Slow Motion

Our world just stopped.

Gracie was diagnosed with Congenital Hypothyroidism. Her thyroid is underdeveloped and fails to produce or release the thyroid hormone. This can cause her brain and body not to develop normally, and is the leading cause of retardation. ... We were told she'll be on medication her whole life, and monitored closely every month through invasive tests for the next 5 years-minimum. We are praying so hard that the medication over time will prevent her from not developing correctly, mentally and physically, but we are afraid they didn't start treatment soon enough. Please keep our sweet Gracie Lyn in your prayers. (and her mommy and daddy.)

...We are in slow motion right now.

Perfection.

"No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God . . . and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire and which will make us more like our Father and Mother in heaven."

-Orson F. Whitney

Three Short Years Ago...

we were at Primary Children's hospital with our sweet little Nicci while she recovered from reconstructive skull surgery. I have already posted about it including pictures (click HERE to see it) but we can't help but remember at this time of year how very blessed we were at that time. It's overwhelming. We thank our Father in Heaven every day for watching over us and our little daughter during that difficult time in our lives. Nicci has a Dr. appointment soon to schedule her next surgery, and we know she will be strong and wonderful just like she was the first time. Three years later...our little girl is more beautiful than ever.

Gracie Lyn

Beautiful Gracie Lyn was born February 1 at 12:03pm. She weighed 6lbs 7oz, and measured 19.5 inches long. The birth was such an amazing experience; i had NO drugs, and NO epidural. It was so intense but simply beautiful. I will post more pictures and tell the incredible story when i have more energy. :) But for now, here is our absolutely perfect Gracie Lyn.

Nicci LOVES being a big sister and Gracie absolutely adores her.

Life is beautiful.

Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam

Today is a big day in the life of our Nicole Debra. She became a Sunbeam. My heart is flooding with emotion as i watch my once so tiny baby girl grow up into such a beautiful and loving little girl. She spent all morning singing Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam and it melted my heart. I'm so grateful for my life. We have been so blessed with such a special little girl with a huge heart of gold.

Our little Sunbeam shining so brightly...

I had to get a "hair shot" and a "back of the dress shot." :)

I was too exhausted and large to get into a dress this morning and go to church, which is absolutely breaking my heart. I wanted to take my little girl to Sunbeams, but good thing she has a wonderful Daddy who would love more than anything to walk his little girl to her first day of Sunbeams. (I married such a wonderful man.) I snapped this picture as they were walking out the door and i think i will frame it and keep it forever. I love these two more than words can explain.

J.O.Y.

Merry Christmas! We had a magical day...nothing but perfection.

I know this picture is blury but i just love my mom, and this picture is adorable. :)

A tiny {absolutely beautiful} little tot with her eyes all a glow!

Prego Update.

Im feeling very large and ready to meet my little girl. I'm 32 weeks. My kidney is feeling like a dull ache these days. Heartburn is out of control. My lungs are squished. Gracie loves to stretch out as much as possible and the majority of the time my stomach is shifting from one side to another. Seth and i love to watch my belly morphe into crazy positions. It's feeling more and more real that Nicci will soon have a sister and she is SO excited. I'm trying to cherish every moment, even the less enjoyable ones. Watching and feeling our family grow is incredible beyond words. There's nothing like it. I'm so grateful for my strong and hard working husband. I'm so glad we have our little family and live the most incredible life together. I used to think that traveling and taking random vacations with my husband would make me so happy, but the truth is, i'd take my heartburn, watching my belly shift, and little girl's laughter, sticky hands, and hugs ANY day over seeing the world. Why would i want to walk out my front door when i have the WHOLE WORLD within the walls of my own home. I'm one lucky girl.

Lately...

Mmm...

We are completely in love with our beautiful daughter. Can you tell? :)

7 Months down...2 To Go!

Thank you all for your input. I've decided i'll just post random here and there. So here's random. :) This is sadly the only real pregnancy pictures i've taken with this pregnancy. (Besides our Halloween pictures that are super cute...COMING SOON...) The first two pictures represent this pregnancy's fun kidney stones and the third is to show my huge belly. Bottom line... only TWO months to go!

I've Been Thinking...

of getting rid of our blog. I feel like i don't have the time or desire to keep it updated and i spend all my time on our family albums (which are insanely cute by the way) and our home videos. Maybe i can put links up to the albums or something...i don't know. Is it really worth it? I have so many cute pictures and so many memories i want to share but it just takes so long to put them on the blog. I'd much rather spend the time with my kids and my sweetheart writing in our journals and recording it all in our albums than on my computer discussing my inner most feelings and latest fun times with the world. On the other hand it's fun to share ridiculously cute pictures of your kids and great times with the family. So im stuck. Ive tried turning my blog into a book but i found another program i like better to do our family albums, so that's not an option. What do you think? Do i throw in the towel, or is there an option i'm missing?

C'mon. I can't post without including a picture of this beautiful girl...

:)

You are my Sunshine
my only Sunshine... You make me happy when skies are grey. You'll never know dear how much i love you... Please don't take my Sunshine away!

Baby Bump :)

This was taken with my phone so the quality isn't great but, yay, i have a bump. :)

Proud Mama!

Our baby learned to write her name today!! I know being proud isn't always good...but today i couldn't help it. :) Way to go Nicci!

Lost and Found

These pictures were taken about a year ago and i just found them on my friend's computer. It made me laugh! Nicci is such a sweet little character and i couldn't help but share these three pictures that absolutely made my day.

Our "Girls" Are Growing Up!

You might have caught on through the title but we are happy to announce that we are having another GIRL!!! Not only that, but today was Nicci's first day of school! We have her enrolled in a Montessori preschool full time and she is loving it. It was such an emotional day realizing that my baby has officially started her school years. Nicci is growing up so fast and will make such a precious big sister and will be a huge help to Mommy!! We took a few pictures today and being the pregnant tired mommy i am right now, i stayed comfortable in my pajamas and cried all my makeup off before we left the house! Today was such a special day...i will cherish the memories forever.

Seth gave Nicci her very first father's blessing for school! By the end of the blessing my eyes were puffy and i had never been so in love with these two.

Nicci was excited to wear her new shirt to school! There's nothing like the smell of new clothes on the first day of school. Doesn't she just look so darn precious?!

Nicci with her amazing teacher Miss Lacie!

Nicci made two very good friends today. Kenzie and Ava. So cute.

We were so proud of our big girl today! We took her to iHop to celebrate her first day of school. She was such a big girl. She wanted to sit on her own side and she ordered all by herself and showed us how good she was coloring inside the lines. :) When did she get so independent?

I'm so proud of my Nicci-D. No matter what, she will always be my little girl.

Our Little Fishy

Earlier this summer Nicci took swimming lessons and it was a really good experience. Since Nicci was born she has loved the water so we decided when she turned three that it was time to teach her how to survive in the water! She had a lot of fun and learned to listen to her teacher...(kinda)!

I'm very proud of the progress she has made! Last week she accidently fell in without her swimmies and she held her breath and never stopped kicking! We got her out of the water but she almost had her head above before we did!

Nicci had a bad habit of escaping her class...
The first thing Nicci would do when she woke up was put on her swimming suit, eat, and then patiently wait for swimming class. It was so cute.


I could squeeze her until she pops.

STORY TIME. The swim class was for two weeks and from the very beginning Nicci would refer to everyone as "her friends", even the older kids. Well the older kids, (particularly these two girls) were so mean to her. They would make fun of her right to her face and Nicci was so confused...and i was angry. I never said anything because that would make it worse obviously, but everyday i would go home in tears. Watching my little girl try to be friends with everyone and then rejected right to her face for no reason was pain i had never felt. Nicci is a sweet kid so everyday she just continued to be nice. Well, three days before the end of the class, all of a sudden these girls wanted to be friends with Nicci. They came early just to play with her before class and then stay late to play with her after. It was the most incredible example to me of unconditional kindness and love. I watched Nicci continue to get made fun of and laughed at...and all the while she was still smiling, being kind, and trying to be friends. And then low and behold, these girls had a change of heart. It was a cool experience. I absolutely adore my little girl. :)
After swim class Nicci's favorite thing to do was go to my parent's house and show off all her new skills to Grandma and Grandpa! It was such a fun two weeks.
No swimmies... Our sweet little fishy.