The Lord's Prayer

I have never heard The Lord's Prayer done in such a way. This is so sweet!

Something cute

Today I was getting Olivia out of the shower and she asked if it was going to be warm outside today.
me: no, but I'm sick of it being so cold outside - I can't wait for Spring.
Olivia: Mom, it's already spring
me: yes I know, but it's not warm outside yet - someone needs to tell the sun that it needs to warm up!
Olivia: I HAVE A GREAT IDEA!! We can ask God to tell the sun! (looking up) GOD, WILL YOU TELL THE SUN TO MAKE IT WARM? Now mommy, it's your turn, go ahead, ask Him!
me: Ya God, that would be real nice if you could tell the sun that it needs to be warm.

She needs a sibling!

There are a lot of things that Olivia does throughout the day and I think to myself, she really needs a sibling! She plays so great by herself and her imagination is awesome, but there's just things that she does sometimes that make me really feel sorry for her that she doesn't have a sibling. Luckily we spend half our life with the O'Neill's across the street. Aidan and Reece are probably the closest thing she will ever have to a big brother and when she plays with Aaron I imagine that this is how things will be soon when her little brother or sister enters the world. But her and Abbey are definitely like sisters. They are 9 months apart and they play so well together - of course they have their battles, but in general, they get along really well. When we don't see Abbey for a day, Olivia definitely goes through Abbey-withdrawls. In fact, the other day I was making lunch and Olivia said, "Are we going to Abbey's?"
me: no, I'm making lunch
Olivia: but we're taking our lunch to Abbey's, right?
The only meal that is normal for her to eat without Abbey is breakfast - we spend a lot of lunches and dinners together - I'm definitely looking forward to the summer together when we spend a lot of lunches and dinners together AROUND THE POOL!!!

When we were at their house on Wednesday, Olivia had a pair of shoes on that are kind of hard for her to get off. She started walking downstairs without taking her shoes off and I told her to sit down and take them off. She was crying that she couldn't take them off by herself and I told her to ask Aidan or Abbey for help - they helped her and all was well. But, when we got home later that day, she sat on the stairs to take her shoes off and she says to me in the sweetest little voice, with the big puppy dog eyes, "mommy, I don't have a brother or sister that can help me take my shoes off...what in the world am I gonna do?" I just wanted to cry! I went over to her and bent over sticking her foot up to my belly and said, "can this brother or sister help you?" She started laughing :-)

It's days like this that I can't wait for her to have a sibling to do things with. These days also make me think about Jesse - he would be two this summer and they would be so close - I'm sure if he was here he would have helped her take her shoes off.

craft

Yesterday at MOPS we decorated aprons for our kids.

Olivia put it on this morning and said, "It's gorgeous, I'm so proud of you for making this mommy!" Who knew she'd think so highly of it :-)

baby names

HAHAHA - you thought you were going to read this and see what baby names Brian and I have picked out, didn't you? You'll have to keep waiting on that - we don't even start talking about names until much later in my pregnancy and even then, we don't name the baby until we see him/her. I was sure Olivia was going to be an Emma, but when she came out - she just didn't look like an Emma to us. This was on the today show and I thought I'd share.

The worst, most-humiliating baby names

What would compel a parent to bestow a newborn with a name like “Tiny Hooker” or “Fanny Large”? Or an amusing choice like “Wanna Towell?” It’s not just Hollywood’s elite opting for unique, embarrassing names—throughout history, normal people separated their offspring from the masses with truly terrible names.
In “Bad Baby Names,” Michael Sherrod and Matthew Rayback, of the genealogy Web site Ancestry.com, share thousands of shocking names given to real people, as recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau. Discover the funny names based around common themes, like diseases (Fever Bender, Cholera Peace), food (Bread White, Pomegranate Purple), pets (Good Dog), and if you thought Wednesday Adams was unfortunate—wait till you meet Monday Monday.


Diseases
You'd have to be really sick to infect your offspring with virulent names like these:
Fever Bender (born 1856)
Leper Priest (born 1929)
Cholera Priest (born 1830 during the second cholera pandemic)
Rubella Graves (born 1814)
Typhus Black (born 1897)
Hysteria Johnson (born 1881)
Emma Royd (born 1850)
Kathryn E. Coli (born 1894)
Mumps Sykes (born 1891)



Professions
With names like "Mayor Bland," it seems like some parents had high, ambitious hopes for their children's future.
Cook Cook
Governor Bush
Lawyer Low
Doctor Love
Teacher Blackbear
Judge Savage
Editor Honeycutt
Mayor Bland
Sales O. Justice
Gamble Moore

Sins
The authors found 149 records for people named Lust, 70 for Greed, 12 for Sloth, and 830 for Pride. Which of the 7 deadly sins was missing? Only gluttony.
Lust Garten
Greed Sister Mancini
Avarice Sullivan
Sloth Washton
Wrath Gordon
Envy Burger
Pride Saint
Greed McGrew
Pride Saint
Lust T. Castle

Irish luck
Plenty of parents must have thought that naming their child Lucky would translate into a bright future. In 1930 alone, there are 463 Luckys.
Some lucky favorites:
Lucky Green
Lucky Jewell
Lucky O’Brien
Lucky Pleasant
Luck Fortune
Shamrock Hardeman of Illinois
Shamrock Dates of Mississippi
Shamrock Holland of Texas
The religious types:
Saint Patrick Blan
Saint Patrick Forrest
Saint Patrick
The patriotic:
Ireland England
Ireland Green
Irish Sea
Ireland Brew
Whimsical:
Rainbow Green
Emerald Jewel
Clover Field
Clover B. Green
A St. Patrick’s Day feast:
Beef Cooper
Guinness Dack
Cabbage Haywood


Foods
Some parents loved eating so much, they named their kids after favorite meals, snacks—and even condiments:
Lunch Magee
Dinner Ware
Bread White
Hero Brat
Mayo Head
Mustard M. Mustard
Pickle Parker
Plum Sellers
Banana Bowdy
Cherry Grant

Celebrities
Forget Suri or Shiloh – celebrities have given their children far stranger names! Discover the stars' oddest, most bizarre baby names:
Apple (Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow)
Moxie CrimeFighter (Magician Penn Jillette)
Hopper (Sean Penn and Robin Wright)
Pilot Inspektor (Jason Lee and Beth Riesgraf)
Sosie (Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick)
Destry (Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw)
Aurelius Cy (Elle Macpherson)
Kal-El Coppola (Nicholas Cage)
Bluebell Madonna (Spice Girl Geri Halliwell)
Audio Science (Actress Shannyn Sossamon)
Sage Moonblood (Sylvester Stallone)
Tallulah (Bruce Willis and Demi Moore)
Kyd (David Duchovny and Tea Leoni)


Bart Simpson pranks
Bart Simpson's prank calls to Moe's Tavern are nearly legendary, but the sad fact is that some people actually go through life with those goofy names. The following Bart creations all exist within the Ancestry.com databases:
Al Caholic
Oliver Clothesoff
I.P. Freely
Seymour Butz
Mike Rotch
Hugh Jass
Amanda Hugginkiss
Ivana Tinkle
Anita Bath
Maya Buttreeks

Want more - check out the reader submissions.

Vote for the most horrible.


To all the expectant mothers reading my blog - I hope I helped you in your quest to come up with a name for your baby :-)

Weekend to Remember update

It was definitely a weekend to remember. We had an incredible time and I can't say enough good things about it. If you are married and have never been to one of these, I strongly encourage you to do so. You will reconnect with your spouse in a way you never thought possible after having kids. It was not a bible-thumping, women-submit-to-your-wives type of conference at all - which is what I was a little concerned with. On Friday night, I don't even think that any of the speakers even mentioned God - maybe once! Saturday and Sunday they spent more time talking about how God designed man and woman to be together and have oneness and versus from the bible to back this, but it was never an in-your-face, bible study type of setting. There were three speakers. Chris was probably in his 40's, married with 2 children and was hysterical, he was a blast to listen to and we enjoyed his sarcasm and his humor greatly. The other two people were a couple, Joe and Cindi - they are probably in their 50's, maybe early 60's and are just the cutest couple you have ever seen in your life - the kind of couple you see and you say, I want us to be like them in 20 or 30 years. The love that they have for each other is awesome and it's been a tough road for them. They have a 26 year old son with multiple disabilities, epilepsy and cerebral palsy, along with 2 healthy daughters. One daughter is married and on her own, but the other daughter and their son still live at home. I can't even imagine what this couple has gone through caring for their son for 26 years, but their marriage is stronger today than it was before having children. They were a great couple to listen to as well - they talked about several different topics, but the one that sticks out in my mind is when they talked about sex - it was just hilarious and it's awesome to see that you can still have a great sex life in your 50s or 60s - gross, but something to look forward to.
Saturday night we had our date night and we went to dinner at Gaucho's in Valpo - strongly recommend going there. Kids are welcome, but I don't think I would take Olivia. We spent 1 1/2 hours there, but they want you to be there all night. As soon as you sit down they order the entire menu for you - on Saturday, there were 14 different choices of meat that would be brought to your table on swords, you picked what you wanted and what you didn't want and it was served to you at your table, along with a huge salad bar, sides and desserts - YUMMM-O!!
On Sunday we split up the group with women in one room and men in the other and just talked about being women and mothers or men and fathers - I was never once told, women be submissive to your husbands which is kind of what I thought it would be. Cindi led our group and she is just a fabulous speaker and an awesome mother - I could listen to her talk forever.
After getting back with our husbands we finished up the conference. We listened to some audio recording of couples who have been married 50+ years and listened to the song "50 Years from now" (see lyrics below if you want to) and I sobbed like a newborn baby. We ended with renewing our vows.
I love Brian more today than I did yesterday and I hope to say that everyday of my life! He is the perfect gift from the perfect God - even with his flaws, he is what God designed for me and I am what God designed for him. We're in this together and we aren't going to quit! I'm not saying that we won't have bad time - that would be crazy to say - but I feel like we have reconnected and we have learned some great tools to get us through anything with the help of God.



FIFTY YEARS FROM NOW
Words & Music by John Mandeville, Steve Siler, & Bill Ebert
What do you do when the fire's gone
and passion fades away
Just being together used to be enough
But now what?
How do we feel what we used to feel
Can we learn how to care
when it seems such a long way back from here to there
Right now it feels like it would be easier
To give up and give in, but

Fifty years from now
What will we remember?
Fifty years from now
What will we have to treasure?
If we walk away from this
What will we have missed?
Fifty years, Fifty years from now

Dance recitals and T- ball games
The simple joys of the day
Will we let the best of life just pass us by
Graduations and wedding days
Grandkids up on our knees
Will we make a huge mistake or memories?
Do we just throw away what we started
Missing us, missing out

CHORUS

God gave us this love
We need to see it through
The moment's ours
The choice is up to me and you

CHORUS

© 1999 Great Dominion Music Company (Administered by CMI)/Word Music, Inc / Fifty States Music/ Bill Ebert Music

Weekend to Remember

This weekend is the Weekend to remember marriage retreat. I'm excited to get away with just my hunny to reconnect. It's seems like once you have children your marriage takes a back seat. It has definitely taken a back seat over the last year and a half with losing Jesse, having two miscarriages and months of infertility. Now that we're pregnant and everything is going good, we're like, "what do we do now?". It will be so nice to go away for the weekend and reconnect with my husband and our marriage. I'll let you know how it went.

so sweet

On Wednesday I had another appointment with my midwife. Before I left Olivia at her best friend's house I asked her if she would like to say a prayer for the baby. She folded her hands and this is what came out of her sweet little mouth:

Dear God,
Thanks for our baby and help to be strong and make so it grow and let me and my baby be best friends.
Amen

She's just the sweetest little girl. On most days she says the baby is a girl and she would like to name it tator tot, but if it's a boy we can name it potato. So I think the nickname is going to be tator tot - Brian and I don't even start talking about names until I get pretty close to my due date so we tend to have a nickname that we use throughout the pregnancy. I'm still don't have a strong feeling about what the baby might be, but if I had to say, I'm probably leaning more to the girl side. We'll find out sometime in August or September!

So, my appointment went really well and I got to take another peak. The baby has really grown - looks like it has almost doubled in size from last month. As soon as my midwife saw the baby on the screen she says, "Wow, what an awesome looking femur." I said, "Only and OB would get that excited about a femur!!" But since the femur is a good indication of growth and size, I guess it is really exciting to see such a great looking femur. So everything looks great. I go back to her in 4 weeks and also to my perinatologist for a level II ultrasound

Daddy-Daughter weekend

When I went on my shopping trip last weekend Brian and Olivia had a fun daddy-daughter weekend together. On Saturday morning they went to American Girl Place.

She got to see the Bitty Bear play in the theatre - here she is with the stars of the show

Here's bitty baby getting pampered.

Here's bitty twin (Elizabeth) getting her hair fixed.

Brian said it was absolutely beautiful in the city with the snow falling - isn't this a cute pic?

On Sunday, they made green eggs and ham together.

What an awesome daddy, huh? There aren't too many daddy's who would take their girls to AGP on a Saturday, but they had a great time together. He also thought of the green eggs and ham thing all on his own. I'm so glad Olivia has the best daddy in the whole wide world!

Ahhh, now that was refreshing!

What an awesome weekend with my girlfriends - we had so much fun and we literally shopped until we dropped! Un-interupted sleep? Not so much! We stayed at the Marriott, the hotel was awesome and the beds were like sleeping on clouds - I could actually sleep on my back without it hurting which I haven't been able to do for a few weeks now. The first night was kind of awkward, getting used to all the noises a busy hotel brings and the church bells that kept us awake at 6AM on Saturday. They actually went off for almost 2 hours - we thought someone must have died or something - what kind of church plays their church bells for almost two hours? None probably - we think it was the alarm in the next room, some jerk probably set it the previous day before checking out - why do people do such cruel things. This wasn't the only thing that kept us awake...with two pregnant women and a mom of three, we were constantly getting up and going to the bathroom - it was a chain reaction, one would go, then the next and then the next - we would sleep for a couple of hours and then it would start all over again. The second night was much better and we slept in until 9AM!!

Saturday brought 12 hours of shopping, interrupted with the Cheesecake Factory for lunch, the most amazing pedicure at 5 and dinner at Houlihan's only because we couldn't seem to locate Champs Sports Bar which we know we saw the night before - long story...short version - we drove around for a lifetime following my iPhone directions, turns out it was Champs Sports, the sports store in the mall - not the restaurant! We settled for Houlihan's because it was after 9pm and we were exhausted and starving.

On Sunday we had brunch, followed by a little more shopping because Megs and I hadn't really bought ourselves anything, but we were so exhausted we didn't last long. We grabbed lunch and headed back to NW Indiana and because we hadn't spent enough time together we all got together for dinner.

Brian and Olivia had an awesome weekend together too - I have lots of pictures to share of them, but I'll get around to posting that later - I'm waiting on Brian to email me some pics from his phone.

Toodles!

3.5 hours to go...

and I'm going down for a long winters nap!

5 hours to go...

1 of which will be spent napping in preparation for the big weekend!!!

8.5 hours and counting

I woke up singing this song and can't stop
Oh what a beautiful morning,
Oh what a beautiful day,
I've got a wonderful feeling,
Every thing's going my way.
Why you ask? Because today is such a beautiful day. In about 8.5 hours Leenie, Megzy and myself will be loading up my car for a weekend get-away.
Destination: Schaumburg, IL - wish I could say somewhere warm
Trip details: Marriott, The Container Store, piano bar, uninterrupted sleep, Woodfield Mall, Cheesecake Factory, Asha spa for a St Patricks Irish Coffee Pedicure, dinner, movie, more uninterrupted sleep, more shopping!!!
I'll miss my little princess dearly, but this is such a needed and deserved trip - I figure I will come back feeling refreshed which will make me a better mother. Plus, her awesome daddy has a great weekend planned for her, including a trip to the American Girl Place (any daddy who would take his daughter to that place on a Saturday is an awesome daddy) and making Green Eggs and Ham! I think daddy/daughter time is SO important - that's why I planned this trip :-) hahaha!
I'll miss my honey too, but next weekend is our weekend! We are going to a Marriage retreat Friday, Saturday and Sunday - he even arranged hotel accommodations - we'll be gone all weekend!
Oh what a beautiful morning,
Oh what a beautiful day,
I've got a wonderful feeling,
Every thing's going my way.

I wish it were that easy

This evening I asked Olivia to put her shoes on and just like she does every time she goes to put on her tennis shoes she takes the velcro completely out and then gets frustrated because she can't get it back in. You would think that she would learn not to take it all the way out the next time, but that's not the case which in turn frustrates me. So, she's whining on the steps and I go over to her, grab her shoe and say, "why do you always pull the velcro all the way out?!?"
Olivia: Because I'm trying to stretch it up to heaven so Jesse can slide down.
I was left speechless as tears streamed down my face. I wish it were that easy!
I'm reminded of this poem:

IF TEARS COULD BUILD A STAIRWAY AND MEMORIES WERE A LANE

I WOULD WALK RIGHT UP TO HEAVEN TO BRING YOU HOME AGAIN

NO FAREWELL WORDS WERE SPOKEN NO TIME TO SAY GOODBYE

YOU WERE GONE BEFORE I KNEW IT AND ONLY GOD KNOWS WHY

MY HEART STILL ACHES WITH SADNESS AND SECRET TEARS STILL FLOW

WHAT IT MEANT TO LOSE YOU NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW" Anonymous

Can't we just build a stairway? Or get enough velcro to reach up to heaven and then Jesse and my other two angels could just slide right down it and back to me?

Oh, to have the mind of a child. Olivia talks about her brother all the time. There's a statue in our living room of a baby being cradled in hands and we call it "Jesse". She'll talk to it like it's real. If she's playing and accidentally bumps into it, she'll say, "Sorry Jesse". When the name Jesse is spoken she immediately thinks, "that's my brother, he lives in heaven." She's not sad, she's happy that she has a brother in heaven. When I think if Jesse I immediately begin to feel those raw emotions all over again. I get angry with God for taking my son to heaven way before his time. I look forward to the day when I meet him in heaven, but I can't say that's where my mind goes when his name is mentioned or that I immediately feel happy that I have a son in heaven. I want that innocence of a child.

My brother had a couple in his small group who had a full-term stillborn last week and the funeral for little Spencer yesterday. Anytime I read of another stillborn, whether it's someone I know, friends of friends or complete strangers, the pain of Jesse dying is as fresh as July 22, 2006 when we found out his tiny heart was no longer beating. Like my friend said to me the other day, I long for the days when "stillborn" wasn't even a part of our vocabulary. I mean, we heard about it and it seemed like such an unfortunate thing, but the word was pretty meaningless. Now? It's a common term in my vocabulary and just hearing the word brings back so many emotions.

It's like being in a club that you don't want to be in. You love the support you get from other mothers - some close friends, some strangers - who can look you in the eye and say, "I know exactly what you are going through." and at the same time you hate that you share this bond. I'm so thankful that I had a close friend who experienced losing a son at the same time that I did, but I hate it at the same time. I have bonded with her unlike any other person on this earth, but I hate that. I hate that she had to feel the pain that I went through, I hate that I had to feel the pain that she went through. The bond that is like no other, the bond that I am so thankful is the same bond that I despise - does that make any sense? I'm sure it will to her - I don't even have to worry that she'll get upset at the fact that I say I despise that bond, because I know she feels the same way - why did it have to happen to both of us, why did it have to happen to either of us, why does it have to happen to anyone?

WOW, who knew this would be what I would write tonight. I thought I was just sitting down to tell you something cute that Olivia said today, but out of nowhere came this. Thanks for listening to me vent.

My pretty little princess

Brian had a 4-day weekend and we spent some time together as family. On Thursday we took Olivia to the Chicago Kids Company to see a Sleeping Beauty musical. She really enjoyed it and was so excited to get her picture taken with some of the cast.

We decided to go to the Fish Company inside the Bass Pro Shop for lunch - if you like seafood, you have to try this place out. Here's what happens when you take a pretty little princess to the Bass Pro Shop

That's my girl with her baby and a shotgun - what has happened to the pretty little princess?

And if this wasn't bad enough, here's what she looked like after daddy took her out on the 4-wheeler on one of the muddiest days of the year.

Even her teeth were muddy - that's just so disgusting