Just as I Am

a special treat for my pancake loving kiddos.

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mommy daughter dinner date!

Monday Morning

It's raining here. and, of course, it is Monday.

But you know what? I don't really care! It's a beautiful day! I continue to pack up our house, excited and full of anticipation with what lies ahead for our family. A new chapter, a new start, with a bigger house, closer to church, closer to family.

Grant is coughing, Gracie is sleeping. I'm wearing comfy clothes - a yoga-style skirt that makes me feel half-way pulled together while going on little sleep (and, a skirt means I don't have to squeeze myself into pants!)

I'm off to give them more medication, make myself some more coffee with {more than a dash} of half-and-half, and enjoy the day.

you enjoy it, too.

Yesterday we made scrambled eggs for breakfast. Grant and I were in our comfy clothes and I had my favorite apron on. I was doing my normal breakfast stuff {in between playing with playdough, making a crane go way up high, and digging in sand}.

As we ate our eggs together, {he gets the full-fat version, I get my whites-only omelet!}, we talked about how our hearts our dirty, and Jesus died on the cross to make our hearts clean.

Somehow, I think we did more than make breakfast together.

{and, yes, I cringe at how horribly non-green our paper bowls are! eek. recycling will continue at the new house!)

Oh the sweetness!

Gracie fell asleep nursing at 7 a.m. this morning, after being awake since 5 this morning. We happily played downstairs (me with some coffee, her with her favorite toys - her brother's!) for a couple of hours, and when I picked her up to nurse at 7 she {finally} fell asleep almost instantly. As she was finishing eating she rested her head against me, and then laughed in her sleep. Oh the sweetness of holding my sleeping baby girl! so much LOVE!

In Memory

2 years ago today I had my 2nd D &C. Although time has {mainly} healed my heart and hurt, the pain of pregnancy loss will always be there. A part of my heart will always reflect, always hurt, always wish that the road to having children could have been smoother for us.

I wanted to share this with you this morning:

This is a message I sent to a friend of mine shortly after our loss 2 years ago. My friend loved me, supported me, and prayed for me well during this loss.

---

Three months ago today I found out I was pregnant with our fourth baby. We were on vacation in Dallas, and it had been a wonderful trip. We visited with some of our best friends in the world...friends that had loved on us and supported us during our first 2 miscarriages and the succeeding infertility. We sat around with our friends, catching up, chatting, laughing, drinking delicious coffee...it was refreshing for our souls.

The morning after an especially wonderful visit with some friends,

{whom themselves dealt with infertility and conceived through IVF}

I took a pregnancy test.

It was positive, and I was so deeply thrilled.

It seemed to be the perfect ending for a perfect vacation.

We told our parents after Matt's surprise 30th birthday party. Everyone had been sitting around and talking, and in closing the evening Matt said some nice words for our parents, and then said that Grant was going to be a big brother. They were thrilled, we were thrilled.

I spent one delightful month dreaming over Pottery Barn Baby catalog's, envisioning pink walls and fru-fru clothes...Matt and I were so very, very excited.

Here's an entry from my prayer journal, when I was 6w4d pregnant:

I am so so so incredibly excited about this pregnancy. Still not believing it's true, but excited at the same time!! I'm more excited that I was with Grant, even - I think because I *know* how wonderful being pregnant is (hyperemesis and pre-eclampsia and all!), how wonderful having children is, and I am so in awe that the Lord has allowed me to experience it again.

That said, I'm trying to just savor every moment of this pregnancy...take in everyone's reactions, remember the moment I told Matt. It's just so wonderfully surreal.

On Tuesday, May 30th our world changed.

at 13 weeks, the ultrasound showed there was no heartbeat.

Josie Hope Walker blessed our lives for the short time she was with us. Josie means "God will enlarge" - which I just love, because in this pain and grief, my only prayer is that somehow, in some Divine way, God can enlarge this tragic situation

and use it for His Divine purposes.

And Hope, because for the 6 weeks I knew I was pregnant, she gave us such incredible hope...hope that my body can actually do this quickly!, hope for a sibling for Grant

...hope for the future.

Thank-you, for being excited with me when I told you I was pregnant, for crying with me when we got un-anticipated news, and for listening as I've grieved, mourned, cried, and have started the road to healing. I am touched that you have cared for me so much. Thank-you for walking through this with me...thank-you for letting me share her life with you.

So...in loving memory of Josie Hope. May her life be a blessing, in whatever way it may be.

So Excited

I'm so excited to look at houses today! I don't know if I've been this excited for a long time! I even woke up at 6:15 this morning couldn't go back to sleep (which, in our sleepless house, really says something!)

1 older house that would need some updating (but, I'd get to pick out the kitchen!)
1 new house that would need to come down in price {that I'm in love with the yard}
1 house in foreclosure that's huge {who knows how desperate the bank is to get rid of it!)
1 newish house that's a short sale on an itty bitty lot {but is a great price and I love the floor plan
and 10 acres of land that has a crummy house {so we could either totally redo the inside or build on the land}

that's what the agenda is! sooo excited! so so excited.

more practice with the nikon

The Birthday Beauty

Why Grant's congested {again}

We have a weekly neighborhood playgroup (just like, 5 SAHM's and their kids) and one mom brought her SICK girls. When I saw snot bubbles blowing out of the 8-month-old's nose (literally!) I should've been more vigilant about washing Grant's hands. ALL the rest of our kiddos have the same congestion/runny nose/cough now. oh, well, what can you do?

BB in a bit to catch up!

Happy Monday!

So, I haven't blogged in awhile! Just wanted to pop in and say hi. :)

Off to pick up the kitchen and living room while Grace is napping. Poor Grant is congested {again} and chilling with Sesame Street.

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Grant

This is usually the reaction I get when Grant sees the camera come out:

So when we were outside this morning I took some {okay, 216} pictures. I caught a few cute ones.

Today's Favorites

I've been trying {like a crazy woman} to learn how to use our nice DSLR camera. Aperture. Shutter speed. ISO. Exposure. that's what I'm reading about.

all to try to get a decent picture of my Baby Girl and Toddler Boy

{if he'll let me!}

I think my heart just broke a little..

One of my friends from my college days adopted a baby boy from Africa last fall. he's just squeezable and loveable and the cutest thing ever! They had 4 girls 6 and under, so with the little boy they have a house full of love for sure now!

I was reading on her blog, and she was mentioning how he was transitioning - which is, by His Grace, just fabulously. One victory they've had recently was that he stopped screaming when lunchtime/snacktime/dinnertime was over.

he was screaming because he thought there would be no more food.

The sweet little boy was worried about food. he had been used to being hungry.

My heart broke a little, thinking of the 13 months that baby boy spent in Africa, waiting his family. Thankful is not a strong enough word to describe how glad I am
he's now with his family, who have much love to give, and how glad I am that he'll hopefully never have to worry about being hungry again.

Here's a picture of 3 of their sweet kiddos, including their precious Clayton.

a Showing!!!

We have our first house showing from being back on the market tomorrow afternoon! Cleaning cleaning cleaning today! At least we got plenty of warning so the house can be as perfect and as staged as possible!

Praying that the first buyer would be *the* buyer!

asleep unswaddled again for her morning nap! too sweet!

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She's Eating!

I was beginning to think that Grace would be the only baby at her first birthday party to *not* like the cake.

She's just been SO much slower at eating solids than Grant was - and Grant didn't even start solids until about 7 months, and didn't really increase his solids intake until about 9 months. Well, Gracie's 10 1/2 months, and is finally starting to eat some solid foods! She LOVES yogurt. loves it. She ate an entire container of the YoBaby organic vanilla yogurt last night. (4 oz!) She'll also tolerate oatmeal. not enjoy it, lunging for the spoon like she does the yogurt, but she'll at least swallow the oatmeal and not gag on it like she used to.

The Baby Girl is growing up!