Madeline had a seizure. *Update*

*** Maddie's fever broke yesterday morning! SIGH........... I feel so much better now. The doctor told us that her biggest risk of having another seizure was during the same virus, so we are breathing easier..... She is back to her old self now, you know, playing "lella" (Cinderella). Things are feeling more normal now, though we are not quite there yet. My Dad is much better too. I think we will all look at things a little diferently from now on. Thank you all so much for your prayers and support. I wish I could thank you all personally, I read every single comment and they all meant so much to me. I really can't thank you enough. I love you all! I will be back soon with some sewing and silliness. I'm just going to take a little more ime off to snuggle my sweet babies. Hug your babies today! ~xoxox, Samantha***

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Friday started out like any other day except I still had a lingering headache and nausea from the virus I had Wednesday and Thursday. I was determined to have a normal day and NOT be sick. I cleaned up a little, talked to a couple of friends on the phone, snuggled with the kids, everything was normal. Mom called and asked if she could come and get the kids to spend the night, and I told her yes. Mom and Dad came to pick them up, and I started sewing.

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Around 7 pm I got a call from my Dad, I could tell by his voice something was very wrong, he said "Sam, Maddie was standing there like normal, when all of a sudden her eyes rolled back in her head, she fell straight back, and started convulsing! She turned blue and we had to breathe for her! I've called the ambulance and they are on their way!". Shocked, I just said "I am on my way, tell them when they get there to take her to Children's Hospital! I will try to make it there before they leave!" In the car I called Ben on my cell phone and told him what I knew and to meet us at Children's. Somehow, someway, with God's help, I made it just in time to hop in the passenger seat of the ambulance. I didn't get to see her. She wasn't crying. She was on oxygen, and covered in wires but she wasn't crying. All I could see from where I sat was her foot, it just lay there lifeless. I kept saying "Maddie, Mama is here." but there was no response. The paramedic kept saying, "Maddie you have to stay awake, look at me Maddie". I have never been so scared in my life! I kept praying "God please let me hear her voice so I know she's OK". We were almost to the hospital when I finally heard her cry "mama!" Oh, it was the sweetest sound in the world, but then I felt so bad that I couldn't comfort her. When we got to the hospital I got to hold her. She was sort of out of it, shaky, and confused, but she was OK. It has never felt so good to hold my sweet baby girl before.

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The pieces finally started to come together. Dad said that she had been fine, no fever or anything; but when he picked her up after she fell he noticed that she was burning up with a fever. "Febrile Seizure". That's what had happened. Her fever got too high too fast and it caused a seizure. She had just come down with the virus that I had been battling for the last few days. They gave her medicine to bring down her 102.5 fever. We stayed in the ER for a few hours under observation while she recovered. She slowly came around and became more and more alert. Then we were finally able to come home around midnight.

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We are all trying to de-stress after the shock, it's funny how people tend to get upset after it's all over. I guess because you don't have time in the middle of a crisis to think about it, it hits you when it's all over. Maddie is still running a pretty high fever, she slept all day yesterday. I could tell that her muscles were completely worn out because she was so shaky and she seemed to have no strength. She also has a couple of bruises around her eyes. But, today she seems better except for the fever. My Dad is still recovering too, the doctors jokingly said that he will need therapy! They said that the kids usually fair better than the person who witnessed the seizure. I can believe that! I still have knots in my stomach! Molly, Tim, and my Mom were also there when it happened and Molly keeps saying "Mama, I just don't want Maddie to turn blue again!"

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I may be out a few days tending to my sick baby (2 yr old "baby") please pray for her to feel better soon. I'm going to try to stock up on some energy! We are all pretty much emotionally drained.

xoxox,

Samantha

Sorry for the absence. We've been busy!

Last week my washing machine called it quits. LOL! To tell you the truth I wasn't too sad to see it go. We were not on very good terms. It was one of those cheap stack ables that was averaging 2hrs to dry 1 load of clothes. Not good when you have this many people to wash for. By the way I think Maddie counts as at least two grown people with the amount of laundry she produces, but who would expect Cinderella to wear the same dress all- day- long? That's just unheard of! As usual it was a blessing in disguise. We found these scratch and dent at two different Lowes stores for $800! That is the price of just the washer! Here is the best part, it washes THREE loads at a time!!!!! And the dry time equals the wash time! This has changed my life, seriously, you know the rants I have had about laundry. I caught up about 10 loads, all the curtains, and even a couple of quilts IN ONE DAY! It was heaven on earth! OK, so yes I admit it, I am in love with my new washer and dryer.

Then I got to keep this group of crazy kids! They are my little cousins, aren't they sweeties (one of the girls is not pictured, she was finishing up a long nap). We had a blast, we played hide and seek in the dark, had pizza, and watched a movie. The best part was when my Aunt called to say she was on her way the kids asked if she could stay gone a little longer. LOL! Sweet babies, they were having so much fun. Then Monday Miss Molly woke up with tooth trouble, kind of. She had a fake tooth in front from an abscess she had when she was 2yrs old. I noticed blood around the tooth and it was red and swollen, on closer inspection I discovered her new tooth pushing the fake one down! This new discovery was bitter sweet; Molly was excited that she would "look like an 8yr old" with a missing front tooth, but then sad that she won't be able to play tricks on people with the fake one anymore! LOL! That's my girl. Molly is always center of attention at the dentist office, so she liked that too. She is such a fun kid! Mama, on the other hand is not adjusting well. She looks so big with her front tooth out. Like a kid. A big kid. *sniffle* How does it happen so quick? I find myself just staring at her, she is so beautiful. A beautiful girl, not baby.

For the rest of the week I will be working on patterns, hopefully. I'm forcing myself out of a week long slump. Wish me luck!

PS. I have a sweet friend, Kim, who has just started on Etsy, You should stop by! Just click HERE.

Yep...it's another funny video!

(THIS IS A VIDEO CLICK ON THE PLAY SYMBOL TO WATCH)

While the girls and I were inside cooking, a few weeks ago, the boys were outside cutting grass and cleaning up the yard. It has always been Tim's job (well..since he's been big enough) to blow the grass clippings off of the porch, but Ben had just bought a new blower and it was a little bigger than the one Tim has been using. IT WAS HISTERICAL! The new blower was so powerful that when Tim pulled the trigger it blew him in circles!!! LOL! I hope you like this one. What a sweet boy helping his Daddy with the yard work, no matter what the cost. LOL! Sorry it's a little blurry, it was so hot and humid my camera was fogging up.

Happy Fathers Day to the Daddies in my life.

First there was my sweet Daddy. There is no way to begin to describe this man. He's the perfect Dad, I'm not just saying that because it's Fathers Day, seriously, PERFECT. In my whole life I don't remember him ever telling me that I couldn't do something I wanted to do, ever. In fact he was always there in the middle of whatever I was involved in. When I was in Cosmetology school (it was a co-op in high school) he would come to the school on his lunch break and let me cut his hair, or let me pass off on some other crazy assignment! That mans hair has been highlighted, finger waved, curled, spiked, anything I needed it to do! He has had a french manicure, his toes done, eyebrows waxed, you name it, I put him through it! LOL! And he never once complained. When I was a little older I really enjoyed christian concerts. We would dress Dad up in baggy jeans, spike his hair with some DUKE putty, and give him some shades to wear and he would be right there with us jumping up and down and screaming at the front. When we were little, all the other Dads were screaming at their kids at the ball park, but my Dad was taking us caving, canoeing, camping, hiking, repelling, climbing, even driving! Now that I'm a Mama my Dad is a constant encouragement, when everyone else questions my decisions he's always behind me. He is truly my biggest fan. Daddy, I love you. Then there was Ben, I always knew he would make a good Daddy. Being the oldest of twelve kids, I never really saw him without one on his back! The first thing he told me, after he talked to my Dad about dating me, was "I want a house full of children, I want my wife to stay home, and I want my children to be homeschooled. " It really was that simple. At 19 he knew exactly what he wanted out of life. We were engaged 6 weeks later! LOL! He is the perfect Daddy for my children! He is a lot like my Dad was with us. My kids are so lucky. Ben is so involved in every little accomplishment. I think the most special moments are when he gathers them up in the evening and reads to them from the Bible, or when he puts them to bed and prays with each one. They each have their own special prayer and way they like to be tucked in. He is always willing to give up his off days to cut another trail on our adventure. Best of all, he puts up with Mama. He understands my artistic quirks. Sometimes he will just take the kids and leave me to work on my next big project. He's wonderful. Ben had to work at the fire station today so we celebrated yesterday. I love you sweetie, we missed you today! Happy Fathers Day.

Molly said "Daddy I hope you have a good Fathers Day. I like when you take me fishin, and when you cut trails on our adventure."

Tim said,"Happy Fathers Day. My faborite is when you work on my twee howse, and build da chicken pin."

Madeline said, "Hap pars Day, I wike get him hugs."

Then there was Daddy in law, Barry. He really don't feel like the in-law type. I really do feel like one of his Daughters. I have to give this man props for raising my man. He taught him to be a good Daddy, a hard worker, a provider, and husband. He has taught us something that we couldn't have learned from the world, that children are truly a joy and a blessing. Thank you Barry, I love you.

Letters from home.

Molly is in that stage of reading where she spells everything the way that she hears it. Well I don't really know what happened here, but seriously, I almost died laughing! Timothy comes in while I am cooking and says, "Wook mama, I have a letter for Maddie. For when her wakes up". I look down at the letter and see "B**b loves Maddie". Fighting back just totally losing it I ask, "What does it say buddy?" He answers, ""Sissy wote it for me, it says Bubba woves Maddie. You wike it mama?" And of course I look at him in those big blue eyes and say, "Yes, in fact , that's my most favorite letter you have ever got Sissy to write for you. I wish I had one just like it". So guess what .....Mama gets her very own "B**b loves Mama" letter. Yes mam! I'm a little sad that we have to start spelling in the Fall, I mean this is good stuff! I wonder if there's any way around it? LOL!

She wrote Ben the most precious Fathers day card, it said on the front "Ben's Mail" and on the inside "Happy Fathers Day. Molly Loves Daddy." We took pictures of it and sent it to him while he was at the fire station. He Loved it!!!! It really cracked me up that She put Ben on the front. When does she ever call him Ben? Even I call him Daddy most of the time just out of habit from teaching them to say it.

She NEVER asks me for help when she is writing her letters, so she comes up with it all on her own. It's incredible how their little minds work. I'm going to miss this. The sweet little misspelled letters hanging all over the house. The endless trail of paper clippings. The writing on the walls. The messy fridge full of their latest drawings. The scribbles on all of my patterns from Maddie's helping hands. The never-ending fight for the scissors. Oh, God make it last. I promise to enjoy it. Just give me a little while longer.

And the winners are..........

Tara..........Bethany...........and....Megan!!!! Each one of you get to pick a free pattern from my shop, including "Miss Madeline" and the embroidery design pack "Samantha's Hand Embroidery Designs 1, Birds and Blooms" Did you notice my new look? Well my sweet friend Donella did it!!!! She did an amazing job. She was so willing to make me happy with every little detail. She did ALL THIS for a very reasonable price. You can check out her Etsy shop here.

Blog anniversary giveaway!

OK, so I totally missed the anniversary. It was in May and I just realized it. Oh well, we can party now!

Lets start with a big fat THANK YOU!!!! I would have never kept on blogging without all of your comments, seriously. You gave me the motivation I needed to get to the one year mark. Had you all not been here cheering me on I would NOT have my own line of patterns and a book out! Every sweet comment, every encouraging word, every piece of advice was truly taken to heart. And I can now brag that I made it an entire year with out so much as ONE ugly comment. This has truly been a happy place to be. But it was more that that, you came at a time when I really needed something to keep me busy. I needed a new and fun distraction. When I started this one year ago my heart was still grieving deeply over the loss of my sweet baby 5 months earlier. I had miscarried just a week before my second trimester. You all, with your precious comments and emails have really been amazing! And now I want to give something to you!

I will be giving away one pattern from my shop for every 20 comments (I will draw 1 name for every 20 comments). If you want you can also pick "Miss Madeline" or the new "design pack"that will be ready very soon. I will be sending them all by email (I don't mind mailing if you can't print). I will draw the name and announce the winners Wednesday. If you need to see what pattern you would like if you win go HERE. The "Miss Madeline" and the new design pack pictures are on my home page if you want to see them. Just let me know which one you want in your comment!

I also want to share some links with you!

Micah Craft - He does amazing drawings from your portraits. His business name is Portraits By Craft. He's also on Etsy!

Candy- A sweet mama of three who is on a mission! She lost her second child when she was born prematurely and has since been sewing and donating gowns and such to premature babies. I stumbled upon her blog last night and was only able to read some of the wonderful work that she is doing, but I am sure this mama could use some help even if it's just a kind word of encouragement.

NOTE: If you want to comment but do not have a blogger account, comment as anonymous and leave your name (and email if you want me to get back with you).

Tagged..... twice.

Dee from Bubba Chick Tagged me for a little game. Here are the rules.

* Link the person who tagged you

* Mention the rules in your blog

* Tell about six unspectacular quirks of yours

* Tag a new set of six following bloggers by linking them

This is going to be hard! LOL!

1. I REALY HATE FOLDING CLOTHES! I know you all think that you hate it too, but I think I'm a whole new level. I trade out with my friend Kim and she comes and folds while I sew for her daughter. Really, that bad! I should wear a sign: Will sew for folded laundry.

2. I can't be ugly to telemarketers. I feel sorry for them, so I let them talk, then I have to say "no I'm sorry I wouldn't be interested". Then I feel bad again for saying no. I can't just hang up. I feel rude. Ben can shut them down in a heart beat, but I can't.

3. I'm hooked on Diet Sunkist. We only drink water at home so I don't get it unless we are out, so from the minute I leave my house I am trying to think of how I can get my hands on one LOL! If Ben knows that I've had a bad day he will bring one home with him. I love him for that.

4. I get embarrassed in front of a lot of people. I could never sing in the choir, I tried it once , but I felt sick all week just thinking about Sunday. After a couple of weeks I told the choir minister (Jokingly) that if I had to sing in the choir one more Sunday I would never go to church again. LOL! He let me off the hook. I get embarrassed when people (that I don't know well) give me compliments too. I turn blood red and I feel my face get hot. Once I get to know someone I'm not very shy at all. Crazy, huh?

5. I'm not good at math. At all. I'm one of those classic right brained people who can't remember numbers. I don't even know my own cell number. If it is not a number that I use every single day I loose it. I was the kid at the school office after Christmas break asking them too look up my locker code. Yeah, it's that bad. Sometimes to remember a friends number I have to get a phone and pretend to dial it so that it will come back to me. Hey don't laugh! It usually works. OK and here's the wost of them all.......I can't remember what year each of our children were born! I always have to count back when people ask me! .......I can't believe I just owned that......It felt good to let it out. LOL!

6. I can remember anything that is set to music, so I am constantly getting songs stuck in my head for days at a time that I have no idea where they came from! I may have heard it in a store and not even realized it, then for next week I'm singing 1 verse to some unknown song. IT DRIVES ME MAD when I can't figure out what song it is. Thank God for Google! Now I just type in the words that I do know and Google will tell me what I'm singing!!!!! It makes me feel so much better. It's kind of like when you can't remember someones name (you know how that can drive you crazy!) and when it finally hits you, you're so relieved. Yeah, like that.

Kristin at See Mommy Sew Tagged me too! In this game I had to answer a few questions.

What was I doing ten years ago? Begging a man that I didn't know at Alabama School for the Deaf to let me could come and work the entire Summer for free as a counselor at their camp. I thought I knew sign language when I got there because I had took it in school. NOT! Deaf people have slang just like hearing people do, you can't really learn it all out of a book. After being there for a few days I caught on, and when I left the kids were surprised when they found out that I could hear. LOL!

Five things on my to-do list for today?

1. Fold the mountain of clothes in my living room.

2. Mop my sticky hardwood floors.

3. Work on baby gifts.

4. Work on instructions for "Miss Madeline". I feel like I have hit a brick wall with this one!

5.Go to the post office.

Snacks I like Chips and salsa, cucumbers and salt, and WHITE CHOCOLATE!

Things I would do if I was a billionaire? We would buy a farm big enough for the entire family to live on! We could all live a mile or two apart. We have seriously talked about this for years. My Dad needs a landing strip and a hanger for his plane because he hates renting. Maybe it will happen one day!

Places I've lived: Alabama, It's beautiful here! I only wish we could have snow.

Six people I want to know more about

I am going to cheat, since I was tagged twice, and tag you! I know I'm totally taking the easy way out on this, but come on and play along!

All the pictures are from a set of tea towels I made my Mama for her birthday. She is 48, and loving it! Dad flew her to Gulf Shores for the day to do some shopping at her favorite places. They are like a couple of kids now with all of us gone! They just hop in Dad's plane and go anywhere they want. They have been known to fly to Gatlinburg to eat dinner at their favorite restaurant. They are too funny!

All of the embroidery designs will be available soon in the shop, I will keep you posted on that.

Picture Post

To answer a few questions, YES the bird embroidery is my design and it will be included in the "Miss Madeline" pattern. It will also be sold in a *new design pack* with lots of other sweet designs. What do you all think of the picture of all the dresses on the wall? Do you think a picture like that be good for the cover of the pattern? I kind of like it. I also thought about the dresses on a clothes line. Thanks so much for your interest! You guys are amazing! So much for the wordless post huh?

View B

I have come down with the virus now. Great fun. I'm a little better today but I'm still feeling pretty weak, so I'm just going to show a picture of this dress that I made for Molly. This will be View B on the new pattern. I made Maddie one (View B) too but I'll have to show it later. The one with the apron will be View A.

What do you think of the name "Miss Madeline"? I guess I would feel bad if I didn't name one after her. Does it look like a Madeline? I also thought about Madeline the milk maid, or Maddie's prairie dress, Madelines apron dress? What do you think, do you have a better suggestion? HELP! LOL!

Confessions of a hillbilly # 876 : Our Memorial Day

OK, yes there is some sort of theme going on here with my crazy family, riding toys, and holidays! This might just be the best ever! My cousin Jon has some mad skills with a sewing machine, let me tell you. He decided to build a HUGE slip-n-slide for Memorial Day, and boy was it big! Let me explain it to you sewing folk. He took massive tarps, sewed them together and got a blower (think those blow up bouncers that people rent for birthdays) and hooked that baby up. Then he found the steepest hill on his property and layed it out. There was a pool at the bottom for us to land in. It was perfect.

(THIS IS A VIDEO CLICK ON THE PLAY SYMBOL TO WATCH)

I know if you have ever read my blog you have already guessed it, mama had to ride, and this time it was caught on video. Did I mention that on Mothers Day I almost broke my foot riding in a go cart with Ben? Well it happened. You would think that I'd be scared, but no. My big tail keeps climbing on these contraptions with the excitement of a 10 year old girl. I guess I can't help it! I was the only mama brave enough to be subjected to the always overly excited daddys who want to grease the runway and send you down flying and spinning. IT WAS SOOOO MUCH FUN! And so worth smelling like Icy Hot for three days (maybe 4). I know what your thinking: Did I just say greasing the runway? Yes, they used an entire bottle of sunscreen during the course of the day, just to sweeten the deal. My sweet cousin Amy did decide to ride with me, we make a good pair. At one point they pushed me so fast that I flew over the back into the grass! I never dreamed I would put a video of myself looking this bad on the blog, but you know I have no shame. So just click play and try not to look at all the mascara running down my face. LOL!

(THIS IS A VIDEO CLICK ON THE PLAY SYMBOL TO WATCH)

So after a couple of hours of just a slip-n-slide, the before mentioned fathers decided that there was something missing. So they crawl underneath the slip-n-slide and insert a ramp. We now have a huge, heavily greased slip-n-slide, with a ramp in the middle, on a very steep hill, and Ben decides to ride down with my children on a float! What did I say? I said let me grab the camera first! LOL! So here is the video of Ben, Molly, and Tim (and a cousin that slipped in at the last minute) riding down with the ramp in. I hope our videos made you laugh!

EDITED TO ADD: I forgot to tell you that when it was time to leave I was like a kid! Bennnnnnnn, can we stay just a few more minutes? Baby, just one more slide? OK this is the last time I promise! LOL! Good times!