FaMiLy DaY!!

Today we had a "family day" because I have barely been able to see my husband all week and was missing him.  Sunday I worked, Monday Dave took Mia to the doctor while I went with Pam to her doctor appt., Tuesday Pam was in labor and had Liam and Wednesday I worked all day.  So needless to say I only saw Dave in passing and I was really sad.  Dave was going on 3-4 hours of sleep per night, keeping Mia all through the day and driving out of his way to drop her off at Meme and Poppy's house and then going to work and working hard all night just so I could go and do all of the things I needed to do.  I am married to such an amazing man.  Yes, we fight and argue like most all married couples, but at the end of the day, we are best friends til the end!  He sacrifices everything he has in order for us to have what we need/want and doesn't complain.  I love him very much and feel truly blessed to have him all to myself!!

This morning when Mia woke up we picked up the house a little bit, went to the grocery, had the car washed and picked lunch up for daddy all while he was getting his well deserved sleep. When we got home we woke him up, had lunch and then ran some errands.

Watching the car go through the car wash...

My spiffy ride!

We went to a bridal consignment store to drop off my wedding dress and two brides maid dresses since we are trying this whole "simplifying life" thing!  Then we dropped Dave off to tan and Mia and I went to the neighborhood WalMart to get CHOCOLATE animal crackers! YUM!

Eating her chocolate animal cracker!

only found at "neighborhood" walmart's!

getting his tan on!

After that we went and bought Mia some more bows, as if she needs them, and then finished up by giving the dogs very needed baths!

Diesel and Tyson

Tys...

Diesley...

After daddy went to work Mia and I ate dinner and packed a few more boxes for the move!  She had mixed veggies, a grilled cheese (which she spit out EVERY bite haha), and mango baby food.

Silly girl!

Helping mommy pack!

Now Mia is sound asleep from her busy day and mommy is getting ready to go lay in bed and watch Grey's Anatomy.  I truly enjoyed our family day!

Oh, one other thing...

I have a family that is weighing heavily on my heart tonight as they are fighting for their son's life.  They are being faced with many tough decisions that pertain to his life.  I, as a nurse, understand completely, but me as a mom, want to cry for them as I don't have a clue what I would do in that situation.  All I know is that God is good all the time and that prayers truly work.  You all know Mia's odds were stacked AGAINST her too, but she is here and healthy.  So could you please just say a prayer for them tonight?!  Help them to praise God even through this storm...

LIAM IS HERE!!

Pam and I before Liam's arrival

Mia's husband has officially ARRIVED!  Beautiful blonde babe weighing in at 6 lbs and 9 ounces, 19 inches long, HEALTHY!  Praise the Lord!!  Oh, by the way, we had a little guessing game of his weight and length before he arrived and guess what I predicted??  6-9 and 19 inches!!  YEAH, I'm that good!! LOL
Anyway,  I was able to be present in the room when he was born and also gave him his first bath!

Liam Andrew

Daddy and baby ♥

The new momma and her new favorite ;)

Today was an amazing day.  I got to witness a miracle from God and see a family's life change right before my eyes.  I may do this everyday for a living, but it never gets old.  Of course, a job is a job and you don't always want to go, but how is this not the BEST job if you get to choose?  I think it means even more to me now that I am a mommy myself.  Before Mia, I thought I loved my dogs more than ANYTHING and that there was no WAY I could possibly love a child more than them HAHAHAHA!!!  Wow, I didn't even know God could put that much love in your heart.  And, you know what is even crazier is that God loves us EVEN MORE than we love our children and that is just to hard for my human brain to fathom!  Anyway, I am so incredibly happy for them!  Congratulations Pam and Damon!  We love you!

So after seeing all of that, that REALLY made me miss my lovey A LOT!  When I got home I just hugged her and kissed all over her beautiful little face!  She is so amazing!  I know I say it a lot but I am truly blessed and I am so thankful!

Today was a great day!

Busy weekend and an Anniversary Celebration...

So to catch you all up to speed, Friday I worked all day, blah, blah, blah and came home and went to bed.  No time to blog after a 12 hour shift!  Saturday we got up early, had an appraiser come to our house to, obviously, appraise it haha, then we packed up some more boxes, took them to storage and then went to mom's house to get the Yard sale stuff in some kind of order.  We actually had a lot of fun going through the stuff because mom kept some of my junk and I found some awesome, HUGE, black framed glasses without the lenses of my brothers that I wanted! LOL!  Have you ever seen the kid on the Sandlot movie with the big black glasses?   Now, picture me in them all day!  I was cracking up all day!  We have pics, but guess what?  They are on mom's camera since mine is STILL lost!!  Anywho, Dave also found a Jamaican, Bob Marley type hat/wig thing.  He decided he was going to wear that all day too!  He kept flipping his hair back and then eventually it got hot and he asked me for a ponytail holder!  We were a hot mess Saturday! 

Saturday night we went out to eat with Toni, Dave and Dave's brother Steve to El Nopal.  Everyone has been really stressed out and just needed a night to "chillax" as I like to call it.

Toni, Dave and Steve

My dinner!

Mia's dinner!  Healthy guacamole!

silly girl!

Dave with his "Tall" beverage!

That brings me to today.  One year ago today our beautiful baby blessing was discharged home from the NICU.  As you all probably know already, she had a very rough start with a grim prognosis.  She had what the doctors called "one in a million" type of deals with only a 20% survival rate.  Well 17 days in the intensive care unit, my baby girl was ready to come home to her momma and daddy!  PRAISE JESUS!!  On

April 25, 2009 Dave, mom, dad, Ben and I all went to the hospital to pick up princess Mia and bring her home.  We were so excited we all had to go shopping for new outfits and we made reservations to eat at our favorite sushi place for that night.  So we have now made it tradition to go to the same restaraunt EVERY year on April 25.  To me, this day is probably more important and meaningful than her birthday.  Her birthday brings back so many scary memories that I don't like to think about, BUT this day only brings back feelings of joy, happiness, relief and excitement! 

So today we ate sushi!

♥My perfect little blessing♥

up close!

Dad and Mom take 1....

Take 2...

Take 3...

Finally!  My #1 supporters, my family!

Toni and Dave take 1...

Take 2...

GOT IT!  Thanks Dave!

Daddy and his special girl!

Kisses!

The momma and the daddy!

Cute of Mia!

Wore out from all of the excitement!

Oh, and today Mia got her 8th tooth!  YAY! 

Mia Camille, you are my pride and joy, my light, my rock, my sunshine, my saving grace.  You are the reason I breathe and the reason my heart beats.  Without you I would be nothing.  You are my world and I thank God for you every single day, multiple times throughout the day.  I love you more than you could ever know.  I just hope and pray that I can make you half as happy as you have made me.  I can't wait for you to experience this crazy love, also known as a "mothers love" one day.  I would do anything on earth for you and I do mean ANYTHING!  This past year has been the BEST of my life BY FAR!  I can't wait to spend MANY more amazing years with you!  I love you so much beautiful little princess!

God thank you so much for this amazing gift!  I am forever grateful!

Doctor appt and zoo with friends!

First thing this morning I went to Pam's doctors appointment with her because like I mentioned before, I'm the next best thing after Damon!  Today we were hoping for news of an induction in the VERY near future, but no such luck.  We were bummed, but Liam will come when he's ready and when God knows it's safe for him to come out!  We just have so much anxiety and anticipation to see the little monkey!!

After the doctor appt I came home and picked up Dave and Mia so we could go to my parents house and sign a form for the house and fax it back to our real estate agent (we don't have a fax machine haha).  While we were there we saw our "future" room we will be staying in.  It looks great!  My family is so great, I think they may love me, not quite sure, but I THINK they do ;)  On our way home we stopped at Arby's to get some food.  Which by the way, I ate very healthy!

"I'm thinkin Arbys!"

My big lovey♥

Napping in the drive through

As soon as we got the food in the car, this is what I saw ;)

"please no more pictures mom!"

We went home, ate, took a little nap and then headed to the zoo with Cristal, Jaelyn, Pam and Damon!  Cristal and I meet there all the time and Pam wanted to try and walk Liam out!!  Soon she will be going with us pushing a stroller herself!

On the way to the zoo, a tea for me and a frosty for her!

my beauty!

 

Pam and Damon in front of the "monkey" exhibit!  ♥them!

Mommy and Mia!

It was another great day!  Now I'm gonna pack some more and hang out with my most favorite :)

work, work, work...

Yesterday was ROUGH!!  Dave and I have decided to give our 2 little yorkies away because of the lack of time and attention they receive.  This decision was one of the hardest decisions I've made.  We had those dogs for 3 and 4 years, they were our babies!  However, since having Mia their quality time with us has been greatly reduced and they aren't used to that.  So we had to stop being selfish and give them a better life.  We found a younger girl who LOVED the dogs and wants to spoil them!  Her name is Ashley and I love her for this.  She even promised to text me, send pics of them to me and promised that I could visit whenever I wanted!  Now, with this being said, don't think I didn't cry ALL day and struggle with this decision right up until the moment we dropped them off. 

Before we dropped them off I went to eat lunch with my twin, my other best friend Toni!  She is going through a lot right now with her family and I was stressed as well so we just needed to "get away" and relax and talk!  We are SO much alike it's scary! 

Our fave food-SUSHI!

YUMMY!

My love being bashful ;)

Oh and Toni also brought me a "relaxing" present to help me get through the dog thing...thank the Lord because I needed it!  BUT, not only did I need that, I needed my husband, my rock, to go with me.  I needed to have a support team present because that is a HARD thing to do!  Have you ever had to do something like that, where you knew it was the best thing to do, but for selfish reasons you didn't want to?  Have a dog(s) that is like a family member?

So, I did it, it's over!  I feel a sense of relief, but also empty.  I miss their annoying little habits and their stinky little kisses!  However I have already texted with Ashley multiple times and she says they are doing great and that she has already went shopping for them!  I can't wait to see them again!  Annie and Gunner, I love you forever and mommy misses you so, so much!

 

**********Change of subject***********

I was going to start by saying "Today I HAD to get up and go to work" but I thought about it for a second and I should rephrase that and say "Today I was priveleged enough to wake up and see my family and go to my job and eat and drink and see the sun shining!"  Praise Jesus!  It was a busy day today but you know what made it great day?  Dave brought Mia up to work to see me and have lunch with me!  We even got to sit outside and eat!

With all of the stress that life brings, there is always good in the end, a light at the end of the tunnel.  You can't see it while you are going through it, but in the end it will click and you will say "AHA, thats why God did that! Man He's amazing!"  I know I don't always practice what I preach because if you ask any of my friends they will tell you I am the biggest stressing, hypochondriac, worry wart, freaking out ball of anxiety!  But I can tell you that I try harder and harder every day and that is what counts! 

Were Moving!

We sold our house about a week ago in order to move closer to my parents.  We moved father away from them to begin with in order to get closer to Dave's work, but once you have a baby you REALLY need your parents!  At least I do anyway.  Since Mia has been born, my mom and I have gotten even closer than before, she is my best friend, my confidant, my support, my everything! 

Momma and Me

Anyway, packing is so tiring.  Have you ever tried to pack with your 12 month old?  Well if not, this is what is looks like....

She had to help mommy clean out the fridge!

"I don't wanna move mom!"

All that packing can wear a girl out!

Even with a 12 month old, I still managed to get all of this done!  Never underestimate the power or motivation of a woman!

Tomorrow is a LONG 12 hr workday, so I'm headed to bed...