A True Survivor

I just watched a video of Gianna Jessen who survived her own abortion.

Yeah, you read that right.

Part 1 is here & part 2 is here.

I love how she gives God all the glory for being alive. Such an amazing testament of God's sovereignty!

I'm doubtful this will ever come true being the world we live in today but I have a dream that someday abortions will become illegal. Like Gianna said, don't tell me about a woman's right of anything when a baby doesn't even get the right to live.

I still look at the ultrasound pictures I have of Shaylin & treasure them. We saw a tiny heart beat at only 7 weeks along & then at 10 weeks we saw her little legs kick. That was no tissue. That was Shaylin!

Abortion sickens me. Plain & simple. I don't care the reason for one being performed. I lost 6 babies. Six. Six babies that didn't get a chance to live but nothing any human could do anything about. I don't know why but it was God's sovereign plan to take my babies.

So when I couldn't stop my 6 babies from dying, how do you think it makes me feel to hear of someone willingly letting their baby die?

Abortion is murder. And those who believe that need to be more bold in saying that.

Cool T-shirts

I was searching on cafepress.com today for marathon-related t-shirts. Here are some of my favorites:

I'm sure once I reach these mile markers I'll understand this one.

My favorite line is the one about my personal best because running isn't a sport about winning. My only competition is myself.

This just made me laugh. You might have to be a runner to get it.

It's so true!





And this one answers everybody's questions!

8 Months Old

- Although she isn't having a checkup this month, I would guess that Shaylin is about 16 lbs. now. She's been consistently gaining 1 lb. a month for quite a while now.

- She's still able to fit into most of her 3-6 months clothes. Pajamas are the one thing she needs to be in 6-9 months because of length.

- Still not crawling but over the past few days she's been making an sloppy attempt at an army crawl. But any toy of hers won't do. It has to be something she isn't normally allowed to have, like my camera or the PS3 controller. The more expensive the greater the effort she makes!

- Still not pulling up either as far as to a standing position. She can do it when she's holding my hands. But anything else she only goes to her knees or to a squating position.

- Lately she's been doing this laugh that sounds almost like a cough & it's pretty much just to get someone's attention. I think she's mimicking an adult's laugh.

- She's very ticklish - under her arms, her sides, her neck, her thighs, her feet. It's so fun!

- Still no teeth. But I love those toothless grins!

- Her hair is starting to thicken more so she may get thick hair like her momma. Some days it looks very blonde & other days a darker blonde. But sadly we no longer see a reddish tent. But she's still beautiful.

Progress

"I would do anything for love" by Meatloaf is on my ipod. At 11 min. & 53 sec. it's the longest song on my ipod.

When I would run to it 2 years ago the song would finish before I would finish a mile.

Now I'm finishing a mile before the song is over.

It's a strange way to measure progress but it works for me.

Fried Cube Steak & Potatoes Au Gratin

This was an awesome meal! And it's thanks to the Pioneer Woman. I've done a couple of her recipes already & liked them. This was just a good comfort food kind of dinner.

And I'm going to be lazy & just post the links to those recipes. Hey! I've got a baby that's starting to move around more. I don't have the time I used to.

Fried Cube Steak

I'm pretty sure this is something my mom used to make when I was growing up but I completely forgot about it. It was so easy to do!

Potatoes Au Gratin

My only issues with this one was that they had to cook twice as long as she said to. Maybe I cut the potatoes too thick. Or I'm just going to blame our really old oven. We're not convinced it heats to what it's set at & if we can just have some free time we'll switch it out with a new one.

About the title

Ok, I realize I put a plural in the title of my new blog. And that I have one child.

No, I don't really count my dogs as my children.

We just have hope that we will be blessed with more children.

Ok, that's all.

"Those" Nights

When you hear a mother say, "we had one of those nights", you know what they're talking about. Lots of crying (and not always just from the baby) & very little sleep.

We've been having them again . . . sorta.

Once we got over that 4 month sleep regression, it was smooth sailing. We had even been getting 11 hour stretches. It was wonderful! I could sleep in till 8, make my breakfast & enjoy some quiet time before Shaylin would wake up.

But for the past month or so she's been waking at night. But not every night. She might wake up one night at 2am & then we'll have 3 or 4 nights where she sleeps for 9 hours straight. Other nights it's 11pm. Last night it was 5:15am. She's not consistent.

Some nights I've nursed her, which she takes but it seems to be more for comfort than food.

Some nights I can run in there real quick, give her the pacifier, & she'll go right back to sleep.

But then there are the nights where nothing settles her. So I try the cry-it-out method. I'll wait 5 minutes, go check on her, & leave. Then it's 7 minutes. Then 10. Then 15. You would think at some point she'd pass out from exhaustion but she keeps on screaming.

After about an hour of her screaming I give up & rock her to sleep. She settles right down but then I can only lay her down when she's completely asleep.

So now I've had some nights when she starts screaming like that where I go ahead & pick her up & rock her. I know they say to not give in because babies need to learn to soothe themselves. But if all she's going to do is scream, why wait an hour & lose more sleep when I can do the same thing in 5 minutes & get back to sleep?

The bigger question for me is why she keeps waking up like this? I know she's not hungry. She is teething so that's not helping. I've been giving her Tylenol or Motrin before she goes to bed, like last night, but she still woke up. But again, it's not every night.

I guess it could always be the 8 month sleep regression that she hit early.

Whatever it is, I hope it passes soon.

3rd time's a charm!

I've done it again. Started another blog. I just wasn't crazy about the title & web address of the last one. So I've been trying to come up with a new one. Even though I'm called "Toad" by only a few people name, it's a name that's special to me. And what else would Toad have but tadpoles!

So there you go! I'm not very good at making up my mind but hopefully this one will actually stick.