Baby Boy Austin

It's been a sad week in my family. My sister, Stephanie was 17 weeks pregnant and her baby died on Thursday. She went to the doctor on Thursday morning and they couldn't find a heart beat. I'm so sad for her and her family. Every time I think about it I cry.

It's been no secret that I have had a hard time adjusting to motherhood, since this happened I've become so appreciative of my healthy baby girl. I know that everything happens for a reason. I know this baby didn't die in vain. Maybe it was for all of us (especially me) to appreciate what we have been given. Since Thursday, I've found myself being more patient with Bella and trying so much harder to pay attention to her and enjoy her. Like the saying goes, some people come into your lives and leave footprints on your heart. I never met this beautiful baby, but he changed my life, already. Every time I get frustrated with Bella and the differences that she has made in my life, I will remember how lucky I am to have her.

Stephanie had to deliver the baby instead of being able to have a DNC. She delivered him tonight at 6:30 pm Utah time. I believe they will be doing a graveside service next week where he will be buried with his Grandpa Meikle (I don't know all this for fact, I don't know if final decisions have been made).

I'm not sure where I stand on religious beliefs, but I do know that he must be a very special soul that was too good to have to face life on Earth, he just needed a little body so he could return to his Heavenly Father. It's comforting to know that he is there with both his Grandpas. Something special that the other cousins don't get to experience here on Earth.

Please keep Stephanie and her family in your thoughts. I can't imagine the pain and sadness that they are experiencing.

Rest in Peace Baby Boy.

Frank has a new favorite

I was okay when I had to share a top spot on Frank's favorite with Isabella (followed closely behind by Judge Judy), but I don't think that I'm okay with this. He has a new favorite, he hasn't admitted it, but I'm sure this is the new number one. I've been replaced by this . . .
Yes, I have been replaced by a hamper. He told me he can't wait to put his clothes in it. It makes him SO happy every time he sees it and every time he gets to put something in there. Our laundry has ALWAYS been an issue. We had a little tiny hamper that would hold one days of clothes and that was about it. The rest of the week the clothes pile up. Then when we get to the laundry the sorted piles take up all the room and it was always a mess. It drove both of us crazy! I found this hamper, it's got three compartments, one for whites, colors, and darks. When one compartment gets full you take the bag to the machine and put it in (as you can see, the darks need to be done).

Garden Fun

I know you are probably tired of hearing about my garden, but I'm SO excited that I've actually been able to get it to grow.

Yesterday I was able to make a salad big enough, from my lettuce, to feed 2 women and 3 kids. Today while I was out there I found a snow pea that was HEAVEN! There are a lot of little ones that will be ready by tomorrow I bet.


Best thing to see in a garden! I released a whole bunch of these and after the first day they were gone. When I found one today, I was VERY excited
My first snow pea. Isn't it cute?
purple irises
The cutest thing in my garden! She loves to help me. I had to get her her own set of garden tools. She would always grab mine and not only could I not use them, but the rake was rather heavy and sharp. She loves her new tools. She's funny, she'll pretend to dig in the dirt like I do.

First Harvest

It's a VERY small amount but I officially got to eat something out of my garden!! It has been 95* degrees here for the last two days and the garden has LOVED it. Everything has at least doubled in size. I got to harvest a little bit of lettuce, just enough for one salad (Frank and I shared it). It was YUMMY!!

Warm April??? Nights

I have lived in California for almost 5 years, and I don't think I have ever been warm here at night, MAYBE once, two years ago it was 115* in August. Tonight is my favorite kind of night, a balmy 75*. I love it. If every night were like this one, it would be the PERFECT place to live!

It reminds me of nights as a kid, gathering at the street corner with all the other kids in my grandparents neighborhood (we had to go to their neighborhood, because we didn't have many kids where we lived), organizing a game of kick the can, or hide and seek, lying under the stars on the trampoline and falling asleep to the crickets.

Ahhh. . . those were the days. . .

remodeled balcony

Frank and I have been doing a LOT of yard work. This yard has been a thorn in my side. Long story short, it was supposed to be done 2 years ago before we got married by a professional landscaper, and it was only about 50% done. Last summer we tried to work on it, but between me being 8 months pregnant and having a baby, not much got done. Now that Bella is crawling and starting to walk, I'm DETERMIND to get it done early this summer so we can enjoy it.

It's an interesting property and has TONS of potential. For those of you that haven't seen it, it backs up to a HUGE hill. So our yard has a lot of terraces and different levels and potential for lots of "rooms." We plan on doing each area a different part. Below the balcony is the "shade garden," we have the "kitchen garden" and eventually we will have the lawn and pond area. So that we don't get overwhelmed by the whole job, I've decided to concentrate on each area at a time. Yesterday we did the balcony outside our master bedroom. It's a great place to sit in the mornings and in the evenings it's even better.

I'm sitting here now, I can hear the trickle of the fountain, the smell of the jasmine below, I can hear the birds and the frogs. I can see my garden growing, the cows and turkeys on the hill and Bella splashing in the fountain. This might be close to heaven.

Bella's First Easter

Bella had fun tearing apart her basket and pulling the eggs out. It was a BEAUTIFUL day. We had a yummy turkey dinner and lots of fun with friends and family!

Mystery Spot and Easter Day

When we went to Santa Cruz we went to the Mystery Spot. I'll post more about this when I get the pictures. If you are in this area and you haven't been there, you HAVE to go! It's CRAZY!

Just ignore the fact that we look like we are two different groups taking one picture. We couldn't get it together.

All the kids before the egg hunt. My mom bought these outfits for all of them. Katie, Bella, Savannah, Maddie and Bevan.

I love Bella's face in this picture. She is SO happy.

San Jose Discovery Museum

One of the things we did was go to the Discovery Museum in San Jose. It was raining on Friday so we had to find something to do indoors. This was a GREAt place for a rainy day. Bella even loved it.

They had a water area that was for kids 4 and under. Bella had SO much fun playing in the water. She got soaked!

If you look at her face in this picture she looks like she is having an seizure. That's what she does when she's REALLY excited.

Me painting my niece, Savannah's, face

Easter Weekend

We had a great Easter weekend. My mom, my sister Stephanie, her family, and my niece Savannah came to visit for their spring break. We got to do lots of fun things! I'll have to post in different posts, too many pictures for just one.

Half Moon Bay

Pigeon Point Lighthouse. Bella just crawled around on the pier. We were hoping to see whales, but we only saw a few seals. v

Happy Easter!

My family came to visit for Easter. I'll give you all the details later with pictures. We've had a great time, busy busy busy! I hope everyone has a great Easter tomorrow!

Bella's Hair Do

Thanks for all the good wishes! I'm feeling better today. Back to our original plan of making SOAN support our family.

I've been trying to figure out what to do with Bella's hair. She looks like a boy if she doesn't have a bow in, and she will leave a bow in for about two minutes. I tried yesterday to fix it. It looked cute (with a bow still) for about two minutes. I'm going to try tomorrow without the bow and see what it looks like, or else I need to find some kind of clip bow that will actually stay in.

Disappointment

As you all know, Frank was laid off 5 months ago. He has been selling for my business since and it's been fine. Last week he got a phone call from a company that he had applied for right after he got laid off. He had 2 interviews, and I really tried to not get excited. Then he got called back for a third interview and we got really excited. He felt like the interview went REALLY well and the job was shoe-in. Well, today he got an email that they were "going to peruse someone" (peruse was the word they used, I don't think it was the right word). To say I was disappointed was an understatement.

Frank is such a harder work and such a good salesperson, I'm very proud of him that he got to the third interview. He found out from the recruiter that the reason they went with the other person was because they had medical sales experience.

It's put a big black cloud on my birthday weekend. . .