Mother to an Only Child

I am a mother of an only child not by my choice, but by God's choice. 5 years ago He chose to bless us with our daughter through adoption. There are times that I think I would love more children and sometimes I am completely content with just one child.

When my husband and I married 17 years ago we always said we would just have one child. Well we tried for years and around our 11th anniversary we pretty much gave up on the possibility of ever becoming parents. A few months later, we recieved a phone call from a friend and to make a long story short, we brought home a beautiful baby girl within 48 hours.

There are times I struggle with what kind of person whe will be as an only child or how different her life would be if she had siblings. We just try to focus on the positive of having an only child and spend lots of quality time with her. She is even getting to go on her 2nd trip to Disney World just a year after her 1st trip.

Kindegarten?? Really???

How is is possible that my little baby girl will be in Kindegarten in August? It just doesn't seem right...Granted she is in Pre K this year but it is at her daycare..but this will be the first real elementary school she will attend :( What happened to my little baby? She is all grown up and she knows it..
I am super excited to be able to share field day with her next Thursday..It is going to be so much fun :) and Can't wait to hear all about her field trip today to the Elementary School...I know she will have stories to tell...Probably mostly about how everyone else behaved..
I know..still have to post pics of the Flower Girl dress, but will probably wait and post pics from the wedding in September...
I am reminded everyday of the struggle that we had getting to where we are today and I thank God everyday for the opportunity to be Chase's mother :)
Chase Isabella - I love you more than words can say and I am both happy and sad that you are about to embark on this new journey to Kindegarten....

Chase is going to be a flower girl :)

I am so excited..My brother is getting married and Chase is going to be the flower girl...We went with Monica to pick out her dress last week and even managed to get Chase to try on a dress and she absolutely LOVED it...So we are taking her again this weekend to try on dresses again..You don't understand..My daughter does NOT wear dresses...Jeans & t shirts are her thing.. oh and from April - Sept, she will only wear flip flops... and she even picked out some cute little dress shoes....Hopefully we will find something she likes as much as the dress the other night..with a little lower price tag..hahaha..I will be sure to take my camera and definitely post some pics of her trying on dresses...

Just had to add this pic of Chase with her favorite Disney character...On our recent trip to Disney World, all she wanted to do was meet Pluto :)

Its been a while !!!

Has it really been almost 2 years? At that time I had a 2 1/2 year old..Is it possible that she is now 4 1/2? Is she really in PreK? I have decided to start blogging again..I realize that after reading the few I had written, that I had forgotten what I was feeling at those particular times and really need to start documenting Chase's childhood...That being said, I am going to try and blog once a week (ok at least once a month)..I will try not to wait 2 years again since so much has happened in the last 2 years..
So stay tuned...never know what my post is going to be about :)

Chase is 2 1/2 today!!!1

It’s been awhile, but today Chase is officially 2 ½. Where have the past 2 ½ years gone? She is growing up so fast. Too fast. We took our first car trip last weekend without a pullup and she made it all the way with no accidents. I was so proud of her. She is already planning her 3rd birthday. She wants to go to Monk Joe’s with some friends and give Monk Joe a High Five. She says she will be free (three) on her next birthday. Oh yesterday she did the cutest thing. It was her cousin’s birthday and she called her and sang Happy Birthday to her so sweetly. Every time we tried to tell her to say bye bye to Sky Sky, she would say scop (stop) it. She is already fighting me about clothes too. Doesn’t like a certain pair of jeans that she has and she argued with me about the shoes she was wearing to school the other morning. She wanted to wear these cute little sparkly ballet flats that we got for church, but she knows she has to wear tennis shoes to school. She is starting all this way too early!!!! By the way, she loves school. At first I thought I would never drop her off without crying. No crying anymore. She just hugs me and runs off to play with her friends. I am so blessed that we found such a good school and she enjoys it so much. She is learning so much also. She can count to 10 and say her ABC’s. She sings little songs like Twinkle, Twinkle and Wheels on the Bus. She is also at the age where ordinarily we would start thinking about having another baby, but in our situation, who knows when or if that will ever happen. My sister in law is pregnant with her 2nd little boy and I said something about Clayton having a little brother and she said “I want a baby brother” Kind of makes you think. I always said that if I had one child, I would be fine with that, and really I am. Still the thought of another little one does seem nice some days. And I hate for Chase to grow up alone. But it is not up to me, and I have to trust that God will either send me another child or take away my desire to have another child. Just like with Chase, it is in His almighty hands!!!

So far in 2008

Wow. What a year 2008 has been. We took Chase to Myrtle Beach for the first time in June.

We celebrated her 2nd birthday on August 28 and began the potty training adventure, which was pretty much complete within a month.

Then on September 27, Chase took a fall off the next door neighbors slide and broke her left arm. After 2 surgeries (one to put a pin in and one to take it out) and 7 weeks in a cast she was doing really well.

We went to the pumpkin patch in October with Chase's cousin Savannah. She had a good time even with the cast on her arm.

Chase started big girl school in October and had to spend her first month and a half there in a cast. She is loving school now.

Well the Christmas celebrations are starting tonight at Pop Pop's and then continuing in the morning at Mimi & Papa's.

Our Struggle with Infertility

I thought I would start out with telling how our daughter came into our life. As many of you know, we struggled with infertility for many years. For those of you who do not know, I felt lead to post this so that it may give someone hope in a time of hopelessness. For almost eight years, we did not know if we would ever be parents. There were many ups and many more downs, testing, surgery, hormone treatment, and failed attempts at pregnancy. It seemed as though everyone around was having children. When we were younger it didn’t bother me as much, but now we were at the age where all our friends were having babies and it hurt every time you heard the words “I am pregnant” You want it to be you so badly. You keep thinking this will be the month and then once again disappointment. It puts a huge strain on all your personal relationships, including your marriage. I felt as though I lost touch with so many people, because if I could not have a baby, I just wanted to be left alone.
Then after a softball game, a friend of ours who had learned of our situation wanted to pray for me. She told me that she had the gift of fertility and prayed that God would bless us with a child if it was his will. Well, that was in May 2006. I felt my hope return, and thought for sure that I would be pregnant in the next couple of months. August comes, hasn’t happened yet. Then in Church one Sunday, Our Pastor’s sermon was about Sarah and Abraham. He kept saying not in your time, but in God’s time. You have to ask and wait patiently on the Lord. I was at my lowest by now and I prayed that the Lord take my burden and not allow me to worry about it anymore. That day, I gave it over to Him and put it in His hands.
On August 29, 2006 I woke up to get ready for work. I went downstairs and the number for Doctor’s Hospital was on the caller ID. I immediately panicked fearing someone in the family was sick. Then I realized there was a message. It was from the friend who prayed for me back in May. (She was a Nurse @ Doctor’s Hospital) She just wanted us to call her back because it was extremely important. My husband called her back and she said that a woman had a baby the night before and wanted us to have it. We were in shock. There was a lot to do that day, but by 4:00 PM, we had set up a meeting with this woman and our Attorney for 9:30 the following morning. We arrived at the hospital the following morning, and left that afternoon with a 2 day old baby girl!!!! All I have to say is GOD IS AWESOME!!!!!
It may seem hopeless, but God is always there. He may not do things when you want, but when you least expect it, there HE is.
And let me tell you now, Chase Isabella was worth the wait!!!