Finally got some shopping done!

Not to much going on these days but we did finally get some shopping done. We have been sort of broke these days when it comes to Christmas because we did not budget for Christmas shopping do to us being promised that a check from the IRS would be here by October. So, lesson learned. Do not count on the IRS and save for Christmas no matter what! We were told that our check will be mailed next Monday the 21st. Awesome. Possibly in time for Christmas but really not much time to shop. I am trying not to count on it being here but still praying that it gets here by next Wednesday. We have been pretty down about this so we decided to use our savings to shop for at least Tristan. That's what it's there for I guess. So we got a handful of things and just have to get a few more things before we are officially done with him. Feels good to have the most important person taken care of. Now I just have to restrain Ken from going upstairs and playing with Tristan's new lute!

I am getting super excited for Christmas though and having some of both sides of our family over. It should be a full house and that is what me and Ken envisioned when buying a house. This is the kind of Christmas that we had as kids that has faded away as we have gotten older. I am happy to say that Tristan should experience a big Christmas this year. I have already started making my chocolate covered pretzels. I got 95 Chocolate and green Vanilla made so far. Another batch this weekend and I will be set. Next Friday me and Theresa will carry on our tradition of making Christmas cookies and I will make some cookies and try a new Chocolate Mint Roll Cake I saw a recipe for. Doesn't this cake look awesome! I am nervous about the actual cake rolling part though since I have never done that before so I hope it turns out!

Such a slacker this year

I said at the end of the summer that we were going to start shopping even earlier this year due to our newly acquired mortgage payments. Somehow it is December 2nd and we only have 2 presents bought. Me and Ken have had nasty colds so we only have the Christmas tree up and no other decorations yet. We are seriously slacking here! How is it already December? How is my baby only 3 months away from turning 2? It is so true what they say, the older you get, the faster time flies. So how is everyone else doing with your Holiday shopping and decorating? Did it sneak up on you like it did on me? This is my favorite time of year but jeez....can it slow down a bit!

On a side note. I was asked by our dear friends Mike and Deana to take their wedding photos since their photographer fell through. I am in NO WAY a professional photographer and yes they knew this. I had a lot of fun though especially since I always wanted to become a photographer. I only have a semi-professional camera but it makes me want to pursue this a little more. Here is litterally a couple of pics from the wedding on 11/21/09. I have hundreds more to edit this weekend but I wanted to show you how beautiful the bride was. If you click on the pics you can get larger better view of them. They are uploading darker for some reason too.

Wasn't she a gorgeous bride?

Excited to now be a wife to Mike

Seriously, how cute is Mike and Deana's

Daughter Brooke??

Married at the Valentine Theater

I don't know why these are coming out darker on here...

Mike and his beautiful daughter Brooke.

All she wanted was Daddy before the wedding.

The guys, yes Ken was a groomsmen. This is still

needs to be lightened up.

Today would have been my due date

I didn't carry my little one for long but today would have been my due date. Even though I am pregnant again, I still hurt for our lost baby that will forever live in our hearts.

My story of our Miracles

Ok, wow. So where do I start. I have been waiting, hoping and praying for the day that I got to make this post. Me and Ken are more than excited to anounce miracle #2 is due 6/23/10. It has been a long and rough road. It some ways it was rougher than with Tristan and in other ways not. Don't worry I will explain. For those that are unaware, I have PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome) which causes many little cysts all over my ovaries making it to where I do not ovulate on my own. I barely have any cycles on my own, have rapid weight gain, and lose my hair like crazy. Don't worry, I'm not bald...yet! These are the symtoms that I expirience personally but there is other symtoms of PCOS that other women face. It is something I will have the rest of my life and is incurable. Something I will have to manage with the medicine Glucaphage or Metformin (generic version). I found out I had PCOS when I went to the doctor to try to conceive Tristan. I knew something was wrong so I thought I should get checked out. Low and behold I did have issues. I was treated through my OB for 6 months before turning to a Reproductive Endocrinologist (aka RE aka fertility doctor). I turned to him not becasue I hadn't become pregnant yet, but because I was not responding to the treatment from my OB at all. I wasn't even coming close to ovulating. My RE was amazing and I was able to conceive Tristan with oral meds. My HCG levels and progesterone levels were so low with Tristan (beta 30 and progesterone 6) that they thought for sure I would miscarry and prepared me for the worst. Talking to my OB about it recently she said she has never seen anyone with a progesterone level that low carry a baby to term. Tristan was always a miracle to us but it became evident recently how much of a miracle my little guy really is.

Right before Tristans 1st birthday in March we decided we were going to try again on our own and if nothing happened we would go back to the fertility center around September. We didn't think we had much of a chance but PCOS has a habbit of going into remission for the first year after having a baby so we thought why not try. In April we found out we were pregnant. We never realized just how bad we wanted another baby until we saw that positive test. I didn't know how far along I was due to me not having a cycle since Sept so I went in for an u/s to find an empty sac at 5 weeks. They had me come back in 2 weeks and there was no heartbeat. I have never in my life felt heartache like that. It rocked me to my core. I did a lot of crying and praying for answers. I will say that I never lost my faith because I know god has a plan for us. I prayed for strength and the lord answered me. I miscarried on 4/28/09 and that was the week we were putting offers on our house so I was occupied. If it wasn't for being in the middle of closing our house and moving I would have had a lot more time to fall deeper into a sad hole. I was reminded everyday that I have a precious son and husband who loves and needs me. They were my rock that got me through. I will always be sad for our baby that would have been due 12/1/09, but I am at peace now and at an understanding with the Lord. Only a couple of people new I was pregnant last Spring ( I literally mean a couple) so I really don't want anyone to be offended that I didn't tell them. It was something I was not ready to talk about until now. I didn't want sympathy or questions. I just needed to cope alone. And lets be honest, if someone tells you they just had a miscarriage you can't not say anything right? Well I didn't want anything said. I hope that is understandable. You may wonder why I mention it now. Well for starters, I can now talk about it without being bitter and even though my pregnancy was short lived, our baby will never be forgotten and always live in our hearts.

I decided to stop breastfeeding Tristan in May because he was ready (only getting nursed at night at that point) and I needed to get back on my maintenance drugs because my PCOS came back with the vengeance. I was gaining weight fast and losing my hair again so I knew it was time. I did one round of fertility treatment with my OB before going back to my RE. I did a few months of oral meds that I conceived Tristan with but I wasn't really responding. So he switched me to oral meds and injections that I had to give myself in the stomach. Can you say Owe! That was so not fun and I seriously had to give myself a pep talk every night to be able to give myself the injection. But I knew it was worth it because I was responding so well to it. I was growing follicles like mad which is way more than I was doing on oral meds. So after a few months of injections, welts, sore tummy, ultrasounds and bloodwork every few days, hot flashes, tears from hormones....we finally got our BFP (big fat positive as they say in the trying to conceive world) on 10/11/2009. I have gotten lots of blood work and 2 ultrasounds now with my RE and everything is looking great. I am on Metformin and progesterone until 12 weeks to help prevent me from miscarrying (I have a high chance of m/c with PCOS without meds) and I have now been released to my OB which is an awesome milestone and I can't wait to share my good news with her.

So that is my journey in a nutshell of how our miracles came about. I know it seems long but believe me when I tell you that this is the nutshell version. I have debated for a while on if I wanted to publish this journey but I have been asked a couple of times by people who know a little of the journey for more details and I also like to bring to light the awareness of PCOS and Infertility. I want people who battle Infertility to know they are not alone as well as women who struggle daily with PCOS. PCOS does hinder fertility but it is also a life long struggle and the medicine for it can make you sicker than a dog. I believe god doesn't give us what we can't handle though and that everything happens for a reason. I could be wrong but I think I look at Tristan a little different than I would have if I wouldn't have faught so hard for him. Every single day I count my blessings and thank god for blessing us with him. I have the most amazing family and I will NEVER EVER take that for granted. I have also been led to the most amazing women I have ever met through support message boards for women going through the same things I was. I actually belong to a private board of graduates called Parenting after Fertility Challenges. I have formed such a bond with this small group of women and I can say I call them my friends. We actually exchange Christmas cards too. So I think of all the faith, knowledge, and friendships I have gained and know this is why god put me on this journey. Another reason I decided to post my story is I have had it on my Facebook page that I battled infertility due to PCOS to conceive Tristan and I have had a few people reach out to me for support and questions because they are going through the same thing. So I am willing to put my bussiness out there if I can help someone else.

Sorry if this was long or bored you. I started typing and didn't really know where this was all going. I hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday. I cooked my very first Thanksgiving dinner in our new house and it was an amazing day. What were you thankful for this year? I sure know what I am thankful for!

P.S. Do you like the song on my profile? I LOVE it! It's by Paula Fuga and Jack Johnson called "Country Road". I don't have it in me to change it yet because I just love it so much. Had to share my love of the song ;)

I feel like it has been a thousand years since my last post. This has been a really busy summer and when I wasn't busy I was sucking up all the time I could with Ken and Tristan. I just couldn't bring myself to go sit in the basement and blog, or anything on the computer for that matter. It doesn't help that I am on a computer 40 hours during the week for work. If I had a laptop it would be a bit easier. So that's my story and I am sticking to it!

So, it's Fall now. Are you excited? I am ecstatic. I am not really a big summer person. Not a fan of the heat. (Aunt Margie and Uncle Charlie will contest to this from the summer I spent complaining in Disney World in August!) Not that we had much heat this summer. I do love the fall though. I love the cool air and the way the air smells and the beauty of the leaves changing. Something about looking out my window doing the dishes and seeing the yellow leaves blow around is so serene to me. Most people probably think I'm crazy and want the summer back but I love the fall. The season that brings holidays and love. Which brings me to the holidays. I know most people are dreading the holidays but I can't really tell you how excited Ken and I are for the holidays. We talk and anticipate it all the time these days. This is a very exciting holiday season for us this year since Tristan is a year and a half now (gasp!), and we are now in a new house and a new neighborhood. We are excited to decorate our new dwelling inside and out and have Tristan help us, and make yummy, sugary, fattening holiday baked goods. I am excited to have family and friends over for gatherings and to bundle Tristan up to make a snow man during the first big snow. These are things many are dreading but something I am more than ready and excited for.

Stats: Tristan had his 18 month apt on 9/27/09 (Aunt Margie's birthday! Spent her birthday in beautiful Italy!) He is 21lbs 3 oz and 31in. The little guy hasn't grown much at all in the past few months but the doctor says he is doing well. Is it weird that he looks so much bigger to me? He is truly amazing though. He isn't talking a whole lot yet (well he is in his own little language) but I know he will be saying tons of words any day now. He loves to mock everything we do and it cracks us up. The nurse was surprised when I said he sleeps 10-12 hours straight through. I deserve this though because he was getting up 1-4 times a night until he was a year old. He is a boy through and through. Let me tell you!! He runs everywhere, climbs on anything and everything he can find and loves to hit the cats and dog with his foam bat. If he sees a box, he is climbing or sitting in it. If he sees a dinning room chair, he is climbing under it. If he is on our bed or the couch, he is jumping on it. I love it though. Boys are too much fun. I fear though that I will have the boy who digs up snakes and bugs and brings them to me. What will I do then!

I am trying to think what else is new with us. I will probably be taking a cake decorating class soon with my friend Jen. I am so excited to do this! I have been wanting to for a really long time but the only time anyone ever has classes is during the week. My friend Jen knows someone who might have classes on Sundays. So I am just waiting on the details to get started. I will be buying a Kitchenaid mixer soon too. I am way to excited about that. Ken said I BETTER use it all the time if we spend the money on it. I definitely think I will since I am really getting into baking. Plus I wouldn't mind making some bread too. So hopefully I will have learned lots of neat techniques for the holiday season baking!

That's all that has been new with us these days. I forgot to mention Ken! He is doing great. It is football season which means fantasy football time and needless to say this is his favorite time of year. He is not doing the best in fantasy football this year but we are hoping his team will get better. We are also hoping that Tony Romo doesn't blow the season for the Cowboys. It is definitely a nail biting year for football! The end of the baseball season is getting stressful though too. The Tigers are 2 games up in the division and I was for sure they blew it the other night against The Twins. But they pulled it out and only have a few more games to win before clenching the division. It's exciting but we don't see them lasting too long in the playoffs. Whats your favorite team? Who are you routing for? I hope you say Dallas Cowboys and Ohio State! O-HI-O!!!!!!

Ok, and now the moment you have all been waiting for. Drum roll please..... Pictures of the cutest little munchkin you ever did see. (In my eyes anyway :) I also have some below these of random summer events including my dads 50th surprise party. I can't explain how surprised he was! Anyone who knows my dad knows that it's a hard thing to do for a guy always on the go and asking questions.




P.S. I have read a blog that has touched my soul profoundly. The Sullivan Family. I ask that you pray for Sara's husband and new baby Chloe as they try to live a life without their amazing and brave mother and wife. You can read their story here. If you read the blog from the beginning of this year, I promise Sara's bravery and fight with cancer while being pregnant as well as extreme faith and love in god will touch you too. "Sara, your legacy has touched many people world wide and will continue to."

Great Give Away!

There is a great give away over at B is for Brown
I read her blog often so hop and over and spread the love!

I am still here!

I am still here but have just been a bit busy these days. I didn't realize how busy we have been until I thought back a litlle. Since March we had Tristans 1st birthday party to plan and execute. Then we were looking at houses pretty much every weekend. In April we found our house and went back and forth every 2 days with negotiating for a week. May 1st we got our accepted offer and things have been crazy ever since. We had lots of paper work to sign, boxes to accumulate, packing to be done. It took us the whole month to pack because we have accumulated entirely too much crap and it's not so easy to pack with a baby. Since I didn't get home until 6p during the week, the only thing I had time for was have dinner, spending time with Tristan and Ken, showers for us and bath for Tristan and then bedtime. So the only time we had to pack was on the weekends at night when Tristan was sleeping. So that consumed May for us. June 5th we signed closing papers and have painted, moved and unpacked for the month of July. On top of this we have had parties of some sort every weekend. July, more parties. This last weekend was the first weekend we had absolutely nothing to do (and can not tell you how excited we were about this!) and guess what happened?? I got a stomach bug and Tristan has developed a horrible cough with fever and an ear infection. Fun weekend of sickies! I just wanted to give a quick run down of how busy things have been for us and why I am a slacker at updating these days. I didn't even realize how busy we have been until I sat down and thought about it. I have lots of pictures from summer outings that I will try to post on Friday when I am off though. I hope everyone has been enjoying their summer. If thats what you want to call this season. Can you believe that Saturday is August 1st! It hasn't even been that warm and we are already aproaching August. Which by the way is the day of our first mortgage payment :( Ok, everyone have a wonderful weekend. I will post again on Friday fellow bloggers!

P.S. I have a prayer request. My friend Sylvia's son Jess is back in the hospital. He is the premie baby that I told you about before. He lost a 1/2 oz over the weekend and is coughing really bad. They are running test to find out what is wrong with him. My friend is heart broken as her son is in the hospital once again. Please pray that Jess comes home soon and healthy.

Breastfeeding Toddler causes quite a stir...

Read this article and tell me what you think:
http://www.momlogic.com/2009/05/breastfeeding_toddler_ad.php?adid=breastfeeding_toddler_ad_sphere_momlogic

I don't understand how this is a problem at all. How is that any different than a toddler feeding her baby doll a toy bottle. Tristan has never had a drop of formula and only took between 8-12 Breast milk bottles a week (Until about 14 months when I stopped nursing him and he started whole milk out of a sippie). To him Breastfeeding is normal. So if he were to imitate feeding a doll, how is that offensive if he were to mimic breastfeeding? To him that's is how babies eat. If anything I think it teaches children that there is nothing sexual or wrong with breastfeeding. It is 100% natural and the way things have been done since the beginning of time. I don't understand how this is "sexualizing of children". Since when is breastfeeding sex or sexuality? This child isn't dressed sexually or exposing herself so how is this offensive. Should we be teaching our youth that breastfeeding is a naughty act? Why is there always such an uproar about breastfeeding? Why are people so offended when a woman breastfeeds in public even though she is covered up? These are things I don't understand about peoples opinions on breastfeeding. I always breastfed in the back of a car covered up because I wasn't strong enough to endure the comments and snickers from people walking by. I think there needs to be a change in mindset when it comes to breastfeeding. There is a reason mothers make milk after a child is born. I don't criticize people who choose not to but understand that this is the most natural thing and should not be looked at as sexual. Reading this article upset me and brings forth a lot of other issues regarding breastfeeding and I had to address it.

Quick note...

A couple people have asked me about the song on my page. The song is "County Road" by Jack Johnson and Paula Fuga. It's amazing! If you didn't know, Jack Johnson is a Hawaii native and so is Paula Fuga. The song can be purchased at halaukumana.org or through itunes. The proceeds benefit Native Hawaiian Culturally Based Charter Schools. I am really liking Paula Fuga's music as well. Her C.D can be purchased on Amazon.com or through itunes as well. I think I might be ordering it off of itunes soon!

Happy 4th Anniversary to us!

OK, WARNING: This is probably going to be a long post as I have been busy and slacker blogger lately. A few of my online gals have been hounding me so it's going to be a long update I think...First things first. We are in the new house and totally LOVING it. As of right now we have gotten the living room, dining room, and Tristan's bedroom painted. I want to thank Mary and Chelsea for helping us paint until 1a the night before we moved. You guys are awesome! I also want to thank our movers Mom, Jim, Theresa, Mike, Billy, and Chelsea. We appreciate your help so much! This weekend we have to get the basement painted and the bathroom and we should be done with painting. It has been busy, busy, busy! We still need to unpack the bedrooms and a lot of random stuff in the basement. We just got our bedroom furniture and just painted Tristan's room painted Sunday night so we didn't want to unpack up there just yet. As soon as basement is done we will unpack everything down there and get our super cool music themed room set up. Well, we are hoping it's super cool anyway! After this weekend my goal is to start working on the yard. The previous owners did SO much work and remodeled everything inside and out, but they didn't keep up the yard at all so it needs some major TLC. The grass is dying everywhere and it is weed city in the backyard. Ken says when he sprays the yard with weed killer all the so called grass will be gone too because it's mostly weeds. Then I want to get some flowers planted at least out front. Kens parents were nice enough to give us a lawn mower and a couple of shovels and rakes to get us started. Now I just have to get a hose and a big shed to hold yard stuff and table and chair sets during the winter. The previous owners tore down the garage :( SO that's what is on the agenda for right now. I did notice the weekend that we moved in that there is no sidewalks on either side of the street. I am so sad about this. I can't really take Tristan for a walk or teach him how to ride a bike on our street. So I am working on getting him an outdoor playhouse. I think I might get him this one because there is so much to do on it and he can grow with it. Plus it is on major sale at Meijers through the end of July! Score!


I think it looks fun anyway! He LOVES to be outside and there is not much to do out there right now so we are working on making it a fun place to be.

Speaking of my little man, he is loving the new house. He can walk everywhere downstairs and that keeps him busy all day. That and he chases the cats and dog around with the cat wand. He hasn't really played with his toys much. Running around the house and chasing the animals has kept him very busy. I think he likes the freedom. No more being locked in a small cramped living room. It cracks me up to watch him running back and forth and laughing so hard over god knows what. I think he has also hit a major growth spurt. Finally! He seems so much longer and weighs more. At least it feels like it. He hasn't really had any huge growth spurts so it is about time. He is also getting 2 molars in at the same time. Yes I said 2! The past 2 nights he was crying in his crib off and on until 10:30p. I feel so bad for him. But he hasn't gotten any teeth since December so he is definitely due to get some more. So now he has 8. Lets see, what else??? He is an amazing eater. There is nothing this kid won't eat. Lately he has been on a strawberry kick. Ken was eating a salad with french dressing the other day and gave him a bite and he loved it. I am so proud as I am still as picky as I was when I was a kid. I wish I liked more foods, especially salad. But I will settle for having a child that likes everything. He eats so much too. I seriously think he could out eat many 5 year olds. It's amazing that he is so small. He either just has a fast metabolism, runs off all this food, or it has something to do with us giving him no sweets at all and giving him all fresh veggies and fruits. Oh and no juice. He is so much fun though and I can't wait to see what summer brings. I hear the Zoo has finally re-opened their new and amazing petting zoo so hopefully we can get to that soon. Although, I hope every animal there is prepared to be called "kiiiiy" (kitty) by Tristan!

One of my last things for this post is, today me and Ken have been married for 4 years!!! I can't believe it! Time goes so fast. Each year that passes has been more amazing than the one before it and I thank god all the time that I found Ken. It amazes me that we have been together almost 7 years and I love him more and more every day. I think next year for our 5th anniversary we will have a huge party and have Kens friends band play. They are "The Sanderlings", and they are amazing. They will be at the Cherry Fest this weekend (as will we be to see them on Friday :) and they play at Pizza Papalis downtown all the time. They also played at the Glass City Marathon if you were downtown then. They play mostly cover songs at these venues that were hits from the 70's-90's and sound great. We LOVE their original music the best though. If you want to check them out and hear their own music you can go here: http://www.myspace.com/sanderlings. Gotta get out the word and promote the guys since they are so awesome! Ken's friend is Jon. He went to High School with him and he is the drummer. They just recently got back in contact since high school.


The Band - They have So much fun up there!

Ken's friend Jon

OK, so I think that is about it. We just decided that we are going to have our housewarming party on July 4Th. It's more of a kick off the summer, celebrate me and Kens Birthday, 4Th Anniversary, we just bought a new house, reason to throw a party, party. this was the only weekend that seemed feasible because there is already something going on most weekends this summer and we didn't want to wait until the end of summer. We want to kick off the summer! So I will try and get invites mailed out this Friday. I still have to make them so I need to get my butt in gear! Haven't had no time to sit on the computer though. They will get out though, I promise!



OK, I think I am coming to the end to my extremely long blog post. Haven't posted in a while and had a lot of updates though. I want to say happy begining of the summer to everyone. There is so much stuff going on in the city so I hope everyone gets out and enjoys it. I am excited about the Farmers Markets. Do you guys go to the Farmers Market's? I never really went to one until last year when Tristan started eating solids and I started making my own baby food. They are awesome though and everything is so cheap and so much better. There is one at Elder Beerman every Wednesday at Westgate and I just noticed yesterday while on my lunch that they have started back up for the season. They are right in front of my work so I know where I will be next wednesday at lunch time! Perfect time for me to buy my flowers and get Tristan some yummy fruit from the locals! Ok, I leave you with a few pictures. I will get detailed pics of the house as soon as everything is set up and done being painted. Lots of people have asked but I want everything to be done first. I will show you the outside though. This was taken before we bought it by the sellers. Hopefully I will have some flowers soon!










P.S.
I have a prayer request. I have two friends who could really use some prayers regarding their kids. First, my friend Sylvia had her baby boy Jess about a month or so ago and he was 5 weeks early. She just found out that he needs heart surgery. He has 2 Heart defects: Ventricular Septal Defect & Pulmonary Valve Stenosis(narrowing in pulm. valve). Its a matter of time the doc said, when he needs it. I guess the valve wont fix itself & that's what he needs surgery on. Please pray for them. She is going through a hard time right now and is really feeling the ol' sang "When it rains it poors". My second prayer request is for one of my online friends from a private message board PAFC (Pregnancy after fertility challenges). Her twins were born last Tuesday. Her daughter has already come home but her son is only taking half of the bottles he should be so they are trying to correct the problem in the hospital. They are hoping he comes home next week and I ask that we pray thats what happens so he can be with his sister and big brother. "Lord please keep these babies strong during these dificult times."

Been a busy, busy girl these days...

I have been such a bad blogger these days but I do have real reasons. We have had a couple of things going on lately and one of them I think I am ready to announce. We are buying a house! Our offer got accepted May 1st and we just found out yesterday that our loan was approved and we could be closing with keys in hand at the end of this week or early next week. I can't describe how excited I am. We have actually been house hunting for a year now and have hit a couple bumps in the road so we are very happy we finally found the house for us. Everyone kept telling us this was a buyers market and there is so many houses for sale. Which is true to some extent. What we have learned in this journey is how picky we were in where we lived and what houses are out there. We wanted and NEEDED to get Tristan in a good area and decided that we only wanted to live in Maumee, Perrysburg, or the 43614 area code (good parts of South Toledo). Our new house is in 43614. We learned that there IS a lot of houses for sale, but most of them are short sales and foreclosers. Either they would be totally tore up and in need of some major repair OR the ones we really liked would have 4-5 offers already pending on them. So it wasn't as much as a buyers market as we thought. I also felt a lot of sadness looking for a home. I realized just how many people are losing or have lost there home just in South Toledo alone and it really sadens me. I can't explain the feeling I had walking into houses that somebody lost and hoping that this might be the one for us. Especially when you see that children lived in that house. I pray so hard that this economic crisis will come to an end and that families can stay in there homes. The house we are buying is seller owned though and a contractor owned it. He has done complete remodeling inside and out. They tore down the garage :( but it has new siding, windows, roof, water tank, furnace,carpet,floors, and remodeled bathroom and kitchen. It's perfect for us because we don't have to do much of anything but paint, shouldn't have anything break anytime soon, and it is MUCH more energy efficient for us. It seems as though all the waiting was worth it. So that is what has been going on with us. Things are just going to get busier but when it calms down I will update again. This has been the craziest couple of months ever so I haven't been on the computer much or even taken many pictures.

As far as Tristan goes, he is walking all over the place! He has been taking a couple of steps here and there since his birthday but now he is all over the place and loving it. He is actually already trying to run but not quite ready for that yet. He is changing so much these days. He is getting smarter and talking and babbling so much more. He is really developing quite the personality. He now points and reaches for things and really starting to learn the mechanics to things. This is really such an exciting and fun age. I can't wait to get him outside to play this summer and take him to a baseball game. He is also throwing full blown temper tantrums. When you tell him no he screams and throws himself on the floor and sometimes hits things. We are trying not to pay any attention when he does this in hopes that he will stop. I thought this wasn't supposed to happen until they turn 2! Besides the tantrums though he really is so much fun. I haven't taken any pictures in the past couple of weeks because my batteries have been dead and haven't had much time. But I leave you with these pictures that I haven't yet posted. I will keep everyone updated on the move as soon as we get settled and once that happens we will have a party for everyone to see the house. Have a great week!

Tristans 1st Birthday

My baby is 1 year old! Can you believe it! On his actual birthday (Saturday) We went to TGI Fridays to celebrate and he had a good time. He was people watching like crazy since there was a lot going on. The wait staff came around and sang Happy Birthday and he drank his water from the sippy cup the whole time watching them. Then they brought him Vanilla Bean Ice Cream that was oh so good. His first time having ice cream and he couldn't get enough.

I forgot to say that he took his first steps on his own the day before his birthday. We gave him him his new rocking chair and sat him in it and he decided that he was going to stand up. Ken was in the middle of saying "Look, he stood up all by himself" when he took 4-5 steps to me. It was the coolest thing that he did it with no help from us. He has done it a couple of times since then but doesn't really want our help so I am just letting him go at his own pace. I think he will be running around any day now.

His birthday party went really great. As soon as we brought the cake out he was really happy. He sucked on the cake more than anything but had a blast playing in it. He got a lot of really nice stuff and had so much fun playing with everything as soon as we got home. We have a ridiculous amount of toys in our very small living room right now so I put some of his new toys up and will rotate them out. Our living room literally looks like a play room but it works because that's the only place he can really play for now. It amazes me how much our house has changed in a year. We went from only having neutral colors through out to having bright colors everywhere. I like it though.

I finally put some misc pictures up and ones of his birthday. You will see that he really loved his duck cake! I'm sure I will have lots of new pictures soon since his cousin Brianna is coming up from Florida this Friday for 10 days with her sister and Her mom Crystal who is a good friend of mine. It will be nice that he will have kids to play with. He loves kids but has never really played with any and last time Brianna was here 6 months ago he was a little to young to play. But now he is very active and a rough houser so it should be a lot of fun. Until next time, I hope everyone has a good week.

PS. I have one request. If you could take a quick second of your day to say a prayer for some people who are going through rough times right now. I know a couple of families personally who have lost there jobs and run out of unemployment and are in jeopardy of losing everything they have. It has been near impossible for these families to find jobs with the way our economy is right now and are barely surviving. This is the case across the country. I have told them that I would pray for them but I am asking that you pray for them too. It breaks my heart that families have worked so hard for everything they have and can lose it all so quick. I am truly lucky to not be in the situation but my heart still breaks for them.

Finally some pictures

"A Reflection of my Blessings"

Well, once again it has been a while since my last post. I was doing so good at this until Tristan began to be the "on the go" baby. It's a job keeping up with him and I don't find a lot of time to get on the computer on the weekends when I'm home.

So I will start of by saying that one of the biggest things I have learned lately is how fast a year can go by. In 2 days my not so little baby is going to be 1. I can't believe it. I don't see how it's possible. We have managed to survive colic and breastfeeding and that is a true blessing. I remember in the beginning I felt like the colic would never go away and he would just cry all day for the rest of his life. That's what it feels like when you are sleep deprived anyway. It also seems like just yesterday that I was having my first and only pregnancy break down a few weeks before delivery. I was watching "SCOTT BAIO IS 46...AND PREGNANT" (I know, of all things I could watch, this is what I was watching!). I loved this show for some reason and when his girlfriend was in labor I had to walk to the kitchen to have a meltdown. Ken came out and checked on me and asked what was wrong and I told him that all of the sudden I was scared. I was terrified of labor, scared to bring a baby into this world and be completely responsible for molding him into a good person and teaching him life's lessons, and so emotional at how drastic my life was going to change. I wanted a baby so bad and was deemed infertile so I had to work a lot harder at getting pregnant but I was still scared at the changes ahead. I was going to be taking care of this helpless baby and devote my body to breastfeeding him to give him everything he deserved and this scared me. I was so afraid that I didn't have it in me and that I would fail. But here I am a year later wondering where the time went. I made it through the 1st year and it was amazing. Colic wasn't fun but we survived. Breastfeeding turned out to be the best and most rewarding thing that I have done for Tristan so far and I will be sad when the day comes when I wean him. Tristan has never had any formula or jarred baby food (since I made all his baby food), he has hit all his developmental milestones, and managed to develop quite a personality. All things a year ago that seemed so hard and challenging but I found the strength as all moms do. I have realized that I am a much stronger person than I ever though since becoming a mom. I learned how much love I have to give and that there is NOTHING that I won't do for my son and my family. I also never knew how much I could love Ken before Tristan came along. I have always loved him beyond the earth and sea but I never knew I could love him beyond that. Not only has he been such an amazing father taking care of Tristan and me and the house but he has been an amazing rock and support for me. He does so much for me and been there all the way to say "you can do it" and the love he has for Tristan just melts my heart. When I told him I wanted to breastfeed he supported me. When I told him I wanted to make all of Tristan's baby food he kind of looked at me like " are you really going to do that or say your going to do that", but he supported me and actually helps me make it. When I told him I wasn't ready to wean Tristan at a year he supported me and said that whenever I decide is fine and he will be there as support if I become sad from the transition. I guess my point is, he has SHOWN me how much he loves me. I couldn't be more blessed at what life has given me.

This post was more of a "Reflection of my Blessings" in the past year. I needed to reflect since my life has changed so much this past year. But now I will give you a couple of updates on my little birthday boy if you have made it this far. Lets see, he got his first haircut last week and did pretty good. A couple of sporadic fake tears but otherwise good. His hair was getting quite unruly kinking up every time he took a nap. It turned out really good and the lady puts some gel in it and spiked it afterwards. We called in the "Baby Hawk". So cute! I will have pictures soon. He hasn't been as good of an eater as he used to be. He used to eat anything and now one day he loves something and the next day he hates it. My favorite is when he is eating something and then after a handful of bites he decides he doesn't like it anymore and spits it out. Ahhh, toddler years here we come! He's not walking yet but any day now. He can stand for several seconds but when he realizes he's doing it he sits right down. He has taken a couple of falling steps from the gate to the couch but we don't count those. I know he can do it, he just doesn't want to right now. So we don't force him. We work on it for a short bit until his legs start flailing about. Lets see, what else??? Oh yea, my favorite one!....HE IS FINALLY SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!!! (I am knocking on wood right now by the way!) It only took a year! I got so used to being up a few times a night that it's really bizarre to get to stay in my bed all night. He has been quite the little ham these days and become a dare devil. He climbs everything and loves to be hung upside down. I am definitely going to have my hands full! I think that is about it for now. I will update with some pictures today or tomorrow and then I will update with how his birthday went with pictures after Sunday. I'm sure there will be tons of pictures! I will try to get the ones we have now up tonight.

It's been a while...

I have been such a horrible blogger. I haven't blogged in over a month. January was a very boring and exhausting month for us. I know that sounds contradicting so let me explain. It was exhausting because it took us weeks to get Tristan back on a normal sleeping schedule after Christmas. Note to self: DO NOT take him off of his normal schedule under no circumstances! I was up with him every hour or two for a few weeks and on top of it he wasn't taking good naps. I was a walking zombie for a while there. The last thing I wanted to do was come home and get on the computer after being on it all day at work. Now January was boring because It was so cold and snowy that we didn't leave the house unless absolutely necessary. That and so many people were sick we were trying to quarantine ourselves so none of us would get sick. It worked! None of us got sick at all! There was no milestones for Tristan so the month of January was all together boring. I spent most of the month just reading.
Now this month Tristan has started some new stuff. All with in a week Tristan began to clap, wave bye, and just really discover what his hands can do. He is learning how things fit together. Like for instance, he learned that his ball from his Busy Ball Popper can fit into the sub woofer hole. How fun was that! It took Ken a bit to get it out but it did come out. He has learned the exact button that opens the DVD player so now we have a plastic guard on it. He doesn't watch TV at all but he knows what the remote does. He hold the remote and presses the buttons looking at the TV. Lets see, what else??? He loves to take his socks off and pet Milo, Zoe, and Emmitt. He says Kitty but can't get him to say doggie, He thinks that Emmitt is a kitty too. He is cruising super fast these days. He actually can stand all by himself when he doesn't realize it. We have caught him standing playing with a toy without holding on to anything but as soon as he realizes what he's doing he sits down real quick. When we try to help him he flops around like a jelly fish. He is just absorbing so much these days. He grabbed a wipe the other day and started wiping his head like he was in the bath tub. It was too cute! He is on all table foods at this point. I still puree some avocados and fruit sometimes just because he loves it so much but he has been eating what we eat. Even though he is still very tiny, he is a very good eater. He loves to eat! I think we are coming close to changing him to 6-9 months clothes. He has gotten a lot of use from his clothes but I can't wait to put him in all his cute outfits he got for Christmas.
Well, I think that's all I can think of for right now. We are all doing good and have stayed healthy (aside from a runny nose that Tristan had this weekend). We are planing Tristan's 1st Birthday party right now. Can you believe it! I will send the invites out at the begining of March but it will be Sunday March 22nd at Walbridge park Hall (same place as my shower). They were booked on his actual birthday so I had to settle for the day after. Probably around noon or 1p but I'm not too sure yet. I will update more frequently since the "January Blues" is gone and Tristan is learning so much these days.