Breakfast in Bed!

Jocelyn usually wakes up first in the mornings. She likes to quietly play in her bedroom or look at books before she comes downstairs to eat breakfast. This morning however she snuck downstairs without me knowing and got her breakfast and took it back upstairs to have...

Breakfast in Bed!

She got herself two Pop Tarts for breakfast out of the pantry and took one of the pre-made cups out of the fridge and headed back up to her bed for breakfast in bed.

By the way, she really does sleep with all of that stuff in her bed. She is our little hoarder, but we still love her and she keeps us laughing.

Valentine's Day Package

The girls were very excited when they got home from school and saw that they had a Valentine's Day package from Grandma Cathy and Brittani Ann (Jocelyn's birth grandmother and half sister).

They couldn't wait to see what was inside.

Oh Candy!!!! Jocelyn has a BIG sweet tooth!

Jocelyn LOVED that her candy had a ladybug on it. :)

"Cute as a Bug" Candy!

They also got heart shaped pans, cake and frosting to make a Valentine's Day cake!

They are looking forward to making it this weekend for Valentine's Day and for Mommy's birthday.

Time to try the chocolate.

YUMMY!!!

The girls have also gotten some really sweet Valentine's Day cards from Nana and Pop, Aunt Wendy and Uncle Donn, and Mimi. The girls love getting mail! They are looking forward to going shopping and spending the money that was inside the cards.

Secondary Infertility

This morning my friend Wendi posted Infertility Again on her blog. Although infertility is not a topic that I have really talked about on my blog, her post inspired me to attempt to explain how secondary infertility impacts our family.

Most of you know our story, but I will do a very brief recap just in case. I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl in June 2005 by emergency C-section. Immediately following her birth I was taken back into surgery because I was hemorrhaging (bleeding out). The doctors could not stop the bleeding, so they had no choice but to preform a hysterectomy. Therefore leaving me without a uterus.

In 2007 we were blessed by the miracle of adoption when our second beautiful daughter entered our family at 6 months old. Although we feel so blessed to have two girls it is still difficult to know that expanding our family is not as easy as getting pregnant. If we want to have more children it will take a lot of planning, paperwork and money.

Wendi's friend Joanna explained perfectly the feelings that we have dealt with over the years. Here are some of them: (I changed the wording a little to relate it to our situation.)

"One thing that makes secondary infertility so painful and more lonely is that just by the nature of what you do on a daily basis, you are forced to be around pregnant people. And usually these are people who are pregnant for the second or third time. Take the zoo, for instance. When dealing with primary infertility, one would never in a million years have gone to the zoo on a regular basis. You would have avoided it like the plague. The same goes for playgrounds, Story Time at the library, and any other activity that screams YOUNG FAMILIES!! But now, because I have young children, I go to these places. Places where there are other moms of young children. And chances are, if they've had one child they'll have another with no difficulty. Inevitably you see moms with a huge baby belly who have children the same age as your own (or younger even), and you can't help but be reminded that you can't have children." This is one of the reasons that it has been so difficult for me to get involved in groups like MOPS. I also have a difficult time going to Baby Showers and hearing that people are pregnant. I truly am happy for their family, but it is a reminder of what we have lost.

"I feel like I don't fit in anywhere --and that no one understands. Women who are still dealing with primary infertility can't imagine that secondary could feel the same way. At least you already have a child," they say." I feel guilty about being sad about my own infertility when God has already given us two beautiful girls.

"The bewildering thing is that they're right and there is no reasonable explanation to how the ache can be so strong. People who see you with one child assume you could have two, and so they ask when you're going to have another. And the most heartbreaking of all is when the children realizes that most people have siblings and voices to you that they'd like more too. As if it's that easy." I get asked multiple times a week when we are going to have a boy since we already have two beautiful girls. I always wanted a boy and it is hard to think that they may never happen.

We are so thankful for our girls and yet still feel the loss of not being able to physically have more children. We are in prayer for what God has in store for our family.

Unexpected Snow Day!

The weatherman had predicted that we were only going to get a dusting of snow, but by the time the girls and I woke up we had several inches of snow on the ground. I called the girls' preschool to make sure that school was cancelled and it was. The girls were thrilled to have an unexpected "Snow Day" in the middle of the week. The girls did not want to go outside and play in the snow today though. It was very windy and blowing the snow everywhere. We decided to stay inside and have some fun.

The girls made their own tent and played in it most of the day. They looked at books, had lunch, and played with Barbies in their tent.

I was able to get the Valentine's Day presents wrapped while the girls played in their tent.

Overall we had a very nice unexpected "Snow Day" playing together, doing laundry, watching movies, and baking pumpkin bread.

Ballet, Black Eye and Bangs

Today was Observation Day at Ballet since class was cancelled last week due to snow.

Madison is very serious about her ballet.

She watches the teacher very closely.

Arabesque!

Madison got her first "black eye" at our Super Bowl Party on Sunday. Jude threw a toy and it hit Madison right under her eye. (It is hard to see it in the picture. I should have taken a picture of it yesterday when it was darker.)

Jocelyn was jealous that I was taking pictures of Madison today, so she asked me if I would take some pictures of her and her bangs.

She is trying to grow them out as fast as she can.

Happy 26th Birthday, Mrs. Megan!

We are sad that we can't be with Mrs. Megan on her birthday like we were last year. Although we are very excited that they are making the long drive from Pennsylvania to Virginia to visit us for the long weekend. We can't wait to see them and give Mrs. Megan her birthday hugs and

kisses a few days late. Saturday can't come soon enough. The girls and I are on countdown!

Madison has already made Mrs. Megan a birthday card and is working on a lot of birthday and Valentine's Day surprises for everybody.

Jocelyn is happy that she has a few more days to work on her birthday card for Mrs. Megan. Don't worry though Madison has her eye on Jocelyn. She will make sure that she gets it done before you get here. ;)

See you soon!!!

Sharing Our Blessings

The girls' class is collecting items this week to give to a local orphanage. The girls and I enjoyed going through the house and collecting gently used items that we could donate. I also have been very blessed to run across some amazing sales to help add to our donations. We ended up taking in 6 bins of items to donate to the orphanage today.

The first bin was filled with 6 JanSport backpacks that I got from Staples for $3.00 a piece and 6 lunch boxes that I got at Target for $1.50 a piece. The second bin was filled with gently used dolls and stuffed animals that the girls wanted to donate to the kids. The third bin was filled with clothes, shoes and 105 pairs of mittens that I got at the BX for $0.15 a pair.

The fourth bin was filled with school supplies and books. The fifth bin was filled with gently used toys and games that the girls wanted to donate. The sixth bin was filled with outdoor recreation items. The orphanage requested soccer balls specifically, so I was very excited when I found 3 soccer balls on clearance at Target for $2.50 and two soccer goals for $6.50.

We are praying that these items will bless the kids at the orphanage and that God will show us additional ways that we can serve them. We are hoping that maybe they will let the girls and I volunteer there and learn more about how we can help.