5 on Friday

Happy Friday! Here's what's been on my mind this week:

1. Dance Moms! What do you think of Kira and Kalani? I am actually liking them more than I did on Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition. I really wish Abby would let Kalani go against Maddie. I bet she would win! :) Melissa is by far my least favorite of the moms. So fake!

 2. This week I got something in the mail that really warmed my heart. My grandfather sent a 100 dollar check made out to my chapter of Phi Mu in memory of my Nana who was a Phi Mu at Duke. In the memo line it said "in memory of Carol Walker Garvin, Duke class of 55'." *TEAR* He also wrote a note saying how proud my Nana would have been of me for continuing to be active in Phi Mu.  She died in 2007, so she was alive when I joined Phi Mu but didn't live to see me become an advisor. My mom bought her a Phi Mu sweatshirt for her to wear when she went through her chemo treatments and I know somewhere we have a picture of her wearing it, wish I could find it! 

3. Our niece Lexie turned 10 this week! She has grown up so fast! She was 5 when Nick and I first started dating. She has grown up into such an smart, beautiful young girl and Kennedy LOVES her, as do we! Happy Birthday Lexie!

 Thanksgiving 2009

 Thanksgiving 2013

4. Sadly this week my friend Brittney's mother Joyce passed away. It had been ten weeks since her brain aneurism. At first they were optimistic that she would recover but in recent weeks, the doctors told Brittney, her dad and her brother Jason that unfortunately her brain had suffered too much to recover so they made the difficult decision to remove her from life support. This is the second friend I have had who has lost a parent. My best friend Ashley's dad Johnny passed away in 2011 due to pancreatic cancer. I feel like we aren't old enough to be losing parents and my heart just aches for them. It's so hard to know what to say. Praying for peace and comfort for her and her family.

5. As always I will leave you with Kennedy, my FIFTEEN month old. 15 months just sounds so old! Unfortunately we are home today due to an ear infection, her second one since January, ugh. I hope this is not going to become a trend. I hate seeing her so miserable. On a good note, new words this week are "this" "that" and "shoe." She is also turning into quite the little helper. If my phone goes off when I get a text message, she will go get my phone from the coffee table and bring it to me. Every morning I say "Kennedy, go get your shoes" or "Kennedy, go get your coat" and she will bring them to me. Such a big girl! She also loves to turn light switches on and off and put dirty clothes into the hamper. I will leave you with some pictures of our little princess! Have a great weekend!

Monday Memoirs-My Bachelorette Party

 Linking up with Royal again for Monday Memoirs! This has quickly become one of my favorite linkups because I love to look back at memories! So much fun! I hope some of you will join us in this fabulous linkup.

I am getting super excited for my best friend Megan's bachelorette party on Friday so I though we would take a trip down memory lane to my bachelorette party back in 2010. It was one fun night!

 The night started off with me being crowned "the bachelorette." We headed out in our own private limo. I absolutely love the picture below and have it framed in my house.This is me with four of my bridesmaids, Sara, Candice, Ashley and Megan. Missing are my bridesmaids Molly and Brittany because they live in Oregon, my sister because she was underage at the time.

 We had almost as much fun in the limo as we did at the club we went to. I enjoyed yelling out the window  "I am getting married!" and "it's my bachelorette, woo-hoo!"

We had a private VIP area at the club we went to.  I wish I had more pictures from that night but everyone was having so much dancing that we didn't take a lot of pictures. My favorite song that we danced to was Enrique Igelisias "I like it." We were all obsessed with Jersey Shore at the time so we were doing our best fist pump moves and "breaking down the beat." My college friends Mary Beth and Matt came by for awhile. It was great to see them!

 The funniest memory from the night was this dude. His bachelor party was in the VIP area next to us. Get this, he was getting married THE NEXT DAY AT 12:00!  Apparently they had a lot of out of town people in the wedding party so they felt they had to do the bachelor/bachelorette parties the night before the wedding. I often to this day wonder if he made it to his wedding. He was absolutely HAMMERED and kept waving around this pair of panties, not sure where they came from and honestly I didn't want to know. Bless his fiance's little heart.....

 It was such a fun night! I am so excited for Megan's bachelorette although a little nervous because I know for a fact I can't hang like I used to. Recovery will probably be brutal. I also realized this will probably be my last big night out in my 20's because I will be 30 in May!

Passing the bachelorette crown to Megan! Here's to Megan's bachelorette party!

5 on Friday

Linking up for the 5 on Friday fun! We made it! This week has been a long one!

1. My best friend Megan's bridal shower was last Saturday at my house. We had a great time! My mother in law made these adorable "wedding dress" cupcakes.

I messaged Brent on Facebook and asked him a whole bunch of questions about himself. Megan had to answer them and for each one she got wrong, she had to put a piece of bubble gum in her mouth. Fun times! Hahahaha.

Opening bedding for the marital bed! :)

Megan's mom has had a group of friends that she has know for 30 plus years. They refer to themselves as the "YaYa's." It was so fun having them at the shower! This is Michelle, Megan, Megan's mom Barbara, Stephanie and Theresa.

Megan with her matron of honor (me!) and her bridesmaid Kasey (Brent's sister) Her other bridesmaid Jen had to leave early due to a family emergency. :(

Phi Mu girls. Megan is Melody's big sis! :)

I am not sure why but every single time I have an event at my house, I forget to take pictures of the food table. You can kind of see it in the background of the pictures but we had a fruit tray, bacon cheddar ranch dip with wheat thin chips, crockpot meatballs, cake batter dip with nilla waffers and chicken salad with croissants. The countdown is on to the bachelorette party in 1 week and more importantly, the wedding in 30 days! So exciting!

2. Oh my goodness, how good was The Bachelor this week? Yay for Andi telling off Juan Pablo! I think he's a total douchebag but I am of course still going to watch until the end. I hope the rumors are true about Andi being the next Bachelorette!

3. This is Kennedy's new favorite book. It is the cutest story that goes along with the nursery rhyme "to market to market," except the animals at the market all start going crazy. So funny!  If you have a toddler or preschool age child it is a must have!

4. As many of you know, every night I pray for women who are dealing with infertility. I pray for them in general and I pray for specific women I know are dealing with infertility. God has been so faithful to many of the women I have prayed for, blog friends, church friends, co-workers and sorority sisters. My good friend and former roomate Sara and her husband Greg have been trying for over a year now and Sara has recently been diagnosed with PCOS.  For awhile Sara has kept this private but she is now reaching out and asking for prayer. Will you join me in praying that God makes them parents?

5. Kennedy is 15 months old today! I completely forgot to take her chair picture so I will have to do that this weekend. So what's new? Talking, talking, talking, some things we can understand, some we can't. One word we heard loud and clear yesterday morning was "bow!" Are you surprised? Right after I got her dressed for school, she started pointing at her bow holder and saying "bow" over and over again. Momma is so proud, lol. She is also cutting FIVE, yes, 5 teeth right now! Poor thing! Once these pop completely through, she will have seven teeth. We had some more awesome weather this week and were able to play outside a lot which she loved. I love how she loves to be outside but even when outside she is still "all girl," has to have a babydoll or her Minnie doll with her! 

So blessed to have this precious baby girl in our lives! Have a great weekend!

RSVP

When I was 8 years old I was invited to a classmate's birthday party at the skating rink. I didn't want to go. I didn't have a good reason. I just didn't want to go. My mom told me that was fine but that I needed to call her to RSVP so I needed to come up with a reason of why I couldn't go.  I was so mad at her because I have always been a terrible liar and I couldn't think of a reasonable excuse of why I couldn't go. So I went. I may have been furious at her but looking back, I think that was just the start of her raising me to be polite and well mannered.

Last Saturday, I hosted a bridal shower for my best friend Megan. The shower went great and I am planning on posting some pictures and details in my 5 on Friday post. However one thing that really irked me and yes, Megan knows I am blogging about this topic: RSVP. I sent out 24 invitations to the shower. 7 people contacted me to RSVP. I usually do my grocery shopping on Sunday afternoons. The Saturday before the shower I realized I had absolutely no clue how much food to buy because no one had RSVP'd. I started messaging the people I knew on Facebook  and texting poor Megan saying "do you know if _____ is coming?" I was able to find out the status of a few more people but still didn't really know an exact number. I ended up spending way too much money on food, which is okay because Megan is worth it and we had lots of yummy leftovers. However, I just don't get it. How hard is it to RSVP???  One of Megan's co-workers even texted me to say she wouldn't be able to make it which was completely cool. Text, call, send me a message on Facebook, whatever, just let me know! I just think it's a common courtesy but apparently it's a thing of the past. Megan and my sister in law Rachael hosted my baby shower and said they had issues getting people to RSVP as well.

Do you RSVP??? If you are one of the ones that doesn't, that's cool!  But, just curious, what's the reason? Help me out with this!

Monday Memoirs-Our Jamaican Honeymoon!

Linking up with Royal over @ Royal Proclaims for Monday Memoirs! I hope others will join in on the fun and share some memories with us!

Today I am blogging about our amazing honeymoon to Sandals Whitehouse resort in Jamaica! Just like our wedding, it didn't exactly start off amazing. This was because a week before our honeymoon, a tropical storm had hit Jamaica. Our shuttle driver from the airport informed us that instead of the normal 2 hr drive to the resort, it would be 3 to 4 hours due to roads being closed. The trip was MISERABLE. The roads were bumpy and winding and the girl in front of us was puking into a plastic bag the entire time. By the time we got to the resort, I just wanted go lie down in our room. We get to our room and SURPRISE, there are ANTS EVERYWHERE! I burst into tears because I was tired, jetlagged and nauseous from the bus ride. Nick immediately got on the phone to try and get our room switched. The person he spoke to said they would come "spray" the room. Nick replied with "no, this is my honeymoon and my new wife is crying! I want a new room!" Finally, they switched our room. This was the only time we felt like we didn't have good service at Sandals, the rest of the trip was absolutely amazing!



Us on the plane



We did a spa day, which I definately enjoyed more than Nick. We had couples massages, body wraps and then got to go into a hot tub and eat fresh fruit and champagne. Nick was not a fan of the body wrap, as you can see! 

The best part about Sandals resorts is that they are all inclusive, meaning you can eat and drink all you want! The alcoholic beverages were delicious and so was the food! Nick's favorite drink was called the "5th element" and mine was the "Jamaican Smile." I also really enjoyed the martinis from the martini bar. I think I sampled all the flavors but the peach was my favorite! Our favorite restaurant was an italian restaurant, can't think of the name. They also had an amazing restaurant with a breakfast buffet. We usually would go there for breakfast and have mimosas and lots of food and be good to go until dinnertime.

This night I may or may not have had a little too much to drink and thought I was a rapper....

The people on the resort were always so friendly and always willing to stop and take your picture. We made friends with several of the workers there and by the end of the week, our favorite bartender Gary  at the swim up bar already knew our drink orders. The picture below was actually taken by our new friends Matt and Kelly. They were on their honeymoon too and were from Valdosta, Georgia so we bonded with them because they were Southern like us. They got married on October 2nd too, as did most of the other honeymooners there, which was neat. Kelly and I still keep up on Facebook. I am sad that we didn't get a picture with them! 



We spent most of our time on the beach and at the pool. We love the beach, so this was the best honeymoon imaginable for us. Both of us had an amazing tan when we came home. 

To top off having an absolutely amazing time, our pilot on the plane ride home came over the intercom with college football scores and the news that South Carolina had beat Alabama!!! Talk about being estactic! I may or may not have let out a big "whooo go Cocks!" on the plane.

This trip was so much fun but it seems so long ago! I am ready to take another vacation like this but not ready to leave Kennedy. We have only left her for one night and I was an absolute basketcase. My brother in law Jon and sister in law Rachael were married the same year as us so we have discussed taking a 5 year anniversary trip with them next year. They went to Sandals Antigua on their honeymoon and loved it. We are unsure of whether we want to do another Sandals resort or go on a cruise, which none of us have done. Thoughts?

SUYL-A healthy baby girl after two miscarriages

Linking up with Kelly over at Kelly's Korner for her SUYL-Infertility. I had every intention of posting this yesterday along with my 5 on Friday but completely forgot. My bestie Megan's bridal shower is today, so I have been going crazy getting things ready!

I had two miscarriages before I had Kennedy. It was the hardest thing I ever had to go through but God is faithful. If you are currently suffering through this-I am so sorry! I hope reading this will help you through your journey.This is our story:

My husband Nick and I have been married since October 2^nd, 2010. Nick is 5 years older than me (34 years old now, 32 when we started trying) and he wanted to start having kids fairly early because of his age. This thrilled me. When I was 6 years old, I had two goals for my life, to be a teacher and to be a mommy. I was the little girl who always played with baby dolls and still secretly played with them at 12 year old.  I have worked with children all my life and I have been a third grade teacher since 2006. Here is a timeline:

April 2011: Stop taking birth control. We decide to not really "try" yet because we had a big beach trip planned the first week of June with our good friends Adam and Jessica. This was supposed to be our "last hurrah" However we had the attitude that if it happened, it happened.
Mayish 2011: Can't remember exact date but period started and it was on day 28, right on time.
June 4th 2011: Period, 32 day cycle this time. Start officially "trying this month."
July 8th 2011: Positive pregnancy test. We are thinking “wow, we are those lucky people that get pregnant right away!”

 

July 12th 2011: Visit to OBGYN. We had a trip planned to Oregon that week to visit family and wanted to make sure everything was okay before we left. HCG level is only 47. Doctor is a little concerned because based on date of last period I should be 4 weeks along, but says to enjoy the trip and we will test again when I return. Needless to say, I have fun but worry the whole trip. Thank goodness my mom is there to calm me down a bit. My symptoms during this time are minimal, just really tired and slightly tender breasts.
July 21st 2011: We return from Oregon. My HCG is 262. The doctor (we ended up switching because she was just absolutely terrible) tries to assure me not to panic yet. I have done nothing but research HCG levels while we were in Oregon. I know that my HCG should be higher at this point but she just kept telling me there was nothing we could do but wait. I wish she would have checked my progesterone looking back now. I also wish I had asked for a sonogram to make sure everything is okay.
July 25th 2011: I start spotting. I call the Dr and the nurse tells me not to worry. Spotting is normal, especially if it's brown, which this was. In the next couple of days the spotting starts getting sorta clumpy so I call back. She schedules me for an appointment on August 1st for a sonogram.
July 31st 2011: I wake up in the middle of night gushing bright red blood. I know immediately it's over. :(
August 1st 2011: We go in to have a sonogram. The tech is incredibly rude to us. The Dr. comes in and tells us in a monotone voice without even sitting down that we have had a miscarriage. I can't stop crying even though I knew that was what she would say. She tells me I have already passed most of the tissue and will not need a D and C.
We end up switching doctors in mid August not sure of the exact date. We love our new doctor, who tells us that he is "old school" and prefers that people wait 2-3 cycles before trying again, just to be on the safe side. We agree.  Meanwhile it seemed like every single person I knew was announcing a March pregnancy which was when I would have been due. L I remember having to block some people from my news feed because it was just too painful to read their posts.
Labor Day weekend: We get carried away and have unprotected sex.
September 17th: Positive pregnancy test. At this point, I have a bunch of different emotions. I am scared because I haven't even had a period since my miscarriage but I am also hopeful. My sister in law's sister got pregnant right after a miscarriage and had a healthy baby.
End of Septemberish: This time around, I have major symptoms, nausea, throwing up, really sore breasts and major fatigue. I go into to get my HCG checked. It's 1043!!! We are so excited! I never even got that high with my 1st pregnancy. My progesterone is in the normal range, but on the low side of normal so just as precaution my dr. puts me on progesterone supplements. We go back in 48 hrs to see if it doubles and it's 2280, so it more than doubled, which excites us even more.
October 11th 2011: Our first sonogram. We are of course thinking we are going to see our baby. The tech is honest and tells us she sees a gestastional sac but no fetal pole. She tries to comfort me by saying that maybe I am not as far along as I think. The doctor is more straight up with us and tells us that the sac is measuring at 7 weeks, there should be a baby at this point. He tells me to come back the following week for another sonogram just to be sure. I also have my HCG checked and its around 32,000, which is should have been higher at 7 weeks. We are absolutely devastated. Even our doctor says he actually had really high hopes for this pregnancy. Not only am I devastated but I am confused. I had no spotting at all and I had waaay more symptoms which usually people say is a sign of a healthy pregnancy. How can this be happening?
October 17th 2011: 2nd sonogram, still no baby. We make an appointment for a D and C for October 19th.
October 19th 2011: I am an emotional wreck. My husband and the sweet anethesioligist pray with me in the pre-op room. I feel a little more at peace but still very sad. Hubby and I talk and decide that this time, no messing around, we have to have protected sex until I have 3 cycles. We cannot put ourselves through this again. Of course, I am completely panicked also thinking there is something wrong with me. They did testing on the tissue from the D and C and everything comes back clear. Hubby and I decide to genetic testing just to be sure. Both of us come back clear. Praise the Lord. Our doctor tells us now all we have to do is wait. He thinks the first time was just a "fluke" and he thinks the 2nd time it was just "too soon." When he performed the D and C, he said he removed quite a lot of tissue and thinks some may have been leftover from the 1st pregnancy.

The holiday season was a very hard time for us. At first, I had a major pity party for myself. I cried, got mad at people who were pregnant and cried so more. Finally after a long talk with my pastor’s wife, I decided to just give it all to God and just PRAY. I read the story of Hannah and her infertility in the book of Samuel over and over again and meditated over the words. The prayer team at my church prayed for me as well along with our good friends, Jessica and Adam and our families.
November 29th 2012: Period finally comes
January 4th 2012: Period comes. 35 day cycle this time.
February 19th 2012: Period FINALLY comes. I am excited that we finally get to try again but a little scared because my cycle was 45 days this time. I am worried that I am not ovulating regularly and also thinking about high school when my periods were really irregular. My senior year I got on the pill and have been on it ever since. I call the Dr. to ask if I should be worried. He tells me that my cycle is probably still just adjusting from all the crazy changes that have happened in the past year but that he would reccomend taking ovulation tests just to be sure I am ovulating. Lucky for me, my mother in law had already bought me FIVE boxes of ovulation tests. (My husband is one of 5 kids, he's the only one who hasn't given them a grandchild yet, can we say pressure?!?!)
March 5th 2012: I ovulate on day 15! We are excited because I ovulated.

March 28^th, 2012: Positive pregnancy test. So many emotions at this point. Terrified, happy, scared, excited, nervous.

I go in for testing for my HCG levels and they are normal but again, progesterone is on the low side. The doctor puts me on progesterone suppliments. I cannot stress enough to people that have been having miscarriages, make sure your doctor is checking your progesterone. My first doctor didn’t even bother to check. All she was worried about was my HCG levels. Looking back, I really wish I had demanded a sonogram sooner with my first pregnancy knowing my levels were so low. I would have rather found out sooner than later.

4-19-13: We go in for our sonogram. I am so nervous.  To make matters worse, when we pull up at the doctor’s office, there is an ambulance and police car in the parking lot. Someone had gotten run over! Nick and I pray for our baby but also for the elderly man who was hit. I am a ball of nerves at this time. We go inside and we didn't have to wait long surprisingly before the sonogram tech called us back. She spread the gel on my belly and immediately said "ohhh yes, there is someone in there!" and then I heard the sweetest sound ever, the heartbeat of our baby! I cried! The heartbeat was nice and strong, 159 BPM. We got a video of the heartbeat and I listened to it over and over again. On June 28^th, we found out were having a baby girl. We decided on the name Kennedy Hannah. Kennedy is a family name and I picked Hannah from the story in the bible that helped me restore my faith that yes, I would be a mommy one day. On 11-28-12, our sweet, wide eyed baby girl was born at 7:39 pm. The number 28 will always be a lucky number for me. I found out I was pregnant on March 28^th, found out our baby was a girl on June 28^th and she was born on November 28^th , when I was 28 years old! She  was 6 lbs 6 oz and had a head full of dark hair. I can’t even find the words to describe the feeling of holding her for the first time. I have never loved someone so strongly.

 

Now, I know what some of you are thinking. How is this infertility? Yes, I have been blessed that I was able to get pregnant very easily, however, the struggle for me turned out to be keeping the baby.  A co-worker of mine told me I had no idea what infertility was like. It took her 19 months to get pregnant and she has PCOS.  She has never had a miscarriage. She really hurt my feelings when she said that. I am not trying to say that my situation was worse. However, I was attached to those two babies the minute I saw that 2^nd line on the stick. The love I had for them was instant. The feeling when you find out they are gone really feels like losing a loved one. I think there are different types of infertility and having multiple miscarriages is one.

Here is my advice for people who may be going through similar situations

*Pray, pray, pray. Everything is better with prayer. Read the bible.  Ask people close to you to pray as well.

*Get your progesterone checked!

*If your HCG is low, ask for a sonogram. You can look up normal HCG levels online. The most important thing is that your HCG levels should be doubling every 48 hrs.

*If you feel like something’s not right, be assertive! I wish I had stepped up more with my first pregnancy. I felt like since it was my first time, I should just sit back and do whatever they said. I had a very insensitive doctor and she and her nurse kept trying to sugar coat everything and tell me it was okay. I had a bad feeling it wasn’t, things I was reading online said it wasn’t and guess what, it wasn’t!

*If you have already had a miscarriage, wait 3 cycles before trying again! I know a few people that have been blessed to get pregnant after not even having a cycle or after 1 cycle. However, I really think you need to give yourself time to heal, mentally and physically.

Having two miscarriages was the hardest thing I have ever had to go through. However, it made me appreciate being able to get pregnant and have a baby so much more. It also made me realize that God is in control, not me. I will always have a special place in my heart for people who are struggling with infertility. Please know, I am praying for you even if I don’t know you. Every night I pray for women who are struggling with this. Don’t give up. Keep praying. If there is anyone who can make it happen for you its God. He did it for me and he can do it for you too. I have faith.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5 On Friday

Missed linking up with these awesome ladies last week due to the crazy ice storm! Glad to be back!

Let's catch up!

 1. The ice storm in South Carolina last week was just plain crazy. We were fortunate to only lose power for about 19 hours but that was long enough for us. Kennedy was afraid of the fireplace so our "sleepover" in the living room was not fun. She finally went to sleep after midnight and woke up the next morning at 6:30. Tired Mommy and Daddy the next day. We were out of school for 4 days due to all the ice and the fact that so many people lost power. Aiken County had more power outages then any other county in South Carolina. I enjoyed spending time with Kennedy and Nick but I really hate being cooped up in the house so I started to go a little crazy near the end.

 2.Did you have a good Valentines Day? We went and ate with Kennedy at Red Robin. We came home and put Kennedy to bed and Nick and were cuddled up on the couch watching a movie when all of a sudden, the house started shaking. EARTHQUAKE!!!! So rare in South Carolina. I had been in an earthquake before when I was in high school and lived out in Oregon but this one was much scarier. Mostly because it was a higher magnitude earthquake but also because I was so worried about Kennedy, but she slept through the whole thing! The pictures below were taken Tuesday of this week. Kennedy wore her Valentines dress to daycare this day because they had to postpone their party due to the storm.

 3. I have been so good about working out this week. Monday and Wednesday I went to the gym, Tuesday Kennedy and I took a long walk and Thursday I did a Zumba class, which I used to do before I was pregnant with Kennedy. So much fun! I had really missed it!

4. Toddler meltdowns are really hitting us hard. Wednesday afternoon, as I was leaving daycare with Kennedy, I ran into someone I know from church, who's daughter is a year older than Kennedy and goes to Kennedy's daycare. While we were talking, Kennedy kept trying to play on these concrete steps (her daycare is housed at a church)and I kept pulling her away and saying "no." Finally she threw herself in the grass and had a huge meltdown. I ignored her and just kept talking but the whole time this woman was looking at me like "uhhh your kid's having a meltdown..." Honestly this was the first time she had had one out in public but when she has them at home, we just ignore her and she stops. I guess in public maybe we should switch it up? What do you do???

5. So what else has Kennedy been up to this week? She moved from the snail room to the bunny room at church. This is an exciting change  because she will be with kids who are more mobile like her. The room has a little jungle gym and slide! However, we will really miss the ladies in the snail room!

We had some warm weather this week so we took advantage and played outside in her pink car. Only in South Carolina is there an ice storm one week and then 80 degreees the next week! She also has a few new favorite books, a children's bible that my mother in law got her and a book called To Market, To Market my mom bought her.

I love the look on her face in this picture. "You stopped pushing me and Minnie just to get a picture? Come on Mom!"

Still loves taking selfies with Momma! 

It warms my heart how much she loves reading her little bible.

Have a great weekend everyone!