3+1=4

I know I said I was done blogging, but I just couldn't do it! I missed expressing myself and its so much easier to do here than on a piece or two of notebook paper! Things are so different now. Dad is doing better, but mom had an incident last week. I guess you can say our family is accident/health prone. On her way to church she slipped on their throw rug in the enterance way and fell to the ground in so much pain! They had to have a resuce squad come because she could not move from the laying position without an extreme amount of pain. She is bed ridden now due to a torn pcl, mcl, miniscis (spelling i'm sure is way off) and another pulled joint in her knee. She will go into the surgeon on Tuesday and have surgery in the week to follow. It has been kinda nice me not working because I have been able to do some cooking, cleaning, and even grocery shopping for them. Ashalyn has also been able to keep grandma company while over there because she is getting rather bored sitting around all day! we are just thankful dad is back to work now.

And as far as in our immediate family of Nicholas, Ashalyn and I, we are overwhelmed with joy and pleased to announce that our family of 3 has grown! One day I was feeling a little nausous and all I could think was man, not the flu! Please God! Then it dawned on me that I was over a week past my regularly ontime cycle and sure enough our cheap generic test had two lines. So once again we found ourselves on the way to walmart to buy a more expensive and more trusted pregnancy test.

After the initial shock and realizing Ashalyn was only 5 months old we were so grateful and very excited. Yes, there was the scared feeling of what our families would think, and a few people that were just flat rude with us because we just had a baby and told us we wouldn't be able to handle it and were crazy, but overall we were filled with excitement! I have always had a burning desire to have twins, but wanted it to happen naturally. Since my grandfather was a twinI just thought it'd be neat to carry on the gene. But maybe I won't be able to do that so this is God's way of getting me as close as possible....who knows!! My chances for twins are still pretty high because Nick's dad is also a twin...but having them close together like this could bring some of the same things that a multiple birth would! I have had the chance to be around several sets of twins and even triplets throughout my life and just find the whole process and thought of it absolutely amazing! So with this closeness in age, I look forward to the challenges we will encounter and all the excitement of watching them grow so close over the years! The only one challenge I could skip i think is that when Ashalyn finally gets all her teeth in and no more mouth pain it will start all over with the next one.

The teething process has not been fun. She has been chewing on EVERYTHING! Pretty much anything she can get her hands on becomes a teether. She gnaws on her hands and jabbers and fusses throughout most the night and day. She has been running a low grade fever now for about the past week. You can feel her front teeth and see where they will be coming in, her gums are all white, but no signs of them breaking through yet.

So far the pregnancy has been so much different than that with Ashalyn. I have only had one awful day so far but other than that have felt great!! I really have not had a desire to eat though so I've had a hard time making myself eat when its time. I find myself sleeping pretty heavy at night but havent had the need yet to crawl in bed and sleep my day away like I did with my first pregnancy!! Which is a blessing since now I have a little one to take care of during the day! She has really helped keep my mind off of being pregnant that I havent really had time to get tired i dont think!!

Ashalyn is growing so big and so so fast! In 3 days she will be 6 months. I cannot believe it! But at the same time, I don't remember life before those 6 months. She has truly changed our lives in so so many ways!! WHAT A BlESSING!!!

And just one more recent picture of our beautiful princess!!! This is one of daddy's favorite pictures ever I think!! Chris "Beanie" Wells from THE Ohio State University! We're hoping for a draft pick with the Cleveland Browns this year!! We will see!!

Anonymous Comments!!

So, I had a whole blog typed out and tried posting it about how I'm not gonna be writing any more blogs because of the anonymous commenters. Yes, it's okay that i have people reading up on me, I have nothing to hide, but the fact that I'm pretty certain I have my ideas of who it is, I'm gonna stay away from giving anymore details out about my life!! Sorry guys!!!!

To my commenter (if it's who I think it is), I'm flattered that you still care so much, but our lives have led us in different directions. Know that I am EXTREMELY happy with my life and where I am at now!! I have ALL that I could ever ask for and have moved on in life!!!! AND NOW, I believe it's time for you to do the same!

And to the rest that read this and leave me comments here or by email. Thanks for your constant support through my pregnancy and with my dad! And all the wonderful encouragement (mostly to Kristen on that one!!). I wish I could continue to write on here when I need to, but.....for certain reasons, not the best thing!! I'll continue to update life and random things through my myspace and facebook!! Definately feel free to leave me messages there!!!! Or the few that sent me messages to my email, u can still do that! Love ya guys!!!!

It's still pouring!

Rain, Rain Go Away!!!

First off, I've been tagged by Kristen!!

6 Random things about me....

1. OREOS....i absolutely love oreos....but, if the rows in the package are not even I cannot eat them. So, you always have to eat them in increments of 3, no matter what!!!

2. I have a major shin phobia. I hate shins.

3. I am blessed beyond belief with an incredible husband, daughter, family and friends.

4. I own 36 pairs of flip flops

5. I hate the original 90210 but love the new series!!

6. I'm blank right now!!!


And now to a post, ever hear the saying when it rains it pours?? Well I heard my dad say that over and over this weekend. And oh how true it seems. This weekend, Saturday morning, my dad left for Mississippi to do some mission work with a neighboring church. It was kinda crazy how it all happened. Ashalyn was supposed to be dedicated at church on Sunday so dad was a little hesitant about going but decided to. Nicholas and I spent the day Saturday talking about both our dads and just old memories. And Saturday night mom calls and asks us to come over because for some reason didn't want to be alone. Before we went Nicholas decided to take a nap, which never happens, so I was afraid he might be getting sick. We went over there and within a few hours mom's phone rings..."who is this?" came acrossed the other end from dad's cell phone, it was a woman. So with a puzzled response, mom answers Kathy and gets quiet. That's when my heart sank!! I knew something was wrong. Mom sat there taking in everything she was hearing with a complete blank face. So, Nick and I sit there just waiting for her to get off the phone. She hangs up and in disbelief says, "they took your dad to the hospital by ambulance". So now, mom's crying and we have to decide what to do....he's on his way to Mississippi and we have no clue where he's at, just know he's been on the road for 12 hours. No idea what's going on, nothing!!! So I hug mom and get on the phone to call my sister. And mom in the meantime feels the need to start packing and head out on the road. So now Nicholas and I are left to decide, do we go ahead with Ashalyn's baby dedication, knowing friends and family have already traveled here for it, or do we cancel and head out with mom. I start dialing Pastor Brad's phone number and mom's phone rings yet again. This time it's the hospital calling from dad's phone. They were prepping dad for life flight. He had suffered a heart attack. So mom's giving his social, his history, all his medications, etc. And then as soon as they mention lifeflight mom drops her head to the counter and bawls. He's hundreds of miles away and they won't tell us anything. So, mom asks to talk to dad and they put the phone to his ear. It was the most horrible experience ever, watching mom cry into the phone talking to my dad, begging him to hang on, saying how much she loves him and just bawling. With no response back. And all the sudden the call drops! How awful to leave a conversation like that with 11 hours on the rode to make it to where he is. So we cancel, call the family and 14 of us head out. Still with no address of where he is being lifeflighted to just headed in the direction of Alabama, we knew he was somewhere in AL! At 10:00 at night we take off, everyone's exhausted from crying, only to find out that both grandpa and Nicholas took a nap that afternoon.......both a little out of the ordinary, but God knew what he was doing obviously!!! So we drove through the night taking turns with our drivers. Halfway there we get an address finally and a little bit of an update. Huntsville Hospital, in Huntsville Alabama! Wait a minute I thought, my best friend lives in Huntsville. 650 miles away and of all the cities it could have happened in it happens in Huntsville, AL. Nick and I were just there last summer, so we were a little familiar with the area. The hospital was only 3 miles away from the hotel we stayed at. And Brandi was there and able to tell us where there were places close by to eat, stay, etc! It was great seeing her again as well! We pull into the hospital and they tell us that Mom, Chad Becky and I are the only ones allowed in to see him. He was in ICU, so none of us really knew what to expect. We walk in and first thing, dad starts crying!! What a relief!! He then tells us what happened. They got to where they were going to be stopping for the night, another praise, they were not midpoint road side! And he started to get real hot and told everyone he was having hot flashes. So he went to the restroom and thats where it all started. After 10 minutes one of the guys he was with popped his head in the door and found dad mid stream heart attack. He had to have 3 stints put in with there being 90% blockage at two and 60 at the 3rd. There was a fouth one that was instintable and will require open heart surgery, so they let that one go for the time being so he could get home to his own dr. During the surgery dad suffered cardiac arrest where his heart stopped for a bit. Praise God, there is not much heart damage!! He healed so quickly and made it home late last night!! He has to meet with the cardiologist here to schedule the repair of the 4th valve, so we still are praying for that!!! God watched over the entire family all weekend!!!!! So many things worked in our favor, i believe the worst glinch we had was the fact that we could not get a rental car, but thanks to mom's uncle and a good friend of dad's they drove up there Monday night and drove dad home so he had more room to move, our vans were pretty full!!!
While mom was at the hospital with dad, she receives a phone call from her boss' wife, (her boss passed away 2 weeks ago) saying, "i know this is the worst possible time to tell u this, but we are shutting the office down for the time being." She hasn't received the death certificate yet so the computer system has froze. So....now mom is out of a job for the time being, on top of all this.
Then, just as I'm telling Nicholas, "wow, what a week!" the phone then rings again. Nick answers and I hear, "What? Grandma's in the hospital?" My grandma Nofziger is now in the hospital.
And just last week, Nick's grandma Rice went in and had a pacemaker put in. It seems never ending lately. Not too long ago Grandpa was going through the same thing as dad. And Justin and Clarissa, I blogged about earlier. Man, I'm ready for the rainstorm to end!!!!
Thank you to all that were praying!! God is working in many ways, but please please don't stop!! Dad still has quite the road ahead of him leading up to his next surgery!! And also pray for grandma as well!! Thanks again!!!

ashalyn faith

i'd say it's time for a little update on Ashalyn. She is growing rather nicely. The dr was impressed at her 2 month visit (at 2 1/2 months). She has finally reached the 50 percentile in her weight at 10 ponds 13 ozs...she is getting so close to doubling her birth weight!! She has gone up in her height as well, and making it to the 25 %. And her head circumferance is in the 90 percentile!! As you can tell she is growing extremly fast. At first I was a little concerned, but the dr said that because of her low birth weight she will play catch up for a few months and then start slowing down.

As for her personality, she is getting to be sooo much fun! She is "coo"ing and smiling like crazy. She even has this little giggle that is to die for!! She is really trying hard to grab her toys...she bats at them, gets them swinging, and then can get them completely stopped enough to grab for a few seconds. We love just laying on the floor with her, as well as sitting back and just observing all her new little developments. She is so amazing!! She still enjoys her daytime naps, which makes night time a little hard, but we're getting there!!

fall is my favorite time of year

So, I decided to make this an everything blog! I'm sure most of it will still be about Ashalyn but I always want to say other things and I try to remind myself that the blog was titled pregnancy journal. So here it is!!!!

What a week we've had! Thursday night Nicholas and I stayed awake just dreading the morning to come. I was supposed to leave for work at 730 am and Nick was going to keep Ashalyn for the morning before he had to leave for an out of town wedding he was in. We all dreaded it. Nick was excited that his best friend was getting married, but unexcited that Ashalyn and I were not going to make it there until 6 pm the next night. Yes, call us babies, but we have yet spent the night away from each other. The closest we have come was when Ashalyn was born and I slept in the hospital bed and he on the couch in the same room. One thing that I found neat when my grandfather passed away was that til the day he spent in the hospital he and my grandmother did not spend a night apart. I admired that in them and hope for the same with Nicholas and I! And his 10 hr work day is the longest he has left Ashalyn. So there were tears just talking about it.

Well, during the night, I decided to tell Nicholas when he got down there to find out the rate of a hotel room. That way Ashalyn and I could at least see him in the morning and he could come say goodnight before we went to bed. Come to find out, Matt (the groom) was able to get a group rate of $69.99. That is an awesome rate for a hotel room. So as soon as I left work, Ashalyn and I made the trip to see Dad!!! :-) It was the best decision we could have made. Now, the 2 1/2 hour trip with an infant by myself was a bit much. But well worth it!!!

We got there and Ashalyn and I chilled in the hotel for a little until we were able to go to the church to see dad (nicholas) for a while. Then we went back to the hotel while daddy and the other groomsmen played flag football. I met one of the groomsmen's wife and their 7 month old baby and we talked for a while and decided while the boys were playing football we were going to attempt the pool with our little ones. And believe it or not, Ashalyn loved it!! I thought she may be too little yet and not enjoy the colder water, i mean, it definately was not bath water!!

Then daddy came to say goodnight and found out that most the groomsmen were going there own way for the night, so he even got to stay with us!!!!! :-) Now, Ashalyn was up most the night, but we enjoyed our time together as a family. The wedding was such a nice, private service at the college church that they attend and the reception was near 2 hours away.

Nick drove the newly married couple, Matt and Jami Beck to the reception so Ashalyn and I had to make another 2 hour journey by ourselves. However, right as we were pulling out from the church I received a phone call from mom. She said that my 2 second cousins were in an ATV accident. Clarissa was killed and Justin was lifeflighted. WOW, what news to hear right before you are about to make a 2 hour drive, just you and your 2 month old. So I had to keep myself composed for the entire drive. Throughout the drive my thoughts ran crazy. Not too many weeks ago I talked to Justin's mom about how amazing being a mom was as she adored little Ashalyn....and then my mind runs back to just a few months ago, outside of the school building, I watch Justin and his friends goofing off, and he says, "oh it's okay, she's my cousin, she won't care!" And then I go back to Christmas and I remember Clarissa's big beautiful smile every year. And her and Kaitlyn hiding under the table, as if I can't see them, waiting for me to find them (yes, that was several years ago!). Clarissa was a 2nd cousin and we didn't see each other often, but I WILL NEVER forget her beautiful smile she ALWAYS had!!!! What a sweet young woman!!

While driving and going down memory line, I couldn't help but to lift the parents of these two up in prayer. Ashalyn has been with us for only 2 short months, but once you have a baby you look at life completely different. I could never imagine, getting news of her being gone, or even injured for that matter. I notice all the beautiful red, orange and yellow trees on this trip. Everything seems to be so much brighter, so much more beautiful, and just so much more meaningful with Ashalyn here. And then to be reminded, how fragile life is. How even the littlest things, like having fun on a four wheeler with your cousin that happened to be home from college for the day, can be life changing events. And it all makes you realize how great our God is. All I can think right at that point, was how beautiful God's creation is, the trees and blue sky, but even more so....LIFE!

I look in my mirror to see a person so full of life in the back, cooing, and smiling and am reminding how I need to cherish every moment with her. I wish so bad I could call Rod and Brenda up and have the words to say to them, but what, what could someone possibly say to comfort them in a time like this, knowing that because of a single foxhole that God placed with care, took the life of their daughter. It's hard to think of, but at the same time, you think, when God watched that fox find a place in His beautiful creation, to make that hole, He knew that that exact part of nature and of His doings was what would bring his beautiful child, Clarissa to Him. And now she is up there dancing and rejoicing with Him.

So then we attempt the reception. It was beautiful. Fall colors and a dance floor outside at Pretty Lake in Indiana. A cool fall night, where people joined together sharing memories and verses and marriage to dos. It was such a great reminder of commitment and what it means to remain together as husband and wife, as one!! As you can tell, the weekend brought so many mixed emotions and was rather eventful, but very much needed as a reminder to truly cherish life, our marriage, our little girl and to spend tiem in God's amazing creation!!!!!

7 hrs!

So, I don't want to jinx myself but we have had 2 nights in a row of 7 hours of sleep straight.....we just may be getting the hang of sleeping through the night!! Wahoo!!