My Beautiful Days

I believe there are times in our lives when God smiles on us and gives us blessing after simple blessing.  For me, this past weekend was exactly that.  We had an extended weekend at our house, as our kids had no school from Wednesday through Friday.  Having them home was definitely a treat!  My brother, Tory, and his family arrived to spend the weekend at our house on Thursday evening.  It was wonderful to have them over, as I truly just LOVE hosting people at our home!  Thursday was spent catching up and playing with the kids late into the night, and by the time my head hit the pillow I was more than ready for a good nights sleep! Friday was a fairly busy morning, followed by one of the best blessings of the weekend!  You see, our very favorite babysitter, Krista, had sent me a message a few weeks back asking if she could take the kids at some point during this break from school.  Krista is a senior this year and her schedule and ours don't alw...

Today, my husband and I got a rare treat in the fact that we were able to run the many errands we had on our schedule together.  Claire stayed home and watched the boys, so Monte and I headed out mid-morning and ventured out to Costco, then to our apartment complex to fill the soda machine and collect rents, then to my appointment with my OBGYN, then to the bank and finally back home. On the drive home, Monte and I were discussing possible names for our baby and the ones he was coming up with were just driving me crazy!  I'm uncertain if it was just my husband trying to push my buttons (which he does quite frequently!) or if we really are that far off on our opinions, but part of me thinks that my husband is under the impression that we're birthing an 80-year-old baby, because he kept suggesting names such as Roy, Jeff, Renaldo, Melvin or Albert.  After taking it all in for awhile, my response to his suggestions could no longer be held in as I looked him in the face and...

Just when you thought I was back on a good run of blogging .. I go and disappear on you yet again.  I'm sorry!  Did I forget to mention that we were headed up north for a family reunion, then immediately headed to Wisconsin for a few days of relaxation at our friend's cabin?!  If I forgot to tell you, then I am really sorry!  We are home now, just getting back into the swing of the busy life and getting ready to see some of our family for the 4th.  We celebrated Ellis's 9th birthday yesterday (June 30) and had a baseball and soccer game to head to shortly after we arrived back home.  We have been SO busy, but I'm not complaining! We go in for our ultrasound tomorrow and should know whether we are having a boy or a girl!  I am so blessed that this appointment came when it did, as Monte has the day off tomorrow, so he will be able to attend this one with me.  I don't know what it will be like to have him there, as it is usually Colin who comes wit...

Today we are 18 weeks pregnant.  According to the weekly pregnancy calendar, that means that my baby is the size of a pickle.  Sound odd to you?  It does to me, too!  However, since I have been receiving so many requests for a picture of my "bump" (which has just began to show, by the way), I decided to put one up here just for you.  In order to get that done, however, I had to do it right away, as I had already been procrastinating from doing this for awhile!  I was all set to do it last night, but the battery died on my point-and-shoot camera (and I forgot my DSLR camera at my in-laws' house this past weekend!), so I had to wait until this morning.  So without further adieu (and without any makeup, teeth brushing or hair styling), I give you me and baby at 18 weeks: For those of you who didn't want to see my bare belly .. you have my apologies.  It's just ... you can't really see the bump any other way! :) Hope you are all fabulo...

I had my check-up with my OBGYN this past week Monday.  It came as a bit of a surprise to me to find out that I'm currently 16 weeks pregnant.  I imagine if I went back and correctly calculated, it would have come out right, but somehow my head got confused (I want to blame my husband for this one because he's always playing tricks on me regarding how far along I am!) and I thought I was only 14 weeks.  Crazy crazy crazy! So, Colin and I went to the appointment together and he sat nicely and played with the toys we brought along, tying them all up with a rubber band (it's amazing how simple things like that will amuse a child!).  The nurse came in and asked the usual questions and then asked me to lay back so she could listen to the baby's heartbeat.  She put the little sound machine on my belly and moved it around.  We heard only my heartbeat.  She moved it again .. and again .. and again .. and again.  After about two minutes of searching with...

Good morning!  Or shall I say, "Happy greasy Friday morning!"?!  Confused by that?  Let me explain.  You see, we've been having issues with our water heater all week long.  We've gone from having fluctuating temperatures (see the meaning of freezing cold to scalding hot) when we shower to having a water heater that randomly shuts off all the time.  What does this mean?  Well, for one, it means that we just have enough hot water to warm it up before it shuts off.  For two, it means that I haven't showered in four days.  Gross, I know!  So, this morning, Colin and I will be traveling up to my sister's house (about an hour away) to give him a bath and for me to take a shower!  Crazy to travel that far, I know ... but when you've gone so long without a shower, you'll go anywhere to get one!  At some time today, we will have our plumber out as he is replacing our water heater with a new unit (due to the fact that we purchased this t...

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...

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 ...

But maybe it's more because of the fact that I had to see it with my own eyes.  Or maybe just because, for once, I wanted a different result - to prove myself sane as opposed to insane (you know the definition: someone who does the same thing over and over again expecting different results).  Regardless of my reasoning, I did it: I took an at-home pregnancy test.  You know what?  I'm pregnant!  If you've checked my blog in the last week, you obviously already knew this, but I decided to share the lovely news anyway :) Thank you so much to all of you who responded to my initial blog post with congratulations!  We are incredibly excited about the new addition to our family.  Life has been pretty crazy since we arrived home.  Ellis starts soccer tonight (well, official practices start tonight, though he's already been to an optional practice) and I am their team manager (honey, did I mention that I decided to accept this task?!  If not, I'm so...

I truly am wondering ... does anybody have any maternity clothes that I can borrow?! You'll find me blogging regularly again soon, as we return home in just a couple of days!  Hoping you all have a splendid weekend! Kami (yep, my signature is working funny on my inlaws' computer, so I decided to give it the boot for this post!).

Well, I've been gone for awhile, but it's entirely my own fault.  You see, I've been unable to get to a computer with internet access.  We brought our laptop with us to Arizona (did I mention that my family is currently on vacation, visiting my inlaws in Arizona?!), but unfortunately we are still having problems with the internet connections on it.  For some reason our wireless card will detect the networks available, but won't give us the option to connect to them.  So, that is a problem I will deal with when we get back home.  For now, I will just enjoy my vacation, enjoy this beautiful 87 degree weather, enjoy the peace and quiet of spending the afternoon with my daughter and my mother in law. Did I mention that I'm using my inlaws' computer to type this?  Because I am. I've been thinking about this blog post for awhile now, wondering just how I'm going to encompass everything that I have to share - and I decided to be brief about it.  However, ...

If there is anything that I have learned about myself recently, it is the fact that I internalize far more than I would ever care to admit. By no means is this meant to be a way to say that I'm unhappy because I'm NOT . What I am, however, is someone who is realizing that her opinions and feelings about the things surrounding her are far more intense and extreme than she ever realized. I thought I was prepared to be a wife and a step-mom. I was certain that it was going to be a breeze. I'm not saying that I expected to never have conflict, to never have a hard day. I am saying, however, that I expected the transition from working woman to stay-at-home step-mom to be ... well easy . Guess what? It's not. Managing the Physical Therapy clinic was easy - it was bookwork. It was something I was trained in and something I was good at. Managing our home, however, is NOT. I will admit it: I DON'T LIKE TO COOK!!! I used to enjoy it, I truly did. Now that it...

This is something that I feel God is trying to drill into my heart - and something that I am really struggling with. In so many ways in the last two weeks I have felt Him telling me to have faith, to truly believe. Where am I lacking faith? Ever since my miscarriage, I am truly doubting my body's ability to carry a baby to full term. Ridiculous, I know, but it's a fear that is haunting me and almost making me scared to be pregnant again. That being said, in the last couple of weeks, I have heard many sermons about the need to prepare myself for the baby and to expect the baby. Like the man who was praying for rain - God said he would bring it and so one man prepared his fields for it, while the other did not. I need to prepare my fields. I truly believe that part of that is really making my body ready - no more occasional glasses of wine, cutting down to caffeine free coffee in the morning, that sort of thing. The other is truly believing. God had spoken to me through somethin...

I'm sitting in sunny Arizona visiting my in-laws (along with my step-son, Colin) and am having the time of my life! So why am I asking for your prayers? Because, just a few days ago, I had a miscarriage and we lost our baby. It's a really difficult thing to try to get through, especially when I'm so far away from my Monte. Please keep our family in your prayers, it's much appreciated! Rejoice in the Lord always, my soul, and again I say REJOICE ....... This is the day that the Lord has made, let us REJOICE and be glad in it! -- I'm not sure why it happened, but I do know that God is in control and He knows why. Because of that, I know that someday soon, I will rejoice!!

Some of you may have caught my blog from yesterday stating that I was stuck in a funk. I must admit that it was all the result of an overly emotional day. I think this might have something to do with it! :)