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8 May 2012

RJ’s new table.

Posted by Amanda. 1 Comment

For Easter we borrowed the Robinson’s small table for the kids to eat at…well I am terrible at returning things right after I use them and of course it was in my house for a few weeks after Easter. RJ decided that this was his new table! I would give him a snack and then he would walk right over to it, put his snack on the table and proceed to sit down like a big boy and eat his snack at the table. Well I happened upon them at Costco one day and had to get him one. He just LOVES it. Of course he likes to take his snacks to it…and immediately dump them out and then eat them.

7 May 2012

Garden.

Posted by Amanda. 1 Comment

Rob built me this awesome garden box…which is now full of yummy veggie plants! My Mom was over and whenever she’s here it always leads to trouble…..let’s just say she “taught” RJ how to drink out of the hose….

6 May 2012

A rough start to 2012.

Posted by Amanda. 5 Comments

I’ve been thinking about blogging this for months now and I just haven’t had the emotional will power to do it. I’ve thought about a million things I want to say/write down for journaling purposes but I’m not sure I ever will be able to convey the thoughts and emotions I have felt. As I start to write this my heart beat is increasing already.

I have to start by saying 2011 ended better than we ever could have imagined. We were pregnant with baby #2. And not just pregnant but we were able to get pregnant on our own…no doctor’s appointments, no drugs, no blood work and tests…nothing…just the normal way most people get pregnant. I was so completely shocked. I had no idea how to experience finding out I was pregnant without everything I’ve been through in the past. To say I was excited would be a complete understatement. I felt so full of joy and excitement, to think, we were going to have a baby and we did it all on our own! I was so proud of my body for being able to do this!!! I felt a little more sick this time around but still wanted to keep things quiet. We decided to tell our families at Christmas time…I was about 9 weeks. I took a pic of RJ and framed it for the Grandparents, it was just adorable! Our families were ecstatic! Again, we asked for them to keep it within the family for now. I had my first doctor’s appt. the first week of January so I wanted to wait until then.

We decided to go visit the Cash family for New Year’s and had such a fun time! The night before we were to leave, January 1st we were playing games when I had to use the restroom…I was feeling really sick. I went to go and as I looked down my worst nightmare had come to pass, there was blood. It was still dark but more than you would want to see. Rob had noticed blood on the blanket I was sitting on and came to check on me. Those moments will always be frozen in my mind…I felt like time stopped. I couldn’t breathe, think or move. I had no idea what to do. April came to check on me and I just couldn’t even believe what was happening. She was so strong and supportive and kept telling me that it might be nothing. I laid down for the rest of the night and cried. I stopped bleeding after that but every time I would use the restroom there was dark brown blood streaks. I hardly slept that night. I just remember pleading with my Heavenly Father for support and for this baby to be ok. The next morning was the same thing…nothing much going on, no cramping and not much blood at all. We decided to drive home that night so that RJ would sleep and so that I could just rest all day. We drove home that night and nothing new was happening. That next morning was my appt. I had called my Mom the day before and she came over and was waiting for us so that she could help with RJ and watch him when we went to the doctor.

The minute I walked into the doctor’s I told them what was going on. The front desk girl told me the ultrasound tech was getting ready to leave but they would get me in right away to see what was going on. I look back and I’m amazed at how well I held it together. I didn’t cry during the ultrasound, even though they told me the baby was measuring only 7 weeks and as I watched that screen I knew, my baby wasn’t moving. The tech was so nice and kept telling me that my date might be off and it might be too early, etc. We then went to wait for the doctor. He came right in and was instantly sympathetic. He explained that the baby was small, there was no movement but again I could be off on my date. He told me that it was hard to say but he was pretty sure I was in the process of miscarrying the baby. He gave us our options…wait and see if my body will do it or schedule a d&c. I was just in shock so we decided to go home, see what happens and wait for my blood work. The blood work would tell us if my date was wrong and what we should be seeing in the ultra sound. We talked about how I have been pregnant three times with only one successful and how the baby was growing but stopped at 7 weeks. There is no way to know why that happened but he suggested that next time around I should take progesterone, a hormone to support the baby until the placenta takes over. He said that sometimes the body thinks the placenta is ready to take over when really it isn’t. He told me that usually they start this when a woman has miscarried three times but that he thinks we should be proactive, which I totally was up for! Anything I can do to try and avoid this again sounds good to me. That night I went home and the bleeding and cramping worsened, I was miscarrying. Unfortunately it decided to stop again. My doctor…who is amazing…called me personally the next morning to check on me and to tell me that my blood work showed that the baby should be bigger and that there should be movement. When I told him I was bleeding and stopping, bleeding and stopping he said we needed to do the d&c. The next day I went in. Luckily they put you under and within a few hours we were home. It was definitely less painful compared to miscarrying on your own.

The days following are such a blur to me. Life seemed to stop…except of course when it came to RJ. I didn’t talk to hardly anyone for weeks, I cried more than I ever have before, I hated going to bed at night…I would do everything in my power to put it off. I would watch tv until the wee hours while Rob slept and hoped and prayed it would be easier to close my eyes and sleep but it wasn’t. During the day I was busy with RJ and loving him but at night I was alone and my mind would race. I cried myself to sleep for a long, long time. Goodness, there are still nights I do. Friends have asked if this time was harder than last and honestly I feel like they were both hard for different reasons. I try so hard to be strong and not question “why me” but I do it and of course I have no answer. I have lost two babies and I will forever feel an emptiness in my hear for them. I feel so empty some days…physically and emotionally. I am constantly thinking about how far along I would be and I ache inside to see that baby bump and feel that baby move inside of me.

We have been able to try now for two months and I have been using the ovulation sticks and nothing has shown up, no ovulation for two months straight. It drives me crazy. I just can’t stop thinking about getting pregnant. I was going to wait 4 months before calling my doc but I decided that I just can’t emotionally take it any longer. I called and they gave me clomid again. I pray that it will work. They always say that after you miscarry you are more fertile but trust me, that is not always true. I feel like it makes me not ovulate. I try with all of my might to not think about getting pregnant but I can’t help it, it is always on my mind.

The month of January was so hard for me. I completely shut down in some ways. I apologize to those who have felt the distance from me. I promise, it’s not you…it’s me. There are days and situations I just have to turn away and shut down to protect myself emotionally, nobody can understand this unless they have experienced this. It’s hard to see others pregnant and know that I am not but I am still so, so happy for them. Having a baby is such a miracle and I hope that everyone knows that. I know I will have my hard days but luckily I have more good than bad. I get frustrated with myself when I let the anger overcome me and I try with all of my might to not let that happen but I’m only human and sometimes it happens.

I don’t really know how to end this. I never intended it to be this long but for journaling purposes I’m sure I will one day look back and be glad that I wrote this all down. There are so many more emotions and things I want to say but I can’t even put them into words. I do have to thank my Mom for her love and support and for helping with RJ and for taking care of me. I have to thank April for being such an amazing friend. She was there for me from the beginning, she called me often and let me cry when I needed to. April, you will always hold such a special place in my heart.

This is the picture we took of RJ….I love him so much I can’t even handle it. I’m so grateful for him and for Heavenly Father blessing me with him, I love being a Mom and hope and pray that I will be one again. At this point hope and prayer is all I have to keep me moving forward.

Forgive me if this post sounds crazy, I can’t go back and read it so what you see is what you get. lol

29 Apr 2012

“Say please.”

Posted by Amanda. 2 Comments

I have tried many times to get RJ to do the basic signs…please, more, etc. But he would NEVER do it. Finally I just gave up and decided that it wasn’t something he was interested/ready to do. Well just the other day I randomly decided to try again…and guess what, he now says please! It is so nice to have a new way to communicate with him. He is growing and learning new things all of the time and it can be frustrating for the both of us when he can’t fully communicate what he wants/needs. I’m hoping that by learning one sign he will be interested in more! Now he does make us laugh because we tell him, say please, and he will do it the right way…or do it with both hands…or jump up and down and wave both hands all over his chest…he has a few variations he likes to use! It’s pretty funny. And he is so proud of himself when he does it! I guess he just wasn’t ready to learn them when I first tried teaching him. I see younger kids doing them and I would sometimes get bummed that RJ wouldn’t do it and I knew that part of it was me just letting it go but now I realize that he wasn’t ready and I can’t force him to do something he doesn’t want to do. Raising a toddler is definitely something that a book can not really teach you, you have to go with what your child needs and there are many days where I am just figuring it out as I go along and hoping that I am doing the best that I can. Motherhood is definitely not an easy job but I love it and would not trade it for anything!

22 Apr 2012

Show Low with friends.

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Our super nice friends the Jensen’s invited us up to Show Low with them. It was a fun weekend spent enjoying the cooler weather! We really didn’t do much…which was the best part! haha. RJ had so much fun with the kids and I had fun getting to know the girls better.

We went on a little nature walk…look at RJ’s face in the bottom left picture…hilarious!!!

I know there are a ton of pictures of RJ but I was just trying to get one good one of him out in the woods and that basically led to me chasing him around…and I had a few helpers! haha.

Roasting hot dogs around the fire…thanks to Josh and his mad roasting skills! I tried helping RJ with his hot dog but he decided that he’s a big boy and took the entire thing from my hands and just walked around while he ate it all by himself! And RJ decided to show off his belly! haha.

Someone has some curls going on….looks like we will just let that hair grow out a bit!

 

9 Apr 2012

Easter.

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We invited both families over for Easter this year…I took a bunch of pictures of the Easter egg hunt and that’s about it! haha. It was a nice, relaxing evening with lots of yummy food! We love spending time with our families!

Right before church I tried to get a few pics of RJ all dressed up and let’s just say it was not easy…

25 Mar 2012

Should I be worried?

Posted by Amanda. Comments Off

RJ loves to play with his blocks.

And he uses them in many ways.

Even the bag is used for more than just storing the blocks.

Should I be worried about this? hahaha.

He thought he was so funny…and he was!

18 Mar 2012

What is that??

Posted by Amanda. Comments Off

One stormy day we were getting ready for church and all of a sudden we heard a pounding on the roof…yep, it was hail…in March!? Rob insisted I take a picture…so this is for you babe!