11/7/12 All is sick in the Oakley Homestead

This boy is sick...don't let that cute, smiley, happy face fool you.

 We knew he was getting congested, we could hear it in his chest. Then as the day went on he got more tired, started to run a low fever, his nose started to run, and he did not want to be put down. He just wanted Momma to hold him. So even though we were out and about running all sorts of errands, we stopped it all and went back home. 

We transitioned to sick mode. We changed into our Jammer Jams, filled up the sippy cup with v8, and put on some Elmo. Let the snuggles begin!

 

We drank lots of juice in the next few days, read lots of books, and of course we watched lots of Elmo. 

We even tried making soups, loading up on his veggies, and putting kale broth into his juice. Nothing worked :( Our bug was still sick. And still happy, thank goodness. 

So, even though we try to avoid it at all costs, we took Emery in to see his doctor. We love his doctor and all the nurses, and they were very excited to see him. 

Emery was excited to play with the toys in the sick waiting room for once. We are usually in the well waiting room. It was a good change of pace. 

The conclusion was a cold and a mild ear infection in his left ear. We got some antibiotics and went home to heal. 

As you can see from this video, Emery was feeling fine on the way home. 

The next day was a big one for Beka. She gets chronic tonsillitis and strep throat. She has for years. So to keep her from suffering more Team Oakley decided to get her tonsils out!

Michael and Beka woke up VERY early the next day to go in for the surgery. Auntie Roxanne said with the sleeping, sick Emery.

It was VERY cold when we got up. 

The surgery went very well. No complications. Beka was awake and out the door of the hospital in record time. She wanted to be at home in her own bed. The nurses were impressed with how awake she was after anesthesia. She is never fun. No silly videos on you tube for her. 

Now comes the hard part for everyone. The recovery. She cannot hold Emery for ten days, and she needs to be in bed for five. Emery is staying with his Nana and Pappy for a while. 

 but it is going to mean some overtime for Michael. 

And now Michael is sick. He started feeling it a few days ago, and on the morning of the surgery it hit him hard. He went to the doctor after he got Beka home from surgery. He had a cold that was almost a sinus infection. He got some meds and then came back home to take care of Beka. Luckily she slept most of the day, so he got to rest and catch up on work. 

Beka and Michael got to lay in bed for a few days while Emery was at Nana and Pappy's. They had lots to keep them busy with their lap tops, phones, and other electronic devices at hand. 

And Emery did great being away. He is always such a good boy! We are so thankful to Craig and Josie for watching him. He played hard at their house, and slept hard too. Good boy!

So even though the sick hit us all in different ways, at the same time, we are getting through it. We are strong, and we love each other very much. If not, this would really suck :)

Thanks for caring.

Love,

Team Oakley

11/3/12 forks, storms and lions. OH MY!

Oh what a night we've had! 

We spent our day celebrating our anniversary. We had a great time. Once all the fun was had we decided to take a walk to Kroger to get some milk and toilet paper (the essentials). We all picked a drink that we like too. Beka got her usual peach tea, Michael got pomegranate lemonade, and Emery got a chocolate milk. YUMMY!

On the way to the store we noticed some dark clouds rolling in. On the way back they were moving faster than we were! We had to HURRY to get home. It kept getting windier and windier. We were scared we wouldn't make it! 

Emery was clueless about our worry. He was having  grand time!  He had a treat, a book, and was riding his bike super fast!

This is a photo of our house. No filter. Insanity! 

We BARELY made it home! It started raining within minuets of arriving. Whew!

Once home we had a good dinner of Spaghetti and Broccoli, two of Beka and Emery's favorites. 

Emery did something amazing at dinner. He ate with a fork!!!

We have been trying to teach him to do this for months, and he finally did!

At first he used his hands, as usual. 

Then he did it! We were cheering so loud that he started cheering for himself! 

He was pretty delighted with his new accomplishment, as were his parents. Such a big, smart boy! 

HOORAY! 

We were so excited to get a video of his new trick. However, Emery was not in the mood to corporate. 

After our failed video we took a bath with Emery. Broccoli always does a number on him. 

After the bath we dried off with the lion towel. Being that halloween just happened, Emery learned how to RAWR! and make RAWR hands. We used that trick fully tonight. The results were adorable. 

What a full night it was. Full of adventure, laughing, and celebrating. We love our little family and our "crazy" Saturday nights. We would not trade them for anything.

Thanks for sharing our moments with us.

Love,

Team Oakley

11/3/12 Cinco de Marriage!!

Hooray! We have made it this far!

Team Oakley is VERY proud to celebrate our five year anniversary today. Or as we like to call it, Cinco de Marriage! It has not been easy. We have moved about ten times, lived in three differents states, had multiple employers, and the best of all we did, we had a baby! 

It's been a whirl wind. But because it has, we are very thankful for getting here. So let's party!

The night before our anniversary our dear friends Kristen and Kevin brought us a delicious vegan dinner, snacks, and they took us to see a movie. 

The movie we saw was Cloud Atlas....it was amazing. Everyone should see it. It will change you. It was fantastic! Then we hung out with our dear friends after the movie and discussed all the powerful themes and ideas. We were able to do this because Emery was staying at his Nana's that night. 

We had not had a night out like that in a VERY long time. If felt so great. 

The next day we did not have much in store. We wanted to celebrate our five years, so decided we would do five fun things. 

fun thing number 1: we slept in. Both of us. Usually one can while the other gets up with Emery (at like 8, so we are not complaining!), but we both slept until 10 with no interruptions...it was wonderful! 

Then we got in the car to do more fun things.

Hooray for us and our marriage! 

The second fun thing we did was get breakfast burritos. We always have loved doing this, so even-though it seems silly, it was really fun for us. 

We laughed at the labels on our burritos. So like us. 

Special thing number two: we got starbucks!  

the third fun thing we did is....

Drive on the new 840 west! This freeway has been under construction for YEARS now! It connects some major freeways and is going to be a great thing for many commuters, including Beka, and it JUST opened. It was so pretty! 

Then for the 4th fun thing Michael and Beka went to the Opryland hotel! We both thought we had been, but were not sure. We walked and walked and loved seeing everything we could. It is so pretty there!

Then we picked up Emery from Nana and Pappy's house. He did the 5th fun thing with us. We went treasure hunting at good will! 

Emery was pretty goofy. 

We found some treasures too! We bought these vintage chairs. We are not sure if were are going to redo them, but for now they are in our kitchen, looking great! And there are five of them. Cinco de chairs! 

It was a WONDERFUL anniversary. It wasn't anything too big, but it was sweet and very memorable.  

Here is to us! Where we have come and to where we are heading!

Hurray cinco de marriage!

Thanks for being on this journey with us.

Love,

Team Oakley

11/1/12 We voted!

Team Oakley did something VERY important today! 

We got coffee. Just kidding. Well, Im not, we really did get coffee, but that is not was important. Well, it is, but that's not what we were eluding to. By the way Starbucks have their holiday cups. yay! 

We voted! Beka is going to have a tonsillectomy soon, and we didn't want to miss out on our chance to vote, so we did it early. No long lines, no stress. 

We hope you used your freedom to do the same. It is a privilege not every one gets, so use it! 

Love,

team Oakley 

10/31/12 Halloween!

Happy Halloween! 

Since Emery was born we have been thinking of great things to dress him up as. We literally have lists. But this year's costume was inspired by Dr. Suess and Emery's Auntie Ro. 

The Lorax! 

Emery's Auntie Ro always bought him bibs and books and stuffed animals from the Lorax story. We also came across some orange fuzzy fabric in our move, so it was perfect! 

We wanted to be a themed out halloween family, so Beka and Michael jumped on the Lorax train as well! Michael would go as the old Once ler..

And Beka would go as Audrey. 

Beka and Michael were able to find their outfits from Goodwill on a half off day! Score!

Then Beka started in on Emery's costume. It was not hard to make, but she did successfuly cover the carpets with orange fuzz. We are still discovering pockets of the stuff. 

On the day of halloween Beka needed some last minute supplies, so she and Emery headed to Jo-annes. Emery loved seeing all the Christams paper and decorations up in the store. He was mesmerized. This year is going to be so fun! 

We got the yarn that we needed for Emery's mustache and eyebrows. He was happy to hold the yarn all the way to the cash register. What a helper our boy is!

Once the last min details were in place, it was time to get the Lorax dressed. We were not prepared for the cuteness in store for us that night....oh my. 

Emery did not enjoy being in the costume, or having a mustache, but he really got used to it. He is such a good sport. 

Michael and Beka got ready after Emery did. Michael had lots of facial hair to work with from being Beardlsy Grimm Beard at Miller's thriller's haunted woods, so he really nailed the old Once ler. 

Beka's costume was simple, but she looked just like Audrey. SUCCESS! We were so proud of our little Lorax family! 

 Emery's Auntie Roxanne was cute too. Not the Lorax cute, but Roise cute. 

That night our youth group went mugging. Let me explain. Mugging is when we fill nice mugs up with chocolate, tea, coffee, and hot chocolate and go door to door giving them to people. It is a simple was to put smiles of the faces of your neighbor. Halloween can be stressful for parents, so we try to bring as much joy as we can. Even if it is in sugar form. 

After the muggings (that went every well. Our students LOVED giving the mugs out), we had a cookout in our front yard. One of our student's dad has a hot dog kart. We brought that over and set it up in our driveway. Our church provided hot dogs, fixings, buns, waters, and hot cocoa. We find that to get home from work AND getting kids dressed in costume is a big job. Most of the time there is not time for dinner. Then the kids eat too much candy and have a stomach ache...no good. So were were there to help out. We had free hot dogs and hot cocoa for anyone who wanted. 

At first people were skeptical. Not at us offering them food, but that it was free. Once a few people ate, word spread and we had a ton of people visit our house and eat. We got to meet all of our neighbors, and we loved being able to help. We had candy, of course, for all the trick or treaters. We also had Halloween music playing, and chairs and a fire pit so people could warm themselves. It was cold that night! 

Emery had a fantastic time dancing and meeting kids in the neighborhood. The little lorax wanted to hug all the kids and dogs that went by. It was so cute. 

When it got really cold Beka took Emery inside for bed. Once inside he showed her a few more dance moves. This Lorax has got skills! 

After his dance session and a bottle, Emery fell asleep in no time. Beka took the monitor outside with her to be with Michael.  They gave out hot dogs, talked with kids, and laughed with their neighbors for hours more. The night was a HUGE success. One kid who ate a hot dog said "Hey! I have something to say!" once we were all listening he shouted,  "BEST HALLOWEEN EVER!!!!". We think that was a pretty accurate way to describe the night :) 

We hope your halloween was happy and safe, and so much fun!

Thanks for reading about ours.

Love,

Team Oakley