Freakishly Strong

She just loves telling the story.  Her and my mom get such a good laugh out of it.  I admit, I can laugh about it now too.  But the conspiracy between the two of them was thick, I tell you.  

Growing up, Court and I could not have been more different.  She was definitely more of a tomboy than me and as I got older, I was way more in to clothes and fashion than she was at her age.  (I am three years older than her.)  I used to come home from the mall and show her new things that I had gotten and tell her she could borrow them if she wanted to...until the day came when she actually started wanting to.  

I remember it vividly.  My love for that Abercrombie & Fitch flannel shirt that was about 3 sizes too big for me.  I bought it with my own money and I only wore it on special days.  It mostly hung in my closet because I didn't want anything to happen to it.

As I was getting dressed one night to go to a Friday night high school basketball game (complete with my Doc Martens, long hair and big bangs) I noticed it.  A patch on a rip on the inside bottom part of the shirt that I knew was not from me.  And there was only one other person it could have come from.  COURTNEY!  

I've only physically accosted my sister once or twice in my life.  But this was one of them.  You can ask her and my mom how "freakishly strong" I am ;)  I wrestled both of them at the same time and took them down.

They just love telling that story.  The two of them.  Their version is quite hilarious.

I am so proud to call Court my sister and am so impressed with her "freakish strength" as she winds down her pregnancy.  We got some good news and bad news last week after what was supposed to be her final ultrasound.  Turns out little Haddie, is measuring quite little and they found out that Court has Velamentous Cord Insertion...here is how she described it to us:

Basically the 3 vessels in the umbilical cord are not inserted into the middle of placenta like it should be but are spread out and are near the edge of the placenta which makes them all have to work that much harder to get all the oxygen and nutrients to baby...hence baby measuring a little small...but also causing the vessels to be less protected and increasing the risk of a vessel rupture if they are located below baby and near cervix...which could be detrimental to the baby should I go into labor.  

So Tuesday we went to High Risk Ob and they checked her out...at 34 weeks, she 
is approx. 4lbs 7oz and (24th percentile) and she passed the biophysical profile with an 8 out of 8...very good news!  They are going to give her this biophysical profile test each week now to make sure she is still thriving and measure her growth.  Then just last night my Dr. confirmed the placenta and vessels are not located near the cervix, which is more good news and what we wanted to hear...the high risk Dr. said I should be fine even if my water were to break before the c-section date.  She hopes to keep baby in there til Feb 22nd, as long as the baby is still growing and passing the weekly biophysical profiles.  If for some reason baby stops growing we will move c-section date up more but for now 

we are scheduled for the morning of Feb 22nd instead of March 2nd. 

Court, I love you, and yes, you can have your maternity leave.  I will even let you borrow anything of mine that you like.

And we can't forget Ells...the soon-to-be Big Sister who is not going to share her passies with baby Haddie.

xoxo

Holy Moly

It is funny how life can throw curve balls at you.  My friends, Tiffany & Adam, spent 4+ years struggling with fertility and praying that God would bless them with just one baby to call their own.  

Well God answers prayers...and them some.  He blessed them with two beautiful boys with smiles that truly light up a room.  Max & Aidan just turned one and we celebrated by wrapping up their baby sessions.  

Well guess what?!  God is also blessing them with ANOTHER bundle of joy this May :D  Who would've guessed!  Certainly not T & Adam.  Three little ones under 18 months?  Holy moly.

 

(T shares my love of Hunter boots - come to find out, we have the exact same pair!)

Congrats to all of you!  Can't wait to be neighbors in Geneva!

The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day...

I have never been a big fan of January.  The holidays are over.  Spring is still three months away.  Blah, blah, blah.  That Bears game yesterday didn't help much either.

So far, 2011 has been a challenge.  All of it is personal, not professional, but I do not see a therapist, so I get to vent here, to you.  I am hoping it will be therapeutic.  Feel free to let me know if I am a crazy person.  I feel like it.

We closed on our house last week, that felt really good.  I made the mistake of saying to myself, "Wow, life is really great right now," and saying a little thank you to the Lord.  I may have gotten ahead of myself because last Friday was a low-down, dirty, yucky day.  Brynn woke up unable to put any pressure on her leg and would freak out if you even walked past her and the air touched her leg.  That was fun.  There was no known direct injury (other than a nasty spill at swim lessons 10 days prior), so I had to do some mom investigating.  I offered to take her to Chuck E. Cheese to see if there was a miraculous recovery.  There definitely was some improvement in her status, but this just resulted in her dragging said lame leg behind her while she tried to play skee-ball.  She has since recovered after some major TLC.

We picked up Court & Ella on the way to Chuck E.'s and when we pulled into the parking lot I saw a spot straight ahead and proceeded to head in that direction.  Meanwhile, a very big, older, unpleasant man, with a bald head moved to the middle of the parking spot and put both arms out as if to say, "Don't even think about parking here."  Ohhhh kay, so there was another spot that I had just passed up on my left so I decided to park there instead.  I checked my mirror and backed up (slowly, mind you) so I could pull into that spot.  Just as I was done reversing a good 10-12 feet, and about to go into drive, this jerk's wife pulled up behind me (ignoring my REVERSE lights) and smashed my bumper.  Then the "jerk" told me saw the whole thing and I backed in to her!  Ugh!  I have no time for idiotic people.  Luckily, I had Court there as my witness.

I will spare you all the dirty details, but Chad's travel schedule has been foreboding, so the final brunt of the move fell on my shoulders.  Me with Two Guys and a Truck (my new BFF's) got it done.

While packing up the house, I found some interesting blasts from the past.  Living in a house for six years, it is amazing what kind of stuff can really pile up.

Back in my aspiring law school days...

This is the final box of napkins left from our wedding nine years ago...we ordered these for the big day, then forgot to bring them to the reception.  Awesome.

A long lost love note from Chad on our first wedding anniversary.  Actually it is a funny poem that rhymes and I had forgotten all about it.

I also had a pic on my phone of my first pair of skis...they were pink, blue and white with white boots. They looked like Barbie skis.  I loved them and I accidentally deleted the pic.  Boo.  Those skis went everywhere with me in the wintertime in the 90's.  Back when I was a ski bunny.

So now we are all settled in at our cute rental home in Geneva as we wait patiently (well at least Chad waits patiently -- me, not so much) for our new home to come on the market.  I like instant gratification.

Well, we are almost all settled in...this is what my closet looks like at the moment:

 

Scary, I know.  I would much rather be organized, but we didn't pack any dressers...oops.  They are all in storage.  So, instead of digging through these boxes, I keep wearing the same outfit over and over again (jeans, sweater, scarf, my Hunter boots and my big North Face jacket).  Luckily, the laundry room is located right next door to my closet, so I just keep washing the same clothes and wearing them.  If you see me around town in my "uniform" more than once, bear with me.  I just bought some new storage drawers and bins at Target today and hope to get to the back of the closet later today.

Speaking of fashion, have you seen that Rachel Zoe show on Bravo?  I am completely smitten.  I would love her job as a celebrity stylist.  Her California accent/lingo and the fashion emergencies (hello Johnny Weir wearing the same suit as someone else at his table at the Elton John party!  OMG!!!  The HORROR!) are like a train wreck that I can not pull myself away from...and keep coming back for more.  The other day she said that she came out of her mother's womb loving fashion and this immediately made me think of Brynn.   Ever since she could voice her opinion (which was unfortunately quite early in her life) she has told me what she is going to wear, how she is going to wear it and even tried to tell me what to wear.  She has asked me to cut her shirts, tie them, roll up her jeans, add a belt, and expressed displeasure when her pants are not as long as she wants them or if a skirt is not short enough.  Can you imagine my dread of prom dress shopping when that time comes??? 

Finally, I just wanted to share this new candle that is making our temporary home a little more homey.  It is of course from Anthro.  Thank you Erica for the gift card!!! 

So, thanks for letting me get all that out.  It has been bottled in for a few days.  I feel better.  Now I just wish the dent/hole/crack in my bumper would go away.

One Workshop Seat Open

I just had one workshop seat open up...any takers out there?

The Workshop will be on Thursday, February 10th, 2011 from 10am-2pm at Graham's 318 Coffee Shop on Third Street in Geneva.

We just celebrated Aiden's 2nd birthday.  This was how the shoot started out...I thought I might have some trouble makers on my hands ;D

But he was an angel.

I even got big brother Anthony to sit for about a millisecond.

Then I couldn't get rid of him and Brynn.

There is something about this shot that really makes me smile.

Then everybody wanted in on the action.