happy day.

justin.

ava and i love you. the little baby inside me already loves you. you sing to her and pray for her so she must love you. wow i just wrote she and we have no idea the gender. strange.

thankful for your life and for how you love and care for our family.

a few things you did today that i appreciated. because today is your day.

1. brought me my new favorite drink when i was sick in bed: cranberry lime selzer

2. intervening with ava when she refused (for 3.5 hours) to pick up raisin bran that she spilled all over her pack n play. she did eventually pick it all up.

3. making like 400 high school kids laugh at club tonight. you are real funny babe. ava loves watching you at club. tonight she was a little sleepy and laid down in club and said..."momma i am so tired." it was precious.

4. thanks for asking how you can love and serve me better. being pregnant & a little sick...i appreciate it.

you are our favorite. thankful for the summer of 2005 that changed everything. would not want to walk through life with anyone else than you. your girls love you.

***sorry for the lack of blogging. enjoying camp, keeping up with ava, & baby sickness.***

precious.

ava and her little man.

saranac baby

i have been a bit absent between flying to MI, spending time with family, flying back to VA, driving two days from VA to upstate to NY...i am just sitting down to write a bit. very tired. very busy. but very good.

first. i have been overwhelmed and thankful for the texts, comments, emails, and phone calls since announcing the news of baby #2. one of my favorite texts i got said this: congratulations to you and ryder. what thrilling news. who needs frozen eggs?

from the blog archives. august 2010. a week after my cancer diagnosis:


justin called and cancelled our appointment with the jones institute this morning. its the place where we would go to harvest a few of my eggs. initially we were told their was a slight chance that after my chemo i may not ovulate again. we have since heard that the risk is very low and therefore we are not going to go in that direction. however, i never wanted to do it. to me it meant that i would not get better, or that things would not return to what they once were after this season of life had passed. clearly you can look at in an entirely different way, like harvest a few eggs... you may not need them..but you have them just in case. i saw it differently. to me it meant that my body would not go back to "normal." and that is a hard thing to imagine. we have our sweet ava. i have had the gift, oh the absolute gift of being pregnant, giving birth (which i loved by the way...yes i loved loved labor & delivery)..and being a mom to ava. all this said, there was a moment after justin got off the phone when i had the quick passing thought, i hope we made the right choice. i do hope we made the right choice.

appears we made the right choice. it is truly a miracle. despite the fatigue and nauseous i am experiencing with this pregnancy...re-reading this post gave me the perspective i needed. i am healthy. i am strong and i am carrying a little life.

***

what we have been doing lately.

flower girl in my cousins wedding. she did not make it down the aisle without some tears and assistance from her momma. but she made down all the same. beautiful none the less.

danced all night long.

 

go-carts, mini golf, and arcade games with the family. ava was not a huge fan of the go-carts.

lake michigan with oma and papa.

my good little traveler.

 hotel in new york with laura, baby keller, ava, and i all in one room.

a few things not pictured. they are gross. but they are real.

ava's horrible reaction to an antibiotic. including lots of diarrhea and throw up. i have never seen anything like it.

ava's incredible timing with her vomit and poop. throwing up in the kitchen as we are heading to the airport. horrible diaper as soon as we got off the plane. throwing up on laura after driving 6 hours. at least it was on tile and not carpet and avoided the plane and the car...but not laura.

***

we made it to camp. we are safe. ava is feeling better. the Lord has a lot in store and we are excited to be apart of it. pray for health & for lives being changed forever. 

will be back periodically.

some exciting news

as i sit here thinking about the best way to share our news i am coming up with nothing fun or unique or creative.

so instead i will just share it: our little ava is going to be a big sister.

yup. i am pregnant. we are overjoyed, thankful, and very nauseous over this exciting news.

if you read this blog than you know our story and to be able to share this news is nothing short of a miracle.

we got the go ahead from our doctor in march to start trying for a little baby and as of mother's day we are celebrating and praying for this little one inside me. please join us as we pray for a healthy pregnancy and a healthy birth come january.

i am thankful. i am thankful. i am thankful. i am also pretty sick...but God is good. wow. this is real. i still can't believe it.

thanks for celebrating alongside us no matter where you live.