Relief

WOW!!!

I can hardly put into words what all we have been through within the past few weeks. I wanted to spend this time thanking everyone for their thoughts and prayers for this baby. This baby already has a wonderful story to share. So many of our family and friends have brought this baby before the creator of life and for that we are eternally grateful.

I can finally breathe. As I was waiting in the parking lot of the doctor's office, I reflected back on all of the thoughts and prayers that were being offered up. Those prayers carried us through this hardship. Thank you all so much for carrying us through with your love, thoughts and prayers.

PRAISE BE TO GOD!

Waiting Anxiously for Monday

Unfortunately, we are not going to get our results back from the amnio until sometime Monday afternoon. The doctor's office had to get the contents off a day later than we expected. Of course, we are devasted. These past 3 days have been filled with nervousness, fear, anxiety and hopefulness. Please continue to remember this baby in your prayers through the weekend.

Heavy Heart

The past few days and weeks have been challenging. Many of you know (check out Jason's blog if you don't) what we are going through. For the past two weeks I have not really "gone" there. Yesterday made it all too real. Right now I am so nervous and anxious to hear our news on Friday. The kids distract my thoughts during the day, but its during the quiet times that I find it the most dificult. I know that many of you are praying for this baby and I ask you to please continue lifting up those prayers. I am so thankful for the relationships that we have in Christ. May God hear our prayers!

Our 1st Trip To The Dentist

Abby Kate and Joshua had their first trip to the dentist this past week. They both really enjoyed their "happy" visit to see Dr. Kimbrough.

Abby Kate went on Wednesday while Dad and Joshua met for lunch at McDonalds (The highlight of their time together was that Joshua got to ride back to Dad's work in his big truck). Ms. Amber counted 20 teeth in Abby Kate's mouth and gave her a pink toothbrush. Before she left she was allowed to pick from a basket of toys and after much deliberation decided on a pink Barbie paddleball set. When Dr. Kimbrough came in to check on Abby Kate she hid and was very shy. After we left, Abby Kate and I had lunch together at McAlister's Deli where Abby Kate ate all of her toasted cheese, cheetos and teddy grahams. We had a great time together!








Joshua visited the dentist office on Thursday morning. Joshua and I left the house together in the van and Abby Kate rode to work with Daddy in his truck. Joshua was very excited about going to the dentist office. When we pulled up to Dr. Kimbrough's office, he told me that he wanted a RED toothbrush. He was so excited to be at "our dentist's office, mommy". He flirted with all of the ladies in the office while we waited for our turn. Ms. Scarlet counted 20 teeth and gave Joshua a red toothbrush. Joshua brushed the dinosaur's big teeth and picked out a red race car from the toy basket. Dr. Kimbrough came in and Joshua talked with him about his red toothbrush and race car. Joshua and I left the dentist's office and headed up to church to pick up Abby Kate. Joshua really enjoyed his time at the dentist.

Abby Kate's Prayer Before Bed

Dear God,
Thank you for Mommy, Daddy, Bubba, Baby, Andy, Nannie and PawPaw, Our House, My Bed, And Toys, And My Stroller, My Baby Dolls, And Chapstick, Lipstick, Comb
AMEN

I Placed An Ad

Full breed Cocker Spaniel, 6 yrs., male, buff, good family dog, Free to a good home.

Jason and I have been thinking about getting rid of Andy for some time now. We absolutely LOVE our Andy and don't want to see him go. With the upcoming addition of another Bybee baby and two year old twins, we have decided that we have enough mouths to feed. I feel so torn about giving Andy away. I called a few shelters and found out that they were either full or could not guarantee an adoption. I cannot bring myself to do that to our dog. This past week I called the local newspaper and decided to place an ad. Today I received two phone calls about the dog. Jason just spoke with one lady and she is coming over tomorrow night. She sounded really nice and wants an inside dog to stay with her aunt. This sounds perfect for Andy and hopefully it will work out. It makes me SO sad to think about not having Andy anymore. Realistically, we cannot give him the same amount of attention that we once could before we had the kids. I'm sure there will be tears, but I will be happy knowing that he is going to a great home and will receive the kind of care, attention and love that only a dog like him deserves.

Am I The Only One...

Have you recently noticed how rude people are? I am not talking about your every day person that you pass, but the people that work in the restaurant business or in the stores that you frequent. Here lately I have been treated very rudely by serveral employees at restaurants or grocery stores.

One night awhile back Jason and I took the kids to Backyard Burgers and after everyone was seated at the table, I proceeded to the cashier to place my order. I stood there staring at the girl behind the counter as she stared back blankly. I was patiently waiting for her to welcome me to her restaurant and ask to take my order. Neither thing happened and I placed my order and waited for our food. RUDE

The other night I was on my way home and decided to pull into Wendy's for a frosty. I placed my order at the drive thru and when I pulled up to the window a hand was thrust out of the window and a frosty placed in my hand. No "how are you, here you go, thank you very much"! RUDE

Someone at the grocery store asks you how you are and you kindly reply, "Fine and how are you?". NOTHING but silence! RUDE

Whatever happened to people being freindly and employees valuing their customers?

MOM and JASON

Abby Kate has changed our names from Momma and Daddy to MOM and JASON!

The Bugs

Well the past few days have been anything but pleasant! I have not been able to check my email or blog because my computer has been acting up. I really do not know what is wrong with it. We have had it looked at several times and it still freezes up within 2 seconds of opening an application. This is the very reason why I can not stand computers!

On Friday, Jason and I were able to go out for a few hours while some friends watched Joshua and Abby Kate for us. We enjoyed our time away and lunch together. That afternoon, I made the first of MANY trips to the bathroom. At first I thought that I had a stomach bug, but by Sunday it was not going away. I ended up calling my OB this morning and they had me come in around 2. My doc took one look at me and told me that I was dehydrated and ordered 2 Liters of fluids. I left his office around 5:30 and was actually hungry for the first time in 4 days. I have lost 4 pounds from this "bug" or what they are now thinking is my Crohn's Disease. I have to call my GI and see if he can figure out why I am still having this problem. Anyways, that's the latest.

Baby update - Thursday's appointment - heartbeat was 167; Today's appointment - heartbeat was 159. We have an active one in there!

Pictures

15 weeks, 4 days
















How the belly grows!
















Apparently Abby Kate does not like her new bed. She fell asleep on the floor in her room earlier today.

My New Year

Resolution - A firm decision to do or not to do something.

At the end of 2005, I decided to make my New Year's Resolutions for 2006. I decided to...

1. Lose 40 pounds.

2. To cut out all coke products.

3. Walk one mile every day.

4. Watch my portions by eating off of a salad plate.

5. Snack on non-fat foods.

I must confess, I was very pleased with my commitment to my goals. By April, I had lost 20 pounds. I made it to week 30 before I quit walking. (I am still proud of the 202 miles that I walked in 2006). I have still not had a coke and don't plan on having one anytime soon. The only goal that I did not really keep was snacking on non-fat foods. I love chocolate and having it around the house did not help. I had fun with my Resolutions for 2006.

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Today on our way home from Nashville, I got to thinking about this new year. I had not decided to make any resolutions for 2007, but I thought of a couple.

My 2007 New Year's Resolutions

1. To go out on 2 dates a month with my husband.

2. To camp (in a tent) for one night with my family.

I am sure that these sound silly, but here's what I was thinking when I made them.

On Saturday, Jason and I had the privelege of going out while my parents kept Joshua and Abby Kate. We left their house around noon and headed out to Opry Mills. We ate lunch at Chili's Too, shopped for clothes and exchanged a few things, saw the movie "Pursuit of Happyness", went to Books-A-Million and finished up the evening sharing a steak at Logans. We had so much fun! Thank you so much mommy and daddy!

I really don't know why I want to camp with the whole family. We passed by the exit for the Davy Crockett Campgrounds and I thought it would be fun. Who knows when this will happen. I debated on if we should do this before baby or after. I don't think that either will be better, but I think that I will try to go before the baby. Hopefully we will have a warm day sometime in March and it will be a lot of fun. HA HA! I just want to see if I can do it.

What are your New Year's Resolutions?

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Here's a picture of our family at Christmas. I hope that you all had a great one. We really enjoyed our time together. I think that the picture speaks for itself.


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We converted Abby Kate's crib to a toddler bed tonight. Its been a little rough, but there's no turning back now.

Next week, potty training!

This Is For You Tracy (Belly Pictures)

I don't have any before pregnancy pictures, but here are a couple of my 9th and 12th weeks (yes, I am wearing the same pants in both pictures)...

9 weeks












12 weeks












(I can't really tell much difference between the two).

My due date is Friday, June 22, 2007.

I am currently 13 weeks and 5 days pregnant!

It's only ONE!

We've heard the heartbeat two different times.

I officially outgrew my pants at 10 weeks and 1 day!

I could eat pizza for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

I could care less for chocolate (which is totally not me)!

I finally have my energy back after the first trimester.

No, I did not have morning sickness this time either!

Santa's Village

Today we all visited Santa's Village with Joshua and Abby Kate's preschool. We all had so much fun looking at all of the Chrismas stuff and visiting all of the stations that they had set up for us. Joshua and Abby Kate loved the reindeer most of all! Santa was working so we plan on visiting him tonight at the mall. Hopefully we will get a couple of good pictures with Santa and I will post them as soon as I can. Joshua and Abby Kate are getting excited about Christmas. They love to look at the lights on all of the houses (we plan on also visiting the Botanical Garden's Galaxy of Lights tonight), the snowmen, all of Santa's helpers and the reindeer. We really enjoyed our time at Santa's Village today! It was so much fun!

Sick Baby

Have I mentioned that everyone in our house has been sick?

Unfortunately, Joshua had a sinus infection for 4 weeks. That was quickly followed by the stomach bug (that we all ended up getting) and now we have a really bad cold. I feel like we have been to the doctor more in these last few weeks than we have all year. I captured this picture of Joshua the other day around 11:00. The last time that he fell asleep around that time was probably a year ago! Our doctor called in an antibotic the other day and it has made a huge difference. He is back to his normal self. Abby Kate and I are now dealing with all of the cold, congestion and cough. Being pregnant, I am pretty limited on what I can take, so I am not getting much relief. Hopefully this will pass and we will all be feeling wonderful come Christmas Day. I am ready to have my sense of smell back and taste of food!

What Happened?

I created my blog as a way to keep in contact with my friends and family. I have really enjoyed keeping the blog as a journal of all of my thoughts. In case you have not noticed, I am crazy about pictures. Here lately, a lot of friends have gone private and I started to consider it as well. I realized that I have posted about all that is important in my life. Unfortunately, we live in a fallen world with lots of people that can bring about harm. I have always been careful about not mentioning when we were going out of town or when I would be home alone while Jason was out of town. What I have not watched closely is my name, husband's name, children's names, the city and state where I live, etc. It would not be that difficult for the wrong person to get a hold of that information and do something about it. (Call it the pregnancy hormones if you wish).

So, what brought about the private blog? Today, I was checking out my hits, and I noticed this "new" visitor. This person only clicked on the baby's ultrasound picture. I looked to see the amount of time this person spent looking at my blog and was shocked to find out that they had spent 20 hours!!!!!! As anyone could imagine, I did not feel good about this. I am a very drastic person and immediately searched blogger to find out how I could go private. It was much easier than I thought and I was allowed to choose who I would like to have access to my blog. I have talked with a few friends about this "visitor" and realize that maybe this person left the page pulled up and that's why it registered so many hours. Who knows? I feel much more comfortable about being in control of who gets to view my blog. I hope that you guys will continue to check in with us as I share about our lives.

If you know of anyone that likes to view my blog and did not get an invite, just leave me a comment and I will add them to the list.

Smile For the Camera

Joshua's Favorite Commercial

As I was walking through the den the other night, this commercial came on tv. Joshua laughed so hard! I think that it is one of his favorites!

Beta Blogger

Well, I finally decided to take the plunge into the new Beta Blogger. When I have the time, I will probably change up a few things.

My Christmas Wish List

In light of Jason's most recent post, here's my Christmas Wish List....

Bath and Body Works Moonlight Path Body Cream and Creamy Body Wash

Pedicure

Cookbooks - I've had my eye on these two cookbooks for the past few years. Paula Deen is one of my favorite food network cooks and I would love to add these cookbooks to my collection. The Lady and Sons Just Desserts & The Lady & Sons, Too!

Porcelain Grease Keeper - I know, this one is weird! I have always been envious of my mother's grease keeper. I have yet to find one to store all of my bacon drippings (they help to make the best green beans). Well, I finally found one and would love to have it.

Personal Organizer (Medium Lilac) - My travel bag has seen better days! Time for a new and improved one.

A Romantic Getaway with Jason - I'm stretching it here! I've always wanted to go to Savannah, Georgia and eat at The Lady and Sons.

So, what's on your Christmas Wish List?

We All Got It!!!

Abby Kate's stomach bug that is!

Jason woke up around 4:00 yesterday morning and was at it until noon.

It hit me around 5:00 yesterday evening.

Joshua got it around 6:30 last night.

Hopefully we are finished!!!