Last Post of 2013

I just wanted to end the year on this blog with a very special thanks to all who have followed our lives on this little blog.  I am grateful for all the friendships and especially for all the love and support.

We have been very blessed this past year and look forward to many more blessings in the new year.  Life is amazing when you can recognize the Lord's hand in everything!

No matter what life throws at you, keep believing that God is in charge.

Happy New Year!

And now, more photos of my little guy that I had in my 'draft' folder!

Positive Christmas Wishes

We had a fabulous Christmas together as a family.

 

 

Matthew enjoyed opening his gifts.  Santa brought him his trumpet and yellow car he asked for.  He got a guitar and some Bubble Puppies toys.  And some little fun things in his stocking.  I loved seeing his little face light up with each present he opened. 

 

How cute are these jammies?! 

He looked SO cute in them and everyone was smiling and complimenting him at COSTCO. He may have worn them the whole weekend.  :)

 

Leaving Santa cookies and carrots for the reindeer on Christmas Eve!

And of course, the moment everyone is waiting for.......

 

We made this shirt for Matthew to announce to his grandparents that he is going to be a

BIG BROTHER!

 

Our beta on the 24th was 357.

It was repeated on the 26th and was 801.

I go back tomorrow for one more beta test and sonogram will be done on Jan 6 or 7th (6 1/2 weeks).

 

With this positive news, we are SO incredibly happy and SO blessed.  We are not out of the woods by any means, so please keep us in your prayers.

 

***Please do not mention anything on FB or IG about our news.***

Thank you.

Merry Christmas!

Our family Christmas card this year.

We hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and may God bless you and your families with health and happiness.

 

Merry Christmas!!

 

And just for fun, here's our family Christmas cards from the past few years...

(notice the recurring 'purple' theme? I may have to switch it up a bit next year!)

 

2012

 

2011

 Look at how little my pumpkin was!

I sure do miss all that baby mushiness.

Waiting is the hardest part!!

I forgot how hard it is during the 2WW(two week wait)!  We've been passing the time with decorating  gingerbread houses, visiting Santa(s) and getting Christmas shopping done!

And one of my awesome blogging friends sent me chocolate covered strawberries to past the time. It was such a nice surprised (which caused me to shed a few tears of joy). 

It really is hard to just wait and not try to over analyze every single  (lack of) symptoms!  It's torture I tell you!!

Christmas Eve morning is when we go in for our blood work!! Thanks for the prayers!!

Nativity Set and Christmas Books

We are still trying to get our house ready for Christmas.  Slowy, but surely, we are getting there.  The tree's are up, the lights are hung outisde and the nativity sets are set up.  I scored this Little People Nativity Set for half off on line.  I was so excited for Matthew to have his own little nativity.

He's still too little to understand the whole purpose of Christmas, but I wanted to teach him that Christmas is the time of year that we celebrate the birth of the Savior. We talk about baby Jesus and he loves playing with his own nativity.  He knows that he has is own and that he can't touch mommy's nativities.  :)  So far, so good.  

I thought it would be fun to do 25 Christmas books for him to unwrap one book a night up until Christmas.  Well, that was a total FAIL.

The first few nights were exciting, but then he was done with it.  He liked unwrapping the books, but had no interest in actually reading any of them!  So glad I checked out most of the books from the library and didn't buy them all!!  We shall try again next year.  

I asked Matthew what he wanted for Christmas and he said 'nothing, mommy.  I don't want anything'.  (I'm trying to enjoy this stage where he's not asking for every single toy he see's, yet).
I asked him if he wanted to unwrap presents and he said, 'yes! I want to unwrap presents'. 

I think he will be excited to just unwrap anything on Christmas morning!
I love this stage of innocence. I hope he never forgets the reason for this season. 
 

Transfer Complete!

We had our transfer this morning!  We were down to 6 embryos and the best two were transferred. The rest of the embryos will be watched closely and if they keep growing, will be frozen. Our history has shown us that none of our embryos have made it to the frozen stage. 

The important ones are the ones that were transferred!  Two little embryos. Hoping and praying they will snuggle in. 

We go back in two weeks for the pregnancy test!!  

Transfer Date, Santa and Snow!

We have 13 embryos that are still growing. 

Transfer date is scheduled for Wednesday (day 5).  Still trying to convince my dr to transfer 3 embryos but I don't think I will win that battle.  :)

************

We had a busy weekend with visiting Santa's and Christmas parties!  The best part is Matthew didn't cry.  Unlike last year's Santa's visit.  I think the real test is when we go see Santa at the mall!

We got snow on Sunday and church was cancelled so we lounged around the house (and I made a few bowties and watched The Walking Dead!).  Matthew got up late from his nap and wanted to help daddy shovel the drive way.  

 

He had a snow day at home today and we went out and built a snowman and did a little bit of sledding in the back yard.   And hot chocolate afterwards!

We are expecting more snow tomorrow.  I hope it all clears up before we have to make the long drive for the transfer on Wednesday!

 



Retrieval

I had my egg retrieval this morning. And afterwards, the Anesthesiologist said I have sleep apnea and should get a sleep study done. Whaaat??  I had no idea. 

I think I'll look into that after I get the baby making stuff out of the way. :)

So 18 eggs retrieved. We will find out tomorrow what the fertilization report is. Day 3 transfer will be Monday or Day 5 transfer on Wednesday. 

Heading home to get some rest. Thanks for all the prayers. 

Thankful for Little Hands to Hold

 

I am so thankful for my little boy who has such a big heart.

 

He held my hand while Steve administered my shots and said 'It's okay mommy, I hold your hand'.  Then he turns to his daddy and says 'be gentle daddy, gentle'. 

 

Seriously, how can such a small boy show so much love to his momma?!!

 

The other day I called him 'baby doll' and he said, 'I not baby doll, I Pumpkin!'

Yes, yes you are mommy's punkin'!

 

These are moments that I don't want to forget so I have to record them on my blog so I don't forget any of it.

 

 

 

My Super Heroes

These boys of mine sure do know how to make my heart skip a beat.

I am so grateful to have them bless my life with so much love and laughter.

I am so grateful to be a mama and a wife to these two Super Heroes.

It's moments like this that make my heart melt.  Making Memories. Love it!

Back on the Wagon

That box is the start of our IVF cycle.  It contains all our drugs for this cycle. 

We are back at it!  Today was my first appointment of this cycle. I finished taking my last BCP (birthcontrol pill), which you are required to take for 2 1/2 weeks before a cycle starts (yeah, sounds contradicting when you are trying to have a baby!). 

Those BCP were quite the mood buster for me (mostly sad kind of mood).  I'm so glad to be done with them!  

I start my shots on Monday and go back on Wednesday for BW/US (Bloodwork/ultrasound).  Then more shots, etc. 

We should know by Christmas if the cycle works.  That would just be the best Christmas present ever!  Let's all pray it works!

I am nervous to be back on the crazy roller coaster, but I have faith that whatever happens will all be part of Heavenly Father's plan for our family. 

One of those Mommy moments where you feel like you Failed

Last night I had one of those mommy moments where I felt like I failed. 

 

I picked Matthew up from daycare and fed him dinner (thanks McDonald's drive thru).  He watched T.V. while eating so I could get some things cleaned up. 

Then after he ate, I let him watch more T.V. and more T.V and instead of cleaning up the house or doing something useful, I just felt so tired and was not motivated to do anything.  An overwhelming sense of sadness for some reason.  And all I wanted to do was just cuddle up next to him.

So there we were sitting on the couch, him watching Dora, Diego, Bubble Guppies and Paw Patrol, while I laid there hugging him and scrolling thru my phone on social media and hugging him more and telling him how much I loved him. (Steve was at school and volunteering so he wasn't home).

I felt like I had failed as a  mother because instead of doing my motherly duties, I was letting my little boy watch hours of T.V.! 

 

And 24 hrs later, I can look back and say it probably didn't have any long lasting effects on Matthew and as a matter of fact, it'll probably happen again (hopefully not anytime soon).

 

In the grand scheme of things, it may not be a major fail, but sometimes being a mommy is hard and you will fail at times, but you just get right back up and do the best you can. 

 

Mommyhood isn't always perfect clean houses and perfect kids.  It's about being honest with the good, the bad and the ugly days. 

This picture was taken over the weekend when we were enjoying hot chocolate and caramel apple cider from Starbucks.  I wish every day was a hot chocolate kind of day!

Chuck E Chic Fil

My niece Mya spent the weekend with us.  We went to Chuck E Cheese and Saturday morning and they had so much fun together.  (The best time to go is early in the morning before it gets crazy busy!).  I think Matthew enjoyed putting the coins in each game more than actually playing the game!

We had lunch at Chick fil A afterwards and then headed home.  It was a fun day!

I love watching Matthew play with his cousins.  I can't wait until he has siblings to play (and fight) with.  He just loves being around other kids. 

 

And sometimes, it's nice to watch him play by himself too.  If he's meant to be an only child, then we will get a puppy for him to play with!  Ha!

 

A Witch, A Doctor and An Elephant

Matthew really enjoyed Halloween this year.  We went to a trunk or treat activity at church the day before Halloween.  I was worried he wouldn't wear his costume, but after asking to take his clothes off first, he put his costume on.  It wasn't cold at all so it worked out great.  It was a nice 'practice run' before Halloween. 

 

We went trick or treating for a little bit in the neighborhood and he was loving it!  We didn't stay out too long because it started raining and his little pumpkin was getting heavy.  We came home and passed out candy to all the cute little trick or treaters.

 

Stealing kisses from my little elephant!



This Little Boy of Mine

 

 

This little boy of mine, he has a heart of gold.  He amazes me everyday.

 

I was sitting at the kitchen counter doing something and he walks over to me and says:

 'Mommy sit by herself? I love you mommy.  Jesus loves you.'

 

My little mommy heart just exploded.

 

I had been feeling down lately and in that moment, my son reminded me that Jesus loves me.  It's those little tender mercy moments that makes being a mom such an amazing calling.

 

No matter how often I doubt my role as a mother, in the eyes of my son, I'm doing ok because he knows I love him and he knows Jesus loves me. 

 

This little boy of mine....he sure does know how to lift up his mama's spirits!



The Best Part Of Fall Ya'll

PUMPKIN PATCH!!

 

 

This is one of the many reasons why I enjoy the Fall.  We spent the afternoon at Great Country Farms (which has the BEST apple cider donuts)!!  The weather was perfect. 

 

Trying to take a picture of a toddler is hard, but trying to do it with a bunch of sticks laying around, is almost impossible.  He just wanted to play sword fights with daddy. 

 

Steve was a trooper, as usual.  He's not big on these types of activities, but he goes along because he knows how much I love it and Matthew loves it too!  I sure do have the best baby daddy.  :)

 

Next up.....carving our pumpkins (that we previously bought from Walmart, which was way cheaper).

 

Hope ya'll are having a great Fall!



Hello? Anyone Still There?!!

Wow, it's been a long time.  I guess I took an unintentional break from blogging.  I sure do miss capturing our family life on this blog as well as reading about all of my blogging buddies.

 

You know how it is, life gets busy and busier and busier....

 

We are all alive and doing well.  We enjoyed the summer and now loving the fall.  The leaves are changing and the burst of color all around are welcoming.  We did our annual apple picking a few weeks ago.  It was unusually warm (90 degrees in October!)  and I thought I was going to pass out from heat exhaustion, but we all survived. 

 

Matthew is growing every day and my little heart is growing in love right along with him.  He lights up my world. 

 

Matthew is taking a music class one day a week.  He is enjoying it more each week.  They do a lot of singing and playing with instruments.  His favorite so far is the big drum. 

 

 

 

The government shutdown has reduced my work hours the last two weeks.  I've been forced to take some vacation time off but it doesn't feel like a vacation because I've been running all over town doing errands and such.  Let's hope the government will get their act together soon.

 

On the baby making front, not much has happened.  I had to postpone my HSG procedure last month because I ended up with a MRSA infection twice! And then Steve got MRSA too (way worse than I did).  Thankfully we are all healed now. 

 

I did manage to get the HSG procedure done last week so our next step is to sit down with the doctor to see when we will start the IVF process.  Lots to think about and figure out (financially).  Part of me wishes that I will just get pregnant on my own and we won't have to go thru IVF, but I know that it's all wishful thinking. 

 

That's the latest and greatest around here.  If anyone is even still reading this little old blog.  I will try and get back into the swing of keeping up with my blog.  It's important to capture all the family moments aside from Instagram and FB!

 

Happy Hump Day!

 



Four Signs My Boy is Getting Big

 

 

 

- He talks a lot and while it takes some deciphering to figure it out sometimes, he's pretty good at getting his point across.

 

- He sat by himself to get his haircut (no bribes with lollipops).

 

- He tells us when he is stinky and recently said to me 'mommy, I stinky...it's a BIG one'.

 

- At bed time, I tuck him in and lay with him just a little bit, then I can leave him before he actually falls asleep (no more staying with him for an hour until he falls asleep)!

 

Now only if we can start  potty training soon and then he will really be a big boy.  I'm dreading it and don't even know where to start.  He has a little potty seat that goes on the toilet and he sometimes sits on it.  We haven't really pushed the issue yet, but will have to start getting serious about soon.

 

I love when he says, 'I not a bad boy, I a big boy'. 

 

My baby is growing up. 



A Tween

Happy 10th birthday to my beautiful niece Abbey!

I consider her an official tween now....and she certainly has the attitude to go along with it!

We love her so much and are just so blessed to have her in our lives. 

 

 

 

 



Matthew's Moments

Matthew was looking at a family picture of us.

Me: Who's that? (pointing to Steve in the picture).

Matthew:  Daddy!

Me:  What's daddy's name?

Matthew: 'Beeb' (he hears Abbey call Steve Uncle Beeb - when she was little she couldn't say 'steve', so she said beeb').

Me: Who's that? (pointing to myself in the picture).

Matthew:  Mommy!

Mommy:  what's mommy's  name?

Matthew:  Honey!


That was from last month.  Now Matthew knows my name and tells his teachers, 'my mom is Hannah Wick-comb).  And he still thinks daddy's name is 'uncle beeb'. 

And when we ask him who does he love?  He says, 'I lub mommy, daddy, and Abbey!'

What' I'm Currently Obsessed With



I've been collecting ideas on Pinterest to make Matthew a quiet book.  He is having a hard time sitting thru church (like most 2 yr olds).  We spend a lot of time in the halls.

The thought of making a quiet book is overwhelming! Seriously, there are some very talented people out there with A LOT of time.  I am definitely NOT talented and do not have a lot of time. 

I'm still obsessing over it though! 
Can I do it?!
Should I do it?!
I don't even know where to start.
Overwhelming, but still obsessed!

Source

Source

source

Silly Faces in the Morning


Waking up with this little monkey in our bed is always a happy sight.
He is the reason I get up every day. 
He is the sun that shines on my most cloudiest days.

He is my joy!

Vacay 2013



We spent a week in Williamsburg for our family vacation.  This was our first road trip in our new minivan (Honda Odyssey)!  My niece Abbey joined us and Matthew just adores his cousin Abbey.  Thank goodness for the rear entertainment system to keep the kids occupied! Matthew clearly loves it. 

We stayed at a very family friendly resort (thanks to the in-laws for allowing us to use their timeshare).  We had fun swimming in the pool, playing in the arcade, building bears, playing board games, watching movies and just relaxing!

 

 

 

We went to the Children's Museum in Portsmouth.  This is one of my favorite pictures below! I love how we're all in it.

 We spent one day in VA Beach.  My sister came down with her kids for a few days.  It was Matthew's first time at the beach and he had a blast playing in the sand.  My sweet boy walked up to me while playing and gave me a hug and said 'mommy best friend'.  Best mommy moment ever!  I hope he will always consider his momma as his best friend. 

 

Family fun time together!



Our last day was spent at Water Country.  So much fun! Matthew fell asleep before we even started the car to leave! 

 

It was a wonderful, fun and relaxing week.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to spend time with my family.

 

The BEST part of the vacation that made my heart swell and ache at the same time??....Matthew would randomly say 'mommy, I want baby sister'.  It was so sweet, yet it pulled at my heart.  Someday he will be a big brother.  I know it.  I believe it.  Someday.