Back to it

I'm back and so is my laptop. My dad was nice enough to work on it this week and returned it today. I haven't tried uploading pics from my camera, but my hunch is that it will work.

 

Woo hoo!

 

Moving on, I am feeling much better since my last post. Thanks everyone for your encouragement. It helps to know that you aren't alone sometimes.

 

I'm not sure about everyone else, but it has been chilly the last few days. I love, LOVE it!

 

  

 

I was finally able to break out my boots! The first cold spell was a big ol' slap in the face in the baby clothes department. I realized that Miss Hollin didn't have anything long sleeved and long pants except for pajamas and one smocked outfit. I ran out to Old Navy and walked away with too much. But what's new?

 

 

I was off on Monday for Columbus Day and got to re-live my stay-at-home-mommy days. It was the perfect chilly, overcast day. I broke out the crockpot and made a pot roast, cleaned and burned my Fall scents. I love days like that.

 

 

 

I've mentioned before that October is really busy for my family. Lots of birthdays, including my own (tomorrow!) our 5th wedding anniversary (Saturday) and Hollin's birthday (on Halloween!) Jimmy and I talked about going somewhere for our anniversary, but we just can't fit it in. Especially after I looked at my calendar. All the X's are days that he works.

 

 

We've decided that we might try to go somewhere in January, around the time he turns the big 3-0. Or possibly February. We just don't know. It's so hard to plan vacations and time away with everything we have to juggle, but we're going to try.

 

I will be away from this place for 3 days next week!

 

I wish I could say that we have awesome things planned, but we don't. One day, both Jimmy and I are going to the dentist. Thrilling, I know. We may try to squeeze in a few more things if we can, but typically, we have to stay on schedule with the baby or we'll regret it later.

 

Speaking of work, I have been slooooowly trying to re-build my work wardrobe, so I buy a shirt here, a skirt there and jewelry. I found this necklace for $5 at New York and Co. It is one of my favorites. It's actually kind of heavy and looks nice with a plain black dress, but the price was my favorite part :)

 

 

 

Harper has really been into "cozy clothes." He wants to be warm and put on his "cozy socks." One night, he snuck in our room and slept off whatever bad dream he had. He was so precious, I had to snap a pic :)

 

 

We're so glad that the weather is cooling off and feeling all Fallish in these parts :)

 

Happy Thursday!

 

 

Sad.

I'm just sad. Forgive the typos and weird spacing that may happen in this post. I'm blogging from my iPad while I wait for my laptop to be fixed.
So back to the sad.
It's coming from many places.
Yesterday at church, our preacher delivered a message about death. And loss. My heart was already a bit heavy because I had been thinking so much of a family friend that was lost around this time last year. I was thinking about myself because after my last post, it dawned on me that I probably did experience a chemical pregnancy.
I would have thought that I'd be the last person to be sad about this because I usually respond pretty rationally to everything. For whatever reason, it didn't click with me what had happened until a few days ago.
I promise I am ok. No tears have been shed, but am I sad? A little bit.
The church service went on and it was deep and raw. I was kind of glad to get out of there. I came home, took a nap, some family came over for dinner and after they left, I went on with my usual Internet browsing.
Then I heard what happened to Julee Turner's husband. If you don't know already, please visit kellys korner blog.
There it was again. Death. And loss.
I tried to sleep, but I couldn't, so I pulled the iPad out again and checked Facebook. I saw a few photos from an event that took place over the weekend that Jimmy and I were not invited to. An event that was held by some people that I considered friends. I started thinking about it and how I have felt for so long that people just generally write Jimmy and I off because they assume that we are too busy or can't fit things into our schedule because of Jimmy's work schedule. Yes, we have had to miss a lot of events because of his job, but that doesn't mean that we don't like to be invited. We like to know that our friends would love to have us there, but understand and don't count us out if we can't make it.
As it turns out, Jimmy was off this weekend and we would have been able to go.
I realize that not being invited to something is ridiculous in comparison to the other things I've talked about. But, it still hurt my feelings.
I hope to be back to my usual self and my usual posts soon. I took some cute photos today and had planned to share those, but I had to get this out. Until next time,

September wrap-up and Surprises

September sure has been busy for us, in good ways and in surprising ways.

I took my first trip away from my babies.

The weather is finally cooling off and we've been enjoying more time outdoors.

Work has kept both the hubs and I very busy (he is actually off this week!)

I have been party planning like a crazy-woman. November 3rd is the big party :)

Hollin is SO close to walking. She is waving, clapping, saying Ma Ma and Da Da.

This past Tuesday, all bank employees sat in on a mandatory conference call. We learned that our bank is merging with two other banks. There has been a bit of panic and overall lowered morale because obviously some people will lose their jobs. I feel somewhat confident that I will keep my position, but only time will tell.

This past Friday, Jimmy went in for severe tooth pain and ended up needing emergency oral surgery. Of all the times this could have happened, it was during our end-of-the-month and end-of-quarter AND my boss was gone. Horrible timing, but it was ok.

 

~~



This will come as a surprise to lots of you, but for about 12 hours a few weeks ago, Jimmy and I were pretty certain that baby #3 was very unexpectedly on the way.

I had come back from my business trip and just felt a little "off." I sent Jimmy to the drugstore for some tests, just to give me peace of mind. I took the first test and there was clearly a second line. To say that I panicked is an understatement.

I chalked it up to a "faulty test" and took the second one. Same thing. Two lines.

At this point, I started to cry. This was something that neither one of us were expecting or ready for.
We started talking about the "what ifs" and what we needed to do. Like buy a minivan!! How would I tell my boss? I just started this new job! I can't ask my mom to babysit three little ones!

I took the last test and the line was there. Again.

There was nothing I could do but try to sleep with all of these thoughts running through my head, but I managed to drift off eventually.

The next morning, I ran out and bought a digital test.  I came home, took the test and waited for the longest 3 minutes of my life.  Finally, the words were on the screen.

"Not pregnant."

A few hours later, I definitely knew I wasn't pregnant.

I will never know why those lines were there on all three tests. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't relieved that I'm not expecting. At the same time, I can't help but wonder if I was for a very, very short time. Or was it a "faulty" batch of tests?  The most interesting part about all of this was how happy Jimmy was after the shock (very quickly) wore off. He had already checked the Chinese gender predictor for fun and the results said that we were going to have a boy :)

I'm very thankful for a husband that is so loving and loves being a daddy.

Needless to say, September has been a little crazy.  Just when I was starting to settle into my routine and really feel like I was getting the hang of things, my world was shaken up a bit, but everything is okay.

Although I don't know exactly what the future holds as far as my job, God had given me a peace about it and I am just waiting patiently. I probably won't know anything definite until the Spring.

I'm excited about the months coming up and (hopefully) no more crazy surprises.

Love,

Mommy's first business trip

I was kind of dreading last week at work because I knew I would have to spend a night away from my babies.

Knowing this, I tried to squeeze in as much as I could the weekend before. I can't even remember everything we did!

We had lunch at Panera and Harper helped himself to a treat.

Hollin had fun learning how to drive.. (Come back later if the pics are too large. They should resize correctly after awhile. Sorry!)

We ran all over town looking for shoes for her. We went to Belk, BabyGap and a few other stores. I couldn't find anything that I liked and that was her size. I finally found some cute ones at Target. I really want to get her some squeaky shoes, but I'm holding out because she isn't walking yet :)

On Monday night, Jimmy and I took Harper to his first movie!

We went to see Finding Nemo 3D and he was so cute. Before it started, there was a short film where a little alien was blowing a party blower. The 3D effect took Harper by surprise :)

He got a little bored a few times but watched the whole movie for the most part.

The next morning, I had to be ready by 6:30am for my co-worker to pick me up. We both had to travel about 3 hours away for training. Surprisingly, I was ready on time and sat on my front porch for a bit. It was so quiet and the sky was so pretty, I had to snap a pic. The training day went by really slowly. By the time I got back to my room, I was exhuasted. I liked having such a large room to myself though :) ]

 

The next day, I went for more training. I have worn this outfit to work before but my hubby didn't think that the belt on the outside of my cardigan was cute. I liked it though, so I rocked it :)

(I was concentrating so hard on the pic, I forgot to smile :)

 

I didn't get home until 8:30pm on Wednesday night. Harper was waiting on the front steps with my mom and gave me a big squeeze. A little later, I peeked in at Hollin. She woke up, held her arms out for me and we just sat and rocked in the chair in her room. She rested her head on my chest and was so still.

 

I really enjoy my job and am thankful that I work for such a great company, but nothing is better than being a mommy to these two nuggets.

 

Happy Monday!



Hollin is 10 months!

Sweet baby girl, you are 10 months old.

.

You are finally, consistently sleeping through the night!! Mommy is so excited!

You are doing so well with mommy going back to work. Grandma is great at anticipationg what you want and what makes you tick. You wake up in the mornings, sometime around 6:00am, have a bottle and go back to sleep. You take a morning and afternoon nap and like to be in bed by 6:45pm.

You still make a scrunchy face when you get really excited.

 

You love, LOVE your big brother. You follow him all day every day.

 

You are an expert crawler.

You can stand on your own, but you haven't taken any steps. You seem to have been the most sturdy while standing outside in the front yard by big brother's tractor. I watched you completely let go of it, then gently lower yourself down to the grass. So close to walking!

 

You are still drinking 8oz of milk a few times a day in addition to some baby food. You mainly eat whatever we are eating. There hasn't been a single thing you've turned away!

 

When you are laid down in your crib, you always grab your blanket and immediately turn on your side. Since last month, you have definitely started saying "Mama" and sometimes "Night Night" and clapping! You LOVE to wave bye bye. You also love to dance.

 

You aren't as squirmy as you used to be, but you are definitely busy. (Mommy would love to have more pictures in this post, but she is still having computer issues :)

 

We love you so much!!!!!