Petunia

Well we still haven't decided on a baby name yet so my dad decided that he was going to call the baby "Petunia" until we told them the real name...I think it is all a ploy to get us to announce the name sooner rather than later! The trouble is that we really haven't decided yet!!

SO....the name has stuck and now everyone in my family & some of my friends are starting to call the baby girl Petunia. So for now, Petunia it is! I promise we will share the name just as soon as we have decided.

I turned 29 on November 25th...I had planned to sleep in that morning but woke up wide awake at 8:00am. I had an appointment with Dr. Macey and had to wait 2 hours to see the doctor. Note to self - never make an appointment on a holiday week again! The appointment was good - the baby had a strong heartbeat and things are progressing as normal. After the doctor, I went shopping at Opry Mills...Anne joined me and it was so much more fun with a friend - THANK YOU, Anne! That night, Ryan and I went to the Melting Pot for dinner - it was fantastic & we left completely stuffed. Ryan got me a sweet card - one from him & one from the baby! The card from the baby was really sweet and at the end it said, "please think of a name for me soon Mommy so that my grandfather will stop calling me Patoonia". So cute :)

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with Ryan's parents on Thursday. We had great food, watched football and just enjoyed hanging out. We are reminded this Thanksgiving just how much we have to be thankful for - we truly are so blessed! We pray that you all had a wonderful day of Thanksgiving as well. Thanks for checking in on us...

Lauren & Ryan

A Tough Weekend

We left Nashville at 5:45am on Saturday morning headed to Middlesboro, KY for my Mama Lambdin's funeral. The funeral was at 11am Central and we gave ourselves a one hour buffer to get there on time. Wouldn't you know, we weren't 45 minutes outside of Nashville when our tire completely exploded on the interstate! I'm not talking about a flat tire, I'm talking about - there was almost NO tire left!! See evidence below:

I was driving and did a good job of getting the car to the side of the road if I do say so myself! I was going about 75-80 mph and there was actually an exit right there, so we were able to pull off. Neither Ryan or I had ever changed a flat tire before but he got down on the road and I stood out in the middle of the exit ramp so that cars would see us when they were getting off the road. I was so afraid they were going to hit Ryan when he was laying down there trying to get the car jacked up! It was a random exit so there wasn't much traffic. It took us about an hour but we did it and were very proud of ourselves!! Did I mention it was FREEZING cold?? Not a lot of fun! This is the final product:

We got back on the road around 7:30am but wanted to stop and have the tire looked at to make sure it was on tight enough. When we were finally back on the road for good, we knew there was no way we were going to make the funeral on time. I knew that Jaime was singing a song at the funeral and Meredith was reading the eulogy so I talked with Sarah on our way there and asked her to stall if at all possible. We got there as quickly as we could and ended up arriving in Middlesboro around 11:35am. We ran in and were able to make it in time for the end of the preachers sermon and to see my grandmother before they closed the casket....she looked BEAUTIFUL! We intended to change before the funeral but didn't want to miss anymore than we had to so we ran in - I was in my comfy car outfit and running shoes and Ryan was in his nice pants and a fleece. I decided that my grandmother wouldn't have minded.

After the funeral ended we went to the graveyard for the burial and then went to a dinner that was hosted by my grandmothers sisters church. I've never seen so much food! After that all the boys went to my cousins house to hang out and all of the girls went to my grandmothers house to watch her favorite movie - O' Brother Where Art Thou.

My uncle Herman (pictured below) runs a Goodyear store up in Middlesboro and he saved the day for the Jag! He gave us 4 new tires so we could get home safely - THANK YOU UNCLE HERMAN!

It was great to get to see all of my siblings, aunts, uncles & cousins - even though the occasion was a sad one. Please continue to pray for my mom & her siblings.

In Loving Memory...

My grandmother, Edith Lambdin, passed away on Tuesday morning, November 17th. We are all heartbroken, but we have so much to be thankful for! First and foremost, she died peacefully in her sleep and the writings she left behind showed that she was ready to go - to be with Jesus, my grandfather Clarence who died in 1996, and her 2 little babies that died. We're also thankful that each of her 3 daughters got to spend a full week or more with her in the 4 weeks leading up to her death - her 3 sons all live close by, but the 3 daughters (including my mom) moved away.

I got to talk with her on the Saturday before she died and we had a great conversation. She was so excited that I was pregnant and wanted to know all about how I was feeling and if I was feeling the baby move. She *loved* kids and couldn't wait to meet this baby! I am not sad for my grandmother because I know she is in a better place and finally with her husband who she has missed *so* much. Reading her writings she wrote after his death were truly amazing...they had both Ryan and I in tears. She was such a great example - I pray that I can have the love for faith, family, and friends that she had! I am most sad for my mom & really for all of us, that we won't be able to interact with her here on earth anymore but we know she is watching over us. I'm sad that our new little girl won't get to meet her sweet Mama Lambdin, but know that she will always be with her!

A Tough Loss

CPA had a tough loss on Friday night in the 3rd round of the Class 2A football playoffs. CPA lost 35-21 on a freezing night in Nashville. The temperature was 22 degrees at kickoff. It was a tough loss for the team & coaches but they had a great season!

On the up & up

A quick update for you....we left the hospital at 2am on Thursday morning after the doctors determined that Ryan was okay. They did an ultrasound of his arm to ensure there were no blood clots & recommended he get a stress test in the next 3 days to confirm his heart is okay. It was a long night and Ryan was in rare form...he decided about 10:30pm that he was ready to get out of there and believe me, there was NO changing his mind! He almost became a crazy patient and started pulling the wires off of his body! It was quite hilarious....

I'm also feeling better...my throat is no longer sore but now I've got the congestion & watery eyes. I haven't been 100% in almost 4 weeks now so I'm about over not feeling well!!! We do know things could be much worse though, so we are trying hard not to complain.

The CPA Lions had a big win last night during the second round of the playoffs- they beat Fairview 14-7 in the pouring rain. It wasn't a lot of fun to watch but once again, the defense played great and I was really proud of Ryan!

Thank you all for your prayers for our friends the Morgans….they have definitely been helping as it appears that Missy’s condition is improving…still really serious, but improving! They've created a blog with updates on Missy so you can check it out for the specifics - they are much better at explaining what is going on than I am!

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/missymorgan

Thank you for your continued thoughts & prayers for our good friends!

In Bad Shape

We are in bad shape today...I woke up feeling really sick. My throat was swollen so I called the OB and went to the Minute Clinic for a strep test. It came back negative but they thought it looked like strep so they are running a second test that will take a few days for the results. In the meantime, I'm drinking a lot of hot drinks and trying to soothe the pain.

Ryan hasn't been feeling well either and we're actually at the Vanderbilt ER right now as I write this. He's been having some pain in his right arm and chest tightness so we decided to come down and get it checked out.

Say a prayer for us!

We received some encouraging news from our friend Melinda Mayton regarding her visit with Missy Morgan yesterday. Missy had a good day and one of her labs was improving in the right direction. I'm not sure exactly what that means but we are thrilled for any encouraging news...keep praying for them! Prayer is powerful and we believe that God can heal her!

Love to all....
Lauren & Ryan

Prayers for our sweet friend, Missy Morgan

It is with heavy hearts that we write this message and ask for prayers for our sweet friends the Morgan family. We first met the Morgan's 4 summers ago at the Lighthouse and their friendship has been such a blessing to us over the past 4 years. Les & Missy are the parents & they have 3 kids - Heidi, Will & Ryan. Their youngest, Ryan, was diagnosed in '04 with Stage IV Neuroblastoma, one month before his 6th birthday. I've copied the information from his blog here:


"Ryan had been placed on a treatment protocol (COG ANBL00P1). Ryan has completed: a 6" tummy incision to biopsy the tumor and lymph nodes , 5 rounds of high dose chemo, a 14" incision to surgically remove the tumor, 2 rounds of mega chemo to destroy all blood cells with 2 stem cell transplants, 4 weeks of radiation and six months of Isotretinoin (accutane) oral therapy, more than 100 nights spent at the hospital and many more days. Ryan officially ended that treatment in September 2005. In April 2007, Ryan relapsed. He has since completed 11 rounds of Cytoxan/Topetecan then 3 rounds of VP-16. In April 08 a brain tumor was discovered and Ryan under went a successful Gamma Knife surgery. We then started a combination of temozolomide and irinotecan. In July, Ryan under went surgery to remove what was left of the tumor in preparation for brain and spine radiation. Ryan is presently taking part in a Phase II, 3F8 antibody treatment, interthecally at Sloan in NY."


As you can see, it has not been an easy road for this family. Early in 2008, Missy was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent treatment for the disease. We found out this week that the cancer metathesized and has also created a secondary and more dangerous effect called DIC. It has spread to her lungs and bone marrow. The post from their blog tonight:


"There are a lot of things that are wrong in this world. Tonight, Missy and I had to tell our three beautiful children that their mommy is dying. The only thing possibly worse than that, is losing a child. We have appreciated the support from all of our family and friends so much over the years since we started SuperRyan. I never, in a million years thought that I would have to type this on his page. Missy has been every bit as amazing as Ryan while fighting this hideous disease. She was full bore right up until last week, never a complaint about her condition, just constant worry about Ryan and the rest of us. It is still her main concern. I am not sure how and when Missy will be able to handle visitors, it may be just hit or miss depending on how she is feeling. She is on a number of medications for pain, cough and sleep. Our hospital appointments have been changed to Hospice care, our nurse will be here on Saturday. I will plan on having a book by the back door that you can sign if you stop by and she is not able to visit. I am asking for no food...it is a stressor just getting it together, getting everyone sat down and cleaning it all up, also, finicky kids don't help. Thank you for being there for us, praying for us and letting Missy know how much she is loved.Sincerely, Les"


I cannot even begin to tell you how important this family is to us. Please surround them in prayer - that God will bring supernatural healing for Missy in a way that only He can, that He would wrap his arms around this sweet family and provide them comfort and peace in a time that is impossible to understand. Pray for their friends and loved ones, that we can provide them the support they need during this time. Pray. Pray. Pray. I know that God is bigger than cancer and this family has been through so much.


If you want to look at their blog for updates, you can access it at http://www.superryan.blogspot.com/


Here is a picture of my family & the Morgan's - Missy & Les are standing to the right, next to Meredith & Patrick. Their 3 kids are Heidi, Will, & Ryan.





With heavy hearts,

Lauren & Ryan

Way to go Lions!

CPA won the first round of the playoffs tonight - 47-19. Ryan was fun to watch on the sidelines & the team played great! They will host the second round playoff game at home next week.

Welcome to our Blog!

Well...all of our friends & family keep asking for updates on our life so we decided to join the blogging world! We are blessed beyond what we could ever imagine - we have so much to be thankful for. I'm going to try my best to post once a week on the weekends to keep all of you who are interested informed. Let me try my best to get you caught up to date with the happenings so far. We found out we were pregnant in mid-August when I was already 8.5 weeks pregnant! We had a few scares early on, but thanks to the grace of God our little one survived a MRI and lots of caffeine and advil before I knew I was pregnant. We went to a new OBGYN - Dr. Macey, and he has been fantastic! These pictures are the day we found out - we were definitely in shock:

We managed to keep it a secret from our families so we could tell them in person. We were able to get my family's response on video and it was priceless:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_3F-A9QNxI

The picture in the frame we gave our parents is from our first ultrasound. Look at our little one at 8.5 weeks...so hard to believe:

I survived the first trimester without many side effects - no real morning sickness, praise the Lord! I did suffer from some fatigue but my travel schedule with work has been really hectic so I'm not sure whether to attribute the fatigue to my work hours or the pregnancy! The worst side effect I've felt is some serious complexion issues...my face hasn't had this many pimples since middle school! Totally worth it, but I do wonder sometimes if it will ever go back to normal. If you look at the pictures that follow and wonder, where are those pimples, rest assured they are there...Meredith was in town this weekend and has a Mac...it has an amazing feature called blemish remover & I've already told Ryan I want a Mac...just for the bemish remover! It's amazing!

I felt like I started to show about week 14 but Ryan couldn't really tell until around week 16 or so. I'm currently at 19.5 weeks and this is the belly I've got to show for it (for all of you looking for belly pics...here they are!):

We had our 20 week ultrasound this Thursday and the baby was healthy and cute as can be! It had Ryan's nose and was yawning the entire time. Ryan thought it was just like me...not a morning person! Here are a few pictures from the ultrasound...I've included the profile & a picture of the foot - it was really big!

During the ultrasound, we didn't find out the sex, but had the technician, Lena, write it on the picture and seal it in an envelope. We went to our special place for dinner on Thursday night, Park Cafe, and opened it together. We both thought it was going to be a boy.

My family came into town for the weekend so we started on Friday night at Ryan's football game - it was the Region Championship game and we were up against our biggest rival, Goodpasture. We've lost to Goodpasture the past 5 times we've been up against them so we knew it would be tough. CPA played great - especially the defense - and won the game 21-10! Way to go Ryan!!!

We celebrated Saturday morning at Monell's for breakfast and then had the big Baby Reveal at our house.

We had Publix make a cake with a middle layer icing to share the news - pink for a girl, blue for a boy. Everyone thought we were finding out today too...we kept it a secret that we found out on Thursday. So we cut into the cake and It's A...........

GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you believe it?? A girl?! Everyone had guessed it was a boy except for Ryan's mom! We are so excited to know that we will be having a little girl...i'm sure she'll be daddy's biggest cheerleader :) You all know that I think I have the sweetest husband in the whole world...well, he officially solidified that title when after he found out it was a girl he said he hoped she was just like me. Don't you just love him?!?! We aren't going to announce the name until we've decided on one, so look out for that post sometime in the future.

It's been a great weekend and we are reminded of how blessed we truly are. God has given us more than we could have imagined, and we are incredibly humbled by this experience. Here's to many days of Football & Fairy Tales to come....thanks for wanting to share in it with us! We truly could not ask for more!