Fall Fun

FALL IS FUN!!! We have been crazy busy these last few weeks catching up from Will's 1st birthday bash. Sorry for such a break in posting but here are some pictures to catch up. We have had a cousin's wedding last weekend, Preston turned 1 month old, and Will has been cutting about 6 teeth !!! Poor baby! (Actually we only have 2 that have cut the gum but the rest are coming and meltdowns are an every day occurence now). After picking out the perfect pumpkin in the patch (which Will loves to hug and chew on) we carved it the other night, cleaning out the insides while Will chewed on the pumpkin lid !! How funny he looked when it didn't taste quite what he was hoping for!!! Our picture below shows are wonderful artistic ability! Ha ha. Preston is growing like a weed and almost weighs 10 pounds but we are having some gassiness problems... seems he is having terrible gas and clenching up in pain after feedings as well as spitting up excessive amounts of his meals and crying in pain. Please pray for us and him as we are trusting in the Lord to take care of this issue. The doctors seem to think it is reflux and tried symptom relief with no results and now have put him on medicine. They say they aren't too worried since he is gaining weight really well but its hard to see your baby in pain. It has only been a couple of days now on the medicine but the dr says it takes a week before we can physically see results. So we are being PATIENT...but as some of you know, that is not my spiritual gift by a long shot. Also in other news, I am going back to work full time hopefully only temporary. I will start night shift in 2 weeks working 6 pm to 6 am 3 nights a week and working every other weekend. Woodie will also work at Sprint but the market here isn't as flourishing as it was in Louisville therefore we are temporarily sticking with it until something else opens up. We are having to get childcare for the boys and I have desperately searched so I don't have to put them in daycare... its not that my boys are too good for daycare or I don't think children receive good care there, after all I was practically raised in daycare from 6 weeks old. Its just that I don't want a total stranger taking care of my children all day. I mean there are days where I (a total sinner) run low on patience and speak a little harsher than I should to my toddler and they are MY flesh and blood. Anyhow, so we met a really sweet college gal from the University of Mobile and she was looking to do some nannying this semester. The Lord knew my desires and placed her in our path. So she will keep the boys in our home 4 days a week so I can sleep in the daytime and until Woodie gets home. The boys are growing so quickly. Where does time go? The other day Woodie commented on how they are "momma's boys" and I thought to myself, "I'll take them anyday. How sweet they are and how fast they grow up." I am sooo thankful for the Lord providing in every little thing for us this year ...it has been a busy year and much has happened but in it all, we can say .... God is SOOO GOOD !!!

Will Turns ONE !!! Part I

This weekend when I should have been throwing my first born his 1st birthday party 39 weeks pregnant.... I was doing it with a 1 year old and a 2 week old... talk about exhausting but we had a great time and enjoyed sharing it with so many family and friends and we even had a few surprises !!! We had decided we would do a "tonka" truck party since Will has enjoyed so much playing with trucks lately. We had balloons, tonka trucks, and even construction signs like "Fun Zone; Cake Area; Falling Crumbs" The party was in Citronelle at Woodie's grandmother's home where all his extended family lives. They were able to come as well as both sets of grandparents and my brother and sister in law from Louisville. We had a blast with all the kiddos playing. And much to our surprise, 2 HUGE construction dump trucks showed up and you would have thought we had planned it since it was a "truck " theme but NO !! All the kids wanted to have their pictures taken with the "REAL" trucks. And of course, it made me look GOOD cause everyone wanted to know if I had that planned ! HA HA!! How perfect and it was free entertainment... HOpe you enjoy the pictures !!

And Now We're FOUR !!

After having the baby shower last weekend and family coming into town, we were very excited about the last couple of weeks before Preston would arrive. Honestly, we had a ton to do. Woodie had been working 10-11 hr days, Will is getting more active and expecting his 1st birthday soon, and I was HUGE and ready to have our little man arrive ! I had kept saying I wish he would just come early since Will came 8 days late, but I had no idea it would be 3 weeks early !! All day Monday, I wasn't feeling well and started having contractions irregularly that evening. Tuesday Morning I awoke and they were every 3-4 minutes and coming faster. We called Woodie's aunt to come get Will but we had no time, so we took him with us to the hospital. Will was so good during the whole thing. I was up front panting through contractions whiile Woodie drove and I turn around to see Will "breathing/blowing" with me... Isn't that precious? When we got to the hospital, I was 5 cm (I was only 1 cm at the Dr's appt only 3 days before) and ready to go. The nurse was so good and was checking me in asking all kinds of questions....and all I could tell her was that I NEEDED an epidural !!! Seriously, that is all i could tell her ! Finally my epidural came and it was the difference between night and day. I know Woodie was relieved. Well wihtin a couple hours my DR got there and said we were at 10 cm !! Whoo hoo. Then I started feeling my legs and belly, etc... the epidural was wearing off. It was my worst nightmare. I could feel everything, every pain, every bit of pressure. Lets just say this woman could never do natural childbirth and am very thankful for whoever came up with the epidural !! My nurse told me we didn't have time to get another epidural and that I would just have to push... NO WAY !!! I told her I HAD to have something... so the anesthesiologist came (thank goodness I am a nurse, cause I wasn't going to buy that one) and they replaced my epidural and relief...sweet relief !! At 2:17 pm, our sweet little boy was born with a head full of jet black hair. He was so much smaller than Will at 7 lbs 14 oz. but looks just like him, even the same COWLICK !!! How funny... We are truly blessed and are getting adjusted to having a crew of boys....young boys ! Oh how I hope they grow up to be best friends, playmates and brothers !!

BaBy Shower Weekend !

My dear friend Julia was so sweet and gave me a "Diapers and Wipes" shower for Preston. It was full of family and friends and my mom (as well as Woodie's mom and grandma) were able to come from out of town to make it. It was so sweet and we received some much needed supplies. The funny part was when my mom said "all those diapers and wipes would last me about 2 weeks" She probably is right!!! Anyhow, we enjoyed playing some games, food and baby entertainment. Thank you to all who could come. On Sunday, all of our out of town guests came to church with us . You know everyone there was excited about 4 visitors !! Since we have been here in Mobile we have attended this church and totally fallen in love with it. The people are an older congregation but their hear for the Lord is evident and passionate. Oh and did I mention....they LOVE on EVERYBODY !!! I remember the first Sunday we went to visit, we were greeted with "Well, my how are you ? How have you been?" I asked Woodie if he knew them and he said no. They just already act as if you were just there the week before. It is refreshing !! Enjoy the pictures from our wonderful weekend !!

Woodie, I and Will with my mom and dad

Me at 37 Weeks !!

Me and my mom at the shower

He Proposed

Today I have to brag on my husband. He is so sweet and thoughtful. When I was pregnant with WIll, I had ALOT of swelling in my legs, hands, face, etc. Around 6 months, I couldn't wear my engagement ring, then soon after my wedding band had to come off because it was cutting into my fingers. I was devastated. I kept telling Woodie "I can't not have a wedding band. Someone will think I am an unwed mother". Woodie kept reassuring me that it wasn't the ring that made us married but the committment we made to each other and to the Lord. Of course I knew that but still. I had a purity ring I wore when I was single on the finger beside my wedding finger that was big enough. So I put it on my ring finger and wore it until Will was born. Well, this pregnancy hasn't been quite so bad as far as the swelling until the last couple of weeks and my hands have ballooned up again. As of last week, I had been wearing the same 'purity' ring as I did with Will...but Sunday we were talking at lunch and Woodie mentioned that he didn't like the purity ring. I was puzzled because I had just worn it this time last year. I asked Why? He said he didn't like the fact that I was wearing a ring that he didn't give me. I was like ok. I didn't figure it was that big of a deal since we only have 3 weeks left. Well, monday It got really warm here and I had to take off the purity ring because it was cutting into me again. Tuesday I got home and Woodie had said he had a "surprise" for me (and oh how I love a good surprise !!!) We ate dinner and sitting in our den watching TV and Woodie went out of the room and came back in ...got on one knee and opened up a little box from Kay Jewlers and there was a silver WEDDING BAND.!!!! So simple but yet so sweet !! He had gotten a ring for me to wear while i was swollen and pregnant !! Thought I would share !! Isn't that so sweet? Once again the Lord has so richly blessed my life

Flipping Head over Heels

"With every breath I take in... you are Good. When the road starts to turn, around every bend I've learned.... you are Good." This is from one of my favorite songs about the Lord sung by Point of Grace (thanks Heather !) . I remember the last time truly crying my heart out as I sung every word of this song. It was when Will was 3 months old and breastfeeding wasn't going well AT ALL !! I remember closing myself in Woodie's office and just putting this song before the Lord and asking Him to convince me of the truths of those words . Today, I find myself singing those same words but now full of joy, CONVINCED of the truth of his Word and his path for me. Ya'll know what I mean. As Christians sometimes we know truth but in our hearts we have hard days living or even displaying it. We just want our hearts to crave Him but our sinfulness keeps us from enjoying and loving HIM fully. Well, I went to the doctor today and he said Preston had "turned" and was head down and in position. We were so relieved and immediately went together in prayer to just thank the Lord for watching over Preston and being in control of even the smallest of details of our children's lives. Thank you to all who had been praying for us this week.

Baby Free Weekend !!

We have been blessed this weekend to have some time to just be husband/wife and leave the world of parenthood for a few days ! Woodie's parents just adore Will and love spending every minute with him. He is just so fun at this age, babbling, crawling all over the place and of course getting into all cabinets, etc. While we are in the last few weeks (4 to be exact) before Preston is due to make his entrance... they offered to take him for the weekend and much to our suprise THE WHOLE WEEK !!! We are missing him already but enjoying the time to spend together as well. Tonight we were able to go out to dinner and then went to Wal Mart (exciting I know) but we needed some groceries and things. Honestly, I try to go with Woodie because I spend less when someone else is there to watch everything that goes into that buggy. Its a weakness of mine. On a different note, I have a huge prayer request. Today was my first weekly appt to the OB to see how much I am progressing and how ready Preston is to come. Well, the Dr came in and measured and tried to find his heartbeat but was having difficulty because it wasn't down low where it had been the week before. So he kept moving the heart monitor around to try to find it and eventually went higher ..... and FOUND it !! The bad part is that Preston has flipped himself around this week and now is "FEET FIRST". The dr said he would give him another week to flip back into position but after next week, he probably won't be able to due to size and lack of room. So our options are to 1. give him the week to flip himself then 2. DR try to externally flip him(which he says isn't likely successful and hurts) 3. Have him by c-section since he will be breech I really don't want a c-section since it is major surgery and would love it if he would just flip on his own. I am 1 cm dilated which is exciting !!! We go back next week to see if our little man has flipped back... please pray with us/let me know if you know of any exercises or things I can do to help him flip PLEASE !!!

New Toys !!

Will's New Big Boy Chair !!

And thanks to Grandparents, Mamma also got a new chair !!

Starting Out in the South ...Again !!

Well, we have officially been moved for a couple months now and promised some friends I would start a blog so we could keep in touch, however, I never received my tutorial in blogging and just now am semi-figuring this thing out. The Lord has been so good in His time and providence for our little family, even down to the tiniest details. As many of you know (or may not know), we are now in Mobile, AL. After finding out we were pregnant for the 2nd time.... yes, Will was only 3 1/2 months old.... lets just say I totally lost all my emotions. I was a wreck and so many thoughts were present...scared, insecure, happy, sad, novice, inexperienced. After all I had only been a mom for only 3.5 months, had NO idea what I was doing, and it seemed like I would have 2 kids tomorrow !! My sweet husband quickly and gently led us in this situation and felt that being closer to family would be greatly needed for me and he could finish his last 5 classes online while looking for a job transfer. Our opportunity came quicker than expected and within a week of finding a position with Sprint in Mobile, AL...we found out they would transfer us and wanted him to start at the end of July. It was already July 4th and we had a HOUSE to get off our hands ! !! I called the realtor and she came out, we listed it, took pictures, decluttered, etc. I told Woodie wasn't he glad that I had been watching HGTV - all women love this and is often the reason we want cable , NOT for football!!! Anyhow, after many viewings... we had a FULL CASH OFFER !!! It was only day 7 WOW !!! and they wanted to close in 10 days. Even better, because we would close before we left Lousiville. So we packed up our first little home as a couple and as parents, loaded the uhaul, and said goodbye to our 5 years spent in Louisville. We both loved this place. We loved the fall, spring, snow, our Church family at Ninth and O, the Seminary, friends at work at the hospital and just the city itself after all its where we became the "Turners". So today we find ourselves in the deep, deep South, being among the people and relatives we love, 92% humidity on a "good" day, swatting "love bugs" so fiercely that people look at you funny, and anxiously awaiting our 2nd son, Preston Daniel Turner in 4 weeks. Life is good but our God is Great !!!