An Update

Hello Fans....I know you have really been missing me.....
Sure. Anyway, not much going on lately and certainly not enough to post if there was. Work consumes me. I am very frustrated. I refuse to take work home because my family comes first. Trey is now 1. Wow, what a year. He also has a tooth. He also has a new website. It has the latest pictures of him from his birthday. Hope everyone is doing well.

Only two weeks from Friday and I will be on the streets of New York City celebrating my anniversary. Fun times. Michael and I will be heading to New York to sight see. We will be seeing Chicago and Phantom of the Opera. I am so excited to be seeing the shows. I also can't wait for the cold weather. I hope it is snowing. Anyway, have a great evening.

I know it has been a very long time since I have posted. Our computer is down and I can't do it at school. Things have been good. Trey is growing like a weed and he is pulling up. It is hard to believe that in less than a month he will be 1 year old. It makes me want to cry.

Michael has been having a lot of problems with his stomach lately. He found out that he has to have his gall bladder out. He meets with a surgeon on Monday. I will be glad when he starts feeling better.

School is wonderful. I love my class. They are just the most precious children I have ever taught. They love each other and get along great. It has been a great year so far.

Hope things are going great for everyone.
Shout out to Lynn!! I miss you bunches! Hope this was a quick enough update! Love you girl!

Back to school and all that goes with it!!

I went back to school today. I have to say standing in line waiting to get my breakfast, I did cry just a little. Taking care of baby is no easy job, but it is so much easier than the first of the year. Trey is a little angel right now and I just love my time with him. He has almost started to crawl. It should be any day now.

School is going well. Just meetings today and then a little work in my room. I am a little overwhelmed this year. I was going to work all last week, but I had no air in my room. It was about 80 and just awful. It would have been ok if I had windows to open and let even a hot breeze in, but such is life. So coming in this morning was a little hectic. I have decided that it will be fine and I will get it all done.

The best part about my day involves two things. I was so excited to see Trey and he was just precious and my bible study resumed today. It was FANTASTIC. We are doing a Beth Moore study called "Breaking Free". It is going to be awesome. Although I believe that it is going to be difficult at times, I do believe that it is going to be an eye opening experience that will bring me closer to God. I missed Trey while I was gone, but it was just so amazing to be in a room full of Godly inspirational women. I will say that it was still sad to have my best bud missing for another summer. Hollie is a great friend and I miss her so much. Especially when schools starts back because it makes me miss her that much more. I remember all the fun times we used to have and it makes me sad. Even though she has been gone for 3 years now it is still like she just left. Ok enough or I will be crying again.

Tomorrow the district is closed for a huge meeting. Every employee in the district is going to a meeting at Brushy Creek. Should be interesting. Especially the parking situation. We will find out who our teacher of the year for the district is and finally Liberty has a teacher in the running. Mary Helen is our PE teacher and she is a hoot and a phenominal teacher that the children ADORE!!! I hope she wins. She would represent us well.

This weekend is going to be busy but at least we will be at home for some R and R. Tomorrow is my dad's birthday and we are going to celebrate this weekend, so that will be great. He is a great dad and has always been so much fun. We are a lot alike...we LOVE to talk to ANYONE. He is even more talkative than me and for those of you who know me that is really quite amazing. Anyway, daddy if you are reading this I love you bunches!! And I hope you have a GREAT birthday!

Gan Gan, Papa, John, Alex and Trey

The end of an era

There are very many things that I can say have never happened to me. Let's see, never won a million dollars, never been to Europe, etc. I had a very special never up until today. If you had asked me yesterday if I had ever had a cavity, I would have said no, never. Well, that ended today. Not only do I have a cavity, but I actually have 2. Nice, huh. I was VERY upset when I found out. I went to my moms office and I cried like I had lost my favorite pair of shoes. I was absolutely devastated. So of course, I call my loving husband, who proceeds to laugh his head off and say "Welcome to the real world, honey." What a gem!!

So, I now have no tonsils, and 2 cavities. I also washed my cell phone on another note. I was torn up last night because our puppy was missing. I threw it in the bag that had my swimsuit in it. I threw all that in the washer this morning. Now I have to used a crappy old phone. I don't care about the phone, but I had the best pictures of Trey on there and that is what makes me so sad!

This Week

Well, we returned from the beach and have pretty much recovered. I have been staying with my nephews for the week. They are so much fun. We have played games and watched movies and eaten a lot, well Alex and I have!! Tomorrow we are planning to go swimming at my parents. John and I should have a splendid time. He is a hoot, but he is swimming in the deep end now and that makes it even more fun to swim. We are working on getting him to put his head in the water.

Trey thoroughly enjoyed the beach. He LOVED tasting the water...salt, pool. It was quite funny. He even started sucking on Michael's shoulder when he was in the ocean with him. We didn't forget a thing and had a wonderful time. Trey also loved riding bikes. We now want to get two bikes for Michael and I to ride. We will have to look at EBay and see what we can find.

Well, I am off to bed. This getting up early is killing me. I have to go to bed early so I can get up at 7.

The Beach

We leave for Isle of Palms on Sunday. I am excited to be going to the beach, but not so excited to be back in Charleston. We will be staying at Wild Dunes. I absolutely love this place. It has everything you could possibly want in one place. We get to ride bikes, play tennis (my new passion), fish, exercise, swim, and play in the ocean. There are even golf courses and restaurants in the resort. It is so much fun. I am excited to ride bikes gain. I love to ride and hopefully this will be good exercise for the week. I am planning to go to the fitness center as well. DAILY!! I guess we will see. I know that if I want to eat like I know that I will I need to exercise everyday in order to do this. So now I just have to get everything packed. NOT looking forward to this. I have no idea how to pack for Trey. I mean we need a pack n play, high chair, bathtub, clothes, diapers, formula, bottles, ,food, spoons.................Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! Needless to say I am afraid this might be a nightmare.
Better go, Trey is sleepy!!

An aggravating driving experience

Well, I must say that I felt a change was in order for my blog. It needed to be updated with some PINK. My favorite color.

Well, to my driving experience today. To those of you who drive through Liberty ever, you will feel my pain. I was driving to see my precious friend Lynn today to spend some time with her. She was babysitting in Central, so I decided I would go through Clemson and get something to eat. As I was sitting at the red light on 178 and 93, a man in a company van gets in the "lane" beside me. Well this "lane" is usually where people get to turn right on to 93. I, a person who does use their turn signal, DID NOT have my left turn signal on. Well the light turned green, and what does that punk do but floor it so he can get in front of me. I was so angry. After you go under the red light there the road is narrow. No there isn't an official turn lane, but I honestly think he thought because I was driving a minivan that I would not go on. Please, I have a lead foot. Also, he was definitely speeding through Liberty of all places. You NEVER speed through Liberty. But of course there is never a cop around when you need one!!! So that was my irritating driving experience. I am sure that you to have had these experiences and I know for a fact my husband has had one of these at that very intersection. It just drives me insane.

On another note, I do have a prayer request. My friend Monica told me tonight that there isn't anything they can do for her dad, but make him comfortable. So please pray that he will not suffer and will be comfortable for what time the Lord gives him. On one good note, he is a Christian and was saved about 2 months ago because Monica talked with him about it. So that is a praise in the whole situation. Hope everyone has a great night!!

All good things must end.

Friday is my last day at school. This is a bittersweet thing. Every year as we walk our students out to the bus and the stand on the hill and wave the buses on, I think about my kids and almost cry, even though they might be the biggest boogers around. This year has been such a roller coaster. From finding out that your unborn baby has a heart defect and will need open heart surgery withing 10 days to then finding out he has a chromosomal defect to retaining my first two kids ever to losing a principal. Needless to say it has been many ups and downs.

Today I am thinking about my principal. She is the only principal that I have worked for and she is the person that gave the opportunity to pursue my dreams. She is a wonderful motivator and always stands behind her teachers, even if she has to pull you back in after the parents are gone and say "WHAT were you thinking GIRL??" I will miss her desparately and pray that we find the right replacement for her. School will be a new experience next year. So this blog is for Connie.....Connie McD....You are a wonderful mentor and friend and thanks for giving the most rewarding opportunity and teaching me to be calm and take it one day at a time!! Good luck at Furman and God Bless!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Countdown is on....

Well, only 9 glorious days until I can wish this class farewell. I am so excited. I will actually miss most of the kids in this class, but I can't wait to spend time with Trey.

ALSO....in 9 days I will be HARDCORE back on the big WW!!! It's WW and exercise EVERY day....Got a wedding to be in July.

Trey's Dedication

Well, today is a very special day. It is the day when we publicly say that we commit Trey to the Lord and promise to bring him up in the ways of the Lord. What a huge responsibility. But how exciting to know that one day we will hopefully lead our child to Christ's kingdom. I am not sure there can be any greater joy than to know that you will see your children again in Heaven. I pray that Michael and I can lead lives that will make Trey want to accept Christ and that we can lead him to know that this decision is the biggest decision he will ever make.

Five months ago, being able to dedicate Trey was definately not an event we would be guarnteed to particpate in. It was still up in the air what would happen. But today, I am so excited to be able to participate in this.

The Lord is so faithful and amazing, and I know that He will bring Trey and us through whatever obstacles we may face. So today, I have two verses among many that I feel are especially timely.

"Your faith may not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power."
I Corinthians 2:5

**One of the last days we sat in the hospital in Charleston we were very discouraged. Trey's infection was still a mystery and things were just very blah. I was doing my devotional. I was reading Isaiah 40 and this is the last verse I read. I also realized this was an answer to prayer as I had prayed that Jesus would hold Trey in his arms since I coulddn't. Amazing!!**

"He tends His flock like a shepard, He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to His heart, He genly leads those that have young." Isaiah 40:11

Being Sick

Alright, this is getting absolutely ridiculous. I suppose that my 5 month old is getting some kind of new strains of sicknesses and I keep getting them. Like have rotovirus for 6 days wasn't bad enough, we are now going on day 5 of a sore throat. Nice, Huh! It isn't strep, just allergies, but come on. When I am taking prescription drugs for allergies and tylenol to ease the pain something has got to give. Oh well, such is life.

On a TERRIFIC note, only 25 more days of school. 3 of these days are half days which are a joke. This takes us down to 22. Then of course we have testing for 6 and nothing else much gets done. We are talking like 16..................SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am loving this thought. Hope you are too.

PS here is a new pic of Trey. He is saying mama and has found his feet. Life doesn't get better than watching your son put his feet in his mouth with his socks on!!!!

Sick Babies

Well, we have had our first ordeal with sickness this weekend. Trey started throwing up on Thursday night around 12:30. This picture is actually just a few ours before it all started. He threw up 3 times and then was dry heaving. It was the most pitiful thing. He would finish and grin like a cat. I only wish I had that disposition. Then he threw up again on Friday morning. We could only give him pedialite all day Friday. He was starving. Michael and I were giving him 1 ounces every half hour. He did sleep through the night. Then today has been a lot better. His fever is completely gone and he has been eating milk diluted with pedialite. So things are better now.

I also want to give props to my hubby. He is such a wonderful dad. He just does whatever Trey needs without fussing. I know that he had it rough this weekend because Trey turned into a momma's boy. Hee hee!!:) Anyway, I love you so much Michael. I love to watch you with Trey. You are the best dad!

Cereal

Trey went to the doctor today. He is 4 months old and weighed 11lbs 5 oz. Yes, that might seem small to some of you that have children, but Trey is a champ. He has grown almost 5 pounds since he was born. He is only in the fifth percentile, but the doctor was so pleased and said it didn't matter as long as he made his own growth curve. We were very excited. He was also 24 1/2 inches long. He is outgrowing his 3 month clothes, but his 3 to 6 are too big. Oh well, he will just wear the same old same old that fits.

He does however get to start cereal. He is feeling kind of yucky right now because he got his shots today. We are going to start the cereal tomorrow. We are going to put his high chair together today and see how things go tomorrow evening. I am anxious to see how it goes.

Hope all is well.........

Happy Friday

Well, it is Friday and we didn't have school today. What a wonderful blessing. Trey spent the night with Lori last night. That will be the last time. He acted like he didn't even no me when we picked him up! Can you imagine.

Nah, not really. He had a wondeful time and Lori is the BEST babysitter. She got him to eat like no one other than Michael and I can. I am so glad.

We are almost ready for our Heart Walk next week. I am so excited. Trey is going to be a face on a poster and we have almost met our goal of 1000 dollars. Very exciting. It should be a lot of fun. It is a three mile walk in Downtown Greenville. If would like to contribute, go to http://heartwalk.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=107010
Go to Sponsor participant and search for Trey Anderson. YOu can support us in our walk. Thanks to all who have already contributed. It has been a wonderful experience. Anyway, hope you have a wonderful weekend!!

Baby Trey

Just thought I would post another picture of Trey. I took this last night. His newest thing is to hold onto his bottle while he is feeding. So last night, I just went ahead and gave it to him after he finished eating. This is what he did. Hope this puts a smile on your face. It certainly makes life more worthwhile.

I can't even think of a title for today's post. It was just one of those crappy days that get crappier by the minute. Yes, that was my day. First, I couldn't manage to get out of bed on time. The only bright spot of that was that I got to feed Trey. Then when I got to school, I knew we had an activity called Trash Bash. Thought it started at 8:30. NOPE....9. NO plans , fun! Then during the bash, the district people took pictures. Didn't think I had any who's picture couldn't be taken....WRONG AGAIN! Had to get in touch with the district to let them know not to publish the pictures.....Then my EH child had a breakdown and refused to do anything. HE did jack nothing. Gets better. Needed to pump during activity, but was so busy trying to get intouch with that moma to see if her child could have her picture taken didn't get it done. went to do it after school. Didn't have all the supplies. Then we had a faculty meeting. Nothing bad there, just makes for a long day.

So enough complaining. Romans 8:29 basically says rejoice in all things.........so here is my thankful list for the day.

I have a job.
It is a beautiful day outside.
Recess!!!!
Baby Trey is eating great.
My hubby is getting me dinner.
Only 2 days until the weekend.
Hot showers.
Open windows in the car.
My pump works...could be broken.
broadband

God is Great!

First of all, God is great because it is Friday of my first week back at school. Never thought it would get here. I love the weekend. Tonight Michael and I are going to look at furniture. We have no idea what we want to buy, but I can't wait to look.

Also, God just provides for his children. My churh is having something called Christmas in February and we have been challenged to give a weeks salary. Well, not only is that normally hard, but when you aren't getting paid, it is especially hard. When I got my last paycheck, I never wrote it down to see if we could save it for later. Then last Sunday I was convicted because that money was only 12 dollars short of what Michael and I get paid for a week....HMMM. So I was going to give the money and just pray hard that we could make it. I had one more bill to pay this month and then we would be ok. So day before yesterday, I got a check in the mail from Honda for the amount almost to the dollar to pay that last bill. God is so faithful.

After all I have been through, why would I ever doubt that God would provide for us. He has been with us through everything and there are days that I doubt. Why? Something to ponder today!!

OH Me Oh My!!

Hello All------This will be an extremely short blog considering last night at 11 I decided to clean my house so I could come home and go to see Trey.........Yeah, ask me what time I got there..5:25.

Why do I put so much pressure on myself to finish everything to a T before I go home from school? Is school going anywhere? NO! Will it be there tomorrow? Absolutely. So my new goal is to go to school early. Exercise at 2:50. Pump...my favorite thing. Then go home. I enjoy my job and I know the Lord commands us to do our best for Him, but my family also needs me. The Lord is first with my family 2nd. Then my job. So tomorrow, I am going to try to be home much earlier. Say a prayer for Trey today to eat well and do great with Jenny.

Back to School

This morning, I am feeled with an overwhelming since of dread. On Monday, I will return to my job after being on maternity leave for 14 weeks. My time with Trey has been so precious. I love watching him sleep and talking with him when he is awake. It is amazing to see the smile he gives when he doesn't want his bottle. It melts my heart. I am so in love with my child. There is nothing I wouldn't do to make things easier for him.

Having said this, I realize that I may not have put my whole heart into my job. I sometimes tend to be sarcastic with the children and I am not as loving as I should be to these children that have so little. I am anxious to return to my students to see if motherhood has made the difference that I think it may have. I want my son's teachers to treat him with love and kindness. Can I say that I do that with my students? No, I can't say that I did before Trey. I pray I will after Trey. What a difference a child will make in your life. (Jesus is a good example!) My goal and prayer for the remainder of this year and for the years to come is to treat each student with the love and respect that I want Trey treated with. I hope that I will be a better teacher now that I have a child of my own.

The next thought that come into my head is do we treat Christ with the love and respect He deserves?? He gave his only son, Jesus, to die for a sinful world. A world that uses His name in vain and takes advantage of His grace. Grace that He gives us freely, when all we have to do is ask, because His precious son died on a horrific, yet beautiful cross. Having a son, I know that at the beginning, middle and end of every day, I should shout as loud as I can "thank you" to God for giving His son for a undeserved world. Also I should show Christ love and respect to my children as well because I represent Christ here on earth and the sacrifice He made for me. I may not be the best representative, but upon writing this, I am going to make every effort to show Christ love through me. I hope you will too.

My Valentine

I thought since it was the day after Valentine's, I would show my sweet Valentine. Michael, Trey and I went to Greenville to pick up a cookie cake that Trey got his daddy for Valentines. On our way back we went to Outback and got take out. It was a pretty uneventful night. Hope you enjoy looking at my sweet baby. Check out his shirt. It is too cute!

My Miracle

Hey all, well, my crazy sister has gone and got hip on us. She created a blog and got my husband hooked.........so now I have to have one if he does. I think it will be fun. I am sure there will be plenty for me to write about.

I just had a precious baby boy on November 18, 2005. He is a spectacular miracle that the Lord has blessed me with. On July 6, the day we thought we would see our sweet baby on an ultrasound to find the sex, we found that he had a congenital heart defect called Truncus Arteriosus. Basically with this defect a person's pulmonary artery is coming off of his aorta instead of the left side and there is also a hole called a Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD). This was by far was one of the worst days of my life, but it led to such a wonderful miracle--Trey.

When a fantastic pediatric cardiologist told us about Trey's heart, he prayed with us and just had the touch with dealing with parents. After meeting with him, another doctor came in and told me I needed to have an amnio. He said that if Trey had certian chromosomal defects, they wouldn't operate on him or fix him because he would die anyway. This was like the world had ended and I was torn with what to do. It was on that day that I gave my child to the Lord. I told God that He had created Trey and he was only on loan to us for a while. I cried a lot that day, but I also found refuge in the Lord. The following day, I called the pediatric cardiologist that had prayed with us the day before and asked his opinion on an amnio. While I waited for him to call, I cried out the Lord to help me make the decision. I asked God to be loud and clear. As I prayed this, our dr called. He told me that for me an amnio was not necesssary at this time. This answer to prayer was the beginning of a growing experience for me with the Lord. I learned that He is in control and if we trust Him, He will "lead us through the valley".

Trey is doing so well today. He weighed 6 lb. 13 oz. when he was born. He is now weighing around 10 pounds. He also has a chromosomal defect called DiGeorge Syndrome. This is a very broad syndrome. There can be many or few problems. We wait and see what will happen, but we trust the Lord to take care of us and Trey as we see what's in store.

I am so blessed to have my family. As Trey was in the hospital for 26 days 4 hours from home, we saw more compasion and love from our friends and family than we can ever imagine possible. I am so blessed to have a wonderful christian husband who is so strong and amazing. He loves Trey more than life and I love to watch them together. I knew Michael would be a wonderful dad, but he has surpassed all my ideas of him as a father. Also, I am fortunate to have christian parents and a sister and brother in law. They have two wonderful boys who I love like they were my own children. God is so good and has blessed me beyond measure.

I love being a mother....although it is the hardest job I have ever had. How do you know what to do when they cry and in our case, we have to look after how much Trey eats. Never ending worry. He is just a little adult........sometimes he just isn't hungry!! Anyway, hope you enjoy reading this. If you don't well oh well. I am sure I will post often because unfortunately, I go back to work on Monday....That is a whole other message!!!