merry!

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year from Mark, Beau, and me! 

a special birthday story

Happiest of birthdays to my sweet, kind, funny, goofy, loving husband Mark. I can't wait to see you squirm next year on your 30th birthday, but I hope you enjoy your 29th today! Thanks for always loving me, buying me food, and working hard to allow me to stay home with Beau. I love you! Happy Birthday!!!

One more thing...last year on this day, Mark got a rather unconventional gift. It was on his birthday last year that we found out we were pregnant! I am pretty sure I've told the story before, but here goes just for old time's sake.

I had just gotten out of the hospital (more of that story here) the night before and had worked a full day. Mark's dad had tickets to a Dallas Stars hockey game the night of his birthday so he stayed in Dallas to go to the game while I had the night to myself. I had pretty much talked myself out of any chance that we were pregnant because of everything that had happened at the ER the night before, but hours of boredom and obsession with pregnancy (I have developed that obsessive personality later in life) led me to try one of those cheap pregnancy tests that I already had on hand. I was going to the bathroom (TMI sorry, but details matter) when I thought, what the heck? I have these tests laying around, I might as well use another one since I'm bored. I took the test and walked out of the bathroom. I was really horrible at waiting on those things and never made it the full 3 minutes, so I walked back in to look at it about a minute later. That's when I saw the faintest second line on the test, one that I hadn't seen on the many tests I had taken before (again with that obsessive thing). A huge smile overtook me and my face got flushed while I giggled and thought this was crazy and it couldn't be true. I think I walked around saying "what?!" to myself over and over. I was still in denial (since the test at the ER the night before had been negative - it was a blood test, and should have been much more sensitive to HCG than a dollar store pregnancy test, but whatever) and quickly read the instructions on the test box. That's where it said "CORPUS LUTEUM CYSTS MAY CAUSE FALSE POSITIVES". 

...

Less than 24 hours had passed since I was discharged from the ER with a ruptured (corpus luteum - my diagnosis) cyst. My high came crashing down quickly. Crap! What did it mean?! I googled like crazy and came up with no answers (no surprise there). Finally I decided I would call the ER. Yes, that's a good idea. They were medical professionals. Maybe they could look up my chart from the night before and re-test my blood or something (there are two types of pregnancy blood tests; quantitative and qualitative. One says YES or NO to pregnancy, the other gives a numerical answer. If the HCG in your blood is over a normal level, you can be considered pregnant, while the YES/NO test would say NO at that number). So I did. I called the ER and talked to a nurse on duty. I explained the situation and he goes "No, you can never have a false positive". Hmm. I told him what the box said so he yelled to a doctor in the background and then goes "Oh, yeah, I guess you can have a false positive. I don't know what to tell you". Gah! They couldn't tell me anything about my blood because they had already thrown it out. I hung up without any answers. 

Meanwhile, Mark and his dad got back from the Stars game. I had always wanted to do something super special when I found out I was pregnant, but this was the weirdest situation and I didn't have the brain power to put something together, nor did I want to hype up the situation if it turned out to be a false positive. I made nervous small talk when his dad dropped him off and then let him get settled a bit at home before I gave him the news. I remember it perfectly...we were in the kitchen and I started stammering "Umm soo...you know that cyst I have? Well, sometimes they can, like, release HCG and they, like, can, ummm, make pregnancy tests be wrong and ummm, I know they tested me at the ER and it said negative but umm I don't really know what to think because ummmm, I took two tests tonight and ummm...they were both positive. butidon'tknowifit'srealornot." hahaha I think Mark heard "I'm pregnant" even though I didn't say it and his eyes got huge and a smile wiped across his face. Seriously, he was SO excited. He goes "You're pregnant?!" and I said "I don't know." and we hugged! The rest of the night was spent with me talking his ear off about the whole crazy scenario. 

I went on to have two blood tests over the next (excrutiatingly long - it was Christmas!) week (plus I took about 7 more tests) to figure out if I was pregnant or not and, well, we all know how that turned out! It is such a fun memory for me and I hope Mark always remembers it as a special birthday because of the news we received. :)

beau andrew | 12, 13, and 14 weeks

I am a little behind in posting these, but here's my baby! He's growing up wayyyyy too fast, but we love him anyway!

just for kicks, giggles, and my own pleasure:

the progression of seeing an old friend:

:)

xoxo

babes in toyland

I am LOVING Christmas with a baby, and he's only 3 months old! I cannot wait for the years to follow, it can only get better!

I've just started our collection of Christmas jammies (which of course will never fit him again) and I'm trying to soak in as much Christmas as I can. Here's what I've captured so far!

(my favorite gift under the tree!)

And last but not least; this year's ornament! Mark has driven a Mini Cooper for the last 5 years and we are planning to sell it in the next couple of months. I found this Rudolph Mini Cooper ornament and knew it was fate! It's my new favorite ornament!

(and p.s. - if anyone is looking for a super cute and super cool car for a great price, email me! ;) )

forgotten Thanksgiving and life lately

I'm taking TONS of pictures these days and I can't seem to keep up with them! Here are some that I forgot to include in my first holiday post...

My sister's son Noah has his birthday on November 27th. He was born on Thanksgiving that year and of course, his birthday always falls on or around the holiday. This year, we were making the hour drive to my sister's house on the 26th and the 28th for Thanksgiving celebrations, so we decided to give Noah his gifts early on Thanksgiving day. He couldn't argue with that! 

We got REALLY creative with our wrapping...

He realizes what it is:

Gatorade!!!! hahahah yes, Gatorade was what he wanted so Gatorade is what he got!

We also got him a net so he could practice hockey and soccer. I didn't get any pictures of it set up but Mark worked up a sweat playing with him!

My parents gave him this super-intense K'nex set so we spent most of the day helping him set that up. Beau enjoyed it too!

His other grandparents had taken him to Medieval Times the day before so he was showing us his gear.

My dad is the goofiest and the MOST fun. I caught him 'knighting' Noah in this shot.

Then chaos broke out.

So that was the rest of our Thanksgiving.

Home life has been great so far! I feel like Beau and I have really come into our own, established a schedule, and are beginning to have more fun. We do tummy time multiple times a day and I always try to bring out all of the different blankets that he has (there are at least 15!) He got this one from Mark's company after he was born. It's so soft!

I've been working on his baby book. I love looking back at mine and reading the various stories my parents have about me so I'm trying to keep up with it! I want to be able to look back and know when his first laugh was or when he rolled over first. 

Beau's first time wearing jeans!

All giggles in Nana's kitchen.

When Mark goes out of town for work, we typically stay at my parent's house for the night. This was no exception! Beau gets spoiled and is usually on his best behavior.

He is looking more and more like a big boy every day! I loved this outfit but Mark was not a fan and changed him out of it later in the day! He said he looked too big. I thought he looked comfy and cute! haha

A new WalMart opened down the street from us (I know...I don't usually shop there but sometimes I do!) so we are getting used to the Ergo. Hands-free is great for me and Beau loves it!

We picked up some new shades at WalMart! He loves them!

Chunky baby! Right now I am working with him on grasping toys. He's so close!

My friend and former roommate Kelly mailed Beau this super cute book for an early Christmas present! (at least, I assume I was allowed to open it early!) 

I snagged this very...interesting....face and it's a new favorite. I  crack up every time I see it!

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree...Fuzzy's date with my two boys!

Now you're all (mostly) caught up! Happy Monday!