Whatever it takes...

As a new parent, everyone of my heart strings are attached to Pressley as are Dustins... A couple from Mom and Dads church have a little 1 yr old girl, Meredith... She has been diagnosed with cancer and is now in coma. My heart breaks to think of Meredith and her family. Here is a log in the family website updating everyone on Merediths condition...

February 21, 2008 at 05:10 PM EST
"We have moved to the Ronald McDonald house and unfortunately I am having e-mail issues. I think my issue is fixed, but if you are not a member of the Carepage, please e-mail my friend, Catherine (catherine_wags@yahoo.com) or me if you would like to be invited to Mer’s page. It is more reliable than my e-mail. Today my mother and I spent the entire morning with Meredith. It was a really peaceful day. Her labs look good – they are keeping a close eye on her sodium levels as well as her counts. She has tolerated the chemo well. Our oncologist confirmed yesterday that Meredith is in a coma. We pretty much guessed this was the case, but chose to believe she was sleeping. However, the reality is that she is in a comatose state. Her pupils no longer dilate and her only way of communicating at this point is through her vital signs. This state is due to the pressure on her brain from the tumors. We are praying fervently that one round of chemo will alleviate some of this pressure so she can wake up. Hearing that your daughter is in coma is definitely a shocking thing. I cannot even describe the feeling that wells up inside when I try to comprehend this fact. I keep envisioning Meredith at Christmas crawling around playing with Puddin’s Christmas bone. She could have cared less about all of her new clothes and toys. She just wanted to play with Puddin’s stuff. I guess it is only fair considering he rips the eyes off of her stuffed animals. Anyway, it is truly unbelievable that a month and a half ago our baby was just like every other 1 year old and now she is fighting for her life. I encourage all of you to savor every day you have with your children. I thank God that I held Meredith and stayed home with her since she was born. Don’t ever let anyone tell you not to spoil your baby/child. I have no regrets with Meredith. We all spoiled her like crazy and I thank God we did! Every moment is a gift- treasure your children- Lo, children are a heritage of the Lord; and the fruit of the womb is His reward. Psalm 127:3. This is the verse I put on Meredith’s birth announcement and it is so true! Our families are believing and claiming that Meredith is in a “Heavenly Coma.” We all decided that if she was awake, she would surely be in pain and agitated. It would be more difficult to get through the days watching her cry or be in great discomfort. We believe that God is holding her in His hands right now- protecting her from the pain of these tumors. The next 10 days are critical for Meredith. The chemo will be working and a lot of things can happen. She will be very susceptible to infection because her white cell counts will be very low. It is critical that she is protected from the flu, colds, etc… Chris and I have made a list of our immediate family to go see Meredith. The fewer people who come in contact with her the better. We know that many of you would like to see Mer, but we feel it is critical to protect her and that means restricting visitors. If you would like to see Chris, Tyler or me, just give us a call before coming. Chris and I are on different schedules- so you might catch us together but more likely we will be separate. I usually stay with Meredith all day and he sits with her after work. Feel free to call though so we can work out you seeing us all together. Again, we appreciate you wanting to come see us, but the BEST thing you can do is to PRAY. There has been talk by various people about fasting for Meredith and so that is definitely something we would love for you to pray about. People are fasting different things until she is healed. Whatever God lays on your heart to do would be great. We have no expectations and just appreciate anything you can do to help. Tyler is doing great. He is getting p every 3 hours hungry. He is growing and is just as cute as can be. He has the same mouth and chin as Meredith (they get that from Chris). I think the rest of him looks like me! Chris sees it differently though- "

If anyone would like to be added to the update list please go to Meredith's website and register.
http://www.carepages.com/ServeCarePage?cpn=MEE2007&login=true&seed=195037&ClusterNodeID=jb00&tlcx1=wakemed

Please pray Gods will to be done concerning this situation... I can not fathom the pain this family is in... I know Pressley is Gods little girl, but I pray everyday that nothing like this happens to our baby girl. I will try and update my blog as soon as I hear info about Meredith.

Ok ok ok! So I know this blog is WAY LATE, but I'm finally getting a chance to sit down and think for a minute! Dustin took me The Grove Park Inn and we had dinner! He was so cute by meeting me at the door with a card and a corsage! He was all dressed up! :) Mimi and Poppy watched Prissy while we went out... and she had a great time too!

We picked him up Saturday afternoon and it has been pure bliss since then! He's been such a sweetie boy--except for chewing the toe of my stilleto's! He got in big trouble for that, but it does give me a good excuse to get new shoes!


It was good seeing everyone down in Raleigh, we'll be back in about 1 month or so!

Oh how much fun is a new puppy! Dustin suprised me with an early anniversary/valentines day with a teacup Maltese! Now, the picture above isn't my little Cooper buuuut he will probably look alot like him! As most of you know Cotton died last year this time and my heart broke in half when that happend. But then Pressley came and now we will have Cooper to spend our time with. Chance is going to be so excited when he meets him for the first time, he still asks us if "Cotty" will ever come home. As we know, Cooper was born on 10/29/07 and is maybe 1lb right now. They are said to only get about 4lbs at the most! Anyway, we are alll veeerrrry excited! I just have to be very careful that Mom doesn't steal him away! She went by and saw him and immediately fell in love with the little guy!

Today Pressley was the most vocal she's been! She has started making motorboat sounds and blowing bubbles~ she fell asleep long enough to have her toenails repainted! Now she is busy inspecting her newly painted toenails and pretending to watch football with her daddy! She had some banana's this morning with her first bottle and she loved them... she didn't make any crazy faces like she did with the apples and pears~ In the next couple weeks she will be sleeping in her crib... in her room... she's getting so big!

Well I began writing this on January 18th but I guess I forgot to "publish the post" so here is one from last week... enjoy the pictures!

I love looking back on past holidays and reminicing on all the neat little details that were thrown in by someone who just wanted to start a family tradition.
Some of my favorites:
~Nut Salad- passed down from the Johns family. Mom makes it every Thanksgiving and Christmas, although I don't eat it with the raisins in it, it still wouldn't be the Holidays with out it, Thanks Mom.
~Reading the REAL Christmas Story~ Every morning, before the first present was opened, My father & brother have began the morning reading (one of the Gospels) the Christmas Story of Jesus's birth.
~P.J.'s for some reason, I remember getting a new pair of pajama's each year!
~Dad's gift for mom: the most memorable time was when we ventured out on Christmas Eve-- the only thing open was K-Mart. I don't know how long was spent there but I do know that mom really enjoyed her Christmas CD Dad bought her... I think it was right around the time that CD's came out and it was a "really" neat gift. LOL! Mom gets one every year now... :o)

Each of these Traditions take me back to wonderful timees with my family, I know I couldn't tell you exactly what I unwrapped that year, but I could tell you that each one of these "family traditions" were present. And that thinking of them, fills my heart with a warm feeling of love, peace and holiday spirit.

Since this will be our FIRST "Chapman Family Christmas" we will incorporate some of Dustin's family traditions with ours. (We'll keep the moonshine in the freezer though, babe! LOL)

1 week till Christmas. Keep a smile on your face through out this week!

Here is the most recent picture of our "Santa Baby!"
I hope all of you are enjoying the Holidays and treasuring each moment you have with your loved ones. Dustin and I have almost finished our Christmas Shopping, now time to wrap!
Never forget your Christmas spirit this year as you are doing your final Christmas shopping... you never know that a simple smile could brighten someones day. We love you all and will post more pics!

Pressley turned 2 months old on Tuesday! Wow! Time has flown by!

How cute it is when Pressley tries to talk! She spends most of her time (when she's awake) playing in her play yard, looking at ceiling fans???? and most enjoyably... who-ing like a little owl! Here is a video clip of her "talking"-- enjoy!

Dustin and I are working hard at planning our Christmas vacation... This will be our "first Chapman Family Christmas" Chance will be home so we are wanting to do something special!

Well, I tried to upload the video of Pressley's convo with her daddy butttttttttttttttttttt- the site is having some issues--- so I guess I'll try again later-

But here's a sweet little picture of her smiling at her Daddy! She sure does love him!

I'd just like to say how awesome my two brothers are... take a peek at their blogs and you'll see why.

Today is wonderful- Pressley is happy, Dustin is happy and the Lord is really showing His hand in our life.