Well, yesterday I called Jeremy when Jakob started walking and told him about it. When he got home Jakob had walked to me about 100 times, and I said "watch this" and Jakob sat right down. I kept trying all night long and he wouldn't walk for his daddy. I couldn't believe it!!! This morning I got Jakey up and fed him breakfast and he walked to me. Brought him out to show daddy and he wouldn't do it again!!! Little stinker. Tonight though he would walk to mommy, then turn around and walk to daddy. He is such a big boy. He's even trying to go from the couch to his toys now. I cannot believe how fast they learn new things

This morning the choir put on a patriotic musical called "America, we must not forget" complete with narrative and pictures. I sat in my seat and cried like a baby. Thankfully the lights were low, so I had a little privacy (lol). I truly do thank God for the blessing of being born in America. I thank God for the history we have of people who valued freedom above all...even their own lives. I thank God that he offers us spiritual freedom, and no political force, no enemy, no circumstance in life can take away that freedom.

“It can not be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians, not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ!”

-Patrick Henry

My baby is walking???

Oh my goodness...

Don't fight God when he bewilders you...

We've been having special services at church every Thursday night for the month of June. Last night the speaker was teaching out of Genesis 22. His third point was out of verses 7 and 8. Here is what they say... ⁷)And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?

⁸)And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

The speaker brought up a point that I've never really thought of before. Isaac was not clueless as to what was going on with this trip. He asked his father about the fire and the wood probably realizing that he was meant to be the sacrifice. Isaac didn't fight his father, or try to flee. Abraham also was not without his own questions and doubts, I'm sure. God had finally sent him a son. God had promised that Abraham's family would be more than could be numbered, and now he was asking Abraham to sacrifice the child of his old age. Abraham's answer to Isaac was simple: "God will provide himself a lamb." Abraham didn't know the answer to the question, he didn't understand what God was doing, but he knew that God would provide. It is so hard not to fight God when he bewilders us. When we don't understand, or cannot see what he is doing. When you think about it, once Abraham withstood this test, he actually knew the heart of a Father who would sacrifice his son. Abraham knew a pain that God himself knew. In James chapter 2 the Bible says: ²³)And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Could it be that Abraham had a closer relationship, and even a friendship with God because of the bond they held? We never know why God is working things in our lives. Sitting in the auditorium last night, knowing the burden of infertility I once carried, will probably carry again one day, knowing that my friend is in Gainesville carrying a burden we don't really totally understand, knowing that in the same room with me were many other people with many different burdens close to their heart, it was good to be reminded not to fight God. He's doing something great with our lives. Another thing the speaker pointed out was the life of Isaac. Isaac had odd chapters, and even chapters in his life. The odd chapters were very bad, and the even chapters very good. In chapter 21 Isaacs big brother is sent away (a family split), in the chapter last night (22) Isaac is spared from death by the ram in the thicket, and that chapter ends in his future bride being born. In chapter 23 Isaac loses his mother, in chapter 24 Isaac finds Rebekah and marries her. We can learn from the life of Isaac that bad things will happen in life. We just need to hold on and keep our hope in the Lord, because the even chapters are on their way, and we will have happiness and rejoicing again. I hope that I could kind of relay to you what I got out of the message last night. Every person reading my blog has had some kind of hard time in their life, I'm thinking of each of you right now. Thank God there are happy days after the trials. If you're going through a trial right now let me encourage you that God loves you, trust him and don't fight. He will carry you through

Here are a couple online businesses that I really like, maybe you'd like to check them out:

1.) The Vintage Pearl -Handmade jewelry. They have really cute jewelry and you can have people's initials or names put on it. I have ordered from here, and I was very happy with my necklaces. Find them at: http://thevintagepearl.blogspot.com/

2.) Priddy Creations- Camera straps, wallets, laptop covers and bags all kinds of really cute stuff. I've never ordered from them, but I think her stuff is really great, and would be great for a birthday or other special day Find them at: http://www.priddycreations.blogspot.com/ 3.) Allora Handmade- This one is my favorite. Handmade necklaces, rings, hairpins of fabric roses in different colors and styles. I L-O-V-E this site. Make sure you check it out! Find them at: http://allorahandmade.blogspot.com/

Sometimes the blogs have giveaways, so you might want to follow them and enter sometime. I have never personally won anything :( but I still enter every now and then. Hope you all have a great day :)

So while I'm waiting on a video to upload I will write a little post...hmmmm, what should I write about??? I'll start with my night last night. Well, this really begins with Saturday night. Jakob actually slept all night. He's ten months old, so that might seem like something silly to be happy about, but since we've moved here most nights he wakes up 2-3 times. At first I would get up every time because I didn't want him to wake up our upstairs neighbors. After a while of sitting up with him and nursing him I realized that part of the reason why he might be waking up is because of our upstairs neighbors. They are very loud in the middle of the night, sometimes even into the early hours of the morning. Finally Jeremy said "you're gonna have to let him cry and put himself back to sleep" and I agreed. I needed some sleep!!! Jakey would still wake up 2-3 times at night, but he would mostly go back to sleep on his own. Saturday night Jakob did not wake up at all (!!!) I didn't know what I did differently (he did eat some baked potato with me, and corn on the cob for dinner, so I don't know if "real food" had an impact), in fact his schedule was the same as always, but for some reason he slept really good. Sunday Jakey only took one nap, he didn't get his afternoon nap in because we went to church, and Sunday evening we went to the church picnic so he was up kinda late. When we got home he was fussy and wanted to nurse and go to bed. Once again he slept all night. Of course I'm thinking "Woooohooo!!!!" and once again Jakob says, "no mom, not so fast" I decided maybe we need to cut out the afternoon nap and just put Jakey to bed around 8:00 and maybe he'll sleep through the night. Maybe he's outgrown two naps a day. So I only laid him down for one nap yesterday. We played with him a lot so he didn't have time to fall asleep, and around 8:15 I put him to bed. He laid down without a fuss and went right to sleep. Around 11:00 last night Jakob woke up and started crying. I tried to just let him cry and see if he'd go back to sleep...no way. I got up and nursed him around 11:30 and he fell back to sleep. I laid him back down and about 12:30 he woke up screaming again. Now, usually I would think maybe he has an earache, as he seems to do this when he has an ear infection, but when I would pick him up he quit screaming. I actually let him cry for an hour straight last night thinking he would tire himself out and go to sleep...no such luck. Finally I brought my pillow and blanket into the living room, turned on a movie and slept while Jakob crawled all over me and played with his toys. When the movie was over I turned the t.v. off and tried to nurse Jake thinking he's got to be tired, it's like 2:00 in the morning now. Nope...when I laid him down he was bright eyed and cried for a little while, but eventually he fell asleep. He was up with daddy at 6:30 this morning! I don't know what happened, but he was not interested in sleep last night. One day I know this child will sleep!!! Women who have grown children keep telling me that once you have the second baby you don't even care that you get no rest, because you realize how fast these little ones grow up. I try to think about how thankful I am that I have Jakob as I sit there in the dark feeding him and falling asleep. I try to remember how much I prayed and longed for this little booger that is keeping me from my rest, and eventually I can thank God that even though I am soooo tired I am so glad to have this little boy to keep me awake. One day I will get to sleep. One day this little boy will be a teenager, and I'll have to drag him out of bed, all the while thinking and missing the days he was a little boy who woke me up 2 or three times a night. I just want to treasure and enjoy every moment, even the difficult ones. In two months my baby will be a year old...unbelievable. Speaking of which, I need to take his 10 month picture. Yes, I am a little behind, what else is new? Ugggh! My video didn't load. Gotta go try it again. Hope you all have a great day :) <3

Since Father's day is tomorrow, and we will have a full and busy day I am gonna write a little Father's day post now. -I would like to thank the Lord for the Father that Jeremy is. For a long time Jeremy was very nervous about becoming a dad. He didn't think he was prepared to raise a child, he didn't think he'd be a good dad. Every day when Jeremy walks in the door from work Jakob's eyes just light up. Jakob loves to wrestle with his daddy, read books with his daddy, go to the pool with his daddy. From the first day Jakob was born Jeremy has proven that he is an awesome dad. He doesn't hesitate to change a diaper, or feed Jakob anytime I ask. I love it when we are out in public and Jakob smiles, or talks, or does just about anything and Jeremy smiles really big and looks around to see who noticed his cute son. He is so proud of him. I love that Jeremy loves Jakob. I love that Jeremy loves me. I love that Jeremy left a job that he adored to come to an unknown job so that he could be home more with Jakob. I love spending time with my two boys. God has blessed me so much giving me my miracle baby and a wonderful daddy for my baby who will bring him up to know and love the Lord. I hope you all have a great time celebrating Father's day. If you have a good Father/Father for your children please take the time to thank God. Not everyone is as fortunate. I hope you all have a blessed day. -Me

My dad has been admitted into the hospital...he's o.k., but he has a blood clot in his calf. His leg is swollen and has been hurting him, so he went to the doctor and the doctor said it's not life threatening at this time, but the hospital can give him intravenous heprin to break up the clot. He may be in the hospital 2-3 days. Please keep him in your prayers <3

I have ants in my apartment!!! Not a ton of them, but an annoying amount. I vacuum, I've tried windex because somebody told me it erases their trail and then more ants won't come, but it's obviously not working. Anybody ever heard of anything that will kill them that is non-toxic and maybe natural??? I can't just spray bug spray because of Jakob...

Silly boy(s)...

The top teeth...and yes, this time he's laughing. This boy is soooo ticklish on his tummy. I will have to try to get a video of me tickling him...cracks me up!

So first can I say that cleaning just about anything is almost impossible with a nine month old. Jakob has figured out how to open cabinets, and that when you open them there is all kinds of stuff to get into inside them. Now I wipe down a counter, stop and say "no Jakob" and close a cabinet. Wipe down a faucet and say "no,no Jakob" and take the toilet bowl cleaner from his hands. "no Jake, you can't eat that" and roll the toilet paper back up. Yes, as you can see I was cleaning the bathroom this morning. Thankfully all I have left is to bleach out the tub, and there was no way I was attempting that with little man awake. Now I'm going to talk about what's really been on my mind and bothering me lately....I always wonder if I should even talk about stuff like this (because it is private and I don't want to share "too much"), but you all are my friends, and I know you will pray with me about things, and most of the time I feel better once I finally get things off my chest and write them out. (Oh, and in case you're wondering, I have the bleach in the tub, so I am taking care of business while I blog :) lol)...We have come to the point where life is hitting us full force. We have dealt with unexpected issues before, such as our infertility, and the financial challenges that come with the treatments, but we've never really worried about money. I am ashamed to say it, but I've never budgeted before. We've just never had to. Last week I finally had to sit down and write out a budget and things look so horrible on paper. (I think that's one reason why I have never actually wanted to write everything out) Jeremy is making good money, but with the mortgage payment, electric for the house in Florida (and yes, with florida heat/humidity we have to have the air run sometimes, or else we will get mold) plus our rent here in ga, electric for ga we really don't have the resources to make it much longer as things are going now. Now, of course we are hoping this is only a temporary thing. Once we can sell our house everything will be fine. For now though, if anything at all goes wrong, well, not even goes wrong, at this point just normal maintenance on cars and normal things we would need to purchase will push us over our budget. I'm not complaining, please don't take it that way. We've talked about it, and we're trying to decide should we keep trying to sell the house? Should we go ahead and try to rent the house? The real estate market is bad everywhere, from what I hear, but it seems to be really bad in Crestview. We had no idea how slow things were. We cannot have the house for sale for a year or more and be paying the mortgage and it sit empty. Renting could mean that we end up with legal issues if someone doesn't want to pay or if they won't move out. There's also the fear that the house will be damaged if we rent it, and then end up costing us a lot of money later when we want to sell it. Either option has good points and bad. We will be going to Florida in a week or two and meeting with the new realtor and making a decision. Either way we go- renting/selling- we still need extra income coming in. Jeremy has said he will get another job. He often says he feels like he does nothing at work all day long, and he actually said that he would like to get another job and be busy (this would be 3-4 nights a week for 4-5 hours). I am having a hard time not feeling guilty. Number one, he shouldn't have to be getting a second job in the first place. The whole reason we made this move was so he wouldn't have to get a second job, and could be at home with me and Jakob. (so maybe I'm feeling a little guilt and a little selfishness, wanting him to be home) Secondly I feel so bad with him working a second job and me at home the whole time. I feel lazy, like I'm not helping out in a way that I should. When I think about getting a job though, I feel horrible because I don't want to leave my baby boy. I know that this is just temporary, just until the house is rented/sold, so I'm trying not to worry, or have a wrong attitude about it. I have thought of every other possible scenario, but I have cut down all our expenses (except for rent, which we just signed a new 6 month contract, so we are gonna have to try to get out of it) and we still need the extra income for now. I'm not asking anyone to feel sorry for us, we are o.k., we've just got to take care of business, ya know? What do you all think? Should I be working to help out, or just let Jeremy get another job? I know that either of our parents would help if we asked, but this is our family, and we need to do this on our own. (mom and mom2, I might be calling you if we get a new place :) I feel like if Jeremy gets another job I need to be super busy and "do my part" but I'm in a one bedroom apartment, with no furniture. Once the laundry's done, and the bathroom's clean and the floors are swept/vacuumed there's not much more I can do...So that's what's on my mind lately. Life is still good. God is in control, and I know that. I'm just trying to submit to his will and trust his way. I surely do hope his will has our house selling in the near future... :0) (lol)

My Jakey boom now has his fifth tooth!!! The front right tooth on top...his smile is just getting cuter and cuter :)

*Before I write anything about my trip I would like to encourage you all to check out my friend Jillian's blog. It is titled "Committing My Ways Unto The Lord" Jillian is battling cancer right now, but growing in her love for the Lord and her relationship with him. I know reading her blog really helps me put my life and experiences into perspective. Please pray with us for her.* We went to Alabama yesterday for my Mom's 50th birthday. It took us a little over 4 hours to get there(!) It only takes 5 1/2 to get down to Florida. Atlanta really has some of the worst traffic I've ever seen. There are just so many people in this area. We keep forgetting that we need to leave really early or really late to avoid people going to work or coming home from work. When I went to Hobby Lobby the other day I bought these iron on letters and made Jakob a onesie that said "Nana's birthday present" I was really happy with the way it turned out and I knew that my mom would like it. It was good to see my family again. I talk to them on the phone, and even on Skype, but it's just not the same as seeing them. I really enjoyed sitting around with Kara and talking to her, as she's always busy with work (and Dan) and we don't get to talk that much. -Speaking of Kara- she is taking painting lessons in Niceville and she's doing oil painting right now, and she is so talented!!! I'm so glad that she's still pursuing and trying to grow her talent. Carissa and Abigail could not wait to get into the pool once they got to my grandpa's house, so not too long after we got there we took Jakob swimming. My mom was just floating him around in the float and he fell asleep. It was so sweet. Such a hard life for a baby who's loved and adored :) My dad had brought some shrimp from the bayou so we had fried shrimp and red snapper for dinner. My grandpa has a huge garden so everytime we go to his house we eat lots of fresh vegetables. We had field peas, squash and greens from the garden and they even fried up some green tomatoes...we had a great dinner!!! Today we just sorta sat around and talked. It was a nice time, just too short. It took almost 5 hours to get home because we hit Atlanta right at 5:00 and traffic was (once again) horrendous. I don't know if there was a full moon recently or what, but when I got home I had an e-mail that Sarah (the girl with triplets) had her boys yesterday. She is doing well and the boys are healthy. Then I had another e-mail from today that another girl at church started having contractions this afternoon and was on her way to the hospital to give birth. Last night my Mom got to talking about Jakob and how it seems like yesterday that we found out we were having him and I started crying. Time is just flying by. I don't want him to stay a baby forever, but I just wish I could slow down this time we have together and commit every moment to memory. God has been so good to me. I thank him for family and friends. I thank him for everything he is and all he's done for me. I thank God for showing me through parenthood the kind of love that he has for me as his child. My Life is good.

Jakey with Mama's shades ;) Me and my Mama Our Family I made a little onesie with iron on letters for my Mom spoiled little boy!!!!

Nana blowing out her candles It's a tough life... (napping in G-papa's pool) Abi and Mom First oreo cookie :)

I went to Hobby Lobby this afternoon. I had been avoiding going there, but I got an idea for something I wanted to do and decided they would probably have the materials. When I walked in I heard the angels singing, and also was quickly reminded why I haven't visited their store yet. I could spend *so* *much* money there! If we ever sell our house Hobby Lobby will be one of my first stops. For so many years we spent all the available money we had on fertility stuff, it will be so exciting when I can decorate my house some more. I think as a stay at home wife/mother it is nice to be able to decorate the house since I'm there all the time.

Tomorrow is my Mom's birthday and we're meeting my family at my Grandpa's house in

Eufala, Alabama to spend Wednesday and part of Thursday with them. I am very excited to see my family and more excited for Jakob to see his Nana and Papa and Aunts. Things have been crazy in my house lately and I'm ready to relax just a little and yet at the same time Jakob will have the undivided attention that he really craves. I will post pictures once we get back. Hope you all have a great week! <3

Pictures from last night...

Last night Jeremy was in the floor playing with Jakob and he said "you know, he really looks like his skin is getting worse" We were very worried because all these little raised up places that looked like the letter c were popping up on his legs. It was different than anything he'd had yet. On one of Jakob's legs he had a huge red mark with a huge bruise on the inside of it. It's so hard to know what to do when your child is sick. If he hadn't appeared to be getting worse we probably would have been o.k., but he started to get bumps on his back, his bottom and more on his face. I finally just said "call your mom (she works at a pediatricians office) and ask her if they've ever given steroid shots to a baby with this problem" We e-mailed some pics to Jeremy's mom while talking to her on skype and showing her Jakob's leg and she decided to call one of the doctors she works for and ask her about it. Dr. Keefe and Dr. Burton are so awesome. One of them always has the pager and if you call at any time of day or night they will call you back. Jeremy's mom explained what the urgent care doctor said was going on, and then explained that Jakob was getting worse, not better and we were wondering if we should take him to the hospital. Dr. Burton said that the hives were not from the amoxicillin because if they were when we stopped giving him the amoxicillin the hives would have stopped spreading. She said that it was a virus in his system and that his immune system was going haywire. She actually called us a steroid in to the pharmacy and I got to give it to him once last night. I also gave him some tylenol. His fever is gone now, and the redness and swelling in his skin is way down. The poor little guy has bruises everywhere that he had red marks. The hives are not gone yet, but they look a lot better, and I'm sure in a few days he will be back to his old self. I still have to take him to his doctor here on Monday and have him re-checked, but I am so thankful that he is getting better now.

We woke up this morning and Jakob looked so much worse than yesterday. He had broken out in so many more spots and the tops of his hands and the top of his feet were very swollen and he was running a temp. We decided to take him back to the doctor. Thankfully the Urgent Care was open today, and when we go there we just have a co-pay like we have when we go to the doctor. We sat in the waiting room for over an hour (at least it wasn't 6-8 hours like the emergency room) and when we saw the doctor she checked Jakey's breathing and said it was fine, he has no lesions in his mouth or throat. She said that this is a classic allergic reaction to penicillin. She said usually about 48 hours after the rash starts it spikes and gets really bad. This morning was his 48 hours. He is running about a 101 degree temp. This type of reaction doesn't itch, or bother them, it just looks really bad, and can stay on him for up to two weeks(!!!) I feel so bad. His little body is so hot and red and swollen. I asked her about giving him tylenol for his fever, but she said that it wouldn't bring it down. She also said the benadryl probably won't help him either, but since he's been on it since this stuff popped up I'm just gonna keep him on it. I've just got to make sure he's nursing alot and keeping fluid in him.

Doing a little better...

Learning to stand...

My poor baby looks like a little dalmation again today :( It makes me so nervous to look at him with all these spots all over his body. This morning when he woke up he had some spots on his face too. I will just continue to give him the benadryl and hope that these hives start to go away soon!

We had to take Jakob to the urgent care clinic tonight. He developed a really bad rash, he looked kind of like a little dalmation and I gave him benadryl and the rash only seemed to get worse. Turns out he's allergic to Penicillin (sp) and he's been on the Amoxycillin (sp) which is a penicillin antibiotic, so he's having a bad reaction to it. We took these pictures to send to Jeremy's mom and see what she thought about the bumps, but he actually got a lot worse before she saw them and we just decided to take him to the doctor tonight. The doc said stop the Amoxycillin, and looked in Jake's ears and said they are all clear, so that's good news. The rash should go away in a day or two and he has to take the benadryl every 6 hours. I'm telling you what, this little fella sure can keep his mommy and daddy on their toes!!!

We took Jakob to the pool for the first time today. He really loved it and had a great time. There were these little girls there jumping off the side of the pool, and he thought he should be able to jump too. He got a mouthful of water a couple times. He was just laughing and laughing out there. So much fun!

Well, Jeremy got a call first thing this morning. No, he didn't get the job. The guy who interviewed him said his resume looked great and he interviewed great, but he hired one of the guys who already worked in this line of work. We have been saying all along that we're trusting the Lord with this, and as far as I see it he closed the door. What is hard for me to deal with is the fact that the job situation here is Ga. is so bad. Everyone Jeremy works with is trying to leave this place. No one is happy, and I can't imagine having to go to work every day and deal with the stuff they deal with. They really need a change of management, and I'm praying that it happens sooner rather than later. The guy did tell Jeremy that he's still in the running for a job in Avon Park, Florida, but we really don't want to live in South Florida, so I don't think we'll be taking that one even if it's offered. The job is important, but so is the area where we choose to take Jakob, so we have a lot to consider. Anyways, thanks for the prayers. Obviously it's not time for us to leave yet, and that's o.k. Maybe things will change here and we can stay...Now my main goal will be to bug the heck out of our realty company in Florida, because it's about time they sold my house. I'm ready to get my stuff out of storage!!!

First big boo-boos...

Here's a couple pictures of Jakob's first real boo-boo's. He's got some pretty nasty bruises on his head and a really blue bruise on his nose, but it was hard to get them to show up on the camera. Last night he was playing on the floor in front of the front door. It has linoleum and is very slick. We were laughing at him because he was sliding back and forth on it on his tummy. He was playing with his daddy's belt and got up on his knees and I looked at him and then as if in slow motion he just went down face first on top of the belt (on purpose) like he was catching the belt and hit his nose/forehead. He started screaming. I checked to make sure he didn't bust his gums open or break his nose. He looked o.k. the only thing I could do was put him to bed. He was not to be comforted :( He cried a lot last night, and I'm wondering now that I've seen the bruises if his head hurt him. I have mentally been trying to prepare for having a boy, I know this is the first bruises of many