Dance Update

Dance is going really well!  I really like the new place, and it's fun to see all the new things she's learning.  I really love that there's a window in the door to the studio so we can watch their class!

Over the last couple of weeks they've been working on skipping, hula hoops, back bends, somersaults, cartwheels, and a variety of ballet poses.  The girls are so darn cute!  And Addy is doing really well.

And now for a sneak peak at her recital costume...

I'm so excited for her to dance in her recital at the end of spring.  She had such a good time last year, and I think this year will be even more fun for her since she'll know what to expect.

Saturday & Sunday (Jan. 12 & 13)

Saturday morning Addy had "coffee" on the back porch with Grandma and Grandpa since it was a warm weekend.  We love 70 degree days in January!  Then Grandma tried to get Addy to do some painting with her, but Addy was more interested in just spreading the paper around the floor!

After lunch we went to Rex's birthday party.  He turned 5!  It was at the same place we had Addy's birthday party last year, and she loved it!  She loves the inflatable bounce place.

Addy lovin' on Zak, Rex's little brother.

Rex and his birthday cake...I never did get a picture of his face that day!

Saturday evening we finally celebrated Grandpa's birthday.  Addy helped Grandpa open his presents.

After that, Steven and I went to look at a baby jogger...for our not so little baby!  We've decided to run in the Music City Half Marathon at the end of April and will need a jogger to complete the training necessary to prepare for the half marathon!  It's a huge undertaking, but we're excited about it.  

While we were gone, Addy decided to fix Grandpa's hair!  My mom clearly caught him with a funny expression on his face, but I couldn't resist including this picture.  It reminds me of when I was Addy's age.  I used to fix my dad's hair all the time when I was little...including getting the curling iron out and curling his hair!  I can't believe now that he trusted me with it!  Now, I wasn't 3 when I used the curling iron, but I was still young!

Sunday after church we stopped for lunch and then went to the Vanderbilt girls basketball game.  We had fun, and they won!  They really have a great team this year.

Addy holding up the pizza she won!  She also won a long sleeve t-shirt during that game!  The cheerleaders love the cute girl in the front row :)

After the game we took Grandma and Grandpa to the airport.  We had a really fun weekend with them!

Last Friday (Jan. 11)

Friday was a fun day for Addy because it was pajama day at school!

They watched the movie "Cars" and ate popcorn, too.

Addy and I had a really funny conversation on the way to school.  She just couldn't understand why I couldn't wear pajamas to work!  And she wanted to know where I lay down for my nap while at work. And she wanted to know my nap teacher's name!  It was hilarious.  When I told her that I wasn't allowed to sleep at work, that really confused her!  At some point I mentioned something about me working in the hospital and she was so surprised.  She said, "You work in a hostibal?!" (that's how she says hospital)  I just kept laughing at all the revelations she had in our short (15 min) drive to school!

Then my parents flew down for the weekend.  In the morning, I had asked Addy to sleep at school since she was going to have visitors coming to see her.  She said, "Well, what are they're names?"  I said, "Grandma and Grandpa".  She lit up and was so excited.  But that still wasn't enough for her to actually sleep at school!  Silly girl.

We had a fun dinner with Jen and her family, and then Steven and I ended up going to a movie with Jen and Chris while my parents took the girls back to our house to play.  We all had a great time!

And Baby Would've Made Four

Well, our new year hasn't started out as fantastic as we were hoping.  We hadn't announced to the blog world that we were expecting a baby.  I was waiting to do that until we had our ultrasound on Wed. Jan. 2.  When we went in for that ultrasound what we saw was an empty gestational sac.  Apparently I had a blighted ovum, which means that shortly after conception the embryo abruptly stopped growing, but my uterus and hormones didn't know that and kept growing the gestational sac.  I would've been 9 weeks along.

Since my body hadn't realized that a baby wasn't growing, the best solution was to have a D&C, and that was done yesterday.  It went well, and I'm not sure why, but for me it just didn't seem to be related to the news we received on Wednesday.  I didn't feel an emotional connection to the baby and the D&C.  It seemed more mechanical to me.  Weird, perhaps.  The toughest part for me was definitely seeing the empty gestational sac on ultrasound.

Let me back up just a little, though.  I really wanted to document this because of how the day went when we found out I was pregnant.  It was Sat. Dec. 1.  Addy came into bed with me when she woke up to watch cartoons.  Steven was sick with a cold and had gone upstairs to sleep in the recliner.  After getting Addy settled with cartoons, I got up and took a pregnancy test.  I waited for the results and was ecstatic to see the positive result.  I went back to bed though to cuddle with Addy.  Just as I lied down, she said to me, "Mommy, do you have a baby in your belly?"  My jaw about hit the floor.  I was stunned.  Since I had no intention of telling her I was pregnant, I said, "Well you were in my belly and Logan was in my belly."  She clarified, "No, Mommy, do you have a baby in your belly NOW?!"  Then I didn't know what to say!  I finally just said, "Maybe".  Then she wanted to look at my belly to see if it was growing yet!

Then I told her that we should probably go share the news with her Dad!  So Addy got to tell him and it was very sweet.  He was as surprised as I was!

We had estimated my due date to be August 8, 2013, and we were excited about that...right between mine and Steven's birthdays!

We let Addy tell my parents when they came down the next weekend, and she got to tell Steven's parents as soon as they joined us in Costa Rica.  Other than that we started sharing the news with some of our family around Christmas.

And because this is our story, I'm going to include a couple pictures related to this baby.  First, I always take 2 pregnancy tests!  Always.  And we also took my first belly picture on the beach in Costa Rica at 8 weeks.  It's actually my first and only bare belly pregnancy picture EVER!

The part of this miscarriage I was dreading most was telling Addy.  But, like the sweet girl she is, she took it well and seemed to understand.  While eating dinner last night, she asked me if my baby was hungry.  So, I said to her, "Well, there isn't a baby in my belly anymore.  This baby went to Heaven, too".  She asked why and I told her that Jesus thought it was best that this baby go to Heaven to be with Logan.  Then she made us laugh when she said, "Is your belly still big?"  I didn't think it got that big!  Silly girl.  I told her that it was about the same, but that it should probably get smaller again.  :)

Okay, now let me back up even further.  The title of the post has dual meaning.  This was actually my fourth pregnancy.  I never blogged about my first miscarriage that occurred between Addy and Logan.  But, I feel compelled to do so now as it is part of our story.

It was Valentines Day 2011.  We had just returned from our last Costa Rica trip and I randomly took a test that morning.  We were so excited, of course.  But before we could tell anyone our good news, I had a miscarriage a week later.  I was only 6 weeks along.  It was just before Addy turned 2, and that baby would've been due in early-mid October.

This was our card to Steven:

None of my miscarriages have been the same and none of them are related in any way.  All 3 have been completely isolated incidences.  And we have loved all 3 of those babies just the same.  We look forward to seeing them all in Heaven one day.

We're doing alright.  We're definitely disappointed, but we are confident God is in charge and is doing what's best for us, even if we don't understand the "why's" right now.  We certainly appreciate all the love and support from our family and friends.  We have so many people praying for us, and words can't describe how powerful and meaningful that really is.  We're grateful.  Thank you!

Happy New Year!

We had a really fun New Year's Eve.  We hosted some of our friends and enjoyed good food and fun games.

Katie played so well with Rex and Addy, or I should say, the prince and princess!

Our whole group toasting in the New Year shortly after 10:00 p.m. since not everyone was staying until midnight!

The kiddos with their "not so noisy" noise makers!

Jen, Chris, and the girls were the only ones that stayed to ring in the New Year with us.  While waiting for the clock to turn to midnight, we went up to the bonus room where the adults played ping pong...boys vs girls, and the girls danced along to Just Dance 4 on the Wii.

Well, the boys also got in on some of the dancing!

Chris!  Who knew?  :)

Now, Jen and I may have gotten into the dancing as well...but there's no evidence of it!

When we got close to midnight, we turned the tv on to watch the countdown.  Addy was going strong running and jumping on her bean bag chair!

Then the ball dropped!  We all made it to ring in the New Year!  Happy 2013!

It was after the ball dropped that we informed Addy she needed to get ready for bed.  THEN the waterworks started.  Oh my.  She was so disappointed!  She wanted to stay up all night.  She just couldn't understand why she couldn't!  She cried the entire time we got her ready for bed.  Clearly she was tired, but she kept saying she wasn't! Once in bed, she was sleeping within 30 seconds.

Addy is a funny girl.  She had us laughing a couple days ahead of the party.  She was so excited that we were hosting a party.  She kept saying she was ready to "par-tay"!  And she'd say it like that every time!  And par-tay she did!  She had a great time.

Today was a quiet day around the house.  We put all our Christmas decorations away.  Addy was actually a really good helper with that.  She loved it almost as much as the decorating!  She was so happy to match up the ornaments off the trees with the boxes they belonged in.

Then Chris and Jen invited us over for dinner.  We gathered all our leftovers and had a smorgasbord to choose from!  For dessert, they made cookie monster sundaes.  They got the skillet for Christmas, and they turned out really well!  We all loved them.

The girls danced while the adults played cards.  Have I mentioned how much we LOVE having Jen and Chris so close?  We love that we can spend so much time with them, and that Addy gets to grow up with Mackenzie and Katie!  Being 10 minutes from them is such a blessing.

Looking forward to a fantastic 2013!