Baby it's cold outside!

As if it were not enough to have a ton of snow around Christmas, we were hit with yet another winter storm. We were warned by the weather men that it would be bad, and they were right! Fires, fallen trees, and power outages were just a little bit of what people in this area(and most of Oklahoma) got to deal with. My family has been lucky thus far having not lost power. It's still snowing so I'll just keep praying that we don't lose power!!

Through a New Lens

I recently purchased a new camera! I felt like, my kids are only going to grow up once and I want the best possible pictures I can get. I looked at a lot of cameras in my price range and talked with a couple sales people at Best Buy, which helped me decide on the Nikon D3000. I am still very much a beginner and could use any advice you have! Especially if you've had experience with this particular model. I have taken a couple of pictures while playing around with the "Guide" mode on the camera, so here you go!

New Car!!

I got a new a car yesterday! It is a 2010 Dodge Avenger SXT! Below is a picture from the dealerships website:




We decided since Ben is going to have a few more appointments in the city with his plastic surgeon, we would need a more dependable car. I had read about A LOT of different cars online and really liked the look of the Avenger. I test drove it and loved it even more! It just drives so well. It is the base model, but still comes with power windows and locks, keyless entry, and Sirius Radio. We got a pretty good deal: $2500 rebate, Tires for Life, and a lifetime powertrain warranty. I feel very blessed to have a new, dependable vehicle!

2010? Bring it on!

Well, I have now been alive 24 years and 1 day. I am hopeful that my 24th year will be my best yet! I will tell you though, it will have to top my 19th, 22nd, and 23rd! It has been a nice, relaxing new year so far and I've lost a pound since the first. I don't know about you, but I plan on sticking to my New Year's resolution this year. I WILL lose at least 20 pounds this year. I haven't seen size 5 in a very long time and I would like to become friends with it again.

I have not posted in quite sometime, so I thought I would post some pictures of Christmas. Yes I know, I'm way behind. Just bear with me as I get caught up!

We opened our gifts early since we were going to be somewhere else on Christmas day. These first few pictures are here at home with my mom, stepdad, and youngest brother.

The next couple are from my Dad's..







These last pictures are from Christmas Eve and Christmas in Texas!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I look forward to Christmas ALL year and finally got to put my tree up. Maybe I should just always leave my tree up since I love it so much...: ) I don't see my husband letting me do that though.

Life's Little Surprises

Sometimes life catches you by surprises and throws things at you that you don't expect. One of those surprises happened last week to our family...his name is Benjamin! Ben was born September 8th, 2009 at 6:11PM by emergency c-section. He weighed 4 pounds and 1 ounce, measuring 15 3/4 inches long.

Ben was actually due on October 7th, so he was 4 weeks and 1 day early. I had been doing fetal kick counts since my third trimester began to make sure that he was moving enough and to make sure he didn't stop moving. On Tuesday the 8th, he moved at 5:00am and had not moved again by the time 1:30pm rolled around. I drank water, ate breakfast, drank a soda...but nothing happened. Josh begged me to call the doctor to find out what I needed to do, so gave in to make him feel better. They had me come into the office and hooked me up to a monitor to watch me for a little bit. I figured I would just be sent right back home, but I was sure wrong. After being hooked up for a little bit, we noticed a couple drastic drops in his heart rate. The doctor decided at this point to send me to the hospital for extended monitoring.

Josh and I got to the hospital around 3:00 or a little after, and had been hooked up to the monitor for not much more than 30 minutes when we finally talked to the on call doctor. He informed us that we would be having a c-section right away because the baby was in distress and we needed to get him out as soon as possible. He said he wasn't sure what was causing the distress, but we would obviously be able to find out when he opened me up. When I went in for surgery, he found out that Ben had been in so much stress in my uterus that he had had a bowel movement that he was smothering in. I apparently have a septum (a dividing wall inside the uterine cavity) in my uterus that made it very dangerous for Ben to be in there and made it to where he didn't have near enough room to grow. The doctor told us that if we had waited 2 more hours, Ben would not have made it and we were very very lucky. He also told me that Carter (my 4 year old) was lucky to have survived as well with my problem.

I have been told that in order to have anymore children, I will have to have the septum removed. So I guess that will be happening fairly soon as well...just in case.

That is story of the birth of Benjamin. ; ) I know that some of you may have wondered why he was born so early, and now you know!

(Please advise any woman that you know that is pregnant or planning to have children that they NEED to do fetal kick counts in your third trimester, no matter WHAT! These saved Ben! If I had not been doing this exercise, I would never have known that there was any cause for concern and would have lost my baby.)

Carter gets a new bike!

My baby boy turns 4 next Sunday! I can barely believe it myself, it doesn't seem like 4 years have even passed! For his birthday, his Granny Donna and Papa Don bought Carter a new bike. I thought I would share a few pictures of the first time he rode it. It's a spiderman bike, with matching helmet and knee/elbow pads of course. : )

The first day of a whole different life...

I went into the doctor today for my 29 week check-up. I found out that I need to gain more weight and I need to put more protein in my diet to help my nausea that i've been getting when I'm up on my feet during the day. She's having me drink a Boost shake in the morning at breakfast and after dinner. This shake contains a Boost drink for the protein and Vanilla ice cream for the calories, in case you were wondering why in the world she's having me drink a Boost shake. I really dreaded it, because I'd been told they weren't all that great, but I was surprised to find that it's actually pretty good. It's like a runny chocolate shake, but not overly sweet.

I also had my blood pressure taken, which is a normal check-up thing to do. What was a little alarming today was that my blood pressure was 90/43. Pretty low, right? Yeah, I thought so. Apparently they're aren't too worried because I always run around 97/68 or something close to that. So my body is used to running on a blood pressure this low, which makes it normal for me, not "low".

The biggest news received today was that I will be having my C-Section on October 1st. So on that day, I will become the mother of 2! We will welcome Benjamin Wayne into the world! I am so very excited to know exactly when we will get to meet our new bundle of joy. It will definitely be the first day of a whole different life. One that I can't wait to start!

Happy 4th of July!

I hope everyone has a very safe and enjoyable 4th of July! : )


Here are couple of pictures of my cutie pie!

Summer Fun!

Josh and I took Carter to the pool for the first time of the summer today! Actually, it was his first time EVER at this particular pool. I took a few pictures and thought I would post them. You'll have to excuse the pictures, they weren't anywhere near me and I couldn't see because it was BRIGHT outside.