Fa La La La Auld Lang Syne...

...La La La Laaa!

.....because I know that you are all just hanging on the edge of your seats, wondering when o' when am I ever going to blog again, I knew that I just couldn't let this last night of 2007 pass by without one final blog post on my first ever year to blog...(actually, the first year I knew what a blog was!)


Anyway! I hope you all had a very merry Christmas! I did! The holidays are my favorite time of year. I love to get together with family, and catch up on what's going on with everyone I don't always see as often as I'd like throughout the year. We had two different family get togethers at our house this year, which was different, but fun! I'm pretty sure I wowed my nieces and nephews with my Dance Dance Revolution skills! Even Rachel, who I play that game with often, was impressed that I could do it in my current prego state. I think my niece, Hannah who just turned 15, thought she'd smoke me on the DDR.......wrong! Maybe next year Hannah! None of us could touch Rachel and Tyler on the Karaoke though, those two have some serious star power flowing through their veins!



In this past year at my dad's we have had two new additions to the family, so this Christmas was extra special! Landon arrived in February, and miss Maggie entered the world in April! Carter arrived the year before, so our family Christmas has changed quite a bit in the last couple of years! They are all at such fun ages! Max is 5, Carter 18 months, Landon 10 months, and Maggie, 8 months. I look forward to next year when Landon and Maggie are keeping the fast pace of Max and Carter, and our newest addition (who still doesn't have a name!) looks on with fascination! ........I'll pause here for a note to my sister Crystal and bro in law Chris...if you hurry, we can squeeze in one more new arrival for next Christmas..:)))

Then we have the big Christmas blowout at my grandmothers on Christmas afternoon. All of my aunts & uncles, great aunts and great uncles, cousins and their children gather for an afternoon of food and fun. And as long as uncle Manson is there, (and he always is, 'cause, you know, there's food!) a good time is promised to be had by all! My grandmother is a feisty 72 and still insists on having every Christmas collectible she has ever owned out for display or on the tree by Christmas day. And sometimes she barely makes it! With help! But it is truly a blessing to be able to spend time with her anytime, but especially during the holidays. She is my only living grandparent. Same thing goes for Kyle's grandpa. Kyle's only living grandparent. He's 86, and not in the best of health, not always in the best of moods, but always glad to see us bring Carter to see him. Another Christmas eve spent in his company is a blessing indeed!

Carter got the gift to end all gifts this year...(at least in his eyes!) Santa brought him a battery operated John Deere tractor with a loader and a backhoe! He was so excited! Although, I don't know that he was much more excited than we were, we knew he was going to love it....and he does! That battery has been charged daily since Christmas! On warm days he can ride outside, but when it's cold, we cleaned out the garage especially for the purpose of him having somewhere to ride. I couldn't bear to give it to him, then have him barely ride it until spring!

He also got a hay baler like daddy's and a rocking chair, and a few other things from Santa, but the tractor would have been enough!

So now with 3 hours left in 2007 my thoughts turn to 2008. With excitement I look forward to the coming year. I look forward to meeting my new daughter. I look forward to each and every moment with my husband, son, family, and friends, and pray that I remember to treasure them....each and every one!

Most importantly, I look forward to strengthening my relationship with my Lord and Savior. I pray that each day throughout the coming year I allow Him to guide my steps. I pray that I will be a faithful servant who puts Him above all else in my life. It is so easy to forget that our purpose on this earth is to worship and serve Him.

I don't know that I'll be able to stay awake to watch the ball drop at midnight...I wonder if it would have the same effect if I DVR it and watch it tomorrow?.....Probably not! Meanwhile, we don't really need fireworks, I think my neighbor is sighting in his new automatic assault rifle! He has been firing that thing off all day and night! It really makes for a bright night sky!..(yeah, I know, I feel a redneck joke coming on too!)

I wish you all a Happy, Healthy New Year! I will leave you with a few pics from Christmas.....

Papa, Gran, Carter, Max, Landon, & Maggie Matthew, Rachel, & Carter
Grandpa Smith
My Dad, Uncle Kenneth, Aunt Laketa, Uncle David, and my Grandmother

Another one...

...another cute story that is. At least I think it's hilarious, and if you happen to know my mother and father in law, you will too!

The other day Carter and I were going down the list of animals and their sounds, you know:

Carter, how does a cow go?

Mooooo.

How does a duck go?

Quack Quack.

How does a rooster go?

doo doo...(the little boys at church love this one!)

How does Daddy go?

No, no, no


Then, I just thought I'd have a little fun and see what he'd say,

How does Paw paw go?

NO, NO, NO....(His paw paw (Kyle's dad) is very loud!)

How does Maw Maw go?

JAMES!.....(her husband)...LOL ...(she does kind of say it alot!)

I said, Maw maw says what?

JAMES!!...and he cracked up at himself!

This went on for several minutes. I can't wait for Maw Maw and Paw paw to hear this one!

Too Cute....

...not to take a breath for just a moment to pause and tell you the cutest story ever!!..(and if you don't think it is, don't burst my bubble...K?)

So the last couple of weeks have consisted of a blur of Christmas rush that included the usual shopping, cleaning, etc...you all know the drill! No presents wrapped yet, but hopefully that'll change in the next day or two.

Anyway, a few nights ago I was getting Carter out of the bathtub and he was chattering his usual adorable 18 month old chatter. Which on this particular night consisted of hay, tractors, and cows...and our dogs Sam and Lexy...(a side note here, he pronounces the "L" in Lexy as an "S"....cute, unless you are in church and he also happens to be discussing his pacifier which for some reason he calls his "shat"...I have no idea!) Anyway, His dad was home from work and sitting on a stool in the bathroom listening to Carter recap his day (as best as he can anyway...).

In an oh-so-adorable fashion, Carter patted my belly and said so sweetly....baby!..Then he proceeded to give the baby "sugar"! (Oh yeah, Mom and Dad have now melted into a big puddle on the bathroom floor!) Then he continued on by patting his own bare belly and saying "baby"...lol....This is the cutest kid in the world! Can you guess what he did next?

He marched his little bare bottom over to his Dad and patted his belly and said..."baby?"....LOLOLOL

Dad wasn't amused. Mom was rolling.

Manic Monday?

"Hello, Deedra!
Is your child a little ray of sunshine at the sitters' but a thundercloud when you show up on the scene? Try not to get upset by these end-of-day meltdowns. They're signs of true love: Your toddler knows that it's safe to let out all of his pent-up feelings around you. While you may be tempted to run a few errands on your way back to the house, you should probably opt to put those tasks on hold until your child is more at ease. It's a decision that could make your evening a lot more enjoyable."

****courtesy Babycenter.com weekly newsletter****

Yeah, whatever, babycenter.....what-ev-er! My child has gotten to the point that if I leave him with a sitter, let alone 2 in one week, he really makes me pay.(did anybody see him Wednesday night at church? or Sunday night?) They say the more they stay the better they get. Not Carter. He stayed with a sitter 3 times this past week (for a few hours at the most!), and he has been a clingy bundle of nerves the rest of the week...(my hair does look really good though! :) Thanks, Kayla!





Anyway, I have done the unthinkable in order to avoid leaving him much this next week. I have an OB appt this morning (very early) and it's time for his 18 month checkup, so I made both appts for the same day. They are a few hours apart, but I have some shopping to do, so we'll just do that in between. No problem.





I'm delusional.





Please say a little prayer.





The sanity prayer maybe.

Paula Deen I Ain't!

...let me just start by saying, I love to cook. I love vegetables, I love appetizers, I love to cook anything and everything. I HATE HATE HATE to bake. So, when I heard that we were having a cookie exchange at church I decided I'd better try my hand at baking cookies since it's been ages since I did that.

I started the week by DVRing any Paula Deen episode that had any reference to cookie baking, then scouring foodnetwork.com for cookie recipes....EASY cookie recipes. Now, I have this one old standby, but I was thinking I was up for trying something new and exciting. (which was my first mistake) So, I gather up all my ingredients for the 2 recipes I decide to try, we had a couple of Christmas things this weekend anyway so I figured I'd just take my cookie masterpieces as my contribution. I failed, however, to take into consideration that my morning sickness might make a comeback this weekend, and maybe I wouldn't feel like creating a "masterpiece" when I didn't buy anything for a backup plan, just in case my cookie plan failed.

I followed that recipe to the letter. "Cream butter and sugars (brown and white) together,...blah, blah, blah....well, by the time I put in the white chocolate, macadamia nuts, and candied cherries, I knew I was in trouble. The recipe said the "dough" should be thick. My dough was like sand....chunky sand. I decided that since I'd invested so much in this stupid mess I'd see how one batch turned out. And, I must say, they didn't look so bad, but they tasted like sand. Chunky, chocolatey, sand. The second batch I decided to add a little water so that maybe they'd stay together a little better. They did, but it didn't help the taste much.

I finally gave up on that recipe and tried my second one. It actually came out pretty good. Not great, definitely not Paula Deen good, but okay. At this point, I decided to cut my losses ( I had to get rid of the cookies anyway, right?..I'm sure not taking these to church!) and just mix the two batches up in my prettiest cookie tin and take them as my "dessert". (It is now 5pm, and we have to be somewhere at 6pm,.....no time to make anything else!) So, I mixed the two in my prettiest cookie tin and off we went.

If you happened to be at the DCCA meeting last night and had a nasty sandy cookie, I apologize, I promise to dazzle you at the next meeting, K? And for my family, I didn't feel like making anything else today, or going to the store, so I apologize if you saw the pretty tin of cookies and took a sample. In defense of my sandy cookies, I actually heard one lady tonight say they were good. I don't know if she was just saying that or trying to mask a look of disgust, but she said it! For my fellow church ladies, I will be bringing my good old tried and true standby cookies tomorrow, there are none of the nasty ones left!

I will also be writing a letter of complaint to Paula Deen. She must have left something out of her recipe. I can't possibly be THAT bad at baking........right?

Or maybe I didn't giggle enough and use enough southern slang as she does.....or maybe, she just isn't really a good cook after all, I mean, have you ever eaten her cooking personally?

(I'm getting catty now, I'm going to bed....)

Thankful Thursday...

I haven't done a Thankful Thursday in a while but I couldn't let this one pass by without participating. This has been such a heartbreaking week, yet through the tears I have seen strength beyond belief. Strength that can only be explained by the grace of God and prayer.

I am eternally thankful for the opportunity to be a part of Eric Crowe's life, of each one of the boys in that class' life. They were and still are such a blessing to Kyle & I. We were to be their teacher when in truth they ended up teaching us.

I am thankful that God granted me the strength to visit Gaye & Tim yesterday. I guess I was going to minister to them, to love on them, but they truly ended up ministering to me. Loving on me. I was a nervous, hormonal mess on the drive over but Tim was in the yard and as soon as he saw me drive up, he came to my car, greeted me with a hug and thanked me over and over for coming. All of my nervousness and fear of saying the wrong thing vanished. Gaye greeted me the same way, a big hug and a pat on my growing belly. If you hesitate to call, visit, or send them a card...don't hesitate!! They need and appreciate it right now!

I am thankful for all of the wonderful comments and prayers listed on my earlier post about Eric. I planned to buy a card and send it but after reading a comment from yesterday it hit me that Gaye might like to have all of these things. I printed off my blog and every other one that I knew of with a post about them and all the comments and took it with me to see them. I know that a card would never have been able to say what all of you said so beautifully.

I am thankful for Adam and Brandon who were able to put their feelings into words. At least as much as anyone possibly can at a time like this. I know these tributes will bless Gaye and Tim as much or more as they have blessed the rest of us. I pray that God will give you and all of Eric's friends peace and strength during this time of such great loss.

I am thankful for our wonderful church family. This family helped Kyle and I through the loss of our two babies and rejoiced with us through our first pregnancy and Carter's birth, and now pray and rejoice with us during this pregnancy. I know they/we will be able to surround Eric's family with love and strength through the Grace of God during these next days, months....years.

I am thankful for my family. I am especially thankful for my husband who has been a rock this week, even though I know he hurts as much as I do. I am thankful for my son and for this baby girl I'm carrying. I pray that I will be able to teach them to be as loving as Eric was and as creative. Because for those of you who knew him, you have to admit (because I know every single one of you remember!), when he did get into trouble in high school....at least he was creative about it! :))

For more Thankful Thursday, visit Laurel Wreath.

Santa Baby......HA!

...last week this excited mom planned out a trip to the mall, just so that we could make a trip to see Santa. We had actually already ran into Santa in Walmart a few days before and Carter wouldn't go near him, but I was convinced that he was just a "bad Santa" and that the cool Mall Santa was the one to make Carter croon. I was like a kid on Christmas myself because of the Santa mishap we had last year.......

Look at Santa, he's even surprised by the tantrum this then 6 month old pitched!!.....this devastated me. I mean really. This kid loves everyone, every animal, every bug, everything!!! I just knew that this year he would jump into Santa's lap and rattle off his list. (..well, at least as much "rattling off" as an 18 month old can manage.) So off we go. It's the middle of the week so there's no line and I stop the stroller so Carter can watch this other baby cuddling with Santa and say things like "Look Carter, Santa's loving on the baby"....." Ohhhh how sweet" ....."Hi Santa!"...."Look at Santa, Carter".....Santa must have picked up on Carter's hesitation because he said. "Roll your stroller right past me, get him out and put him in my lap. Then move." Sounds like a plan.........

Not gonna happen! ......the chick taking the pictures hesitated while I hissed..."take it!"

Did I mention the two people with masks we ran across while trick or treating?....did I mention that Carter growled back at them?.....did I tell you that he barks back at the neighbors horse-like saint Bernard when he acts like he's gonna eat us alive?

So, when you get your Christmas card from us, you know why there isn't a jubilant picture of Carter and Santa in a loving embrace.

FYI.....my mother in law told me that Kyle was terrified of Santa for years. (I just knew it didn't come from MY side of the family!) I married a Santa weenie and he has gone and passed it on to my child!....(I will forgive him, however, since he also passed along those eyes!)

p.s....we had his first dentist appointment yesterday, and when I recover from it, I'll blog about it.

(...in memory of Eric on what would have been his 20th birthday. This is just the kind of story he would have loved.)

Please Pray......

I received a heartbreaking phone call very early this morning from my friend and pastors wife. She said "I'm so sorry to have to tell you this, but Eric was killed in a car wreck this morning. And I know how much you love those kids and I didn't want you to hear it from anyone else." Lisa, I will be forever grateful for that call. I have no idea what I said or if I even thanked you for thinking of calling me.



Please help us remember Eric's mom, Gaye, and his step dad, Tim as well as the rest of his family in very much needed prayer during this time. To further add to the heartbreak, Eric had been out of town for about a week working, and was returning home to see his family and to celebrate his birthday with them this weekend. He would have turned 20 on Dec 5.

Eric was an only child who for much of his life was raised by his mom alone. She worked very hard and raised a truly loving child. He had a mischievous side and was loved by most everyone who knew him. He wasn't perfect, but never claimed to be. There wasn't a time I saw Eric when he didn't hug me and tell me he loved me. He made a point of finding me on Sunday mornings and hugging me, and lately patting my growing belly and asking how the little one was doing.....in fact, I'd just told him recently that not many people could get away with a "belly pat" with me, and he'd have to stop once the baby was born...he laughed and told me I had a deal.

I have so many wonderful memories of Eric, and of all the boys in the youth class Kyle & I taught for several years. We love every single one of them like they were our own. I could go on for hours. But the thing that I hold to now,...that I know his family is holding to now, is that Eric was saved. He was a child of God and is now resting in the arms of his savior.

Visitation begins tomorrow at 11 and Eric's funeral will be on Monday at 2. Please help me as I lift up his family in prayer. Especially remember his mom, Gaye, and dad, Tim. They are devastated as you can imagine. As all of our children are, Eric was the center of their lives. One of my favorite people to sit near at football games when Eric played was Gaye. She could get on those refs with the best of them! And I always admired Tim for stepping in as such a fantastic father figure when there wasn't one present. I don't know that I've ever seen a man more broken than Tim was today. Pray for our church family as we love on them, and lift them up in the coming days and weeks.

Eric Benjamin Crowe

1987-2007

Eric, I am so thankful that you were part of our lives. We loved you dearly and will miss you terribly.

Love,

"Miss" Deedra, Kyle, & Carter

He Man, Chicken Killer....

......What a traumatic day for this mother and a toddler who has just today absolutely loved an animal to death,...well, better make that two animals. Let me explain.

Just to remind everyone who doesn't know this fact, we live on a farm and have 5 pullet houses. To all you non farm raised people out there, this means we get chickens on our farm the day they are hatched and keep them in buildings that are 40ft x 400ft (they don't run loose in the yard....yes, I have been asked. We're talking thousands and thousands of chickens people!) until they are 22 weeks old. Then they go to layer houses where they lay eggs.

So, today we got baby chickens in 3 of the 5 houses and Carter was PUMPED! All 5 houses are close together so it's been almost 5 months since we had baby chicks and I'm sure he doesn't really remember it. So as they unloaded the chicks Carter and I followed close behind with him watching their every move, and me enjoying not having to help due to the fact that I had to make sure Carter stayed out of the way of the truck, which his pawpaw was driving. That in itself is a real danger since he almost ran us over just yesterday,...but that's another story for another day!

Once we were clear of the trucks I picked up a baby chick and let it stand in my hand while I tried to show Carter how to pet it gently. He wanted none of that "petting" business! He wanted to grab that baby up and show it some love! I pried it from his grasp, but as we started to walk away he grabbed one up without me noticing and by the time I saw that he had it and pried it from his grubby little hands it was barely moving. Crap! I am not for one minute about to perform CPR on this thing! So I just shook it a bit and it finally started to snap out of the Carter induced coma. Meanwhile, Rambo is standing there pitching one major fit because I snatched the thing away from him.

He finally pulls himself together and we start making our way toward the door when one of the servicemen from our chicken company has the nerve to hand him another one.....grrrrr..( but in his defense he hadn't seen the ordeal a few minutes before).

He had this chick in his hands for maybe one minute before I could manage to get it away from him, but this one wasn't so lucky. He had perfected his little death grip by this time and the baby chick was dead. At this point the serviceman said..."don't let him kill them, they cost $4 a piece". I'm sorry, who was the one who handed him the thing???

That was it. I grabbed him up, kicking and screaming and took him home, into the tub, then down for a nap.....FYI...he cried the whole time. We will not be visiting the baby chicks again until they are either old enough to be faster than Carter is, or big enough to peck his little hands of chicken death.

All I have to say is this. We have much work to do before this baby arrives,....AND! I was thinking about getting him a kitten for Christmas,....now I'm thinking maybe I should go with a bobcat. It MIGHT be able to defend itself!

Did you know......

....that pumpkins float?? I had no idea! This afternoon, I had a whim to clean off our porches. So I swept them off, pulled all the dead flowers out of the pots and hauled off the 4 (really small) pumpkins we accumulated over the past month or so. Carter of course was assisting me in all this fun and I thought he might get a kick out of throwing the pumpkins into the pond, which happens to be right in our front yard.

So we chunked our pumpkins into the water. I don't think Carter realized that we wouldn't be getting our pumpkins back, because as the first one I threw hit the water he looked up and said, "Mama?....punkin??" Like he was all devastated. I persuaded him that this would be fun and that he should just go ahead and throw his too. I threw the next one and said "Bye pumpkin" for his sake and he followed suit.

Now, I thought the stupid things would sink to the bottom of the pond and we'd never see them again. I even considered the kindness of providing this early Thanksgiving treat to the fish and the turtles...(well at least the ones who weren't injured by the flying pumpkins). Did they sink???....NO! They commenced to floating around the pond all the while my devastated little boy was saying..."Punkin?...Mama???" Like he thought I'd just swim right out and get them.....

Can I just leave you with this image? It's almost dark outside and my sweet little Carter is standing at the front window where he normally watches the cows in the pasture across the pond, where he lovingly watches for Maw Maw and Aunt Crystal so he can wave to them before they come to the door.......standing there so pitifully watching his beloved punkins float around and around the pond ........whispering, ..."punkin??? ....Mama???"

Can you see the big fat "L" on my forehead from your house??

If the turtles don't eat those things, I see myself swimming out to get them tomorrow.

Catching up...

.......Can you even believe that Thanksgiving is a week from today?? And a week from tomorrow I'll be pestering my husband to bring down all of my Christmas decorations..(oh yeah, he's so tickled about the fact that I'll actually NEED his help decorating this year!) Anyway, I've gotten lots of emails asking about how I'm doing so I thought I'd sign on for an update. I'm doing MUCH better! I'm almost 20 weeks and the morning/all day sickness is finally easing up some. Woohoo!! I'm tired alot but that really isn't due to the pregnancy that would be due to the fact that Carter is practicing up on his latest talent......climbing!!

Good grief! This kid climbs on everything! He isn't afraid of anything or anyone. Seriously. On Halloween, we came across a dude in a really nasty mask who growled and made hissing noises at us.....kinda scared me, actually.....not Carter! He growled back!...lol

Anyway, back to the climbing. He has managed to climb up into the kitchen sink, by way of a highchair (which he moved himself) 2 recliners and an end table. He has climbed out of his crib twice and jumped from the crib to our bed a time or two as well. I went to the bathroom this morning and while I was in there, I could hear him saying "deer, deer"...evidently, he found a great place to watch the deer.....

.....you may not be able to see his mouth but he is actually saying..."cheeeeese". He looks so afraid, right? He also managed to climb up into the tractor while his dad was "watching" him....

..oh, and did I mention that right before we left for vacation he rode his tractor down the porch steps? Brick ones?...Yeah, I'd just moved it from the yard to the porch in case it rained while we were gone and turned to close the back door of my vehicle (we were literally leaving that minute!) Only to turn around and see Carter heading off the top step. I got there just in time to keep him from hitting the concrete at the bottom, but he'd still bounced end over end all the way down the steps. When I picked him up, the first thing I saw was a hunk of skin, with 5 or 6 eyelashes attached to it, laying on his cheek. It didn't actually cut his eye, but it was close!...REAL close! Anyway, he spent his vacation looking like this (and this picture doesn't really show the extent of it!).........but he had a blast,....black eye and all! Also, apparently it's a really important feat if when a farmer wrecks his tractor, he doesn't let go of the steering wheel. I can't tell you how many people have asked me if he let go....Just for the record,..he didn't.

Check this one out,....does he not look like he owns the place?? Is this not a farmer if you ever saw one??

...sooooo I just bought a travel first aid kit for my bag, and a jumbo one for home. 'Cause I'm thinking little farmer Carter is gonna give me a serious run for my money!.....(not to mention my energy!!)

NEWS BULLETIN...

I interupt this desperately needed blog break to bring you the following news update:

It's a Girl!!!

...or at least the doctor says he is almost positive it is, (right down to a health class worthy description of what he was seeing...TMI, doc!) Anyway, we are still in shock, (escpecially Kyle). Because for those of you who know my husband's family, you know they almost never have girls.....there is one in Kyle's family. Our niece, Rachel age 7, who has been praying very hard for her little cousin-to-be (she remembers that she has 2 baby cousins in heaven) just yesterday told me she sure did hope it was a girl. It looks like her prayers paid off!

As for a name, I thought we had one until tonight when I reminded my husband that he said just a few weeks ago that he liked it, he now denies ever participating in that conversation......I'm thinkin he thought it would be a boy and he just finally agreed to one to shut me up!

One thing though, the doctor wants me off my feet (aka bedrest) for a few days, preferably a week. I'm having some pretty bad cramping which he thinks is due to overexertion. He asked if I'd need an excuse for work...........ummmmm, I don't know, you think that will fly with Kyle?

Please excuse Deedra from her duties for the next week, ............I'm thinking not! Say a prayer,...it might get ugly!

A Little Time Off......

...from blogging that is. Thank you, first of all, to those of you who have called me, or sent me emails wondering how I'm doing. I can't begin to tell you how much I have appreciated that! I'm going through a bit of a rough patch right now and feeling loved definately helps get me through that. I would especially like to say thank you to my sister in law Aimee for her encouraging words, phone calls, & emails, and my sister Crystal for her patience and encouragement as well.

The baby is doing fine. I can feel it moving now, so I'm a bit more relaxed. Hopefully we'll find out what it is soon!

Now with all that being said, hopefully I'll be back to blogging soon. Take Care.

4 Weeks???

....I have to go 4 weeks before I see the Dr again! I realize this is the normal thing to do, but I have been going every 2 weeks and 4 weeks will seem like an eternity! The good news is, everything is going great. Baby looks great, nice, strong heartbeat. Praise the Lord!

Wouldn't you like to know if it's a boy or a girl?


This is the week I will be MIA.........See you in a week!

Update...

I thought I would pass along this update from the Russell family.

This is copied from Jason & Amber's site.

Friday night, Amber went into labor. I was at work and met Amber at the hospital. Bob, Cher and Crystal, rushed her in to meet me at the hospital. I rushed Amber back to the labor and deliver ward. They started hooking Amber up to the monitors to check the baby. But they could not find a heart beat. So, they brought in a ultrasound to find the heart beat. But i and the doctor could see no heart beat.

Amber’s labor was so fast. After the ultrasound, Amber had Ava naturally. Yes that means no drugs. Ava was born at 0048, October 13th. Ava had the cord wrapped around her neck twice cutting the flow of blood off to her body. It is very rare, but our family has heard that before. So Ava and Aubrey are playing together at the feet of Jesus now.


We were blessed by having another doctor, someone we have never met. He was awesome. Very strong in his beliefs and faith. Which allowed us to have some relief in this troubled time. Dr. Shull was great. He told Amber and I that Ava had died maybe 24 hours before Amber went into labor. He also stated that there will be no definite answer to why this happened.


Ava Julia Russell will be laid to rest beside her big sister Tuesday, October the 16th at Lake Hills Memorial Gardens Trenton, Ga at 2 o’clock. There will be no visitation. Graveside services will be held at Lake Hills Memorial Gardens. And a meal will be served at East Brow Baptist Church. Also when you come to the church you all can visit Aubrey’s Place.

Please continue to remember this family in this time of devastating grief. Every time I think of having to plan funerals for 2 children much less within a 6 month period my heart breaks for them all over again.

Beyond Devastated...

Some friends of ours, Jason and Amber, the same friends who lost their sweet 5 year old girl to brain cancer in March of this year, have been expecting a baby girl, Ava, due any day. Early this morning they arrived at the hospital with contractions 57 seconds apart. Her labor progressed so fast that she didn't even have an opportunity to receive an epidural. Baby Ava was stillborn. She was not delivered via C-section as I previously thought. They think that labor progressed so rapidly the cord became wrapped around her neck at some point. I don't know any other details at this time, but I can't even begin to imagine the devastation this family is feeling during this time.

Please, please help to lift this family up in prayer.

Fit4Life Friday,..and oh so much more!

Happy Friday to you all! I hope you have all had a great week. I'm still having a serious case of most-of-the-time sickness these days (not complaining!), but I'm hoping that will let up a little sometime soon! I can barely stand to be around myself, I know this is definitely beginning to wear on my husband, son, family, and friends. Don't believe me? Let me give you and example.

Today I made the idiotic mistake of thinking that I could feel decent long enough to drive to a town with a Walmart, and preferably a Sally Beauty Supply, and a Cracker Barrel, since I have been dying for one of their Grilled Chicken Salads. All this with a 16 month old in tow.

I called on the way to order my salad to go, the lady said "10 minutes" but I knew that was a big fat lie. It was 12:30 PM and that place would be packed. Not a problem, I had at least a 20 minute drive ahead of me, I was prepared for this.....they always say "10 minutes". It's usually 30. ( I also craved this with Carter,....different CB, but they apparently all practice this deception....I don't care, their 1000 Island dressing is so good, I could eat it with a spoon....even NOT pregnant, so I tolerate their little fibs)

On the way there, there was a big traffic jam. Evidently, somebody's truck caught on fire. I know this, not because my beloved J103 gave this over their station, which I was listening to, but because I had to change the channel to a COUNTRY station for a traffic update. I will forgive J103 for taking their dear sweet time to do traffic today, because 1. The Bible says I must forgive them, and 2. They did happen to be the station who brought Toby Mac to town last week. Therefore, their bumper sticker will stay on my vehicle.

Anyway,....(this is really getting long)... I finally get my food, and make it over to Sally. I have naturally curly hair, and have recently decided that since the humidity is down somewhat and you can no longer see my hair from the 4 surrounding states on a bad day, that I will attempt to wear it straight. The problem is that I am out of Biosilk, which is a MUST for when I wear it straight. So, I get Carter out of his seat, carry him to the sidewalk, and then hold his hand while we walk in to the store. I know right where what I need is, get it, proceed to the counter where Susie Smile Alot is helping a woman who is evidently a sucker for beauty supply products.

This woman had at least 15 nail files on the counter, Tons of hairspray, and at least 27 other products which Susie Smile Alot had to manually type in on the register. Half way through the transaction, Susie asks the woman if she has seen their new something or other, ( I couldn't hear her through the steam blowing out my ears). They leave to go get 3 or 4 of these to add to her purchase.

At this point I have been holding (I mean, wrestling) my little 25 pound bundle of energy for at least 10 minutes and he wanted DOWN. So, I let him. (hehe,....that'll show them!) He proceeded to run up and down the isles, hollering and singing at the top of his little lungs. Thankfully, he didn't touch anything,..he just wanted to run. After I let him get out some energy, stupidly thinking it was almost my turn, I went to get him. He was mad! I just let him cry it out thinking it might hurry Susie up if she had a screaming toddler hurrying her along. Nope. It didn't. About 10 minutes later I finally just gave up and left my precious Biosilk on her counter. (I didn't throw it at them, while shouting hormonal nonsense, as I wanted) I just turned and walked out. See what I mean?

On a good note, my birthday was Tuesday, and I didn't feel terrible. My Mom & Sister brought me a very sweet gift, my Dad sung to me, and my sweet friend Jenny( who also happens to have an amazing voice) sang a beautiful "Happy Birthday" message on my voice mail. My husband and child woke me up at 5AM to give me a birthday spanking. 32 whacks, 1 to grow on, and a pinch to grow an inch. Kyle better hope I give birth on his birthday, otherwise, he has had it! I didn't have cake, but! There is a bridal shower on Sunday, and I'm saving up for some Mrs Mann cake!.....yummm!

So, for my exercise this week, I:

Walked from car to store...

Pumped some iron in the form of a wriggling 25 pound toddler,....numerous times

Walked (stomped) from store to car...

My diet was pretty good. I don't have the stomach for much these days. Although the salad was really good! (what little I ate of it)

I didn't mean to have a 5000 word post this week, but thanks for letting me vent!

I will be out of town next Friday, so F4LF will pick back up on the 26th. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

The Pumpkin Patch

Toby's Back!

......Hey now! (if you are not a TobyMac fan, (GASP) that's the beginning line to one of his songs.)

As promised here are a few of the pics I took at the Toby Mac concert Friday night. I have no idea how many Christian concerts I have been to in my adult life, but it's a lot. I've seen Third Day (more times than I can count), Casting Crowns, Mercy Me, The Crabb Family, Gold City, and many more. But I can honestly say Toby Mac puts on the best concert of any of these....by far!!! He gets better and better every single time I see him! You stand up the entire time, and unless you are pregnant, you pretty much jump up and down and dance the whole time. (yes, this includes my tractor driving, farm boy husband! Imagine those moves!) You literally don't know what to expect next!

We sat in the 5th row on the right side of the stage. Well, we didn't sit, but that's where we stood. There were probably (literally) 200 people standing in the space between row 1 and the stage! It was great!! We were so close that in one of the pics I took, you'll notice Toby has "red eyes"! That is pretty stinkin' close! I could feel my guts jarring with the beat! It was SOOO loud, but once you got used to it (or, I should say, lost a bit of your hearing..) it was great!

Barlow Girl and Thousand Foot Crutch were also there. TFC was pretty good. Barlow Girl was also great! There are 3 of them, all pretty young ( I have no idea how old, I'm guessing late teens/early 20's) anyway, they played their own instruments and sang at the same time. The drummer was awesome. She was all "Slash like" with the head banging and hair flying and singing the whole time! Definitely worth seeing if you get the chance! The whole concert in general was fantastic! My hormones actually got the best of me at one point. I saw all of these young people, who could have been anywhere, here at a CHRISTIAN concert. Dancing, singing, worshiping.....it was awesome! Very moving!

Sadly, I did not run into Toby in the lobby during this concert. Don't think I didn't take a "bathroom break" to scan the place during Barlow Girl either, but no luck!....Sorry you missed me Toby. I'll meet you in the hallway during your next concert in this area......my husband promises to let me finish our conversation next time!!

p.s....I tried to upload a video (or 20) but the file was too big for blogger :(. Lisa, I'll bring my camera to church tomorrow for your viewing pleasure.

***Scroll down for Fit4Life Friday***

I just had to post this video of Carter "getting down" with the band last night during the homecoming parade. To say he enjoyed himself would be an understatement! He couldn't decide whether he wanted to dance, or direct the band, or just clap....for himself and them! And then he saw the cheerleaders,...they shouted his name,....and he stopped in his tracks! I'm thinkin I have a ladies man on my hands!

Also, check out the boots! He absolutely MUST wear them everywhere!

Fit4Life Friday....

I hope this Friday finds you feeling wonderful and maybe even a little lighter than last week. I haven't lost (of course!), but I haven't gained yet, so that is good! I apologize to those of you who post your own F4LF that I didn't get a post up last week! Hopefully that will be a one time thing.

This week I have walked most days. It's still pretty humid outside, and the heat gets my nausea churning, so I have been doing my "Walk away the pounds" video. I put on my ipod so I don't have to listen to the goofy video music, or if Carter is awake, turn down the volume and blast our own music. He gets a big kick out of Mom doin' her exercise moves! It's almost offensive, really. It can't be THAT funny, Carter!

My diet has been pretty good this week. My Aunt Wanda's garden fresh tomatoes are beginning to dwindle so I'm gobbling up as many as humanly possible before they are gone for the year. My husband did have a sympathy craving last night and wanted Wingstop. Woo Hoo!! Count me in! It was sooooo good!

I hope everyone has done great this week, and has a wonderful weekend!! I'm off to see TobyMac tonight, so I know I'll be having a good one!! Also, my birthday is next week so I'm planning on really living it up before I get another year older....(seeing as how I'm a party animal and all!)

Sixteen Months.....

Dear Carter,

Yesterday you turned 16 months old. You spent the day just as I believe you would have if you could speak your mind and pick how you spend every day!....On and around the tractors! You and Mama drove the accumulator while Daddy baled hay and every time we passed him in the field you waved like it was the first time you'd saw him all day! I think Daddy might have even enjoyed this for the first few hundred bales.

You have started saying so many new words. My favorite to hear you say is Donkey. You have a new found love for donkeys after seeing them up close at the fair last week. You also love to now grab my hand and say 'mon,...as in C'mon. It's adorable for at least the first 25 times you do it each morning. You have this little pair of mud boots and you refuse to take them off. You even insisted on wearing them to church on Wednesday night.....thankfully, that night is casual!

You let me know when you are ready for a nap or to go to bed for the evening. You grab my hand and say, "mon nite nite....and usually you go right to sleep.

We have started paying more attention to babies and making sure to point them out to you in hopes that you will accept this new arrival when it gets here. You love babies! We saw Landon yesterday and he was really interested in your shoes which tickled you, since you love your shoes too! He also let you give him "sugar" about a hundred times which was very patient of him! You are still learning that you have to share your toys. You don't really like it, but you are working on getting better at that....slowly!

You finally got the hang of the battery operated tractor at Papa & Gran's house. I think they were as excited about that as you were! I'm sure they were getting pretty tired of pushing you on it....You also have the hang of whacking Daddy with the wooden spoon. Mama used to let you play with them during the day, but after you whacked her a few times she decided that maybe those would be best left put up until just before Daddy comes home. She doesn't like to be whacked but she sure does get a kick out of you telling Daddy "No no, Daddy"...WHACK!

I can't wait to see what you do next! I love being your Mom!

Love,

Mama

Peek A Boo!

I'm not sure what Kyla is telling you, but it sure is cute!

Relaxing in our "Book Chair"

All Is Well.....

I have just been busy busy busy....and tired tired tired...and sick sick sick! I've been trying to finish up all my end of the month work stuff, started a new Awana class at church (kindergarten & 1st grade....crazy, right?), and all the usual prego craziness of late to go along with it (not complaining!). So! Needless to say, my blog posts and visits had to be the thing to suffer,...oh, and my housework! It is a sad sad mess right now! If you ring my doorbell, I will pretend not to be home.....it's that bad!!! Call me a couple of days beforehand if you plan to visit!...lol



So, to fill everyone in on what's been going on...the pregnancy is going fine, as far as I know. I go back to the Dr on Wednesday. (Please say a prayer!!) My regular clothes (which I'd just gotten back in to) no longer fit I can only assume due to this being my second (Well, actually 4th) pregnancy and also the fact that I have been injected with progesterone weekly for a couple of months now....(Marty W, are you sorry you asked where I'd been?) Also, it's time to do hay again, so every waking, non hurling moment is spent trying to help my husband as much as possible. I also managed to squeeze in 2 nephews football games. One Friday night and one Saturday morning, 2 birthday partys, and church on Sunday morning, Sunday night I hung out on my knees with the toilet. I have no plans this weekend except for my date with TOBYMAC, Barlow Girl, & Thousand Foot Crutch...(oh yeah, and my husband and some friends of ours:) on Friday night, and hopefully a trip with friends & family to the Pumpkin Patch on Saturday, pending weather and morning sickness.

In other news....I have THE most HUGE prayer praise! I have a friend who has been trying to become pregnant for years...literally YEARS! They did In Vitro a few weeks ago and she got the call on Thursday that it worked!!!!! Let me tell you, I cried as much when she told me as I did when I found out I was pregnant myself!!! This is such a HUGE blessing for this couple and both of their families after so many disappointments. Please help me pray that all goes well for them!

Also, we are leaving for a bit of a vacation in a couple of weeks and for those of you who know my husband, you know this is a big deal! (Even if there will be a farmshow involved for 2 of the 6 days!) He is a homebody if there ever was one! So anyway, there is a ton of stuff to get done around here before we leave so, I'd better get back to the hay field........Marty W, I promise not to not blog for a week again, if you promise not to tell Kyle that I typed this today,.....he thinks I'm making him a sandwich!

p.s....I will be posting again before vacation though! I promise!

Fit4Life Friday....Finally!

First of all, I'd like to say a big thank you for your patience with me today! I had to make a not so quick trip to the middle of nowhere for my husband to pick up some things he needed for this weekend. SO! How has your week gone? Mine has been better! For the last couple of days I have felt somewhat human for most of the day, which is definitely progress! Maybe, at nearly 11 weeks, I'm almost over the hump!

As far as this past week goes. I did walk a couple of times. Barely. But my diet was good, except for one day when I wanted pizza bad! I caved and ate a little. My husband has actually been pretty funny. He came home a couple of nights ago with french onion dip and white cheddar popcorn (not to eat together though!) During my pregnancy with Carter I had serious craving emergency (as in I stormed off to the local store one night in my PJs and overcoat for french onion dip due to the fact that my husband didn't respond quickly enough to my craving request! I saw some of his coworkers there, so he evidently wants to be sure to prevent this happening again!) Anyway, I said, "You just brought some dip home the other day. It's still in the fridge. Why'd you buy more?" He said, " I figured you might have already eaten that and need more."...lol. I said "no way! The smell of that stuff makes me sick! I haven't touched it." He just stared blankly at me. I probably should have warned him that I might not crave the same things this time around!

Anyway! I hope you guys have had a fabulous week, and can't wait to read all about it!

Oh Baby!

.....as in ONE baby! With a good strong heartbeat! Praise the Lord!!

:-) is 25 years old????

....my goodness! I am obviously way behind the times! This evidently was invented by a professor in 1982, if you are interested, you can read the entire, long story here. I have only been aware of that symbol for MAYBE 10 years! I guess that just proves that we tend to be a little behind the times around here..... :-)

Anyway, I have nothin much to blog about the last few days. I have barely left the couch. I'm not complaining, only sharing. I actually felt so bad yesterday that when Carter had a poopy diaper ( a nasty runny one) I thought to myself. "Who could I call to come help me change him?"...lol Can you imagine getting that phone call? I'm sure whoever I called would have come running due to the fact that I had apparently lost my ever loving mind. And poor Carter, he' d have worn the dirty d until they got here...Yuck! I ended up sucking it up and changing it, but the simple fact that the thought crossed my mind had to shoot me up a few notches in the Loser Mom category.

...also! I'm back to the doctor tomorrow morning, so please say a prayer! Hopefully, we'll be able to tell just exactly how many are in there this time. My mother in law actually reminded me today of something I hadn't even thought of. Twins do run in Kyle's family. His Grandpa Smith (who happens to be turning 87 this month) has a twin brother, and his Grandma Smith had sisters that were twins. You remember Grandpa Smith, right? Anyway, my mother in law also informed me that she thought that if this is twins, I should just go ahead and get my tubes tied while I'm at it.....oh, yes she did! Just as I was opening my mouth, (or rather, pulling my jaws off my knees, to inform her that it was none of her business) she said she guessed it was up to us to make that decision,.....(YA THINK??) and could I bring macaroni and cheese to Grandpa's birthday dinner on Saturday? ........ She occasionally still catches me off guard even after all these years!

Well, anyway we'll find out for sure tomorrow I hope!

I gotta go now, I hear Millionaire coming on TV and I absolutely must change the channel before that Katie-Couric-Wannabe gets started with her goofy jokes! :-)

The Sports Page....

..Okay, so let me just start by saying that my husband doesn't normally get very into college football. Let me now say that I had the pleasure of watching him (thank the Lord I couldn't actually see myself) turn into a raving lunatic tonight!

The night started out innocently enough. We checked the hay. We checked the cows. We brought home one of the tractors, which was about 5 miles from home. This is when the fun started. Alabama (the football team, not the state or the country group) was set to kickoff against Arkansas (the razorbacks) at 5:30ish. And normally we wouldn't even have known this much less planned on watching the game, except for the fact that Alabama now has this new coach (for those of you who live in areas other than the south, for you southereners, you'd have had to be under a rock on say, MARS!, for the past few months to have missed this development!) And this is really the first challenging game for the team since his taking over the reigns.

Well, the game was off to an awesome start! As, I told my friend on my cell, (the friend who blazed past us in her silver minivan named Jenny and Britt,...the friend, not the van, I don't know it's name) they are doing so awesome! It's the first quarter and the score is 21-0! Eli Gold, who I was listening to on the radio commentate the game, even commented. "The tide is on fire! They are gonna make BBQ outta these razorbacks tonight!"

Well......., notsomuch! By the end of the 4th quarter the score was 38 (razorbacks) to 34 (Bama) and just a few minutes left to play, like 2ish. We made it in the house around halftime and so are now watching live and in person on the TV. We got pretty loud dissing the QB over a few bad throws. Ever hear of an interception JPW?? How about 2? This is where my husband became a raving lunatic. I'm also sure I was pretty loud because my child climbed up into my lap and kept grabbing my face saying "Mama?", (as in, what have you done with my Mama who I curl up and sleep with during TV ballgames?) By the last minute of the game, literally, my husband was running around the living room and climbing on the couch. Carter thought his dad had found his rhythm and was ready to join his dance. Then! Then! In the last seconds, the quarterback redeemed himself by throwing several fabulous passes, the last of which resulted in a Bama touchdown with 8 seconds remaining on the clock!! Yay Alabama!! The crowd went wild! Both in the stadium and in our living room!

Now, in other sports news, Auburn had another crappy day today. I also ended up watching the second half of this game. I tend to be more of an Auburn fan and unfortunately they lost 19-14 to somebody from Mississippi, I think. In happier news, I can't begin to tell you the joy we felt during the game when the scoreboard would flash the final score from the Tennessee/Florida game. I have to say, I sang my own twisted version of Rocky Top and laughed every time I saw it. Did you miss the score?? It was Florida 59 Tennessee 20. LOL. That sounds like a bad high school score (like where the coach leaves in the first string even though they are killing their opponents), not a big college one.

One more thing! Remember the old Dick and Jane books from like first grade? See Jane run, See Dick read...you remember the ones, right? Well, Arkansas had a player named Casey Dick and on the back of his jersey it was listed "C Dick" and every time he did something I would say " See Dick run" " C Dick catch the ball" "C Dick get a drink" which I found totally and completely hilarious. My husband thought I was insane. Does anybody else get this? or I am completely demented?

Well, that about wraps up my sports wrap up. Did you ever in your life think you'd get a sports report with talk of cows, and tractors, minivans, and Dick and Jane and a little football for good measure?

One last thing, I have two real life buddies who have now joined the blogging world. I'm telling you people, it is like therapy, only waaaay cheaper! (Unless of course you want to tip me for the referral!) Go by and check them out! Brooke aka The Mailgirl (who currently has a story that I have laughed my head off about all week,...sorry Brooke!) and Deb, Miss Corinthians who is a wonderful Bible study leader and I know will have wonderful insights to share with us! Go by and visit these ladies, I know you'll be blessed by their hearts!

Fit4Life Friday

Well, this week I should change my title from Fit4Life to Fit4Nothing because I have been a total and complete slacker this week. I have tried to walk a few times, really I have! But I get hot, and I get sick. Not that I am complaining, I see that as a blessing (the sickness part) because I'm told that means my hormone level is going up. BUT! I have to be able to drag myself off the couch for at least 30-45 minutes per day for a walk...not just for my health, but for mine, and Carter's sanity! He misses being outside! I can tell by the constant, seriously whiny...MAMAMAMAMAMA that he spouts endlessly while following my every step. Poor thing! (I meant me!)

My diet hasn't been terrible. I have been craving strawberries and limeade (which I make with Spenda) so that's okay. The downer this week has been that I have been ingesting sandwiches with ham, cheese, lettuce, and my beloved tomatoes for lunch pretty much daily only to look through the OB packet from my Dr to see that I am to have only Limited, like once or twice a week, amounts of packaged lunch meats. WHAT??? So, am I supposed to keep a fresh pig in the yard for my daily ham fix? How can they do this to a now pregnant lady who had lived off of this for the whole entire summer? Evidently, if you heat it to the point of steaming it's okay, but I ask you ladies, who wants a HOT sandwich with lettuce, tomatoes, and my special colby jack cheese?...I wonder, if I heat it up then put it back in the fridge to cool off, does that work? Any input?

Anyway, I hope you ladies aren't depending on me for motivation this week. I myself will be coming around to your blogs looking for some myself, so please, I beg of you.....motivate me!!!

Also, I've had a few people want to know if it's too late to join in! Definitely not! Everyone is welcome, anytime!

Oh! One more thing, I'm posting this a little early, because my body has a newfound passion....SLEEPING IN!! If you are looking for me at the walking track,....look for me late!

Wordless Wednesday....

Front is a motorcycle, back is a VW.

How sad and pathetic am I?

It's 9 am, I have been up since 7 and I'm ready for a nap. .......now, if I could just convince Carter that he's ready for one!

Baby Emma......Update!

IT'S NOT CANCER!

Praise the Lord!!!

God is SO Good!

It turns out the lump, as I understood during a call from a tearful uncle followed immediately by a call from a sobbing (with joy) grandmother, is a cluster of blood vessels! Praise the Lord! THERE IS HOPE!

From Emma's Mommy:

GLORY TO GOD ALL MIGHTY!!!!!! My baby girl is healed in his name!!!To all of my prayer warriors out there, GOD LISTENS!!!!! The doctor called this afternoon and asked how I was doing, and I told her as well as could be expected, and she said well you are going to be doing a whole lot better after I tell you the news!!! IT IS NOT CANCER!!!!!!!!!! Hallelujah....GOD IS GOOD!!!! The doctor shared with me that Emma must have "someone" watching over her because when she opened her up for the biopsy on Friday she was CERTAIN is was cancer, and when she looked under the microscope today, it definitely was NOT!!! I told her she had more than one person looking after her, she had a band of angels and Holy God that still heals. She said she needed to take a day just to let this sink in!!! PRAISE YOU JESUS!!!! It is a gathering of blood vessels that formed a knot and that we may just need to watch it and there may not be a need for any kind of operation!!!!THANK YOU JESUS!!!!!!! I can not tell you all how much your prayers and your support and your encouraging words have helped me to stay strong in my Faith and in my daily walk. I almost started doubting today!! Satan ALMOST got me, but GOD IS GOOD!!! Praise the Holy Lamb!!!! Jesus still heals today!!!

Please tell everyone the good news! We love you and thank you for all of your prayers. Share the good news that Jesus Lives and he lives in ME!!!!!Emma has a story to tell and she will do it in his Holy Name!!!More Celebration to COME!!!!

In Him,Justin, Kelli, and our HEALED EMMA!!!!

Fifteen Months.....

Dear Carter,


A few days ago you turned Fifteen months old. You woke up today just in time for a visit from one of your very favorite people. Your Papa rang the doorbell and as you always do when it rings, you took off running for the door because you know someone who loves you had stopped by for a visit! And you love having company! You showed Papa your tractors, and your books and special "book chair", you even showed him your sippy cup. Then you gave him a quick tour of your room, (even if he has seen it 1,000 times) and showed him your high chair where you eat. Only then could you and Papa start to play! You gave the same tour to Maw Maw and I think also to Aunt Crystal when they came to see you this week.

You are going through a bit of an odd stage lately. You still love other people, but you never want Mom to be far away. You have also started to attach yourself to certain objects, like your stuffed dog and fuzzy blanket. I'm wondering if you are sensing just how much your life will change with our new arrival?

You have started eating a wider variety of foods, I finally discovered the trick to getting you to eat. Get you your own fork! This is actually quite dangerous at times and always messy, but it seems to be working! You are eating vegetables again. You have quite the little arm, and love to practice your throwing skills while at the dinner(or breakfast, or lunch) table. I can't tell you how many sippy cups you have broken the lids on (yes, broken the hard plastic right in to!) This gets you into trouble on a regular basis, I'm afraid.

One of your very favorite things to do is to ride on the battery operated tractor at Papa & Gran's house. You haven't quite mastered riding it by yourself, so when your big cousin Max is there you love to hitch a ride with him. He drives it really fast and you giggle and laugh the whole time! The only reason you want to get off is to take time to feed the fish in Papa's pond, then right back on! Another favorite passtime is throwing rocks at MawMaw's cats. They just run and run and you laugh and laugh. You tried throwing rocks at our dogs, Sam & Lexie, but they are old and not one bit afraid of you. Plus, you don't have the greatest aim, they just watch the rocks fly by, but you sure do love to watch them retrieve sticks from the middle of the pond and they sure like to watch you run when they shake the water off near you! I'm not sure if dogs laugh to themselves but if they do, I'm sure they are thinking about all those rocks when they are drenching your little rear!

I'm a little nervous about the end of summer and a change in your wardrobe. Clothes! You haven't worn a whole lot of them this summer, and I'm afraid you won't like the change. I put jeans and socks and shoes on you Friday night for the football game and you didn't like it one bit! You spent the whole ride there tugging at your pants legs and socks. You finally just hiked them up above your knees and were satisfied for the rest of the ride. I think you probably didn't mind them so much after they saved your little legs during all the running and falling you did on the sidelines.

You are changing so fast. It seems like you say or do something new every single day. I am so thankful to be your Mom.

Love,

Mama

(or as you like to say, MAMA MAMA MAMA!)

Urgent Prayer Request!

I copied the following post from my friend, Kelli's blog. Please uplift this family in prayer every chance you get!

From Kelli's Blog:

O.k. everyone, I know you have read my blogs about my precious baby Emma, well now I need your prayers for her more than ever! Many of my dear friends have already posted a bulletin asking for prayers, but there are others of you who don't know what is going on. SO HERE IT IS....Late Wednesday night we were changing Emma's diaper and felt a bump on her hip. When we looked at it, it looked as if her hip was out of place. We immediately jumped into the car and went to the emergency room. They took x-rays and ruled out that it was anything to do with her hip. They then TRIED to take a CT scan of her, but little Emma just wasn't having it and the results came back inconclusive.So the doctor thought it was just fatty tissue that may have developed because of her growing and gaining weight so fast. He told us to just follow up with our pediatrician the next day.Well many of you know Dr. Caballero in Anniston is an amazing pediatrician, and when he saw her and felt her bump he looked at us and said this was not there when we were in for our last checkup. You could see it all over his face that he was worried. He decided to make a call to Children's Hospital in B-ham and wanted to just make sure of what was going on. So we took off to B-ham from the pediatricians office. Once we got to Children's, they immediately had us in a room and the Neonatologist was in looking at her within 10 minutes. She was really concerned when she started feeling of the lump and wanted to do some more tests. The first test she wanted to run was a simple sonogram to get some pictures of it to see if it was connected to anything, and if it had any blood running through it, and just simply to get an idea of what we were looking at. After looking at the sonogram the doctor was still not sure of exactly what it was so she decided it was time for an MRI. As a mother, that had to have been the most painful thing I have ever had to witness. To sit and watch your 6 week old baby wrapped up in blankets and taped down to a machine and see her go through the tests and there is nothing you can do!!! No one should have to go through it! EVER!When the MRI came back the doctor still couldn't tell exactly what it was so the next step was a biopsy. So we set up the surgery for Friday morning at 7:15. We left our house Friday at 4 a.m. with grandparents in tow. You know they were going to be there no matter what! She went in to surgery and had to have (excuse the spelling) anesthesia so we were going to have to stay the night to keep an eye on her. When they doctor came back in and talked to us, I knew she was holding back. She was beating around the bush about something, but I didn't want to know what it was anymore than she wanted to tell us. Justin couldn't take it any more and just asked what she thought it was. She unwillingly told us she thought it was a cancerous tumor and that we may have a long road ahead of us. As I sat there in a complete state of shock, I looked around the room at all of the distraught faces of my family. My mother was a complete basket case, my dad was trying to be strong but you could see it in his eyes he was crushed, my sister sitting in the corner in disbelief with tears running down her face, and my husband...my best friend.. with a blank stare on his face and tears welling in his eyes as if his life had been completely torn apart. All I could do was sit there. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I could see people talking, and the doctor beside me holding my hand, telling me we were going to fight this and get through this, all I wanted to do was hold my baby girl, the blessing that we had to fight for in the first place, the baby who had already come through so much and fought so hard to survive 5 weeks earlier than she should have. The doctor reassured us that there was still a chance that it was benign and that she had seen it happen before. She told us that pediatric cancer was not like adult cancer and that it was very treatable. She was so wonderful and understanding of the fact that we were all completely lost and confused and mad and sad. She offered for us to speak with the oncologist there at the hospital and Justin immediately said yes. So the nurse told us we were moving to another room and that Justin and I could peek in and see Emma in recovery before we went. We got in there and all I wanted to do was pick her up and tell her everything was going to be o.k., but I couldn't touch her, not even a kiss on her little chubby cheek. It absolutely killed me! About 15 minutes after we got into the room, they brought my precious fighter in and asked who wanted her!! There was no question who was getting her, and I didn't care who wanted her! She was mine. All the wires and IV's were hooked up to her and it was heart breaking.The oncologist came in a little later and told us that they did a freeze section of the biopsy during the surgery and that it came back malignant, but that didn't mean it was. She seemed convinced and talked to us about what was next. She said they were going to put a little tube right below Emma's collar bone and from that tube they would be able to take blood and give her chemo. As you prob did just as you read this, I said WHAT???? She said this would probably need to be treated with chemo, radiation, and then they would try to take the mass out. NEVER would I have thought I would be having this conversation about my precious 6 week old baby!!! She also mentioned that we are looking at about 1 to 2 years of treatment! We are still waiting on her labs to come back and we are praying for God's hand to be in this. We want benign results!!!! We want our baby to be o.k.!! We need your help! PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR BABY EMMA!!! She has fought so hard already! We know she is strong and we know she will come through this, but with your prayers and God's hand, we can get through this stronger and better! God has a plan for my baby girl, and it may be that through this we all become closer to him, but right now we are struggling to understand it! My family has been through a complete nightmare in the past 4 days! Please keep us in your prayers, and lift our baby girl up to the Lord, for through him ALL things are possible. Thank you to all of you who came to the hospital to visit. It was so nice to see a smiling and loving face and to even laugh every once in a while!! We love each and every one of you. Please pass this along so that we can have as many prayers as possible going out for Emma! We will keep you updated and we are supposed to find out the results of the tests late next week. Whenever you have a second, please just lift up her name!!! Love,Justin, Kelli, and our sweet baby Emma!

Okay all you prayer warriors, NOW is the time for action!! Those of you in my family, we KNOW God answers prayers. We have little Kyla Brooke (now 3 yrs old) who has come through THREE heart surgeries, the first of which was when she was only days old. She is such a HUGE blessing to our entire family! Please join me in praying for healing in baby Emma and peace for her family!