We went to the neighbor's barn and read the Christmas story from the Bible. Then we went back to the house and opened presents and fellowshipped. What a great time and I am so thankful to be able to see all of our family!
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Wooden Christmas
Again, everyone was so helpful with moving around the schedule so we could actually spend time with people this Christmas! We got together at Dad and Delaine's house for Christmas with everyone. Since Justin and I decided we were going to stay home on Christmas day this year to be with Colt, my dad brought Grandma up so we would still be able to spend some time with her.
We went to the neighbor's barn and read the Christmas story from the Bible. Then we went back to the house and opened presents and fellowshipped. What a great time and I am so thankful to be able to see all of our family!
We went to the neighbor's barn and read the Christmas story from the Bible. Then we went back to the house and opened presents and fellowshipped. What a great time and I am so thankful to be able to see all of our family!
Contos Christmas
It was so nice of everyone to work around our crazy schedule so that we could see everyone for Christmas. We didn't have much time together, but you can tell the kids made the most of it. It was so much fun to see how excited they got for the other kids to open their presents. It is always fun to get to see everyone-and for the cousins to get to spend some time together. Merry Christmas
He LOVES Nemo
Chaos in the making
This is so Casey
Elle showing off her new clothes
Keaton accidently got Kim a Happy Hanukkah card!
Cousin goodbye hug- how precious
At the Wagner Christmas, my Great Grandma Helen wasn't able to come because of the weather and she wasn't feeling well, so we stopped by to see her first and bring her a present. It is so amazing to be able to have Colt know his Great Great Grandma. Not many people still have 5 generations living in the same area!
Next we went to my grandma's house and had dinner and opened some presents. Then we went across the street to the house my mom was renting and had desert and opened more presents. This year everyone spread out the Christmas celebrations for us because we were sad that we didn't get to spend much time at each place, so it was so nice to be able to actually sit down and visit, and not just open presents and go.
What a wonderful Christmas!
Next we went to my grandma's house and had dinner and opened some presents. Then we went across the street to the house my mom was renting and had desert and opened more presents. This year everyone spread out the Christmas celebrations for us because we were sad that we didn't get to spend much time at each place, so it was so nice to be able to actually sit down and visit, and not just open presents and go.
What a wonderful Christmas!
Colt and Grandma Helen
Family picture
He loves to take pictures
His new Disney story book
My gift to Keaton- a giant box of Nerds!
He LOES Buzz Lightyear
Selfie
Grandma Helen, Colt and me
Colt and Mommy Ri drinking together
SNOW
We LOVE snow! It is totally my fault that my son loves to be out in the snow, because I love it too! He couldn't wait to put on his "Buzz Lightyear" (that's the only way I could get them on him) boots to go make snow balls and eat the snow.
Happy Birthday Justin
Justin turned 30 this year! I'm not sure he was all that excited about it, but I wanted to make it special. I ran around for weeks gathering 30 gifts cards for his 30th birthday. When it came time to give them to him, Colt was so excited. Justin loved it! He said it was the best birthday present I had gotten him. For the next night, I planned a surprise party with a few friends. It is Trent, Liz and Renee's birthday right around the same time, so it was awesome to get everyone together so we could celebrate all of them. Happy birthday babe!
Sunday, December 8, 2013
Santa and Family Pictures
Christmas is quickly approaching! Every year Justin's team has a Christmas party with Santa and cookies. I wasn't sure how Colt would do, but at least we got a smile! Chuck and Sue came and Josh and Beth brought Emily to meet Santa for the first time. We were able to get some great pictures. We also had a blast at the Keller Williams Christmas party at Derek and Steph's beautiful house. Family pictures are few and far between with how much Colt is on the move, so we had to take advantage while people were around!
Our house is ready for Christmas!
Monday, May 27, 2013
A loss is a loss, no matter how small
Throughout the pregnancy, I had told many people I was nervous. I had several friends who had lost a baby or had severe complications. I didn't feel sick, I had bad migraines, which I did not have with my pregnancy with Colt. Everyone kept telling me I was having a girl, and each pregnancy was different. I tried to shrug it off, but something kept nagging at me. Justin and I talked about the baby less and less, and each became secretly more concerned. I had some spotting, which prompted me to call the doctor several times, but since I already had an ultrasound scheduled at 8 weeks, they said to just wait until then unless it got worse. I tried to keep myself busy the day of the appointment. I was nervous and everyone knew it, except Colt. He was so excited to go to the baby doctor and get to see the baby.
The ultrasound tech told me my uterus was tilted and asked me to go to the bathroom and come back and we would try a different kind of ultrasound. So I did, but I was nervous. I knew even at 6 weeks with Colt we didn't have to look this hard. She finally found my uterus, but I could tell right away there was nothing in it. Eventually she found a tiny shadow and said "Oh, you aren't as far along as you thought you were. You are only 5 weeks, 6 days." But I knew better. I had 2 blood tests at 4 weeks and 5 weeks to check some levels, so I knew the baby was gone.
I laid there and silently started to cry. Tears streamed down my cheek. Justin grabbed my hand, and we sat there so full of grief we were unable to speak. How could this happen to us? Why, after so long were we given a baby, only to have it taken away? What in the world am I supposed to do now? As we sat there and cried, Colt began to ask questions. We were able to explain to him that the baby wasn't in my belly anymore. That Jesus wanted the baby to live with Him. For the rest of the day, he kept yelling at me "The baby IS in your belly!" IT was worse than I could have imagined.
Finally, they took us to a room so we could talk with the doctor. Everyone hugged us and told us how sad they were. Dr. Priddy went over our options with us for the next steps. I had spoken with her on the phone over the weekend and her final words to me were "I can't wait to have another baby with you." As I apologized for her having to end her day on a sad note, she promised me "I could not end my day with nicer people."
We had driven separate, so we had to drive both our cars home. It was so hard to be apart from each other after such tragic news. We decided to try to go tell each of our parents in person, so we drove up to Pendleton and Lapel to talk to them. It was an evening full of tears and questions.
This week, my Bible study was going over peace. I wrote down in my journal that I needed peace and that I would not worry about the appointment, as there was nothing I could do about it, and that if the appointment did not go as I planned, that I would have peace with the outcome, no matter what it was. This is the only way I can explain how Justin and I have been able to react to such devastating news.
As we were sitting there talking to Dr. Priddy, we said that we knew God had a plan bigger for us than we could imagine, and that we knew this was part of it, even though we couldn't understand it right now. And now, 5 days later, I still feel at peace with where God is taking us. I prayed so hard for this baby, and had such a huge fear of losing a child, that I never dreamed I would be able to have this reaction to losing a child. My only explanation is that I have been praying for peace- a peace that passes understanding.
I have no doubt that there will be days in the future that make me wonder why this happened to us. How did we become a statistic- 25% chance of losing a baby. We have not actually lost the baby yet, and when we do, I am sure my emotions will be all over the place.
My glimpse of hope came the next morning, Friday. Justin and I laid in bed waiting for Colt to wake up. We had such a sense of calm, but sadness. Colt finally came in and laid in bed with us. He laid there silently for a while, then looked at me and said "The baby isn't in your belly. The baby is with Jesus, in the clouds." And I was able to look at him through my tears and say, "You're right, the baby is with Jesus in the clouds. How cool is that?" Because, I had also prayed the week before that I would get more opportunities to share my faith with Colt, so that he would see how great God is.
The ultrasound tech told me my uterus was tilted and asked me to go to the bathroom and come back and we would try a different kind of ultrasound. So I did, but I was nervous. I knew even at 6 weeks with Colt we didn't have to look this hard. She finally found my uterus, but I could tell right away there was nothing in it. Eventually she found a tiny shadow and said "Oh, you aren't as far along as you thought you were. You are only 5 weeks, 6 days." But I knew better. I had 2 blood tests at 4 weeks and 5 weeks to check some levels, so I knew the baby was gone.
I laid there and silently started to cry. Tears streamed down my cheek. Justin grabbed my hand, and we sat there so full of grief we were unable to speak. How could this happen to us? Why, after so long were we given a baby, only to have it taken away? What in the world am I supposed to do now? As we sat there and cried, Colt began to ask questions. We were able to explain to him that the baby wasn't in my belly anymore. That Jesus wanted the baby to live with Him. For the rest of the day, he kept yelling at me "The baby IS in your belly!" IT was worse than I could have imagined.
Finally, they took us to a room so we could talk with the doctor. Everyone hugged us and told us how sad they were. Dr. Priddy went over our options with us for the next steps. I had spoken with her on the phone over the weekend and her final words to me were "I can't wait to have another baby with you." As I apologized for her having to end her day on a sad note, she promised me "I could not end my day with nicer people."
We had driven separate, so we had to drive both our cars home. It was so hard to be apart from each other after such tragic news. We decided to try to go tell each of our parents in person, so we drove up to Pendleton and Lapel to talk to them. It was an evening full of tears and questions.
This week, my Bible study was going over peace. I wrote down in my journal that I needed peace and that I would not worry about the appointment, as there was nothing I could do about it, and that if the appointment did not go as I planned, that I would have peace with the outcome, no matter what it was. This is the only way I can explain how Justin and I have been able to react to such devastating news.
As we were sitting there talking to Dr. Priddy, we said that we knew God had a plan bigger for us than we could imagine, and that we knew this was part of it, even though we couldn't understand it right now. And now, 5 days later, I still feel at peace with where God is taking us. I prayed so hard for this baby, and had such a huge fear of losing a child, that I never dreamed I would be able to have this reaction to losing a child. My only explanation is that I have been praying for peace- a peace that passes understanding.
I have no doubt that there will be days in the future that make me wonder why this happened to us. How did we become a statistic- 25% chance of losing a baby. We have not actually lost the baby yet, and when we do, I am sure my emotions will be all over the place.
My glimpse of hope came the next morning, Friday. Justin and I laid in bed waiting for Colt to wake up. We had such a sense of calm, but sadness. Colt finally came in and laid in bed with us. He laid there silently for a while, then looked at me and said "The baby isn't in your belly. The baby is with Jesus, in the clouds." And I was able to look at him through my tears and say, "You're right, the baby is with Jesus in the clouds. How cool is that?" Because, I had also prayed the week before that I would get more opportunities to share my faith with Colt, so that he would see how great God is.
We'rePregnant!
After 18 months of trying to get pregnant, Justin and I decided to adopt a child (after A LOT of prayer!). While we were waiting for our adoption meeting, we found out we were pregnant!
I decided to take a test on the way out the door to go to Justin's grandpa's funeral. I was crying so loud when I saw the positive, that Justin could hear me downstairs in the kitchen. He thought something was wrong with me, so he came to check on me, and I told him what we had been waiting to hear for a year a and a half. I couldn't believe we were finally pregnant.
Unfortunately, later that day we found out some of our friends lost their baby at 21 weeks. We decided to keep our news to ourselves and give them some time to heal. But we secretly went about planning for our new arrival. We went shopping, started talking about new cars, and making plans for our new family of four.
I cannot explain the joy that we felt. My heart was so full. We felt like this baby was a gift from God; a miracle. We even talked about naming the baby Samuel if it was a boy. In the Bible, Hannah prayed for a baby and when her prayers were answered, she was given a boy, and named him Samuel, which means "God heard my prayers." This baby was our answer to years of prayer.
We told Colt right away, and he was so excited. He asked to talk to the baby every night. He wanted to see the baby, kiss the baby and talked about the baby all the time. He would even try to lift my shirt up so he could see my tummy and talk to the baby when we were walking through the grocery. The big day was set for Jan 2nd! To be continued...
I decided to take a test on the way out the door to go to Justin's grandpa's funeral. I was crying so loud when I saw the positive, that Justin could hear me downstairs in the kitchen. He thought something was wrong with me, so he came to check on me, and I told him what we had been waiting to hear for a year a and a half. I couldn't believe we were finally pregnant.
Unfortunately, later that day we found out some of our friends lost their baby at 21 weeks. We decided to keep our news to ourselves and give them some time to heal. But we secretly went about planning for our new arrival. We went shopping, started talking about new cars, and making plans for our new family of four.
I cannot explain the joy that we felt. My heart was so full. We felt like this baby was a gift from God; a miracle. We even talked about naming the baby Samuel if it was a boy. In the Bible, Hannah prayed for a baby and when her prayers were answered, she was given a boy, and named him Samuel, which means "God heard my prayers." This baby was our answer to years of prayer.
We told Colt right away, and he was so excited. He asked to talk to the baby every night. He wanted to see the baby, kiss the baby and talked about the baby all the time. He would even try to lift my shirt up so he could see my tummy and talk to the baby when we were walking through the grocery. The big day was set for Jan 2nd! To be continued...
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