Fun in November

16 Months Old... going on 2!

What a fun age!  Josiah is definitely so much fun right now!  And words...words... words.  This smart little boy surprises us with new words every single day.  It's so fun!  We came up with at least 80 words tonight that he says clearly... (that's not counting the ones that maybe we can understand, but aren't exactly clear:  ie:  "man-o" = banana, "dammy" = Grammy) Good grief!  I wonder if he'll always be so verbal?  Maybe he takes after his Uncle Brett. :) 

here ya go, bless you, amen, outside, stop, ready, set, go, please, sit, down, shadow, up, dog, lion, night-night, nap, sleepy, messy, silly, happy, day, baby, i see you, come on, fish, highchair, open, close, peek-a-boo, water, juice, milk, chicken, cheese, salmon, rice, cracker, ice, lion, bird, light, oh boy, oh no, no, table, plate, shirt, napkin, food, taco, bye, hi, hello, see you later, fall down, movie, all done, that, snack, sip, taste, fork, medicine, moon, sun, Mommy, Daddy, Shelby, Lily, Abby, Mickey, play, rug, blocks, zoom, book, read, slide, running, hiding, windy, shoe, sock, eyes, nose, leg, hand, hiney, help, hat, paci, hot, ball, doll, cup, eat, waffle, truck, more, some, this, that, one, nine, big, wow...

Blog or Cook? Blog wins.

Who has time to blog?  Well... usually I do make time, but not much this month.  Our race to 2011 has begun.  We have 1 free weekend (this one) and that's it.  We started off our busy schedule with a trip to Raleigh last weekend.  We visited with our friends Suzanne, Aaron & Lily and had a great time.  Josiah slept like a champ in the pack-in-play... even sleeping in until almost 8 every morning (as opposed to 6:15 at home).  Mike and Aaron went to the NC State game and Mike was reminded how much he loves actually going to college football games.  Lily and Josiah (ie: Jo-Jo) had a blast playing together.  Good times.  We have this weekend free and then it's Thanksgiving, our long-anticipated trip to NY (yay!!!), trip to Fredericksburg & 2 Christmas parties, another big Christmas party, Christmas and then New Years!  Whew... and we were supposed to be moving right after then???  Holy moly - when am I supposed to search for a new place to live??  We might have to extend our stay until closer to the end of January! 

Other than the busyness... life is good.  Josiah is still talking up a storm.  He now says "Grandma" and "Grammy" much to their delight.  Most of the time his "G's" come out like "D's" - so it's more like "dam-ma" and "dammy"  LOL.  A few other new things we hear all the time now are "Here ya go," "please sit down," "all done," "all gone," "outside," "movie?" "happy day" (happy birthday), "woah... windy" and what does the turkey say?  "dobble-dobble-dobble-dobble"  among many others...  He definitely has a lot to say.  :)

Almost 16 months old and he's keeping up with the 2 year olds pretty well! :)
*and for the record... I did manage to cook too.  Thanks for taking a nice long nap Josiah!

Halloween Fun

Waiting for us now....

Our little miracle baby went to be with Jesus so now he/she is waiting for us.  We had our last ultrasound yesterday morning and although we would have been thrilled to see another miracle, we both have so much peace that God knows best.   I ended up having a D&C yesterday afternoon and I was so thankful to be able to have it done quickly so that I could start to recover and move on. It's been a long hard month.   It was the best option in our circumstances, especially with the polyp situation.  The nurses and staff at the hospital were awesome and I'm still a bit tired and crampy today, but overall feeling fine.  We have been overwhelmed by all of the friends and family who have been praying for us and writing us notes of encouragement.  Through this, God is definitely drawing us closer to Him and for that I'm grateful.  It's been a rough way to end my 20's but I turn 30 on Monday, and I'm actually really excited about entering a new season and I know God has good things in store.  So thanks again for walking through this with us and for lifting us up in prayer.  Your prayers are definitely being answered as we have been filled with God's comfort and peace.

Love you all...
Melissa 

While we wait...

No baby updates... just still waiting.  Still feeling very pregnant.  Getting sicker every day.  No idea what that means.


But on a much more fun note, Josiah... oh my little stinker.  He is 15 months going on the terrible twos.  I love him to death.  He definitely makes me laugh, smile and keeps me on my toes.  He knows exactly what he wants.  He is LOUD.  He loves to be heard.  Just take him somewhere in public and he'll say hi and bye to everyone and babble away at the one volume he knows: loud!  His vocabulary blows me away.  He repeats almost everything we say... well, everything except "Grammy."  He's definitely holding out on her.  He can say "grapes, Gabe, Shelby, Justine, highchair, light on, zebra..." you name it, he says it... except "Grammy."  I have to laugh.  She wants him to say it so bad and he just won't. 

Now when I ask him "what does the sheep say?"  he immediately answers "baaa-baaa" and the dog says "woof" and the lion says "roar."  He loves to have someone play with him and he tells us by motioning with his hand to "come here" and then he points to the floor and says "sit" and once you sit, he says "play"  :)   He loves to watch us cook (which isn't always convenient) but he loves to get the eggs out of the fridge and hand them to me one by one as I crack them and cook them.  He can "slide" down just about anything (stairs, highchair, couch, bed) and says "slide - weeee" while he does it.  Whenever I try to change his diaper, he flips onto his belly, sticks his bum in the air and says "nite-nite"  Did I mention he's a little stinker?

Anyway... this has been a fun age... although I fear we're right on the brink of a difficult one... and so far he may have his daddy's sweetness, but he's definitely got his mommy's strong-will too.  God help us.

The Roller Coaster continues...

To my family and friends who read this before I get to talk to you in person.... I hope you will understand that we are going through a lot right now and it is just emotionally exhausting to explain all of these updates over the phone.  And because I am blessed with so many people who are praying for us, it's just really helpful for me to be able to update here.

So here's the latest:

We had a very disappointing doctor's appointment yesterday morning.  Hard news and still a lot of waiting.  Our tiny little baby still has a faint heartbeat (against all odds), but has had zero growth in 8 days.  That is definitely not a good thing.  Typically with no growth in over a week this early along, his/her little heart wouldn't still even be beating... so once again, nothing in this pregnancy is typical.  My doctor was very honest with us and said there is really little chance at all that this little life will continue much longer.  She knows, as do we, that sometimes miracles happen, but while that would be a great surprise, it's not what we're expecting or putting all our hope in.   The only thing we can do is wait and see.  I still have to take it easy and I will go for yet another ultrasound next week. 

I definitely wasn't expecting this news.  I knew that the polyp could eventually be a problem, but I didn't expect there to actually be a problem with the baby's development.  Even so, Mike and I both have so much peace right now.  I'm not pretending it's easy at all.   It sucks.  But we do know that God has a plan for us and for this little life no matter what.  When I consider how things could progress, it's certainly not what I would choose, but I know He has a purpose in it all and we just want to glorify Him throughout it all.   To be honest, the last thing from my mind has been "why me?" because honestly... "why not me?"  This is a difficult road that I wouldn't wish for anyone, but I know it doesn't mean that God has something against us, or that we've done anything wrong.  In ALL things, He is GOOD.  He is the definition of good... and going through tough situations that we don't understand doesn't change that one bit. 

So as hard as it is, we are waiting... and we'll see where things go.  We hope for the best, but we believe that even in the worst, there is still hope. 

Thanks for praying with us.