Merry Christmas to All......

Christmas is definitely here and if you ask if I'm finished with my shopping, baking, cleaning, etc...my answer is no! I'm working on it. (after I finish this blog!!haha) Christmas wouldn't be Christmas to me if I wasn't waiting until the last minute to finish shopping, etc. I actually enjoy the last minute rush and seeing all the people shopping for their loved ones. (I know...I'm crazy!)
Nathan is super excited this year and can't wait until Christmas morning! I can't wait to see his sweet face when he comes downstairs!

On another note, I know I've been a very bad blogger since August. No real blogs with pictures or current happenings. But I promise to do better in the upcoming year. And, hopefully before 2009, I will catch up with my 2008 postings! :-)

Until then, I wish you all a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!! And remember to take time out to reflect on the REAL meaning of Christmas and why we celebrate this wonderful time of year!

So many blessings to be thankful for......

With Thanksgiving fast approaching, I wanted to be sure to tell everyone, "Happy Thanksgiving!"
We have so much to be thankful for. I say "we" because I mean everyone reading this blog. We live in a wonderful country that provides us so much freedom. Freedom that many people will never know. I am so thankful for that freedom.
I am so thankful that God loves us and forgives us.
I am thankful for my wonderful family and friends.
I am so very thankful for our precious little boy, he is definitely my miracle. And I thank God for him everyday.
And I'm so thankful to have a loving husband, who provides for us, and loves us unconditionally.
I am thankful that our dog, Hobbes, is close to being in remission from his cancer. Yes, he's a dog, but he is a huge part of our family, and has been for the past 10 years. We love him and hope that he continues to get better.

While eating dinner tonight, out of the blue, Nathan says, "I'm thankful for mommy and daddy". It just melted my heart.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Be sure to tell someone you love, just how thankful you are to have them in your life.

I'm going to be an aunt...again!!!!!

That's right...my sister is pregnant again!!! I really never thought it would happen, she kept saying no, no, no...then she changed her mind! I'm so excited for them! Kalyn will be a great big sister! She is due in June!

I've been tagged....

I've been tagged to do the following:
1) Choose the 4th picture folder on my computer
2) Choose the 4th picture
3) Explain the picture
4) Tag 4 other people

The above picture was taken in Annapolis, Maryland on our 7 year wedding anniversary. I was 9 months pregnant so we decided to stay close to home for our anniversary! We drove down to Annapolis and went out on a large boat and toured the Chesapeake Bay, including the Naval Academy. This was one of the pictures I took from the boat. It is of the sailboats in the Bay. We ate at Phillips Seafood afterwards, then had gelato from my favorite gelato shop! YUM! It was a great day just walking around/sailing around downtown Annapolis...one of my favorite places! I really miss it...I need to go for a visit soon!!

I now tag:

Jonnelle

Jenny

Amanda N.

Amanda T.

phone call...

I had the best phone call last night with a friend of mine from Maryland...I guess it was so good that I had to blog about it!! (LOL) Ashley, I'm glad I'm not the only one who stays up late and can't sleep! We were both on the computer at midnight, so instead of typing, we just decided to talk. We had the best conversations! Everything from "shelf butts" (LOL) to being "late" (or not), preschool, past fun times, etc. We both laughed so hard our sides were hurting! I so needed that, I haven't laughed like that in a while!
Ashley...thanks for the wonderful chat and all the laughs!! I miss you!

Another blogging note...I'm way behind in postings! I have so much to catch up on...maybe one night this week I'll do that!
Have a great Halloween!!!

A Light of Hope and Remembrance

http://www.october15th.com/
I found this on a blogger friend's page. I wanted to post this to honor and remember all those who have suffered miscarriages, stillbirth, and infant loss.
My heart aches for the two babies I miscarried, and for everyone out there who has lost a child.

Memories Captured.....

We had Nathan's 3 year old pictures made Sunday, and some family pictures. Tammy Dugger is our photographer...she is amazing! (her links are on the side of my blog)
Thanks Tammy for taking so much time with us! You truly captured Nathan and our sweet sick doggie! He doesn't even look sick in the pictures. We will always treasure these pictures!
We had the pictures made in Marietta, Ga. at a park with an old train depot. There was an actual old caboose...Nathan LOVED this park! He loves trains! We stayed after our session and let him play on the small "play" train at the park...he had the best time!
We are so thankful we also had these pictures made with our dog, Hobbes. He has lymphoma. He has good days and bad days. He is having chemo treatments for the cancer. The Dr. is going to do 2 more treatments and see if they help. If they don't, we'll have to stop treatment. He still has some knots that go away and come back the next week, which is not good. Hopefully these next 2 treatments will put him in remission. He turned 10 years old this month!

Thanks again Tammy for the wonderful pictures! If anyone has a favorite...let me know! I'm having a hard time picking them out!

A big help...

I have seen this item before on a couple of people's blogs, and I bought something similiar a while back for some friends, however, I never really looked at this particular "brand" before. I was talking to Julia this morning about how you sometimes have to make doctor's appointments for the next year and I usually don't have the next year's calendar lying around. She told me to look at the "Mom Agenda" that is advertised on simple mom. (thanks Julia!) I loved it!! Like I said, I've visited the website before and thought they were a great idea, but didn't really need one at the time. However, in just the last week, I've had to schedule doctor's appo's (3 to be exact) for 2009. So I have these tiny appoinment cards paperclipped to the Dec. page of my hanging calendar on my fridge. Well, problem solved! These "mom agenda's" have the calendar year August 2008-Dec. 2009, and some extra goodies attached! (and they're cute!)

There are a lot of really helpful items on the momAgenda website other than planners. They have FREE downloads such as: babysitter's info, grocery lists, helpful phone #'s pages, etc.

Take a look at the momAgenda website and the simplemom website (if you haven't already), I'm sure you'll find lots of great things!!

Books, Movies, Parties.....

Last night our MOMS club had our monthly "Moms Night Out". We went to the movies and saw "Nights in Rodanthe" (a Nicholas Sparks book turned movie). I loved this book...it was great! The movie was great too, but as they always say, the book was better. The book definitely had more details. But the movie was beautiful, the setting was great, and you can't get much better than Diane Lane and Richard Gere...(although I don't see eye to eye w/ Richard Gere off-screen, he's still a wonderful actor). And now I'm ready for a trip to the Outer Banks, NC.! :-) I highly recommend seeing the movie, but also reading the book....and any book by Nicholas Sparks! (especially, "The Guardian")
After the movie we went to a mexican restaurant and enjoyed reminiscing about the 80's...big hair, funny clothes, music, etc. I think we need to have an 80's flashback party, I'm all about some big hair!!! LOL
Thanks girls for a fun night out!

Before I went to "moms night out", we had a Birthday party to go to. We had a wonderful time! Great weather (still a little too hot IMO for the end of Sept), great food, wonderful friends! If anyone needs a cute outside toy for toddlers/preschoolers, you need to get a Little Tykes (I think) "roller coaster". It was a HIT at the party with the kids!! It's a hard plastic "wavy ramp looking hill", it has a "car" that goes with it, they hop on the car and ride down the hill. I know this is not a great description, so here's a picture...view is from the back of it.

The one at the party was on a slope outside, which made it more fun and the kids really went a long way in the yard...they loved it!!!!
Happy Birthday Isabella, and thanks Jessica and Ryan for a great party!

Ok, so now on to the books. I just finished reading "Love the One You're With" by Emily Giffin. (thanks Jennifer for letting me borrow your book for so long!!!) This was our MOMS Club Book Club selection. I personally thought it was great!! A fun read, although I shed a little tear here and there. It was one of those books you could actually FEEL her heartbreaking decision. She was torn, she loved 2 people differently, they each brought something to the table for her. When she was on the plane flying back to NY from LA with her "former love" and he put his hand over her hand for the entire plane ride home, the author made that so passionate, again...you could just feel it! The author did a great job!
Our book club meets this week, we'll talk about this book and possibly pick our next selection. I'll let you know what it is, once we know!
The next few books I'll be reading are, "The Choice" by Nicholas Sparks. It's on my nightstand to be read. Also, I'm wanting to read "The Shack", and "The Year of Fog" by Michelle Richmond. Once I finish these I'll give you an update!
I don't remember if I talked about "Dear John" by Nicholas Sparks?? It was wonderful, tearful, and heartwrenching.....just the kind of book I love!!! :-) It needs to be made into a movie! It was a tale of two loves, and all about making decisions that change your life forever. A must read!
If anyone is wondering why I'm talking about all of these books, it's because, A) I love to read, and B) in a previous post, I told you I would be posting about books I read, and we could have an online "blogging book club". I think I have let you down. I don't remember which books I have posted about, so I'll go back and look to see which ones I need to review. If you've read any of these, I would love to hear your thoughts on them as well!

can't make a decision???

So I've been playing around with my layout for my blog off and on all day. I didn't like reading my blog on a green background, so I changed it to a fall background. However, it was too bright orange! So, I changed it to this (brown w/ blue & green polka dots). But, I don't like the brown background, I feel like it makes it hard to read?? So, I changed my text to bold, but I don't like that either!? So, please bear with me as I change it around some, eventually I'll find something I like...hopefully!

UPDATE: Ok, so I changed it again! I really didn't like looking at the black, bold text on the brown background. I kinda like this one, but I don't like the "splatter dots" on the text?? It makes it awkward to read. But enough procrastinating for now! It's time to pay the bills, and do laundry. I worked on my blog during Nathan's nap, when I was supposed to be actually working on other things!! I always procrastinate when I have something I don't want to do???

"Lessons in Life"

Sometimes cards are dealt to us that we don't like, we want to give them back, not remember they were dealt to us, hope they are never put back in our hands again. But that doesn't always happen. And when we're given those cards, it's what we do with them that matters, what makes us who we are. We may not do too well with them at first because they are hard to accept, and it may take a while for us to come out of our hole and deal with them. And it's ok to be sad, and to hurt, because that's part of dealing with those cards. But eventually God helps us through, because he always has a perfect plan. And we have to always remember that. And as hard as that is to remember sometimes, it's still true.

Someone sent the below "story" to me in an email, and I thought it was a great "lesson on life". Hope you enjoy!

LESSONS ON LIFE

There was a man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn not to judge
things too quickly. So he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go and look
at a pear tree that was a great distance away.

The first son went in the winter, the second in the spring, the third in
summer, and the youngest son in the fall.

When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to describe
what they had seen.

The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted. The second son
said no it was covered with green buds and full of promise.

The third son disagreed; he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so
sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he had ever
seen.

The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and drooping
with fruit, full of life and fulfillment.

The man then explained to his sons that they were all right, because they
had each seen but only one season in the tree's life.

He told them that you cannot judge a tree, or a person, by only one season,
and that the essence of who they are and the pleasure, joy, and love that
come from that life can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons
are up.

If you give up when it's winter, you will miss the promise of your spring,
the beauty of your summer, fulfillment of your fall.

Moral:
Don't let the pain of one season destroy the joy of all the rest.
Don't judge life by one difficult season.
Persevere through the difficult patches and better times are sure to come
some time or later.

-- Author Unknown

HAPPY FALL!!!

Oh, how I LOVE Fall!! It's my favorite time of the year! Fall means football, pumpkin patches, apple cider, cooler weather, leaves turning, feeling a hint of crispness in the air as you walk outside in the morning, festivals, the list just goes on and on!! And, 13 years ago today on September 22, 1995 my husband and I met on a blind date...awwww! My college roommate and her boyfriend at the time, set us up on a blind date for my sorority's Fall Date Party, "Strawberry Fields Forever". It was a fun night!
Anyway, just wanted to say "Happy Fall"! It is absolutely GORGEOUS outside today! Fall could not have been welcomed in by a better day!

"Never Forget".....Remembering 9/11

As I watched Fox News this morning, I couldn't help but cry. I do this every year on Sept. 11th. I cry not only because I'm such an emotional person, but I still remember the terror on that day, and I always will. I cry because I see the tears in the family members eyes of the victims/heroes of that day. I think of all those left behind, never getting to say goodbye to those they loved so dearly. I think of all the heroes of Flight 93 that crashed in Shanksville, PA. I can't imagine what they must have been feeling as they charged the cockpit, to stop the terrorists from destroying more lives. They are true HEROES! John McCain was in Shanksville this morning speaking about those Heroes. I wish I could remember John McCain's exact words but they were something like this: "there is no greater love than the sacrifice made by giving your own life for others, except God's love." That is so true. As Todd Beamer said "Let's Roll", he wasn't thinking about himself. Those wonderful people on board Flight 93 knew they needed to stop the horrible terrorist from hurting our country more. And that's exactly what they did.
The beautiful Pentagon Memorial was unveiled today. I thought it was very reflective. The memorial is made up of benches with the names of the victims who were on the flight that crashed into the Pentagon, and those that lost their lives in the Pentagon. Those victims range in ages from 3 to 71 and the benches are in chronological order. There are "waters of life" under those benches with a reflective light. There were specific maple trees planted close to the benches which turn a symbolic bright red in September. I think this is the first completed memorial since the 9/11 attacks. I think they did a great job with it.

I remember exactly where I was when I heard what happened on that day and what I was doing. I remember everything I did on that day. I'm sure you all do as well. I remember being very scared on that day the days that followed. Brian was 8 hours away from me at school training for his new job from July through December of that year. I came home to an empty house, watched the news coverage, and prayed. I prayed for all the victims and their families, the troops that were being called overseas, the President, and for our country to be safe.

I know a lot of people like to "bash" our President, George W. Bush. But I applaud him. No other US President has been faced with that kind of terror attack on our own soil. Thankfully, we have a president that stood up to the terrorists and is still standing up to them, and standing up for US! He did what he did because he loves this great country, and he doesn't want to ever see that happen again. Thank you President Bush for all that you have done for this country. It is because of the president and all of our Military, that I feel safer today than I did 7 years ago.
My prayers are with all the family and friends of the vicitms of 9/11, and those still dealing with medical issues as a result. My prayers are with this country, all the military members and their families, and with the upcoming election. I pray this country will elect a President that will continue to STAND UP to the terrorists that threaten us.
Let us all "NEVER FORGET"....

"Send in the Firetruck...Nathan turned 3!!"

We had Nathan's 3rd birthday party on the Saturday after his birthday. We had a firetruck party!! Our wonderful fire department came out with one of their trucks and let the kids play on it, pretend "drive" it, touch everything, wear the hats, and take pictures on it! After, the firemen came in and joined us in singing "happy birthday" to Nathan. Nathan LOVED it!
I ordered the food for the party from Panera Bread and they delivered it before the party. We had sandwiches, salads, fruit, chips/dip, cookies, etc. Panera did a great job, I had a wonderful lady who worked with me on ordering! I highly recommend this!
Nathan enjoyed playing with all of his friends, and opening gifts.
Nathan loves firetrucks, so he really had a fun time at his party!
In fact, Nathan had a great birthday "week"! We went to the zoo on his birthday, we went to the aquarium with the MOMS Club on the thursday before his party, his nana an papaw came on Friday and stayed the weekend with us, Saturday was the party, and on Sunday we went with my sister, brother-in-law, and niece to Six Flags! WOW....busy, FUN week! I'm not sure if we'll be able to top that "birthday week" next year??!!
Oh well, you only turn "3" once!

Nathan turns "3"!!!

I can't believe my little baby boy is a three year old!!! Nathan turned 3 on August 12th. We were having his birthday party on the following Saturday, so I thought we would do something special for his actual Birthday. So, I asked him the morning of his birthday what he wanted to do that day and he said, "I wanna go to the zoo!!"..... so off to the zoo we went! Brian had to work so it was just Nathan and I. We had a blast! We are members of the zoo, so we like to go often. Nathan loves the animals, and especially the train, merry-go-round, and the park! I bought him an unlimited rides pass, so we rode the merry go round, and train 4 times! We ate lunch, watched a bird show, looked at some of the animals 2 and 3 times, and got dippin' dots....our zoo tradition! He was such a big boy, staying right with mommy, we didn't even carry in the stroller! At the end of the zoo visit, I let him go to the gift shop to pick out a birthday present. He picked out toy binoculars. He LOVES playing with his daddy's binoculars, so he was happy to have a pair of his own!

After the zoo trip, his daddy came home, and we went out to eat with some friends of ours for our MOMS Club "family night out". Nathan and his friends enjoyed running in the rain around the fountain outside the restaurant. Then we got home and let him blow out his 3 candles on his cookie cake and open one gift! He loves to blow out candles. It was a great day! I still can't believe he is THREE YEARS OLD!!

going away to college...

A few weeks ago we were able to go over to Alabama for the day to visit with my husband's family, which included our nephew, Jake. He left last week to go to college in Montana to major in petroleum engineering. He received a full scholarship! We are very proud of him, and wish him the best of luck! I know his family, especially his 2 sisters, will miss him very much! We are looking forward to seeing him again at Christmas, and see how college life is treating him.
We had a great day visiting with everyone! Nathan had such a great time, he fell asleep before we got out of the driveway, and slept the entire 3 1/2 hour drive back home!
The following week, Brian's stepdad had a stroke and was admitted to Huntsville Hospital. He has since been moved to HealthSouth Rehab. He is getting better and we continue to pray for a complete recovery!
And in other news with that side of the family, our niece, Bethany, recently graduated from The University of Alabama with her nursing degree! She also just got engaged! We are very proud of her, and so very happy for her as well! We wish Bethany the best of luck with her new job at the hospital, and on planning her wedding!

Slip & Slide fun!

Nathan had a great time at Caroline's house with her Slip & Slide, so we ended up getting him one of his own! He has run, slid, fallen down, just laid in the water at the end, and had a blast!
Slip & Slides have come a long way since I was a little girl and had one of my own! I need to get the pictures from my mom of the one my sister and I had...that would be hilarious!!

Going back to July....

Ok, so I'm way behind in my blogging, and since I'm not getting much sleep these days, I may as well get caught up!

On July 25th, Brian and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary...I posted the pictures from 10 yrs ago in a previous post.

I got the babysitter and Brian took care of the rest. He told me to be ready by 6:30pm. While I was getting ready the florist delivered a dozen roses. We went to dinner at Anthony's in Buckhead. It was a beautiful restaurant with a very interesting history. Our meal was wonderful! The entire evening was wonderful and I look forward to another 10+ years with my wonderful husband!

Cute song

http://

"MIA" and a sick dog....

I know, I've been "missing in action" from "blog world". It has been a busy, but fun summer!! I have lots I need to post about, but I may sum it up in one or two posts later this week?? I know this Fall will be busy, so I need to stay caught up!!

One reason I've been laying low lately is because we found out our dog, Hobbes, has cancer...lymphoma. We got Hobbes right after we got married, when he was a puppy. He has been with us for 10 years! He started "coughing" and sounding like he was choking a few weeks ago, then Brian felt some swollen glands under his neck. We took him to the vet where they drew the fluid from the glands, and it came back cancer. They only gave him 4 weeks to live, or told us we could do chemotherapy treatments on him. So we talked to the vet about what the treatments would do to him because we don't want him to be any more sick, or in pain. The vet told us dogs usually respond really well to treatment. They sometimes have nausea, and you have to watch for dehydration. So after we found out it wasn't as bad as the chemotherapy people have, we of course decided this was the way to go!

There is no cure for his type of cancer, but hopefully he will go into remission soon, and the vet said most dogs live almost 2 more years. We drop him off every week (once a week), in the morning, then pick him up in the afternoon. His treatment is for 6 months.

It's so sad to think only 2 more years with him, but who knows, he could live longer....

When the vet told us 4 weeks, we just couldn't imagine, so 2 years sounds wonderful compared to that.

Hobbes is about 107 pounds and very tall! Even though he is that big, he is still a "lap dog". He lays in our laps at night while we're watching tv. He sleeps in our bed every night, and he eats very well. He is very spoiled, and even more so now! When we first got him, we took off work just to be with him! That tells you how much a part of our family he is!

No matter how much he barks, whines, or begs, we still love him very much. The thought of losing him really hit us hard.

He had his first treatment on Friday and he did very well with it. It didn't make him sick, and he actually has more energy, and hasn't coughed lately! We're very hopeful!

He's not just a dog...he's a part of our family!

10 Years!!

Wow, I can hardly believe it's been 10 years today that my husband and I got married! It has went by so fast! So much has happened in 10 years. We've moved 4 times, lived in 3 different states, sold homes, bought homes, got pets, lost pets, got new jobs, changed jobs, traveled to some wonderful places, and best of all....had Nathan! I am so happy to have a husband that supports me being a stay at home mom. He loves that I get to stay home with our son. And I love it too! He is a wonderful father and an awesome husband! We've been through a lot together these past 10 years, some good times, and some bad. I'm so thankful I have him to live life with! I can be hard to get along with sometimes, but he still puts up with me! :-)
Thank you Brian for all of your support, and most of all, your friendship and love! I love you!

Happy 10 year Anniversary!

Below are some pics through the years!

Sorry for the bad quality of the pics, since we got married 10 years ago, we don't have any digital pictures, and my photographer is no longer working, so I had to take pics of our wedding album!! LOL

5 yr anniversary trip to Punta Cana, in the Dominican Republic.

Welcome "Emmie Beth"!!

She's finally here!!! Emmie Beth was born on Tuesday, July 22. Christy and David are so happy! Everyone is so happy for them!! I cried so many tears for them that day....happy tears of course! You can read a little bit about their story on one of my previous posts, http://happymommykristi.blogspot.com/2008/02/what-week.html .
She is truly a miracle! God is so Faithful, and his timing is always perfect.

Mom and baby are doing good! Please keep them in your prayers!

ZTA Alumnae cookbooks

I just wanted to tell Anna and everyone involved, those who submitted recipes, and those who worked on getting the cookbook together, THANK YOU!!! It's an awesome cookbook!! I love appetizers and it was a "tailgating" themed cookbook. So there are lots of appetizers!

My alumnae chapter is selling them, if you're interested in ordering one, let me know! I've already used 4 of the recipes, and they were all great!

swim lessons

Nathan had his swim lessons back in June for a week. We took from Missy again, he really likes her! She's great! This year I didn't have to get in the pool with him. It was just him and a little girl named Stella.

This year they worked on using their arms. Last year, it was mostly getting them under the water and kicking and what they would do if they fell into the pool.

She had the dive sticks again and they were going to jump off the diving board, but we ran out of time.

We may go back in August if she has anymore openings!

Success!!

I know I've blogged about this once already, but I thought I would give an update about it!! Back on the 16th of June, I decided Nathan was ready to be potty trained. And, I was finally ready to work on it with him. I had been dreading this for quite some time because of horror stories I had heard. But I think I just caught him at the right time. We started using Gerber training pants, which look & feel just like big boy underwear, they are just a little thicker in the middle, just in case there is an accident. (Several people have asked me where to find these, and they are at Wal-Mart, Target, and I'm sure other places, in the baby section, where you find onesies, and rubber pants, etc.)

That morning I told him we were going to start using the potty all the time and not use diapers any longer. He said ok, and told me right away he needed to go. We have had a little "potty" out since he was two, but never really had any success with it. He would go on occasion in it, but not regularly, but I never pushed it. I was going to wait until he was ready. He would sometimes go on the big potty and had even done #2 in the big potty about a week before we started the actual potty training. He told me he needed to go and he went.

The day we actually started the potty training, he had only 3 accidents, all were outside. He would start playing and forget to tell me.

I put him in a pull-up that night, but it was dry the next morning. So the following night, I used the regular underwear, and he woke up and told me when he needed to "pee pee", he went, and went right back to sleep after we got back from the potty!

He's been in underwear ever since! He's only had a couple of accidents at night, and I think that's because we didn't hear him wake up.

Supernanny's approach is the one we used pretty much, no pull-ups, she doesn't recommend pull-ups. We did use them a few times before because they were just easier to change when we went out. But she recommends putting them in underwear so they can feel it, and I think that's what worked for us, and the fact that we were both ready!

We started on Monday and we also told him if he went all week on the potty, he would get a big boy bike..with training wheels of course! By Wednesday, he was doing great, in underwear all the time. So on that Saturday, we went to Wal-Mart and let him pick out his big boy bicycle! He loves it! He tells people he got a big boy bike b/c he pp's on the potty...too funny!

Potty trained in 3 days, I guess a little bribery never hurt anyone!!

I'm sure some people are wondering why I'm very detailed in this posting, but it's so I can remember everything whenever I get around to putting it in the scrapbook that I'm 2 years behind in!!!

The 4th!

Ok, so I should have done my posts in order, but I didn't, this post should have come before the beach trip, but that's ok!

Our friends Danna and Chris come up from Florida for the 4th of July. They got here on Thursday, we caught up, went shopping, and had dinner that night. On Friday, the 4th, the guys went golfing, and we went to eat and shop!

Later that day we grilled out, made homemade ice cream...which wasn't very good b/c we used the wrong measuring cup for sugar...there wasn't enough in it! (yuck) Then we went and saw the fireworks.

We were so glad to get to see them and catch up with them!

Thanks for coming up to see us!! We're thinking about you guys!!

Beach Trip 08'!

Wow...I can't believe I'm just now posting about our beach trip! I guess I'm still in "catch-up" mode. We went to Orange Beach, Alabama on July 6th, this is probably our favorite beach to visit as a family because it's not too crowded, it's a beautiful beach, and we feel like it's "our's"?? LOL I guess I feel this way because my family has been going to Gulf Shores/Orange Beach for as long as I can remember. Yes, we've visited a lot of other beaches, but this one is always nice. Not too many teens partying, some of our favorite restaurants, and again, not too terribly crowded. And, did I mention, the beach is beautiful!! It's white sand, the water is usually a pretty shade of green, and the beach is big!! You don't just walk out of your condo and BAM, there's the water. You walk out of your condo/house, and walk across A LOT of sand before hitting the water....which I like!

Like I said, my family/friends have been going there since I was a little girl, and once Brian and I got married, we started going there a lot too because we only lived about 4 1/2 hrs from it. Then we moved to Maryland, and didn't get to go for about 5 years! I was missing it. East Coast beaches are great, but they don't have the white sand, and pretty water I was used to. When we finally got to return last year, several of our favorite restaurants weren't there....because of a couple of hurricanes that got rid of them. But we found new restaurants that were great, so we're happy!

We went a couple of times last year, once with my family, and once with our friends and their children, both times we had a blast! But this year, we went, just the 3 of us. It was awesome! We got out to the beach early in the morning, came in for lunch, went to the pool, went back out to the beach, went back to the pool, went to dinner each night around 8pm. We had no time table, no schedule, just relaxed fun!

Nathan LOVED it!! He was tall enough this year to walk in the big pool's shallow end. His head was just above the water, so he bounced and tried to swim..... a lot! He didn't meet a stranger, he asked every kid in the pool what their name was. He made several friends. He still loved the sand, we built up a big mound of sand, that he played in every day. He made tunnels in it, drove his boat through it, he played for hours on this mound of sand. He had a blast!

He also had a great time jumping the waves this year, and playing football and baseball on the beach!


We ate at The Fish Camp, Lulu's, The Crab Trap, and Tacky Jack's.....all were great!! I was in need of some fried crab claws, and I would say Lulu's had the best this year!

The day we left we told Nathan we would stop at The Wharf and let him ride the big ferris wheel, he had been asking to do this everytime we saw it. We got there and it was closed that day for maintanance!!!! He was not happy!!! So we got him some dippin' dots, and that made him happy again! :-) He cried and cried when we left, he kept saying, "I wanna go back to the beach"! So we must go again really soon!! I'm so happy that he loves the beach as much as we do.

We had a wonderful trip, perfect weather, met a wonderful family from Tennessee, and we can't wait to go again!

Nathan would crash during dinner from playing so hard every day! :-)

I really need to figure out "picaso". For some reason I can't get it to download on my computer, but that way I could make these pics look better, instead of them being so spaced out??? Any suggestions???

Tagged!

Ok, I got tagged again! So here are the rules: answer the questions using only one word. Then tag four others.

1. Where is your cell phone? purse
2. Your significant other? working
3. Your hair? messy
4. Your mother? birthday (Happy Birthday Mom!)
5. Your father? giving
6. Your favorite thing? beach
7. Your dream last night? crazy
8. Your favorite drink? depends
9. Your dream/goal? happiness
10. The room you’re in? office
11. Your hobby? reading
12. Your fear? health
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? happy
14. What you’re not? skinny
15. Muffins? good
16. One of your wish list items? baby
17. Where you grew up? Alabama
18. The last thing you did? cleaned
19. What are you wearing? shorts
20. Favorite gadget? computer
21. Your pets? bark!
22. Your computer? nice
23. Your mood? excited
24. Missing someone? always
25. Your car? Messy
26. Something you’re not wearing? earrings
27. Favorite store? target?
28. Like someone? yes
29. Your favorite color? turquoise
30. When is the last time you laughed? today
31. Last time you cried? today

Okay who to tag?? anyone who wants to have a little fun!

Thankful......

Well, I'll be honest with you, I've been working through some issues lately, and quite frankly, I'm just tired..... I'm tired of thinking one day everything is going to be ok, and the next day feeling sorry for myself. ( I know I shouldn't do this, but sometimes it's hard not too.....just being honest here) I haven't wanted to post about this because I wanted this blog to be about our life, our happy life, not the "not so happy" life. But as we all know, that's life, some good, some bad.
Another reason I'm posting this is because I sometimes feel better about things if I write (type) them down, and just get it all out! And in two years from now, I want to be able to look back at this and know what I was dealing with during this time. And another reason, God totally lead me to two other blogs tonight of women with the same condition I have. ( I just stumbled upon these blogs off random other people's blogs??) One of them lost her little boy when she was 36 weeks pregnant, and the other lost her twin boys. Both of these women have my same condition. A condition, that I have an appointment to see my Dr. about again this morning. So I feel like maybe I'll be able to connect with other women out there who have this same condition, and we can all work through it together, you know, help each other out, lift each other up....that's what we as women do!
So, now for the "condition". Last year, after my second miscarriage in October, my dr. decided to do further testing and I tested positive for MTHFR, (what the letters stand for is way too long for me to type!) Basically it is a blood clotting disorder/folic acid deficiancy, etc. It puts you at high risk for blood clots, miscarriage, stillbirths, placental abruption, etc. I also found out I have a positive ANA (anti-nucleic antibody..sp?), & tested positive for anti-phospholipid antibodies, etc. My rheumatologist thinks that I may develop Lupus later in life.....who knows????? Or, she said it could be that I'm at the beginning stages of fibromyalgia, based on my symptoms. Again...who knows??? The hard part is NOT knowing. You've been told you have all these conditions, but there aren't any definitive answers. I know that God is in control, and he will not give you anything you can't handle. But I'm just going to be real honest here and say, I'M STILL SCARED!! I want to be around for my family for a LONG time and the thought of blood clots, lupus, etc. scare me.
We really want a second baby, and the road to get there will be long and scary on one hand, and happy and blessed on the other. I am already on a really high dose of Folic Acid, because this condition makes your body not absorb folic acid, so you have to basically "overdose" yourself on folic acid to get your body to accept any. And, I have to take a daily baby aspirin from now on. If I get pregnant again, I will have to take daily Lovenox/Heparin injections for the entire pregnancy, plus 6 weeks after delivery, when the risk of blood clots is very high.
Miscarriage, stillbirth, the loss of a baby/child is so devastating. I guess that's why I'm having such a hard time with this. I'm scared of experiencing another miscarriage, or worse.
July 3rd, just 14 days ago, should have been my due date for our 2nd child. I shouldn't be up typing, I should be up with a newborn trying to get him or her back to sleep. But I know that God's timing is always perfect, no matter how hard that is to accept at times.
At the same time, I am so very thankful.....thankful for all of God's blessings.
I've always been so thankful for Nathan, I've always known, he is a miracle. (I had a miscarriage before I had Nathan and was told I would have a hard time carrying a baby b/c of a uterine problem, that I had to have surgery for to correct) But now more than ever, I am in awe at what a wonderful miracle he is! You are born with MTHFR, so I had it when I had Nathan, but we didn't know it. Thankfully, I didn't develop a blood clot and cause him and me both to die when I was pregnant with him. Our God is a wonderful and faithful God!
Even though I am a little anxious and scared about all of the above, I'm also so very thankful.
Thankful to have a healthy 2 year old little boy, and thankful for my loving family and friends, and thankful for my health!
I also trust that God will help us through whatever may come next!

Babies, Babies everywhere!!!

ZTA picture

If you know me well, you know I love going to showers, giving showers, and going to weddings! So I am really enjoying myself lately! I have a ton of friends having babies! I helped give two showers in one day last month! I had a blast! I'm also giving a shower tomorrow for a close friend as well! Babies and weddings are so much fun to celebrate! I'm so happy for all my friends who are about to give birth, and for those who just gave birth! God is so Great!

Terry's cake & Christy's cake........both were yummy!! :-)