Spring Fever

Thanks again to my sister Jenn for another beautiful design.

I have spring fever so bad right now and my winter design was making me feel like I was trapped in winter. It was getting to the point where I almost felt depressed every time I looked at it.

So, I called Jenn up and asked if she would design a spring design for me.

She did not disappoint! I LOVE it Jenn.

This and That

I apologize, this post is very random.


If you're a man, you may not care to read this paragraph. The meds and the hormones that I've been taking to try and get pregnant again have definitely started working on me. I had my first "cycle" in almost 2 years and it seriously kicked my boo-tay. I was in so much pain I just wanted to curl up in a ball and stay in bed all day. Instead, I chased Ellie around the house. ;) I keep having to remind myself that I wanted this, and that this is a necessary step in getting pregnant.

Along the same lines as those hormones, I was so hormonal last week that if I didn't know exactly what was going on, I would've sworn that I was pregnant. I was crying at everything. EVERYTHING! You should have seen the look on Caleb's face when he turned and saw me crying while watching American Idol. I cried every time someone didn't make it into the top 24. Ridiculous!!

Elliana is so funny! She really watches us and wants to do whatever we do. For example, if we're brushing our teeth, she needs a toothbrush too. The other night, Caleb was throwing his dirty laundry into the laundry basket. Elliana saw this and tried to throw her baby doll into the laundry basket. The problem was she wasn't tall enough. No matter how hard she tried, that doll would just not go into the laundry basket. So, in frustration, she threw the doll. Across the room!



Even Caleb admitted that the way Elliana gets so unbelievably frustrated when she can't figure something out, comes from him. Ha!



Elliana and I went shopping for her Easter dress today. Side note, I LOVE Once Upon A Child, a used clothing store here. I got Ellie this beautiful dress for only $6. You really can't beat that.





Anyway, while we were shopping, I would hold dresses up to her and she would scowl at all of them and exclaim "No"! I was really worried that she was going to refuse to wear a dress. However, later tonight while Caleb was taking out the trash, I got Ellie all dressed up and told her to "go show Daddy". You should have seen the smile on her face and how proud she looked. She just kept smiling and pointing out her dress and twirling for Caleb. It was adorable!! I guess there is a little girly-girl in her after all.

My niece Devyn is just the sweetest little girl you'll ever meet. She's only 5 years old and she has the biggest heart. Today Hudson (Devyn's brother and also Ellie's cousin) was picking on Ellie. So, Devyn walked over to Ellie and said "Hudson's a bad boy isn't he? I'm sorry Elliana". Then she gave Ellie the biggest hug and said "You and Reagan (Devyn's sister) are my best friends".

7 years ago (Feb 24th) Caleb and I had our first date at Starbucks. I still remember it like it was yesterday. Every year on our dating anniversary we go and get Starbucks to celebrate. I can't believe we've been together that long. I am so blessed to call him my husband.



February is almost coming to a close and I'm really not disappointed. It's been a rough month for so many people, our family included. I'm just ready to start over with a new month. Plus, I'm really ready for spring now. I know we still have 1-2 more months of snow, but at least in the spring the snow melts quickly and we get some warm days in between.

I already have lots of fun plans for the spring and summer and I can't wait to let the fun begin.

My Amazing Husband

I'm going to try and make this a quick post since we're packing up to leave for Arizona in a few hours for my Uncle's funeral. Yeah, we're going in a 15 passenger van with my WHOLE family, including 4 kids. We'll be in the van for at least 16 hours. Should be fun, Right?!

Frankly, this whole week has been CRAZY. That's why I haven't had a chance to blog until now.

I had a wonderful Valentine's Day weekend. My amazing husband had a surprise planned for me for several weeks. He did a great job hiding the surprise from me because I was totally clueless that anything was up.

After church last Sunday he brought Elliana to me and said "say goodbye" and then proceeded to hand her off to his parents. My first thought was, where are we going, and my second thought was, how are we paying for this(Ever since I've been home full time we've had to watch our budget closer).

I'm happy to say you can have a lot of fun without spending very much money.

Caleb took us up to his family cabin for an overnight stay. It was my first night away from Elliana. We had an absolute amazing time. He really thought things through. He had packed everything Elliana needed for a night away, my bag and everything I would need, a delicious dinner for the two of us complete with sparkling cider and our wedding champagne glasses, dessert, and even a few chick flicks. He is good!

Here are some great pictures from our time away.

Doesn't this fireplace look cozy?



We took a short walk outside. There were many beutiful views. Don't be fooled by the sunny sky, it was still very cold outside.





Here is our amazing dinner. Doesn't it look delicious?





We always toast with these champagne glasses. These are the same glasses we had at our wedding almost 5 years ago.



Here we are cozying up after dinner.



Here we are on the deck the next morning. Isn't the view from the deck beautiful?!





Needless to say, I'm very thankful for the family cabin and for grandparents that were willing to keep Elliana overnight.

I hope you all have a great weekend. I already know it's going to be a tough one for our family for many reasons.

A Little Good News (Hopefully)

As stated in my previous post, things have been rough lately for our family and many others.

I thought it was time to talk about something positive... like babies. What's not to love about babies?



I had my long awaited appointment today. The one where I told my Dr. that Caleb and I are more than ready for another little one. I don't know why, but I half expected to argue and plead with her on why I needed to be more aggressive this time, and get started on the same medications and fertility drugs asap.

Luckily, she was very much on the same page as me and she encouraged me to be aggressive. She said "Christine, we know what works for you so if you're sure you're ready, let's get started". I almost jumped out of my seat.

So after my yearly physical and a long conversation, I drove away with a smile on my face and several prescriptions in my hand.

As I drove away, it set in. I had forgotten how much it took and the many medications I was on (metformin, clomid, baby aspirin, pre-natal vitamins) to help me not only get pregnant, but to keep the baby. I used to joke to Caleb that I felt like an old lady with all of the meds that I had to keep track of.



I always told myself that I would never forget the journey we've been on and what a miracle Elliana was and is, and yet somehow, I've already taken that for granted. Now that I've carried and had a healthy child, I assume it will happen again. Just like that.

So here I am, staring at these prescriptions and I can't believe I'm ready to do all of this all over again. The medications (that honestly make me sick sometimes), the prayers, every month hoping for a "yes".

I just have to remind myself that every baby is a miracle, and a gift from God, and only he can give us the desires of our hearts.



So here's to trying again and praying that I'll be looking like this again soon. ;)

A Tough Season

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:

A time to be born and a time to die, A time to plant and a time to uproot,

A time to kill and a time to heal, A time to tear down and a time to build,

A time to weep and a time to laugh, A time to mourn and a time to dance". Ecclesiastes 3:1-4



This was the bible verse that I clung to with all my life after our miscarriage.

It meant so much to me because I knew that even though Caleb and I were going through a time of weeping and mourning, that this time would pass and we would be singing and praising God again.

There's a lot going on right now that has kicked 2010 off to a very difficult and painful start.

As I write, my Mom and Aunt are in Arizona with my Uncle who is battling several cancers. It's not looking good, and the Dr's aren't giving him very much time.

This morning I got a shocking call from my Dad. Pastor Ed, the pastor of the church I grew up in, passed away this morning from a heart attack. He was my Dad's age, and his death was totally unexpected. I know many people (including myself and my family) are mourning his loss.

The list of difficult times includes loved ones searching for jobs and/or questioning the future of their jobs, marriages in trouble, financial problems in general,etc. I don't feel it's my place to share the details of these circumstances.

Why am I writing all of this? Not to be depressing, or to give the impression that there's no hope. Quite the opposite actually. I believe God's word and I believe that he is always with us. Even more so in times like this. I believe that he is carrying all of us through each of these circumstances. Please understand that I'm not making light of any of these situations, I just know that God promises that he loves us, that he's with us, and that he has a plan for us.

I believe that this may be a really hard year, but I know that God will be with us and that some day, I'll be able to look back at this time, and it will make the dancing and the singing mean so much more.



"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted". Matthew 5:4

As Promised

It's been a pretty slow week around here for us.

Although some would even consider it somewhat boring, I'm not complaining. I've realized that it's the slower weeks that I spend more quality time with Ellie. On the weeks that I have a ton of errands to run, and lots of things to do, I feel as though Elliana doesn't get quality time with me. Sure, she's with me all day, but what fun am I when my mind is on other things?

I've really cherished this week with Ellie. We've read a lot of books together and just spent a lot of time playing together. I know some day I'm really going to miss this time with her. There's also a good chance that very soon our time together, just the two of us, will go down to 2 1/2 days a week (I'll give details to this later).

So, while it's been a slow week, it's also been a good one of getting to know my daughter even better.

I have some great pictures and videos to show for it. I promised in my previous post that I would update the blog with some photos and/or videos of Miss Elliana. We started putting her hair up a few times this week. She doesn't have a ton of hair, but I figured it was time for her to get used to having her hair done. My sister Jenn put Ellie's hair in pigtails yesterday. Cute, huh?!







Some of these pictures were taken with camera phones, so they aren't great. Sorry. Here she is wearing her sunglasses. She got these from her cousin Abby. She just loves them, she feels really cool when she wears them.





Elliana's newest thing is that she wants to "help" me with whatever I'm doing. She loves to help with laundry, the dishes, and even putting things away. She climbed into the dryer (with my help) when I was doing laundry. I think she thought I was crazy at first, but then she loved it! Don't worry, I would never let her do this if I wasn't watching closely, and she can't climb in by herself.





She also loves to climb into boxes and baskets. This is the toy basket that holds all of her bath toys.



This picture makes me laugh every time. It looks like she's announcing "I've conquered the basket"!



Here are two videos I took this week. I just love this girl.






Despite our slow week, we have a pretty busy weekend ahead. Friday night we're having dinner with some friends. Saturday, I'm going to a basketball game with my Dad. It's a tradition that my christmas gift to him every year is a date to a game. And Sunday, we're going to church and then my sister Courtney's house for the Superbowl. I love the Superbowl. I hate to admit it, I mostly enjoy it for the socializing and yummy food (Caleb would be so disappointed) ;).

Have a lovely weekend.