Kylie May

Kylie May

Layla Faith

Layla Faith

Zoey Noelle

Zoey Noelle

Boyee

Boyee
Our baby boy, due March 16th.

Friday, August 31, 2012

High Five!

Phew! It's Friday. It was, as usual, a busy week! Kylie had her first day of school on Tuesday. She loved being back, but it's been a hard week. I didn't plan ahead to find people to watch her after school. One day she came to my work. Another day she went to my friend's house (who she didn't know). Bry was off Wednesday & grandma took her Thursday. I took this afternoon off to be home with her. She is so flexible & okay with anything, but it was hard for me. I want her to have some consistency & not be juggled around.

Thanks to Facebook, I found someone! She will be a great fit for us. We're so grateful to have found a Christian who will provide Kylie with some structure. She's even willing to pick her up from school & take her to dance. Praise the Lord!

Camp was perfect last weekend. It was great to have no responsibility. We went for a nice long walk in the woods, a few four wheeler rides, had a delicious camp breakfast and a b-day party for Jack!!

Here are some pics.


1. Kylie is girly girl most of the time. It's so fun to see her play with the boys.


2. I bought Kylie a new leotard and ballet shoes for dance. She's growing too fast & dances all over the house everyday.



3. Kylie on her first day!


4. I was wishing we were back at camp at the end of this week.


5. Kylie has been brushing her hair before school. She's pretty good at it.

Bry and I have my cousins wedding on Sunday in Milwaukee. We're spending the night & Kylie will be at grandmas. We're ready for a break. Enjoy your weekend!!

Friday, August 24, 2012

High Five! It's Friday!

Happy Friday! I'm off to work this morning & thought I would post a quick 'High Five'.

It's been a pretty uneventful week. That's the way it should be before school starts. The calm before the storm.

  1 - Last Saturday, I had a video job in Marshfield. Kylie spent the day with Sarah & the kids. I picked her up in time for supper. The kids are so good & cute!


2. Kylie has two fish at Bryan's parents, Dora & Diego. They've gotten so big! 
She loves them.

 3. On Wednesday night, Kylie & I ventured to the West Side. We went to Sammy's for pizza and Toys R Us for a bday present for Jack. 

4. We drove past Lambeau. I just have to say, it's pretty cool to live in Green Bay.

5. What could be better? We're going here tonight & tomorrow! It's Sarah's in-laws camp' in the middle of nowhere in MI. Can't wait! We went up there two years ago for Jack's birthday. We'll have a party for him tomorrow! I can't believe he's almost 5! (Bryan will be in Milwaukee with his brother for the weekend. Last time to hang out before he's married!)

Enjoy your weekend everyone! It's our last before school starts.






Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Family Fun Day!

I don't know about you, but I've missed my High Five for Friday posts! My last few have been less 'happy' and more thoughtful. So, I thought I'd make up for it today.

Yesterday was our 2nd Annual Family Fun Day (I just made that up)! We scheduled this a couple weeks ago to make sure we'd do it. Last year was Kylie's first year in school and we took her to get her haircut, Packer practice, and school shopping all on the same day. It was such a perfect day that we decided to do it again. Actually, we got a phone call from our geneticist that day last year about Layla. I remember sitting on the curb in the parking lot talking to her about the prognosis. It's always nice to have a new memory of a fun place like that!

We started the morning off with Starbucks for all of us and headed to Snips and Giggles for her haircut. She got 5 inches cut off! The best part about it, is that they do a super cute up-do after the haircut with sparkles and everything. From there, we went to Lambeau and took her to the Packer's experience. She was hesitant at first, but loved it after a couple tries. It's basically an inflatable playground for football fans. Jumping through tires, crawling through tubes, tackling packer players and climbing a rope wall. She even raced Bryan and won of course. It was harder than he thought it would be. They wrapped her wrist in green tape like the Packers and even got black stickers for under her eyes. After that we headed out to watch the players ride the kid's bikes to practice. We were early and waited for a while, until Kylie suggested that we go inside so she doesn't get sunburned. Silly/smart girl. So we took her into the atrium. She had never been in there and thought it was pretty cool. We had lunch at the Tailgate Zone concession stand. Hot dogs and cheese curds. Surprisingly pricy, but worth it!

Last, but certainly not least, we bought Kylie's school supplies. Who doesn't love a new box of crayons or #2 pencils? Funny fact - her school supplies cost less than lunch.

We had a blast! It's a super fun tradition that's perfect for our Packer loving family.

Here are some pics. I may have over done Instagram yesterday. Sorry, friends.
On Saturday, Kylie & I want to Staci's beautiful bridal shower. 
Kylie will be the flower girl in their wedding in October. (Bryan's brother, Adam's, wedding.)

Our morning in DePere. Walking with daddy by the water 
fountains and cutting her gorgeous hair!

We love the Packers! Her first stadium hot dog, climbing the rope 
wall at the experience and a family pic on the steps of Lambeau.

Thursday, August 09, 2012

One Year Ago - Gender Ultrasound

We planned a super cute baby gender reveal party for the coming weekend. Had the invitations out, decorations bought, food planned. It was going to be our first party at our place in Green Bay. Finally, a good reason to have friends over .

Our ultrasound was on Tuesday, August 9, 2011. We had an invitation for the ultrasound tech to write the gender on the back of and sneak it into an envelope. Only to be opened by the person making the blue or pink cake. The tech (ironically, someone Bryan went to school/church with) started the ultrasound. Looked for the gender while we weren't watching. She had to 'step out' for a bit. We didn't think anything of it. It started taking a while, and it finally dawned on us, that something may be wrong.

We opened the door, hoping they just forgot about us. Then our Dr. came in with the news. We were shocked. No tears while she told us all of the possible problems. We didn't even have questions. After she left, I balled. We went across the hall to the Dr. office. I must have looked awful! We were referred to the specialist and had an appointment with him the next day.

Bryan and I took two cars and both went our separate ways after the appointment to our jobs. I remember driving and calling mom. She was so excited and I said it went okay. Then cried and added that something was wrong with the baby. I worked part of the day. I remember Kylie's teachers came over to talk about school. I had just cancelled the gender party via Facebook. Saying "the baby didn't cooperate, so we didn't find out the gender". What else could I have said. Bryan worked until 10. My mom, Sarah, & Emily all came over after work. They brought me dinner and we sat around and discussed all of the potential problems. They said so many different things, we had no idea what it was. I didn't Google anything that day. I just waited until our appointment the next day.

It's crazy how many details I remember about that day and every day after that. You always think 'it won't happen to me'. Then, your world gets turned upside down and you're in the middle of it. I remember the state of shock. Not knowing what to do next. I feel like it lasted the rest of the pregnancy. I read my old posts and I don't believe myself. But, at the time, it was real. It's hard to explain.

Anyway, it's been a year since that day. When our perfectly planned life turned to chaos. Thankfully, God knows what He's doing. He carried us through that day and the many more challenging days following. What a journey He has taken us on.

With all that being said, I've had this blog for almost one year. It began as a way to update long distance family members. I think it's become much more than that for me. Thank you, for supporting us since that first post. Thank you for helping us make it through this past year.

Tuesday, August 07, 2012

Now, I See Her - Note from Bryan

A note from Bryan:

Nancy has talked about putting together a unique picture frame to hang on our wall. I thought it was a cute idea, but did not think to much of it. See, I only choose to remember a few "picture moments" from that time of our life. Not because I don't want to remember or because I am lazy; but because I want to remember them how I want. In my mind, I have both happy moments and sad moments. I remember our first "real" appointment. Or any of the times we met with Ted. I remember deciding as a family to have Layla "today". I remember the first second I saw our Layla, and I remember Nancy holding her for the first time. I remember everyone that is a part of our family in the room. I remember holding Kylie. I remember saying goodbye to Layla. I remember hugging Nancy and thinking; now what?

These are all the "picture moments" in my mind. No one can lose these, destroy them, comment on them, or "like" them. These are my moments.


I until now, maybe once have I opened iPhoto. Not for any reason. I told Nancy the night she completed and hung the frame, while laying in bed, "I always think of Layla, but now I see her".


I will always remember her; but now everyday...
I miss her, I love her, and I see her.


It's me again:

I don't know if the frame has anything to do with it, but Kylie has been talking about Layla a lot lately. I don't think Bryan and I have been saying anything more than usual about Layla. It seems like she's just getting older, and thinking of more questions. In the car with Bryan, she asked a few things.

"What kind of car seat did she have?"
"What was on her belly button?" "Did it hurt?"
"The doctors said she had to go to heaven."
"I want Layla to come home."

She was praying for our food at dinner a couple nights ago. In part of her prayer, she said "Thank you for making Layla." I know for her, it was a simple comment. Like, thank you for our food and mom and dad. For me, I think it's cool that she added 'making Layla'. It wasn't just a thank you for Layla. I just think that's cool. I hope she grows up knowing that Layla was made in God's perfect image. It's reassuring to know that we've handled this well with Kylie. I'm glad she feels comfortable talking about Layla and asking questions. I'm glad she remembers visiting Layla at the hospital. We drove by it the other day and she pointed it out that's where Layla was born. Last night, she said she missed Layla and wanted to cuddle with her blanket. It will always be a part of our life and Kylie's too.

Saturday, August 04, 2012

The Manly Man Experience

I attended my first Manly Man conference this weekend. That sounds weird. Mark Gungor started this a while ago. He has a heart for teaching men to be Manly Men and women to be Butt Kicking Women and has had these conferences for the last few years. I had the privilege of working this event. Needless to say, there weren't many women around. It was super crazy leading up to it, and now I can finally relax. Well, until church tomorrow morning.

The conference went really really well. I seriously love this job. I love feeling challenged. And pushing myself to do something I've never done...and pulling it off! (Well, I think I did!) It really feels good to accomplish something new. On to the next challenge - turning it into a product. Another thing I've never done before. But I'll figure it out with some help from the team. I'm so grateful that my boss allows me these opportunities to push myself into something I've never done. And backs me up with encouragement and guidance. I am truly blessed.

The crew I had was amazing. Thank you, guys! It takes a team of seven to pull off what we did. I appreciate your respect for me and help with setting shots. Thanks for being creative for me. Your service is such a blessing. I literally wouldn't be able to do my job without you! And like I always say, you make my job so much easier.

As you can tell, I've been around men all weekend. I didn't have anyone to share all my feelings with. So, that's what you get tonight. (hehehe)

On a serious note, the "One Year" of our grim reaper appointment is coming up. Time has gone by so fast.

I just finished up at work. Kylie's at my sisters for the weekend. We'll get her tomorrow after church. Enjoy your Sunday!