Fabulous Father!

It wasn't the perfect Father's Day.  We didn't get to see my dad or my father-in-law, MJ is pretty sick (despite his super cute smile below), I goofed up on the Father's Day dinner I made for Mat, and after looking for Mat's father's day gift (new sandals) around town, we came up empty handed and he ended up just ordering some online.  But, in spite of all those little things, we still had a pretty great day just being together!

Many men can simply be a father, but it takes a special man to be a real Dad.  I am lucky enough to have a dad like that in my life, and it's wonderful seeing Mat thrive as a dad with MJ.  The love and patience he has with our son makes me a better wife and mother.  I know he will make an amazing dad to our next child on the way as well! 

I just love this picture taken in our backyard today! 



Livin' the Life!

MJ has certainly been livin' the good life lately!  Not sure if it's the summer time or the feeling of he won't be our only child for long so we are just really savoring him, or maybe a combination of both, but we've enjoyed some great quality time with him lately!! 

As much as I could do without the cold and snow ALL WINTER LONG, I really love this area in the summer time!  There is so much to do and always something going on (and much of it all for free)!  Two weekends ago, we heard of a car show that was taking place in Galena.  Galena is just about a 20 minute drive over to Illinois and one of our favorite spots.  As much as MJ is in love with cars lately, we figured he would love just riding around in his stroller and checking out all the cars...which he did! 

Of course he loved all blue cars best!  I thought he might want to run around and touch all the cars, which is of course off limits, but he was quite the happy camper just riding around in his stroller checking out all the neat cars. 

The following weekend was Dubuque's RiverFest.  It's an annual festival down near the riverfront of Dubuque that has concerts, food, DockDogs competition, etc.  We hadn't been before, but I was looking forward to checking it out this year.  Chicago was one of the bands performing, and Mat and  I both LOVE them, but we never did purchase tickets or line up a sitter.  Part of that had to do with that it was same day of our doctor appointment. Pessimistic me was worried that we might not be able to make it to RiverFest had we received bad news earlier that day.  Luckily it wasn't the case though, and although we didn't stick around for the concert later in the evening, it was still quite a perfect evening.  We celebrated our good news as a family by attending RiverFest and MJ was quite excited to a big Lightning McQueen.  For those of you not privy to the car world, Lightning is the main character in the Disney movie Cars, which MJ happens to adore!  He plays with his cars, especially Lightning McQueen, all day long, so seeing the "real thing" was pretty impressive to a two year old!

Way too excited to actually look at the camera! 

Next up was Lightning McQueen's trailer which was chalked full of Cars goodies...clothes, stickers, table/chairs, posters, pennants, etc. etc.  MJ just stood there with his jaw hanging open just looking at all the goodies!  I tried to take a pic, but again he was way too excited to pause and smile for me!

In Cars heaven!

He even got to ride in a real race car for a simulated race! 

Later that evening, we watched the DockDogs competition.  I'd never heard of DockDogs before moving here, but apparently it's a national thing.  It's basically competitions for dogs that measures the length they can jump into a pool.  It all seemed to be in good fun and was pretty humorous!  MJ once again was in heaven.  He sat like such a big boy on the bleachers eating his nachos and sipping on his juice. 

We hardly heard a peep from him, but after each dog he would ask for more!  He loved watching each and every dog.  They come here for competitions at least a couple times a year, so I imagine it will be something he continues to enjoy!

Great family fun to kick off our summer!  Mat has been teaching summer school and I've been working a lot more hours during June as we have a literacy camp at Loras, but we've been making great use of our time on the weekends.  Looking forward to lots more summer memories to come! 

Followed by PURE JOY!

Heartbeat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I'm so glad my head was right and my gut was wrong!  We heard the beautiful heartbeat of our baby beating at 166 bpm.  Can.not.believe.this! 

We're 11 weeks now and everything seems to be a-okay!  We actually don't have to go back for a month.  I am SO ready to start being excited now and enjoying this pregnancy!!

Praise God (and progesterone..hehe)!!

Pure Fear

Just two more days until our next doctor appointment.  At this appointment they'll check for a heartbeat and complete a regular physical.  This feels like our make or break point in my mind.  If we make it through this appointment with a positive outcome, I feel like I can finally breathe a sigh of relief and begin to enjoy this pregnancy and become excited.  Of course if there is a negative outcome, it's the end of the road for this pregnancy.  Everything points to things being just fine and I have no valid reasons for being so incredibly worried, but my gut just tells me that it's not going to be good.  I try to keep envisioning it going well.  After all, since hearing the heartbeat at 6 weeks, we have extremely high odds that everything is continuing to be just fine. When we got that wonderful news, I was elated and it all began to seem real, but then the doubt crept right back in.  Unfortunately, I feel like it's kept me from bonding much with this baby or displaying much enthusiasm.  It's hard to explain, but I just feel incredibly vulnerable.  Waiting is the hardest part. I am certainly hoping for great news to share on Friday, but ask for prayers for peace and comfort regardless of the outcome.  My own fears seem to keep me from even being able to pray about it regularly.  I know that God knows my heart and my fears and that the strength will be provided to me.  As always, I am so often comforted by words...books, lyrics, poems, etc.  I received these words in an email the other week and thought they couldn't be more perfect.  Sometimes it seems like words are sent your way exactly when you need them the most. 

10 is a Magical Number!

Mat and I were lucky enough to celebrate our ten year anniversary last week.  In many ways, it's hard to believe that it's already been TEN years, and in other ways it seems like it's been so much more.  When I think of all we have done since being married, it seems like quite a bit of time has passed.  Our marriage has been through three different states, six different homes, ten different jobs between the two of us, infertility, pregnancy, miscarriages, parenthood, and I'm blessed to say that through it all, I still have my best friend right by my side.  Like any couple, we're not perfect, and certainly have our differences.  Our many moves have often proved stressful and of course infertility was a rough battle, but honestly we've managed to stay extremely connected and strong through it.  In a society full of break ups, infidelity, and lack of trust, we are certainly blessed to celebrate a solid ten years and look forward to many more to come!  We're lucky that our families and friends that surround us provide us with many examples of strong, dedicated, loving relationships!

Over a year ago, we decided that we WERE going to take a trip for our 10 year anniversary!  It's pretty comical though how the trip evolved.  We started out looking at 7-10 day stays at all inclusive resorts in Mexico or the Caribbean.  Then, it came about that I had a friend getting married later in the summer in Florida, and we knew we couldn't really afford to take a trip for that as well as a pretty nice trip for our anniversary, as well as leaving MJ for two separate weeks throughout the summer.  Then, we started looking into doing something a little less expensive, so we planed to combine our trip to FL for the wedding along with a driving trip to New Orleans.  Then, we decided we really did want to do something more exotic and all inclusive and would rather just hold off and save up to be able to do that in the coming years, and just go ahead and do something a bit closer to home but nice this year for our anniversary, as well as go to the wedding later this summer.  So, we thought we had it all figured out and found a really nice spa resort in Wisconsin and both felt pretty good about that, but then we got a nice big pregnancy surprise and since 1st trimester massages are off limits, a spa seemed a bit like a waste of money, so there we were back to square one once again.  Finally, we decided to just escape to Chicago for a weekend!  We went all out and stayed at a very nice hotel and ate well and just spoiled ourselves a bit for a couple days.  I was still feeling a bit icky and didn't want to do anything too elaborate or going too far.  Thanks so much to my parents for coming to stay with MJ at our house.  It was a huge blessing that we didn't have to pack him up or take him anywhere.  He was happy as could be in his home being spoiled by all the love and attention that grandparents are wonderful for giving, and the best part was Mat and I didn't have to worry about him for one second.  Missed him of course, but this this was the first time since his birth that both Mat and I went out of town at the same time and left him overnight.  I think we were due! 

Mat did most of the planning, and I was extremely thankful.  I just wanted to pack my bag and show up!  He did an excellent job!  We stayed at The Palomar in downtown Chicago, just a few blocks off the Magnificent Mile! 

This was my view as I first walked into our room...

 Such beautiful colors and furnishings!  We had a spa room with a Fuji soaking tub (I was in heaven!!), a big beautiful bathroom, a corner room with views of the city, and a great sitting area to enjoy them.  It was perfect!

            

 Views of our room

 Mat made dinner reservations for us at The Melting Pot.  The Melting Pot has been one of our favorites for years.  We don't even get the main course of meat/seafood anymore.  We've been enough times to know our favorites:  cheese fondue and chocolate fondue.  Mmmm! 

I'd already been surprised with a diamond tennis bracelet at our hotel...after he made me promise no gifts!!!  Then, showed up to dinner to be surprised by a beautiful vase of a dozen red roses. I felt like a pampered princess for the evening! 

Besides delicious food for the weekend we did some shopping along the Magnificent Mile, saw a movie, and went to an improv show at The Second City.  Oh, and of course just some relaxing and napping too. 

We found a Disney store along the Magnificent Mile, and Mat had the idea to go check out the Cars loot.  MJ is just in love with cars in general and adores the Cars movie.  We were excited to pick out a few goodies to take home to him and excited to watch his reaction.

 New Lightning McQueen jammies!

 Drinking from his new Cars cup, and...

intently reading his new Cars book!  

 

In other "Magical 10" news, we reached 10 weeks or pregnancy this week!  Finally some double digit numbers!!  It felt like it took forever to get here, and now I am anxiously awaiting the next appointment where we'll hopefully hear a heartbeat and now that any chance of miscarriage has dropped drastically.  All signs seem to point a growing baby though.  My tummy is definitely starting to round out.  Took my first baby bump photo at 9.5 weeks while we were in Chicago:

Most of my regular pants are a no-go anymore.  Nausea is still present, but definitely more tolerable.  I still eat every two-three hours it seems but yet struggle to find things that consistently sound appetizing.  Our little baby is now the size of a prune.  Can you believe its little teeth are already beginning to form beneath the gums the major organ functions have already taken over?!  So crazy and miraculous!  I am feeling so nervous about our next appointment coming up on Friday and just praying for good news! 

Goodnight MJ

We just love our goodnight routine with MJ.  It's been the same since he was about 8 weeks old, and he always smiles and looks at us so affectionately.  I think that he really thrives on those last couple minutes of special attention before bedtime.  MJ is definitely a child of routine.  He likes things in the order he's used to, and maybe that's partly our fault, but he does seem to thrive on routine.  Our bedtime routine involves putting on pj's (a bath every other night beforehand), brushing his teeth, and then into bed for a story with Daddy and a prayer with Mommy.  Of course when one of us isn't there, the other does both.  Mat has been reading him the very same book since MJ was in my belly.  I've always wanted to capture those final few minutes before bedtime on film.  I know one day he'll be too old for all of this, and I will deeply miss this special time.  Thank goodness for little memories like this one!  Of course since I was holing a camera, he was being a bit silly, but here's the gist...

Too Cute Not To

I actually filmed this a few months ago, but just got around to uploading some videos off my Flip cam.  This is tired MJ when he wants to fake cry just for the sake of it.  Too cute not to share!  Boy, won't I love to show this to him one day when he's all grown up.  :)