Paul’s Accident Update–Jan. 28th

First of all I want to thank everyone for the calls, concerns, offers, and prayers. It is a humbling experience to see your support system shoot through the roof when something tragic happens. I am thankful for each and every one of you – I love you all!

First I want to start off with the accident:

Last night after 5, I received a call from Paul telling me that his truck died on the side of 85. The battery died as he was driving down the highway. He pulled off the road and began calling for help. The tow truck was on it’s way and the Hero unit was on it’s way. He called me back to tell me what was going on when all of the sudden I heard a very LOUD crashing sound that seemed to go on forever with Paul yelling in the background. I KNEW what was happening. I heard him yelling ‘I am OK, I am OK’ But I called 911 right then.

Another man was driving around 80 mph on 85 when he veered off the edge and ran right into the back of Paul’s truck and turned on it’s side. The 2 cars slid down the hwy for a while and stopped up against the guard rail. Because Paul’s battery was dead, his airbags did not deploy – the impact shot him up against his roof, then up against his windshield, and he landed up against the passenger window. He was able to kick his door open and went straight to the other car where he saw a lot of blood. The man answered Paul’s calls and Paul was able to help the man out of his seatbelt. NOBODY STOPPED!!! Can you believe that?!? Not one person stopped to help. The police were there very fast, thank goodness. But as the other man was being put into the ambulance, his speech was starting to slur and they were becoming very worried. He was covered in blood. We do not know any updates on the other man, sadly.

The miracle: Paul was outside of his car 5 minutes before the accident looking for jumper cables. The Hero unit was told that Paul was on I85 south bound so he was over on the south side looking for him – come to find out, Paul told them he was on Northbound and they wrote it down wrong. Had they heard him correctly, the hero unit would have been there when this happened and they would have been working on Paul’s truck. I was going to go down there with the boys to jump him off when he called me the first time, but he told me to wait a little bit. All of this could have been MUCH worse but thank God, things worked out for the best.

How Paul is doing:

He was taken to the hospital because of blood on his face and a lot of bruising. The CT scans came back normal. The swelling and bruising is scary looking, but that’s all it is, outside bruising. He is home and just needs time to rest and time to heal. He may have a cracked collar bone, right next to the plate that was put in from his motorcycle accident. His hip is also really bothering him today. We have a follow-up appointment with his Orthopedic Surgeon (that he knows from his other accident) so we will find out more and do more x-rays then.

Prayers still appreciated! Not sure of his full injuries yet. His car will be totaled so we will be looking in to all of that the upcoming weeks. He adored his old truck, but it had seen better days. Thank you again for all of your support! Stay safe out there!!

Jobe’s Diagnosis

Whew….It has been a year of many different ideas and Dr. visits. The days after my sweet baby was born, the Dr.s in the hospital noticed that his skull plates were overlapping. We were all worried that his plates may already be fused but by the time we were heading home after our hospital stay, they were already spreading apart. Because of these issues, we decided to see a neurosurgeon here in Atlanta just to be on the safe side. So at 3 months, we met with a great Atlanta surgeon to rule out a cranial issue. While we met with him, he noticed that Jobe was tilting his neck and sent us to PT to get possible ‘torticollis’ taken care of.

A new chapter of PT began!! With amazing help from my sister, we were accepted into a Georgia program called ‘Babies can’t wait’ where we were able to have a therapist come TO OUR HOUSE to perform PT on my little man. For those of you that know me well, know how freaked out I am about germs. This was a HUGE blessing. If we weren’t able to use ‘Babies’, then we would have to travel down to Childrens Healthcare every other week where he would be chewing on other toys, playing with other toys, etc, etc, etc….This was a nightmare for me. He was so little, so fragile…..PT in our home was such an amazing blessing!!!

Things were going well with PT but as the weeks went on, we kept noticing that his left eye seemed smaller than his right and it didn’t want to move to the left. Therefore, we were sent to a pediatric ophthalmologist. After 2 visits with her, we were finally diagnosed with something called ‘Duane’s Syndrome’. This is where there is a palsy of the sixth cranial nerve, or the nerve is missing all together. The only way to get a definite diagnosis would be to do an MRI – but my little guy is so little. Therefore, we are going to wait a while to expose him to so much radiation since this condition (supposedly) cannot be fixed with surgery. But come to find out, Duane’s syndrome can cause a tilt in the neck because of eye strain and turning of the head to see, instead of turning of the eye. He probably never had torticollis in the first place!

In the meantime, we are visiting our beloved ophthalmologist every 4 months. We were also accepted into Vision Therapy through ‘Babies’ this week – so exciting!!!! The vision therapist will come to our house, too. We are soooo enjoying his cuteness and his little quirky eye. Below is a picture of him when he is sleepy and another of when he is well rested. See the huge difference in how lazy his left eye is?? His left eye is usually a tad bit crossed, but not really noticeable. Just enough to make him even cuter!

 

In the end, I believe that all of this is due to womb constriction. Contractions started for me when I was only 4 months pregnant and came pretty steadily until he was born at 39 weeks. He was head down for a long time – so head down, with a lot of strong contractions….who knows. His skull plates were over lapping at birth, etc, etc, etc. Only time will tell what we are dealing with. He is a super happy baby, and we are so blessed to have him in our lives!!!! I will keep family and friends updated as updates come…

On to another fun year with our little monkey!

2011 Fun-filled Tot Fieldtrips…

Those of you that know me the best, know that I would rather spend my time in the mountains hiking, camping, playing and taking it all in. But, since we aren’t able to live in the mountains at this point in our lives, I am making the best of the fun things to do around here and letting my babies explore!! Who doesn’t love to explore??

2011 was a big year of field trips around the south. My boys are the perfect ages to love new exploration and booooooy are they curious!! My little Georges, sweet curious monkeys. Every year, the Freeman family is blessed enough to have a membership to one place in Atlanta and we go many times over the summer, all school vacations, and really, just whenever we can. 2010 we did Fernbank, 2011 we did The Alanta Botanical Gardens, and later on in 2012, we will most likely do the Zoo.

The Atlanta Botanical Gardens!!! Woohoo!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yellow River Game Ranch in Stone Mountain:

Yellow River is a super fun, hands-on zoo for everyone! The entire zoo is fenced in. Therefore, you are able to walk around with most of the animals, including deer. The staff also encourages you to bring in your own food to feed the animals. The boys had a GREAT time!!!

 

Even Jobe got in on the fun of feeding:

 

Opryland in Nashville:

We got to meet ‘Puss in Boots’, ride a river boat, and see some amazing decorations! Oh, and who can forget the amazing dessert we found – YUM. Fun!

 

  

Duluth Train Museum:

A fun little museum in Duluth, Ga. They have tons of old trains that have barely been changed over the years. Therefore, we (Noah, Jobe and I) were able to see what the trains used to look like WAAAAY back in the day all the way down to the antique kitchens, fabrics on the chairs, and even the mail room in a train that delivered mail!! So cool. We saw an old Atlanta Taxi and at the end, we were able to take a little ride on an old train. We will definitely be going back!

 

 

 

 

 

A New Chapter with a few tears shed…

It is official for Mama Freeman…I am taking a much needed break from my business baby, Caglewood, to spend more time with my human babies this year!! Super sad and it was a very hard decision for me but the change is much needed. After 10 loooooong years of building the camp with my hubby, I am stepping back, bringing on another team member to take over my position for a little while, and focusing solely on my family for right now. I am super excited but also somewhat sad. I know it is the right decision and I know this will allow me to ‘re-find’ myself and ‘re-realize’ the reasons for starting the camp in the first place. It is time to reflect, rejuvenate, and refocus. I will be back soon.

No more putting my kids on the back burner for camp work. No more rushing around for a week every month trying to get things ready, packed, organized, etc, etc, etc. I am ready to focus on ME by doing some art work, sewing, getting back into shape, taking care of my migraines and my ‘whole health’, running some 5k’s, and I am ready to focus on spending some special time with the special men in my life. I need this and my health needs this. My boys need this. I love my camp, and I know the camp needs me to rejuvenate, too. I am ready for this new chapter and will embrace it with open arms!!!!

I LOVE YOU CAGLEWOOD CLAN! Can’t wait to see what is in store for the future. We will be around this year, for sure. The boys and I will be there to play, to learn, and to embrace your awesomeness. Fun times ahead! Thank you Kristen White for your help!

some photos from a looooooooong time ago =) (other than the one with all 3 boys)

       

My sweet baby’s FIRST!!!

Jobe a year ago:

And Jobe today:

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Such a sweet, laid back birthday it was. My precious baby is growing so fast and adores his big brothers like they are his heroes. He searches for them constantly and can now say ‘oooo-ah’ and ‘eeee-y-i'. We started his birthday off by visiting our local Cracker Barrel, of course, I mean gah! They had a nice big fire going and we enjoyed a great hot breakfast for Jobe’s ONE celebration………all while Jobe slept in his carseat at the table with a blanket covering him up. So really, the four of us celebrated for him =) ‘Happy Birthday!!’ thanks for the breakfast!

We then headed over to a local lake for a little hike, duck feeding, and photo shoot. Ohhhhh the ducks were scary, but they were oh so fun to look at! As long as you don’t step in their ‘poo’ as Noah would say.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Presents and cake TIME!!! (with a few zerberts) :

  

 

Before, During, and After…

 

FUN, FUN, FUN!!