our story

i am sitting in my living room chair with my feet on the ottoman, listening and watching the pouring rain outside, comfy in my pajamas, and feeling my baby kick inside of me...what a wonderful blessing and a great way to spend the afternoon.

earlier today, i found a beautiful wall hanging for sadie's room. on it is a quote from albert einstein that says, "there are only two ways to live your life. one is as though nothing is a miracle. the other is as though everything is a miracle." i thought it would be perfect in her room because we feel like she is our little miracle.

about 4 years ago, we decided to have a baby. i thought when you decide to have a baby, you quit using birth control and a few months later, you are pregnant. for many fortunate couples, that is the way it goes. not so for us. we went through years of charting temps, taking ovulation predictor tests, and going back and forth between wanting a baby and deciding to be happy just the two of us. i would get discouraged and get back on the pill. then we would decide to try again. during this time and unknown to me, i was also dealing with c-difficile colitis which is a bacteria that eats away your intestines and causes a lot of sickness. i was stressed, losing weight from being sick all the time, and tired of trying to make something happen that was not happening. so finally last year, i got rid of the bacteria through medication AND we decided to see a fertility specialist. prior to this i had taken clomid for a couple of months with no results, so on to the specialist we went.

we had our consultation with the most wonderful doctor in dallas. he outlined what tests we would need to evaluate our situation and move forward in getting pregnant. i came away from the consult overwhelmed and a little scared. so i decided to wait. we waited about 6 months, all the while i didn't know that mike was wanting to move forward with the testing and assisted reproduction. so after 6 months had passed, I thought i was ready to start the testing. it was not fun...for either of us. pricks and sticks and anxiety for the results. this whole time we had been fervently praying that we would be blessed with a baby. and i continued to pray that God would give us "the requests of our heart."- Psalm 37:4- i also prayed that if we couldn't get pregnant, that i would be content and happy with our life.

so our results came back...nothing horrible...but our doctor suggested that the best chance for us would be to do in vitro fertilization. so we thought and prayed some more and decided to go through with it. our testing was done around the first of may, and we had a trip planned for the middle of may to go to naples, florida to see my mom and les who were living there at the time. i thought the trip would be a nice break from thinking about ivf, before we started the first ivf cycle in june. we went to florida and i remember waking up during the night while we were there and feeling kind of sick and hungry at the same time. and i was tired the entire trip. i thought 'wouldn't it be amazing if i was pregnant?', but after so many months of being disappointed, i did not think about it seriously. we got back from our trip and i was supposed to start that weekend. i didn't. the days kept passing with nothing happening. we were scheduled for our ivf appointment on that friday, so the day before, i thought 'i have to take a pregnancy test. there's no way i'm driving to dallas tommorrow and paying $$$ for our appt. if i'm pregnant.'

so i bought a test while i was at the grocery store. and took the test immediately when i got home. i thought i would go unload my groceries and come back to look at the results. but i couldn't wait, and went back in the bathroom after about 30 seconds. the little stick already said "pregnant." i cannot describe to you the shockand elation i felt! so throughout that day, i took 3 more home pregnancy tests and raced to the doctor for a blood test. after 4 positive pregnancy tests and a hcg level of 1,132, mike finally believed me! so to find out i was pregnant the DAY BEFORE we started our in vitro cycle and after years of trying, felt like a miracle to me.

i think sometimes the longer you wait for a blessing, the more special it is. we cannot wait to tell sadie just how much she was wanted. and a day does not go by that i don't thank my Creator for this little life inside me.

me telling mike i'm pregnant

have a wonderful weekend and be thankful for all your blessings!

what i've been up to...

yesterday i had to go to the dentist. i'm not one of those people who is terrified of the dentist, but i don't really enjoy going. who does? i've been having a lot of sensitivity in one of my back molars and was expecting to have a huge filling replaced. so my belief is if you're going to do something not fun or even painful, the experience is so much better if you're dressed cute! don't you agree? so i put on my new old navy grey & black dress ($15 and in lots of colors) over black leggings, accessorized with a little red jewelry and was ready to face the dentist chair. except i didn't have to get a filling...he said i was dealing with a combination of recessed gum and root sensitivity along with a stress fracture in my tooth. he filed my tooth down to help my bite, and said i would need a crown on the tooth after i deliver sadie. so at least for today, i'm good!

after the dentist, i met mike at carino's (am i the last person to realize the restaurant is no longer called johnny carino's?) and we had the two can lunch for $15...it was pretty yum. i got a house salad and chicken fettucine and he got the wedge salad and meatball panini. we had a coupon for a free dessert, so we ordered the tiramisu. after taking one bite, i remembered that their tiramisu has lots of rum in it, so we asked the waiter to bring us the turtle cheescake instead. i figured he would think we were just trying to get two free desserts, but he was really nice about it. and the turtle cheesecake was heavenly!

here i am in my 'dentist' outfit after lunch! i've also been scrapbooking a lot lately...i'm working on a conception/pregnancy journal to let sadie know how much she was wanted and all the feelings i felt trying to and finally getting pregnant!

for each doctor's visit, i write about it on a piece of cardstock and stick it in these cute envelopes with the date of the visit on the outside...

and here is one of sadie's pics from last week... love those vintage-y letters (got all materials at Crop Paper Scissors) journal: Creative Imaginations, papers & stickers: October Afternoon, Cherry Hill

and one of my huge goals before sadie is born is to finish scrapping my wedding album, only 7 years later! I use American Crafts 12x12 albums for all my scrapbooks, and the one for our wedding album has a black fabric spine. My theme for the album is black, pink, and green and I'm using a combination of Heidi Swapp stuff, Paper Studio, and a bunch of other papers/embellies.
(sorry the pics aren't that great)

this page is not black/pink/green, but i just loved the simplicity of the b&w picture with an all white page. one of my faves!

let's see...what else? oh, last night i felt so yuck! my blood pressure was super low and i felt nauseated the whole evening. mike had a talk at the meeting, so mom came over and made me hot chocolate and gave me a foot rub with eucalyptus lotion. about 1:30 this morning, i woke up so sick, but thankfully it passed quickly and i got back to sleep aroudn 2:30. so today, i just feel blah! it's overcast here and i just feel like i can hardly think...like i could take a really long nap. so on days like this, what makes me feel better is some candy (currently eating some peanut m&ms) and watching Something's Gotta Give...my 'sick day' movie. I could watch this movie a million times and not get tired of it...mainly because i LOVE the house in the hamptons and that little cafe they eat at in paris.

pics from architectual digest

have a good thursday!

dinner...a photo essay

from previous posts, you might have read about me making chicken piccata...we made it for my mom's luncheon before she got married. it's so yum and looks very fancy but is really easy to make...so on monday night, mike and i were about to start dinner and he suggested we do a photo essay on preparing dinner for the blog (good idea honey!) and we also made roasted asparagus to go with. here it is... pound the chicken really flat
love a fresh bunch of asparagus

the asparagus was cut and drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper and cooked for 10 minutes on 350 degrees

ingredients to coat the chicken are parmesan bread crumbs and parmesan cheese

boil water for fettucini

salt and pepper chicken before coating with cheese mixture

add olive oil to boiling water for pasta (so it won't be sticky) and boil pasta for 10 minutes

ingredients for pasta sauce...reese's artichoke hearts in their juice, lemons, garlic, and s&pcook chicken in olive oil in skillet until brown on both sidesbring sauce ingredients to a boil, then simmer til thickened

pour sauce over pasta, plate up with chicken on top

after asparagus is cooked, plate up and sprinkle fresh parmesan on topenjoy the meal with someone you love!

mondays?!

do you like mondays? i have mixed feelings about mondays...while it's the start of a new week and that's good, it means mike has to go back to work, and it also means i have to go grocery shopping.


have i told you how much i dislike shopping for groceries?! i would be thrilled if i could order my groceries on the phone or internet and have them brought to my door. now i know in bigger cities those kinds of perks exist, but not here in central Texas. so every monday, it's my duty to load up my little 'green' bags and head to HEB. once i get the groceries home, i'm completely happy! i love reorganzing my fridge and having a fully stocked pantry (which also needs to be organized at the moment) but the whole process of putting groceries in my cart, unloading them onto the conveyor belt, loading them into bags, loading them into my car, unloading them into my house, then putting them all up is a bit tiring. couldn't somebody really smart come up with a better solution than all that loading and unloading?!

okay, i feel much better now...so here's my menu for this week

monday-chicken piccata and roasted asparagus

tuesday- tacos, homemade guac and chips

wednesday-chili dogs, chips, pickle (didn't get to make them on sunday)

thursday- grilled salmon, herb butter rice, grilled zucchini

friday-creamy chicken italiano over fettucine (crockpot recipe)

saturday-take out

sunday- chocolate chip pancakes, cheesy scrambled eggs, bacon

aren't these roses beautiful? mike got them for miss sadie and i on thursday and they are still beautiful this morning! what a sweet husband! and on friday night, i was feeling a little yuck, so he gave me the most wonderful pedicure...he put foot soak fizzies in my pedicure tub, took off my polish, filed my calluses, put oil on my cuticles, and gave me a lotion foot massage. (i painted them myself) but it was the BEST pedicure. so i told him he definitely scored some 'blog space' for that one! he wanted to make sure i blogged about it. hehe!

happy monday!

20 weeks-halfway there!

baby pics and nursery choices

it's so hard to imagine what our baby will look like...what features she'll take from me and from mike, so i thought i would show you pics of mike and i when we were babies!

here i am around a year oldand here's mike at a year old (isn't he a cutie?) AND

here are our picks for sadie's nursery...

this baby mod crib

this storkcraft dresser/changing table

and the serena & lily 'kate' bedding

the nursery walls will be a ballet pink (super light)

and we will use the rocking chair that my mom used in my nursery, which is so special because my dad put it together for her, so it's like i have a little piece of him in sadie's room (he was killed in a car accident when i was 18 months old)

i already have a beautiful iron chandelier with crystal drops hanging in her room...i brought it from our last house because i loved it so much! so it will go perfect!

i will be sure to show pics when the nursery is finished...

AND

i've been meaning to post a picture of our bedroom since i FINALLY got a rug...susanne has been telling me for over a year that i need a rug in our room...

i got it at pottery barn on clearance...it's a jute/chenille 8x10 rug. the jute gives it the rough, beachy texture i love, but the chenille woven through it makes it soft on your feet.

AND

lastly...mike and i were talking this morning about what made us like the name SADIE...

i said that a few years ago on The Bachelor there was the cutest little blonde contestant named sadie, and i just thought that was the cutest name

mike said he's always liked the name since he heard r.kelly's song 'sadie'. i guess that was in his earlier r&b days cause i never hear him listening to r. kelly now. hehe!

here's the song for you to listen to (just click on the play button)...http://www.last.fm/music/R.+Kelly/_/Sadie

we're having a little girl!!

all along i felt like it was a girl, but we were perfectly fine either way...just so thankful to be pregnant with a healthy baby!

i don't know if you can tell by the pictures, but she had the cord up by her face the whole time so it was hard to get a good face shot! but she has the cutest little nose and long skinny feet (which were kicking on my bladder the whole time)

we are ELATED! and i already ran over to babygap to buy an outfit ! hehe

i've really been holding myself back as far as shopping but now there's no holding back anymore...bling and bows and flowers are going to quickly be filling this house.