Wow, Has It Really Been THAT Long?

Oh my goodness...time sure does fly when you are having fun (or babies)! So much has happened since the last post. Let's see:

• I graduated from school and found a job right away!
• I got pregnant with baby #2
• We sold our house in Raleigh and moved to the farm in Cameron.
• Had baby #2: Blake Martin Bradsher born September 27, 2012
• Scott's dad and him started a new venture with the purchase of Southern Products & Silica Company, near Rockingham.
• Got pregnant with baby #3
• I changed my work shift so I only work Saturdays and Sundays. (Get to stay at home with the babies!)
• Had to have my gallbladder out when I was 5 months pregnant. Not fun at all!
• Had baby #3: Wyatt Thomas Bradsher born November 11, 2013

Right now life is a little crazy, okay REALLY crazy! Keeping up with two little ones and the big ones (including the hubby), is never ending.  I feel like all I do is laundry, clean bottles, and feed mouths. But with the start of the New Year, I have decided to try to keep up with my blog more. Yes, one of my New Year resolutions. I just didn't realize it had been that long since my last post.  So now I am going to post a few pictures of our sweet little (not so little anymore) family! Enjoy!

This is Blake when he was about 2 months old!

Here is Blake at 11 months old! Love those baby blues!

Here is Wyatt! 

And here Wyatt is after we came home from the hospital!

 Here is Blake enjoying some bath time!

And here is my biggest baby of all, Tanner! He is growing up too fast!

Kittens!

Easter brought us a wonderful surprise! The night before Easter, Sasha, our cat went into labor (if that's what you call it for cats). By eleven o'clock that night, we had two sweet kittens. By Easter morning, we had a total of five kittens! If you haven't ever seen Sasha, she is a very petite cat. Definitely don't know how she had 5 little kittens in her belly, let alone be walking around carrying them.

Here it is, a week later and some of the kittens have already opened their eyes! They don't get around yet, that will be a couple more weeks. These sure are some sweet little things!  Don't you want one????

Tanner's Big Boy Room!

I figured it would be neat for Tanner's 5th birthday to make him a "big boy" room. Since all he likes to talk about is hunting, deer, turkeys and the hunting cabin, I thought hunting would be a good theme! I had most everything done for his birthday, but I just finished up some of the last touches. Here are the pics of his "big boy" room.

The Storm

I just want to thank God that my family is all okay after that crazy storm we had yesterday afternoon. We didn't have any damage besides our weeping willow tree down and our mailbox on the ground, both of which were hanging on by a thread. The willow tree had started leaning over from all this rain we have had in the last couple of weeks. We had anchored it down, but the ravaging winds were too much for it. The mailbox, which had just gotten run over (for the third time, I might say) this past week was not very well secured in the ground. So, I am sure you could have just blown on it and it would have fallen over. It breaks my heart that the willow tree fell over, but I know things could have been alot worse for us. There are so many others that have lost everything, including loved ones. It makes me cry thinking about the families that lost three very young kids and an infant that is in critical condition, from a tree that fell on their mobile home. I couldn't even imagine. I couldn't even imagine what others are going through after they lost their home and everything in it. It truly makes me thankful for our safety. I also want to say lots of thank you's to the police, the firefighters, EMS and all the power crews, who worked around the clock to help those in need! I heard sirens for hours going up and down Louisburg Road. Even though we didn't need their assistance, I know there were many others that did! God Bless all those that helped!

Well, Tanner enjoyed having a new adventure with the willow tree! He played on it (or in it!) almost all day! 

Tanner's First T-Ball Game!

So, yesterday was Tanner's first t-ball game!

It has been hilarious to watch the kids practice so far! I was thinking this first game was going to be a hodge-podge of kids running around with no idea what's going on. Obviously some kids played last year so it wasn't total chaos.

Tanner did good. He doesn't really know the logics of the game yet. So, the first time he batted he ran to first base but he didn't know where to go from there! Me, Scott, and the rest of the crowd were yelling at him to run to second base. The next time he batted he ran to first then he kinda just walked to second like he wasn't sure where he was suppose to go, then he just gave up and walked back to the dugout! It was so funny! By the end of the game he finally realized he was suppose to run to first, second, third and then home! Also, when his team is out on the field, he would obviously get bored waiting for the ball to come to him. So he kept himself preoccupied with playing in the dirt, making himself a "house" is what he told us.

He seems to be enjoying himself playing t-ball. He always gets a smile on his face when it's his turn to bat. And he has lots of fun during practice with the other kids. We are hoping he has more athletic skills then me or Scott, which wouldn't take much!

Tanner's First T-Ball Practice!

Okay, so I think I have been more excited about Tanner starting T-Ball then he has! Today was his first practice and we were so excited (Of course, Mommy forgot the camera!). He had a great time and seemed to really enjoy it. Me and Scott were so tickled just watching him and the other kids. The coach said that he needs his own glove and things so after practice we headed up to Play It Again Sports. He picked out a bat, glove, helmet and cleats.  As soon as we got home, he got all his gear and headed for the backyard with Scott. I followed with my camera because I absolutely love pictures and it's been awhile since I have taken any. I hope you enjoy the photos! (And hopefully, Mommy can remember to take her camera to the next practice!)

Okay, so sorry but I am starting this blog off on a somewhat dreary note.

I am going to blog about something that I didn't want many people to know. Scott says I should just tell people. He is not very good at keeping secrets anyway! But I think I was trying to keep it to myself as much as possible so I didn't have to face it. The less it is talked about it, the easier it is for me to forget that it is happening.

So, some of you know that I was pregnant back in the fall and that I suffered a miscarriage. Well, well.............I got pregnant immediately after the miscarriage. I mean like 2 weeks after. We weren't really trying to get pregnant on the first try. We were just thinking that it couldn't happen so soon anyways, so why worry about birth control. The middle of December, I took a good ole' home pregnancy test and sure enough I was pregnant. My first "pregnancy" appointment was scheduled for January 3rd. I was excited for the day to come because I knew they were going to do an ultrasound at this appointment. And after what happened with the previous pregnancy, I was anxious to see a picture of the baby, just for self-assurance.

I went in to the doctor that day, extremely nervous! The doctor came in and started the ultrasound. There was this long moment of silence while she was angling the probe every which way. It was one of those times that you want to just yell "Tell me what is going on." Finally, she spoke. She tells me she thinks I have what is called a Molar pregnancy. I think my heart just dropped to my stomach. Even though I had no clue what a molar pregnancy was, I knew it wasn't good.

*Pause. A molar pregnancy is when sperm fertilizes an empty egg or two sperm fertilize the same egg. Overall, there is either not enough chromosomes or way too many chromosomes to become a fetus. It just becomes placenta-like tissue and grows and grows. Unpause.*

So, I go talk to her in her office after she consulted with my other doctor. That day was a nightmare. While I was in her office, she scheduled me for a D & C for that afternoon at the hospital. Scott rushed to the doctor's office and took me over to the hospital so they could prep me for the procedure. Everything went good, just like it should. Afterwards, I wasn't in much pain at all. Nothing like when I had the miscarriage.

The plan then was to visit the doctor every week and get blood drawn to make sure my "levels" (beta HcG) dropped. So, that's what I did for three weeks. Then, with my string of bad luck (that obviously was still hanging on) my levels jumped up. That means "it" was growing again. "It" meaning the molar tissue. Within three days, I was back to the doctor's for more bloodwork, had a chest x-ray, more bloodwork at the hospital, and a FULL body CT scan. Thank the Lord, all my tests came back good! See, when "it" grows it can metasize to other parts of your body with tumors in your lungs, brain and anywhere in your abdomen it feels like making home. Yeah, kinda scary.

I can now say I have TWO AWESOME gynecologists. Dr. Segal and Dr. Munro both are the best. They both showed some much sympathy for what I had experienced thus far. I think I had Dr. Munro almost crying with me when she was filling out my paperwork for my D & C.

Back to the story: So, Dr. Segal called two of his friends that were GYN oncologists, one at Duke and one at Chapel Hill. They both said the molar pregnancy has now become Gestational Trophoblastic Disease. The treatment: a chemo drug called Methotrexate.

I went to visit one of the GYN oncologists that Dr. Segal spoke with. He goes through my history and medical records, asking me questions about what happened. He tells me the game plan. I will get injections of methotrexate once a week until my levels get to normal. Then he will give me an additional dose to knock it while it's down. Then I will come back every month for bloodwork to make sure my levels do not rise again. Now, this methotrexate only has a 60% cure rate, but it is a mild chemo. I am not going to lose my hair. There is another chemo that has an 80% cure rate, but it would make me lose my hair by the 1st/2nd treatment. Yeah, no thanks. Not right now. Sorry, if that sounds selfish or petty. If I had no hair with the ears I've got, I would be inducted into the Dumbo Hall of Fame.

So, now I am in week 6 of my treatments. And my levels are just being plain stubborn. They just don't wanna go down. Two treatments ago, we were hoping it was going to be the last, and again last week, even the doctor was thinking the last one. But NOPE! So, maybe next week. The hardest thing is knowing that once my levels are normal, I have to go every month for 12 months getting bloodwork. I am going to be a nervous wreck every time, just waiting for the doctor to call and say everything is normal. Or if the call is going to be the one that he says this chemo didn't work. Then, we will have to try option 2, the other chemo drug. And if that happens, I will be looking for a wig, even if it is pink!

That is the craziness of the last few months of my life. On top of this, I am in my LAST semester of school and cannot wait to graduate. Some days, I am so dagum tired I don't know how I will make it through the day. I definitely have to say a HUGE thank you to my husband. I have no idea how I would have been able to go through this and keep up with our house, our family, school and work. He has picked up my slack tremendously! So, darlin': "THANK YOU and I LOVE YOU!"

I promise my next post will be a happy one. It will probably be about Tanner, so of course it will be happy! He is such a silly boy! I thank God every single day for him. He is truly a blessing to me and Scott!