had to share

i've been away for far too long, but today a friend of mine posted something on his blog that i just had to share. so, today i want you to go here and while you're at it go here too and see what he has been experiencing this week.

christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat

please to put a penny in the old man's hat. if you have no penny, a ha' penny will do, if you have no ha' penny, then God bless you!

we are having our annual Christmas feast at work tomorrow so i made a southwestern-y dip (but of course i forgot to take pictures). then i whipped up some snickerdoodle muffins (super easy!!) to take also. when i got the camera out to take pics of the muffins, i ended up photographing most of our Christmas decorations. hope you enjoy! i'm sure i'll be back after Christmas with some more Christmas pics, and hopefully soon with some pics from Thanksgiving.

Christmas 2009

snickerdoodle breakfast muffins

1-½ cup Flour
½ cups Sugar
1-½ teaspoon Baking Powder
½ teaspoons Cinnamon
¼ teaspoons Nutmeg
⅛ teaspoons Salt
1 whole Egg Beaten
½ cups Milk
⅓ cups Butter, Melted

In a mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients. Make a well in the center. Add egg, milk and butter. Stir until just moistened.
Fill muffin cups about 2/3 full. Sprinkle a little cinnamon/sugar mixture on top. Bake at 350 for about 15-20 minutes or until done. enjoy!

wow

just wow, not sure what else to say. a friend had linked this blog post on twitter "feeding the hungry" if that story is even remotely true (i haven't done any digging, but i don't have any reason to doubt it) then i am just blown away. how ridiculous is that?!? with so many people wanting this health care bill to pass, i just can't believe someone is pitching a fit over a church helping people out. no one is forced to help this church, i'm sure the church would love to accept help from those who WANT to give, but it certainly isn't mandatory. and that is over FOOD, not healthcare.

slow

it sure has been slow around here, only because my life has been anything BUT slow. and with an already busy week ahead there is a tropical storm "bearing down" on us. i'm not particularly worried about it, but it will be a nuisance. i have two cakes to bake this week (i'll do my best to take pics so i have something to post) and i haven't gone grocery shopping yet. also, i still have a couple of stops to make this week preparing for a visitor this weekend (not of the V variety, luckily). had a pretty busy weekend this past weekend, did a bit of christmas shopping (just ornaments, i'm not that on the ball). had dinner with some friends and visited my grandmother yesterday. planning (hoping) to hit christmas jubliee this thursday or friday (when i'm off work, woo!)

ok, well this was about the most random post, but at least it was a post.

giveaway!!

ha! sorry, not me, 'provident woman' head on over. you could win some (what i'm sure are) awesome honey products. provident woman's husband is a bee keeper and she makes lip balms and lotions. how neat!

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day

Each year, over half a million dreams are shattered. Out of 3.3 million babies born alive, some 30,000 die during the first 28 days. Another 39,000 babies are stillborn. Miscarriage occurs in fifteen to twenty percent of pregnancies, while ectopic pregnancy occurs in one percent. This day effects so many people. I f you have never yourself lost a baby, surly you know someone who has.Today is the day to honor those babies, so I am asking you all to do that today, sometime, some way.
If you yourself have lost a child/ren allow me to honor your sweet baby today by leaving a comment and tell me a little something about your precious angel. I'll start. If you want to leave a message of support for those mommies and daddies that have lost precious babies do that in the comment section too.
~~I'll be praying for you today.~~

p.s. i reposted this/copied from http://whenhellomeansgoodbye.blogspot.com/ sorry kate, i should have put this the first time

re-post

this is a link to a blog i'm subscribed to, it is a news story from a dallas. it isn't easy to watch, i cried through almost all 10 minutes of it, but is a perfect example of God's love and why i do NOT agree with abortion.
4tunate

busy weekend

this was the cake i made for my grandmother's birthday lunch. i forgot to take pictures during all the prep work, so this is the baked cake.


and this is the icing being made

and this is what this super yummy dessert looked like right before we cut into it!

this is my dad and the back of my grandmother and aunt.

this is my mom, her sister, and her mom

travis and my cousin's husband discussing politics

i had to cut short my visit with my family to go to a youth event that afternoon and then babysat for some friends of mine that evening so they could go hear the band her sister-in-law is in at a local restaurant. to finish out the weekend travis cut the grass sunday afternoon and monday morning i found 4 huge ant beds in the yard. those ants were busy last night, here are a couple of pics. good thing the exterminators called to set up our quarterly spraying today!

news

!!!WARNING!!! the post below isn't exactly happy, it is about the loss of our first child. i had been in the process of writing it when we lost our baby, so i finally finished it.

this post has been awhile in the making. i wasn't ready to share, but didn't want to forget it all either.

JAN 2 - my birthday!! woohoo, no work, just chilling. oh yeah, and after almost 2 years, we are finally PREGNANT!!! i can't believe it, it seems so surreal. i mean, why after all this time would things finally work? well, other than the drugs and procedure we took/had to get pregnant. plus, i have no symptoms, sooo...hmmm. hoping for the best, i decided to go ahead and test this morning, b/c it would make the best birthday present ever! and if it was negative, i would just wait until monday and test again. i was hoping to get the first blood test today, but the dr wasn't in. so, monday it will be. so, here's hoping for a good hcg number and then doubling numbers on the second test!

i'm 4 weeks pregnant, only 36 more to go. about 250 days. our little lamb is the size of a poppyseed and in the coming weeks will start developing all of its major organs.

JAN 5 - took another pee test this morning, because what else was i going to do with it? went in for my blood test today and waited hopefully for a call from the dr's office. the nurse had told me that they may not have the results back until in the morning, so once i left work i figured i would just have to wait some more. surprisingly the phone call we get at 6pm is from my dr himself! he says that my hcg is around 350 and he is very pleased with that number. he told me to start taking my progesterone (which, btw are these funny ball shaped pills that look like candy, not kidding) twice a day instead of just once and that his nurse would call me the next day to schedule my first ultrasound in a couple of weeks!!! i was very happy to hear more good news and mostly relieved that it wasn't all a figment of my imagination.

so, i guess you want to know how we told the fam. well, since friday was my birthday, i kinda expected that we would go to dinner with my parents, but no invitation was forthcoming. we had been out at lunch time and had gone to moe's (yum!) so we just had leftovers at home. i decided as one last not healthy eating hurrah and because it was afterall my birthday, that we should go get some dessert. as we headed home from baskin robins i called my parents, i figured we would just stop by to show them some "cool" pictures i had taken, but they didn't answer. i called my dad's cell phone and it turns out that they went out to dinner without me. =( we went home and i was somewhat sad that i didn't get to tell them. the next day (saturday) i went to see my great aunt and spend some time with my best friend elizabeth (whom i told, she was very excited for me!) and travis went to see one of his friends in mississippi. when i left visiting my friend my phone showed that my parents had been trying to call me, so i called and they invited us to dinner, but since i was the only still in town, it was just me. i headed to their house and watched them finish taking down their christmas tree and then handed my mom my camera to check out my neat picture. she figured it out immediately and was so excited, as was my dad. they were both cute about the whole thing! later that night i caught my brother on chat and sent him an e-mail with the pic, he was over the moon excited also. can you feel the love?

travis didn't let me send the pic to his mom for a couple of days, and then he wouldn't even tell her to check her e-mail. to quote her reaction "i can't breathe, i'm going to have a heart attack!" needless to say, she was very excited also.

JAN 6 - the nurse called today to schedule my appt, i didn't get a choice, she just told me that my ultrasound would be on jan 23 at 8, my appt with dr p would follow, and a blood draw before i leave. kinda stinky that i have to wait until the end of that week, but that also happens to be travis' b-day! so, we've decided to just take the whole day off. now, for a 2.5 week wait.

JAN 10 - 5 weeks today "appleseed":

Your embryo (looking kind of like a tadpole) is starting to form major organs (heart, kidney, liver, stomach) and systems (nervous, circulatory, digestive). Baby's presence in your uterus triggers production of hCG (the hormone detected by pregnancy tests)... which triggers production of other hormones like estrogen and progesterone... which trigger all those great symptoms you've probably been noticing!

only, i haven't really had any symptoms, except the horrible boob pain which started new year's night. fun stuff, but i'll gladly take it to finally get and stay pregnant. our little appleseed could quite possibly have a heartbeat now. how cool is that? only the size of an appleseed and have a beating heart! God is certainly amazing. tic toc, still almost a full two weeks until the ultrasound. i'm perfectly happy to be one of those strangely blessed women (like my mom) who really don't experience the yuckiness the first trimester tends to be for many, but an occaisional symptom would be reassuring that things are still going strong done there.

JAN 17 - 6 weeks today "sweet pea":

Growing like crazy, baby is starting to sprout eyes, ears, nose, cheeks and chin. Those little hands and feet- still webbed like paddles- might wiggle by week's end, the heart is beating (almost twice as fast as yours!), and blood is starting to circulate.

i can't believe our sweet pea is a quarter of an inch long! really nothing new to report, still not much in the way of symptoms. the boobs still hurt and there is some tiredness. the closest thing to classic symptoms is the burping and a bit of heartburn. my mom says she was never sick with me and only for a week first thing in the morning with my brother. so, i may just luck out. of course, another friend of mine said that she could time how far along she was because the moment she turned 7 weeks she was as sick as a dog.

you know how when you get a new phone or new car, suddenly you see them everywhere. naturally now that i'm finally pregnant, i know 4 other ladies who are too. there are two more that i'd really like to join me on this wonderful journey and hopefully it will happen for both of them soon. to finish, when i sent my brother an e-mail telling him about what was going on with his niece or nephew this week, he sent me back this picture and ask was i having a seahorse. i told him that i was. how cool is that, you can see the heart and brain, where the eyes will be, just amazing.

JAN 22 - tomorrow is the big day, our first ultrasound. i've been kind of anxious. mostly excited, a little bit nervous. i know that the baby itself won't look like much more than a little blob, but i'd really love to see it's heartbeat. i want to be measuring on schedule and for everything to be perfect. i know we don't always get what we want and for people who struggled to get pregnant, finally getting pregnant doesn't suddenly mean that everything will go fine. we (my friends emily and patrick and i) are throwing travis a surprise 30th birthday party tomorrow night. i'm pretty excited about that and hope all goes well. my brother and his girlfriend will be coming home tomorrow too, so i'll see them on saturday. anyway, i just don't know how i'll be able to stand myself until 8am tomorrow, but i'll make it some how.

JAN 23 - yay! everything went fine and there is a little blob in there (this is what travis called it the other day, and my mom doesn't like us to call her grandchild that. however, that is what it looks like at this point, a wonderfully perfect blob) i really wasn't even nervous, other than we didn't get there a few minutes early like i wanted to. we saw the blob pretty quickly and could see the flicker that was the heartbeat. then she (the tech doing the ultrasound) told me to be real still and she would try to play the heartbeat and measure it for us. and it was AMAZING! not quite the beautiful, teary eyed moment i thought it might be, but SO COOL none the less. she showed us the yolk sac with the baby (the yolk sac is way bigger at this point) and told me that the baby is measuring 5 weeks 6 days. so, we'll be in a holding pattern at "sweet pea" for another week. then she took a few more measurements for the dr. she printed us a few pics and burned us a cd, then we went to meet with the dr. he was very happy with everything and assured us that due to how tiny they are and that a mm difference in measurements would mean a difference of 4-5 days that it was ok that i was measuring behind where we thought i would be. and to be on the safe side (that is the side i like) he is bringing us back in in two weeks for another peak and measurements. so, i'm breathing easier-ish for now. and will have much relief and probably open the floodgates (of letting people know) if all goes well at my next appointment. now a two week count down until feb 6. and without further ado, i present "the blob"

FEB 2 - reached 7 weeks over the weekend "blueberry":

Baby's brain -- both hemispheres! -- is growing fast, generating about 100 new cells every minute. Arms and legs are emerging as joints start to form, and a permanent set of kidneys (baby's third!) is now in place

i e-mailed my brother this week's update and this was his response: "haha you now have fruit inside you! lol the fruit of your womb" how cute is he? apparently he has already asked my mom about 20 times in the last week when my appointment is. i also told him the other day that the baby is due the day of the first troy home game of the 2009 season against UAB. he called to tell me that it was unacceptable and that something would have to be done. lol i thought it was hilarious, of course my mom ruined it by telling him that due dates don't really mean anything.

travis told me the other day that one of the happiest moments of his life was right after i found out i was pregnant and jumped on the bed to wake him up and tell him. awww, isn't that sweet. i'm still feeling fine other than being tired and sleepy. particularly today because we went to a super bowl party last night and didn't get home until after my new bed time.

well, there are only about 87 more hours until our ultrasound and i think we are both getting excited. i still have a little apprehension after getting low results on some of my blood work last week, but the dr increased my medicine, so hopefully everything is fine. i also picked up my prescription for my prenatals today. i think they are the ones i tried the sample of last week, i'll try to at least get through most of this month. however, if they are the same ones, they smell like vanilla, and i don't know if i can take them. yuck! well, i guess that is it until friday, say your prayers!

FEB 6 - "the ultrasound" - i have decided that fridays, first thing in the morning, is the worst time to go have an ultrasound. we got there a few minutes early, no one else was in the waiting room and no one was at the desk either. we just waited. slowly people started filling up the waiting room, mostly older ladies in for bone density and mammograms. and one couple who was quite pregnant. finally a staff person showed up at the desk. about 25 minutes after our appointment time the other couple (that showed up after us) was called back by the ultrasound tech that i like. i was a bit aggravated that i was having to wait longer and would get another tech. *sigh* oh well. a few minutes later a tech came from the main office to get us from the ultrasound waiting and took us back to a ultrasound room in the main office. i was excited to see what changes our baby had gone through in those short (and long) two weeks. i had been scouring the internet for pictures of what our baby might look like.

then she started the ultrasound. she found the baby right away, and it definitely looked different; it was bigger and had a more defined shape. she measured and said the baby was measuring 8 weeks. almost immediately though i knew something wasn't right, i couldn't see the flicker of the heartbeat. i tried to imagine that it wasn't true, but when she took another minute or so to keep looking and never said anything, i knew my fears were confirmed. i didn't start crying until she said that she was so sorry, but that she couldn't find a hearbeat. my world was shattered. the baby that we had, for two long years, been trying and hoping for was gone.

the tech lead us the the dr's office where we had to wait to talk to him. we had to wait probably 10-15 minutes on him to finish with other patients. we cried and hugged and sat in awkward silence, i think we both apologized. i think deep down i had known something was wrong, just the day before i had told a lady at work that "i give up on feeling pregnant" i hadn't had morning sickness, and some of my other symptoms kind of came and went. i didn't know how to feel and i didn't know what to say, i just wanted to crawl under the covers and sleep for a long time. i guess i knew that everything would eventually "be ok", but it didn't really matter at that time.

dr. p came in after 10-15 minutes, and told us how sorry he was. he reassured me that sometimes there is just something inherently wrong with the baby that it can't grow past a certain point and that it was nothing i had done. he also said that because the baby was measuring 8 weeks it had happened within the last day or two. then we had to talk about the next step. he recommended that i have a d&c (dilation & curettage). he said it wasn't necessary, but with the amount of tissue that would be involved and that there was no way to determine when i would miscarry on my own or how long it would last, that it would probably be better. although i was fully on board with this idea, just wanting it to be over, my head started spinning. i wanted to make sure travis understood and was ok with this, i wanted at least one of my parents to be able to be there with travis. per my usual nature, my thoughts immediately flew to calling my dad and telling him he would have to cancel anything else and be there with travis. (it is much harder for my mom to get off work, but i knew she would) fortunately though, i was given a choice and asked them to check with the OR and see if they could do the d&c on saturday morning.

after arrangements were made we left and headed to get travis' oil changed, it might sound odd, but it still needed to be done and we were already in seperate cars. of course as soon as i get in my car i realize that my phone was vibrating. it was my mom. i wasn't ready for this but answered the phone anyway. "hey" "hey *voice cracking*" "is everything ok?" "no, the baby didn't have a heartbeat" what can a mother say to that? of course she said she was sorry, i told her when the d&c would be, and that i still wanted to have dinner with them that night (at least i think i told her all that at that time, but who knows) (once again my subconscious had watched out for me, i had wanted to fix soup and have some people over for dinner, but i was just too nervous about planning anything for that night, so i planned dinner with my parents just in case something went wrong). so, we had dinner with my parents and went to bed early.

FEB 7 - got up early to be at the hospital at 5:30. i won't go through all the boring details, but there is no one there to register people at that time in the morning and the woman in the ER didn't know what to do with us. eventually i got registered and taken to pre-op waiting, and of all things i had to pee in a cup so they could do a pregnancy test. thanks for that one. eventually after getting an iv and waiting and waiting, i got taken back.

as soon as i awoke from the anesthesia i just started crying. i wanted to go home, i didn't want it to be true. after about 10 minutes they let travis and my parents come back and we eventually left. my dad went and got my prescriptions while we got breakfast and met back up at my parents' house. after breakfast travis and i went home and i tried to sleep, even on painkillers i couldn't sleep. eventually we went to the library and rented some movies and went and got ice cream (my throat was sore from being intubated during surgery).

i called my pastor that night, talked to her for a few minutes, and ask that she share our prayer concern with the church.

on sunday my best friend came down from birmingham to spend the afternoon with me, this also gave travis a chance to visit a friend. we spent monday at home, rest and recovering. some friends from canada sent us flowers and we got cards in the mail. slowly we got back to our lives, not the ones we had begun to imagine having, but the same life of living with infertility and childlessness. as the due date for our first baby approaches i'm reminded more often that not only do we not have our baby, but we aren't even pregnant again yet. i know that if it is his will, God will provide us with a child, somehow, some day.

paint party

what a great way to spend a friday night!

mother/daughter brunch

mother/daughter brunch 2009

here is a link to the pictures i took at the mother/daughter brunch at my church. this is the second time this event has been hosted and the second time we had a wonderful spring fashion show. several women in the church were each asked to decorate a table with. my mom and i did the one with colored roses, the 3rd table pictured. we used my great-grandmother's china which now belongs to my mom. men of the church served us that morning and the food was wonderful.

still working on a post and will definitely being posting some more pictures this week.

nom

these are from about a year ago, but cute. so, i thought you might enjoy them.

been a long time

i know it has been quite awhile since i've posted much of anything. there has been a lot going on in our lives this year, i haven't decided what of that i want to share yet. BUT... since i've updated my photo slide show on the right ---> with spring pictures, i figured i need to put something else here instead of pictures of my fall project. since i can't access anything like that right now, i'll just let you know that i'll be attending a mother/daughter brunch tomorrow at my church. i WILL have pictures. mostly because i've been asked to assist my dad with the "portraits" and take "party pics". several women of the church have been asked to set a table for the brunch. my mom and i will be doing one and i'm excited to see all the other beautiful tables! there will definitely be pics of those on here, i'll probably just link to my picasa album of the other pics. i'm not cool enough to know how to set up albums on a web-site like my dad. speaking of which, he has more really cool pics up, you should check them out at http://www.elmersellers.com/ He has been working on portraits and i'm sure he'd be interested in doing more if you need new family pics. with spring here in full force he and my mom have been journeying to dauphin island to go birding, he's gotten some great pics there and at their house too. that's my update for now, look for some pics to come soon.

older pics

these are some pics of a sewing project i did back in the fall and a few my dad took of travis and me in New Orleans when we went to the New Orleans Bowl in December

more pics of the "kids"

harper and evey

more fun pics

i know, i know

hello, my name is amy, and i'm an on-line comic and blog addict.

now, that we've gotten past that, we can get down to business. i know i need to post some new pics, and i had actually had an idea for a new project since i was done with classes, but life got in the way. so, you may be saying "blog addict?!? yeah, right!" my response would be "reading, not writing =)" so, the point of this post. there is a blog i happened upon awhile back, "Whoa, Camel!" , that i found shortly after the writer was diagnosed with a particularly nasty form of leukemia called AML. so, i read about her treatments and her remission. her first recurrence, and remission again. unfortunately, she posted today that it appears to have come back for a second time. the survival rate is pretty low to begin with, but with a second recurrence, things don't look good. she is young, she has a husband, and even more sad, she has a little boy. one of the things that sparked my interest was when she posted about the elders from her church coming to lay hands on her and pray for her healing. i loved that she believed in God, i loved that she wasn't afraid to share this part of herself, i loved that her church was doing this for her.

the minister at my church left the end of june to go to wisconsin to start a new ministry (you can read about his journey here ). as an elder/spiritual leader (a seemingly unlikely title) in the church this has been a difficult time. when he first told the session (elders) that he was leaving, i punched him. yes, i assaulted my pastor. of course, he let me, and no, it didn't really make me feel better. i cried the whole way home. his wife was in our women's bible study and i felt like i still had a lot i could learn from him. but as a church we are trying to move forward, we have recently hired an interim minister, and i'm very excited about her coming. i think i can still learn from doug by reading his blog and thinking about what he has to say, and trying to push my fellow elders and our congregation to be more like Christ.

passionate obsession

passionate:
1. having, compelled by, or ruled by intense emotion or strong feeling; fervid: a passionate advocate of socialism.
2. easily aroused to or influenced by sexual desire; ardently sensual.
3. expressing, showing, or marked by intense or strong feeling; emotional: passionate language.
4. intense or vehement, as emotions or feelings: passionate grief.
5. easily moved to anger; quick-tempered; irascible.

obsession:
1. the domination of one's thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, desire, etc.
2. the idea, image, desire, feeling, etc., itself.
3. the state of being obsessed.
4. the act of obsessing.

blessings

although most people would be hard pressed to find any blessings in having a grandmother who is a bit on the "confused" side, i have. i just talked to a woman at work who's father is senile, and this has caused him to be verbally abusive. apparently he was really awful to her this morning and she is upset, and understandably so. i don't know what he was like before, but since her mother died she has taken care of her, and now he cusses her out and says terrible things. and i know another lady who's father picks on her kids because of his dementia, he doesn't know when to stop and it upsets her kids. this, of course, breaks her heart. who wouldn't want their kids to love their grandparents?
i am fortunate in that my grandmother's confusion only causes her to forget things, ask the same questions again and again, and occasionally take a little trip back in time. she does every so often give my mom a guilt trip about not going to see her. my mom makes it up there at least every third week, but often every other week.

...on my mind

there have been a lot of things on my mind lately. with travis having surgery last week, his well-being has been forefront on my mind. does he need more medicine, something to eat or drink, is he hurting? (which reminds me that i forgot to remind him to take his antibiotic this morning). and work has been a bit hectic too, so there is some more of my time taken. since i'm taking this photography class (that has assignments) i've had to also think about getting my pictures taken and printed. along with various friends who have stuff going on in their lives, i think about them too. or people i have talked to in awhile. then there is the household chores and finances that i'm responsible for, and taking care of the dogs. (whom i've come to appreciate more recently, even when they aren't behaving) and my friend with the (hopefully) budding romance, i wonder how it is going when they are "out." i think about my parents and brother, particularly when they have something specific going on. (glad your test went well! go get your license renewed) and i think about travis all the time aside from his surgery. how is his day going? is he busy? is his cube neighbor being annoying AGAIN? i think about God and do my best to pray daily, and also read my bible. i think about my church, and sometimes the pastor. i wonder sometimes if i miss opportunities to reach out to people. since i wasn't listening/watching, and missed the opportunity, will someone else tell them about God? i wonder if i'm doing enough to deepen my relationship with God, have i decided to trust him again yet?
wow, it is amazing that i can get anything done with all that running through my head.

"3"