FINALLY!

At the end of April we went to TX for the Pleasant Ridge Homecoming and Youth Group Reunion. We had so much fun that weekend! Dad thought he burned all the pictures on a cd for me...but when I put it into my computer...the cd was blank! I was waiting to post about that weekend until I got the pictures from him...but I'm not sure when that'll be...so here's a rundown with the pictures that I took with my camera.

This first picture (actually taken by Josh) is of Juli Beth, Megan, and me. Josh was trying to recreate a picture of the 3 of us from high school. He used it in his Sunday school class the next morning. The YG reunion was lots of fun! Along with JB & Megan, Suzanne, Josh, Chris, Becky, Ashley, Courtney, Caleb & Audria, and many more were there. (If I had the pictures from Dad I'm sure I'd remember who all else was there). I hope this becomes a regular event at PR!
Here are some of the pictures I have of the rest of our trip.

I was packing to leave KS and went into the other room to get something. When I came back this is what I found! I had to laugh! It's usually Trevor that we find in our suitcase (I think Trevor thinks if he sits in the suitcase then he won't get left at home. He must have told Brody his secret!)

This is a picture of Sissie and GG after they learned we were pregnant! I think GG was in total shock!
Mike, Staci, & Brody at the lake at GG's house.
Daddy Steve and Namaw with Brody at the Lakewood Village Lake.
Dad and Mike went to check out the dock.

Namaw shows Brody the beautiful roses!
GG has a tradition of giving the great-grands a penny to throw in the fish pond. Lauren and Katelyn LOVE this tradition and I'm sure Brody and Collin will too.
GG, Sissie, Namaw, and Brody

Brody tries on his cool new sunglasses from Daddy Steve and Namaw.
Tyler and Brody play football while Lauren watches (Sunday after church)
Mike shows Collin how to wear the "cool" glasses.

I guess Brody wasn't challenging enough to play football with, so Tyler, Dad, Mike, and Caleb played a game of football (several hours long...look how sweaty they are!)
Monday morning Angela stopped by on her way to work to have breakfast with us. She had a cute little present for Brody. He's chewing on the tag for the shoes she got him and Angela is opening the box that contained a cute little pig that sings songs.

(This weekend in review is for posterity. Don't feel obligated to read it all!)

It was a very busy weekend. We got to town late Friday night. Caleb and Audria were still at Dad & Mom's house watching the Mavs game. We told all of them that night that we were pregnant (they were shocked...but excited)! Then Saturday morning we went to see GG & Sissie. Saturday afternoon Tyler, Ann, Caleb, & Audria came over to Dad & Mom's house. Audria, Ann and I went shopping....I don't remember what the guys did. Saturday night was the youth group reunion. Mike, Caleb, & Audria left early to go drive around and look for land for Caleb & Audria to build on. Then Juli Beth and Megan came over to Dad & Mom's house and we stayed up talking until after midnight!

Sunday morning we went to church and ate lunch at church (part of the homecoming festivities) with GG, Jan, Matt & Julie's family, and all our family. After lunch Matt and Julie came over to Dad & Mom's house to visit for awhile and let the kids play together. The boys went to play football while Ann and I went with Matt to run an errand (and stop by Sonic ;) For dinner we headed to the Mexican Inn in Mansfield to celebrate Audria's birthday! David & Daina and Billy & Paula joined us. It was a yummy dinner! Then we headed to Caleb & Audria's for presents and cake/ice cream. After a long day we headed back to Dad & Mom's and went to bed.

I got up early (5:00 am) on Monday to take Dad & Mom to the airport for their trip to Nevada. When I got back Brody and Mike were awake and Mike was making breakfast for Angela and Nancy. They stopped by and had breakfast and then Angela headed to work. We then packed our stuff in the car and headed back to KS.

Memorial Day

So ya'll think $18 is cheap for a sitter? Does that DOUBLE with each child that you add? So if we have 3 kids does that mean that it would cost us almost $60 for a babysitter just to go out to dinner and a movie? It didn't seem too much to pay for one child...but I guess I was just thinking ahead and multiplying....and thinking that we'd never be able to afford to go out if we have more than just Brody! Maybe we can still go out but we'll just have to eat at Taco Bueno rather than Lone Star ;)

We spent a nice relaxing day at home yesterday for Memorial Day. Mike practiced golf a little in the afternoon and then mowed with Brody before making a scrumpdiddlyumcious dinner of grilled salmon, green beans, and salad. The salmon had been marinating since Sunday and was so juicy! Yummmm!

After dinner it was bath time for Brody. He really enjoys it when Mike gives him a bath. I think he plays a little rougher in the tub than I do. Here are a few pictures from bath time.

"Daddy? Can you make the water come out of here again, PLEASE?!?"

"I'm gonna get you Frog!" (Notice how skinny he looks in this picture! I promise...we feed him lots! I'm tellin' ya...he never stops going until he's asleep. I think that's why he's burning so many calories and is so skinny! Or maybe Caleb's right and it's just because he works at a gym!)

The new game of dropping the toys over the side of the tub.
I guess the link needed some company....so the frog went over the side too!

Date Night

Saturday night was date night at our house. This was the very first time for us to hire a babysitter! The other times we've gone out Brody has stayed with family. It's nice to be close to family since our date cost us an extra $18 because of the babysitter (just wait until we have more kids than Brody!) The babysitter was really good with Brody and even had the house cleaned up when we got home! She said he was really good for her and went to bed around 8 pm. She said that she had to change his pj's because he got milk from the bottle all over himself. (Sunday morning Mike looked at the bottle she fed him and noticed that the nipple wasn't on the bottle all the way...so that's why it leaked all over him! lol)

We REALLY enjoyed our night on the town. We went to Hutch and ate dinner at Lone Star. We STUFFED ourselves on the yummy "Texas" food ;) After dinner we went to see Shrek the Third. It was fun! I think it made the movie funnier to be watching it with a theater full of children who were crackin' up laughing at every joke! After dinner we made a stop at Wal-Mart (what trip to Hutch is complete without a stop at Wally World?). Then we were gonna stop at Metropolitan Coffee to get a coffee...but they were closed?!?!? Have they always closed at 10 pm on Saturdays? I thought they used to have live bands on Saturday nights and were open late? Maybe not. I was disappointed....but we were both still so full from dinner that we got over our disappointment really quick.

We got home around 11 pm and then I drove into town to take the babysitter home (she's a college student without a car). The road to Sterling was down to one lane because of the flooding. The river is still FAR out of it's banks! I was glad they didn't have the highway closed and that I was able to get her home safely!

Since a post isn't complete without pictures....here's a few of Brody (who else do we take pictures of these days?)

Brody has suddenly realized that there is stuff inside that big, black thing in the middle of the kitchen! Now whenever I open the fridge door he crawls as fast as he can to look inside it! Of course I just had to take a picture ;)
Here's Brody eating cherrios in his high chair (from Daddy Ken and Grandmommy) while we ate breakfast.

Sweetest Sound on Earth

Last night Brody was VERY fussy. He was just really tired. Brody hung out with Mike at work while I had a dr's appointment (post miscarriage appointment) so...he missed his afternoon nap. This makes for a difficult evening. He was a little happier after I nursed him before bedtime. So, I left him in Mike's care and went to dry my hair. When I turned off the hairdryer....I heard the sweetest sound. Mike and Brody were in the living room laughing. It was that hard belly laugh that babies have. So sweet! I just stood there and listened to it for a few minutes.
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We're getting more rain in KS. Tuesday night thru yesterday afternoon we had 1.5 inches. Last night between 5:30 and 8:30 pm we had another 3 inches! It rained all night last night but it was too dark to see the rain gauge this morning to see how much more rain we got. Crazy! I called dispatch this morning to make sure that the highway was open to work. It took forever for them to answer the phone (I'm sure he was sleeping) and when he did he said, "I think it's open...at least right now." The ditches were full, but the highway was clear. Whew!
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Last night Mike made himself a snack. It was very funny to watch him eat this snack. He cooked some turkey sausage. To season it he used (among other things) TONS of jalapenos! If you know Mike, you know that he LOVES spicy food....but this was even too spicy for him! He was sweating the entire time he ate it...and gulping down water! By the time he finally finished it...he looked like he'd just had an intense cardio workout! Then he asked me if it was good for his stomach to feel like it's on fire! I told him that I didn't think that was good for his body and that maybe next time he should use just a few jalapenos. Wonder if he'll remember this next time.....

9 month appointment

Yesterday was Brody's 9 month appointment. Everything looked great. He's up to 29 1/4" and is 18 lbs. I know...he hasn't gained much weight...but she assured me it's because of how active he is. She said he may or may not be back on the curve with weight by his year appointment. He's in the 75th percentile for height...but only the 10th for weight! lol. Made me think of Caleb. We were looking at his baby book one day and noticed that his weight stayed the same for quite a while. His comment was, "Mom...did you stop feeding me for awhile?" lol. Nope...he just started crawling and then walking!

I talked to Debbie (the dr) about taking Brody backpacking with us at the end of June. She said she hasn't ever had any patients that were going to take their baby backpacking....camping in a trailer, yes....but not backpacking. So...she didn't have much advice for us. She did said to take along some Tylenol in case he gets altitude sickness. I think I also need to try to find a manual hand pump to borrow or buy for cheap for that week. There are going to be some days where we're climbing a mountain and Brody will just be hanging out with Mom around camp. I'm not sure that I'll be able to make it all day without nursing/pumping...besides...I don't want to hurt my supply. There's just so much more to think about on this kind of trip now that we have a son!

In other news....I'm finally going to get to see my best girl friend, Julie!!!!!! Ben, Julie, and Malachi are coming to visit us this weekend!!! I'm so excited! I haven't seen Julie since Brody was a week old. I'm not sure if that visit even counts since I was sleep walking thru most of it! lol I'm sure at some point this weekend we'll try to sneak away and go to the coffee house in Hutch :)

Yummy Sunday

Yesterday we celebrated Mother's Day with Mike's mom after church. We went over to her house and made a big lunch for her. I guess I should say that Mike made lunch for both of us :) It was sooooo yummy! I even took a picture of it (minus the spinach salad). I'm sure Dad and Ann will love that I took a picture of the food ;) We had shrimp alfredo with tortellini and mussels. He also made brushetta and spinach salad. I was in charge of dessert. We had ice cream with Butterfinger candy bars! lol. Wonder who the chef is in our family?
Brody thought the food looked good too! I think he begged a few bites from Grammy.

After lunch we headed over to the park. Brody really enjoyed swinging in the swing!
Mike had fun at the park too! I don't think this was made for an adult to ride!
Brody thought the tunnel was exciting!
Mike took Brody to the top of the big slide and went down with Brody in his lap. You can see how much he loved the wind blowing in his hair!
Brody loves being outside!


After the park we drove towards Macksville. The tornado that went thru Greensburg, KS also went thru this area. Here are a few pictures of the debris it left behind.

I'm not a farmer...but I don't think that they want the tires for their irrigation systems to be pointing straight up in the air!!!
Here's a view from our car of some of the trees that were stripped and knocked over!

Xbox 360

I never wanted to see an Xbox or Playstation come into our house. I thought that if Mike had an Xbox he would play it all the time. That would mean we wouldn't get to watch any TV, I'd have to watch endless hours of gaming, and he'd get lost in the game rather than talking to me! For years, any time he'd mention buying one....I just wouldn't act excited about it. I never said, "No! Don't get one!" I really just didn't say much...and he never got one. About a month ago that changed.

Caleb emailed Mike a "great deal" on an Xbox 360. Mike told me that it would be a really good deal because it came with an HD DVD player (our DVD player went out a few months ago). He took Caleb up on the deal and within days a big box arrived at our house containing the prized Xbox!

Now you think that I may be posting about this to complain about Mike playing Xbox all the time now.....this post is actually about something that I NEVER thought I'd be thinking!!!

Sunday night I went to bed before Mike (like any other night). He's been waiting to play his games until after I got to bed and I heard him log into Xbox Live and start chatting with Caleb. I was laying in bed praying and a prayer came out of my lips before I could even think twice about saying it...."Lord, thank you so much for the Xbox." *GASP* What did I just say? Thank you for the Xbox?!?!? This is probably the first time in history a wife has uttered those words to our Lord! Then I started thinking about it...I really am thankful for the Xbox! Why? Well...I think Caleb and Mike have talked on the phone or chatted on Xbox Live more in the last month than in the entire 7 years that we've lived in Kansas! It's so cool to see their relationship growing. I love the fact that Mike and my brothers are more like brothers than brothers-in-law...and I'm so happy that there's something that allows them to grow even closer! Now we just need Tyler to get an Xbox again!

So yes....Lord, I'm very thankful for our Xbox....and I'm sorry that I resisted the idea for so many years!

Inside Out

Today is "Inside Out Day"! Brody has now been outside my body longer than he was inside me! Nine months ago today our little boy came into this world. I can still see the moment they laid him on my stomach as clear as the day it happened. I can still see the tears in Mike's eyes and feel the soft skin of that little tiny arm as he reached out to me. I loved him so much in that very first touch...I never knew how much more I would love him just 9 months later! Brody really is a joy to be around. He always has a smile on his face and words on the tip of his tongue (I think he's going to be a talker like his mommy ;) It is the sweetest sound on earth when you hear your son call you by name and crawl towards you with such excitement at the idea of being held in your arms! Mike and I have been so blessed to spend the last 9 months getting to know all about our son...and we look forward to the many months and years to come!

Here's a picture of me the day before Brody went from Inside to Out (39 weeks 3 days pregnant):This is a picture the Sunday after he was born. He would've been 6 days old.This is Brody's very first football picture at 6 days old:Here is today's attempt at a football picture! lol. I think that Mike is going to have to help me! Brody thought it was a game. "Let's see how fast I can crawl away from where Mommy puts me on the couch before she can take a picture!" This is what most of my pictures looked like! lol Still gotta love him :)

1st Mother's Day

This is my first Mother's Day with Brody (outside my tummy that is ;) It's fun to have a special day to reflect on the joys of motherhood and the love you have for your own mother! Mike told me that he and Brody had planned on making me breakfast in bed...but I guess Brody was just too excited about it to sleep. He was up by 6 am. Yuck! So Mike went and got him and just brought him back to our bed so we could lie there for a little while longer. Anyone who's had a baby knows that it's impossible to sleep with them lying in your bed! Brody would alternate between trying to crawl over my to get to the nightstand and sitting in front of me pulling on my nose/ears/mouth/eyes. We finally just got up and started the day. Mike made waffles for breakfast...they were yummy! Then Brody had flowers and a card for me. (Mike said Brody picked them out but was too cheap to pay for them himself! lol) Inside the card was a picture of a sleeping bag!!!! I was excited to learn that I'll be getting a new sleeping bag just in time for our Colorado backpacking vacation this summer! Here's the link to the sleeping bag he got me: http://www.rei.com/product/746683

After church this morning, Mike went outside with me and Brody and took a few pictures of us on our first Mother's Day :) Here's a picture of the flowers.
The card from Brody:

Mike didn't just stop with breakfast...he also made a big lunch today! Fried chicken, corn, mashed potatoes, and fried okra! I was in Heaven!!!!

Roseola

Have you ever heard of Roseola? I never had! Brody had a fever Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. We thought it was because a tooth was about to break thru. The fever was pretty high (102.6) and we were confused when it went away and he still didn't have any teeth. He didn't act sick at all...so we didn't know what to think. Friday night I went on the Ladies Retreat with church and while I was gone he broke out in a bad rash! It wasn't until I got home on Saturday afternoon and called Mom (who was in Temple) that we found out what the rash was.

Cindy was at Daddy Ken and Grandmommy's when I was talking to Mom and she recognized the pictures of the rash immediately as Roseola. Information online says that it occurs in children under the age of 3 and begins with a high fever. After the fever goes away a rash suddenly appears. It's a viral infection and the rash should go away in a day or two. After I got off the phone with Mom, I had emails from my cousin Julie and Juli Beth (who are both RN's) giving me the same diagnosis. Gotta love technology!

Here are a few pictures of his rash:

Washed Out

The flood waters have washed out part of the road along the highway I take to get to work! For the past few days I've been taking the looooong way to work. It has more than doubled my commute time! The word around town is that it's going to take a week or two for them to rebuild the road and reopen the highway! Yikes! I hope that is just exaggerated rumor! Next week I hope to have enough energy back to start exercising again and that means I'll have to leave EXTREMELY early to have enough time to workout!
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Yesterday Brody felt really hot when he woke up from his nap. I took his temp and it was 101.6! I called the dr and she said to just give him Tylenol and watch for other symptoms. Mom said to give him a cool bath to help lower the temp. By bedtime his temp was down to 99.1. I think that he may be teething....but we've thought that before and were wrong. Maybe that'll be his 9-month birthday present on Monday...a tooth!

Massive Flooding

I'm sure you've all seen Greensburg, KS on the news. An EF5 tornado when thru there Friday night. Mike played them in HS, so he was familiar with the layout of the town and was shocked at the pictures of the destruction! 95% of the town was wiped out by the 1 3/4 mile wide tornado! We continued to have storms come thru our area all weekend. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night we were up late watching the weather to make sure that we were not in harms way. We managed to avoid the major storms (only went to the basement once), however, now the water is rushing our way! Yesterday I wasn't able to get to work because of the massive amount of flooding our area is seeing. There were reports of people riding around on jet skis...not in a lake...but on the fields!

This morning the highway was blocked off at Alden Road but the officer told me I could get to Lyons going thru Alden, then Chase, then finally to Lyons. Mike just called and told me that the highway is now closed south of Sterling! I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to get home! I hope I can make it! I really don't want to be stuck at work all night long!

Brody is now pulling up on any and everything in sight! Today an older couple came into the gym and talked to Brody. When they left my office to go exercise, Brody followed as far as he could. Then he talked to them over the gate!

Created to Worship

Yesterday I needed to go to Wal-Mart. I needed groceries, ingredients for baby food, and storage tubs to store the maternity clothes my cousin Julie gave me. I left Brody at home with Mike and headed to Hutch. It seemed just like any other time I've gone to Wal-Mart. I pulled into the parking lot, hurried inside (to avoid getting soaked by the rain), and got a shopping cart. As I started down the first aisle it hit me...this is going to be harder than I thought! Maybe it was the time of day, maybe it was because it was a weekend, maybe it was just like every other day...but it seemed like on every aisle I ran into someone that was pregnant or had a tiny baby. I was shocked at the feelings of sadness that washed over me. It wasn't jealousy...just sadness.

Natalie (a friend from ACU) sent me a link to an organization her aunt started when she lost a baby. It's called M.E.N.D. (Mommies Enduring Neonatal Death). There are many helpful articles on there in the "newsletter" section. In one of the articles I read the words to the song below. It brought joy to my heart when I thought about the truth behind the words:

I am your sacrifice

I am your offering

I was created to worship you

There’s nothing I could bring

That would mean more then this one thing

I was created to worship you.

You are all I have

All I have is you

You are all I am

All I am is you

Whatever you ask of me

There’s no one I'd rather be

Then one created to worship you

In all that comes my way

Poverty fame or pain

I was created to worship you

Without you there’s nothing Lord

Now and forevermore I was created to worship you

Child of God

Below is the picture that we gave our family this past weekend when we went to Texas for the Pleasant Ridge Reunion. We were SHOCKED but very excited when we found out that we were expecting another baby (I took FOUR pregnancy tests...just to make sure)! I was a little scared at first about the fact that Brody would only be 16 months old when the baby is born. Mike assured me that it would be fun to have them that close together. We talked about the great friends they would become and how Brody would love to have a little brother or sister to play with. Our families were equally shocked/excited when we told them the news!

I started a journal as soon as I found out I was pregnant. I did this for Brody too and would write about the joys and struggles of pregnancy. I also wrote about all the things I was looking forward to doing with him...and the many prayers I was saying for him. I think it'll be fun to look back at with him when he and his wife are expecting a child of their own! I still write in Brody's journal every now and then. The journal for the new baby is a little different....it has an end. Here is an excerpt from the journal:

The week before going to TX I had some spotting, so I had blood drawn on Monday and Thursday to test my HCG levels and make sure my worrying was for nothing. The levels from Monday’s test came back very high. I didn’t find out the results from Thursday's blood draw until we were on our way home from TX on Monday the 30th. Debbie (my doctor) called and said that my levels had dropped a little (they should have doubled in the 2nd draw). This gave her cause for concern. She asked me to come in on Tuesday morning at 10:00 am for a sonogram.

Tuesday, Mike, Brody, and I went in to the Medical Center for the sonogram. The sonographer found your little body on the sonogram. You measured 8 weeks (older than I thought), however, you weren’t moving and he couldn’t find a heartbeat. He left the room (before telling us this) to go get Debbie. Since we had seen Brody at 6 weeks 6 days with Paula’s sonogram machine…we knew what you should look like. I could tell that you weren’t moving and didn’t have a beating heart, however, I was still hoping that I was wrong. Then the sonographer came back in the room with Debbie and showed her the images of your precious body. Debbie told us that you had already died. She said based on your size it had been within the past few days. Mike and I both had tears streaming down our face.

Wednesday and Thursday now seem like a blur in my mind. There was so much blood....so much that I had to go to the hospital and get 2 units of blood to replenish my body. Mike has been my rock. Not only has he been taking care of Brody, meals, the house....he's cleaned up after me and cared for me during this horrible nightmare known simply as a miscarriage.

I now know that it is true. You are gone. There’s no hope for a mistaken sonogram or a miracle anymore. I saw with my own eyes as you passed from my body to your watery grave. Tears stream down my face at the loss of a dream, a future, and a child. It seems so hard to say goodbye after such a short time. It should be just the beginning….not the end. I am thankful that I can rest assured that you are now safe in the arms of God. I’m jealous that he gets to hold you first, however, you are blessed to get to skip the troubles of this world and go directly to a place of eternal peace and comfort.

We can’t wait until the day we enter Heaven and are able to hold you and love on you. Even though we never got to see your precious face…we know that we will recognize you by the impression you left on our hearts.

Goodbye my dear child. You will always be in my heart.

I love you!
Mom