the nose and Harper would do the mouth.  If they can work out an agreement on their own…if they can use their own little minds and words to peacefully solve a problem and everyone is okay with it, well, then I’m okay with it too.

She did do a really good mouth.

Then they all got dressed up and ready to hit some houses up for candy.  They were just too excited.  I loved their joy…and imaginations.  Pretty sure Huddy and Sol both really think they can be superheros when they grow up.  That’s pretty stellar.

I enjoyed hanging with Super Man all night.  He is really quite super.

And by far the funniest piece of Halloween candy I’ve ever seen.  It even came with fake vampire teeth…hysterical.

Hope everyone’s day was great.  And thank you for entering the giveaway.  I loved reading all the comments.  You guys rock.  Happy Thursday!

So It Begins

Order making is in full swing.  This camera strap is headed to Jennifer in New Mexico.  Thanks so much Jennifer.

 

And these key fobs are headed to Jinny in Tennessee .  Thanks so much Jinny.

Sickness has hit the Kelley house.  Sol has the croup so he was home from school with me and Amon all day.  I think he was a little lonely.  I really wanted to completely quarantine him.  Nothing like a contagious awesomeness floating around our house and our little heart dude.

See that little white line on Amon’s incision…How do you feel about exposed stitches…and one that is supposed to be on the inside of his body and has made its way out?  Me, well it makes me nauseous…like gag worthy…I’m weak.

I think I should be Lysoling everything…all day long.  Amon got on board with the super hero craze today.

And apparently I’ve started falling apart as I approach the big 3-0.  I’ve never had to ice a leg/ankle/calf or whatever, ever…now I’m all broken down.  And icing something is pretty hardcore…like it’s not a massage of anything…kind of burns.  Not pleasant.  Any tips for leg injuries?

Tonight I’m working on more orders.  And once I finish up these 10 orders, I’ll re-open some more order spots.  Hope you guys had a great sick & injury free day.

Happy Thursday!

Crazy Blessed {Hope}

Crazy blessed…

by sweet wee Kelleys who are bad at fake sleeping…except Huddy…he nailed it.

…that this little ace of hearts should not be doing this, but is.  I am constantly flipping him back over all day long.

…by kiddos who can fight the hardest with each other and still love each other fiercely and adore each other and have just too much fun together.

…to be a part of their everydayness.

…by the possibility of one life event forever changing our life’s path.

…to comfort in the not-so-good parts of the day…even the accidentally-poking-yourself-in-the-eye-with-a-stick part of the day.

…by sweat pants and comfy house shoes.

…to be this kids mom.  Seriously?  He’s for real isn’t he?  He so is.

…to find dinner on our front porch.

…for groceries to be delivered to our house.  Such sweet friends are all around us and just smothering us in love right now.

Today was such an encouraging day…a day I found belief and hope in.  God is constantly reminding me of how truly crazy blessed we are.  Life is never perfect or easy or smooth…it can be pretty darn hard, but just the same it is full to the brim of blessings & is indescribably beautiful.  Hope is a wondrous thing God gives and I am deeply thankful for it today.

“But I’ll still believe though there’s cracks you’ll see.
When I’m on my knees I’ll still believe.
And when I’ve hit the ground, neither lost nor found.
If you believe in me I’ll still believe.”

-Holland Road by Mumford & Sons

Happy Tuesday.

Prayed Into Hunger

In the middle of the night Amon decided to bring his A-game for eating…and I was over the top joyful.  He ate more in the middle of the night than he did all day yesterday.  So much, the doctors decided to let him have formula starting at 9 this morning and there was even some talk of us maybe going home this weekend.  Knock on wood!!!!  Formula is becoming our new best friend.

I’m happy to say we have been puke free the entire day.  And his picc line isn’t even hooked up to anything right now.  Holla!  It was a night of not a lot of sleep, but it was a good night.  Here’s video I took this morning of Amon…he gets excited when he sees the tiny bottle come out now.  Dang you uncentered video…I will figure you out one day.

This hospital has been amazing and this entire journey has been crazy.  I know Amon won’t remember, so I have been documenting the best I can for him with his globe messages and polaroid pictures.  Lots and lots of pictures.  I cannot wait to tell him about what a fierce little guy he has been.  He amazes me.

Some of you asked about what kind of polaroid I have.  I have the Fuji Instax…it’s ginormous, but I love it.  True love.

And it was 2 months ago today that I landed in Nashville with Amon.  What a joy it has been.  What a blessing it has been.  What a whirlwind it has been.

So thankful he is our son.  Oh my goodness…I just could never ever ever accurately describe how grateful we are for this sweet boy.

In some down time at the hospital I have been gearing up for our Random Acts of Kindness in December again.  My 30th birthday is coming up soon and it will be my first birthday without Mom so I decided to cram my day full of random acts of kindness too.  I’m even going to pull Harper out of school so she can participate with us.  I think it will be a grand birthday.  Also I would love some new ideas for our Christmas version…I want to change it up some from LAST YEARS LIST.  Would love for you to leave a comment with some new ideas.  Multiple minds are better than just one.

So that’s it for today.  It’s been such an encouraging day.  Thank you for praying for us.  Thank you for praying for Amon.  And Josh and the big wee Kelleys will be here any minute now with Chick-fil-a.  Hooray!

Happy Thursday!

His Eye Is On The Sparrow

This morning I am thinking about how precious we are to God and missing my mom.  One thing she reminded me of often was how valuable I was in the eyes of the Lord.  I am His!  Today I was reminded of one of her most favorite verses:

Matthew 10:29-31  “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.  30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”

I hope some of you needed this reminder like I did today.  And thank you for your continued prayers for Amon.  Turns out he has an infection now, so looks like we are going to be here a few more days.  He is truly an incredible kid.

And Happy Birthday to my brother Chris.  Pretty sure he doesn’t read my blog, but wanted to throw a shout out just in case.  Love you Chris!

Now how about a Halloween re-post in honor of the 1st day of October.  This is a project Harper and I did last October.  Hope you will enjoy.  Original post here.

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I recently saw a cute little Halloween paper bunting on Pinterest.

If you haven’t ventured out and joined Pinterest yet…I totally recommend that you do.  It is amazing and a great waste of time.

If you need an invite, just let me know.

You can check out all my boards HERE.

The original of this adorable Halloween bunting belongs to Organize & Decorate Everything.  I loved the idea, the fact that it was all out of paper and that it was easy and quick…no special trip to Hobby Lobby.

So Harper and I took another bit of time to make some paper bunting for our family to enjoy.  The boys were done crafting, so this was mainly Harper’s doing, with my assistance.  Needless to say, when we were done, she was thrilled with her handy work.

Everything was made out of paper and then we just used a piece of ribbon and some small clips to hang each flag up.

Harper had a lot of her own ideas for each little flag, so we added our own Kelley touches here and there.

And when all Halloween crafting was said and done, there was nothing better I could have done with my time this morning.  And I felt better, like I had really actually accomplished something…finally.  And the kids and I were all in great moods and ready to tackle the rest of the day.  So maybe my one little coping skill really does work.

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Happy Monday!

That Smile

Today has been the best day yet!

He’s made some great progress today and best of all…he smiled and those big, bright eyes are back.  Melt my heart into a big drippy puddle.

Seriously, such a good day!  I cannot say enough how truly thankful we are for all the prayers and love…we are just so very grateful.  God is too good.

Happy Thursday!

Movin’ On Up

Yesterday Amon was looking around more later in the evening.  And he has been steadily losing more and more wires & other attached medical equipment today.

This morning when I woke up they had taken off his “headband” which measured the oxygen in his brain and his internal jugular line in his neck that went straight to his heart.  Medical stuff just blows my mind.  During the day they also pulled his pacing wires and two stomach tubes which is awesome.

He is still having stomach/eating issues and does have fluid in one of his lungs, but he really is doing just incredible.  And they let us move out of the PICU and up to a regular room…which is so nice.

When we got the news we packed up and hit the patient transport elevators.

And now we’re settled in his new room.  It’s been kind of crazy busy day with more x-rays and an echo and I took a CPR class which they make all parents take.  I’ll be honest in the fact that I’m pretty terrified to take him home now, but we still have some time here at the hospital and it is very good to know infant CPR now…just freaked me out a bit 🙂

But for sure all the doctors and nurses and our surgeon agree that A) He really is completely rockin’ this open heart surgery recovery thing and B) His hair is still really fabulous.

Happy Monday!