It's Gettin' Hot in Here

So you could say that summer is coming or here but it is only April 27th! After journeying to Nashville and completing my first half marathon since Samantha Grace's birth last April in 75+ degree weather, I thought that we might see some relief in sight of the weather. But today in Montgomery we recorded 80+ in the weather log for today. Evidently it was too hot for Samantha Grace today even though she donned only a onsie all day long. So she decided to do this:




I also think that Samantha Grace might be getting a little too big for her britches. Well, not really at 16.1 lbs., but last night she had an opportune photo opp. At our church since last Wednesday we have been hosting a group called Team Impact. Their goal is to share Christ through their incredible feats of strength. (Like dead lifting, snapping and then shoulder pressing a telephone pole over your head!) Anyways, Samantha Grace was given the opportunity to pose with Jeff (the founder of Team Impact) and our wonderful pastor Jay. Just look at the size in comparison to Samantha Grace. And Jeff is one of the smallest, in height, of all the guys! But these guys had even bigger hearts and passion for Christ!




I also want to update everyone about Samantha Grace's health condition. She is doing much better with her "cold" that she had a few weeks ago. I do ask that you say a little prayer tonight for her. When I put her down tonight, I just thought it was strange that her entire body felt extremely warm. I took her temp and it was 101.8! Not exactly what I was expecting. We are hoping that a little Tylenol will do the trick.

As I sign off this evening, I leave you with a pictorial reminder that it is still spring even though the thermometer might read differently. For in sweet Samantha Grace's eyes it is time for her and mommy to Spring Clean the kitchen.

Get 'er done!

This weekend Samantha Grace and I have been spending time with Joshua's parents in Nashville. We are having a lovely time! I have done something that I never thought I would do before for the danger in my mind. I went riding on a motorcycle with my father-in-law. It was beautiful! The country side of Nashville is so gorgeous! (Josh, I think that I have found us our LAND.)

Samantha Grace, as you all can imagine, has been spoiled beyond belief. I have to admit though that I did have to use a small dosage of Benadryl in order to make sure that she slept well last night due to being thrown off course during our travels on Thursday. She slept beautifully!

Today, Saturday, my wonderful in-laws woke extra early to tote me to the starting line of the 10th Anniversary of the Country Music Marathon! I was a little nervous because the last time I had ran this type of distance was almost 2 years ago prior to getting pregnant with Samantha Grace. Luckily, I caught up with an old friend from Louisville prior to the start of the race. She and I ran the entire race together! (Thank you Sarah! ) It was great to have a talking buddy because the heat was quite an issue from about mile 4 until the end of the race. Even though I was only running the 1/2 marathon, I know that my body could not have taken the full with the weather conditions today.

However, I don't doubt that next year I will return for a full 26.2 miles! More fun is to come this weekend. We will soon be heading to the the Main Street Festival in downtown Franklin for food, fun and fellowship! Then we will be celebrating my father-in-law's 55th birthday!

I will post pictures of the weekend soon! Love to all my friends in Montgomery...we miss you all much!

Running for President

Okay for all of you whom I have just hooked into reading this e-mail I want to state the facts first. 1) I am not running for President. 2) I have no desire ever to get into politics. So this leads me into why I post with the title that I chose.

Joshua and I spent a wonderful evening out last night at our local Christian radio stations 25th Anniversary benefit dinner (Thanks Mark!). The food and festivities were great but the speaker beat it all. He is a man of true dignity and strong Christian values. He is a man who ever since coming into the lime light I have wanted to meet LONG before he made a HUGE stance in politics because of his overall stance on physical health and fitness. He and I have ran with the same man, running the same distance but had yet to meet.

As Joshua and I walked up to meet/greet last night a get a few books signed by this man, I have to admit that I was almost at a loss for words. It was all happening so fast! As we waited in line, I kept going over and over in my head exactly what I was going to say to him because I didn't want to look like a fool. I wish I had had hours to pick his brain and discuss health policies, economics and just in general politics. I would have never guessed I would have wanted to do this ever in my life but with this one man I think I could have asked him to join me for a 5K jog around the block and he would have come. That's just the kind of man he is.

The man you might ask is:

1 Year and Growing

Today Joshua and I took Samantha Grace for her one year check-up. I have to say that I really wasn't looking forward to going back to the doctor since we had just been there a week ago with her chest issues. By the way, those seem to be clearing to some extent. We still have a really nasty cough, especially if we get really excited, hot or try to shove too much food in our mouth at once. We know that the "bug" is still in her system due to her lab work today with elevated white blood count.

ANY WAYS...Back to the main subject. I was a proud mommy today because Samantha Grace stood by herself on the big girl scale. But I have to say I was kinda disappointed when the numbers popped up on the scale...16 lbs. 1 oz. That is only a gain of just over 9 oz. in 3 months. After all the food that she eats only 9 oz. But the good news was that we grew almost 4 inches to a height of 30 inches. We are truly a bean poll.

Samantha Grace was a champ at the finger prick! She didn't even cry. I thought the poor nurse was going to squeeze her little hand to death though because it was just coming out drop-by-drop. Now the shots on the other hand were a different story. We did not enjoy the shots in the arms at all. I also have never seen someone bleed so much after her shots.

I have to say from a mommy's perspective I am so glad that this round of shots was not that bad at all. We didn't have any fevers in our legs and she stayed in good spirits all day! I think she is also growing up in the fact that she is starting to push towards only one nap a day. I think this is going to be more of a growing up process for mommmy. I got so spoiled with the times of quiet.

I continue to ask for prayers that Samantha Grace will continue to grow in God's image and strength. We are still overcoming the "leftovers" of the fluid in the lungs and still have a small amount of fluid behind our right ear. Joshua and I continue to thank God of how blessed we are to have such a healthy and beautiful little girl. We also ask that you pray for baby Stellan

I will be posting pictures soon of our little one's newest adventures!

Turning 1

If someone were to ask me a year ago what I would be doing at this moment I don't know as if I could have told them...

For one year ago, I was lying in a hospital bed trying to keep Samantha Grace's heart rate at the correct level while dealing with labor pains. Exactly one year ago, I had a terrific doctor that walked into my room at 3:00 PM on April 14 and said we have to have a c-section. I didn't question his decision for I knew what had been going on with Samantha Grace's stats since noon on April 13th. It wasn't until after delivery and later at my 6-week check up did I truly discover that if it had not been for my doctor's initiative then we may not be celebrating this momentous occasion. If I had been thick headed then Samantha Grace would not be with us today.

So I take this day and time to thank the Lord for the blessing of wisdom of the marvelous doctor that He has placed in my life.

To make another milestone during Samantha Grace's first birthday, Josh and I found it to be important to us to choose God Parents for her. For we do not live close to our parents, yet there have been some sweet people that have really touched our lives and reached out their hands in caring for Samantha Grace. I will not specifically name whom we have picked for I think that this is a family matter at this time. But I know that Samantha Grace will be spoiled rotten by this family and loved to the ends of the Earth! (Thanks Mr. Duke for your suggestion in doing this it has meant a lot to this family!)

PARTY!!!

Yes, we threw Samantha Grace quite the dig. I had the weekend planned out. Being Easter weekend we knew it was going to be packed with church festivities, but we also wanted to make it memorable as a birthday. So on Saturday we utilized the Cadillac wagon (one of Samantha Grace's b-day gifts) by visiting the zoo on one of the most gorgeous days I have seen in a long time. After exhausting Samantha Grace (yes, part of the plan), I and other family members raced around the house to make it look perfect for our festivities that night.

4:30 - Whew! Can I sleep was all I could think? But sleep would not come for it was PARTY time. We had a blast chowing down on BBQ, fruit kabobs, chips, etc. But most of all we had fun spoiling our little lady bug to death. We even carried out the tradition of a first cake...

CAKE

Okay...whoever started the tradition of the first cake needs to have their head examined. Samantha Grace meticulously ate the frosting first, then realizing every one was watching, stuffed the rest of the cupcake as fast she could in her mouth. Little did we know what the result would be.

1:00 AM

I found myself up with Samantha Grace up until past 1:00 AM fighting off a major sugar rush. Needless to say, Josh and I have come to the consensus that sugar will be low on the food groups for a long time with our children. Plus what nutritional value does it truly offer anyways.

I have to say overall it was a tremendous weekend and one full of memories! I am so looking forward to throwing more BIG birthday celebrations in the future! Enjoy the pictures of our adventures!

All Hands On Deck

So when we thought the pouring rain was over, Satan threw us another curve ball. This time "attacking" our precious little one. Samantha Grace has had a running nose for almost 2 weeks now, but earlier this week (around Sunday) she started this cough that sounded like she had congestion in her throat/lungs. I didn't really think much of it because I knew that we were cutting teeth at the same time.

Well, Wednesday night while I was at church practicing for Easter Sunday, Samantha Grace got sick twice at Cecile's house. I was so embarrassed, yet concerned because this was another symptom to add to our list. However, we had been lucky thus far with no fever. So upon hearing of the vomiting I called the best pediatrician in Montgomery and described her symptoms. She told us to watch her overnight and to immediately put her on the BRATT diet.

Samantha Grace slept through the night somewhat restfully. She would have coughing fits that would wake me in my sleep because I didn't know if she was going to be able to catch her breath. That is when I decided enough was enough. I called our doctor in AM to notify her that we were coming. Then I thought it was over again because we ran into another glitch of getting to the doctor, but thanks to my AMAZING husband it all worked out.

I am so thankful for Joshua giving up time at work because the visit was very insightful. We found out that we have fluid in the lungs and if we had waited until next Friday for her 1-year check-up we might have a much more serious case on our hands. We are still to monitor her breathing and the progression or, hopefully, regression of her coughing. She is on some very strong antibiotics and still hanging onto the BRATT diet.

Oh...And the nasty FEVER has poked through. We ran a 100 temperature tonight, which is high for us because we never run a fever. So monitoring we will do. Please pray that all will clear up because if the fluid continues to build then that could trigger more vomiting and eventually lead to pneumonia. NOT FUN!

Did I mention that she will be turning 1 on Tuesday, April 14 and we are supposed to celebrate her birthday with friends and family on Saturday? Please pray for improvement of health. I am really concerned about Samantha Grace.

P.S.During the time I have written this blog she has had 3 coughing attacks...not good.

When it Rains it Pours

Okay, so this post is much to go in the memory books for Samantha Grace and for myself to remember what a week it has and will be for her first Easter and first birthday. Yes, it is true that here in Montgomery it has been pouring rain off and on since last Thursday (with two beautiful days of sunshine stuck in between on Friday and Saturday). But the title of this post has more to do with the events that have taken place over the past few days to create an adventure of a week.

I started off the week with what seemed like a very manageable to-do list for the week that was until we had a little mishap which caused some extra outings that had to be completed on Monday. Then on Sunday, as well as the day that we discovered the BIG OOPS!, I proceeded to gracefully fall down the front stairs after the first service on Sunday morning. At first I thought all was fine, especially this morning (Monday), because I didn't feel any pain any more; for, I had been having sharp pains run through my big toe and continue to an area in my foot that I have screws from a previous foot surgery. So I continued on with a normal weekly routine of getting up for an early morning run. I continued to feel great, every now and then I would feel a twinge of pain but nothing too major to be concerned over. Then when I got home I was taking a shower and thought I noticed some dirt in between my toes from the flip flops I had been wearing Sunday evening at church. So I began to do what any other hygenic person would do...scrub...scrub...OWWW! Yeah, it wasn't dirt. I look between my big toe and second toe and noticed that I had a deep purple bruise between my toes. As I got out of the shower and as the day has progressed the pain has continued to stream throughout my big toe into the entire right most side of my left foot. Needless to say I will be seeing an orthopedic doctor Tuesday for an x-ray.

The week should continue as normal except our front desk secretary at church has recently retired; therefore, being the go-getter that I am willing volunteered to fill-in whenever needed. And would you guess my first day is Friday, this Friday, when I will have a house full of company. Luckily, I will also have a house full of helping hands. I told Josh that this will be a time for any body else that feels they need to "fix" something for the party to get into the kitchen.

I say all this because I want this to be a memorable weekend for everyone, so I don't want anything to be a hinderance. But I can already see where Satan is trying to spoil my positive attitude, but I am not going to let him get to me. The picture of Samantha Grace at the top of this post is what I felt like this morning when everything came crashing in; I don't know about you but I always do better with visuals.

P.S. Did I also mention I am also waiting to find out about a job that I interviewed for?

solid stance squat

A couple of days ago Joshua unveiled to me that Samantha Grace stood on her own while holding a paper box lid over her head. I have to admit that I just didn't believe him because almost two days have gone by and I have yet to see this mild ston occur. So this morning after I got my little Wonder Woman dressed, I noticed that she had taken the perfect squat position next to her wipe box. Then with what Herculean strength she could muster she attempted the same trick she did with the paper box; however, I have to say that the wipe box played an awful trick...it was full! So she went backwards on her bumm much like if you were holding onto a door knob when someone was trying to keep you out of some place and then all of the sudden they let go.

So I decided to try an experiment. I got an empty wipe box out of her closet and traded her for a much lighter load. She loved teasing me with the several attempts of picking up the box...such a joker!

However, she wasn't finished yet. After leaving abruptly from the box lifting event, she moved on to the basket-o-toys event. At this venue, she proceeded to balance herself on some shape matching game we have for her then let go! I was so proud, but where was that silly video camera. Oh, yeah, on the charger.

Off to the charger I went while praying that this event could occur again. As I entered the room, Josh tried so hard, bless his heart, to get her to do it again. Finally after much coaxing we were ready to give up and just wait for another opportune moment. That was until Samantha Grace was persuaded by Green Bucket to try once more. This time she stood proudly for a grand total of probably 3 seconds, looked around in utter shock then gracefully sat back down. OH! Did I forget to tell you that I caught it on camera this time! (A post will come as soon as Josh downloads the video.)

Another praise today is that Stellan has had a wonderful night and day thus far. He has been out of SVT for over 15 hours. Continue to lift him up in prayer and follow his story on his site www.mycharmingkids.net.

Cows, Spaghetti O's and Dad's Hidden Talent

For those of you that don't know, Josh and I both grew up in Tennessee. When we were growing up, we both lived in areas of towns where one minute you could be surrounded by total suburbia then the next be in complete country. In fact, when my family built their first house in Knoxville, we bought our property from my dad's barber (who had sold it to our developer) and he, the barber, actually used to be a farmer. And surrounding our property for the longest time were pastures and fields of cows or the best blueberries ever! So when we bought our house a year ago, we were delighted to see that backing up to our house was this enormous cow pasture. We thought what a great learning experience this will be for Samantha Grace one day.

Well, it has come to be extremely profitable to not only to us (we miss the wide open country fields quite a bit at times) but also to Samantha Grace. As soon as we walk out the back door now she will start pointing to the pasture and "mooing" like a cow. It is quite cute. Now I do have to admit that when we ask her what a dog says she proceeds to "moo" like a cow too, but we are working on it. Below is a picture of some of our cow friends to live behind us.

All of this is to bring up the fact that last night I discovered, after being with Josh for almost 9 years, that he has a hidden talent. You know most men pride themselves in being able to do the turkey call, the duck call or whatever call might be applicable when hunting. Well, not Josh Duke. Nope, we discovered last night that Josh has the perfect pitch and tamber to call cows. Below are a couple short video clips of his magnificent call and the cows response. I have to say that this was quite surprising to all of us.







The videos do not adequately show that the cows were quite a distance away when Josh started his cow call. Then one-by-one, the bull of course leading the way, came up to our fence. The neatest thing was that due to the tendency of cows being extremely skittish we usually can't pet them. Josh bravely went up to one and petted it with Samantha Grace like a horse. I was quite impressed on both Josh's and the cow's part. After all of this adventure our one looming question is what do you feed a cow besides grass? We don't want to hinder their completely organic diet of grass because we all now we have enough problems with some farmers pumping insane amounts of hormones into these beautiful creatures. Any suggestions would be great because I am thinking that these cows will be back for more entertainment by the infamous COW CALLER. I end this entry by leaving you with some of the most recent adventures with Samantha Grace at home. Since she will be a year in 13 days, I finally folded and gave her Spaghetti O's for the first time. I also decided to start a tradition with something that was made by her Mimi. Mimi painted a little bench with her name on it shortly after she was born, so I decided to each year close to her birthday take her picture sitting and standing by the bench. So below you can see some of the pictures from our improtu photo session. More professional pictures are to come.


As I close, I ask from the bottom of my heart that you continue to pray for a little baby boy by the name of Stellan McKinney who live in Minnesota. He is very sick and needs our prayers. You can follow his story by clicking on the button on my blog titled "Praying for Stellan."