A Pinch of This, A Dash of That

I have a lot of little random things to blog about, but none of them important or substantial enough to warrant its own post. So, I present to you my version of blog slop for your reading enjoyment.

Bye Bye Pistachio Green

We are finally getting our house painted! I cannot tell you how excited I am. It is currently pistachio green with a darker mint green trim, which the previous owner picked out and was very proud of it. It's horrible, y'all. When we bought the house we didn't think that getting it painted would be a big deal. Late last summer we started calling around and getting quotes, and that's when reality set in. The cheapest quote was $3300 and the most expensive was $5500, plus these people were all booked up until the spring. So we held off. Thank goodness. There is a man in our church who is a self-employed general contractor and does painting as well. Keith was casually chatting with him about the house one day and asked if we had anybody to paint it yet. Keith told him no and he asked if he could come look at it. He did. He starts next week (hopefully) and he is doing it for less than the other quotes. I will definitely post before and after pictures.

Baby Lawhon 08 Update

I had a doctors appointment today which went okay. The baby's heart rate was good, my blood pressure was good, but he was not happy with my weight loss. I had lost 6 pounds since my last appointment 4 weeks ago. He told me my body desperately needs fat and calories and suggested pizza, burgers, and milkshakes. Seriously.

Leaving the Country

Well, my part of the country anyway. We weren't expecting Keith to get leave for a while due to some things going on at work, but a window of opportunity opened up and we jumped at the chance to take a little break. We will be leaving this weekend, going to TN and possibly South Carolina, and will be back in about 2 weeks. If my posting is sporadic, that's why.

Spring

It has finally sprung! Today was the first day that it was warm and the sun was shining in what seems like forever. Thank you Lord.


I guess that's about it for now. I hope you all are having a wonderful week.

Of Babies and Stuff

Warning: Not a post for the men readers...All 1 1/2 of you! :)

So a few posts back I promised to tell you all about what an extra special gift from the Lord this baby is to us. Here we go. But first, I feel like you need some background info for all of this to make sense. Let's start 3 years ago.

My cycles have always been pretty irregular, but have gotten even more so over time. In February of 2005 I had a cycle (I'm sure it had been a while before then, but I just don't remember) and we became pregnant for the first time. I was a little surprised because we weren't really "trying" to get pregnant at the time, but we were very happy. Sadly at about 7 weeks I had a miscarriage. It was a little hard to deal with but we had peace about it and knew that God's will is perfect and He makes no mistakes. It was at this time that we decided that we really were ready to start "trying", and so we did.

We were scheduled to leave Okinawa in October of 2006 and for some reason, I really wanted to have a baby before we left. I knew that meant that I would need to get pregnant no later than December 2005. I had the miscarriage in March and then began the waiting. Months went by and I had no cycle. I had all but given up hope that I would have a baby in Okinawa, and had almost given up on ever having a baby. It was during this time of (not very patiently) waiting that I began seeing my doctor regularly to try to figure out why I wasn't ovulating and why I couldn't get pregnant. Many, many tests were conducted and a few things were ruled out. However, the one possible thing that seemed to be left was a pituitary tumor.

On December 20th, 2005, I finally had a cycle-Praise the Lord! But I was not expecting to get pregnant at this point. From what the doctors were saying, I was more likely to have a brain tumor than a baby. I was scheduled for an MRI on March 21st. The next night around 7:00 the phone rang and it was my doctor. My husband was deployed at the time and suddenly I panicked. "It was way past office hours and if he is calling me this late it can't be good news", I thought to myself. My fears were not lessened any when he asked me if I was alone and then asked me if I was sitting down. Come on doc, out with it! Finally after some brief chit-chat about how the MRI went, he asked me if anyone had ever told me I was pregnant. "Not recently," I told him and he laughed. He the proceeded to tell me that back in January they did a pregnancy test as part of some routine lab work and failed to tell me that I was indeed pregnant. "What? No. There's no way." I was in deep denial and he was deeply apologetic for the mix up. I was scheduled for an ultrasound the next morning. At 10 AM on March 23, I found out I was 13 weeks pregnant with my sweet baby Tyler.

Tyler was born in Okinawa in October. Before we were discharged from the hospital, I wanted another baby. We decided not to wait and immediately started trying for another baby. It would be a long wait. For 15 months after he was born I did not have a cycle. Finally, on December 20th, 2007, exactly 2 years to the day since my last cycle, I started. Keith and I had always said that we would like to have our kids no more than 2 years apart if possible. I knew in my heart that the timing of this was no coincidence. I truly felt that we would get pregnant that month-and we did. Our kids will be 2 years apart, almost to the day. God is so good and we are so blessed!

So, let's recap. In the past 3 years I have only had 3 cycles and got pregnant each time. I know this is a long post and it may even seem insignificant to you if you have never been through it. But, I think it is absolutely amazing to see God working in our lives...especially where our children are concerned!

"Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and for evermore"

Psalm 113:2