12 Weeks...a little late

How far along? 12 weeks (on Sunday, the 23rd)

Total weight gain: About 1 pound

Maternity clothes? Some pants

                Stretch marks? No new ones.....yet.                                   

Sleep: Grace is still visiting me at night:(

Best moment this week: Christmas of course!

Movement: Not yet

Food cravings: Nothing really

Gender: Not sure but I can't wait to find out!

Labor Signs: Nope

What I miss: Not feeling sick EVERY DAY

What I am looking forward to: The start of a new year!

Weekly Wisdom: Baby is the size of a lime this week:) 

Milestones: 12 weeks is a great milestone to reach that comes along with a small sense of relief 

Raising Good Little Catholic Girls

We are getting ready to go to church and the girls are playing church, apparently Madi is the priest/pastor and she said to Grace, "We are going to go to communion now; do you want to drink or do you want to eat these little round ones?" Grace is running around saying, "is my baby going to get baptized now?"  At least they get something out of church I guess:)

The Minivan Express

Friday night we took the girls for a ride on the "Minivan Express."  I found this idea on Pinterest (shocker, I know!)  and it sounded like too much fun not do to it!  We started out the night with Daddy bringing home pizza for dinner then watching the movie, The Polar Express.  The girls knew we were planning a "suprise" but didn't have a clue that the movie had anything to do with it.  After the movie we told them to go in their rooms and get their pajamas from on their beds; when they got to their pajamas, they also found their ticket to the Minivan Express.  They got their pj's on and I made popcorn and hot chocolate for the ride and we headed to the van where the conductor, Daddy, punched their tickets and loaded them up:)  We drove around town, listening to Christmas music, enjoying our popcorn and hot chocolate, and looking at all the beautiful Christmas lights.  It was such a fun night:) 

 The tickets!

 Madi's ticket

 Grace's ticket

 My girls ready for our adventure!

 The "conductor" punching their tickets

 Grace with ticket & popcorn in hand

 Madi enjoying her popcorn & hot chocolate!

Like I said, I got this idea from Pinterest, via http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/ , thanks for a great idea!

I've said it before...

I've said it before and I'll say it again...I am one proud mommy:)  Here's another note we received from Madisyn's teacher today...

"Hello Lexie,

I wanted to give you a heads up with what my plan is for Madi. I also wanted your input to see if you are on board with what I'd like to do for Madi during Daily Five. Please let me know your honest feedback.

I assessed her reading level this week and she is currently reading at an instructional level E (Level C is the goal for the end of kindergarten)!!!! AMAZING! After talking with Mrs. Miller (another kindergarten teacher), I found out that she also has a student that is at a instructional level E. She offered to work with both students at 10:00 each day at their instructional level. I'm wondering if this is okay with you since she will be going to Mrs. Miller's room at that time. I would continue working with her during the week as well but I thought with guided reading groups, this would be best for Madi.

What are you thoughts, questions, concerns? I think this would be a great opportunity for Madi and help progress her even more in her reading skills! :) She is such a pleasure to have in class!"

 

 I can't belive it's only halfway through the year and she's already at that level!  We are so proud of our smart little girl!

Happy Birthday to Me!

I got an early birthday present but it won't be here until July 2013:)

We are so excited to be adding this 3rd (and final) little miracle to our family!  We can hardly wait for July to come.  I have been feeling pretty sick basically everyday and most of the day so our hunch is that it's a boy since I had little or no sickness with the girls but we will be thrilled with whatever God blesses us with!  I am 10 weeks today and my official due date is 07/07/2013.  The girls are thrilled as we are:)

Friends

This morning the girls were sitting in the living room watching t.v. while I was getting ready; this is the conversation I overheard...

Grace:  "Sissy, we friends."
Madi:  "Yeah Grace, we're sisters; sisters are always friends."

When I peeked out to see what they were up to, this is what I saw...

They just make my heart melt sometimes...I pray that they will always be the best of friends.

Sweet Madisyn

Madi is home sick from school today and the poor little thing just got teary-eyed and said, "I bet Paige doesn't have anyone to play with at recess today."  Such a kind hearted little girl, always worrying about others.  She also said she hopes she feels better tomorrow because it's gym day and she thought maybe the kids had "wished her well" today (a little song the kids sing for the other kids who are gone from school, "We wish you well, we wish you well; all through the day today, we wish you well.")  She is getting alot of rest and has managed to keep some Powerade and water down for a couple hours now and is talking a little more so I am hoping she is feeling better soon!

Grace's Prayers

Grace came up to me this morning and said, "my want to say my prayers."  If you listen closely, you can make out, "now my lay me down to sleep," "guide me through the night," and "amen."  What a precious gift I have been given:)

Also, if you are checking our blog for updates on my mom, please go to...
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/cindyhoverson
We will be using this site for updates on mom who, by the way, is HOME!!!  She looks amazing, as usual; never in a million years would you know that she just had the major surgery she did on Friday. 

We always knew we were lucky...

This is an e-mail we received from Madisyn's teacher today; so proud of our little girl! 

Hello!
Just wanted to email you and let you know that Madi had a wonderful day today. She is such a good helper. She helped push in chairs, picked up other friend's toys and supplies, and made great choices. I'm so proud of her and happy she is in my class. You are lucky to have such a sweet girl! :)

Have a great night.
Go Pack Go!

Jill M. Rosenthal
Kindergarten Teacher

Glenbrook Elementary School

Pulaski Community School District

For "Mama", From Gracie

Caring Bridge

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/cindyhoverson

In additon to keeping this blog updated, I, along with my brother and sister, will be updating the Caring Bridge we have created for mom.  Here you will be able to sign a guestbook, upload photos, etc.

Please Continue to Pray

We would like to thank everyone for your continued thoughts and prayers for my mom and for our family.  We received some "good news" today in that the cancer was caught early and has not spread to other areas of her body.  They are not saying what stage the cancer is until after they go in and see if it is in the lymph nodes as well.  It looks like mom will have surgery on Friday to remove the spot and although it will be a long surgery and recovery for her, we know with the help of your prayers she will get through this.  The Dr. said she would likely be in the hospital for a week after the surgery and there is the possibility of chemo after surgery, but only time will tell.  Please continue to pray for my amazing mom. 

Life with Madisyn

Mom:  "Madisyn, get dressed."
Madisyn:  "I am, I'm just doing a show while I'm taking my pajamas off."

Fabulous, I'm raising a stripper.

First Day of Kindergarten

First Day of School

I wonder what you're doing right now and if everyone is treating you kind.

I hope there is a special person, a nice friend that you can find.

I wonder if the teacher know just how special you are to me.

And if the brightness of your heart is something she can see.

I wonder if you are thinking about me and if you need a hug.

I already miss the sound of your voice and how you give my leg a tug.

I wonder if you could possibly understand how hard it is for me to let you grow.

On this day know that my heart breaks, for this is the first step in letting my baby go.

Madi had her first day of Kindergarten yesterday, September 4, 2012.  She said she loved it and wants to go back again and again and again.  There were no tears from her going into school but it sure was sad for me watching her walk through those doors.  My house is too quiet with her not here;  I'm happy that she likes school, I just miss my baby:(

Madi's First Packer Game

I have to admit that I'm a little jealous of Madi and the date she got to go on with her dad this past week. On August 30th, Dave took Madi to her first Packer Game and to dinner at McDonalds! Madi (and daddy) had a great time:)

Me to Madi:  "What was your favorite part of the game?"

Madi:  "the big planes going over"

(I will admit, this is one of my favorite parts too, when the jets fly over the stadium at the start of each game-pretty amazing for big people and little people too I guess!)

Grandma to Madi:  "Did you help the Packers win?"

Madi:  "I don't know if they won."

Grandma:  "Did you stay until the end of the game?"

Madi:  "I don't know."

Grandma: "What did you buy with the money I gave you for a treat."

Madi:  "Popcorn and water."

So, as you can see she may not have paid all that much attention to the game but she was very attentive to the treats available at the game:)  Dave said she also thought "the wave" was pretty cool:)

And Life Goes On

It's been two weeks now since my surgery.  Physically I feel fine but emotionally there are good days and bad days, today was a bad day.  Today I'm mad, I'm sad, I'm hurt, I'm frustrated.  Dave and I try to always stay positive and always keep our faith in hard times but the last two years, and especially the last two months, have really been trying.  We try to be good people and do good so what did we do, or didn't do, to deserve losing three of the people we loved most in this world, losing our baby, Dave losing his job and Dave having to have surgery all in less than two years?  Today I found out that I need to continue weekly visits to my dr. to have my blood drawn until my HcG hormone levels are back down to 0.  Why do most people never even know that they've had a miscarraige and we've been going through this for over 2 months now?  And then there's the hospital bills; it makes me sick to think that it's going to cost more to not have a baby than it would have if we would've had our baby in March.  It just feels like it's a never ending battle lately; the brake lines on Dave's truck, the nail in my tire, or my vacume that decided to quit working today.  Today a friend reminded me, "This too shall pass," I sure hope she's right.  So, there it is, my pitty party.  It doesn't happed that often but today I just needed to get some things off my chest, thanks for listening. 

Westward Bound

Our big excitement so far this summer was our trip to Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota and South Dakota.  We were gone for a week, went through 6 states and covered almost 3000 on our journey!  We had a great time and made some great memories along the way.  Here are some of the highlights though it was really hard to pick because the whole trip was awesome.  

 On our first night of the trip we made it to Dickinson, ND and stayed with Doug's Godparents, my mom's aunt & uncle, for the night.  We had such a great time visiting with them and eating Auntie Jane's wonderful cooking.  The next morning we headed to Grassy Butte, ND to visit Granny and Grandpa's graves.  We left some things for them and Madi picked some of the weeds from their grave sites.  It was hard to see how "fresh" Granny's grave still was but I am so thankful we were able to stop.   

 Madi and Grace at the Billings, MT zoo.  We visited the zoo with Auntie Laurel, Aunt Sally, cousin Bella and her little brother.  Grace was SOOO happy to see this giraffe!

 Visiting Grandma Norma at the nursing home.  The nursing home was amazing and it was so good to see Grandma and Aunt Jane doing so well. 

 This is one of my favorite pictures, Madi looking at the horses.  She and Grace both rode while we were there and LOVED every minute of it. 

 The girls along the Cook City Highway.  It was so beautiful!

 Grace enjoying the Cody, WY Rodeo...or maybe enjoying the pretzel she's eating, I can't tell:)  This kid fell asleep before the rodeo was over. 

 Me, Dave and the girls at Mt. Rushmore.  Grace called it, "the big people."  She gets so excited every time she sees a picture of it now and says, "I go there." 

 Wyoming and Wisconsin state flags, my home and my home away from home!

 Our last stop on our way home was THE Wall Drug.  There were signs for miles and miles leading up to this place.  It was pretty impressive.

We had such a great trip and it was so great to see so much of our family and I was able to have lunch with one of my amazing college friends, Steph.  It was so good to see her and Andy even though he got stuck eating lunch with 5 girls!  My Aunt Laurel and Uncle Charlie are truly the host and hostess with the mostess, it was so great staying with them.  The first night we got there the kids had ridden horses, made slime, roasted marshmallows over the camp fire and we had a wonderful family dinner.  Uncle Charlie took Dave and my brother up in the mountains on horseback to do some trout fishing, they had an amazing time and it was an experience they will never forget.  We were spoiled with Laurel's excellent cooking and we all came home 5lbs. heavier I'm sure from all our eating out and our discovery of Mooya, a new burger chain in Billings. 

Check...and check

Despite all the chaos of the last few weeks, we are making progress on the little Summer Bucket List of ours, checking things off left and right (this is perfect for my type A personality, I love checking things off of the lists I make;)  Anyways, we've been having lots of fun so here's a little peek!

 We spent the weekend before the 4th up at Dave's parents house and spent one of the days boating/playing at the beach.  The kids had a blast and swam like little fishes all day!

 The girls had their first "water balloon fight."  Here's an action shot of Grace trying to get Madi:) 

 We had a great time at the annual Breakfast on the Farm with Paul, Erin, Carter and little miss Callie.  Here's me and all the kids riding the train:)

 We made a trip to Bay Beach one morning then followed by a picnic lunch on the bay, it was a beautiful day...aren't they just the cutest little bugs you've ever seen???

 And here's our new firepit that we finished at the beginning of the summer!  We also made an awesome sandbox for the girls.  Our backyard is really looking nice if I do say so myself!

Forever In Our Hearts

Today, and the last three weeks leading up to today, have been the most heartbreaking days of my life.  Today Dave and I lost our baby.  While I am not one to share my life on Facebook I do feel that sharing my experience on our blog is important to help myself through this time as well as to have a record of this time so our sweet baby is never forgotten.
Dave and I found out we were expecting baby #3 on July 6th when a positive home pregnancy test confirmed what we were hoping for.  We were immediately in love with this baby and had talked about names right away; it would be perfect, all the kids would be just over three years apart, just like we wanted.  A few weeks later I noticed some spotting and instantly panicked as I had never experienced that with either of the girls.  I called my dr. and was able to get in before we were to leave on our vacation out west on the 28th.  I went in for blood work and an ultrasound.  The ultrasound showed only the gestational sack, not what they should've seen at a day shy of 7 weeks.  They told me miscarriage was probable but also said that maybe I just wasn't as far along as I thought still giving us hope that our baby would be fine.  We went back two days later for more blood work and another ultrasound which showed the same thing.  It was confirmed that it was only a matter of time now until we would lose our baby.
The dr. said we were fine to go on our trip and gave me instructions on what to expect.  We decided that it would probably be best to get away for a while and hopefully help get our minds off of things.  The next day we loaded into our van with the girls, my brother and my sister-in-law for our long planned vacation out west which took us through six states and 3000 miles in one week; everyday wondering if today would be the day.
I went to see my dr. after we got home where they did yet another ultrasound to see if there was a chance my body had naturally taken care of things.  I hadn't so today I had a D&C.  While I have been dreading this day I was also ready to be able to finally have some closure.  I woke up from surgery and immediately cried because I knew it was over and that my baby was gone.  I was freezing cold when I woke up, just like after I had the girls.  Although I knew the baby had not been living or growing inside of me, it was still there and now we were left with nothing.  I'm so thankful for the wonderful care I received today and all the thoughts and prayers from our families and co-workers.  The nurses at the hospital were so compassionate and for that I am very grateful.  I came home to flowers on our front porch from my co-workers and had a wonderful meal delivered this evening by my amazing sister-in-law.  My mom took great care of the girls as usual and they were so happy they got to have a sleepover with Ga last night.  And my amazing husband, there are no words to describe how thankful I am for him. 

Little Footprints

How very softly

 you tiptoed into my world.

Almost silently,

only a moment you stayed.

But what an imprint 

your footprints have left

upon my heart.

Baby Reed

August 10, 2012

Being Present in Your Life

I stumbled across this blog post this morning as I was doing my normal morning "online" routine;  checking Facebook, e-mail, Pinterest and our bank account.  I have to believe that it wasn't an accident; not that I spend alot of time checking my phone, but I do spend a fair amount of time just browsing online.  I cried as I read it and I'm sure you will too.  And now, I'm shutting down my computer for the day and will do my best to limit my computer time to before the girls get up or after they go to bed and to be more present in my life. 
http://www.funcheaporfree.com/2012/06/my-son-drown-today.html

Two months??

It was brought to my attention today that perhaps it's been a while since I've posted anything on this little blog of ours.  I guess it's time to share what we've been up to since April! 

 Madi had her last day of school on June 5th although it seems like technically they were done a week before with pajama day, beach day, hat day and a trip to the park.  Grace wanted to join in on pajama day:)  Can't believe my baby is offically a Kindergartener! 

 We created our "Summer Bucket List" of things we want to to this summer.  We always go through summer and at the end wonder what in the heck we did and where the summer went.  We are slowly but surely crossing things off our list but it's crazy how fast summer is going already!  One of the bucket list items is to blog about the things on our list as we cross them off, that one will need some work! 

We went to our cute little nephew's 3rd birthday party.  We had such a fun time and, as always, it's so much fun to let the cousins play together. 

And finally, the big news in our house is that Madi FINALLY lost her 1st tooth on June 10th!  It has been hanging by a thread forever and it finally fell out!  She was drinking milk one day and put her cup down and said, "my tooth, it's gone!"  The tooth fairy brought her a whopping $3:) 

We (meaning mostly Dave!) have been busy crossing items off of my honey do list.  In the last few weeks we have painted the hallway, bathroom, made a new firepit and a new sandbox for the girls.  I think now we can finally sit back, relax, and enjoy all the fun things we've worked on in the yard. 

The little things.....

This morning on my way to drop the girls off at my mom's I passed my brother as he was headed into town for work and, as usual, we waved. This morning though, it suddenly struck me how amazingly blessed I am to live nearby my family. I love that oftentimes I do get to wave to my baby brother or my fabulous sister-in-law on their way to work. I love that we live less than a minute away from my brother & sister-in-law and only about 5 minutes from my mom & dad and could be there for eachother in the blink of an eye. I love that most Sunday afternoons and at least one night each week we share a meal together. I love that my brother moved here after I did and my mom, dad and sister followed...I can't imagine being away from any of them.

Happy Brthday Granny

Happy Birthday Granny. Hard to believe that this was 6 years ago already. Not a day goes by that I don't think of you. I love this picture of you, you were laughing so hard. I miss you. I'm sure the celebration in Heaven will be beautiful. I love you so very much.

Never lose your sparkle

I saw this cute little saying and it made me think of my girls right away. They put on their pretty little Easter dresses the other day so I could attempt to take some pictures of them and Madi said, "I look beautiful in this dress." I hope she always feels beautiful and nobody ever takes their "sparkle" away!

Relay for Life

What Cancer Cannot Do

Cancer is so limited...
It cannot cripple love.
It cannot shatter hope.
It cannot corrode faith.
It cannot eat away peace.
It cannot destroy confidence.
It cannot kill friendship.
It cannot shut out memories.
It cannot silence courage.
It cannot reduce eternal life.
It cannot quench the Spirit.

These two were proof of what cancer cannot do. I miss them both each and every day and they both took a piece of my heart with them when they left us. I was so very blessed to know both of them and to share some of my happiest times with them.

In loving memory

Grandpa & Grandma Reed

Lung Cancer

I will be participating in the Relay for Life, Pulaski on April 14, 2012. I am currently the #3 fundraiser out of 20 teams and 121 participants. Thank you to everyone who has donated to my team!

Fail

In the land of die-hard Green Bay Packer fans, we have failed to raise our daughter as such...tonight while watching Dancing with the Stars, Madisyn asked which one was Donald Driver, the boy or the girl...oops!

Who used the potty 8 times yesterday???

This little lady did! We are making progress!!!

Signs of Spring

Sprouts of green peeking through the dirt...
buds on the lilac bush...

clothes hanging from the clothesline....

and birthdays...all wonderful signs of spring!

(Spring in the Reed family is FULL of birthdays! Happy Birthday to my mother-in-law today! We enjoyed celebrating with you over the weekend!)

Easy Peasy

Madi was playing house this weekend with Grace, her cousin Carter, Grandma and me. I was a "visitor" to their house and Grandma, Grace & cousin Carter were a few of her kids, along with several dolls, making for a rather large family. Madi was chatting with me and she said, "I thought this would just be easy peasy," referring to being a mom to all of her kids. Believe me Madi dear, I know...it's not always "easy peasy" being a mom but I wouldn't change it for the world:)

Life's A Circus

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, well the look on Madi's face says it all; big eyes and mouth open wide, in total awe. Both girls had such a fun time at their first Circus!

(They man had just been shot from the cannon here!)

Madi on a pony ride, Grace was in front of us with Daddy!
This was one talented elephant, super cool!

Grace worn out from all the action; Ga taking care of her:)

Mom & Madi having fun at the circus-Thanks Mom for a GREAT night...we had so much fun!