One Day at a Time...

We're getting ready to head to the panhandle of TX to visit my Grandparents! We're really excited. I always LOVE going there and it has such a special place in my heart. And, we missed getting to see Granddad and Jean at Christmas, so it'll be great to visit. We were planning on leaving on Tuesday and spending a few days in OK while Shane worked. The ice didn't let that happen...so we'll be driving the full 9 hours each way!!

I've been downloading a million pictures into websites to get printed. I haven't had any pictures printed since summer!!!! That is just horrible! Walgreens has prints at 10 cents each this week (type in coupon code JAN50 for online checkout.) No shipping if you pick them up in a store. And, I found out that I have 50 free prints on snapfish! Very exciting. Of course, I'm already at over 100 prints and I'm not even to Christmas yet, LOL.

Posted in: on Wednesday, January 28, 2009 at at 1:59 PM 1 comments  

Right around now, just 2 short years ago, Shane and I were going through one of the scariest times in our lives. Here's what I wrote in our old website on Jan 22, 2007...


"So, things have not turned out exactly the way we pictured them today. I know that all of you have probably been checking and re-checking our website, so I'm sorry that it has taken this long to get it updated. The most exciting thing that we learned through all of this is that we're having a BOY! But, aside from that, it has been a pretty tough couple of days. I woke up on Sunday morning around 6am and was bleeding pretty badly. We called the emergency number for my doctor and were told to go the ER at the hospital where my doctor would (eventually) deliver the baby. This is a little bit away from our new house, but Shane drove 100 miles per hour to rush us there. Once we got all checked in, they took a ton of blood and gave me an IV. At this point, we were pretty scared and just hoping for the best. The ER doctor came in and did a small ultra-sound, which was enough to tell us that there was still a heartbeat. They did a pelvic exam which basically confirmed that I was bleeding but that I was not dilated at all. The hospital called in an ultrasound tech so we had to wait for awhile for her to get there to have an official ultrasound done. They wheeled me up to labor and delivery and did a very detailed ultrasound. The good news was, the baby looked great. He was moving all about and kicking a ton. His heartrate was good and he did not appear to be under stress.
After this, we went back down to the ER and waited over an hour for the results. The ER doctor paged my regular dr (Dr. Wendell) and discussed everything with him, which is what took so long. They diagnosed me with "complete placenta previa" which means that instead of attaching to my uterus, the placenta (that the baby is in) attached to my cervix and is completely covering the opening that the baby will need to get out of. I was sent home on strict bed rest since I had my early morning appointment with Dr. Wendell scheduled for this morning.
Here's the run-down of what my doctor said this morning. I do have the placenta previa, but it is extremely rare for it to cause bleeding prior to 20 weeks (I'm 19 weeks this Wednesday.) They did not see any blood near the placenta in the ultrasound today, which is a good sign. He is hopeful that the bleeding is cervical bleeding which is unrelated to the placenta previa. If it is cervical bleeding, it should slow down and stop soon. I'm on bed rest this week for sure, and maybe some of next week. He said that once I go back to work, he would recommend half days only and EASE back into things. He is concerned that if we get the bleeding to stop, that it could return. On the other hand, if it is the placenta previa bleeding (again-which is rare at this stage) then I will probably continue to bleed and he said that would mean real trouble for the future of the pregnancy. He said that at this point, we don't know for sure what the cause is, but that my body will tell us over the next few weeks what is going on.
Best case scenario is that the bleeding will continue to taper off, stop and stay gone. If that happens, then I should be able to carry the baby to term and have a c-section. If the bleeding continues to happen, our goal is to at least get him to 26 weeks. I have another appointment in two weeks, and then another ultrasound in 4 which will put the baby close to being viable outside the womb.
We know that all of you will be concerned when you read this, but please know that we are very positive about this. We have a ton of pictures of our bouncing baby boy and expect nothing less then to have him home with us this summer. We believe in the power of prayer and positive thinking and will be doing lots of both.
Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. "

Looking back on these months and how terrified we were, it's just amazing to see how far we've come. For those of you who are new to us and our story...it was the placenta previa causing the bleeding so early on in my pregnancy. But, by 24 weeks it had completely moved and I was able to deliver vaginally. The Doctor did believe that my complications early on did cause me to go into early labor and deliver Logan at 36 weeks. But, how lucky we are...

I'm so grateful for how everything turned out, but I can't help but remember how scary that was for us...I always struggle to stay positive against the rain (or ice) and cold this month. I'm trying to eat well and work out, which seems to help. (I've lost 5 pounds since Christmas!) But, still I can't help but look forward to warmer temperatures and the promise of spring.

Posted in: on Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at at 10:43 PM 1 comments  

Here he is telling his little dog to sit and stay! He'll also tell our "real" dogs this. This morning I told Booker and Lucy to sit and he said "down" and did the hand motion. So funny!

Posted in: on Sunday, January 25, 2009 at at 9:54 AM 2 comments  

Logan, Grandma and Daddy "helping" Daddy and Grandpa build in the garage

more "helping"

upside down with Daddy!

Playing outside on his toddler gym Looking through the telescope

Sitting with Mommy
Throwing up the leaves! Woo hoo!

Walking with Grandpa

Posted in: on Saturday, January 24, 2009 at at 4:32 PM 2 comments  

Then, I made the mistake of thinking he was playing with the basket of toys that we have in our office and not checking on him for a minute. When I went back in the room this is what I found...

AND there is pink highlighter all over his face! At least he put the cap back on the highlighter!!

These pictures were taken at playgroup last week. I realized that we do this every week and I never post any pictures on here! He's playing with his friend Kyler's little four wheeler. He loved it!

Posted in: on at at 4:19 PM 1 comments  

I must say that I am super proud of my Lucy girl. If she wasn't on a diet I would have bought her a hamburger! We had our first official visit at Children's last night. A visit that was almost a year in the making. And, wow. Was it ever worth it. When we get to the hospital we have to wait in the front lobby for the volunteers to come down with a crate to get us and take us up to the playroom. There is a dog there every week at certain times so the kids are expecting us. Just in the few minutes while we were waiting, we had many families come and tell us that the kids were anxiously awaiting our arrival in the playroom! Then, this lady come up to us and asked me if this was a dog that visits the children. I told her yes, and introduced Lucy. She said that her Grandson was here, and that she knew that he would love to see a dog because he was really missing his at home. She also said that her and her husband usually do the night shift with him and that he hadn't been well enough to leave his room. So, she didn't think that he could come to the playroom to see Lucy. I told her that his doctor could request a bedside dog visit and she was really excited. She hugged on Lucy and then walked away. Soon, the volunteers came down with the big cart and crate and Lucy got right in! Whew! I was a tiny bit nervous about this part b/c Lucy does not like those blacked out crates-only the open wire ones. I really think that she "knows" that she is on her visits (wherever they may be) for a purpose...I think she got that this was a special place...

When we rolled up to the playroom there were a ton of people waiting for us! She got lots and lots of hugs. Things kind of calmed down and we were sitting on her mat and in comes the Grandma that I talked with in the lobby and her whole family-grandson included. Wow. This was truly one of the most amazing moments of my life. The dad told me that his son hadn't left his room in over 4 weeks and that our visit tonight came in such good timing because he was finally well enough. They also had a black lab waiting for them at home that he missed terribly...(I was strong last night but I'm tearing up just thinking about it.) This little boy could make sounds and he had a board with letters on it. He would use a fisted hand and point to the letters to spell things out. G-O-O-D G-I-R-L L-U-C-Y and I-L-I-K-E-H-E-R. He held his hand over the edge of the wheelchair and she just sat there and let him rub on her head and ears. She kissed his hand and he loved it. He'd nudge her snout and she'd kiss and kiss his hand.

I must say right now that if I ever, ever complain about my toddler/child/teenager, I need to get on my knees and be grateful that he is healthy. We spend our minutes making a million different decisions as mothers and at the end of the day, what is it all for? For our children to grow up and be happy and healthy adults. I need to keep this in perspective always. Always always. May I always have these experiences to keep me humble and to keep the thought close of how fragile life is. And, may I act in my life with my healthy child with half as much dignity and respect as this family. God be with them.

Posted in: on Tuesday, January 20, 2009 at at 9:34 PM 4 comments  

Here are a few pictures taken of Logan in the last few days. He's just growing and growing! He stepped on our scale today and weighed in at 29.6 pounds!

What a sweet picture : ) You can see how long his hair is getting again! Almost time for another haircut I guess! These are the sweet monkey pj's that my Aunt Connie gave him for Christmas.

Just lounging on the couch

On another note...some friends of mine are educating me on the wonderful world of coupons combined with watching store sales. Would you believe that I got ALL of this for $9.07?!? Just in case you can't see it is: 8 boxes of popcorn, 1 jar pimentos, 2 glade scented oil candle refills, 1 glade scented oil candle starter kit, 5 glade candles, 2 mentos gum and 1 thing of Halls. Wow! And, yes I did say NINE dollars.

Things have been such a whirlwind this week. Honestly, it DID NOT start off good at all. I'll quickly summarize....

Monday: I found a pregnant dog in a ditch, took her to the vet to find out that she was carrying 8 puppies. Geared up to take care of Mama and find homes for her and her puppies...found the owner and had to give her back to a less then perfect home.

Tuesday: Woke up to our water heater exploding. Water all over our laundry room, pantry and master bedroom. Shane literally stepped down on squishy carpet in the morning. All day drying, plumbers, babysitting...

Wed: more plumbers and taking a day to recoup. Wondering, what the heck is going on with my new year???

Thurs: getting back into the swing of things including babysitting for the boys from 2:30-7:30

Fri: Found out I got an excuse from Jury Duty summons which was for the entire month of Feb. Woo hoo! And, took Lucy to Childrens for her glamour girl cover shoot. Too cute!

Sat: Pet Therapy this morning, grocery store, cooking prep for Moms Night Out, then MNO, and Kroger shopping adventure (see above pic)

Man, am I tired. I'm off to join the rest of my family tucked snuggly in bed...Here's hoping that next week goes better then this week. Although, I must say that it ended pretty darn good : )

Posted in: on Saturday, January 17, 2009 at at 10:53 PM 1 comments