A November to Remember

Well, obviously I didn't too well keeping up with this blogging thing but after you read this post you will probably understand why I really was either a) too busy to blog or b) to dang tired to blog. Although I probably should have made time because there has been so much going on that it would have been interesting to look back on at some point. Ill try to fill in the blanks..

So the last time I posted was on July 25th and I was 21 weeks pregnant with our sweet little Caden and I was just starting to decorate the nursery. Since then, I've finished the nursery, had lots of ultrasounds and drs appointments (all of which were good, thank the good Lord), took my big belly to Disney World, had two baby showers, took maternity pics and FINALLY (after 23 hours of an extremely hard labor which I'm saving for another post) on Thursday, November 22, 2012, at 7:59pm Thanksgiving Day welcomed my sweet baby boy into this world!!! Here's some pics to sum up all of that:

Maternity Pics - 32 weeks 

His nursery completed! 

Disney World - 28/29 weeks

17 weeks/27 weeks/34 weeks... woah.

So besides being preggo, we have had a pretty emotional year to say the least.

Last year, Mick's dad was out building a huge barn when he kept getting dizzy. He finally decided to ask his Dr about it and they said he had vertigo. Ok, no big deal we thought. After weeks of it not getting better, they did a scan of his head and found a huge tumor pushing on his nerves at the top of his neck/bottom of his scull... they told us it wasn't cancerous and that they would be able to do surgery and get it out. For some crazy reason they waited another month to do the surgery and in the mean time, the tumor started causing his face to droop and become numb. While in surgery, they discovered that they were wrong... it was cancer. Talk about making you sick to your stomach. The worst part of this, was that the cancer had spread from somewhere else in his body and they had to find where it was coming from. Come to find out it was Renal Cell Carcinoma, which is cancer of the kidneys and it had already spread from his kidneys, to some spots on his rib cage, up to the bone in his shoulder blade and then up to the tumor in his head. Needless to day, there was nothing they could do but start him on meds and pray for the best. This is the only type of cancer you cant do chemo for. You can only take medicine, which is pretty much chemo in a pill form.

My husband was an absolute wreck. It was hard enough knowing we were going to lose him, but to wake up late at night with your husband balling his eyes out, trying to accept the fact that we didn't have his dad for much longer was just as hard and broke my heart to pieces. To see any man cry like that is hard, but for it to be your husband makes it that much worse knowing you cant do anything to help him. (makes me cry thinking about it)

So... they immediately did what they call a CyberKnife on the tumor in his head to kill it and they started him on a drug called Sutent. Some people's bodies have great success on this drug and some people's don't but we were willing to try anything. It was a LONG year of him being really sick and not so pleasant some days, but this drug kept his dad alive MUCH longer than they originally gave him. We were able to have one more Thanksgiving and one more Christmas with him. We were able to celebrate one more of his birthdays, one more (almost) football season and most importantly, we were able to tell him that we were pregnant and that he had to try his best to hold on until December 2 so he could meet his very first grandson!! After losing the first one that would have been here in July, we couldn't WAIT to tell him.. but we were also scared to death of what actually happened. 

Mickey Jeffcoat, Sr. passed away on Sunday morning, November 4, 2011 at 8am that morning.... 2 weeks and 4 days shy of meeting Caden. He just couldn't make it. His body was too tired. He wanted to be in the comfort of his own home when he went to meet the Lord, so we watched him struggle all weekend, counting his breaths per minute until finally he took his last one. My Mick was there, right next to the bed when he finally let go. Longest weekend of my entire life.... and being 36 weeks pregnant, the emotions were overflowing. Here's a pic of Mick and Dad at our wedding:

Mick's "Best Man" - Mickey Jeffcoat, Sr  aka Daddy Jeffcoat 

His dad was a super important part of this family.. especially to my Mick. Dad Js not here anymore, but my Mick is so so much like his father it's not even funny. And some days that drives me absolutely NUTS but it's funny to watch. The things that drove him crazy, like how particular he was with his stuff, how anal and organized he was (you BEST put it back the exact way he had it) and how he wanted to take pics and videos of everything are the things that my Mick drives ME crazy about. I'm pretty organized myself, but good grief! ;) He gets it honest, thats for sure. 

Dad bought Caden some outfits before he passed so when I put him in them we both get a little choked up. I also went and bought one of those recordable storybooks and had his dad read it for Caden, so he would be able to hear his voice. Luckily I had him do it just in time before things got too bad. We haven't gotten that out yet or listened to it yet.. I don't think I'm ready for it. One of the hardest things is not hearing Mick talk to his dad. It was so normal for Mick to say, "Let me call Dad and ask him" and "Lets go out and see Dad".. It breaks my heart that he cant pick up the phone to tell him what a huge rack this deer had or that he cant email him pictures of what he gets on his cameras. I miss that the most and I know Mick does too. One comment Mick made to me while we were dealing with all of this was, "How am I supposed to know how to be a good dad when my dad's not here to help me?" omg, crocodile tears started flowing. I will never, ever forget that. What do you say to that? I simply said "He's already shown you how. He spent the last 34 years showing you how to be a good dad." Talk about heart-wrenching... 

Well, It's been a month since he's passed now and Mick still has his moments and says pretty often "I miss Dad".. all I know to say is "I do too babe." I so wish that Caden would have been able to meet his PawPaw. He would have had an absolute blast riding 4wheelers with him and playing out in the woods at all their land out in Lillian... but I know that God left that for my Mick. To teach Caden all of the things Dad taught him. He was one heck of a hunter and a fisherman, so is my hubby and I'm sure my little boy will be too. Some of Caden's expression look like his PawPaw and he has his ears, for sure... so we know God has a plan and His own timing, so deep down in my heart I think that God knew we would miss Dad so he gave us a little version, with pieces of him, to look at everyday. That makes us sad and happy all at the same time. 

SOOO needless to say.. it was definitely a "November to Remember". One of the saddest and happiest month's of my entire life. And one I'll NEVER, EVER forget.   

Thats all for now. Hopefully I'll be able to blog more now so my posts wont be so dang long! Thanks for reading.... Love yall. 

-Linz 

Baby Bumpin

Ok, so since my last post was just a little background about me I finally get to talk about the 'now' stuff that I'm so super excited about.. so here goes!

After a looooong year of trying, we FINALLY found out back in March that we are PREGGO with a sweet baby boy that will be here around December 3rd.

We started the whole, 'lets get off birth control and see what happens' back in the end of 2010/beginning of 2011 and about 3 months into all that I started all of the 'how to make a baby' research... and MAN, there is so much I had no clue about until now. Since you only have about 12 hours to actually get pregnant, there is no wonder that this whole process is a miracle from God. I started to get serious about it after about 4-5 months, and after about the 6th month I thought maybe I should call the doctor just to make sure all is okay. She had me try for a few more months taking my basal body temperature in the mornings (which is NOT fun) and STILL nothing. I finally called a different doctor and scheduled a consultation with them and they immediately did bloodwork because I came in and believe me... I was prepared. I had a year's worth of calendars with my cycles listed, 3 months of temperatures to show and still not pregnant. Come to find out I have low progesterone. My body just doesn't like to produce it. (A quick tidbit about progesterone: You have to have progesterone to keep a baby. What happens is, your body produces estrogen throughout the beginning of your cycle, then about mid-cycle your estrogen level drops and your progesterone level begins to rise. (aka: ovulation) If your progesterone level begins to drop, you won't be able to hold a pregnancy)

So after having the procedure where they clean out your tubes, and her putting me on progesterone supplements after ovulation....the very first month , BAM. Ive never been happier to see TWO lines in my entire life! We were due July 9th 2012, my birthday. Right about 6-7 weeks, I had some serious cramping and began to bleed so we rushed to the emergency room. They couldn't tell me much at the emergency room because my levels were still high and it hadn't shown that I miscarried yet, but the next day I had more bloodwork done and I lost the little bean. :( One of the saddest days of my life, seriously. BUT, we wernt giving up.. the only good thing about that sweet little bean, was that it meant we CAN get pregnant, God just wasn't ready and it wasn't a healthy pregnancy. All in all, I'm thankful regardless.

We waited one month (longest month ever) and started up the process again. After another month of negative, I decided to make an appointment with Dr Ripps, the fertility doctor in PCola. I was sure something was not right in there. His first available appointment was on Wednesday, March 28th.... another long month away, which gave us one last month to try this AGAIN so we did. I woke up on Tuesday morning (March 27th), took a pregnancy test and Oh. My. Gosh. = a BIG smiley face popped up. PREGNANT. I literally RAN through the house (I was in the guest bathroom so I didn't wake Mick up), turned on the light, jumped on the bed and shoved that PP stick in his face, haha "LOOK BABE!" Talk about timing, God gave me literally about one hour to call the fertility doctor and cancel my appt before getting charged the cancellation fee... and that to me, was PLENTY of time. It truly is ALL about God's timing. He gave us a crazy lesson on that, but it was awesome. One I won't forget, thats for sure.

SO ANYWAY... we're finally pregnant and just had our 20 week ultrasound, and everything looks great so far! THANK THE GOOD LORD! I'm not one of those people who says 'oh, i just LOVE being pregnant' because the first trimester was straight up, miserable. I was extremely nauseated ALL DAY, EVERY DAY. Getting up to take a shower, get ready and go to work in the mornings was like torture. And Im pretty sure I came home most days and slept until time for bed. I couldn't cook because the smell would make me nauseated, I couldn't eat any type of meat, and I was so tired that I could barely function. I kept telling myself..."Lindsey, it could be a lot worse. You could be barfing every 5 minutes, or so sick you had to be in the hospital." I'm so thankful that I wasn't THAT sick, but it was HORRIBLE. I explained it to Mick like this: It's almost like having a stomach bug, and having to hold it all in. Your not throwing up and your so constipated, you cant poop either! haha! Sorry, TMI, I know. But its true!!

Anyway, the middle of my second trimester has been MUCH more pleasant! I'm able to eat now, and I can feel him move which is pretty awesome. Weird at times, but so cool. Mick probably get's tired of hearing me say, "Oh, he's kicking me!" or OOH! Come feel babe, his butt is sticking out!" haha Its actually kinda fun now, but let me just tell you, it wasn't before. My body just isn't one of those bodies that LOVES it.. some days I feel like my body hates me. ;)

So thats how we got to today.... and we are SO BEYOND thankful that God put this little baby boy in our lives. I'm sure it's going to be a interesting journey, but after all it took to get him here we're gonna love that little baby like no other and I cant hardly wait!! ;)

Here's some pics I took last night after Mick painted his room for me and we picked up our furniture. We're putting the crib together tonight... this is the FUN part. Decorating!

Love y'all much! -Linz

We said bye to my pretty pink "Girl Room" and made it nice and boyish.. Blue and Grey! 

Caden's new lamp and the fabric we are making his bedding out of. 

Our sweet baby, saying his prayers. Caden James Jeffcoat
@ 16 weeks 

Gonna try this out... the "About Me" post

Ok, so I've decided to try out this whole 'blogging' thing! Over the past year or so, Ive created about 2-3 different blogs all with different catchy names, hoping that I would be so excited about one of them that it would would make me sit down and write every now and then! After all those hours I spent playing with words, backgrounds, headers, etc... I came back to the original blog I made in the beginning..."Sugar, Spice & Everyday Life". I think this title will be able to sum it all up. Since I'm not planning on writing about anything in particular, I figured this title will be able to cover it all. Sugar = the sweet things in life, Spice = the not-so sweet things and just plain ole' Everyday Life.... yep, that title will work just fine! ;)

Just in case some people come across my blog and don't know me all that well, Ill give you a quick little intro to ME...so, here we go: My name is Lindsey Jeffcoat. I'm a 28 year old, wife, daughter, sister, momma-to-be (which Im SO beyond excited about, of which I'll elaborate later), daughter-in-law, friend, hard-workin', craft-makin', always busy doing somethin' kinda girl!

Me and my hunk-of-a-husband got married on April 17th 2010 and boy, was that year crazy.  I'll start here to give ya a little background on us... We met in 2007 through mutual friends and how cheesy is this.. we first talked by sending messages to each other on MySpace! haha! We dated for about 2 years and then he popped the big question, which was a total surprise! Best moment of my life... I balled like a little baby. :)

We were engaged for 13 months and I'm pretty sure that was the most stressful 13 months Ive ever dealt with, and it wasn't all wedding planning. Long story short... he was in mortgages when the economy tanked (which meant $$$ to $) and we lived off of my awesome salary as a Marketing Rep... can you sense the sarcasm? THEN, I got laid off on March 31st and literally interviewed for another job the morning of my bridal luncheon and our rehearsal dinner. Our wedding finally came (which was FAB, by the way thanks to my parents who are the BOMB) and while we were honeymooning in the Smokey Mountains, Mick got the call to interview/apply for a new company! The month after we got home, we decided to buy a house and let his house go after talking to our financial whiz family and friends. So here we are...two brand new jobs, owning three houses and figuring out this whole 'newlywed' thing... which by the way, is super easy compared to the year we just went through! Holy crap... 2010, we are SO grateful you came but we were glad to see you go! 2011 was MUCH better (only a few bumps and bruises) and 2012 has been so super awesome.

We just celebrated our 2 year anniversary, but no vacation for us.. we got a new washer & dryer (which brought as much happiness to me as a vacay would have). We've decided that we have plenty of time to travel, so our first couple years of marriage we were going to buy the things we want to make our home-life a little piece of paradise and save as much money as we possibly could. Vacations are awesome, don't get me wrong.. I LOVE to travel, but they come and then they go, and then you come home. And now, I love coming home. We love home. Sometimes we run the roads so much, we just want to stay home. Both of our families are home. Our kids (aka puppies) are home. We both, honestly, love our little home. And the past 6+ months or so, we have tried to spend as much time, at home, with families as possible... because you just never know when the last vacation with them will be, or the last time you will see them look the same, or the last time you will have them there for a holiday. It sounds cliche, but it's true... and that's another post for another day.

I wasn't going to go into all that this first post, but writing all this out is sort-of like therapy of some sort. Feels good just to type it all out and re-read it! And now that I've re-read my first post, it's a little depressing. haha! The next ones won't be, i PROMISE! I've got lots of fun, exciting news to write about so stay tuned.. if ya want! ;)  love you peeps!

Here's a couple pics from our past, to our present:

Bama vs FSU 2007 

Me, My Sis & Hubby's 2008 

We're Engaged! 2009

4-17-10 Wedding Day! 

Honeymooning

SanDestin 2011

Our sweet babies, Cobi (Lab) & Max (Weenie Dog)