Something I Needed to Share

If you know someone who gets Christian Woman magazine (put out by Gospel Advocate) I highly suggest borrowing the September/October issue and reading the article A Journey for Truth: Rethinking the Pill by Lacy Crowell. She talks about one of the back up methods the pill uses. The pill causes changes in the lining of your uterus so that, should you ovulate, the chances of implantation of a fertilized egg are reduced. This means that it would be flushed out of your body. What she calls "in essence, a chemical abortion."

While Justin was at the Memphis School of Preaching we were told this. There was debate, though, if it was true. We looked into it for ourselves and couldn't find any information on it. I looked at the pill I was on's website and couldn't find anything. We talked to a member of the church who is a pharmacist and we were assured that's not a method the pill used. (I guess it's just not widely known.) Some time after we moved to Demopolis I was having a lot of trouble with frequent migraines, depression, fatigue, mood swings, etc. I was trying to figure out the problem and looked in to the side effects of the pill I was on. It seemed that it was the cause of those things. I also found a section on how my pill worked and there it was. A section on the back up method that could cause a perfectly good fertilized egg to not be able to attach to the wall of the uterus. As someone who believes that life starts at fertilization (Psalm 139:13-14), I was devastated. Had I unknowingly caused a chemical abortion? How many had I caused? Needless to say, I stopped taking the pill.

After Reagan was born I asked my doctor about it as well. I told her I had read that a fertilized egg could be flushed out because it couldn't implant and that I believe life starts at fertilization. She said if I was uncomfortable with that then condoms were the best choice.

I wish I had known this sooner. I wish I had shared this sooner. I don't know why I haven't shared this before.

I encourage you to check this out for yourself. Here is a link to the page for Ortho Tri-Cylen Lo. Click on Secondary Methods and it plainly tells you it impedes implantation.

I just want you to be informed.

A Whole YEAR older!

Guess who's back. Back again.
Well, back for today at least. I'll try to do a couple of updates later about our trip and everything. But today is all about this little lady.

It's Reagan's FIRST BIRTHDAY! I really and truly cannot believe that my little baby girl is now a crazy, busy, solid food eating, whole milk drinking toddler! We'll get to all that in a minute. I really can't believe that it has been a year since she was born. I'm so glad the nights of getting no sleep are long gone! When I go back and look at all the monthly posts it's crazy.

Here she is with her giraffe at the hospital, at six months and at one year. I can't believe how much she's grown!

She is getting so big and turning into this little person. She doesn't seem like a baby anymore. She's seems like a little tiny grown up. I know she's not nearly grown. She's just so much more grown up than when she came into our lives. It's so funny to sit and watch her try to figure stuff out. She is so busy. I can't keep up with her! I never know where she is because she's constantly moving. She is now officially off baby food. She either eats what we're eating (cut into little pieces) or eats a gerber toddler meal. She's also drinking whole milk now. While we were on our trip she stopped nursing so when we got home we gave the whole milk a try. She wasn't too sure about it the first two times but the third time she drank the whole cup and now drinks one at every meal.

She's starting to talk more and more. She can say hi and bye and waves at everyone she sees. When Justin comes home she screams "dada" and squeals because she gets so excited. Sometimes she'll say bible and she says duck. Sometimes it's directed at her rubber ducky in the tub and sometimes it's just random. She also randomly says yuck. :) She likes to watch me play super mario bros. When I die she'll go, "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooo." lol She's starting to say uh-oh as well.

She's so sweet. She will run (well, kind of run) up to us and hug our legs or pat us on the arm when we're holding her. She hugs her animals and baby doll.

I know I'm forgetting stuff but it's getting late so my mind is not working too quickly. I wanted to take her down to the river today to take pictures but it stormed off and on all day. But we were able to sneak out in the back yard between storms. Here's what you really want anyway. :)

A few from her party. (if you want more look on facebook)

Her monthly update pictures from the past year.

Overstressed

I've been in some kind of funk lately. I'm not really sure what it is or what is causing it. I keep snapping at the smallest things (of course they don't seem small at the time...to me at least :) ). Justin asked me today if I needed some meds so I could calm down... He was joking of course, kind of. When I stepped in gum tonight in the Wal-Mart parking lot I actually said something to the effect of the universe was out to get me today. First of all, that's not even the type of thing I buy into. Second of all, give me a break self. The best way to describe what I've been feeling is overwhelmed and anxious. I feel like I'm not measuring up, not as good as I should be. At what, you might ask? Life. I dunno. I'm constantly stressed and it's taking a toll on my family. I'm not sleeping much or well. I know that doesn't help. I think I'm going to take a break from the blogging and facebook worlds for a couple of days just to remove those extra things. I think maybe I've just got too many things going on. I'm in the middle of about a million (ok maybe that's an exaggeration) projects. I need to de-clutter life a little and maybe I'll feel better. I'm very much looking forward to getting out of town here in a couple of weeks and even more so to an anniversary trip for just Justin and I in September. Hopefully time away from home will help...we'll see. But for now I'm taking a break from all this. I'll get back to the 30 days of music eventually. No promises about when I'll post again, but I'll be back.

Prayers are appreciated.

I Have Nothing Cute to Say...It's Too Late at Night.

Well, I said Reagan had been teething pretty easily with these two teeth and now I regret it. She has had a horrible day. She was crying and cranky for most of it. I put her to bed early and used the time to make some more bows for her.

I know the navy may seem random, but it was made for a specific outfit. :)

In one of her non-crying moments she was playing in her room and when I went to check on her she was doing this.

I guess she's gonna start climbing everything. Uh-oh. She also likes to step up on the side of her activity jumper.

Day 21 of 30 days of music is a song you listen to when you're happy. I don't necessarily listen to this everytime I feel happy or only when I feel happy, but I think it's a happy song. How can you not smile when listening to it?

Days 19 and 20

Had a migraine last night, hence another catch up post for 30 days of music.

Day 19 is a song from your favorite album. I have lots of favorites but one that gets played a lot is The Shade of Poison Trees by Dashboard Confessional. The song I picked from that album is Where There's Gold. It always gets stuck in my head and I'm singing it forever when it does. But that's ok....because it's a good song. :)

Day 20 is a song you listen to when angry. These days I don't ever find myself angry enough to need this kind of release. But, back in the drama filled days of late high school and early college this was a favorite of mine. I had a lot of things going on then that would build up until I couldn't take it anymore. I would crank it up as high as I could and ride down the road screaming the song at the top of my lungs. It was a really good release for me. I would use the song to get it all out. I actually still love the song, I just lead a much happier and calmer life now. Less need for screaming and such. :)

You Got to Rise UP and Think About Somethin'

Sunday night was a rough night. I couldn't shut my brain off to go to sleep. When I finally started to go back to bed somewhere between 1 and 2 am, Reagan woke up screaming. Her gums have been hurting because her top two front teeth are still coming in. She went back to sleep after a while of rocking but kept crying out through the night. Around 4:45 am a dog got caught in a trap the dog catchers had out in our neighbors yard and he went nuts for a good while. I say all that to say I went to bed early last night so there was no blog post. :)

Yesterday's 30 Days of Music was a song you hear often on the radio. We don't really like the local stations and for a while didn't have xm in our car anymore (now we do thanks to an early bday present from Jeremy to Justin) so we mostly listened to cd's. But when we did listen we would here this song a lot and it's one we really like. I know it's not new, but I really like it!

Day 18 of 30 Days of Music is a song you wish you heard on the radio. Earlier in this whole experience I chose a song by Hanson and told you I'd show you some of their newer stuff later on. This is from their latest album. I really love their sound. And yes, that is Weird Al on the tambourine. :)

Today we made a trip to Tuscaloosa. In case you don't know, Tuscaloosa is the biggest town near us. It's about an hour away. If we want to do any shopping somewhere other than Wal-Mart that's where we have to go. We took the car in to get a switch of some sort replaced and to get it serviced. After that we went to the most wonderful place on Earth...Hobby Lobby. :) I bought some ribbon to make Reagan some more bows and then we went to Michael's to get the stuff to make her birthday present. We bought an unfinished rocking chair and some paint. We're going to paint it up in fun bright colors. I'm excited about this project! I just hope it turns out the way I see it in my head. But, the good thing about paint is that you can always paint over it! :)

Oh, He'll show alright!

Day 16 of 30 Days of Music is a song you used to love but now hate. I don't guess I ever really loved this song. But when it first came out I really liked the sound of it. I'm one of those people who tends to listen to the sound of the music and voices more so than the actual words. Especially the first few times I hear a song. But once I caught about the third line of the song that was is for me. I chose Thnks fr th Mmrs by Fall Out Boy. The whole song really isn't good. It talks about one night stands and that sort of thing. But the line that really gets me is "in case God doesn't show, let the good times roll." As soon as I would hear the first notes of the song I would try to change it before that line played. The flippant attitude toward God just makes me angry.