Thursday, August 28, 2008

All Is Well Again

Tonight is the official start of the 2008 College Football Season. Enough said.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Wordless Wednesday: MMMMMM....Chocolate


I found some pediasure s'mores granola bar-like "nutrition bars" yesterday and thought they might be a good treat for Shiloh. I think she liked it.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Happy Birthday!

This is a little late because I haven't felt like blogging about anything these past few days but, Happy Birthday Richard!!!


Rich's 26th birthday was this past Saturday. We had a nice day....Rich and Shiloh went to Gymboree together while I baked him a cake and then we went out to Gwinnett and had dinner with Zach and hung out at his house afterwards.


Below is a picture of Rich's cake. He plays the bass but, of course, there are no bass guitar cake pans. Also, after working on this thing for 5 hours (baking the cake, making the icing, practicing icing, officially icing) it came time to do the strings. As you may be able to tell, I just wanted to be done at that point so they aren't very straight. Anyway, the cake tasted excellent and it was great practice for whatever I decide to do for Shiloh's birthday!

Friday, August 22, 2008

Getting Through The Next Month

So, I know I still have a little over a month to go before Shiloh's first birthday but the emotions are already coming out. Last night, for the first time in many months, Shiloh woke up around 12:30 fussing. I was still awake (thanks, Olympics) so I was more than happy to get up, make her a bottle and rock her back to sleep. As I was sitting in the rocking chair awkwardly trying to rock her...she has such a long body....I was taken back to the first month after she was born. Every night, like clockwork, she would wake up from 12-4 or if I was lucky 2-4 and fuss. Thankfully, my mom and sisters were visiting the majority of that month so I had reinforcements but back to the story. Last night as I was holding her thinking back to that first month I tried picturing this tiny little baby in my arms and I just couldn't do it. I wanted so badly to return to that month with the patience and understanding I've gained since then and have that time with her back. As I was laying Shiloh back down in her crib I felt the tears swelling in my eyes.

It was then that it hit me. Exactly ten months ago I was in tears because this crying, little baby would not calm down and let both of us sleep. Last night I was in tears because I would have stayed up all night rocking her but now she doesn't fall asleep well when held so I had to lay her down once her bottle was finished. She's growing up too fast.

Friday, August 15, 2008

Shiloh's Brushing Her Teeth On the Bottom...

cause she wouldn't want to say that she forgot 'em!! Can you guess who watched way too much Barney during her babysitting days?!?

As you may be able to guess by the title of this post, we brushed Shiloh's teeth for the first time tonight! I can not begin to tell you how much fun we had! She wasn't very into it at first as you'll see in the pictures below but after Rich got his tooth brush out she had such a great time brushing with daddy. Fifteen minutes of brushing/sucking on the tooth brush later we finally had to take it away so we could put her to bed!



Thursday, August 14, 2008

Laying It All Out

I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders! Yesterday at Gymboree I shared Shiloh's adoption story with everyone! When we joined I never mentioned it because a.) it never came up and b.) there was no reason to tell anyone. Also, it was nice to just be another mom and child pair; no adoption questions, no feeling different. That lasted for about 2 months until the questions started coming. Where does she (Shiloh) get her olive skin tone from, (I'm as white as white can be....Richard is for the most part also) who did she get those blue eyes from, how long were you in labor with her, etc. I'd answer those questions with as little information as possible and then quietly try to excuse myself from the group without anyone noticing. It seemed to work but as more questions were asked I started feeling more and more guilty about deceiving everyone. Fortunately yesterday's class topic brought up the perfect opportunity to share with everyone. All of the mommies were very suprisied but thought it was great. They asked a few questions and then we moved on. I feel so much better!

These past few weeks I've really come to terms with the fact that I will probably never be pregnant. For me it was never so much that I had to have a biological child...my genes probably aren't that great anyway...it was the never experiencing pregnancy part that would bring me to tears. Don't get me wrong. I still feel a little sad on the day's I go to Target for diapers and every pregnant woman in Athens is there but, I'll probably always feel that way. What's changed is that yearning feeling inside, the desire to become pregnant. The twinge of jealousy I would feel when thinking of my pregnant sister or any one of my mulitiple friends who has been pregnant in the last year seems to be gone. Of course, I would be absolutely ecstatic and beyond words if God ever did bless me with becoming pregnant but it's not something I think about on a daily basis anymore. I can honestly say I have given our infertility issues and my wanting to get pregnant to God. It's in his hands now for him to do his will with. I know I have already been blessed beyond measure with my daughter but I also believe that through God all things are possible. For now I'm just going to focus on keeping up with Shiloh and enjoy watching her grow into the beautiful, young lady I know she will be.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Say Cheese!

I have a camera again!! Rich, bless his heart, finally gave up on our old camera! So after much research Shiloh and I made a visit to Circuit City today and bought a Sony Cyber-Shot! I spent all afternoon catching up on 3 weeks worth of Shiloh pictures! I'm sure by the time she went to bed tonight she was seeing flashes everywhere!

Monday, August 11, 2008

Naming Meme

Who named your child? Mainly Richard and I. Kim had some involvement

What did you name him/her? Shiloh Genevieve

When did you come up with the name? I had decided a long time ago that I wanted Genevieve to be the middle name of my first daughter. We came up with the name Shiloh shortly after Rich and I got married.

Where were you when you came up with the name? I'm pretty sure the first time I heard the name Shiloh I was on the phone with Rich. I think he had passed his neighbor, Shilo, walking into his apartment and said hi to her. Then sometime after we got married I threw the name out there has an option for a future daughter. I have no idea when exactly I decided upon Genevieve for a middle name. I stress I because Rich never liked the name.

Why did you pick that name? Genevieve was my Grandma Marcinick's first name and it also has significance with my Grandpa Warren. Basically, it's a name of importance to me. Shiloh came from a girl Rich attended high school with. I'd never heard the name before until a reference was made to said girl (Rich and his college roomate lived nextdoor to her) and I immediately fell in love with the name. We briefly switched to the name Scarlet (Ohio State's colors: Scarlet and Gray...I know, I know) after Shiloh Jolie-Pitt was born because the thought of people thinking we named our daughter after their daughter just didn't sit well with me. But Shiloh's birthmom didn't care for the name Scarlet at all so after some thinking we went back to Shiloh and everyone was happy!

(Originally posted on This Woman's Work)

Why Do Weekends Have to End?

We had such a great weekend...and of course no photos to show for it but that's another story! Richard's brother, Allan, along with his wife and 2 kids came to visit for the day on Saturday. They live in Indiana but had been in North Carolina visiting Debbie's side of the family. They arrived Saturday around 1:30 so we met them in downtown athens for a nice lunch and some browsing of the various shops. That evening we ordered pizza at their hotel and enjoyed a few hours of swimming in the hotel pool. We took Shiloh's floaty with us and Rich was so proud of the way she kicked her legs while in her floaty seemingly trying to move around. I keep telling him we need to do those swimming lessons!! Anyway, we had a great visit with Allan, Debbie and kids and are very appreciative of the extra 4 hours they added to an already long trip back home just to see us!

Yesterday Rich, Shiloh and myself went to Memorial Park in Athens to check out their zoo! Many people have told us about it but we had yet to venture there ourselves. It's cute and it's free! The zoo contains a few hawks, a couple eagles, a deer, wild turkey, 2 black bears, otters, a groudhog, an alligator, a snake and....I believe that is it! Rich and I definitely got more enjoyment out of the visit than Shiloh but she did like the deer. I think because it was the easiest animal for her to see. She enjoyed staring at the deer, waving and blowing kisses at it. Very cute! It made me even more hopeful for our, yet to be decided upon, trip to the zoo for Shiloh's birthday! I've been trying to think of something special to do with Shiloh's birthmom for her birthday and I'm thinking a zoo trip would be fun for all! Again, that's another story! Back to the park. After we finished walking around the zoo the trail we were on continued around a large pond to a playground! We put Shiloh in one of the baby swings there so daddy could see her swing! He has never been with us when we've gone to the park so this was his first time seeing her swing. Rich got such a kick out of it! She just laughs and smiles the whole time! He was very cute about the whole thing too. Rich put her in the swing and starting pushing her extremely gently so as not to make her go high..or really anywhere. After assuring him she enjoyed going high and she wouldn't fall out he put some strength behind it and Shiloh had a blast! It was a great family day!

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

No Wordless Wednesday

Something sticky got on the camera during my trip up north causing the lens to not open up/come out so I haven't been able to take pictures since July 21st....horrible! I wanted to buy a new camera at my parents but knowing the heck I would have had to pay when I got home for spending that money I didn't. Since we've been home Rich has attempted to clean/fix it multiple times all to no avail but the frugal man in him is refusing to buy a new one. I even called wolf camera to get a price on cleaning it but they said for as much as they would charge we'd be better off just buying a new one. So hopefully tonight Rich is going to get out his tools and take apart the camera, clean it and put it back together....hopefully. I don't even care anymore if Rich is able to fix it or we buy a new one..at first I was super psyched at the thought of purchasing a new camera....I just want a camera.

Friday, August 1, 2008

Summer Fun

5 Minutes For Mom is hosting a Summer Fun Photo contest! Go see it!http://www.5minutesformom.com