Halloween

Happy Halloween!!

Shane holding Matt.


Today is Shane's birthday. He is 29. He is such a special person to me. He is more like my child than my brother. After serving 8 years in the Marine Corp. and living in California he finally decided it was time to come home. Even though we still don't see him everyday, we know he is here with us. I know I get on his nerves telling him what he needs to do and how he needs to do it, but most of the time we get along great. I say that he was born on Halloween and has been a devil ever since!

Today is the twins FIRST HALLOWEEN. No we are not going trick or treating! Too much trouble. Kyle hated trick or treating. He hated everyting about it custom, candy, etc. So I guess one good thing about not going is I won't end up eating all the candy!!

Here's a pic of the twins in their Baby's 1st Halloween outfits.
They look real happy don't they!

Hope everyone has a great weekend and remember don't eat too much candy, it's bad for your teeth!!!

Thankfulness!

I received the following in an email today. I thought it was pretty good.

As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let you down probably will. You will have your heart broken probably more than once and it's harder every time. You'll break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken. You'll fight with your best friend. You'll blame a new love for things an old one did. You'll cry because time is passing too fast, and you'll eventually lose someone you love. So take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you've never been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you'll never get back. Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin.

I went shopping on Sunday in Memphis. On the way up we were talking about things we were thankful for. We were all thankful for our family, of course. But I as I drove and thought about the question, "What are you thankful for?" I realized that I am thankful for so much. The Lord has blessed me tremendously!!

With the twins I prayed so hard that He would keep them healthy. "Just let them weigh 5lbs Lord so we can all come home together." "Just let them make it til 36 weeks so their lungs will be developed." And on and on. Praying. The wonderful thing of praying. It's hard sometimes to be patient and wait on the Lord, but you just have to put it in his hands and let him deal with it.

I'm the worrier of the family. Shane, my brother, is the free spirited child. He lives for the day. I'm always worried about tomorrow. Kyle doesn't even have his drivers' license yet, even though he drives, and I'm worried about the first time he goes out by himself!!

A good thing happened today, Allen was in Tupelo and we got to have lunch together!! For some of you reading this you are probably thinking, "big deal", but for Allen and I that is a big deal. It's hard for us to find time for one another these days.

Twins are doing great. Sleeping pretty good. We were up at 4 this morning ready to play, so it has been a long day for me. I called to check on them and they were napping. Oh to have a nap!! Matt is growing, getting so big. He was the little runt and now he has filled out so much. He is up to taking 5 ozs of milk and just sucks the bottom out of the bottle. Little Maggie is so petite. She is taking 4 ozs. of milk and it takes her forever. Maybe she will be laid back and not up tight like her mother. They are pretty much on the same schedule with eating and sleeping. It can get pretty hairy sometimes, but we are adjusting.

Enough rambling for the day! Have a Great Day!!

About the Dodd's

Allen and I married on August 14, 1993. James Kyle Dodd was born on February 4, 1994. We lived in a single wide trailer for several years. Allen's grandmother passed away and we purchased her house and lived there until November 2005. We built our first house, and yes, our marriage survived it, and yes, I got pregnant. Had a miscarriage in December. I was 8 weeks pregnant and that was the hardest thing I had ever been through in my life. At the time I was reading the book "A Purpose Driven Life" and one day I was doing my daily reading and it was about all things happen for a reason. A peace came over me and I understand now that we weren't suppose to have that baby. To this day when I think about it I still cry.

Allen's parents always loved our house. They told us if we ever got ready to build again that they wanted first choice at buying it. In 2007 we decided to build again, never thought that would happen. So the in-laws bought our house and we started the building process in April 2007. Moved in the end of August 2007.

September 1, 2007, my mother-in-law, sister-in-law and myself had a yard sale. Had a great day of fellowship and actually made a little fun money! About 8 o'clock that night I was home by myself and Ms. Wanda called with concern in her voice. She couldn't find my father-in-law, Ronald. I called Allen and my dad to come and help us. Mr. Ronald had an accident on the four-wheeler in front of their house and passed away. It was all like a dream. Nothing seemed right. He had just got to move to the house of his dreams. He was working outside doing things he wanted to do. To this day nothing seems right about his passing, but we know that God has a plan and he makes no mistakes.

One Friday night in December Kyle and I spent the night with Ms. Wanda. She and I had gotten up pretty early on Saturday and we were eating our breakfast, having coffee and talking about life. We had been talking about Mr. Ronald and I was telling her how I was happy with Kyle, but that I was sad because he would be the only child and when we were all gone he would have nobody.

Come January I knew something wasn't right. I was scared to do a pregnancy test. I put it off and put it off. I was sitting here at work and I called my best friend Renee and told her to come down to the office. She came running to hold my hand. I did test and sure enough I WAS PREGNANT. I called Allen and told him the test was positive. We couldn't believe it. I then called my mom and she was OVERJOYED by the news. I then called and made the doctors appointment to confirm. I was a nervous wreck. I worried and worried. Allen kept telling me not to worry that all would be fine, but I couldn't help it.

My doctor's appointment was on January 30, 2008. I was terrified to go. I just knew something was wrong. Mom went with me. I had told them the history of the miscarriage, so they wanted to do a sonogram. Mom and I walked into the room for the sonogram and I actually thought I was going to loose it. I was lying on this table waiting for them to tell me there was no heartbeat. Mom being a nurse and working OB for many years was watching the screen as the girl was doing the sonogram. Ashley, the stonographer, wasn't say anything. Finally, mom said, "Is that our baby?" Ashley said, "Let me look at one more thing." My heart sank. Finally Ashley said, "Actually, these are your two babies. You are having twins!!!" I started crying. I was five and a half weeks pregnant and we got to hear the strongest little heartbeats.

Had a good pregnancy up until 24 weeks. Blood pressure starting going up and I began to swell. My doctor wanted to take me off work, but I begged him not too.

At 26 weeks I began spotting. Went to hospital, all was well. Went to the doc at 27 weeks and he said no more work. I begged, he said "NO MORE WORK." I knew I needed to do whatever to take care of my babies and myself. So I went to the house and was under house arrest. Hated every minute of it, but whatever it took to get these babies to 36 weeks I was gonna do it.

At 35 weeks blood pressure was still out of control. I was misrable!! Doc put me in hospital on Monday, August 18, 2008 and he felt like we would have babies on Tuesday. Tuesday morning doc came around and said my blood pressure was better and he was sending me home on complete bedrest for another week and we would have babies on August 25.

On August 25, 2008 at 1:18 p.m. Ronald Matthew Dodd (Matt) came into this world weighing in at 6 lbs and at 1:19 p.m. Magdalene Faith Dodd (Maggie) came into this world weighing in at 6.6 lbs. They were perfect!! Matt is named after Allen, Mr. Ronald (granddad), my dad (Big) and my brother Shane. They are all Ronald's. Maggie is named after my Mamaw, whom I miss dearly.

So to make a long story short, the Dodd household has changed so much. We do a lot of rocking, feeding and changing diapers now. So many people have asked me if we planned this or if I was taking meds to get pregnant. NO we didn't plan and NO I was not on meds. All I can say is that the Lord had a bigger plan for my family. And I am so proud that I am a MOM OF 3!

Giving it a Shot!!

I have been asked by several people to do this. I'm not very good at putting my feelings or thoughts on paper, but I enjoy reading so many blogs, that I thought, "What the heck, I'll give it a try." So please, bare with me.