Catching Up...

Catching up...

Well, my hard working great husband is in Gateway dj'ing a wedding, and I just got my sweetie pie little girl to sleep, and so now I sit down with a glass of wine, a US Open Tennis Final, and my laptop to catch up on some blogging. I haven't had this luxury much this summer because usually, both of our computers are being dj'd with, but tonight, we only had one wedding - thus I get my laptop!!!

our weddings....

So, we've had quite a summer. For starters: We've had a bunch of weddings of close friends or family: Ryan's sister Janae, our good friends Will and Chelsey, our friends Shawn Kercher and Beth, Katie Woods and Donovan, and coming soon Joey and Devyn to name a few. (Not to mention Ryan will be or have been in 3 of these weddings!)

our business....

We also have DJ'd 65 events so far this year. That comes out to a wedding or event every 3.8 days. Yikes! We have however been so blessed to have stayed this busy during a time when so many businesses aren't making it and certainly aren't busy. So while we are stressed and very ready for our crazy season to be over, we are very thankful.

our little norah...

Our little girl has been an absolute joy all summer long. She has spent so many days playing in the backyard, throwing/stacking/collecting/eating rocks, eating sorbet, and just laughing the day away. She eagerly runs around in circles and giggles when I tell her that her Daddy is coming home soon. She has learned to give kisses, blow kisses, wave by and hi, run, climb, spin in circles, and throw a ball.

our sleep...

These days she sleeps on average 3 hours/day in 2 naps, and goes to bed between 7 and 8 and wakes up between 6 and 6:30. That's a fabulous 14-15 hours of sleep per 24 hours! I'm a bit jealous! But I am getting 7-9 hours myself - so I'm certainly not complaining. I'm so thankful that the days of worrying about sleep are long gone....for now.

what are we eating...

As far as we know, she has completely outgrown her milk and soy allergy - praise God! She is drinking 18oz or so of Organic Whole Cow's milk per day! And eating yogurt, butter, and whatever we are eating. She is a fabulous eater these days.

what is she saying....nothing!

We are still waiting on some words! She can say mama and papa (my dad), but that's about it. She knows everything we are saying; I can say, "Norah go shut the door" or "Norah get mommy a diaper" and she will. But she just isn't talking yet! Sometimes I wonder if because I usually know what she is asking for by her actions, her "uh uh"s and her pointing that she doesn't need to use her words. But she is a stubborn little girl so out lasting her in a match of "I'm not going to give it to you unless you say it" is not for me right now. The one word she says best is "papa" and she does this fairly often, sometimes. she will even see my Uncle John (my dad's brother who looks a lot like my dad) from afar and say papa.

tough stuff...

The biggest news of the summer, we haven't yet shared on here. We found out that I was pregnant the day we were leaving for Will's wedding in Jackson Hole. We were not planning this! We were shocked to say the least, but as the trip passed by, we grew more and more excited. We sent a picture telling our parents about our news of Norah holding up a sign saying "Big Sister". She had the funniest look on her face; it looked like a combination of surprise, jealousy, and joy....kind of how I felt - for me and for her. By the time we got home, I was over the shock and excited for this new journey. We called our midwife JG and she laughed that it was so soon - but said it would be great! We weren't exactly sure how far along we were, so we scheduled an ultrasound for 2 weeks later for August 19. By the ultrasound we were ready to be parents of 2! We knew it would be hard, but we were happy. Thinking about names, and how much fun Norah and the baby would have and close they would be. We had decided to put our house on the market (more to come on this) because we really wanted to upsize a bit by the time we had a 2nd baby. (We just weren't planning on upsizing quite so soon!) Ryan took off work for the ultrasound and we brought Norah with us and showed her the screen of where she was going to see her baby sister or brother. I had a bad feeling for the few hours before the ultrasound but chalked it up to my nerves, morning sickness, and a bad case of pessimism (or what I like to call "realism") that seems to creep up on me often. Our midwife was there, and there was an OB GYN, Dr. S that did the ultrasound. As soon as she started looking, I knew something was wrong. We could see a sack, but nothing in it but a little spot. Dr. S didn't say anything for a while, and so I just said, there isn't a baby is there? And she said....well...um...i ....don't....think....probably...not At that moment, for some reason, before my heart broke for us, it broke for Dr. S. I felt so sorry for her, because I know how common this is. And how hard it must be to tell people that walk in there so excited and so ready to see their future and their hopes and their dreams, and for her to have to break the bad news. They weren't positive that we had miscarried yet, because we were so uncertain of our dates, the only thing we had to go on was the day of the positive pregnancy test: July 20. These tests supposably show that you are pregnant no earlier than 3 weeks. So by August 20, they expected the baby to be measuring at least 7 weeks. And the baby was only measuring 5 weeks and there was no heart beat. But because at 5 weeks, you likely would not see the heartbeat even with a healthy baby because it's so early, they told us we had to wait and come back a week later for another ultrasound. I had no symptoms. None. No cramping, no bleeding, no relief from tiredness and sickness. But, this is also how my body reacted when I had a miscarriage before we had Norah, so I'm not that surprised.

I didn't cry at first, I just sat there and asked some medical questions. But when she left, the tears came, and it was really the first time Norah has seen her mama cry. I think it scared her a bit and made her uneasy, so I quickly pulled it together, picked her up, with an even greater sense of protection and love than I usually have for her, and we walked out. We waited for what seemed to be the longest week ever and went back for another ultrasound and this confirmed our fears that I had miscarried for sure. I wasn't sure that I was ready for another baby when we found out that I was pregnant, but now I know that I am and when I'm lucky enough to be able to get pregnant again, I will be so excited...and nervous.

I am doing well now. I feel almost completely back to normal. My body didn't ever realize I had miscarried, so unfortunately, they had to go in and do a d&c procedure. Please pray that this didn't affect my body at all for future pregnancies or fertility, there is a chance that the scar tissue from multiple d&c's affects these things.

I've never taken Norah for granted, but I am even more thankful for her now. It seems so unfair and ridiculous that 16 year olds or unfit parents conceive and have babies all the time, but then there are women that would and are great mothers that would do anything to have another or a single healthy beautiful baby and are unable to. I feel differently spiritually than I did after the first miscarriage. I don't feel mad at God this time. I'm just confused. I just don't get it. But I also know that I have so many blessings that I don't see how I could possibly complain. I think Norah has changed this. It's almost like I'm so thankful for her and for Ryan and for our family, that I don't feel like I deserve any more. But I don't mean to sound gloomy, I'm full of hope, just cautious hope.

coming soon...
As if all of this weren't enough - we actually got an offer on our house (see another undeserved blessing!!) and we accepted it! We also put an offer on a house, and we are scheduled to close on both houses September 28. I will tell you more about it soon. But for now, I thought you should just enjoy the newest pictures of our sweet girl - you deserve it after listening to me jabber on for all this time! (Or in Carleen's case, you just skipped through to the pics at the beginning and then read, so go ahead Carleen - you can look at the pics again!)

My Aunt Lynnie bought Norah these uggs and she insists on wearing them most days - yes they are wool lined and yes it is 100 here in the summer....but she loves them!

aww Mom - enough with the pics already!

Now she's in her real favorite outfit - the birthday suit. The only thing that would be better to her would be her birthday suit and her uggs.