In an instant...

...Things change.

You've heard me mention my bestie, Brooke, here before. I share the news below because while there's nothing that I can do for her here right now, I CAN seek out as many people as possible to PRAY for her, her daughter and her husband.

Brooke is a new mommy to my precious Goddaughter, Clara Violet Boyle. Clara is 4 1/2 months old, and one of the most loved little babies that ever was. Last Monday, Clara was a healthy little baby, and actually went for her "well check" in California where they moved in May. On Tuesday, Clara spiked a fever, and visited the doctor again. The doctor wasn't sure what was wrong, but thought a virus or cold might be the culprit. Brooke was advised that the fever might return, but not to worry.

Wednesday brought a new fever, but since it was expected, they didn't worry. On Thursday, Brooke noticed that Clara's soft spot was swollen, and called the doctor immediately. The nurse on call said that since Clara was smiling and interacting, and eating normally, there was really no cause for concern. On Friday, Clara was more lethargic, and sleeping more than normal. She wasn't eating very much either. Brooke called the doctor's office, not wanting to go into the weekend with a sick baby.

The doctor requested that Brooke bring Clara in, just to check. Once the doc saw Clara, she was immediately concerned, and had Brooke and Alan take Clara to the ER. Spinal taps and blood tests later, Clara was admitted to the PICU. The meningitis test came back negative, and the CT scan was no cause for concern either.

At 2:34am on Saturday morning, I received a text that the doctors were 75% sure that Clara had a form of leukemia. While that text was shocking to me, I can't even begin to imagine the shock that Brooke and Alan felt when they heard the news. On Sunday, they received confirmation that Clara did in fact have leukemia and her particular cancer is "acute myeloid leukemia".

In an instant, Brooke and Alan went from being normal first-time parents of an infant to being parents of a very sick child. Clara went from being a happy, healthy baby to a baby who will be in the hospital for at least 6 weeks while receiving her two initial chemotherapy treatments.

I haven't had the chance to speak with Brooke since Sunday, but I know the following prayer requests:

-Healing for Clara, that she responds well to chemo treatments (which begin today)
-That Brooke and Alan will be patient with themselves as they learn to be parents to a child who now has very different needs
-Brooke & Alan are essentially alone in California, having just moved there in May, and have no support system within their new town. Brooke's mom was able to travel there on Sunday, but please pray that God will send them support- be that in an amazing care team, neighbors or co-workers, they so need to be surrounded with people loving and praying for them.

I'll update prayer requests as I discover new needs, but please PLEASE be in prayer for this little family. Please add Brooke, Alan and Clara to any and all prayer lists you know of- they need all the prayer they can get.

If you would like to send Brooke a personal message of support/love/prayer, you can do so on her blog. You can comment on her latest post with your message (I assume at some point she will begin to post Clara updates there, but she hasn't started this yet.)

Some of you know Brooke, and some of you don't. I thank you in advance for praying for her and her family, as she's so dear to me. Most of you are mommies and probably are thanking God that your babies are healthy- love and hug them. Life changes in an instant.

Removing the Ring

So yesterday morning I woke up in a panic, having dreamed that my wedding and engagement ring got stuck on my finger, and had to be sawed off. I think it was due in part to flipping through my friend Ally's pictures on Facebook on Wednesday and seeing this from her pregnancy:



Ouch!! So, I woke up yesterday freaked out that my rings were going to get stuck on my hand. I make a habit of taking my engagement ring off every day, just to make sure I can, because my hands swell pretty regularly anyways. However, I haven't taken off my wedding ring in probably 4 years.

I decided that this wasn't going to happen to me. Yesterday I lubed up my finger and pulled off my wedding ring. I put it on my cross necklace chain, since Brian gave both the ring and the necklace to me on our wedding day- I thought that was fitting.

So now, I'm sporting my engagement ring on it's own, and it looks so lonely down there! It's definitely reminding me of the time when we were engaged, waiting to get married. So much anticipation for the future, but still so much to do before we got married. Kind of like right now, when we're waiting on the baby. I'm at 13 weeks today, entering the 2nd trimester. There's SO MUCH TO DO before we meet the little bean, but we can't wait!

Brian told me the other day that he was ready for the baby to be here and me to not be pregnant anymore. I laughed and asked him why, and he said my pregnancy was cramping his style. Really?!?! Cramping HIS style?? I almost punched him...

At what point did you have to remove your rings during your pregnancy? (I know I'm removing mine early- what point did you HAVE to remove your rings?)

Bump Alert!

So Brian and I have noticed for the last few weeks that my waistline is obviously thickening, even if other people wouldn't know that it's b/c I'm pregnant. We were quite surprised when I visited the doctor two weeks ago and I'd lost 2 pounds, simply because my waist is obviously bigger.

Yesterday, I had on a cotton skirt and tank top, and for the first time, when I turned to glimpse my profile, there was an obvious baby bump. Thinking it was just me, I walked into a coworker's office and her eyes got really big and she was like "There's really not much hiding that thing for very much longer."

So, we took my first official 'belly' picture yesterday, at 12 weeks and 3 days.



Quite an unattractive picture if I do say so myself, but whatever. This is purely for documentation purposes. Ignore the shiny forehead and awkward smile!!



Grow big and strong, little bean!!

Party Weekend

This past weekend, Brian and I went to Lubbock to help host a 40th Anniversary/ 60th Birthday party for his parents/ mom. Brian's sister, Andrea, and I had planned a surprise party, and it was so cool that we were actually able to pull off the surprise! It was a Dessert & Drinks party, and turned out so well. We spent all day Saturday cooking (and managed to completely destroy Andrea's boyfriend Murray's kitchen) and the party was on Saturday night.

For the party, we had:

Molly's Pecan Pie
Italian Creme Cake (I had to make this one twice. It was a complete disaster the first time around.)
Chocolate Sheet Cake
Banana Pudding
Sugar Cookies


You can kind of see the spread in this picture- so yummy! Some how I managed to get home without any cake, which makes me so sad!!

Plus wine, beer, colas, waters, coffee, etc. It was quite a yummy spread!! (I was dead on my feet by the time the party rolled around, but it was worth it!)


I'm not sure what's going on in this picture, but I had to put it in b/c both Andrea and I look so bewildered and confused.

I was SO impressed with how Linda's teacher friends pulled together and came up with some fun birthday surprises for her! These ladies were so supportive when Linda was dealing with cancer, and they were amazing again in showing her how much she means to them. Also, one of Linda's cousins is extremely talented, and made up two songs- a birthday song and an anniversary song. Way cool and special for Linda and Stewart.


Following along with the lyrics of one song


Linda and Stewart got a kick out of the personalized song lyrics

It was so much fun to get to celebrate 40 years with Brian's parents- it's rare these days, and they're a wonderful example of how if you're willing to work hard, marriage can be a wonderful blessing.

Busy doing... Not much

So in this glorious first trimester, I've kind of been a bum. Okay, I've really been a bum. I've taken to coming home from work and laying on the bed for about an hour before hopping (read: grouchily sliding) out of bed and making something for dinner. Then, after dinner's over, I immediately return to bed and lay some more. Then I go to sleep at about 10:30pm, getting a little over 8 hrs before starting all over again.

It's quite pathetic. I've been told that my energy will return once I'm into the 2nd trimester, and also to enjoy this very first 1st trimester, as the next time I experience it, I'll have a little one running around and I won't get to lay around. So I'm not feeling too guilty.

It's not as though I don't have plenty to do-- remember, we moved in to a new house RIGHT before we found out we were preggers, so the house is still not very put together AT ALL. I'm sure we'll get it there eventually... just not right now!

In other news, my nausea has subsided, but I still am very picky about what sounds good. As most of you know, I enjoy my food. I don't care what I'm eating- I just really enjoy food. I'm to the point now where I wish I didn't have to eat. NOTHING sounds good, and the only reason to eat is because I'm hungry. So, this makes for some very uninteresting meals (poor Brian!) We've had a lot of baked potatoes, and soup goes down quite nicely. Also, peaches. And hint of lime chips. But that's about it- NO meat for sure, and oddly enough, pasta (which I used to LIVE for) doesn't sound really appealing.

I have to give props to my sweet, wonderful husband, who is putting up with my pickiness and high-maintenance tendencies. He has been amazing, and my FAVORITE part is that he's reading all of the baby books with me. He'll give me little tidbits like "Babe, don't forget to pack maxipads when you go to the hospital." (Ugh...) But it lets me know that he is interested and really excited about the bean.

Oh, AND, he's finally started having serious conversations with me about names!! (To this point, his only suggestion was 'Newton'. As in "Fig"....) We're developing a list!!!

I apologize that the last 4 posts, and this one makes 5, have been about baby crap. It's unfortunately all I think about these days. I'm sure I'll get over it... In March, I'm sure... But, then you'll be barraged with pictures and stories of poop and breastfeeding... So there's THAT to look forward to. On 2nd thought, you may want to leave now...