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We are home, the tubes are in... He was extremely upset & cried most of the way home. He is finally sleeping. Hopefully he'll wake up more relaxed. Thank you for your prayers.

Cole turned 1 today & I felt the need to share the story of our little miracle. Most of you know, but he’s one so I feel the need to share again just for me…. When we were ready to start a family I never dreamed the plan God had. After almost a year and no baby, we began visiting the ART fertility program at Brookwood. After several visits, tests, and LOTS of blood work, they discover I had polycystic ovarian syndrome (POS). I began to take a series of drugs to help with this condition. The first several rounds were unsuccessful and very emotional. I visited the doctor almost every 3 days to have blood work and do ultrasounds. I was CRAZY due to the drugs! I was exhausted and frustrated that everybody was having babies….easily. I didn’t understand why God was choosing this plan for us. Finally we mixed the drugs several different ways and got a good result. We opted to do an IUI when the time was right. Well, the day it fell on was Sunday morning on Mother’s Day 2007. I became a mother on that Mother’s day and our life hasn’t been the same since. I’ll never forget that phone call from the nurse. So many times I had heard the same message,, I’m sorry Mrs. Lowry but its negative. The doctor wants to try something different in 2 weeks. But this time…she said, Mrs. Lowry its positive, you are going to have a baby. It was life changing and amazing and that sweet nurse is an angel of good news to this very day! God was so good and we were blessed to have a good pregnancy. I had gestational diabetes, but it was diet controlled and we did fine. At 38 weeks we discovered my fluid was low and after several admissions to get fluid they scheduled to induce at 39 weeks. We went in the night before. My water broke on its on a little after 5 am. The doc checked at 6:00 & I showed no progress but had erratic contractions, so he ordered the epi! PRAISE the Lord for the EPI! We got the Epi around 7:30. The came to check at 8:00 & from then on nothing seemed normal. The nurse acted funny & they began to watch the monitors closely. Dr. McKee’s colleague came in at 8:30 & said its time to go because Cole wasn’t tolerating things well. Emily said his heart rate kept going to 0. I never knew…thank goodness! At 8:40 my baby was born…healthy. I’ll never forget that first look at him! Everything we went through was absolutely WORTH it and we’d do it all again & more in a heartbeat! Amazing huh? His heart rate dropped due to the cord around his neck. He was the sweetest 6lbs 2 oz you have ever seen & I instantly loved him more than life. The rest of the day was very blurry…did I tell you they made a 10 minute decision to take him…that means lots of drugs…REALLY FAST to numb me…well that makes for quite a crazy rest of the day. Yuck. But he was perfect & here & even if he was fuzzy most of the day, he was mine. Mine that I never thought I’d have. Mine that I wondered if he would ever be…. He’s my miracle & he always will be. I have loved every moment with him. I have cherished every smile, every laugh, every lil thing. A whole year of it! My itty bitty baby is one. No more spitting up. No more bibs with every outfit. No more sitting up all night in the recliner. No more bubble suits. No more sleeping on my pillow beside me. No more sweet coos. No more of those sweet mommy stares as you feed him. And soon…no more bottles. My baby is one. I look forward to all the fun things ahead, but today I miss all the baby things behind. Where did 1 year go? Did I do enough with him? Did I spend enough time? Did I pray over him enough? I’ll never get it back. My baby is one. I am so thankful for the best year of my life. Oh, Happy Birthday sweet Cole man!

Happy Birthday Cole!

We celebrated all day! First we had a cookie after our cereal this morning!

The we took a cookie cake & goody bags and had a lil party at school with his friends!

Then Courtney & Shelby came over to visit . Shelby gave Cole some knew blocks. She's so sweet!! Then Casey, Emmie, & Addy came over tonight for dinner, birthday cake, & fun times in the bouncer! We also got phone calls from Nana & Pop & Steph & Ashton!It was a GREAT birthday!!!

Tubes

Well we met the ENT today & Cole is getting tubes THURSDAY! Apparently he is no longer responding to the antibiotics because after 8 days he is still majorly infected. So we didn't have an option of waiting, they are coming this week. They assure me he'll feel great for his party though. We go in Thursday morning at 5:00 am & hopefully have the surgery by 6:30. I am very apprehensive & ready to get it over with. Please remember him in your prayers, I know its done a million times a day, but now its my baby, so please pray with me.
Did I mention my baby will be 1 on Wednesday. That will be another emotional blog , one I cannot begin to write tonight...my baby is one...my baby is one....

Peace

"There is a sweet anointing in the sanctuary.There is a stillness in the atmosphere.O come,lay down the burdens you have carried.For in the sanctuary God is here.He is here, God is hereTo break the yoke and lift the heavy burden.He is here, God is hereTo heal the hopeless heart and bless the broken.O come,lay down the burdens you have carried.For in the sanctuary God is here." These are the lyrics to a song that Bethel choir sings often & I love it. I wish you could hear Jamie sing it, its a sweetness none would understand unless you heard it.I hear it when I am having a rough day. Twice this week I have heard of cancer taking the life of a young mother. Both in their 30s. Both leaving children here. I knew neither of these closely, one only through stories & the other I went ot school with her sister... but it really doesn't matter. Tonight 4 babies are without their mommy & it doesn't matter if I knew these women or not...its terribly sad. I will never understand such sadness, but I am so thankful through it all he still takes our burdens. Somehow he is already healing those sweet children. Somehow he is already healing the broken families. He is already carrying their burdens. There is peace in that. There is peace knowing my God can heal the broken. There is peace knowing he can calm every storm. I pray for those broken familes tonight. I pray they will allow God to take their burdens tonight. Cancer is so scary.

Mini Bouncer

We bought a mini bounce house for Cole's party. We did a trial run this week. He LOVES it! He just dives head first down the slide. He is going to have so much fun at his party. I can't believe my baby is turning one! Oh, we see the ENT tomorrow. We'll update after.

Miss America

If you watched, you know what I am talking about. REALLY? Me & Tess named her the girl with the Halloween Bride dress. Really she won? OK. I know its mean, but we were not picking her. She does look like Rachel McAdams though...& she's pretty. But we were not impressed with her singing abilities & scary dress. Obviously we know nothing about pagents.

Today

Today is a day no one will forget. Today we watched Barack Obama sworn in as president. I pray he makes good decisions for our nation. I pray he does bring a good change to our nation. I pray that things do get better in America. I pray for his family...for his little girls, for their safety. Finally I pray for all of us. I pray for acceptance, peace, and the ability to love no matter what. I dont have to like what he believes in, I don't have to agree with his decisions, but the bible says I do have to like/love him. Its the same thing. It'll be hard, but I guess we should all try. We will see a lot of him for 4 years. Its so much easier to write that than to follow through huh????

Tubes

I am too tired for details right now. STILL sick, double ear infection. Meet with an ENT next Monday. here come tubes. I'll give more updates later. PLease pray for God to make my baby well.

Cardboard Testimony

Ok, I got this off my friend's myspace, she did not prewarn me & I squalled! VERY Touching! What's your cardboard testimony? I can think of many!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvDDc5RB6FQ
Please take the time to watch it! It will be the best 8 minutes of your day!

TAG

I was tagged by Crystal & Dixie to go to my 4th folder & upload the 4th pic. This is it! This is & Josh & Shannon taken about a year ago at Tony's b'day dinner. We haven't seen them in a while & I miss them! They are great & have the two most adorable kids!

I tag Jamie, Kat, Forman, Rhonda, & Ashley!

Well, we haven't been on in a week. We've been busy! Just to update you, apparently a dishwasher lasts approx. 5 years, yes ours broke. For what it costs to fix it we can almost buy a new one, so we will begin looking for a good deal this week/ weekend. I have been handwashing dishes now for 2 weeks & HATE it! How do people survive doing that? Another update, we are getting ready for Cole's first birthday! I can't wait! It is going to be fun! We got a mini blow-up & some really cute plates, cups, napkins, etc. The plate is posted above. I even printed the invites myself to save $$$! We had an eventful day today, we went to my cousin Nicole's bridal shower & then to a Kelly's kids party at Steph's house. I wish I was loaded because i would have bought all the Jon Jons they had, but, I'm not so Nana bought one & I bought one. They are super cute. He's going to be so cute running around in Jon Jons this summer! Well, I'm off tomorrow & am SO Glad! Thats all for now!

Sippy Cup

We are still working on the sippy cup. Thanks to our friend Maddie, we tried a new one & it is a little better. He is just NOT that interested. He will hold it & likes to drink out of it, but cannot quite figure out how to tilt the cup up to get the drink. If I don't help he'll just suck it holding it down. But, hey we'll get it eventually!

Reclaiming my house!

Well, my house has looked like a child's toy yardsale since Christmas! Brooke & Josh offered to keep Cole last night so I could clean the carpets really well because we gave Gibbs to a new home( did I tell ya'll that?) Due to Cole's asthma tendencies, we were encouraged to find our cat a new home. I struggled, Blayne did not. But we found a wonderful new owner and I am ok with it now. Anyway...that got me way off! So we cleaned all the carpets to get rid of cat dander! First though, we went to Bed Bath & Beyond and got a 6 piece wooden hamper set. After the carpets were cleaned, I reorganized the toys into the hampers and I feel SO MUCH better about my house! I reclaimed my home! Then Cole came home & ofcourse its messy again, but we can put it all up at the end in our new hampers!

Zebra Rider

Blayne has been working with Cole & his new toys! They learned how to ride to his zebra tonight! It was too cute!!!

2009

Everyone seems to posting goals and resolutions for 2009. I am not quite sure I have them all figured out yet. I know I have nailed down a few. So I thought I'd share...

• I am going to spend time seriously praying for Cole. Not just for his health and his safety..I mean for his life...for everything God has in store for him. I want to pray for the good and bad things that he will face. I pray for his salvation one day. I pray for his choice of friends, for his choice in girls-oh my I will have to face that one day! I know that everything in his life will not be easy, but I pray God will carry him through it. And in order for him to have this kind of faith, I have to be the Mommy that leads him there...
• I hope to use the 7X7 prayer ( everyday, not just 7 days) for COle from the Bring the Rain blog on my page. Check it out. Angie is amazing and God totally leads and speaks through her.
• Which leads me to my next goal. I pray for God's wisdom. I want to make good choices for Cole, for my marriage, about my friends, about our finances. I simply need his wisdom and more importantly, I need to listen!
• I want to make my marriage even better than it is now. I want to be the wife God has called me to be. God has blessed me with a wonderful husband and I want to be everything he wants me to be.
• Friends- we have new firends, we have old friends. I want to reach out to all of them. I want to be a good friend, not just an aquaintance.
• Forgiveness- we all hold on to things. All sorts of things. You think you have forgiven and then you see someone and you feel resentment...why is that? I want to truly learn how to forgive and FORGET. I have a hard time with the forgetting part. I need to let the past be the past and start fresh everyday. What if MY LORD held on to yesterday? I would definitely be in trouble. I need to forgive like he does.

The rest, I am still figuring out. I just know I want HIM to lead my life more this year than I have trusted him in the past. Its a tricky thing letting go... I am learning a lot about that in many ways lately.

A quiet moment...

I finally got Cole to rest.

What a day!

Sick babies are pitiful and very needy.

My friend Brandy has posted a few pics of her Maddie as her birthday approaches. I thought I'd join the fun, but it actually made me sad. Look at that itty bitty baby.

I LOVE what he's doing now, but I sure do miss my little bitty baby.

My Sick Baby...

Well, in case you didn't know...we have been very sick lately. First of all, the Monday before Christmas he got a ear infection. Then by Christmas Eve he sounded horrible. We ended up at the Doc the day after Christmas and had our 1st X-ray & he had pneumonia. We bought a nebulizer and he got a shot & an antibiotic. He did get better & now we are sick AGAIN!

This time it is viral and he is wheezing horribly!

I want him to get better soon....

Little Runner

This is my little guy walking practically running now all over the house. We were just having fun with the new video camera from Nan & Pop. Thanks ya'll! We have all gone back to work and Cole even moved up a class at daycare! He's a "creeper" now! He has more friends who can play with him in this class so I think he likes it!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Catching up

The next few posts are trying to catch you up on Christmas since I have not been able to do that. We had a wonderful holiday and we all received WAY too much...especially Cole but we are so thankful that everyone loves us all so much. I have a few favorites this season...

• I'll never forget Cole's sweet walk around the recliner as he saw what Santa left him.
• The girls ( Mom, Brooke, Tess, Em, & I) went to "A Highlands Christmas" program. It was very uplifting.
• Me & Cole ( Blayne was at work)went to Carols & Communion at Crosspoint with Nana & Pop & Mom & Tess.
• Sweet Shelby was born 3 days before Christmas! She's an answered prayer and her mommy's miracle!
• We watched Christmas Vacation with some friends & there were kids everywhere...thats a first!
• Me & Blayne celebrated 5 years 2 days after Christmas!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! God was so good to my family this year!Enjoy the pictures below!

Christmas Day

We spent Christmas Day and evening at Nana & Pop's house eating a yummy dinner and
opening up WAY TOO many presents! Nana & Pop love Christmas! Cole got way too much!

Ashton gets more fun each year! She is such a little princess and you never know what she is going to next!Scary duck hunters!Nana & Pop got us ready for the snow..Cole says what is snow???

Christmas Breakfast

We are breakfast at Nanny & Pappy's house. Then we finished the morning opening more presents...Santa even left a stocking for Cole & Addy there! Then we enjoyed a few rounds of Rock Band.

Christmas Morning

We spent Christmas morning just the three of us enjoying Cole's first visit from Santa! It was fun!

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve at Nanny & Pappy's house. We ate with my family & then exchanged some presents.I always love Christmas Eve!

Cole on his riding dumptruck from Casey & Emmie& Addy! Cole eating his first piece of corn on the cob!

Cole Man & Addy Bug Cole on his horse from Brooke & Josh

At our house before we left!