A special gift!

The Ministry of Brian's Gift

Today, Marty Martin, a good friend and fellow church member brought us this awesome gift! Marty lost her son, Brian Barrett, two years ago and since has started a Ministry through our church in his name. I can't thank her enough for this awesome handcrafted HoldingCross made just for us. This gift of the HoldingCross is a gift of love from one hand to another!

"Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love for he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men."

~Lamentations 3:32-33~

www.HoldingCross.com

New Addition

Yeah, I finally got a new vehicle! Last May my car was totaled and we have been sharing the truck ever since then. We finally decided to give in and get another one since soccer practices and softball are beginning to start. I love it though! It is a 2009 Ford Escape and has a bunch of exciting gadgets inside of it. It is charcoal on the outside with black leather interior. Jarrod was a nervous wreck when I drove it off the lot since he doesn't think I'm the best driver in the world. Ha ha! I made it home just fine.

Finally...some anwsers!

I had a doctor's appointment this afternoon that was very emotional for me. I will have to say it felt pretty weird going there and not being pregnant anymore. The staff was so sweet to me and almost everyone gave me a huge warm hug. After they weighed me and took my blood pressure, Dr. Wiley came in and we started to talk and go over my pathology report from the ER. It was determined that my amniotic fluid/sac was infected. This started a long list of questions from me like: How could I have prevented this? Was it from me taking baths? The underwear I wore? The detergent we used? My cat scratching me? The soap I used? The list could go on and on. She then reassured me that it was nothing that I did or could have prevented. She was just really, really sorry that this happened to us. I don't really understand it all but since this is the second time I have lost a baby over 10 wks I will be going in for some blood work in about 4-6 wks. She rattled off a bunch of things they will be checking for but all I understood were my antibodies and Lupus. The good thing about all of this is that whatever it is they should be able to treat me for it with antibiotics. The bad thing is that we are going to have a very long and emotional pregnancy our next go round. She said that once we hit 10 wks we will probably be in the office every week being highly monitored throughout, and I might be kept on a low dose of antibiotics. Overall, I just want all of this to get squared away so we can get back on track. Easter weekend will be about the time we can start trying again. I can't wait and will do anything to meet the baby that we are supposed to have some day!

Happy Valentines Day!

Well, this morning I tried another recipe in the same cookbook as I did the sugar cookies. I decided to make a coffee cake for breakfast along with sausage and eggs. Once again, this recipe was disgusting. So, I put the cookbook back on the shelf and decided that I will not be using it for a long time. Everything else was good so at least we had a halfway decent Valentine morning. After breakfast, Jarrod ran some errands and then Mom and Dad stopped by to drop off Harleigh's present. They even stuck around a little bit and helped us clean and organize the house since we were having people over for dinner. How sweet! Jarrod grilled two awesome beer can chickens & sausage for dinner and I made corn/macaroni casserole, strawberry/pretzel salad, asparagus, baked potatoes and rolls to go along with. It was soooooooooo good! Shallon, Raquel, Gage and Brew joined us for dinner and we had a great time hanging out!

Gage & Harleigh

Taking the Day Easy

Harleigh feeding her baby doll
Today we decided to make and decorate some heart shaped Valentine cookies for our friends and family. It was Harleigh's first time doing cutout cookies and as you can see she was having so much fun. I used a new recipe so we were not quit sure how they would turn out. I doubled the batch and made a ton of them only to find out that they were disgusting! The first thing Harleigh said was "they taste like dough mommy". Which they did. Then I frosted some to see if that helped but it didn't. Then we waited for Jarrod to get home to be our real taste tester since he loves sugar cookies. Needless to say, he about choked! Ha ha! I guess that recipe is for the birds. We still had a wonderful time and made some good memories!

Valentine Party

This afternoon I surprised Harleigh down at her school for her Valentine Day Party. We had so many sweets and had a fun time. She was so happy to see me when I got there. It is amazing to watch all those little kids act so grown up!

Harleigh cheezin' it up

L-R: Hannah, Grace, Ian & his mom, Sophie & Harleigh

Only God Knows Why

We first want to start off by thanking everyone for their love and support the past couple of days. We appreciate all the prayers, flowers, cards, phone calls and e-mails that have been sent. It is such an amazing feeling to know how much people really care for us. Most importantly, as we face this tragic time in our lives, we are keeping God first. We know through all of our hurt and pain that He does have a plan for us.
For those of you who don't know yet, we made a visit to the ER Monday night and sadly to say...we lost our precious baby boy. It still has not been determined exactly what caused me to go into labor but they will be doing a series of tests on me over the next few months. They think I might have had an incompetent cervix that we caught too late, a blood clotting issue, or a slight infection in my uterus since my WBC count was elevated. Once it is determined, they will know exactly what to be watching for our next go round.
Emotionally, it has been pretty tough but through our Lord and Savior I know Jarrod, Harleigh and I can make it through anything. We had a little memorial service for him last night with my parents and our Pastor to put a slight closure on things. Harleigh was having a tough time understanding why we weren't going to her baby brother's funeral. Having the service actually helped us all understand that God has a reason for everything and that our baby boy is safe and in the arms of Jesus now. One day, we will all get to meet him and spend eternity together.
Once again, we thank all of you for your love and support and ask that you do keep our family close in your prayers. The next few weeks, months, etc. will be hard but nothing we can't conquer. Thank you again, we love you all! God Bless, Jarrod & Erin

The Little Children and Jesus

Mark 10:13-16

People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.

SURPRISE! IT'S A BOY!

Top: His legs and lil' wee wee in between!

Bottom: Showing his heartbeat at 154bpm!

Well...about 90% sure it's a boy! Jarrod and I attended my doctor's appointment today and little pip squeak did everything right for us to get a glimpse of his lil' junk in between his legs! He must be very proud! Ha ha. My doctor feels very confident that it is a boy but still being at a young gestational age she wants us to wait to decorate any rooms until the next appointment. Then we can verify and make it 100%! We did get two very good views of it and I'm pretty confident myself. Baby Boy Baggett waved to his daddy and danced all around for us. It was Jarrod's first time seeing it and boy, when she told us it was a boy, he was on cloud 9! I was completely shocked as my instincts up until this point was that it was another girl. I just can't believe that it is a little boy. How exciting, but a little intimidating at the same time! Harleigh was happy as ever when we told her. She said now me and Rylee(Sharie's lil' girl) can play together and our little brothers can play together too. How cute! Oh, and as you can see, Mo Mo (Jarrod's mom) and Grandma (my mom) are already spoiling him with gifts!

Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo

Today we enjoyed the afternoon at the Stock show and had a wonderful time!

Harleigh, Grandma & Mr. Llama

Petting the Bunny

This little goat is just 1 week old

And this little one is his twin

Harleigh riding on Princess

You can kind of see Harleigh up in the pink one

Grandpa would be proud of this pic

Flying on the helicopters

Racing the cars

Of course, like every girl, she had to ride the teacups

Mommy having more fun in the fun house

Harleigh passed out during the rodeo

HOLY COW! Grandpa and this 2700lb. beast

Hanging Out

The wedding last night was at 5:30 at Alliance Methodist Church. It was a beautiful wedding and everything went perfect except the fact that my sick little girl got scared and wouldn't walk down the isle. So I had to walk back down and rescue her. After that though it all ran smoothly and my sister was more beautiful than I could ever imagine her being. I could barely control my emotions throughout the entire ceremony. I don't know if it was the pregnancy hormones or just the fact that my little sister was getting married. Overall, I couldn't of asked for a better man to be marrying Brooke and we are so proud to have Manse as part of our family! After the ceremony we headed to Diamond Oaks Country Club for the reception. We all had a great time and many memories were made! After the reception, my immediate family went to my parents house for an after party! We stayed up pretty late and I will have to say that I am pretty proud of myself for being such a trooper!

Me and Jarrod

Family hanging out

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Today we celebrated Grandpa & Grandmas 55th wedding anniversary!
Congratulations to both of you and hope you have many more!

Then we all hung out until family had to get to the airport.

Dad & Uncle Les

Jarrod & Van

Me, Harleigh & baby Estelle

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After everyone left me, Jarrod and Harleigh went to Brad & Paige's for the Superbowl game. We had a bunch of awesome food (thanks to Paige) and Harleigh & Gracyn had a great time playing together. I also wanted to say thank you to everyone who participated in our football pot. Don't know if I will be doing it again next year but we will see. Oh ya, congrats goes out to all of our big winners also....

1st & 2nd quarter: Terryl K. (Co-worker of Kathie Russell)

3rd quarter: Harley Scott (My grandpa)

4th quarter: Art (Abby's uncle)

5th quarter: Kathie Russell (Harleigh's Mimi)