Year In Review

 Dennis and I have had a CRAZY, FUN, UNEXPECTED, WILD ride to say the least for the year 2010. I believe it deserves a post. :D (It's a long one, but so has been our year!)

January:

Dennis ran a FULL marathon in Disney world. I admired him greatly for his stamina to do something so crazy.

School:

I started my official student teaching placement:

 

Fertility

Then we started fertility drugs to try to have a baby……….

 

February:

Not too much happened that was worth photographing in February, but there was a ton happening behind the scenes. We drew up the plans to begin our addition on the house. It would add a bigger living room, and another big bedroom, bathroom, and closet to our space.

Fertility:

We took our second dose of the fertility drug, Clomid with no luck.

 

March:

Addition:

We broke ground to install the plumbing, etc for our bathroom. Not pretty, but necessary! :D

Fertility:

We continued our third dose on the fertility drug, with no luck, to be our last. We decided that we would consider the possibility of adoption.

April-

Photography-

The season got off to a strong start.

 

The addition

This got a slow start because we had record amounts of snow fall early this year that postponed a great deal. So, this is the actual pipe that supplies water to our sink in our bathroom.

Fertility

We took ONE pill this month before officially deciding that we did not want to continue on the fertility drug path. (We conceived our son at the end of this month but we did not know it until a couple of weeks later).

May

May was especially crazy for us!

I graduated from Radford University!!! This was such a praise! I am so glad that I finally made it! Before graduating, Dennis and I decided that I would be home and not pursue a job. The decision for us came after a long time of debating, praying, etc. God revealed that this was the path that we were to be on regardless if I was a mother or not. We submitted ourselves to his direction. (for good reason, we soon came to find out)

UPS Promotion:

Dennis found out that he would be promoted to inbound supervisor starting at the end of May that would have him wake and be at work at 3:00a.m. YES, 3am! and work until 12:30 or so. This was true evidence of God's providence because he needed all the daylight he could get to be working on our addition.

Later, he was promoted AGAIN to dispatcher. How awesome that God provides for all of our needs before we even knew HOW MUCH we need them.

Fertility:

5 days after my graduation date, we learned:

WE ARE FINALLY PREGNANT!!!!! After waiting and praying, and crying, and waiting, and waiting for THREE years, God finally saw fit for us to be parents!!!!

 

June:

Fertility:

7 weeks baby:

Progress was still being made on the addition but I did not capture it on camera.

July:

Addition:

Baby: 10 weeks

August:

We took a much needed break to Florida. We had a nice time there. It was a very quiet month for us.

Baby:  IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!!

September:

Photography:

Picking up the pace even more…….

 

'

 

Baby at 20 weeks:

Addition:

We enjoyed our deck in the month of September! :) It stayed warm for the entire month!

our bedroom:

our living room:

Sad News:

My beloved pawpaw died early in the month of September. We miss him tremendously! :(

 

October:

Addition: COMPLETE!

living room:

dining room: 

'

hall going to bedroom:

bedroom: bathroom:

Photography:

Remained in FULLLLL swing!!!

November:

Baby Showers: GALORE!

 

Baby Daniel:

33 weeks: more construction begins on his room!!!

December:

33-37 weeks:

Baby Room: COMPLETE!!

The year has gone by so fast! We have had such a packed busy year! God has been glorified through his testimony in the working of our lives.

Now, we have two more weeks to wait (or less, or more) and NEXT years year in review will be packed with such a new way of living, I am sure it will blow us away. I look forward to 2011. Thanks for reviewing our year.

We love you guys and appreciate you for reading our blog. Happy New Year!

Update

We went to the dr. yesterday and everything checked out normal. I no longer show signs of pre-eclampsia. The baby was monitored for a few minutes and that checked out perfect as well. :)

Praise God. Our baby gets to bake for just a little while longer.

37 weeks Update

 

This is a picture of me in the new baby room for my 37 week photo.

I went to the doctor today.

Everything is looking OKAY, but they found some protein in my urine. (sorry this if this is much TMI) So, as a precautionary measure, they drew some blood and is making me collect all of my urine for 24 hours. The fear is of pre-eclampsia. They will then meet with me on Wednesday (this Wednesday) and go over the results.

My blood pressure was good (100/60) which is great news and a good sign when dealing with this kind of thing. I am having some swelling, but no other big deal signs that point to this being a problem.

We are hoping for a good report on Wednesday, but if not, we might be meeting Daniel a little bit early. :)

He is full term this week so anytime he comes now is considered to be a developmentally safe time to enter the world. We are praying for discernment as to what to do if we have to make decisions on whether to go early or not IF we are even given the option or if there is even a need.

Thanks for keeping in check with us!!!

Our White Christmas

 

This picture was taken from Paul & Jill's window. It was a beautiful blanket of snow.

The below pictures were taken Christmas Eve night at my dad and Sheila's house.

Dennis was being a goof. Love his pregnant belly?!?! :)

I thought that this picture below was pretty neat. The WHOLE family was piled on top of each other in the same room.

This is my dad, Sheila, my brother Greg, my sister Bethany and myself.

Christmas morning with Kyndall and Greg.

I gave my mom a scrapbook for Christmas.

That afternoon we went to Paul and Jill's (Dennis' brother and sister in law) He tried on some clothes.

  

This is one of our Christmas gifts. It is a Canon Power Shot bought specifically for ease of taking pictures when Daniel gets here.

                    We had a nice Christmas.

My 25th birthday

 

 

For my birthday, we went to Outback Steakhouse. My mom and Lynn joined us and then Greg and Kyndall came along too. It was a fun evening! We had a delicious dinner and dessert. It is so weird to say that I am in my MID-20's now. :)

 

The bloomin' onion was delicious! It was the main reason I chose this restaurant.

 

And dessert…. I love the eager baby belly ready to enjoy it……..

 

silly hubby…………..

 

Our birthday tradition… whipped cream on the nose…

  

We thought this was funny. What you are seeing is my baby belly extending WAYYY out and this cup coaster saying: "Don't be Shellfish, Share your coconut shrimp!" We thought it had interesting humor. Look at that belly.. WOW. :D S

Christmas photos will be up soon! :)