Pumpkins!

So we tracked down some pumpkins, it wasn't easy since we waited until the day before Halloween BUT daddy pulled through and found some:) We then came home and had a little photo shoot with said pumpkins before mama and daddy carved them up!

Creepy Hotel, Farmer's Market, Awesome Park and Mimi & Aunt Ashie!

So last weekend MG and I left town around 1:00 and headed to Springfield, IL to meet Mimi and Aunt Ashie.  That's about the 1/2 way mark between us and they HAD to see this girl!  She's growing and changing so much from month to month that going from the beginning of October until Thanksgiving is just too long.  We had a lot of fun and we're definitely planning on doing it again.  We stayed in a semi-creepy hotel (no pics of that) it wasn't a bad hotel, it was in downtown Springfield right across from the governor's mansion, just old and therefore kinda creepy.  I'm sure the scary movies I was watching by myself weren't helping the cause any:)  Saturday morning we went to a really cool farmer's market and got some great produce. Next, the girls took me shopping, since I HATE shopping for myself and found (and bought) me a few new much needed outfits, YAY!  Then we just hung out, it was great!  Sunday we got up and went to a really awesome park and let Mary Grace play on the swings for the first time (great idea, Ash) and she LOVED them!  It was so fun to see her sweet face light up while playing!  Then it was breakfast, Target and time to hit the road.  I'm so grateful for the time we got to spend together, it's so important for Mary Grace to know these very important women in my life!  Enjoy the pics from our fun weekend!

Such a happy girl after her bath:)

Playing with Mimi and Aunt Ashie before bed.

Such a sweet face!

All the girls!

Swinging is FUN!

I LOVE the swings!

Wow, look at me!

Getting pushes from Mimi

The slide is AWESOME too!

I LOVE Aunt Ashie!

And she Skypes' too!!

Since we're so far from family and friends it's nice to let them (mostly Ashley and my mom aka Mimi) see MG live!  That way they can see how she's moving and talking and playing and growing!  Mary Grace is pretty animated with it too, she totally puts on a show... when she wants to!  Here are a few pics of MG skyping with Aunt Ashley and Uncle Jeremy.  If you want in on the MG skype action just let me know!

I had to add this one because they have the same face! LOL

And she eats, like actually eats! Food! Not boob food, real food!

So we started MG on food last weekend.  Am I a horrible mom that twice this week I've forgotten that we started and didn't feed her?  I mean of course I fed her, just not real food, boob food.  She doesn't complain and let's be honest, after working all day and playing and snuggling I just forgot.  Oh well, I'll work harder next week.  Anyway.  She did sooo well!  We started with avocado and have since tried banana and butternut squash.  The avocado and banana were pretty chunky, I figure it'll make for an easier transition to full on table food.  She did awesome with it, opened her mouth for more, picked pieces up off her tray and generally loved it!  And the homemade food is soooo easy!  Plus with her being a little older we won't do purees for long, pretty soon it'll be chunkier and chunkier and then just what we're eating.  That's cause I'm lazy;) Here are a few eating pics, cause lets face it, we all love babies with food on their faces!

Shout Out!

So my awesome sister has started a new project and a blog to go with it.  It's a great blog that journals her struggles and successes with her journey to a healthier life!  I'm so proud of her!! Check it out!

http://www.tomorrowstartshere.blogspot.com/

6 months! Really?! 6 months?

So, the title says it all! Our sweet Mary Grace, or as Tracy put it "our new baby" is no longer that! She's a big 6 month old! She's doing so much, talking up a storm, ba ba, ma ma, da da, and many other syllables she's stringing together.  Rolling all over the place, sitting, trying to pull up and getting on all fours.  I really can't believe how quickly it's going by.  As I sat in her room nursing her tonight I got tears in my eyes, my baby is growing and changing every day and soon she won't be a baby anymore!  We're soaking up every moment and know how incredibly blessed we are.  Here are a few pics of our 1/2 year old;)

The Unlucky Lucky...

So I was reading another blog tonight, friend of a friend type thing.  This poor couple has been going through the whole miserable infertility and road to a baby for quite some time, probably around the time we started trying for MG.  I think about them often, I guess because they're going through the same struggles we were, there's a connection even if you don't know the person.  So I was just dropping in to check on her (kind of a stalker, not in a bad way) and I read that she got a BFP! That's big fat positive for those of you who don't speak the lingo.  YAY! So exciting, but then I keep reading and it seems things aren't going well, not sure if the pregnancy is going to last, and then I tear up.  And then it hits me, I'm so lucky.  Truly.  Okay, sure, it was hell going through what we had to, there were some rough years in there with no baby in our arms but look at us now.  Blessed.  We traveled a rocky road but we came out on top, we got the grand prize!  We are the LUCKY ones.  Not everyone who travels this road gets to the finial destination, some just keep trucking along hoping upon hope, failed attempt after failed attempt.  Those on the outside may ask, "why keep going" those are typically the ones holding their little ones safely in their arms.  They can't possibly understand.  Moving forward is just that, moving.  Working toward a goal no matter how hopeless it may seem.  So to those unlucky ones, those who have tried time and time again with no little one in their arms, I am praying for you.  You are not alone.  Infertility is the worst kind of pain and I wish it upon no one.  We are the lucky ones.