My heart is heavy tonight as I came across a recent post on a friends blog. I truly hope she doesn't mind me sharing, but for some reason I feel the need to. . I guess to get the word out so all of you reading this can keep her and her family in your prayers. Leslie was pregnant with twins. Her water broke when she was at 19 weeks. They were able to stabilize her and the babies up to 21 weeks. Then baby a, a girl was born stillborn this last Sunday. They tried to keep her from having baby b and she unfortunately did and that baby was unable to make it due to lack of lung function. Leslie, had an amniotic embolism which supposedly hasn't been heard of since the 40's and only one recorded time since this. But, she had a heart attack, and was without oxygen for 17 minutes, her kidneys have failed and she's been put on dialysis, she's been placed on a ventilator and started at 100% oxygen but has started breathing at 60% on her own, which is good. She was seizing but that has decreased, and her blood pressure was low, however, that has gone up to normal and meds have been reduced which is good. There is risk of brain damage, heart problems and other organ damage. EEG shows improvements and stabilization, Leslie hasn't responded to touch or sound but her pupil's dilate with light- which is good. Please join the Loving Leslie facebook page for complete updates and progress on her condition. .
It's stories like this that make me beyond thankful to have such a healthy son. . to see him grow and develop each and every day. . . to see the innocence and love in his beautiful blue eyes. To see how excited he gets at discovering and trying new things. Like today for instance, he had his first ride on a swing. .
I don't know what I did to deserve such great joy, but I am beyond thankful to have so much love in my life. . and I am beyond thankful to be a mother. .
My everything. . .
Please continue to pray for Leslie and her family in this challenging time. Be thankful for what you have and don't take anything for granted. .
Happy Anniversary to us! It is truly hard to believe I became Mrs. Shumsky one year ago yesterday, but I remember the night like it was last weekend. It was a perfect fall day, which is something I asked friends and family to pray for. October weather can be very tricky, especially for an outdoor wedding. Prayers were answered. It turned out to be a gorgeous sun shiny day, without a cloud in the sky. . temperature was in the upper 70's, my idea of perfect. I remember being amazed at how calm I was. I was pretty sure, up until the "big day" I would be a total nervous wreck. Come to find out, Scottie was the one who almost fainted minutes before we took the plunge :) Everything went the way I imagined. I walked down the isle at sunset to Coldplay, of course, to a teary eyed Groom. It was really sweet. We said our vows, shared some intimate moments with our family and friends, then danced the night away at our reception. We topped the night off with a limo ride to the Colcord. A special thanks to my mom and dad who took the "tab" that night. Without them, it wouldn't have been possible. Another thanks to all of our family and friends who shared our special night with us. People say your first year of marriage is the hardest. Try throwing a kid in the mix, then come talk to me :) No, really, marriage is nothing short of amazing. I cannot imagine life without Scottie. We have definitely had our trials and tribulations, but those challenges have only made us stronger. Scottie is my best friend, of course we don't always agree on everything, but the Lord brought us together 5 years ago for a reason. Marriage is a journey, something that you have to work at every single day. It is also the best journey I have been on so far. . . motherhood being the second best!
So here's to 10.2.2009! What a wonderful, crazy, hard, amazing, challenging, life changing year this has been. . I can only imagine what the future holds for us. Enjoy a few pics from our wedding night. .
Two days ago Knox turned 6 months! He is already 1/2 a year old and I can't believe it. Time has escaped me these past 6 months, it literally has. He is growing into such a sweetie, and such a boy. He loves, loves, loves people. Period. He will sit there and study a new face for what seems like hours. He is very intrigued and curious. As soon as he is done "investigating" you. . he will give you non stop smiles from there on out. Like I said, he just turned 6 months. What better way to celebrate 1/2 a year old? The Great State Fair of Oklahoma, of course! That's right, on his 6 month "birthday" we decided to open his eyes to this big event that happens every year in September. He absolutely loved it. Knox stayed awake the entire time we were there. . which, if you know Knox, this is pretty unusual because this boy loves his naps. . and we went during nap time. Anyways, he did outstanding. I think there was so much to see, smell, and hear it kind of distracted him from thinking about any sort of nap he might want to take. However, as soon as we were on our way back to the car. . I looked down and saw this...
passed out cold. . . such a big day for a 6 month old!
Enjoy a few more pictures from Knox's 1/2 a year birthday celebration!
Posts two days in a row?! It is now my new goal to try and keep up with my blog. I know I only started it about 2 months ago, but I feel like I am already falling behind. So here goes another post! Knox is "officially" sitting up on his own without ANY help at all. . just in time for 6 month pictures this weekend! Thank you son for listening to me when I asked to please, please sit up by the weekend of your 6 month pictures. I owe you a nice car when you turn 16 now, like I promised :) Knox magically started sitting up one day like he had known how to do it all along. It's pretty unreal to watch a baby discover something and master it so quickly. I think the key to him sitting up is curling his toes. Every single time he sits he has to curl his toes. . for balance I suppose. He will not relax them at all, it's adorable. But hey, whatever works! So of course, I captured this new balance act in some photos. . Enjoy!
Here it goes. . I am not the best cook in town, there I said it. Actually, when I cook, my food is edible. . but me actually cooking doesn't happen very often. Scottie has taken on this role as the cook in the house. I know, how did I get so lucky? Beats me. Anyways, I knew the time for me to start making Knox's baby food was fast approaching. . I just didn't know it would approach this fast! My little man will be 6 months in 5 days! Oh my. . 6 months? Half a year! That just really hit me. . I need a few seconds. . I seriously cannot believe he will be 6 months! Sniff, Sniff, Sniff. . . Okay, where was I? Baby food. . o yes! So like I said, cooking is not my favorite thing to do. I would much rather order take out, pop a frozen DiGiorno in the oven, go to my parents for dinner :) and so on. Preparing food just takes too much time, then there's clean up after it's all said and done. Call me lazy, that's fine, but I will probably never absolutely LOVE cooking. But as soon as I found out I was pregnant I started making all these plans about how I wanted to raise my child. Making his baby food was one of those "plans." The past couple of weeks Knox has been showing signs that he is ready for solids. I would feed him as much as I could at every sitting, but he still wasn't satisfied. . my son LOVES to eat! One night, while at the store, I picked up a jar of sweet potatoes for him to try. I just wanted to see if he liked it. . When I got home, I warmed up the sweet potatoes (slightly) and served them to him. I was expecting him to dive right in but I got the complete opposite reaction. He was NOT a fan at all! It was too cute. I figured it was the texture and the taste he wasn't use to so I saved the rest for the next night. Same thing. He hated them! I took this as a sign. God was teaching me a lesson! I needed to make Knox's baby food like I planned all along. . so thats what I did. I went to the store, got some fresh sweet potatoes. . peeled them, chopped them, steamed them, pureed them, and froze some for later. Knox absolutely loved my HOMEMADE sweet potatoes. He devoured them. This honestly made me feel great about my cooking abilities. Maybe I will start using recipes and start cooking more. . . . eh, maybe not BUT I will continue to make Knox's baby food. A special thanks to my wonderful sister in law who let me borrow all of her baby food making supplies, you rock Sara. . love you! And thank you Lord for teaching me a wonderful lesson. Follow through with your goals or "plans", even if it does take a little extra preparation :)
So far Knox has tried sweet potatoes and butternut squash. He has loved both of these new additions to his diet. This week I am going to make green beans and peas for him. . hope he likes the green veggies! Enjoy a few pics of his first taste of solids :)
October 18, 1984 my sister, along with the rest of my family, welcomed me into the world. My Granny took my sister out for a really nice dinner in honor of being a new big sis. . . anywhere she wanted to go, the option was hers! Out of all the nice places in Oklahoma City my wonderful sissy chose Taco Bell. She wanted a bean burrito with no onions and extra cheese! Who would have known that 25 years later we would share this craving of bean burritos together. . while pregnant! That's right, my sister and I had the luxury of being pregnant at the same time. Being 7 years apart we never imagined we would be pregnant together, but that's how the story goes. Almost 1 week from the day my sister announced to us that she was pregnant, I found out I was pregnant. . . you can only imagine how shocked my parents were when I made the call telling them that they would have another grand baby. If you can imagine that, try imagining the shock on all of our faces when we found out I was due 2 days after her. Yes, that was a shocking month for us all, but what a great shocking month it was :) Being pregnant at the exact same time as your sister is not something that happens in every day life, we are part of the lucky few. Being pregnant together was simply amazing. We got to share our "crazy pregnant lady" stories, our cravings, our tearful moments, the feeling of the first kicks, the gas pains, indigestion, and everything else that comes a long with being pregnant. We were there for each other. I'm so thankful I didn't have to go through it alone. . she knew how I was feeling most days and vice versa. Not everyone could relate, but she could. Being born 6 years and 364 days apart, thats right. . our birthdays are one day a part. . . I should have known something great was in store for our future, I just never would have guessed it would be this. Now we have the luxury of watching our kids grow up together. We will get to share the first day of school tears, the many birthday parties, the first prom laughs, and sending our kiddos off to college together. I tear up just thinking how lucky I am to have such a great sister who I get to share parenthood with. Just another awesome chapter in my book of life. . . . Love you Sissy!
As soon as you publicly announce you arepregnant, a lot of "experienced" moms feel the need to tell you what to do. By the end of my 9 months of pregnancy I was over hearing "do this, do that, you need to buy this, you have to have that, you can't do that, you are drinking that??" Now that I have a child of my own I catch myself becoming one of those "experienced" moms. Shameful? Nah. . I just know where those moms are coming from now. I will try my hardest not to share every little thing I have experienced as a mom to all of my first time pregnant friends out there . . you can thank me later :) saying that, I have to share one piece of advice I heard over and over. . take lots and lots of pictures because time will fly. And that my friends is a very true statement. Knox is now 5 months and time has literally flown by. He is a completely different person from 5 months ago, physically and mentally. I have taken that piece of advice and probably gone overboard with the pictures, but I have to warn you, the pictures will not stop. My photo albums pretty much consist of only Knox now and I am so thankful. Today I was looking back at some of the very first moments I captured of him and I was completely amazed at how fast he has grown. Of course it brought tears to my eyeballs, but I am so happy I have those moments to look back on. As I mentioned above, Knox is 5 months! He is an absolute character these days. When this little guy learns to crawl I am going to be in t-r-o-u-b-l-e. I am already trying to prepare myself, sorta. He is almost sitting up by himself these days, which is a great achievement. He is also learning to "scoot." And of course he is still screaming at the top of his lungs. I don't know how I am going to break him of this habit, but for now I will let him enjoy his voice. He has to have something in his mouth at all times.. fingers, blankets, teething toys, which probably means he is about to start teething. . something I am dreading. Oy. A few posts ago, I mentioned I was going to drop the "dreamfeed". .success! He now goes to bed around 7:30 or 8 and sleeps until 7:30 or 8 in the morning. It's amazing. Some days I have to pinch myself to make sure I am not dreaming bc I still can't believe I am a mother. I can't imagine life without this little guy. . . .
Below are some pictures (of course!) of Knox's life as a 5 month old
March 23, 2010 is the day my life was forever changed. It's the day I met my son. Before Knox my life was probably like most 25 year olds without kids. I worked, played, and played even harder on the weekends. Bills to pay was my biggest responsiblity. My relationship with God varied from month to month, even week to week sometimes. My social status was down right amazing. I had many different groups of friends I had met throughout life so Scottie and I always had something planned. Whether it was a birthday party, a huge event, or just a cookout to watch the latest football game. . we were always going going going. Scottie and I would be married soon, which made my life even more complete. It was the icing on the cake. Life really couldn't get much better. Then, 2 months before our wedding date I found out I was pregnant. That's right. I was a pregnant bride :) Shocked is an understatement when it came to how I felt. But shocked in a good way. I always pictured myself having kids by the time I was 25. It's just that 25 came up pretty quickly on me (sooner than I expected) and I wasn't ready to be a mother yet. My life was pretty awesome as it was. After the intial shock subsided, I couldn't believe I was about to have a child. Ever since that morning I found out we were pregnant, my life has forever changed. Something clicked and I was different from there on out. I like to think I quickly grew up, but do we ever really grow up? :) Anyways, my relationship with God was never a question from there on out. He had chosen me to be Knox's mother and for that I am eternally thankful. I often wondered and questioned, why me? Why was I chosen to be his mom? I wasn't living my life for the Lord each and every day, so why on earth would He choose me? I now, have no doubt in my mind that He knows exactly what He is doing. Period. 9 months of pregnancy really wasn't that bad. Of course at the time, it couldn't go by fast enough. But now I really miss it. I miss feeling his tiny little kicks. I miss the comfort of knowing that he is warm, and happy inside my belly. I miss the entire process. It's ridiculous what our bodies go through. . it works overtime to create a new life which is simply amazing to me. Amazing. 9 months of pregnancy is plenty of time to mentally prepare yourself for your precious little angel. . yeah right. I don't think you can ever really be prepared for that feeling of meeting your child for the first time. The feeling is truly something you can't describe. I'm not even going to try. . .
3.23.2010 at 5:26 p.m. weighing 7.2 lbs, 19 inches long Brody Knox Shumsky entered the world via c section. I labored for 16 hours with him. I dilated to a 5 and stopped. I was stuck at a 5 for about 10 hours without any progress at all. After a long talk with Scottie ( he was more apprehensive than I was which was really sweet) we opted for a c section. I was ready to meet my son, and I was completely exhausted. And thats our labor story. That day in March I was forever changed. Since then, my life is now my son. Instead of reading gossip magazines I read books. Instead of staying up until 12 with friends, I stay up and stare at my son while he sleeps. Heels are no longer part of my wardrobe. I only wear makeup on the days I venture out of the house. My son is my life and I have a hard time remembering what life was like without him. Not a day goes by that I don't thank God for blessing me with this wonderful gift, the gift of being a mom.
A letter to my son. . (5 months)
Knox,
You have changed my entire outlook on life. Thank you for making me a better person. You challenge me each and every day, for that I am thankful..it keeps life interesting :) Your smiles turn any bad day into a good one. Raising you is the hardest but most rewarding job I have ever done. God chose me to be your mother so I hope to be the best mother I can be. I am so proud of the accomplishements you have achieved thus far, I can only imagine how proud you will make me throughout your entire life. God will always be a priority in your life, I pray that every day. I count my blessings each and every day. . you are healthy, beautiful, active, and growing by the day. I love to watch your mind expand as you discover life around you. Throughout life, I want you to know. . . You don't always have to be tough. It's okay to cry, you will not be looked at as being weak. Daddy and I will always support you no matter what. We want you to be able to dream big and accomplish those dreams. Anything is possible. You can come to us with any problems or questions and we will do our best to teach you and help you with anything you need. Trust God in everything you do. He is our savior and our reason for living. You will make mistakes, but take those mistakes and learn from them. Life will bring things to you at a certain time, for a certian reason. . go with those reasons because that is where the best memories are made. Have fun, laugh each day, and remember that you are very much loved.
That is the question. As I queitly creep into my sons room each night, waking him for his final feeding, I ask myself should I even be doing this? I have read somewhere around 4 months your child can go down to 5 feedings a day. Right now we are at 6. That final feeding of the night is what "they" call the dreamfeed. You wake your child, feed him, and put him right back to bed. They are pretty much asleep the entire time, at least Knox is. I have been going back and forth, back and forth with this for about 2 weeks now. Should I drop it or not drop it? I love my sleep. Let me repeat, I love my sleep. This is why I am afraid to drop this final feeding. I have been getting some much needed sleep for a few months now. Ah sleep. It is amazing after not having it for 2 months straight. . . welp tonight I decided to bite the bullet and give it a try. So far so good. But it's only 11 o'clock. We shall see. . . so for now, I will get you updated on Knox's progress. . We had our 4 month check up last week, which means little man had to get shots. Oy, shots. I hate shot day. The only fun thing about well child check ups is getting to see how much he has grown. I am happy to report he gained another 4 lbs and grew another 2 inches! Brody Knox Shumsky now weighs 15lbs 2 oz and is 26 inches long! He's a growing fool. He is also a rolling machine. As soon as you put him on his back he rolls over on to his stomach. Cute, at first, until it became a problem during his naps. He would roll over onto his stomach, then get mad because he couldn't get back over. We fought this for about 3 days. Finally, he figured out that it was okay to be on his stomach. He is now sleeping on his stomach for a majority of the time, all on his terms. He loves it. In fact, he took a 3 hour nap for me today. . perfect. He loves to suck on the corners of blankets, or burp cloths. . whichever I get to him the fastest. It's adorable. My mom said I use to suck on the corner of my blanket when I was little. This made me smile. He may look exactly like his daddy, but he's starting to develope some of my habits. This could be good, or bad :)
"always kiss your children goodnight, even if they are asleep."- H. Jackson Brown
