My new love for Sprouts Farmers Markets!

I have recently fallen in love with a new store on my weekly shopping agenda: Sprouts Farmers Markets! Similar to Whole Foods (though I've never shopped there) and/or Trader Joe's, Sprouts has a variety of health foods as well as great deals on produce! There is a local branch in Greeley and I now go there almost every Wednesday... because, as I have learned, Wednesday is double ad day! Which means, I can get last week's deals as well as the current week's deals both on Wednesday. If oranges were $.33/lb last week and $.49/lb this week, I can go on Wednesday and still get the $.33/lb deal, as well as any super deals for this week. Then, I can go next Wednesday and buy the super deals from this week again! It's ingenius and I'm continually amazed at how much produce I walk out of the store with for $5-$10.

Above are my last two shopping trips at Sprouts (sorry they are a bit dark). The top picture includes (6) cartons of blackberries ($.77 each), romaine lettuce ($.88), 3 lbs of oranges ($1 for 3lbs); a green bell pepper ($.49); and cucumber ($.49) for $9.34! For six cartons of blackberries alone at another store, I should have paid close to $20 on average! The bottom picture is today's trip complete with pears ($.88/lb), oranges ($.49/lb), broccoli crowns ($.88/lb), red leaf lettuce ($.88), and a pound of carrots ($.69) for $4.74! I would have bought more blackberries @ $.77 each, but alas, the store was completely wiped clean of them.

Free Valentine's Day Card @ Tiny Prints!

I just made an adorable valentine for my hubby (sshhh) at Tiny Prints for free using code TPGFREE17A at checkout! There are some really cute designs for an array of recipients. Shipping is free when you ship the card directly to yourself, or you can pay the price of a stamp and have Tiny Prints mail it to your valentine.

The Joys of Play Doh!

Anna has discovered Play Doh! I refrained from giving it to her until her 2nd birthday (mainly because I didn't want to clean up the mess). Now, she loves it!

My Juxtaposition: Grieved, yet Rejoicing.

Our Baby at my 8 Week Ultrasound, 11/28/11.

I have reached 15 weeks in my pregnancy! Every week is a milestone for me, though I'm not quite sure if I will ever be able to enjoy pregnancy any more in a relaxed, naive sort of way. Don't get me wrong (and just ask my husband), I love being pregnant again and I ask him nightly if I still "look" pregnant, as I examine my growing belly excitedly in the mirror. Of course I still look pregnant, and that's what is so exciting! I still am pregnant! Yet, I know nothing is certain and safe in this life, and I'm still holding my breath for some, unknown milestone where I will be able to let out a deep sigh of relief. Perhaps when I feel the baby move for the first time, or when we find out if the baby is a boy or girl, or when I reach the point of viability in my pregnancy. I'm not sure if it will come at any of these moments, and I may just have to wait until I hear the baby's first cries.  Or, as I've prepared myself, maybe that sigh of relief won't come. Life is just too fragile.

I hold onto one essential truth that I have learned intimately over the past year: I can trust in the Lord, even when everything else I love falls away. I can still rejoice, because above all else, I have my salvation and I understand the secret to Life. I'm blessed beyond measure, more than most people, because I have my Savior and He has chosen me.

And with this new baby, I have become able to hope again, to look at other pregnant women and not feel immediate despair, to be less sensitive to others remarks, to talk about pregnancy and babies with more ease. Yes, going through pregnancy again has helped me mend in many ways. Yet, I find myself in a unique juxtaposition. I am blessed and excited about my 4th baby growing inside my belly, so far healthy and strong, but I still find myself in moments of grief over my 2nd and 3rd. I won't have a proper name for them or see their little faces until heaven, but I still long for them as any mother would long for her missing babies. I still think about how old each of them would be right now and what my life would be like with them. My children are irreplaceable, whether I have them for seven weeks in my womb, or 60 years on earth. One child cannot substitute for the other. I'm so immensely grateful to the Lord for my current pregnancy, but I find myself rejoicing, even still, with two little holes in my heart.

God's Sovereignty: A Look Back.

Billboard in Boston, 2010. 

I count it a huge blessing of God's sovereignty that I was living north of Boston in late 2008 when I found out I had two grapefruit-sized ovarian cysts and needed to have surgery. And now today, I have a beautiful, healthy 2 year old girl and one more baby on the way (not to mention the miracle of last Spring when I should have lost my ability to have any more babies, but didn't). 

Here's an excerpt taken from Winchester Hospital's website on my amazing, beloved doctor/surgeon, Dr. Arlan Fuller:

A pioneer in the field of gynecologic oncology, Dr. Fuller offers area residents the most cutting edge surgical treatments for gynecologic cancers. After spending 21 years at Massachusetts General Hospital as chief of gynecologic oncology, Dr. Fuller chose to practice at Winchester Hospital.

Dr. Fuller is a graduate of Harvard Medical School and he completed his training at Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He is board certified in OB/GYN and gynecologic oncology.

Dr. Fuller is nationally recognized and as an expert in the field of gynecologic oncology and speaks at conferences throughout the country.

Anna turns 2!

Testing the chocolate frosting for her cake.

One decorated "Anna" Minnie Mouse cake!

The Minnie Mouse birthday balloons were a big hit!

Cousins (this is the best "posed" picture I could manage)!

Opening her presents: Play Doh!

Thank you, Mallory's, for the pretty pants and shirt!

A new broom set and snow shovel (thanks, G&G Griffin)!

Anna: "A BIG present!"

Cake time!

She was already cleaned up once after her spaghetti dinner...

Her actual birthday: waffles for breakfast!

She loves her new Legos (and so does Daddy)! ;)

Sonic birthday lunch!

Our "baby" turned 2 on the 7th! Just in time for her, "Anna can do it" independence stage! 

We had a Minnie Mouse birthday party for her on the evening of the 6th, made extra complete with her cousins (well, the local ones)! The balloons were a big hit at the party, keeping all the kiddos entertained for quite a while. Spaghetti, green beans, berries, and bread (the favorites) were served as the main meal, followed by a Minnie Mouse cake! I wish I would have caught it on video, but when Jesse first lit her birthday candle, she kept blowing it out before anyone could start singing. It was hilarious! After several failed attempts, we explained that she had to wait before she blew out the candle. See video for the final, successful attempt! 

On her actual birthday, a Saturday, we had a waffle birthday breakfast, played with her new toys including her Legos and Play Doh, and had a fun shopping trip with a Sonic birthday lunch. I think Anna had a very fun 2nd birthday. We love you, sweet Anna!