Uncle Doug

We had a wonderful evening Thursday Sept 25th celebrating Tyler's Uncle Doug's 30th Birthday. Sadley Doug wasn't with us, he was killed by a drunk driver in Sept. 2002 (being that Sept is his birthday month and the month he was killed makes it a really tough month for our family). Anyways, we had a night of reminiscing and watching old video's. Although I never met Doug, Scott's family keeps him alive in my heart with many great memories. Some of Scott's memories that he's shared with me include playing drums while Doug led worship, going mudding in the jeep and Doug getting scared and running home, and Doug always wanting Burger's for dinner and his mom serving up hamburgers when Doug really wanted Burger's "the candy" Store for dinner. One video we watched was Doug driving to the property where our church, Savannah Christian's main campus is at today. It was neat hearing his voice and how much he was in love with Jesus. He wanted to know if the drivers next to him were Christians and you can tell he was praying for them at the same time and wanting them to have the same relationship he had with Jesus. Scott's parents still have a website for remembering Doug. As I visit this site I can feel the love he had for everyone and how much he wanted everyone to feel the love he felt for Jesus and more importantly be saved. Here is a special picture of Doug leading Worship and Scott playing the drums behind him.Then today at church they did Cardboard Testimonies. Scott's parents held up signs with one side saying Son Killed by a Drunk Driver, Rob, Scott and I held up signs saying Brother/Brother-in-law Killed by a Drunk Driver. After we stood up on stage showing that side of the sign, we turned it over and it said Family now Closer to God than Ever. It is so true. Scott's family and their example of what Christian life is about brought me to Jesus, them remembering Doug and hearing about his passion for Christ played a HUGE role in my being saved. My life has done a 180 and I am more happy now than I ever could have imagined. I pray that Tyler will be the way Doug was, always seeking the Lord and not giving in to the ways of the world. An example in a bible study book I'm doing called Power of a Praying Parent reminds me of what I picture Doug was like. The example is of a boy in high school who is good at everything, sports, school, and was popular but there was also something different about him. (directly from the book) "His words and his actions reflected his deep respect for God and His laws." Never laughing at off color jokes, he didn't smoke or drink, or curse. When I read it I thought of what Doug may have been like and in the back of my mind thought that I wished I was that way not only in high school, but even now. I still struggle with giving into the ways of the world acting like it's no big deal, but I know that it is a big deal to God. The book uses this Scripture, "Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity" (1Timothy 4:12) I hope Tyler will be that way and surround himself with people that are bold in their faith and love the Lord. I miss Doug like I knew him, and I am looking forward to finally meeting him one day in Heaven!Last Thursday night we were able to snap a few shots of all the cousins sitting together...this is the best one of them at least looking up, although not at the camera. It is very exhausting taking pictures of little boys! From the left it's James (5), Matthew (7) holding Tyler and Andrew (3 in Nov.). I see lots of fun times ahead as Tyler grows up and gets to play with his cousins.

Garage Sale!!!!

There was a huge garage sale in the mall parking lot this morning. After I nursed Tyler at 6:30am I went up there to see what was going on. It opened at 7am and it was packed! But I came out only spending $26 and we got a bunch of clothes for Tyler (pants and a few shirts) and all of this:

The famous POPPER and baseball striker.

Pedicure Spa treatment...only been used once (looks brand new) and it will be sanitized. We have something similar but it sprang a leak, so it's going in the trash. For only $5.
And a push golf cart for $4!

Tyler crawling up the stairs...

Roseola and 1st tooth coming!

Two nights ago Tyler was making some strange noises in his bed...Scott was watching him closely on the baby monitor and asked me if there was something he could have been chocking on in his crib. I went to check on him and he was BURNING UP! Just an hour ago he was fine. So being this is the first significant fever (thank the Lord) we were a little nervous. We stripped him down and let him crawl around while we researched the fever on the Internet. I could not find the ear thermometer so Scott got out his commercial take a temp in 1 second....the result 103! So we gave him some Tylenol dressed him in light clothes and Scott gave him some water and rocked with him for about a half an hour. He slept for about 3 hours and was up again. He wasn't really fussy, just making some strange noises and tossing and turning. I let him lay by me for an hour or so and then gave him another dose (the fever hadn't really changed) then put him back in bed. He woke up around 6am...I nursed him and he slept until 7:30...with no fever at all! We were very thankful. He was fine last night and then when I was out doing errands today I noticed he had a rash all over his legs and arms....and then everywhere! He is fine and just as happy as can be....as soon as I saw the rash I remember a couple of my friends that have experienced this with their kids. So just in case you are unaware of Roseola here is a good website describing what it is. The worst part is the high fever and making sure you can break it. Unfortunately it is spread when there is no symptoms so no mom can ever be at fault. It's just a part of life.

THEN today as I was nursing Tyler before his 2nd nap he started biting me (OUCH) and I stuck my finger in his mouth and felt a tiny sharp piece of tooth just breaking through! I don't know if I'm excited about that or not...but it's going to be cute...another milestone for Tyler!

Very Blessed Week

(this picture was taken by my friend Elisa when she was over helping me with Tyler)

We are very blessed to have so many great friends, family in Savannah, and awesome neighbors. Everyone has helped us out so much this week, it has been amazing. We had food brought to us for every meal, Tyler even got some cereal and puffs, there was fruit, tons of flowers and chocolate, and best of all lots of prayers and support. Thank you to everyone and to God for always being there with us.

Last night Scott and I were able to go out on a date night: dinner and a movie. We really treated ourselves. Our friends came over to relieve us of our nightly routine with Tyler and we headed out. We went to Tangerine's and then saw Ghost Town...which had us laughing a few times and that felt really good. We had good conversation about the last week and I am ready to move on past all my sadness and my body is coming together, I'm still a little slow and the 3 places they entered my body are a little itchy, but over all I'm doing great!

Scott is out on the golf course this morning, which he deserves...he's been working so hard this week and has helped transport Tyler and watch him in between my rest periods. Tyler is working on settling down for his nap...I love our video monitor! It is so fun to watch him, he's growing up so fast!

This is Daddy and Tyler playing...

Ectopic Pregnancy

Well, the last few weeks has been a roller coaster of events. Aug 26th I had a positive pregnancy test! We were so excited and was even more excited to keep it a secret between us until 12 weeks or so...just to enjoy the excitement of it all. Sept 3rd I had some spotting and because of my past (2 miscarriages before Tyler was born) I went in to give blood to check my HCG levels. I went back on Friday and the numbers decreased meaning that sadly I was having a miscarriage. The next few days were tough. The strange things started when I never started bleeding anymore so I called the Dr's office and made an appointment to see what was going on. The whole time I was praying that my body would do it's thing and naturally miscarry. The ultrasound didn't show anything good or bad but we decided to give blood again and then would follow up a month later to make sure everything returned to normal non-pregnant levels. The next day the Dr. called and said my levels increased, meaning that my body was still supporting a pregnancy. We scheduled another ultrasound for the next week (tomorrow). Saturday night while Scott and I were watching a movie I started having really bad cramping and it never let up and bleeding started again at 4am. I called the on call Dr and explained to him everything and he gave me warning signs for an ectopic pregnancy. I waited it out until yesterday at 2pm and decided that the pain I was feeling was unlike my previous miscarriages and I wanted to make sure everything was OK.

It turns out it was an ectopic pregnancy in my Right Fallopian Tube. Last night I had surgery and all is well. The surgery was a success and I even got to see pictures of my insides. They saved my tube and the Left tube is free and clear. The Right tube should heal and we can start trying again in 3 months. My chance increases for another ectopic (from 2% to 15%) so everything in the future will be closely monitored. I am doing OK, I was able to vent all my "pity me" thoughts yesterday and thankfully my sister-in-law Amy was there to set me straight. I still have a good outlook on our future family. I told the Dr. 100 times that I want more children and to take care of my stuff!! It's been a hard couple weeks, but Tyler has kept me busy and smiling and reminding me how blessed I am to have him. I also have a wonderful loving husband, amazing family, and awesome support from our church and small group...and most of all I know that God is always with me and he is always good!

God only gives you what you can handle and the best part is, I can feel my faith just getting stronger and stronger. I love you Jesus...thank you for everything! I know you are taking care of my 3 precious babies in heaven and I will see them someday!

A friend of mine sent me this verse: Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Captain of the Boat

9 Month Check-up

Tyler is growing and sitting on his new push toy (bought it for $7.50 at Once upon a Child)!

Height= 30 inches (92 percentile)

Weight= 24.6lbs (92 percentile)

No teeth yet, and as you can see on the video he is cruisin' along the couch and coffee tables trying to get into anything that is NOT his toy. He also giving air kisses on demand. Very cute! He loves going on errands with me and being pushed around the grocey store. He is the biggest flirt in the store! However he did have a little stranger anxiety with Dr. Stone yesterday and screamed the whole time he was in the room. But as soon as the nurse came he was all smiles again (at lease until she gave him his shot).

We both have a little cold right now...I'm learning how to suction the gunk out of his nose...he HATES it....but I know in the end I am helping him. He did sleep a lot better last night. I only had to go in and reinsert paci and pat him twice. Once at 1am and again at 3am...then he slept until 7am! I was even up at 6am and was able to do my bible study!

The Shack

Here is the way to get me motivated to do something:

Conversation with my sister-in-law.

Amy: "I just read The Shack...you should read it."
Me: (in my mind I'm thinking about Shaquille O'Neal) Oh really, what is it about?"
Amy: "Can't tell you, it will give it away."
Me: AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Some days pass, I'm at a MOPS retreat, everyone that walks in says, "Have you read, The Shack?" "NOPE, but don't ruin it for me...I'm getting it on Sunday!"

Tuesday night, finished The Shack! It was awesome. This is a book that I needed in high school before I "got it", and also when I first "got it" (the relationship with Jesus)! I loved the book, like Amy said...can't really give a summary...you'll just have to read it for yourself! It didn't take me long to read it...it's a page turner. FYI-It is Fiction.

This is a quote from the back cover, "In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant THE SHACK wrestles with the timeless question: Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?

Here is the website to check it out for yourself. http://www.theshackbook.com/

You can believe in Jesus, go to church, read the Bible, but if you don't understand the relationship that God yearns to have with you and don't accept that He is always with you...none of the above matters. If you work on your relationship with Jesus and accept him as the Lord of you Life...you will be changed and you will fill that empty void in your life!

Tyler eats some puffs

The danger to teaching him to chew and eat puffs is that every small thing goes into his mouth! He is just growing up so fast. He'll be 9 months old tomorrow! He's already grazing across the couch, saying baba and ga. He's very busy and doesn't like to be held much...just wants to GO!

We also are having to put up gates...he's not too fond of them yet.

I'm having the time of my life with my little man!

Pantry Drama

A couple days ago I was asked to bring desert to dinner with some friends. So I thought, what do I have all the ingredients for? Oatmeal cookies of course! So, I'm making my cookies and I go to get some flour out of the pantry (we had A LOT of flour, from a previous baking kick I had 6 months ago that ended after one day) and there was an infestation of those little weevils! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! So gross...I opened another, yep and another...all of the flour was ruined! Then I thought, I'm throwing everything out, but yesterday I thought surely this brand new pancake mix will be fine....NOPE! So, completely disgusted I emptied out the entire pantry peeled off contact paper...scrubbed the shelves, had Scott spray for bugs...reapplied easy non-slip shelving paper from Dollar Tree, and now we have a pantry that I am hesitant to put any food in. I don't think I'll be shutting the door, new house rule is that nothing goes on the floor of the pantry so the bug man can spray...so on and so on. But talk about getting motivated to clean! We also got those airtight sealed containers to put only 1 bag of flour at a time. I will NOT be stocking up on anything again (grocery store is only 1 mile down my street!).

and by the way, I did the classic "borrow some flour from the neighbor" to finish my cookies, which were AWESOME!

All in all it was a VERY productive day...add 4 loads of laundry and a trip to TJ Max, the Dollar Tree, Wal-mart, and back to Dollar Tree with a 9 month old! (to find shelving paper and containers!)

Happy Birthday Grandma! From Tyler

We love you and miss you. Can't wait for you to come back to Savannah next month!

Love,
Carrie, Scott, and Tyler!

Tree for Tyler and some babble

This weekend Scott and I attended his best friends sister's wedding and their party favor was a tree to plant. So we've decided since we don't have a good spot for the tree...and we didn't think the neighbors would like us planting a tree in their yard, we would ask JohnE and Jenny if we could plant it at their house. And of course they didn't care. So this tree is for Tyler...hopefully we'll be able to watch it grow while JohnE and Jenny live in Savannah and then long after they leave we will always remember where the walnut tree is and drive by to reminise Tyler's first year of life. I just hope it grows!!!

Tyler is babbling away these days. We are trying to turn the bababa into dada/mama...but not yet, this is all we get so far. What do they say, "You spend the first year of their life teaching them to stand up, walk, and talk and the rest of their life telling them to sit down and shut up!

Happy Birthday John-E!

It's my brother's birthday! 1/4 of a century old! Let's see, he's getting married next year, he's a home owner, he's an uncle, hmmm...you could say I'm pretty proud of my little brother! Love you John-E, hope you have a wonderfuly birthday here in Savannah!

Love,
Carrie, Scott, and Tyler!

Two weeks ago Tyler started crawling and he's already pulling up. I thought we'd have a few more weeks of crawling but I guess he just got bored. I think he's still a few months away from actually walking on his own...he's pretty wobbly. The firt time he pulled up on his own was Saturday August 2nd...and here it is on video from today!

Tyler Laughing

Tyler has been giggling for awhile now, but today I heard a whole new laugh come out...so I thought I'd share what I captured. It's sure to make you smile and maybe even giggle yourself.

Love,
Carrie

10 YEAR REUNION

The "Prom" picture...Scott gets one too (you know the picture that my mom always took of me and my date on the way to a dance in front of the tree in the front yard?)! Anyways, we are on the way to the reunion reception.

Can you find me?

The girl gang! (Me, Jill, Rachel, Paula, Stacy, and Kelly)

So, I survived my High School reunion this week. It felt like the first day of school all over again. It was great to see everyone...everyone that showed up anyway. I would say about 25% of the class showed up. Friday night we had a family night picnic. I think the kids out numbered the adults! It was cool to see everyone's kids and matching them up to each other. It was tough to have any meaningful conversations though because everyone was chasing around their kids. Saturday morning was the golf outing. Scott and I went and had a blast. Only 5 other guys showed up. Our team won the best shot competition with a 3 under par. I even scored a birdie all by myself on a par 3. Then we all (all 7 of us) went out for lunch. Saturday night we had a reception, which included a small slide show of pictures and memorable songs...oh and Superman showed up, Brandon Routh (B.J. to us). Yes, he graduated with us and is my cousin Jimmy's good friend. Scott said he really enjoyed seeing a blast from my past. Unfortunately I didn't get very many pictures, but everyone is compiling all the pictures together so everyone can view them. I'm glad I went and hopefully we will talk the people that didn't come into coming in 2018.

Grandma and Great Grandma babysat Tyler all day on Saturday! The day before Tyler pulled Max's (older dog) hair and got nipped at which was very scary, but Tyler's fair skin makes everything look worse than it is. Thank God nothing bad came out of it, other than a scared baby and a few red marks!

We spent Sunday at my Aunt Carla's and Chuck's farm house, pulling up it looked as though a tornado went through with trees and branches thrown all over the yard. They had a storm last weekend that destroyed their trees once again. Carla gave me a tour of the garden and we pulled out a yellow squash the size of my calf and a zuccini squash the size of my forarm. We grilled them for lunch...it was yummy. It definitely motivates me to start trying a garden of our own. I would really love it, but can I do it????? Everything seems to grow really fast and intense here in Savannah so it can't be that hard...can it? We'll see...updates later!

On the way home from the farm there were some intense storms rolling through Des Moines. At one point I made Scott turn the car around and go the other way. We ended up going completely around the storm and only had sprinkles on our windsheild, which was pretty amazing.

We made it back safely to Savannah, but not before we took these photo's of Tyler with his Grandma and Grandad. We'll miss you!

Bye Grandma and Grandad!

Tyler meets the Dogs

I don't know what I was so afraid of...Bert is a little hyper but both him and Max LOVE Tyler and Tyler gets SO EXCIITED when they are around. Tyler LOVES them! Here are some pictures to prove it!
Yesterday Grandma took us to Target and bought us a new diaper bag and a new Baby Einstein. A Day on the Farm! We will test it out today! Here is Tyler in the car seat that my Grandma's freind Helen lent us for the week inside her car with her license MABURT. My Grandma's friend also lent us the really cool old fashioned high chair too. I love it!

Tyler is Crawling

Back from Iraq

Welcome Home Greg and Jeff!
We hosted a party yesterday for two friends that are back from a 15 month deployment in Iraq. Greg and Jeff and their wives Elisa and Bethany are in our small group and each week we all prayed for their safe return. We are so thankful they are back and our small group is whole again! We spent the day enjoying the water, kayaking, water skiing, wake boarding, kayak skiing, and grilling out. It was a gorgeous day and not too hot with some overcast sky's. Tyler did great hanging out on the dock playing with toys and drinking water. It was really a great day!

Two guys (Kenny and Derek) chilling in the kayak's banked up on the sand bar.

Tyler hanging out with everyone on the dock in his new hat with a strap.