Goodbye Gucci

After almost 9 years of playing chase, long walks, and lots of cuddling, we had to say goodbye to my first "child"  and Scott's "adopted child" yesterday, Gucci. He was such a good dog even with all his neurotic behavior at times! Gonna miss the little guy.

Celebrating Mom

Mom celebrated a milestone birthday at the beginning of October. For privacy sake, I won't post her age! :-) Dad and I were excited to throw her a surprise birthday to celebrate the occassion. I had fun decorating for the event. Loved the red, black and white color scheme. (Totally forgot to get pics of half the decor though!) It was a great time celebrating with friends and family, which is what it's all about. Here are a few pics from the special event.

The Birthday Girl

The Liberty Crew-known each other or over 20 years

 Sweet brothers with Mom---Yes that's a 80's family pic on the mantle. I had framed a bunch of pics from mom growing up, etc. that were sitting around.

Love family!

Love friends!

Cutest guest of all time!

Enjoying catching up 

From your favorite grandson....Happy birthday Precious!

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Rememberance Day

October 15th was Pregnancy and Infant Loss Rememberance Day....in my naive, rose-colored glasses mind, I never thought this day would include me. Not that any woman ever thinks they'll be part of the statistics. Miscarriage, stillbirth and infant death will affect one in four women. Wow!

After Lila's death, I was amazed at the women that I never really knew their stories of loss, through miscarriage or other death. Hearing so many of their stories made me so blessed to be able to say...We had a daughter. Her name was Lila. She lived 16 days and I got to hold her. It breaks my heart for those women that never knew their child because of an early miscarriage.

This day held so much meaning to me. It was our family picture day. If you know me or talked to me in the last few weeks, you knew that I had these pics planned out to the last detail. From what we would wear (which changed several times), to how we would honor Lila in the pics, all the details had been thought out. I'm sure many of you thought I was just trying to get a cute pic so I could post it on Pinterest and be one of those people with the beautiful family pics. :-) That wasn't it at all....This picture was our first family pic that we had really taken since Lila. A picture that she should have been in with her little pink bow. A picture that I had in my head since we found out we were having a girl. A picture of the family that I had dreamed about having since I was a little girl....So when those dreams were shattered I knew that this picture would mean even more to me.

A simple pink balloon...That's all we had to represent Lila in our pictures. Breaks my heart but she's part of our lives and she had to be in the pictures.

I received an email from my aunt a few days before this national day of rememberance. It was about a woman in the area who was doing a baloon release in honor of the children she had lost and those children others had lost too. I sent her Lila's name and her name was placed in a balloon and released that day too. Here's a video and the ladies' story. (Lila's name is the second name that scrolls through on the bottom row).

http://destinyinbloom.com/beautiful-things  Go to the link and scroll down to view the video.

Praying for those today who have lost little ones.

Griffen Jey---21 Months

Sadly this is about the extent of the pictures that we were able to take this month with our big camera...Why you ask?....3 words...21 month BOY!

Notice this pic is of him strapped into his highchair...no where to go!

This one I caught him off guard when he was innocently reading in his room.

 This was our FAILED attempt at a 21 month picture. Oh well!



Guess we'll try again next month! :-) I wouldn't change it for the world though.

21 Month Highlights:
-about 26 1/2 pounds
-size 4 diapers
-size 18 month clothes, although he can still wear some 12 month shorts
-new words: help me, ball, choo choo, hi, balloon
-active from sun up till sun down!
-very cuddly lately
-enjoys going to the park daily
-doing MUCH better in the church nursery. Praise the LORD!
-very good helper
-loves to help with laundry
-dances any chance he gets
-loves anything to do with "Old MacDonald", goes around saying "EIO" so you'll think he's cute and let him play the game on your phone!

The first step...

The first step to any good 12 step problem is admitting that you have a problem...So here goes....Hi, I'm Rebecca and I'm addicted to Pinterest. This problem began a few months ago and continues to consume my free time. Here's just a few projects that have filled my time lately because of this newfound addiction.

Quilting hoops for the craft room

Artwork for the playroom

Display for Griffen's artwork

Weekly Menu Board for the Kitchen

Burlap wreath for the pantry door

Linoleum tiles placed under the kitchen sink

Inspiration for kitchen curtains

Burlap board for our monogram

Sign for the playroom

A place for my makeup brushes (in coffee beans)

All in all, I'm very pleased with every project that I've done. Add to that list too is tons of new recipes that we've tried out. So, not sure where this new addiction is gonna take me. We'll see if anyone comes up with a PA ("Pinterest Anonymous") group. If so, I may have to join that! :-)

Summertime Fun

I realized the other day I hadn't posted many pictures of Mr. Griffen throughout the summer. Here's what kept us busy this long, HOT summer.

Checking out his new slide. Had to keep it inside for awhile because it was so hot!

Lots of daddy time, reading. 

Just being cute. (Yes, the fly swatter is clean. It's for Gucci.)

Hanging out at the park. 

Discovering new treasure.

Quality time with Daddy.

Celebrating Aunt Sarah's wedding. 

Playing with macaroni.

Enjoying our back yard. (Love the sequence of these pictures. G's so inquisitive!)

Splashing around in our pool.

All in all, it was a great summer. Ready to start experiencing some "fall" weather around here though.



Finally some after pics...

Finally got around to uploading some "after" pics of the house.

Griffen's Room: Probably my most favorite room of the house. Love the colors, the fabrics, everything. Still happy with it 20 months later :-). I'm so glad we went ahead and bought bedding for a "big boy bed" for once he transitions to it. For right now, it's serving as his changing table since he got too big for his real one....Yes, I know there is nothing above his crib! If you have a 20 month old boy you know why...he will pull it down. Hey, it's what works for now even though the decorator in me wants to put something there.

Living Room: Was excited to get a great deal on this red couch from a friend (no it's not hyper color red like it appears in the pic, just a true red). Still have to decide on curtains. Just not sure what I'm wanting. There are two windows behind the black checked chair. We went ahead and stacked the coffee table and entertainment center again. We really just wanted more floor space to read, wrestle, etc. Also notice nothing on the side tables, once again 20 month old.....Still on the to do list is curtains, new lamp shade (have a few ideas pinned on pinterest), and cord covers for the lamps.

This is to the right of Scott's recliner. The entry leads into our bedroom.

Entryway: This is as you come in the front door. Loving  having this bench in the entry. It was an old church bench my mom has had for years. It's directly across from the playroom so it really adds more seating to sit and watch the kids play. Still to do is cord covers for the lamp, shelf above the bench (want to display family pics, etc...gonna look at Canton next month), more pillows for the bench, and eventually paint.

Guest Bathroom: Enjoyed painting the guest bath a fun apple green. I wanted something that would transition well to a kid-friendly bathroom one day. Right now it's my Paris decor. Love the black and cream against the green.



Loving being able to "feather our nest." I feel very blessed everytime I walk around the house knowing that it was truly a blessing from God. Very thankful!...Just hung the curtains in the breakfast room tonight so I'll post more pics soon.

What Lila Taught Me...

I realized last night after reading back through several posts that I mentioned several times how much Lila's life had taught me. I realized too that I never really put into words what it was that I'd learned. In her short 16 days, she taught me so much....here are just a few:

-To have faith---My faith grew so much from the time I started having contractions on our bathroom floor to the months after her death. All I could rely on was God! I knew that as smart as her doctors were, no matter how many medical breakthroughs had been made for preemies, no matter any of the circumstances, God was in control. Her birth, life and death, rocked my world! All I could do was sit back and have faith and confidence that God was in control no matter the outcome. That is not to say that my faith wasn't shaken everytime the phone rang with a call from the doctors but her life truly taught me all I have is Christ and my faith in Him and Him alone.--My faith grows everytime I trust Him knowing that He knows what the future holds. He knows whether my body can handle more pregnancies. He knows what's best for our family. Because I know that He's bigger than any infection, anything!

- To love---My love for Scott grew ten  fold through the life of Lila. Never will I forget the calm husband that I saw walk into our bathroom on January 17 telling me it was going to be ok (as he brings in towels and a shoe string to prepare to deliver our baby). I never want to forget what it was like to be held by him as we sobbed in the hospital's chapel as we mourned what "could be." My love for Scott grew everytime he would gently hold my hand as we walked into the NICU daily. Don't get me wrong, the last 7 months have been the hardest times in our marriage too but my love for Scott and the man that he is has never waivered.

-To let go---If you know me at all, you know I'm a little OCD! :-) I'll admit it. I like things planned out and lined up. Lila's life taught me that none of that matters. I had to admit that I couldn't do it all. I had to step back and let others help me, with my recovery, with Griffen, with mourning. That's been hard and 7 months in it's still hard. I like to do things myself and for everything to be under control. Once again, my sweet girl taught me that it's ok to ask for help and to accept help when you don't even know you need it!

-To hold tight to family and friends---Scott and I couldn't have gotten through the last 7 months without friends and family. Looking back now, I'm still overwhelmed by the outpouring of love, prayers and support that our family received. Our families were with us every step of the way. For that I'll always be grateful! Our church family loved us beyond what we could have imagined. They knew our needs before we ever anticipated what we needed. Even complete strangers showed us love in so many ways. Through Lila's life, I hold onto everyone a little tighter and appreciate relationships so much more.

-To pray---The last 7 months have brought me to my knees so many times. My hope is that that continues. I want to continue to pray not for my will or my agenda but truly God's will. I want to continue to fervently pray for my family and friends knowing that He holds us in His hands.

-To desire more children---Some have asked if Lila's death has made us hesitate to have more children. Her life has done just the opposite. We long for more children, in His timing. Don't get me wrong, another pregnancy will be a test of faith and prayer daily. Our hearts long for more children. We are just praying that God blesses us with more.

Those are just a few of the things our sweet girl's life has taught me. I pray that I continue to grow in my faith and love through the memories of her life!

If mourning and dancing are part of the same movement of grace,

we can be grateful for every moment we lived. We can claim

our unique journey as God's way to mold our hearts to greater

conformity to Christ. The cross, the primary symbol of our faith,

invites us to see grace where there is pain; to see resurrection where

there is death. The call to be grateful is a call to trust that every moment

can be claimed as the way of the cross that leads to new life.