Splashing!

It rained yesterday but Grace didn't care! She wanted to ride her tricycle in the rain...she did but I liked these pictures better! She had a lot of fun splashing in the puddle in the driveway! Andrew didn't play in the rain b/c his leg has been hurting. It actually started last Saturday when he went to the race with his daddy and he had to be carried all over the place. He has complained about it all week and refuses to walk very far or ride his tricycle. I feel bad for him but I don't really think anything is wrong. His daddy on the the other hand is very concerned and wants to get it checked out so I'm going to make an appt at the doctor and see what she thinks. As long as he is just sitting and playing he doesn't complain but as soon as he starts walking around, he cries. Anyway, I thought you would enjoy these pictures of Grace!

The Race

The weekend was full of races. Nascar came to Southern Cali this weekend and we go to every race. Well, David goes to every race and I go to at least one a year. David and Andrew went on Saturday to the Nationwide race and then David and I went on Sunday to the Sprint Cup race and got to see Andrew's favorite driver, Jimmie Johnson, win the race! We were so excited! Now, we are not Jimmie fans but our favorite driver, Dale Jr, does not do well at this track and well, not really at many of the tracks so we chose to cheer on Jimmie Johnson for Andrew. It was one of the more exciting races we have been to for a while. Lots of lead changes and an exciting last couple of laps as Jimmie Johnson almost lost the lead. It rained a little and caused a delay but other than that it was a great day. There were dark clouds all around and it looked like it would rain any second for most of the day but except for a short shower there was nothing!We've been busy around here. I'm trying to catch up on laundry so I can really start on the house. Monday I began cleaning out cabinets and getting rid of stuff. My give away pile is growing! Today I got dinner in the crock pot before leaving for the library. Tonight is Angel Chicken. I can't remember where I got the recipe but I got it from a blog recently so if it's good I will post the recipe and keep looking for the blog I got it from. After the library we came home and I started on the laundry, made more granola, and an apple cake. I must have been lucky last week when I made the granola for the first time and it turned out so great b/c last night I burned a batch. Well, that may have been b/c I was talking to Stephanie on the phone and didn't set a timer. Today I don't think I cooked it long enough so it isn't really sticking together but I'm just letting it set out for a while and then hopefully when I store it, it won't all fall apart. At least I didn't burn it this time!

I guess that's about all for now! Tomorrow is another busy day...Andrew has school and then we have a playdate and I have my follow up appt from my d&c. We'll see what the doctor has planned! 'See' you all soon!

Still Here!

Yep, I'm still here just haven't had a good week. Grace and I have been sick this week. Well, I have been sick all week and she got sick yesterday and today has been terrible. She's in her room for a nap but hasn't fallen asleep. It's still good for her to be alone for a while. She has cried about almost everything today and has wanted to be close to mommy which tells me she doesn't feel well. It was nice during the week and the kids got a lot of outside playtime which was great! Andrew's friend Nicholas came over to play on Wednesday and they played all afternoon. They could have kept playing but Stephanie and I decided it was time to go in. Grace had gone inside way earlier and had a snack and just sat at her little table singing and talking to herself. She is really good about going off on her own when she's had enough of the boys. Anyway, just wanted to let you know that we are still here. This weekend is Nascar. David and Andrew will go on Saturday and then I will go with David on Sunday. That is if it's not raining!

Homemade Granola

The kids and I made homemade granola today. It is so yummy. We just made it and we are still waiting for it to cool off so I can break it up and put it into a container but I can't stop eating it from the pan! Next time I make it I will probably add more fruit and nuts to it but I want to see if the kids will eat it first. If you want the recipe visit Mommy's Kitchen. She has a lot of recipes on her site if you scroll down there is a list of categories on the left sidebar.

Valentine Stuff

Here's what my hubby sent me today. Heard the doorbell and went out to find a box from proflowers.com. Love that guy. It definitely lifted me out of my funk for today. Very thoughtful and unexpected. Thanks love!

The kids sorted their candy hearts on these sheets and made graphs to go along with it. I had the idea in my head Wednesday morning when I bought the candy hearts and when I got home Cindy at Little Did I Know had the worksheets I was going to start looking for and sent them right over to me. Thanks Cindy!

I had them each color their own hearts (had to color a little for Grace as she decided to just make lines inside her hearts) and then they sorted the hearts by color and we counted them. Grace really liked this activity and stayed with it for a long time. Then we graphed our hearts and I had Andrew color his and then lil sis had to join in. It was a lot of fun and lots of learning as well!

Oh, and yes I dress Grace on most days but she chooses to take all of her clothes off and run around the house all day so whenever we are home I let her change into her princess nightgown. She loves wearing it and it keeps her covered! :)

New Toys

These are the new toys that the kids got from Toys R Us. Andrew carried this puzzle all over the place and really wanted it. It glows in the dark and I didn't realize it was 100 pieces but it didn't matter b/c he was getting it no matter what. We put it together as soon as we got home and it is still on the coffee table for him to see. He also got a new baseball cap, a basketball hoop for his bedroom door, and they got another set of wooden train tracks to share. They play with the tracks all the time and right now there is a big circle around our kitchen table. Grace picked out this fairy tree house by Little People. She has a little people doll house and loves it and always asks her daddy to play little people with her so this was a great choice. She didn't want to go to church on Sunday b/c she wanted to stay home and play with her "twee how." Thanks Papa Rick for the gift card for Christmas. Made a rainy day in February a lot more fun!

Wordless Wednesday

This is just part of the mess left from Grace's cookie!

Where a Kid can be a Kid!

Just a little bit of the fun we had at Chuck E Cheese.

Haircut

The kids and I were getting pretty desperate to get out of the house this weekend so on Saturday we decided to take Andrew for a haircut. Now recently when he has gotten haircuts he freaks out and cries and pulls away and is just terrible. It might have something to do with the fact that he knows the person cutting his hair and feels very comfortable acting this way. I don't know why he does it but I have decided not to wait for Grannylou's visits for haircuts b/c it is just really stressful for all of us trying to get his haircut. We took him to a place called Kids Kuts and he got to sit in a jeep while the girl cut his hair and he was awesome. I had taken him with me when I got my hair done but he pulled away then to and was scared to let her cut around his ears but he didn't get to sit in a jeep there. I think the secret is all in the jeep!

Here is a picture of him the day before his haircut.....

Here he is during the haircut


Here he is after the haircut! Isn't he handsome!?!

When we were done we went to Chuck E. Cheese to let the kids run around and play and then to Toys R Us to spend a gift card the kids still had from Christmas but that will be for another post! We all had a lot of fun but when I asked Andrew what his favorite part of the day was he answered, "Getting to sit in the jeep and drive while the girl cut my hair and then getting in the car to drive home to our house." I guess we could have just skipped Chuck E Cheese and Toys R Us. Kids are so funny!

Oh, and here's what I got today...flowers from my dad and Kathy! Thanks!

Not

I'm just NOT feeling it today. I made a few snacks for David and his dad and sat for a while watching the game but I'm just not feeling it. We went to church today and ran into a couple girls that didn't know about my miscarriage so I had to tell them. Then we went to Target and I looked for shirts for the kids and tried to ignore the baby stuff. When we were at the check out the girl was talking about how she was pregnant with a boy and liked that she worked there and could get ideas for when her little one got older. I bought play doh valentines and she thought it was clever. I was nice and smiled but it stung. She doesn't know what just happened. I remember being in the place she is now, pregnant for the first time and is so excited she wants everyone to know. I kind of feel guilty for not saying congratulations but it just wouldn't come out of my mouth. I don't feel that way. I think it's great for her and I want to be happy for people but I'm just NOT feeling it. I can't stay home forever just b/c I don't want to see someone pregnant or deal with life in general. Overall I'm doing really well. It's all the small things. There's a book that says 'don't sweat the small things' but in this case I can't get away from the small things......they are everywhere. Do you know how many girls are pregnant? The majority. I never noticed before but they are everywhere. Do they realize how incredibly blessed they are? I never did. I took it for granted. I think that's completely normal b/c the 'worst' hasn't happened to us. I told my friend Leigh on the phone yesterday that I just never thought it would happen to me and I feel so blessed to have my kids. It changes your way of thinking. Leigh has also had 2 miscarriages but has been blessed with identical twins. You may remember me talking about her and her high risk pregnancy. They are all doing well and in fact just moved to Baltimore and woke up to a ton of snow yesterday. She has been a big part of dealing with these miscarriages since she has been there. We both deal with it differently and I think it really helps. She helps me to dig down and get out some emotions. We had a great talk yesterday and I wish she was still here so we could get together again and talk about it in person. We didn't get to see each other much since we lived about an hour apart. It's surprising that I have a friend that has gone through the exact same thing but I know that God placed us in each other's lives for a reason. She was originally from Michigan and I'm from Illinois and we ended up teaching in the same school in Cali. Coincidence? We may never know the reason that this happened to each of us (although her getting those precious twins would be good enough for me) but I know that God will use this for good. I just have to look for the good and keep my eyes forward.

Recovery

Recovery is going well. I'm tired...not a lot of energy but I'm doing very well. Today David went back to work. It's so hard to get any work done at home when he is taking care of the kids as well. I'm hoping he can come home a little early today because I'm still tired and really have no patience. That could be some of my emotions coming out though.

What a journey my family has been on these last 5 months. 2 pregnancies and 2 miscarriages/2 D&C's. It takes a lot out of a person. I'm exhausted just from dealing with it all for 5 months and we are taking a break. I have 3 weeks until I see the doctor and then he will run tests to see if there is an obvious problem with an easy solution as to why this is happening and we will go from there. I'm excited to get back to work at church in another week and just try to get back to 'normal'.

We have some big birthdays coming up this year that we've been talking about and trying to plan. Grace will be 3 in April so we are figuring out where to have the party. I don't really want it at my house b/c of our new floors and new rules.....no food or shoes on the carpet. I've never had rules like that at my house and since people don't expect it I'm worried about how to enforce it at the party. That's my next focus....planning her party! Well, that and Valentine's Day and Easter (which is the weekend before her birthday). I have to work around holidays with both of the kids for their birthday parties. Grace is close to Easter and Andrew is close to the 4th of July.

Hope everyone is having a good week and it continues into the weekend. Hopefully I'll be back soon with some exciting pictures and activities. Today we are making our valentine cards!

again....(sorry, it's long)

Well, I'm not really sure what to say b/c I'm not really sure what to feel or how to react. Right now I feel like it's all bottled up in my head and soon it will all come out...preferably when I'm alone or away from the kiddos b/c I don't want them to know anything. I had a doctor appt today and found out that I had another miscarriage. I am having a D & C tomorrow evening and even though I knew it was happening it was still hard to hear in the office. I've had signs of it all weekend and knew down deep what it was. The doctor sent me to the ER for an ultrasound to confirm and what should have been fast took 5 hours. Have you been to the ER lately? Ours is crazy...the hospital isn't big enough and doesn't have enough beds for all the patients so a lot of them end up being admitted and then have to stay in the ER which leaves the patients coming in with no where to go. I literally sat in a chair in the hallway with all the other patients for 5 hours. It was crazy. Everyone pretty much knows what is going on with the people around you b/c it's hard to speak in private with the doctors and nurses. Anyway, it has been a long day and I am exhausted. I can't eat or drink after midnight just in case they can get me in earlier. That is the goal if there is a cancellation b/c my doctor has a surgery in the morning and he would prefer to do them both in the morning rather than after work. I don't blame him but I'm thankful that he is willing to go back. His office worked very hard to get this done quickly. I have some awesome people that are going to watch the kids and I won't have to worry about them at all. Now it's just getting through tomorrow with no food or water ALL DAY and dealing with the kids. David missed all day at work today and needs to go in the morning to get some things done and hopefully get this laptop mess in order so he can work from home on Thursday. I don't think I'll quite feel up to being mommy all day since the surgery is so late.

When it's all over and I go for my post op in 2 weeks my doctor will begin blood work to see if there is something that is causing me to have miscarriages. He said we will start with blood work and then move onto more tests as needed. I am so blessed to have the kids that I have and they are so healthy. Sometimes I take that for granted...well I think I have always taken it for granted and now I realize it more than ever. Thanks for listening and going on this journey with me. I don't know where it is going to take me but I'm praying that it takes me closer to my husband, my kids, and most importantly closer to God. He is the reason I am handling all of this so well. He is the reason I have my wonderful husband. He is the reason I have my awesome kids and now it is up to me to recognize that and appreciate each day and all that it has to offer.

What We're Doing Today!

Building a train track around the kitchen table. The kids ran out of pieces but they were good sports about it and just pretended and kept going around and around. Yes, I could get down there and help them turn some of the pieces the other way but they were so proud of what they built and I don't want to 'fix' it for them. What are you doing today?

Oh, and I'm still trying to figure out the settings on my camera. A lot of my pictures are coming out blurry/grainy and the mega pixels are set right so I'm still just trying to figure it all out and the colors are ridiculous in a lot of pictures. So just excuse the quality...I do not claim to be a photographer but I sure wish I was.