Birthday festivities

 Birthday cake-making.

Birthday breakfast in bed (her choice of cereal).

 Birthday lunch.

Birthday cake.

Birthday fun.

Seven years ago . . .

. . . we brought a bundle home from the hospital.

I was a bit emotional that day.

Seven seems so much older than six. Seven is only one year before eight. Yikes!

 We loved her before she was even born.

 She is a bookworm like her mama.

 She loves playing with her daddy.

 Her smile is one of the best on earth.

 Sometimes she is serious, but most of the time she is happy.

She has her own sense of style and loves to be pretty but especially wants to feel comfortable. (No tags, too-tight elastics, jeans, or funky seams, please.)

Yesterday she told me, "Tomorrow I am turning seven! And I am going to sleep in for-ev-er." (Poor kid has to get up about 6:30 to get ready for the bus.)

What a joy she is. How proud we are of her. During her IEP meeting yesterday, the assistant principal, commented, "Clara is a very special girl. She knows everybody and everybody [the teachers, especially] know her."

Other things I love about her:

1. She says hi to teachers when she see walks down the hall at school.
2. She is very creative--she informed me this week that she wanted to be a compass rose for Halloween this year.
3. She loves her stuffed animals and dollies. (We recently had to make a "two-animal only" rule for bed because she was putting 7 or so in with her each night, in addition to an extra blanket and a particular toy or two.)
4. She wants to make good choices and makes them everyday.
5. She gives good squeeze hugs and loves to be held, even still.
6. Her laugh is so infectious it makes you laugh. She sometimes laughs so hard she pees her pants.

We wouldn't trade her for any other kid in the whole world.

How to expect when you're not expecting it

{Thanks so much for all the kind words. When you've been trying to have a baby for so long, the new arrival somehow becomes everyone's baby when you know you've been prayed for by so many.}


"Advice" for women who (1) haven't given birth yet, or (2) haven't given birth in a really long time:

1. Recognize that even something that has been prayed for, fasted for, hoped for, and dreamed for still might make you nervous and almost wish it hadn't happened, at least at first while you're leaning over the toilet . . . or the bowl . . . or the sink . . . or the potato chip bag.

2. The puking does end . . . at least I haven't puked since Sunday. Those who puke all nine months get an extra star on their chart and extra blessings for having more than one child.

3. Your family won't die if they eat junk and fast food for three months. Your food budget might suffer, though, and you just might develop some bad habits. (Thanks for the Chick-fil-A at lunch, honey!)

4. Celebrate the little things:
       - sleeping in and not working out means you get to wake up when your kid does
       - watching your family down a salad like they haven't seen one in weeks (because they probably haven't) is enjoyable
       - taking a shower and putting on make-up every day is a huge accomplishment
       - dusting and mopping is a luxury for the whole and healthy and you will survive if you don't do it for a while
       - ditto on the shower

5. If you want to have a baby, you apparently really do have to get rid of nearly all your baby stuff (did in summer 2011) as well as adopt. Thanks for joining our family, Hyrum!
 

Unexpected doesn't mean unwelcome. We are very grateful and feel incredibly blessed. But frankly, we felt blessed before this pregnancy, too. We have continually felt the Lord's love, even when we didn't understand the plan.

Now we just need to get used to the idea of being a family of four. And now that I'm becoming human again with the first trimester on the outs, I'm starting to get excited about that.

No beating around the bush

I am pregnant again, apparently this time for real. Due 7 July 2011. I'll be fifteen weeks this weekend. My children will be nearly seven and a half years apart.

After 5+ years, which included such niceties as oodles of blood vials, genetic testing, fertility treatment, three miscarriages, doubt, despair, guilt, and apathy, we had come to a good place . . . a place of peace where we recognized that the Lord loved us and wasn't withholding a child from me because I wasn't a good mom to Clara or I couldn't handle another or I was unworthy or whatever other illogical reasons my brain was trying to come up with.

We had decided to save for in vitro in the next year or two. The nearest clinic is in Charlottesville, which is an hour away--I wasn't relishing the idea, but I was mentally gearing up for it. We had gotten used to having one child and I had almost stopped feeling bad whenever people said, "Do you just have the one?" I had even come to the point where the idea of only having Clara was fine.

And then out of the blue, not only did we get pregnant again, but it actually stuck.

Lots more thoughts to come, but meanwhile, we are doing well and are surprised but thankful.

Christmas 2011

Hooray--I found my camera! I had no less than two dreams about my camera but then awoke without remembering where I had dreamt it was. I'm so glad I found it anyway.

Christmas was a little bit crazy this year and we didn't get to spend enough time with our families. Still, that always seems to be the way it is when we travel down to Atlanta.

This Christmas was full of Clara's anticipation and excitement. She couldn't wait to go to Atlanta to see Grandma and Grandpa and Nana and Bapa. Singing Christmas songs, decorating the house, the tree, etc., brought great joy.

She even managed to smuggle the baby Jesus from our nativity set to school one day. Apparently He even helped her make good choices in class.

Christmas Eve was the Joseph and Mary dinner at the Weilers. Here the grandkids (sans Clara?) are eating on the floor, ancient style (ie they're supposed to be reclining). We were very impressed that no grape juice was spilled.

I am KICKING myself that I didn't get more pictures with the Weilers. Aaargggghhh.

 I had big plans to make ornaments with the grandkids and took pics of them and then didn't print them out. What a great aunt I am.

We were treated to a visit from the Grinch, an old family friend who retells the Grinch story famously. I remember this from my own childhood and our kids were enchanted.

  So were the adults.

Clara got reindeer dust from school (steel-cut oats and glitter), so she and her cousins, Anna and Charlotte, sprinkled it on the front steps so that the reindeer could find their way to our house. 

I am sure my parents were thrilled when they discovered I forgot to sweep it up the next morning and they had to do it for me. So sorry...

 It was pretty magical, I have to say.

Christmas morning! We open stockings first. I love bedhead pictures (of other people), don't you?

 Lining up to go in to open presents . . . gee, these kids looked thrilled.

 I got what I wanted: new slippers!

I love this pic of my brother Ben and his new son, William. Cute cute cute.

Clara was sad when we came home to Harrisonburg and took down our Christmas decorations. But I reminded her that Christmas will come again this year and we get to put them all up again. That was a comforting thought.

Lost but hopefully found soon

Hey folks--please forgive my long hiatus...

I can't find my camera after coming home from Atlanta for Christmas and don't love my posts without pics. I took some (hopefully) good pictures, and I will be devastated if I have permanently misplaced it. I will keep hunting for it.

In other news, I introduced Clara to the musical "Singin' in the Rain" over the holiday, and I was so happy that she liked it so much.

I always find it interesting watching movies as an adult that I enjoyed when I was younger. Sometimes I wonder what I was thinking, but I confess that in this case I am still wooed by Gene Kelly's athletic dancing and terrific smile.