holiday weekend...

Life was pretty busy around here before the holiday.  I had a big event at work that was taking up a lot of my time and Grant was not sleeping well.  So, we headed out for the holiday totally exhausted and sleep deprived!  Luckily, my family loves spending every moment they can with the G man so they kindly let us get a few good nights sleep while they woke up with Grant.  He seems to be on his normal schedule again....hopefully he stays that way!

We had a great time stuffing our faces with turkey.  Grant of course wanted nothing to do with the delicious turkey, but he gladly ate the whole cranberries- go figure! 

On our way home we stopped by the Christmas Tree Farm and cut down what I think is our best tree yet!  We have been going to the same place for almost 5 years now and every year they add something new.  This year they had a horse drawn sleigh (aka mules pulling a trailer) and Santa.  As you can see, Grant was less than thrilled with being sat next to the guy in red!  Better luck next year I guess.

(yes, we chopped off the top of a tree....  the selection wasn't that great for smaller trees this year so we had no choice!)

thanksgivings....

Today I am thankful for coupon blogs!  I started this addiction almost a year ago when I went down to part time and had to find a way to budget and make up for my lost income.  Since then I have become one of those crazy people that runs to Rite Aid in her pajamas at 9 at night to get free Halloween candy and yes, I admit that I have a coupon binder!  I was horrible about coupons before and probably still would be without the amazing ladies at Hip2Save that do all of the legwork for me.  They have saved me hundreds of dollars on my grocery bill and now thanks to them, I get tons of fun little samples in the mail everyday. 

On that subject... Shutterfly is doing a promotion that if you talk about their fabulous Christmas cards on your blog, you get 50 free cards.  I really do love their cards and I actually have ordered 10 cards already with another coupon so I am excited that I will now be able to get more cards to match those.  For those of you that receive cards from us, I don't want to ruin the fun of opening your cards so I won't share them here but I will show you some of their amazing designs.  It really is hard to choose because they have such a great selection.  Here are some of my favorites...

Christmas Cards

Holiday Cards



Beth- I pick this one for your cards!!!!

 If you are looking for a good gift for grandparents, I would also highly recommend their photo calendars.  I was so excited to fill all the mailboxes I could with calendars full of my G man last year!  I may or may not be doing that again this year... I guess all of you grandmas will have to wait and see.  

Thanks to Shutterfly for helping me stay on budget this Christmas.  If you are a blogger and you want to be part of this promotion, click here!

thanksgivings and a favor...

First off, I need a favor from you babyloss mommas.  I am looking for a recommendation for a book to give someone who just lost a baby.  I usually always go with Empty Cradle, Broken Heart but they already have that one.  All of the other books I read, I checked out from the libraryu and now I can't remember what any of them were. I am hoping some of you can help me out with recommendations.  It can be a Christian book as well just in case you were wondering.  Thanks in advance!

Today I am thankful for my job.  I have been working at a small Christian non-profit organization for the last three years.  I am so thankful to not only have a job, but to have one that is flexible when Grant is sick or my sitter is sick or when I need to go to a thousand doctor appts like I did with both of my pregnancies.  When we lost the girls, my boss organized what I called our meals on wheels.  For three weeks, we didn't have to worry about going to the grocery store (a place I tried to avoid for a very long time) or have to think about what we were going to make for dinner.  In the midst of all of our sorrow, it was nice to not have to worry about those things.  I am also thankful that I work for a Christian organization.  When something happens, we gather together and pray.  There are not many jobs out there where you can even speak about religion, much less break into prayer at any given moment.  For that I am thankful!

thanksgivings

Today I am thankful for the Internet.  I know it seems like a silly thing to be thankful for, but honestly I don't know how I would have gotten through the last few years without it!  When infertility became a reality for us, I turned to the Internet.  I looked up all sorts of information on pretty much an hourly basis!  I had an ovulation calendar online and I joined an infertility board on a popular website.  At that time, people kinda looked at you strange when you said you chatted online with others- it was still assumed anyone online was a rapist or a murderer.  But, I am here to say that the ladies I met through that group are amazing and definitely not murderers!  They were experiencing the same things I was and we were a wonderful support for each other during a time when no one around us understood.  I still keep in touch with that first group of ladies today- thanks to Facebook of course!

When we lost the girls, I was able to communicate to all my family and friends through my blog.  I used it as my journal at times and as a way to connect with other babyloss mommas as well.  The friends I have made through blogging got me through my darkest days.  Reading their posts made me feel normal in a situation that made me feel far from normal.  Even though we will probably never meet, I know I will never forget them.

Now I use the Internet to reach out to others.  Through email and blogging, I am now able to help them get through their darkest days and for that I am thankful!

thanksgivings...

Today I am so thankful for my family and friends.  We have truly been blessed to be surrounded by amazing family and friends that have really been there for us over the years.  They have been there when we needed prayers, words of encouragement and listening ears.  When we lost the girls, everyone really stepped up to help us out.  Our yard was mowed, our fridge was full of food for weeks and our mail box was stuffed full of cards and letters and gifts.  I don't know how I would have gotten through the last few years without all of you, so thank you!

thanksgivings

Words can not describe how thankful I am for this amazing little boy......
He makes my life complete in a way I never knew possible and I thank God everyday for blessing us with his life.

Thanksgivings

Today I am thankful for my health.  We woke up Saturday night to Grant throwing up in his crib.  He had acted fine all day and didn't have a fever so we weren't sure what was going on.  He was fine on Sunday but after drinking some of his bottle Sunday night, he erupted like a volcano all over J.  It was not a pretty site!  We still weren't convinced that he had a stomach bug because he was acting fine and eating/drinking normal all day.  Well, Monday night both J and I started feeling our tummies tighten and we were suddenly convinced that it was in fact the stomach flu.  As I was laying on the floor in the bathroom begging for some reprieve, I thought about all the people I know that are dealing with cancer right now.  Unfortunately, it seems like an extraordinarily high amount of young people in our town have been diagnosed with the C word recently.  Some of them are going through radiation, some are dealing with an hour of chemo a week and some are dealing with 8 hours of chemo a day.  As I thought of the pain and suffering that they go through on an hourly basis, I was thankful that I knew my suffering would be over within 24 hours.  I always say the best part of the flu (besides the instant weight loss of course) is the feeling you get when you suddenly feel better.  Those dealing with cancer are never given that opportunity to know when their struggles will end and when they will finally get that amazing burst of energy.  So, today I pray for all the people dealing with the horrible side effects of cancer right now- may God heal you and give you strength to get through your battle.

Thanksgivings

Today I am thankful for appliances.  Yes, I said appliances!  On Friday I thought our dishwasher was broken and I was horrified at the thought of having to wash the whole load of dirty dishes myself.  Thankfully it was an easy fix and it was back up and running within a few hours. 

Last night, we woke up to Grant throwing up in his crib.  Everything was coated - including the two layers of sheets and waterproof covers!  I yanked them off the mattress and threw them in the washer instantly.  Suddenly, I was very thankful for my washer!

I often times take these items for granted.  I want newer, shinier models that make my kitchen look cool or front loading machines that wash 5 loads at once.  What I forget is that not everyone is lucky enough to even have a dishwasher or washing machine in their home.  Some people have to go to the laundromat and some (gasp) have full time dish pan hands!  So, I was planning to be thankful for something totally different today. But with these recent events, it gave me a chance to step back and be thankful for these two glorious appliances that save my day almost every day!

Thanksgivings...

A few of my bloggy friends are making a point to blog everyday until Thanksgiving about something they are thankful for.  Now, I hate to set myself up for failure so I am not committing myself to do this everyday, but I thought it would be fun to join in and contribute when I can.

So, today I am thankful for my amazing husband Jason.  It was nine years ago that we met.  We had known each other through friends and ended up hanging out one random Saturday afternoon.  I was supposed to go to a Notre Dame football game with my mom but had overslept and missed the opportunity so I had nothing going on.  I think we ran into each other at the grocery store or something like that - the logistics are a little cloudy....  Anyways, we ended up spending the next few hours together stealing pumpkins from his parents house, carving them up and watching Ghostbusters!  It was such a fun night and it was then that I knew that he was going to be more than just a friend in my life.  It was also then that I got my first glimpse into his love of Halloween!

I could have never guessed nine years ago that we would be where we are today.  We have been through so many ups and downs, good times and bad times.  He has been there to wipe my tears as I cried myself to sleep at night and there to hold my hand and encourage me as we did just one more round of infertility treatments.  He is amazing and brings out the best in me and I am so thankful for him!

This is one of my favorite pics of us.  It was taken on a trip with J's family to Nueva Vallarta.  Don't we look so young????