Taking a look back

It seems like the years are going by faster and faster. I can't believe that 2008 is now only a memory. We have made some wonderful memories that is for sure. It will be a year that will always be remembered in our hearts. Here's a look back at where we've been and how we've grown. Hope you enjoy! Oh, and here's my disclaimer... "I have the worst time remembering so I'll try my best to get these in order."

At the very end of 2007 we celebrated our niece's first birthday. If 2008 shows nothing else it shows how much the children have grown!

In February I took my guys to Supercross in Atl. This was a surprise to Ty. We all had a great time!

In March Nathan checked for his first "stinky" diaper.

April brought Nana (Ty's mom) up to the house for Easter. She and Nathan got to hunt eggs. It was such a wonderful weekend!

It was in April that I went to the beach for my co-worker's, and good friend's, bachelorette party. I also celebrated my 28th birthday and Ty and I celebrated our 8th year together.

May: Nathan was in Erin's wedding. He was so handsome and did a fairly good job. He didn't like trying the tux on but Erin gave him a "Mater" truck and he forgot about the hundreds of people watching him!

My baby brother also graduated from college in May! Go Eric!!

I had a "first" in May. I said goodbye to Nathan who went to stay a FULL week at my parents' house with Helen.

They had some great "cousin time!"

June: Nathan experienced his first broken heart. We met up with my parents for a quick visit/family reunion and Nathan didn't understand why he couldn't go home with Pawpaw and Mimi again. He cried the whole way home (about 2 hours)!! Bless his soul!

The frown quickly turned upside down when we took a mini vacation to Pigeon Forge Tennessee to celebrate Ty's grandparent's (Bobby and Sandra Simmons) 50th wedding anniversary! It was only a weekend for us but several family members stayed for an entire week.

July brought many "big" events. One was the biggest zucchini I'd ever seen grown! Ty was at camp for a week and I was in charge of tending the garden. I realized that week that I could never be a farmer.. I wasn't very diligent!

Ty returning home from camp. He celebrated his 27th birthday while he was away. He was truly missed that week!

Nathan turned 3 at the end of July. Why do babies have to grow so fast?!?

I'll never forget the amazing wrapping Aunt Kristy did for Nathan since they we not able to attend his party! She's so talented!!

August: we took a trip to the lake with my parents and Brian and Kristy. The water was cold but the kids didn't seem to mind.

Sorry.. I have absolutely nothing for September (read disclaimer above). October, however, has enough for an entire year! First, we celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary.

It was on a Sunday. Ty and a few others went to Jackson Georgia to worship with that struggling congregation. I went with my best friend, Crissy, and some of her family to Perry Georgia to see Sugarland in concert!

3 days later I find out that we are expecting.

A few weeks after we head to Camp Inagehi for a "Transformers" retreat that Ty put together for the youth at Monroe.

I hosted a fun night of girl's bunco "halloween" style at the house.

Nathan dressed up as the cutest cowboy I'd ever seen for Halloween!

November: we learn at my first doctor's appointment that something is wrong with the pregnancy and it turns out that I miscarried. We accept the loss knowing the baby is in God's loving care and celebrate Thanksgiving with the family we do have.

December: Ty gets a promotion to become a store manager at a new store in Montgomery, Alabama so we put our house up for sale and move back to Prattville.

We had to say goodbye to some wonderful friends in Georgia. Living in Georgia for most of 2007 and all of 2008 really has opened our eyes to who we are and what's most important in life. There have been many tears shed in 2008 but there have also been many laughs. I want to thank God for giving us another year to look back on and for the people who have crossed our path and walked with us...if only for a moment. There are many exciting things to look forward to with a new year. I hope each of you have a blessed new year and will live and love every day like it's your last! Happy New Year!!

P.S. If anyone can help me with this editing problem please let me know. I apparently don't know what I'm doing. I'll be glad to give you my log-in information if you can fix this for me! I worked on it for 3 hours!!!!! DONE WITH IT!

Prattvillians...I need your help!

I never thought it would be so difficult to find child care. We have contacted several preschools in the area and all are full. Being a typical mother, I'm pretty picky about where I want to put my child. I would prefer not to put him in a general day care facility but one where he can be involved in a learning program. I don't want him to be just another number but an important part of his school. I may be asking for a lot but I feel as a working mother I have that choice. We would prefer for me to be a stay-home mom again but right now that just isn't possible.
So here is where you come in! If anyone has ANY ideas about what we can do please let us know. We are both going back to work on the 5th (which is Monday) so we don't have much more time. We have already looked at Camellia Baptist (he's on a waiting list there). Um, The church of the Living Water (in the old East Memorial building) doesn't have anything open and First Baptist is closed until next Monday.
I feel like everything has been coming to a dead end. It's hard for me not to wonder why. What is God wanting us to do? Does He have different plans for us and we just can not see them right now? I hate making decisions, especially when it comes to the happiness of my child. More than that I hate the fear of the unknown. With all that said you can see I am really struggling with this and if anyone has any ideas or offers please please please let me know ASAP!!

ThErE AnD BaCk AgAiN...

There are lots of reasons why I have been off with my postings lately. The main one is I lost the memory stick to my camera about a week ago so my picture taking has been hindered. The other main reason is we have moved from Georgia back to Prattville. We are currently residing with Ty's parents in Prattville while we are trying to sell our home in Monroe.

We all had a great Christmas. It once again looked like ToysRUs threw up in the living room and since we don't have much storage space it's taking a while to find places for all these new toys. To name a few he ended up with a bike (from santa) a red radio flyer wagon (from ty's parents) and a red radio flyer big wheel (from my parents). His favorite that he asked for weeks from Santa was not one but 2 (yes 2) Woody cowboys from Toy Story. He received lots of clothes, games, Transformers, a few movies... it goes on and on. I wanted to do a little extra this year for him. One was because it may be his last Christmas as an only child and, two, because he was really into it this year and that made it more fun for me!!

Sorry I don't have any pictures. We went to Circuit City and bought me a new card so I'll try and get some pictures of him playing with all this new stuff!

I can't go without leaving some type of picture so here's a picture of our new (temporary) residence. Pray that our home in Monroe sells quickly so we can give my in-laws their space back!!

904 RunningBrook Drive Prattville, Al 36066

Like Father Like Son

I don't think this needs any words...
























Oh, and just so you know, they were watching a gun shooting video on the computer. I think I'm going to be in trouble in a few years!

*Scroll down.. this is my second post for the day!

To the hospital and back again...

Sorry I haven't blogged in several weeks. The last blog I wrote gave some hope on the pregnancy but after another doctor's visit it was determined that I actually did miscarry. I've been dealing with a lot of emotional ups and downs the last week or so. I went last Monday and had a D&C. Needless to say, I was laid up for a few days after that procedure. I went back to work on Wednesday and to my parents house for Thanksgiving on Thursday. On the drive home Thursday night I started having pretty bad abdominal pains that ran all the way down my legs. I didn't think much of it and went on to work Friday. Friday the pains continued to worsen. It hurt to stand, sit, walk, lay down, go to the bathroom....you get the picture. Again, I tried to ignore the pains thinking that I was still trying to "recover." Saturday morning Ty headed to work and I did the same. I decided, after talking to a co-worker of mine, that I needed to call my doctor about my pains. The doctor advised me to take myself to the emergency room. I phoned Ty and we went. After a LONG wait in the ER I was finally seen. They did a ultrasound and told me that my uterus had becomed inflamed again and that there was a layer of blood clots between my uterus and the endometrial tissue which was also causing pain and pressure. They sent me home with a prescription for Aleve, Prilosec, and strict instructions to "take it easy." With Nathan being gone for the weekend it was not hard to follow doctor's orders. This morning was the first morning I woke up pain free in a week. It's been a hard past few weeks but there have been a lot of prayers said for me and I am so thankful for all of you who have prayed for me.

Here is a picture I took on Thanksgiving. Thanks to my mom and dad who kept Nathan for me over the Thanksgiving holiday. It allowed me the time I needed to get well.

And special thanks to my wonderful husband who has been my rock through all this. I know I would not have made it through as well as I have/am if it wasn't for him. I have truly felt and seen his love for me and our family. Thank you babe. I love you with all my heart!

Prayer Requests

I want to ask all of you to continue to remember us in your prayers for several reasons. I went back to the doctor yesterday to give more blood so they could see what my HCG level was doing. They were wanting to see the level go down so they would know that my body was realizing that the pregnancy wasn't viable. I learned today that the blood work results actually showed my HCG levels increasing. As hard as it is I'm trying to not get my hopes up that things will be OK. I am scheduled for another ultrasound on Friday and the doctor is hoping to see a heartbeat. Please keep me and this baby in your prayers.

The other prayer request is about the news that Ty brought home yesterday. He went for a job interview to be the store manager at the new Sherwin Williams store on Taylor Road in Montgomery. He was offered the job and we accepted. This will bring BIG changes to our lives once again. We have such mixed emotions.. we are very excited to get back to Prattville and to be around our families and friends again but the relationships that have formed here will be greatly missed. I never thought it would be so difficult to "go back home" as it has been. We know that God knows best and that this is in His plan for us but the fear of the unknown is enough to bring stress and worry into our lives. I just ask that you pray for us during this transition and pray for Ty that he will take to this new position and have the confidence and knowledge that he will need to do a great job!

This is a picture of Nathan when we moved from Prattville to Georgia...

This picture was taken a few weeks ago... wow, how time flies!!

Holding it...

The other day Nathan and I were on our way home from work and school. We were about 2 miles from the house when Nathan told me that he needs to go potty. With being so close to home I asked him if he could just hold it. I heard nothing...I looked back after a few seconds to find my child with his hand down the back of his pants... I asked him what he was doing and he said, "I'm holding it mom." (sigh)

Jesus...love him good

Yesterday I had my first doctor's appointment. We talked it up with Nathan so he would know that he was going to be able to see the baby on "TV" and hear the baby's heart. None of that took place. What was supposed to be a joyful, heart filling day, ended up being a sorrowful, heartbreaking day. We learned that from my time frame on when I tested positive and the growth of the baby that the two are not matching up. My body is showing I should be about 7 weeks along with the baby having arms, legs and a heart beat. However, we saw the yoke sac and the little ball that was the baby. There is about a 2 week discrepancy. The doctor was concerned so they took blood work. I received a phone call today confirming what I had been dreading to hear all day. It appears that my body is in the process of a miscarriage. I have never had to deal with this before but I have felt the heart break from others who have. I know it's a struggle on trying to figure out why and how and what to do now. I don't really know what to think. My body hasn't completely miscarried so that's why I'm so confused. This is the doctor's explanation... my HCG level is high, my progestrone level is low.. the pregnancy in itself is high showing I am about 4-5 weeks along but with my last cycle I should be about 7-8 weeks along. The doctor thinks I am having a miscarriage since the progestrone level is so low and they want the HCG level to go down... I go back on Monday to give more blood and if the HCG level is still elavated they will need to go in and do a D&C. I'm so scared to even know what that is. What if I have not completely lost the baby? For all I know..the baby is still in there fighting. The doctors say this isn't a good pregnancy.. I say I don't feel like this is over. If I don't have any physical evidence that this is a miscarriage what should I think? This is so completely devastating and to all of you who have experienced this.. I am so truly sorry. I know this baby will be in the most loving hands and someday I will be able to look into those eyes and to see those tiny fingers.. but for now all I need is your prayers that I will have the strength to get through this time.

and now the rest of the story...

So this is how our October ended. I told you the last post was "to be continued." Friday we were able to dress up at work. I work with 3 other ladies and no one had any extra money to go buy a fancy costume so we decided to be tail-gaters. Heather and I were 2 Alabama fans and Vicki and Erin were 2 Georgia Bulldog fans. It balanced out pretty well.. I figured I'd be the only Alabama fan but it's good to know that there are other people in Georgia with some good common sense :)

Nathan went to school in one of the shirts that his Nana (Ty's mom) got him. He loved it that the Mickey Mouse lit up!

I left work, flew home and saw the most handsome trick-or-treater EVER! My little cowboy!

We had a "carnival" at the Allen's house (who, by the way, threw an awesome party!) Everyone had a "booth" that allowed the kids to play a game or do a craft and fill up on candy. I loved this idea! It allowed us adults to fellowship and we didn't have to worry about what "treats" our kids were getting. Here are some pics of the evening there.

Ty worked so hard and made a bean bag toss (all from one piece of wood) :) It was a HIT (no pun intended).

This is Helen's LAST attempt to the get bean bag through the hole.. she was determined this time to make it! LOL

Aunt Kristy's booth was mini pumpkin painting. Here is Nathan and Spiderman (aka Noah Allen) painting their pumpkins!

Another game was finding what was brewing in the witches cauldron. I'm not sure what all was in there but Helen was going to find out!

Other activities included decorating cupcakes, making s'mores over a fire and some awesome face painting! Tina has such a talent.

Beth Allen was a hippie.. her costume was complete after Tina got a hold of her face!

I was still an Alabama tail-gater but I LOVE turtles so that's what I requested! I cried when I had to wash it off...

Emily was Dolly Parton. She got her "bling" on!











And, of course, the night wouldn't be complete without some self and family portraits!