LakeLynn's room update

Last night, Logan worked on hanging some pictures in LakeLynn's room. A big thank you to Coco for the decorations! Her room is really starting to shape up. We'll continue to update you on her room as it gets finished.

LakeLynn sure was busy last night...I bet she'll definitely be able to keep up with her brother!

Daddy's little helper

LakeLynn's bedding (wanted something neutral & simple so it would not take away from the crib); all we need now is the mattress

Logan has to add something on the back of the 2 picture frames on the right but I had him hold them up to get an idea of how it would look.

New wall picture (sorry hard to see) & lamp that Coco gave her. The wall picture has flowery designs on it. The frame holds her ultrasound picture with "It's a girl" written at the top. The lamp has her cream, peach, & green colors on it. The bottom of the lamp has flower buds/stems tied with a cream bow. 

THANK YOU SO MUCH AGAIN COCO FOR EVERYTHING THAT YOU HAVE PROVIDED US TO DECORATE BABY GIRLS ROOM!!!!!!!

Daddy time

Stryker really enjoyed some quality daddy time this past weekend while I was staying off my feet.

Daddy took Stryker to the baseball field

after play ball, Stryker wanted to go to the park

Stryker kept telling daddy to go "higher"

ended the day by reading one of daddy's baseball books

Another LakeLynn update

As noted in a previous post, I was placed on procardia to help slow contractions. Unfortunately, this was not the case. My fear of whether the contractions were causing changes increased due to the increasing intensity & frequency of my contractions especially in the afternoon/night. My doctor nicely re-assured me on Friday that he understood my concern but would not know without examining me. Staying off my feet, hydrating as much as possible, & taking the procardia were my orders from him over the weekend followed by an appointment Monday morning. Yes, I did very well staying off my feet & following doctor's orders. Remember, I'm trying to be a better patient! Anyway, Monday morning's (July 23rd) appointment was scheduled for 10am. I was anxious to know if there had been any changes so I could relax a little. The exam showed no change!!!!! Praise God! LakeLynn is still sitting higher than Stryker. Way to go baby girl! This is such a relief since Stryker was always so low. Now, she just needs to stay there. After some discussion, I was taken off procardia & put on brethine. This is another medication that I received while on hospital bed rest with Stryker as well as 1 injection that I received couple of weeks ago with LakeLynn. At least, it's oral form & not another shot. The only bad side effect is shakiness. It makes my whole body shaky. But, I will never complain about side effects of medications as long as it keeps us out of the hospital & off bed rest. I was still instructed to rest & hydrate as much as I can. We will return to my doctor on August 1st (Wednesday) for an ultrasound to measure the cervix length. If there has been any changes, then bed rest might be imminent. Currently (after 3 doses of brethine), I have already noticed decreased frequency & intensity of contractions. Praying this medicine continues to do its job. No matter what obstacles lie ahead in this pregnancy, it will all be worth it when we hold our baby girl in our arms. 

"We Will Rock You!"

Stryker picked out this card for Father's Day this year. He has kept it in his room since then & loves to pull it out to sing/dance to the music! It's the funniest thing! I hate he didn't allow me to catch him dancing or head banging to the song. Guess he's not wanting me to have any embarrassing moments caught on video for the future...smart kid!

LakeLynn update

On Tuesday, July 10th (25 wks & 3 days), I received my weekly progesterone injection. Feeling good & knowing grandmomma was watching Stryker, I went to get my hair chopped off! I made it home, relaxed, & anxiously waiting to show Logan my hair. Logan made it home about an hour later (yes, he loved my hair cut). Around 7pm, I decided to take a shower. I began to feel a sharp pain in right side of my low back immediately after my shower. I quickly made it to the couch with Logan & Stryker playing in the living room. Logan got me water to gulp down as I lie on my left side. The pain began to ease but still uncomfortable. Logan took the dogs outside for a few minutes. Upon his return, he found me in the fetal position on the floor with Stryker rubbing my head (such a sweet boy). Logan panicked & notified our doctor who was thankfully on call that night. He told us to make our way to the hospital. Coco met us there while grandmomma was on her way to take Stryker back to our house for the night. Long story short, a kidney stone was suspected but apparently ruled out later. Pain medicine was prescribed reluctantly (yes, I was lectured all the way home by Logan about being stubborn). I also received a brethine shot in my right tricep, a drug to stop contractions that I received while on bed rest with Stryker in the hospital, due to contractions that began while on the monitor. We finally left the hospital around 11pm with contractions that were barely felt (I think I got use to the mild contractions  with Stryker). Currently, I am taking procardia 4x/day to help slow contractions & hopefully prevent any progression. Contractions continue with a more defined beginning & ending than on Tuesday. The contractions increase in the afternoon which is exactly what happened with Stryker. We return to the doctor on August 1st for our visit (28 wks & 4 days) & glucose test. Praying for us to not have another episode & for our next visit to show no progression. 

Song Review

After what has occurred over the past week, these songs have spoken to my heart.

"Steady my Heart" by Kari Jobe

Wish it could be easy. Why is life so messy. Why is pain a part of us. There are days I feel like nothing ever goes right. Sometimes it just hurts so much.

But You're here. You're real. I know I can trust You.

Even when it hurts. Even when it's hard. Even when it all just falls apart. I will run to You cause I know that You are lover of my soul, healer of my scars. You steady my heart. You steady my heart.

I'm not going to worry. I know that You got me right inside the palm of Your hand. Each and every moment. What's good and what gets broken. Happens just the way that You plan.

"Rest in the Hope" by Karyn Williams

Rest in the hope. There you were like always. Right in the middle of my lonely. Just when I thought there was  no way. And I was the only one. You showed up and called my name. And now I know.

You are the truth that never changes. You are the love that came to save us. I am Yours. Even through all my fear and sorrow. Facing a new unknown tomorrow I am sure that I'm gonna rest in the hope that I'm Yours.

I've spent so much time looking for You. When You were here all along. Reaching for me to carry me through. Even when I would fall You were waiting patiently for me to find the faith to just believe. Oh and now I see.

You are the truth that never changes. You are the love that came to save us. I am Yours. Even through all my fear and sorrow. Facing a new unknown tomorrow I am sure that I'm gonna rest in the hope that I'm Yours.

Nothing can separate us from the love You gave us. Oh it's everlasting. Nothing can separate us from the love You gave us. Oh and now I know. You are the truth that never changes. The God who came to save us. I am Yours.

Springville visit

This past weekend was filled with fun as usual. Our life is never dull, especially with Stryker!

Saturday morning, we all went shopping for LakeLynn to find bedding which we found (will post pics later) & clothes at different consignment stores. For lunch, we stopped by Johnny Rockets at the Summit. The waitress loved Stryker & made him a smiley face with his ketchup! He must have liked it because he would only use our ketchup bowl.

Saturday afternoon, we drove to Springville to visit grandmomma & Logan's family. Daddy & Stryker shot some pool.

grinning the whole time

showing daddy how to play the guitar

then, he wanted his own seat & hold the guitar himself

Logan, Stryker, & I took a few 4-wheeler rides

Stryker just wanted to go fast the whole time!

shooting hoops

daddy teaching him how to dunk & then hang on the rim

Sunday night, Logan & I took Stryker to our community pool. It was nice to finally get in a little exercise!

singing in the car on the way to Springville

singing in the car again

LakeLynn's crib

Stryker thought that climbing on the crib was helping daddy!

having fun with painter's tape

very sticky

finished product (well, except for the mattress & bedding)

Visit from Uncle Jon & Aunt Holli

Last night, we had the pleasure of eating dinner at Uncle Steve & Aunt Barbara's new house. Uncle Jon & Aunt Holli came into town for a few days so it was great seeing them again. We haven't seen each other since February (they live in Kentucky). I would like to take a second & recommend everyone to visit (on Facebook) Holli's store called Cargo. She has clothes, accessories, & many other "stuff." Please check it out!

Just us girls (Holli, Stacy, & me)

Family/Friends (Logan, me, Jon, Holli, Stacy, & Nick)

love how the newlyweds are all over each other!

wish they lived closer

Cool dude

fell asleep with his baseball bat

he wants to wear his sunglasses all the time now

Rock Star

he amazed us with pedaling his bike the other day; he didn't understand why we got so excited

LakeLynn's furniture delivered!!

LakeLynn's furniture was finally delivered last week!

delivery truck

chest

dresser

Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of her crib because they shipped the wrong hardware & forgot to ship the 2 slats that hold the mattress springs. Thank goodness Storkland was gracious enough to give us the hardware off the showroom crib as well as the 2 slats. Logan is working on finishing putting the crib together (picture coming soon).

Logan surprised me for my birthday with Richard Tubb (interior decorator) coming to decorate LakeLynn's nursery!!! He jokingly said that we needed him since we don't know about girls. Thanks Logan :( Well, I can't really blame him since I'm not a girly girl. Below are the colors that Richard picked out. Our next step is to paint her room (definitely cover up those horrible looking characters painted on the wall by the previous owners) & decide on her bedding. I will post updates on the room as we go along.

The walls will be painted the bottom color (twining vine). The other colors will be mixed throughout the room for color (from top to bottom: smoky candle, southern peach, gothic grape, burnt glaze, twining vine).

Fourth of July 2012

Happy Fourth of July!!! We were so excited to see how Stryker would react this year to the fireworks compared to years past. I had to work most of the day, but thankful Stryker spent some quality time with daddy. After work, we met Coco & Fletch at Flip Burger to enjoy some good food. Stryker loved the cheese fries & onion rings, but his favorite was the Nutella milkshake Logan got & the strawberry shortcake milkshake I got! We followed dinner up with a trip through Babies R Us. I'm trying to decide on a bedding set for LakeLynn & wanted to see if they had anything. Stryker ended up with a little toy as you can see in all the pictures. It kept him entertained on the ride up to Cullman & before the fireworks. We decided to watch the fireworks in Cullman at Heritage Park this year. Our church (Desperation Church) along with the city of Cullman funded this wonderful display of fireworks! It was well worth the drive! I'm pretty sure that I missed most of the fireworks because I was staring at Stryker's reactions. He sat completely still during the whole show! If any of you know our little boy, then you know how impressive that is!

Coco, Stryker, & Fletch

Coco & Fletch

Fletch providing the bunny ears!

my little man that's growing up way too fast

never a dull moment with the hubs

completely still

proof of how still he actually was!

fireworks galore!

Stryker's reaction after the fireworks was pitiful because he kept saying "more, more". He didn't understand that the show was over. Poor guy. Guess he'll be ready for next year!