Our Adventure called Life

"You can do hard things." A little rainbow baby It's such a simple phrase that I heard while I was pregnant with Paisley.  We were roughly 4 months past losing our honeymoon baby and here we were expecting.  Could we go through the worst case scenario again?  Were we mentally ready to handle this?  We wanted so desperately to be excited and dream about the little person I was carrying, but we knew the possibility of this dream being shattered like fine china falling onto a tile floor.  The reality of everything was hard. Mid-way through the pregnancy is when we received the diagnosis of vasa previa, 100% fatal if not caught before birth.  It was a hard diagnosis to hear, but we caught it.  We were prepared.  We were armed with information and a plan.  It was hard to take it all in, but someone said, "You can do hard things."  With that mind-set we continued on. While my pregnancy continued I had a conversation with a close fri...

We can't forget her... On Feb. 3 we began the long drive from Indiana to Colorado.  The vehicle was loaded with the Fish4 and the Nana.  We also hauled our smoker out there, a decision my husband solely made.  We had bags of snacks, toys, movies, and anything else we could think of that could possibly entertain the smallest of travelers.   We began our journey at 5:50pm.  The following are the hours that followed: 5:57pm - "Mom I need a snack." - Paisley 6:20pm - Lila begins screaming "Out!" from her carseat. 6:45pm - Paisley falls asleep. 6:55pm - Lila screams and wakes Paisley up.  They both begin fussing.  Scott puts on his noise canceling headphones. 7:00pm - Nana begins passing out snacks.  On the road 7:15pm - I am positive I didn't turn off the crockpot. 7:38pm - After watching me chew off 3 Jamberrys worrying about the crockpot, Scott promises that HE turned off the crockpot.  I don't believe him....

I'm getting a jump start on the Valentine holiday and letting the sap pour out in this post.  I'd blame it on hormones, but I don't think that's it...instead, just a mixture of immersion in life and its fleetingness. My grandparents, Florence & Vic Last night I dreamt of my Grandma Florence.  She passed away this past November.  In my dream we were talking and laughing and it was as real as a dream could be.  When I woke up I thought "we'll visit her today!"  Within that same minute I remembered she had passed and my heart became heavy.  I snuggled in closer to my husband who quickly replaced my sadness with his warmth. In the typical morning fashion, fruit was washed and peeled, Scott headed out the door to work, and I caught a glimpse of the morning news over the sleep tousled hair of my wee ones.  The sun was throwing beams through the blinds and the blue skies promised a beautiful (albeit cold) day. After the Cheerios and fruit had b...

Hello there little guy So there's this 32 lb. boy that wakes me up each morning.  Typically he goes to his daddy's side of the bed, but if he doesn't feel good or he's had an accident, he'll come to my side.  He typically says something like "The sun is up!" or "Is it time to get up?"  He likes everyone to be out of bed and the blinds to be opened.  This happens between 6:30-7 each morning. He appears with groggy blue eyes that despite showing sleepiness still hold a hint of mischievous.  His hair is a disheveled mess of light brown with a sprinkle of golden hairs that look like spun silk.  His dinosaur jammies are getting shorter on his long legs each day, showing just how quickly this little guy is growing. Snuggles This sweet little boy has eyes that are bigger then his stomach.  He likes to fill his bowl with cereal or oatmeal, but has a hard time eating everything he "thinks" he needs.  He has his picky days where no...

Her first day of life  I love reading fellow mom blogs!  They help me reflect on pregnancy, having an infant, and the various milestones my children have reached.  They also remind me to slow down and enjoy these fleeting moments. The other day I noticed the phrase "Babies don't keep..." on one of my favorite pages.  A million emotions were triggered with those 3 words.  It's so true. Lovely Lila is right at 1 1/2.  She's a petite little thing weighing in at barely 19 lbs.  Everywhere we go people ask how old she is (as she walks around strutting her stuff) and always say "She's tiny!" after I tell them her age.  She can still wear 6-12 month clothing and size 2 shoes are a bit big.  Despite her tiny stature, she eats more then her brother on a daily basis! As soon as she wakes in the mornings she wants to "eat."  This might even be her favorite word.  She tells me if she wants cereal, oatmeal (pronounced moat-meal) ...

So the saying "it is darkest before the dawn" rang true this past weekend.  As I mentioned in my last post, the winter crud had us all in his nasty grasp.  This past weekend was just plain awful.  Both kids were gagging on phlegm, Scott was getting sicker by the minute, and the amount of oxygen I was able to get through my nose was about 5%.  I was ready to throw in the towel!  The kids were fussy and not sleeping well.  I needed a break (unfortunately, no sick days for a momma so my break was 25 minutes alone in a hot shower). Sleeping on Momma Monday morning there were signs of improvement.  Less phlegm, sweeter babies, more oxygen, and a better nights sleep.  I didn't want to get my hopes up, but I did let my brain think for a moment "maybe....just maybe we are on the mend?"  Tuesday morning as the sun warmed the earth, the kids were breathing fairly easy, and I was able to smell my bagel burning in the toaster.  We needed to g...

Sick Momma with her babies A couple months ago I told Scott that we had been lucky in regards to our health.  The two of us had only been really sick 1 time in the past 7 years.  We both came down with the flu in 2010 and it was horrid.  Since having our kids, both children have battled an ear infection and the occasional runny nose.  We have avoided the flu, strep throat, rsv, puking, you name it....they were free and clear.  I should have knocked on wood when I was feeling so lucky those few months ago.   December 4th we had dinner with friends.  It was a fantastic evening and we all came home with full bellies and hearts.  As I went to bed that night I felt that tight scratchy feeling in my throat that means 1 thing...a sore throat was in my very near future.   Poor sick baby Spring forward to today.....in the past 46 days we have battled sore throats for the 4 of us,  runny noses for 3 of us, pink eye for 3 of us (1 o...