Chuck E. Cheese

Our nephew, Cameron turned one on the 8th of this month. He had his birthday party on the 18th at Chuck E. Cheese. Just so you know, we discovered that Brianna is terrified on giant mice or rats, as Bobby calls them! Here are a few pics from her first trip there.

This is the Birthday boy, our nephew, Cameron. He is about 6.5 weeks older than Brianna.

This is Brianna on her first ever ride!

We don't know what this face is about!

This is a picture of Brianna and her cousins sharing a ride on the giant horse. From left to right is Matthew,3, Cameron, 1 and Brianna almost 11 months!

Grandpa's Birthday

My dad's birthday was the 11th of this month. Here are a few pictures from our celebration.

This is a picture of Brianna and her Grandpa

This is a picture of Brianna getting some practice on digging into her birthday cake!

Disappearing Act

Brianna is already learning some card tricks! This is her trying to make a card disappear!

What's been happening...

Things have been crazy around here the last several weeks! After Brianna got her teeth she started waking up again at night for a few weeks. During this time and for a little bit after our outside dog, Chloe, would keep us up/wake us up barking. The end result was that after everthing settled down...I could not sleep! Things got worse before they got better. Tuesday Bobby came home for lunch to find me crying because I was so tired...p.s. I am not much of a cryer. He ended up staying home the rest of the day, even though he came home early Monday so I could rest! Thank you so much sweetheart! I ended up calling the doctor on Wednesday to see if I could take anything to help me sleep while I was nursing and he said no. Thankfully, I ended up getting a pretty good night's sleep that night and have been sleeping a lot better than before since then. Please pray for a complete cure for my insomnia.
About the time all this starts happening, I started praying for a way to get more involved in my church and a few days later I was asked if I would be interested in taking something on (more on this later). Knowing it was an answer to my prayers I accepted. Right after this is when things went from bad to worse. Not only was I not sleeping but Brianna was grumpy and really aggravating me! One day while she was supposed to be sleeping and I was going to rest she would not sleep! She laid in her crib crying for about an hour and when she did fall asleep it was only for half an hour! I lost it! I am not proud of myself for the way I behaved. I now realize that I needed a break and had for some time but I always but everything else before taking some time for myself. Thank you Pastor Aaron for making me take some time off! After several breaks I felt better able to handle things. And since I started sleeping things are even better!
I am blogging this not just to let you know what has been happening but also as a lead in for what we talked about in church today. We discussed that when you strike at the devil he will strike back. And that was what I had been doing...by praying to become more involved in my church I was striking him. And boy did he strike back! I knew that was what was happening but after several weeks of it I fell victim to his attacks. It was just today during service that I realized why. I pray that every time he attacks me I will be able to resist him longer until he no longer wins. Here is to a better week!
I plan on adding some pictures throughout the week so keep you eyes out for them!

Anniversary

Eight years ago today we found out we were expecting our first child. It also happened to be on a Friday. What a day to find out you are pregnant! While sitting at the doctor's office waiting to be seen by the OB/GYN after there was an abnormality found on an ultrasound I had done earlier in the day (before pregnancy was confirmed) due to abdominal pain. They suspected a tubal pregnancy. I heard the doctor's nurse calling down for the ultrasound and saying that I might have to have surgery. I knew I was not going to have surgery... I was pregnant and I wasn't going to allow anything to happen to that child! That is when I knew I was a Mom...I was putting my child above my needs. Two months and six days later on December 19th I did have surgery...our baby, which we named Corey, died at about 8 weeks gestation, and my body was not naturally miscarrying the baby. The next November we lost our second child, a little boy we named Zachary. In April we lost another baby we named Casey. Again in September we lost another baby we named Taylor. And in April we lost a little girl we named Hannah. All of these babies died between 6 and 8.5 weeks gestation. Just shy of the seventh anniversary of Corey's "death" Brianna was born. Since Corey died a month before we were aware of it, he actually died at the end of November. I have often wondered in the past almost eleven months, if Brianna was born on the day he died.
I still think about these babies...although I will admit that it is not near as often as I used to. It also doesn't hurt near a badly as it used to. And although I know those babies were never meant for this earth...I still miss them.
I am writing this not only because it is the eighth anniversary of finding out I was pregnant, but also because this is Pregnancy & Infant loss awareness month. Across the country this month there will be walks of remembrance in honor of babies that died far too soon. Far too often, parents of miscarried babies are not allowed to grieve. They are told to move on with their lives...there will be other children. For most this is true. Their next pregnancy will result in a beautiful & healthy baby, for some, like us, it may take several more losses before they finally hold a baby in their arms and for others the pain is far too great to keep trying when all they have experienced is multiple losses and/or many fertility treatments.
They next time you pray, say a prayer for these parents who are often hurting but are trying to move forward and put on brave face. Or if you know someone who has recently experienced a loss maybe let them know you thinking about them and are there for them if they need someone to talk to. I know they will appeciate it.
With many thanks, Penny