Ladybug Birthday Party

So as far as crafting, this is what I have been up to the last few weeks. My little baby girl turned 1 and here are some pictures fr0m the birthday party. For the tissue paper balls hanging from the light, I used this tutorial http://ohsohappytogether.blogspot.com/2009/06/tissue-paper-flower-ball-decoration-how.html I think it turned out super cute! My mom made this super cute hat to match this super cute dress. This dress was made by my friend down the street. Check out her etsy shop! http://www.etsy.com/shop/graceyloudesigns?ref=seller_info She is amazing! All of the cute cupcake liners, cupcake toppers, water bottle covers, candy bar wrappers, banner, and anything else you see with the cute paper came from my other amazing friend down the street. Check out her etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/iwant2remember She is willing to customize to the party you want! I made the ladybug cake with half of the wilton ball cake pan and a cupcake as the head. I used mint patties for the spots.

breast milk baby

so i am not an e-mail forwarding type of girl, or a link-sharing on my facebook page type of girl...i just don't usually do that stuff.

but today, i am a link-sharing type of girl on this blog...i happened to see 2 minutes of a news program this morning (i never see the news in the morning, we have waaaaay too much going on around here) and i just can't believe how ridiculous some people are. really.

so there's this new baby doll out, called "breast milk baby"...instead of coming with magically disappearing orange juice bottle, this baby comes with a nursing cover-up...encouraging little girls to act like they are nursing their babies instead of bottle feeding. i guess some people are outraged, saying it's obscene and sexualizing little girls...poo! i think if you don't like it, don't buy it for your daughter.

personally, i don't know of a little girl that hasn't stuck a doll up her shirt and pretended to nurse it...myself included (30 years ago, mind you). i don't think it's a big deal at all...and this isn't even a "breast-feeding vs. bottle-feeding" issue.

so here's the link...tell me what you think...is it too racy? or is it perfectly fine?

**don't forget to comment here, and/or on our facebook page...we love comments!!

http://abcnews.go.com/US/breast-milk-baby-doll-girls/story?id=13251971

10 Things NOT TO SAY to a pregnant woman!

I've enjoyed being pregnant...all three times.

Honest.

However, until this pregnancy I've not realized that with each child you "look pregnant" faster than before!  WHAT THE HECK?!

I'm only four months and look like I'm seven months...

I've even heard that I look like I have twins in there!  =(  

(that may be the worst thing to say to me right now)

I've never been a "small" girl...

But my first two times I don't remember getting so big so fast!

Heaven knows it's not because of food...I actually hate the stuff at the moment!

So I came across a funny article on what NOT to say to a pregnant woman...

Made me laugh and cry...cry because of no other reason except I'm with child...

Read on:

I knew the next time that I got pregnant; I would have to deal with ignorant comments about my growing belly. During my first pregnancy, absolute strangers who wanted to know all the details about my blossoming baby bump fascinated me. At first, I welcomed the questions, until they started to become insults. I was so appalled by some of the comments that I decided to keep track of the worst insults that can be directed to a pregnant woman.

1. Is that a linebacker in your belly?
2. From your husband or significant other, “Babe, can you cook me something to eat?”
3. Is your due date tomorrow?
4. Lady, are you packing twins?
5. You should hold off on the fries, because your baby doesn’t need anything else to eat.
6. What are you eating now? Geez, you sure do eat a lot.
7. Are you pregnant again? Every time I turn around you’re knocked up!
8. Your ultrasound looks like an alien.
9. You’ve got a big head. Your delivery is going to hurt!
10. You’re about to bust! (When in actuality, you are only five months pregnant, with one child in utero).

There are over eighty million mothers in the United States. Instead of saying something that may land you in the “hot seat,” try to say something in a kind way. For example, “Congratulations, you look really great!” Or try, “You’re glowing and look so good!” Instead of being an annoying baby bumpgawker, please turn your harsh ridicule into positive affirmations. This will not only protect your feelings from being hurt, but will also shower joy upon a woman who has to carry a child for nine months, and most likely deal with other people’s inappropriate comments.

Having a day of complete rebelliousness...against responsibility

There is much to do in this world of mine.

You see, we are right in the middle of selling and buying our home.

I need boxes and a grand plan.

I have phone calls and beds to make.

Walls to repair and relationships too.

Mountains of laundry and stress higher still.

Instead...

I've decide to just sit....and be.

Potatoes, Wonderful Potatoes!

Here is a link to an awesome book all about potatoes!
All you every wanted to know and many things you didn't know you wanted to know. :)
There are even a few amazing recipes. This one is my favorite:

Cheese Potato Puff


"These are the highest, fluffiest, tastiest potatoes I've ever had. They can be made a day ahead and refrigerated until ready to bake. This dish is Mom's specialty, and we all especially love the part along the edge of the casserole dish that gets golden brown. -

INGREDIENTS

12 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed

2 cups shredded Cheddar or Swiss cheese, divided

1 1/4 cups milk

1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs, beaten


DIRECTIONS

Place the potatoes in a saucepan and cover with water; cover and bring to a boil. Cook until tender, about 15-20 minutes. Drain and mash. Add 1-3/4 cups cheese. milk, butter and salt; cook and stir over low heat until cheese and butter are melted. Fold in eggs. Spread into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Bake 5 minutes longer or until golden brown.

So click on the link and download a FREE copy for yourself.
 
A BIG THANK YOU to Kathleen for giving up the info!!

a true story about a girl

once upon a time, i got engaged in the middle of the summer.

naturally, we had to choose a wedding date. this seemed rather problematic to us...i was 8 weeks from beginning my senior year of college, and i just didn't think it was possible to hammer out a respectable wedding in that much time. his parents lived in oklahoma. my parents lived in missouri. we lived in utah. rushed was sorta out of the question.

also out of the question was waiting until our christmas break, 6 months away...we were more than anxious to get the show on the road, you know? wink wink...so anyways...

that meant getting married in the middle of the semester. which meant a significant portion of time would be consumed with wedding travel. i'm an amazing multi-tasker, cramming in my studying and assignments seemed a small price to pay to become a mrs...so a wedding at the end of september it would be. yay! (insert confetti and kissing, xxx)

with it being our last year in school and all, my roommates and i decided that semester would be the perfect opportunity to take a fun class together. we had varying majors and our class schedules rarely overlapped...so naturally, we chose bowling. yippee for bowling at the wilk! best.class.ever. who wouldn't love college credit for acting out your weekend fun twice a week?! :) bowling at byu pretty much beats bowling anywhere else. hands down.

oh, except for that whole "attendance is pretty much your entire grade" thing...the day i received my bowling syllabus was the day i died a little inside. this was the biggest dilemma i'd faced regarding my wedding: drop the class and miss out on that special bonding time with my friends (no freaking way) or miss 2 weeks of class and get an "f" on my college transcript--in bowling (no freaking way).

lucky for me, my young grad-student teacher saw my predicament and offered a generous solution.

"go bowling in your wedding dress, and i'll excuse all your absences. and i want pictures."

hee hee hee...this boy did not know who he had just challenged! we may or may not have been the girls that danced with lamp shades on our heads. we may or may not have been the girls who ratted our hair and covered our faces in mud mask for a walk around the dorms. we may or may not have been the girls who wrote the "whatever happened to the tuesday flier?" flier...game on! (shout out to the sisterhood!!)

wedding dress, veil, and cameras in hand...we did it. bowling shoes accessorize nicely with the white gown, don't ya think?

*just a note...the date on the pictures is because these are photos of photos...i was not bowling at the wilk in my wedding gown last night, just in case you thought you saw me

if you are wondering how this ties into being a stay-at-home mom...it doesn't, really. except that i went on to become a s@hm...and i wanted to tell that story. i think even moms can use a nice story now and then, don't you?

next time i take a walk down memory lane, i wanna wear bowling shoes.

this morning i woke up to this on my refrigerator

it was just what i needed...



there are days when matt and i  just don't get along and i just want to strangle that man! 

then there are days...like today, that a simple note helps me to feel appreciated and super loved!

what is your secret to helping your spouse feel special?

How to Feel Fulfilled

You know how the more we know the less we find the ability to do EVERYTHING....well, I have been thinking about that. There is so much to do when being a wife, mother, homemaker, friend, entrepreneur, daughter of God. Don't you just feel like you are being pulled in about 90 different directions?!?!?!


Life is a Process

 Well, a few weeks ago we had Stake Conference and Elder Eyring spoke about 6 things to help everyone feel more fulfilled in their lives.

1. Faith: you have to have faith to make anything work

2. Baptism: many people have already done this one but that just means we need to think about it more...remember that day and the promises that you made with Heavenly Father

3. Spirit: meaning the Holy Ghost, we are all given the gift of having a companion after baptism to help us out everyday. Now that doesn't mean that we will always have every answer right now...but we can get the guidance we need from personal revelation. Like Fasting and Fast Offerings: it is more in your heart than in your pocket book!

4. Prayer: get in at least a personal morning prayer and keep in touch through the day with prayers in your mind and heart

5. Live as a Witness: share your testimony in any way you feel comfortable...do it in ways that feel natural and are "real"...the person you speak to may not feel the Holy Ghost, but YOU will and that is what matters!

6. Do the Very Best You Can: increased covenants = increased responsibility...but remember that the Lord will never ask you to do anything that you can not complete  (He never expects us to be "perfect" (yet))

~LIFE IS A PROCESS~

It felt like such a relief for me to hear him say that most of what we are doing already fits into the outline of what we are asked to do by God. Like sharing your testimony can be just as simple as telling someone that you love God and want to live like Him.

And yet, ultimately there are so many things that we could be doing...yet, there are only so many we can do now! So, DON'T FEEL BAD for not being that "perfect" women that we all know doesn't exist...and don't beat yourself up for not being able to check off all your weekly chores or servicing everyones' personal needs. You just cant do it and be sane or normal!!!

Happiness needs time too. So, if you want to let happiness in then you need to make time for it too.
Feeling fulfilled with what you have done with your life is all about being O.K. with what you were able to do that day. The more I think about it, the more I see that even if I just did the basics and remembered the 6 things above...that would be a good day!

Santa Fe Soup

Here is one of our favorite crock pot soups. Just throw it in and enjoy a great dinner after a few hours. Enjoy! My kids even love this and after the past 2 nights of complaining, I am ready for NO whining!!!

1 lb ground beef, cooked and drained
1 can Ranch style northern beans
1 pkg. mild Mexican Velveeta cheese
1 can corn, drained for thicker soup
1 can Ro-Tel tomatoes
1 can diced tomatoes

(If you use regular velveeta, you can use diced tomatoes with peppers to give it the kick)

Put all ingredients in crock pot. Heat thoroughly. Serve over tortilla chips!

gimme a break

it's spring break! is it spring break for you, too?!

we love love spring break around here...the winter blues have just about gotten the better of us, and it's time to start getting some fresh air, get reacquainted with the park, and plan picnic menus.

we've already done some hiking at the nature center, washed some cars, played at the park, gone for long bike rides, dug in the mud, jumped on the trampoline, chalked the driveway, had a picnic, slept late (hooray!), and watched lots of "cosby show" re-runs...by the way, i love the cosby show. a lot.

the kids are currently doing some "break" dancing on the wii...they crack me up!

hope you all enjoy your spring break!

something to think about

i know my post is SUPER late today...but you should forgive me because i was busy packing and driving my children to meet their grandparents, who met us halfway, so that they could spend their spring break with them! that's right i have a full 3 maybe 4 days (depending on how it goes) all to myself!!! can you believe it? so awesome! so what in the world should i do with my time off?

as i drove the opposite direction that my children were going i wanted to be elated, joyous and thrilled. however, a sadness came over me. like a panic. "what am i doing" i thought, and then i started to cry and i started playing the "what if" game. you know that game right? it's the game all mothers everywhere play ALL the time!

what if they get in an accident?

what if someone hurts them?

what if they forget to brush their teeth?

what if belle's hair is a mess the whole time?

what if matt and i die while they are in someone else's care?

STOP!!!

what if matt and i die?!?! what if matt and i die? who will take care of my babies?

i panic and cry some more and realize we have got to make a will like yesterday!

so in my emotional state i call my sister in law. i try to remain calm and speak casually and then it all came out and i asked her for a huge favor and i told her i would be ETERNALLY grateful to her and then i cried as i asked her...

"melissa, if matt and i die in like some freak accident, will you take care of my children and love them and teach them everything i want them to know and hold them and make them go to college?"

she said she would be honored...and i know she would be.

now on to making plans for that will! AND on to living up the next 3 days!

Kids

Sometimes I see this face and think : "Ahhh, how cute!" and then sometimes it is more like : "Oh, son, what now?" Can a girl ever get some time to finish an email or cut out a pattern or even eat her own dinner anymore?!

SOOOO, I figured that maybe I should just give him something to play with...

That did the trick.

Well, for about 5 min.

After kids, your life is never the same.

Pork Chops and Potatoes

Here is one of my Hubby's favorites:

4 Boneless Pork Chops
1/2 cup sour cream
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons parsley
salt & pepper
4 cups thinly sliced potatoes

Brown pork chops. Blend soup, sour cream, water and parsley. Place browned pork chops in the bottom of a baking dish; top with sliced potatoes, salt and peper to taste and soup mixture. Cover and bake at 375 for 2 hours or until chops and potatoes are tender. I usually double the recipe! Enjoy!!!!

...Rough Stuff..

So, I had something interesting happen to me yesterday afternoon...
I'm not gonna lie...it angered me...
Quite a bit...
Then it hurt my feelings...
Quite a bit...

So here is what happened...

We (honeyman and I) give a lady and her son a ride to school every day...
Honeyman picks her son up in the AM...
And I go and pick her up in the PM to get the boys (my son and her son) from school...
We've been doing this every day since sometime last year...
Not a big...
Really, it's not...
We don't mind...

However...

A few weeks ago we got into the conversation of my cousin serving a mission for our Church...
Those of you that are not of our faith, that's totally cool...
Our young men serve a 2 year mission when they are 19...
So anyways, that was the conversation we got on...and that he speaks Spanish because he is serving in Argentina...
I had mentioned that I wanted to send him a letter in Spanish because I thought it would be fun!
So she offered to translate a letter for me!
I thought that was a fabulous idea!  I was so excited...
I wrote the letter...
Just about our lives...
The kids...
The kid that is on the way... =)
And as most LDS members that I know, I ended on a spiritual note...
Telling him that I was grateful he was doing the Lord's work and how fortunate we were to have the Gospel...

I gave it to her on Thursday...
Friday she told me I didn't need to pick her son up...
First time ever!

Didn't see her till Monday...
(yesterday)
She told me that she couldn't translate the letter for me because our beliefs were different...

That was it...
No other explanation...

All I said was, "Okay, I understand"...
I didn't...

When I got home I was really upset...
Those that are my FB friends already know that...

I was upset because I've never asked for anything from her...
And the only time I did...she technically offered...ask, she tells me no because of my beliefs...
For those of you that know me...you know I don't do things for praise...
I'm actually one of those really-genuine-to-a-fault-do-it-because-it-makes-me-feel-good-inside kinda person...

Then I was sad...
My feelings were totally hurt...
Hurt because I can't remember a time that someone wouldn't do something for me because of my beliefs...
I've certainly never treated anyone like that...
So this happening to me really made me sad...
I cried...
But I'm pregnant...
So I cry over everything...

Then to make things even more interesting...
This morning when my honeyman went to pick her son up they were getting ready to walk to school...
The little boy said a couple of times that they didn't think we were coming to get them...

That made me even more sad...
Why would she think we wouldn't give them rides anymore?

So, ladies...
What would you do?

I've been thinking about telling her that she hurt my feelings...
But what good would that do?

I've been thinking about asking her if my faith bothers her so much...so much that she can't translate a letter for me that is going to my cousin, why doesn't it bother her enough to where she wouldn't want to ride in our car everyday...
But what good would that do?

I've been thinking about telling her that I listen and help her out...I don't ask her not to speak of her beliefs in my car...or tell her that I won't drive her to the next town over to put fliers up for her church...
But what good would that do?

I've been thinking about telling her that I've never pushed my beliefs on her and have never been anything but sweet to them...
But what good would that do?

Any of your comments would really help right now...
I'd love to know how you would handle this...

Till next week...

sleeping arrangements...yaaawwwnnn!

does reading the word "Yawn" make you yawn the way that seeing someone yawn makes you yawn? it does me! So lets all YAAAWWWNNN together.

i am admittedly probably a little more on the selfish and mean side of most mothers. i say this because...it's true, and i'm not in denial about the issues i have. however too, i feel that i am just fine with who i am and how i mother my children. i actually think i mother wonderfully better than other mothers. i know...laugh it up, but i am the best mom for these little people who fill my world. how do i know that? b/c "i AM their mother" (that's from TOFW 2010 Memphis, whoop whoop). anyway i go into my own selfishness and meanness only to explain the reason behind the madness...

low tolerance-that's how i would describe my ability to handle children sleeping in my bed! it's my bed. i bought them each a bed and they should sleep in it. even when the kids were infants i didn't do the whole co-sleeping thing or even the bassinet in my bedroom. i didn't want to hear every coo and cry. if i needed to nurse or give them a bottle i got up walked to their room sat in the rocking chair did the business and then laid them back in THEIR bed. i wanted to keep things as "normal" as possible for matt and i. i wanted to soak up every minute, and every second of sleep i could get. i wanted and still want my room for me. i share EVERYthing else in my life, but my room, my bed....i just can't do it. i have to have this place for matt and i.

recently we've had sneaky kids getting into our bed in the middle of the night. most frequently its a little girl we call belle. she will get scared or have a pee accident in her bed and then just climbs right in as if she were invited. imagine that. once in awhile it will be the boys hoping in. shoving their feet into my side or their head on my stomach or their butt into my back. this is just unacceptable behavior. i mean i get the whole monsters in the closet, bad dreams and such, but REALLY climb into your brothers bed!

sometimes i lock our door so they can't get in during the night if they do wake up. better yet, sometimes i lock their door so that if they wake up in the middle of the night, in their sleepy slumber, they won't be able to figure out how to unlock it and then turn around and get back in their bed. i actually think it works.

at this point you may be questioning if i even love my children. the answer is yes, of course. i do love snuggling and cuddling and napping with my babies. however, my stance on our sleeping arrangement will always remain the same...sleep in your own bed or i will give it to a little child who will. yawn.

the Mom Top 10

You Know You're A Mom When :


10. Your hair smells like Johnson & Johnson No More Tears

9. You can't wait for Thursday to wear your cute new "skinny jeans" out to the Library

8. Your hand bag is so big it mimics a small suitcase

7. Your Facebook Status is: "Haven't slept in 3 days!?!"

6. You know more about vacuum filters and breast pumps than current affairs

5. You call QVC just to have adult conversation

4. You notify everyone of your excitement for nap time

3. Your favorite word is "Ahhhhhhhh!"

2. When planning family road trips you plan stops around how many McDonald's have a Play Place

1. Your sense of smell no longer recognizes the stench of human      feces

just for kicks ☺

Permanent Eyliner

So my AMAZING husband suprised me with a permanent eyliner package for Valentine's Day. Complete suprise. I hadn't even mentioned it to him. So for those of you who have thought about it but been scared or didn't even know they did this here is my experience.

I met with the lady a week ago so she could get a sense of what I wanted and explained everything to me. I went in on Tuesday to get started. This first appointment she just gets a good baseline because she said that everyone is so nervous it is good just to get a start and let people see that it is not bad at all. I will have another appoinment in 4 weeks where she will darken and thicken the lines.

So..... As far as the procedure.....It didn't even hurt. I couldn't believe it. It felt like she was taking a pencil and putting it on. She uses this numbing cream and it worked wonderful. I am the ULTIMATE ninny and I handled it fine. So here are a few pictures right after.

She said the next morning I would probably be red and puffy. Here are the pictures of the next morning. Just a little puffy not bad.

Holy cow that picture makes my nose look huge :) Anyway I will keep you updated when I go back in 4 weeks.

5...FIVE...five...

so i'm a big blog reader. it's true. if you write a blog, it's possible that i read it. i love love love it. i just find people to be very interesting...which makes sense, considering that some of my favorite reading material has always been biographies. fascinating! call me a dork if you want to...but i know you have a hidden dorky hobby, too! and i also just realized that i made myself sound like a creepy stalker...i promise, i'm not a creepy stalker. :)

in my blog reading adventures--see, it's so exciting to me!--i find myself constantly inspired and uplifted by other women...everyone has a story to tell, even if we think we don't. some of the most touching to me (lately) have been mother's sharing their stories of how their families came to be. you know, life doesn't often turn out the way we plan...

so anyways, i have been thinking long and hard about whether to share "my story"...the one about how in the world i came to be a mother of 5 kids in 7 years. and i think it's time to get it out there...for those of you who don't already know. :) i will try to keep it short(ish)...but 5 kids sorta makes for a long story...

once upon a time, dave and amy fell in love. that's a different story, though, so we're going to skip ahead just a little bit...

"the plan" was to wait a while after we were married to begin our family. not a long time, probably a year. we wanted 8 kids...sounded like the most perfect number to both of us! we even put 8 little diamonds in my wedding band to symbolize our 8 little babies. 2 days after our wedding we both felt very much that we should start our family soon. we talked about it, mulled the idea around, and decided that "soon" meant less than a year. we also decided right away that there were a bazillion worse things that could happen to us than to have an unexpected baby join our family... okay, we'd settle into life and take it from there. 9 months and 6 days after the wedding...baby #1 joined us! we were not even done with the honeymoon phase and we were dealing with cravings and morning sickness and ballooning weight gain. nice. i got right down to the business of being a mom. joseph was a blessing and a joy, and i wouldn't change a thing.

joseph was almost a year old when we started talking about when we wanted to add to our family. no sooner had the discussion began than, voila! we found out we were expecting aubrey when joseph was 11 months old. we told everyone at joe's first birthday party, that was fun. it was even more fun that aubrey was due right around my birthday! this pregnancy was physically easier than the first--i was so sick with joseph--but emotionally exhausting. my mom passed away when i was 8 weeks pregnant. my dad remarried soon after and we made a sudden move from utah to missouri with only 7 weeks left until my due date. aubrey was born on my birthday...and we fell in love with our little baby girl!

everyone we met...walmart, church, the park, dave's work...told us how lucky we were to have our boy and girl...now we could be done! it always startled me a little bit, i guess i hadn't really thought about that. of course we knew we weren't done growing our family, but the first year of aubrey's life was difficult for me as i battled severe post-partum depression. we weren't ready to jump back into it as quickly as we had before.

little gracie was born just a couple of weeks after aubrey turned 2. it was a joyful time in our family...we had "planned" this pregnancy, and life in all other respects was good. we didn't talk to a single person who didn't tell us that "3 kids is the killer"...so we were prepared for all heck to break loose! thankfully, 3 was the easiest transition yet. dave and i were both worried about the depression returning, but thankfully we never saw that yucky stuff again!

although 3 children was not a difficult transition, neither dave nor i felt that baby-hungry feeling for quite a while. we made a new "plan". :) i had abandoned the 8 kids notion shortly after having joseph...it was just harder than i thought! we were going to wait until gracie was 3, then get pregnant again and have 2 children close in age. and then be done! awesome plan, it would work very well into my life...

spencer came out of left field and was born when gracie was just a few months past her 2nd birthday...no big deal, i'm easy! we'll just get a new "plan"...which happened to be that we were done. 4 was perfect! 2 boys, 2 girls...no big spaces, i was done before i was 30...yes!!

i was so sure that we were done that i was making "plans" to get that taken care of. you know...i really did feel like i had reached my capacity. spencer was a good baby, but 4 was tricky and i felt like i should quit while i was ahead, you know? no need to go crazy...

what happened next is personal and spiritual, probably not blog material. but i will just say that when spencer was only 7 months old, dave let me know that we needed to hold off on the permanent stuff. i couldn't argue it...but i was not thinking about having a baby. i thought we'd revisit the issue when spencer was in school? or not...9 days later i got a positive pregnancy test.

i cried. and cried. and cried. it's awful to admit, but i really struggled with accepting that last pregnancy. i felt like a victim. please don't hate me...i have repented and in no way do i feel that way today!! but it took longer to get excited for baby #5...i had to remind myself many times over of our original decision, the one about having an unexpected baby not being the worst thing that could happen to us.

my 20-week ultrasound revealed some cysts on the baby's brain. the doctor let me know that although the cysts are usually harmless, they also are an indicator of chromosomal abnormalities. we had to wait 4 weeks for a follow-up ultrasound...and in the meantime, i worried and prayed and realized that i loved this baby so much. all i wanted was a normal and healthy life for her...it was the little jolt i needed to be thankful for healthy children and the blessing of adding to our family.

things turned out fine...the cysts went away and little elizabeth hope was born happy and healthy just a few days before christmas. that year had been a hard one, and little ellie was the perfect bit of hope and happiness i needed to keep moving forward...

so in a big, fat nutshell...that's how i became a mom 5 times over. in hindsight, i see where each of them came at the perfect time for our family, even if it seemed off at first.

you see, things don't always turn out the way we plan...sometimes they turn out better!