December

Ahhhh!! It is beginning to look and feel like Christmas around here.(minus snow!) I actually like the snow believe it or not. It comes territory to living in the midwest. I can't believe we only have 29 days left in this month!! It is just a crazy thought. December is a busy month. My husband and I's birthdays are this month, and then Christmas plus lots of get togethers. It will be fun. I am actually looking forward to my birthday this year. Maybe because I am not 7 months pregnant (don't get me wrong I loved being pregnant, it was just to the point I was starting to feel large and blah!)

We put the tree a bit earlier than normal. Claire is just in "ahhh" of it. She hasn't played with it yet. I think she likes the lights! Claire also got her first "Smores" Collections ornament! I am in love with this collection. I hope to have tree dedicated to them at some point!
Claire turned 9 months on the 24th of November. She had her well child check yesterday and is doing great! We have a new doctor. Her old one moved to Florida (perfect timing huh?) She is 29 in and 21 lbs. She is ahead in developement. Her doctor was very pleased. She says we are doing a great job! Which really made me feel good. I always question whether I am good parent. I know that I am but it is always in the back of your mind...am I doing a good job? We decided to go ahead and do the first half of her H1N1 vaccine. It was a hard decision but in the end...I'd rather have my child because I choose to be proactive about it then not and have her catch it and something horrible happen. I am still up in the air about the whole vaccine thing. I know it is the right thing.

My hubby is going back to school for pharmacy technician. He should be done in a year. He needed something more realiable. He has been laid off several times this year, and is just fed up! It has been such a struggle for us. We just give it to the good Lord, and know He will ultimately guide us in the direction we need to go. I have been searching for a part-time job. I thought with the holiday season something would of come about but no such luck yet.

I am working on this photo thing...trying to figure out what I like and don't like. Hang in there!

My little girl is growing sooo FAST!!!

Enjoy some pictures from our outings and Claire getting "SO BIG"!

I have been meaning to update for awhile but everytime I sit down....something comes up! Like the fact that at 7 mo old actually on our anniversary Claire gave us a present. She started crawling on all fours!! Then, that weekend she started pulling herself up! She is also waving and clapping. She just babbles all the time. She is really hitting milestones very well! I am so proud of her. We have been so busy it seems. I am hoping that life will actually slow down a bit now that winter is coming (dreaded old man winter). On the plus side the weather channel is predicting it will be warmer than normal for us this year. (yeah right! it will probably be a bad one!)

Claire has been such a helper! She wanted into the laundry basket....have no idea why so I let her play in there while I was folding laundry one night. She SCREAMED when I took her out. I hope that is a sign that she will always help with laundry! ;)

I am working on losing wieght. I have been going to the gym as much as possible. I am also doing Jillian Michaels Shred! (wish me luck!) I know that maybe this is not the time to be losing wieght going into the holiday season but I am going to do my best.

Sorry the pictures are a little out of order...still working on this blogging thing. Maybe some days I will be a pro like this lil' boys mom http://www.mycharmingkids.net/! Did you hear he hit a home run today???

Have a great night all!

O the weather outside is.....

CHILLY!!!

It is most definately fall here in MN. It is cold, rainy, dreary, overcast and just down right miserable!! I am just not enjoying this weather. I am enjoying however slowly watching the colors change!

OH....and you know what I am enjoying even more my daughter CRAWLING...YES CRAWLING AT 7 MONTHS!!!! She started the "army" crawl back at the beginning of September. She slowly advanced. She gave Mommy and Daddy a nice anniversary present this weekend...she was up on all fours crawling!! Seriously, that was just so awesome. I was crying! That wasn't all thought that she gave us this weekend. She started pushing herself up to sitting position all by herself too!! All I have to say is YAY for Claire!!

I haven't talked about it to much here on my blog yet but Claire has long qt type 2. She is actually the youngest person in our family with the diagnoses. We discovered long qt in our family back in 2004. My mom had an event in 2000. At that time Dr. A from Mayo was just in the early stages of genetic testing. His team contacted us in 2004 saying that yes my mom had. I have been tested, my brother and my grandmother since we all have tested positive. My brother looks to just be a carrier. My mom, me and my grandmother all had some type of event. My mom actually has a pacemaker/defrillbilator. I am on Nadolol for mine and Claire is currently on Propanolol for hers. I was monitored throughout my pregnancy, and will be with all other pregnancies that we are blessed with. If you'd like more info about long qt just google or go to www.mayo.edu. I will talk about this more in later postings or if you have questions about it please let me know! I will do my best to answer them.

I am going to blog more about this and follow the journey of long qt with Claire, since we will actually get to follow it her whole life and see how it progresses. She has a great doctor at Children's. His name is Dr. B. He is funny, awesome and just great resourceful man. I am glad we were connected by my doctor Dr. V at my heart clinic. Right now, she has an EKG every 3 months and a weight check and blood pressure/pulse check every month. I also have to monitor her vital signs at home.

That is all for now! Have a great week!

Fall!!!!

I love FALL!!! It is my favorite time of the year. I love the colors! Especially up here in MN, it is just so beautiful. My other favorites of fall are pumpkins, chilli, the smell of the air, apples (mainly honeycrisp), and just the whole shabang of it! My 4 year wedding anny is fastly approaching, as is Claire turning 7 months!

Claire is just a moving and a shaking. She is almost crawling. She does the "army" crawl. She sits up on her own very well. This week I have noticed she is really paying attention to detail. If there is a little piece of string on the floor she picks it up. She loves to be read to and sing her abc's. This is just such an exciting time in my life watching her grow!

I have not posted on this yet but Claire has congenital Long QT type 2. We just upped her meds to 1.5 ml three times per day. That is nothing compared to others who have heart problems. I will be posting more about this condition as we go!

HAPPY FALL!!!!!!

Jess

Anger

I have recently become an angry person. It takes a lot to make me angry. I am a person of God. I should not be this angry right? I should just give it all to Him and boom all my fears are washed away right? Not recently. Why am I angry you ask?

My life has been full of heartache. My closest and dearest friend had a miscarriage last week. She has been struggling to pick up and go. I have been giving her all the support that I can give. I, too have had a miscarriage in the past. It is truly hard because no matter if you are two months or 9 months you are bonded with that baby. You know it is there and growing. You nurture it and love. I have been reading other blogs that I have been directed to from another blog that I read (ie..Stafford Stories and Katies Keepers and few others) I love reading these blogs but they break my heart. These women are such strong women of faith. One struggles with infertilty and the others have recently lost a baby.

It took us 3 years to have our sweet baby. She is just the sweetest baby in the world. She is so carefree, happy and loving. Loves to talk like her mama. It is just amazing. I am hoping that we will be able to give her a brother or sister some day.

Here comes my anger about this....I am not angry at the above but angry at society. You have these amazing women who try and try to have a sweet baby in their arms. Some succeed some do not. Then, you turn on the evening new to hear about how some dad through a bottle at his 4 mo. old infant son and then put his head in a pillow to make him stop crying. The baby boy passed away. Or, you tune into facebook to be given a link about a baby girl named Baby Brianna Lopez, who was abused all 5 mo. of her life. Or, like my friend her former sis n law has 7 kids, and doesn't care about them at all. And, you just want to SCREAM!!! That is all I have wanted to do the last few days is just SCREAM! It makes me so darn tootin MAD!! I don't know who to be mad at. Please don't take this wrong I LOVE GOD for all that He has done but I sometime wonder about the paths He gives to people.

I don't want to be an angry person. I want to help all these women I hear about. I want to hug them tell them it is going to be okay. Take them bagels, with fruit and sit at their kitchen table and let them cry if they want. I am just so angry! I am getting help no worries. You have to say it frustrates you too? Please pray for families who want children (and deserve them, not these people who don't). I want everyone who deserves to have a child to have one like mine. It is truly only fair right? I hope you understand my anger. If you have any recommendations to help me, please let me know!

Life has been nuts lately....

Well...in the last couple of weeks we have been so busy as a family. We are trying to get my Grandma all settled in up here in Minnesota. Now, we have to work on getting my Grandpa up here. That is a bit more tricky.

This past weekend we had my daughter baptised. She did so great! She smiled through the whole thing. I think she realized it was her special day to become God's child. I would post pictures but I have not been able to upload pictures on this new computer yet.

I am hoping over the next few posts I can introduce to you my family. I would like to tell you more about my family and why I am going to be blogging. I may not blog much at first but I am hoping to get better at blogging everyday. I am hoping to increase my readers. I don't think I have any yet but who knows. I just mainly want to document my life here on this earth!

Have a great day!!

Memories....

I am so happy right now...

My life is a bit hetic with a new baby but I really couldn't be happier. I wouldn't trade this life for anything...okay maybe a bit less drama from certain family members would be nice. On the plus side... My Grandma is moving up to Minnesota! Once we get her settled we will move Gramps up. My Gramps is suffering from a fast progressing form of Alzheimers called Louie-Bodies. It is a mix of Alzheimers and Parkinsons Disease. It is so hard to watch him go through but I just remember all the happy days! They were young grandparents so it was nice because I was able to have a lot of memories. My daughter Claire is actually named after her Great-Grandpa. We are trying to make as many "photo" memories for her as we can.

What is the best memory I have with my Grandparents?

I would have to say our trips to Branson, MO. I love it there! I can't wait to take Claire there for the first time. It will be a special moment for me. I love Silver Dollar City and Lake of the Ozarks. It is such a beautiful area! I have not been there in quite a long time but most definately looking forward to the day that I can.

What is your favorite memory with your Grandparents? And, if weren't able to know your Grandparents then tell me a favorite family memory?

Good night all!

Hello!

My name is Jess. We live in Minnesota. We meaning me, my hubby Bruce and our 6 mo. old daughter Claire. I am starting this blog for all the reasons people start blogs. It is going to be about our journey together as a family but it will also be about my opinions. You must read this blog with an open mind and open heart. If you don't have something nice to say then don't say it...and thats that!! I read to many blogs that people feel they have to defend themself, and they shouldn't because it is their life!



So....Welcome to our family its crazy happenings and other crazy happenings that I decide to write about!