Brax, Brody and Everleigh

Our Labor Day weekend was spent enjoying the sun and water with the entire Nyman clan at Ture and Sue's lake house on the Tennessee/ North Carolina border. As always, it was chaotic fun and we spent much time laughing and relaxing in the company of family and friends. Below are my boys with Josh, Papa Dave and Poppie (Josh's grandfather).

As you can see from the below pictures, Brax loved the lake! He went on the tube with Daddy, cousin Jacob, and Uncle Bobber. He splashed in the "pool" float. He napped on the boat (and drove the boat, if you ask him), and spent a lot of time with all of his cousins.

You can't tell, but in this picture he is standing on the seat of the boat and "shakin' it"

Splashin' in the tube...

Brody also enjoyed the boat (although he did not enjoy wearing his life jacket :) Here we are, enjoying the beautiful weather!

Brax with his cousins (actually Josh's cousins), Ture and Karley. Thank goodness for Karley. Brax and Ture rowed right out in this boat and Karley joined them just in time to get things under control!

Brax and Brody on the "pool" tube with Kelsey and Karley. These girls were such great help! They loved hanging out with the kids and Brax has not stopped talking about them for the last two days! In fact, when we were at the doctor's office today, Brax was certain that the nurse was Karley. He almost cried when she turned around and he realized that it wasn't her!

Brody with Cousin Graham. He was also very sweet with the babies!

Here is Brax's new best friend, Buster. Aunt Misty and Uncle Jeff got Brax this huge dog for his birthday and he has grown rather attached. Buster had to sit on his lap during the five hour long car ride home from the lake. You can only imagine!

Mimi was beside herself the whole weekend. She had her parents, siblings, nieces, nephews, sons, daughters in law, and grandbabies all in one place. I think that she was exhausted by the end, but she sure enjoyed herself while we were there!

Bro-bro has a special place in his heart for Papa Dave. Ever since he was a teeny tiny baby, Papa could quiet him down. Looks like they're still good buddies!!

Brax requested a pirate party for his birthday (more on that to come on Saturday when my baby turns 3!!). Mimi wanted to stick with the theme and threw a little pirate shindig for Brax while we were at the lake. It was a lot of fun and included parrot hats, cupcakes, a treasure chest and many presents! Aunt Sharie presented him with this special "birthday boy" hat and he proudly wore it so that everyone would know where the cupcakes should go :)

Brody and Poppie even joined in on the fun. Bro ate his first cake and it wasn't even his first birthday. Lucky little guy!! This isn't the best picture of him, but I had t show him in his parrot hat :)

We were so glad that we got to be togther with family over the holiday weekend. We don't get to see our extended family often enough. Ture and Sue were such gracious hosts to our rowdy group and did so many things to make it a weekend to remember. So now we're home and planning for Brax's 3rd birthday this weekend. I would like to ask everyone to pray for little Brax. It's been a bit of a tough week for him. Last Tuesday he started complaining of pain in his groin. I noticed that he had a large lymph node and took him to the doctor. They thought that he had an infected lymph node and started him on antibiotics. After a couple of days his fever went away and he seemed to be in less pain, leading us to believe that he was on the mend. However, the swelling increased yesterday and his leg started to look a little red. So, we went back to the doctor today where they determined that the infection wasn't sensitive to the antibiotic that he was taking. He was started on a much stronger antibiotic and we will go back to the doctor on Thursday to make sure that he's making improvements. If he's not, he may have to have a procedure to drain the lymph node and see what is causing the infection. Please pray that this antibiotic will work and that he will be able to enjoy all of his birthday celebrations this weekend. As I said, he isn't feeling bad and is playing like ususual. However, due to my experience working in the PICU, I worry more than most people about how serious infections can become. So, I've spent a few nights over the last week tossing, turning, and praying that all will be well. Thanks for your prayers and thanks for checking on us. I'll post again to let everyone know how he's doing and to update you on the party festivities :)