MOVING

Well, it appears as if we are moving back to the great town of Arp. The house we are currently living in has sold and we have not gotten around to building our dream home!! LOL Jeremy has started a business which is located in Henderson so it will be much closer to the offices. I will still be bringing Burkelyn to her school and dance classes here in Lindale, so everyone can calm down. I sure am going to miss our neighbors and Lindale in general!! Maybe our house in Arp will sell while we are living in it also. Right now it looks like the day after Halloween, we will no longer be residing in Lindale : ( Guess I had better peek up in the attic and see just how much help I am going to be needing?!?

First half of Summer......

Well......I have been horrible about blogging even with all the high aspirations I had for myself. Many, many fun and monumental occasions have come and gone. Let me see what pics I have on my phone.............

Burkelyn Jean at her first official Recital Rehearsal! She looks pretty laid back. I LOVE seeing her up on that stage!!!

Our next door neighbors are the Meador's. MyKylie and Burkelyn watch for each other to come home!! They have so much fun playing.

Burkelyn took swim lessons from sweet Katherine Cowart in June. She only made that grumpy face when I was there to watch. (so I am told)

Burkelyn and Keatyn really know how to enjoy a shopping trip with their moms. I am so lucky to have reconnected with Beth and I love that our children get along so well with one another. God is GOOD!!!

They get along so well.....that we had our first sleepover last week. The girls had a blast, popcorn, movies, stories and oh the giggling until after midnight. I was so tired, but I could not get upset with them. I could only smile while I thought of the wonderful memories they were creating. (That next morning was another story LOL)

My b-day was July 2 and Mom's is July 3. Mom and I celebrated our birthdays this year by getting a pedicure together on her birthday. I cannot believe that we are both in our 30's now.

This was July 3rd we met our "Dadu" (Burkelyn's new nickname for her daddy) for a late lunch. That girl loves her daddy almost as much as I DO! Got some more pics from July 4th and my suprise party post soon..................

This Saturday would be Lincoln's first birthday. I really wish that instead of typing this I were running around frantically trying to prepare for his first birthday party. Since I won't be doing that I will just share some sweet pictures of my little angel with you all. I love you Lincoln Garyt Allen and I miss your sweet little smile and your stinky formula breath. I miss you holding onto my finger and I really miss you keeping me up all night. You were such a good little cuddler and we miss you in "the big bed". I love you to the moon and back Doodlebug.

Lincoln's toes in the sand! When we left Children's we immediately took a family trip to the beach. I really wanted to Lincoln to see the ocean while we had a chance. He HATED the sand!

Lincoln's first pumpkin! I take the kids to the pumpkin patch every year and they each get to pick out their own pumpkin. I think this is actually one of Mimi's. He wasn't really sure what to think about sharing his car seat with that big orange thing.

Thanksgiving 2008

I made our whole dinner!!! We watched the parade while I cooked and then we all watched the game together. Mimi stopped by for a little while. Lincoln was a cranky little turkey and just wanted to be held all day.

No pics of Christmas little Lincoln was fighting to stay alive that day. In and out of surgery twice in 36 hours. He was such a brave little boy. When we took him down for one procedure, he was holding Jeremy's finger and just looked up at him and smiled so sweetly.

This is the sweet little Doodlebug "ringing in" the New Year. Mommy and Daddy and Mimi played games and ate KFC. Later we tried to get a doctor called but the charge nurse in that unit would not page him. Needless to say the next morning we were rushed back to ICU.

Happy Mother's Day

Well, first of all let me say thanks to my spectacular husband. I really had a mother's weekend....He met me after I ran/walked the Susan G. Komen Saturday morning and bought me an I-phone. Which I have been wanting but had absolutely no justification for purchasing. Then we went to OTB and I had a reward of Tres Leches! Then we came home and took a nap! Glorious, although it was only 25 minutes. Then he surprised Burkelyn and I with a trip to Shogun. We hadn't been there in a very long time and it was Pooties first Hibachi dinner. We had such a great time together as a family at our own table with our very own chef. Then on Sunday he surprised Poots and I with breakfast. AND THEN... mowed the lawn!!!! I was ecstatic since this is a chore I have been completing lately. Burkelyn and I went for a late afternoon jog at Faulkner and then watched AFV with our Awesome Daddy! I missed my Doodlebug an awful lot today and am extremely saddened by his approaching birthday. I love you Lincoln Garyt Allen and I miss you so so so very much.

More Tests.....

I swear, just when you think you are finally going to get some definitive answers! Although we know that the autopsy report states that Lincoln's death was due to liver failure, we still don't know exactly why?!? I guess we will really not know exactly what happened and obviously that is the way He wants it. Lincoln was confirmed to have a genetic mutation in his 5 and 19th chromosome. The 5th was a G and the 19th an R. (Not that that information is going to cause any of you to have a sudden realization into the scope of this illness) We could both (Jer and myself) be carriers or we could be "mosaics" or it could have all been spontaneous mutation. We are being encouraged to have genetic testing done on ourselves but the results could be (yet again) inconclusive. AAAAAGGGGGGHHHHH!

We do know that his endocrine system organs were all smaller than average. And his thymine was extremely small for a child of his age. None of these things are usual symptoms of the POLG1 DNA depletion that Lincoln had. So I am delving into research these symptoms hoping to maybe find ....something. This all had to happen for a reason.
""

Prayer Request

I know after everything that I have been through this request seems quite trivial, but I am requesting it regardless. Jeremy and I have an appointment with Dr. Casas tomorrow. She is the genetic doctor that Lincoln saw here before we left for Dallas way back in September. We are going in for "genetic counseling". We will be hearing for the first time in detail exactly what was troubling our sweet little angel. All of the labs, biopsies and pathology reports are back and we will be reading those as well. I am requesting prayer for both of us for strength...... mainly. It is hard enough to talk about Lincoln for a few seconds let alone in such depth. We will also find out if we have to undergo further testing and the probability of the other kids passing these genes on. Please just remember our family tomorrow and I will be sure to update shortly. Thanks in advance!! All our LoVe, Nat and Jer

Little Things

I am really easy to please. Honestly it does not take much at all to make me happy. For example, my husband met me and Poots at Cracker Barrel last night for dinner with my grandparents and mother. I thanked him more than 6 times before he fell asleep. I just know how much it tickles them so in turn I am super happy. = ) Then today I am doing laundry. I retrieve the whites from the dryer and every single sock has a match. I was ecstatic. Then thinking to myself, "wow I cant believe I am this happy about the absence of a sock monster". But I truly was fulfilled by this small wonder. Why question happiness however small the wonder that brings it. So I am PROUD to say that I am happy and loving my life.

Thank You Lord for this blessed day that You have given me to share with my family. Thank You for providing for my family and allowing me the opportunity to stay at home while it matters most to my kids. Thank You for giving me moments of peace when I don't know how I will go on. Thank You for helping me to stay strong when I miss my Doodlebug so very much. Thank You for taking care of him and for the promise that I will see him again someday soon.

These are some of the sweetest pics we got of the girls in the backyard of a very generous woman who lives in the azalea district. Burkelyn, Allee and Sydney were really playing ring-around-the-rosies! I got so many good pics of these little angels it was hard to choose just a few!!

Burkelyn's Cowgirl Party

Okay so this is almost a month late being posted, I was waiting on my husband to get these pictures for the posting (my computer is banana sandwich and causes mass chaos when it comes to pictures) so I apologize for the delay and the lack of pictures as of today.............
This weekend our big family event was Burkelyn Jean's 3rd birthday party. This little princess wanted a "cowgirly" party. Not to be mistaken with a rodeo, western or CoWbOy party. We searched e-v-e-r-y where for cowgirl party supplies. In this little 3 year old mind the words girl and pink are completely interchangable. So we had to make it "cowgirly" on our own. Enter a buggy full of pink bandanas, some cute turquoise boots (thanks MiMi) full of pink flowers and some paisley party supplies. OMG I almost forgot the balloons. Literally, called Jessica at LFS at 11:45 with the "please don't close, I am on my way" call. I forget that I have absolutely NO room in my car, so BJA is now in the backseat with 25 pink & turquoise balloons. She thought it was hilarious and laughed the whole way home. Why is it, that no matter how much planning and preparation you do, you are still "doing" as the guests arrive ? At those moments when you are tying up all the loose ends and mumbling under your breath (to yourself) you can't help but wonder "why in the heck didn't I just do Chuck E Cheese". Right Keri ?? No, I really do enjoy throwing parties, I wish that I had more excuses to do it! ANYWAY... we had a GREAT time. The kids had a wonderful time in spite of the horrible weather. All of my planned activities had to be thrown out the window. (which was very dissapointing to me because I thought they were very creative and CuTe) Oh well, it was fun to catch up with everyone. I guess everyone enjoyed the chili and fixins. I wouldn't know I didn't get AnY. Jeremy took me and Pootie to Posada's for dinner. LOL Here are some pictures. THANKS to everyone who braved the weather and came out. Burkelyn absolutely loves all of her gifts.

Let's catch up......

Okay. So obviously I am not the best blogger ever or I would have made more than two posts in a weeks time. I set out with good intentions. I think "oh I need to blog about that". But then when I get everything finished at night...well you know.

Peyton scored for the first time at his last basketball game of the season on Saturday the 28th. I am so proud of him. He really likes basketball. I tried to get him to play soccer a couple of seasons. But bless his heart, it just wasn't his thing. I was "that" mom on the sidelines, who was constantly yelling "run Peyton run", "the ball Peyton, get the BALL". You know the mom (or dad) you look at and think , "oh that poor kid, just let him have fun already". Yeah that was me. But he really likes the basketball and is thinking of trying baseball.


Burkelyn and I went to the Home Show at Harvey Hall on Sunday after church with Janice and Sydney. After lunch, we got the girls all loaded up in my WONDERFUL Joovy Caboose Stroller. (I swear that thing is a miracle machine) Sydney had her blanket and was all set to stroll around. BUT NOOOO. I forgot that you cannot take strollers inside HH. So we unload the girls take the stroller back to the car and start on our journey. The reason you cannot take strollers in is because of "insurance reasons". But the damage a 16 month old and a 3 year old can do are far more costly than anything that could be caused by a stroller??? You can use a Hoverround or a wheelchair....I do not really understand the reasoning. So as we make our way through the various vendors I keep observing all of these hazards; a spa full of water, multiple door and window displays, a man handing out yard sticks (which any parent knows is just asking for trouble), thousands of dollars in merchandise that I would not categorize as child friendly. Now, our children were held in some form or fashion 90% of the time. But I am griping so much about this because....Janice and Chris ARE building a house. She really went to look at items, talk to vendors and actually make connections. We weren't there passing the time on a Sunday afternoon like the majority of the people there obviously were. It would have been much more beneficial to these people to let us take our stroller in. Okay I am getting off of my soap box now. A funny thing did happen though. Burkelyn loves to measure things just like her daddy. So when one of the merchants gave us a little house shaped tape measure she was elated. She was measuring everything within reach. So at one of those times she is walking freely she is behind me. We walked up and down a little section of the aisle a couple of times to let her stretch her legs. This nice man walks up to me and collects himself enough to inform me that Burkelyn has so sweetly been measuring my rump at every angle possible. AAAGGHH! Great! Apparently all of these merchants have been getting a great big ol' laugh out of it. Here is a pic of the little devil with her tape. At least she wasn't using that yardstick!

Some Serious Shopping

Today my mother in law, sister in law, niece, daughter and myself spent the ENTIRE day shopping in Canton! How much fun did we have? The girls were a hoot. We found so many cute things for the kids. We found a couple of items for Janice's new house. (which was actually our excuse for going and ironically we only bought a trash can and some antlers LOL !) But what I really wanted to share was chaos that ensued at the "Scratch and Dent" sale of a local retailer. The post card informed us that it started at 5. They were not going to let AnYoNe into that section of the store until 5:00:00. When we got there approx 15 minutes early we found a line (or 3) of some SERIOUS shoppers. I mean these ladies had lists with room measurements, items, names and more. They were armed with bottles of water, tape measures, designated seekers, carriers, and loot watchers. They meant business!! My sister in law jokingly said, "Maybe we should go and get a buggy. Do you think that they have one with spikes?" LOL! When the gatekeeper removed the barricade, they were off. We entered leisurely and walked around perusing in between the ladies I could only illustrate as a mad bee colony in the spring. I stumbled upon a cute little mirrored table that would make a cute nightstand. It had a nick in the mirror so I am thinking this has to be a great deal. I am bent OVER this table looking for the price tag and this lady walks up beside me. She is also bent over near the table, then she picks it up. I kindly say, "Oh, did you find the price tag?" She mutters something under her breath as she walks off with MY table. Well it obviously wasn't meant to be. A funny story it makes though. I wasn't the only victim of the lady I have deemed the "ShopZilla". I overheard some others talking about an easel that was removed from their buggy. Oh, I couldn't help but laugh. But I bear hugged my stool until I got it safely to the car. And maybe that Demolition Derby style shopping cart wasn't such a bad idea after all Janice!

Here we go.....

Well, I guess it was only a matter of time before I started this so here goes.......

Why LoVeBuGs? All my babies are some sort of bug..Ladybugs, Doodlebugs, Squirmybugs.....

I am a mother, wife, friend, sibling, daughter and so much more. I have loved, lost, fought, fallen, risen, rejoiced and so much more. I love to share and so I shall.

Currently we are living in Lindale. We being myself, my husband Jeremy and my daughter Burkelyn. Peyton my oldest has chosen to live with his dad (for now). Lincoln my sweet baby boy, is waiting on us in Heaven.

Mostly our days now are consumed with packing, unpacking, arranging, cleaning and other moving chores. Our move was prompted by the passing of our son Lincoln Garyt. But that is a subject that warrants its own post. So we are living in a cute little neighborhood that I am truly enjoying thus far. It never hurts when you move 40 minutes closer to your best friend!

Burkelyn and I fit in the occasional "Story Time" at the library. Of course we CANNOT miss dance classes on Wednesday. Then there is the tried and true mother daughter bonding I like to call "retail therapy". An afternoon at Target is always good for one's soul!

Well, I have some boxes calling my name so I had better get off my rump. I hope to keep you interested and make you laugh when I can!! Talk soon, or should that be Post soon? Nat