The newest member of our family...

Well, I'm sure not many of you had an opportunity to read my last blog entry from yesterday afternoon because we typed it out in a flurry of excitement before running out the door. But please refer to the posting below as I announce we have acquired a new family member... a 2006 Toyota Sienna. It pretty much looks like the photo below (same color - photo taken off the Internet) except ours has running boards on the side. We will be picking it up today because we didn't have time to do all the paperwork yesterday with people arriving at our house that evening for Life Group. Let's just say that Mommy is a little more than excited about having a vehicle that will start up without prayer beforehand! Special thanks to Uncle Freddie (a Master Mechanic) who came and checked it out for us before we bought it.

The mini-van brigade...

Hey everyone... Well, Mommy and Daddy are officially looking into becoming a part of the mini-van brigade. Yup. Mommy's car is having MORE problems and the transmission is starting to slip. Not a good sign. So instead of investing $2000 in a new transmission, we've been looking into buying a new van sooner than later. Mommy's been doing a TON of research looking for the best deal on a used Toyota Sienna or Honda Odyssey. And today... Mommy fell in love with a 2006 Toyota Sienna. She just loves the relatively low miles and clean interior and exterior. I just love the built in DVD player. And we both love the premium sound system with multi-CD disk changer. Alright... I admit... we both have a bit of the "want monster". So she's dragging Daddy over there to look at it after work today. Everyone pray that God protects us from a bad vehicle! I'll let you know how it goes!

Mommy's Post...

Well, Molly is napping this afternoon and I thought I'd take the opportunity to write a post for her blog. I figured she wouldn't mind overly. I've been a little emotional over the last few days regarding my infertility issues. So, since I'm an external processor... why not blog about it? And some people have had questions about what's been happening, so why not share it here? Besides... I've never been a very private person! :) My concerns may sound silly to some people considering Molly is still relatively young, but I know I haven't ovulated for 8 months (and probably not since she was conceived). And we know that in the 5 months that I monitored my temperatures when trying for Molly, I only ovulated the one time. I'm just not Fertile Myrtle, which tends to weigh heavy on my heart sometimes.


Anyway, here's where things stand. When I tried to make an appointment with the fertility clinic, I couldn't even get a real person on the phone. Instead I got a phone message to leave my name, number and address and they will send me paperwork that I need to fill out before I get an appointment. So I waited for it, filled it out, and then at the end it said to mail it back and they will schedule me for a seminar that I need to attend before getting an appointment. Still no discussion with a real person. Then they called today... a REAL person... to schedule the seminar. Basically I was told that this seminar is mandatory because it explains all our fertility treatment "options". Hmmm... options... she made it sound like I was buying a new car. Also, we will apparently be receiving a requisition for all the tests that they're going to run after the seminar on March 4th. Apparently they decide what tests we need by my paperwork and I don't actually get to talk to a real doctor until we get the results back. Kinda of impersonal, don't you think. Especially considering the personal nature of the issue.


Most of the time I'm pretty at peace about this whole deal. I mean... I have an amazing husband that loves me and supports me. I have a wonderful (although slightly "willful" at times) little girl who is an absolute joy for Steve and I. And we're all relatively healthy! So, worst case scenario, that's the hand that is dealt to me. Not a bad hand at all! But then, once in a while, I just dream about having another baby or two. It just feels like our family isn't complete yet. And that makes me sad. Thankfully I have a strong faith in God. I KNOW that He has wonderful things in store for us, although they may not be the things I would choose. I KNOW that His timing is way better than I could ever plan. But sometimes my intellect doesn't match up with my emotion. I want to trust God with this issue. And most of the time... I can. But not all the time.

Anyway, I'll let you all know how the process goes. I know most people wouldn't share these kinds of issues on their blog, but I figure I'm not the only woman out there dealing with this stuff. And it's an important part of our life right now. Keep us in your prayers!

A visit from Nani and Papa!

Well, today my Nani and Papa left. They were here for 5 days and it went by WAY too fast. I loved having them here and it was such a treat to spend time with them. They were a little afraid that I wouldn't remember them, so they arrived with a treat... mini marshmallows. Yep, they plied me with these puffy treats until I couldn't help but fall in love with them all over again! Yum, yum, yum...

The highlight of our time together was playing with my new toy! Yup... Nani and Papa spoiled me rotten with a brand new sand and water table. This thing rocks! On one side is a sandbox and the other side is a minature water world. I literally spend hours dumping and pouring and mixing. I was pretty much a wet and gritty mess by the end and I loved it! And Mommy loves it too because this afternoon she was able to do a little consulting work on the laptop outside while I played for an hour. Life is good.

And of course, during their visit there was a lot of chasing me around with cameras. Can't these people just take a break once in a while? I need an agent...

Happy Belated Valentine's Day!

Hey there everyone and happy belated Valentine's Day! Yesterday also happened to be Mommy and Daddy's 4th wedding anniversary! Four years and still madly in love! Isn't that nice? To celebrate the occasion, Daddy took the day off of work and we went with Nani and Papa (who are here from Canada) to Lake Tahoe for the day. It was stinking COLD there, but it was still fun to do some shopping and enjoy the amazing views.

And then today we did some more marathon shopping and then went to lunch. That's when things went sour. I was done being hauled everywhere in the car. I was tired and grumpy and I threw a MASSIVE temper tantrum in the restaraunt, including throwing my food, screaming, kicking... you name it. And this was after two previous "time outs". Mommy immediately hauled me out to the car for some "discipline" and Nani and Papa had to take her meal to go. I screamed non-stop for about 20 minutes until we got home and went to bed exhausted. It was unfortunate that Nani and Papa had to see my "uglier" side and Mommy may never take me to a restaraunt again. But I said a tearful sorry... so hopefully she'll forgive me. Hope your Valentine's "week" is going a bit better!

Allergies and princess dresses...

Well... I had my doctor's appointment today with the pediatric allergist. They put me on a new inhaler that should help alleviate my asthma. And they did a blood test so they can pinpoint some of my triggers. I didn't cry at all when they took my blood, just some quiet whimpers and a few tears welling up. That is until they tried to tape that cotton ball to my arm. That's when I lost it... it was the last straw. I guess it will be worth it if my allergies can be better controlled. Oh... and they also prescribed me a couple of epi-pens just in case I need it one day.

Yesterday I got to play with Isabelle's princess dresses. I think I could really get into the whole dress-up thing. Thanks Isabelle for sharing your dresses and tea set with me! I had fun!

Lots to report around here...

Hey everyone! Life has been busy around our household. This weekend Grandma & Grandpa van Riessen came to visit. We had a fabulous time and spent yesterday down in Old Sacramento visiting the train museum.

Of course Grandma and Grandpa are really into photography like Mommy so they spent a portion of that time chasing me around with their cameras. But I made sure that they worked hard for any portraits they got! Mommy even got to try out one of their really high end lenses that Mommy could only dream about affording (for the photographers out there... a Canon 85mm f/1.2... drool...). Here's a couple of Mommy's favorites. I personally like the last one best.

And finally, Mommy had her doctor's appointment Friday. Nothing too exciting to report. She got her referral to the fertility clinic and they're running a bunch of blood work to check her hormone levels, thyroid, etc. Her doctor is hypothesizing that Mommy has PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) which will be confirmed by the fertility clinic. If that is indeed the prognosis, then the weight loss Mommy is having will be beneficial but they'll probably hop her up on hormones too to kick start ovulation. But she feels totally at peace about it and credits that to everyone's prayers. She figures, worse case scenario - she is blessed with just me! And we both think that I'm pretty darn special!

Enjoying the weather...

Hey everyone. Well, the rains have subsided for a while around here, and the sun is shining. Over the next few days we're in the low 60's (15C for you Canadians) and I'm enjoying being able to get out in the yard once again. Of course, the weather has allowed me to feed my swing addiction as well, which is always nice.

Our New Year's resolutions are going well. I continue to be "binky free" during the day. We didn't go over budget in the month of January. Mommy has lost 11 pounds now and Daddy has lost 6 pounds of his own. And on Friday Mommy goes for her fertility appointment at the doctor's office. Mommy has also been busy with her consulting, and yesterday she taught a class to City Parks staff on Natural Resource management (basically how not to kill threatened & endangered animals living in our parks). And then, starting this Friday, we have back to back company coming. First my Grandma and Grandpa van Riessen are coming (Daddy's dad and step-mom), and then on Wednesday my Nani and Papa are coming down from Canada. It's going to be an exciting week! Yay!

Anyway, I hope the rest of you are out and enjoying the weather too. At least those of you who live in California... hahahaha!

First Day of School!

Well... this morning I had my first day at school. I had a great time! Miss Kristina taught me some more sign language and we worked on my sounds! When Mommy dropped me off and said goodbye, I gave her a quick kiss and then went and played with my friends without a second thought. I did have one sad moment of missing her around 11:30 (my typical tired/hungry time) but then we had lunch and I was ready to roll again! All in all, it was fun and I'm looking forward to next week. I'm going to be going every Wednesday morning from now on and I'm looking forward to learning all kinds of cool things there! Now if only Mommy would get over her seperation anxiety! Anyway, here's me and my new teacher, Miss Kristina!

My day with Dr. Lai...

Hey everyone... Well, today was my appointment with my pediatrician regarding my allergies and suspected asthma. Mommy was really impressed with Dr. Lai's desire to investigate things further. Many of you know that I've been coughing every morning for several months now, and I've also started having coughing fits when running around. Dr. Lai is pretty sure it's asthma, but checked everything to make sure, including doing a whooping cough test (negative), doing a chest x-ray (fine), and sending me to a pediatric allergist on February 12th. The whole asthma thing isn't too much of a surprise considering Daddy had it as a child and I seem to have inherited his allergy genes. I also get to try out this cool new inhaler... whoo whoo! Oh, and I weigh 28.5 pounds now! Dr. Lai mentioned that she's not too worried about the the allergies and asthma because I seem to be flourishing otherwise and growing leaps and bounds!

Anyway, here's a recent picture Mommy took. She's obsessed with my long eyelashes and thanks God regularly that I inherited them from my handsome Daddy!