wordless wednesday

apples to apples

so we had our yearly trip to the apple festival. and once again, the kids were awesome and we all had a great time. of course i had to go to sleep with sweet cheeks both nights as it was quite exhausting and morning sickness kicked in mostly in the evenings. so i missed out on the fun adult conversations once the kids went to bed but at least i was able to enjoy the daytime fun.

on saturday morning, we took to the kids to an orchard that had lots more than just picking apples for them to do. they went on a tractor ride, had tricycle races, bounced, jumped, and slid. it was a lot of fun.





she went a bit higher than i would have liked her to.

later in the afternoon, we took sweet cheeks to the apple festival itself. she was focused on one thing and one thing only once we got there... finding her $2 balloon yo-yo, which she has gotten the past 2 years. (a balloon with water in it and a rubber band tied to it, astonishing right) she found it and was happy as can be. i seriously think the only reason the husband and i go to it is for the food. we had the best caramel apple and fried pickles. doesn't get any better than that.

of course there had to be face painting!

i am pretty sure sweet cheeks will agree that the highlight of the weekend was roasting marshmallows over the newly built fire pit. we were all on our toes watching 5 kids aged 5 and under around open flames, but they all did really well. and oh my gosh were the marshmallows to die for. the kids were making smores but i seriously skipped the graham cracker and chocolate, and simply stuck with the crunchy outer shell, gooey inside of the roasted marshmallow. i could go for one right about now.
yummy and gooey

wordless wednesday

and it goes on and on and on and on

the morning sickness continues.

and it is worse than ever.

so again, no time for blogging. only time for hugging the toilet and sleeping. such is the life in our house these days.

i know i shared a picture of sweet cheeks with her caramel apple last week but i also wanted to show you this action shot of her taking a bite. not sure how her jaws didn't split.

last week for school, sweet cheeks was allowed to dress up as one of her favorite book characters. she could have easily picked the usual princess since she has most of the dresses but i was more than pleasantly surprised when she picked none other than freckleface strawberry. she was adorable! if you haven't read the book, you must. it is really cute. especially to real frecklefaced girls like me and sweet cheeks.

getting from there to here

may, 2004- decide to try for a baby

june, 2004- we're pregnant! that was fast. hello 16 weeks of morning sickness

march, 2005- our 1st miracle was born, sweet cheeks. oh how she has changed our world for the better

may, 2008- go through genetic testing to see if i am a carrier for an x-linked disease called ocular albinism

august, 2008- yup, i am officially a carrier. hoped this news would put the idea of another child out of my mind

august, 2008- april, 2009- hem and haw over whether to add another child to our family. big decision for many reasons

may, 2009- decide to try

june, 2009- we're pregnant again. wow, that was fast (again)

july, 2009- we lost the baby. i'm heart broken

feb, 2010- begin fertility drug, clomid- no success

march, 2010- clomid cycle, no success

april, 2010- clomid cycle, no success

may, 2010- go through reproductive endocrinologist and find out i have pcos, which is what has kept us from successfully getting pregnant. i'm sad and feel so broken

may, 2010- 1st iui, no success

june, 2010- 2nd iui, no success

july, 2010- can't even do 3rd iui. my body is no longer responding to meds. next steps would be either injectibles or ivf. the husband and i had already discussed it before going to our RE that this is where we would draw the line. no further treatment for us.

july, 2010-sept, 2010- coming to terms with the fact that our family of 3 is complete. sweet cheeks will be completely happy in life as an only child. it is hard, but we know we did what we could. try to accept the bigger picture we can't yet see.

sept 2nd, 2010- sweet cheeks has strep

sept 3rd-7th, 2010- i am sick and think it is strep too

sept 7th, 2010- go to the doctor. holy cow we're pregnant. get to have an ultrasound that very day and see a baby with a heart beat. i'm 6.5 weeks already! i can't believe it. what a miracle. a serious, amazing surprise

sept 8th, 2010- my birthday- what a present! and still the morning sickness continues

oct 2nd, 2010- tell sweet cheeks she is going to be a big sister. she can't believe it and asks me over and over again, 'real, is there really a baby in your belly? REAL?" i love that she is so excited

oct 7th, 2010- till who knows- the morning (all day) sickness takes its toll. ughhh... i'm so over this. the husband is so over this. sweet cheeks is so ready for mommy to feel better

april 30th, 2011- baby's due date

and now the world knows.

sweet cheeks is going to be a big sister!

wordless wednesday

the art of homework

every thursday, sweet cheeks brings home a folder from school full of the projects and worksheets that she did that week. i enjoy going over each page with her, asking her questions about the work she did. it is an easy way for me to get a picture in my head of what her days at kindergarten are like.

last week, i didn't look at her homework until after she went to bed. so there i am sitting by my lonesome at the kitchen table looking at her worksheets, flipping them over as i move on to the next one, only to discover some art. i guess if she finishes an assignment early, she just flips the paper over to do some drawing.

one very fine piece of art i discovered was none other than a big red heart with initials inside of it. nope, not sweet cheeks initials. not my initials. not even her daddy's initials. a BOYS initials! wait... it gets better. below the heart were these very letters written out so precisely in capital letters:

K-I-S-S-I-N-G

what! i was excited to ask sweet cheeks about it the next morning.

poor girl, as soon as i asked her about it, i could see embarrassment cover her face like a mask. she tried to deny all of it, even though the art was right in front of her. i asked her if she learned to write "kissing" from song "sweet cheeks and so-n-so sitting in a tree k-i-s-s-i-n-g." she, with a very red face, nodded her head yes.

why do i think it is so funny? first of all that she draws hearts around boys names already. that in itself is pretty funny. but the funniest part to me is how elementary school hasn't changed since i was there many, many years ago. it is the same thing year after year, just different kids. the same songs are sung, the same boys torment the sweet girls on the playground, cafeteria food is still gross, the words 'mean' and 'dumb' still hurt, and homework is always a bore.

welcome to your elementary years, sweet cheeks!