Sweet baby Abby!

Most people that know me, know who my friend Sara is. Her husband Ben was Randy's roommate at the Riv and they quickly became best friends. Inseparable. Ben is English but was raised in Boston and now his parents live back in London. His accent is amusing. :) After he got home from his mission and was waiting to go back to BYU he met Sara (in London). We got engaged the same weekend Ben and Sara did. I had only met her once because she was living in London but I immediately liked her. We got married 5 months before they did because y'know... we weren't dealing with the whole "one of us lives on another continent" issue. I only saw Sara the once when they got engaged and then I actually didn't see her again until they had been married for 4 months. They got married in England and the plan was to honeymoon and then come back to Provo so Ben could go to school. Well, things got messed up with Sara's green card and she had to wait in London for 4 MONTHS before she could make the permanent move to the US. Can you imagine? During that time Sara was living with Ben's parents and Ben was living in their apartment in Provo... by himself. It was hard for Ben and we had him over a LOT during that time. He actually even came to our ward for a while since he didn't want to start going to his new married ward and explain why his new wife wasn't there. Haha!

Anyway. A couple of months after Ben and Sara got married we found out we were pregnant. I remember Ben was still in England because Randy texted him and said "Dear Ben. DaNae is pregnant, please come home." HAHAHA. He's lucky I have a sense of humor (even when pregnant). I actually thought it was pretty hilarious, myself. Well after Ben had been in the States for a month he found out that Sara was expecting as well. In London. And she was very sick. Poor Ben had a hard time thinking about his newly pregnant wife and not being able to be there for her. Well you can imagine these feelings were magnified when he got the news that Sara was miscarrying. She was 12 weeks. They were devastated. I was devastated. I was still pregnant with Macey and wasn't sure how it would be for her to see me when she was finally able to move here. I really think Sara is a Saint. She was SO excited for me and Randy, even though I knew she must have been hurting terribly. She was so involved with my pregnancy and when Macey was born. She was genuinely happy for us and still has such a special relationship with Macey.

A year or so after Macey was born Sara had another miscarriage. It was heartbreaking, especially because the specialists were telling her that she would need to have 3 miscarriages before she could be seen. They made it sound like well, all you have to do is get pregnant again. Easy peasy. Sadly, easier said than done for a LOT of people. When I was about 12 weeks pregnant with Collin, Sara told me she was pregnant again. I was the one that actually forced her to take the test. :) We were all hoping and praying that it would stick, but sadly, it didn't. She miscarried at 13 weeks. Again, I was so scared of how she would handle watching me be pregnant and deliver a healthy child. Again, she was so enthusiastic and involved. I really don't know how she does it.

When Collin was 9 months old Sara confided in me that she was pregnant again. But this time the doctors were involved and had her on lots of pills, hoping that they would do the trick. We were all extremely nervous as the time went on, especially once she hit that 12 week mark because that is when she usually miscarried. But she kept going strong. The baby's heartbeat was always really strong and everything seemed to be going great. Her whole pregnancy I think we were all holding our breath. It was so surreal, Sara was finally pregnant and it was sticking! At 20 weeks she found out it was a girl... secretly I knew that she was hoping for a girl. :) The time flew by and before we knew it, Sara had her sweet baby girl Abby Sophia! She was a week overdue and absolutely miserable. Her Mom had flown in from London a week prior. She went in to be induced and ended up in a scary situation where an emergency c-section was needed because the baby's heart rate kept plummeting (cord was wrapped around her neck). Abby had a hard time breathing at first so spent a couple of hours in the NICU but is now just fine and SO PERFECT!! I cried when I saw her at the hospital. I have spent 5 years with Sara talking and planning and decorating for their first baby.

Here is sweet Abby Sophia, 6 lbs 13 oz and 19 inches long and proud "mum" Sara!

  

Baby feet are one of my favorite things! Poor Miss Abby was getting mad at me because I kept holding her feet!

 Macey has been looking forward to this day for a long time as well. She asked Sara if she could be Abby's babysitter. :)

Wow, that was a really long post! Sara is not a whiner or complainer. Most people didn't even know she was struggling with infertility and had so many miscarriages, so, since I am a whiner... I thought I would tell her story for her. :P Love you Sara!

Class Picture Day.

Macey's preschool had class picture day last week, and, being the cheapskate that I can be- I took her picture before going to school. I am buying her actual class picture, but I didn't want to fork out the extra money for a picture of her when I have a million. Does that make me a mean mom? I was all worried she would be embarrassed. My mom won't let me type thing. I remember my Mom getting mad that class pictures were a lot of money, so I hardly ever got them. I was always embarrassed. Oh, don't worry I'd say. My mom is taking me to Olan Mills later for pictures... ;)

Anyway, I wasn't really concerned about this picture, just thought I'd snap a fast one before getting in the car. It wasn't until I uploaded them (just barely) that I realized just how cute my little girl is! I mean, seriously, look at that face! And the nervous/shy turning foot? Awesome. I do the same thing.

For the record, that pumpkin is from my garden. Believe it. 

I must say that this is one of my favorite pictures of Macey to date. 

I put Olan Mills to shame!

Deer in the headlight.

I am so sick of pulling the camera out to capture a cute moment and Collin totally ruins it with his "deer in the headlight" look! Seriously, how long can it take a boy to get used to a camera? He is so stinking cute and has such awesome facial expressions, I try and try to capture how he really is, but what I usually get it this...

I swear, he really does have a personality.

First day of pre-school.

I'm just noticing that I never posted Macey's 1st day pictures!

We're a couple of weeks into Macey's 4 year old preschool and are loving it. She goes 3 days a week for 2.5 hours. She goes with 6 other kids from our neighborhood. I can't believe how much she is learning already! She has gone from barely being able to write her name, to spelling out some words! She has just been soaking it all in. It has been so good for her to get out and have some "Macey time", ya know? Away from her little shadow, Bubbas. Collin wandered around like a little lost soul the first week, but is now totally adjusted (see previous post) and even tells her "bye Meeshee" at the door with me!

 Macey's preschool teachers (there are 3, they have stations) requested no backpacks with a zipper or snaps. She was pretty bummed that she wouldn't be able to get the My Little Pony backpack that I had promised her... but she forgot all about that when I made this lil' ditty, as you can tell by her posing that she takes very seriously.

Dear Macey

You would have a fit if you knew that the minute you leave the house for preschool, Collin goes downstairs and thoroughly enjoys playing with your most sacred toys, even getting in them.

 

I think it's safe to say our whole family loves preschool. 

Unfortunate photo of the day.

Dear, dear Randy.

It's not my fault I caught you at a bad camera angle.

It's like my Mom used to say, "avoid the very appearance." 

I just want to know- do you always smile when you... spray things? :)

Mini getaway.

Randy's older brother Rick just built a cabin about 2 hours South of where we live. The Slade family took a trip there to "break it in", but I wasn't able to go because that was the weekend of the race with my family. I was sad I missed out, I heard it's beautiful. Joelle, Rick's wife, has the best decorating taste and I was just dying to see it! Well, as luck would have it, I got my way.

Rick decided to build a skate ramp up at the cabin for his boys. He asked Randy for some help. I know what you're thinking.... skate ramp? So what, couple pieces of plywood with something underneath so the boys can catch some air? Uhhh, no. I could not BELIEVE it when I saw it! Randy went down one weekend to help Rick and they didn't get it all done, so Randy was going to go back in a couple of days to finish it. I felt like a little kid tugging on his shirt when I asked... "Can... we come with you?"

Rick said that was A-ok and so we packed up our bags and were off. We got there just as the sun was setting and it was GORGEOUS. The cabin is at the tip top of a mountain and has a stellar view. My favorite part of the cabin was the wrap around deck. And the lights. I turned them on first thing and Randy said, "I knew that would be your favorite part." :) Randy of course got out his hammock (he sleeps in it when he goes on camping trips with the Scouts, he pretty much takes it everywhere) to enjoy the scenery. Macey of course jumped in the hammock with Daddy. Collin of course pushed his push toy around the deck. And I of course got out my camera.
 

I didn't get any pictures of the cabin itself because I thought that might be a little weird to take pictures of someone else's house. Ha. But it exceeded my expectations! It was beautiful and in such a perfect spot! Thanks for letting me and the kids come and distract Randy a little, Rick and Joelle! :)