I have a question...

I have a question that I need answered. I went Christmas shopping with Amanda the other day. We were discussing Santa on the way to Murfreesboro. She asked me if my presents that I got from Santa were ever wrapped...No, why?? I ask her. She says hers weren't either and then proceeds to tell me that her husband's were and everyone else that she had asked were wrapped also.

So my question is...

Were the presents that you received from Santa wrapped??

I was feeling religious...

I got this in an email last night. I think I have read it before, but I got such a good chuckle I thought I'd share...


There are 3 good arguments that Jesus was Black:
1. He called everyone brother
2. He liked Gospel
3. He didn't get a fair trial

But then there are 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was Jewish:
1. He went into His Father's business
2. He lived at home until he was 33
3. He was sure his Mother was a virgin and his Mother was sure He was God

But then there are 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was Italian:
1. He talked with His hands
2. He had wine with His meals
3. He used olive oil

But then there are 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was a Californian:
1. He never cut His hair
2. He walked around barefoot all the time
3. He started a new religion

But then there are 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was an American Indian:
1. He was at peace with nature
2. He ate a lot of fish
3. He talked about the Great Spirit

But then there are 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was Irish:
1. He never got married.
2. He was always telling stories.
3. He loved green pastures.

But the most compelling evidence of all - that Jesus was a woman:
1. He fed a crowd at a moment's notice when there was virtually no food
2. He kept trying to get a message across to a bunch of men who just didn't get it
3. And even when He was dead, He had to get up because there was still work to do.

If I Could Take It Back...

Some of you may think this is stupid. Some of you may wonder why I don't have something more important to waste my time typing about. Some of you might think I'm being vain...I really don't care. I am upset, its my blog, and I can type what I want!!

I wanted to get my hair highlighted yesterday. When I decide it needs to be done, I want it done right then. My hairstylist that I love and trust completely couldn't get me in until next week. Next week the kids are out of school. I would not have been able to go. It would have been the next week before I could get in. I just couldn't have that. I decided to use my backup stylist. She has highlighted my hair before and she almost always gets me in the same day. How bad could it be??

I straightened my hair yesterday morning, so that is how it was when I got there. She asked me if I wanted her to trim my hair. She said that my top layer had grown out and it was making my hair look heavy. I agreed with her. I said that she could put the layer back in as long as she didn't cut my bangs and I told her I didn't want to lose my length. She said that she could do the layer, or something else, that I think she called 'stacked'. She was explaining it to me, and I wasn't really getting it, but I asked if I would lose my length. She said that I wouldn't. She told me to think about it while she highlighted me.

Fast forward to trim time. I asked her what she was going to do and she said she was gonna stack it. Then she proceeded to cut all of my hair off. What could I say?? It's all gone now. The back of my hair is like 2 inches long when it is straight. Do you know how long that makes it when it is curly?? Yeah, like an inch!! There is nothing sexy about short hair on me. I have been growing my hair out for a really long time. I had it just how I liked it. It looked good curly. It looked good straight. It made me feel good, beautiful, and sexy. That's all gone.

I have tears rolling down my face as I type this. I have cried all morning. I got up early and jumped right in the shower to see what it was going to look like curly. It looks worse than I expected. It looks like a mop. I wish that someone understood me on this. I know it will grow back. My hair is my best feature though. I am really thinking about not leaving the house until it grows back. I had somewhere to go tonight, and I think I'm just going to cancel because I can't handle it.

Be careful about who you let come at you with scissors...

Birthday Wishes!!

4 years ago today, I was in labor. Logan Isaac was born at 10:35 am on Nov. 18th, 2004. It seems like Logan has always been here with us. I hardly remember the time before he was. He has changed so much in 4 years. He is such a handsome little boy. His favorite thing in this world is to be tickled. :) I am blessed that my children take such interest in the simple things in life.

I was going to post pictures from his birthday party that we had for him Sunday, as well as pics from Kaylee's 2nd birthday party. For some reason, I can't get the computer to read the memory card. I will keep working on it though!

This is a pic from this summer (since I am having technical difficulties lol)

HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY LOGAN!!!

No Joke...

Logan has speech therapy every Friday morning in Cookeville. Trad took him today and decided to take Abby also. I received these 2 pics that he took during speech...

This one spells 'cake'...duh...

But...That message was obviously not enough...So there was another one...

PDQ...Pretty Darn Quick!!

Now, I know what you are thinking...Not bad for an almost 4-year-old...The only thing is...

Logan didn't spell them...

It was Abby!!!

She is obviously a 16 month old genius!!!

A trivia question...

A Trivia Question: How long is the beast allowed to have authority in Revelations?

Guess the Answer?

Revelations 13:5 tells us it is 42 months. [This is almost a four year term to a Presidency.]

According to The Book of Revelations the anti-Christ will be a man, in his 40s, of MUSLIM descent, who will deceive the nations with persuasive language, and have a MASSIVE Christ-like appeal...the prophecy says that people will flock to him and he will promise false hope and world peace, and when he is in power, will destroy everything.

Yep...We are screwed!!

I am who??

Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

Well I'm not sure how that happened. I don't really see that I am like Bella at all!! Evidently someone thinks I am though. I can only think of one perk that would come with being Bella. HaHaHa!!

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Family history - Roots

October is...

I can't believe that I have let 6 days pass in this month before I said this...

OCTOBER IS NATIONAL BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH!!!!

Please do your part. Cancer is such a hideous disease. It doesn't discriminate. It won't pass you by because you are prettier or thinner or richer. Please don't think it won't happen to you, because it could.

Those of you who know me know that my mom had breast cancer. She caught it early because she did a self-check every month. She was lucky. She beat breast cancer.

For more information you can follow these links...

National Breast Cancer Awareness Month website

Susan G. Komen

American Cancer Society

Please girls...Check your boobs!!!

Spread the Love

I received another award!! This one is so great. My very special friend, Joy Tubb has had a wonderful idea with this award. I will explain the rules later though. For now, I want to express my appreciation to Joy for thinking of me!! She is a wonderful person and she makes excellent cakes to boot!!

Here is what Joy wants to happen: She wants to see how many people can get this award by Wednesday, October 8th. Each person nominated, in turn nominates 3 more people. Then you are to go to Joy's website and leave her a comment telling her how you felt when you found out someone was thinking of you today. So simple!! I hope we can keep this going for Joy!!

Ok I am nominating...

April-My SIL. Even though she completely gets on my nerves sometimes :) she is the closest thing to a sister that I will ever have, no matter what. She is very loving, and will drop anything if she knows I need help. I can't count the times that she has helped me out over the years. I am very thankful that she is in my life.

Rosanne-I cannot say enough good things about Rosanne. She is the most loving person that I have ever met. She befriended me immediately when I began coming to church and made me very comfortable there. She has always been there whenever I needed anything at all and has never asked for anything in return.

Rachel (and Lucy if she had a blog!!)-These girls are the greatest thing since sliced bread!! I don't know what I would do without them. They are so sweet and very mature for their ages. They love my children, which makes me love them even more!! I cannot wait to see what life holds in store for them. They are smart and beautiful and I know they will do well in life.

For those of you who missed it, I am a quote freak!! I am not exaggerating one bit either. It's kinda sad. I can't read a book, watch a movie, or even watch Oprah without thinking to myself, 'What a great quote' and then proceeding to scramble for my 'quote journal'. (I told you it was sad!!)

I was looking through my quotes yesterday, re-reading some of them, knowing exactly where the ones that I want to read are, when I read this one...

All the best love stories have one thing in common.

You have to go against all odds to get there.

It's the fight that makes it all worth it.

I saw this quote online a while back. I have yet to figure out who penned it. I love it though. It automatically makes me think of Romeo and Juliet, Elizabeth Bennet and Darcy, Catherine and Heathcliff, Lancelot and Guinevere, and of course, more modernly, Edward and Bella.

I just think this quote is beautiful though and so true.

We all appreciate the things that we work for, not those that are handed to us...

I got an award! Wonders never cease!! HaHa I am so surprised that Tabitha thought of me. I would have been the last person that I thought of!!

Tabitha is a wonderful, beautiful young woman! I am proud that I have the opportunity to know her. She is wonderful with children, mine included!! She is also very talented, check out her blog for her pictures. I am sad that she is going to be moving away again. Thank you so much Tab for thinking of me!!

Now...who am I gonna nominate??

Rosanne and Cynthia (even though they have both been nominated already). There is no way I could do this post without mentioning them. These two women I look up to immensely. They love my children unconditionally. They have helped and influenced me in ways they will never know. In my mind they are just wonderful!! I secretely wish I could be half the mothers that they are. I feel very blessed that I can call them my friends.

Joy Tubb of Simply Joy Catering. She is a wonderful woman also. She is very active with her church, loves to help people, and is always in a good mood it seems!! I am greatful that she has been placed in my life.

Tabetha Sullens. I have only known Tab about a year now I guess. Even so, I can tell what a wonderful friend and mother she is!! She is also very talented and crafty (check out her blog). I never expected a friendship to form when I met her.

Amanda. What can I say about her?? I have known her for over 14 years. I am proud to call her one of my best friends. She knows things about me that no one else knows. I can tell her anything. She loves my children and I love hers. Even though we aren't related, we are family.

These are the rules:

1. The recipient must link back the the awards creator

2. You must post these rules if you receive the award.

3. You must choose 5 people to receive the award after receiving it yourself.

4. You must fit the characteristics of the recipient of the award.

5. You must post the characteristics of a recipient.

6. You must create a post sharing your win with others.

7. You must thank your giver.

Characteristics for the Smile Award:

Must display a cheerful attitude. (not necessarily at all times--we are all human)

Must love one another

Must make mistakes

Must learn from others

Must be a positive contributor to blog world

Must love life

Must love kids

Conflict

I know I am probably going off the deep-end here. I have been reading these books, Twilight and New Moon by Stephanie Meyer. You know...everyone is in love with Edward Cullen. Yeah well that includes me! Ha! Me in love with a 17 year old vampire...who would have thought?? [I'm getting off subject though.]

These books, being about vampires and such, have really made me start thinking about the good/evil conflict that goes on around us. Really in everything we do. Edward is supposedly evil since he is a vampire, but chooses to do good. I think everyone is in that same situation...no not the whole vampire-thing! Don't we all have choices to make every day that determines whether we are good or not?? And I am talking about tiny, miniscule things also, smiling at a stranger, holding open a door for someone, etc etc.

I consider myself a good person, but what if I'm not?? Obviously, I'm not gonna kill anyone, or kidnap a baby, or burn down a house...but what about the little things?? Do I ignore them too much??

I am grateful that this series has given me something besides butterflies in my stomach!! I am definitely working on the little things now. I always want to strive to be a better person, but sometimes I think I get stagnant and don't progress in that area. But then again, don't we all??

Hell Explained by a Chemistry Student

I hope no one gets offended by this but I thought it was hilarious!! It was sent to me by a girl that I used to babysit when I was a teenager. She is a student at UT and I am so proud of her! (But that's beside the point!!)


HELL EXPLAINED BY A CHEMISTRY STUDENT
The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington Chemistry midterm. The answer by one student was so 'profound' that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well:

Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant.

One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving.
As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially.

Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added.

This gives two possibilities: 1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the Rate at which souls enter Hell, and then the Temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose. 2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it? If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year that, 'It will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you,' and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number two must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls
And is therefore, extinct......leaving only Heaven, thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting 'Oh my God.'

THIS STUDENT RECEIVED AN A+.

We will never forget...

With all that has been going on, I had totally forgotten today's date! I turned on the tv to see what was on the news this morning, and was suddenly reminded. I felt like I needed to post something as a reminder.

I was actually in bed when I heard the world trade center had been hit. I was working 2nd shift at Walmart and didn't go to bed until late the night before. When I heard it on the radio, I thought the guys on the radio were telling a story or joke or something...then the reality hit. I had classes at Motlow, which was why the alarm/radio was going off in the first place. I went on to school, where we proceeded to do nothing but watch the tv in my first class. The teacher in my second class finally sent us home. We didnt have a tv at home at the time, so I spent the rest of the day at my in-laws house watching the horror unfold.

I will never forget the sickening feeling that I felt that day, the sadness that I felt for those who were in the buildings and also for their families and loved ones. I also felt much pride for those who gave their lives for others, and continue to do so. Many heroes were created that day.

I just want to say thank you to all the emergency personel that risked their lives, those that chose to sacrifice themselves in the Pennsylvania field, those that volunteered their time to search for survivors, and especially the many troops that are serving overseas, as well as those that have come home already.

To be the mother...

I found this on Paula Wanamaker's blog a while back. I have been saving it for the right time, I guess. Well today is that day. It is a beautiful piece. I'm not sure who wrote it, I evidently didn't copy that part. It brought me to tears, and does each time I read it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Most women become mothers by accident, some by choice, a few by social pressures and a couple by habit.
This year, nearly 100,000 women will become mothers of disabled children. Did you ever wonder how mothers of disabled children, or special needs children are chosen?
Somehow I visualize God hovering over Earth selecting his instruments for propagation with great care and deliberation. As he observes, he instructs his angels to make notes in a giant ledger.
"Armstrong, Beth, son, patron saint, Matthew. Forrest, Marjorie, daughter, patron saint, Cecilia."
"Rudledge, Carrie, twins, patron saint...give her Gerald. He's used to profanity."
Finally, he passes a name to an angel and smiles, "Give her a handicapped child."
The angel is curious. "Why this one, God? She's so happy."
"Exactly," says God. "Could I give a handicapped child a mother who does not know laughter? That would be cruel."
"But has she patience?" asks the angel.
"I don't want her to have too much patience or she will drown in a sea of self-pity and despair. Once the shock and resentment wear off, she'll handle it.
I watched her today. She has that feeling of self and independence that is so rare and so necessary in a mother. You see, the child I'm going to give her has his own world. She has to make it live in her world, and that's not going to be easy."
"But, Lord, I don't think she even believes in you."
God smiles, "No matter. I can fix that. This one is perfect. She has just enough selfishness."
The angel gasps, "Selfishness? Is that a virtue?"
God nods. "If she can't separate herself from the child occasionally, she'll never survive. Yes, here is a woman whom I will bless with a child less than perfect. She doesn't realize it yet, but she is to be envied. She will never take for granted a "spoken" word.' She will never consider a "step" ordinary. When her child says, "Momma" for the first time, she will be present at a miracle and know it! When she describes a tree or a sunset to her blind child, she will see it as few people ever see my creations.
I will permit her to see clearly the things I see....ignorance, cruelty, prejudice....and allow her to rise above them. She will never be alone. I will be at her side every minute of every day of her life, because she is doing my work as surely as she is here by my side."
"And what about her patron saint?" asks the angel, pen poised in midair.
God smiles. " A mirror will suffice.":)

Abby's 1st Birthday Party

Abby eating her birthday dinner. Green beans that Grandma brought!!

Abby opening her gift from Aunt April (who now has a blog)

She got a silver bracelet with her name on it.

Abby with her 1st Barbie, from Uncle Jason

Abby with a whole bunch of swimming stuff from Grandma and Grandpa.

(I think they want her to come swimming at their house!!)

More pics of Abby eating cake.

She never did get really messy. She is too girly for all that!!

Abby even let Grandpa hold her.

(She isn't too sure about the male species.)

This is her big cake. I love it!! Joy Tubb outdid herself on this one!!

Guess who had a birthday!!

Today my sweet little baby girl turned ONE.

Happy 1st Birthday Abigail GraceAnne!!

Father's Day Preview

This is a little preview of the craft the kids and I did for Father's day. I bought a plain white shirt and Braden, Logan and Abby helped me decorate it!! Braden's handprints are blue, Logan's are green, and Abby's are yellow. I wrote, "Best dad, hands down" on it.

I was worried that it wouldn't turn out well. The boys do not enjoy having their hands messy. Abby has never really had her hands messy, at least not like this. After a practice run on paper we were ready. I did them in order of age, and they all did great!! I was so proud!! As far as I am concerned, it turned out perfect!!

I think Trad is going to be really surprised on Sunday. I have read articles saying that articles of clothing saying "best dad" and things such as that are on the bad gifts list, but I disagree!! I think any dad would be proud to wear his children's handprints. I know Trad is proud of the kids, and he will be proud of this too!!

Ladybug, ladybug...

This is a sample of Abby's birthday invitations. I wanted to do a ladybug party, but with softer colors. I decided to go with pink and yellow, because I like it!!

I made these using 2 big ovals in coordinating colors. The head is a smaller oval, and so are the spots. I cut the large pink oval in half, placed it over the yellow oval, and put the smaller pink oval (head) underneath. I secured it together with a pink brad.

This is the invitation opened up. I think it turned out so cute!! I don't know if you can see, but it says, "Our little lady is turning One!" Isn't that so clever?? (It wasn't my idea. I saw it on some ready-made invitations.)
I just wanted to share my sudden burst of creativity. I can't believe my baby is going to be One in a couple weeks!! I will post party pictures later.

Pasghetti anyone??

How long does it take one little girl to get this messy?? Evidently not very long. I gave Trad the chore of giving Abby her lunch while I went to pick up Braden from summer camp. I was gone less than 15 minutes and came back to this...


She is just too cute!! It was so sweet to see her like that. She loves spaghetti, but then she really loves everything!! Trad even gave her a bath afterward.

Favorite Things Swap!!

Kelly is hosting a swap on her blog. Click here to check it out!! You have until Friday, June 6th to sign up. Like it says, we will be swapping our favorite things!! Sounds fun!!

The cold, hard truth...

[I LOVE this comic strip!! I read it on Yahoo comics. The artist mimics her life in the strip. I mainly read it because one of her children is autistic, and sometimes she adds that into her comic. It's nice to know I'm not the only one who gets stares and glares!]

Braden's Party

On Friday Braden had his 5th birthday party. It is the first party he has had that wasn't just family members. I decided to throw it at the Jungle Jym. We invited a few close friends and family. I was really worried about the weather since it was outside, but everything went smoothly. Braden did really well with everyone being there. We were afraid he would have a meltdown since it was a new situation. We kept it really casual and I think everyone had a great time!!Braden's cake. Joy Tubb made it. She is the sweetest!!

This is a picture of us singing "Happy Birthday" to Braden. He didn't blow out his candle. Maybe next year!! This is one of Braden' gifts. The toothbrush plays music. It plays for 2 minutes, which is how long you are supposed to brush. I guess I don't brush my teeth that long, cause it seemed like it played forever!!

This is Logan and Lucy on the playground. He wasn't too happy having his picture taken.

Braden playing with a wheel on the playground.

My MIL, Joy, Abby and Trad.

Melinda and Chris (who just graduated high school-we are so proud of him!)


Kaylee digging into the cake.

It just started to rain right as we got everything packed up. He is hiding from the rain.

School's out??

Does your child's room look like this??

How about this??

THIS??

This is Braden's classroom. His NEW classroom. Seems that the school system decided that it couldn't wait the FOUR days until school was out to move their classroom!! They gave the teacher today to move her whole classroom-with her kids there. There was subs to help, but the children had to stay outside on the playground, with no academic instruction at all.

When I picked Braden up today I received a note saying that today was their last day of school. Now, officially they can't make us keep Braden home, but if he goes to school, this is his classroom. There will be no instruction from the teachers because they will be busy trying to get the room ready for next year. I mean, it's only 2 and a half months away (she says sarcastically). Now, don't get me wrong, I do not blame this on Braden's teachers at all. They are doing their best, considering the other teachers at the school pretty much pushed them out of their room. They put all of their things in the hall for them to deal with. I am very disappointed with the school right now.

I am writing a letter to the principal, the director and special ed, and the school board. This is unacceptable. My child has every right to be educated as many days as all the "typical" students in the school. I am beginning to see that the world sees people with special needs as not special but a burden on society.


On that note, I saw on Channel 2 News today that somewhere (not in TN) there is a Catholic church that has put a restraining order on a 13 year old boy because he is AUTISTIC!!! Isn't that something??!! I personally don't believe that anyone has the right to tell anyone that they can or cannot attend church somewhere. I am so appalled and disgusted.

Pizza Party

On Friday, Trad and I took pizza and cupcakes to Braden's class. There are only 10 children in the class, and only 8 of them were there. They are all boys and they are so sweet!! This pic of the boys getting ready for cupcakes.

This is them waiting on their pizza.


Braden and his cheese pizza.

(He LOVES cheese pizza. It's one of his 4 basic food groups.)

I was suprised when Braden chose this cupcake over a chocolate one. He pretty much only eats the icing anyway.

Braden did so well during the party. He was much better than last year when we brought cupcakes. He is making such great strides both at school and at home. I am excited to see how much more he develops over this summer.

Happy 5th Birthday Braden!!

Happy Birthday Braden!!

I can't believe I have been your Mommy for 5 years!!

I love you so much!!

Three more weeks...

Five years ago today I was at home. I had the day off from my job at the car lot. I stayed pretty tired, but loved working at my job. I busied myself that day by cleaning and organizing. I wasn't in a terrible hurry though. The next day, which was a Friday, I would be 37 weeks pregnant. That meant I had three weeks left of carrying my first baby. Or so I thought.

Trad was working 2nd shift at WalMart. He got home a little after ten. There was an eclipse, or partial eclipse or something going on with the moon. I can't remember exactly what. We went outside on the back deck and watched it then we headed to bed. I had traded days with Manda and I had to work the next day.

I woke up about 1 am with some pain. It wasn't terribly bad, but I went ahead and got out of bed so I wouldn't disturb Trad. It came and went, but wasn't regular. I was sure it was Braxton Hicks contractions. After all, I still had 3 weeks left. Nothing I did eased the discomfort I was feeling.

I finally woke Trad up around 3am. He called MTMC around 4am and spoke to a nurse in labor and delivery. She told him that as long as the contractions weren't regular I wasn't in labor. Her advice was for me to get a shower and try to relax. By this time I was in quite a bit more pain and didn't have the faintest want for a shower. I told him he probably should start packing a bag. I hadn't got it packed yet because I still had 3 weeks left.

We left our house a little before 6am. On a normal day, it was an hour drive to Murfreesboro from where we lived. I was steadily in more pain as time was passing, but my contractions were still not regular and I was sure that we were going to make the trip for nothing.

My water broke in Centertown. I was in much more pain after that. That is probably around the time that I made it clear that Trad was going to have to drive as fast as he possibly could. I am not sure how many times he told me not to push, or how many times I did push. Not pushing was a whole lot harder than pushing at this point.

We made it to the hospital in about 45 minutes. He dropped me off at the front door, which we were told would be open at 6am, then he went to park. It was not open and I had to walk all the way around to the emergency room entrance. I had one contraction halfway there. I got some stares for it, but I really didn't care. He found a wheelchair outside the ER and wheeled me in. The ladies at the desk called up to labor and delivery to let them know I was there. I had another contraction while I was sitting there. No one was coming to get me. When I had my second contraction sitting there about 2 minutes later, the nurse grabbed my wheelchair and started running with me.

It was at this point that I had gotten scared. I thought to myself, something is very wrong or she wouldn't be running with me. The thought had never crossed my mind that I was in actual labor. Even after my water had broke, it didn't register with me. After all, I still had 3 freakin weeks left!!

She got me up to labor and delivery where everyone was just standing around talking. They got me in a room and about 10 nurses were in there with me. They couldn't find my chart where I had pre-registered, so they had to ask me a gazillion questions. Some of them were ripping off my clothes. They got me on a bed and a dr appeared. Amazingly enough, my dr was in the hospital and was on his way up. I heard one ask about an i.v. and another one say there was no time. The dr I didn't know that was just the stand-in was holding back my baby's head while my dr was getting his gear on. He pretty much just sat down and caught him. All this happened in the space of 10 minutes.

I gave birth to my first son, Braden Trad, on May 16, 2003 at 7:04 am. He weighed 6 lb 15 oz and was 19 inches long. He was the most beautiful thing that I had ever seen. Now, 5 years later, we have been through so much with him-3 operations, and autism diagnosis, school, speech and ot and countless doctor's visits. He is a very special child and I am a very lucky mother to have him as my son.

The Zoo Crew

Today I went on a field trip with Braden and his class to the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere. He got to ride the bus [which he LOVES!!] and a bunch of us moms drove behind. Unfortunately, the bus is why he had his first meltdown of the day. He did not want to get off!!

His second meltdown happened not too long after, when everyone decided to go into the building where the snakes are. They didn't allow strollers in, and he wasn't calm enough to get him out yet. He was upset that everyone left him! I was beginning to think that I made a horrible mistake by bringing him.

After that meltdown, we got moving a little faster, and started seeing the animals. He calmed down, for the most part, and seemed to have fun. I was very proud of him and how he acted. Everyone got really tired and fell asleep on the way home.

Here are some pics of the trip [not in the right order] I LOVE giraffes!! This little guy was pretty close to the fence, so we got a good look at him.

The elephants were really beautiful.

This is Braden and his teacher Ms. Jamie.

Braden and Thomas having a drink.

Lunch time!!

Some kind of monkey-like creature. :)

The class made their shirts. Braden's is his handprint-turned-elephant.

He is so stinkin' cute!!

I'm not sure what this face is.

Braden and Jordan going for a ride.

We had a great time. [I am just glad that I finally had something to blog about!!]