Always loved and never forgotten

Timothy will be 2 years old next Sunday.  He is my miracle baby. (This is a very hard/exciting topic) 

In 2009, I found out I was pregnant.  A miracle in itself as doctor after doctor told me it was not possible. (we had miscarried a set of twins and a little girl at this point). David and I had come to terms with this.  We no longer dreamed, desired, or wished to have a family.  This was off the table for us.  We considered adoption.  Looked into local and over seas adoption, but put that aside. At the time we were working with many kids in what is known as a failed adoption.  In January 2010, I went for an ultra sound, everything was normal.  At this point we were told we were carrying twins again.  This was scary and exciting again. Then the other foot fell.  We were told that they were sharing a placenta. (Mono-amniotic twins). The placenta was being shared by both babies with one umbilical cord.  Doctor told us we had 35 % chance of carrying to term.  At this point I was 16 weeks.  The next week I did another sonogram. This time everyone got quiet, The tech and doctor came back with another doctor.  Not a good sign.  I was told that I needed to think about this.  I would most likely not carry both babies (some complication) and I might want to consider choosing one.  This flew in the face of everything I believe.  Choose one.  How?  David and I spoke.  We were not going to chose one.  This was in God's hand.  What happened happened.  Just over a week later I was rushed to the ER.  Tests, Sonogram, tears, etc.  We had definitely lost one of the babies, however there was a small chance that the other would survive so I had to do go through all the tests again.  My doctor was in Kansas City, MO.  He drove to the hospital where I was (3 1/2 hour drive).  Feb. 5, 2010 we said good bye to the idea of those babies being held in our arms.  Feb 9. 2010, my life changed. I began working with an entire team of doctors to figure out what was going on with me.   It was 14 years of marriage  lots of doctors, lots of issues, and now someone was really paying attention.  The entire thing was overwhelming.  That team of doctors has helped me in so many ways, I have a normal life, a little guy I love so much, a wonderful family.  My life is good - even though I am blessed with Timothy, he does not replace those lost.  I will always love the babies I that I never knew.  One day I will hold them in heaven.  They helped bring Timothy to us.  I am forever grateful that they are part of my life and my family.  Always loved and never forgotten.

The adventure continues and the experiences grow . . . 

I have been addressing using coupons to save a few dollars here and there.  This is my current purchase - minus 8 deodorants   Total cost: 47.14.  That is an average of 90 cents an item.  Pretty good.  20 boxes of cereal, 8 deodorant  1 cashew, 1 honey roast peanuts, 2 hefty zipper bags, 4 fruit roll ups, 1 mustard, 1 Jergens, 3 gold bond healing, 1 snuggle fabric softener, a few candy bars, and a few other items. So - it is possible.  I now have to move a shelf to my storage room.  I was hoping to wait a few days.  My parents are headed this way for a visit. Would have been nice for my dad to help while David is at work, but these items cannot live in the middle of the floor any longer.  By the way, 20 min. prep time before I left to grab them.

Timothy opened a box a lucky charms last night he had found,  He found them in another pile of items I saved big on too.  He kept saying rainbow, rainbow.  The next thing I know they were open and - all over the floor.  I went to grab the vacuum, when I returned he was laying in the middle of them eating the marshmallow   His response was YUM!!!.  I laughed.  So sweet.  He went straight to the tub (again!)  Disappointed that I did not get a picture so I thought you would enjoy this one.
 

 
That is a box from Stampeaz.  ( http://www.stampeaz.com/ ).  I have decided to try some OZ carving material.  Webfoot was so generous to supply entertainment for Timothy.  You are looking at packing peanuts, or what use to be packing peanuts.  Timothy would pick one up say "S" then oops.  he did this for about 45 min.  until all the "S" were in pieces.  Thank goodness there were not that many. =) When he was done he stood up pointed and said mess.  Good thing I have a vacuum cleaner.  

The Small things in life

I want to start out saying thank you for all the well wishes.  Everyday is different and today is a good day.  I have experienced hardship like everyone else on earth.  This experience has taught me that every person has emergencies, trauma, hurt, etc.  You cannot compare one person's issue to another.  We are all the sum of our experiences.   I am filled with the joy of the Lord.  What I am going through is very real to me, however, what you or someone else struggles with is very real to them.  There is no comparison.

Matthew 22:36-40 (NIV)

³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’^[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Very grateful this morning for a friend I met at church.  She delivered a pile of coupons to me.   What a blast.  These are paper inserts - awesome. Since moving to this new town I have couponed some, but not to the level I am know for.  This is for no other reason than moving, settling in, finding out where everything is, etc.  BEST PART - the three surrounding towns and this one doubles coupons on Tuesday (EVERY WEEK) - yeah!!!!!  What does this mean - savings to be had!!!!!  Happy, Happy, Happy.

Huge savings on cereal this weekend.  Head to Dollar General. Before you go - get on line (their web page) print $5.00 off $25.00.  then print the 3 for 1.00 off Kellogg's, $.50 off 1 General Mills.  print 2 of each of those coupons.  Hopefully you have the coupons for 1.00 off cereal in the paper.

Go Saturday.  If you combine all your coupons, with the sales.  You will get 15 boxes of  cereal for about a $1.33 each.  More than I like to play, but anything under $1.50 is worth purchasing.

Lunch today:  Blackened Chicken with Romano cheese, corn bread, peas and corn, with peanut butter cookies.   Timothy will eat everything except the chicken so he had pizza.

Here he has pizza sauce on his face.  He is giving me his hands to wipe them off.  He does not like them dirty at all.  Notice the face.  He is not all that interested in his face being clean. Fun times!!!

LTC Challenge - here is a piece of the background.   It, hopefully, will look like a star rich background when I am done.
It has to sit for 24 hours for the clear coat to dry.

Nap Time

So Timothy likes this picture.  He has a printed copy of it and holds it often. The poor picture is almost worn out. This is Timothy and his ya ya (my mom) at the beach.  The little guy loves the water is a but unsure of the waves and gulls.

The Big, Heavy, Ugly - FREE - desk has been moved.  It will get a paint job soon.  This is where all my work will hopefully get done.  My Work room is coming together.  Notice how big a gap there is for the chair.  Over-sized desk - love it. 

Side note:

 Timothy loves ducks (in the tub).  We had a funeral for one last night (trash can).  There was a slit in it so it would sink.  When he would lift it out of the tub water would go everywhere. It had to go.  Really sad for a little guy to lose a favorite toy.  This is the second such funeral we have had for a toy.  He threw a fish in the kitchen sink (toy) and it got chopped by the garbage disposal because I did not know he had tossed it into the water as he was trying to tell me when I asked him why the fish was in the sink.  He would say water, water, water.