Just Catching Up

Well, it's been about a month since my last blog so I figured I'd better get something out here so all the followers would have something to read. Reading stimulates the mind, you know?

The past few days have been a bit stressful - mentally and physically. A few weeks ago my grandma started feeling ill and after not having much of an appetite and a few other symptoms, she decided to go to the doctor. They saw some inflammation in her colon so they gave her some antibiotics to relieve it, hoping that would be it....well, the inflammation went down and her appetite slowly started coming back but the doctor wanted to do a colonoscopy just to make sure there wasn't anything else going on - when they began the procedure they had to stop because they hit a mass in her colon.

They had to remove nearly half of her colon in order to get the mass, which turned out to be the size of a baseball. The doctor said what we had all dreaded - he knew it was cancer.

The full pathology reports haven't come back yet so we don't know what stage or how aggressive or anything like that - the doctor did say he did not feel anything in her liver and is confident he got all that he saw.

So, that's that in a recap. When I talked to my mom Tuesday, the day before "Gram's" surgery, I knew I needed to come home - if nothing more than to just "be there" for my family. So, Wednesday night after I got home from work, Preston and I packed up for what would be our first "Boy's Trip!" Granny Pam came to Georgia to be with Lori and Baby Cadence.

Wednesday was a long day at work - for some reason, EVERYTHING needed to be done so it took me a while to get done...I finally made it home around 7 and we got on the road around 8. The trip home was relatively uneventful - we made it over 3 hours before we ran into any issues - and that was a torrential downpour, lightning, etc....we went 5 mph for about 25-30 minutes - after that, it was smooth sailing.

Preston didn't sleep the entire trip so when we got to my parents' house, around 12 am, he was ready for.....play-time! Yeah, you would think he'd want to go to sleep after riding in a car for over 4 hours and it being over 4 hours past his bed time, but nope...he wanted to play. Thankfully I was able to pull him away from his toys and got him to bed....

So, 6:45am rolls around and Little Man is ready to wake up - not fun for Daddy! Luckily Pop-Pop was up so he took over so I could get some sleep. The day was a normal day except for the fact Preston didn't get a nap. And when he doesn't get a nap, he is not a fun person to be around. So, no nap and a little over 6 hours of sleep (compared to a normal 11 hours....)....yeah, we knew we were in for some fun.

When I do go home, I usually only have one requirement - to have Orangeburg BBQ at Antley's. Now, for those of you not accustomed to Low Country SC BBQ, you are surely missing out. But I won't hold it against you too bad.

So on our way there, Mr. P decides to show out the entire way there - crying, screaming "I WANT MY MOMMY", yelling "NO" for no reason, slapping at the air but hitting himself....oh yes, the little mean one coming out. I was a few minutes short of turning the car around, packing up our bags and driving all the way back to Georgia that night....but, knowing he was just tired, I decided to stick it out.

I could go on a bit longer about what all we did the next few days....Preston played baseball with his cousin, "Baseball" Austin....Preston played baseball with Uncle Brandon....Kayla, Preston and I met Aunt "Tayla" at House of Pizza (HoP)....we had grilled pork chops at the house....Preston played with Sweet Bella (cat)....Preston saw a deer in the field....

On our way home though, we stopped back by the hospital and Preston was able to go upstais and see Gi-Gi. That made her day! She was so excited to see him. Thank goodness a lot of the tubes and things had been removed otherwise we wouldn't have been able to go in there - that would have been a little too hard to explain to him right now....

So, we left the hospital then we stopped in Greenville (after sitting in a parking lot on Interstate near Columbia for a few minutes....) to see my friend who had recently had a heart attack. Preston wanted to show Mr. Blake how he (Preston) could hit a baseball...so we did that for a few minutes in the 100 degree heat...

We finally made it home Saturday, early evening. I was (and still am) drained....hopefully this week will be relatively easy....but with 2 doctor appointments for me, one for Baby Cadence, and a few projects at work, I don't think that's going to be the case.....

Wake Up Call

Tonight was definitely a night I won't soon forget. I had gone upstairs to put Preston to bed and after our normal routine, I finally was able to rejoin the troops downstairs. When I got there, I noticed I had a missed call on my cell. It was from a friend I hadn't talked to in a few months. We traded voicemails a few times and this seemed to be another case.

So I checked the voicemail (b/c like my friend Chris, I'm not a fan of people calling me back without first listening to the message...who knows, he may have said something like, "I'm about to go to bed" or....who knows....)

Anyway, I went ahead and checked the voicemail and when it started playing, it was my friend's wife. That, in and of itself, was odd. As the congratulations were being said (regarding the birth of our daughter), I could tell in her voice something wasn't right.

It turned out, one of my closest friends, just 30 years old, had a heart attack earlier Monday morning. Wow....talk about a wake up call.

I know I joke around a lot about my weight...my 6 chins...etc., etc. but this one has definitely got me thinking. I need to do something. I'll be sure and get a blog going on my progress!!

Thank goodness my friend is going to be ok, but this could happen again. And the next time he may not be so lucky. It also goes to show it could happen to anyone at any time. And I don't want it to happen to me.

Thinking and praying for you pal!

You Forgot Something Daddy

As most of you know by now, we welcomed Baby Cadence to the world Friday night, July 10, at 11:02pm. It's been an adjustment as we well expected, but it's been a good one.

We spent Friday and Saturday night at the hospital and came home Sunday, late afternoon. Today was our first full day home and it was relatively uneventful. Thank goodness. We did have to take Cadence to the Gwinnett Imaging Center because she had to get her jaundice levels re-checked....unfortunately they are still high so we have to go back tomorrow - we have an appointment for her anyway, so at least it can be done all at one time.

So, that's a short recap of the past few days. I plan to get some pictures and some other information posted by mid-week.

Tonight though, Granny Pam was holding Cadence and it was time to take Preston to bed so I was able to take him. We went upstairs and did our normal routine....had to convince him to get upstairs first...he wanted me to carry him....convinced him to race me up the stairs first and I would carry him on the top stairs...we finally made it upstairs....his bed was made so we had to unmake it....he wasn't happy that we made his bed "ugly"...then he didn't want the "jam-jams" (pajamas) I put on him...finally got him to get two books....he had a big football in one arm so he only had one arm to get the books....finally got the football and the books on the bed then it was time for night-night prayers.

We knelt down beside the bed, he was on his stool in his usual position and right as we were finishing he says, "You forgot to ask Jesus to make Preston feel better." We had been praying for Jesus to help Preston feel better the past week while he was having his Bronchitis issues, and I honestly didn't think he was really paying attention. I was shocked though, because I hadn't put him to bed in over 3 days but yet, he remembered that.

I love my little guy!

A New Day

Well, I had a feeling this would happen. Tonight would be the "last night" before baby "Pink" arrives, and I'm unable to go to sleep.

We went in for our last weekly check-up today. The doctors had all told us that they didn't want Lori to go past her due date (which is Monday, July 13) and because of some issues she had delivering Preston they were going to be more proactive and cautious when it came to this pregnancy. Well, nothing had been done in the past few visits so I chimed in and reminded them about what all they had said early on.

The doctor did the normal measurement of Lori's stomach and said she was "progressing as expected" and we "would see what happens between now and next week." I guess she could sense my "not-so-happy-feeling" when she said that so she asked if we wanted to do an ultrasound. We both did.

So, we went and did the ultrasound and like what most of you would have done as well, I had the tech insure me that we were having a girl. She did and we are! :-) She also proceeded to tell us that the measurements point to our baby girl being around 8.5 lbs right now....yeah, glad we checked.

So, from that point on, I have been on Cloud 9. Even more so when the doctor was able to schedule an induction for us for tomorrow (Friday, July 10) morning. I'm sure Lori is, too!

I've been excited throughout this pregnancy but nothing like how I was with Preston. In fact, for most of the time I've been like, "yeah, we're having a baby." It really started bothering me, too, that I wasn't super excited. At times I thought something was wrong with me. Thank goodness I had a completely different feeling today!

I'm not going to lie though....I'm nervous. I'm scared. We're about to bring another life into this world. What's Preston going to think? Will we be able to show the same love and attention to our baby girl that we did to Preston? Will Preston feel left out? Will baby girl be a good sleeper? Will WE be able to sleep? What about Rascal? How's he going to do...? Ugh....so many questions running through my mind...I'm sure that's part of the reason I can't sleep.

Ok, well, I really don't have any more to say because I am actually very sleepy. I'm trying to watch the Braves....bullpen has blown another game for Tommy Hanson...he should be 6-0 now, but oh well!

I'm sure I'll post more tomorrow....all I know is I am SO EXCITED that we're going to be able to meet our little girl tomorrow. Oh, and if you're still reading this, we still don't have a name picked out yet. :-)

From the Mouths of Babes

Well, it’s been a few days since I last blogged so I guess I should keep the readers happy. I really don’t have much to talk about so…..how about I just post some of Preston’s famous quotes.

These are just some I remembered from recent “conversations”…as I remember or come across more, I’ll update:

• Mommy, I love you so much. Can I have some Cheerios?
• You’re not a boy; you’re Daddy.
• Ah! The fox is going to get me.
• You see that bear, Daddy? Over there. Yeah, he’s going to eat you.
• YAY! We’re at school.
• Blah, blah, black sheep.
• Little Miss Muffet, sat on her tuffet, eating her terds away.
• I’m not a silly boy, I’m Preston Bug.
• Preston: “Daddy, I don’t feel well. I need something to make me feel better,” Me: “How about a hug from Daddy?” Preston: “No. How about some Fruit Loops to make me happy.”
• We need to go to the bank so I can get my money and go get my blue truck.
• M.P. Diddy on the horse! (Said in the tone of “M.P. Diddy in the house!”)
• When you hear big raindrops you get tired, Daddy?
• But Mommy will bounce baby sister in the water and I have to go save her. (When saying we need to go for a boat ride.)
• Please stay with me one minute.
• You have to save me! (As I’m tucking him in he crawls to the top of the bed asking me to “save him” by pulling him by his legs back to one side of the bed.)