I went a couple of weeks ago and had Slurpee’s 3 month pictures taken. She did great!! Weeman even jumped in for a couple of the pictures. These are much better than the pictures that were taken at Papa’s church.
I hope you like them.

Just last week there were three news story in our area about girls/women having babies and leaving them somewhere. Gran told me a story about a girl having a baby in the bathroom at the high school I attended. She said she didn’t know she was pregnant. They were both found and taken to the hospital. They are both fine.

I then heard the same story on the news in connection with the next two stories. There was a girl (I don’t know how old she is) in a nearby suburb that gave birth at home. She put the baby in a shoe box and took her to her neighbor’s house. She rang the door bell and ran. The neighbor found the baby and called 911. There was a note stating that the baby’s name was Jordan and to please take care of her. The baby is fine. The mother was found at home and taken to the hospital. She is fine also.

In another suburb there was a lady who had a baby in an emergency bathroom. She left the baby there and the baby was found dead. They do not know if the baby was born dead or died after being left.

A few weeks before those stories were released there was another story of a couple giving birth at home during the down pours that led to the flooding. This happened a few days before the flooding started. The father took the baby and put him in a storm drain. When the mother went to the hospital they were finally able to get from her that she had had a baby. They went to the father’s house and were finally able to find the baby. He was alive but died the next day at the hospital.

I have buried a child. That is the hardest thing I have ever done. I struggled with infertility when I was trying to get pregnant with Slurpee. Her pregnancy was very rough on me and the delivery was rougher. I cannot tell you how upset if makes me to hear about women that have babies and don’t do anything to make sure they are ok and taken care of.

After struggling with infertility and talking to so many women that wanted to have a baby more than anything else, I can’t help but be infuriated by these news stories. There are so many choices for these women. Why do they do stupid things and endanger the lives of these babies?

I heard one other story of a couple and what they did to their twins. It is so disturbing to me that I can’t even talk about it. The women did receive 54 years in jail after being convicted of 10 different counts.

If you ever see a woman in a situation like one of these, please let them know that there are women who would do anything to have a baby. I don’t know how many more of the stories I can bear to hear.

This past Saturday I spend most of the day working with the Color Guard at the local high school. It was all for nothing, but that’s a post for another day.

While I was away, the family went to Weeman’s soccer game. Neely and Weeman went to the local college football game after that (gotta love football in the South) and Slurpee went to spend the day with Gran.

When we went to pick her up and go to dinner Gran told me that Slurpee rolled over. I told her no she didn’t. There has not been a milestone that I have seen first so I like to pretend like she didn’t tell me what happened. Gran told me that she was only telling me so that I wouldn’t put her on the bed and she roll off. I rolled my eyes and reminded Gran that she can only go from front to back so I don’t think she could roll of the bed.

After I put Weeman to bed that night I took Slurpee into her room to put her to bed. I decided to see what would happen if we did some tummy time. I laid her out on her tummy with her hands under her chin, her favorite way to lay, and she immediately rolled over. I did that a couple more times and then called Weeman out of bed. I wish you could have seen his face. Slurpee rolled over and he was so excited. He said, “Momma, she rolled over!!!”

So, we are semi-mobile. We were taking pictures Sunday afternoon and they were trying to get her on her tummy pushing her head up and she kept rolling over. Too cute. I guess it’s time to get the baby gates out before she starts rolling around the house.

I was beginning to feel like Noah and build an ark here. We have seen about 10 days straight of rain. It’s been really dreary. Saturday on the way to Papa’s church to have our pictures taken we were stuck on the interstate for an hour and a half because it was flooded and all of the lanes were blocked.

It cleared up a little Sunday, but the rains returned. The are had anywhere from 10-18 inches of rain on Monday and it kept raining Tuesday. Luckily, we live in the part of the city that saw little to no flooding. However, the rest of the city did not fair so well.

Three of the major interstates in the city were closed until this afternoon. It has been crazy and weird all at the same time. The sun was out yesterday and part of today. There are chances of thunderstorms tomorrow and through the weekend. With that comes the chance of trees falling because the ground is so saturated.

Remember all of those that have lost their homes and almost everything they have. Remember the families of the 9 people who died in the floods.

Six years ago yesterday my little boy went to be with God. I didn’t understand it then and I don’t understand it today. I know that my life would be completely different if we had not gone through that experience.

As is the tradition, we went to the cemetery and lit a candle and played “Glory Baby” by Watermark. There are some of the lyrics from that song on his headstone. We then eat dinner at Out.back just like we did the night he died. The family that comes is getting smaller and smaller. The cards and phone calls have stopped coming.

The rest of the day we spent just living life. Neely did chores, I played with Weeman and Slurpee, we got ready to go back to school, I was able to do some cross stitching, we watched football, etc. There were a few times that things got quiet and my mind was allowed to wander. It’s during those quiet times that it becomes so hard. When I feel like I’m suffocating.

Since we lost Garrett, my best friend has lost her first born, my in-laws lost their son, and I have met several people that have lost their children. The one thing I have learned is that it gets better. It doesn’t get any easier (at least not 6 years into it), but it does get better. I make a choice everyday to get up and put one foot in front of the other. It’s all I can do. If I sat down and said, “I lost a child and I just can’t do it today,” I would die. Weeman and Slurpee would suffer. It just wouldn’t be right.

I’m not sure what I’m supposed to learn from this tragedy or what I’m supposed to do with it. I know that I understand people who have lost children more now. I know that I’m able to explain to people what grief is like and how to get through it. Other than that, I’m not sure what to do with the knowledge I have.

I love and miss you, Garrett. There was so much I wanted for you that you will never have. I’m sorry that I was not able to do more for you when you were here. I feel like I let you down. We had you for a moment, but you will be in our hearts forever.