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Monday, December 24, 2007

What We're Wearing Tonight

Ok, so I really should be getting in the shower as my neighbor is expecting me over at her house in an hour to take their family Christmas picture.  Instead I am passed out on the couch posting this dumb post.  This is about the first that I've sat down all day.  I made caramel corn, sugar cookies (and frosted them with my 3 year old--that's a feat it itself!), made a pumpkin pie, seasoned oyster crackers, and something else that I can't quite remember right now.  

Anyway, all I'm saying is that I deserve this time of vegging!

So I'll take pictures laster tonight after church of us all together, but until then, I'll show you what everyone is wearing to church, because I know you are all dying to know.  

Scott:
With a pair of these and a tie the color of Natalie's dress.

Saved the best for last, or is it the biggest for last?



So there ya go.  Don't you feel so much better about life now that you know how The Ball Room will be decorated this evening?  







What a lame post!


I'm so sorry.

Friday, December 21, 2007

A Sneak Peak...

....of Scott's early Christmas gift...



An Early Christmas Gift

The Music Man came home from work last Tuesday with an early Christmas gift for me.  He said that I had to open it then, because if I waited till Christmas I would be really disappointed.  I was totally confused, but went along with him, because well, I can't say no to him.  Ever.

So I opened it up and what did I find?...

It was a new camera!  Something I have wanted for years.  We have an amazing camera but it's a handful and not convenient to have for dance class and other snapshots I want to capture at a moment's notice.  

And ooooooooo, is this ever the best Christmas gift!  I was so shocked and so very, very blessed.  I had made a VERY passing remark at Best Buy a couple weeks ago and HE REMEMBERED!!!  You see, my husband needs a very specific list that includes aisle numbers and bar codes, so for him to do this totally on his own was so cool!

The features are endless and I have been busy playing around with them.  One of my favorites is the macro setting.  I get the most amazing pictures of things just centimeters away.  It's so cool!!!  So I thought that I would show you my beautiful Christmas tree using my new camera and my favorite new setting.  I will posting a whole lot more about this new little toy and all the fun, fun, fun things I can do with it in the near future.  

But for now, here is my tree...











I asked Natalie to put the candy canes on the tree and this is what we ended up with...

The Final Product...
My tree through my man's eyes...
My two most favorite people in the whole world!!!

Thursday, December 20, 2007

HEALTHY BABY!

We had our ultrasound this morning and everything looks fantastic!  Baby is strong and healthy.  There are four chambers in the heart, beautiful legs and arms.  Ten fingers, ten toes.  The tech kept saying what a beautiful baby I had to scan.  Of course!  Would I have anything but a beautiful baby?!  

I have the pictures to post, but I need to scan them in.  Right now my scanner is being difficult.  I'll post them just as soon as I can.  

Oh and did I mention that it's a boy?  

Of course it is.  

So go forth and buy me blue things!

Saturday, December 08, 2007

Oh Christmas Tree

I had the best day of my life yesterday!  (Ok so perhaps that's a slight exaggeration, but it did make my year!)

We went to get our first real Christmas tree.  This year my heart was set on a real tree from a real Christmas tree farm.  It may be from these crazy pregnancy hormones, but I am feeling very nostalgic for my old holiday traditions and going to a Christmas tree farm, trudging out through the snow, picking out the most beautiful tree in the field, having Dad cut it down, then drag it back, throw it in the trunk, and take it home to put lights and dorky ornaments on it.  Now that sounds like Christmas to me! 

Ahhh... just look at all those trees.  (Oh and by the way--can you see all that snow!!!  We got four inches on Wednesday.  Woo-hoo!)

My Man with the saw and my Girl Child in the pink bundle.  Off we go!
Me and the Girl pulling the tree wagon.  
The Girl and our tree.  I was prepared to drag My Man all the way to the farthest reaches of the field to find the tree that would choose us, but then I saw this little number and it said, "pick me."  Before I could even say anything the Man said, "how 'bout that one," and pointed to the one that had just chosen me.  Ahhh... our tree.  
My Music Man turned into My Lumberjack real fast.  Oooo... I just love a man that wears his Borns to trudge through snow to cut down my tree.  

T I I I I I I I I M M M M B E E E E E R R R R ! ! ! ! ! ! !


"Mommy!  Look!  I'm making my own footprints!"
See this weird guy?  He had the sickest looking teeth and kept talking to my Man like I ran his life and called all the shots.  He apparently isn't familiar with a marriage based on love and respect.  Anyway... when he shook the tree, I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes.  Have I mentioned how hyper-emotional I am?

Isn't that Man gorgeous?!  I love the long-hair lumberjack look!


If only I could send all the Christmas presents that need to be wrapped through a machine like this!
Oh  my, my, my!  My MAN!  Carrying my Christmas tree.  Oooo... I am all tingly inside. 
"But Mom!  My gloves are covered in snow and my fingers are sooo cold and my nose is runny!"

All I can say is that My Man out did himself with this day.  Everything about the day was perfect from breakfast at the donut shop to our numerous trips to Walmart, to the tree farm and dinner at our favorite little hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant!  Thanks My Big Man!  I hope that my many, many thanks was enough!  The day was absolutely perfect!  I love you!



Stay tuned for more pictures of our beautiful tree all lit up and decorated.

Thursday, December 06, 2007

More Information...

I just noticed that no where on my blog have I completely told the story of everything that happen this last year to bring me to where I am today.  I miscarried in January.  I have that whole story well documented, but what I don't have any record of is the miscarriage that I had in April.  This is that story...

On January 9, 2007, I had my follow up appointment with my midwife.  She gave me a clean bill of health and said that if we wanted to start trying to get pregnant again, my body looked ready.  According to how things looked outwardly, I had had my miscarriage the first of December and had a normal cycle.  That weekend was actually when I finally had my miscarriage.  This story is also documented so I won't go into more details.  But all my midwife said was, "I guess you're really done now."  

Scott and I were ignorant and thought that it was still ok to try again.  We didn't really "try" but we didn't do anything to stop another pregnancy.  I immediately got pregnant again.  This time I was thrilled!  I was going to show these midwives that I can get pregnant and have healthy babies.  I'll show them how great my God is!  Ha!  Pride always comes before a fall.  

Right off the bat things weren't as they should be.  Because I had no period from which to calculate a due date on they had no way of knowing how far along I was.  I began to have blood work done every 2-3 days.  My hcG levels were always low so they had me go in for ultrasounds every week.  You could see the very beginning stages of a pregnancy forming and growing, but still my hormone levels were not were they should have been.  

After all we had been through with the first one we didn't tell anyone but a few very close, very 
trusted friends--not even family.  We couldn't bring ourselves to get everyone excited only to maybe have to tell them bad news in a few weeks again.  

Finally, around what we determined to be week seven they said that the pregnancy had not grown from the week before and there was no fetal pole or yoke sac.  Both should have been visible in an internal ultrasound by weeks 5-6.  

I was going to have another miscarriage.  

Again.

Scott and I had been preparing ourselves for the worst but believing God for the best.  We knew that somehow this was still all a part of His glorious plan in our lives.  Nothing happens without purpose and nothing happens without His knowledge.  

But again, Lord?  

We immediately began to pray that this miscarriage would pass quickly.  The first took 10 weeks from the time the pregnancy ended to the time it left my body.  It was an absolute miracle that I wasn't toxic.  I didn't know what was happening during those 10 weeks, so it didn't bother me too much when it happened.  This time I knew what a real miscarriage was supposed to look and feel like.  I knew I didn't want to sit around and wait another 10 weeks for it to happen.  I also didn't want to have a D & C which I would have done rather than wait around for it.  The very next day I began to bleed.  

The following weekend was Easter.  We had 24 hours of worship that began on Good Friday night and ended on Saturday evening.  By Saturday afternoon, I was still bleeding but I couldn't leave the sanctuary.  I was bleeding so badly I had to go to the bathroom every hour or so to take care of things.  My contractions were awful.  I sat in the back and just cried.  I knew I was losing another baby.  

Around 6pm, I went to the bathroom and as I sat down I felt everything leave my body.  

Someone came in and I asked them to go get my girlfriend who had been praying with me through this second time.  She came in and all I could do was sob.  She knew right away and began to pray over me.  In the second stall of the ladies bathroom, I lost my third child.  
I sobbed on her shoulder in the bathroom for a long time.  I knew I had to tell Scott but he was leading worship.  I wrote him a note that said, "I just lost the baby," and laid it on his piano as he played.  I gathered my things, collected Natalie and headed home.  

The contractions continued and increased.  By the time I got home I had to run to the bathroom where I passed the rest of everything.  By this time Scott was done and he raced home.  He just held me while I cried.  This was the first time that I actually cried for the lose of this second baby.

I don't know why it happened.  I wish I did.  Looking back on it now, I can see God's hand in everything that happened.  His hand sanding away the junk hidden deep in my heart and replacing it with a faith that can move mountains.  

I shared this testimony with a childhood friend of mine once and he reminded me of the scripture in 1 Peter that says, "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls,"  (verses 6-9).

It's true, you know.  Even in our sufferings we are to rejoice.  It makes stronger, better, wiser.  "…And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us," (Romans 5:2-5). 

So that's the record of my second miscarriage, my third pregnancy, but certainly not the end of my story.  The next Sunday brought even more suffering.  I didn't think I could handle any more.  My mom called me during service to tell me that my grandfather had just passed away...

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Our First Snow

There is about four and a half inches of snow on my deck railing.  Can you even believe it!?  It's not even Christmas yet.  We never get this much snow before Christmas.  Natalie was very excited.  She asked me if it was Christmas now that it was snowing out.  Ha!  

I too was thrilled.  Growing up and living most of my life in Wisconsin, leaves me with a need to have snow for the holiday season.  These past two Christmases without the white stuff has been tough on me.  But I don't miss the 18-24 inches we always got in March.  Yeah, that's not fun.  

So anyway, The Girl Child kept asking me all day if she could go out and make snow balls.  Since the real accumulation didn't really start until around four, I told her to wait till Daddy got home and then we go out and have a family snow ball fight.  He was home shortly so we bundled up and out we went.  

I took this picture and it reminded me of her first "real" snow experience two years ago.
Why is she always in pink?


Here are her and Daddy ganging up on the innocent photographer.
That is so not fair!  I didn't do anything!  Look at me.  I'm so innocent...

What is that!?  A bump?  Why, yes, I do believe it is.  It's a baby bump!  

And that's the honest truth of where I've really been these last few months.  I've been growing a baby--hopefully a boy baby, but that has yet to be determined.  

Here's a better picture...
So I am 16 weeks. Due date is May 17.  In two weeks I have my ultrasound and the whole boy vs. girl mystery will be solved.  

I'm sorry if this is the first that you're hearing of this, but with everything that I've been through this last year, I really wanted to wait to hear the heart beat before we told anyone.  When we did--back in October--we told our families and Scott told the church.  I only told a few people (Scott was shouting it from the rooftops.).  By that time I was so out of the blogosphere habit that I didn't really even think to post about it.  

So I'm sorry if you feel left out.  That was never my intention.  Some of my very best friends had to find out through the grapevines of church gossip.  YIKES!!  Talk about feeling guilty!

Anyway, now that everyone knows, I will be sure to fill you in on everything so far and keep you posted as things progress.  So there you go...

Baby #2... on it's way...

pregnancy
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