Happy Holidays!!!

Oh my I am so behind with this blog!! I'm so far behind I don't even know where to start... Thanksgiving was fun! We spent time at my parent's house then went to Uncle Wayne and Aunt Donna's house.
The day after Thanksgiving I headed to Rhode Island for my best friend Tracy's wedding. She married her college sweetheart Artie. The wedding was beautiful and a lot of fun! Gavin stayed with my parents that weekend because Steven had to work. This was his first time away from home overnight and my mom said he did great!!


I've spent the past few weeks preparing for Christmas. We got our Christmas tree and have it all decorated - Gavin was a big help with that. Our tree is a lot smaller than past years but we just couldn't justify spending $90 on a tree. I've been making little shopping trips here and there and we are just about done. All that's left to purchase is batteries for Gavin's toy and stocking stuffers for Gavin. I finished shopping for Steven last week - I'm excited about the gifts I have for him. I've got to be sneaky with wrapping them because he likes to feel the packages to figure out what they are - and he's really good at it! Gavin enjoyed seeing Santa at the mall. He cried at first but I just put him right down on Santa's lap and he warmed up to him pretty quickly!


We took a trip to Hershey Park Candy Lane with my brother-in-law Mike and his girlfriend Amanda. It was a great night, despite the nasty weather and 90 minute drive there. Gavin really liked the lights and he got to ride on the merry-go-round and the choo-choo!! We got to see Santa's reindeer and drink yummy hot chocolate!

The next day we had all of Steven's brothers over to the house for pizza and wings. We all had so much fun!! That was the first time we've had everyone over to our house - Christopher had not been there in almost 10 years and his wife Christy had never been over. We played pool, watched home movies and shared great memories of our childhood and family. I hope we can make that a monthly thing because I really had a great time!




We made gingerbread cookies at my mom's house last Saturday and he LOVED eating all the frosting. We also went to a breakfast with Santa at my mom's coworker's church.. that really was a lot of fun! Gavin really liked Santa - he kept waving to him and blowing him kisses!! Gavin made some crafts with Shayna and Lucas - it's so neat seeing them all interact with one another.
On Sunday we went to Uncle Wayne and Aunt Donna's house to make our traditional clear toy lollipops, or as Gavin calls them, "pop-pops." That was a lot of fun, as always. Gavin probably ate a pound of sugar that day. He was up until 10:30 p.m. and only had a 30 minute nap around lunch time. He's been on a big lollipop kick lately so he was in heaven!!
Last night we went outside to play in the snow. Gavin doesn't have snow boots yet so we had to put him in his sneakers.. that should have been a Christmas present for him! He absolutely LOVED the snow and was laughing the entire time we were outside!


Work is going well.. things have slowed down a bit and I've finally been able to catch my breath. I am doing some work for our SWAN program, which has been a challenge, but at least it pays my mortgage! I seriously have the greatest co-workers - we have such a great team! Our office is in the process of hiring a new director, a man that I like and don't like for various reasons, but I pray he will be a good addition to Bethany!

On a personal note Steven and I are still trying to get pregnant. I didn't realize how badly I wanted to be pregnant until I found out a coworker of mine was pregnant. I keep going back and forth with "yes I am ready" "no I'm not ready" - and when she shared her news I got really upset. Please don't get me wrong, I am super excited for her and her husband, I know they will be great parents, and it wasn't like I was mad at her, but I wanted to be the one sharing that I was finally pregnant! I think I've been saying I'm not ready to be pregnant yet because that makes accepting the negative tests each month a little easier - if that makes sense. I had blood work done last Thursday to check my progesterone levels - this level will aid in learning if I am ovulating properly. I've not heard from the doctor yet with the test results but I am trying to wait patiently. I don't quite know what will happen if these levels are irregular.. I guess we will cross that bridge if we need to.

I don't know if I will post again before Christmas so I hope that everyone has a safe and happy holiday! I will be sure to post about our Christmas as soon as I can :-)

Love and blessings to all!!

long time no type!

Man - it's been three weeks since I've last written - that simply means I've been super super busy with work and personal stuff. Gavin's doing great!! He's learning more words and is becoming a very independent little boy! I can't believe how much fun he is - he just melts my heart with his handsome brown eyes!! We are hoping to take him to visit Santa sometime soon. Every time he sees Santa, whether it's on TV, at the mall, in a book, wherever, he just freaks out and gets so excited, it's adorable!! We've started Christmas shopping for him - it's so hard when you want to buy him so much stuff, but we're running out of room in our office and running out of money in our wallet :-) We are hoping to keep it simple for him this year, he already has so much stuff! We did buy him one of those Flintstones type cars that you drive and push around with your feet - he is always playing with the one at school - that will be his big gift under the tree!! I can't wait for Christmas - I'm like a little kid :-)

On a personal note things have been crazy - things at work have been a mess.. long story short - we had an adoption disrupt and it was awful. We've had three placements in the past week and a half, so we've just been insanely busy! I do really love my job and I love serving the Lord in the work I do - but there just comes a time when I need to vent and take some time off - so this holiday weekend could not have come at a better time! Thanksgiving on Thursday, then it's off to Rhode Island for Tracy and Artie's wedding!!!! I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am about their wedding and how excited I am for the two of them to finally finally be living in the same state!!! I am going to miss my hubby and Gavin while I'm gone, but I think it's going to be an awesome weekend :-)

I went to the doctor a couple of weeks ago because I've been having severely painful periods (TMI - sorry!) and I was concerned because Steven and I have been trying for about 6 months to get pregnant and we haven't... so I went and met with my OB-GYN. She told me I have dysmennoreha, which is a fancy words for extremely painful periods. I got a prescription to try and help with the cramping. The doc also ordered that I go back on day 21 or 22 of my cycle to have my progesterone level checked to make sure I'm ovulating properly, fine with me!!! She also wanted me to get an ultrasound just to make sure my uterus was "normal" - they had some concern about fibroids. Thankfully they were able to schedule my ultrasound that same day - I had to start chugging water immediately so I had a full bladder for the scan. I had about an hour to sit and think about what they may possibly find. I was so afraid that she may find something terrible and that would be the day she would tell me I would not be able to conceive another child.. you know how your mind wonders sometimes... well mine was just allllll over the place! The ultrasound tech was very nice through the whole procedure. She told me that she noticed a small cyst on the right side of my uterus and she thought it may be a hemorrhagic cyst, which often disburse on their own but that she would share the images with the doctor. I waited a week and hadn't heard anything from the doctor so I called and left a message for the doctor to call me as soon as possible.. I wanted to know what she found on the ultrasound images!! She called me back a couple hours later and said that their was a small collapsing cyst on the right ovary but it was simply evidence of ovulation. She wants me to come back and do a follow up ultrasound in three months if we are not pregnant by then. We've had a lot of babies born at work recently, and being around them and in the hospitals has made me realize that I really do want to have a baby sooner rather than later! A couple months ago I thought I wasn't ready but now I am - so silly!

On top of all the work junk and personal mess my mom calls me a week ago and tells me that my Grammie isn't doing too good. She said that her oxygen levels had dropped very low and her health was really declining. The hospice nurse was concerned that she wasn't going to be around much longer. I of course freaked out because my Grammie is my world! I planned to go and visit her the next night to say goodbye, if indeed the nurses were right. Gavin and I went to the nursing home where she is staying and as soon as she saw Gavin her face lit up!! My mom and aunt were there with her and my aunt said that she has been perkier in the last couple of hours than she has been in weeks! The nurses were also very pleased with her turn around - a huge surprise!! I hate to see my Grammie suffer and I told her while I was there that when she is ready to go and be with God then she can go - but I know that when that time comes I am going to be a total mess. I can't even type about it without crying.. oh my! Okay, I think I've wasted enough of everyone's time - and I need to get back to work! I hope everyone has a safe and happy Thanksgiving :-)

Super Bowl Saturday!

Saturday was a very busy day for Gavin and myself! Our first stop was a "meet the baby" party for my third cousin Nicholas. He was born in April but he and his family live in New Jersey so this was the first time our family got to meet him! He is so adorable and Gavin was very interested in him.. I think Gavin would make a great big brother ;-)
Our second stop was at my friend Christine's house for a jewelry party. It was so great to see her again.. I've not seen her since Gavin was 3 or 4 months old! She gave me a tour of her wonderful new house and it was great to be able to catch up! There were also others girls there from high school - what a great day it was seeing so many old friends! I was very proud of myself - despite all the jewelry being absolutely beautiful I didn't buy anything - we're on a tight budget for the holidays ;-) Our second stop was just lots of fun - Gavin was flirting with all the ladies, even going up to them and kissing their hands - he's a true ladies man ;-) I can't wait to see Christine again - even after all these years (we met in 1992 in 4th grade) she's still one of my greatest friends!
Stop #3 was back in Parkesburg - my nephew's football team, the Dolphins, made it to the super bowl and were playing the Vikings. My niece cheers for his team so Gavin and I went to watch Shayna cheer and Lucas play! I still can't get over how big they are - I can still remember their births so vividly!! Shayna is a great cheerleader and is the captain of her squad! Lucas played in most of their offensive plays and seems to really enjoy playing! Although they lost I think they really had a great time! Gavin just loved watching the football game and cheering with Shayna. She also liked hanging out with Grammie, Poppop, Uncle Chris and Uncle Drew!
Back to my parent's house for stop #4 - a small birthday celebration for my mom! I won't say how old she is because if she reads this she would kill me ;-) We had pizza and my dad bought her a cake and some ice cream. It was a great way to end such a jam-packed, eventful day! Gavin loved singing to his Grammie and he even helped her blow out the candle on her cake. My mom is truly wonderful and I wish we could have done more for her. If I had the money I'd sent her on an exotic trip somewhere she's always wanted to go - oh mom, I love you!!! Shayna stayed the night at my house Saturday night - what a big help she is with Gavin. As soon as Gavin woke up Sunday morning he was asking for Shayna. She hung out with us for most of Sunday until I had to take her back - I just love what a wonderful lady she's becoming :-) I'm such a proud aunt!!!

Okay, enough for now - time to get back to work - enjoy the photos from our Super Bowl Saturday!

HANDY MANNY!

Gavin dressed up as his favortie character for Halloween - Handy Manny from the Disney Channel. If you are not familiar with who he is - he's sort of like Bob the Builder but he's Spanish. He incorporates Spanish words into the show; he has tools that talk and help him around town with various jobs - it's super cute :-)

He had a Halloween parade at school and it was neat to see him dressed up with all of his friends. I was somewhat worried that there may be other Handy Mannys there but he was the only one!!! He did great in the parade walking around with his schoolmates. Everyone thought he looked adorable ;-)

We spent Halloween evening handing out candy to the trick-or-treaters in our development. We didn't take Gavin around to get candy - we thought it would be more fun for him to hand out the candy to all the other kids. He really enjoyed seeing everyone's costumes and giving them candy. He wasn't scared of any of the freaky costumes, so that was good!

Enjoy all the great photos of my adorable Handy Manny :-) It's hard to believe this was Gavin's 3rd Halloween already... man time flies!