Dress-Up

Andrew & I celebrated our seventh wedding anniversary this week. 

Arin was looking at our pictures and decided she'd like to wear a princess dress too, so I let her try on my wedding dress.  She thought this was so much fun!

Fun with Friends

Our good friends, that live about an hour from us, invited us to spend the day with them.  We started by meeting them at the library.  Arin loved seeing her friends and she had so much fun at storytime.  The librarian read a story and then the kids made a handprint tree craft.  The librarian read another story.  Then, she let the kids paint the table with "snow" (shaving cream).  They had a blast!  We've never made such a mess at the library!

Next, we went back to our friends' house for a delicious lunch.  After lunch, the kids enjoyed feeding the animals (goats, turkeys, and chickens) on the farm.  They also had a lot of fun just playing together. 

Let Them Eat Cake

When Ella thought nobody was looking, she helped herself to more cake.  Yummy!

Happy Half Birthday!

My sister and her four boys came up for a visit this week.  Arin was thrilled that they brought a cake for her half (3.5) birthday!

Reasons to Celebrate

Today, is my sweet little Arin's half birthday.  She is three and a half!

My niece, Brianna, gave birth to her second bundle of joy today!  Welcome to the world Kynzie Alexys. Kynzie, who was a week late, weighed in at 8 pounds 13.5 ounces and 20" long.

Also, two weeks ago, my grandmother was admitted to the ICU.  She suffered from a heart attack and stroke.  She continued to have mini strokes for a few days.  She was not expected to live. Tomorrow, she will be released from the hospital and has already been given the ok to travel from New York to Florida for a couple of months.  Today is her 92nd birthday!

So many things to be thankful for!

Always Climbing

I have had several comments/requests to start blogging more often like I used to.  Between the pregnancy and Ella, I have been exhausted.  Poor Arin has been wanting to do school and asking on a regular basis for it, so in the next few weeks, I hope to be feeling better and more energetic so that we can do our projects and I can post about them. 

In the mean time, I just thought that I'd write a small post about Ella.  Ella will be 15 months old tomorrow.  She is a busy, busy little girl.  She does not think that clothes should be in drawers or pots and pans in cabinets.  The floor is a much better place for those things, in her opinion!  She isn't saying many words yet, but she understands well and she voices her opinion often, especially if Arin has something she wants!  She also loves to climb.  She climbs on chairs boxes, beds, the couch, and several times a day, I find her on the table!

She also loves to be held!  She is sweet as can be and she has a rotten temper all at the same time.  We joke that she is just practicing to be a middle child, but I think I am going to be in trouble when she gets older!

Pregnancy Update

I have already updated most of you through texts or Facebook, as I am not ready to talk out loud about it yet, but for the rest of you, I thought I should post this.

Had my first prenatal appointment this morning.  I was very anxious about this appointment because it was with a new doctor, I was going by myself, and of course I couldn't wait to hear the heartbeat! 

Had a wonderful experience with the doctor, nurse and staff.  Everyone was very friendly and professional.  We did the exam and I asked if I could hear the heartbeat since I was 11 weeks.  The doctor said she would try but sometimes at this stage the baby is still so small and well hidden in the pelvis that it is difficult to get a reading.  At twelve weeks we shouldn't have any issues hearing it.  So she checked, and checked and checked and couldn't get the heartbeat.  She did not seem worried.  Just said she'd send me over to get an ultrasound for peace of mind and they would do the baby's measurements and make sure the due date was right on and all of that. 

It was an internal ultrasound.  The technician found the baby right away, but I could tell by the look on her face something wasn't right.  She said there was no heartbeat.  She tried and tried to pick up the heartbeat, but there wasn't one and there was no movement from the baby.  The baby also measured about four weeks behind - measuring in at 7 weeks 2 days instead of 11 weeks.

The doctor said that normally when this happens, the baby's growth slows/stops prior to the heart stopping, so it is very hard to tell when the baby actually passed.  I am not bleeding, which also makes this so hard to believe.  I have had a miscarriage one other time - about 5.5 years ago.  With that baby, I started bleeding and then cramping and that is how I knew I was miscarrying.  This one caught me completely by surprise.  It is true that my symptoms during this pregnancy have been more mild, but I have still had symptoms.  I was told that the bleeding typically starts about a week after the baby's heart stops.  We have decided to give it a week and see if I expell the remains on my own.  I go back to the doctor for a follow-up on Monday, and if need be, we will schedule an appointment for a D&C at that time.  That scares me, so I am hoping that things start working naturally on their own.

It has been a long day and Andy and I are both in denial/shock over the whole thing.