Thanksgiving 2009

This year for Thanksgiving we went to my Dad's house. It was a fun time with Matt and his boys. That day was very windy and cold. With all the wind it placed all these leaves in the back of my dad's yard which was a fun playing ground with the boys. Nate loves to walk in them and roll around. The boys had fun putting leaves on Nate's head.

19 months and new things

This month Nate has develop more learning skills and more new words. He is getting such a funny personality. This month we have been off the acid medicine for a month now. We have had some major tummy issues and not really sure what is going on. We have been on Soy milk for the past week and we have seen big changes in him. We are going back to the Dr to discuss our options.

1. Spitting is now back again. Ugh. Enough said.
2. He has 3 wood puzzles. I was sitting there working and I looked to see what he was doing and he was putting them in there proper places. Amazing to me that just one day he starts doing it. We have been working with puzzles for a while too. Hmm wonder what Santa is going to bring him?
3. Apple is our new favorite word. Says it very well.
4. Singing songs are becoming more fun. He now sings along with almost all the words. You can hear some of them come out during the songs very clear. Favorite songs are: ABC's, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Brontosaurus, Hot Dog Hot Dog (mickey), Itsy Bitsy spider, Skidamarink.
5. Brontosaurus song is what we learned from music class. We use too go around and stomp our feet and arm motions. He now stomps his right foot only singing the song and does the arm motions.
6. Nooj is his BFF. Now in the mornings he will go back to his room and get Nooj out of the crib. He will hug Nooj and talk to him. He only holds Nooj a special way too. It is right at his neck. It is one of the cutest things I have ever seen.
7. Uses a fork pretty well now.
8. 1 bottom tooth 2 molars have broken through in one month = FUN TIMES
9. He takes keys and tries to unlock doors with it
10. He now is putting pieces together. He knew the other morning that this other piece was in his room and he went and got it and put it together.
11. He is helping us more with cleaning up.
12. Goes to the highchair now when he is hungry.
13. Favorite cookie right now is Nilla Waffer mini's. It is the first thing he will pull out of the pantry.
14. Walking on the couch is his new game. He knows it isn't allowed and he will look at his with this grin and stands and then tries to get away with it. Sometimes when we get up after a warning he will sit down knowing he is in trouble with a huge smile on his face.
15. He has figured out one of the saftey latches in the kitchen and loves to play with the kitchen things. Takes everything out.
16. Pulls the chairs out of the tables and climbs on them.
17. He likes climbing on top of Gabbie's cage to play on.
18. He likes to wear his Daddy's hats around the house.
19. I have to brag. Putting him to bed has been such a blessing. I hope this doesn't ever change. We ask him if he is ready for bed and he will either go to Daddy or go to the stairs. He doesn't give us any headache in this department and I am so Thankful for that.

Saying Goodbye to Shelly

Me, Traci, Lauren and Shelly at Lauren's baby's shower

Shelly brought Ella (1 month old) to Nate's 1st birthday party.

On Thursday November 19th I lost a great friend. A friend who was a fighter.

I was up most of the night of the 18th knowing that something bad could really happen in the next 24- 48 hours. I talked to my nurse friend who gave comfort to Shelly's family that night. I was hoping and praying for that specialist to perform miracles that day. I also know that Shelly's body couldn't take much more. One month ago she was only 94 pounds...what was her body now through all this? I know she was so tired and her little body couldn't take much more. I have done everything I know that a friend could give her through prayer and getting more prayers for her. I thought about her so many times throughout the days and worried about how her family was holding up.

Then I get the call the morning of the 19th. The one call I didn't want to answer because I knew what Traci was going to tell me. Why? Why did this have to happen to her? Why did God take her away from her 8 month old daughter? So going through the anger emotions with God I stopped because that wasn't going to get me anywhere. I always believe that God brings people into your life for a reason. He also brings people into this world and takes them away early for a reason. Reasons I can't explain but I try to give myself a comfort answer to help me through rough patches. So here is what I came up with:

Shelly was brought into my life through Sigma Kappa alumnae group here in Atlanta (that is how I met Traci too) about 7 years ago. I didn't become very close to Shelly until all the weddings in our life started happening around 4 years ago. Then got closer once we all started having babies. It was a group of 4 of us: Traci, Shelly, Lauren and I. I was the outsider that was brought into this group because they all went to UF together and all in SK there together. Also I was the Christian girl and they were brought up Jewish. I can tell you have learned alot about the Jewish faith these last few years. But they never made me feel like the outsider. Just one of the girls. Shelly was the one that always gave her opinion in the group and never held anything back. That is what I loved about her. She always gave 100% whatever she belonged too included the President of the UF alumnae group. These are the things that I looked up to Shelly. She was a leader and not a follower. She inspired me to stay strong in what I believe in and fight for it. She didn't take *** from nobody. I always wished I had that in me because my heart is too soft sometimes.

Then she brought Ella into our lives. She is the only one in our group so far that has had a little girl. We were all excited because we wanted "our son" to be the one that Ella chooses for life. Shelly knew the concerns the Dr had with her getting pregnant but then again she wouldn't let that stop her. This was her dream that she wanted and nothing would stop her. She took every precaution she knew even to have her specialized Dr in there while the c section was being preformed so if there were any complications it could be preformed there. She did everything she knew best just so she could bring a child into this world. She made her goal...she gave us Ella. Shelly didn't leave this world with a fond memory of her, she left us a piece of her. A piece that will always remain special to all of us.

I will truly miss our lunches out together as the 4 of us. It would take us months to plan but I always looked forward to them because I knew it be interesting conversations. The times that Shelly was in the hospital these last couple of months I would catch up with her over IM on Facebook. I wanted to make so many things better for her because I knew how much she missed being away from Ella and Tom. The last time I saw Shelly was the time she was home in Oct. I was by her house and called her telling her I had the Consumer Reports magazine for her to find the vacuum she needed to buy. I didn't come inside because Nate was falling asleep in the car and I had to get home to work. I was really rushed that day but I had enough time to stop for a brief moment and give her a hug. I will cherish that last hug I had with her because I never thought it would be our last.

After telling Shelly goodbye today it made me realize how many people lives she has touch. We all four belong to this online chat group that we call our "mommy group". This group of woman on this site I have been with ever since I got engaged. Once I had Nate we moved over to The Bump. They all knew Shelly and would ask for updates all the time. These past 3 weeks Traci and I have been letting them know how she is doing and asking for prayers. They have reached out tremendously. When you think the world is full of so much hate there is something that grabs you and you realize that there are caring people out there that make this earth a better place. These woman are them. They make my world a better place and make me feel so proud that I know them. Shelly would of been so touch all of them and what they want to do for Tom and Ella.

Shelly will be known to me as my Olympic track star. Someone that fought so many hurtles and was so brave through all of them. That is what I am going to carry in my heart for the rest of my life. I will never forget Shelly.

Tater tot update at 24 weeks

A lot has been going on with Tater tot lately and I just haven't had the heart to write anything about it because I would get too emotional. At our 20 week ultrasound we were told that there was fluid on the baby's brain. They sent us immediately over to the hospital to the specialist and that is where he gave us more details. Normal brain fluid is 1 or below and at 20 weeks we were at 1.02. There was talk about genetic disorders to something viral. The worst case would be going to a brain surgeon to have a shunt put into it's head at birth. Through many weeks of praying and crying we made it. Today is a good day. God is good. The fluid levels are now back to normal on both sides of the brain. This brought tears to our eyes. Tater tot now weighs 1 lb 5 oz. At 20 weeks tater tot was 12 oz. Growing like a weed!

We are still dealing with the placenta previa. There has been a slight change to it but it is a wait and see kind of game. If the placenta is still there in 6 weeks we will know that Tater tot will come early. My OB stated if no bleeding occurs then he will take me at 36 or 37 weeks. He would do an amniocentesis to see if the lungs have matured. If I do start bleeding again then I might be taken earlier for safety precautions. The reason they wouldn't wait until the normal 39 weeks is due to the excess bleeding that could occur and put me in high risk and also the baby.

So we made it through one big hurtle and now we can do this easy one. I have faith in God he will protect us and not give us more than we can handle.

Since we had a babysitter today (thanks Gammy) we took the opportunity to shop for new furniture for Tater Tot. Tater will be moving into Nate's room because we don't want to take the mural down that Brad did for Nate. We found something we liked but seeing our pricing options at other places. We also went to Babies R Us to start a registry for the couple items we need for this one. Not as much as the first but if we didn't register we wouldn't get all the good coupons. So we got so much done today. Funny how fast you can go to places without a toddler:).

So the only thing I haven't shared is the sex of the baby. Brad begged and begged to know this time. I guess it is only fair since I did it my way the first time. I told Brad at our 20 week appt that he could make the best decision for the family. He just looked at me and stated he had to talk it over with Nate. He leaned in and talked with Nate and stated "Nate wants to know". He is so smart. Brad and I both thought this time it was a girl. But we were wrong...It's a BOY! Nate is going to have a little brother and that is sooooo cool. I don't know what I would do without my sister. He is going to have so much fun with Tater tot!

Thanks to everyone for your prayers and being there for us these past 4 weeks. We could not have gotten through this without you. We are truly blessed.

Nate and Halloween

Nate had the best time Trick or Treating. Gammy and Papa came over to watch the excitement. He would go up to the door and knock on it and then he would take the candy one by one and put in his bucket. Then after he was done with that he wanted to go inside the person's house. He didn't understand why he couldn't go inside the house and play. When he got back we let him explore his candy. I gave him a sweet tart to see what he would do and he didn't like that very much. Then we got into the lollipops. He really didn't know what to do with that either. He is a person that likes to crunch things and not lick. He kept trying to bite it. He was more interested in trying to take off the wrapper on all of them than eat any of them. Then he tried to see how many lollipop's he could get in his hand at one time. He played with his candy for almost an hour. That snickers bar is never going to be the same.

Hot Air Balloons and Lauren

Lauren came over to our house last Sunday and while she was here the hot air balloons went over our house. This time Nate noticed them and kept looking up and saying "loooon". He thought he could play with them.