Pujols wedding

I've been wanting to write about this event for a long time, but other things kept coming up. So here is one of the once in a lifetime trips Phillip and I were able to go on right after Christmas. Albert and Dede were celebrating their 10 year wedding anniversary in KC and had invited 500 of their family and friends. We got to stay in the Crown Center Hotel, which was super nice and even had a mall in it! We arrived late on a Wed. night and had a town car that picked us up. When we walked into our room we had this gift basket from Albert and Dede with water and snacks and an itinerary. The next day was salsa lessons and a new years eve party that night! It was the fanciest thing I've been too. We weren't allowed to take any pictures at the events, so the only ones I have are in our hotel room:) Phillip's parents, Matt and Lauren, and Babs and Joe were all there as well. We had a hard time talking at the party because the music was so loud, so we just kept watching all the dancing and walked around to see the amazing food. The Food Network was there and had made life size cakes of Albert and Dede, and of course little ones for the guests, as well as lots of other yummy deserts. The food all 3 days was over the top...so much of it! What a fun new years eve :) The next morning was a brunch, but it was more like breakfast lunch dinner and dessert all in one! I went to the omlet station and had my breakfast made, after I ate that I went back for pasta and green salads for lunch. Then I went back for a huge piece of chocolate cake. Plus water, orange juice and coffee of course. They had every kind of food, even steaks...for brunch! we felt so spoiled! After lunch we went back to our room and layed around in our super down bed. What a vacation to just get to lay around together without our kids (obviously I had no idea what my future months were about to look like). Phillip and his brother Matt wanted to go swimming in the indoor/outdoor pool. You start on the inside and swim through a tunnel to the heated outside water. It was like 10 degrees outside and they were swimming around for quite a while! We went back and got ready for the wedding. Again, no pictures allowed. I really wish I could have taken some because I was thinking the whole time, "how am I going to explain this to my family and friends?!" Everything was SO nice! Dede's decorator had come in and helped do everything, and they brought everything in from outside vendors. Even in a magazine I've never seen anything THIS nice! We just kept looking at everything and thinking it was crazy that we got to experience this. The best part of the trip was the wedding. Because their first wedding was so small and not about the Lord, they really wanted to lavish all their friends and family this time. But most of all they wanted to present the gospel, and boy did they! It was a great representation of sharing the gospel and renewing their commitment...10 years and a lot of changes later. 3 different pastors did the service and Phillip's dad did the end part. It was great and I have no doubt any of their family or friends walked away NOT knowing what is most important to Dede and Albert...JESUS, and that their friends and family know him!
The next morning we woke up super early and flew to Nashville, where we met up with the ZOE group and drove on to Atlanta for Passion. Two incredible events back to back....and now this different event of me being in the hospital! So much going on in our lives. Friday is the day...hoping for good results on my cervical check...then I get to go home to my parents house!
I'll update the blog, don't worry :)

Jesus loves you books

My friend Betsy made such a cute book for her son River, that she shared it with me, told me how to do it and even brought me all the supplies to make one for each of my kids. Below are the very easy, not much effort, books I made for each of them. If it takes too much time and details, I won't do it, so this was the perfect project for me! Plus, I could do it all laying in a hospital bed. Check out Betsy's blog to get detailed instructions on how to make one too. Did I mention it was really easy and practically free?








I made these for my kids so that when they come up to see me in the hospital they each had something special to read with me. They each have a baby picture, mommy picture, daddy picture, and two other pictures of themselves. Plus I even put one on the back so they could tell each other's books apart without have to read or even know colors yet(Canon). My handwriting is not that great, but I know they'll love that mommy made them a book by myself and wont' care that it's not the cutest or most professional thing.
THANKS Betsy!!!

my view from here

If you've been reading MckMamas blog, you'll remember that last week she was on a cruise and posted a series of "My View From Here" blogs. I just thought I would share
My View From Here.

look, I have a tree!!
(more about the books next time)

My TV is a little far away, but I don't mind since I barely pay attention

My mom and I in my bed

There is even a rocking chair in my new room.

This was in my old room

Sweet family of mine :)

three updates

1.i'm in a new room! it's the biggest one, and they moved me here today because the girl who has been in here for a long time either went home or delivered. it's room 214 and it is a lot bigger, great for the kids when they come :)

2. i had my cervical check today and I'm still stable, nothing has changed. that is good news and being stable is a great thing. the high risk dr. was telling me that with cervix's you just never know. they always treat it like the "sky is falling" but sometimes people like me end up having to be induced....or they deliver really early. he said because i'm not dilating, if you were to just check me they would have no idea what was going on and i would just all the sudden be in labor. but because they can use an ultrasound and see inside, they can tell that my cervix is "funneling" and really short. if i lay down and take gravity off of it, chances are it will help. and in my history, it has helped to do bedrest. so here i lay :) the dr. was also saying that if I am stable at 28 wks (not this Friday but the next), given my history, i should be able to go home on bedrest....music to my ears! so we are praying for stability!

3. i had an emotional two days this week as i learned i have gestational diabetes again. all the nurses and my dr. kept saying they really didn't think i would have it, and i really didn't think i would...but low and behold I do! not only that, I had it with the twins, and even though i passed my test with Canon, i know i had it with him too. i passed my test only by a little bit, i was able to move around (i was getting at least some exercise compared to just laying here in a bed) and was able to eat my own food instead of hospital food. i ate really good before my test and passed it, but in the end...he weighed 9.3lbs and i gained 60lbs! one of the predictors for if you'll have gestational diabetes is if you've had it before, or had a 9 lb baby...i fit them both. so even though my eating habits have been good, i'm still eating hospital food and have absolutely NO exercise and i am genetically predispositioned to getting diabetes. it took me a day or so to figure all that out...at first i was just mad. how come my really big nurse that day didnt' have it, but I did? what a bad attitude i know. since then i've been learning a lot, eating a lot more protein and not quite so much chocolate. my blood sugar levels are checked 4x a day, and so far they've been really low and good. i'm not worried about it anymore and also see this as a great opportunity to learn more about nutrition, which i like anyway. other than all the diabetes stuff, it was great to have phillip here for a few days. the kids are always super clingy to him while he is here. he was able to have some good one on one times with each of them, and a good conversation with atley. she's been the most emotional and vocal about the changes. its been hard for her to understand why i'm here and has even been a little angry with me...which totally breaks my heart. this is the beginning of a new stage of motherhood i know. my girls haven't been very vocal until now, and its mainly still only atley. so she can now express her feelings better. the kids are truly doing great, but they are not unaffected by all of this. i continue to pray pray pray...and i'm also making them a little book for when they come up to visit me. more on that to come...

thanks for listening to my ramblings and lack of pictures....someday soon my blog will be a lot more fun again!
and thank you for the prayers, i believe they are helping!!!
shelly

Passion 2010

What an amazing weekend we had in Atlanta, GA at Passion. 21,000 college kids praising the Lord with all that they had, amazing worship leaders and amazing speakers. A once in a lifetime event, getting to hear all of them in person! My favorite was just being led in worship by Chris Tomlin and Christy Knockles. There were so many other big names there, and they would sing once in a while too. Even Hillsong was there, and we had really close seats for their concert, which was awesome. Francis Chan (he wrote Crazy Love and Forgotten God- which you MUST read if you haven't), John Piper, Loui Giglio of course and Beth Moore- who was my absolute favorite. She almost never speaks in front of men, but in her weak little body that day she really brought the Word of God! It was all so wonderful to hear, and very encouraging. The theme was Awakening and really encouraging everyone to glorify the Lord in all you do...wherever you are in life, and in every high and every low. My favorite part of Beth Moore's talk was when she was talking about how her past was the "stuff" of her ministry. How she went through certain things and allowed the Lord to heal her, redeem her, sanctify her, and grow her closer to Him through it all. Now she is able to use that to help minister to ALL the women that she does. At this time in my life, seeing how the "stuff" of my ministry is letting go of dreams. Dreams of great pregnancies, being with my kids every day, being active and involved, being part of my husbands ministry, have natural childbirths, and more. BUT, that is so trivial in the big picture and I am SO grateful to have my kids, they are all healthy and happy. I get to be a part of ZOE as much as I can, and THIS is the stuff of my ministry. I know the Lord will use all of this someday for His glory, Im just trying to keep my eyes on Him and seek Him and learn more and more about Him during this season. So when I get back to full time mommy, I'm practicing what I've learned and know to be Truth.
Passion was amazing, and it wasn't just a 4 day "camp high". The truths I learned just helped me fall more and more in love with Jesus...which is something I NEVER want to change.
click here to listen to one of my favorite songs "Our God is Greater" from the weekend.

These are not my pictures, but one night we really did sit up this high...this is the bigger arena. But there was another next door that held more thousands of people. crazy!
Here is my view from the Hillsong concert, when they asked me to sing a solo because my voice is just amazing. :)
I hope you all know I'm kidding...

ramblings from room 209 part two

I went to church today, online. I've been doing that lately, www.gatewaypeople.com. On the weekends I can watch live, so I can "be a part" of the worship too. This has been a great time for me to read, watch podcasts, and be fed more and more truth.
I never usually watch TV at home. We used to have DVR and would record the shows we wanted to see, but we were never flipping through the channels. Now that I am here, I've been watching more TV than I really care for, and honestly I hate it. There is SO much junk on TV, and flipping through the stations I see so many things that make me so sad. Sad for our youth who are being fed such lies, and our kids who really don't even have any morally correct cartoons. I'll jump off that soapbox now...
Last night I was moved to another room just for the night while they cleaned the floors in my hallway. It was kind of weird being in another room without my stuff.
I took my glucose test today for gestational diabetes, and it was high. So I am taking the 3 hour test in the morning.
I dropped m phone last week and it has a big crack in it. I dropped it another time last week and had to call my nurse to come in and get it because it went all the way behind the bed. Then, I dropped it again today (it's hard to do almost everything lying down) and the battery fell out. I got down to look for it and can not find it anywhere! It has to be here somewhere, but I can't spend much time out of bed searching for it. Of course my nurse today is slightly large, so I didn't want to ask her to get on the ground and look for the battery either. So I'm waiting for Phillip to come up and help me. :)
I am turning my old blog into a book using blurb.com. It is taking me forever because I have so many pages, but I also have a lot of time.
Today I really wanted to get out of here. Today I thought a lot about food choices. Today I dreamed about our new house. Today I am finally wearing my "leg compressors" to help blood circulation in your legs since laying on bedrest increases your chances of blood clots. I haven't been too good about doing that.
Champ is still doing great! He weighs almost 2lbs and other than daily kickboxing sessions and hicups, he's getting less active now that he has buried himself down so low in my hips. No contractions from me, just the daily braxton hicks once in a while. Oh the life of being in the hospital, there's not much left to say.
Phillip is here for a few days and I'm so excited to see him! I always look forward to night time when he comes up after putting the kids to bed. I still have two events to post about: Pujols wedding, and Passion 2010...coming soon.
Happy Saturday!
Shelly

weekly update

every tuesday I'll update you all with lots of fun talk about cervix's, ultrasounds, baby's position, dr's. comments, and more. so fun you know?!
anyway, I am still "stable" which means I haven't changed any since last week. That is a very good thing in my position, even though I was hoping and praying for increased length and the drs. to be amazed at what could only be a miracle. But that's not what the Lord is doing right now. Still, I will not stop praying for it!
Champ is even lower than last week, and his head it literally pushing down on my cervix. Canon was the same way. I'm pretty sure my muscles are too weak to hold up these little babies at this point. Having twins first really did my body in....
I really like my sister's dr. She is so hopeful and positive and keeps saying, let's just get to 28 weeks and we'll try to get you home if you are still stable. (home being my parents house on bedrest). It is so great to have her as my "stand in" dr. while I am here.
My mom has been bringing my kids up every day to see me and they are getting more and more use to my hospital room. My sister has been bringing up one kid at a time to see me in the afternoons. The first day was Avery, yesterday was Atley, and today Canon. They are so sweet when they are here without their siblings. It is good for them to have that mommy time focused on them and they always get a little special treat while they are here. Angie always brings baby Brooklyn too, who is the sweetest little baby in the world. Angie, Brooklyn and Canon all got to be part of my ultrasound today and see baby Champ all squished down in my tummy. We are still praying that my cervix remains stable, or gets better. That I will get to go home to my parents at 28 wks, home to STL at 34 wks, and deliver full term. I realize that some drs. would say that would be a miracle, since my cervix is a tiny 1cm, but my GOD is BIGGER and STRONGER than any dr. or cervix or statistic.

Over the Top

My sweet sister in love, Lauren, did this on her blog and sent it on to me to do as well. I'm not pushed for time these days, so this was pretty easy to do:) A few questions to be answered with just one word... not too hard, right? - I was not too good at that part

Where is your cell phone? hospital tray (where I keep everything)

Your hair? bed head

Your mother? full time

Your father? POPS

Your dream last night? didn't

Your favorite drink? water

Your dream/goal? mother

What room are you in? 209

What is your hobby? planning/dreaming

Your fear? spiders in my bed

Where do you want to be in six years? ministry

Where were you last night? this same bed :)

Something you aren't? moving around

Muffins? special occasions

Wish list item? full term baby

Last thing you did? lunch

Where did you grow up? texas

What are you wearing? pajamas

Your TV? HGTV

Your pets? Lilly

Friends? abundant

Your life? GOOD

Your mood? waiting patiently on the Lord

Missing someone? everyone

Vehicle? yukon

SOmething your not wearing? make-up

Your favorite store? Target

Your favorite color? pink

When was the last time you laughed? today

Last time you cried? saturday

Your best friend? Phillip

One place you could go over and over? ice creams drives with Phillip and kids

One person who emails you regularly? Angie

Favorite place to eat? mexican

I pass this on to...
Angie- because you are good at things like this
Betsy- because you usually don't do things like this :)

Away in a Manger

A new yearly tradition at my parents house is to reenact the nativity scene. The girls are so into Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus, and it seems that every year we have a new baby to play Jesus. My mom had outfits all ready, and each girl got to pick who she wanted to be. Atley quickly claimed Mary and she absolutely LOVED her head scarf and sitting by baby Jesus (Brooklyn). Avery was content to be a Shepherd and Brenley was a sweet little Angel who even had angel wings. Canon was not so happy at first about being Joseph and I totally understand why. What little boy wants to be dressed in a headband and dress? But going with the attire of old, he complied quite nicely and was happy once he could rock baby Jesus (Brooklyn) back and forth in her cradle. We even had 4 sheep who were standing by, watching all the singing, crying, and adults taking pictures. It was a great first attempt at the nativity scene and it will be something they all look forward to recreating each year.








I just loved watching her love this. She was so serious, and had her lamb all bundled up in her shawl.

Hunter Christmas

Papa reading to the girls before we opened presents

Mimi and Papa with the grandkids

Gigi and the girls

Gigi and Atley

Canon even got some love :)

Opening presents. It is going to feel like Christmas again when we move back because we left all our new presents in Mimi's basement. I didn't anticipate being gone as long as we will be, so new presents plus old ones that are packed away are going to equal a lot of new and exciting toys for the kids when we move in :)

Canon liked climbing on top of his presents and jumping to daddy :)

Josh, Julie, Matt and Lauren were there too...but sadly I don't have any pictures of them. We had a great time and were so blessed by everyone!

Christmas day

This year we had the joy of spending a few nights at Phillip's parents house and were there for all the Christmas Eve festivities and family. We stayed up late opening presents and watching a movie, and got up early to hit the road. We knew there was a bad storm in Oklahoma, but thought they would have cleared the roads by the time we got there. As SOON as we hit the Oklahoma border, the roads immediately changed. It was the strangest thing! It was like we were all the sudden driving on a back road, you couldn't even see the black of the road....just frozen snow and ice. As we kept poking along, it never got better! We kept expecting it to change at any moment, but really it only got worse. We had to go so slow, and cars were sliding into the ditch all around us. Because it was Christmas day, nothing was open. We kept laughing because McDonalds was actually sounding really good to us and we kept hoping to find one open, but to no avail. We stopped at two different hotels just so the kids could run around, and QT was the hopping place of the day. By the time we got to Oklahoma City, we ended up staying the night because it was dark, icy and we'd heard the roads would not get any better. The girls swam in their underwear, Canon in his diaper, and we ordered Pizza in our hotel room. With no milk and one diaper left, we hit the road early the next day and couldn't believe that the roads were still so bad. They never got better until about 30 minutes before the Texas border. Then they were fine! It was so strange. All in all, we counted 220 cars in the ditch and at least 15 major wrecks. We even saw one truck slide up a hill and flip over. We are so blessed by our 4 wheel drive! We were really excited to finally get to Dallas that morning. The kids were great in the car, but we were all ready to get out:) We'll never forget that Christmas, where we drove ALL day on those roads and spent the night in a hotel, swimming in their underwear, eating pizza because we were starving, and snuggling together in the bed:)
More posts and pictures of our Christmas to come...

ramblings from room 209

When I was pregnant with the girls I did a good job of taking weekly pregnant belly pics up until I was put in the hospital. So with Canon I did a great job of weekly shots from 18 weeks until he was born. People always say that each baby gets less and less "special" things or attention. And I am finding that to be true. There has been so much life to live that I haven't even thought about taking a picture of my belly this time. I finally did on New Years at the very exciting wedding we went to (more on that later). So here I am at 23 weeks. I'll be 25 on Friday and honestly I don't think I've gotten any bigger! You would think that lying in a hospital bed, eating hospital food, that I would blow up. But really, the food isn't very good, and if I"m all by myself sometimes eating just isn't that fun. They do weekly weight checks here and they weigh you in your bed! Phillip joked that I was like produce, and I said just call me a banana:) I will try to take more pics while I am pregnant, I don't want Champ to feel left out.
Sweet little baby is hanging in there, doing great. My cervix is the same, which is good that it's not getting worse. I"m just praying it gets better!
Phillip was here for 5 days, helping take care of the kids, and spending the nights with me at the hospital. He is such a good daddy, trying to fill in the gaps while I"m gone. The kids loved having him here and we are all ready for him to come back in a week and a half. My parents are doing good with the kids and settling into a routine. They come up every day to see me. They are so sweet when they come, but a hospital room is no place for 3 kids, 3 and under. It gets a little crazy :) Today my sister Angie was here with her two girls and my kids were here as well. They had a paper towel party and it looked like it was snowing in my room. I'm sure my neighbors were loving me at that point :) Atley says to me everyday, "mommy, you be sad when we leave?" The first day I cried and cried when they were leaving and obviously she hasn't forgotten that...
I've been reading, watching HGTV, browsing the internet for stuff for our new house, and talking with all my visitors. I've even had 3 different people from Gateway come and pray for healing for me. The Lord has been good to me, providing for all my needs, and continuing to hold me in His peace.

my little walker!

Right before Phillip and I left for Kansas City (details about that in my next post), we knew Canon was about to take his first steps. We were hoping we would get to see it before we left, and thank goodness we did! He basically taught himself. He would take a toy and throw it on the ground, and then walk to it. His first steps turned into 3, then the next day was 10! After I got back from our week of travels, he was walking everywhere! I'm so glad I got to be at my parents house for one day to see him walking around everywhere, before I came to the hospital. It is hard to walk around my little room here. We are so proud of him and can't believe he is really growing up so fast! I knew this would happen as I got closer to delivering Champ. Canon can't be my baby forever! The day before he took his first steps, he also said his first real word..."mama"! Melt my heart, that boy is so sweet!

my God is BIG my God is Great

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade right? Well that sounds really good until those lemons appear and you have nothing to stand on except some great thought. That is why the power of our great Lord and King Jesus Christ is SO REAL! When the storms hit, you don't fall away, lost hope, despair and live miserably. You trust in Him because you know He is in ultimate control. There is really nothing we can do in trials, but pray and believe in His promises...which are so evident in the Word of God - the Bible.
You might be asking yourself right now, why in the world I am talking about this, but in the blink of an eye, your life can change. And that is what happened to us on Wednesday morning.
Phillip and I had just traveled to KC and Atlanta for two amazing, once in a lifetime events. Our kids were staying with my parents for an entire week in Dallas and I was anxious to get home to them. I had a quick dr. appointment before my flight took off that morning and it was not news we wanted to hear. My cervix had not only shortened since my last appointment, it had shortened a lot. My dr. wanted to admit me to the hospital and send me to a Maternal Fetal Specialist there in STL, but also knew I really wanted to get to Dallas to be with my kids. Thankfully they let me leave and I few straight to Dallas and stayed on the couch the rest of the day. It was wonderful to see my kids and get to spend a day with them. I went in the next morning to see my sister's dr. here in Grapevine and my cervix had shortened AGAIN! I was getting worried at this point, only 23 wks. pregnant, and not wanting little Champ to come so soon. I was admitted to Baylor Grapevine here in Grapevine, TX. My kids are home with my parents, and Phillip flew up that night to be here for a few days. He is being super dad with the kids during the day, and coming to hang out with me at night. My family has been great, taking care of me and the kids. All our family and friends have been such encouragers to us during this time, praying and offering their help. We are SO blessed! I was seen again yesterday by the High Risk Dr here and he said I"m not going home with a cervix like this. We are hoping that by 28 weeks (Feb. 5th) I will be stable enough to go to my parents house on bedrest until 32 weeks or more. Just getting to be with my kids would be wonderful! When they visited me yesterday it about ripped my heart out when they were leaving. I had to pull it together and get my eyes back on Jesus. He is my strong Refuge, my Mighty Tower, and my Provision. During all seasons of my life. What hope I have in Him, even during the storms. My life will not be ruined or wrecked when things don't go according to my plans. The Lord is constantly changing my plans! We just got the call on Monday that we are scheduled to move into our new house on February 11th! We were so excited, but now it looks like Phillip will be moving in without us. He'll have time to get things ready before our return, but of course this isn't how we "planned" to move. The Lord doesn't promise that bad news, trials and difficulties won't come, but He does promise that He is our ever present help in times of trouble, to trust in Him and not to Fear.
My life is real, my life is hard, my life is GOOD, my goal is glorify Christ - even when the tears won't stop falling.