Another First

Shiloh had another first today....her first car accident!! Apparantly, this morning was the annual "Easter Egg Drop" (I'm guessing they mean easter egg hunt) at the local YMCA. Also now apparant, every child in Athens was invited! No exaggeration, there was probably 1,000 kids outside of the YMCA/lining the street in front of the YMCA/walking from all directions to the YMCA. It was absolutely crazy...truly a sight to see. Anyway, all of this unbeknownst to us, we decided to make our somewhat traditional weekend visit to IHOP for breakfast. Pulling out of the driveway Rich and I were discussing whether to venture to the further, but newer and larger IHOP or the ghetto, but closer and probably less busy IHOP. As starved as we were the ghetto IHOP won. Little did we know the impact that decision would have on our morning...so dramatic, huh? As you can probably guess our drive to ghetto IHOP sends us right past the YMCA...and if you couldn't guess, well, there ya go. Anyway, as soon was we turn from Prince onto Oglethorpe we know this drive is going to be interesting. The line of families headed to the "Y" stretched all the way back to the Bell's/Burger King. It was inevitable that an accident would occur. That many people was a distraction to everyone driving that road this morning. Anyway, we make it all the way to the "Y" when traffic in front of us comes to a halt. We weren't driving that fast so we were able to stop fine but the car behind us wasn't so lucky. We stop then hear screeching tires and "boom"...I mean "BOOM". It was pretty funny looking back. I had no idea we were about to be hit because I was busy staring at this massive gathering of children. I was sitting there saying something to Rich then "BOOM", and without missing a beat I go from whatever I was saying to "OH MY GOD WE WERE JUST HIT. OH MY GOD SHILOH". (insert tears here) I instantly turn around, tears flowing out, "OH MY GOD SHILOH, ARE YOU OKAY". (I feel the need to say here that I don't usually say oh my God but this morning it just kept coming out) And then it was over. Shiloh was sitting in her car seat looking around, no idea anything had just happened, so I calmed down instantly and that was that! It's amazing how traumatic a not-so-traumatic accident is when you have a baby with you. Fortunately the police were already there directing traffic for the egg drop so things moved along rather quickly. Also fortunately, Rich's truck is not damaged too bad. The car that hit us is probably totalled...his front end is completely smashed in...he was driving way too fast. Rich just needs a new rear bumper but you can't even tell unless you look closely at it. It got hit out of place or something like that...I don't know. Back to the story now. We hung out in the middle of the road for about 20 minutes while the cops made sure everyone was okay and filled out a police report and then finished our journey to IHOP where I enjoyed some green eggs and ham and who cakes honoring the new dr. suess movie Horton Hears a Who.

I Love....

Shiloh's exersaucer, carrier, playard and shiny, silver wrapping paper! Because of these things I had my most productive WEEKDAY as a stay at home mom! Weekends are easy. When Rich is home I have no problem getting things done because he takes over Shiloh duty. But weekdays, especially in the past month, I can't seem to get anything done! Shiloh has been going through a phase where I have to be within 1-2 feet of her or she's ticked! If go any further away from her than that, even if she can still see me, she is screaming! Makes it hard to do much! Yesterday, however, I was able to sweep the kitchen, family room and hallway, vacuum the rug in the family room, dust the family room, empty the dishwasher and reload the dishwasher, and cook dinner! I have to say it was mainly thanks to the shiny, silver wrapping paper that I was able to complete these tasks, but all of the previously mentioned things played a roll. So I must thank them too.

On a side note, I think Shiloh will be saying dada soon. All day yesterday and this this morning she was saying babababa, bdabdabda, and brahbrahbrah. I think dada is coming. The more she says those three things the more I am hearing a "d" starting to come out.

A Year Ago...

It just hit me that it was about this time (I don't remember the exact date) a year ago that we learned of our infertility. I still remember everything. I remember sitting in the hospital waiting room during Rich's biopsy...there was a large, loud family there waiting as well. They kept me very entertained. I remember Rich coming into the recovery room afterwards. He was still extremely out of it and kept flirting with the very pretty nurse assisting him. I very much so remember sitting in the doctor's office a week later...Rich and I were sitting in the two chairs in the room. He was sitting in the chair on the left and I the right, the doctor was across the room on his little stool. I remember him telling us the diagnosis, how rare it is, that it means our only options for children would be adoption or a sperm donor. I remember sitting there holding back tears, trying to be strong for Richard. We drove to the doctor's seperately that day and I remember pulling out of the parking lot in my jeep and bursting out into tears. I remember that was the only time I cried. I calmed down halfway home and told myself crying over it wouldn't change anything and we just needed to focus on adoption. The sooner we moved on the sooner we would have our baby. Looking back now, I don't believe that was a good idea. I think taking some time to grieve the loss of pregnancy would have been a good thing but who would have thought things would happen so quickly. On that day if someone were to have told me a year from then I would have a 5 month old daughter I would have laughed at them. So as much as I mourn the loss of ever becoming pregnant, I feel we have been truly blessed through this adoption because I'm sure Rich and I couldn't have created a more beautiful, happier, smarter baby if we tried! I truly believe she was handed down to us by God and I thank him every day for her.

Schmorges Board

There is no big news to report so here is a schmorges board (see how I did that:)) of little events from the past few days!

Rich and I have finally gotten over the bug that had infected us this entire past week. Since bringing Shiloh home I've had so many experiences that have caused me to gain so much more appreciation for my mom and all mom's out there. Well, this past week has brought on a new appreciation for these women. I was talking to a friend of mine about the joys of being sick as a stay at home mom. I was telling her how I don't remember my mom ever being sick when I was younger, which I attribute to the selfishness of being a kid. I don't remember my mom ever being sick, but I definitely remember when I was sick expecting my mom to wait on me hand and foot with all of the sympathy in the world...and of course she did...for the most part. I had a tough mom. I was definitely missing her last week though. I couldn't even get Rich to wait on me because even the he was feeling ill I had it much worse so he had baby duty when he was home. So I was stuck to fend for myself during this time of need! boo hoo, right? But we got through it and as I told Rich this will help prepare us for what is to come. Rich is in denial though since when he was a kid he didn't get sick much but I know better.

Let's see what else...I'm addicted to Inoko's Express!! In a previous post I wrote about going to a restaurant called Inoko's when our Alabama friends came to visit. If you refer to that post you'll see that Inoko's is one of those Japanese restaurants where they cook the food in front of you. Yum! Well, on the East side of Athens (opposite side from where we live) there has always been an Inoko's Express (we ordered food from here after getting married at the courthouse...so romantic) which is Inoko's food but it's more of a "upscale" kind of fast food setting...cheaper, faster, ya know! Still awesome food, though. Anyway, we finally got one on the west side of Athens!! Woo hoo!! Last week (thursday, I think) we ventured out to our new Inoko's to give it a try...awesome! So awesome it stayed on my mind for the rest of the week! So we went again for lunch yesterday after church!! Sooo good! If you have an Inoko's Express where you live you need to go!

Speaking of church yesterday, I think we may have found our church! We stopped going to church on a regular basis after Rich's mom passed away. It had to do partially with Janet's death but it was mainly because about that same time the pastor at the church we'd been going to left. We loved him and were deeply saddened by his departure. Anyway, we've been looking somewhat half assedly...that's not a word, huh..but I couldn't think of any other word...for a new one but since Shiloh's birth it's become increasingly important to us that we find "our" church. Well, we tried a new one yesterday, Cornerstone Church of God here in Athens and we both liked it! The music is great, the pastor's sermon was based off of scripture, and the people were soo friendly. Also, we learned from talking to the pastor after the service that there are a few other families that came here from Monroe Church of God (our old church) after Pastor Willis left! That was a good sign for us! We'll be out of town next weekend...in Alabama meeting baby Ella!!...but we will definitely be returning the following week! I so hope this is the church for us because I would actually really like to join a women's ministry group, young couples group, or something like that. It would be nice now that I'm home all day with Shiloh to be able to get out and meet new people/have people to talk to.
Well, I hear Shiloh talking to herself in her crib...gotta go!

5 Months

I'm five months old....