They say it's your BIRTHDAY!

Yes, that's right... yesterday was Max's 2nd birthday!  I was home sick yesterday, so as Max and I were laying in bed watching bad tv, my phone alarm went off reminding me that it was Max's birthday.  I had completely forgotten.  So, I called Michael and told him the news.  His response was, "Okay, I'll stop and get him something on my way home."  And I thought to myself... Michael is going to be a really great father.  If he treats our dog this well, I can only imagine how great he's going to be with baby Sanford.

So, amidst the Tylenol, chicken soup, and twelve hours of sleep, I managed to take some pictures of Max's birthday goodies.

He got a box of Milk Bone snacks, an Ol' Roy Munchy Bone, a big yellow pig that oinks when you squeeze it, a long grey something (I still haven't figured out what that thing is), and a Toy Story 3 birthday cup.

Here he is playing with piggy and crazy grey thing.

And eating out of the cool Toy Story 3 Birthday cup!

We love our little Max!

Sweet Bayler

If you know me, then you've probably heard me talk about my friend "Teal" from time to time.  Her name is really Brittany, but when we met at Camp Hollymont, there were too many Brittany's so I called her Teal, which is her last name.  Anyway, Teal has been like a sister to me for the past 8 years (oh my gosh, I didn't realize it had been that long).  Her brother and sister-in-law have two little boys, Bayler and Bridges.  Bayler is 7 and Bridges is 5.  If you had to have two little boys that were cute and funny, all in the same family, then you would only wish for these two!

Bayler has been battling a form of cancer for the past two years, called Neuroblastoma.  And for the past two years, we've been following this battle through CaringBridge updates, texts from Teal, and Facebook updates.  I was driving to work this morning when I received a text update from Teal.  We'd known for a couple of weeks now that the doctors felt like there was really nothing else to do, as the cancer had spread too much to treat.  At that point, the status was that the family would try to keep Bayler as comfortable as possible. Well, this morning's text was an answer to the Teal Family prayers for mercy.  Bayler was taken to Children's Hospital around 3am, and they are giving him morphine to keep him comfortable until the time that the Lord decides to take him home.

I immediately called Teal to offer my prayers, a shoulder, anything.  But what do you say in a situation like this?  I wrestled with the Lord the rest of my commute- "Lord, why do things like this have to happen to children?  There are people in this world who are bad, but Bayler is not one of those people."  However, I am reminded that Bayler has affected more people, touched their lives, and probably brought some to Christ in the past two years- probably more than I have done in my lifetime!  I know that the Lord has a plan, and that He is sovereign.  I may not understand what I see today as unfair, but one day, when I see Bayler in Heaven, I'm sure it'll all be made clear. 

Teal said that Bridges looked at Bayler the other day and said, "Bayler, you do know that when you get to Heaven, you'll still be able to watch wrestling there right?"  Bayler said, "Yeah, I know."  If we could all have such child-like faith... that's what I pray for.  So, please keep the Teal family in your prayers.  Bayler's parents' names are Rob and Risha.  I will be praying for peace and comfort, and for God to show Himself in an even mightier way this week to Bayler, Rob, and Risha.

You can view Bayler's Caring Bridge site here:  http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/baylerteal

16 weeks

Well, I am officially 16 weeks today.  I realize that I haven't posted any pictures, but it just seems like such a hassle to get the camera out, try to take a pic of myself, and then download it, etc.  I know, I'm a slacker.  So.... since I don't have any pictures, I will touch on some subjects that don't involve pictures.
First, we found out recently that we will find out the sex of the baby on July 15th!  I can hardly wait.  I'm looking at nursery decorations and bedding, but won't decide for sure until we know.  But that also brings me to the subject of names.  So far, we have decided on two girl names:

Chappell Mae Sanford
Mary Owen Sanford

The boy names, however, have us stumped.  We have talked about this off and on, but have pretty much left the conversation until we find out whether we're having a boy or a girl.  I think we both secretly think that we'll just wait to see if it's going to be a boy before we have to decide on a name.  So far though, we have talked about the following boy names:

Robert
Thomas
Gabriel
Or any combination of the above

I think we'll wait to worry about it until we know for sure. Other than that, things are going really well.  I have had some pretty rough headaches, and some serious heartburn, but if that's all I have to worry about, I think I'm doing pretty well!
In about a week and a half, I'll get to see my very best friend in Grove Hill!  She is pregnant with baby #2 (another girl), and I absolutely cannot wait to see her!  Her husband laughed and said, "Well, looks like we'll have two hot pregnant women... and I don't mean sexy!"  haha!  I love it!  It should be a weekend of lots of fun, swimming, and strawberry cake. What can be better than that?!

What I've Learned about Pregnancy Body Pillows

The Boppy Total Body Pillow... doesn't she look comfy? I researched pregnancy body pillows because I was reading everywhere about how I should be sleeping on my side already. Well, I have bursitis in my shoulders, so sleeping on my side isn't exactly my idea of fun. So, I went out in search of the perfect body pillow to take the weight off my shoulders.

The first night was interesting. I woke up several times wondering what I should do with the arm I was laying on. I finally decided to tuck it under me, but that ended up putting too much weight on my chest. Didn't get much sleep that night.

The second night was better. I tucked that sucker around my back, and that seemed to work much better, and I slept better. However, I'm not sure that it was helpful to Michael since this pillow now took up so much space, and Max thought he had a new doggie bed.

So, after all of this research- finding the pillow, learning how to sleep with the pillow... I went to the doctor today. He told me that there's too much unnecessary hype about sleeping on your side- that I don't even have to really think about that until I'm about 28 weeks. Ha! And even then, I don't have to sleep totally on my side. I can just prop something under my back and lay tilted to the side. In the meantime, I'm free to sleep on my back, my stomach- any way that I want to.

I kind of like this new pillow though... I think I'll find some other uses for it until 28 weeks gets here. It's kind of nice on the couch to wrap around me while I read a magazine... or eat... or nap.

Another Traveling Story- Gullible's Travels... Again

The south office of Care Net traveled to the north office this week for our staff retreat. We left early Monday morning, had our staff retreat on Tuesday and Wednesday, meetings on Thursday, and traveled home on Friday.

The trip up to DC was pretty uneventful. Our first flight was late, and we thought we were going to miss our connection, but luckily, we made it on time. The trip home was a little interesting though. We got on our first flight (we had a connection in Atlanta) and Polly let me have the aisle seat. She says that I get special treatment now because I'm pregnant, so I guess I better take advantage of it while it lasts. :)

However the aisle seat didn't make a difference in my comfort. As I sat in my seat, people watching- because I LOVE to watch people put their luggage in the overhead bins, all of a sudden I felt someone's bag strike me in the head. Polly said, "Whoa, that bag came so close to hitting you in the head!" As I told her that it had indeed hit me in the head, I turned my head to find the culprit. I got as far as seeing the man's stomach in my face before all of his crap fell out of his bag onto me. I prepared myself to give a sincere, "That's okay" when he apologized, but the apology never did come. As he grabbed all of his items, all he said was, "Well, that didn't turn out like I hoped it would." I wanted to say "Me neither," but I resisted.

After getting over that incident, I looked around to realize that we were completely surrounded by children. Now, I'm sure that as a pregnant mother-to-be, one would assume that I would be looking lovingly at all of these kids, thinking about how cute they were- or how cute my little one will be. Not so. The two kids in front of us included a never-stop-talking/yelling/questioning little cutie, and a never-stop-sneezing from the moment we board till the moment we land adorable guy. I'm not usually a germ freak, but after last week's cold, my immune system isn't dependable, so I tried to fashion my hoodie into a mask that resembled one seen in the SARS outbreak.

The one little girl sitting to the right of my seat was indeed adorable. But, I found myself wishing that she would quit talking altogether because one of the three kids sitting behind me repeated everything she said. Between that and kicking the back of the seat, I was feeling really patient.

When our flight finally landed in Atlanta, I thought we were in the clear. Well, our connecting flight had been cancelled, and the next flight was slated for three hours later. We figured we had a while to leisurely walk around, but there's just not that much you really want to do in an airport. When we made it to our gate, the estimated departure time (which was initially supposed to be 1:00) said 1:01. I realize that doesn't seem like a big deal, but that extra minute usually indicates that there is more delay to come. By the time 12:30 rolled around (keep in mind, we landed at 9:30), the departure time changed to 1:21. Then 2:00. Then 2:30. By the time it was all said and done, we had a five hour layover. However, the trip back to Birmingham was short and sweet and I was home before 2:30 Central time.

After a long week, I took a five hour nap on the couch, and then slept another full eight hours last night in the bed. It was wonderful.

Tonight Michael and I will be venturing to a little restaurant named Fire to celebrate our anniversary which was two days ago.

PS... I think I felt the baby move on Wednesday while standing in the middle of Pottery Barn. Like my friend Kristen Jones, I thought it was my cell phone in my hoodie pocket, but when I pulled the phone out, it wasn't ringing. Weird...

Speaking of cats in bags

Michael and I found out around the end of March that we are expecting a baby! We waited to tell friends and family until a couple of weeks ago, because we wanted to be extra sure that things would be okay through the first trimester. I am now 13 weeks and 4 days, and our estimated due date is December 8th. So far, things have been progressing along well. I thought for sure that I would experience morning sickness at its worst, but a little nausea here and there when I would wait too long to eat was about the worst of it. I have had a cold for the past week, and that has been interesting just trying to breathe. I'm feeling better now, so hopefully I'm coming out of the woods.

So far, the fun parts have been:

-Telling friends and family

-The first maternity shopping experience

-Browsing the web for cute bedding and nursery items

-Eating

-Thinking of names (I'll post more on that later)

The only not-so-fun parts have been:

-This cold

-Breathing at night with this cold

-Nausea

-Not being able to figure out what I WANT to eat

I'm very excited about this adventure, and can't wait to share more, as I'm sure there will be stories that come! Stay tuned...