Student of the Week

Our sweet little Rhett is student of the week at school. We had a great time putting his “All About Me” poster all together and he was so excited to take it to school. On Monday Miss Brooke, Wyatt and I made a surprise visit to have lunch with him. We feasted on Sonic Wacky Packs and just laughed our heads off. We are so proud of our super smart student of the week and he just amazes us daily with his vast knowledge. He especially impressed at lunch with his mad French fry skills…haha! Who else do you know that can transform a corn dog stick and French fries into such an abstract, beautiful AND edible creation…HA!While I’m on the subject of my sweet little R I have a few of his latest phrases that I need to blog before they completely disappear from my memory along with my phone number.

Several months ago during our Bedtime Bible story time he and I were doing a devotional about how much God loves us. I was describing to him just how deep my love runs for him. How I love him more than all the stars in the sky and more than the distance to the planets and back. To which Rhett replied, “Mom, I love you 100,065!” I’m totally taking it as a compliment because to him that’s just about how many stars are in the sky.

As we were driving home from T-ball practice last Fall, I was telling him how proud I was of him and how sometimes I feel like my heart is just going to burst open because it just aches with love and pride for him. To which Rhett replied. “Mom I love you so much that I feel like I’m going to burp out hearts!”

It really is true what they say about how no one loves their mommy quite like a little boy does. I mean come on do you know another soul on earth who loves you enough to burp out hearts? I just cherish this little guy and hang on to all 100,065 bits of his love!

Happy Birthday Daddy

Last night we celebrated Daddy’s birthday in style. R was so excited getting off the bus because we had been planning all week to go to the party store and pick out a party theme after school. R always does a great job picking out exactly what Daddy likes. He was so cute all the way to the store asking me just how many guests we were expecting and if we were going to be able to get a bounce house or not. He was concerned that the bounce house might not work since we were having bad rainy weather. I had to let him down gently that we were only planning a party for the four of us. He was finally okay with it when I told him he could invite Brooke over to help us celebrate. The winning party theme this year was BATMAN! Rhett picked out cups, plates, napkins, a tablecloth and even party favors for everyone. We stopped at Cold Stone Creamery and of course my chocoholic son picked out the most chocolaty decadent cake full of awesomeness they had. We also had them mix up some of Daddy’s favorite mint chocolate chip ice cream.The boys got to pick out some new work out clothes for Daddy and they also picked him out some super-cool new swim trunks. (Oh Summertime where are you?)W especially liked Daddy’s cake and ice cream. We had a fun-filled fiesta and I’m sure Daddy has never had a Batman party quite like it before. Happy birthday Daddy, You’re the BEST!

Big Boy Undies ALREADY?

I’ve always had a hunch that W was a little more advanced than the average baby, but man I had no idea just how much more. Just look at him he’s already wearing big boy undies…haha! The boys think it’s so much fun to play in the laundry basket. It drives me crazy to let them get all down and dirty in our clean clothes but I’ve had to get over it. It just brings them so much joy and keeps them busy while we’re folding clothes. While they were playing in all of the clean clothes R just cracked us all up by putting some of his underwear on W. W just loved it and ran all around the house laughing. He didn’t want me to take them off of him. It was so funny!

When the boys aren’t playing in the clean clothes they still like to use the laundry basket as a prop. On this particular night the basket was transformed into a speeding jet. R had to wear his old breathing treatment mask because “that’s what pilots wear mom!” They both got in on the action. I love it that the boys are really starting to be able to play together. W may not have truly understood that he was a passenger in big brother’s super speedy jet but he did understand that he was playing with his super cool big bro and that was enough for him!

A Little Newman News for you

Many of you may know about our struggles with infertility over the years. We are so blessed to have the two little guys we do but believe me it was not easy to get them here. I have never blogged in detail the journey we’ve encountered on our quest to multiply, because I always thought it was so small compared to what so many of you are going through this very second. But during Bible study last Tuesday, Beth Moore opened my eyes like she always does. (We are finally doing her study on Esther and I totally recommend it if you are looking for a study to do.) As Beth was diving deeper into the topic of The Human Dilemma of Destiny she made mine a little more clear for me. She was discussing the inner conflicts Esther must have struggled with when Mordecai told Esther (I’m paraphrasing here) it was her destiny to save the Jews. When Beth began to elaborate on the scripture she said this

“The Revelation of a person’s destiny always demands a revelation of the person.” She also went on to say that “fulfilling one’s destiny requires transparency.”

This is what I took away from her lesson. Whatever struggle God has placed before you is for a purpose. We go through these valleys to learn from them and become transparent to others so that we may help them along the same paths we have traveled. Our family is about to enter another long difficult journey and this time I’m going to be transparent about it. I so hope that it will offer hope or encouragement to you if you are experiencing a similar situation. I would also be happy to have your prayers along the way but please know that I’m not blogging this as a poor pitiful victim in need of sympathy. I’m truly only offering up transparency on my situation to help any of you who may need it.

Here is a little back history on how we received our two little blessings. Jason and I were married five years before we were surprised with Rhett. I say surprised because at the time we didn’t know how much of a miracle his conception really was. We were just rocking along happily married not actively trying to get prego but let’s just say we weren’t trying to prevent it either so we didn’t think five years was that long of a time. Until Rhett was one and a half and we thought it was time to start actively trying for number two. Then the time just kept rolling by and before we knew it Rhett was two and a half and we still had no positive test. So I made the call to the fertility Dr. and began the long scary process of trying to determine the cause. (I was just so convinced that this all had to be Jason’s fault since he was older than me…ha!) After all the initial test were run all the signs led to a problem with me. There I was in the Drs. office by myself 26 years old hearing the news that I have the egg quality of a 50 year old…YIKES! So they decided to perform surgery (in May 2006) to see what all they could repair on my insides. After getting in and learning more, they discovered that I have stage four endometriosis and aneurisms in my tubes. Translation: Any dreams of a humongous family squashed!

Our Dr. thought that he may have cleaned all the damage out enough for us to try on our own for three months. So we unsuccessfully followed the Drs orders and wound up moving on to the next step in the process which is trying Intrauterine Insemination (IUI). I was put on medications that would cause me to super ovulate and then the procedure was done. We tried this three months in a row. We decided that we were ready to move onto the next step which was In Vitro Fertilization (IVF).

By this time it was already 2008 and I tried to keep my mind off of the blatant fact that I still didn’t have a baby! I started helping out at Rhett’s school and even tried planning an elaborate fourth birthday party for him to try to fill my void. But nothing seemed to work except for the vision in my head where I got to punch every pregnant lady in the face…haha! During that time it’s so hard to be happy for others, can I get an AMEN! We started our first round of IVF in January 2008. I laugh when I look back at my blog archives and see that I don’t have a single post for that entire month and very few post until we finally got to make the big announcement in July.

Our first round of IVF was a failed attempt and as you can imagine we were pretty down in the dumps. All of the injections alone are enough to make you certifiable much less when they were all for nothing. We were really just completely shocked that it didn’t work. I remember going to the Drs office on implantation day and being so excited that I was about to get to meet my babies. I can still feel the punch in my gut feeling when he told us that we only had one embryo survive and that “it wasn’t as developed as they’d like for it to be”. I just laid there on the table unable to hold back the tears. We of course went ahead with the implantation because it was my babies only chance of survival. Here is the picture of our little embryo that was never meant to be.With broken hearts Jason and I knew we wanted to just get right back into the process hoping that they learned enough to make it work the next time. So that’s just what we did and the Dr's did learn enough to make it work. This time after the months of three-four injections a day my next implantation day provided us with more hope than the first. We actually had THREE glorious little embryos. Each one was at a different stage but basically we had one great one (which is more than likely Wyatt, bottom right in picture below), one almost great one and one whose only chance of survival was implantation. So we put them all in. (doesn’t it just blow your mind to actually see little Dubs at the cellular level…GOD is GOOD!)This time when it was time to test we finally had a reason to celebrate again! I remember testing way earlier than they instructed me to and sitting around with Heather and overanalyzing whether or not we could see a faint line or not. We convinced ourselves it was there. As I continued to test every day and the line got darker and darker our happiness and love for this baby grew stronger.

WOW, sorry for so many words just to tell you we are doing it all AGAIN! If you’re even still with me congratulations for making through the longest post in my blogging history! I needed to get all of this down so that I don’t forget and so you’ll know what I’m talking about in future posts. We had our first consultation with our fertility Dr. Feb. 3rd and we are now in the process of repeating all of our initial testing so that we can begin the journey. We are thinking that we will actually be starting the IVF cycle in March and I plan to blog the whole thing. I’m really sad that I just disappeared from bloggy land last time around. I would have loved to have had a journal of what all we went through and would have really loved it if my story would have helped or encouraged one of you. Please let me know if you are struggling with fertility issues or if you know someone who is. I would love to pray for them as I pray for our next little miracle blessing.

It’s A Girl, FINALLY!

One of my sweetest friends, Monica, is finally pregnant with her first child and it’s a girl. (Bet you thought I was prego huh..haha!) I had the honor of getting to host her shower at my house Feb 6th. One of her friends and I put it all together and just had so much fun becoming friends along the way. I was in charge of invitations and decorations and I just love the way it all came out. It’s not a traditional pink girly theme but we did use Monica’s favorite color red instead. I saw this cute pregnant girl graphic and then designed a whole printable party to go with it. I also made my first ever diaper cake, which is so easy and really adds to the decor. We all had a great time pigging out politely munching on yummy cake balls and our favorite sandwiches from a local tea room. Everything just turned out perfect and I’m still just so thrilled that I was finally able to throw a shower for such a special person. Now we’ve just got to get this baby girl here! I LOVE these shots of Monica opening her presents with her sweet baby’s face on the TV in the background. She had her 3D/4D ultrasound done the morning of the shower and it was so special to share it with all of the guests. Congratulations Sam and Moni, we can’t wait to meet your precious baby girl!
While we were busy showering Monica and her sweet baby girl, Jason, Rhett and Sam, the daddy-to-be, were having some fun of their own. I bought them tickets to go and see the Harlem Globetrotters during the shower. They had so much fun Jason said that Rhett was laughing so hard he thought he was going to fall out of his chair. We LOVE watching the Amazing Race and this past season two of the Globetrotters were contestants. We always pick who we are going to cheer for and they were our team. Rhett enjoyed watching them each week on TV and he thought it was even more cool to see them in action on the court. After the game was over they were out signing autographs and Jason had already told Rhett they wouldn’t be able to stay and wait for one. Well as they were walking out they happened to be in the right place at the right time and ended up getting Flight Time’s autograph. The best part about it all is that he was one of the guys we cheered for on the Amazing Race. R was completely star struck and couldn’t even talk to him. Of course daddy forgot his camera but Sam pulled through with this shot from his phone. I was able to order a photo from their fan photo site. I have always LOVED basketball and next time I’m not letting these boys go without me. I am glad that they got to go and hang out and all…but seriously they better save a seat for me in the future!
Oh and if you’re watching the Amazing Race this season you’d better believe we are cheering for our cutie couple Jeff and Jordan who we cheered for on our other reality TV obsession Big Brother. Rhett picked the cowboys as his team this year and so far so good. You should check the show out if you never have before.

Valentine Weekend Wrap Up

Saturday morning I gave my Valentines their gifts. I got R and Jason Super Mario Bros for Wii. I tried to get it at Christmas time but was never able to find it in stock. I loved playing it growing up and I knew R would like it as well. The best part is that we can all four play together. Well, three of us can play and the fourth one just holds the extra remote and thinks he’s playing…ha! (I'll let you guess who our fourth one is....haha!) (It’s extremely hard to get a normal smiling picture when daddy is behind the photographer singing and interpretive dancing to “Chicken Fry”, as you can tell by Rhett’s face it was quite humorous!)

After our Wii tournament we all got dressed and headed out to enjoy the beautiful weather. We went and shopped around at our wonderful outdoor mall and then had a yummy Valentine lunch at one of our favorite Mexican Food restaurants complete with giant chocolate covered strawberries….so yummy!

We had to go to the fish store after lunch because Friday morning we had a mysterious fish slaying in the tank. Blue fish as we called him went to fishy heaven after having a proper fish burial before school Friday morning. (Not a proper flush down the toilet burial, our fish get buried out in the backyard in what is quickly becoming a fish cemetery.) All the other fish in the tank aren’t talking so we still don’t know who the culprit is but I’m convinced that Hawk fish, Crazy fish and Blue Raz (yes those are their names) have formed a pretty dangerous gang. HA! The good thing about fish is that they are fairly easy to replace without too much attachment. Although this may not be the case for my new fish, Elvira. She’s a hot pink beauty and I’m hoping that the others don’t get too jealous of her and retaliate. In the picture below she looks more purple but once she’s in the tank with the lights on she is bright beautiful glorious pink! (she’s the only pink thing I can have in this all boy house…ha!) We also picked up two yellow and black striped Damsels and R picked out a funky looking crab. One of the yellow Damsels has already fallen victim to the “Crazy Blue Hawk Gang”. They just better keep their grubby little fins off my sweet Elvira if they know what’s good for them!

We had a wonderful Saturday together just enjoying each other. Unfortunately I woke up Sunday morning with a stinking Migraine so we were all home bound until I could get me head to re-join the land of the living. Jason was so wonderful to take care of the boys all morning for me while I rested. Once I felt like I was going to live after all, he took BOTH boys to the grocery store and left me ALL BY MYSELF. Now let me tell you that was a Valentine gift that I truly appreciated and will never forget! I spent the whole time they were gone in this little piece of heaven on earth. It was DIVINE and was absolutely the perfect ending to a perfect Valentine’s week! I hope that you all had a super Valentine’s weekend as well!

Friday Valentine Fun

Wyatt and I always look forward to Rhett’s class party days. Not only do we get to get dressed and get out of the house but we get to go and see Rhett in his natural element. I think it’s so sweet to see R interacting with all of his fellow Kindergarteners. They are all just too cute! I was cracking up at all the pictures I have of him and his friends. The majority of the kids are flashing peace sings. Since when did five-year-olds become so aware of the need for world peace…HA!Wyatt really had a great time at the party. I let him out of the stroller and the kids just LOVED it. They followed him around and you can only imagine W’s delight with all of the attention. After filling the kids up with more than the legal limit of sugar I decided to just go ahead and bring R home with me for the day. I just couldn’t in good conscience leave him under someone else’s care on that much of a sugar high. Especially not since that someone has the keys to the grade book…haha! So we headed out to run some errands and then made it home for some wii time before going to Carline’s birthday party.

Sweet little Caroline was having a “No more monkey’s jumping on the bed” party at a bounce house. It was so cute. Her momma is so creative and had the cutest monkey face cupcakes, that I somehow didn’t get a picture of…ugh! The kids all came to the party in their pj’s. R thought it was so silly to go out in public in his pajama’s but he loved it. The boys had fun bouncing and running CRAZY all while filling up on more sugar! This is really the only picture I have of Rhett the whole night. He discovered that Caroline’s cousin is one of his friends from school and so I never saw him again. He finally did emerge at cake time red faced and dripping in sweat, which is boy code for “I had the time of my life!”I got tired of chasing W all around so I put him in “jail” in one of the un-occupied bounceys. He had so much fun just cracking himself up in there. I recruited an older girl at the party to take W down the big slide and I’ll just let you decide for yourself whether he liked that idea or not….Poor little Dubs just screamed the whole way down, once again his mean old momma just stood close by snapping pictures…HA!

Jason wasn’t able to get home from work in time to go to the party with us. Thankfully he was home when I arrived with two sound asleep jumped out monkeys. (good thing they were already in their pj’s) We carried them to bed and then I was greeted by a dozen of the most gorgeous pink tipped roses ever.The roses were a perfect end to a LONG fun-filled day! Thanks Babe!

Valentine Fun 2010

Okay so we all know that I’m pretty far behind blogging so in an effort to catch up I’m going to start with our Valentine post and will hopefully be able to catch up on the rest later this week. Our Valentine fun actually started Feb. 8th. Rhett didn’t have school so he and I spent the day getting his Valentine Box all ready to stuff full of treats. 

We also got all of Rhett’s Valentine cards for his class done. This is the card he gave out this year.On Wednesday Heather came over and we spent the WHOLE DAY making treats for the kids to take to their school friends.They came out so cute and were so easy to make. They are just rice crispy treats shoved on a stick and covered in milk and white chocolate and sprinkles.We made almost 70 of these little babies, knowing that our own little babies probably won’t ever appreciate all the time and work we put into them! HA!These are the stickers I designed to put on the back of our treats. Each of them matched their Valentine cards. 

 

 

 

 

I found this cute heart tin at Hob Lob and knew I wanted to make some kind of bouquet with the treats in it. So I filled it with a candle, candy and stuck the rice crispy treats on the top. I think it turned out pretty cute! Please excuse all of that mess on my desk. This post is getting way too long and I’ve only covered our Valentine preparations so I’m going to stop here. Come back tomorrow to see Rhett’s class party and our busy fun-filled family weekend.

We’re Alive

Surprise, Surprise we’re ALIVE!! I know, I know I’ve totally neglected my poor little old blog for about the last month now and I’m so sorry! I have so much to blog about and so many cute stories, pictures and news to share with you. Aside from being insanely busy with my shirt, cards and printable party business we have just been really enjoying life! So please hang in there with me so that I can eventually catch you all up on all the living we’ve been doing. I miss ya’ll and I’m ready get back to blogging!