WELL.....we TRIED....

Well, we got the bright idea to switch Max's crib to a toddler bed Friday!

Max thought he should "help" his daddy....just in case he couldn't do it by himself....

Max was quite happy about changing his bed over to a BIG BOY BED!!!

This is our new "cheese" smile for pictures! It really cracks me up because he smiles so big that he closes his eyes!

He looks like such a big boy in his toddler bed. Kind of makes me sad...tear...tear...

Just thought this was a cute picture of Max!

So serious....they are doing some serious work!!!!

He took to his bed right away. He ran off to the playroom and got a truck to play with in his bed and then he got some books and was reading and singing to his stuffed tiger "Memphis"! It was quite adorable. I did capture this all on video camera because he was singing "yes Jesus loves me"! So sweet! Makes some parents proud!

So our first night on Friday went VERY WELL! We put him to bed like normal and told him to stay in his bed. We checked on him a little bit later to find him sleeping and he had gotten up to get his little pillow out of his chair which Craig and I found hilarious and so cute!

And here we are Saturday morning, he had gotten up and gotten some books out of his book rack to read. Such a good little boy! I couldn't believe he was doing so well with his toddler bed. He didn't come out of his room any! Such a great milestone.....or so we thought....

Nap time on Saturday was a different story! I heard quite a bit of noise so I went in to check on him only to find that he had emptied his entire book rack and had ALL the books in his bed. Silly little boy! He was so proud of himself too. He did start coming out of his room after I removed all the books and told him to go back to sleep. However, it only took one time of telling him NO he needed to stay in his bed and next thing you know he was asleep! YEA!

Saturday night he went down to sleep and was out in no time. So we thought this toddler bed switch was a great thing! We did the switch so that Max could get in and out of his bed when he woke up instead of waiting for someone to come and get him out during the week since I am forbidden to pick him up. So we thought this was going pretty successful!

However....Sunday was a DIFFERENT story. He did not nap in his bed because he took his nap at my parents in the pack n play. So when we got to bedtime we thought everything was going to be fine since the last two nights were. Well.....Max came out of his room probably 50 plus times! We started this process at 8:45pm and at 10:45pm Craig was putting the crib back together. We tried everything we could think of walking back to bed calmly over and over, using a stern voice, and even spanking but he just kept coming out and acting like it was no big deal. So WE GAVE UP! We decided maybe he just wasn't ready. I mean he has had a hugh adjustment dealing with me being on bedrest and someone else taking care of him during the day. So we shall try again later. Max wasn't upset at all that we changed his bed back to crib either. So we figured if he is happy with his bed then why should we change it all up.....so guess he will just have to wait and be patient for others to come and get him in the mornings and nap time :)!

Made it to 25 weeks!

Well I can honestly say that this week has not been easy but it is wonderful to say that we made it to 25 weeks! God is definitely teaching me a few things through this journey! One being PATIENCE. Another being TRUST. And many more! It is crazy when you have to slow down all the things you think of. I can't even begin to list all the things that go through my head daily. I know that this journey is not only to grow lil Emery it is also for me to grow spiritually with God. He is in the driver's seat and I am just riding along learning many new things along the way! God is just so GOOD!

Just a look at the past week...

Sunday....we didn't do much of anything....I spend most of the day teaching my hubbie the ins and outs of cleaning the house. I think he was on overload by the end of the night. Craig learned to do many things. I was so proud that he picked up how to do the laundry so well! I must say I am a very lucky women to have a husband that wanted to take on everything for me...I don't think he even thought twice about the fact that he is now doing everything for Max, me, the house, the yard and on top of that he is working and in school! I guess we shall call him super daddy!!!!

Monday....our neighbor and friend Jennifer came and got Max. He had a blast with Jennifer and her three kids! Later, we had a visit from my sister n law LuLu and my two nieces Laney and Linley! They brought us a yummy dinner of mexican casserole, rice, beans, and cookies!!

Tuesday...our neighbor and friend Amy came over with her son Cooper and hung out to take care of Max. Another friend Erin and her son Jackson came over to play/visit for a little while! We all had a great time together! My mom came by for lunch to visit and put Max down for his nap! He gave his Nana lots of loving! I guess he was missing her! Later, we had a visit from a friend from church Debbie! She brought us a roast and veggies, rolls, and strawberry shortcake! She even brought us hoagie buns, cheese, and chips to make sandwiches with the roast! How thoughtful! It was very yummy too!

Wednesday....Amy came back to help out with Max! My mother n law took me to the doctor and my mom came and got Max to go to the doctor. I had nothing but good news. My cervix is stable for now and the funneling of the amniotic sac is better. Bedrest is paying off!!! I will be doing weekly checkups on Wednesdays. Poor lil Max did not have good news though. He still has his double ear infections! Poor baby! We started him on a new antibiotic and he will go back in 2 weeks to have another recheck.


Thursday...Grandmother (aka my mother n law) came and picked Max up and took him back to her house for the day. I just took it easy here at the house on the couch. Was somewhat emotional and actually didn't feel that great. I am not sleeping so good at night because as you would imagine going from laying on the couch to laying in the bed is just not that fun! I have been pretty sore and achy from just laying all the time. I know the bedrest is just what Emery needs but some days are just harder than others.....

And today!!!
Friday...my friend Kelly and her son Chase came and got Max and took him back to their house! Max had such a great time! When Kelly brought him back he did not want to take a nap. He wanted to stay up and play with Chase!! So sweet! Later, we changed out Max's crib to a toddler bed. I figured it would help for him to be able to get in and out since I can't pick him up and that way he doesn't have to wait to get out in the morning and naptime for whoever is caring for him that day. I must say that he LOVES his toddler bed. Lets just hope he stays in it all night as poor Craig will be on duty!!! I will do a post on it very soon to let you know the outcome!

Our Beach Trip 2010!

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We had a great time in Ft Morgan on May 10th through the 15th! We went to the beach and pool each day! We did do a little shopping but we mostly just enjoyed hanging out in the sun! Max was not so sure about the ocean. He would walk up to the ocean and say "no wa wa". It was quite funny how he thought he could stop the water from touching him! LOL! Max's Nana and Pawpaw went with us (my parents)! We all had a great time together! It was a much needed relaxing vacation. Check out the little slide show of pictures and you can see just how much fun we had at the beach!

We got to go HOME!!!

What a WONDERFUL day!!! God is sooooo good! Woke up this morning at the hospital and had breakfast with my lovely husband! Got my second shot of steroids for baby Emery. I even had a morning visitor, mom's group friend, Krystan came with some snacks and magazines! She only got to stay for a few minutes and the Ultrasound tech ran her out. Sorry Krystan! First, she did an ultrasound of baby Emery! She was being quite stubborn as she was tucked up in the side of my uterus and did not want to come out so we could see her! LOL! After a while of messing with her she moved out and then quickly covered her face up with her hands....silly little girl...I think we may have our hands full already....lol! We did however capture a quick pic of her that is absolutely adorable! Maybe I can teach my hubbie how to scan pics in the computer upstairs and I will post for all to see! Next she did a vaginal ultrasound of my cervix and we were very blessed to see the cervix was measuring 2cm!!!!! YAY! How great is that! It is a real inspiration for me to see because now I know that this strict bedrest with bathroom privileges only is just what we need to keep our baby girl in my tummy!!! I of course had a few tears of joy! I knew then that even if they made me stay in the hospital I could handle it! God has truly answered some prayers for us! HE IS THE MIGHTY PROTECTOR AND HEALER!!! Soon after, Dr. Mario the high risk pregnancy MD oncall came in to share the good news! WE COULD GO HOME!!! He was quite the character he said "there is nothing magic about this bed so I think it is ok for you to go home to your bed" ha! On serious note though since the cervix is better and stable we were able to go home and continue the bedrest. I of course had to promise to only rest and go to the bathroom! Don't worry guys....I know that most of you know that I am a clean freak and a busy body....no worries....I am going to lay on this couch and my bed for the next 12 weeks!!! I have all the inspiration in the world to do it.....our sweet lil girl Emery needs me to be on my BEST behavior!! I think we got D/C papers signed, car loaded up, and were out the door by 11:30! It was so great to get home and be greeted by my mom and best of all my sweet lil boy MAX!!! He had the BIGGEST grin on his face and kept saying "mommy, mommy, my mommy"! So sweet!! I am so blessed to be able to come home and do bedrest and still be a part of his day! God truly is a mighty God! I even had him lay on the couch with me to read him his naptime books! What a gift that was to me since I haven't been able to do that in almost a week! Now, our lil boy is napping, my hubbie is cutting the grass, and I am just laying on the couch loving the fact that I am at home with my sweet lil family!

Here is a sweet lil picture of Emery today! She is 24wks 1day! It is a little blurry but you can see those sweet little facial features!!! Just love it!

We made it to 24 WEEKS!!!

So as most people know this pregnancy has not been very easy. Now that I have a computer I wanted to just give a update/background on what the past week has been like for us!

First, I must say that we went to the beach last week and had a absolute blast. It was a much needed family vacation that I will be sure to post about after I get the pictures uploaded!! God was so good to give this time to us knowing what the near future held!

So back to baby Emery....well, it all started Monday May 17th when I went in for my regular OB checkup. I told my OB Dr. Williams about how I have been having a lot of "cramping" (well what I thought was cramping) and she suggested we get an ultrasound to check everything out. She figured it was just normal though since I do have a 22 month old to run around after.....little did we know.....things weren't normal! The ultrasound showed that my cervix was short and thin measuring 1.24 to 1.88cm (the range is there because when they put pressure on my cervix it was shorter than if I were just laying there). During the ultrasound the tech also noticed I was having contractions! AHHH! I was 23 wks 3 days at the time so she called Dr. Williams in to check my cervix. I was about a finger tip dilated (which is about 1/2 to 1cm dilated). So basically I was in preterm labor. I sat in the waiting room with my sweet little Max (who by the way did SOOOOOO good while we at the doctors office forever) and waited for my admit papers to the hospital. I called my mom since she was closest to come and get Max so that they could do whatever needed to be done to take care of our sweet baby girl! I was admitted to labor and delivery about 5pm and they did some labs, started fluids, and put the baby on some monitors. All was well really except I was scared out of my mind because even though I am a nurse I had no idea what all of this meant. I just kept praying that baby Emery would stay in because I knew she was too little to come out!!! My mom and dad took Max to dinner and then my parents and his parents all met Craig at the house to get Max's things so Max could stay with the Lawsons. He was excited to go and had a lot of fun! This was his first time to spend the night with the Lawsons.....(i know I am a selfish brat when it comes to my kid...lol) After they got everything squared away Craig came up to stay with me and we stayed in labor and delivery until about 1 am when they moved me up to antepartum room 430!

Picture of baby Emery at 23wks 3days! The US tech gave me lots of cute pics! This one was the best!


Tuesday May 18th I basically hung out in the bed all day until about 4:30 they did some kind of test that checks to see if your body is secreting a protein that would suggest you may go into labor in the next 2 wks. After the test they did a complete Ultrasound checking everything on little Emery. She was weighing in at 1lb 3oz and looked very healthy!!! Then they checked my cervix which it was measuring 1.66cm with pressure and relaxed. So that was a plus. However, they noticed that my amniotic sac was funneling down into my cervix.....another not so good thing....ugh!!! So about 5:45 they came to tell me some good and bad news. The good news was the protein test was NEGATIVE!!! YEAH! The bad news was they were keeping me over night to monitor me and consult the high risk pregnancy OB. BOO!!! I knew it was for the best but I was really planning on going home to be on bedrest..... I did have a good lunch date with my mom and a dinner date with my hubbie and Max. My brother n law Gregg came for a quick visit too! My mom and dad came back up for a visit around dinner time. When it was time for Max to leave it was VERY DIFFICULT!!! He kept pulling my finger and saying "mommy go" "mommy car". It was very sad. He was crying and I was crying. I know that this is all for the best but it is still very hard emotionally. Craig took Max home to get him ready to go the Lawsons house to spend the night again and Amy came and visited. Then Craig came back to spend the night with me! Oh and I got some flowers from Mickey and Helen. Thanks guys! Emery and I are really enjoying them. They are quite beautiful!

Flowers Mickey and Helen sent! So beautiful!


Oh...wait I totally forgot that I called St. Jude to find out what my options were since I would not be able to go back to work anytime soon. I was disappointed to find out that we do not have short term disability and that I was going to have to take maternity leave effective that day. I was quite upset since maternity leave is only 16 wks and I would need longer than that since we are being very hopeful that Emery doesn't come for at least 12 more weeks and then a c-section you can't work for at least 6 wks. So long story short I am now on maternity leave and will have to apply for a 10wk personal leave after maternity is up. If I need longer than that then I will lose my job. This all took me by surprise.....and sad thing is I will have to go back when Emery is about 6 wks because I am only going to get paid for about 6 weeks of the total time! BOO!!!!! I know in the end it will ALL be WORTH IT!!!! Just trying to stay positive....

A positive to this entire experience....I must say it is awesome to lay here and feel my sweet baby girl moving around in my belly! She is such a busy little girl! I get to hear her heartbeat (it ranges from 135 to 155) all the time these days and I am sure I will get to have more ultrasounds than I ever imagined. It is all so surreal to watch this baby being shaped and molded by our dear God inside my tummy! I truly thank God for each day he allows baby Emery to stay inside my belly and grow! Each day she just gets stronger! Even though my goal is 36 wks I am going to take it a day at a time for that is all I can do right now.

Wednesday May 19th....23wks 5days....was a very LONG and HARD day! The OB came in very early to tell me that even though the protein test was negative and my cervix was stable at this time they were going to keep me until Sat or Sun and possibly the rest of the pregnancy. They explained the whole amniotic sac tunneling thing and how they wanted me to stay to get steroids for the baby and a repeat Ultrasound to check stability of the cervix and amniotic sac. It was A LOT of information to swallow especially the part I may be in the hospital for the remainder of pregnancy. I was quite devastated because here I have taken care of my son pretty much everyday of his life for almost 2 yrs and now I couldn't do ANYTHING for him and I may be in the hospital where I wouldn't even get to see him everyday.....all I could do really was cry!!! I just felt like my life was being ripped apart and there was NOTHING I could do about it because I can only lay in a hospital bed while life is going on all around me!!!! It wasn't until my nurse Gina explained to me that my son is 22months old and we have a lot of family and friends that can care for him but baby Emery can only depend on ME to take care of her....no one else but GOD and ME!!! At the time of her telling me this it only made me cry more because I was like great I could screw that up....but now it is a true inspiration to me. I can't say that I didn't cry more that day because to be honest I did.....my mom came to visit for lunch and Craig came by to visit after work. I decided to pass on letting Max come visit because I thought it would be too hard on both of us. Craig however did go get him and stay at home with him that night so that Max could have a little normalcy. My mom came to stay with me that night...bless her heart..she didn't get much sleep! On a side note, I did have a late night visitor from my mom's group at Hope, Mary, she is a labor and delivery nurse downstairs so she came up for a quick visit to see how Emery and I were doing. It really does do wonders to know there are so many family and friends that are thinking and praying for us!

Thursday May 20th.....23wks 6days...was a much BETTER day! I woke up much more optimistic about everything! Having a relationship with God and knowing that he is in complete control with his mighty hands holding Emery and me makes things seem a lot easier. I just have to keep my trust in him and things are going to work out! I must say it helped that I had lots of visitors today too! I didn't have much time to think about things which was a nice change. My brother and his friend Darren got here around 10 and stayed with me most of the day. My brother drove in from Murreesboro so that I would have a laptop to keep everyone updated and to just have something else to do! How sweet was that!!! My brother sure does love me!!! I also had a visit from Beth who brought me a nice big ole basket of magazines and snacks! I had a visit from auntie Pam she came and brought me a vase full of mini red roses! They are very very beautiful! I had a visit from Jodie who brought me a goody bag of magazines and snacks. Then I got to eat dinner with my hubbie and Max! It was a good visit for the most part until Max wanted mommy to leave with him again. That just broke my heart! I realized to that it is hard to hang with a 22 month old and lay in the bed. He doesn't want to sit still for too long. We also had a meltdown of mommy, daddy, and Max. This is all such a big adjustment for us and it will take some time to get use to it. But in the whole grand scheme of things this will only be a short time in our lives and I know we will look back be forever grateful. Another friend from mom's group, Bethany, popped in for a visit right as Max and Craig were leaving which was great! it really helped take my mind off of things! Bethany was so sweet to bring me some yummy snacks! My brother came back to spend the night with me and my late night visitor Mary came by with two bags of goodies from the entire mom's group! Want to send a shout out to my mom's group girls....thank you so much for thinking of me and sending me lots of things I can do and Max can do with me in the bed! You girls are just so thoughtful!!! Don't know what I would do without each and everyone of you!!!

Beautiful roses from Auntie Pam!


And here we are Friday May 21st......24 WEEKS!!!!! What a glorious day! My sweet little Emery is 24 wks! I am definitely thanking our dear Lord for making it to this milestone! This morning started out with the normal OB visit and nurse rounds. About 9:30 I got my first steroid shot for Emery. I can't say that it felt good at all! LOL! My brother headed out and then two friends from mom's group came by Ali and Jessica! We had a great visit! They brought me some movies, magazines, and a game boy! So fun! I had a little downtime so I started working on this blog! My mom came by for a visit at lunch and then my brother and Darren came back and stayed with me the rest of the afternoon. Vicki our children's ministry leader at church came by to check on us. She was very sweet to pray with Emery and me and just to let us know again that God is the ultimate healer and protector! She let us know that a lot of people were praying for us! And boy how I know that a lot of people ARE praying! I can tell you I can feel it! God is so GOOD! My hubbie came up to bring dinner and spend the night and brought with him some more visitors! My brother n law Gregg, sister n law LuLu, and my two nieces Laney and Linley! That was a nice surprise! Laney (who is about to be 3) kept saying "i wanna see that baby"! It was quite adorable. I showed her the ultrasound pics and that baby Emery was still in my belly. She didn't quite understand because she still wanted to see that baby! So cute! I didn't see Max today because I am being hopeful that I will be going home tomorrow. Want to say a hugh thanks to my mother n law that has kept Max almost all week! Don't know what we would do without you! My friend Amy went by and picked up Max from her this morning and Max and her son Cooper got to have a day filled of FUN! Again a hugh thanks to Amy! I know Max had a great time with you guys today! Craig picked up Max and took him to my parents. My sweet mom stayed at our house so Max could sleep in his bed again! Thanks again mom!!! You are the best!

All the wondeful goodies I got through the week! Thank you everyone! I never knew I was SO LOVED!!!


Just a side note so I don't forget to say some of things I have been wanting everyone to know! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! I honestly have no idea how I would make it through each day without the love and support of all my friends and family! You all are making this a much easier journey for our family! The texts, calls, emails, fb messages, cards, flowers, goodies and constant prayers have been more than I could ever imagine! I have never felt so loved by all! I can't wait to tell Emery and Max one day about all of this! We are truly blessed!

Max and Mommy Date!

This past Thursday Max and I had a Max and Mommy date! We headed to Chuckie Cheese for a little fun!

We started out in the truck....of course!!!

Max is quite obsessed with trucks these days!!! I think we spent like 15 minutes riding the truck over and over again! LOL

Max was really good at putting the tokens in himself this time! Such a BIG boy!

A little carriage ride....

And on to one of his other favorite things.....BALLS!!!

I could not get him to just throw the ball from where he was standing....he insisted on going up and throwing them in himself!!!

However...little did I know if you do this the game is over after you walk up and throw the ball in! Guess they don't want you winning too many tickets.....LOL

Max had a great time with the skeeball!!

And on to the bigger games....ones he had NO IDEA what he was doing....he just kept pushing buttons....too funny!

He did pretty good with this game...he kept tilting his head to see where his guy was going. It was really cute! I thought I got a pic of it but I guess I didn't!

I think he tried out every single car in the place!

He was quite the character when he was riding in the truck with Chuckie Cheese! He kept grabbing his ear and yelling! I was laughing the entire time!!!!

We played at Chuckie Cheese for about an hour and a half and then about 100 kids came in on a school field trip! We jetted out of the place and headed to Pei Wei for some RICE!!! Or as Max would call it "wice"!

So this was really my first time to go to a restaurant with Max by myself....lets just say it didn't go as well as planned.....

Usually when we go to Pei Wei it takes like 15 minutes tops to get our food....however...on this visit we had been sitting for about 30 minutes when I went and asked the manager about our food because all kinds of people that had come in and ordered after us were sitting and eating!!! AHHHH!! Max kept yelling "wice" and I was losing my patience! I mean seriously we only ordered chicken fried rice!! HOW HARD IS THAT!!! So the manager was very friendly and said our food was made and should have already come out....well....guess what someone else was eating it because we weren't.....ugh!!! So needless to say we got our food to go because Max was done with Pei Wei.....soooooo....about an hour after we ordered we were sitting at home eating our "wice"!! And now we have a $20 gift card to go back and eat at Pei Wei....I think next time I will just get take out....LOL!!!

I must say though overall Max and I had a nice little day together! I was so glad to share some fun times with him! He truly is our little blessing!!! I love you sweet boy!

Belated Anniversary Post

One of my many surprises on our anniversary!!! Aren't they just gorgeous! We had calla lilies in our wedding so my thoughtful husband made sure to have 3 in the arrangement to celebrate the 3 years of marriage! So sweet!

On April 21st Craig and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary!!! I can not believe it has been 3 years already! Time has just flown by! I must say it has been a absolute wonderful 3 years! I would not change anything. God has truly blessed us with such an amazing marriage and family. I couldn't ask for anything more. I love that I have such a strong, caring, and loving husband to spend each day with. Craig, I don't know how to thank you for being such a great husband and daddy to our son! I love you with all of my heart and hope to spend many many more anniversaries with you!

We had a wonderful date night thanks to my parents. Craig and I went to Outback and enjoyed a nice dinner together. Once again, God is so GOOD!!!