My Beautiful Day

Guess who has taken a big ol' break from her blog?  Well, if you've checked here in the past week, I think you already know that it was me.  Between fighting the stomach flu and fighting off morning sickness, between baseball and soccer, between overnight guests and road trips life has been so BUSY!  By no means does that mean I'm complaining, though.  I really happen to like the busy! Okay, pregnancy update.  I'm currently 10 weeks along and experiencing all-day nausea.  I'm not complaining about it too much, though, as it remains just nausea.  In other words, I'm not spending a majority of my day (or any of my day, for that matter) hovered over the toilet.  I recently went in for my 9 week appointment, which was basically just registering me into the computer system as a pregnant woman (not that I wasn't already in there, but I guarantee you that after I answered the bajillion questions they asked, I am most definitely in their system now!). ...

As many of you may know (if you've followed my blog within the past year) my sister and her family are adopting a beautiful little girl from China.  Her name is Khloe and she is a bright and beautiful toddler (trust  me, I've had the privilege of seeing many photos and videos of her).  Well, Tanya's family just received their TA (travel approval) and will be leaving for China in approximately three weeks.  That being said, the funds needed to get there are really tight and, at the request of several friends and family members (including me), Tanya has opened up to the idea of putting a donations widget on her blog.  Will you consider giving?  Even the smallest gifts will help them on their journey to this beautiful little girl. I understand, though, that giving comes with a price - so Tanya has found several people who have happily donated prizes to be given away in a drawing and all you have to do to be entered in those drawings is give a suggested ...

I'm starting to believe that maybe, just maybe, I need to stop being surprised by the amazing things that come out of Colin's mouth, but sometimes they just surprise me to the fullest!  Tonight was no exception.  He and I are sitting at our dining room table; he is drawing a picture and I am catching up on some emails.  The dishwasher is running (loudly, I might add!) and our radio is playing KTIS (the local Christian music station) in the background.  Note that it is playing, but the dishwasher almost completely drowns it out.  So ... as we're sitting here, Colin looks up from his drawing and asks, "Why does my God take away?" Confused by where this statement came from, I asked him what he meant.  His response almost blew me away, "The song just said that God gives and takes away, but why does my God take away?"   Oh to explain something so difficult to someone so young!  We talked about it for awhile and I tried to explain it to him in ...

That is the lesson I learned today.  Throughout the start of my pregnancy, the only thing I seem to be hungry for is fruits and vegetables.  The very thought of meat makes me want to gag (which is odd because I normally just LOVE me some meat!), so I have been filling up on fruit, fruit and more fruit ... and the occasional vegetable.  The problem?  I am experiencing some slight nausea, and I discovered that it doesn't go away until I get some carbs.  What does that mean?  Well, a trip to the grocery store of course! So, the three older kids and I headed out to Target (Colin was in preschool and my older kids didn't have school today) because I had some purchases to make for our addition (you know, closet hangers and the missing screws to complete my desk assembly!).  Somehow, most of the purchases I ended up making were food!  While I already stocked up on fruit yesterday at our local grocery store, today was the day to stock up on carbs, inclu...

In a recent conversation that I had with my brother, Tory, he casually informed me that my blog is boring to him and that I need to spice it up.  I stifled a laugh and asked him just HOW he wanted me to spice up my blog.  Well, according to him, my male readers don't always want to hear about pregnancy - they want to see something more manly, like the progress being made on our addition. Before I go into the spicier side of life, Monte wants everybody to know who Tory is, so he voted the following picture to capture his fabulous personality: This picture is from their man's four-wheeling trip to the Badlands in North Dakota.  He's showing his brilliantly beautiful pearly whites after having just brushed them before bed!  :) So, Tory dear, without further adieu, I give you our progress!  This first picture is the tile in our guest bathroom. This is the tiling that will go in the shower (left) and around the toilet (right). This is the tile warmer so that y...

Yesterday was one of the best days I have ever experienced.  Colin and I went together to my appointment with my OBGYN.  He was such a good boy and sat so well and was so polite throughout the whole appointment, I was so very proud of him!  We got set up in the ultrasound room, and that's where my heart leapt out of my chest and I truly saw the miracle growing within me.  I got to watch its heart beating.  To top that off, I got to listen to its heart beating.  If there's anything that's going to make a pregnant woman cry, that is it!  I couldn't contain the tears that flowed. At this appointment I learned that I am six weeks pregnant and my baby is due on November 24th.  I guess I won't be hosting Thanksgiving this year (which actually bums me out a little bit, because it's my favorite holiday to host).  I'm not complaining, though, because sometime right around there, I get to meet this little miracle: I will admit it ... I'm in ...