When I was about 5 months pregnant I was unemployed and living in a town where I knew pretty much no one. It was just me and Chad. He was gone during the day and I could only watch so much small claims court television. Researching my pregnancy lead me to babycenter.com, which led me to the February 2009 Birth Club. Here was this huge group of women going through something insanely similar to what I was going through. If I was having an ache or sadness, there was someone else on that message board that either knew all about it, or knew nothing, but was having the same issue.
Sure, when you get that many women together there will be cat fights. There are nice girls and mean girls. And hundreds of those that fit into neither category. There were first time moms and moms working on #5. There are "crunchy" moms and nowhere near crunchy moms. Some of us had Secret Mommies that we sent gifts to and those that we received gifts from. It was my pregancy haven. I loved it.
And then we all started having our babies...
I always assumed that once Hunter was born I would be too busy for the message board but that wasn't the case. From the time he was born, I couldn't wait to get home and post his "birth announcement" online.
The board certainly did slow down after the babies all came but there was still plenty of advice (and drama) to keep everyone entertained. I didn't have a real support group - I don't do playdates or Mommy and Me. These women were my new mother support system. I never realized what a truly amazing band of mothers they were until we found out about Micah.
When word came of his passing, so many of us cried. We posted messages about our crying. We hid in our cubicles or offices at work and cried. We cried for this family. And then came the most amazing thing ever...a post from Micah's mom. She simply asked us not to be sad, that Micah had brought us all together and that she got to spend 5 amazing months with him and he would now be looking over her and her husband. I was shocked! Here was a woman that had just lost her son and she was consoling a thousand women when we should have been consoling her. What an amazing woman and beautiful mother. I don't know her, I have never met her, or even seen her picture but she had become my hero for her grace and strength.
This band of mothers are doing what we can to support her and she's actually helping to support us. I don't think that there was ever a question that we would do something for this family. It's impossible to hold your own February 2009 baby and not think that God could just as easily have put this plan in place for your baby, so with tear filled eyes, you reach out knowing that if the roles were reversed...she would be reaching out to you.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
In Memory of Micah
For the past week or so I have been following a young man's battle through his families postings on CaringBridge.com. This morning came the post that all of us that were praying for this little boy (born one day before Hunter) hoped would never come. His battle had been lost and he was with the angels now. Give your babies an extra kiss or hug today and treasure them...completely. Poopy diapers and 2am feedings are gifts from God, not to be taken for granted. Take an extra minute today to pray for Micah's family and for the families of all of those that are holding onto and loving those little ones that are so innocently fighting for their lives. God Bless!
Monday, June 29, 2009
The Bathroom
We are the first occupants of our house. There was no paint on any of the walls when we moved in. A few years ago, not long after we got married I decided that the first room that we should tackle was our guest bathroom. My sister's house had this great yellow guest bath with this cute beachy theme. I decided to try and copy the look...and failed miserably.
My husband and I both grew to hate this bathroom. We did a crappy rushed job on the paint and there was no style to it. It was just an ugly yellow bathroom. I like to blame him for the bathroom. Yes, I did pick out the color, but he let me!! :)
So, after watching a friend move into a new home and start painting it I decided that it was time for a change. Where else to start. So, after two days and less than $100 from start to finish, I'm pretty proud of the outcome. It's actually a bathroom that doesn't make me want to puke -- or give me a headache.
For those that may not know, we lived in this house for 2.5 years until January 2008 when we moved to Hays for Chad's job. Well thanks to the economy, when we decided to move back here 54 weeks later, our house was still on the market so we moved right back in. The bath/shower used to have doors on it and when we first lived here this was Chad's bathroom. Now that we have a +1 we decided that this became the baby's bathroom. Since bathing a baby in a tub/shower with doors is NOT fun, we ripped them off. That only added to the tacky factor of this bathroom. Since we didn't want to actually tear the tracks down and destroy the whole area, we did the next best thing...we hid it with this lovely new shower curtain.
Not too bad. Nothing fancy but it works well for us. It has a calming effect now. It also smells super nice thanks to the big vase full of soap bars. I only wish that I would have sprung for Caress or Dove soap. The shape of the Dial makes it kind of look like bones or something. The picture behind the stool was a quick throw together project using left over letters from a diaper cake I made to spell out BATH. I have a feeling it will be redone in the near future, but it will do for now.
Isn't the picture of Hunter great? What better place to put a bathing baby picture than in the bathroom. I just love that smile on his face, though it's probably hard for you to see.
Chad has agreed to let me redo any room in the house as long as I can do it for under $100. I feel like I'm on my own HGTV show now!
Now...on to tackle the guest room.
My husband and I both grew to hate this bathroom. We did a crappy rushed job on the paint and there was no style to it. It was just an ugly yellow bathroom. I like to blame him for the bathroom. Yes, I did pick out the color, but he let me!! :)
So, after watching a friend move into a new home and start painting it I decided that it was time for a change. Where else to start. So, after two days and less than $100 from start to finish, I'm pretty proud of the outcome. It's actually a bathroom that doesn't make me want to puke -- or give me a headache.
For those that may not know, we lived in this house for 2.5 years until January 2008 when we moved to Hays for Chad's job. Well thanks to the economy, when we decided to move back here 54 weeks later, our house was still on the market so we moved right back in. The bath/shower used to have doors on it and when we first lived here this was Chad's bathroom. Now that we have a +1 we decided that this became the baby's bathroom. Since bathing a baby in a tub/shower with doors is NOT fun, we ripped them off. That only added to the tacky factor of this bathroom. Since we didn't want to actually tear the tracks down and destroy the whole area, we did the next best thing...we hid it with this lovely new shower curtain.
Not too bad. Nothing fancy but it works well for us. It has a calming effect now. It also smells super nice thanks to the big vase full of soap bars. I only wish that I would have sprung for Caress or Dove soap. The shape of the Dial makes it kind of look like bones or something. The picture behind the stool was a quick throw together project using left over letters from a diaper cake I made to spell out BATH. I have a feeling it will be redone in the near future, but it will do for now.
Isn't the picture of Hunter great? What better place to put a bathing baby picture than in the bathroom. I just love that smile on his face, though it's probably hard for you to see.
Chad has agreed to let me redo any room in the house as long as I can do it for under $100. I feel like I'm on my own HGTV show now!
Now...on to tackle the guest room.
Nope... not me
Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.
I most certainly did NOT spend an extra five minutes pumping in the Women's Resource Room today so that I could finish an article in a magazine. That's so irresponsible...I would NEVER do that!
I do NOT worry that my sweet, precious son's first word might be of the four letter persuasion due to the fact that I can't help but curse the heavens while driving...
My husband has NOT recently suggested that I give up driving all together because of my road rage. Of course I do NOT assume that everyone else on the road has made it their sole goal in life to prevent me from getting from point A to point B happily.
While painting our bathroom yesterday is was certainly NOT important to me that my outfit match though I didn't care that the shirt was missing sleeves and had a giant spit up stain on it.
I did NOT spend my commute home today deciding which wonderful things that I do NOT do that I would post on my first Not Me Monday.
I am NOT letting Chubbs nap an hour before his bed time just so that I can finish writing this.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Just because I love him...
Not a whole lot to say today, but wanted to world to see my sweet baby.
I wonder if this kid will ever really know how much his daddy and I love him. I don't know that I will ever be able to verbalize the way that I really feel about him and the crazy thing is...it grows every day.
I wonder if this kid will ever really know how much his daddy and I love him. I don't know that I will ever be able to verbalize the way that I really feel about him and the crazy thing is...it grows every day.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
A Long and Lovely Weekend
Since having the baby and being home, it's hard to distinguish a weekend from a weekday most of the time but this past Memorial weekend was certainly one that we made the most of. It was full of family and fun...just the way that I love them.
We kicked off our Saturday by doing what the weekend was intended for - honoring our loved ones that have died. My parents, Hunter and I made the cemetary rounds. Our first stop was Fort Leavenworth where my mom's dad is buried. Military cemetaries are so beautiful, especially on Memorial weekend. It was nice to get to "introduce" Hunter to my grandpa. They would have gotten along splendidly, I'm sure of it. Our next stop was Independence, MO where my uncle is buried. I stayed in the car at the cemetary there because Hunter was sleeping but Mom and Dad left flowers and shared a moment with Uncle Jim. Before leaving the Kansas City area we stopped to see my Grandma. She's been having trouble with her knees lately and isn't able to get around much. But a chubby little baby will cheer anyone up.
After our stop with Grandma it was back on the road. We stopped for lunch in Lawrence before heading on to Overbrook where my dad's parents are buried. Once again we "introduced" Hunter to a few more family members that would have loved him as much as we all do.
Once we got home that night and got the little guy to bed I headed out to spend time with some good friends of mine. My dear friend Julie was in town from Philly those available met up at the bar for a little cocktails and catching up.
Sunday was family fun day! My Uncle Mike and Aunt Sharon hosted a family cookout at their house. It seems like everytime that our family gets together, someone has a new baby. This time the newest baby on the block was the beautiful daughter of my cousin (might as well be brother) Adam and his wife Tammy. Little Layla is sweet as can be. At almost a month old, she now weighs as much as little Hunter did when he was born.
My favorite little diva in the world was there too. My sweet sweet niece Camryn was there. I can't believe how much she has grown since I saw her less than a month ago at her first birthday. She's a walkin' talkin' fool these days, and obviously much too cool.
Not to be outdone, little Hunter donned his outdoor gear for some quality time by the pool.
Daddy also decided to introduce the little guy to a little game of washers and found that his game was uneffected by little Hunto - the hands free model.
Monday was quite the exciting day for Chad. He started off the morning by heading down to the farm with my dad to do a little bow fishing. That's right, regular fishing just wasn't challenging enough so he wanted to see if he could get something with his bow instead. Wouldn't you know it. First shot, first arrow and the guy gets one! Made his day...now I just wish he'd quit talking about it. :)
The afternoon was spent relaxing in Holton on the in-law's back porch and in their hot tub while Grandma cooed over the baby.
Such a great weekend. Wouldn't change a thing about it. I just wish that such fun could happen more often.
We kicked off our Saturday by doing what the weekend was intended for - honoring our loved ones that have died. My parents, Hunter and I made the cemetary rounds. Our first stop was Fort Leavenworth where my mom's dad is buried. Military cemetaries are so beautiful, especially on Memorial weekend. It was nice to get to "introduce" Hunter to my grandpa. They would have gotten along splendidly, I'm sure of it. Our next stop was Independence, MO where my uncle is buried. I stayed in the car at the cemetary there because Hunter was sleeping but Mom and Dad left flowers and shared a moment with Uncle Jim. Before leaving the Kansas City area we stopped to see my Grandma. She's been having trouble with her knees lately and isn't able to get around much. But a chubby little baby will cheer anyone up.
After our stop with Grandma it was back on the road. We stopped for lunch in Lawrence before heading on to Overbrook where my dad's parents are buried. Once again we "introduced" Hunter to a few more family members that would have loved him as much as we all do.
Once we got home that night and got the little guy to bed I headed out to spend time with some good friends of mine. My dear friend Julie was in town from Philly those available met up at the bar for a little cocktails and catching up.
Sunday was family fun day! My Uncle Mike and Aunt Sharon hosted a family cookout at their house. It seems like everytime that our family gets together, someone has a new baby. This time the newest baby on the block was the beautiful daughter of my cousin (might as well be brother) Adam and his wife Tammy. Little Layla is sweet as can be. At almost a month old, she now weighs as much as little Hunter did when he was born.
My favorite little diva in the world was there too. My sweet sweet niece Camryn was there. I can't believe how much she has grown since I saw her less than a month ago at her first birthday. She's a walkin' talkin' fool these days, and obviously much too cool.
Not to be outdone, little Hunter donned his outdoor gear for some quality time by the pool.
Daddy also decided to introduce the little guy to a little game of washers and found that his game was uneffected by little Hunto - the hands free model.
Monday was quite the exciting day for Chad. He started off the morning by heading down to the farm with my dad to do a little bow fishing. That's right, regular fishing just wasn't challenging enough so he wanted to see if he could get something with his bow instead. Wouldn't you know it. First shot, first arrow and the guy gets one! Made his day...now I just wish he'd quit talking about it. :)
The afternoon was spent relaxing in Holton on the in-law's back porch and in their hot tub while Grandma cooed over the baby.
Such a great weekend. Wouldn't change a thing about it. I just wish that such fun could happen more often.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Adult Interaction
I had the opportunity to go into the office and work today for the first time since November. It was so nice to actually spend my day with other adults. The department that I worked in is short staffed right now so my contract was extended through this month and I'm able to go to the office two days a week for the next month. I sure missed Hunto but it was sure nice to be out of the house.
I know that I'm going to have to go back to work I just don't like the idea of having to job hunt. I had at least four people stop me in the office and tell me how great it was to have me back. I just wish one of them would realize that if they really wanted me back full time all they would have to do is ask. I guess that is a lot easier said than done though.
Hunto spend the day with Grandma and Grandpa. Since school is out I am taking full advantage of my free daycare. When I got to their house tonight to pick the little guy up my dad was wheeling him around the house in an umbrella stroller. Apparently Hunto did not want to play alone so it was requiring constant attention. Dad has a sore shoulder (they say it's a farm injury, I say it's from too much golf) and had to call in reinforcements to keep Little Foot happy. It was so cute. They were just passing by the front door when I walked up and Hunto gave me the biggest smile. I swear he grew while I was at work. What's the first thing he did for Mommy when she got her hands on him? Puke straight down her chest! Awesomeness. Oh well...worth it.
The old folks must have worn Hunter out because he didn't even make it all the way though his nightime bottle before he started snoozing away. It was a good day. I missed my little booger but am excited that I get the opportunity to talk to someone not in a cartoon voice for another day!
I know that I'm going to have to go back to work I just don't like the idea of having to job hunt. I had at least four people stop me in the office and tell me how great it was to have me back. I just wish one of them would realize that if they really wanted me back full time all they would have to do is ask. I guess that is a lot easier said than done though.
Hunto spend the day with Grandma and Grandpa. Since school is out I am taking full advantage of my free daycare. When I got to their house tonight to pick the little guy up my dad was wheeling him around the house in an umbrella stroller. Apparently Hunto did not want to play alone so it was requiring constant attention. Dad has a sore shoulder (they say it's a farm injury, I say it's from too much golf) and had to call in reinforcements to keep Little Foot happy. It was so cute. They were just passing by the front door when I walked up and Hunto gave me the biggest smile. I swear he grew while I was at work. What's the first thing he did for Mommy when she got her hands on him? Puke straight down her chest! Awesomeness. Oh well...worth it.
The old folks must have worn Hunter out because he didn't even make it all the way though his nightime bottle before he started snoozing away. It was a good day. I missed my little booger but am excited that I get the opportunity to talk to someone not in a cartoon voice for another day!
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