Part 7

Like I said our lives had been turned upside down. Dan had been in school a couple of weeks and the reality of all that had just happened was sinking in. I was pregnant with my second baby and my first was not very old, we had sold our first home, moved an hour from my family, church and friends. I kept pushing these thoughts aside as much as possible. Katie was getting closer and closer to her due date with Olivia and I was getting so excited for them and with every call in the night or text we thought it could be time! We were working on our rent house or the guys were and I was helping where I could without over doing it. On Sept 17th Katie had Ms Olivia!!! Yay, such an exciting day! She was beautiful in every way!! She had to spend almost two weeks in the hospital because she swallowed some fluids when she was born. Before she could go home she had to eat a certain amount. When she was finally able to go home we were all thrilled and praised God for her health and that she was doing great!

We moved into our rent house the first part of October. We were excited to have our own space but it was so small! We had some interesting experiences while living in that place. The first night I tried to use the oven there was an awful smell! Dan was grilling steaks outside and every time he came in he made a comment about the smell. We had looked all over but were finding nothing. I knew it was the stove/oven but couldn't find the source. We couldn't just throw it all away and head out to eat like we did at our old house. Town is 6 miles away and the only fast food restaurant we have is sonic. Not cheap and not fast and you can only eat so much sonic! I was learning to cook more often and plan my meals out much better. Walmart is 20-25 minutes away. I now planned my meals two weeks at a time. Dan only gets paid once a month and I don't like going all the way to walmart all the time.  Anyways Phil (my father in law) came to dinner that night. He had a feeling what the stench was and knew other areas to look in the stove.  Dan and Phil opened up the top of the stove where the insulation is and found a mouse or mice I don't even know and I didn't ask!! I was mortified, grossed out, and starting to be sickened by our new living arrangements. Needless to say we were no longer hungry!!! The stove went outside never to be used by us again!! There was no way I was cooking with that thing again. Maybe a little to "city girl" of me? Yes, possibly but I don't do mice well at all!!! We bought some spray foam and started filling holes all over that house. That was not happening again!!

October was a busy month. Dustin and Shyla got married. They had  beautiful fall wedding. We spent a couple of days there helping them get things ready. After the wedding it was time to focus on Halloween and the fall festival at the Stokes Farm. That is always so much fun getting the barn ready for greased pig contest, hayrides, pinatas, wiener roast, pony rides, silly games, fellowship and whatever other crazy idea Phil and the boys can come up with! It's great everyone loves it! On a side not that is one of the things I love most about my husband and all the Stokes men. There is never one single dull moment around them and they can make a game or contest out of anything! I love it!! Back on track. I had signed up for a class called Apples of Gold and Dan and I were taking the Dave Ramsey class at church. Our schedules and time were pretty full. I was handling the move fairly well so far.

November hit with full force basketball. I was getting farther a long and we found out we were having boy! His name took us a while to decide on. We finally came up with the name Titus. I don't really remember what made me think of it but I told Dan and that I had looked up the meaning and it meant giant. He loved it instantly. I also told my Dad and he and a coworker had been discussing Titus in the bible and how he must have been a big strong guy because Titus always went to carry the money to help guard it. He also loved the name. It also goes perfect with Tatum. (Tatum and Titus - yep I love it!!) I felt like God had chosen the name for us and I still believe that he put that name on my heart for our precious baby boy. I don't know how else to explain coming up with it. It had never even crossed our minds before or even close to the names we had considered.

Back to our November. Basketball was in full swing and my belly was getting big. Dan was gone a lot and Tatum and I were left to ourselves in the rent house. It was getting colder and the old windows in that place were horrible. Tatum and I sat in the recliner together a lot playing, reading and watching TV with a space heater on and a blanket. It was freezing in there and we couldn't sit on the floor it was so cold. We didn't have Internet or satellite so we spent a lot of time finding stuff to play. Phil put plastic over the windows to help keep the cold out. It did help some but not enough. We were filling up our propane tank every 5-6 weeks that winter. Our plan to save money literally went out the windows! So now we couldn't see out the windows either. Titus was weighing more then Tatum and he was sitting farther down. I was starting to hurt and have contractions but I knew it was way to early. I was only 20 weeks. He was pushing down on my pelvis so bad that I couldn't sit or lay in one spot for long. It was starting to hurt when I would get out of bed during the night. I was out of breath just climbing the stairs at the gym with Tatum. My doctor had told me not to carry her but she was still a baby as well and that was impossible for me. I should have listened

I was starting to get in the dumps again. My husband was gone 4 sometimes 5 nights a week, I was an hour from my Mom and grandma's who were right there every time I needed them when we lived closer and I didn't have many friends yet. Dan's cousin was always so good to stop by and see us or stop and say hi. That always helped so much and I was so grateful to her for being there for us. She has become such a great friend to me. I looked forward to people popping in and I longed for it. We have always lived with an open door policy and it was strange to not have someone popping in everyday. (Our old house was right in town and convenient stopping place for everyone. There was hardly a day that someone didn't stop in. When we were first married we lived in the apartment in the girls dorms. I was a dorm mom and the door was literally always open to the lobby.) Katie had a new baby and was trying to figure things out as a new mom. She was always good to stop in when she could. I understood that everyone had their lives established here and I was the new person. I had to find my place and make my own way. It was just an adjustment not having many visitors and I was needing my husband and my momma. Dan was hating his job as a coach at the time because he wanted to help me and knew I was missing my family. My grandparents and even my Mom were really good about coming to visit often. I was slowly trying to adjust. I cried a lot and was going through another bought in my life of trying to figure out where I belonged.