Green Market with Maggie, 4 Months and Easter

Harlow had her four month appointment on Friday. She is a healthy 14 lbs. 6 ounces (50th percentile) and is 25 1/2 inches long (80th percentile). Her head is still on the small side (30th percentile), heehee. Everything is great with her....we will be starting solids sometime in the next month. Since she is sleeping through the night right now and seems to be satisfied throughout the day, there is no need to start soon. Her are some pictures of our latest adventures!

4 months....

3 months....

2 months....

Hanging out in the swing!

Green Market with Aunt Maggie and Mommy

Smiling at my Daddy!

Look at this scary "Easter Bunny"...next year she will be terrified. As would I!

Easter Sunday with Harlow's first Easter basket. Daddy picked it out and filled it with candy.

The Story of LB video

My youtube link will not work since there is music added to my video...something about copyrights....BOO. So, this is the best I can do. You can enlarge it, but the quality is compromised and the pictures were already taken with my iphone so it will probably view best in this small version.

April 15th, 2010

I try not to get too emotional or sappy on this blog because it exists for a very happy reason, our daughter Harlow of course. But today is a very special day to me and I want to tell it exactly like it happened.

One year ago, on Thursday April 15^th, 2010, was the day we found out that we were going to have a baby. I woke up at my normal time of 6 am and peed on a stick, just like I had been doing for so many months before. I completely expected it to look exactly like all the others had, a big fat negative. I didn’t have that “feeling” that I was pregnant, probably because I had been let down so many times before. But I still was hanging onto a little piece of hope. By this time, we had seen many doctors and knew we had some significant obstacles standing in our way of conceiving. It had been a long road already, filled with lots of prayer and soul searching. We were exhausted from thinking about it all and just simply wanted a baby in our family. Even though I didn’t think I was pregnant, I still had a bunch of pregnancy tests in the drawer and couldn’t resist…

So I took the first test, and I saw a faint second line starting to form on the stick. For those of you who don’t know, two lines means you’re pregnant, one line means you’re not pregnant. I can’t tell you how many other times I *thought* I saw a second line and woke up Dax to confirm my observation. After staring at it in the light for a moment, he would always sadly tell me he didn’t see anything. But, this time felt different…my heart started to race. I didn’t bother to wake up Dax to look at it, I tossed the test on the counter before it was even done processing and pulled out a digital test that I had been saving for a special occasion. You see, the digital pregnancy test leaves no room for error. It either says “pregnant” or “not pregnant”. The way the test is designed is an hourglass blinks over and over on the tiny little screen while it processes the test, similar to what your cursor looks when the computer is “thinking”. Well, I stared at this hourglass for what seemed like an hour while it “thought”. I prayed harder and more diligently than I had ever prayed before in my life. I just held that stick and stared at that hourglass blinking. Over and over and over it blinked, you couldn’t have torn my eyes away from it. And then the word “pregnant” appeared. I didn’t believe that it was real. I just couldn’t stop staring at it. I started to shake so badly I couldn’t even hold my arms still, let alone my legs. I knew that my skeptical husband still wouldn’t be convinced so even though I knew at this point I was pregnant, I took 2 more tests for his sake. Armed with 4 positive tests, I finally went to wake him up. Over that last year, I had thought of all kinds of fun ways I would tell him he was going to be a Daddy. Wrapping a baby rattle for him to open. Telling him to check the oven because I had a bun inside. Getting Leyla a big sister shirt. You get the idea. Well. None of that happened. I woke him up still shaking like crazy and showed him the digital test. I still remember he said to me “Hold your hand still, I can’t read it!” because I was shaking so badly. He just looked at me and back at the stick and was as shocked as me. I showed him all the other tests and we just looked at each other and at all the tests. I remember one phrase we both were repeating was “This is insane”.

Then it was time for us to call our parents. It was really early in Nebraska and Texas and Dax wanted to wait to call them. Umm. No way. I called my mom and dad and my very worried mother answered the phone. I’m sure she was thinking, “Why is my daughter calling me at 5 am?”. I told her to get my dad on the phone and asked them if they wanted to be grandparents again for Christmas. They were very confused. You see, they knew we had been trying for a while and were NOT expecting this at all. I could tell my mom was trying to do the math in her head. Pretty much the same conversation and confusion occurred when we called Dax’s mom and dad. By this time, I was late for work and had to call in that I was running behind. When I finally arrived, my co-workers were perplexed to why I was late since that was very unlike me. I called them all together to share our news. They had stood by me for the last year, cried with me, supported me, loved me and prayed for us. I don’t know what I would have done without them during that most difficult year of my life. Just having people to talk with was such an amazing outlet for me. So, it was so awesome to look at their shocked faces as I proudly waved my test in front of their eyes! We celebrated all day.

I called and made an appointment with my doctor and had to wait something like 3 weeks before they wanted to see me. We all know why the doctors wanted us to wait for that first appointment, and those thoughts started to consume Dax and I. But, we prayed together and finally decided that God had given us this blessing and we were pregnant NOW and TODAY and each day that we had after would just be another blessing. So we were going to celebrate! We had so many other people (many of you who read this blog) also praying for us and our little baby bean. It meant the world to us to have you all out there rooting for LB!

Looking back now, it all seems so long ago. But it really was only a year. So much has changed in our lives, I can hardly remember what it was like with only Dax, Leyla and I. Although it was the most difficult journey we had ever faced as a couple, we both grew so much because of it. Maybe someday Harlow will read this story and know how she was loved from the first moment we knew she existed. She is our world and I am so proud to share her with all of you.

Mommy and Daddy love you so much Harlow!

Here is the link to the video I made for Harlow. I am sharing it with all you too!! It's kind of long (almost 13 minutes) so make sure you have a little time on your hands if you want to watch it...I have been adding to it since the beginning of my pregnancy and now it's finally finished. And one more thing. I totally miss being pregnant now that I see this video! I thought I would NEVER EVER in a MILLION years EVER say that. And look, 4 short months later, I have already uttered the words. It really is true that you forget all the misery and reflect only on the prize. It's especially easy when the prize is such a beauty!

Jazz Brunch/Harlow goes swimming

We went to Fort Lauderdale last Sunday for Jazz brunch with our friends the Hawkes (Eric, Nichole, Hayden and Parker), the Jernbergs (Chad and Ria) and Ryan and Katie. Fun was had by all. We ate some yummy brunch food and drinks (think Mimosa's and Blood Mary's) and enjoyed the great weather with little ones all around us.

**All these pics were taken with my iphone, so that is why in some the quality isn't so great.**

Harlow in her pretty dress!

She got tired quickly and took a nice nap in her car seat.

This is one of the those pictures that reminds me I have the most beautiful child EVER. She is so perfectly precious.

The whole gang

Daddy and LoLo

Hayden is such a big girl, and so sweet too...

Parker manTita Ria and LoLo
Both the babies!
Had to change outfits! It was hot and Harlow got sweaty!

Today, we went down to the pool in our community for the first time. We weren't sure if Harlow would love it or hate it. Turns out, she loved it. Well, she didn't hate it at least. No crying, no tears. What a big girl!! I am so excited for summer. I ordered her a floaty with a canopy with UV 50 to protect her from the sun, it is so intense down here in South Florida! I also got her a play tent for the beach with sun protection of UV 50 as well. And some neat sunglasses that strap on with Velcro so they don't fall off! Great idea-right? The last thing I am looking for is a long sleeve swim shirt to protect her arms. Can you tell I am worried about her getting sun burned?? Just last weekend we met some old friends for lunch and were outside for about 10 minutes in the sun. I got red shoulders! So, yea, I am going to make sure she stays covered up and protected!! We have lots of visitors coming this summer (Doug and Sheri, my brother, Tomi and the girls, and Aunt Sarah), so we will be ready for the beach!

On our way to the pool in Harlow's new stroller!

Yay!! In the water with Mommy!!! And Daddy was given specific instructions to keep the camera off Mommy as much as possible, plus I had Harlow to block me, haha!!!

What a big girl!
Look at my cute towel from Aunt Sarah, Uncle Andy and Cousin Max and my swim suit from Grandma Connelly. It fits perfect!
Sigh. Just another reminder of how amazing life can be with this little girl. She is all we ever wanted and every single day is an amazing gift!