OKC BARONS!

I really like going to hockey games....I like watching them fight - Ha!  I haven't been to a game, however, in several years.  When I heard they were getting rid of the Blazers, I was really shocked.  The Blazers were a big thing here in OKC.  Well, now we have the Oklahoma City Barons coming to town for the upcoming season. 

I was excited yesterday when I got an e-mail from Stacie with the Barons and she had gotten my info from the Redhawks about the national anthem.  She invited me to do the online auditions, for which you have to upload a recording of you singing the National Anthem on an mp3.  I do not do mp3 stuff and the only recording we had of me singing it was on the video camera, which of course disappeared, I believe at my wedding!  So, I called Stacie and she was kind enough, since I've sung with the Redhawks now for almost 10 years, so just go ahead and invite me to the finals auditions the Barons will be having in September and just let me audition there.  Pretty cool to have a little pull with something like that.  I guess I will be needing to order a hockey jersey now :).

WILL'S NEW TOOTH

Well, we finally have started cutting our top two teeth!  The one on the top left is really starting to poke through.  I noticed a little white tooth just under the gums on August 14th.  I was excited because Will so wants to eat table food with us but without top teeth he gets choked easily when feeding himself even soft stuff so I was hoping he would get them soon.  Just a matter of time now :).  My boy's getting so big!

SATAN NEVER WINS!

Finally....this thing is working now.  Been trying to update for a week!! 

I was so excited to go shopping again this year with the boys at Boys Ranch for their upcoming style show before school.  I got a really sweet kid, Alonzo.  He loves the color pink!  He had to have almost everything pink as far as shirts went.  It was pretty funny!  Anyway, my mom was shopping with another boy and Donnie had met us at the mall after work b/c I didn't think it was appropriate to be dealing with Will while devoting my time to this child I was to shop with. 

So, Donnie came up to hang out with Will.  They went to the food court and ate dinner, flirted with girls(well Will did) and strolled around the mall.  When we were almost finished checking out, Donnie showed up and said Will needed to be changed!!  But, he couldn't do this b/c none of the men's restrooms in Dillard's had changing tables.  Don't people realize how many single dads there are these days?  This really should be brought to the attention of every department store!  I've even been places where there wasn't one in the women's restroom!!

Anyway, my mom proceeded to take Will over behind some stuff and lay his stroller down and change him.  In the eleven months my son has been on this earth, he has only sprayed us maybe seven times and that was long ago!  He just doesn't do this.  Well, on this day, he just thought he would as to make our lives a little bit more interesting :).  He sprayed all over the jeans that were on the shelf next to where my mom was changing him!!! 

My mom of course panicked and not wanting to announce it to the world, started trying to find a manager.  Well, the manager to make the decision was not available on the floor so they called him.  He actually told us that we were going to have to BUY the jeans that were sprayed.  My  mom was willing to do this but I thought it was a travesty!  Seriously, how many jeans, shirts, etc., do you think they mark as damaged every single day, and they wanted us to spend almost $100 for an accident.  By the time we went to check out, they weren't even wet and you couldn't even smell anything. 

If they would have had changing tables in the men's restroom in the first place, this wouldn't have happened at all.  And, not to mention we were spending lots of money in there with the kids! 

I still plan on writing to the store about this issue and suggest they think about adding changing tables to the men's restroom.  And, for that matter, the women's restroom there doesn't have them either!  My mom assured me that Satan was just trying to knock us down cause we were doing a good thing and that he didn't win after all b/c it just so happened that Will cristened the jeans that were the size of the boy that my mom shopped with so he got two extra pair of jeans! 

Satan NEVER wins!!!

WILL' SFIRST BASEBALL GAME

Last night I sang the National  Anthem at the Oklahoma Redhawks game.  Will got to go to his first baseball game.  He loves sports already. He will actually sit and watch it and he loved watching the baseball game.

Since mommy was singing, of course, he got to go out onto the field with me before the game and meet Rowdy!  It was a fun time. Smokin Joe Frazier was there to sign autographs.  We saw him on the field but he was so busy that we did not get his signature :(.  We had a wonderful time last night.  Mamie even bought him his first bat and ball!  Can't wait to see what he's going to hit with it first.  Ha ha.

SECOND TOOTH

May 20th was another big day for Will.  I felt his second tooth poking through the skin.  He does so well with teething, really.  He is not fussy for long and as soon as we doctor his teeth, he calms down pretty much.  I have heard horror stories, though, on when they start getting their horrible top and back teeth.  Poor babies.  We are really excited though.  Just another sign that our baby is getting bigger every day. 

MY FIRST MOTHER'S DAY

Well, I had my first "official" Mother's Day!  Last year Donnie made it real special for me because he got me a card from Will and made it very special for me. 

The saturday before Mother's Day, mom and I went to our first auction. They were auctioning off a house and all.  It was really neat.  Mom had gotten an invitation from the owner of the house b/c she had bought some marmalade dishes from the women via E-bay and the woman had TONS, literally TONS of marmalade stuff that was being auctioned off.  Let's say mom made out like a bandit!  She got all the pieces she had always wanted to add to her collection and all for mostly $2 a piece!!!  She was so excited. 

I also made out well as in my son bought me my first mother's day gift :)...with Mamie's help of course.  He got me a cookie jar that is a ceramic pig with a corn cob on his back.   It is precious and since I collect pigs it was perfect.  Of course, since it's a cookie jar, Donnie will insist that I keep it full of cookies if it is going to sit on our island in the kitchen!!  I've been pretty good at managing to do that, although they might be just oreos in the jar and not homemade cookies....but he eats them just the same.

The actual Mother's Day was kind of a bummer for me.  Not because of anything my husband did but I wasn't feeling well.  We had commited to go to church with mom that morning and my stomach was really bothering me.  Those that know me know that I don't get sick very often at all.  Feeling like I was going to vomit, though, made me not want to go out and eat.  We made it to church for a good service and then Donnie took me to Jason's Deli to have some soup.  I felt a bit better after eating but was so very tired so my mother's day present that day was a nice nap in the afternoon. 

I got to go and pick out one of my favorite summertime perfumes, Clinique Happy.  That makes me Happy :) and smell good too!

I didn't even get a picture of me and my little angel baby on that day....we will have to make up for it next year for sure!

FIRST TOOTH!

Well, our baby boy finally got his first tooth!  He's been teething now since Christmas and drools a LOT.  I finally felt a sharpness poking through the skin of his little gums on the bottom and out it popped on the morning of April 27.  We are so excited for this milestone of many that our baby boy will go through as he grows :).

THUNDER VS. LAKERS

This is a little late since the game was a week ago but I love the Thunder and I am so very proud of our young men for playing so well and showing amazing sportsmanship and leadership!  We could have had tickets but with Donnie's work schedule and us trying so hard to pay off all of our debts and be a little closer to debt free- I figured the $41 a ticket could buy so much more than a ticket in LOUD CITY.  I was disappointed but feel I made the right decision regarding our finances and splurges. 

Mom and I took Will to Bricktown that evening and strolled around looking at the thousands of people who showed up down there to cheer our team on.  It was very exciting to be in that atmosphere.  We went to Spaghetti Warehouse to eat and it was delicious.  I haven't eaten there in years.  We then went back up to the Ford Center and got a front row seat on the curb in front of the big screen tv to watch our boys play.
It was like being in LOUD CITY outside but Will actually managed to fall asleep in the midst of all of it. 

Here he is before the game with me and then with mom

We had lots of fun cheering our boys on but decided to leave at halftime since we had a baby that needed to be tended to :).  We were disappointed that our boys did not take the win but were very proud of them for only being down by one point.  That says everything about the kind of players they are!!!  Look out LA Lakers, we WILL WIN next year!  Thunder Up!                                                                              

WE'RE BACK!!!!!

I can't believe I'm sitting here posting this from my own computer in my own house!  It's been soooo long since we had a working computer.  I have missed writing about Will and other things going on in our lives.  Will is growing like a weed and he is the most precious gift we could ever ask for.  I can't believe he is already seven months old.  Just the other day I was starting to plan for his First Birthday because it will be here before we know it.  We have decided that although he will be ONE he still will be a "baby" so we are going to have a "baby" party.  We can save the football parties and such for when he will appreciate it.  We are excited to have his grandma and papa come from Tennessee to share with us on that very exciting day. 

We have decided to do a "Little Prince" party.  They have such cute decor and ideas for decorating but what I loved best were all the invitations I found to order.  I'm stalking photography facebook pages and websites trying to find a good photographer in Edmond to use for his birthday photos.  I found the perfect "crown" for our little prince to wear too!

We have been looking at so many toys and things we want to get  Will for his birthday.  The biggest thing we are going to do is take him to Tulsa on July 15th to see the Nick Jr storytime live.  He loves the Wonder Pets and Moose and Zee and I know he will be at a perfect age to really  enjoy seeing them in person.  It will be so much fun!

Here is our little precious one a couple weeks ago....

He's such a DOLL!!

LIFE WITH WILL

Well, our computer is STILL down, so I'm not able to update this like I wanted to on my mom's computer! I wanted to go back through the last almost five months of Will's life and share about how our life has changed but will have to put it into one I guess.

Will is the biggest blessing ever! He is the sweetest, most precious little thing in my life. I will post a few pics of the last four months and show how he's grown since I can't update that far back and I love being a mommy!

This is Will at seven weeks :)
Here he is at nine weeks :)

Here he is at three months on Christmas morning!

We also had a white Christmas so here he is in his first snow.

Here he is at four months old. He is such a happy baby.

He is meeting all of his developmental milestones...actually all of them for a six-month-old. We have a little bit of trouble with tummy time b/c he just wants to be up and kicking. He rolled over when he was only two weeks old_yeah_scary. But, he will roll back to front but doesn't like rolling front to back! He is so strong and even his pediatrician thinks he is VERY strong...just lazy-lol! We have started eating green beans and peas and love them along with his cereal in the morning. Tonight I get to go and buy him some other veggies and let him try some other things. He LOVES to eat. At his four-month checkup he weighed 14 pounds, 12 ounces and was 25.5 inches long. He is solid and has cute little chubby arms and pretty big hands for his age and size but he is very long. He is already wearing some six-month pants and they are not terribly too long for him. Can't believe that when his dad and mom are so short_hahaha!

We just had his pictures taken last night so we would have them if we make it to TN for his great grandma's 95th birthday in March. They turned out cute except when he saw the camera, he wouldn't smile. Silly boy! Here is just one of the pics we had made yesterday and I will share and post more soon. Of course we had to get OU for the OU side of the family and TN for the TN side-lol!

Here's our precious boy at five months_that is...five months tomorrow :)

CATCHING UP ON LIFE

Well, our computer has been down since I had the baby so I have been using mom's when I can and haven't been able to even put anything surrounding his birth on my blog! So, here goes....

I had been having some back problems because of the way "Will" was positioned and had been seeing my awesome chiropractor and he was really helping me a lot. However, about week 36, my back had just about bit the dust and I could barely walk and was getting no relief from Wes' manipulation at all. I was ready to have this baby. We also found out this week that Will was breech and so Wes tried a maneuver to get him to turn. We did this twice and without any success.

By this time I was 37 weeks and couldn't walk, seriously! When I went for my 37-week checkup, I had to be monitored b/c my otherwise excellent blood pressure was dangerously elevated. They monitored me and sent me home to bedrest b/c Will was doing okay while at rest. My doctor also wanted to give me one more week before she took him.

The next week was spent with me at home trying to walk and get up long enough to get a bite to eat and go to the bathroom....which was a major chore when you can't walk and have to go ALL the time!!! I made it through eight days of rest with the Lord's help and of course the help of my family and made it to the C-section day which was scheduled September 23, 2009.

We had so many people praying for us and the baby and are so blessed even now. I looked so horrible when I got to the hospital at 5:30 that morning trying to walk that they thought I was in labor and was going to have a baby right then in the lobby. I assurred them all that no, I was just in a lot of pain :).

The anesthesiologist was AWESOME! He let Donnie and my mom be in the C-section and take pictures and video of my new little guy.

At 7:52 a.m. on Wednesday, September 23, 2009, we were blessed and our lives changed forever with the addition of our precious son William Everett Perry who weighed 5 pounds, 15 1/2 ounces and was 19 1/2" long.

He was/is absolutely perfect in every way we can imagine and we are so thankful to God for allowing us this gift to take care of for HIM! I will post some more on life with Will very soon!

COUNTDOWN TO WILL'S ARRIVAL!!! 35 WEEKS

I am so excited to finally see the light at the end of the tunnel and know that meeting my baby boy is just around the corner! We get another glimpse of him, hopefully the last by ultrasound, on Wednesday to evaluate his size and position. I have carried him so high that we just haven't been able to tell his position. On Monday he was really high and by yesterday, my mom and everyone at work was talking about how he had dropped a few inches! Yay_please start making your way downward little Will :). I just want him to not be breech, although I'm confident in my chiropractor that we may be able to get him turned if he is. I hate to say that he still needs to probably wait a week or so before he comes but wouldn't mind at all if he came in about three weeks. My back issues are coming and going and when they are here, they are really bad. My chiro has done wonders but now Will is back over on the left side and sitting on my sciatic nerve. Since I really don't want to do an epidural during labor, I've joked that if Will would just make my lower body go numb then I would be good to go :) lol.

We are so excited to meet our little boy and to kiss his little face. He truly is a gift from God and I have so enjoyed taking care of him for the past nine months! We almost have his nursery finished except for curtains, cushions for rocker and the crib bedding. Since he has two cradles, we are putting the crib bedding on hold for a couple months. Here are a few pics I've taken of his shelves his daddy built for his nursery and his dresser and awesome cradle my mom decorated!

THE COUNTDOWN BEGINS!

So, we now have 10 weeks and three days to go until our little bundle is set to arrive. I absolutely can't wait. Yes, we still have a lot to do to get his room ready but we are ready to see what he looks like and to hold him and love on him!!! I had what may be my last ultrasound on Thursday and was so looking forward to trying to see what/whom he looks like. Unfortunately, he did not cooperate very well. We did get some pics but they were pretty unclear who he looks like and not great quality since they had to be saved so fast while he was moving away from the camera. I guess he's going to be shy. That is not such a bad thing since I have my moments with shyness and definitely did when I was younger. But, we love him and know he will be just adorable!

The doctor said he is just doing wonderfully. My fluid is excellent, the umbilical cord blood flow is excellent and all of his little body parts and heart are working just as they should. We are right on target. They estimated he is about 2 pounds and 10 ounces right now. He has also moved up to just under my chest area so I'm finding it a little more difficult_having to find new ways to get up out of bed b/c I'm using different muscles now since he's higher. I'm still going to the restroom a LOT but don't have all that pressure sensation every time I stand up now that he's up a little higher. I know before long, though, he will be moving back down and getting into position for birth. Fun times and I wouldn't change or trade it for ANYTHING!

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to include a pic also of the beautiful cradle that Donnie's dad built for us! It's huge and sentimental b/c not only did his dad make it but it came from wood from a tree that used to be in Donnie's grandmother's yard. Very special!

Turning 34 and some random events of the strange weekend

I don't know about anyone else, but this last few days has just been very odd. My birthday was this past Sunday and we were going to enjoy a nice birthday dinner Saturday night with mom, grandmother and some family at Cheddar's in Norman. This is one of my favorite restaurants in Tulsa and now that it's in Norman, I was thrilled! I wanted to get there before evening rush so we wouldn't have to wait so long since it's still a new place and they don't take reservations. However, the road gods decided to shut down half of Broadway Extension on our way to Norman and it was down to one lane_UGH! We got to Norman and my brother and his family arrived. When I told them we had eight people, the little hostess said "here's the deal, we have two tables for larger parties and they are taken so we can't seat you." Are you kidding me-you are just gonna turn us away?? I informed her that we came all the way from Guthrie and asked her what the options were. She was of course misinformed and we were seated within 10 minutes. Some other minor things happened but the clincher was when we were expecting our food any second and the power in the building goes out! Oh my goodness-really??? We decided to wait it out a few minutes and then it was just getting too hot and we were hungry.





My sis-in-law suggested Charleston's! Good choice. They already had a table for us when we got there after calling to inform them of what happened. The manager put my cake in the fridge until we were ready and our waitress was on top of everything. Kuddos to Charleston's in Norman! They even brought out the cake with the candles on it and extra forks, plates, and even the cake server. I think Cheddar's, though they couldn't help it, is not going to be a place I rush to anytime soon. The evening ended up being fun and I enjoyed it with my family. Got some really nice gifts and all in all it was a success. Until, we started home after looking at some cars for my mom and had to be stuck in more construction on I-35 and had to smell sewer for several minutes. But, we made it home safe and sound and all was okay.

On Sunday we traveled up to Perry so I could hear my friends, the Weatherfords sing. They sang a song called "Heaven's sounding sweeter" and I just got really sad about my dad and missing him and started bawling my eyes out. After the concert, we were invited to eat. I was excited b/c it was going to be Mexican and seeing as how I have to have that almost every day and it was my birthday, I was ecstatic. Then, I hear one of my dad's favorite songs on the radio on the way to the restaurant and I start crying AGAIN! I finally got ahold of myself and went inside. It was a good thing they had chips and salsa and queso, etc., b/c after three tries, they still didn't get my food right and it was real simple. They kept making me the wrong kind of chimichanga!! I told them to forget about trying a fourth time since everyone else in our party was finished eating. So, my birthday lunch was ruined-oh well. Then, I found out that a benefit concert I was trying to get involved in or at least attend for a man I used to sing for who is very sick, was the night before where the Weatherfords had sung! How come nobody mentioned this to me and how come I never did find out from another friend about it whom I had been asking for a month or two???!!! So then I was distraught. What in the world was happening? I felt so ready to come home and just be by myself. My husband was so sweet the whole time and we came home, took naps and I had ice cream and cake for dinner :) I was determined that yesterday was going to be a better day and it turned out to be(go figure since it was a Monday). God was still in control and I just had to have him lift me up and make me feel better!

It was a strange, eventful weekend but I did manage to turn one year older and hopefully did so with a little bit of grace :) despite all the emotions I was feeling.

MOTHER'S DAY....TO BE THAT IS....

I had asked my husband a few weeks before Mother's Day if I was entitled to celebrate it now that I was pregnant. He said, "of course, you can." So that's when I informed him that I was to get a present and be taken out to eat :) Not that I really expected this but I had fun with it. My mother-in-law sent me a precious mommy-to-be card and a darling outfit for Will. My husband came home from work a night or two before and had a cute stuffed bear and explained to me that he had done something a little different. He wanted to find a card to give me from the baby. He couldn't find very many that said "mommy." He finally found one that had a precious little inchworm or something like it on the cover and said, "Mommy,do you know what this is? It's a snugglebug hug just for you!" Then, my husband wrote in it..."Mommy, I know I'm not here yet but thanks for loving me before I was...love Will." That melted my heart b/c my husband got creative and he thinks he doesn't have it in him. Then on Sunday, he took me to eat at Cheddars which is my favorite restaurant in the whole world that is now thankfully in Norman and not all the way in Tulsa! I had a pretty good day and thanks to my hubby for making it very special for me!

WE ARE HAVING A ......

Wow! Last Thursday was a very exciting day for us. It was a very LONG day to say the least but a very blessed one at that. I had my ultrasound and it took an hour! It was very thorough since we don't go back again until 30 weeks and my abdomen is sore now from all the pressing on it. On our last ultrasound at almost 13 weeks, there was nothing in between the baby's legs and we got a pretty good picture. So, we were in little girl mode but still knowing that anything could happen. Well, our baby did a lot of developing in five weeks and we are having....a BOY! He is definitely a boy :) . I actually saw his evidence before the ultrasound tech told us and I said "is that a boy?" She said "that's DEFINITELY a boy." We were so excited and we cried. It was a special treat because although we are only doing this once and I thought I couldn't live without my little girl, we are naming the boy after his grandpa who never got his grandson while he was here on earth so we will be naming the baby after him. We will have a William Everett Perry in the fall. We will call him Will and we love it and we love him so much already. It's fun now to refer to him as a "he" and not "it." Here is a look at our little "sprout," "gummi bear." This is 17 weeks and 2 days. Amazing!!!

BABY TO BE AND GRADUATING SON :)

Everything is going great with the pregnancy! We decided to have genetic testing and ultrasounds done just to put our minds at ease. Not that we think anything will be wrong with the baby but we would rather be prepared and ready than be surprised at the birth of our child. We know God is in control and he is taking care of our precious little one! The first bloodwork and testing went great! They said everything looked normal. Each time you go and you have normal testing, that decreases your chances dramatically of anything being wrong! The ultrasound was so much fun. Since we got to see our baby so early on, it was exciting to see our baby in true baby form! So precious and even waving at us while trying to get its thumb in its mouth! The baby finally succeeded in that. I have an idea what sex the baby is but it still was early so we are going to try and find out on the 30th of this month. I am so ready to decorate the nursery and get it all ready! God is so amazing. We got to see every little organ in the baby and of course once again, the beating heart. Donnie lights up every time he hears and sees that heartbeat as do I. We are so blessed!

In other news, Josh is graduating from the prison guard academy next Wednesday and we are traveling to McAlister for that. We are so excited and proud of him for finally finding something he enjoys and is good at to have a career in! It's scary and at times dangerous, yes; but God will protect him and he seems to have very good rapport with the inmates. He shows them a certain amount of respect and they do the same for him. Jeff is busy working and going to school and is loving Calculus(oh my!) We are proud of them and the young men they are becoming!

Will update soon after our next ultrasound!!!

JUST WISHIN AND HOPIN

Wow, it's been a while! My computer is being worked on and it's too hard to update from my phone. Plus, I need my computer back so I can post pics of the baby's ultrasound photos. We were lucky enough to get to see our baby twice within one week! We got to see at the early developmental stage before it really even had any sort of shape :) God is truly amazing. I have a bleed where there was residual blood that happened to be where the baby implanted so it formed a clot. It was very, very small and on ultrasound #2 it was resolving. We are hoping it will be totally gone on next ultrasound and hopefully that's when we will find out what lil sprout is :). One good thing from all this is that I only have to work three days a week now. Dr. Hall wanted me to be as cautious as I could with the bleeding and all. I'm also on a supplement of progesterone as mine was 19.6 and she likes it to be at least 20. But, good news....I have only two days left of that_yay! Hopefully no more bleeding and maybe she will release me to do a little exercise in the form of walking in two weeks when I see her again! Right now we are just getting excited and can't wait to find out what lil sprout is. I have so many plans and hope my big plan for mother's day works out for my mom, Donnie's mom and the great grandmothers!! Bye for now!

PRAYING HARD for LIIL SPROUT

Well...we've had our first scare with lil sprout(that's what we call our baby). I had some spotting last week and again last night. It was so little this time that had I not been so in tune with my body right now-I wouldn't have noticed. I called the doctor since all my levels were good last week and they scheduled an ultrasound. Donnie was so upset he couldn't go b/c of lots of work issues and short notice! I am so bleesed,though, that my mom could go. It was a challenge making me wait with a full pregnant bladder but they got me in quick. They did a transvaginal u/s(kinda scary at first) but we found that lil sprout is 6 wks and 3 days and I saw the heart fluttering at 116 beats per minute. However---there is a subchorionic bleed which is basically a blood clot where the placenta attaches itself to the uterus. This usually heals itself but could potentially cause a miscarriage if it gets bigger! My doctor's office told me to rest all weekend and Doc would call me Monday to talk about next step.

We trust the Lord with His child and pray that he allows healing and a healthy continuance of pregnancy. He knows how much we love this baby already!

We appreciate all the prayers for our lil sprout that we can get!!