Grace’s first wedding

My extended cousin Chelsie got married over the weekend to her high school sweetheart Wes.
They are such a cute couple. They have been together for like 7 or 8 years I think.
I am so happy they are finally married! I wish them the best!

The reception was at a local golf course, and the decorations were so cute.  Simple yet tasteful.
I thought their cake was beautiful!

 And they had a Sweets Table…..as you can tell the candy lemon wedges in the E were a hit!

Grace was fabulous at the wedding, she only got fussy a bit towards the end when she was getting tired.
Everyone thought she looked adorable and was impressed with how good she was!

She spent most of the time looking around at the giant yellow balloons. They were huge!

I love this picture.Can you tell I’m smitten?

*linking up with Miss Elaine-ous Monday. Go check it out!

My Baby Shower

My cousins hosted a baby shower for me on Saturday and did a great job pulling everything together! I was so excited to see some old friends and I always love spending time with my family. We are a pretty close group.  Love coming from a large family!

Baby girl will be a third generation, the same as the adorable little piglets in this picture. Poor little Hudson…he’s the only little boy so far. Boy is he is for it!

The theme….ladybugs of course! There was a ladybug cake with grass topped cupcakes surrounding her. Fresh fruit and veggies, little sandwiches and pasta salad and of course you can’t forget the chocolate chip dip or chocolate fountain! Yum!

The place was all fixed up with balloons and  little ladybug accents, the only thing missing was the glider that Grandma had delivered to my house a few weeks ago. But they did have a “pink throne” for me to sit on, so that was totally acceptable!

Beside my throne, they had placed an empty chair with a single pink rose in memory of my mom. Even though she wasn’t there to sit beside me on my special day, we all knew that she wasn’t missing it at all. My cousin Desirae wrote an amazing poem and had it framed for me. She read it aloud and everyone had tears in their eyes and I had my ugly cry face on for a few seconds. It touched me that they thought of including that for me….and for our baby. I think it will be perfect in our little princesses room. (if you click on the picture to enlarge it, you can read it easier)

After a few games, the real fun began….opening presents! I was shocked at the number of things that people brought for us! What a blessing! And in all of it….there were no duplicates! Imagine that…..I was shocked. Everyone had great ideas, mostly from current moms who knew what I would be needing the most!

There were all sizes and colors of onsies. Some with ruffles and some with sleeves, some with zippers and some that were gowns.

Her little closet will look like a zoo! Monkeys and chicks and butterflies and frogs and whales…she will love them all!

There was a lot of pink, of course, but don’t worry there are some fun colors thrown in there too!

Lots of flowers and ladybugs to make our spring/summer baby look adorable!

She got dresses and jumpers and pants of every size complete with ruffle butts!
She is going to be one stylish little girl!

And what little girl wouldn’t be ready for summer without a bathing suit and some hairbands.
She also got a basket full of stuffed animals and rattles. She is gonna have fun with those!

She is following after her momma already with several pairs of shoes and some cute patterened socks. Do you see those zebra boots? Can’t wait to get her in those this winter!

Thankfully we were given many practical items too besides clothes. Like an adorable diaper bag and a vaporizer for those stuffy nights. Lots of wipes and diapers in all sizes will make it much easier to be prepared for those late night changes!

There were binkies to calm her down when she is upset, and washclothes to help keep her clean, as well as a whole plethora of bathtime and healthcare essentials.
Can’t wait to rub lotion on her tiny little toes!

Bedtime will be so relaxing with all her super sift blankets and swaddlers. We asked people to bring a book and to write a message inside for baby G. We wanted to start her library and I am going to start reading these to her as soon as her nursery is complete!
The things people wrote to her brought tears to my eyes…she is so loved already!

My Grandma, Aunts and Cousins went together and got us the Pack N Play and Stroller/Carseat system we wanted! Woohoo….so thankful for those!
That was a big relief off our list, can’t leave the hospital without a carseat!

These are some of my favorite outfits. The love bug one has little pants as well as a little ruffle layered skirt! And the tank dresses on the right will be perfect for those hot summer days when we just are lounging around the house! Love them!

Some friends that couldn’t be there even sent gifts ahead of time. Thanks Audrey, Stacy  and Lauren!

It was such an amazing day, I feel like I didn’t have time to talk to everyone, but I guess that is normal when surrounded by over 30 women! I am so thankful and blessed to have an amazing group of friends and family that love us so much.

I am so grateful that my Grandma was there to do it all with me. We both miss my mom, but through this pregnancy I think we both have felt that she is watching me from above with a huge smile on her face. Proud of her baby girl and the little grandaughter growing inside her.

My Thanksgiving Confession

We had decided a while ago that we were going to tell our families at Thanksgiving about the pregnancy. It being our first pregnancy and being afriad something would happen, we wanted to wait until we were further along before sharing the news. So we waited and waited for the days to pass until we could spill the beans!  We brainstormed cute ways to tell them, would we just pass them the ultrasound picture or should we come up with something more unique? I had seen lots of ideas on websites and blogs, and found the perfect one for me! I worked with a dear friend, who was sworn to secrecy, to help me make it happen. She did awesome!
 
We had Thanksgiving dinner with my family at 4pm on Thursday, so we got all our stuff ready and headed to my uncles house in my hometown.  People slowly started to filter in and we all stood around inside and chatted while some people were getting things out of the oven and moved to the buffet line. 

Grandma was already sitting at the kitchen table surrounded by a few aunts and I looked around, doing a headcount of what aunts were missing and realized they all were in the house. I looked over at my husband, and he nodded like, it’s go time!  So I went over and asked the ones who were in the living room if they could come in, saying I wanted to talk to everyone about something.

They all gathered in the kitchen and I walked up to the table and said Grandma I have something I want to show you. And then I took off my sweater and told her to read my shirt.

She kind of looked confused and my aunt that was standing beside her started to read it to her. She said “Expecting a little……erjrtkjhkdj!” The rest kind of came out in a blur of tears and screams and excitement, then Grandma said” What….no you aren’t….Mendie, are you pregnant….are you serious?” I nodded my head and said “Yes I am!” and she ran up and hugged me and everyone else started to scream and shout it to the men who were sitting in the other room and in the garage. “Mendie’s gonna have a baby!!!” I’m really surprised some of you in the central United States didn’t hear them screaming!

Grandma started to scold me for not telling her sooner, but I said “would you have been able to keep this a secret?” and she admitted no and was ok with it. She was just happy our dream finally came true. (ps. She has been calling me Little Mama ever since.)

Then everyone came in and started hugging me and crying happy tears, and I was like, whoa…”Pregnant lady needs some air!” Laughing but kinda being serious, once you get in a hug pile, it’s hard to get out of it! But it was great, everyone then took turns coming over and congratulating me and hugging me and then making the way over to congratulate my husband.  It was great!

When my uncle Jim came in, he gave me a hug and said “Congratulations, Debbie would be thrilled!”. I teared up and said “I know she would, I got to tell her. She was actually the first to know.” He smiled and said you did and asked when, and I told him. He said, “yes she was still opening her eyes at that point, so I know she heard you.” Everyone just smiled when they found out that I shared it with her before she passed on. It was important to me to do that, she was like another Mom to be growing up.

So then after everyone hugged and smiled, we ate and people asked questions like how long we had known (umm, the whole 3 months) and what we wanted (a healthy full term baby). Then we ate. It was nice. I then called my relatives that live in St. Louis and Arizona and told them the news.

After we left my families house, we stopped over at my husbands Grandparents and told them. I think they were kinda in shock. But they were happy, but really I think kinda like wow, for real? We then headed over to his Mom’s house. She had just gotten out of the hospital from knee replacement that morning, so his family was going to celebrate Thanksgiving on Sunday. But we couldn’t wait. So we stopped over there, I took off my sweater again and handed her the ultrasound, and her face brightened up with excitement. She had looked a little pale and in pain when we first got there, but by the time we left, she looked like a brand new woman. Amazing how good news like that can physically change the way you feel! She was thrilled but can’t wait 6 more months to hold him/her! She’s ready for a little grandbaby!

Asked everyone to keep it hush until my appt yesterday morning. I hadn’t been feeling as queasy the last few weeks and I’m a worry wort and just wanted to make sure my bloodwork came back ok and everything was good before telling the world about our news. Went into our appointment, he poked and asked how I was doing squirted some lube on mah belly and brought over a little blue machine. He said, we might not be able to pick anything up today, sometimes it won’t be audible on the doppler until 14 wks. But after moving it around a bit and pushing around my belly, we heard the heartbeat. Strong and steady. It was the best sound, calmed my fears and reassured me that everything was fine.

So the news was spread yesterday on here, on facebook and to the rest of my coworkers. All the love and happiness that we have received is overwhelming! I am so thankful to have so many people loving this baby already! I can’t wait to share my journey with all of you. Thank you for wanting to experience it with me!

Memories of a Roadtrip

I spent last evening scanning over a hundred photos to use in a slideshow for the memorial service tomorrow. I came upon this one of us when we went to the North American Christian Convention in California. We took the next week and drove over to Arizona to visit my Aunt Carol and then headed up to Nevada to visit friends in North Las Vegas.

What a beautiful memory.

(Uncle Jim, Annie, Aunt Debbie, me and Aunt Carol)

Grand Canyon 1992

Heaven has a new angel

 

Deborah Jean Dolen Bryan

9.27.55 to 11.16.10

Heaven welcomed a beautiful angel yesterday.

Aunt Debbie passed away at 7:10 A.M. at hospice with her loving husband and daughter by her side.  

She was one of the purest  people I knew, 

and I know that she is now wrapped in Gods loving arms and no longer sick.

She once again is walking, singing and laughing. 

Her spirit is no longer held back by her weakened body.

We are all blessed to have had her in our life, and I am so thankful 

that we got an extra four years with her after her diagnosis. 

The way she lived with brain cancer was an inspiration to so many. 

I know you are now smiling from above, 

and I’m happy that you are with the maker that you have worshiped for your entire life. 

God so proud of all of the work you did with your time here.

I will miss you Deb, you taught me so many things. 

I have peace knowing that you are no longer in pain and are not silenced by your sickness.

I am glad I got to tell you goodbye and share the things that were in my heart.

Rest in Peace dear one, I will see you again one day.

Her final journey home

The tests have come back  and there is nothing else that can be done to help my dear Aunt Debbie to wake up.  Her brain isn’t communicating with the rest of her body.  We are so thankful that she is not feeling any pain, but am saddened that the lines connecting her mind to her loving heart and body have disappeared.

My uncle and cousin had to make the heartbreaking decision today to follow my aunts wishes and take her off of life support.  She has been off the ventilator since this afternoon and is breathing on her own. Debbie didn’t want to be kept alive by a machine and didn’t want to be forced food thru a tube, so as hard as it is for us all to take away the things that are helping her stay alive, we have to do what she would want. She was transported back to our hometown this evening to Hospice where her family can be with her 24/7 as she continues her journey home.

Debbie has always been such an independent woman and always took care of others. She is a go getter and would often take charge of the situation.  She would tell you what you thought, even if it might not be what you wanted to hear.  She was a leader and took the lead respectfully, without hurting anyone or stepping on anyone’s toes.

Aunt Debbie had a living will and had thought about the way that she would want to continue living if her cancer were to become debilitating, she made her decision and choose to live the last few days of her life on her own strength.  She is a strong woman of faith and I am finding comfort in the idea that she isn’t afraid of dying and is ready to meet her heavenly father.  She has put up a hard fight over the past four years and is ready to let God lead her down the final path of this journey. I do not remember ever hearing her complain during her battle, and that speaks volumes about the kind of person that she was, she didn’t want to burden us with it. Instead you may just see the occasional tear slip down her cheek. What an amazing example of inner strength she is!

So my friends, I ask you this one last time for a few final prayers.
Please pray for my Uncle Jim who hasn’t left Debbie’s side and having to say goodbye to his best friend and wife of 35 years . He has been an amazing husband and has held her hand thru this difficult journey and never let go.

(Taken at their daughters wedding July 2009)

Please pray for my cousin Annie who is losing her Momma at the tender age of 21 years old.  There are so many things that I hope she learned from the way her mother lived her life and fought this disease, even if she doesn’t realize some of them yet.

 (Taken at the Light the Night Walk September 2010)

Please pray for her mother, her brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews and all the friends and church family that loves her and is so proud of her for staring brain cancer right in the face for so long and staying strong.  And she did it all with grace and poise we all wish we could possess.

We love you Debbie and miss you already…have a peaceful trip home.

I hope she liked her balloons…

I went down to see Aunt Debbie at the nursing home on Tuesday evening.  She had been in there since last Monday.  We stopped in and she was sleeping in her wheelchair with her daughter by her side.  She had been sleeping alot during the day and the staff thought she might have her days and nights confused.  The night before when my uncle came in after working 2nd shift, she was talking his ear off.  So I just rubbed her hair and told her we were there and to open her eyes and say hello.  She was out cold, sleeping like a log.  She would take some deep breathes in and kinda move her lips like she was trying to mumble but then just went back to the peaceful sleep.  Grandma said the last few days she occasionally would wake up and mumble a few things in a really soft voice and told her that her head hurt. So it didn’t startle me when she kept sleeping, it has to be tiring fighting cancer everyday.

I wanted to make sure it was ok to bring in balloons in to the nursing home and her daughter said yes, so we ran out and picked up some mylar balloons, I thought when she opened her eyes that might give her something shiny to focus on.  We were gone about 20 minutes picking them up and when we got back, they had moved her into her bed and she was still asleep.  Annie, her daughter, said that she was able to get a few spoonfuls of juice down her when they moved her because she kinda woke up then.  She hasn’t been able to swallow much lately and was holding stuff in her mouth, so they had to start thickening any liquid that they gave her, including water.  If she were to hold it in her mouth, it may go down into her lungs and cause her to get pneumonia. So I went over to her bed and told her that I brought her some balloons and toopen her eyes and let me know if she liked them.  She kinda frowned a little and moved her eyelids but never opened them.  I told her they were straight ahead so when she woke up they would be there.  I sat and talked with Annie for a little bit before giving Debbie a hug and kiss and telling her I would see her soon and to wake up and look at her balloons cause they were really pretty.

Last night my phone rang about midnight, I had just gone to bed and heard it before I had a chance to look at the caller id.  It was Tiny Dancer which meant it was my Grandma.  I grabbed the phone with my heart starting to race. 
Grandma:”Hi honey, its me. I’m at the hospital.  Hold on a minute….Let me call you back in a little bit.”
Me:”Grandma are you ok???”
Grandma:”I’m fine, it’s Debbie. I’ll call you back.”

So I tell my husband about the call and then try to lay back down and get some rest, breathing deeply as my heart rate slows back down from the shock of getting a phone call in the middle of the night. My Aunt Billie calls me back about 12:30am and I can tell she is crying, she said Debbie had a bad seizure at lunch that day and hadn’t waken up and her blood pressure dropped on them so they took her to the hospital earlier that evening about 9ish.  They had to put a tube down her throat to help her breathe.  They wanted to do a brainscan, but there wasn’t a neurologist on duty to do the test, so they were sending her to Ohio State Medical Hospital in Columbus to get it done. (Don’t even get me started about how this is the second time they were unable to do a scan in the middle of the night and had to send her elsewhere, this a place that is supposed to be a level 2 trauma hospital!) So they got her ready and put her into a semi coma for transport to Columbus, which is about an hour away from my hometown where she lived. My uncle was going up with her and the rest of the family was going home and heading up in the morning. Annie was in Kentucky and started her way back home about midnight when she found out they were transporting her.

Debbie had another seizure while in transport to OSU and I guess that she was still having a light one when they arrived.  They put her in MICU, which meant there were limited visiting hours.  So I got up there when the 1-2 today when visitation started.  When I got there, Annie and her husband was there.  My Aunt Linda and her husband Randy, Aunt Billie and Grandma had all rode up together, Aunt Joyce and her husband Joe had followed them. 

I sat down and Joyce told me that they were testing Debbie for Spinal Meningitis. I stopped in my tracks…that is so scary and dangerous, not that cancer isn’t frightening enough ,but that is dangerous to anyone who has been around her! She said that if they found it they may have to give anyone who came into contact with her fluids, so those were feeding or changing her shots and medicine.  I hadn’t done any of that but still would need to be suited up and scrubbed to go visit her.  Thankfully for Debbie and for all of us Jim came back and said that the test came back and she didn’t have it so we all were fine. I opted to wear a mask back anyway because of all the sickness floating around a hospital and I had just gotten my flu shot. And I coated myself in sanitizer.

A few minutes later, Jim said that people could start going back to visit 2 at a time.  So Annie and Matt went back, then Grandma and Billie went back, then Linda and Joyce, then me and Randy went.  When we walked back to see Debbie my heart was kinda in my throat. I knew she would be on a ventilator and would have tubes and wires all around her but nothing prepares you for when you actually see her hooked up to everything.   She was lying propped up against a few pillows and had dozens of wires hooked up to her head to monitor her brain activity for the EEG.  They had a video camera on the side keeping track of her eye flutters and body movements to see if there was any correlation between brain activity and the times her body moved.  She was on the ventilator and every handful of breaths you would see her left side kinda lift up like she was trying to breathe on her own along with it.  Then she would just lay back flat and kinda start to twitch her eyelids but never opened them. 

We each took turns talking to her telling her that we all were praying for her and were out there thinking of her and wanted her to know we all loved her. We told her we knew how strong she was, that she was a fighter but we knew her body was tired today and to just keep fighting and come back to us and open her eyes.  I told her that I loved her and would see her soon….that I knew she loved us and we had people all over the country praying for her.  We slowly walked out so the next group could come in, but it was hard saying goodbye, not knowing if she even knew we were there.

After we got back to the waiting room, Joe and Jim went back to talk to the nurses. Joe is a respiratory therapist so he translates some of the medical jargon to us. By that time my Uncle Tom and his wife Cheryl and their son Conner had come in and were followed soon by my Uncle Bob and his wife Teresa but it was after 2 so they just waited in the waiting room and then wentwith everyone when they took off to go get some lunch and wait till the next round of visitation at 5pm. Before I left I gave Annie and Uncle Jim a big hug and started to cry.  I whispered that I loved him and we just kept hugging each other. I could tell he needed that hug. I grew up staying with him and Debbie on Saturday nights and going to church with them Sunday morning, spending the day with them and then going back to church Sunday night and Grandma would pick me up at church.  They were a big influence on me growing up, so he was kinda a father figure to me.  I hope he could feel all the love and support I was trying to give him. Sometimes holding out a hug can say some of the words that you can’t mutter out when your heart is in your throat.

I talked with Grandma a little bit ago who just got home and here is the status as of tonight. Her heart and lungs look good and are functioning properly. Her blood pressure has stabilized and she is having occasional spikes in her blood sugar, so they are considering giving her insulin.  She is on 40% oxygen and has a oxygen level of 99%.  Breathing along with the ventilator but isn’t on any other meds at this time.  They found some small pieces of food in her lungs when they put in her breathing tube, and she has a some aspiration pneumonia. They have doing the EEG most of the day and will see how her brain activity looks and if it points to why she is having her seizures. She is scheduled for an MRI in the morning.  A few aunts said that she squeezed their hands today but she hasn’t woken up since yesterday afternoons seizure. The tests will tell us if there is any brain activity, and then we will know a little more about where we stand. But until then…we just wait.  Pray and hope that we get good news tomorrow and appreciate every extra day that we have had with her and pray that we get one more chance to look her in the eyes and tell her that we love her.

Halloween 2010

Spent Friday night at a work Halloween party, these people do all out…they have moving characters and motion sensor noises and a graveyard complete with a hearse and everything.  It was a fun time.  I dressed up like Doonese from Saturday Night Live, if you haven’t seen any of the skits, do yourself a favor and go youtube it…so funny. 

My husband was  Jason from Halloween….specifically the 2nd one. Before he got the hockey mask. I have no clue because I refuse to watch movies like that. But he was pretty scary if you came across him in the dark I can assure you of that.

Saturday night my family had a wienie roast in my hometown at my Uncles house.  I ditched the dress and wore warmer atire, but still sported the headband and arms for a bit.  I spent most of the night loving up on my 2 little cousins babies….they were so stinking cute in their little costumes! 

Cutest lamb and Duckie ever!  It was nice to spend time with family and enjoy being together.  Standing by a nice warm fire and munching on some fall goodies didn’t hurt either!

Hope you all had a wonderful Halloween filled with more treats then tricks. 
Happy November!  Can’t wait till Thanksgiving!!!

Monday Ramblings

Hi friends..long time no talk.  Let’s start with some updates.

My Aunt Debbie finished her Avastin treatment last week. She hasn’t had any more problems with blood clots so that’s a blessing but her foot is starting to turn down a little bit and she can’t walk anymore.  My uncle has decided to admit her to a rehab/extended care facility for a few weeks to get some PT twice a day to see if they can get her any more mobile.  She is pretty tired and is unable to feed herself. I guess she has been sleeping alot lately. So let’s hope that she can get some help at the rehab center and keep her spirit up. Love you Aunt Debbie…you are a tough cookie….keep fighting!

One of my cousins is pregnant with her second child and is due in Early January.  She was admitted to the hospital late last week.  She is 29 weeks and was having contractions and dilating.  They did some type of test to see if her water was going to break in the next few weeks, that came back ok so she got to come home this weekend.  She goes in every few days for an ultrasound to monitor the baby’s progress but for now she is dilated 2 and 70% effaced. Dr would like for her to keep baking until December 10.  So hang in there baby Hudson-another 7 weeks till it’s time to meet you!

Emma had her teeth cleaned last week…and she did wonderful!  She is my baby and I was so worried about how she would handle the anesthesia. But she came out with flying colors…and her teeth look fabulous!  Way better then I ever dreamed they would and her bad breathe is a thing of the past!  They ended up having to extract 3 small ones in the back and she has to take some antibiotics for a bit, but she’s just as peppy as always.

Ellie is doing really good…anymore its Emma who snips at her.  Our neighbor Kim brought over a giftbag for the girls.  There were some homemade dog treats and some chewable goodies and a kong for Ellie.  She loves it!  Thanks Kim….great idea!  We decided to get her a kong frisbee to play with outside and that’s all she wants now.  She is really a sweetie and will just sit beside you, of course needing to be petted almost constantly.  We are happy with our decision to bring her into the family…she’s making improvements every day.

I’m feeling good, work has calmed down a bit after last week’s craziness.  I was fighting some sniffles but that seems to have passed me by thank goodness. We have some stuff we want to do around the house, including get some new insulation sometime in the next few weeks so that will be good before the cold weather sets in.  We went to the Ohio State football game on Saturday, and it was perfect football weather! I’ll try to post some pics of that soon, we had a great time, just me and my man.  We did finally turn on our heater last week but was able to turn it down and open some windows yesterday, it was a beautiful fall day!

Hope you all have a great week! Anything I missed that you want to share?

Hello Internet…did you miss me?

Hello….is this thing on, anybody still out there? Been a while since I’ve stopped by, didn’t know if anyone still checked my little blog. I haven’t posted since before I went to Chicago (wow that was 3 weeks ago already). It has been really crazy lately at work with the end of our fiscal year, so I had to put some extra hours in. A lot has been going on at home and with my family and I’m just trying to keep up with all of it.  Some happy, some sad, some fun and some difficult stuff, I’m just trying to keep afloat.. I love all my bloggy friends, but lately I’ve felt the need to spend more time with my hubby and canine kiddos and family. I know you will be here when I have time to blog regularly again. 

I’m still tweeting from time to time, so you may have been keeping up with me there!

So a few days before I left for Chicago, we adopted Ellie. She is a sweet black lab mix, about a year old. She and Emma are doing pretty good together, except the times Ellie tries to pick Emma up by her neck. But don’t you worry, Emma puts her in her place real quick. She still is the queen of her castle, that will never change.  Someday they will be napping together, but they aren’t quite there yet. 

Ellie loves catching Frisbees and tennis balls, something that we could never really do with a Doxie. 

So that’s kept my husband having fun with her. She minds about 75% of the time and doesn’t really bark or chew, so we are pretty happy with her and how she is working into our family.

Chicago was a fun time with my beautiful friend Lauren! 

We went into the city on Friday walked around a bit before jumping on the “L” and heading to the game. 

 We stopped and had some drinks next to the stadium before the game. 

I had to buy a Cubs shirt…I liked this one cause it is just as much Chicago as it is Cubs.

We had awesome seats, I so wish I had brought my zoom lens with me! 

They ended up loosing, but it was a great experience.

Then the next day visited the Brookfield Zoo….it was a cool brisk day 

so it was perfect for walking around seeing all the animals. 

Sunday we just chilled at the house and watched football and relaxed. She has 3 cats and I unfortunately think that I learned that am allergic to them if I stay in the same room for more then 8 hours. 

They were super sweet and Will quickly became my buddy. It was great to see her and her husband. 

They opened their beautiful home to me and we had a great time catching up! Miss ya L!

I am realizing I love my husband more and more everyday. We have been together for almost 10 years and next month will be married for 6. Sometimes in the everyday life, I’m sure I act like I take him for granted. But I know how special a relationship like ours is and I’m going to try to show him more that I appreciate him.  I had a great time in Chicago with my friend, but I was glad to come home to him and our little family. I loved seeing some of the sights but found myself thinking how much he would have liked seeing them too. I guess that’s how you know you found the one. Even when you are looking forward to a little time away, you can’t help but think about them and get that little twinkle in your eye. He still gives me that twinkle. He’s my best friend, and I am so thankful that he loves me and supports me!

The day I got back from Chicago, we went to my hometown for Debbie’s Birthday dinner. 

Her daughter had a cow cake made, it was really cute. 

It was nice to see everyone come out for her special day! 

That Friday, they found a blood clot in her leg and had to spend about a week in the hospital. She eventually had to get a port put in because her veins kept popping, my moms used to be like that. 

So she had that done last Tuesday and got to go home on Thursday. She is still in her wheelchair, but seems to be in good spirits. They are going to have PT come in a few times a week to see if she can get her strength up to walk a little more to make it easier for her to go potty and get into bed. 

She has her last dose of Avastin today, so pray that it starts to heal her.

Let’s see what about some other random updates:

*I’m down a lb this week, so the extra I gained is a thing of the past. I got booted last week from the Sisterhood Challenge, but in my heart I will always be a Burgundy Babe. I’ve put the running thing on hold for now, I normally end up burning more calories walking or shredding anyway. However I haven’t done either of those since I’ve been back either. Gotta work on that. I know.

*I have been missing my mom a lot lately, the end of this month will be 2 years since she passed. Something popped in my mind the other day and I remember shopping at 16 Plus in the mall with her when I was a child…I would love to help her pick out some clothes and she would always let me choose a necklace or earrings or something. I wish we could go shopping again, I’m in need of some new clothes.

*My cousins and their babies are doing well, those girls are getting so big. Josie (14mos) has started walking and Aubrey (6mos) is being attentive and interacting more everyday! They are so cute and I can’t help but smile whenever I see their tiny little faces. Josie’s Momma is expecting a little boy and is the cutest little pregnant woman! She’s due in early Jan, but is measuring about a week bigger and the dr thinks she probably go about 37 wks. Can’t wait to meet baby Hudson!

*My BFF’s twins are turning One the start of next month! I can’t believe they are a year old already! Can’t wait to see them smash some cupcakes in their face. I am amazed by the patience my friend shows everyday being a mom of twins, I think I would be at the brink of tears everyday. But they are doing well, getting healthier everyday, so that is a great thing!

*Other then that I’m doing really well, happy to be healthy and am blessed with so many good things and people in my life right now. Even during the rough, emotional times, I continue to believe in miracles and in love because they are everywhere…sometimes its just easier to see them.
Wishing you miracles and love too!