Last Baby Blues

6 months.

Crawling. Yes, crawling.

It has been hard to really get myself to believe that she is our last baby.

It is funny how you come to a decision, it feels so right, and then your heart sometimes doesn't want to let you believe it. Sometimes it is easier to second guess your decisions and choices.

Especially in this case.

Because this one has been so gosh darn sweet, and such a joy to us.
I think she knew how much I needed her to stay small.
She is our most petite baby.

I love every inch of her.

I have her memorized.

Today, I took down the cradle in my bedroom.
She officially shares a room with her big sister.
The first of many long nights chattering with her and telling secrets and talking about boyfriends and school I am sure.

I took the baby swing down, it is in the car waiting to be returned to those from whence the borrowing of it came.

All of the four ounce bottles are packed away in the garage, awaiting the yearly yard sale.

The tiny little clothes except for a few put away for her and sissy are officially given away,
with another batch to go out tomorrow.

Oh how I love this tiny girl. She has brought us so much joy.

Kisses Millz. So thankful for you.

You were worth every second of the wait, every heartache.
I have said it before, and I will say it again, I would do it all over in a heartbeat.

Just stop growing so fast okay?

Freaking INSOMNIA...and that one post I promised.

Dood.

It is three in the fracking morning.

I cannot sleep.
Perhaps it was the four miles I ran in the ffffreezing cold today.

Perhaps it was the chocolate I HAD to eat before my first attempt at going to bed.
(I totally knew better.)

Perhaps it is because there are SO many things I want to do with my family, my photography, my life...
that my head
just! won't! stop!

I knew I should have taken that Tylenol P.M. at midnight. If I had I would be blissfully sleeping right now. Speaking of Tylenol...do you guys want to send me to Blogher '10?!
I am totally looking high and low for someone to sponsor my trip...huh?! Would you???
E-mail me.
(This is an entirely different post altogether. I am not kidding either.)

Okay...onto other things.

Shall we discuss the 'trial of the year', or in our hopes the 'trial of the decade' in hopes we don't E-V-E-R have to go through something so silly EVER again?

Somehow I deleted the email from Hubbs that had all of the deets.
I will try to recall them from my own memory as I laughed my head off as each event occurred (while secretly being terrified for him.)
*Please note, names have been changed to protect the innocent, er the crazy...and everything is via my own account, Hubbs has nothing to do with this post. Hold me accountable for every single word.

So Hubbs had this client who was selling HIS house.
Meaning, the client was
the. only. one. on. the. freaking. title. to. the. house.
Hubbs is an amazing man, I tell you what! He works SO hard at EVERTHING he does, it is incredible. With the economy all slumpy, he has put forth extra effort to make sure he goes the extra EXTRA mile in his work. This means in church, school, and his real estate. ESPECIALLY his real estate.
I think anyone who has worked with him can attest to such.
He amazes me.

Anyway, back to this client, we will call him Jorge*. Jorge had his house listed FOR FREAKING ever. Even before the housing market hit the slopes. Hubbs plugged along with refusal to lower the selling price, on the market, off the market, and so on and so forth. Jorge happened to work out of town A LOT and was NEVER home to make sure the house was in order and ready to be shown. The other problem? Jorge's mom. We will call her Mama* a.k.a 'the debil' yes the deBil. I like it like that.

Mama lived in Jorge's house. Mama was crazy. As in certifiably crazy. She refused to let anyone in the house. ANYONE. She was certain that people coming to see the house were going to take her things (understandable...but let's be honest there was probably nothing worth taking). She did her best to make sure the house would. not. sell. The only times the house was able to be shown was if Jorge happened to be in town.

On a number of occasions Hubbs would stop by the house, and Mama would attack him verbally with all sorts of interesting phrases. Once this home hit the 1+ year on the market and it went under contract despite Mama and her attempts to sabotage such...she became 'evil, wicked, mean and nasty' to the tenth power.

One day in particular Hubbs went to meet with Jorge to sign papers or something, and Mama had ruined his brand new lock box...she had spray painted it...trying desperately to make it unusable so that no one would have further access to HER house.

While Hubbs was there she took a brick to said box and began pummeling it...Hubbs tried to convince her to stop and then said brick was then thrown into Hubbs direction.
Luckily for Hubbs and his glasses, Mama was a poor shot.
When said brick neglected to connect with Hubbs, Crazy Mama grabbed a water bottle and ran across the lawn and slapped Hubbs in the face with said water bottle.
That is when Jorge tackled Mama to the ground.

Now, do you see where this is going?
Hubbs probably should have gone to the police.
Hubbs is SO nice he did nothing of the sort.
He just talked to Jorge, went about his job and healed from this attempted head smashing.

Me? Well I had no idea ANY of this was going on.
Hubbs never let me in on it until...

Daaaaaa daaaaaa daaaaa....

(Commence scary, theatrical music.)

The day the new owners were suppose to move in, and Crazy Mama
had barricaded herself into 'HER' house.
Long story short, and several hours later
(on J-dawgs birthday I might add...thanks for ruining an important day for us Crazy Lady.) after the police were called in to take her from the premises...she finally had the choice to go to jail, or to go home with another of her son's.
She finally chose to go with her other son.
Sadly, at this point no one wanted to take care of her.
Very sad actually.

...one month after the closing we get a knock on our door late one night.

A man.
Serving us with papers.

Crazy Mama was suing Hubbs for $10,000.
Gulp.
I felt faint, a little dizzy, and a little more than absolutely clueless as to why.

I paced back and forth, I couldn't sleep that night.
Then Hubbs begins to tell me all about these stories, in more detail.

Two months pass and trial day comes.
Luckily we were 90% sure that this lady had no case.
But still in the back of our minds we were really scared at what could possibly happen to our little family if she won.

She didn't win.
Poor thing.
Even after attempted mediation, she still went before the judge...and he still ruled in our favor.

Hubbs?
Well, after the trial, he and his broker and his broker's wife sat in the courtroom and talked for three hours to this Crazy Mama...who was basically homeless and living in her car.
They talked about ways to help her try to find a place to live.\

FOR THREE HOURS

Tears.

That was two weeks ago.

Even today Hubbs was on the phone trying to track her down.
No one can find her.
Her sons won't answer their phones, nor return messages from Hubbs or the broker.
Hubb's broker is also trying to find her to no avail.
It is so sweet, words cannot express my love for my sweet husband
and all he is doing for this woman.

My point?

I am thankful that we won and did not have to shell out 10k to Mama.

I am thankful I married such an amazing guy.



And if you need to sell your home or buy a new home,
he is your guy.

Just promise not to throw any bricks at him please.
I kind of really like his face the way it is.

Grammy.

I have been editing photos all week.

MY photos.

It has been a long time coming.

I came across this one today.
I love it.
I love everything about it.

I love this lady.
Thankful she was there to take care of my brother and I when my mom needed her.
She is amazing.
She misses her sweetheart more than anything.

I came across those photos again too.

I miss him.

Just needed to get that out.

Hope ya'll are having a good day.
I am in a bit of a funk.
Hopefully I can blog about some funny shee in a few days.

Scam-a-lam-a Ding Dong

This post dedicated to never having to lie to my children EVER again.
Thank you for the picture Leisha.

Remember this post?

Update here.

You really, REALLY, R-E-A-L-L-Y
don't want to miss out on reading it.

"Chelsia" I just want you to know that I did get your e-mail last year.
(It surprisingly made it past the blockade I built around you and into my junk e-mail folder.)
It was a miracle that we were able to read it.

I had forgiven you at that point.
I still forgive you.
I accepted your apology and was thankful for it.

There was just a part of me that didn't want to give you the satisfaction of knowing that.

Now you do.

Hope you are telling the truth and that you find happiness in your heart and in your life.

I hope you dance.

What I would have given to have a dad like him.

He really is the best.

I love him to pieces.

The scary thing is,
before I turn around twice these two will be dancing at her wedding.

Thankful for the Promise.

So thankful.

My Millz.

Just checked my mail.

As in, the old skool kind.

Had a pleasant surprise from Crystalyn today.

Thank you.

I had forgotten she was ever this small.

Love you.

Blogging Blitz

Hi there.

I have some schtuff brewing around in my little head.



I need your help tho.

This year I want to do some things differently on this here blog.
My goal is to advocate for adoption more, and to help spread the word that there are SO many parents looking for children, on the flip side, there are also so many children looking for families. I am certain many of you know my good friend mrs. r she is the bomb.
I want to be like her when I grow up, so this is my small way of doing just that.

SO twice a month I want to highlight a family that is hoping to adopt.
Do you want me to highlight you?
Awesome.
Do you want to be added over here:
<-----------------------------------------------------------?
Awesome.

If you have been placed with and or had a baby recently and you are on that list...can I remove you for a little while to highlight those who are hoping for a child right now?

Can you help me to update that list?

Awesome.

email me: kimsueellen{at}gmail{dot}com

Come back soon, for the bloggity blogging blitz is gonna start.
and there is SO much more than adoption going to be talked about.
We will start off with the trial of the YEAR involving my husband.
Hilarity you won't want to miss.

Ready? Set?

GO!

Heavy Heart

My mind and thoughts have been consumed heavily with
Natalie, Richie, and their sweet family this week.

There are lots of things I need to blog.
Lots of things to tell you about.
But all of those seem so insignificant.

It has been difficult to think of anything but them.

While I hope to never understand fully what they are feeling, I do know my own personal hell in the loss of our baby almost two years ago. Perhaps this is why Nat is on my mind continually.

Even then I can't imagine loving and holding and kissing your baby
and then to have to let him go.

I have been hugging my three babies close to me, we have been cuddling on the couch more, playing more games, and taking the time to truly cherish all of our blessings.
I hope you are doing the same.

We know and understand that life is precious.
How thankful we are for a plan that will allow us to all be reunited with those we love.

I ask for your continued love and prayers and support to this sweet family.

I am taking the weekend off from blogging and e-mail,
to truly enjoy the blessings I have.

Until Monday.

All my love.

Tiny Gavin

pic courtesy of natalie's blog

Please send your love their way.

No one should have to endure this.

No one.

Natalie's faith is amazing and inspiring.
Let it change you.

Pray like you have never prayed before...

pic courtesy of natalie's blog

I have been watching this story unfold via twitter and facebook throughout the last week.

I met Natalie two years ago at the Film is Not Dead workshop in Hawaii.

I immediately liked Natalie, she and I had a lot in common.
I recall discussing adoption with her during that workshop...she and I were in similar boats and circumstances when it came to building our families.

Happily and miraculously, 8 weeks ago she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy whom she named Gavin after her brother who had passed away.

Baby Gavin is in the hospital at this moment fighting for his life.
He has Pertussis.
Also known as whooping cough.

What Natalie doesn't know is that as I have been reading her tweets and facebook, part of me has wanted to turn away...reliving too well the moments my nine day old Memms was admitted to Primary Children's Hospital at the tiny age of nine days...she also had RSV and they were throwing around all sorts of things at me like Pertussis...and Whooping cough.
(luckily for Memms the incubation period of Pertussis was before her birth...so she only had RSV to deal with.)

This baby Gavin has much more on his tiny shoulders.

Will you PLEASE...PLEASE...PLEASE pray for him?

Pray like you never have before.

I cannot bear to watch my friend go through this alone, but if we all can pray, she can feel our love for her and this little boy can pull through.

Thanks you guys.

All my love Natalie.

ALL. OF. IT.

Welcoming 2010 with a Grateful Heart

My heart has been full the last week.
Full of love for a few of my very dearest friends.
Full of gratitude for the miracles that surround us each and every day.
Both the large and the small.

First, I am so thankful to my Father in Heaven for blessing my dear friend Sue.
She has been such a dear and amazing friend to me since I can remember. She had an accident two weeks ago, in which through crazy bits of circumstances almost cost her her life.

I am amazed at the protection that was upon her
these past two weeks.
I was able to spend the afternoon with her yesterday. Seeing her alive, and well made me ever so grateful to our loving Heavenly Father who blessed her and protected her, and allowed me to continue to have the blessing of her friendship on this earth.

Many tears were shed as I marveled in awe of her quick healing. Her accident made me realize just how much I value her friendship, how thankful and lucky I have been to have her example in my life, and I don't want to take that for granted EVER again. I vowed to be a better friend to her and to all of my friends, because life is short...and sometimes life is cut short.

Today is the day to act...to love...to serve.

Secondly, I had the opportunity to spend a few days this week in Washington D.C. with two of my besties.

Leisha, and mrs. r.

Words cannot express the gratitude I have felt for the blessings that the closing of 2009 brought to my heart on behalf of mrs. r and her family.

I was able to witness the sealing of sweet little
Gavin
to his parents and to his big brother Tyson.

Tears streamed down my cheeks the entire night before as I felt the power of such a miraculous event, many of you have read throughout the year.

I, of all people understand the pain and anguish that comes from trial after trial...if you don't know what I am talking about, just go back and read my entire year of 2008.

Leisha, mrs. r and I joke often about how 2008 sucked for me...2009 for mrs. r,
and hoping beyond hope that 2010 is good for ALL of us...including YOU dear reader.

The power of eternal families was once again renewed in my heart as I watched this sweet family become sealed in the beautiful temple. The day was perfect...really it was.
(My photos on the other hand? Maybe not so much...thankful Leisha was there to capture it all with me.)

Life is sweet. I hope you can taste the sweetness that is there.

May 2010 and the years to come bring you much happiness and joy.
Please remember miracles have not ceased.
They will continue to flow....even in the darkest of times.
Hold onto that.

Much love.