Needed a change

Hey folks...I needed a new look. I'm not completely satisfied with this template, but it's something different. Bear with me as I figure all this stuff out! And when I find what I'm looking for, I'll put my links and stuff back up.

Prayer Request

Our doctor called tonight and said that Bryce's pre-screening test for cystic fibrosis came back positive. He said not to worry, that more than likely it's a false positive. Apparently they've changed the way they do the test or something and he's had several false positives lately. However, Bryce now has to have another test done to see. I'm not sure when the test will be yet; the health department is supposed to call us to set something up. Please keep us in your prayers during this time.

***UPDATE***
7.31.2008

Our doctor's office called this morning and said that we are scheduled for August 5 at 10:00 am at Children's Hospital in LR. And if Bryce has diarrhea or vomits this weekend to call and reschedule. So please pray that he doesn't do that. I want to get this over with as soon as possible. And of course, please pray for the results of the test. More than likely, everything is ok. It's a hereditary disease and there's no family history on either side. But it's still scary to have to go through this.

Well, Bryce is getting hungry so I have to get off here. Thanks in advance for the prayers!

Bryce's Birth Story, FAQ's, and Some Pics!

Finally, I'm able to share the story of Bryce's birth and show y'all some pictures. When we got home, our internet wasn't working properly. Shaun was able to fix it last night.

As you know, I was scheduled to have a c-section on July 15. At my next-to-last appointment, the doctor moved it to the 18th so he would be born as close to the due date as possible (July 27). So when we went down to Warren for my last appointment (July10th), I was prepared for Cayson and I to stay with my parents until the c-section. Shaun was going to have to go back to Fort Smith that Saturday the 12th, however. He would then take his vacation and come back down on the following Wednesday night. Bryce had other plans, however!

We had planned to go shopping in Little Rock on the 12th so my brother could buy some clothes for his upcoming trip to Panama City. He'd been trying to go shopping for the past month or so and something had always come up. So we were going to follow Shaun as far as Little Rock and shop. Early that morning, I was having trouble sleeping. In fact, I don't think I slept from about 3:30 on. My mom has a handheld Phase 10 game so I was playing it and listening to my Ipod trying to get to sleep. At about 6 am, I felt a rush of water! I knew that my water had broken. I never experienced that with Cayson, but there was no doubt in my mind that that's what had happened. I woke Shaun up and headed to wake my parents up. I cleaned up the best I could, grabbed my bag (thankfully it's been packed for a while!), and we headed to the hospital. The funny thing is, all I could think about was that my brother wouldn't get to go shopping yet again!
We got to the hospital and they confirmed that my water did break. They called the doc and prepped me for surgery! With Cayson, I never got to experience real labor pains. However, I got to with Bryce! I had been kind of upset that I never got to experience it with Cayson, so I guess God said, "Here ya go!" After about an hour or two I told Shaun that I was completely over the need to experience any more pains! But I am very grateful that I did get to experience it a little bit. I have new respect for moms who go naturally without any pain meds! I couldn't do it!

They finally took me back to surgery and at 11:01 am Bryce was born. I remember with Cayson, I just cried a single tear when I heard him cry for the first time. But with Bryce I was a bit more emotional for some reason. He weighed 8 lbs 8 oz and was 22.5 inches long. Cayson was 9 lbs 10 oz so Bryce is small for us!

Now here are the answers to some frequently asked questions:

How are you doing?
I'm doing great. I went home the next day and the soreness is completely gone, with the exception of around the incision.

How is Cayson reacting to having a little brother?
He is doing so well! Better than I ever expected. He loves to help out and he is very proud of him. He wants to hold him all the time! He only gets just a teensy bit jealous when I'm nursing him.

Speaking of nursing, how's that going?
Great! He latched on immediately. There was a little bump in the road when he became a little jaundiced and the doctor made me quit nursing until it started getting better. But I pumped and he was able to start nursing again in a couple of days. I was really scared that he wouldn't want to after having a bottle, but he's doing great!

Who does he look like?
I've heard everything, but I think the general consensus is he looks mostly like Cayson.

How's he sleeping?
He's doing pretty well. He hasn't been getting up to nurse as much as Cayson did. He likes sleeping with us though. Which isn't bad, except for when Cayson crawls in there at 2 am. Then it gets crowded. Last night I made Cayson go back to bed, but I had to lay down with him for a little while. I actually fell asleep and Shaun woke me up at 4:30 because Bryce needed to nurse.

I think that's all the questions I've gotten so far. If you can think any more, just comment!

Bryce David Martin

He's here! On Saturday morning, July 12, at about 6:00 am, my water broke! My family rushed me to the hospital and at 11:01 am Bryce was delivered by cesarean section! He weighed 8 pounds and 8 ounces and was 22.5 inches long. I went home from the hospital yesterday, but we're staying in Warren until Friday. I'll post pictures later!

It's almost time!

Just to let everyone know, I'm leaving today for Warren for my doctors appointment. I will probably be staying down there, just in case. As of right now, my c-section is still set for next Friday, July 18. I don't know what time yet, but if anyone would like to come visit me, come on! I have no idea if I'll be able to update my blog or not. My parents don't have internet at home. Shaun is coming back Saturday, unless something happens, so he might can give y'all an update for me. Please keep our family in your thoughts and prayers this week, especially that Bryce will just stay put until the c-section! We've got a lot of people that are coming in town for this. Including my husband! I don't want him having to drive like a maniac to try and make it, in case Bryce decides to come early. Thanks for all the comments the last couple of weeks and maybe the next time you hear from me, I'll have a new baby!

Remembering

Tonight I've been doing a lot of reminiscing. I looked back and read a lot of my old blog posts from when I was pregnant with Cayson. Also, I went through a lot of pictures on my Facebook account. It's been an incredible journey, me becoming a mother. And now I'm about to experience it again. It's so hard to believe that the three of us will very soon become four. I've been trying to spend as much time with Cayson as possible, because I know that it will never be the same again. It's a little bit sad, but more so, it's exciting. My biggest fear is not being able to love them equally. I know this sounds silly, but I guess I'm not the most rational person right now.

Well, I guess I better get off of here. It's midnight and I think my husband has fallen asleep in Cayson's bed.

Some July 4th Pictures

Attacking a cupcake!

Look at that form!

I see bubbles!

I love this face!

Sharing the bubble mower with his cousin, Logan.

A small baby update

I went to the doctor last Thursday so I thought I'd update everyone on Bryce. (By the way, it's so frustrating to wait 2 hours in the waiting room for a 15 minute appointment.) Doc said everything looks good. He did, however, want to move my c-section back to July 18. I was a little disappointed because I thought if anything he'd move it up. But he did want another ultrasound, which I had to get done at the hospital since it was after hours, and I was measuring a couple weeks big. Bryce is somewhere between 7 and 8 pounds now. And I am 37 weeks as of yesterday. I had Cayson at 37.5 weeks by c-section and he was 9 pounds 10 ounces. So I hope Bryce stays put and maybe is a little smaller. I'd be nice if he stayed in his newborn clothes a little longer! I have to go back this Friday so maybe I'll know a little more.

Now about Bryce

Just a short post to update everyone on my pregnancy. I am now 36 weeks! Where has the time gone?? We're having a c-section in Warren on July 15. I go back to the doctor on July 3, so that could change, I suppose. I have been doing really great. No swelling, or high blood pressure or anything. Just keep praying that everything continues to go well and we'll have a happy, healthy baby boy really soon!

I have been to camp and back

Last week I was 35 weeks pregnant and I went with my hubby to take kids to youth camp. Most people thought I was absolutely crazy!!! However, it was a great week and I was a good girl and didn't tire myself out too much. Here's a day-to-day synopsis of our week:

Tuesday
Left for camp at about 10:45. Arrived at Camp WOW (walk on water) in Stuart, OK at about 2:15. Unpacked, blah, blah, kids took a swim test, had worship that night. Before worship every night we had blue light specials where the kids played games for prizes. Tuesday night's game was wall twister. Yep, they had to figure out as a team how to play twister on the wall. Very interesting! After worship, we had church group time and then a luau. Of course, I had Cayson with me so every night after the band was through playing, (about 8:30) I had to take him back to our room and put him to sleep. So I missed the speaker and the late night stuff every night.

Wednesday
Breakfast, morning worship, family group time, morning break-out session (where the youth ministers each taught a class and the kids could sign up for which one they wanted), lunch, rec time (our girls went undefeated this day!), free time, dinner, blue light special (camp idol!), worship, church group time, western night.

Thursday
Basically the same as Wednesday except blue light special was the wheel of misfortune! They had to spin the wheel to find out what they'd have to do to earn a prize. At the end all the youth ministers raced to see who could eat 3 things the fastest: an onion, a cricket, and a worm! Shaun did pretty well with the cricket and the worm, believe it or not. It was the onion that got to him. The late night activity was laser tag.

Friday
Same stuff, except blue light special was camp bingo! The big prize was an Ipod Touch! And the late night was free time.

Saturday
Baptism and head home!

Now for the awesome stuff. We took 4 girls and 2 of them accepted Christ! Shaun baptized them in the lake Saturday morning!

Camp was a really different experience for me. I didn't get to hear any preaching at all, whatsoever. But I did experience some really incredible worship time. And I know I grew a lot in my faith despite not hearing any preaching.

Oh, and Cayson learned his first song!!! He learned the chorus to "Lord I'm amazed by you"! It is the sweetest thing I've ever heard! He was just singing right along with everyone else. He was such a good boy this past week. I'm so proud of him!

Happy Father's Day, Sweetie!

You are such a wonderful husband and dad. You are so good to us. We love you so much!

Still here, just getting ready for that baby!

Hey guys! I'm still here. I'm just to the point that I'm ready to have Bryce and get on with everything! Just to remind you, I'm having a csection on July 15, unless something happens! This has been a very busy month so far for the Martin household. The biggest thing was my sister-in-law's wedding last weekend. It was a little stressful getting ready for it, mainly because of my bridesmaid's dress, but it pulled together beautifully. I had to get my dress made since the dresses she picked out didn't come in maternity sizes! What made it stressful for me was looking different than everyone else and simply being HUGE! But I think it turned out okay. Cayson was a ringbearer and he was so cute! The highlight for me was after he RAN down the aisle, crawled up on stage, handed me his pillow, he stood up and clapped and said, "I did good!" It was so cute!

Next week we leave for youth camp! Pray for me that Bryce stays put while we're gone!

Me at the rehearsal, waiting to get started. Notice the new haircut (bangs and layered) and, of course, the baby bump!

My cute little man!

All the bridesmaids with Kelly, the bride. I'm on the far left, in case you couldn't tell!
And Kelly with Cayson and Ever, the flowergirl.

Check him out!

I'm proud to announce that my hubby is blogging again! He's been working on a website for our church and each of the staff members are going to have a blog. So he set up a Tumblr blog, since it's so easy to use. Please check it out and leave encouraging comments!

Memorial Day

Please be in prayer for Steven Curtis Chapman and his family

Please read this article.

My heart goes out to this family.

Because I Can't Sleep...

It's almost 2 am and I cannot go to sleep! Part of it has to do with some things going on in my life (nothing bad, just a lot of stuff) and the other is the little human that keeps kicking me!

It's crazy, we've been at this church for 2 and a half years now and I've managed to not overload myself. I've pretty much stuck with helping Shaun with the music and the youth. For the most part anyway. Sure, I've helped out with big events such as VBS, but I just haven't overdone it. Until now. We're having a one day women's retreat at our church May 31. Way back in November I agreed to help out. I guess I didn't realize how crazy my life was going to be in the months of May, June, and July. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I'm helping. There's just a lot going on right now. In addition to the retreat, I have to get my Sunday School room ready for promotion Sunday--which happens the day after the women's retreat! I've been wanting to change up my room for a while now and I had figured that the perfect time would be for promotion Sunday since I have a ton of kids moving up. Plus, I've got to contact all these new kids and introduce myself, etc.

And then that Monday after promotion Sunday (June 2, in case you lost count) I'm starting a teenage girls Bible study. I did this last summer and it was such a hit that I really, really wanted to do it again. It's an 8 week study and to be sure and finish up before school starts back, I really needed to go ahead and start it. (There's going to be some weeks that we don't have it, like when I have my baby!)

That Thursday, June 5, we will head to Warren and Crossett for my sister-in-law's wedding. I also have a doctor's appointment that day. Fortunately, we decided to stay in town that Sunday instead of heading home Saturday night. I'm hoping in spite of all the wedding stuff, we will get a little bit of rest. And it'll be nice to be in church with my family again.

After the wedding is over, things start getting a little easier. Of course, we have student camp in June and I'll still be doing the Bible study. Oh yeah, did I mention I'm helping with children's choir on Wednesday nights, too? I'm leading the 4-5 year olds. We're working on a musical that we will present in August.

In July, the big thing is, of course, the BABY! Time has flown by so quickly! I still have so much to do to get ready for him. I've been so much more laid back this time than I was with Cayson. I just hope I get it all done.

We have VBS the week after the baby is born, but we planned for this, thank goodness. I don't really have to do anything, except work on a nightly newsletter template. That'll be really easy, I just have to sit down and do it.

Ha, I just remembered something else we're doing in June: Shaun and I are leading a community group in June!

When did my life get so busy??? I used to thrive on the busyness when I was in high school and college. Now it's just wearing me out! Say a prayer for me that I can get all this done and not go completely insane!

Now to end this post on a very, very positive note: As I type, Cayson is spending night #2 in his big bed!!! Yep, last night he slept all night in it and he's working on it for tonight. And he napped in it today too! This was a little bit hard for me, but Shaun reminded me that we've been working towards this. This is a picture of him spending his first night in his big boy bed.Isn't that so sweet?

What a great day!

Today was a great day in the life of First Southern Baptist Church! The theme for today was a celebration of ministry, tying in to the wedding feast of the Lamb. This morning, we had our service outside under a tent. We used guitars, congas, keyboard, and a praise team instead of choir. We decorated like a wedding. Russ preached on the parable of the wedding supper found in Matthew 22. We also had a family join our church this morning. It was such a great time of worship! (That's lil (ha) ole me over there on the keyboard!)



Tonight, we celebrated with a wedding banquet. This was to symbolize the marriage feast that christians will participate in one day. It was also a celebration of everyone that participates in ministry, or should be participating in ministry. It was also held outside under the tent. It was truly a special day.

How do they do it?

How in the world does this little boy, who's only 20 months old, manage to get into the things that I thought were well out of reach??? Twice today he has spilled a bottle of his baby lotion all over everything. The first time was only mildly annoying. More funny than anything. The second time got to me. I love him so much, but he got to me! Fortunately, I held my temper pretty well and didn't say things I'd regret later. I just need suggestions for what to do with all the baby stuff once the baby gets here. I always kept the lotion, baby wash, diaper cream, etc., either on the top bookshelf next to the changing table or in the drawer in the changing table. Since I swapped Cayson's room, I had all that stuff on top of a tall dresser that I thought he couldn't reach. Apparently I was wrong. What in the world do I do? He can open the drawers. We don't have a cabinet in the bathroom that he can't get into. Help me out here moms (or dads)!

Spilling lotion for the SECOND time today!!!

This morning I have...

cleaned up lavendar-scented baby lotion from all over the living room. Yep, someone got curious. At least the living room, along with my precious son, smells really good now!