The rest of our 2011

Where did the month of December go??? I love the Holidays but they always go by too fast. It seems more so that way as I am getting older. We had a great December though. It was full of activities, fun parties with family and friends and a lot of Holiday spirit. So of coarse, this is going to be a post of a lot of pictures and not too much typing.

We had a fantastic and delicious Thanksgiving with my family.  Mom mad a whole bunch of pies. She was quite proud of them. The kids played outside because it was so nice while the adults hounded through the Ads!

Nate and April brought home their babies Abriha and Axum Tariku from Ethiopia. We all went to the airport to welcome them home. They were all very tired from the long flight. We love them so much and are grateful for their safe return.

 My pretty Christmas tree for 2011. I liked how it turned out this year.

We went to The Festival of Trees and boy was it busy!!! After browsing all the isles, we put Gabe in a very large bubble. He loved it. 

 Our ward had a Christmas breakfast that was really nice and Gabe got to meet Santa at the end of it. He wasn't scared of him at all.

 My awesome neighbors decided to have a cookie exchange. We made a lot of cookies and were able to take some of each kind home. Great company and great food.

 Dallas did some Karaoke at his company party... after a LOT of bribing.

 We had our first Blair Ugly Sweater Party this year. We went bowling at Fat Cats, ate great Pizza, made fools of ourselves with our horrible bowling skills (all except for Dall and Tommy), and were in our horrible sweaters. It was a great night!

We were able to go to the Nutcracker at Capital Theater this year. It was great, as always... and me and Allie got a little too crazy at intermission. hehe

We had our Blair Christmas Eve Eve party this year at Marni's. We ate a lot of yummy food and we watched the photo movie that Landon always makes every year. After that, we went over to Nate and Aprils to open presents. It was a fun night.

For Christmas Eve this year, we visited all of Gabe's Great Grandparents. It was so good to see all of them. Then after, we ate at Macaroni Grill and then went back to my parents to open our pajamas, watch Christmas Vacation and get really excited for Santa to come.

Christmas day was so great!!! We opened presents... I got my 2012 Project Life, Dall got a lot of clothes... and Gabe got a Basketball Hoop, among a lot of other toys. We went to church and enjoyed a nice meeting, and then we spent the rest of the day visiting all our family. It was a wonderful Christmas!!!

After Christmas, we went up the Lundquist Family party and ate food, opened presents and played Bingo. Gabe loved his Bingo. We also got to spend some time with some great friends that we haven't seen since the summer!!! And Gabe just played played played with all his toys!

We celebrated Allie's 25th birthday at RedRock. It sure was yummy. Happy Birthday Allie!!!

So we had a great Holiday Season. It sure went by fast but we had a lot of fun and made lots of memories. Here is to 2012!!!

Some Sad News

So I might not be ready to talk about this but I need to get it off my chest. I'll just start from the beginning.

So Dallas and I have been trying to get pregnant since January. We started 50mg of Clomid in March. I knew that we were starting too low, but since I have changed Doctors since I had Gabe, he wanted to monitor me from the beginning. So, 1st month on the 50mg.... not pregnant. In fact, I didn't even ovulate. I also don't start "sweet mother nature" on my own so I have to take Prevera (progesterone) to start me. Anyway, so my Doc put me on 100mg on my 2nd, 3rd, 4th time around. Not pregnant.... not ovulating. So September rolls around and we took the big jump to 150mg. I was so ready for that dose! Being on Clomid for 7 months straight takes a tole on you! So, we were very optimistic that the 150 would work. I remember feeling so crappy one day... which was the day I OVULATED!!! I was so happy to know that my body was finally making some progress! Then on October 15th, I took the test and it came back POSITIVE! I was 5 weeks pregnant! We were so excited! I told my whole family and it took everything in me not to tell everyone I know. I did tell a few of my close friends though. I HAD to. So, the month went by and I felt great. It surprised me because I was so sick with Gabe. I just considered myself very lucky... and maybe it was a girl since I was so sick with my boy. I was starting to get all the pregnancy signs. You women who have had children all know what those are. Bloated, hungry, tired... but the nausea never came. I was getting very excited because I found out that some close girlfriends of mine were also due around the same time as me. We would be able to raise our #2 babies together too. My Brother and sis in law were getting ready to pick up their kiddos from Ethiopia and that made me excited because our family was just getting bigger and bigger! Then on Friday, Nov. 11th, I started to bleed. It was after hours and I did not want to go to the ER so I called my Dr and he told me to take it easy over the weekend and to come in for an ultrasound on Monday morning. Well that weekend was horrible. I stayed down pretty much the whole time. I asked for Dallas and my dad to give me a blessing. That helped with my nerves. I was just so scared to know what was really going on.

Monday finally rolled around and we went in for the Ultrasound. We got to see the little baby's heartbeat. It was beating like crazy. The Dr said it had a really strong heartbeat. I took a huge sigh of relief. But I was still unsettled because I didn't know where the bleeding was coming from. The Dr said it was common for women to bleed this early in the pregnancy and it would probably just go away within the next few weeks. So, we went home with the little picture of our baby and a lot of comfort.

Tuesday rolls around and there is even more bleeding. I even passed a small clot that night. I was nervous and called the Dr. Wednesday morning. He told me to come in for another ultrasound. This time, they did a pretty extensive one. They took about 50 images, from the baby to my ovaries to everything else. The baby was fine and it's heart was beating strong! The Dr looked for a tear where any blood would be coming from but there was none. I told him that was crazy because I was bleeding a lot! Even though I could see the little heart beat on the screen, I didn't feel right. I knew there was something wrong, I just didn't know what. He told me to go home and rest and that if I start to bleed or clot, and if I start to cramp then I should come in.

So, I went home. Later that night, I started to cramp. My back started to hurt. My bleeding became really heavy. I started to clot. The pain was getting really bad and by that time, I knew what was happening. I just needed to let it take it's course. Around 12:30am, I miscarried.  Almost immediately after, my cramping and backache had gone. 

I went to the Dr the next day just so he could confirm what I already knew. I had to take a pill for the next few days to pass everything else.

And.... here I am. Not pregnant anymore. There are so many emotions I am feeling right now. I am sort of a mess. I miss not being pregnant and knowing that the baby was growing safe and sound. I miss the thought of having a new baby in the summer. Of Gabe being an older brother. What gender it would have been. What it would have looked like. I am just really sad. I am trying to be strong for my family but I know I need some time to heal. I know we will get pregnant again but right now I am missing the baby that I would have had. I know it will get better with time. I know that my Heavenly father is watching out for my family.

I don't know when we will start trying again. I have heard that a woman is pretty fertile after a miscarriage. I don't know, we will see.

Our trip to the Mountains... and more.

Every year for the October session of Conference, my family meets at my parents house to watch the second session while we eat delicious Soup! Right after Conference, we head up Big Cottonwood Canyon and take a nice stroll around Silver Lake. We LOVE doing this. The colors are at their best! I didn't get up to the mountains at all this summer so it was nice to get up there to enjoy all the leaves changing color. It smelt delicious too. Like Fall!! Here's just a few pictures from the trip.

My little family

Grams, Gramps and Gabe Man

He knows what to do when the camera comes out

Gorgeous

Some of the crew

Looking at the Duckies swimming

.......

The Reid Clan

Nate and April... it wont be "just them" for long!!!!!

We also went to Gardner Village to see the witches and pumpkins. The sun was very bright that day!!!

October has been great to us so far!

Gabe Turns 2

Well, Gabe Man turned 2!!! I can hardly believe that he is growing up SO stinkin fast. My first question is WHY? I love that he is getting older but at the same time, I want to lock myself in my room with him and stop time. Is that possible??? I have been very nostalgic this last little while as this whole turning 2 thing is sinking in.

He is so funny though. There are things he does that surprise me and Dallas. He will all the sudden throw out this sentence that totally makes sense. He is so smart. I will share a few things that Gabe is doing at age 2:

He has started to sing 'Happy Birthday dear Momma and Dadda and Momma' as LOUD as he possibly can muster. ( Birthday is said Berfday)

He says:

Whatcha doin Dadda.. or Momma... or anyone that is in his presence.

Baby Cwying... when a baby is crying.

MOMMA... WAKE UP... as he is standing in his crib, waiting for me to get him in the morning.

TockerTeiker.... means Popsicle, Motorcycle, Bicycle.

Hi Mamma... he usually comes inches from my face when I am on the Computer or reading a book when he says this

Mamma, Where awe you???

I'm seeping... when I ask him if he had a good nap

Micky Mouths... says this with a lisp

Where daddy go?

Daddy go work

Wanna go Grammas Houths

I wan Dinner... every meal is Dinner

He says Pease and Dank You

He says Sowwy Momma when he has done something he shouldn't have

These are just some of the adorable things he says. He also LOVES to dance. Whenever he hears music, he dances.

He still likes to be rocked to sleep with either a story or us singing Close To You by Karen Carpenter.

He has a favorite Blankie that he needs to sleep with and he will cry if he doesn't have it.

He is still OBSESSED with my Dad. When he is around, Gabe will only want to be held by him. They have some strange bond that they had in the Pre existence.

He can tolerate Nursery now. It took a while for him to get warmed up to it.

So for his 2nd birthday, we celebrated with my family a few days before. Gabe and his cousin Avery had a joint Birthday Party. They had a lot of fun. And then on his Birthday, me, Dall, Gramma CeeCee and Gramma Mel all went to the Zoo. Gabe Loved all the animals. It was just what he wanted. He was so curious when he saw the Elephants and Gorillas. They are the biggest animals there and he kept on telling us "Scary." He had a good time though.

Then we had quite the party for him that night with lots of family and friends. He got Spoiled. So many people love him!!!

Here are some pictures from the day...

On the lap of his favorite person

His new football beanie

Gramma CeeCee and Gramma Mel

Intrigued by Mr. Monkey

The Elephants were a little loud

He didn't mind the fake Rhino

The Crew at the Zoo

Eating some of his Cake after we sang to him

Gabe and Gramma Todd

I think this is the only picture of me with Gabe

Grandma and Grandpa Todd came. Gabe LOVES them!